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

by Morris, SJ

  My legs were tiring quickly, but I finally found a small house in which I thought I could take refuge from the infected. The doors and windows were all locked. I used some of the items strewn around the property to create makeshift steps so I could climb up to the roof. There were windows up there that I was hoping were unlocked so I could get inside and wait out the mini horde.

  The house was far from stable, so I made my way slowly and carefully across the shingles to the first window I saw. Luckily it was unlocked. I slid the window open, stepped inside and was greeted by the foulest smell I have ever had the displeasure of experiencing. It smelled like cat urine was soaked into every inch of the inside of this home.

  I located the reason for the smell rather quickly. There were cats everywhere. Every dresser, every table, every surface had its own cat or multiple cats sitting on it. I used my shirt, covering my nose, to hopefully thwart the smell to no avail.

  The cats seemed friendly enough, though. A bunch of them came up to me and rubbed their bodies along my legs while I walked through the room as quietly as I possibly could. I heard a creek from downstairs and decided to lock the door. If I could manage it, I needed to avoid a confrontation with either the owner of this home or any undead that were trapped here. Any noise from me fighting with anything or anyone would bring the horde outside closer, ruining my chances of getting out of here any time soon.

  I watched out the window as hundreds of the undead filled the lawn around the property, bumping into one another, wandering around aimlessly. Thanks to the shambling creatures, I was now trapped with these felines and either something or someone else inside the confines of this tiny house in the middle of nowhere.

  I found a chair in the corner of the room, brushed away the three kittens that were using it as a bed, and pulled it over to the window so I could watch for when the infected cleared, and I could leave my rank smelling prison. I sat waiting for quite some time before there was a knock at the door. The knock was followed by the soft voice of an old woman.

  “Who’s in there? Are you being nice to my kitties?”

  I replied without opening the door. “I’m sorry, ma’am, I didn’t mean to barge in uninvited, but unfortunately, the infected outside gave me no option. I’m just waiting for them to clear out. As soon as they do, I’ll leave you and your kitties just as you were. I promise you I won’t cause any trouble, and I’ll be out of your hair as soon as I can.”

  “Oh, well... you’re going to be here a while, sweetie. Why don’t you come out then and have some tea with me? I don’t think the rotters will be leaving anytime soon. They normally hang around for at least a day or two when they show up if my past experience is anything to bet on. Plus, I haven’t seen another friendly face in quite some time that didn’t have whiskers and a cute little button nose. I’m all alone, so I mean you no ill will. Please come out and say hello,” she said sweetly through the closed door.

  I thought about it for a few seconds. What could one little old lady possibly do to me? She had to be alone; there’s no way anyone else would be able to survive for very long with the air this heavy with the smell of ammonia. I’m surprised she even lasted this long. “I’m coming out, ma’am. I’m armed, but I don’t have my gun in my hand, and I don’t want any trouble.”

  “Oh, there will be no trouble at all from me, young man. You don’t need your guns against a little old lady and her kitties,” she laughed through the wooden door.

  I opened the door a small crack to confirm she was by herself before I opened it all the way to greet this sweet, adorable, elderly woman. “My name’s Kamil. And who do I have the pleasure of meeting this fine day?”

  She smiled up at me. “I’m Tabatha Gendry. And I’d give you the names of all of my kitties, but I must apologize that my memory is not what it used to be, and I cannot remember all of them anymore. I apologize for the smell, as well. I’m not as spry as I once used to be, so it’s difficult keeping up with the litterboxes. Especially when the rotters are out and about. I won’t let my kitties outside when they are out there.”

  Thankfully the air in the hallway was much fresher than what it was in the bedroom I had just exited. It appears the room I chose to enter through was one that was not well-maintained when it came to the cats using it as a bathroom. The rest of the house was reasonably tidy, well as tidy as it could be with the dozens upon dozens of cats who also called it home.

