Zombie Attack! Box Set (Books 1-3)

by Devan Sagliani

  “I am,” I said, “thanks to Sonya. If she hadn't come along when she did, I'd be burned to a crisp right now.”

  “What's that smell?”

  “Gasoline,” I shrugged, smelling it coming up from my shirt. “Either that or kerosene.”

  “It's awful.”

  “You're one to talk,” I teased lightly, grateful to see the hint of a smile returning to her face. “You've got black soot all over your face, kiddo. It's going to take a river to clean up both of us, and it's just our luck we're in the middle of the desert about a million miles from any lake or river. Speaking of which, let's get you something to drink.”

  Felicity sat up, and Sonya brought her a canteen of water. She took it without argument, and greedily gulped down several swallows. She leaned back, wiping her mouth with the outside of her hand and looking more alert, as if she were fighting her way out of a fog.

  “What's happening, Xander?”

  “Alphas,” I said. “The ones that took me. They've tracked us here.”

  “How is that possible?”

  “I was wondering the same thing,” I confessed. “Looks like they sacked Freedom Town in the process.”

  “No,” Felicity cried, looking heartbroken. I grimaced as I thought about all the children she had grown so close to while teaching at the colony. It was a devastating and pointless loss.

  “I'm sorry,” I said, knowing it wouldn't help. Felicity began to climb back to her feet. Bart and I helped her up.

  “We have to go back,” she said feebly, leaning on me to stay upright.

  “You're in no condition,” I argued.

  “I can't allow that,” Sonya said in a firm tone, like a parent refusing to give in to the whims of a child. I turned to follow the hard stare Felicity shot at her, not believing my own ears.

  “Excuse me?” Felicity said in a defiant tone, taking the words right out of my mouth. “Allow us? Who do you think you are?”

  “It doesn't matter who I think I am,” Sonya replied. “I've worked too hard to get you out of harms way. I can't let you go charging back in and get yourself killed over nothing.”

  “Over nothing?” Felicity's anger seemed to be injecting new life into her. She let go of my arm and began stomping toward Sonya, who simply returned her glare as she stood her ground. “Those people back there took us in. They saved our lives and now they need our help!”

  “This is all my fault,” I said. “Those bikers came looking for me. I don't know how or why, but they found me. If anyone should go back and fight, it should be me.”

  “You make one move back there and I will knock you out.”

  “Are you threatening my husband?” Felicity curled up her fists into a ball, ready for a fight.

  “ENOUGH!” Bad Bart roared, scaring us all into silence. We gaped at him as he panted, nearly unable to contain his anger. “Now this is what's gonna happen. You're gonna head up along this ridge line and follow the tracks until you see a small cluster of trees that leads to a channel. Buried under a pile of branches you'll find a handcart. You're gonna wanna push it onto the main tracks by hand and get it going.”

  “But…”

  “No buts,” he said, stopping my protests before I had a chance to launch into them. “It’s got a gasoline engine that you start with a pull cord, just like a lawnmower. It's real loud and bound to attract all kinds of unwanted attention, so you're not gonna wanna dally. My advice is to get it going the old fashioned way, by hand, before you start trying to fire that engine up, just in case you've got company.”

  “We're not going to just run away and leave you here to deal with this mess,” Felicity argued. “You can't be seriously telling us to flee like cowards.”

  “That's exactly what I want you to do,” Bad Bart said, taking his horse by the reins. “We'll hold them off as long as we can while you run. Hopefully, it will give you enough time to make a clean getaway. You get moving now so they won't be able to track you again.”

  “Thank you,” I said. “For everything.”

  “No problem,” he said. “It was a pleasure to meet you, Xander. Take good care of her.”

  “I will,” I promised.

  “Don't go,” Felicity pleaded, but he was already climbing back onto his horse.

  “Don't you worry about me,” he said confidently. “I'm gonna be just fine. I'll see you again soon, Miss Felicity Jane, in this world or the next.”

  He gave out a loud cry, and headed back toward Gold Strike City.

