Z Notes | Book 1 | Z Notes

by Lilly,Shawn L.

  “It doesn’t matter if they helped or not. You don’t need to get your panties all in a bunch. Just calm down. You could see there were too many coming in at once,” said the man closer to them.

  The one from the chair just waved his hand at him like he was a smelly fart he was fanning away.

  “All you did was sit in the chair, Shawn, and watch them nearly surround me.”

  “I had your back like I always do, Jason. You’re just being a crybaby,” said the guy named Shawn.

  Jason seemed to be over his friend bitching and turned back to Frank and Matt. Matt looked around like he was ready to split this place and forget this ever happened. Frank on the other hand just stood there watching them both like it was a drama movie.

  “Thank you for the help,” said Jason, holding out his hand. “My name’s Jason, no last names. There’s no need nowadays. I might never see you again.”

  “No problem. My name’s Matt and this is Frank.”

  Matt shook his hand and turned and held it out to Shawn. Shawn just looked him over and back up at the bodies all around. Refusing to shake hands, Shawn turned from him and gathered up his chair. With his belongings in place, he came back and handed a bag to his friend, Jason.

  “We should be off before more show up,” said Shawn, walking to the door.

  “Wouldn’t be that many if you didn’t use that damn air horn,” said Jason, following. “I told you it was going to be too loud.”

  Shawn did his wave at him again with his back to him and said, “Yeah, yeah, and keep walking.” Frank looked over at Matt and followed suit and Matt did as well.

  Four Guys in a Motel?

  The sun was a good ways from setting still for the night. The four of them walked in quiet away from the school and across the field to the gate. The gate had a gaping hole in it, and the four men slipped through it and continued onward.

  There seemed to be abundance of the undead around them all the time. Some of them moved rather slowly, so they walked on by them. The others that moved a tad bit too close found their end by the end of a blade from either Shawn or Jason. They both moved as one, never leaving each other’s side for a second. Frank and Matt watched as they would start talking and at the last second turn and chop down the undead that strayed too close to them.

  They walked for about an hour and made it out of town and far away from the school. The undead were still around, but their number had slimmed up a good bit. Up ahead of them was a motel with boarded-up windows and doors. The two guys named Shawn and Jason were heading right toward it. With Frank and Matt following closely, they remained vigilant and silent. As they made it to the front door, a plywood was nailed to the door’s frame. Jason left the group and knocked on it a couple of times in different ways. It seemed to have been some kind of code, but there was not a knock back. Jason looked back toward the group. Shawn left the group and walked over toward Jason. Jason laced his hands together, and Shawn stepped on them and he was boosted up. Shawn holding to the roof reached over and grabbed something and was lowered back down. It was a crowbar, and with it they popped the door open and slipped inside the new opening. Frank and Matt stood there and looked around the area. The undead were moving around the place, and some were coming toward them.

  “You guys are going to stand out there all night? Or are you going to hurry and get in here?” asked Jason, sticking his head back out the opening.

  Frank and Matt didn’t need to be told twice. Taking a couple of steps they both hurried and got in, and Jason pulled the door shut behind them. Looking back they saw Jason tie the door shut and slide a bar through the door handle. With the door secured Jason turned and walked by them to the back of the room and around the corner. Frank and Matt figured they followed them this far and might as well follow them some more.

  The hall was dark, but the light coming from the slits in the plywood on the window let in just enough. That little bit of light was just enough to make out Jason walking down the hall and turning left into a room.

  A variety of shadows played upon the walls of the hall by the light from the outside. The shadows danced around the walls as if there was a disco ball just in the other room. The hall itself was full of sharp pieces of wood sticking out here and there. The hall was a huge booby trap for the undead. The undead not being very smart would soon find out walking down this hall (if they managed to get in) could have themselves impaired from some of the wood sticking out. Keeping close they moved left and then right dodging all they could see till they made it to the room where Shawn and Jason went in. Before they could enter the doorway, all their fears and worries were washed away to nothing. There was a smell that floated out of the room and seemed to find a new home right in Frank’s and Matt’s noses. Now the only sounds were their bellies rumbling out loud for all to hear.

