by Kirk Allmond
A PERMUTED PRESS book
Published at Smashwords
ISBN (Trade Paperback): 978-1-61868-1-980
ISBN (eBook): 978-1-61868-1-997
What Zombies Fear: The Gathering copyright © 2013
by Kirk Allmond & Laura Bretz
All Rights Reserved.
Cover art by Dean Samed, Conzpiracy Digital Arts
This book is a work of fiction. People, places, events, and situations are the product of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or historical events, is purely coincidental.
No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author and publisher.
Table of Contents
Prologue
Chapter 1: Recharge
Chapter 2: Purpose
Chapter 3: Sean
Chapter 4: The Train Yard
Chapter 5: Conundrum
Chapter 6: The Sheltons
Chapter 7: Chinese Take-Out
Chapter 8: The Journey Begins
Chapter 9: Locomotion
Chapter 10: Followed
Chapter 11: Super 8
Chapter 12: Convergence
Chapter 13: Homeward
Chapter 14: Family Picnic
Chapter 15: Awakening
Chapter 16: Refocused
Chapter 17: Back to the Train Yard
Chapter 18: Cross Country
Chapter 19: The War Wagon
Chapter 20: Southbound Again
Chapter 21: Retribution
Chapter 22: Missing
Chapter 23: Atlanta
Chapter 24: Battle at Centennial Park Part 1
Chapter 25: Victor Tookes, Sr.
Chapter 26: Battle at Centennial Park Part 2
Chapter 27: Aftermath
Chapter 28: Fort McPherson
Chapter 29: Legion Part 1
Chapter 30: Search
Chapter 31: Legion Part 2
Chapter 32: Legion Part 3
Chapter 33: Grandpa Tookes
Chapter 34: The Beach
To all the friends, family, and fans that have supported me in this journey.
Thank you.
Prologue
Laura Elizabeth Watson was a researcher aboard the NOA vessel Odysseus. Twenty hours ago, an asteroid crashed into the Atlantic, thirty miles due east of Baltimore, Maryland. Laura was on loan to NOA by NASA. She was the world’s leading expert on deep space mineralogy, having studied tens of thousands of deep space meteors.
They’d been sent to recover this meteor—the technical term for an asteroid once it’d made landfall on the planet—because it was different than anything else they’d ever seen. In the northern hemisphere in early June, meteorites typically fell from the north to the south. This wasn’t always the case; it was just typical of that particular yearly meteor shower, when the earth passed through the remnants of a large asteroid that impacted Deimos, the irregularly-shaped smaller moon of Mars. Many of those Deimosian Shower meteorites were actually part of that moon as well as the asteroid that impacted it. This meteor, however, had come from east to west, which meant it had come from deep space. Some deep space meteors contained an ultra-rare, ultra-heavy mineral called argimonium, which NASA had been experimenting with in the use of a new top-secret fission propulsion system. Laura’s salary was secure because she was able to find more argimonium than anyone else. It was estimated that there was less than twelve grams of the mineral on the entire planet; Laura had retrieved five grams of it herself. NASA needed two more grams to power their new engine prototype. Just eight grams of this mineral would provide propulsion and life support to get twelve men from the earth to Mars and home in under a year. Finding another two grams would secure her place in history and propel NASA and the United States of America back to its rightful place as the forerunners of space exploration.
The exact coordinates of impact were recorded by every telescope even remotely under control or coercion of the U.S. government. The ship’s captain, James Watley, calculated the trajectory underwater, using up-to-the-minute current calculations, and was now circling the spot three-quarters of a mile away from the impact site where the meteor sat on the bottom of the ocean, 4,124 feet down.
The ROV drivers Penelope Stevens and Raul Santiago were in place, creating the final preparations for the deep sea remotely-operated vehicle to start the recovery process. Their mission was to dig a tunnel under the meteor, secure the cargo netting, and inflate the air bags that would bring the celestial body to the surface. A large crane stood ready on the deck to lift the meteor onto the boat.
It took seven hours for the ROV crew to raise the meteor to the deck. The operation went as smoothly as it could have. As it cleared the water, Laura was waiting with an electron spectra-scope to scan the find for argimonium. If there was any, the U.S Government would seize the rock for transport back to her lab. If none were found, it would go to NOA for display in a museum or further study.
The instant the rock was securely on deck, Laura stepped forward with the probe of her spectra-scope, watching the infrared screen intently. She was watching so intently, in fact, that she didn’t notice the surface of the rock seeming to move as she approached. She poked the mound with the probe, surprised to find it almost soft. Certainly softer than any meteor she’d ever discovered.
On the third probe, she began to see significant readings on her spectra-scope and looked away from the screen at the rock. It had a core of argimonium almost nine inches in diameter, roughly the size of a basketball. The mineral weighed fourteen grams per cubic centimeter; a core that size would weigh over two hundred pounds. This was enough material for faster than light interstellar travel.