  She led me downstairs to a kitchen area. I noticed that all of the windows were boarded up from the inside of the house rather tightly. All but one door we passed was also boarded up with nails or screws. I had to keep that in mind if we needed to make a quick exit since there was only the one way I saw that lead outside.

  “Have a seat, Kamil.”

  “Thank you. So, how long have you been out here all by yourself?” I asked, taking a seat at the kitchen table as instructed.

  “Oh, I’ve been here ever since Harry, and I got married. I was so young back then, eighteen years old and in love. Those were the days,” she said, pouring water from a jug into a tea kettle and turning the stove on.

  “Harry?” I asked.

  “Yes, my late husband. We were together for fifty-four years, Harry and I. He only recently passed,” she replied, making the sign of the cross and kissing her wedding ring.

  “I’m sorry to hear that, Tabitha.”

  “He was old, and the rotters are much stronger than he or I. It’s the way the world works now, though. He died saving my kitties though, so he didn’t die in vain.”

  Tabitha didn’t seem to have all of her wits about her, but at seventy-two, she appeared to be doing all right for herself.

  “It sounds like you had yourself a good man there.”

  “He was the most loyal husband any woman could ever ask for, but he was nowhere near as strong and handsome as you. So, how did you come to be out here all alone?” she asked, smiling.

  That smile made me uncomfortable. Not just because of Tabitha’s yellowing teeth, but because of the way she looked at me while she did it. Tabitha just gave me an odd feeling. Like I was in trouble with her in some way. I shook it off. I was in a new place with a new person, so it was probably just the jitters of not knowing where my friends were and being unfamiliar with my surroundings.

  “I was with a group of people on our way to another camp. We got separated by the rotters as you call them. I bet they’re looking for me as we speak.”

  “Agh, good to hear there are more people alive out there. Do you want sugar with your tea, my dear?”

  “If you have it, sure. Thank you.”

  Tabitha handed me a steaming cup of tea and a bowl of sugar as she sat sipping her own mug.

  Tabitha smiled at me again, petting the cat that jumped into her lap. “Drink up, honey. Like I said, you’re going to be here for a while. The rotters can’t get in, but they can still hear us, so they’ll hang around for a while until they get distracted and wander off. I can make you something to eat if you want. I have plenty of beans and rice. Harry was a bit of a prepper, so we’re pretty well stocked in the cellar. It wouldn’t be any trouble. It would actually be nice to have someone to cook for.”

  I smiled back. “If you’re cooking, I can definitely eat. It is lunchtime, right?”

  “It sure is. You enjoy the rest of your tea. I’ll be right back then,” Tabitha said, leaving me with the cats as company.

  Tabitha returned with a pot full of dried rice and a can of beans. She began cooking on the stove and chitchatting with her cats as they hovered around her feet, nuzzling her fondly. Tabitha was definitely weird company, but I was glad to have her instead of the infected outside for companionship. I finished my tea as she cooked, and I began to feel extremely tired.

  Tabitha looked over to me as she stirred her pots. “You’re looking a little sleepy there, dear. Maybe you should lie down and get some rest. I’ll wake you when the food is ready.”

  I yawned as exhaustion took hold of me. “I think I mi
ght have to. I’m really not feeling well all of a sudden. I slept well last night; I don’t know why…”

  I woke up groggy, and I was incredibly dizzy. My head felt like it weighed a ton as I tried to lift it. I slowly looked around, and I didn’t know where I was, but it was dank and damp. My mouth was dry, I was confused as I looked down to my hands and saw they were tied down at my sides to the edge of a metal cot. My feet were tied together as well, and it was challenging to move at all. I tried to speak, “Hello… Is anyone there?”

  I heard meowing in the corner of the room. I looked toward where the sound came from and saw Tabatha holding a cat in her lap, petting it gently. “You were out for a lot longer than I expected. Normally the drug doesn’t last that long. I guess you really needed a nap, or I gave you too much. I never can remember exactly how much to put in the tea, and you’re much more fit than anyone else I have had for a guest as of late. You should consider yourself lucky, though. Most of the people that come to my house don’t get to wake up. My kitties and Harry are getting pretty hungry, so I can’t tell you how glad I was to have you stumble into my humble home. But you’re making this difficult for me, Kamil. You’re much more handsome than anyone I’ve come across before. You remind me of a boyfriend I had in high school. Before I met Harry, that is. I just couldn’t bring myself to do it.”

