The Z-Strain Trilogy Box Set [Books 1-3]

by Morris, SJ

  I ignored him and started walking to my car.

  He, of course, chased after me, knowing why I was apprehensive about talking to him. Before I even had to put my fear into words, he assured me that everything was okay. He said that he had already checked with his superiors, and we were allowed to associate with one another.

  He explained it had something to do with him, “Not really being in the shit, and he was just a jarhead that wouldn’t understand anything I had been doing anyway.”

  So, according to Jack and his “superior,” it was okay for us to associate with one another.

  However, who was I kidding? His fantastic smile had sealed the deal with me the second I saw him, even with a possible pending court-martial.

  So, just like that, he was walking me to my car, talking about restaurants, and opening my door for me.

  We went to a little Italian restaurant, and the food was amazing, considering it was Italian, and we were in Georgia and not New York or New Jersey.

  We talked all the way through dinner, dessert, and until the restaurant was closing. We told each other about our families, growing up, favorite movies, music, books, and our dreams for the future. The military had discharged him for medical reasons, even though he was healthier than a lot of other twenty-six-year-old men I knew. I assumed it had to do with the virus his team came in contact with, but I didn’t say anything to Jack at the time.

  I lived in Hamilton, New Jersey at the time. Jack and I hit it off so well, he decided to travel to New Jersey with me. He didn’t have a place to stay that wasn’t on a military base, and since he was discharged, he needed somewhere new to call home. He was living in a no-tell motel as close to my house as he could get for a short while and ended up moving in with me after our third date.

  Jack quickly found a job as a firefighter, and I quickly settled into a life with a man that I still barely knew.

  Now looking back, it was stupid and impulsive, but back then, we rationalized that we had both just been through something crazy, he had no place to go, and we got along well enough. So, why not, right?

  We were young and that made it a great idea!

  Yeah, it still sounds stupid, I know. Even having done it myself, I’d always advise our kids against taking such a foolish chance, but it didn’t matter for us. Jack and I were perfect for each other.

  Within ten months, we were engaged, and less than a year after that, we were married.

  I was pregnant with Lance before our first wedding anniversary. I was pregnant with Tyler before Lance was one, and Allycia followed three years later. It all happened fairly quickly, but we were happy together, and we both got the family we had always wanted.

  I wish I’d known I was only going to get sixteen years with Jack. We might have gotten married even sooner.

  Jack was a great firefighter. So great, it’s what ended up killing him.

  His department was called to a neighboring town to assist with a fully involved apartment fire. Jack and his partner, Justin, went to the third floor where a mother and her two young daughters were hanging from a window. The rest of the crews were helping run water lines to the complex and get the ladder up to the third floor.

  Jack grabbed the two little girls, and Justin had the mother. They had them huddled close to the floor away from the darkening smoke and giving them oxygen as they waited for the ladder to be posted at the window.

  The stairs were far too unstable to attempt getting out that way, and there was a problem with the ladder, so it was taking longer than usual. The floor beneath them was beginning to buckle under the heat of the fire, and the weight of the water being used to extinguish the blaze.

  Finally, the ladder arrived.

  Justin was the closest to the window, so he went out first. He perched himself at the top of the ladder and pulled the woman out with him. He wanted the girls to feel safe, climbing out to their mother and not just onto a huge ladder with a man in full turnout gear and oxygen mask.

  Kids are always scared of getting on the ladder, and Justin’s trick worked with the oldest girl, but the younger one was not going to be so easy. She got up to the edge of the window with Jack encouraging her to go out to her mother and sister, but she jumped around Jack, screaming that she couldn’t leave her teddy bear behind. Jack went after her, but not before he ordered Justin to wait on the ladder and not to enter the house again because the floor was going to give way at any minute. Justin reluctantly waited on the ladder for Jack and the little girl to return.

  There were loud cracks and snaps from inside the building. The mother began to scream for her daughter, and just as a massive crashing sound erupted from the structure, the little girl appeared at the window. She was blackened with ash and had her teddy bear squeezed tightly against her chest. Jack pushed her into Justin’s arms.

  “Tell my family I love them very much,” he said, just as the floor gave way.

  The building buckled in on itself, and in an instant, Jack was gone. He was buried under tons of burning debris. The girls, the mother, and the rest of Jack’s crew were safe.

  Jack wouldn’t have had it any other way.

  That was the man I fell in love with, the man I planned on growing old with. He gave up everything to save someone else. I could lie and say I was only proud of how selfless he was, but that’s just not how I am.

  I’m a creature of truth, so I’ll always tell you how it is, and I was angry.

  I was mad at him for leaving his children, his brothers at the fire department and in the military, his friends, and most of all… me.

  He gave it all up. All for some little girl he didn’t even know. I eventually realized how wrong I had been for being mad at him. Especially since if I were ever in that situation, not that I thought I would be in a million years, I would have done the exact same thing.

  Soon after Jack passed, I found out he’d been hiding a lot from me.

  It wasn’t necessarily dire information that dealt crushing blows to our now fractured family, but it was a little shocking to find out he doubled the life insurance policy on both of us a few years after our first child was born.

