Zombie Attack! Box Set (Books 1-3)

by Devan Sagliani

  She raised her eyebrow at me as if to say, 'Are you going to answer?' It only made the fire smoldering inside of me burn brighter.

  “I got it,” I spat, through gritted teeth.

  “Good,” she answered, as she turned her head away from me. I could feel the blood flushing my cheeks as I silently fumed behind her back, my eyes fixed to my own katana.

  I don't care how good-looking she is, I thought to myself. It doesn't give her the right to talk down to me.

  Her feet shifted on the loose gravel, like she was grinding out a cigarette, as her body tensed. She raised her left arm as a signal to get ready to go. I felt a lump rising in my throat and did my best to swallow it back down. This was it. In mere seconds we'd be running for our very lives, trying to escape not one biker gang, but two! Any mistake at all would mean certain death.

  You can do this, I told myself, gulping down a few quick breaths. Just clear your mind and do what she said. You'll be fine.

  “Now,” she said in a fierce whisper, her arm slicing down like a guillotine.

  I forced myself forward off the roof. It happened so fast I didn't have time to think about it. One moment I was standing up, jogging forward, my foot pushing off the railing, and the next I was floating in slow motion. The stream of angry bikers pouring into the Casino had slowed to a trickle. I had heard shouting at my back as I launched off the roof. That meant they were on to us. We'd have only moments to escape.

  You can do this, I sternly reminded myself.

  My legs came down in front of me, touching the hard asphalt. I willed them with all my might not to lock, urging them to bend slightly with my momentum, as I tumbled frontward into a somersault. I rolled forward, springing up to my feet.

  It worked perfectly, I thought in triumph, just like she said it would.

  A soft thud to my left caught my attention and I turned to see Sonya rising to her feet. She had my blade on her back and the blunderbuss tucked into the front of her pants.

  I wish she would have brought the ax as well, I thought, but it would have definitely slowed us down.

  “This way,” she yelled, turning and sprinting toward the far end of the parking lot past the bonfire. I didn't waste a second. It felt good to be outside, running in the cold. In less than a minute we were well clear of the entrance of the Casino. A new wave of shouting rang out in the distance just as we came across a row of motorcycles.

  Sonya hopped on the first one, a big beast of a chopper with the keys still in it.

  “Get on,” she commanded.

  I slid behind her onto the seat without a word. There were angry voices now, coming from the direction of the bonfire. I had no doubts that one of them most likely belonged to the owner of the bike we were about to steal.

  You're almost free, I thought, a thrill of excitement at our brazen escape pulsing through me like an electrical current.

  I held on for dear life as she kicked-started the glossy black motorcycle. It came alive with a deafening roar that made my heart stop. Every eye in the parking lot turned as the sound of the bike blanketed them into shocked stupidity. This was our moment, that split second when you have the element of surprise on your side.

  Sonya jerked the throttle hard, gunning the motorcycle forward in a violent lurch that pinned me against the back of the seat rest. We took off like a shot fired out of a cannon, ripping across the parking lot, as every biker in sight watched slack jawed with amazement. Sonya let out a loud whooping cry that echoed off into the night as we peeled out.

  Show off, I thought.

  She veered slightly to the left and brought us onto the highway, leaning into the turn with her body. My fingers dug into her sides as I did my best to cling to her. I knew we didn't have time to stop. We'd have just moments before the shock wore off and a pack of armed, wild bikers was hot on our tail.

  There's still a chance we might not make it, I thought. If they overtake us on this road back to camp, no one will ever know what happened to me.

  They were after us much faster than I expected. I could hear the rumble of their bikes as they came upon us. I turned to see several headlights moving back and forth in the dark. We hit a patch of fog and the lights danced like drunken jackals in the white mist. I heard a gunshot ring out behind us and I flinched, hugging myself tighter to Sonya while trying not to puncture my legs on her dangerous pants and boots. Several more shots rang out. I heard one of them whiz past my right ear, and I flinched.