  I swallowed hard at the lump building in my throat. “Do what?” I managed to get out.

  “Well, I’ve been on my own for a while, you see. The only way to feed Harry and my kitties is by taking the lives of anyone I can find. Unfortunately, the living are much harder to come by lately. I’m not sure when the next person will come, but you did say you have friends looking for you, so I’m hoping that one of them will be plenty of food for Harry and my kitties. I think I’d like to keep you for myself.”

  “What do you mean feeding? Are you eating people?”

  “Oh no, my dear, I’m not eating people! Harry will only eat human flesh, and unfortunately, my kitties have gotten a taste for it as well. I can barely get them to eat anything else.”

  I immediately realized the dire situation I was now in. My brain was slow to catch on, but I finally put it all together. I looked around, and there was a pile of bones in the corner of the room. They looked like human bones. This woman must’ve been welcoming people in and drugging them to kill them and feed to her cats, but she mentioned her husband, Harry… She said her husband was dead though.

  My question about her deceased husband was answered by a banging at one of the doors behind her. “That’s my, Harry. I think he smells dinner, and he’s ravenous. It’s been a while since he ate last. I hope your friends arrive soon. I’m not sure how much longer I can keep him quiet for.”

  “Tabitha, I’m sorry you lost your husband, but this is not the way to take care of him. I’ve been out there with the infected. There’s nothing left of the person they once were. I’m sure if Harry had a say in what happens to him, he’d rather not be like that. I might not have known him, but I can pretty much assure you he wouldn’t want his amazing, caring, and gentle wife to kill people for him either.”

  Tabitha stood quickly, dropping the cat to the dirty floor with a hiss. “You know nothing of what Harry would have wanted. He was a good man, and he saved my kitties from those beasts outside. I need to keep him alive and fed, so when this is all over, he can come back to me. Maybe I should just kill you. I thought you would help me, but I guess I was wrong,” she yelled, picking up a butcher knife from the table beside her.

  “No, Tabitha! I’ll help you, I will. I just thought that knowing what I know of the infected... I didn’t think Harry would want to live like that. He was a great guy. Like you said, he took care of you for all of those years, and I know you want to take care of him now, but... I’ve known people who have turned, who have become one of the rotters...”

  “Harry is not a rotter!” she shouted, slamming the blade down, splintering the wood of the table it was now embedded in. “Harry is just sick, and the only way for him to get better is for me to keep him fed and safe until someone figures this whole thing out.”

  “I know the doctors, Tabitha! The doctors who started this whole thing, and the ones who are working on a cure! I know them. Some of them were with me when we got separated. You can’t kill them when they come looking for me, or you’ll be losing your one and only chance to get Harry better,” I lied.

  “Well, then. I knew I was keeping you alive for a reason. You better not be lying to me, Kamil. There’s one thing I hate more than people who don’t like cats, and that’s liars,” Tabitha said as she picked the cat back up petting him softly.

  She walked over to the door the banging and moaning was coming from and gently caressed the stained wood. “I’m getting you help, my darling. We’ll be together again soon. I promise you that.” Tabitha turned back to me. “I’ll bring you some of the rice and beans I made. You’re going to need your strength. I can’t have your friends seeing you like this. They’ll think I tried to hurt you.”

  Tabitha turned and walked up the old wooden stairs and out of my sight. I heard her shuffling above me as I frantically looked for any way out of my restraints. I needed to get away from this woman as fast as I could. I’d rather take my chances with the infected outside.

  Chapter 10

  Jimmy Smith

  I was glad to finally see some asphalt instead of mud. The ride up here was much more difficult than I anticipated, but once we got off of Route 284, the dirt and debris from the storm seemed to clear up.

