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

by Morris, SJ

  “No way! I only have like three bullets left, and I need ‘em!”

  “Well, then get rid of the walker before it finds its way in here!”

  “Me and my busted ass knee ain’t doing nothing. This was your shitty idea in the first place, and I ain’t about to die ‘cause of you! You may have been my boss back at the garage, but now you ain’t shit no more, just like the rest of us!”

  This really pissed Sampson off, and he punched Scotty right in the chin. Down goes Scotty! Agh well, one less asshole for us to worry about.

  Just as I thought things were looking up for us, though, there was a banging on the closet door in the back of the store. I could hear Chuck’s muffled yelling and what sounded like him kicking against the walls.

  “Danny, now I know you ain’t as stupid as Scotty, so I know you’ll listen when I tell you to do something, right?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “All right, then go in the back and shut that stupid fucker up. His banging is going to attract every walker to us, so go shut him up. Kill him if you have to, I don’t care. And where the fuck is Jessup and Carl? They should be back with that bitch by now. Where the fuck did that other girl go, the pretty one? Goddamn it! Everything’s going to shit today!”

  Sampson started to pace in front of the window, looking out at Kamil and the infected that was trying to get inside now.

  Danny started in our direction, grabbing Scottie’s gun away from his unconscious hands. I figured this was the best chance we were going to get. I motioned for Dana to stay down and in the corner. She nodded slowly with tears streaming down her face. She was worried about Kamil, and so was I.

  As long as the infected was still clawing at the door to get in, that meant it wasn’t eating Kamil, but I was still going to have to act fast. Danny walked past where we were hiding, without noticing us, so I slowly walked to the end of the aisle, peeking through the shelf to make sure Sampson was still occupied by the infected at the door and thankfully, he was.

  Danny leaned over to pull a feedbag away from the closet door, and I slowly inched up behind him, with my knife out. I was about to stab him in the throat when Sampson yelled from the front of the store.

  “Danny! Look out!”

  I tried to stab him anyway, but the element of surprise was lost, and he turned with his hands out. He rolled me into his chest, so he could wrap his arms tightly around my body, and when he did, he grabbed the knife from my fist.

  Dana jumped up from her hiding spot, knife in hand, and started charging my captor. He grabbed his rifle with one hand from the wall he had leaned it against and pointed it at her, stopping her in her tracks.

  He still had one arm wrapped around my chest, and he had my knife in the same hand, pressing the blade firmly against my jugular.

  “Now, now, sweetie. Let’s not do anything stupid to get your friend here killed,” said Danny with a smile.

  “Atta boy, Danny! How about you bring that one to me and you can wrangle the other one. We’ll tie her to her chair this time, so she doesn’t go anywhere. I think I want to send that one out there to get rid of the walkers that are knocking at the door here. Hand me that rope. I’ll put a leash on her, so she don’t get any ideas,” Sampson said, pointing to me.

  Danny kept me in front of him as a shield, pointed towards Dana, so she didn’t try and jump him while he brought me to Sampson. She had a look in her eye that said she was about to do something stupid, so I shook my head no as much as I could without getting cut, and her face dropped in defeat.

  Danny handed me over to Sampson, who grabbed the other knife I had in my back pocket, which I completely forgot I had. Damn it, this could have all been over if I remembered that damn knife!

  I played nice since I could now see the one infected outside had multiplied to five. I was glad to see they were still by the door, instead of heading over to Kamil. I hoped, as long as he stayed unconscious and quiet, they’d remain focused on the food they could hear making all the noise inside the store.

  “I got this one. Go get my pretty girl and tie her up to that chair over there. I’ll play with her later after this one cleans up outside for us.”

  Danny headed over to Dana with his gun up. She looked to me again, silently asking for approval to fight back. I shook my head, no. She dropped the knife to the floor and kicked it in Danny’s direction.

  “That ‘a girl. Come along, nice and quiet now, and you won’t get hurt.”