  We can't be far from Freedom Town now, I thought. We've got to make it. Hopefully by now, Tyler will have roused the troops and my men will have gone for backup to the base.

  I hated to think about the other option, that they were too busy dealing with their current zombie mess to call for reinforcements. I couldn't live with the thought of bringing down a pack of wild bikers and Alphas on the unsuspecting residents of Freedom Town, on top of everything else that had happened tonight.

  We shot through a small mountain pass that I knew was visible from Freedom Town, winding like a serpent past the walls of weather carved rocks. The sound of our engine echoed noisily against the walls. I heard it give a stutter like we were running low on gas and once again I felt my breath catch in my chest, along with a painful stitch at the thought of being caught.

  “What's happening?” I shouted, but my voice was drowned out by the wind.

  Behind us, I could hear the rumbling growing closer. There was a long howl of victory. I turned my head back to see that the first knot of riders had cleared the twisting mountain pass. They now had a direct line of sight on us. At this rate they would be able to gun us down in mere minutes.

  Sonya shifted in her seat, shaking the bike slightly in the process. We were slowing down when we needed to be racing for our lives. I felt a nauseating sensation in my stomach as cold fear began to overwhelm me.

  “Damn you!” Sonya cursed as she struggled with the fickle machine.

  All at once the bike seemed to come back to life, loudly sputtering like a fat man clearing his throat after a big meal.

  “Hold on now!”

  Sonya leaned forward and I hugged into her body. I flinched in expectation, trying not to think about the fact that at any moment we could be cut down by a hail of bullets. She revved the throttle with her right hand, pulling her wrist down. Once more we shot forward, wind and bugs stinging my face. All I could hear was the rushing of the wind. I could feel my heart pounding in my chest, like a kick drum on steroids.

  Summoning all the courage I had left, I turned my head and looked back. The gang was still on us, but they were further back now, out of shooting range. I strained my eyes to look ahead. The lookout platforms of Freedom Town were clearly visible now.

  If I can see them, I remembered, then they can see us too.

  There were green blurs blocking the front of the camp. I forced my eyes wide open to take them in, feeling the cold winds harsh sting. My heart let out a cry of joy as I saw the rows of military vehicles guarding the main gate. I could hear the biker’s engines growing quieter as they dropped back at the sight. Sonya didn't let off the throttle one second. We barreled head first toward a firing line, and I'd never felt happier in my life.

  “We're gonna make it,” I cried out, my words vanishing in the rushing wind.

  The soldiers protecting the front of Freedom Town all trained their guns on us, triggers at the ready. I could see them waiting for the order to open fire on us.

  They don't know we're not the enemy, I thought, a shock of realization dawning over me. They're getting ready to open fire.

  I raised my arms over my head and began waving them back and forth, hoping it would help identify us as friendly. A booming voice came over a loudspeaker from one of the trucks.

  “This is the Unified Armed Forces Alliance,” the sound reached us in ripples. “You are now entering restricted space. Stop or we'll be forced to engage.”

  It's too late to stop, I thought darkly. How ironic is it that after everything I'v
e been through in the last twenty-four hours, I'm going to die – not at the hands of bikers or cannibals – but by my own people in front of the town I was assigned to protect.

  “This is your final warning,” the voice ominously droned.

  Sonya turned the bike at the last second, skidding to a stop mere feet away from the barricade and nearly laying the machine down in the process. Soldiers rushed out immediately and surrounded us from all sides. Three armed men pinned Sonya to the ground while she did her best to cooperate. A pimply-faced kid with an AR-15 ran up and shoved the barrel of his gun almost into my open mouth.

  “Get on the ground,” he shouted.

  I raised my hands up defensively.

  “Okay,” I said, frustrated. “It's okay, we're with you.”

  “Do it now!” His finger twitched on the trigger and a bead of nervous sweat glistened on his pockmarked forehead.