At that exact moment, the surface of the meteor came alive. Black goo oozed up her arm, some of it immediately entering her body through a cut on her hand. The viscous material flowed upward towards her nose and mouth, into her body through any available orifice. Ears, nose, mouth, eyes, vagina, and anus, through the razor nick on her legs, her body absorbed the slimy material.
Laura took one last breath as a human, inhaling the liquid into her lungs. She felt strange, and then she felt nothing.
Laura’s body stood still for a moment. The crane operator, Christian Villines, seeing what was happening, started lifting the rock off the deck to throw it back in the water.
A jet of the remaining gelatinous black ooze shot off the meteor and smashed into Christian’s face, knocking his hands from the controls of the crane.
Laura’s body, now fully under the control of the parasites, vomited the black gel the parasites secreted to keep them alive in the vastness of space and blew it out of her nose, leaving only the bugs which had by now invaded her brain and started connecting parts of her brain her old human version could never have accessed. This “new” Laura had access to all the knowledge of the old, plus the areas of the brain that controlled untapped abilities of the human mind.
Laura and Christian straightened and then disappeared in a puff of vapor. They travelled throughout the ship, infecting each member of the crew. They’d each bitten several dozen people by the time they reappeared behind the ROV operators down in the lower forward hold. Laura pressed her mouth to Penelope, who at first seemed oddly excited and then felt nothing as the millions of parasites invaded her brain, taking control of her body.
Christian bit Raul Santiago on the shoulder, injecting the parasites into his jugular vein. One quick spurt of blood and then the parasites had control of Raul’s brain and began to heal the wound to his neck. Christian watched the jagged laceration knit itself closed.
When everyone on the ship was infected, she sent out a mental signal for everyone to meet her on the deck.
“It has begun,” Laura said in her deep honeyed voice. “This time, do NOT fuck this up. Any humans who represent the slightest hint of resistance or immunity, eat them. Last time we were here, we failed at this task. Do not fail me again.”
“Christian, you are to go to Asia and start preparations there. Take McLain and Santiago with you. I’m taking Penelope and Watley with me. We’re going to start by taking over the capital region of America, working our way west. Remember that these bodies cannot handle our maximum reproductive rates; you’ll need to pace yourself and allow time between infections when you create lieutenants. Let your lesser creations bite the masses; keep your own levels up in case you need to create more underlings. This world was lost to us once. Do not fail again. Do not create any soldiers until three days from now. We need to make sure that there is leadership in place before we start the official invasion.
“The rest of you, find various major cities and wait. Create no more than one or two children per day and give them the same orders - no soldiers until the third day. I’ll let you all know when it’s time to begin creating our army.”
With that, the zombies all disappeared in a large puff of vapor. Laura brought Penelope and Watley to BWI Airport, where they reappeared on the top floor of the parking garage.
“Go forth and multiply,” said Laura with a grin, sending Penelope and Watley out. Laura herself chose her victims carefully and slowly. She had to be slow about creating her children. If she bit too many too quickly, the last ones would just be soldiers, mindless drones bent on eating and creating more mindless drones. She needed more children to help her fight.
She chose three people to bite. Samantha, a happy looking woman about twenty years old, who was just in town from Nebraska. Reginald, a commuter who was on his way to New York for work. And Lisa, another commuter heading to Chicago. By the time the last two got to their destinations, they’d have enough of their larvae built up to produce good quality offspring. From those airports in Chicago, they would spread throughout the world.
“Reginald, Lisa, go about the business of your hosts. Get on the planes. Bite no one until you’re in your destination city’s airport. Do not create any soldiers for three days, or I will have your heads.
“Samantha, you’re staying with me.”
“My host preferred to be called Sam,” said Samantha.
“Okay, Sammie. You’re with me,” replied Laura with a grin. “We’re going to start creating our army here on the east coast. Your job is simple. Visit each small town up the interstate from here north. Create one child in each town and give them the order to wait three days to start creating soldiers. You’re probably not strong enough to teleport, so you’ll have to run. Go now.”
Samantha ran off, her form blurring into almost invisibility with the speed. She did as she was told, stopping off in three towns north of Baltimore to bite one zombie before stopping off in York, Pennsylvania, for the night.
Laura teleported herself back to the ship, grabbed the two hundred-pound argimonium mass from the net swinging lightly above the ship’s deck, and teleported herself back to NASA headquarters, where she appeared in a janitorial closet. She carried the mass lightly under her arm into her office, where she called her boss.
“Tom, you have to come in here. I’ve just returned from the ship.” That was all she said into the telephone before Tom was heading into her office.
“Tom, I hit the jackpot. There’s over two hundred pounds. That’s well over ninety thousand grams. Can you imagine what we can do with that? Faster than light travel? Power the planet indefinitely? The options are limitless. One microgram of this would power an automobile for the life of the driver. We could get the U.S. off foreign oil. We could have free, unlimited energy. This will change the world!”
Tom took a seat. “Laura, we need to brief the President.”