  I guess Chuck heard that we were captured, and he started banging on the closet door again. The moans from the infected outside the main door got much louder when he started that. Danny got really antsy now, shifting his weight from side to side while holding my arms over my chest. I took this as my chance to hopefully talk my way out of this.

  “Come on, Sampson! Tie the rope on me and let me get rid of those walkers outside. We both know you’re ready to piss your pants with them in the process of breaking down the door.”

  “Shut up, bitch. The more talking you do, the more they wanna get in here. So, just shut up!”

  “Come on, I’m good at getting rid of them. Let me help you out and make them stop banging on the door,” I said, as quiet and sweet as I could muster while talking to this piece of shit.

  “Fine. As long as it’ll get you to shut the fuck up,” he whispered angrily.

  Sampson grabbed the rope off of the shelf next to us. He started winding it through my belt loops, and finally, he tied it off. He pushed me towards one of the windows in the front of the store that was as far away from the door the infected were banging on as possible. It was on the same side, but it was as far away as he was going to let me get.

  “Move the shit away from that window and hop out as quick as you can. When you’re outside, I’ll throw you the knife so you can clean up out there. Don’t get any ideas about running ‘cause I got a good hold on the other end of this rope. Plus, if you run or try something, I’ll just hurt your friend over there,” he said, motioning to Dana, who was currently being tied to a chair.

  Chuck was still banging against the closet, trying to free himself, and the infected were in a frenzy outside the door because of the racket.

  I grabbed the shelf that was in front of the window and pushed it out of the way as quietly as I could, so as to not attract any unwanted attention to the window I was going to be climbing out of. The window had a crank that opened outward, which was good, but the crank was pretty rusted, and it took all of the strength I had to get it open enough for me to fit through.

  I took another look at the zombies clamoring at the front door. They were still moaning away, banging at the door. I looked at Sampson angrily, and he gave me his yellow smile as he purposefully wrapped the rope around his arm.

  Asshole.

  I climbed up to the windowsill and hopped out as quietly as I could. Sampson tossed the knife out like he said he would and began closing the window. He left it open, just enough to let the rope out.

  I looked up to the infected as I hit the ground. A few of them looked over in my direction with their milky eyes and started towards me. I stood up and then stood as still as possible. There was three coming right for me, but I knew what was going to happen. I looked inside the window as Sampson’s smile turned to an open gape, as the infected walked right past me.

  I smiled at him and might have even stuck my tongue out. His jaw dropped even more, and he looked at me, dumbfounded. Take that, asshole!

  All right, enough fun for now. I pulled some rope out of the window to give myself some slack and followed closely behind the three infected that had walked past me but were now heading for Kamil, who looked like he might be waking up. I got right behind them and stabbed each one in the back of the head. They each fell to the ground in front of me, oozing their disgusting black blood.

  I felt a tug at my leash and turned around to see the seven more infected now coming towards us. I guess Kamil was making more noise waking up than I thought. There was one newer infec
ted in the group, and he rushed for Kamil, but I shoved the knife up, straight through his chin as he ran in my direction.

  The others, I decided to have some fun with. I tugged as much rope out of Sampson’s hands as I could and walked in an arc around the oncoming infected, holding the rope up at hip height. This corralled the infected all together, so I could stab them each in the brain one after the other. In less than five minutes, all the infected were dead.

  I was just about to head for Kamil when the rope was pulled back into the window.

  I grabbed the rope and yanked back, yelling, “What the hell are you doing? Let me untie Kamil! He’s coming too, and if he starts shouting, he’s just going to attract more infected to us.”

  Sampson smiled at me, tugging the rope inside again, “No, you don’t. I’ll get him. You come inside you precious little thing, you,” He said as he opened the window back up. “Why did the walkers just go past you? Why didn’t they try to tear you apart?”

  “I don’t know. I was in a car accident, and after that, the infected don’t seem to care about me anymore,” I lied.

  “Hmm, curious, very curious,” he mumbled to himself as I reached up to pull myself through the windowsill.