  “Listen, I'm the officer in charge of Freedom Town and…”

  Another soldier leaped forward and slammed the side of my head with his rifle, connecting in nearly the same place the Alpha Chieftain had hit, sending ripples of pain through me as I fell to the hard ground, involuntarily wincing.

  “What's wrong with you? Are you deaf, or just stupid?” I rocked back and forth holding my head, waiting for the howling pain to recede.

  I saw a pair of shiny boots walking quickly up to me from behind the barricade. They belonged to a well-dressed officer with a stern demeanor who stopped directly in front of me. Placing his hands on his knees, he leaned down to address me.

  “Xander Macnamara?”

  “Yeah,” I said, looking up at his apathetic face.

  “You are under arrest.”

  Chapter Eight

  What is happening, I wondered, in total shock. Arrest? What could I have possibly done to be under arrest? I'd just had the single worst night of my life since Z Day, and it didn't look like there was any end in sight to the nightmare.

  “Arrest?” I shouted at him, spit flying from my bloody lip.

  “Get him up and cuff him,” the officer barked. His men immediately pulled me to my feet and began placing shackles with chains in between them around my wrists and ankles.

  “Are you insane? You can't arrest me,” I shouted in defiance. “I'm Xander Macnamara!”

  The officer froze in his tracks.

  That got his attention, I thought with a smirk. I was panting like a wild animal, ready to tear him apart the minute they let go of me. The officer turned and walked slowly back to me, a bemused grin on his face.

  “Macnamara is it?” His voice was light and playful, but something was off. He looked around from his men to me, a mischievous twinkle in his eyes.

  “That's right pal,” I barked. “And when the dust settles you're going to be singing a very different tune. I promise you that. Now let me go!”

  “Xander, my name is Officer Batista,” he said. “I will be taking over here after you are gone, which shouldn't be long now. The train's furnace is already being fired up, as we speak.”

  “You are making a big mistake if you think you can just come in here and take credit for all my hard work, buddy.”

  I fixed the meanest stare I had at my disposal in his direction, and to my chagrin, he chuckled.

  “Hard work? You mean like assaulting a civilian, a school teacher no less,” he locked eyes with mine.

  His mouth is still smiling, I realized, but his eyes are not. He looks like he'd love nothing more than to be locked in a room with me, no witnesses, my hands tied behind my back so he could take his time beating me. What the hell did I ever do to this guy?

  “From the report I read earlier this morning, it sounds like a simple case of jealousy at work,” he continued. “You thought he was making a play for your former celebrity wife, and you lost control. It's understandable enough. Jealousy is a tricky emotion to master. Many lesser men have fallen under its green spell and committed terrible crimes, thinking they were totally justified.”

  I could feel my heart thumping in my chest as he spoke. I had definitely been out of line, but did that mean I was being stripped of command and court-martialed? Why were the higher-ups taking such an interest?

  “You were wrong, however, in your assumptions,” he stifled a laugh with the back of his hand. “More wrong than you know. As the ranking officer in Freedom Town you have a responsibility to help these people, not terrorize them. Your military rank and martial arts experience, not to mention rule of law, dictate that you use discretion handling civilian disputes, meting out punishments and using force only when absolutely necessary. After all, if the people can't trust their own officers to protect them, if they have to live in fear that an officer might fly into a jealous rage at any moment and attack them, what separates us from Alphas and other outlaws?”

  I felt my cheeks burning with shame and anger as he took his time verbally running me down. He was right, but he didn't understand. I couldn't believe that Jamie ran to the authorities over our little brawl.

  He's such a big guy, I thought. What happened between us was little more than a tussle. What a jerk!

  “So Jamie Friendly rats me out over a disagreement we had, and now I'm being stripped of command and sent back to Hueneme? Is that it?”

  The officer didn't blink as he fixed a malicious glare at me. He wasn't smiling anymore.

  “He's got a couple of broken ribs, but he'll live,” the officer replied. “He didn't want to give his report, but in light of the circumstances, he knew there was no other choice.”