  “We can't just leave them,” Felicity groaned.

  “He risked his life for you,” Sonya admonished, “to make sure you made it out alive. If you go back now and something happens, it will be for nothing. Don't you see that?”

  The girls locked eyes once more in a contest of wills. For a minute they looked like they might duke it out right there, but they never got the chance.

  “Uh girls,” I said, feeling the panic rise back up from the core of my being. “Going back isn't going to be an option anymore.”

  I felt the girls turn to look at me, but my eyes were fixed on the land that lay between the old ghost town and us. An army of shadows moved across the darkness heading for the burning buildings and the noise of gunshots. The wind shifted and I caught their scent, a putrid aroma of rotting skin, before the chorus of unearthly low moans hit my ears. A vast horde of undead was advancing on the chaos, drawn in by the commotion. They moved like a river of decaying flesh, cutting us off from the unsuspecting and unprotected city of actors and artists. Bart's horse kicked up a thin trail of dust that rose to the sky as he rode hard, aiming for the front of the undead deluge, hoping to bypass them.

  “Oh my God,” Felicity groaned. It was all any of us could manage.

  Chapter Sixteen

  “They'll all be killed,” Felicity said, her voice barely above a whisper. “Even if they manage to fight off the Alphas, that horde will sweep through Gold Strike and leave nothing living in its path.”

  “Especially now that their defenses are gone,” I added, feeling guilty at even thinking it.

  “What are we going to do?” Felicity had a panicked look on her soot covered face. Her eyes were wide and pleading as she turned anxiously from Sonya to me and back again, hoping one of us would be able to offer a suggestion that might magically prevent her new friends from being slaughtered like cornered animals.

  “I'm not sure there is anything we can do at this point,” I said, feeling helpless and more than a little anxious as well.

  It's not just the townspeople that are in danger, the little voice in my head reminded me. If you don't convince Felicity to get moving soon, there is a very real chance we all might be next. We’re out in a wide open desert, with zero protection, in the dead of the night. What if there are more zombies close by? What if some of the undead from that massive gathering veer off in our direction? What if a separate horde, not attached to that gigantic river of rotting corpses, is heading our way right now?

  I glanced over at Sonya who seemed to be thinking the same thing.

  “We're not safe out here,” she said. “We need to keep moving.”

  “Are you insane? We've got to go back. We've got to try to do something before it's too late, or we'll never be able to live with ourselves.”

  “It's already too late,” Sonya said. Felicity shook her head back and forth, unable to accept the truth. “All we can do now is move on and make sure we're not next on the menu. The longer we stay here arguing, the more likely we'll be discovered by Alphas or zombies or both.”

  Sonya climbed back onto Black Beauty. I took Felicity Jane by the hand and pulled her to me, hugging her tightly as she buried her face in my neck, despite the terrible smell of gasoline coming off me.

  “I'm so sorry baby,” I whispered in her ear, trying to comfort her.

  “It's not fair,” she cried. “All those beautiful people. They took us in and we brought them death and destruction. They never asked for any of this.”

&n
bsp; Felicity pulled back from me, shaking her head.

  “What is it?”

  “Sorry,” she said, scrunching up her nose. “They really doused you with something.”

  “Yeah,” I said sarcastically, “it's my new cologne, au de lawnmower. Do you like it?”

  “It's burning my eyes a little.”

  “Mine too,” I said. “The guy who covered me in it was planning on turning me into a human bonfire. You'd probably be able to see my blazing corpse for miles if Sonya hadn't come along when she did and taken him out. It's a good thing none of us smoke.”

  “What did you say?” Felicity had a far away look in her eyes, as if she was working out some impossible puzzle, and had just made a major breakthrough.

  “None of us smoke,” I said. “At least as far as I know.”

  “That's it!”

  “What's it?”

  “Guys,” Sonya said, prancing around impatiently on Black Beauty. “We need to get moving now before we're seen. Come on!”

  “Take off your shirt,” Felicity instructed, ignoring Sonya's parental like orders.

