Z-Boat (Book 2): Z-Topia

by Suzanne Robb

  “Sir, look out the windows. This was a diversion. If we don’t find a way out of here, we’re as good as dead.” Trevor pointed to two large areas.

  Joseph felt a chill as the night air carried in with it the stench of the dead. On the ruined lawn hundreds of things made their way over, a thousand yards and closing. Five minutes later, the things closest to them taken care of, a section of wall made its way open. Trevor kept a gun on the opening and entered the room with Maynard. When nothing was heard Joseph called out.

  “Trevor, everything okay?”

  “Sir, the room’s clear of zombies.”

  “Good, make sure the windows are covered. We need to move fast.”

  Joseph smiled, he would see Allgood after all these years. He wanted to memorize the expression on the man’s face when he entered the room. Instead, a small girl stood in front of him, an odd weapon in her hands.

  Allgood stepped forward and put his hand on the odd looking gun, pushing it down. She glared at him, but obeyed. Joseph wondered if she was dangerous to his plans. So far in all the messages he’d received, Dale made it clear she saved his life on numerous occasions. Joseph thought it a bit too convenient, but didn’t say anything. Looking at her now, his suspicions of her being a potential “issue” were confirmed.

  “You look good, Dale, didn’t expect you to make it this far. Then again having a spy in my group providing you intel helped.”

  “It did indeed. I never thanked you for that, brother.”

  The silence in the room was tangible. Joseph felt Trevor staring at him, waiting for him to deny the statement.

  “Have to look out for family, especially since you’re all I have left.”

  Dale walked over to him and the two embraced. Joseph felt let down at the lack of emotion he felt. He’d hoped seeing his little brother after all these years would have kick-started his heart, eased the pain inside. Instead, there was a consistent tightening of his chest as a rush of memories about the last time he held his wife and child in his arms hammered him.

  Joseph pushed Dale away, but made sure to keep a firm grip on his shoulders. They shared their father’s eye color, but the family resemblance stopped there. When the job offer came through Dale was cast to the side as if he was nothing by the people who brought them into this world.

  His mother didn’t care, and it took several years for him to understand he and his brother only had one parent in common. To please his wife, Joseph’s father dumped Dale with a family friend and didn’t look back. However, his father had foresight. The man he’d given his youngest son to was a member of a prominent family in the burgeoning political movement. Erdman Senior wanted his progeny in place should anything come along. Both of their lives had been orchestrated. Right up until the blasted outbreak.

  “Everything okay? You’re quiet,” Dale asked.

  “Fine, don’t worry about me.”

  “Sir, are you sure about this guy? You never men—” Trevor tripped over his words.

  “Trevor, you’ve been my right hand man for as long as I can remember. Without your help I simply would not be here, but that does not mean you get to question me.” Joseph responded with a chill in his voice.

  A noise in the room behind them stopped conversation. The unmistakable sound of groans made their way to them.

  “Maynard, cover the door,” Trevor shouted.

  Joseph saw an opportunity and took it. With one swift shove Maynard stumbled into the room with a scream. Trevor watched with a stunned look on his face, but managed to move his body and get the door shut.

  “It needed to be done, they would have overtaken us.” Joseph picked at a piece of dust on his suit coat.

  “Sir, we need all the manpower we can get, and you know they get stronger once they feed,” Trevor said.

  “We’ll be fine, trust me. I need to find something, unless my brother here has already discovered it.”

  “What about the others, sir?” Trevor’s eyes moved around the room and his fingers twitched.

  “Trevor, you saw the same thing I did. The others are dead. If you want us all to die please continue to stand there and be useless.”

  Joseph turned to Dale. “Well, did you find it?” Dale shook his head.

  The girl seemed preoccupied with something. Joseph wondered if she found it. “Who are you talking to, girl?” Joseph asked.

  He had to repeat himself since the screams of Maynard in the other room reached a high pitch. Then a shot, then another, and then the other room sounded like a war zone. The walls shook and bits of what was left of the ceiling crumbled. Time was up.

  “Okay, people, we need to find a case, metallic, about a foot square with an DNA lock pad. Then we get the hell out of here. The escape elevator should be close.”

  Trevor and Dale scrambled, looking for the item. The girl did nothing so he assumed she was useless and his brother used her for a roll in the sack. Joseph didn’t have time. He needed to find the elevator. The odds of it running were slim, but they could use the ladder to get below ground. They would be safe there.

  A pounding on the entrance they used and Joseph realized the sounds of gunfire stopped. Crap.

  “All right, new plan. When Ally and Richards come through that door, not a single one of you open your mouth, understand?”

  Joseph glanced around the room, happy to see every head nod in agreement.

  Chapter Twenty-three—

  Ally tried to take in the carnage they’d encountered so far from an objective viewpoint, problem was many of the bodies they walked over or put down belonged to people she once trained with. The zombies were stronger and smarter than anticipated, and when in close quarters they overwhelmed with sheer numbers. The three of them had shot, cut, and maimed their way to the current room they were in. A second before entering she glimpsed Joseph shoving some poor soul into the waiting mouths of a small horde.

