The Zombie Awakening (Complete 6 Volume Series, plus prologue)

by Melton, Cynthia

  He hated leaving them locked inside for who knew how long, but there was no way he was opening that door. To set the beautiful home on fire would be a tragedy. Those inside would have to stay until they rotted. He grabbed Chalice’s hand and they jogged back to the trucks.

  Most of the supplies were in the Hummer and the truck Mychal was driving. A few more were in the vehicle Dante had found.

  Colton let go of the Chalice’s hand and headed for the driver’s side of the Hummer. Her cry stopped him.

  Dante, his arm wrapped around Chalice’s neck, held a gun to her head. “Thank you for the supplies, but my people are waiting on me. This lovely lady is coming along.” He grinned. “We’re always on the look out for women to help increase our numbers. See y’all on the other side.” He forced Chalice to drop her weapons, leaving them when the others made a move toward him. “Careful. My finger is twitching.”

  Colton watched helplessly as Dante forced Chalice into the truck, the gun always pointed at her head. “We’ll find you. I will kill you if anything happens to her.” He bent and retrieved the weapons Dante had dropped.

  His blood ran cold as Chalice met his gaze through the windshield and backed the truck through the gate. The instant the truck rolled away from the housing development, everyone leaped into the Hummer, leaving behind the truck Mychal was going to drive, and roared after Dante.

  “We can’t let him have her,” Mychal said, leaning over the seat.

  “I know.” Colton pressed the gas. The truck in front of them disappeared over a hill.

  “We know where they are,” Amos said. “Let’s go back and get some of the others. The more firepower we have, the easier it will be to get her back. If they have around twenty, our four here won’t do much good.”

  “We don’t know where their camp is, and Dante said thirty people.”

  “He’s most likely lying, the little twerp. We know the camp is on that mountain. That many people shouldn’t be too hard to find.”

  He couldn’t believe he had let that rat into their group. He was losing his edge, becoming too trusting. His stupidity could get Chalice killed. “If she dies—”

  “They won’t kill her. She’s young, strong, and healthy. They want her for breeding.” Amos clapped Colton on the shoulder. “Have faith. We’ll get her back.”

  He jerked the wheel, turning the vehicle in the direction of the housing development so Mychal could retrieve the jeep before returning to the mall. The rest of the drive was made in silence as they raced for help.

  Bill met them at the entrance to the mall. He glanced in the vehicle. “Where’s Chalice?”

  “Abducted by Dante.” Colton reached for his door handle.

  “We had visitors while you were gone.” Bill’s face hardened. “They snatched, Hanna, Alyssah, and Faith right out of the garden. Blasted the fence, grabbed them, and ran. We managed to close up the hole before the undead got into the other children, but the older girls…” he shook his head.

  “I need a team ready in ten minutes,” Colton said, sliding from the Hummer. “I want everyone left behind to lock themselves in the movie theater until we return. No lights, no sound. There will only be a skeleton crew left to defend this place.”

  “The parents will fight to protect their children,” Amos stated. “If we take Bill, Sarah, Rachel, Eric, and the Jackson three, that gives us enough, and leaves several behind who know how to fight.”

  “I’m coming with you,” Marianne said, stepping next to Bill. “Those are my girls.”

  Colton nodded. “Leave the Jackson three behind. Everyone load up with ammo. We’re going to war with people who can shoot back.”

  The others would be safe enough. The undead couldn’t get into the mall, and the only living in the vicinity would soon meet a group intent on getting back what was their’s.

  He stormed to the armory while the others unloaded the newly gotten supplies. They’d lost the items in Dante’s truck, but most of it was here. Chalice, and the girls, was their concern now.

  “You bring back my grandchildren,” Grandma said, the lines around her mouth deepening.

  “I won’t come back without them.” He stepped back while the others moved forward to load down their own packs.

  Everyone was serious, focused, not speaking. Colton met Mychal’s stern gaze. “We’ll find them.”

  “I know.” He stashed a box of rifle shells and arrows into his pack. “You know we’ll have to kill the living to get the girls, right?”

