Catharsis: Outbreak Z: Books 1-4

by Roberts, EM

  “I’ve got a bike I travel with. We’ll take it to the hotel,” Will stated as he maneuvered Jonah and himself around various cars and fleeing people.

  They made it to the bike which was a small crotch rocket. Jax had only been on a bike a few times in his life. People just assumed rock stars were adventurous. Not Jax, he wasn’t adventurous in the least. He preferred to live a safe and boring life. Jax was a little leery, but the alternative seemed far worse. He didn’t want to end up someone else’s dinner, nor did he want to end up like Jonah. So, he jumped on the bike, and the two men made their way into the night.

  Nine months later

  Jax watched the scene in front of him unfold like a bad porn movie. Will and the young woman liked to role play when it came to their sexual exploits, and they didn’t care if Jax witnessed it or not. In fact, the young woman admitted when Jax was in the room, it turned her on. This time, they were playing the role of prostitute and Police Officer. Not only had Jax been snorting cocaine, he’d combined it with marijuana, and vodka. Sometimes, he wondered if he were inadvertently trying to kill himself. Maybe he was.

  Jax watched as Will flipped the young woman’s skirt up over her ass and trailed his hand down her bare cheeks. She wasn’t wearing underwear. She never did. She liked to say it was so Will could do her anytime he wanted. In his drugged daze, Jax watched Will insert two fingers into the woman’s pussy, and he heard her moan in response.

  “You like that do you?” Will asked, palming one of her breasts with his free hand. He tugged on her nipple and continued to kiss the side of her neck. Jax supposed he should leave, but there was really nowhere to go other than back inside the police station, and he didn’t know if he could make it that far. He attempted to get up, and the world spun crazily. He sat back down. After all, Will and his girlfriend didn’t mind an audience. He’d seen this scene played out many times before. He leaned back against the wall and closed his eyes.

  Jax heard Will unbuckle his belt and drop the uniform pants. Will had swiped an officer’s uniform from the last police station they’d ransacked for drugs. He just wanted to try it on, he said. He’d told Jax he always wanted to be a cop. Most people were hunting for weapons and ammunition, but the two of them hit the evidence room first. That’s where the good stuff could be found.

  “Feels so good,” Will grunted as he pumped the woman’s ass harder and faster. Jax opened his eyes in time to see Will reach one arm around her the woman, find her clit and start rubbing it with his fingers. Will rubbed as he continued to thrust. From the noise the woman was making, she seemed to enjoy it. He supposed most women enjoyed as much as men enjoyed getting blowjobs. He knew he enjoyed a good blowjob when he could get one.

  “I’m almost ready to come, but I want to eat your pussy first,” Jax heard Will say. He snorted. Will liked his porno dialogue. He watched as Will grabbed his lover by the waist and lifted her onto the trunk of the stolen police car, instructing her to lie back.

  The woman leaned back, her tangled hair spreading over the trunk. Will pushed her legs back and swept his tongue down her pussy in one long lick. He tongued her clit, as he pumped his fingers in and out of her. She reached down, grabbed his hair, and pushed his face even closer into her. Jax was sure this would have been a turn on for any other man watching, but Jax wasn’t attracted, not even in the slightest. He turned his head away and focused on the parking garage.

  The slapping of bodies told him the two were now fucking. Again. It wouldn’t be long now. He heard a moan and another. A few minutes later, Will walked over, his arm around the woman. Both were fully clothed now, Thank God. He could smell sex on them, mixed with pot and body odor. His stomach heaved. He lit a joint and took a puff. He held it out to Will, who took it, puffed and inhaled deeply.

  “So, man, you just wanna hang here for the night. We got some good stuff today.” Will asked as he handed the joint to the woman. She inhaled it and handed it back to Jax who shook his head. After what he’d just witnessed, they could keep the joint.

  “So me and Shelly are gonna just go back in and sleep in one of the cell cots. You up for that?” Will threw over his shoulder as he and Shelly walked back towards the door leading from the garage into the police station.

