Zombie Attack! Box Set (Books 1-3)

by Devan Sagliani

  “We don't have time for this,” I said, rubbing my eyes and shaking my head. “If we keep fighting and arguing, we're not going to make it. They're heading this way.”

  “You were the one who wanted to argue,” Felicity reminded me. I sighed.

  “I'm sorry,” I said. “I didn't mean to snap at either of you.”

  They both looked at me, waiting for me to say something that would undermine my apology, offer some kind of justification for my foul mood, or assign blame someplace else. When I didn't, they both seemed to soften.

  “It's no problem,” Sonya shrugged. “We're all worn pretty thin at this point.”

  “What we need is a plan,” Felicity offered, touching my arm to let me know she wasn't upset anymore.

  “I've got an idea,” Sonya said. “Can I borrow your weapon?”

  She held her hand out to me and I froze. I never willingly gave up my blade. Felicity gave me a look, and I relented. The truth is, we were running out of time. If we were going to make it out in one piece I was going to have to trust her, at least for the time being. I reluctantly handed my sword to Sonya.

  “Don't worry,” she said with a smirk. “I'll take good care of her. Stay back until I call you, got it?”

  “Got it,” I said. “What are you planning on doing?”

  Sonya didn't answer, but instead jogged over to the side of the tent wall and began hacking open a new door right in the side. Felicity and I watched in horror as zombie clowns poured out of the fresh wound, led by one green-wigged giant in big clown shoes that let out a noisy honk with each fresh step. Sonya retreated slowly, doing her best to cut them down as they followed her. I was amazed by how deftly she wielded the blade, like a trained warrior. Her movements were fluid and certain. Rays of the early morning sun danced across the blade as she effortlessly brought down one terrifying monster after another.

  “What is she doing?” I said aloud, not really expecting an answer.

  “It's like she's trying to take them out by herself,” Felicity replied, sounding just as stunned as I felt.

  “There are too many,” I groaned, shaking my head. “And we definitely don't have time for this right now.”

  The Alphas will be here any minute, I thought, panic rising in my chest like a hot air balloon. I rubbed the back of my head, unconsciously thinking about where the Chieftain had brought his cane down onto my skull. He's bound to hit me a lot harder this time. Plus, who knows what they'll do to Felicity if they catch us.

  “What do we do?” Felicity looked genuinely puzzled.

  “What can we do?” I answered, feeling queasy.

  Sonya turned and ran back a short distance. The clowns were hot on her trail, their white painted faces cracked with streaked lines of blood drooling from their dull eyes and hungry mouths. Sonya brought her hand up to her lips and let out a high-pitched whistle. I felt the ground move in response, and for a moment I imagined she had the power to summon spirits up from the earth that would call these demons back to hell. The fact that she didn't return to her crouched fighting stance only further solidified the illusion that she might harbor some supernatural power. It all became clear when the flap she'd sliced open exploded outward as the elephant came charging toward her, trampling the hellish biters in the process.

  “What is she doing?”

  “She'll be killed,” Felicity said, looking on in terror.

  Sonya stood, unmoving. She raised her hand up to the elephant as it approached and, like magic, the massive animal came to a halt in front of her, leaning its large head down to her tiny palm and allowing her to pet it between the eyes.

  “The elephant’s like a big pet dog,” I said in wonder.

  “How is she doing that?” Felicity asked in disbelief.

  “The same way she did with Black Beauty, I suppose.” I had no other words to explain it.

  Sonya was cooing high-pitched approval to her new friend, but we were too far away to make out exactly what she was telling the beast. Then, as if to oblige her, the elephant knelt down and let Sonya climb onto her back, extending her front leg like an elegant curtsy. With effortless grace Sonya turned the well-trained circus animal in our direction and guided her over to us.

  “This sorta solves two problems at once,” Sonya said.

  “I don't see how we are going to stay ahead of guys on bikes while riding on the back of this elephant,” I replied. “Sorry if that sounds like I'm being negative.”

