World of Corpses (Book 1): World of Corpses

by Cook, Scott W.

  Okay, anyway… I don’t think I see Sam as a dad, really. Not yet, anyway. But he’s a good dude, too. He always treated me with respect and has taught me a lot. I feel like I’m actually part of the team, which is really awesome.

  Then there’s Tony. He’s a lot like Sam and he’s pretty cool, too. Tony’s a bit less serious than Sam. He likes to make jokes about weird and sick shit. Sam does too, I mean… a munch of zombies? WTF?

  Tony takes it a bit further, though, which is pretty fucking funny. I’m glad my mom and I met these guys. Life hasn’t been too horrible since. Who else can say they get to take a hot shower every day?

  Doesn’t sound like much but in this post-apocalyptic scene… it means a lot.

  I guess I’m getting off topic. This is supposed to be my war journal, right?

  Anyways, so there I am up on the roof of the boat storage building. It had a bit of a lip, I guess you could call it a rampart, so I could lay prone and rest the barrel of the rifle on it. The trouble was that I was so close, I’d have to either kneel or lean way out over the edge of the roof to fire down to where everybody and the zombies were.

  For now, though, I just watched.

  I saw my mom and Tony get up on the box truck and saw Sam climb into the boat near the fence. Those damned Zulu’s – Zulu for the Z in the phonetic alphabet and Z for zombie – were all over the place. There had to be a couple of hundred of them. They were trying to get in the front and side of the restaurant but because they’d crowded it and a few dozen had been killed, there was like this wall of dead zombies – redundant? – And their buddies couldn’t quite flood in.

  “Blue, green this is red. Take out as many of those zombies in the parking lot as you can and then we’re going to switch to hand to hand.”

  After Sam said this, I heard a single click over the radio which meant that Tony and my mom had acknowledged. I asked Sam about what I should do. I didn’t use my code name, orange, because if somebody was listening in, they wouldn’t know who I was and the size of our group would be somewhat ambiguous.

  Sam said that this might seem a bit overdone, yet practicing good radio discipline was a good idea and may come in handy one day. Fine by me, it was pretty cool, after all.

  “Monitor,” Was all he said.

  That meant that I should hold my fire until I saw a signal. Kind of keeping me in reserve, just in case.

  It was a little bit annoying – I wanted to help and from up here I could easily pick off Zulus all day long. But there were people inside and who knows what they’d do once the G’s were taken out. After the assholes we met last night and others before, it seemed smart to take precautions.

  After a while, shooting had stopped. There were still some ghouls around. Then Sam and this woman climb down from the boat and make their way to the fence. She had a machete and he pulled out that fucking Roman sword.

  “Oh, fuck me…” I muttered.

  They get through the gate and then with mom and Tony, start chopping away at zombie heads. Pretty fucking ballsy if you ask me.

  Then some people come out of the restaurant. A Hispanic man. It’s hard to tell heights from thirty feet up, but because I know how tall Sam and Tony and mom are, it helps. The guy looked like he was in his thirties, maybe with a lean but muscular build. Maybe five six or so.

  The woman Sam had come out with was a tiny bit taller than the Hispanic guy. She was kind of skinny – small boobs and butt although she was pretty and obviously athletic. The guy that had been with her was a little taller than the woman. He was maybe forty – it’s hard to tell ages sometimes – medium build with a bit of a gut.

  Then this girl comes out. She was maybe a year or two older than me, I guess. Long strawberry blonde hair, pretty face and a nice rack. She had an athletic looking body, too. I got a little peek of a pretty nice rear end.

  Then this tall lanky dude came out. He was maybe an inch over six feet. He started arguing with Sam. At first I didn’t hear much but as the conversation heated up, I got the gist of it.

  Sam told him that if anybody raised their hands, I’d start shooting. The lanky guy didn’t believe him and kept on being a dick. Sam also told him that if we’d wanted to harm them, they’d already be harmed. Duh.

  The lanky asshole, Mark was his name, was still holding his rifle pointed toward my group. I got up on my knees and took aim and then shouted, “You have three seconds to lower your weapon!”

