Wake the Dead 2 (Wake The Dead Series)

by Vanucci, Gary F.

  Wake

  the

  Dead

  2

  By Gary F. Vanucci

  DEDICATIONS:

  I would like to personally thank, first and foremost, my wife Debra.

  I’d also like to pay homage to my sons Nicholas and Justin, my mother Geraldine Vanucci, my brother and sister, Greg and Gina, my brother-in-law James Clark, and Elizabeth Titano, for the encouragement you all give. In addition, I am grateful beyond words for all of the people who have read my works—especially those who have left reviews!

  Special thanks go to Nick Titano for being my wall upon which I bounce ideas, and who inspires me to continue writing. And to Mike Cowan, for constantly believing in me, despite everything! I thank you both for your inspiration & for your unending encouragement!

  I also need to thank my cover artist, Carlos Cara, for the amazing cover art he had provided for Wake the Dead 2!

  I would also like to thank many fellow authors who have given support, my peers, family, unnamed friends, and fans of my writing who follow me on social media or subscribe to my blog—Eye on Ashenclaw. You folks are extraordinary! I would also like to thank the authors at the Independent Author Network who continue to aid, promote and support me without me having to ask. You people give me inspiration to carry on.

  Finally, how can I move on without saying again, that this book and everything I do, pays homage to my loving, kind-hearted, incredible father…who died with the music still in him…

  Gerard L. Vanucci (May 16, 1943-March 28, 2010)

  Please visit blog @ http://eyeonashenclaw.blogspot.com/ for an extended reading experience and to observe all of my social media. All characters, maps, logos and content in these stories are copyright © 2014 Ashenclaw Studios, LLC and Gary F. Vanucci. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the expressed written permission of the author.

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  An

  Production

  As the dead once again rise, Alex and company seek to make the best of the zombie incursion that has now advanced inside the Renaissance Faire-grounds. But, when the execution of their plan to cleanse those grounds meets with complications, will they be able to survive, or will the undead that now surround the castle walls spell a slow and painful death of starvation for those within?

  Warning:

  This book contains graphic sexual content, strong language, and violence. It is intended for mature audiences.

  Chapter 1

  Alex jammed his foot on the pedal and the tires on the van spun and spat dirt and mud instead of gaining traction. He looked to the wolf with pleading eyes as if Shadow could do something about it. He finally let out a breath and eased up on the pedal, the van coming back under control as Alex navigated the space and drove straight toward the open gated entrance to the Renaissance Faire. He peered through the windshield and noted Kelly and Phil, one at either gate, holding it open for him.

  They had literally just finished putting the framework up to repair the break in the fence—the one he caused—when they recognized that the zombies were coming back to ‘life’. Well, not life really, Alex corrected, knowing that only the devil himself could make this shit happen—the devil in man.

  When he looked back to the parking lot in his rearview mirror, he noted that more of the bodies were stirring. His heart thundered in his chest and in his peripheral vision, he saw a lone figure rushing madly toward the vehicle. The sight of a zombie smashing uncaringly into the side of his door was what he witnessed before he could even blink. Shadow growled upon hearing the impact.

  “Holy shit! They’re as fast as when I first seen ‘em!” Alex said, continuing onward toward the open gates and stepping even harder on the pedal. The two men held large spikes, one in each hand. They had to be the ones that Jerry had used to keep the gates from opening out, Alex thought, recalling a story that Selina told him regarding that fact. They waved him in and as soon as he was inside, he slammed on the brakes, skidded to a stop and jumped out of the vehicle, pistol in hand.

  He heard the gates slamming shut and as Alex neared, he watched Kelly drop the massive bar in place to keep the doors from opening.

  “Dammit! What the fuck now?!” Alex said, catching brief glimpses of zombies racing toward the gate through the open gaps in the planking. ”And will this gate hold?”

  “It’s held out this far. The hinges are affixed to steel rods cemented in the ground, and the bar here and doors were made from Oak. Should be good,” Kelly said, testing its rigidity by shaking it. “We better make our way back though, just in case.”

  Phil jammed his sword right past Kelly’s head, through a rather wide gap, and into an onrushing zombie’s skull as it slammed into the gate. Kelly flinched and then turned to run off. When he turned to face them, blood and gore was smattered upon his face. Phil chuckled, tossing him a rag. The zombie on-rusher’s skull was skewered cleanly by the blade as Phil yanked his sword free.

  “Clean that up, will ya?” Phil said. Kelly caught the rag, spat over and over, and then energetically cleaned his face.

  “Leave the van?” Alex asked as Shadow padded over to where he was and growled in the direction of the gate.

  “Yeah, we can’t drive it into the fairgrounds. It’ll get stuck eventually,” Phil mentioned, catching the rag from Kelly, pocketing it, and starting to walk away. “Not wide enough. But we need to get to the castle before more of the dead wake up and come after us. Let’s get goin’.” Alex swiftly retrieved his bag and weapons from the van.

