The Outbreak Series Boxed Set

by Thomas Baker

  "Ouch that sounds painful." Hannah's face scrunched up. "It must have hurt, not to be able tocontinue playing. I can't even imagine how I would feel if I injured myself and couldn't compete in cheerleading anymore." Hannah reached forward, placing a comforting hand on his shoulder. JT felt himself respond to her touch and smiled back at her in the rear-view mirror.

  "Man, what are the odds. You know what I mean. What a bummer that must have been," Tyrone said.

  "Yeah. There was a long time afterwards thatit still bothered me to talk about it. Even now, when I bring it up...well, it's the past now." He was ready to change the subject.

  The four of them continued with some small talk off and on as the miles passed. The afternoon sun was beginning to creep closer to the horizon as sunset neared.

  The highway had been relatively clear all day but now thatit was merging with the Interstate, JT expect their smooth sailing to end. He was right. The congestion began to get heavy, slowing them down. Abandoned cars and trucks were crashed haphazardly. Two and three car pile ups were common. JT followed Dusty around them, like they were icebergs in dangerous waters.

  Tyrone tapped JT on the shoulder. JT glanced at Tyrone. Tyrone's eyes were wide as he pointed out the passenger side window. Zombies, the first they had seen since leaving the truck stop, milled about on the side of the road. The zombies turned at the sounds of their passing cars. They drove by without incident.

  JT saw a mountain of twisted metal up ahead that looked to be something like a twenty car pile up. It was right at the underpass of a bridge.

  Dusty's SUV came to a stop on the shoulder and JT pulled up beside him. Everyone piled out of the SUV, everyone in JT's Jeep followed suit. They all met together between the two cars.

  "Something about this gives me a bad feeling," Dusty said.

  "Have you always been such a paranoid guy Sarge?" Gus replied. "I think you suffer from PTSD, Paranoid and Tense Sergeant Dusty."

  Laughter erupted. Gus's comment even managed to pull a laugh out of Alan. Dusty just scowled.

  "Do we really need to go this way?" Alan questioned. "This wreckage looks like it could litter the road for at least the next couple of miles."

  "All the cars and a sudden increase in dead heads is probably no coincidence," Dusty commented. "We're near a major city. Still, I don't know of any other way forward."

  "What do you think we should do? I have been following you guys. Dusty, you said you had a plan." JT tried to keep his annoyance in check.

  "I knew there might be some tricky maneuvering but I wasn't expecting to find this big a mess," Dusty said, clearly unhappy with this turn of events. "Gus, any suggestions?"

  "We are about at the limit of the back roads and highways I know about around here. Of course, it would help if we knew where we were going."

  "That's the million dollar question you should be asking Dusty."

  JT heard scraping sounds close to them. The group turned as one towards the source. A female zombie was shuffling near the side of the road, heading towards them. Her white shoes dragged on the ground like it took to much energy to lift her feet. She must have been a nurse or some type ofmedical personnel in the real world. She wore blood caked light blue scrubs and her ID badge still hung from the clip on her waist. Along with a stethoscope still around her neck.

  "You think we should ask for directions?" Gus joked.

  "Everybody back in. Guess we will deal with whatever the road gives us," Dusty said softly.

  Everyone quickly jumped back in the vehicles and took off. As he watched Dusty rocket away, JT wished Dusty would have given him a moment to get the canvas top back on the Jeep. JT peeled out, trying to keep the SUV in sight.

  Dusty had gone up the ramp to the bridge. At the top of the exit ramp was a jack knifed semi. It almost completelyblocked the intersection. Dusty's brake lights flashed as he slipped around the crash.

  JT did not make it so nicely. He gunned the Jeep as he swerved around, feeling cocky. His back end swung around almost slamming into the semi. Then he had to stamp down hard on the brakes to avoid crashing into the SUV. Dusty had stopped in the middle of the Interstate entrance ramp.

  JT was pissed. He was ready to hop out of the Jeep and give Dusty a piece of his mind. Then he saw the reason whyhe had stopped so abruptly. Only a couple hundred yards up ahead was a horde of at least twenty, maybe even forty zombies. They all moved up the highway as one unit, heading right in their direction, like a herd of cattle being wrangled to the slaughterhouse. Except JT knew he would be the one eaten if they caught him.