  I fired. With the scope on the Winchester and a distance of maybe seventy yards, I could put a bullet pretty much anywhere I wanted. I saw Mark jump backward when a cloud of dust and debris exploded about a foot from him.

  “What the fuck!” He yelled, letting his rifle actually fall to the ground and holding his hands out.

  “Bet you believe him now, douchebag,” I said to myself.

  “Do you believe me now?” Sam said from below. I laughed.

  “Okay, okay,” Mark said, “I didn’t mean nothin’. You know how it is these days…”

  My radio crackled, “Orange, red. Join the group. Keep an eye out for zombies.”

  I jogged back across the roof and went down the access ladder. The building was still empty so I slung my rifle over my shoulder and unsnapped the flap on my holster so I could easily pull out my Glock 9mm.

  Everybody was standing around just like when I’d last seen them. Tony was still standing at the corner of third and fifteenth, sighting in on a couple of Zulus that were ambling toward us. I stepped up between my mom and Sam.

  “You’re a kid!” Mark exclaimed, pointing at me. His rifle was still laying in the dirt.

  I said nothing, just eyed him coldly, or at least I hoped so. I did notice that the girl – the young girl – was smiling.

  “This is Andy,” Sam said, “Andrea’s son. And a damned good shot. Andy this is Brenda, Carl, Mark and Tara.”

  After the nice to meet you’s and other crap, Brenda said, “Somebody should check on Hector. He’s in there alone with Maria.”

  There was a muffled shot from inside. Nobody said anything for a moment and the Hispanic man I’d seen earlier stepped out of the kitchen door. He held a small gun at his side and there were tears running down his face.

  “Hector?” Brenda asked.

  He sniffled, “She… she turned. She tried to bite me… I had to… to…”

  Tara went over and put her arms around the man, who eagerly hugged her back. I thought that was kind of weird, because I swore they’d exchanged some words a few minutes ago.

  “I’m sorry, Hector,” Tara said softly as she rubbed his back.

  The man was sobbing softly. This Maria woman must’ve been his wife or something. Finally he pulled back and patted Tara’s shoulder, “Thanks, baby girl. I’m sorry for earlier… it’s just…”

  “It’s okay,” Tara said with a smile, “I know this was hard for you.”

  “I’m sorry for your loss, sir,” Sam said solemnly.

  After a few more moments of people hugging Hector, Sam asked them all how they knew each other.

  “We were all neighbors,” Brenda explained, “We lived not far from here. Hector and Maria were married and lived a few doors down from me and my husband. He got sick at the outbreak… Mark and Carl were sharing a house next door to me and Tara and her family lived next door to the Santos’.”

  We all looked at Tara. She nodded, “My folks were away on a work thing when stuff started going haywire. I just finished my first year at USF. The last I heard from my mom, she and my dad were in New York City. They said people were getting sick and there were even riots. I never got another call or was able to reach them after that.”

  “That sucks,” I said without thinking.

  Tara looked at me and nodded, “Yeah… not knowing for sure…”

  “I’m sorry,” I said.

  “What about you guys?” Carl asked.

  That Mark guy didn’t say much. He just sort of stood there looking gloomy or pissed off, maybe. I didn’t like him. He w
as the one who’d pointed his AR at Sam and there was just something about him that made me want to keep an eye on him.

  “Tony and I were in the SEAL’s together,” Sam said, “We met Andrea and Andy a couple of months ago while we were going to check out MacDill.”

  “Really?” Carl asked, “Did you guys get any good shit?”

  “No,” Sam said, “At the time, the place was in bad shape. A lot of G’s had overrun the base and the few remaining military – Air Force, Army and Marines – were trying to lock it down.”

  “And now?” Brenda asked.

  “Don’t know,” Mom put in, “We were talking about checking it out again, actually.”

  “Mom…” I said under my breath.

  “Damn,” Carl said, “I bet they’ve got some good shit over there. Weapons, ammo, maybe MRE’s.”

  Mom chuckled, “oh, they’ve got MRE’s… but do you really want em’?”

  That got a laugh.

  “We’d love to have you along,” Sam said, “The more of us there are, the better.”