  We stopped to get Dr. Nasser’s ATV out of the mud a while back and were swarmed by a herd of infected. We all hightailed it out of there as quickly as possible and it finally seemed like we might be in the clear.

  I stopped our little convoy trying to make sure that everybody was okay and realized that Kamil was missing.

  “Has anybody seen Kamil?”

  “I haven’t seen him since he helped me get out of the mud when we got overrun back there,” replied Dr. Nasser.

  “Well, I hope he’s just taking his sweet ass time to catch up to us. Maybe we just wait here for a bit and see if he shows? If not, I’ll have to go back for him.”

  Dr. Nasser stood on her ATV, looking around to see if she could find Kamil. “I don’t see anything other than downed trees and wrecked cars. I think we’re going to have to backtrack and see if we can find him.”

  “I think you’re right, but let’s give him at least ten minutes before we head out. Maybe you, Troy, and Dr. Madison should continue on to the Wawayanda Camp while I look for him. I’ll catch up with you guys after I find him.”

  “I don’t think it’s a good idea to split up. Every horror movie I have ever seen never ends well when the group splits up, so I’m not really for that. And if you haven’t noticed... we’ve been living in a horror movie as of late,” joked Dr. Madison.

  “What if Kamil got into trouble, and you end up needing help? The more people against the dead, the better the odds are that everybody returns,” Troy said, finally chiming in.

  “I hate it when you’re right, Troy, but we do need to get Dr. Nasser and Dr. Madison back to their camp before some of their people decide to come looking for them. Then we’ll have more people wandering around putting themselves in unnecessary danger.”

  It was decided that Troy, and Dr. Nasser we’re going to continue onto the Wawayanda campground to reconnect with their group. Dr. Madison and I were going to backtrack looking for Kamil. If we weren’t back in three hours, Dr. Nasser was going to send a group of people looking for us as well just to be safe.

  We said goodbye to Dr. Nasser and Troy as they continued on down the highway offramp. Dr. Madison and I waited a few more minutes, and when we didn’t hear or see anything, we slowly rode back the way we came.

  We made it back to the bridge over Route 284 and stopped to have another look around. At the edge of the overpass, we got off of the quads and listened carefully to our surroundings. I was
trying to hear any movement in the trees around us. The infected that had forced us to leave in a rush without Kamil had thankfully moved on, and I was able to find our tracks in the mud.

  Behind some wrecked cars was Kamil’s ATV frozen in the muck sitting lifeless with the keys still in the ignition. I guess he got stuck when we all took off, and by the look of his footprints in the wet dirt, he went running into the trees to take cover.

  We followed his tracks through the woods on foot, leaving the ATV’s at the tree line just in case we had to make a quick getaway. As we trekked through the woods, killing a few stray infected here and there, I found out that Dr. Madison was pretty good with a sword. She took out the infected like a professional ninja. I think she just liked showing off, but I wasn’t complaining. I was getting to spend some quality time with a beautiful, athletic, tall, smart woman. Her long dark brown hair thrown up in a makeshift ponytail spinning as she wielded her blade was almost mesmerizing. She was gorgeous with her emerald-colored eyes, and her barely-there freckles peeking out from under a thin layer of dirt covering her oval-shaped face. But I had to focus on finding Kamil. Then maybe I could see if I stood a chance with this astonishing woman.

  Don’t judge me. It’s hard meeting women in the apocalypse!

  We heard the moaning and smelled the stench of the infected before we saw them through the trees. They were circling around a small cottage in the middle of a clearing. They weren’t banging on the walls as I would’ve expected them to, but they were milling about randomly moaning and bumping into the heaps of garbage on the overgrown lawn.

  My face scrunched up as the wind blew in our faces bringing their stench directly to our noses. “Ugh, sheesh. I don’t think I’ll ever get used to that smell,” I said, pulling my handkerchief from my pocket, tying it around my face.

  “Do you have one of these, Dr. Madison?” I asked, pointing to the red rag covering my nose.