Zombie Apocalypse Series Books 1-3 (Zombie Apocalypse Series Box Set)

by Jeff DeGordick

  So she let go.

  She gave a little hop forward and let gravity do the rest as her body quickly dropped and the rope yanked against her throat. The pain of it was incredible and she never felt a sensation of being so breathless before as the tension nearly put her into shock.

  Then something snapped and she hit the ground hard. She groaned and rolled around on the floor, seeing stars. Her lungs desperately pleaded for air, and after a moment her throat opened and the rush of oxygen filled them. She gasped and coughed, holding her throat where the scratchy rope was still wrapped around.

  She pulled the noose off her head and saw that the rope had snapped, leaving a short frayed end tied to the rafter above. Sarah started to cry harder than ever before. She finally made the decision to end everything and she couldn't understand why it wasn't over.

  She crawled over to the AK-47 lying next to the blanket and picked it up. She sat up on her knees and without hesitation put the barrel of the gun into her mouth, tilting it up toward her brain. She closed her eyes and squeezed the trigger.

  The gun clicked, but didn't fire.

  She pulled the trigger again and again, but nothing happened. She held the side of the rifle up to her face, trying to see in the darkness, and she could see the charging handle was pulled back, with two cartridges jammed in the chamber, causing a double feed.

  Sarah threw the rifle away from her and it bounced around on the floor before coming to rest and leaving only the sounds of her labored breathing and panicked sobs echoing in the drafty barn.

  For a long time she cried. Eventually, she crawled back under the blanket as the pain in her throat eased, and she quickly fell asleep, too tired to fight anymore, even for her own death.

  Her eyes opened to find light coming into the barn through the cracks in the walls. She lifted her head off the floor, which sometime in the night had found its way off the little straw pile she made and onto the stiff wood. She slowly started to move her body, and found all the traces of pain from the days before, but yet everything felt a little better, including her mood.

  The events of the night before seemed like a bad dream, and it was only when she looked up and saw the frayed rope hanging above her and the broken noose next to her that she knew everything was absolutely real.

  She rotated her ankle, and it felt a little better.

  The blanket had kept her warm through the night, and she felt almost comfortable. She sat up and got up to her feet, keeping the blanket wrapped around her shoulders for warmth. She made her way over to the barn door as the old floor creaked under her feet. She pulled the latch off and slid open the door to find a winter wonderland outside.

  A thick blanket of snow covered the ground, and it continued to lightly fall from the sky. It must have been at least three inches, and for a brief moment she forgot all the torment she was going through as her inner child came to the surface and delighted at the glistening whiteness all around her. It reminded her of old Christmas mornings, and the cold suddenly didn't seem so bad.

  As she stood in the doorway of the barn, admiring the scenery, she thought about what happened the night before. She didn't try to hide from what she attempted, and she didn't want to. She took a mature approach to it and accepted that at the time it was what she wanted to do.

  But now she felt differently. The crisp morning gave her new perspective, and it was as if the fresh air had cleaned the soot off her lungs from the night before and cleaned the poison thoughts from her brain.

  She remembered standing on the ladder with the noose around her neck and the feeling that a weight had been lifted off her shoulders, comforted that it would soon be over. She remembered the warm feeling that she wouldn't have to be afraid anymore, and though the circumstances changed in the morning, she decided that the sentiment did not.

  She wasn't going to be afraid anymore. She was through with running, through with hiding. She had made peace with everything that happened in her life, the good and the bad. Whether it was fate or not, her will was to stay on this earth and keep fighting. Fighting for what exactly, she didn't know. But that was her choice. From that day on she was going to take control of her own destiny and face her fears. In the bright shine of the morning, even the lunatic stalking her seemed small.

  Sarah turned and walked back into the barn, picking up the AK-47. She looked into the chamber again and saw the two cartridges jammed against each other, fighting for position. She yanked the magazine from the gun and racked the charging handle until the chamber was cleared. She inspected it again, then she pushed the magazine back into the rifle and racked it once more. She held it against her cheek as she aimed up at the frayed rope hanging from the rafter. She lined up her eye down the sights and steadied her breath. When she had a clear shot, she tightened her finger on the trigger, but not enough to fire a round.

  "Bang," she whispered.

  She slung the gun over her shoulder and walked to the barn door again. She took one last look into the interior, into the face of her own misery and despair, then she turned and walked out into the brilliant white of the calm morning outside.

  15

  Shopping List

  The granola bar that she found underneath the gondola shelf was stale as hell and so chewy it almost broke her teeth to bite through it. She ate it with a grimace, trying to focus on the map spread out in front of her. She looked over the city of Raleigh from a topographic view, studying where she was and what would be a realistic place to make a stand against the killer.

  She was still on the fringes of the city and it would be quite a walk to get to a more urban area, and she didn't think she would be able to reach any of those in time before he tracked her down. Whatever location she chose, she needed to get there soon. She was surprised he hadn't tried to get to her in the night, and fleeting thoughts of half-fantasy wondering if he had ended up burning to death in the mall danced through her head. But she knew the grim reality was that she wasn't going to get off that easily.