  “What? Honey, this isn't really the time,” I began, but she held up her hand and interrupted me. “Take off the pants too, while you're at it.”

  Before I could answer, she began scouring the scrub brush like she'd lost something important. I began to wonder if she might not have lost her mind. I turned to see Sonya growing more impatient by the second.

  “Whatever this is, we don't have time for it,” Sonya said. She looked close to tying us both up and throwing us over the back of the massive steed.

  Using both hands, Felicity held a large, dry tree branch she'd found over her head. The look on her face was radiant, like she'd just figured out a way to save all of Gold Strike City.

  “Why is your shirt still on?” she asked. “Quickly, there isn't much time left. Take it off.”

  I paused for a brief second to see if she was being serious, but the determined look chiseled onto her beautiful face told me everything that I needed to know. She was absolutely serious, and whatever she was planning she'd thought all the way through. I began unbuttoning my shirt and taking it off without protest.

  “Whatever you're planning,” I said, “I hope it's good.”

  “I just hope it's enough,” she said, taking the soiled cowboy shirt out of my hands and staring expectantly at my filthy jeans.

  “Are you sure you need them?” I asked. The thought of running around in my boxers, in the middle of the cold night, appealed to me even less than the idea of wearing gasoline soaked pants.

  “Yes,” she said without hesitation, wrapping my discarded clothing around the branch in a tight bundle. She turned and addressed Sonya, acknowledging her directly for the first time. “We're going to need something to light this with as well. Got any ideas?”

  “What are you planning on doing?” Sonya didn't look amused by Felicity's sudden stroke of genius.

  “It's not what I'm going to do,” Felicity fired back. “It's what you're going to do!”

  “What exactly do you think I'm going to do again?”

  “You're going to help me get this makeshift torch lit and then you're going to ride out toward that zombie horde and get their attention.”

  “You're insane if you really think that's going to happen,” Sonya said flatly. My hands were starting to tremble as I gave Felicity the dirty jeans I'd been wearing. It was cold out in the middle of the desert night, even before I stripped down to my underwear. I didn't even have time to think about how I looked standing there half naked in those ridiculous cowboy boots.

  “You're not afraid,” Felicity crowed at her. “Are you?”

  Even in the milky shadow light of the moon I could see the color rise up in Sonya's face at the suggestion.

  “You're not going to bait me into your stupid little stunt by calling me chicken. Now stop messing around and let's get moving before it's too late.”

  Felicity stood her ground. “What about a bribe then?”

  Sonya brought Black Beauty around toward her. The massive beast gave a snort as Sonya coaxed him to stop right in front of Felicity's face.

  “I'm listening.”

  “We'll come with you, no questions asked,” Felicity offered, “if you give my plan a try.”

  “And just what is your plan exactly?”

  “You ride toward them, getting the attention of as many as you can and drawing them back this way toward us. Meanwhile, Xander and I will head to the handcart and get it on the tracks. Once you're close, you join us and we fire it up. The sound should be loud enough to keep the living dead distracted.”

  “That's not going to work,” Sonya said without hesitation. “Even if I manage to lure back a good portion of them there will still be plenty that continue toward the settlement, drawn in by the fire and the sounds of panic. At best you'll be able to cut the horde in half.”

  “It's worth a try,” Felicity said. “And it's better than doing nothing.”

  “This isn't one of your Hollywood movies…” Sonya began, but Felicity started yelling over her.

  “No! It's not a movie. This is real life and those are real people up there, dying at the hands of cannibal savages and undead monsters. So excuse me if I still give a damn and my heart hasn't turned into stone just yet, like you. That's my offer. Take it or leave it. You help, we go along with you. You don't, and I swear I'll make every second of the time we're stuck together as difficult for you as possible.”

  Felicity delivered the last sentence through gritted teeth with her head down, before looking up at Sonya again on her high horse. Sonya's mouth was open now, presumably in shock. Whatever her impressions had been of Felicity Jane before, they were now completely wiped away.