  She did the only thing she could think of and put a bullet in his head when she got a clear shot. A few zombies chewed on bits of exposed flesh, others ripped off an arm or lower portion of the leg by twisting at the knee. The resulting pop making her stomach lurch.

  “Oh my God,” Richards whispered.

  Ally looked in the direction his eyes were glued and saw hundreds of zombies coming for them.

  “On the count of three all of us are throwing a decimator out there, might slow them down enough to buy us a few extra minutes. One…two…three.” They all tossed a grenade then took cover waiting for the blast. When it hit the whole building rattled on its foundations.

  “Okay, now might not be the time, but we still have the others to deal with.” Ally geared herself up for the fight ahead of them.

  Richards fired first, followed by James. Ally joined in, but her effort was half-hearted at best, she couldn’t take her eyes off the ones chowing down. From what she’d seen thus far, after the things ate they were harder to kill. So while the other two focused on the ones coming at them, she tried to take out the ones munching on the former militia guy, because in a few minutes there would be six strong zombies coming for seconds.

  “I’m out, anyone got a spare magazine?” James yelled.

  Ally reached into one of her breast pockets and tossed a magazine in the general direction of the voice. Her focus was on the zombies. She took a deep breath and fired. The shot went through the eye of one and she smiled when the back of its head exploded, the brain slipping out the large hole the bullet left in the back of the skull. Her next target was wearing a jumpsuit of some kind. As it took a large bite of the stranger’s liver she fired a blast into its ear.

  This time the head imploded and the body remained in a kneeling position for a few seconds before another zombie moved forward and knocked it over. The ooze seeping out of the opening moved with purpose.

  “Richards, we need some cover flame.”

  “Fine, but you need to deal with some of these bastards and stop focusing on the ones eating.”

  Ally pulled her
attention away from the diners. There were only two left, but she knew they would be an issue. Raising her weapon she fired several rounds hoping for shots to hit weak spots, or find a rather underfed and weak target.

  A gust of wind, a click, and fire coated the floor in front of them. The ooze tried to escape but was too slow. One of the approaching zombies caught fire as it ambled toward them. Then a chain reaction occurred, as the other ones finished their meal and stood they formed a line. Within seconds they resembled what a wall in hell might look like.

  “Crap, now what?” Richards asked.

  “Next time be more careful,” Ally snapped.

  “If there is a next time, so what the hell do we do?”

  Ally didn’t know. She needed time to think. Turning around she knew the hallway wasn’t an option. They’d slaughtered about half of the undead they came across, but not all, and they were catching up.

  “Shut the damn door and block it with something.”

  Someone moved, she didn’t know who and it didn’t matter. The two men were firing again and took down a couple of uniformed things, but there were still too many. If one of them were to jump out the window some might follow. She could lead them away, but did she trust Richards to do the right thing? Seconds mattered. The things were moving in, closer with each second guess. James screamed and she abandoned the window plan. She spun on her heel and evaluated the scene. One of the creatures had its arms wrapped around James’s neck.

  Richards tried to help and was knocked down by one with blood smeared all over its face. Damn it, she knew the diners were going to be an issue. The arm Richards held up to defend himself, the left one that was already broken, snapped once again and hung at an odd angle as he screamed for help. This was not an I told you so moment, so she refrained, kind of.

  “The ones who eat are more dangerous and harder to kill. Put a bullet in it, Richards,” she said before launching herself at the zombie attacking James.

  All she could think was I have to do this, I need to play along. The impact with the undead thing knocked the breath out of her, but at least James was free. With a squishy thump she landed on top of the creature, her gun useless this close. Pulling out one of her knives, she used the hilt to try to bash the skull. Other than creating a small chip of bone that splintered off and stuck to her face nothing happened. She heard a woman screaming and it took a moment to realize it was her. James yelled something as Richards tried to take the rest of the zombies down. His left arm flapping at his side.

  Ally flipped the knife and tried to jab it into the eye socket, or some other opening to reach the brain. Unfortunately, the things were smart. This one knew what she planned and blocked her attack. That’s when she noticed the fire. That’s when she realized she was the one screaming for them to get the hell out of there. Strong hands lifted her off the body as a piece of rebar with chunks of cement still attached fell where she had been seconds earlier.

  James pat her down, dousing the flames on her arms and back. When he finished she took stock of her condition. The vest she wore and protective gear was in good shape, a few burnt bits but nothing major. None of them spoke. There was nothing to say. Minor burns on her face and hands, one sever one on the front of her leg where the fire was concentrated.

  She risked a look around and sighed in relief when the realization that there were no more creatures to fight sunk in. Her armor protected her from the worst of the wounds, but there was damage. Injuries she didn’t want to look at now.

  James, she thought with dread. He’d been attacked by one of them. Was he bitten? She twisted her body like she was stretching even though it made her mid-section feel like someone poured boiling water on it. The sound of her ribs grating against one another filled her ears, but was too low for the others in the room.

  James caught her eye and winked as he rubbed his neck. Ally smiled back but wasn’t convinced. She rose on shaky legs to help Richards. He stood there, letting her do whatever she wanted. Not even paying attention to his re-broken arm.