  Sarah had narrowed it down to a few locations, but her gut told her to go to the hospital. There was another hospital deep inside Raleigh that was bigger, but this one was on the edge of the city and seemed like it was built first, leading her to believe it might have been an old hospital that was shuttered before the apocalypse. If that were the case, it would probably be empty. It was still a big building and there would be a lot of escape routes inside so she wouldn't trap herself if she had to retreat. That would work to his advantage as well, giving him a lot of places to hide and potentially sneak up on her, but she had a few tricks up her sleeve that he wouldn't see coming.

  She took a good look at the map again to get a sense of where she was going, then she folded it up and slipped it in the pocket of the winter coat she took from the farmhouse after she left the barn. When she finished her years-old granola bar, she dropped the wrapper on the floor and headed out of the convenience store.

  The snow continued to fall, though it had almost petered out completely, leaving about four inches total on the ground, and she was glad not to have it any higher with her ankle. It remarkably felt better today, but she knew she still had to be gentle on it until it could heal properly.

  She trudged through the snow, heading up the road for the hospital. Her eyes scanned the whiteness around her and saw no signs of footprints other than hers. She held onto the strap of the AK around her shoulder, ready for anything, and ever since waking up that morning, she had never felt so powerful in her life; for better or worse, she was now in control of her own destiny.

  Sarah figured she would probably reach the hospital sometime in the afternoon, but before she got there, she had another stop to make first.

  The Walmart parking lot was empty save for the usual bunch of abandoned cars. She crept through it, keeping her eyes open and peeking from one car interior to the next. But things were quiet.

  The sliding doors at the entrance were only open about a foot, and she pried them open a little farther and slippe
d inside.

  The store had an unusually musty smell and dust particles floated in the air as she turned on the flashlight and moved it around, checking each dark corner carefully as she went. It was dead quiet, and her footsteps could probably be heard all the way at the opposite corner of the huge department store.

  Something moved above her head, making a squawking noise.

  Sarah ducked down, brandishing the flashlight above her and reaching for her gun.

  A fat sparrow fluttered down and cut through the flashlight's beam before flying through the gap in the sliding doors.

  Sarah stood up as her heart settled and she swallowed the saliva in her mouth. She carried on, looking around and trying to find what she would need. Her first stop was in the outdoor department, and she found a big backpack and slung it over her shoulders.

  The aisles passed by as she crossed the store. At first, she was still wary about zombies or other dangers lurking in the shadows, but she found no one. Sarah walked down a few aisles that struck her fancy, judging the items on each shelf with a careful eye. Some things she picked up, looking them over in her hands, only to shake her head and put them back down. She had an idea in her head of what she needed, and she had to find the right items.

  One of the first things she checked for was more ammo for the AK, but the locked shelf had been smashed open and nothing was left except a film of dust.

  In the hardware section, she found a pack of nails that she shoved into the backpack. She also found a can of primer spray. She read the label on the can in the light, making sure it would do the trick. Satisfied, she grabbed two of them and moved on. On the way to the sporting goods section, she picked up a roll of tape, then she browsed football equipment, trying on a variety of helmets to see what fit her head. She found one in her size and tied the face mask to a strap on the outside of the backpack, letting it hang.

  At the end of the aisle Sarah picked up a wooden baseball bat. She held it out in her hands and weighed the heft of it, taking a few practice swings. She hoped the gun would be enough, but she couldn't be too careful. She tapped the end of the bat to the abandoned shelves as she continued on, creating a hypnotic echo to keep herself entertained.

  She decided she just needed another few items before she would feel confident to face the killer. After adding a box of thumbtacks and a couple of road flares to her inventory, she continued browsing for one need in particular, but she didn't know quite what to look for. But when she came upon the book section, she stopped and smiled. Sarah pulled open the backpack and walked along the shelves, tipping books indiscriminately into it, getting his many as she could, while still leaving a little bit of room inside.

  She zipped it up and wrapped the backpack around her shoulders again, the new weight of it tugging her down, and she wandered off to the back of the store where she hadn't been yet. Sarah passed a swinging door leading to a McDonald's, then the photo studio, as she came to the automotive department.

  It was in its own alcove connected to the rest of the store, and Sarah was cautious when entering it, looking around for other exits in case she had to make a quick escape. As she walked past tall shelves stacked with tires, she saw there were some doors leading to offices and one that looked like it led outside, and that put her mind at ease. And next to that door, she found the last item on her list.

  A display full of jugs of windshield washer fluid sat against the wall, and she grabbed one and just barely managed to squeeze it into the backpack, zipping it up and putting it over her shoulders. It became very heavy, and she knew the rest of the trek to the hospital wouldn't be fun.

  A noise echoed in the store, like a swinging door creaking open.

