Donnie and the group weren’t aware of what had happened behind them on the street they had just left. They were hurrying, making their way down the alleyway, looking for a way out of the city. Donnie knew they wouldn’t be able to walk the rest of the way. Eventually they would grow tired and would need to rest. He had no choice but to find a vehicle of some sort–a large vehicle. He needed something big like an ambulance or bus. If he could locate one of those, and the keys were in the ignition, he could get out of the city faster. At least he could get them farther out of the area until they came to a roadblock. He knew the military was watching the main roads. If he could get his group close enough, they could slip through the woods unnoticed. He knew the military couldn’t guard the entire area at one time; they were already spread out too thin. He stopped for a moment and told the group his plan. It also gave the others a chance to catch their breaths.
“How much farther do you think we have to go?” asked Cindy. “There could be anything out there waiting for us to come along.”
Donnie knew she was right, but he wanted the group to stay positive. If they got weak now, they would be doomed for sure. He looked around to see if he could locate a large vehicle in the area, but he didn’t see anything that fit their immediate needs.
“Don’t worry; I’m sure we’ll find the appropriate vehicle in no time. We just need to keep moving. The longer we rest, the longer it’s going to take us. If I remember the area right, we could reach a shopping plaza within an hour if we don’t stop to rest.”
“I’ll carry you, Cindy, if you get too tired,” said Gus.
“It won’t be necessary. God will help me keep going,” she said, taking his hand. “But thanks for offering.”
“Amen,” said Clive, looking at Cindy. “Let’s sing a song to help us.”
“Just don’t sing it too loud,” said Donnie. “Let’s try not to attract any attention to our group.”
Clive began singing. “Onward, Christian soldiers! Marching as to war. With the cross of Jesus. Going on before.” Cindy joined in with him, and they continued down the alley and soon they cut to the right and headed across the downtown area.
As promised, the group entered the shopping plaza just off the main highway. There was a school bus parked in the parking lot. Donnie looked at the others, pointing toward the bus.
“Let’s hope the keys are still in the ignition.”
“They will be there,” said Cindy.
“How do you know for sure?” asked Donnie.
“I don’t think God would have brought us here for nothing. The keys have to still be in the ignition.”
“There is something on the bus,” said Ben. “I think I saw something move.”
“What did you see?” asked Donnie.
“I don’t know. Wait…there it is again.” Ben turned to look at Donnie. “I think there are zombies inside the bus.”
“Now we have two problems,” said Donnie. “If there are zombies on the bus, that means they can’t get out, and it also means the door is closed. We’re going to have to pry the door open and kill the zombies.”
“It never ends,” said Chloe, squeezing Ben’s hand. “I wonder how many of them there are.”
“We’re going to soon find out. We need that bus, so we’re going to have to kill them,” said Donnie.
“Has anybody considered it could be ripe inside the bus? They probably died inside it,” said Ralph. “None of us has a gas mask.”
Donnie stared at the bus. He saw small hands hitting the glass from the inside. He knew it would probably smell like death inside, but the bus was their only saving grace at the moment. They were going to have to deal with however it smelled inside.
“Come on; we’re wasting precious time,” he said, leading the group across the parking lot. “We have some work ahead of us.”
They stood in front of the bus, staring at it in disbelief. They counted over a dozen small zombies agitated by their presence. Tears streamed down Cindy’s face. She felt as though she was going to keel over. Seeing adult zombies was one thing, but seeing innocent children as zombies was another. She looked away and went over to Chloe who put her arm around her and led her away from the bus.
Donnie looked at John and Clive. “This isn’t going to be easy. Once the door is opened, they are going to rush out of there in a hurry. We need to setup a line right here and pick them off as they leave the bus. The ones that make it through will have to be dealt with in the parking lot. Ben, help me pry open the door. Once we get it open, jump to the side and let Clive, John, Ralph, and Ned go to town on them.”
Ben looked around the parking lot and found a crowbar lying on the ground next to a smoldering car with a roasted body sitting in the driver’s seat. He cautiously picked it up, never taking his eyes off of the body. He brought the crowbar back to the bus and handed it to Donnie.
Donnie approached the door to the bus with the crowbar in his hand. The zombie children were already pressing against it, trying to get at him.
“Damn!” he yelled. “They are not going to make it easy for us. We’re not going to be able to open this door with them all gathered here.” He took several steps back and looked around the outside of the bus. “I have an idea. Ben, go to the rear of the bus and pound on the back door. If we’re lucky, it will get their attention and they’ll head to the back of the bus. Once they’re there, I’ll pry open the door.”
“That sounds like a plan,” said Ben. “I just hope they go for it.” He went to the back of the bus and pounded on it as loud as he could. The zombie children stayed at the front, ignoring the sound coming from the back. Donnie shook his head.
“It’s not working,” he said, watching the zombies biting at the air.
“You should try getting out of their view,” said John. “They’ll probably go away if they can’t see you.”