Laura smiled as Tom called the administration’s secretary and set up the appointment for later that day. This was going perfectly.
Samantha found a hotel in York, Pennsylvania. She stepped into the lobby of the old, shabby Super 8 hotel on Market Street in York and rented a room for the night. The man behind the counter asked her for her identification. She wasn’t sure if she should give it, and she hadn’t yet created a child in York yet. Therefore, she walked through the door of the hotel and bit him on the neck. Right as her teeth clamped down on the man behind the counter, she heard a shotgun blast and felt the impact on her midsection. The blast jarred her away from her prey, throwing her to the ground. She felt her guts knitting back together as the woman who’d shot her came and stood over her with the shotgun.
Samantha jumped up and, with all of her speed, took the shotgun and shot the woman in the head, her movements a blur.
“Fuck. Now look what you’ve done!” she screamed at the headless corpse.
Samantha grabbed the corpse’s feet and dragged it into the office as the man she’d just barely bitten shambled off outside, forgotten in her rush to clean up the scene.
The zombie-soldier staggered out into the street and turned down George St. towards a group of six kids standing on the corner. It stumbled up to the kids, only one thought in the remnants of its brain. Eat.
Less than three minutes later, seven zombies staggered down the street, heading off in all different directions, each with only a single thought. Eat.
Chapter 1
Recharge
Tookes spent most of the day planning. Max slept until almost noon and once again woke up ravenously hungry. That was a good sign, and he was recovering well. It was becoming more and more apparent that Max was a true Tookes just like his daddy; he was small, but Vic was proud at the bravery of his son. Time slipped by so fast these days, and Tookes felt like his little boy was almost growing before his eyes. He knew he needed to cherish every moment.
Max ate a decent-sized lunch then immediately went back upstairs to bed. Vic watched his son climb the stairs, blowing him a kiss as he went around the last corner. A few minutes later, Tookes and the crew discussed their options as they sat around the antique dining room table, eating a lunch of thinly-sliced roast venison sandwiches and fresh fried sweet potato chips.
"John, Max needs to recover a little bit before we can even talk to Sean. Sean needs to get from your house to an airport but not just any airport. We need the biggest airport in the lowest population area we can find. We need to find someone that can fly a plane. Then we need to fly a plane and coordinate flying around the world with them arriving at the airport."
John sat back in his chair, mulling it over. Marshall took that second to interject between bites of freshly fried sweet potato chips, "Let’s talk about Renee. Max said that she was stuck south of a big city,” Tookes said. “The only big city between Atlanta and here is Charlotte, North Carolina. In the old days, that was a five-hour drive. These days, who the hell knows how long it could take.” Victor shrugged. “If she's south of the city, we're going to have to go through or around it, and I honestly don’t like the prospect of either. When I lived in Charlotte fifteen years ago, there were a million people there."
"How the fuck are we going through a million bloody zombies, mate?" asked John.
"I have an idea about that. On the north side of Charlotte is a huge stone quarry. It’s over a half mile deep. I think we go pied piper on them, lead them to the quarry, and dump them in."
"Vic, there has got to be supers in a town that size,” said Marshall.
"That's the first phase. We draw the supers out first."
"That has to be easier said than done. How do we
do that?" Marshall asked.
"With a show of strength, bro. The way they’ve been tracking us, I say we use that against them. We find our killing zone and have some fun blowing out our powers. I'm talking about things that make so much noise every super within a hundred miles will come looking. I've been cooking something up I'm dying to try. I know Leo wants to see how far she can teleport. Marshall, have you ever figured out exactly how much you can lift?" Tookes said with an almost mischievous smirk.
Marshall was ever the pragmatist and ignored his brother. "My thoughts are that we find a train,” the big man said. “The railroad runs forty-five minutes from here, starting in Charlottesville down through Virginia and North Carolina to Atlanta. There, it turns west and runs all the way to southern California. With stops in the old days, it was an eight-hour train ride. I should be able to push almost anything off the track. I figure that if we ride a locomotive with only one car, we should have the power to push anything else off the tracks that I can’t push off myself. We can outrun any zombies and run over any in the way with very little fear of damage to the vehicle, and of course,” he added with a smirk, “we won't run into any traffic jams."
"Victor, darling, what are you going to do with Max? Last time you left, Frye came for him," asked Mom.
"I'm bringing him with me. I’m not making the same mistake twice,” Tookes said plainly and grabbed a second homemade roll and a bottle of mustard.
The four faces around the table looked at him in astonishment. "Seriously?”
"He's not leaving my sight with Frye still out there and with those whack-jobs from Reva. Actually, that’s an even better reason to take a train. We can armor up the car and have some kind of a mobile tank.” Victor cut open the roll and then gestured towards his brother with the knife. “I think Marshall is right. We can easily stop anything that gets in our way fairly quickly with just one train-car.," Tookes said as he piled thinly -sliced roast venison tenderloin on a second roll and slathered it in spicy brown mustard.