by Davis, James
“Close it! Close it! Close it!” Tyler shouted before the horde smashed through the door.
“Move!” Johnny screamed, firing several more rounds into the horde as they tripped and fell over one another. The three men backed into the main part of the building slamming the door closed behind them and shoving a large wooden desk in front of it.
“Find the keys to something fast!” Johnny shouted as he held his aim on the blocked door. The monsters started slamming into it over and over as Johnny continued to hold his aim. Dents started to appear in the door as the undead continued to slam into it.
“Hurry up!” Johnny shouted, backing away from the door as it started to bow inwards under the pressure. The sound of a horn blaring caused Johnny to wince as he continued backing up. The noise seemed to excite the creatures as they slammed into the door harder and harder.
“Got it!” Roosevelt shouted just as the door smashed open. He jumped in the car, a brand new 2048 Dodge Charger, and pushed the start button on the clicker. The engine roared to life just as Johnny dove into the front seat.
“Go, go, go!” Tyler shouted from the back seat, the horde now only a few feet from crashing into the side of the car. Roosevelt stomped down on the accelerator, the engine roared and the tires grabbed as the horde slammed into the rear end of the jet-black car. The back glass shattered with the force before the car launched forward and crashed through the display window. Roosevelt cut the wheel hard to the right sending the muscle car into a fishtail. Zombies poured from the shattered front window of the dealership in search of the fresh meat that was just within their grasp. Roosevelt spun the wheel back to the left straightening the car out before stomping back down on the gas. The car's tires caught traction and launched them down the street away from the sprinting horde.
“Jesus Christ! That was too damn close!” Johnny shouted in between gasps of breath. Roosevelt didn’t say a word. He just drove. A few minutes later a ding sounded from the car. Roosevelt searched the instrument panel for the cause of the noise and cursed when he spotted the low fuel light.
“Damn dealerships never leave any gas in these stupid cars!” Roosevelt said.
“Let’s just head out of town and find a gas station somewhere away from people. Maybe it won’t be too crowded with those undead bastards,” Johnny said.
“Pull up a map on your phone and find one,” Roosevelt said, glancing over at his friend. Johnny pulled his phone from his pocket and pulled up Google maps. After a few minutes searching he looked up and said.
“Bingo! Take the next right then stay on that road for eight miles. Bud’s One Stop will be on the left,” Johnny explained as he pointed at the upcoming turn. Roosevelt slowed the car down and took the turn before stomping back down on the throttle. The car took off down the road, the engine screaming with every mile as houses gradually turned to swampy land and palm trees. Minutes later Roosevelt started to slow the car as they passed a large billboard stating Bud’s One Stop was only a mile ahead. Roosevelt spotted the small station and slowed the car to a creep before stopping a few blocks away.
“You see any threats up there?” Roosevelt asked, craning his neck to try and see further ahead. Johnny opened his door and stepped out, watching the store intently.
“Looks clear to me,” he said as he sat back down in his seat.
“Tyler, you keep watch and pump the gas while we run in to grab a few supplies,” Roosevelt said as he pulled the car up to the pump.
“Use your credit card to start the pump,” Johnny instructed as they all got out of the car.
“Got it. Grab me a Red Bull while you’re in there,” Tyler said. Johnny didn’t reply. He followed Roosevelt to the door and they each peered in through the window.
“Looks like no one is home,” Roosevelt said.
“Stack up on me,” Johnny said, taking his spot at the door.
“Only have three shots left,” Roosevelt replied.
“Same here. Use them wisely,” Johnny replied before pushing through the doors and clearing the right side. Roosevelt moved in clearing the left and then met Johnny in the middle. The store was empty. Not a single customer or clerk in sight.
“You get food and I’ll grab drinks,” Roosevelt said as he headed toward the back wall where the soda coolers were. Johnny nodded and headed for the front counter to get a couple of bags. He pulled several plastic bags from behind the counter and then turned to go grab some food. He stopped dead in his tracks, spotting a shelf behind the counter near the floor full of different caliber pistol and rifle ammo.
“Hell yes! Thank God for rednecks!” Johnny said with a whoop.
“What do you got?” Roosevelt asked as he came around the chip aisle with an arm load of energy drinks, water, and sodas. Johnny smiled and held up two boxes of Hornady 9 mm shells.
“There's a few hundred rounds for our nines here at least!” Johnny said as he grabbed the several more boxes of ammo.