“Go to the front of the bus,” said Clive. “We’ll move toward the back so they can’t see anybody by the door.”
The three of them repositioned themselves out of the sight of the zombies. Ben pounded on the back of the bus much harder this time, and the zombies turned their attention away from the door.
“It’s working,” said Clive. “Keep pounding. Pound on it louder; you’re getting their attention.”
Ben kept pounding on the back of the bus until his fists went numb. By then the zombies had left the front of the bus and headed to the back.
“Now!” yelled John. “Get the door open!”
Donnie ran to the door and quickly opened it using the crowbar. It took some maneuvering, but he managed to open it before the zombies knew he was there. The air emitting from the bus was foul. He jumped on and it reeked of blood and death. He ignored the odor and called out to the zombies to get their attention. They turned and made their way toward the front.
Clive, John, Ned, and Donnie waited outside the bus with their weapons ready to fire. Their weapons never wavered. They easily took out the first six or seven zombies that appeared through the door. They emptied their clips as the remaining zombies left the bus and made their way toward them. Clive snatched his machete from the ground next to him and scrambled for the closest one to him. He swung, taking off its head at the neck. It toppled over, landing near his feet.
The others made easy work with the rest of the zombies and reloaded their weapons in case they came across other zombies hiding on the bus. Donnie and John cleared the entrance of the bus from the fallen zombies and placed them in the parking lot so they could get on the bus.
Donnie was the first to enter and cautioned the others to hold their breaths as they entered. He doubted the air was safe to breathe, but he had no choice. He checked the ignition and the keys were there. He looked at the others as they boarded the bus.
“We’re in luck; the keys are still in the ignition. I just hope it starts.”
“Tell everybody to hold on for a moment,” said John from the back of the bus. “I think I found the driver, or at least what’s l
eft of the driver. We need to get his body off of the bus. Tell Chloe and Cindy to wait a minute before getting on so we can get the body out of here.”
Clive joined John at the back of the bus and saw what John was looking at. A large corpse lay across the back seat. Its ripped open abdomen left no doubt as to the cause of death. Clive shook his head in dismay. “This one didn’t stand a chance against the others.”
He was interrupted by the sound of screaming coming from outside. He turned to look through one of the side windows. He saw an overweight zombie grab Cindy by her hair. It pulled her backward and took a large chunk out of the back of her head. Blood shot up like a geyser, showering Chloe in crimson. An awful cry sprang from her throat as she watched her new friend being devoured in front of her.
“Cindy!” screamed Gus, rushing at the zombie and tackling it to the ground. He punched it repeatedly in the face until it lay silent on the ground with chunks of Cindy’s skull clinging to its lips. He continued pounding its face until John pulled him away.
“The deed has been done,” said John, pulling him away farther from Cindy’s body. “You don’t want to keep looking at her.”
Gus pushed John away. “Get your hands off of me! This is all my fault! I should have been watching her closer. None of us thought to watch for other zombies in the parking lot!”
Chloe had completely lost it. She was screaming at the top of her lungs, dripping with Cindy’s blood. Ben rushed to her and took her in his arms. She was shivering in fear. He was trying to keep her silent so as not to alert other zombies that might be in the area.
“We can’t leave her here like this,” said Gus, excitedly. “We have to bury her.”
Donnie looked at Gus, feeling sorry for him. “We can’t Gus. We don’t have the time. Besides, I promise you she won’t come back as one of those things. Look at her head wound. She’s not going to come back.”
“You insensitive bastard! It’s your fault she died. You’re the one who brought us here!”
“Listen, Gus. None of this is my fault. It’s the government’s fault. I’m sorry Cindy got killed, but none of us could have prevented it. It’s the zombie apocalypse, survival of the fittest. I’m sorry it ended this way, but…nevermind, let’s just get on the bus and get the hell out of here!”
“I’m not going with you,” said Gus. “I’m staying here to bury her body. I’m not leaving her here lying in the parking lot. She deserves better.”
“Suit yourself,” said Donnie. “I’m not forcing you to come with us. If you want to stay, then I guess you’re going to stay.”
The group loaded onto the bus leaving Gus behind. Chloe stopped and looked at Donnie. “This is wrong. I agree with Gus. We can’t leave her lying in the parking lot. If we don’t stop to bury her, then I’m staying, as well.”
Donnie looked at the others angrily. “Does everybody else feel the same way?”
“Yes,” they all said in unison.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
President Andrews sat behind his desk in the Oval Office. He was now out of time. He needed to make the decision about using a nuclear bomb on Valparaiso, Indiana. He was looking at a fact sheet about it and the surrounding area. His decision would affect nearly thirty two thousand people. He wasn’t sure exactly how many of them had been turned into zombies. He thought about the millions in the entire nation. His mind was made up. He called for his advisor to come to his office.
Mr. Gerald Thornton entered the office and approached the desk. He looked at President Andrews and waited until he addressed him. The president looked at him and waited several minutes before finally speaking.
