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

by Morris, SJ

  Dana bounced happily in her seat, practically singing, “I told you guys we were going to get here, and here we are! I’m so excited I can’t take it! Look at this place, Kamil. It’s everything we hoped it would be. It’s everything Abby said and more.”

  Dana reached over and shook Chuck’s arm. She grabbed Bernice in a huge hug, and then, she turned to Kamil and kissed him passionately on the lips. It didn’t look like he was expecting that because I felt him freeze in his seat, and his eyes popped open wide. As she continued to kiss him, he finally relaxed, and Bernice averted her eyes.

  I laughed, “All right, I love you guys, and I know we’ve been through some shit together in the last few days, but this is too much for me. I’m out!”

  I slowly cracked my door open, waiting for Chuck to slow down enough so I could hop out of the tightly packed truck.

  Chuck laughed at me and sped up so I couldn’t get out, “If I’m stuck in here with this, so are you, Abby!”

  At last, Chuck slowed the truck to a complete stop in front of the cabin. Everyone was outside, waiting for us. There were people on the porch, people sitting on the stairs, and more people scattered all over the front yard. They all had huge smiles on their faces.

  The ones I cared about the most were already running for the truck before I could even pick their faces out of the crowd.

  Allycia, Tyler, and Lance each reached for the door as I was opening it, and they pretty much pulled me from the truck. Allycia tucked herself tightly under my arms, hugging me as she cried. Tyler wrapped his arms around my shoulders, and Lance wrapped his arms over Tyler’s.

  This was not the welcome I was expecting, but I was definitely not complaining at all, no matter how much it hurt.

  Almost instantly, I broke down, crying, but my kids’ embrace kept me standing, even if I was blubbering like a baby.

  Chris had the biggest smile out of everyone, “All right, guys, let your mom breathe. She does have busted ribs too, so be gentle.”

  Allycia immediately let go of me, “Mom, are you really hurt? We have to get you in and get Doc Baker to look at you right away!”

  I wiped away my tears, “I’m not that bad, and yes, it’s a good idea for me to see the doctor, but right now, I need to introduce everyone to our new friends. Everyone, this is Chuck, he owns a feed store and knows pretty much everything there is to know about farming and all the equipment that goes along with it. This lovely young lady is Bernice, and she’s a wonderful cook. And these two are Kamil and Dana. Kamil is great with machinery, and Dana is also a great cook. Without these four, I don’t know that I would have made it back home safely.”

  My four comrades smiled shyly at the forty-or-so people staring at them and waved awkwardly.

  “We’ll make sure that each of you gets cleaned up, looked over by Dr. Baker, fed, and moved into an apartment, where you can rest and get settled. Thank you for bringing our Abby back to us in one piece,” Chris said with a huge smile.

  After our quick introductions, we were whisked away downstairs, to the infirmary, where Nancy, Dan’s mother, also known as Doc Baker, was waiting for the five of us. Jasmine was there too because apparently, her love of learning new things had guided her towards medicine as well. Hey, the more doctors and nurses we had at the cabin, the better, right?

  I made sure everyone else was checked out before me, and they were all taken to open apartments, so they could shower and get settled. Kamil, Dana, and Bernice chose to stay in one together. Chuck said he was okay with just a shower and didn’t want an entire apartment to himself, so Nancy suggested that he get settled in the second bedroom in her and Tony’s apartment since it wasn’t being used.

  Finally, it was my turn to get checked out. I made sure Troy was around for this, as well.

  “So, I know I have either badly bruised or broken ribs and a few cuts and scrapes from the car accident. I need to warn you all, though, that when I was kidnapped, while we were going after Jake and his family, one of the guys cut me up a little, too. The thing is, I’m pretty sure he had something on the blade he was cutting me with,” I said, looking Nancy, Jasmine, and Troy each in turn.

  “Well, I’m sure we can get you cleaned up and good as new, Abby,” replied Nancy.

