by Smith, I. J.
“Just die you fuck,” Kane told him.
Jack eyesight dulled for a moment and then he surprised Kane when he began laughing.
Moving his head closer he whispered to Kane, “I enjoyed killing that fucking evil bitch Alina slowly,” with the biggest smile on his face.
Kane was about to respond when Jack lunged at him, he bit down on Kane’s nose, as he screamed Jack ripped the nose from his face. As Kane fell back screaming, blood gushed from his face, Jack spat out a huge amount of flesh and blood. Stumbling backwards, Frank grabbed him and dragged him to the chained Zombie, “Dinner time!” he shouted as he threw Kane at the dead. The zombie took little time tearing into the flesh of Kane.
Frank turned his attention to Jack; he looked as Jack pulled the blade from his stomach, dropping it to the floor, quickly followed by Jack landing on his knees. The blood poured out, he already felt drained, he knew this was it for him.
Rushing to his side, Frank grabbed an old shirt that lay on the ground and pushed into the wound, “Come one, you're not dying here,” Frank told him.
“Get out of here, please,” Jack, told him with emotion.
“No, no, I’m not leaving you,” he replied as he tried to lift Jack up.
Frank was very weak after the torture he endured; he looked to a now clothed Zarina and shouted, “HELP US!” She remained frozen to the spot, “HE FUCKING CAME FOR US, NOW HELP ME!” he screamed again with his voice trembling in fear. Zarina ran and placed Jack’s arm around her shoulder, Frank took the other arm and together they helped him towards the stairs.
On the level below, the car park was burning, flames surrounded Alina as she was still trying to crawl away. As she dragged herself, the flesh on her hands began to pull apart, her face was ravished in blisters, she could only see out of the one eye. The flames surrounded her, as a car came bursting through them, a tattooed woman jumped out of the car, “BOSS,” she screamed. Alina attempted to look up, she reached out to the woman, who without hesitation ran to her. Trying to be careful, she lifted up Alina, who screamed out in pain, and carried her to the back of the car. Once inside the car drove off at speed.
Coming down the stairs Zarina and Frank struggled with Jack, who was now practically dead weight. Knowing he was slowing them down, he pushed them away. Jack fell to the floor, he propped himself up against the wall. Frank tried grabbing his arm again, but Jack pushed him away again.
“Move, that’s an order!” Frank screamed at him.
He looked at Frank in the eyes, he gave a happy look to him, “You never could control me,” he laughed.
“Jack, we can get you out of here,” Frank replied.
“Then what, are you going to rush me to the hospital,” he joked.
Frank lowered his face, “Please Jack, come on. We need you,” he told him gently.
Shaking his head, he responded, “No, they need you more. This journey is just beginning, I cleared the road, but now you have to travel down it without me,” he replied through a struggling voice.
Zarina stood watching at the emotion on Franks face. Jack looked up to her, “You have to get her out of here, there are others outside waiting for you to take them to safety. Look for Alice, she will help,” Jack struggled to say.
“Don’t give up! Please?” Frank asked of him.
Struggling Jack removed his backpack and gave it to Frank, “You have to protect them now; you have to make sure they survive. Frank, you have more in you than you know. I am proud to call you my friend,” he spoke in pain.
Frank took the backpack, “I will wait with you,” he told him.
Jack smiled, pulling his sidearm out, “I don’t plan on bleeding to death or being a fucking buffet or a walking corpse. Now go,” he spoke.
Frank hesitated to move. Jack held the gun towards Frank, “I’m not sure how many bullets I have, so don’t make me waste it,” he told him.
Frank placed his hand around Jack’s head and placed his head against his, “I’m going to miss you,” he whispered in his ear. Frank stood up, and walked towards Zarina, “Come on,” he told her. He took one last glance back at Jack, who smiled at him and gave a salute. Frank, held back the tears and walked away, leaving Jack behind.
Sitting there alone, Jack spoke to himself, “I should have joined the Navy,” he gave a little laugh. The groaning of the dead started to become louder, they were getting closer. “I’m sorry Elle, I hope you know I am in love with you,” he sighed. He held the gun to his head, “Well, let’s do this dance in hell,” he spoke his final words. He pressured trigger.
BANG!
A gunshot sounded out, Frank stopped and looked back at the doorway to the stairs. Emotion took over and he could not hold it back. A tear rolled from his eye, Zarina carefully took his hand, “He was a hero,” she told him.
“No, he was a man doing the right thing,” he replied.
She gripped his hand and together they rushed towards the outside, avoiding the zombies around them as they ran through.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
TIME TO GO
Frank and Zarina ran from the building into the night sky, they were shocked to see several people fighting against the zombies. Blood covered the streets, bodies of the dead piled up, a man noticed them.
“Zarina!” he shouted out.
The man ran to her and hugged her, “Zack, you made it,” she replied.
A woman joined them, “You made it,” she said. She looked at Frank, “You must be Jack’s friend,” she smiled. “I cannot believe he did it, where is he?” she asked.
The expression on Franks face told her everything she needed to know. Her eyes filled with tears, “It’s not fair,” she spoke out.