  What is he talking about? My mind raced as a heavy feeling descended over me, settling into the pit of my stomach. Had something else happened after the Alphas captured us? Had the town been sacked as well? My thoughts turned to Felicity, and once again I felt my mouth go dry.

  “What circumstances?”

  “I'm glad you asked,” he said, patting me on the head dismissively. One of the soldiers near me chuckled. I shook my head back and forth in anger, causing pain to ring through my skull. I winced, but didn't take my eyes off him.

  “You see, Mister Big Shot Macnamara, in the past twenty-four hours, an infected soldier has managed to pass security and violate the sanctity of your camp. My understanding is that he was a friend of yours? Andrew?”

  “Now you just hold on a second there,” I protested. “Andrew was a good man! You hear me? He made a terrible mistake. That's all. Just a week ago, he was one of the most popular guys in town.”

  “A good man, but not a good soldier,” Officer Batista quickly countered. “He made a decision that cost the life of a young child on your watch. Do you deny that?”

  “No,” I spat back in frustration.

  “Good,” he replied. “Then we are making progress. After that you volunteered for his shift, and on your watch several more citizens of Freedom Town were kidnapped and killed. Teenagers, I understand.”

  “We were attacked by Alphas,” I shouted in his face. “Didn't you see them chasing us? We barely escaped with our lives!”

  “I think we all saw your friends giving you an escort back to camp,” Officer Batista replied. “If we hadn't been here you would have surely let them into camp as well, to loot and pillage and commit murder at will.”

  Is he kidding? My mouth hung open in shock at his words. This can't be happening!

  “Is that some kind of joke?”

  “I assure you it is not.”

  “I was kidnapped against my will,” I said between gritted teeth.

  “Ah,” he replied, lacing his fingers together and arching his eyebrows as he rocked back and forth on his feet, as if he was enjoying a tall tale.

  “They overpowered us by the train station,” I continued. “They had pet zombies and heavy netting. They clubbed us and carried us off to Hellfire. Ask Tyler Finch. He saw it all go down.”

  “The young Mr. Finch is in a state of shock at the moment,” Batista replied. “Not surprising. He did watch his girlfriend get eaten alive,
and his only friends in the world get rustled up and hauled off by cannibals. What we did manage to get out of him was that it all occurred shortly after you showed up. He said you were acting strange, trying to impress them and keep them out there while your pals showed up and began picking them off.”

  “What?” I lunged for him, but the soldiers held me back. “That's insane! I had nothing to do with it. I was held hostage against my will. I was beaten and electrocuted. They were going to trade me to Unity Gang to sell me to Nazis who would have tortured me to death, then maybe come here afterward to see what all the fuss was about. The only reason I am alive right now is because Sonya rescued me. We made it here by the skin of our teeth!”

  “Yes,” he said, leaning in until he was an inch from my face. “You managed to escape with the help of a known fugitive and outlaw, an assassin who performs murder for hire as well. And you brought her right back here with a pack of wild bikers at your heels. Interesting.”

  I turned my head to look at Sonya. She was on her knees, an assault rifle jammed in her back. The look of seething hatred on her face could have burned a hole through the sun!

  “Assassin? What are you talking about?”

  “Hello, Sonya,” he said, smiling at her. “Nice to see you are still in one piece. My boss will be very happy to hear we've caught up with you. We won't be letting you escape justice this time.”

  “Go to hell,” she said calmly, spitting on the asphalt.

  “Too late,” he fired back. “We're already here.”

  “Hold on now,” I said. “I didn't know she was wanted for a crime.”

  “Crimes,” he corrected me.

  My head was swimming. This was bad. How was I going to explain that none of this was my fault? That I was a victim of circumstances beyond my control? Things weren't looking good. I was beginning to realize that I was in deep water, way over my head.

  “Curious how she knew right where you were going to be, don't you think?”