  I kind of thought this was weird. We didn’t even know these people. Yeah, we’d helped them and Sam and Tony and mom had fought beside them for a few minutes… but really? And then there was Mark. I can’t say that I’d want to turn my back on him.

  “Sounds good,” Carl said, “Although how in hell we’re gonna drive over there…”

  “We were thinking about boats,” Sam explained, “We get a few boats together, make our way across the bay to the Tampa side of the Gandy.”

  “Then what?” Mark asked. It was the first thing he’d said since announcing that I was a kid, “The roads are bound to be jammed up. Do we just walk to MacDill?”

  Prick.

  “I think we could hotwire a few vehicles,” Sam said, “At the very least we make our way to the base on foot and scope it. If we can get in, and if there are supplies, we’ll pack up a couple of deuce and a half’s, load up hand carts and walk back to the boats or fly the shit out. Andrea is a marine Viper pilot and both Tony and I can fly fairly well.”

  “Sounds like a lot of ifs,” Mark grumbled.

  “You can stay here then,” Tara snapped, “I’m getting pretty sick of your attitude anyway.”

  Mark looked at her and by the expression on his face, I could tell something was about to break. Sam held up a hand, “All right. The point is that we’re going. Anyone of you who wants to come is welcome. However, we’ll need to get a few things straight first.”

  Mark turned his shitty ass face on Sam, “So you’re in charge now?”

  “I’m the senior officer,” Sam said in that way he had. It was not angry or loud. In fact, his voice was level and calm. But there was this firmness in it. I guess you’d say a commanding tone or something.

  “We’re not in your military,” Mark continued, folding his arms across his chest.

  “Obviously not,” Sam continued in his reasonable command tone, “Or you wouldn’t leave your weapon lying in a mud puddle. The point is this. I know you can all shoot and you’re survivors. Yet I witnessed some pretty poor firing discipline here today. So if you’re with us, then you’re in my chain of command. You let me and my team give you a few pointers and you follow orders.”

  “We don’t need this guy,” Mark said, waving a hand at Sam and the rest of us, “He can’t tell us where we can and can’t go.”

  “Fuckin’ Mark, shut up!” Hector almost yelled, “We lost my wife today because we fucked up. If these trained people want to help us out, I’m all for it.”

  “Exactly,” Brenda said, “I don’t know what your problem is lately, Mark. All you ever want to do is argue. If you’re not happy with us, then fucking go out on your own and do your own thing.”

  “What the fuck?” Mark exclaimed, “These assholes show up and suddenly I’m the bad guy?”

  Tara scoffed, “No suddenly about it. You’ve been a prick for months now.”

  “Listen here, you little—“

  “Hey!” Sam barked out. It wasn’t loud – he probably didn’t want to draw in any more zombies – but it was forceful, “Look, I don’t have time to stand here and listen to you guys argue. You figure out your own shit on your own time. It’s only about nine in the morning now. Why don’t you all talk it over and we’ll meet again around noon. Where do you all live?”

  There were some looks and Carl said, “Not far…”

  “It’s okay,” Sam said, “I don’t need the location exactly. I get staying ambiguous for now. But are you close or was this a long range mission?”

  “We’re not too far,” Brenda said.

  “Okay then,” Sam said, “My idea would be to take deck boats, you know, pontoon boats, over. They’re big flat platforms and don’t draw much water so we can run them right up onto a shoreline. I know I’ve seen a few downtown and I’ll bet there’s one or two at some of these waterfront houses around here.”

  “There are like three of them where we live,” Tara said.

  Mark turned a bad look toward her but he didn’t say anything. She stared right back at him. She seemed pretty tough. I liked that. Couldn’t help but find her interesting.

  “Good,” Sam said, “You guys talk it over and let’s meet back here at twelve hundred. Agreed?”

  “Okay,” Brenda said.

  “How we doing, X O?” Sam asked over his shoulder.

  “Looks clear,” Tony said as he walked up to us. He’d been like forty feet away but I knew he’d heard everything. He held his crossbow at his side and waited.

  “Did you guys find anything in there?” Mom asked.

  “Not much,” Brenda admitted. She seemed pretty cool, “A few cases of potato chips, and some canned stuff. There’s quite a few bottles of liquor behind the bar and a few kegs of beer and a bunch of cases of bottles.”

