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

by Melton, Cynthia

  Mom dropped the book and pulled a duffel bag from under the bunk. “Get Rachel and Eric. I’ll meet you on the landing strip in fifteen minutes. Where is your brother?”

  “With the soldiers. He’s joined up.” Chalice sprinted down the hall toward the lab.

  Rachel and Eric were already loading glass vials and equipment into boxes. “We haven’t had time to inoculate everyone,” Rachel said. “If that horde reaches us before—”

  “They won’t.” Eric put a hand on her shoulder. “We’ll make sure we’re out of here.”

  “Then you’d better hurry,” Chalice said. “Be at the strip ready to take off in thirty minutes.” She grabbed a packed box and rushed outside where others were stacking crates next to the transport trucks.

  She set the box down and hurried back inside to see what else she could grab, passing soldiers loaded with weapons and ammo boxes. President Balch, escorted by three soldiers, was climbing into a plane. He met Chalice’s gaze, then turned away.

  Fitting that the leader of what was once the free world would be spirited away first. Chalice blinked back tears. They were no longer free, instead living and running, trying to stay one step ahead of walking death. She wished the president luck and took the duffel bag from her mother as she stepped outside.

  “There’s very little here,” Mom said. “At least for us.”

  “Then you’re ready to get on that transport. It’s almost ready to leave.” She grabbed her mother in a tight hug. “I’ll see you as soon as I can.”

  “Come with me.” Mom clutched her shoulders. “Leave this to the soldiers.”

  “I can’t. I’ve been a soldier for over a year, whether I wear the uniform or not. We’re the last defense between that horde and our people. You’re needed at the mall.” She kissed her mother on the cheek and stepped back. “I’ll see you soon.”

  She watched, feeling more alone and helpless than ever before as the plane containing the president flew away. She then turned to watch as her mother’s transport, also holding Rachel and Eric, pulled through the gate. On the horizon, rose a cloud of dust, kicked up by the dragging feet of hundreds of non-breathing monsters.

  She ran to where Colton loaded a truck. “We’ve got to hurry.” She pointed at the cloud of dust. “It must have been the sprinters that escaped the canyon. The others wouldn’t have made it here this fast.”

  “We don’t have much time.” Colton sprinted to Sergeant Mason. “They’re coming!”

  “The first of them are already here.” He pointed to the gate.

  Chalice pulled her sword from its sheath as the soldiers opened fire, taking out the first of the unwelcome visitors. She glanced around them, wondering how long the fences would hold. They couldn’t stay long enough to find out. Those left at the base needed to get out. Now.

  “Time to go.” Sergeant Mason ordered his troops to load up. “Get out of here,” he said to Chalice and Colton. “I’m setting this place on fire as soon as the last truck pulls out. Hopefully, there won’t be anything left. If there is, pray it’s few enough for us to handle. We aren’t going to get out of this without some hand-to-hand combat.”

  Colton grabbed Chalice’s hand and pulled her to the nearest truck. She craned her neck, relieved to see that Mychal had already boarded one. The convoy started out the gate as Sergeant Mason sprinted for his plane.

  *

  The air filled with the groans of the undead. The breeze carried with it the stench of death.

  Colton held tight to Chalice’s hand as the trucks drove through the thickest horde of non-breathers Colton had seen in one place, outside of the canyon. Many of them were burned so badly, you couldn’t tell if they had once been men or women. Instead of the odor of rotten meat, they now smelled like burnt flesh, the smell thick and cloying. He pulled the neckline of his tee shirt out of his leather jacket and up over his nose.

  He pulled a bullet from his pocket, kissed it, and handed it to Chalice. “Just in case,” he said, knowing she would know what he meant for her to do if she were overrun.

  She copied him, handing her one of her own. “So the last thought you have will be of me.”

  He lifted her hand and kissed her palm. “I want to marry you, Chalice Hart. I’ll fight with that in mind.”

  A soldier across from them grinned. “You’ll get your chance soon enough. The sergeant is dropping the bomb.” He tapped his headset. “Then, we’re circling these trucks and taking out what’s left of those things.”

  Chalice squeezed his hand. “Our last stand.”

  “The last one we’ll need.” Colton squeezed back. “Stay close. This isn’t anything we haven’t done before.”

  The truck shook from the concussion of the explosion. Something hit the side of the truck with a thud. “It’s just an arm,” a soldier said. “One of theirs.”