  Granted, now the benefits I received more than covered the mortgage on the house in Hamilton as well as the cabin in Pine Lakes, New Jersey. The kids’ college funds were taken care of with his firefighter’s pension, and the money from the military took care of the rest.

  However, the financial relief was little solace, and the monetary stability his death provided our family eclipsed any sense of aggravation I might have experienced, had I known about the arrangements Jack made.

  When Jack died, I quit my job to spend time with my kids, since it seemed like the right thing to do.

  We always said if we ever had enough money to live off of without working that we were going to do it right away to spend time with each other and our family. It’s just sad that it took his death for me to be able to follow through with our dream.

  In the beginning, I was strong for the kids, and when I went to bed at night, alone, I would think to myself, “What’s the purpose without Jack?”

  Something would always happen to pull me out of my reverie like the dog would start barking at the window or Allycia would come in, asking to sleep with me. It felt as if Jack was there with me, in some shape or form making sure I didn’t keep those thoughts for very long.

  It might sound stupid, but I sure hope he’s with me every now and again. I know, weird coming from a person of science, huh?

  I was shaken from my memories by my cell phone buzzing loudly in my pocket, which was weird since everyone that normally would be calling was with me.

  Both of my parents died in a car accident when I was twenty, and I didn’t have any family that I’ve seen or talked to since Jack’s funeral. Jack was an only child, and his parents had moved to Australia right after we got married.

  So, when I fished the phone out of my pocket, I was not surprised that I didn’t recognize the number.

 
“Hello?” I answered quickly.

  “Abbigail, Abbigail Norrington?”

  “Yes, this is she, who is this?”

  “This is Troy. We worked together in Atlanta a while ago. I have to keep this brief, and I’m sorry, but I hope you listen to me. Your husband, Jack, kept in touch with me after we were released from Atlanta. He made me promise to tell you when it got out again if he wasn’t around to do so himself. This is me keeping my promise, so please, listen to everything I have to say before you ask any questions.”

  “Wait, what? Troy, from the CDC?”

  “Yes, Abby, please just listen. I kept researching that virus your husband’s team came in contact with. I was able to hack into the USAMRIID database and get most of our work back. With Jack’s account of what happened with his team in Africa, I was able to piece a lot of things together, and it’s bad. It’s all bad. I started calling it the Z-Strain since it turns every living cell it touches into what can only be described as a zombie. Weird, I know, but just listen. Whatever it touches appears dead but is somehow still animated, as if it were alive. People are infected by the exchange of bodily fluids; that includes bites, scratches, and any blood from an infected person getting in your eyes, mouth, or open wounds. When people are infected, they go into a coma-like state, which is what we saw with the soldiers back in Georgia. Then the victim, for all intents and purposes, die. After a short period of nothing, they reanimate and are highly aggressive. They appear to only have one driving force, and that’s to kill and infect. It’s awful, and it’s out again, Abbigail.”

  This made me take in a breath and interrupt him, “How could this be? You have to be misinterpreting what the virus is doing to people. There’s just no way!”

  “Abbigail, I’ve seen it with my own eyes. I was sent a video of someone who was infected, and they were tearing apart a child. It was the woman’s own child, Abbigail. It’s happening.”

  “How is this possible?”

  “I was told there was another team of soldiers who encountered the same virus as Jack and his team. They apparently were just as unlucky. Except for this time, the virus seemed to work much faster, and by the time the soldiers got to Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany, they were extremely violent and completely overtaken by the Z-Strain... and it got out. It’s not bad yet, but this thing is extremely dangerous, and so are those who are infected. It may still be a matter of weeks before it gets to the states, but thanks to the airports and how fast the virus seems to be killing and reanimating people now, I don’t think we’re going to be that lucky. When it gets here, it’s going to get really bad, really quick. Get as many supplies as you can now. I’m talking long-term stuff, not bottled water, but water purifiers. Get medical supplies and food that will not spoil quickly; camping supplies, anything you can get your hands on that will make you self- sufficient. Then, get on the road and get to your cabin up north. It’s in a fairly unpopulated area, and you can defend it if needed. Oh, and by the way, the only way you can stop these things is to destroy the brain. I’m sorry I can’t be with you just yet. From what Jack told me, he made sure that when this happened, you and your family would be prepared at the cabin, so I’ll be there as soon as I can after this goes global. He was a good man Abbigail, and he wanted you and your family safe. Crap... I stayed on for too long. I’m sorry that I don’t have time for questions, but don’t tell anyone you talked to me. Just go. I’ll try to contact you again soon. Good luck.”

  With that, the line went dead. I let out a breath I hadn’t known I was holding in as a tear fell from my eye.

  In the back of my mind, I always saw the possibility of whatever the virus was coming back, but I never thought of how bad it could truly get.