  “Right on,” Kelly said, as Phil began to run off, slowly at first and then picking up his pace, Kelly following right after him.

  “Let’s roll, Shadow,” Alex said, following after the pair. As he took his first few strides, he heard more sounds rattling against the gate and he glanced over his shoulder to see the gates shaking under the weight of the living dead.

  “It’s starting all over again,” Alex whispered as he ran faster, Shadow racing alongside him. “Son of a bitch.”

  ***

  Selina was on top of the wall and she was the first one Alex saw as he rounded the corner of that last building. He could see her visibly smile and relax as soon as she caught sight of him. She was yelling to someone down below to open the gate—and open it they did.

  The three men and the wolf entered the gates and stood before Nick and Liz, who awaited them in the inner courtyard.

  “What kind of shape is the fence?” Nick asked.

  “It’s still intact, but we need to reinforce that wall or else they’re gonna get in. Quick,” Kelly answered.

  “Shit,” Liz remarked, dropping to her knees and then sitting, leaning back on her outstretched arms.

  “How much food we got left?” Phil asked.

  “Well, we just made a nice run. Plenty of dried foods and the vans got a few bags of seeds for plantin’. But it’s too late in the season to plant. Winter’ll be here soon,” Kelly said, frowning sourly.

  “Well, we’ll just have to survive it again with what we got,” Nick said reassuringly with a wide smile
beneath his ever-thickening goatee. “I’m pretty sure we’ve still got plenty of food and supplies to make it through another winter.”

  “What about supply runs?” Phil asked, arriving to stand beside Nick.

  “Just like all the other times, we’ll have to adjust on the fly,” Nick answered, his distinctive grin still present. It seemed to calm Phil greatly as he smiled and nodded without further argument.

  “As long as we can get out of the lot,” Bryan called down from above them on the parapet. Alex looked up and no longer saw Selina upon the wall. Before he could turn around, he made out something coming from behind and was almost knocked on his rump, crushed in an embrace by the aforementioned woman. She kissed him about the face and then held him at arm’s length.

  “You scared me,” she whispered. They all turned their attention from the reunited lovers to the source of a growl as Shadow was suddenly beside Alex.

  “I'm not goin’ anywhere, pretty lady. You can count on that,” he said reassuringly, pulling her in and kissing her deeply. She pulled back and winked at him. Alex dropped to one knee, and spun to stare into the wolf’s eyes.

  “All good, boy. Go lie down.”

  With that being said, the wolf trotted off and plopped down in the long shadows cast by the former chapel, which was Alex and Selina’s current home.

  “Still need to get you something to sleep on,” Nick mentioned absently, staring from Alex back to the chapel and then back again.

  “Yeah,” Selina said, rubbing her back. “But at least we got a roof over our heads and food to eat, right?” Her smile was intoxicating to Alex, who became easily lost in its warmth. “I’m surprised that the crew was able to get this thing up in such a short amount of time,” Selina said.

  “Well, from what Ben said, they were all working overtime, and the contract to put it up was low. Seemed like the company was gonna lose money unless they put it up quick,” Phil said, taking a split second to look up at them before returning his attention to examining his blade. “No notches. This is some fine steel.”

  “I’m gonna go back to the kitchen and get somethin’ goin’,” Kelly said, walking off and crossing the lowered drawbridge, before disappearing completely behind the castle’s concrete walls.

  “He’s afraid that repairs aren’t gonna hold, right?” Selina asked Nick.

  “It wasn’t finished really, so no. We managed to finish the basic framework, but weren’t able to reinforce it. And knowing Kelly, he would have wanted to strengthen it more, and then test it again and again. Unfortunately…”

  “Right. Zombies woke up. What’s with that?” Alex asked rhetorically.

  “So, it’s really not gonna hold?” Selina asked again, directing the question to Alex this time.

  “We barely had enough time to put up the framework. No plywood. Nothing but 2 x 4’s held up by nails.”

  “Worked well enough for our forefathers,” Nick chimed in with a forced smile.

  “It’ll hold, right?” Selina asked in a hushed tone, disbelief and concern evident in her voice.

  “No idea,” Nick said dismissively, seeming to Alex as if he did not want to give it too much thought. He was also trying to instill some confidence in what was a somewhat panicked Selina, which Alex appreciated. That was something that he wasn’t able to say, as he believed it wouldn’t hold the night if the zombies crowded together against it.

  There must be hundreds of them awake again by now.

  “What if they do this in cycles?” Liz asked from behind them. She was seated on the grass, staring up at Nick with a perplexed look upon her features.

  “Meaning what, woman?” he quipped mockingly, intensifying the sarcasm by placing his hands on his hips and tapping his left foot.

  “Meaning, what if they don’t eat, they die, and they come back to…life?” she asked, struggling to say the last word. Alex considered that thought for a few moments, as did the rest of them. He felt Selina come up from behind him and she leaned on him a bit, trying to pull him off balance, but he barely felt it. His mind was elsewhere.