  “Well, that’s the thing. I’m not sure anyone can get me as good as new, because I have no idea what was on the blade and it seems to have infected me with some form of the Z-Strain,” I said quickly, getting it out in the open.

  Troy jumped in immediately, “What? What do you mean? Show me. When did this happen? When were you cut? What are your symptoms?”

  Nancy calmly came to my defense, “Relax, Troy. Let’s let Abby show us what she’s talking about before we get our panties in a bunch.”

  Jasmine looked at me questioningly, and Troy sat down on one of the nearby gurneys to calm himself. He took his notebook and pen from his shirt pocket.

  I slowly lifted my shirt over my head. Nancy came over to cut off the grimy wrapping I had around my ribs and revealed the now gray gauze, covering the infected cut. I guessed with all the action, taking on the infected outside the truck, I had opened my wound, and I was bleeding again. The blood wasn’t black, and it wasn’t red, but it was definitely darker than usual.

  I lifted my right arm as high as I could, and Jasmine came over to help me get it higher. Troy came over to watch as Nancy slowly pulled the gauze away from my body, revealing a thin, black cut that went from my armpit, down my side, to the top of my hip. Black veins surrounded the entirety of the wound. The three of them just kind of stood there, looking at me like I was a piece of artwork to contemplate.

  “Hey, guys? I can’t keep my arm up much longer. How about we get some peroxide or something to clean it, so I can take a shower and get my ribs wrapped again?”

  “Ugh yeah, Dr. Baker, can you clean the wound. I’d like to get a better look at it, please,” responded Troy, still staring at my side.

  “Troy! Hey, earth to Troy!” I yelled a little louder than I meant to.

  “Yeah, sorry, Abby. This is just amazing to see,” he stammered out his words.

  “Amazing, Troy? Try fucked up! Are you kidding me? Ugh, I knew you’d only be interested in the science part of this. I should have known better than to think you’d look at me as anything more than a guinea pig now. Anyway, the guy that did this wiped something on his blade. I have no idea what it was, but I do know it was transferred from a cloth because that was the only thing on the table with his torture kit, other than some scary knives. While he was cutting me, there was a white-hot, burning pain. I remember vividly how it felt like the blade was on fire. In less than twenty minutes, I was extremely nauseous, hot, and I’d lost control of my extremities. I remember wanting to grab my stomach to try and stave off the nausea, but my arms wouldn’t move. Then, I got very dizzy and blacked out from the pain.”

  Troy blurted out more questions as he scribbled in his notebook, frantically, “This is great, Abby, keep going. What else do you remember? What happened when you came to?”

  “I know I was out for a while because before I blacked out, it was night, and when I woke up, the sun was starting to rise, but I’m not sure how many hours it was. When I did get up, I had extreme dry mouth, I was incredibly dizzy, my entire body was sore, and I was sweating profusely, with a very high fever. The dizziness might have been from hitting my head on the floor of the van, though, because that cleared up rather quickly. I had to act fast to get away from the two jackasses that took me. I ended up killing both of them while we were driving, and the van flipped over a few times. That’s where I got tossed around and ended up unconscious again, for another few hours.”

  Nancy spoke with tears in her eyes, “My goodness, Abby, you’ve really been through the wringer. It’s really a testament to your strength that you made it back to us, after all of that.”

  “Well, the weirdest part is yet to come. When I woke up again, I was in the back of the van, and the back door was partially open.
One of the guys I killed was in the back with me during the accident, but I assume, during the crash, the door opened, and he ended up a few feet outside of the van on the street. The infected were all around the van during the crash, but looking out the windows, I only saw one, and he was just standing over the body of the guy I killed, whose body was completely picked clean. Bones and clothes were all that was left of him. My pants and a gun were underneath his body, so I had to move him. I tried as quiet and as slowly as I could, but eventually, the infected that was standing over him noticed me, and we ended up face to face. He sniffed me and then, he just left.”

