Z Notes | Book 1 | Z Notes

by Lilly,Shawn L.

  The undead walked on wading into the water toward them with hunger in their eyes. It wasn’t long before one found the right rock and slipped and fell. The stream was strong and took the undead down the current with it. Then before they knew it, more had fallen and were being dragged off into the nature’s wavy arms.

  Satisfied, Frank smiled at their good luck and turned and followed Matt into the woods that led to what they hoped to be something better than what was behind them.

  The roaring of the water slowly faded away behind them as they moved on. Fear of the possibility that some would make it across the raging water kept them alert. Even though they didn’t see anything ahead, it didn’t mean something wasn’t there waiting for them to come out.

  “Our luck sucks,” said Matt, breaking the silence.

  “How so?” asked Frank.

  “Well, for, what now, two days, we have been chased all over by the undead. Ever since walking into the small town and seeing that painted arrow, our luck has turned to pure utter crap.”

  “I could see how you could think that,” said Frank to Matt, pondering on his comments. “But our luck can’t be all bad. We’re still alive, aren’t we?”

  Matt didn’t feel like replying to that because he knew if they didn’t find medicine soon, he wouldn’t be there much longer to answer that question. He also knew Frank wouldn’t leave him and go on without him. What would happen if he died and turned? Would his friend have it in him to kill him? Or would he try and do what they do in the movies and plead with it to stop and come around knowing it would never work?

  There were too many questions to be answered at this point of time. All Matt knew was that they had some close calls and were he guessed lucky to be alive, if living without eating for days and always running for one’s life was being lucky at all.

  “I guess you’re right, buddy. You’re right,” said Matt.

  “Don’t worry. I know you’re worried about yourself getting worse. But we’ll find something to help you.”

  There was nothing more said while they walked till close to noon that day. Matt began to think that going into these woods was a big mistake and that they wouldn’t find their way out and would end up dying within them. Thirty minutes after the sun reached mid-sky, Frank reached over and grabbed Matt’s shoulder.

  “You see them?” asked Frank, looking ahead.

  Ahead of them were the undead roaming around the trees. Most were just standing there looking around, while others were walking past each other. Frank saw only one standing still and knew to be careful of that one the most.

  “There, fifty feet ahead to the right,” said Frank, pointing.

  “A screamer?” asked Matt, looking as hard as he could. His vision was beginning to blur again, and he could feel his temperature rising.

  Frank gave a nod to his question and moved up slowly. He kept to the trees and moved like a ninja as best he could. Any small sound could alert the screamer to something moving behind them, and it would turn and let loose. Not wanting to speak, Frank didn’t ask for Matt’s machete and just had him untie his bat he had gotten from the back of his pack.

  Holding the bat he felt the weight of it and gave it a practice swing. Frank hadn’t used it since the dogs in the alley a couple of days ago. But the bat felt good but in some way wrong. Taking a closer look at the bat, Frank found a small crack in it at its neck. Cursing to himself for not grabbing a knife from that diner, he had no other choice but to use what he had.

  Keeping to the shadows Frank ran from tree to tree. Matt stood where they were but a little out of sight of the screamer in case it turned. Frank ran without no sound. Matt saw it was as if he ran on air itself. Frank was getting closer, and each step he knew was getting louder. Only a few feet away now, he could smell the pure stench coming off its warm decayed flesh. This close Frank could count some of its ribs along with other wounds from what must be bite marks from its attack. Its hair was still in a large amount except for one spot where it looked to be pulled off along with a chunk of its scalp. If he could just get one or two steps closer, Frank knew he could down it with one swing.

  Frank slowly took one more step to be in range of the screamer. Call it bad luck or a freak of nature at this point. It had to be bad luck for that was all they kept finding. But the wind blew just at the wrong time which pushed a twig just right. The twig rolled just under Frank’s foot as he stepped down, and the sound of it breaking came out. The screamer stopped and froze as did Frank. Slowly the head of the zombie started to turn toward his way. Frank took a deep breath and knew he was in trouble now.

  Whack!

  The bat Frank held was swung by him so hard that the bat itself broke at the neck. The screamer was just about to open its mouth to scream out when the bat hit and severed the head from the spine. The hit broke the jaw and left the head badly crushed on the side. The rest of its body dropped to the dirty ground where it once stood watching. The head lay there looking up and opening its mouth as best it could to scream out. But without a body or a working jaw, it could no longer do such a thing.

  Frank was left holding a broken bat. The top half spun away as he hit the zombie screamer, while the bottom half stayed in his hand like a stack ready to be used on a vampire. Seeing no more use of the bottom half of the bat, Frank used it to stab the head in the brain area. The head stopped moving its mouth and looked up with its bloodred eyes and was finally at rest.

  Frank looked back at Matt and waved him forward to where he was. Once they were standing side by side again, they could see now they were out of the thickness of the trees which were beginning to thin out now. But the bad news was that their new area was crawling with walkers, and with the fight they just had, some had heard and were coming toward them both. Frank and Matt didn’t waste time and took off as fast as they could when a sound rang out nice and loud. It sounded like it came from everywhere at once and lasted a good couple of seconds before it was gone. Frank saw they had some time and stopped and looked at Matt.