  The day passed, and the night moved in across the land. The wind itself seemed to be angry, blowing in storm clouds just as the last of the daylight was vanishing. Sound echoed everywhere from each drop of rain that started to fall to the earth. Inside the motel the four guys set around a small gas stove eating and listening to each drop hitting the roof above. Each drop was just as loud as the last one; it made it hard to hear the nightlife outside.

  Flash!

  Lightning struck in the distance. It made a spider web design in the clouds above. Each one looked like a small hand reaching out for help. The lightning was bright enough to light the whole area of the motel. It was gone just as fast as it came leaving the men in darkness, except for the lit gas stove.

  “That was bright,” said Jason, shoving a spoonful of beans into his mouth. “I don hea a thuner.”

  All three looked up as he said his last words.

  “Didn’t Mom tell you not to talk with your mouth full?” asked Shawn.

  This was the first words he had said since they went in the motel. Jason on the other hand talked a lot, not caring if he was too loud. It was as if these guys feared nothing at all, even that what lurked outside.

  Jason smiled and didn’t answer back and only shrugged off his friend’s comment and went back to stuffing his mouth fast. Frank had kept to himself not saying anything unless there was a question directed toward him. Matt, who Frank knew was very talkative, hadn’t said much either. Frankly, Matt hadn’t said more than two words since they left the school.

  Done eating they set there listening to the outside and the sounds of nature wreaking havoc out there. Matt leaned against the wall and with a full belly was nodding off. Frank kept close to him and watched the other two guys, trying not to blink much. Jason got up and left the room to relieve himself and came back and whispered something to Shawn. Jason sat down, and then Shawn got up and left taking with him his long spear-looking weapon.

  “What’s going on?” asked Frank.

  “Nothing much. Just a couple of the undead saw us come in and are surrounding the door and windows trying to get in.”

  Frank jumped up and looked over the area for a weapon to grab. There wasn’t much, mostly broken wood and glass.

  “Calm down. Shawn went to take care of it. With his reaper he can kill them without getting too much blood on him,” said Jason smiling, watching him looking around scared. “Your friend doesn’t look scared; actually he doesn’t look too good at all.”

  Frank looked over and could see Matt was shaking and starting to sweat again. Reaching over he felt his head. He was burning up again.

  “With all that was going on, I forgot about his injury.”

  Jason looked confused. While they were fighting he didn’t see the young man get hurt or get bitten. Reaching over he pulled out a smaller blade. It was curved at the middle and almost round at the tip but looked sharp enough to do the job. The one he used on the zombies at the school was just its big older brother.

  Before he could get to his feet, Frank hurried and told him the story about the dogs and the trash dumpster and how it happened and what they had been through. Jason sat there and list
ened while he talked, not letting go of his knife’s handle. After the long-winded speech, Jason got up and walked to the back of the room. It was pitch-black outside now, so the room was poorly lit. The only light was from a flame on the camping stove that belonged to Jason and his friend.

  At the back of the room, Jason searched through what sounded like a bag and came back and set close to Frank. Jason was holding a small bottle in his left hand and a flashlight in the other. Clicking the light on, he aimed it at the bottle.

  “Here, take this and give him one now and when he wakes give him one more. Tomorrow, he is to take two and so on till the bottle is empty.” Jason passed the bottle of pills over to Frank.

  Frank took the small bottle and turned it over in his hand. The label had faded from what looked like water damage. Opening the bottle he poured some in his hand and they felt dry, so he placed them back in except for one and closed the lid.

  “What are they for, and will they really help or just help him pass into the zombie world without pain?”