  Kamil came to the rest of the way and started screaming madly. I looked to Sampson, and he shook his head no, tugging the rope tight to the window.

  “Get in here, now. I’ll take care of your friend,” said Sampson.

  I climbed the rest of the way in the window and yelled out to Kamil, “Be quiet, Kamil. Everything will be okay!”

  “Shut up, you. Everything will be okay... Why would you lie to your friend like that? He’s not going to like what I’m going to do to him at all,” Sampson replied with a repulsive snicker.

  Sampson grabbed me around the shoulders and kissed my face, “I’m never going to let you go. You’re my golden goose, and you’re going to make sure these walkers never get me.”

  Scotty began to stir at my feet. I guess he was starting to wake up from the nice concussion Sampson gave him. Sampson bent down to talk to his so-called friend, “If you ever disobey me like that again, I’m going to feed you to the walkers. You got it?

  “Yeah boss, sorry,” Scotty mumbled, rubbing his head slowly.

  “Now, get up, you’re going outside with me to help me get that black guy off the tree and back in here. It’s too dangerous outside, too many walkers. I thought they were all moved out, but I guess not. I don’t want him going to waste as walker food.”

  Sampson was still crouched down talking to Scotty. I looked over and saw Danny looking out the window behind where Dana was tied to a chair, with his gun propped up on the wall. It wasn’t within a quick arm’s reach, so I motioned to Dana, and she shook her head yes. She understood I was about to do something to get us out of this mess.

  I was standing next to where Scotty was still lying on the floor, talking to Sampson, so I took the opportunity to back kick him in the face, bouncing his head off of the metal shelf he was leaning on. Instantly, he was knocked unconscious again.

  Sampson jumped up to grab me, so I rushed him with my shoulder to force him against the wall and brought my knee up into his junk. He doubled over in pain, and I took the opening to knee him in the jaw. With that, Sampson was now out cold, too.

  Danny heard the commotion a second too late because Dana stood up with the chair still tied to her and rushed him, pushing him halfway out the window. The window shattered when he hit it, and the glass impaled him. He lay there, bleeding out slowly, trying to pull himself off of the window and grab his gun. Dana kicked it out of his reach.

  I ran over quickly to grab the knife from his back pocket and finished the job without hesitation. I tossed him the rest of the way out the window and moved a shelf quickly in front of it. This way, the infected could have him but still couldn’t get inside at us.

  I cut Dana free and we ran over to the closet door, where we freed Chuck, who was gagged and bound inside. I gave Dana the rifle and told her to stand guard over the unconscious Scotty and Sampson. Ignoring the throbbing pain in my head and ribs, I grabbed some blankets from the office and ran outside to find Kamil.

  “Kamil! Are you okay? It’s safe now. We’ve got the other guys taken care of,” I said breathily as I ran over to him, still lying face down in the wet dirt.

  I covered his body with the blanket and cut his hands free. He pulled his arms close to his chest, rubbing the blood back into them. He had a large gash on his forehead, where I assumed he was smashed with the butt end of a rifle.

  “Hey look, we have matching boo-boos,” I said, smiling.

  Kamil looked up at me and just shook his head at my shitty joke attempt in a time of crisis, “Is Dana all right?”

  “Yeah, she’s good. She’s inside, watching over the two assholes that are left. They’re both unconscious. I’ve got a pretty solid kick.”

  “Good, let’s get inside, and I’d love to get some clothes on,” Kamil said as he reached out for me and I helped him up, slowly.

  “Thanks, Abby. I don’t think we would have survived another day if we hadn’t met you. You’ve saved us more than a few times, now.”

  “No thanks needed. Just doing the right thing for good people. Now, let’s see if we can find your clothes.”

  “Yeah, they cut them off, so I’m going to need new ones. I don’t think it’s going to be easy to find clothes that fit, but anything’s better than a blanket.”

  “Hmm, the guys inside aren’t really your size, and I don’t think you’re going to want to wear their stuff anyway. I think I saw some coveralls on the shelves inside, and I’m sure Chuck has a shirt that would fit you.”