  The truck stopped. “Everyone out,” the driver said. “Get in the middle of the circle. Prepare to fight. We can’t let this horde get any further.”

  Colton took a deep breath and, still holding Chalice’s hand, jumped from the truck. She landed beside him. Together, they joined the soldiers and Marianne in the center of the circle.

  The trucks were parked bumper-to-bumper. The undead wouldn’t be able to squeeze through more than one or two at a time. A soldier barked orders for people to pair up and take a spot between the vehicles.

  Colton motioned Marianne over. “You stay with us.”

  She nodded, her face pale. “I can fight.”

  “Then take out whatever gets past us.” He gripped his sword, noticing Mychal at the gap next to them. Good. He wanted his family where he could see them.

  “We can handle this many,” Chalice said, giving him a shaky smile. “We’ve seen worse.”

  “Sure.” While he appreciated her attempt at optimism, he wasn’t fooled. They’d never faced a herd this size. Close, but having the soldiers helped make the situation hopeful.

  Rachel and Eric took up a position on his other side, Amos with them. Colton was happy to see his friend. Not having seen him since arriving on the base before the attack on the canyon, he was relieved to know the big man was fighting close by.

  “We got this, kid,” Amos said, his teeth flashing in his dark face.

  Colton forced a smile and raised his sword as the first undead squeezed between the trucks. One swipe of his sword took care of it, but two more undead soon took its place, making their way into the circle faster than the living could dispose of them.

  Colton pulled his knife from his belt, copying Amos, who fought with two hands. Shots from soldiers on top of the trucks rent the air.

  Chalice gave a warrior’s yell and leaped onto a truck bed, taking off two undead heads with one swipe of her sword. Another grabbed her leg and yanked her down, out of sight.

  Heart pounding, Colton dashed toward her, pulling the undead from her and plunging his knife into their skulls. He pulled Chalice to her feet, his gaze sweeping over her looking for wounds.

  “I’m fine,” she said. “Their teeth didn’t get close.”

  “Liar.” He pointed to fresh teeth marks in the leather on her arm. “Behind you.”

  He thrust his sword through the mouth of a burned undead, wearing the remnants of a military uniform. The soldiers were fighting their own. Things that had once been living, breathing military buddies of theirs.

  Pressure bit down on his shoulder. He whirled and shook off the zombie attached to him, as Chalice turned to fight another. Antidote or not, he didn’t relish going through what Chalice had gone through while her body fought against the poison coursing through it. His leather jacket and leather motorcycle pants had saved his life more than once. He prayed they would continue to do so.

  Marianne screamed as two of the undead surrounded her. Amos leaped to her rescue, taking out one, while she disposed of the other. Killing, even something no longer alive, but resembling what they had once been, seemed to affect her as much as it had her youngest daughter. She gr
imaced and ducked her head.

  Well, Colton used to feel that way once. What seemed a lifetime ago. Now, he only saw a monster wanting to kill him. He raised his pistol and shot an approaching undead between the eyes.

  Something hit him from behind, knocking him to the ground. He rolled over, taking the undead with him. He kicked out, loosening its hold. Still, the thing gnashed its teeth, struggling to sink them into Colton’s neck. Saliva and blood dripped from its mouth, running down Colton’s cheek and neck. He gagged and turned his head, keeping his hands firmly around the undead’s throat.

  He fought to bring his feet under its belly. Succeeding, he kicked out, knocking it from him. Free, he grabbed his sword and sunk it into the thing’s head. He had no time to catch his breath before another was upon him.

  Chalice placed her back against him and sliced at an undead reaching for her. Back-to-back, they kept thrusting, plunging, stabbing, until Colton thought his arm would fall off. When his arms threatened to drop his sword, he returned to shooting. The air filled with the sound of gunfire and screams.

  When the last undead lay on the ground, Colton sagged against a truck. A few soldiers lay bleeding on the ground, some beyond help. For those with minor injuries, Rachel made the rounds, injecting them with the antidote. They might feel as if they were dying in a few hours, but they’d pull through. For the others, two soldiers put a bullet through their heads, sparing them the misery of turning.

  Colton turned his back on the scene and held out his hand for Chalice to grasp. “We did it again. We survived.”

  She nodded. “Most did. We were lucky.”

  He slid his arms around her waist. “That was some nice fighting you did.”

  “I could say the same about you.” She smiled.