  “Yeah, I’ll be here in a few,” Jax leaned back against the wall and took a healthy drink from the bottle of vodka. He was finally able to pull himself up and stand. On wobbling, uneven steps, he walked towards the police station.

  These last nine months had been crazy. Constantly fighting the infected, running, and hiding. He’d become adept at handling a weapon. He hadn’t want to, but then again he hadn’t wanted to become fodder for the infected. The only thing that had stopped him from ending it all was the high. When he was high, he was brave, and he didn’t think about killing himself. He could kill the creatures like a mother fucker when he was high. So, he tried to stay high as much as possible.

  He stood, his thin frame even thinner now than nine months ago. The bones were pronounced in his face and ribs. His hair was slightly longer and unkempt. He knew he smelled awful, but he didn’t care. Who was there to impress? They’d come across very few survivors on their travels. Most people kept to themselves and stayed hidden. He was pretty much like the creatures he’d had to kill. He was a walking dead man. Somehow, though, he kept escaping death, and this made him angry. He didn’t want to kill himself, and he didn’t want to be ripped part by the creatures. Couldn’t God just take mercy on him and let him die in his sleep from a heart attack or something?

  He walked into the police station, down the corridor, and into one of the cells. He threw himself down on the cot, thankful that it resembled a bed. Many stations only had thin mattresses on the floor. The bed reeked like urine and the dead. He didn’t care. He was numb to it all. He didn’t care if he was resting in a pile of shit. Nothing mattered to him anymore. He sighed and closed his eyes, listening to his heartbeat, praying it would stop and God would release him from his torment.

  He awoke the next morning to an automatic weapon in his face. Glancing though the haze of morning sun and hangover, he saw a man in fatigues. Behind the man were several other military types. He sat up gingerly, holding his hands in the air. Glancing around, he saw Shelly and Will in similar positions.

  The man spoke into a radio, “Tell Lt. General Adams, we’ve found three survivors. The look to be in pretty rough shape.”

  “Listen,” Jax began, “We’ve got no beef with you…” He was halted by the man’s hand. Jax stayed silent waiting.

  “Lt. General Adams says you are to bring them back with you,” a voice came from the radio. The officer with the weapon motioned for Jax to stand and precede him. Jax groaned at the ached in his head and the stiffness of his joints ‘as he attempted to rise.

  “Rough night, huh? Looks like you guys had a party,” one of the men laughed at Jax’s condition.

  “Yeah, I guess,” Jax replied. He recalled bits and pieces of a night filled with cocaine, alcohol and pot. There were flashes of Will and Shelly’s sexcapades in his mind as well. He’d rather forget those.

  Jax finally stood on wobbly legs and walked in front of the man over to Will and Shelly. He wasn’t sure what was going on. These men were military, so why were they holding them at gunpoint? Was it because they’d broken into the evidence room? Or, was it because Will was impersonating an officer? The trio was herded outside and into a military vehicle. From there, they took a bumpy ride out of Charleston and into the countryside. After about an hour, they arrived at an encampment filled with military vehicles, tents, and a chopper. Jax was surprised because he’d thought the military had fallen with the outbreaks.

  Jax, Will, and Shelly were herded into a large tent where a man in uniform stood looking at a map. He was about fifty and in excellent shape. Tall and with no sign of friendliness, the man had a regal but uptight bearing. Jax thought the man looked familiar and wondered if he was someone important.

  “Welcome to the Firs
t Battalion. I’m Lt. General Ford Adams. I’m sorry we brought you here under duress, but we’re recruiting every able bodied man to fight these creatures.” The man crossed over to stand in front of them.

  “We’re just traveling. If you could just let us be on our way,” Jax began nervously.

  “You see, I’m afraid I can’t do that. I just said we need every able bodied man to fight the creatures. That wasn’t a choice, son,” Adams declared, a steely glint in his eyes. He looked disgusted at the sight of all three.

  “Uh, let me get this straight. You’re drafting us? Just who are you?” Will asked angrily.

  “I’m all that’s left of the government, son. I was part of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under the former President. I’ve served in the Army all of my life, and now, I’m in charge. You will serve in this unit, or you will die. Those are the two choices you have.”

