Outbreak (Book 1): Emerald City

by Jay K. Anthony

  Tasha went through the process for unloading and loading the rifle and pretended to shoot one of the crates. She liked it. It made her feel powerful.

  “Looking good,” Cleveland said and started opening more crates and boxes. “Let’s see what else we have in here for you.”

  LUKE

  They jogged for over a mile, keeping alert in case they came upon more zombies or other survivors. By the time they reached the first gated community along the water, Luke was winded as hell. Jesus, I can hardly breathe, he thought and reached for a cigarette. I got to get in more cardio. He lit up as the rest of them looked over the community gate, which had long been smashed open. It looked cheap and flimsy. “Maybe they should have used the same construction company Bowman used to put up his fence,” Luke said through a cloud of smoke.

  “Yeah, no shit,” Matt replied and the four of them cautiously walked inside. They all knew where there were houses, there were zombies, so everyone took it slow and easy. Looking around, Luke saw the community had once been very nice and the houses expensive. Luke wondered if they would have time later to come back and scavenge. If the houses looked nice on the outside, he was sure they would be nice on the inside. Maybe even have some smokes, he thought. He was down to almost nothing left in his current pack and the other two unopened ones were not his brand. Stupid menthols, he thought with a grimace. The idea wasn’t pleasant and was almost enough to make a person quit smoking. Still, in a pinch …

  Luke looked between the homes and could see one of the inlets off of Puget Sound. “Hold up,” he said when he saw a large covered dock. “Let’s try over here.” They followed his lead and crept single file into the backyard of an absolute mansion. The house was enormous, three stories, fancy brickwork, and what was probably once a very manicured lawn. In the center of it all was a large in-ground pool. It was deep, with a diving board and steep sides. Luke stopped and looked over the edge and into the pool. There was not much water left, only about a foot or so, plus a zombie standing in the center of it.

  “Well, hello there,” Ted said coming up beside Luke and looking into the pool.

  The zombie went insane at the sound of Ted’s voice and splashed through the water toward them. It clawed at the wall, but could not reach the lip of the pool to pull itself out. Luke had a vision of a spider in a bathtub. Ted stood at the edge of the pool and bent over, his hands on his knees and looked down at the zombie. “What ‘cha doing, little buddy?” Ted teased. “You get yourself stuck in there?”

  Luke thought about kicking Ted in the ass and sending him down into the pool with the zombie but was not sure how Matt would feel about it. “Quit screwing around,” Matt ordered. “We got shit to do.”

  “You going to just leave it?” Pete asked.

  “I don’t give a shit,” Matt said. “What’s it matter?”

  “Only good zombie is a dead zombie,” Ted said and Pete let out a giggle.

  “Kill it if you want,” Matt said. “Just keep it quiet.”

  As far as Luke was concerned, the thing was already making a shit-ton of noise with all the growling and hissing. “Screw this,” Luke said and walked away towards the mansion’s boat house on the water. He went inside, hoping for something fancy to go along with the house, but was disappointed. No big cabin cruiser here, he thought and dropped his cigarette butt into the empty slip. The ash hissed and Luke watched it floating there. Maybe I could have gotten one more toke off that. He sighed and reached for the remaining pack in his pocket. Only one cigarette remained. “Son of a bitch,” he said to himself. “Did I really smoke all these?” Shaking his head, he pulled out the cigarette and stuck the filter between his lips. With a flick of his disposable lighter, he lit up and sucked in a lungful of smoke just as Matt walked through the door behind him.

  “Well?” Matt asked. Luke shrugged as he crumpled up the empty cigarette pack and threw it into a corner. The place looked completely empty.

  “Nothing,” Luke said. He turned around to go to the next house, when he saw something they could make do. There was a small, two person row boat tied up and hanging on the far wall. “Hey,” he said and pointed at the boat. “Check this out.”

  “Perfect,” Matt said. He poked his head out the door. “Hey! Jackoffs! Quit screwing with the stupid zombie and head back to the boatyard. Wait for us in the van.”

  “Ok, Boss,” Ted said and pushed Pete in the direction of the house.