  “Yes.” Colton squared his shoulders and grabbed the last of the grenades. “I only hope that, if the camp holds innocent people, we can spare them.” If not, then he would deal with the guilt later. Right now … they had a mission to accomplish.

  7

  Chalice glared at Dante’s grinning profile. How could she have been so stupid as to trust him? A boyish face and charming smile should not have been enough for her to let down her guard. Now, without weapons, she was defenseless.

  They stopped in front of an enclosure. In front of them, between two sections of eight-foot-tall chain-link fence, shuffled dozens of the undead. Hopes of Colton rescuing her were growing dim.

  On the other side of the fence were several dilapidated buildings. It reminded Chalice of an old western ghost town left behind and forgotten by its residents. Her hopes dropped further. These people knew what they were doing when they found this place. While the mall was still better for protection, this camp was designed to keep strangers out.

  Three men ran down the fence shouting and banging iron bars, drawing the undead’s attention away from Dante and Chalice. Dante got out, rolled the gate open and drove through. Once they were clear, another man rushed to open, and then close, the second gate. The place looked like a fortress.

  Dante stopped the truck in front of the largest building. “Get out. No funny stuff or I will shoot you. There are other women around to take your place.”

  Chalice glared and exited the vehicle. She’d no sooner planted a booted foot on the ground when she noticed her sister, Alyssah, and Faith being ushered into a smaller building. Her heart sank. What had happened to the others at the mall? The children? If these people wanted to populate, the children would have been a good addition. She marched toward the girls, thankful they wouldn’t have to worry about toddlers when it came time to escape. And they would escape.

  She wrapped her sister in a hug. “What happened?”

  “We were in the garden area watching the little kids.” Tears sprang to Hanna’s eyes. “The next thing we knew, two armed men ushered us at gunpoint through a hole in the fence. What if the non-breathers got to the kids?”

  “I’m sure someone fixed the fence before that happened.” Chalice’s mouth dried up. What if the zombies did get inside? How many of her group were left? No. She refused to think that way. Someone would have noticed.

  “What do they want us for?” Faith asked. She frowned. “If you let us carry weapons, this might not have happened.”

  “I don’t know. But, I do know you don’t normally need a weapon inside the mall.” She released Hanna and faced the girls. “Follow their orders until I figure out how to get us out of here.”

  Chalice was the only one dressed for a possible attempt at scaling the fence. Without thick leather, the other three would be nothing more than a zombie dinner. She glanced through a crack in the boarded up window. Men armed with rifles paced the fence. Over it all hung the stench and groans of the undead.

  “Food.” Dante shoved four opened cans of stew through the space between the boards over the window. “Careful, it’s hot.” He tossed in bottles of water, and disappeared.

  “He fed us like we’re dogs,” Faith said.

  Alyssah eyed the contents of her can. “It looks like dog food.”

  “It very well might be,” Chalice said. “Still, it’s all we’ve got. If we want to get out of here, we need to keep our strength up.” She dipped her fingers in the can and hissed against the heat
. She blew on the food, then stuck her fingers in her mouth. “No, it’s stew. Just not very good. Eat it.”

  She sat on the weathered wood floor and scooted her back against the wall. They needed a plan in case Colton and the others couldn’t get to them.

  The buildings in the camp looked familiar. As if she’d seen pictures of it somewhere. In school, perhaps when life was normal. She glanced up from her food. “Do either of you know where we are?”

  Alyssah nodded. “It’s an old mining camp. We learned about it in school.”

  Chalice grinned. Mining meant tunnels. If they hadn’t been blasted closed, and she could find the entrance, they might have a way out after all. It looked very much as if Faith would possibly get her chance to fight zombies after all. All they needed now was protective clothing and weapons.

  Setting her empty can on the ground, she moved to the window. While flirting wasn’t Chalice’s strong point, she was brought there to help populate that corner of the world. There had to be somebody in the camp who would tell her what she needed to know with a little batting of her eyelashes. There! A boy, maybe a year or two younger than her, strolled by with a rifle propped on his shoulder.