  Jason let out a laugh and stood up, handed Frank the flashlight, and walked to the back of the room again and returned with a large bottle of water. Unscrewing the cap he passed it to him as well.

  “Those pills aren’t for killing him.” Jason laughed again. “It’s penicillin. It will fight the infection, and if it’s not too bad already, it will make him better.”

  Frank gave him a thankful smile, crushing the pill best he could into powder. He forced open Matt’s lips. Pouring in the pill powder, he hurried and chased it with some water. Once the water was in, Matt started to choke, and Jason hurried over and closed his mouth. Setting him up some he pinched his nose and helped him swallow the powder. Once it was down Jason lowered him back to the floor. Frank slid Matt’s bag under his head and wrapped him in a blanket. Seeing there wasn’t anything else he could do, he returned to the small light source with Jason.

  “Now it’s a waiting game. I’m sorry,” said Jason, setting down.

  Frank had nothing else to say, so he just set there with his new company, waiting with him. Not much longer after Frank took his seat by the light, Shawn walked back in the room. He was covered with what looked like black slime. But as soon as he came closer, they both could tell it was dark blood.

  Shawn walked to the back of the room and removed his clothes and dug into his bag. Pulling out a shirt and some pants, he reclothed and walked over to Jason and had a seat.

  “Where’s my bowl?” asked Shawn, looking around for it.

  Jason reached behind him and pulled the bowl out of the darkness and handed it to him. Frank and Jason set there and let him eat in peace. While they ate Frank sorted through his pack and rearranged something inside. There were some warm ripped rags inside, so he pulled them out and tossed them off into the darkness of the room. Jason set, whipped out his weapon, and cleaned it off and was using a wet stone to keep the blade sharp.

  “So what is your story?” asked Shawn, setting the bowl.

  Frank flipped the lip of his bag close and looked up at him. Shooting a glance at Jason, he could see he wasn’t watching for the conversation that was about to happen once again. Looking back Frank took a deep breath and started telling his tale once again.

  The story started about needing food and deciding to enter a town to have a look around for some. Then the story came to the black arrow that they had seen and how he talked Matt into going to have a look. Frank told Shawn about the note and about the man and his son. When he came to the girl he saw just after the note, Jason stopped all he was doing and looked up. Shawn’s eyes opened wide and leaned in close.

  “Tell me about this woman you saw,” said Shawn, keeping eye contact.

  Frank felt the lump in his throat and was having trouble breathing now. What was so special about this subject of his story? Licking his lips he gave a look around the dark room and could see both guys were waiting for his reply. Matt being cold in the back of the room wasn’t going to help him out of this one. Matt was more of the conversational one. Frank knew him to just sit back and wait it out and see what happens.

  “Like I said I just closed the lid when I saw her. She came running around the corner of a building down the street. When she saw us, she tried to approach but stepped off the curb and twisted her ankle and fell. It was then that a screamer in a nearby house sounded off.”

  “A screamer?” asked Jason.

  “Yeah, it’s what we call the ones that yell out loud to bring others to the living.”

  “A siren,” said Shawn, looking at Jason.

  Jason gave a look of understanding now and looked back at Frank and motioned for him to go on.

  “Matt kind of picked the lock. But I didn’t want to waste time so I kicked it, and with the door open we went inside. She tried to make it to us but was overtaken by a couple of sprinters, ones that run you down.” Frank decided to specify the sprinter to them this time.

  “You guys didn’t try and help her out!” yelled Shawn, standing up now.

  Frank was taken aback at his sudden outburst. He didn’t know if he should be scared and stand up himself in case this got ugly or just sit there and take the punishment. He knew the story was semi-true; the girl did die by the sprinters, but it wasn’t till she made it to the porch. The memory of them holding the door shut while she begged for their help on the other side came back to him. How could he tell them that, especially after his reaction of her death in the way he said it?

  “Shawn, sit down,” said Jason, looking up at him seriously. “If he had helped her, they both might not have made it this far to tell us about her.”