  Luke leaned his shotgun against the wall and followed a wooden dock around the inside of the boathouse to the rowboat. He grabbed hold of the craft and was pleased to find it light and manageable. Some kind of fiberglass toy that rich people played around with on a sunny day, he thought. He was able to lower it into the water by himself. Matt handed Luke his shotgun and pulled down two oars.

  “I don’t suppose you’re going to row?” Luke asked.

  “Why do you think I brought you along?” Matt replied and the two of them climbed into the boat.

  Luke immediately began to wonder what he had gotten himself into. The boat on the water was shaky and once they were out of the boathouse, the wind had picked up and was pushing them toward the shore. Luke looked west across the horizon and ugly clouds were gathering. “You sure about this?” he asked.

  “Don’t be a baby,” Matt replied. “Let’s get this done.”

  Luke didn’t know that he had much of a choice at this point, so he pulled on the oars and guided them across the water. He had trouble working the oars at first, but once he got his rhythm, it wasn’t so bad. With his cigarette clenched between his teeth, he rowed and guided the craft along the shoreline, back in the direction of Bowman’s.

  By the time he got to the wrecked bridge, his cigarette was long gone and his arms were burning like hell, so he brought the oars in.

  “What’s wrong?” Matt asked.

  “I’m tired,” Luke said and wanted a fresh cigarette. He dug in his gear and pulled out a new pack. One of two packs left, he thought. And Goddamn menthols. He lit up anyway. “You want to row?” he asked.

  “No,” Matt replied and looked up at a container ship near where they floated. It was what had crashed into the bridge.

  Luke followed his gaze. Big damn ship, he thought when he suddenly saw movement onboard. “Those zombies?” he asked. Matt used his hand to block the glare from his eyes and looked up at the ship.

  “Something,” he replied. “Yep. Here they come.”

  “Here they come, what?” Luke asked and watched. Three zombies had apparently seen them and jumped straight overboard into the water. They flailed as they fell and hit the water hard. Somewhere in the back of Luke’s mind he had wondered if a zombie could swim and it was quickly evident they could not. The three zombies buoyed to the surface, but choked and floundered in the water. They splashed and growled at Matt and Luke, but did not appear to have the mental capacity to actually swim. It did not take long for them to start going under. A minute later there was no sign of them.

  Luke’s stomach twisted thinking about how many dead zombies were probably in the water underneath them, and he picked up the oars. Time to go, he thought and steered the rowboat for the Bowman docks. He made good time and before long they were at the back of the boatyard. As he pulled up to the marina, he ran into a dead body half floating in the bay and jumped. “Son of a bitch!” he said trying to get the boat away from the corpse. It had a life jacket on and was so decomposed it was impossible to tell if it had been a zombie when it had gone into the water. Fish had done havoc on its face and birds had plucked out its eyes, but the grossest part was the smell and Luke gagged. “Goddamn, that stinks!”

  Matt started to laugh. “Damn, man,” he said. “You are the biggest wimp I have ever met.” Luke wondered how funny Matt would find it when Luke puked all over him, but he held his breath and pulled the boat up to a dock. Matt jumped out and tied the boat off. With guns at the ready, the two of them walked up the dock and into the compound. No zombies came rushing at them so
they made their way to the front fence. Ted and Pete were sitting in the van. They got out as Luke and Matt approached and came to the fence. “You two have a nice little spin?” Ted asked and Pete giggled.

  Matt ignored them and went into the guard house beside the gate. Waiting on Matt, Luke looked at Ted and Pete on the other side of the fence. Pete kept snickering and was trying not to laugh out loud, like he had a dirty little secret. Luke figured that after he and Matt left in the boat, Ted and Pete had gone back and had some fun with the zombie in the swimming pool. Not a healthy activity for a young mind, Luke thought.

  “Come here,” Matt said to Luke from inside the gatehouse, so Luke walked over to him. “Back when this place was up and running, everything ran remotely from these guard shacks. But now, with no electricity, we are going to have to open these gates by hand.”

  “Any idea how that’s going to work?” Luke asked.