  Troy looked around the room to the others to be sure they had all heard what he did. “Wait, what? The infected saw you, smelled you, and then left you alone, unscathed?”

  “Yes. He saw me through his milky-white eyes, smelled me, and just walked away. I decided to test my newfound ability, so I walked right up to him and shot him in the head. The noise attracted more infected, but I walked right up to them and killed them too. That’s when I met Kamil and Dana. I kept them safe by using myself to walk right out into the midst of the infected and kill them. Whatever that guy cut me with seems to have given me a form of the virus that’s just enough to make the other infected think I’m one of them, so they leave me alone, but it doesn’t kill me. I hope, for all of our sakes, you can take my blood, Troy, analyze it and create some sort of cure that makes everyone like me but only if it doesn’t have any side effects. We need to test, test and retest before we give this to anyone else, though. We need to be one hundred and fifty percent sure of what it is because I have no idea where, whatever it is, came from. I have a map that might help us find some places and people that might know. I took a map from Liam, and it seems to have locations of secret military installations noted on it.”

  After that, I was done talking for the day. I was emotionally and physically spent. I told Troy the map was in my pack, which was still in Chuck’s truck. However, I assured him I’d get it for him as soon as I could since he was chomping at the bit to examine the locations Liam and his team had marked.

  Troy had been working on this virus since we were released from USAMRIID, years ago, so I was sure he had extensive research on potential labs and other locations that were doing work on the virus. Understandably, he couldn’t wait to see if some of those locations were on the map.

  Troy was annoyed that I needed to wash up and get some rest since he wanted to look over the wound some more. For now, though, he was going to have to settle for analyzing the five vials of blood he took from me. He wanted ten, but Nancy said I’d been through too much to give the amount of blood he wanted.

  Nancy and Jasmine cleaned up wounds I didn’t even know I had and sent me to shower. Nancy came with me to make sure I didn’t pass out in the bathroom, and when I was all cleaned up, she wrapped my ribs extremely tight before sending me to bed.

  Someone had brought my pack in and left its contents on my dresser. I assumed they threw the bag away, considering it was covered in infected blood and vomit, but the map was right on top.

  I asked Nancy to take it to Troy, and she said she would, as long as I promised to stay in bed for the next few days. At least to let my ribs and other various injuries heal. I happily agreed.

  Allycia, Tyler, Lance, and Chris came in, just as Nancy was leaving. She gave them all the stink-eye and said something about letting me rest, as she left the room. Instead of immediately heading her warning, they all took up comfortable spots in the room. Lance sat at the end of the bed, Allycia slid in, carefully, next to me, Tyler sat in the chair by the window, and Chris leaned against the doorjamb, with his arms crossed over his broad chest.

  The kids told me about everything that was going on at the cabin, what they were doing to keep busy or to try and help the rescue operations Chris and Tom lead, to try and find me. Allycia told me that Jake and his family had made it to the cabin safely. She expressed they were so grateful that we risked our lives to save them. Allycia said Jake and his mom wanted to come and thank me personally, but she asked them to wait a few days until I was up and moving around better.

  I told her I could be up and moving around just fine. After all, I had been for days, but Doc Baker made it very clear I was going to be in trouble if she found me out of bed.

  I didn’t want to tell the kids just yet about my additional abilities. They’d already been through enough, and I knew if they found out, they’d go nuts worrying over me, and I really didn’t need that. Chris was another story, though.

  Lance had perimeter security detail with his friends, Tyler was going to monitor the cameras with Dan and Allycia was going to get me something to eat, so I had Chris all to myself.

  I was dreading this conversation, but I knew it was one that must be had. I gave Chris the same quick highlight reel I gave Nancy, Jasmine, and Troy, but Chris didn’t react the same way as the others. He wasn’t curious or intrigued. He actually refused to even look at me, and when I did catch a glimpse of his expression, I saw that he looked miserable.