“No, it’s not, but he wanted me to make sure you were all safe. You should all come with me to my team, and then we can get out of this damn city,” he told her.
She simply nodded, taking hold of Zack’s hand. Together they walked away to tell the others, Frank took one last look back at the car park, in hope that a miracle had happened. However, the only thing in sight was corpses, and smoke.
All together, they walked away towards the others, at the store waiting for them.
Back, at the furniture store the area was now clear, not a zombie in sight. The sun was beginning to rise; Ryan was working on the engine of the bus with Zoe standing guard. Elle was patching Brays re-opened shoulder wound up on the bus; Eddie sat at the back of the bus with Paige. He was stroking her repeatedly and looked like the happiest person in the world because of it. They had removed what they needed from the store and now stayed on the bus, waiting for their friends to return.
Suddenly the engine roared, “Way to go Ryan!” Bray shouted out.
“Do you think he is OK?” he asked Elle.
“Who Jack, he will be fine. He is too crazy not to be,” she joked.
“No, I mean Ryan. He went a little crazy back there,” he replied.
Elle looked through the window at him and Zoe, “We can only take so much before we snap, perhaps he finally had enough,” she told him softly.
“We should keep an eye on him,” he told her.
Elle smiled, “Once we get out of this city, things will get easier,” he replied. She finished bandaging him up, when Zoe shouted out, “Out here!” she told them.
An excited Elle ran from the bus to see a group of people walking towards them, she smiled as she recognized Frank in front leading them. She looked for Jack in the group, but thought to herself, he will be guarding them from behind, as Frank came into view she could see his battered face.
Bray joined Elle, Zoe and Ryan. Frank walked towards them, he had been beaten badly, Zoe noticed his hand with two fingers missing.
Elle hugged him, “you made it,” she smiled.
Frank showed no expression, she looked around the survivors, “You and Jack saved all these people,” she spoke with excitement. She looked around more and more, the expression on her face began to change from excitement to fear.
Frank raised his head, looking at the sky, he struggled to speak, emotion took over. He locked eyes with Elle, he wanted to say something, but the words would not come. He shook his head as his eyes glazed over.
Elle stepped back, shaking her head, everyone knew, she tried to hold it in. Zoe tried to put her arms around her, but Elle pushed her away. She walked towards the bus, before she reached the door; she collapsed to her knees crying.
Bray could not believe it, “How?” he asked.
Alice spoke out, “He saved us, all of us.”
“We should go,” Bray spoke out.
A few hours had passed, Ryan was driving the bus, Bray approached him, “You OK driving?” he asked.
Ryan did not reply, “Ryan,” Bray spoke again.
He glanced to Bray, “Yeah, I’m good,” he barely spoke. The truth was Ryan was feeling the loss of Jack. Since he beginning he had been the spine of the group and now feared without him they were condemned.
Zoe was tending to Frank, wrapping his hand up. “I can’t believe the bitch did this to you,” she told him.
Frank simply replied, “At least I got away.”
He looked over his shoulder to see Elle sitting at the back of the bus alone, her head resting on the glass and her eyes red raw from crying. “I don’t think she will ever forgive me,” Frank spoke to Zoe.
She finished wrapping his hand up, “It wasn’t your fault, so don’t go blaming yourself. Jack would not want that,” she told him firmly.
“He should have left me, and never come looking,” he told her.
Zoe got angry, “Stop the self-pity, the truth is Jack saved all of us, the least we can do is make sure we honor his memory and not give up,” she snapped at him.
Before he could reply Bray approached them, “We are out the city and the road is clear ahead, there are some stores around here and I think we should look for some supplies,” he told them.
“Good idea, you and Zoe go and scout, I will look around the other side,” he told them.
“We shouldn’t split up,” Bray quickly replied.
Frank stood up, “Elle is in no frame of mind to help and it is our duty to look after these people. So, we will do what I said and that is an order,” he told Bray straight.
There was no response.
Ryan stopped the bus, Bray and Zoe went across to look at nearby buildings. Frank started to leave the bus and spoke to Ryan, “Shut these doors behind me and if there are any problems just leave,” he told him. He walked away before Ryan could reply, he disappeared from sight.
Frank walked towards some buildings, he looked to make sure he was not being watched; he walked past them and walked in behind a wall. He opened the backpack he had and pulled out the radio he found at the MI6 building. He tuned it to a set frequency, pressing the button he spoke.
“THIS IS CORPORAL FRANK ADAMS, THIS IS A MESSAGE FOR CAPTIAN JENKINS,” he paused for a moment looking around again. “LANCE-CORPORAL JACK MASON IS DEAD, WE NEED TO TALK, I WILL GO LIVE AGAIN AT 2300 HOURS.”
He placed the radio in his bag and walked back towards the bus.
SHORT STORY ONE
DEAD & ALIVE
OURBREAK
CHAPTER ONE
OASIS
A town in the south of England called Gosport has a rich military history. During the war, underground warehouses were created. Not to protect people, but to hide a massive store of weapons.