  The call from a very nervous Troy put all of that in perspective for me now. I remembered Troy from back in Atlanta. He was the dictionary picture of a nerd. He was tall and skinny, had glasses, a pocket protector, and a notebook to write down any brilliant ideas that might just come to him. He was definitely the smartest one on the team, but also the quietest. The quiet ones are always the ones you have to worry about. How did he know about the cabin, though? He did say he’d worked with Jack after we were released, but when could that have happened?

  I still couldn’t grasp what I was just told. My mind believed him, but my body wouldn’t fully react. I looked at my phone in my now trembling hand, half expecting it to ring again and one of Jack’s old buddies to be on the other line, laughing that he was just kidding, and he hoped the family had a great time at the cabin.

  That, unfortunately, didn’t happen.

  Allycia grabbed my shoulder and made an impatient face like she had been calling me, and I wasn’t answering her. Her expression changed very quickly once we made eye contact. “What’s wrong, Mom, who was that?”

  “Go get your brothers, please, and meet me in the kitchen.”

  “What’s going on, Mom?”

  “Just get your brothers!” I screamed at her without even thinking about it. Allycia actually stepped back like she was frightened I would strike her. I grabbed her shoulders to look directly into her eyes as I spoke calmly, “Go get your brothers, please. This is important.”

  She turned and headed for the front door yelling for Lance and Tyler to get to the kitchen. At that moment, I had no idea what I was going to do or say. All I knew right then, and there was that my husband had hidden more secrets from me than just doubling the life insurance policies. This was really happening, and I needed to keep my kids safe.

  Chapter 2

  I grabbed Lilly and headed inside. I stuffed my phone back in my pocket and made a mental note to make sure I had my car charger since Troy said he’d call again.

  I stopped in the doorway of the kitchen, and my three wonderful children looked up at me with fear in their faces. After what happened to their father two years ago, I hoped I would never see that look of despair ever again.

  As I told them the worst news any child could possibly hear, I vowed to do everything in my power never to make them feel that way again, yet here I was. This time, however, it was possibly even worse news. This could conceivably be the most terrible news anyone could ever hear. More than just one person they knew were going to probably die and horrifically.

  I figured they were old enough to be able to handle something like this, though, so I might as well just get out with it.

  “Do you guys remember the story your dad and I told you about how we met? His platoon got very sick, and I was sent in with a team to find out what it was. Daddy got better, and when we were released, we started dating.”

  “Yeah, but what does that have to do with you yelling at me and scaring us all half to death?” Allycia asked with an attitude.

  “Well, there’s a little more to how we met than that. A lot more, actually, and something may have happened. Something that makes me feel like it’s a good idea to tell you the rest of it before I explain what might be going to happen in the next few days or weeks.”

  I told them everything about how their father and I met, as well as all the details about what I saw and did for the government in Georgia. I tried to not leave out any specifics because I didn’t know if one of the smallest pieces of information I shared would eventually mean life or death for one of my children.

  It took a while to get through the whole thing, and when I finally stopped talking, the children each had the same, ‘holy shit’ stare.

  The look on their faces made me want to cry, but I knew I had to keep it together for them. Thankfully, Lance broke the silence, “So, let me do a quick recap, Mom. The reason you and Dad met was because the military came across some crazy virus, and when things were supposedly all clear, even though you never found out what it was or how to cure it, you were bound to secrecy. You lived happily ever after until now, and you felt the need to tell us all of this, even though you could be sent to Gitmo for the rest of your life for doing so, why?”

  “I just got a call from a man name
d Troy. Troy was on the team with me in Georgia, and apparently, he never stopped looking for answers on the virus, and daddy knew or was helping him somehow.” This little jewel of information got a lot of different reactions from the kids. Allycia’s mouth fell open, Lance’s eyes bugged out of his head, and Tyler scrunched his eyebrows up angrily.

  “I know it seems weird that Daddy would be involved in this without telling us, but apparently, there were a few things your father was involved in that he kept secret, even from me... but I’m sure we’ll find out soon, it was all with good reason.”

  Allycia grabbed a seat at the breakfast table and looked up at me. The look of fear on her face made her look like she was a little girl again. She had no idea what any of this meant, and I knew she was going to need some extra care to get through this. I just hoped she was going to let me help her.

  Tyler jumped in, “What did this Troy guy have to say? Why are you telling us this now, Mom?”

  “Well...” I had to take a breath, “There’s a strong possibility things are going to change pretty drastically in the next few weeks, maybe even sooner. Things are going to be different forever, I think. Troy told me the virus we saw years ago is out again, and it’s not quarantined with the government this time. It got out, and it’s spreading quickly. It started overseas, but it’ll be here, by us in the states, very soon. So, we have to prepare ourselves for what’s coming.”

  Lance seemed confused, “So what do you mean? Like we have to buy plastic wrap and duct tape to close up the house? Stock up on antibiotics and wash our hands every ten minutes? What are we talking about here, Mom?”

  “Well, I wish it were that easy. This virus, instead of making people sick, it makes them violent and… cannibalistic.”

  “Zombies?” yelled Tyler.

  “Yes, I guess you could say that. That’s actually what Troy said he was calling the virus, the Z-Strain. The ‘Z’ is for zombie.”