  “Nope,” Matt replied and searched around the small building until he found a hand crank under the counter. “Okay, this will work. Grab on and help me turn it.”

  Ted stood at the fence and grinned at the two of them. “Let’s go, bitches,” he said and Pete burst out laughing.

  Matt gave Ted the finger before he and Luke started to work the gear. As the gate began to open, Matt yelled for Pete. “Hey, Pete, the keys are in the van. See if it will start.”

  “You got it, Boss!” Pete said, sounding a lot like Ted. Luke frowned at the idea. Definitely not a good influence. Pete, however, was ecstatic to get to drive. He acted like it was his birthday or something and literally skipped back to the van. Luke watched as Pete’s hopes were dashed when the junker would not start.

  “It won’t start,” Pete whined, echoing Luke’s thought.

  “Stay behind the wheel,” Matt yelled. When the gate was open wide enough to get the van through, they walked over and pushed the van while Pete worked the steering wheel. Pete squealed with delight the whole hundred feet.

  “Shut up already,” Matt said as they closed the gate. “You’ll bring zombies.” Pete shut his mouth but was still smiling ear to ear.

  “Now what?” Luke asked.

  “We close the gate and walk the fence,” Matt said. “I want to make sure the whole place is secure first. I don’t know what the hell we are going to run into, so keep your eyes open.” The four of them set out, guns at the ready and walked along. The compound was huge and Luke was impressed. It had six warehouses, a small manufacturing facility, shipping and receiving, a truck yard, and a garage large enough to work on semi-trucks. There were three gates, two along the marina connected by a large straight concrete stretch of road marked as Corridor Row plus the one by the front entrance. Overall, the only thing out of the ordinary had been one of the buildings along Corridor Row had collapsed and spilled out onto the road, making a big pile of concrete and rubble.

  “Damn, no zombies,” Ted complained. “Guess that Bowman guy did a pretty good job closing up shop before the shit hit the fan.”

  Luke heard a touch of disappointment in Ted’s voice at the idea of no zombies to torture. Crazy sonofabitch, he thought.

  “I don’t believe it, though,” Matt said. “We need to make sure.”

  Luke agreed. He wanted to be able to sleep tonight. “So? Room by room?” he asked.

  “I’d rather not,” Matt said. “All we have to do is draw them out.”

  “I got an idea,” Ted said and grabbed Pete by the arm. “How about we string this little bitch up and take them out when they come for dinner!”

  “The hell with that!” Pete cried. “I ain’t no bait!”

  Ted laughed but Luke was not sure he had been joking.

  “Cut the shit,” Matt said.

  Luke looked at him. “How do you plan to --”

  Matt drew out his .44 magnum, pointed it at the sky, and fired off a shot. It sounded like a cannon and reverberated off the different buildings. “Get ready,” Matt said.

  Sure enough, not a minute later, they heard the sound of feet slapping hard on the concrete. “My turn,” Ted said with an ugly grin. He stood in the center of Corridor Row and held his UZI in front of him with both hands. “Soo-wee!” he called.

  “It isn’t a damn pig,” Luke said, but Ted ignored him.

  The zombie came running hard, arms flailing like it was swimming in the air. As Ted let it get closer, Luke clicked off the safety of his shotgun. If that gun jams, Luke thought. Old Teddy here is going to be in for one hell of a surprise.

  The zombie kept coming and just as Luke could see the white of its eyes, Ted opened fire. Braaaaap! went the machine gun and the zombie exploded in gore.

  “Take it easy on the ammo,” Matt said, but Ted let off another burst into the zombie as it lay face down in the middle of the road. Braaaaap!

  “Seriously,” Luke said. “I think you killed it already.”

  “What?” Ted asked. “A friend of yours?” Luke was about to tell him to kiss his ass when a zombie appeared outside of the fence near them. It hissed and growled and clawed at the metal, but Luke saw there was no way it was going to get through. Braaaaap! went Ted’s UZI and the zombie was blown away from the fence and fell into the street in a mess of blood. Pete started giggling again and Luke wondered if the boy was going to go insane hanging out with Ted.