  "What are we doing here?" Shouted JT to Dusty.

  "Turn it around, double time!" Dusty shouted back, hanging out the driver's side window.

  JT threw the Jeep in reverse and started to back up when out of nowhere a loud smack against the car startled him. The sound was followed by screams from the girls. A fast mover had come out of nowhere. It was clawing and flailing, trying to get a hold of Ashley. Ashley screamed, pressing her body as far away from the zombie as possible. The side bars were the only thing between Ashley and the zombie. If it acted as anything more than a dumb animal, it would have already gone around the bars and ripped Ashley to shreds.

  "GO! GO! GO!" shouted Hannah in a panic. JT saw a couple more runners had emerged from the horde. Three were coming up the ramp. One of them, a male dressed in grey sweat pants and a black hoodie, lunged himself onto the hood of the Jeep and began smashing its palms into the windshield.

  Forgetting he was still in reverse JT floored it. The Jeep shot backwards into the cab of the overturned semi. Ashley's attacker was smashed between the two vehicles. Its broken body hung suspended in the twisted metal.

  "Fuck!" JT shouted as he threw it into drive. He tried pulling forward. Tires spun, but the Jeep didn't move. Somehow he had become hung up with the semi.

  The zombie on the hood busted through the windshield. Its head thrust through a hole in the broken glass. It snapped at Tyrone. broken, jagged teeth inched closer to Tyrone's face. Tyrone quickly unbuckled the seat belt and slunk down onto the floorboard, screaming. A shot rang out, and the zombie fell lifeless. Through the spider webs of what was once the windshield, JT saw Dusty standing next to the SUV, rifle in hand.

  JT seized this opportunity. He hopped out of the Jeep to see where they were stuck. More gunfire erupted. He looked in the direction of the shots to see Dusty and Gus with rifles drawn. He turned back, needing to concentrate on his task at hand while they were trying to buy him some time.

  "No good!" He heard Dusty shout. "We have to move now!"

  "Tyrone!" JT yelled, trying to control the panic rising in his voice. "You need to get behind the wheel. When I push, I'll yell at you to step on the gas."

  Hannah jumped out of the Jeep beside him and grabbed his hand. She was sobbing "We need to run."

  She looked as terrified as JT had ever seen anyone look. He scanned the area. It seemed like out of nowhere the thirty or forty zombies from before had turned into what looked like a hundred. Quite a few of them were fast movers. They were barreling down on them from all directions.

  "The tree line!" Dusty commanded, pointing across the bridge. "We have to make it to that tree line to have a chance!"

  "Grab something and go people!" Alan chimed in.

  They moved as quickly as they could through the wreckage on the bridge. Tyrone was lightning fast, leaving them all behind. Gus and Alan blindly fired behind them into their pursuing assailants. Dusty walked backwards nonchalantly, firing with precision, dropping a zombie with every shot.

  John and Ashley were bringing up the rear. John was red faced as he stumbled along. He ran with his hands covering his ears. He looked panicked and afraid.

  "Move it girl!" Dusty growled as he fell back beside them. He grabbed Ashley by the arm pulling her to his speed as she struggled to keep up. "Here, take her superstar," he said as he passed her off to JT. JT was running as fast he could while staying next to Hannah. Now he was pulling A
shley along with his other handas well. She should have been able to run faster than him, but insteadshe seemed on the edge of hysteria. JT concentrated on keeping them all going. His knee burned in protest at the sudden activity.

  Dusty pulled ahead of everyone but Tyrone. He somersaulted over a dead tree that had snapped near its trunk and fallen over. He turned, steadying his rifle on the tree. Gus had fallen behind and was now back with John. The two of them scrambled along as the zombies closed in on them. Dusty started spraying rounds at the ones closing in on the two men.

  "We better get to moving or we're about to be missing parts of our ass cheeks!" Gus called over to John, in between breaths.

  Pop, pop, pop. The sound of gunfire filled JT's world. Even amongst the chaos, JT was fairly impressed at Dusty's skill and calm composure. JT, Ashley, and Hannah passed Dusty's position. JT turned and could see zombies were dropping fast.