  Sarah froze and stared at the entrance to the automotive department. She couldn't see anything from where she stood, and she waited, her grip around the baseball bat tightening.

  Very softly, and with an agonizingly slow gait, footsteps echoed from around the corner.

  Sarah's skin crawled and her pulse quickened.

  He couldn't be here. She wasn't ready.

  Sarah was hidden behind the rows of tall shelves, but she was still standing out in the open by the windshield washer fluid, and she didn't dare to move.

  The soft claps of feet came one by one from around the corner. Sarah prayed that they would travel in a different direction, but they came straight for her. She had walked right past that swinging door leading to the McDonald's, and she never thought to peek inside. He had been hiding in there the whole time, and now she was trapped.

  Sarah looked at the doors around her. The ones leading to the offices obviously had no escape, but the one behind her looked like it led outside. She stared at the push bar for a while, not sure she could work up the courage to go for it. But as the footsteps rounded the corner and came into the department, hidden on the other side of the shelves, she knew it was her best option.

  She wedged the baseball bat between her side and one of the shoulder straps on the backpack then slid the AK-47 off her shoulder, aiming it toward the end of the shelves where the footsteps were heading. She backed up slowly, never taking her eyes off the edge of the shelf, and it made her jump when her backpack bumped into the door. She reached a hand behind herself and shoved on the push bar. It depressed, but the door didn't open.

  The sound of chains rattling could faintly be heard on the other side.

  Her eyes went wide. She pushed on the door again, but was met with the same result. This time she turned around and shoved on it with her arm and her entire bodyweight, but it was hopeless. She spun around in a panic just as the footsteps came to the end of the shelf and the figure came into view.

  It wasn't the killer.

  A woman who looked like she had been in her mid-fifties stood in front of her in the flashlight's glow. Her hair was long and filthy, patches of it torn out. Her clothes were tattered, leaving just the collar of an old t-shirt and one half of the shirt to cover her right shoulder and breast as the other side exposed a moldy and lopsided bra. Her skin was leathery and gray, and her pale eyes followed along the floor, finally spotting Sarah's shoes as they went and widening when they got up to her face. The woman groaned as its mouth fell open, releasing a skin-crawling sound echoing in the enclosed department.

  Sarah stood in shock, not expecting what was in front of her. Before she could react, she heard the swinging door of the McDonald's open again, and more footsteps came out. But the sounds were muddy and confusing. Her ears strained, puzzled by what she was hearing at first, and then she realized that she wasn't hearing one set of footsteps, but several.

  She aimed the AK at the zombie just as it started to come for her. She was about to pull the trigger, but a voice inside her head shouted at her not to. She was pinned down and had to get out of there, but she knew that if she used all of the ammo on zombies, her stand against the killer would fall decidedly flat.

  In a split-second of inner turmoil, she struggled with two choices, and at the last second, she grunted in frustration before throwing the rifle over her shoulder and pulling out the baseball bat.

  The zombie hurtled for her as Sarah stepped forward and wound up. She twisted and swung the bat across her body. It connected magnificently and shattered the zombie's skull, leaving a puff of blood in the air as its body was sent into the shelf next to her, bouncing off and hitting the floor. As it started to writhe around, Sarah stepped over it and drove the bat down onto the back of its skull, crushing it completely and leaving the zombie motionless.

  The other sets of footsteps rounded the corner into the automotive department, boxing her in. They quickened when they heard the commotion inside, and they already started to softly grown in curiosity.

  Sarah held the blood-crusted bat, waiting in the back corner for them to come. She prayed they all came around the same shelf so she could slip out the other way and not have to deal with any of them, but when the footsteps split up into all different directions, her heart sank.

  The ba
ckpack weighed heavily on her shoulders, and swinging the bat the first couple times were taxing. She thought of using the assault rifle again, knowing that she would never even get to face the killer if she didn't make it out of here alive, but the voice in the back of her head still shouted at her not to.

  She didn't know what the voice was at first, but the answer slowly came to her that it was the voice of a newfound confidence she never had before. It was the one born in that barn when she woke up in the early morning, the one that told her she didn't have to be afraid anymore, the one that told her that she was capable to take care of herself now. It didn't take away her fear, but it let her know that she could work through it and survive. She let that voice guide her as the zombies began to pour out from either side of the shelves.

  Two zombies came around the right side of the shelf in front of her where the previous one had appeared. Another one came from the left, and still there were at least two or three more unaccounted for on the other side of the shelves.

  Sarah looked between them, indecisive as they boxed her in. She had a few seconds' advantage in the time the zombies took to stop and stare at her in shock before they realized they'd found a meal, and she took the opportunity and jogged for the single zombie on the left.

  The backpack bounced around behind her as the straps pulled down on her shoulders and the contents inside rumbled around. Sarah used her momentum and swung the bat, following through as she jogged past the zombie, giving the bat an extra punch.

  The zombie's nose cracked and shoved up into its skull as its head flew back and its body rotated in the air, slamming down on its back.