  “Here comes another one,” Matt said and Luke turned to see a zombie, a female one with what looked to have once been blond hair, came crawling out of one of the warehouses. Its legs were twisted and broken below the knees and Luke wondered what the hell it had been through. The zombie pulled itself along the concrete, nails broken and bleeding.

  “My turn,” Pete said and raised his MP5. Luke remembered researching that model of machine gun one time on the internet, back when there was such a thing. They had been two thousand dollars apiece. And now the choice of teenage simpletons in Zombie Town, U.S.A., Luke thought. Shit, maybe I’m the one who’s going insane.

  Pete let fire and hit everything but the zombie. “Damn, boy,” Ted said. “You got to do better than that!” Luke did not care to let Ted drag out the execution and walked as close to the zombie as he dared. As it crawled toward him, he aimed his shotgun at its head.

  “Fire in the hole,” he said and pulled the trigger. The zombie’s head exploded and its body slumped to the ground.

  “Damn!” Ted yelled. “You see that shit?” Pete giggled at the display of violence.

  “Enough screwing around,” Matt said. “There will be plenty of time for this shit later.” Matt told Ted to go find a wheelbarrow and the redneck came back with an industrial hand cart. They loaded up the bodies and Pete helped Ted dump them off the marina and into the water.

  “I wonder if the fish will eat them,” Ted wondered out loud. Then he laughed a little chuckle that made Luke’s skin crawl. Trying to ignore the psycho among them, Luke turned to Matt.

  “What’s next?” Luke asked.

  “A couple things,” Matt said. “The way I figure. We have two priorities. We need transportation and a new stash of supplies.”

  “If we don’t have food and water,” Luke said. “We won’t be needing transportation.”

  “Can’t argue with that,” Matt said and looked around for Ted and Pete who were pissing into the water. “Hey! Get over here, you two dumb shits.”

  Ted whispered something to Pete and got him giggling again before they came over like two kids caught causing trouble. “What’s up, Boss?” Ted asked.

  “Let's get the ambush set up,” he said. “No sense risking our necks looking for supplies when it can come right to us.” Matt pointed at the second floor of the first warehouse. “Ted, I want you up there. With that bridge out, people will be looking for alternate routes across the water. All we have to do is open the gate here and let people drive on in. Anyone dumb enough to come along, light them up.”

  “I like it,” Ted said.

  I’m sure you do, Luke thought and lit a cigarette.

  TASHA


  Tasha lugged her new gear out of the bunker and felt ridiculous buried under all of the weapons and equipment Cleveland had issued her. Bent over from the weight, she felt like a turtle and she was still hungry. A hungry turtle, she thought. Nice image.

  Wind from over the Puget Sound whipped around the bunker and she looked out over the coast. Before the apocalypse, Broken Top’s main draw was the view. On a good day, a person could look out over the islands in the Sound and enjoy watching the ocean. Today was not one of those days. It was windy and cold and Tasha could only see tall dark clouds rolling in. “Going to be one hell of a storm,” Cleveland said, following her gaze.

  “I think you’re right,” Tasha replied and adjusted her helmet. “This chinstrap still isn’t right.”

  “Yeah, that’s my fault,” Cleveland said and stood in front of her. She saw him hesitate before he reached up near her ear and adjusted the chin strap to tighten it. “How’s that?”

  Tasha shook her head from side to side and the helmet held fast. “Better,” she said. “Thanks.”

  Cleveland blushed and turned away. Tasha wondered how much experience the soldier had with girls. Not much from the way he was acting around her. She decided that as young as he looked, he probably joined the service as soon as the apocalypse started. She wondered if he had even graduated from high school and was considering asking him when they were interrupted.

  “Cleveland!” Williams yelled, stepping out of the radio tent.

  “Yes, Sergeant?”

  “Need you on the radio. Pronto.” He looked at Tasha, sizing her up. “Got everything you need?” he asked.

  “Yes,” Tasha replied. “I think so.”

  Williams frowned and looked at Cleveland. “No flak vest?”

  “Sorry, Sergeant,” Cleveland replied. “I went through the supplies, but we don’t have an extra vest that is small enough to fit.”