  Dusty continued to lay down cover fire as John and Gus huffed and puffed their way past him. After thinning out most of the fast movers he retreated to catch up with the others.

  "We're going to have to make our way back to the vehicles somehow to retrieve our supplies," Dusty told them.

  "Go back? Are you crazy?" Gus said sporadically. He was bent over, leaning against a tree, sucking wind. "They can have my Snickers bars."

  JT looked around. "Where's Alan?" he asked.

  Gus could not give him a verbal answer. All he could manage was pointing to his left, making a circular motion and then a charade version of what JT guessed was driving a car.

  "Did he break for the cars by himself?" Dusty said, incredulous.

  Gus gave him a thumbs up in response. Dusty turned back surveying where they just came from.

  "Gus, can you and Hot Shot handle things here?" Dusty asked. "Should be safe for the moment. I'm gonna double back, catch up with Alan. Tyrone, John you're with me. Time to earn your keep."

  Tyrone looked surprised at Dusty's request. "I'm ready, sir."

  John looked terrified. "You really think I'm going to be much help?" John stuttered.

  John clearlydid not share Tyrone's enthusiasm. Gus slid down the tree until he was sitting on the ground, still catching his breath. Hannah and Ashley went over andjoined him.

  "Go," JT said, taking Dusty's spot at the tree.

  He kept a watchful eye as Dusty, John, and Tyrone disappeared back through the trees.

  Dusty led the three of themabout fifty yards out from their abandoned caravan.

  "Stop here, while I run a quick recon," Dusty said, eyeing the two men.

  John looked as if any minute he may throw up or pass out. Sweat was plastered all over his face. He was still wearing his suit. Moron. Dusty hoped this civilian didn't flake out on him. Tyrone was bouncing on his toes, looking scared but also in control of it. Kid has courage at least.

  Dusty looked through his scope trying to find Alan among the twenty or sodead still milling around the semi and their cars.

  "They all look like slow ones," Tyrone whispered. "I can be at the car before they get near me. Let me go, I can make it."

  "Calm down, kid. Don't get yourself killed. Let me try to find Alan first. I don't want this to turn into another rescue mission."

  Movement on the toppled semi drew Dusty's attention. He couldn't quite make out what was going on. He trained his scope on the semi. It was Alan. He had climbed on top of the overturned semi trailer. As Dusty watched, Alan slid on his belly across the trailer until he was looking over the edge. Alan looked up and down the length of the trailer. He eased over the edge of the trailer and jumped down to the ground. He looked off to his right as he tore up the ground like hell was behind him. Alan slid into the still running SUV. He slammed the gas pedal, leaving smoke and tire tracks behind him as he took off. He was headed right in their direction.

  The SUV bounced and shook as Alan ran over all the dead bodies in his way. Alan passed them without slowing down, his eyes large and wild. He took the SUV off-road, into the tree line. When it was out of sight, Dusty turned back to the semi. That's when he saw what had caused Alan to bug out.

  "Shit," Dusty rasped harshly. "Guys, get ready to run for your life!"

  The largest group of runners Dusty had ever seen followed in the SUV's wake. Numbers thathe quickly calculated would be overwhelming. Where were they all coming from? No time for that speculation now. He got moving, watching Tyrone leave him behind once again. That's when he realized he didn't know where John was. Had to be behind him. Dusty didn't know if he could save him this time.

  Dusty got into the trees, Tyrone long out of view. He looked through the bushes. John was running but Dusty could tell it was a losing battle. John wasn't going to make it.Should I risk myself trying to pick them off? There is no way I'm going to be able toget them all. I don't want the sound of my rifle to draw them all down on me.

  A tap on his shoulder made Dusty turn around and he just about took Tyrone's head off with his rifle butt. Tyrone flinched back.

  "Don't ever sneak up on me dammit!" Dusty hissed.

  "Point taken," Tyrone said, visibly shaken. "Alan just sent me back to tell you the SUV is right over there."

  Tyrone pointed at some thick bushes not far away. Dusty made a decision.

  "Follow me."

  Staying low, Dusty sprinted to where Tyrone had pointed. He foundthe SUV. Dusty yanked the door open.