  Jax sighed wearily. This was all he needed. He could either die or serve in the military. He’d never once in his life desired a career in the military. He didn’t think he was that kind of man. And, as much as he wanted to die, he wanted it to be a natural occurrence.

  “Where do I sign up?” he asked in resignation.

  “You and the young man with you will report to the officer standing outside. The young woman can stay or leave. She has that choice. If she stays, she will help out with laundry, cooking, and that sort of thing,” Adams explained, dismissing them.

  Jax walked out of the tent and into the service of The New United States Army.

  Chapter 4: Happy Birthday, Mr. President

  Theo had explained, it wasn’t really the time for it, but they needed meat, so on his forty-fourth birthday, Parker Wallace, former President of the United States was helping slaughter a hog. It wasn’t one of the big ones, just a medium sized one, but either way, Parker couldn’t drum up any enthusiasm for the task. He’d always acquired his bacon from a supermarket.

  At least he’d been spared the actual killing. Theo had walked up to the hog in question, the one Izzy had named Curly Sue, and put a bullet in its brain. The next chore was scraping the hair from the creature. Theo had winched the hog up by its hind legs, cut its throat, and let it bleed out. Next, he’d disemboweled the creature throwing various parts in a waste bucket, but keeping the liver because, he’d told Parker, there wasn’t anything better than liver and onions. Grabbing a bucket of the scalding water he’d been boiling, Theo poured it down the side of the hog. Next, he took a sharp butcher knife and scraped the hair from the hog’s skin. He repeated this process over and over until the animal’s skin was free of hair.

  “Well, now son, I’m gonna cut these feet off, and I’ll preserve ‘em. You ain’t ever had nothing ‘til you’ve tried pickled pig’s feet,” Theo stated jovially as he and Parker lowered the animal onto a wooden table. Parker flinched as Theo whacked the feet off with a meat cleaver. He wasn’t sure he wanted to try pickled pig’s feet. He’d seen it before on shelves at the grocery store, but he hadn’t even had an inkling of a desire to try it. It wasn’t that he thought he was too good for it, it was simply because he’d seen where those feet had been, and it wasn’t pretty.

  Theo placed these in a container. Next, he sawed the animals head from its body. He pitched it into the waste bucket, frowning as he did so. Parker wondered why on earth the man was disappointed at discarding the animal’s head.

  As if reading his mind, Theo explained, “Normally, I’d save the head and make head cheese with it, but I just don’t have the time or the resources to do that today. When I was a kid, we ate the ears, too! They were pretty good.”

  Parker wasn’t sure whether Theo was kidding or not, but he certainly wasn’t going to eat the ears or the feet. And, liver and onions, he could do without. His mom used to always make liver and onions, and as a child he’d thought it was disgusting. There were just some things he didn’t think he could eat. He wasn’t sure he’d even want bacon after today’s activities, and that was his favorite food group.

  “I’m gonna to make some cracklin’s. Now don’t tell me you ain’t ever had ‘em before,” the butcher looked at Parker questioningly, waving his knife in animated fashion. How could something that tasted so good come from something so disgusting.

  “Yeah, I’ve had them before. They’re pretty good. How can I help?” Parker sighed, as he grabbed his knife, pretty sure this was going to involve something disgusting.

  The two cut strips of skin from the hog until they couldn’t cut anymore. Next, they chopped those into smaller strips. Theo explained he would then fry them until they were crispy. That was all there was to it. They would last a few days and were good to snack on. After they’d gathered all the pieces of skin, Theo dumped them into the biggest cast iron pot Parker had ever seen. Theo told Parker this was his rendering pot. Not only would they be making cracklin’s, they would also be making lard. Parker was pretty sure he’d probably have clogged arteries by the time he left the farm. He didn’t know how Theo was so healthy eating the way he did. Most of the time, it was Theo who did the cooking, and Parker had to say the man was a genius at cooking country food. Parker looked forward to every meal, and he knew he’d miss it when he moved on.