  “Please tell me you aren’t going to cry. I don’t think I could take you crying,” I said.

  Chris replied in a soft tone, “I’m sorry, Abby,” he knelt on the floor, at the side of the bed, and took my face in his hands. “I don’t know what to say. I don’t have words to explain how sorry I am that you had to go through all of that. Your safety being threatened at the hands of other men infuriates me, and what’s worse is that I could have prevented it, and I didn’t. I let you go with us. None of this would have happened if you had stayed here, Abby.”

  “No, Chris. You don’t get to say that. Going was my choice, and I made that very clear the day we left. You do not get to put this on yourself. There are sick assholes out there, and no one can protect everyone from them all of the time. If they didn’t get me out there, they would’ve found a way to get to us in here, and the outcome could have been much worse,” I grabbed his hands, which were still cupping my face and looked up at him. “You can’t save everyone, and neither can I. We have to try to make this place strong and help as many good people as we can, okay?”

  My words must have stirred something in Chris because all at once, I was in his arms, and he was hugging me gently.

  I had felt helpless enough myself lately, after everything, but if he broke down, I was sure it’d be the end of me.

  Without thinking, I grabbed his face and kissed him. I pulled back, quickly to see what type of expression he was wearing, to gauge where this interaction was going, and in response, he kissed me, intensely. All of my emotions took over, and I melted in his arms.

  In the middle of mankind’s extinction event, I found something special with someone who would die for me. Chris showed me that many times over in the last month, and I assumed many more times, with each search party that he led, looking for me.

  In that moment, I was almost grateful for everything that had happened to me in the last few days. If it hadn’t been for all of it, I don’t think Chris, or I would have ever found it in ourselves to act on the feelings we both knew we shared for one another.

  I knew it was out of respect for my late husband, who was his good friend, but it still hurt to think that his feelings for me weren’t strong enough to break through that. Now, it was clear that his feelings for me were not the problem. He was worried about me, so he kept his desires to himself. He dared not put me in a situation where I had to decide between honoring the commitment I made to Jack all those years ago and allowing what I felt for him now to show.

  The more I thought about it, the more it made me feel guilty for letting Chris sit on his feelings for so long. I knew there was something about him the first moment I saw him, but I was too scared of what everyone else would think. Primarily, what my children would think.

  However, these last few days and weeks had proved, more than anything, that our time on this planet was short. Even more so with this plague threatening to obliterate the human race entirely. No
one could imagine what would be just around the bend for them and everyone they love.

  In that moment, locked in his arms, I learned I had to take every second possible, to show the ones I care for, just how much they meant to me. From now on, I intended to make every single second count.

  The End

  Epilogue

  It was a few weeks after Abby returned to the cabin, and she seemed to be healthy and happy, even though I could only watch from afar.

  I wasn’t too keen on she and Chris getting so close, but I guess I had to expect it. I’d been watching every day, through my rifle scope since she returned.

  I was so close to blowing my entire mission to go and look for her, but my superiors made it very clear they had eyes on me at all times, and I was never to stray from the plan that was already in play.

  It killed me to know it ended up being Abby who was infected with Anti-Virus Strain 1015. It wasn’t supposed to be her, but that’s what they get for using scumbags like Liam and his team to carry out that part of the mission.

  I was relieved she seemed to be taking to the treatment well, and she didn’t have any of the side effects the prior Anti-Virus strain subjects had.

  The effects of the preceding strains on its hosts ranged from seizures to aneurysms, partial paralysis, comas, and death, but this time, they were confident they got it right. This time, it was going to work, or so, they said.

  Thank God it did and thank God Liam and his team were all killed. If they weren’t, I would have done it myself and got in some serious shit for taking out an entire part of the team.

  My superiors knew my connection to Abby and a lot of the people at the cabin, but I was well aware that they only cared about the results of the trials. The world had gone to shit, and to them, to the government, family meant nothing.