  "Tyrone get in the back. Alan, turn this thing around. John...it's too late to save him."

  Without a word, Alan cranked the steering wheel. He doubled back, and the SUV emerged from the trees. Dusty could tell, they were too late. The three of them could only watch on in horror.

  John tripped and was instantly pounced on by a couple of runners. He hopelessly screamed for help. It was like watching a pride of lions take down a gazelle. Blood flew up into the air, along with bits of his suit, as John was ripped apart. Dusty felt guilty but also relieved when so many zombies had covered John that they blocked the gruesome sight. The last thing Dusty saw of John was one of his black dress shoes. It flew up into the air and landed right in front of themin the dirt. His foot and half of his calf still inside of it.

  "No reason for us to sit here. Let's go," Dusty said, thumping Alan in the arm.

  Alan looked over, his eyes glazed. He shook his head and put the SUV in reverse. Once again the sound of the car attracted attention. This time the zombies were too close to the wooded area to lose them. Dusty could see the fast movers in pursuit in the rear view mirrors. Ground and grass flew up behind them as the SUV rocked its way through the undergrowth. Dusty bounced and swayed in his seat.

  "That way," Dusty pointed, "we need to pick up the rest of them."

  Alan followed Dusty's motions and found the rest still around the big tree where they had left them.

  Dusty rolled down the window. "Everyone in!" he shouted.

  "We can't all fit in there," JT argued back.

  "We have to make it work and make it work right now! Unless you want to be zombie food like John! Shut up and get in!" Dusty was tired of this guy. Right now he wanted to leave him behind.

  Tyrone jumped over the back seat onto the heap of gear to make room. Ashley scrambled in and went overas well, landing next to Tyrone. Hannah and JT dived in the empty backseat. Gus was the last one in. The undead army closed within a few feet. Alan mashed the gas pedal spraying dirt and clumps of earth as they gained traction and took off. The undead kept coming, unaffected by the cloud of debris the SUV made in its wake.

  Ashley and Tyrone were protesting in pain as tents, weapons, and various other gear poked and prodded them with every bump. Alan refused to slow down as long as he could see zombies in the mirror. Dusty clenched his teeth tight. Alan's erratic driving made him fearful they were going to crash at any moment.

  Dusty felt like days had gone by before the zombies started to disappear behind them. They burst through a barbed wire fence onto a graded dirt road. Alan stopped the car in a cloud of dust. They a
ll crawled out of the SUV.

  "Leave it running again, just in case," Dusty barked.

  Immediately Dusty did a recon of the field. He swept his scope back and forth across the fields they fled across. Satisfied they had lost their pursuers, or they had given up, Dusty turned to the others. They were all just standing around the car. Most of them looked in shock.

  "I haven't had that much excitement since my first fuck," Gus said, mindlessly walking around in circles.

  "Ewww, really?" Ashley said, disgusted.

  "Alright people. Everyone okay?" Dusty said. He kept trying his best to ignore Gus's crude comments. He needed everyone focused on the mission of staying alive.

  "Wait a sec where's John?" Hannah looked confused.

  Tyrone and Alan stared at the ground as she looked for an answer.

  Dusty looked grim. "I'm afraid that he was our first casualty."

  There was shuffling and mumbling within the group. John's loss took Dusty back to thinking about how this started. Every morning since, he went to sleep and woke up with twinges of guilt. Maybe part of it was survivor's guilt, but he couldn't help but think thathe should have stayed at his post, with his troops, when the zombies attacked. Or at least tried to convince a few to come with him. It all happened so fast though...

  Dusty shook his head. It was too late to do anything about that now, but here was a chance to maybe make things right. He decided he was going to stay with these civilians. Protect them as best he could. Dusty vowed then he would do everything in his power to make John the only one. Even JT. If they would listen to him, they would stay alive.

  "What's that on the ground?" Ashley said, breaking into Dusty's thoughts.

  She was pointing at the ground. Something was darkening the dirt around the back of the SUV. Dusty crouched down, touched it, and smelled his fingers.

  "Smells like gas," he said.

  "Musta punched a hole in the tank during our get away," Gus ventured.