  “Was that a bell?” asked Frank.

  “Sounded like a school bell. You know what this means?” said Matt right back.

  “Yup, looks like there’s a school nearby. And there might even be something there for your head if we hurry.”

  Matt nodded, and they took off at a run to where they thought the sound came from.

  “Looks like we’re going back to school finally,” said Matt, trying to fight his fever and being short-winded trying to keep up with his friend.

  Back to School

  The air seemed to thin a great deal once out of the trees. Being closed in by trees and walkers for the last thirty minutes or so made it feel hotter somehow. They both made a jog dodging at walkers and trees toward the bell sound. Matt could hardly walk once he was out, and Frank just wanted to keep going to put as much space between them and the walkers as he could. Matt wanted the same, but he needed a rest for what he thought might take several days to recover from their nonending run through the woods. Nevertheless, both boys made it out into a field that led to a park for kids to play at.

  Even though they were in the woods for about two days, being out felt different somehow to them. The grass was green and full of life. The air even felt calm and cool to their face. It could just be hitting the sweat, and that was why it felt cooler than before. But it didn’t matter to them. They were out and were off to find some medicine for Matt. But would the trip be worthwhile or a dead end? The thought crossed Frank’s mind over and over till he pushed it away. No matter the outcome, there had to be something there they could use.

  “We’ll go up to the bench up there, and you can rest some,” said Frank, breathing hard and pointing to a couple of close benches near a set of swings.

  Matt was too winded to reply and just carried on with his slow jog to the seat. Once they made it, Matt plopped down and leaned back. Frank set his pack down and sat close to him and placed his hand to his friend’s head.

  Matt was burni
ng up again, and he didn’t think even cold water would bring it down this time around. He was going to need some medicine, or his lifelong friend was a goner for sure. Reaching behind Matt’s bag, Frank took and gave Matt his canteen full of water. Matt shook his head no and turned his head away.

  “Come on. You need to drink something so we can move on,” said Frank, trying to force the opening to his mouth.

  Matt pushed it away and said, “I’m not drinking that. I got it for you.”

  Frank stopped trying to make him drink and sat there looking at him funny.

  “How could you have gotten it for me when I filled them up at the river?”

  Matt hearing it shrugged and took the water with his own hands and drank it without his friend’s help. After a couple of good swigs, he recapped it and looked around.

  “I didn’t know you refilled them up with water. I thought it was the water I placed in there from the diner,” said Matt

  Frank took a drink from his own canteen and capped it back and asked, “Where did you get the water from there?”

  Matt started laughing a little before he replied with a huge smile, “When I broke the mirror in the bathroom, I saw one of the toilets had some clean water. So I filled the canteen up a bit to get you with it later.”

  Frank started laughing as did Matt. It was good to see Matt smile again just in case he didn’t make it. Frank would at least have a good memory to remember if he died on him.

  “I’m glad to see you’re taking it so smooth,” said Matt, smiling to him.

  “Why shouldn’t I? I gave you my last two pills to help you break that fever, and I needed something to help wash it down. I just so happened to find some water in your canteen and gave it to you.” Frank was laughing again, but Matt seemed to have stopped in his laughing.

  They both sat there for what felt like no time but it was more like ten minutes when Frank stood up. It was time to move on and get away from the walkers that seemed to be breaking the tree line. Matt got up behind Frank and could see he was still smiling about the toilet water. Matt’s joke had backfired on him, but at least he couldn’t remember drinking it. He guessed that was a plus.

  Walking past the monkey bars and the swing set, they passed by a jungle gym and stopped. Inside the jungle gym was a short fat zombie. There was what looked like a child aged a little more than ten or maybe eleven in the middle of it. They both watched on as he spotted them and tried to get out but was too big to fit through the bars of the jungle gym. The fat kid zombie tried to force itself out at them but ended up wedged in the bars and was stuck. One half was out, while the other half was on the inside. The outside one was reaching out to them as if to say, “Come give me a hand. I’m stuck.” Frank and Matt looked at each other.

  “How do you think he even got in there?” asked Frank.

  “I say he was attacked first and got in sucking in his belly. He turned once in and now is too dumb to suck in again to get out.”

  Frank thought about that for a second and liked it. Giving a grunt to Mike for most likely figuring out how the fat zombie kid got behind the bars, they turned and moved on.

  They walked till they were at the other end of the park. Looking back they could see the whole park was full of walkers now that came out of the woods following them. Ahead were a couple more houses and even more cars parked all over. But about two blocks ahead was the school.

  The school looked to be three stories high and looked like any other school. It had windows and front doors for every room. They could see only two from where they were. Some of the windows looked to be busted out, and there were burned marks at the very top floor of the outside of the building. As the school was made of bricks, it had only burned for a few moments, only enough to leave the darkness of the burn behind and not take the whole school with it.