  “I’m hoping it’s the last time.” He led her to where Marianne and Mychal sat. “Tomorrow, we move to our new home. Our new beginning.” He left Chalice with her family and turned to help the soldiers dispose of the dead.

  He glanced both ways down the road. A cloud of black smoke rose above what once was a military base. Other than those in the circle, nothing moved, groaned, or tried to kill them.

  A successful day. They’d saved the president and most of those at the base. Now, it was time to start living again.

  10

  Flanked on all four sides by armed men in military dress, Chalice, wearing a wedding dress from a store in the mall, and her arm linked with Mychal’s, marched toward the church where Colton and her friends waited. Despite the remaining undead that roamed the area, she had insisted on keeping her wedding day as traditional as possible.

  One of the soldiers broke rank and shoved his bayonet through the head of a lone undead man. Without a word, he stepped back in line. The rest of them continued forward as if nothing had happened.

  Such was their life now. An undead stumbles across their path and they disposed of it as one would crush an empty soda can. Perhaps, by hers and Colton’s one-year anniversary, there would be no more undead. Their bodies would have decayed, fertilizing the ground so that the survivors could begin again.

  They stopped on the porch of the church. Chalice smiled at her brother. “We made it.”

  He grinned back. “The soldiers cleaned the place out yesterday, and the women scrubbed the floors. This building belongs to the living again. Your wedding is the first of a new era.”

  He pushed open the doors as Alyssah started the wedding march on an out-of-tune piano. The soldiers lined the walls, protecting the doors and windows. Mychal escorted Chalice down the aisle to where Colton waited.

  They hadn’t found a preacher. The chaplain had died when the base was overrun, refusing to leave until all of his “flock” were safe. No matter. Chalice and Colton would pledge their love and fidelity in front of their friends and neighbors.

  A hand slapped the window to their right. Chalice jerked. A non-breather pressed its face against the glass, gnashing its teeth.

  “Look at me,” Colton said, placing a finger on her chin and turning her head. “What’s one more guest?” He smiled.

  She giggled. “There are several of them coming from the woods.”

  “The soldiers will take care of them.” He straightened and raised his voice. “I, Colton Morgan, do vow to take this woman …”

  Tears filled Chalice’s eyes as Colton said his vows. When he finished, she followed suit, promising to love him until the day she died. When he dipped her over his arm to kiss her, the soldiers yelled, sending the undead outside into a frenzy. The walls of the small clapboard church shook under their pounding.

  Sergeant Mason stepped forward. “You two stay here. We’ll clear the way. Men! Attack positions.”

  Chalice grabbed her sword from Faith and readied herself to fight if the undead broke through. “This has to be the craziest wedding reception in history,” she said.

  “It’s definitely one to remember.” He stepped into the aisle, following by Chalice, Mychal, and Eddy.

  If the undead got past the soldiers, they’d provide the last line of defense before the children were reached. Chalice wanted to be upset, angered at the turn of events, but Colton was right. Their wedding was one to remember. A smile tugged at her lips. How many brides could say they fought the undead after the ceremony? Instead of a bride-and-groom dance to some sentimental melody, they’d dance with swords in their hands.

  Sergeant Mason flung open the double doors to the sanctuary. Ten undead shuffled inside, groaning and stretching their arms toward the living. An easy task for the soldiers to defeat.

  Chalice swept aside her the hem of her gown and stepped over the bodies littering the steps. Once again flanked by the soldiers, and accompanied by the entire community, her hand in Colton’s they headed home.

  A few times someone would step out of line, dispose of a non-breather, and take their place again.

  When the iron gates to the community were rolled into place and the lock secured, Chalice took a deep breath and relaxed. She squeezed Colton’s hand. “We’re home.” Finally, after more than a year, they had found a place to settle down and begin again.

  She glanced heavenward, wishing Hanna could have been there to help them celebrate, then headed for the main intersection of the community where Mom had organized a reception of sorts.

  There might still be undead pacing the other side of the fence, and the breeze occasionally carried a whiff of their decaying odor, but life was looking up.

  Chalice glanced at Colton. She couldn’t imagine having a new beginning with anyone else.

  The End

  Dear Reader:

  This is the end to Chalice and Colton’s story. I hope you enjoyed their journey as much as I enjoyed writing it.

  The Zombie Awakening Series

  The Darkening

  No Sanctuary

  The Long Road

  Reinfection

  The Bad Come Forth

  A New Beginning

  To see other books by Cynthia Melton and Cynthia Hickey, please visit www.cynthiahickey.com