  “You better stick to the deal,” Sonya said at last. “Because once I risk my life for your stupid new friends, there will be no going back on it.”

  “You have my word,” Felicity solemnly swore.

  “Give me that,” Sonya shot back, reaching a hand out for the clothing wrapped branch. My jeans were now tightly coiled around the stick as well, like a hobo's bundle from a Saturday morning cartoon. Felicity handed it over.

  “How are you going to light it?”

  “Don't worry about it,” Sonya boldly replied, doing her best to sound in control once more. “Just have that handcart ready to roll when I get back. There won't be time for excuses if this goes how you think it's gonna go.”

  “We'll make it work one way or another,” I gushed, joining the conversation. “If it's there.”

  “And don't even think about trying to run off on me,” Sonya warned, ignoring me and locking eyes in a staring contest with Felicity. “Because if you do, I will track you down and make you sorry you ever crossed me.”

  “Quit stalling,” Felicity groused. “I gave you my word. You don't need to threaten us.”

  For a minute I thought the deal might be off. Sonya looked like she was ready to climb off the back of Black Beauty and tear my wife's hair out. There was a burning hatred between the women that defied understanding. Then, without warning, Sonya broke eye contact. She let out a sharp whoop that made me jump, and then bolted off, turning in a half circle as she passed us, and headed back to the zombie horde still locked on a collision course toward Gold Strike City. We watched her ride off into the darkness without saying a word, getting smaller and smaller until she was almost impossible to see. There was a muffled fizzling sound in the distance followed by a flash of light as my cowboy costume came roaring to life on the end of the branch.

  “I hope you know what you're doing,” I said.

  “So do I,” she answered.

  “We better get moving.”

  I turned and took Felicity's hand, doing my best to ignore what was happening off in the distance, and tried to focus on my immediate surroundings and the task at hand. I was bone tired, sore, and hungry, but the thrill of near death coupled with the biting cold kept me alert. There wasn't goin
g to be a whole lot of room for error if this plan worked out, and that was still a big if.

  Stay focused, I told myself. There are still plenty of dangers that could be lurking nearby. If you are distracted, you'll never be able to anticipate them.

  We made a beeline to the edge of the cliffs. Staring down the short distance into the canyon below, I could make out the dull gleam of the railroad tracks in the powdery moonlight.

  “Let's stay up on the ridge until we find those trees Bad Bart mentioned,” I suggested. “I don't want to get trapped down there in case we run into another horde.”

  “Agreed,” Felicity said, squeezing my hand.

  We made our way along the edge a short distance, doing our best not to look back. Eventually, we came upon the place Bad Bart described. The canyon sloped at a choke point, creating a natural ramp down as the hill rolled toward the track. I noticed a set of tracks that curved away from the main line leading to a dead end of solid earth. There were dry tree branches stacked up where the metal rails ran smack into the canyon wall.

  “There,” I said, pointing to it. “That must be what Bart was talking about.”

  We both rushed into the hollow and began pulling the tree branches loose, tossing them aside. I felt the leaves brushing against my bare skin and tickling me, but I pushed on. Soon we'd uncovered it, a glistening metal machine with a small tank of gas and a motor, just as we'd been promised.

  This might actually work, I thought for a moment, panting from lifting the heavy branches clear. Who knew she had it in her?

  “You've got something on you,” Felicity said, pointing at me.

  “It's nothing,” I said, “just some loose leaves.”

  “No, Xander,” she said. “They're small and black, like...”

  Her words trailed off as I realized that the leaves were moving up my body, not drifting down with the force of gravity. I glanced down to see a handful of glossy, ink black creatures with their tiny legs climbing upward to my face.

  “SPIDERS!”

  For a moment I lost all control. While snakes and mice have never bothered me in the least, I've had an irrational fear of spiders my entire life. Next to zombies, they were my biggest fear and the star of countless nightmares I've had over the years. I screamed shrilly and began dancing around, swatting at my chest and legs, trying to clean them all off. Felicity dissolved into a fit of giggles.