“Too bad we don't have a couple AR’s with us. I bet there's a thousand rounds of 5.56 here at least,” Roosevelt said, squatting down to read each box. Johnny reached down and grabbed a trashcan full of torn up scratch offs and dumped the trash into the floor.
“Get it all,” Johnny said, handing Roosevelt the plastic can.
“We can get rifles later. I figure ammo will be at a premium,” He added as he started bagging up the drinks and food. Pained screams from outside grabbed each of their attention and they both took off toward the door. Johnny burst through the door, Roosevelt right on his heels. They stopped and glanced around looking for Tyler but couldn't find him.
“Tyler!” Johnny shouted, looking from left to right. A wet gurgling sound by the car caught their attention and the pair moved forward to investigate. Tyler lay on the ground covered in his own blood as an old white-haired man in blue overalls hovered over him tearing chunks of his throat away.
“Son of bitch!” Johnny growled as he raised his pistol and fired a single round into the back of the old man's head.
“We told your stupid ass to keep watch!” Johnny shouted after spotting Tyler’s phone in his hand.
“Better put a round in his head too before he turns,” Roosevelt said, turning and heading back inside to get all of their stuff. Johnny raised his Beretta and fired another round, this one smashing into Tyler’s forehead.
“Damn it, Tyler! You could have played with your damn phone after we got back on the road, dumbass!” Johnny growled, annoyed at the stupidity of the man's death. Johnny sighed and stepped over to the pumps and finished topping off the tank. Roosevelt came out with two arms full of stuff and placed it all in the back seat.
“Got one more load to grab,” he said before turning and heading back inside. Johnny reached into the trashcan and grabbed a box of shells and started reloading his mags while he waited on his friend. Thirty seconds later Roosevelt was putting the last of their supplies in the back seat and climbing behind the wheel.
Epilogue
11:31 a.m. Christmas Day 2048
Orlando, Florida
“We’re almost there. Load my mag for me,” Roosevelt said as he blew past another horde of the undead. The interstate was littered with stopped or wrecked cars and massive crowds of zombies. Roosevelt guided the car down an off ramp and spun the wheel to the left. The car slid sideways before catching traction and straightening back out. Roosevelt stomped down on the gas, pushing the car up to eighty miles per hour down a residential street. Parked cars and houses whipped past as Roosevelt navigated through Johnny's subdivision.
“Give me your gun,” Johnny said as Roosevelt slowed the car to turn onto Johnny's street. He handed him the pistol and Johnny slapped the mag in and racked a round into the chamber.
“Get ready!” Roosevelt said as he pulled the car up into Johnny's driveway. He shut the car off and they both jumped out and headed for the door. Johnny pulled his keys from his pocket but stopped as they ran around the corner of his front entryway. The front door stood wide
open, and streaks of blood ran up into the house.
“No, no!” Johnny said with a harsh whisper, raising his pistol and entering his home. He cleared left and then right stopping once he made it to the living room. Blood covered the sofa and shattered coffee table causing Johnny to break down into hyst eric s .
“Oh God, baby, no!” He moaned as he fell to his knees and sobbed loudly.
“Johnny, come on, we have to check the rest of the house,” Roosevelt said but it was no use. Johnny wasn’t in any shape to do anything at that moment. Roosevelt raised his pistol and moved toward the kitchen where more blood covered the floors. A sick feeling crept into his stomach as he rounded the hallway corner and spotted a dark-skinned leg sticking out of the bathroom door.
“Ruby!” Roosevelt screamed as he sprinted down the hall. The blood-soaked floor caused him to slide past his wife’s still corpse. He slammed down on his ass and slid into the far wall before scrambling on all fours back toward his wife. Ruby lay face down in a pool of blood, the back of her head caved in from a small concrete horse statue that lay beside her. Roosevelt flipped her over onto her back and began to weep as his wife’s milk white eyes stared blankly back at him.
“Oh, God Ruby, baby, no! No!” Roosevelt screamed as loud as he could until he thought his vocal cords would snap.
“Roosevelt!” Johnny shouted in between sobs as he got to his feet and headed toward his friend's cries. Johnny rounded the corner and spotted his friend hunched over a still figure sobbing loudly.
“Oh shit, Rosie,” Johnny said from the end of the hall. He stared down at his feet and waited for his friend to calm down. A guttural growl caught his attention and his head snapped up just in time to see Tracy headed right for Roosevelt, her milky white eyes locked on his friend.