  Shawn seemed to cool down a bit and set back down and remained silent.

  “Would you be so kind and tell us what she looked like?” asked Jason.

  Frank closed his eyes and tried to remember what she looked like in detail. Something came to him, while other gruesome things came as well interrupting his thoughts. Taking a breath he started to tell them what he remembered.

  “She was middle-aged and had brown hair. But it was hard to tell from a distance.” Licking his lips some more, he kept going. “She was wearing pants and a black shirt with something on it; I couldn’t tell what it was. I didn’t see any pack or any weapons on her. But that’s all I can remember really. I’m sorry.”

  Jason let out a sigh, and Shawn looked toward the ground. Frank knew then that they must have known the woman he had seen. Keeping to himself he set there and waited till one of them spoke first.

  Jason was the first to make eye contact with him and gave a weak smile of thanks. Shawn got up and walked to the back of the room and vanished in the darkness.

  “Don’t mind him; he needs time to deal with it.”

  Frank gave a nod and started digging into his bag some more sorting things around. As he was doing so, Jason started talking some more.

  “It’s just that her name was Sara. She came here with us to look for food and supplies. We ran into a crowd of zombies and she got scared and took off, and we lost her once we cleared the area out. We’re supposed to have been in the city for like maybe a couple of days, and we’ve been here a week looking for her now. She begged us let her to come along, and Shawn was supposed to protect her from harm. Her husband back at camp will be destroyed by this news.”

  “I’m sorry,” Frank said, feeling bad at having to give them the news of their dead friend.

  “Don’t feel bad. If it wasn’t for you, we might be searching for her still. But now we can get back to our families and move on if need be.”

  Frank looked up at the sound of a group of them. He hated moving around all the time looking for food and watching their backs in every step. If they would just let Matt and himself join, they could help find food and protect the others as well.

  “You said you have a group of people?” asked Frank.

  “We have a little group is all,” Jason replied.

  “You think Matt and I here could tag along as members of your g
roup?” he asked. Rushing into his next conversation before Jason could answer, he added, “I mean we won’t be free loaders or anything. You saw us fight, and we could help out with finding food and stuff.”

  Jason set back and straight and glared at him a bit. The world was a horrible place to live alone, but he had known him only a short while. Could I even trust someone I just met? wondered Jason.

  “What about your note leading you around this blood-soaked land?” Shawn asked from the back of the room in the darkness.

  Frank had forgotten he was there and spun his head around to look into the black hole he seemed to step into earlier.

  “You know as well as I do that they might not have made it this long. But I hope they have. God rest their souls,” said Frank.

  “We’re a tight-knit group of people, families and friends mostly, and we don’t take in insiders for a reason.”

  Frank could understand their reasons not to trust someone they just met. But how could the world survive this undead apocalyptic event if people wouldn’t band together and fight? Opening his mouth he went to reply to his comment but was hushed up by Jason’s hand being raised.

  “Let’s talk about it tomorrow. Right now your friend is sleeping off a nasty fever, and I myself am tired. Let’s lie down and sleep. Shawn will take first watch and wake me around 2:00 a.m. to do the second.”

  Frank couldn’t argue with his thoughts. He was fighting sleep the whole time he sat there and talked. Placing his bag under his head, he moved around the bag’s surface till the entire hard object lay flat. Slowly placing his head on the bag, he moved it around to make sure nothing would poke at him in the face in case he rolled over while sleeping. Satisfied with what he did, he closed his eyes and fell asleep.

  Boom!

  Frank jumped up out of his skin from a sound out of nowhere. His sleep brought him no dreams this time, and he felt just as tired now as he did before he lay down to rest. Setting up he looked around, and the camping stove was off, so their light source was gone. In the darkness he was unable to even make out his hand in front of his face. If it wasn’t for Matt’s heavy breathing, he would have thought he was in limbo awaiting judgment on passage to the beyond.