  “It's simple,” Sonya explained. “Alphas can only use the roads and dirt paths to follow us. With Nelly here, we can go right over hills and all sorts of places a motorized vehicle never could in a million years. You know what they say, the shortest distance between two points...”

  “...is a straight line,” Felicity added, finishing her sentence. “It's better than nothing. Can you get her to kneel back down again so we can get on? No time to waste.”

  “Sure,” Sonya agreed, looking happy to finally be making some headway with Felicity after all the bickering and distrust. She leaned over and whispered in the elephant's ear and once more the great animal knelt down. We scrambled on her wide back and she stood up quickly, causing me to nearly tumble off the other side.

  “Careful now,” Sonya said. “Nelly doesn't come with seat belts, you know.”

  “How do you know her name?” Felicity asked, sounding genuinely curious rather than just trying to nettle her again.

  “I don't,” Sonya admitted. “When I was a kid my mom used to sing to me at bedtime. One of her favorites was about an elephant that ran away from the circus to live in the jungle. The name of the elephant was Nelly. It just seemed to fit.”

  “It's as good a name as any I guess.” I was looking back at the growing number of menacing zombie clowns headed our way through the massive hole the animal had torn through her former home.

  “Besides, the only other elephant I could think of was Babar and he's a boy,” Sonya offered. “She seems to like it though; don't you, Nelly?”

  Nelly curled up her trunk and playfully touched the top of Sonya's messy hair in reply.

  “I hate to cut this short, but we need to keep moving if we don't all want to end up like poor Airi back in there,” I reminded her.

  “You're right,” Sonya agreed. “Nelly, get us the hell out of here.”

  With no further instruction the beast simply began walking forward, heading off into the dry scrub-covered hills further northwest. Her whole back vibrated as she moved, effortlessly carrying us all, as if we didn't weigh more than a feather pillow.

  Speaking of feather pillows, I thought, I could really use a comfortable place to lie down and rest.

  I turned and looked back. The tents were receding in the distance behind us, growing smaller and smaller. There were still no signs of bikers, but I knew they weren't far off. They'd be able to track us easily by simply following Nelly's massive footprints, and so far there wasn't much in the way of terrain that a bike couldn't easily navigate. In fact, we were coming up on a stretch of highway.

  “I've got an idea,” I said. “Can you steer her onto that paved road?”

  “Sure,” Sonya smiled, leaning in that direction. Nelly slowly veered onto the blacktop. “Now what?”

  “Now we wait for a particularly rough patch of terrain we can guide her into in the next few miles,” I replied. “That way we give the Alphas some guesswork.”

  “Sounds like a plan,” Sonya said.

  On we journeyed for what felt like almost an hour. The sun rose over us and began to beat down on our heads. I wished that I still had my top hat. Felicity tore another part of her dress off, using the fabric to fashion a makeshift headscarf. I took off my heavy coat, and we made a blanket to sit on over Nelly's rough skin. Then I wound my tuxedo shirt into a sort of turban to ward off overheating. Sonya laughed at both of us.

  We must look crazy, I thought. Not that it matters, as long as this works.

  Eventually, we came to a small creek bed with a river flowin
g along it. Nelly didn't need encouragement. She galloped down the embankment and frolicked in the water, drinking and splashing playfully, and spraying us with cooling mist from her trunk.

  “This is perfect,” Felicity said, looking relieved for the first time since the train.

  “Keep her moving up the river bed,” I suggested. “If we come out up there by those trees, they'll never be able to follow our prints.”

  “A good tracker would be able to figure it out,” Sonya laughed, “but something tells me it's gonna take those Alphas a while to catch on to the trick. Good call, kid.”

  I tried not to bristle at being called a kid by a girl only a few years older than me.

  Let it go man, I thought. She's trying to give you a compliment.

  “How do we know which direction to head?”

  “That's easy,” Sonya answered. “During the day we can use the location of the sun and when night comes we'll be able to use the constellations to determine our trajectory.”

  “Where did you learn all that?” Felicity asked.