  “Hey!” She waved through the bars on the window.

  He turned. “Yeah?”

  “Could you talk to me?” She did her best pout.

  The boy glanced around as if checking to see whether she actually talked to him. “What about?”

  “Is there a place a girl can take a bath? I know you’ll have to tag along, but …” she plucked at her clothes, still bloody from the supply run. “You look like a nice enough guy. I can trust you, right?”

  He blushed. “Sure. There’s a creek just through those trees. I’ll be happy to take you, but only you. I can’t take a whole group.”

  She smiled. “I understand.” She turned to the other three. “Stay here and be quiet. I’m finding a way out.”

  Eyes wide, they nodded. Chalice took a deep breath and faced the door as the lock released. She might not be able to overpower the young man, but she would have failed as a female if a few kisses didn’t get his tongue to loosen. She plastered on a smile and opened the door.

  *

  Colton and the others parked at the end of the road where they had first encountered those they believed had Chalice and the girls. Once night settled over the mountain, they would approach the camp and see how best to enter.

  “I’m going with Amos to scout out the camp,” Mychal said.

  “Good idea. We don’t want to move in blind.” Colton leaned against the hood of the Hummer and wished for the second time in his life that he smoked. Even Bill had given up the regular habit with cigarettes so hard to find, and Colton wouldn’t dare try one of the man’s few he kept in case of stressed-out emergencies. This obviously constituted one of those moments. Bill lit a smoke and leaned against a tree.

  Marianne paced the rutted road, her gaze darting up the road and back. Tears streaked her burned face. She’d stop occasionally and check the ammo in her semi-automatic rifle.

  The others milled around the vehicles, talking softly among themselves, gazes scanning the trees, always on the alert for undead, or the living who had evil intent. Every few minutes, someone would hold up a hand, the others would grow silent, they listened, then resumed talking. It all reminded Colton of a war movie he saw once when television was something everyone had.

  By the time Amos and Mychal returned an hour later, Colton’s nerves were stretched to the breaking point. He pushed away from the vehicle and went to meet them. “What did you find?”

  “Two sets of fences,” Amos said. “With lots of non-breathers between them. There’s no way in but over or under. Over will get us seen. Digging under will take too long.”

  Colton’s hopes fell. “Now what?”

  Amos grinned. “It just so happens that I know this part of the country. My grandfather worked the mines where those folks are holed up. We can enter the camp from underground, as long as the tunnels aren’t blocked. Get everyone loaded up, and I’ll lead the way. We’ll have to go on foot.”

  Colton jogged between the vehicles, alerting the others to the plan. While he hated dark, closed-in places, he’d endure the tunnels for Chalice’s sake. He could worry about his fears when she was free.

  Grabbing the bag containing extra ammo and the grenades, Colton loped after Amos, heading east instead of directly toward where he thought the camp was. They ran across a few of the undead, thankfully the slower breed, and were able to dispose of them quickly and quietly. After a fifteen minute jog through brush working hard to reclaim what had once belonged to mankind, they arrived at the boarded up entrance to a mine.

  “I hope it isn’t blocked.” Colton stretched a headband, equipped with a small flashlight, around his forehead.

  “It’s at least clear for a few hundred yards,” Amos said. “Mychal and I went back that far without a problem. We did hear the growling of a few non-breathers, but it didn’t sound like anything we couldn’t handle.”

  Colton’s heart rate accelerated. A dark, closed-in space with creatures that wanted to eat him. Wonderful.

  “Try not to fire a weapon,” he said. “The sound will echo and alert those in the camp.” He wiped his sweaty palms on his thighs and took a deep breath. “Let’s go.”

  Him and Amos, followed closely by the others, stepped into the mouth of the mine. The flutter of bats overhead, sent chills down Colton’s spine. He reached up and turned on the light on his headband. Soon, several beams of light illuminated the space, easing some of his claustrophobia.