  About five hours later, Parker was about 100% certain he would never eat pork or any pork related items ever again. He was pretty much grossed out by the entire process. He knew he sounded like a sissy and a wimp, but he’d become so used to eating food without thinking about its origin. Preparing food on a farm was hard work. Not only had Theo made cracklins’ and lard, he’d also ground up pork and made a dried jerky type mixture in the dehydrator which he’d connected to the generator. Even now, two pork tenderloins were cooking in the outside smoker. The man for all of his 73 years was a veritable beast. He was still going, and all Parker could think about was relaxing. He didn’t even care that the RV would be a sauna in the July heat. He just wanted to sleep. Theo had worked his ass off.

  “Hey, Mr. President!” a female’s voice came from the kitchen door.

  “Roe, I told you not call me that. You’re just being plain obstinate,” Parker smiled as he took in her dark, sweaty face. No person was exempt from chores, and as much as Roe had complained about the hog-butchering process, she’d also worked her butt off. Theo had her running in and out of the kitchen all day. Roe might joke around and flirt outrageously, but she worked as hard as anyone else.

  “Have you seen Margie? I just realized I hadn’t seen her in a couple of hours. I thought she might be doing something for Theo, but he said she wasn’t. I checked everywhere in the house, and she’s nowhere to be found. I ain’t letting her weasel out of doing all these dishes,” Roe explained, as she opened the door and stepped out into the backyard.

  Roe Lewis was a good looking black woman. She’d never really told anyone her true age, but Ella had let it slip to Parker that Roe was in her fifties. Parker was shocked because he’d thought her about his own age. She was wearing a kerchief over her head, covering her mass of springy, long curls. Roe was one of those women who’d been used to the finer things in life. Sometimes, she would show up to the dinner table dressed to the nines. Parker had to admire her for not losing her spirit amongst all this chaos.

  “I saw her walk down to the front lookout shack earlier. I just thought she was checking things out. I’ll look around for her.” Parker turned and started walking to the front of the property where he’d last seen Margie.

  After looking in the tower and finding it empty, he walked back up to the house, looked in the barn, and the various outbuildings. Still no Margie. Next, just in case, he looked in each of the RVs. Still, no Margie. He stopped by the fire and asked Theo if he’d seen her.

  “Nope, last I saw of her, she was down by the lookout tower,” Theo replied. He returned to his chore of straining lard.

  Parker shook his head in puzzlement. Why would Margie wander off? She knew how dangerous it was, especially after the ordeal she’d gone through. She’d systematically watched all of
her family die from the virus. After that, the woman had roamed the highways alone and uncaring. Carlos had finally rescued and brought her to the outpost. She’d always seemed a little reserved and shy, but everyone tried to make her feel at home.

  “Roe, I’m gonna take the four wheeler and drive down the lane, see if I spot her,” Parker shouted.

  “Okay, well you tell her to get her skinny ass back here and do these dishes,” Roe responded, slamming the kitchen screen door. Roe could be bossy when she felt someone was trying to slack on chores. She was a firm believer in everyone pulling his or her weight.

  Parker grabbed his gun and walked to the vehicle. He’d never driven an ATV before arriving at the farm. Ella had taught him amongst laughter and teasing. He was doing a lot of things now he’d never done before, including carrying a weapon. He’d long abandoned the AR15 because he’d run out of ammunition. He now carried two handguns with spare clips. He jumped on the ATV and made his way down the lane. He noticed the gate door wasn’t completely latched, illustrating someone had recently been through. He knew there was no way Ella would have left the gate unlatched. He wasn’t saying Ella was perfect, but she paid attention to detail, especially when it involved her father’s safety. It had to be Margie.

  He drove the ATV down the long lane and out onto the road. The scene before him at the end of the lane was bizarre to say the least. He’d found Margie, and she was not alone. There were four creatures coming toward her. They were all gaunt and sad looking. It seemed like the creatures were starving, but it’d been nine months, and they still hadn’t started dying off. He wondered how they survived without certain body functions and food.

  “Margie, move out of the way, so I can get a good shot,” Parker yelled, raising his weapon. If she rain toward him, she could make it. He was confident he could take out four of them.