  “From my brother,” Sonya replied. “He was a great teacher. ”

  “I know the feeling,” I said. Sonya smiled.

  “Hopefully we'll be back before sundown,” Sonya said encouragingly.

  “Really?” It was hard not to share the same hope so obvious in Felicity's voice.

  “I mean, you never know what might happen between now and then to throw off our progress but, as far as I can tell, we're only a day or less from our final destination by elephant, maybe less since we don't have to waste any time winding around God's road blocks.”

  Before we could reply, Sonya let out a cry and goaded Nelly up out of the riverbed and through a thicket of trees. Felicity fell back and grabbed my hand as we took off up a sharp embankment and onto a hill. Five minutes later we reached the peak and were able to see a better view of the valley below. In the distance, the circus tents we'd come from were now on fire. Black smoke bellowed into the sky as tiny orange flames danced around the tent’s festive striped panels.

  “Looks like they made it back to camp,” I said.

  “I'm glad we weren't there to witness it,” Sonya said.

  “Me too,” Felicity added. “Thank you.”

  Sonya looked like she was about to say something, but decided against it at the last moment. She guided Nelly down into a rolling valley of dry grass and bushes, and then into a darker patch of trees. Soon the bikers and the zombie clowns and the terrible images of mutilated children were just a fading memory. Hunger and thirst were the only things on our minds as we trekked through open, wild lands unspoiled by habitation. Sonya began talking about stopping to track rabbits or prairie dogs for dinner, but by lunchtime we'd stumbled onto a wooded cabin long since forgotten.

  Felicity practically yanked the old wooden door off its hinges to get to the fresh drinking water. The cabin's kitchen was cool and cramped. The kitchen had spoiled milk and rotting leftovers, including a half eaten rainbow trout. The cupboard had beef stew in tins, crackers, and cans of generic brand pasta with meat sauce. There was over half a tank of propane, from what I could gather, and everything from the showers to the stove ran on it. Sonya and I took turns cleaning up and keeping a lookout, while Felicity got the stove working and started heating up some stew. Sonya went first and came back out looking like a different person now that she no longer had a thick coat of dirt and zombie guts covering her. She'd found a pair of guy’s jeans that fit her, and somehow still managed to show off her figure. She'd turned a dark men's dress shirt into some kind of top as well, bunching everything up and tying the arms around the front, bare-midriff style. Her eyes sparkled mischievously as she came over to let me know it was my turn.

  After I got out of the shower I discovered why. I'd spent a good long time letting the hot water wash over me, and lathering my face and hair with the bar of Irish Spring left behind, to try to get the gasoline smell out. I was feeling pretty good until I got back into the bedroom and discovered Sonya had taken the only guy’s clothing in the cabin. I pulled out all the drawers looking for more, but all I found were a pair of women’s jeans and a faded old t-shirt. I knew right away that I'd be leaving both for Felicity if I planned on arriving anywhere near happy in the next twenty-four hours.

  “Shower’s all yours,” I said, coming up behind Felicity and looking over her shoulder as she stirred the delicious smelling pot of canned stew. I kissed her on the neck and she smiled, shutting off the stove and turning toward me to give me a real kiss. I felt the ground go out from underneath me the moment our lips met.

  It feels just like the first kiss we shared, I thought, enjoying the sensation of floating bliss. Maybe this is all we've needed all along to be okay, just some time and space away from the others. As crazy as this trip has been, maybe it will work out for the best.

  Felicity stepped back and made a disapproving face, clucking her tongue, as she looked me up and down.

  “Why didn't you change into something new like Sonya?”

  “I like this outfit,” I lied. “It's fun. It makes this whole thing seem like more of an adventure.”

  “You mean rather than us just fleeing for our lives again?”

  “Exactly,” I said. “Go clean up. We wanna get back on the road as soon as we can. You heard what Sonya said. We could be closer than we think.”

  “We still don't know where she is planning on taking us,” Felicity darkly reminded me.