  “Is there more than one entrance to the mines?” He scanned the dirt walls, supported in places by rotting beams.

  “Two, that I know of,” Amos said. “The exit and one more entrance. This might take a while.”

  Great. Colton took another shuddering breath and tightened his grip on his sword. He lowered the beam on his headlight. If the batteries died, they’d be goners for sure.

  The breathing of those behind him rattled off the mine walls. Or was that his own breathing? Either way, they’d have company soon. With each step they took, the growls of the undead increased. The chilled air inside the mine smelled of decay and bat feces.

  “Everyone stay close,” he said. “We’re about to have company. Do not get separated.”

  The shuffling of their unwanted visitors grew closer. The first undead Colton spotted was an elderly woman, her torn nightgown hanging off one shoulder. All that was left of her right arm was the bone. She stumbled forward on her left leg, dragging the right. He raised his sword and plunged it into her head as two more zombies rounded the corner.

  Him and Amos disposed of them quickly, but at the rate the undead were piling up, their way out could be blocked. Especially, if they were chased out of the mines by those holding Chalice and the girls.

  “You guys in back move the dead to the side. We can’t be tripping over them.” He lunged over his latest kill and cleaved an undead man’s head in half. The hilt of his sword was slippery with gore and blood.

  When Amos and Colton tired, the next two moved to the front, each of them rotating. By the time the faint light of the moon eased into the mine’s exit, Colton found himself in the front again. He held up a hand to halt the others.

  He peered between overgrown bushes. A laughing Chalice stepped into the bushes beside a small weathered building.

  Colton frowned. What was she doing?

  8

  Now what? Chalice was alone with the pimple-faced boy and had no idea what to do next? She had questions that needed answering, and she desperately wanted the rifle propped on his shoulder. She should have paid more attention to the flirty girls in high school. They made it look easy.

  She stopped on the bank of a small clear creek and glanced over her shoulder. The boy watched her, eyes wide, waiting for her to take the bath she had mentioned. As if she would.

  “What’s your name?” She sidled up to him.
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  “Derek.” He grinned.

  “How did you get mixed up with these men?” She toyed with the buttons on his shirt. “I mean, how can a nice guy like you kidnap four girls?”

  “I didn’t kidnap you.” He stepped back.

  “Oh, I know it wasn’t you, exactly.” She looked back the way they had come and gave a dramatic sigh. “Those buildings sit on top of an old mine, right?”

  “Yes. Why?” His eyes narrowed.

  “Well … if we went there, we could really have some privacy,” she leaned close and whispered in his ear. “Do you know the way in?”

  He licked his lips. “Sure, I do.”

  “Wanna have some fun?” She ran her hand down his arm and grasped his hand. “We’d better hurry before we’re missed. It’s been a long time since I’ve had, well, that … with a guy.”

  “Yeah.” He pulled her after him, skirting the camp.

  Fool. Boys were so easily led astray.

  They stopped in front of the mine entrance. Chalice spotted movement behind the bushes hiding the opening. If the undead walked the tunnels, she couldn’t dare take the unsuspecting Derek inside. Kidnapper or not, he didn’t deserve the kind of death that awaited them inside.

  “Wait.” She pulled him behind a tree. “This is better.” She slammed him against the trunk.

  “Hey, not so rough.” His eyes widened.

  “I haven’t even started.” She wrapped his head in her hands and brought her knee up into his crotch. He groaned and slumped forward. She then bashed her knee into his face and let him crumple to the ground. She quickly pulled the rifle from his shoulder before removing his ammo belt. Now, she had a chance of rescuing the girls.

  “Chalice.” Colton peered through the bushes. “Where are the others?”

  “I’ll be back in fifteen minutes.” Hope sprang again within her. “If I’m not, come get us.” Keeping to the tree line, she dashed to where the girls waited. With a quick glance around, she slipped through the unlocked door.

  “Come on.” She waved the others to follow her. “Most of the men are sleeping. There are a couple of guards patrolling the fence. I found the mine entrance. Colton is waiting for us. Follow me, and be quiet.”