“Tracy? Tracy!” Johnny called, worry creeping into his voice.
“Rosie, look out!’ Johnny screamed as he raised his pistol and started firing round after round into his wife's chest and face. Tracy’s small frame stumbled back away from Roosevelt as each round slammed into her chest and lower jaw. She regained her footing and started forward again, but Johnny gritted his teeth and steadied his aim.
“I’m so sorry, baby,” Johnny said in a low voice before squeezing the trigger. The round smashed through his wife's forehead and sent her brains splattering all over the wall of pictures behind her. The now lifeless corpse of Tracy Truman fell to the floor silent and still. Johnny dropped to his knees and started to dry-heave, his stomach still empty from the past two days. The acid from his stomach burned his throat as he continued to heave over and over until finally, he had nothing left to expel. He sat back on his knees and wiped his mouth with his sleeve. He looked over to Roosevelt who was now standing and staring down at Tracy’s corpse. He looked back at Johnny, tears welling up in his eyes as he realized what his friend was forced to do in order to save his life.
“Oh, God, Johnny, no!” Roosevelt said as he dropped down next to his friend and wrapped an arm around his shoulder. Johnny sobbed harder than he had since he was a ten-year-old boy. Roosevelt pulled him in tight and just sat there with his friend until the sobs finally passed.
“We have to get out of here,” Johnny finally said, wiping the spit and snot from his mouth and nose. Roosevelt just nodded his head as they got to their feet exhausted from the day's events.
“I’m going to grab some clothes,” Johnny said as he moved down the hall to his bedroom. Roosevelt followed, stepping over Tracy’s lifeless body into the bedroom. Johnny grabbed a duffle from his closet and started mindlessly stuffing clothes inside. Once it was full, he zipped the bag and headed for the door. Johnny stopped in the living room and turned to look one more time at his family's home. The heartache and pain of having to shoot his wife would stay with him for the rest of his life and he knew there was no way he would ever be able to stay in this house again after today.
“You ok?” Roosevelt asked quietly, kicking himself as soon as the words left his mouth. Johnny shook his head.
“No, man, I’m pretty damn far from ok. You?” Johnny asked.
“Same,” Roosevelt replied simply. Johnny nodded.
“I understand,” he said moving toward the front door. The two walked outside and stopped next to the car. Johnny looked the car over and then shook his head.
“We’re going to have to find something better than this. We need something with four-wheel drive,” Johnny stated, tossing his bag into the back seat. Roosevelt nodded and opened the car door as Johnny turned to take one last look at his home. He shook his head in disgust and then climbed into the car ready to be as far away from the nightmare that was his home as he possibly could get. Roosevelt backed the car down the driveway and out onto the street. He shifted the gear into drive and then eased down on the gas. Guiding the car down the street Roosevelt slowed and took the first right before applying more pressure to the throttle. The car took off down the street as Roosevelt guided it back out onto the main road.
“Now what? Our women are dead and we have nothing left. What's our next move?” Roosevelt asked as he brought the car up to thirty miles per hour. Johnny shrugged and looked over at his friend.
“There’s nothing keeping us here now. What do you say we head to Colorado?” Johnny asked.
“Your dad, or Doc Winters?” Roosevelt asked.
“Both,” Johnny replied. Roosevelt seemed to mull this around for a minute before finally shrugging his shoulders and saying.
“Why not? Anywhere beats here at this point,” Johnny nodded and pulled his phone from his pocket. He typed in his dad's address into the Google maps search bar and then placed the phone in a holder on the dash for Roosevelt to see.
“Colorado it is. Let’s get the hell out of here!” he said as he reclined his seat and settled in for the long ride ahead.
END
FROM THE AUTHORS
Thank you for your purchase of MARZ, the first book in our MARZ series. If you liked it, or even if you didn't, we want to hear from you. If you could take a few moments to leave an honest review on Amazon, we would appreciate it. Your review helps us hone and improve our writing so that the next project can be even better than the last. Your review also helps this book get in front of other people so that they can enjoy it as much as you did. We appreciate all of your feedback and support. This journey would not be possible without it.
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More by James Davis and James Aldridge
Marz Book Two ( Preorder now! )
Marz Book Three (Releasing November 21st !)
Marz Book Four(Coming soon!)