  There were infected breaking the tree line, heading for us, as we made it to the door. They were moderately deteriorated, so they were slower, which was good, but their arrival made me think of a fitting way to get rid of our two unconscious ex-captors.

  I didn’t know if my other friends were going to go for it, but I was going to do it with or without them. I’d had enough of the dregs of humankind making this world a far more disgusting place than the Z-Strain had done itself.

  I got Kamil inside and got him some clothes. All Chuck had that fit the big guy were overalls and a t-shirt, so he looked hysterical, but I wouldn’t dare laugh at him. Not after everything he’d just been through.

  I might have giggled a little bit, but Kamil looked at me, knowing it was just about the Farmer Joe outfit he was stuffed into.

  I pointed to Sampson and Scotty, “We need to get rid of these two.”

  “We most certainly do,” replied Kamil with so much hate, I could feel it physically emanating from him.

  “I have an idea, but I don’t know if everyone’s going to go for it.”

  Dana surprised me with how heated she’d become, “Nothing is disgusting and cruel enough for these two. Do whatever you want, Abby, just as long as they suffer…a lot.”

  I thought she was going to be the last person on board for cruel and unusual punishment, but it goes to show you how little I knew of my new companions.

  “Well, there were a few infected making their way to the front door just as we were coming in. I’m thinking we get to the roof and lead them to the side of the building with noise. Then we dump these two over and give the infected a decent lunch. While they’re busy chowing down, I can go around front and take them out, but only after they’re pretty much done with these two scum bags.”

  “Sounds good to me. Two birds, one stone, right?” replied Kamil.

  Dana chimed in, “I’m in.”

  Chuck just kind of looked at us oddly, “That’s kinda cruel, don’t ya think?”

  “You were beat up a little and shoved in a closet, Chuck. No disrespect, but I was stripped naked, beaten, and tied to a tree for God knows what reason. I don’t think it’s even remotely enough,” Kamil retorted, with a glare.

  Chuck had no response but didn’t look convinced, so I chimed in, “We know we can’t let
these two go. What they did to us, they would just do to someone else. Hey, who knows how many people they’ve already victimized since this started? This way, we don’t have to do it ourselves, but the deed is done.”

  Chuck looked at me, to Kamil, and then to Dana. Dana nodded her head slowly in agreement, and that was all Chuck needed to get on board. Ah, the power of a pretty young face.

  Chuck shook his head but agreed, “I guess it’s for the best that they go. I wouldn’t want them hurting anyone else, like you said. It does seem like the best way, so I’m good.”

  Kamil nodded, “Well then, let’s get on it before they wake up.”

  Kamil and I grabbed Sampson to carry him up the stairs, while Chuck and Dana grabbed Scotty. We labored, but we managed to get them both up the stairs to the roof without incident. Well, I might have dropped Sampson on his head once. Or possibly twice, but they were accidents. Hey, he was heavy.

  Dana and Chuck needed some additional help, but eventually, we all made it up to the roof.

  I had secured Sampson and Scotty’s hands and feet with baling wire before we headed up the stairs, just in case they decided to wake up and become a problem.

  We checked Scotty for anything useful in his pockets, and he only had a box of cigarettes, and a lighter he had taken from Chuck. Chuck was delighted to have them back.

  Since that was all we needed from him, Kamil and I tossed him over the edge. He landed on the ground with a loud thump and blood started pouring from his head, so I presumed he was dead from the impact, what a pity.

  The sound and the smell of fresh blood was enough for the infected that were in the front of the building because without us making any additional noise, they came running like we had rung the dinner bell.

  I searched Sampson’s pockets, just as he started coming around. He had the map I took from Liam, but other than that, he had nothing of use, only a few business cards for a car dealerships mechanic shop. They were stamped Sampson Harper, Manager.

  I guessed that was his most prized possession, a business card to show people he somehow made it to a managerial spot in some shitty garage, how pathetic.