“I’ve reached my decision. Operation ZDAY is authorized. Have you heard from General Athens yet?”
“I will get a hold of him immediately to inform him we’re a go. As soon as his troops are out of the area, we’ll proceed.”
“Don’t bother, Gerald. Make the call now.”
He looked at the president curiously. “Are you actually saying don’t warn the troops?”
“It’s been brought to my attention that some of them could be infected. For national security, I think we should think about the rest of the nation. We can’t take the chance of letting this thing spread. We need to keep it contained. I know the uninfected will die along with the infected. This is a decision I haven’t taken lightly.”
“I understand, Mr. President. I will place the call to General Hastings to let him know we’re a go. It shouldn’t take more than two hours to have the deed done, sir.”
“Did you anticipate my decision, Gerald?”
“They’re in Illinois at a secured location waiting to deploy.”
“I figured you would have put things into motion. That’s the one thing I know about you. You make things happen.” He paused for a moment. “Tell me, do you think it will spread? Do you think we have a chance of stopping it in Valparaiso?”
“I believe our chances are good. General Athens informed me they were making progress and so far nothing has gotten out of the area.”
“Nothing they know about.”
Gerald nodded. “I trust General Athens. When he says a job has been done, it’s been done. I’m going to miss him.”
“Don’t worry about him, Gerald. There are plenty more men like him out there who will want a promotion to general. He served his country well.”
“Nobody will ever know he died a hero. There will never be an officer like him ever again.”
President Andrews got up and walked around the desk. “Follow me, Gerald; there is somebody I want you to meet.”
He led him to another secure area in the White House where a young, balding man was adjusting his black rimmed glasses.
“This is Doctor Krage, Gerald. He’s been brought in to continue Dr. Hollman’s research on the smart zombie program. He assures me he can improve our smart zombies.”
Gerald shook hands with him. “So, you think you can improve on our new weapons. What makes you so confident?”
“I was working with Professor Kathy Hollman secretly on the project. She suspected her husband was going to try to kill her, but she couldn’t prove it. She sent me all her research in case she came up missing. She didn’t want him to have a chance to take all the credit for her work.”
“So you’re telling me she was sending you classified information. Did she do that through email or through text messages?”
“It doesn’t matter,” said Doctor Krage. “All the information is secure. I assure you no one has hacked any of our emails. Everything was deleted as soon as it was received.”
Gerald stole a quick glance toward President Andrews, and then turned his attention back to the doctor. “If this information about what you did gets into the wrong hands, there could be an investigation. Are you sure all the emails have been deleted? We don’t need news of this coming back to bite us later.”
“Relax; I assure you everything has been deleted. Now let’s get back to the subject of the smart zombie program,” said Doctor Krage. “I can make them more efficient. Also, I’ve developed a cure. If we can inject the infected within an hour of being infected, we can cure them.”
“What does that mean?” asked Gerald. “Are you saying we can turn a zombie back to human?”
“That’s exactly what it means. We’re working on a powder form of the cure so we can disperse it over a large area using planes or helicopters. It will be like crop dusting a field.”
“That’s fantastic,” said Gerald. “We have a valuable weapon in our arsenal in case we ever have another zombie outbreak.”
“There is one problem, though,” said Doctor Krage. “We haven’t tested it yet. We’re planning on testing it on one of the smart zombies once they arrive. I have to get back to Nevada. I still have a lot of research to do. Is my helicopter waiting?”
President Andrews looked at him. “Whenever you’re ready to leave, doctor. Thank you for explaining everything to us and welcome aboard. I’m looking forward to
working with you.”
“Thank you, Mr. President. I look forward to working with you, as well.” An escort came to retrieve the doctor and took him to the waiting helicopter.
“What do you think, Gerald? Do you think he has a viable cure?”
“I guess we’ll soon find out,” Gerald answered. “Now, if you will excuse me, Mr. President, I have an important phone call to make,”
President Andrews watched as he left the room. He left and went back to his office and took his place at his desk. He picked up his notes about Valparaiso, Indiana and read through them. He looked around the room. He hoped he had made the right decision.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
General Athens glanced at the time on his wristwatch. He was running out of time. He had finished burning all the bodies from the last attack and was now focusing on taking his men on a final sweep of the area before abandoning the roadblock. He was sure they wouldn’t have any more problems with the undead trying to get out of the area. He wanted to search south of his location and then head east out of the area. He would be cutting it close, but he was sure he had an ample amount of time to get out of the city before the bombs were dropped. He turned to his men; he had six more men join him since the last attack on the roadblock, and informed them they were going to head south to make one final sweep of the area. He had to make absolutely sure nothing could get out of the area before deploying out of the area.
The men loaded four jeeps and left the roadblock and headed east down the highway toward the airport. It was the first place he wanted to double check. They drove the jeeps into the parking lot, and the general told them to check the entire airport to make sure nobody had been missed on the initial sweep.
The Z-Day Trilogy (Book 2): Z-Day [Day of the Zombies] Page 14