  “We’re not going to make it. There’s too many of them,” he mumbled.

  “Hey, listen to me. We are going to be fine. One more room and we end this.”

  Richards jerked resembling someone who'd been electrocuted. “Are you insane? Have you not been keeping track? These things. These nasty dead monsters are winning. For every one we kill twenty more rise up.”

  Ally grabbed his arm not caring when he cried out in pain. She forced the bone straight and replaced the cast with the canister of plaster from the med kit.

  “Get with the program, Richards. I don’t have time for whiners.”

  She stood and walked away hoping the words he used on recruits would hit home. Ally approached James with hesitation.

  “Let me see that neck.”

  “It’s fine, no need to concern yourself with it.”

  Ally ignored the comment and pulled his hand away. She noticed they were covered in blisters, some popped and oozed a clear liquid as she watched. He’d used his bare hands to put out the flames engulfing her body.

  A tear formed in her eye and she forced it away. She concentrated on his neck and sagged in relief when all she found were the beginnings of a bruise. Reaching into the bag at her side she pulled out some ointment and rubbed it into the older man’s hands with great care.

  “I thought you were dead.”

  Ally looked up at the sound of the voice so similar to the one from her childhood. “You too,” she whispered.

  “There were so many things going on. When they killed your mother I had to die as well, it was the only way to protect you. It’s so good to see you. You’re beautiful.”

  “Dad, what happened, how did you survive?” she choked the words out.

  “There were civilians in the building. Richards set us up so he could move up in the ranks. I wanted to take the group in a different direction than he did.”

  “I bet you did.” Ally put bandages over the worst burns.

  “I found a few men and came here, you know how your grandfather was always going on about it. Turns out he was right. They took me in and we’ve been working behind the scenes.”

  “Why didn’t you come find me when I was older? Why let Richards get his hands on me? He said you wanted me join him, signed me over.”

  James placed a meaty hand over hers. “I would never, the bastard’s a liar. And I did try to find you, but you’d already left the compound by then. I’ll tell you more later, just don’t trust Richards, promise me.”

  Ally nodded, biting her tongue. The sound of footsteps alerted her to Richards’s approach.

  “We need to keep moving.” She squeezed James’s hand, her father’s hand, and smiled.

  How many years did they lose? Everything pointed to Richards being the villain in her life that needed to be taken care of. She thought of everything happening, and as much as she wanted to hate herself for being petty, she couldn’t. She would do what needed to be done. She would try to figure out a way for people to survive this epidemic. She would play along to survive at least that long, even if it made her skin crawl.

  One door left in the room, and it happened to be the one dinner was delivered through.

  Ally felt drained. Her muscles were sore, her bones ached, her mind was in tatters, she couldn’t see the whole picture yet, and now her emotions were being played with. A little longer, she could do it, she had to. She couldn’t afford to fall apart, there were things to be done. People to kill. She marched to the door and kicked for all she was worth. The thing didn’t budge, and she guessed they’d had the time and motivation to reinforce it from the other side.

  She searched for something to try to pry it open, dislodge it. The window once again caught her eye. The glass shattered long ago. She hopped out into the dark not caring if the others followed her and headed left.

  She heard voices and watched as Allgood, Joseph, Trevor, and a young woman who must be Richards’s niece paced the room. She felt a
presence at her back and knew it would be James. Richards moved in front of her and took up position at another window.

  “Why didn’t they block the windows?” James whispered.

  “The entrance to the grounds was blocked off. Not to mention it would be suicide not to leave at least one exit point in case they were overtaken.”

  “Good point.”

  Ally nodded. She needed a plan, some way to neutralize them. First, she had to know if they’d discovered the ball. From the way Joseph was swearing she didn’t think they had. Movement to her right caught her attention. Of course this would happen now. Somehow, the zombies got past the blockade and were headed straight for them. No time like the present she thought as she stood.

  “Joseph, good to see you, sorry we lost track of you. But it seemed like you found some nice people to help out,” she said as she climbed in.

  Two guns were aimed at her, one of which she didn’t recognize and guessed was the prototype. Everyone seemed shocked expect for Joseph, then again the man had been born with a poker face.

  “Ally, how nice of you to join us. No need for the guns is there?” Joseph made it sound more like a question.

  Ally holstered her weapon, and motioned for Richards and James to join her. Trevor still had his rifle raised, but Joseph gave him a severe look until he lowered it.

  “So how are things going? Looks like you’re having some problems.”

  Joseph grinned. “You know, if you weren’t such a pain in the ass I’d admire your ability to bounce back. I was assured the doctor on that boat you were on would have you hooked on Morphoids. By now you should be a quivering mess begging for a fix.”

  “Like you said, I bounce back fast. Just needed a reminder about what was at stake.” She sent a quick glance to Richards who nodded. God, she hoped this didn’t make them friends now.

  “Lucky you, though I think time’s up for you. I’ll make sure you’re dead myself.”

  Ally said the first thing she thought of. “I know what you want, and I hate to break it to you, but you aren’t going to find it,” Ally said in a conversational tone.