  “That's true,” I admitted. “The good news is that we're still a long way off from New Lompoc and not so far from the base. If something does go down, hopefully we'll be able to light out and make it to a safe haven.”

  “I sure hope you're right.”

  “Me too.”

  She kissed me again and, as difficult as it was, I pushed her away.

  “Go quickly before we waste any more time,” I laughed.

  “I love you, Xander,” she sighed.

  “I love you too, Felicity.”

  She turned and walked toward the shower. More than anything I wanted to go with her, but I stayed and stirred the pot. Looking out the window I saw Sonya petting Nelly, the elephant, and feeding her crackers. If I didn't know better, I'd say that Nelly was smiling.

  Felicity wasn't gone long, and I was glad since my hunger seemed to be intensifying by the minute in her absence. The stew smelled amazing, but I knew anything would taste good at that point, so long as it wasn't rotten. We ate in silence, devouring our meal in big gulps. When we'd licked the plates clean, Sonya abruptly stood up and announced it was time to leave.

  “Where are we going?” Felicity asked. “I think we've earned the right to know at least that much. Don't you?”

  “Someplace safe,” Sonya replied without hesitation. “We're almost there now. Then I can finally reveal the truth to you.”

  “I'm looking forward to it,” Felicity said unflinchingly, but without her usual malice.

  There wasn't much in the way of supplies to be looted from the cabin, but we did find some plastic water bottles and loaded them up with drinking water. We took our time climbing back up on Nelly, who looked reluctant to leave after having become convinced she had already arrived at her new home.

  I know exactly how you feel old girl, I thought, locking eyes with the elephant and seeing the intelligence hidden behind them.

  The afternoon wore on much like the first part of the day, with long stretches of untouched nature and the heat of the sun beating down on us like an angry, accusing glare. When it seemed I could no longer bear it a second longer the oppressive heat finally broke; the sun was beginning its long arc toward the ocean, leaving us sleepy and lethargic. Try as I might, I could not keep my head up. The gentle thumping of Nelly's steady tromp, along with the rhythmic cadence of nature's hidden insects crying out around us, lulled me into a gentle nap leaning against Felicity's back. The last thing I recalled before going under was hearing her let out a gentle snore herself.

  I a
woke to the sound of grunting and moaning coming from all sides around me. My eyes were blurry as I rubbed the sleep from them. Felicity was slumped forward over Nelly who had slowed to a cautious crawl and had begun whining, a sound I didn't even know an elephant could make.

  I squinted at the gray-looking humanoid objects around me. Before I could make out what they were, the smell hit me – like rotting meat left out in the heat of the midday sun. I fought back the sudden urge to vomit over the side of the beast. Whipping my head around I saw that we were surrounded by zombies of every shape and size; men, women, and children, all tied to trees with ropes around their necks and torsos to hold them in place. Nelly was sauntering down the middle of a two-lane highway, going around a familiar-looking curve.

  “Where are we?”

  I turned to Felicity who was now yawning and stretching, totally unaware of the new predicament we'd wandered into.

  “This isn't good,” I said, trying not to sound as panicked as I was beginning to feel.

  “Where is Sonya?”

  For the first time I realized she wasn't with us. I turned my head back and forth again, hoping to catch a glimpse of her, but the woman warrior was long gone. The truth was, she could have bailed on us long ago and neither of us would have known. We'd been out cold.

  “I don't know,” I confessed. “I just woke up a moment before you did. I was brought around by the sound of all their moaning.”

  “You're right,” Felicity murmured. “This is bad.”

  “I know I recognize this place, but I don't know where from,” I said, looking around at the resident zombies all lunging, eager to get a taste of us in their terrible mouths. There were more and more of them the further we went into the wooded area. “It almost looks like...”

  “Ojai,” Felicity said grimly, her voice trailing off to a near whisper.

  “How can that be?”

  “We must have come up over the mountains and just descended in this direction,” Felicity suggested. “I'm not sure it's all that important how we got here right now. The further we get down the road, the more zombies I'm seeing. I think we're in trouble, Xander, real trouble.”