  “Yeah,” Mark said in his dickhead voice, “and we found it.”

  “Jesus, Mark,” Carl said, “These guys saved our asses. Don’t you think we should share a little?”

  Mark scoffed, “We were fine. Nobody asked them to show up.”

  “they’re offering to take us to a fucking military base and share whatever we find,” Hector growled, “Maybe we can throw them a case of beer or a bag of chips, pendejo. I’m really done with this cabron, Carl.”

  Hector turned and stomped off into the restaurant.

  “Whatever,” Sam said. I could tell his patience for this guy was getting thin, “You guys keep it all to yourselves. We’ll see you at noon if I don’t decide otherwise.”

  He turned and began walking briskly along Fifteenth Avenue and the rest of us followed him. Sam wasn’t a guy who lost his temper but after a few months, I could tell when he was getting pissed.

  “What’s that guy’s problem?” I asked.

  Sam shrugged, “Who knows. Life isn’t what it used to be. They said something about being attacked by other people not long ago. Maybe he’s just really suspicious.”

  “Seems like a real asshole,” Mom commented.

  Sam shrugged, “Maybe. Personally I don’t give a shit.”

  We walked out to Third Street and took a right. There was a shorter route to get back to the wet slips but I knew Sam didn’t want those people to see where we were going.

  “I wouldn’t mind a case of beer,” Tony remarked as we walked north on third.

  “Yeah,” Sam said with a grin, “Too bad they don’t want to share. I bet they won’t take it all, though. Maybe we can snag a few cases later when we go back to burn those bodies.”

  “You want to take the trouble?” Mom asked.

  “For a big gobble like that,” Sam said, “probably a good idea.”

  We all chuckled at his name for the zombie group.

  We were pretty lucky. There was a deck boat in the Harborage marina only a few docks over from Sam’s boat. It was a twenty-five footer with a lot of space on deck.

  “The only problem,” Sam said to me as we checked the boat out, “Is that like most of the
boats around here, nobody has cleaned the bottom in over six months. The barnacle growth is pretty thick.”

  “She’s still floating, though,” I said, “So not that big a deal, right?”

  “No,” Sam replied, “But it’ll slow us down a bit and probably burn more gas. Not a big concern for this mission, though.”

  “What about Sorcerer?” I asked. That was the name of Sam’s Erwin.

  “I’ve cleaned her off a few times,” Sam said, “Kind of scary. Luckily it’s over fifteen feet deep where we are so I just stayed close to the hull and kept an eye and ear out for G’s. Never saw any underwater, though – but to be honest, I’d rather get the boat out into clear and deeper water and give her a good scrubbing. Every now and then I’ll scrape off the running gear, just so we can motor out.”

  “Will this boat be enough?” I asked, pointing at the deck boat.

  “Not sure,” Sam said, “Depends on what we find. Honestly, I’d like as many boats as we can take. That cute girl said there were a couple where they lived. And I’ll bet there’s a few more around here, maybe even on a lift. There’s no power for the lifts, but we can release them and let the boat drop into the water maybe.”

  I felt like I was blushing when he mentioned Tara, “You think she’s cute?”

  Sam grinned at me, “Dude, she’s a hottie. And if I’m not mistaken, she gave you a smile. I think she might like to hang out with a good looking guy her own age.”

  I hoped so too, but it was kind of embarrassing talking about it, even to Sam. What if she didn’t like me? What if she blew me off when I tried to talk to her?

  Sam looked at me and put a hand on my shoulder, “don’t worry about it, Andy. I know at your age girls can be intimidating… hell, they used to terrify me… but you can trust me. That girl likes you.”

  “Cool,” I said and cleared my throat.

  “Now,” Sam said, climbing aboard the party boat, “The real trick is can we get this thing started. No keys, of course…”

  “Can you hotwire it?” I asked.

  “Oh sure,” Sam said, “Most of these boat ignitions are pitifully easy. Although I wonder…”

  He began looking in the sliding compartment under the wheel and then opened up another small hatch beneath that, ‘Ah-ha!”