  “So, you think that they die, and eventually come back again?” Alex asked, shaking his head and considering that she might be exactly right.

  “Think it through. They were strong and fast. They eventually slowed down a bit if they didn’t eat, and they all just keeled over out there a day or so ago,” Liz explained carefully. “Now they are back again. They can’t really die.”

  Alex nodded and rubbed the stubble on his face thoughtfully.

  “I’d buy that explanation any day,” Phil said, pulling her up off the ground.

  “Let’s do an inventory of what we’ve got left to eat. I assume we can at least make it through the winter as our numbers have stayed pretty relative,” Nick said, not commenting on that theory. But, it wasn’t because he thought Liz was off base in her thinking. No, Alex believed that Nick was considering what she’d said, and it scared the hell out of him. Liz and Phil walked off chatting among themselves as Nick stared off into space for a long minute or two.

  “Whaddaya think?” Alex asked him as he turned and began to walk off.

  ‘I think if the lady is right, we’re in some real trouble as a species.” Nick didn’t even look back, choosing to continue along. Perhaps he didn’t want to show Alex his face in that disparaging moment, or perhaps it was something else. Either way, if Nick was feeling down, what would that mean for the rest of them? He was clearly their moral and emotional compass. “Come on in and get something to eat before turning in,” Nick called back to them. “I’ll have Kelly fetch something out—never mind,” Nick added, pointing to the wolf in the distance.

  Alex turned to see that the wolf had caught a squirrel and had it in its teeth, shaking it wildly until it stopped moving. Then he lay down in the shade again and began eating it.

  “Animals unaffected by the virus,” Nick called back again as she began to put some distance between them. Alex looked up in the tree and noted quite a few birds, and a squirrel or two, and shrugged at Selina, who stood before him.

  “Wanna fool around again before we get dinner?”

  “Really?!” he asked her, taken aback by her forwardness and the fact that this recent turn of events did nothing to dampen her libido. “You’re horny?”

  “Yep. I thought I might not ever see you again not that long ago, dumbass,” she said sharply. “What’d we say? You never know how long you’re gonna be around, so….”

  “Right. Look, I’m not—“

  “S’ okay, Alex. I was just askin’,” she said, seeming not to be hurt by his rejection.

  “Sorry. My head’s just somewhere else,” Alex said, thinking of Sara again for some unknown reason. As they walked together toward the castle’s interior, his mind gave pause to consider Olivia again, too. As he stared up into the coming twilight that loomed overhead, he fought the urge to run away from her and to sob uncontrollably like an inconsolable child in that instant. Instead, he squeezed her held hand a bit tighter and looked away until he got his emotions under control once again. “Tonight. I promise.”

  “I don’t care either way, Alex. But, if something’s on your mind, please tell me, okay?”

  “Yup.” Selina stared at him as they continued into the castle and the Great Hall where the table was filled with several bowls of food. Seated at the table were most of the others, including Nick, Liz, Phil, Bryan, Alexis, and Hannah. Kelly was absent, most likely cooking or preparing something in the kitchen, as was his custom.

  “We’re gonna wanna make a few runs into town to get canned goods for the coming winter over the next few days,” Nick said, looking to Alex. “I’m looking at you and Phil, Bryan, and probably—“

  “I wanna go!” Alexis blurted out, interrupting the man as he looked up at her without moving his head, and scooped another spoonful of beans into his mouth.

  “And why is that?” asked Bryan from the seat beside her.

  “I want to contribute,” she said in a
calmer demeanor, staring at the man and smiling.

  “Well, that’s admirable,” Bryan responded, returning the grin and wiping his mouth with a napkin.

  “Yeah,“ Liz muttered, though only Alex and Nick seemed to hear her. Nick gave her a glance and a shrug and then shoved aside his bowl to stare at Alexis.

  “You do your share around here. But, if you really wanna go into town, I don’t have a problem with that.”

  “Don’t worry…I’ll protect you,” Bryan said with an even wider smile.

  “Who says I need protectin’?” countered the woman, standing and puffing out her chest. She held Bryan’s stare and then strode out of the room, purposely walking as though she were striding along a catwalk, staring back as she exited to make sure she had the attention of everyone in the room.

  Bryan stood and removed a cigarette and stared back at them. “What? I'm gonna go have a smoke,” he said, disappearing right after Alexis and then poking his head back into the room. “I'm definitely goin’ tomorrow. I need another carton of these,” he said, holding up the cigarette.

  “I guess he’s addicted?”

  Alex felt a smack on the back of his head before anyone could answer. He spun to stare at Selina, her eyebrows raised in judgment of him.

  “What?! Jeez!”

  “You know what, Lancelot,” she said, referring to him with the name she had called him before the two of them were an item. It stung Alex more than he cared to admit.

  “She does have a nice ass. Ya gotta admit that,” Phil commented jokingly, looking up from his bowl to stare at Alex and then Selina, who stared daggers back at him. “Well, she does.”