  Frank wasted no time and made straight for the school with Matt trailing behind him. There were a couple of walkers moving around the first block, but none saw them cross by when they moved. After waiting a couple of minutes on the second street, they finally got to the front of the school. Now Matt looked up and saw it wasn’t a fire mark at the top of the outside window on the third floor. It was a large amount of blood, like someone tried to crawl out from the room and didn’t make it. Frank looked around and saw nothing moving past any of the windows or inner halls near the door. Looking back he gave Matt a nod and moved in through the front doors.

  The school had a wet funky smell. There were smears of blood here and there along with scattered paper all over. Still on the wall were classroom hand paints made by the children who went to the school. Some of the lockers were standing open, and some still even had book bags and books within them.

  Walking in further Frank took a peek down the hall to his right and then left. Both sides were clear and quiet. There were signs on top of the doors of each room marking the room number. Some of the rooms were open, while most were closed. Frank went to turn right when Matt held on to his shoulder. Frank stopped and looked back behind him. Matt looked up and pointed to the ceiling at the sign hanging above them.

  The sign said “Office Lunchroom.”

  Frank knew the nurse’s room was usually beside the office, so they turned left and walked on. They passed by classrooms, some closed and others open, just like the hallway behind them. The ones closed had chairs and desks up against the wall on the other side to keep them closed, while the others that were open looked like a tornado ran through them.

  Keeping low and tight they kept moving toward the office. Every open door they passed by they took a peek in to make sure it was clear. The office wasn’t too far, and when they finally made it, it wasn’t empty either. Inside looked to be a teacher standing there in front of the copy machine.

  It seemed to be a little amusing to Frank how zombies would do things they might have done while alive. It looked as if it was standing there making copies of maybe homework sheets or class work. If it wouldn’t twitch every second or two, they thought it was a living human being. But with the door to the office closed, the smell of its decayed flesh was trapped inside the room itself.

  Keeping low Matt and Frank slipped by making little sound as they could. Figuring it was in a room of glass and not roaming around trying to eat them, then why would they go out of their way and kill it and risk the chance of a slipup and get bitten? So they just moved past it and toward the next corridor. At the corner Frank moved ahead of Matt and took a look. It was the same as the rest of the place so far. The area was clear of the undead but looked like a war zone with blood and trash all over. A couple of feet down the hall, a door stood to the left with a sign saying “Nurse’s Office.”

  Frank gave a wave and moved around the corner and toward the door. Reaching up Frank grabbed the doorknob and gave a little turn. The door seemed to be unlocked, and Frank looked back to Matt to give him the OK to move in. But Matt wasn’t there or even in sight of him. Frank felt his heart in his chest try and climb out of his mouth.

  How could he be so careless and not make sure he was still behind him the whole way? He knew he was sick and getting worse with every passing moment. But his mind was so focused on getting to the nurse’s office that he forgot about everything else. Frank stopped beating himself up and went back to the corner.

  Matt was still there but was now lying down and shivering as if it was cold. Frank walked over to him in a crouch and gave him a look. His shirt was soaked, and his skin felt clammy to the touch.

  Slam!

  The window next to him shook hard, and its sound echoed throughout the whole school it seemed. The copy machine zombie must have seen Matt lying on the ground and was now against the glass slapping it trying to get out. It seemed to be going crazy and was wanting out so bad it was slamming itself against the glass. It was making so much noise that Frank couldn’t waste time being careful with Matt. Frank reached down and grabbed his friend’s hand and began to drag him away from the window and around the corner.

&n
bsp; The sound of the zombie’s head butting and slapping the glass could be still heard just as loud as they were standing in front of it. It was only a matter of time before the noise brought other undead to where they were.

  Frank moved as fast as he could and didn’t even check the nurse’s office when he came back to it. He just opened it and started dragging his friend in the room. Once his feet were past the door’s swing, Frank dropped his friend’s hand and ran over and closed the door. The door had a dead bolt, so he turned it and locked it shut and turned around to have a look around. The room was dark except for the light coming from under the doors. There were two doors: one he knew leading to the hall they were just in and the other to the office. It wasn’t long after Frank gave a look around that he figured the other door led to the main office. It wasn’t long that the zombie in it knew they were on the other side of the door as well.

  Frank was unable to see and was going to have to open the main office’s door to give light inside to help him look around. But how was he going to open the door and kill the zombie before it got in and got him? Then a thought came to him from all the zombie movies he had seen. He just hoped it would work. Searching Matt’s bag in the dark, he found the cold steel and felt its cold steel bite on his finger. Yanking his hand back, Frank placed his hurt finger in his mouth and used his other hand to retrieve the machete from the bag. Once untied and loosened, Frank stood and took his hand from his mouth. Walking to the main office’s door, he could hear the undead on the other side feeling the door to see if it would open. Getting to the floor, Frank lay down and rubbed his bloody finger just under the door. The undead stopped ripping the door with its hands, and the sound of it moving around started. Watching through the crack at the bottom of the door, Frank could see it was getting down on all fours and soon its belly. Frank watched as its face lay on the floor and its tongue came out and tried to lick the blood from under the crack of the door. Frank felt like he was going to be sick at the sight and smell of its breath. He had never been this close to one before while it was alive. Not wanting to keep this moment happening any longer than need be, Frank held the blade tight and aimed for the open mouth and stuck it hard under the door.