Over the years, places like this have become privatized. These underground warehouses are protected by armed guards and perimeter fences covering five miles in each direction.
Today was a special day.
A fleet of black 4x4 vehicles approached the gates. The guard was simply waved away; the occupants were officially never there.
The gates opened and the vehicles drove a mile into the grounds. A small building stood isolated, several people waited outside for the important visitors.
Several people emerged from the vehicles; Three men and two women. All were dressed in black, they remained silent not even talking to each other.
A large overweight man appeared, walked towards them. He wore a jacket that was too small; a white shirt with a crooked tie, his stomach hanging over his trousers and he had short, shabby grey hair.
“Great you could all make it, I am Doctor Steven Banks,” he greeted them holding out his hand.
The five people simply stared at him, one of the women stepped forward. “We are not here for names. We are here to see what the millions in research has built for us!” she stated.
Steven simply shook his head, he was also scared of these people.
He turned and walked back towards the building, followed by his guests.
“As you know, we have been developing a non-fatal weapon,” he was saying when he was interrupted.
“Non-fatal!” a male loudly said.
Steven turned to look back at the guests, sweat covered his brow. “Yes. It is a biological weapon. When dispersed it will blanket an area, and will neutralize everyone in the area,” he replied.
“Neutralize how?” one of the women asked.
Steven wiped the sweat from his forehead. “Basically, it gives people a bad form of the flu. The body can naturally fight it off in 48 hours, but it will not kill them. Once spread, you could stop an entire army without firing a shot and they would be unable to fight back,” Steven told them.
A man in a black suit chuckled. “I doubt it would be that effective,” he replied.
Two people in white, long coats stood by a missile launcher. Steven guided the visitors towards them. One of the people by the missile launcher was holding a green glass case, she was loading it into the missile.
When the glass case was loaded, Steven told the visitors, “We are ready!”
One of the men spoke out, “Wait, are we testing this on British soil?”
A woman from the same group stepped forward. “It is the only way. A non-fatal weapons test has been agreed upon from the very top. Besides with current affairs abroad this is the only viable option,” she told him.
“Can we trust this is safe?” the man asked her.
The woman smiled. “We have worked alongside Oasis for many years. They have proven their work many times. Anyway, just in case we have an antidote waiting for any unforeseen problems,” she told him.
With no one else speaking out the woman turned to Steven and nodded her head, giving him the sign to proceed.
Steven moved to a nearby computer terminal.
“3…2…1…AND MISSILE AWAY!” he announced.
The missile launched towards the south.
With a big smile on his face, “You should see results within the hour,” he said in an excited voice.
The sun was shining over the water. The local ferry was going back and forth from the next town. The area was alive with activity, children played on the grass while eating their ice creams. Parents laughed aloud, enjoying the company of other parents. Young couples walked hand in hand, falling in love.
On a wooden bench dedicated to the memory of World War Two, an old man sat. Holding his walking stick in one hand and an ice cream in the other, that was melting under the sun making the cream run through his fingers. He looked at the sun glistening of the calm water. He smiled to himself, thinking this was a perfect day.
The sound of children and laughter suddenly stopped.
A loud thunderous noise sounded overhead. The old man looked up to see a large object break apart and fall into the water.
Everyone looked out to the water, but soon turned their attention back to having a fun day.
Whatever it was they laughed it off as nothing important.
The old man still sat on the bench, his mind drifted to his late wife. She had passed away a few months ago and now his life was simply one of
waiting to join her.
He started to cough violently, dropping his ice cream to the ground. He looked around and was shocked to see almost everyone else was coughing too. The old man coughed violently again, covering his mouth with his hand. Once the cough eased off, he moved his hand to reveal that he was coughing up blood.
Suddenly screams echoed throughout the area. Parents rushed to their children. Everyone was coughing up blood.
The old man sighed, “OH NO!”
CHAPTER TWO
IMPACT
“NURSE! WE HAVE MORE COMING IN!” A male voice shouted.
In the last hour the local emergency medical center had been overrun. The War Memorial hospital was normally for minor injuries, but the last hour had seen hundreds of people walking in complaining of similar symptoms.
Headaches, blurred vision, sick to their stomach, and a pain in the back of the head that felt like nothing they’d ever had before. Doctors and Nurses were stretched beyond their capabilities.
People screamed for help. Children cried in pain. A child began vomiting blood. A nurse ran for the child, scooping the youngster in her arms she ran down the corridor to find a bed. Placing her on a bed in the corridor, the nurse looked around for a sign of the child’s parents.
Checking out the young girl lying there. The nurse could see all the color was gone from her face, her fingers had begun to turn blue as if she was freezing, but a touch of the girl’s forehead was to find it was one of overwhelming heat.
The corridors of the hospital were beginning to fill fast with severely ill people.
The nurse trying to help the little girl wore a name tag, ‘Raven.’ The name suited her; she had the darkest black hair and smooth olive skin. She looked like the kind of woman who never needed makeup.
The child began to shake, Raven held her down to stop her hurting herself. The young child’s body suddenly went stiff. Raven looked into the eyes of the child. Feeling for her pulse and found none.