Z-Strain (Book 3): Fallout

by Morris, S. J.

  I swallowed hard at the lump building in my throat. “Do what?” I managed to get out.

  “Well, I’ve been on my own for a while, you see. The only way to feed Harry and my kitties is by taking the lives of anyone I can find. Unfortunately, the living are much harder to come by lately. I’m not sure when the next person will come, but you did say you have friends looking for you, so I’m hoping that one of them will be plenty of food for Harry and my kitties. I think I’d like to keep you for myself.”

  “What do you mean feeding? Are you eating people?”

  “Oh no, my dear, I’m not eating people! Harry will only eat human flesh, and unfortunately, my kitties have gotten a taste for it as well. I can barely get them to eat anything else.”

  I immediately realized the dire situation I was now in. My brain was slow to catch on, but I finally put it all together. I looked around, and there was a pile of bones in the corner of the room. They looked like human bones. This woman must’ve been welcoming people in and drugging them to kill them and feed to her cats, but she mentioned her husband, Harry… She said her husband was dead though.

  My question about her deceased husband was answered by a banging at one of the doors behind her. “That’s my, Harry. I think he smells dinner, and he’s ravenous. It’s been a while since he ate last. I hope your friends arrive soon. I’m not sure how much longer I can keep him quiet for.”

  “Tabitha, I’m sorry you lost your husband, but this is not the way to take care of him. I’ve been out there with the infected. There’s nothing left of the person they once were. I’m sure if Harry had a say in what happens to him, he’d rather not be like that. I might not have known him, but I can pretty much assure you he wouldn’t want his amazing, caring, and gentle wife to kill people for him either.”

  Tabitha stood quickly, dropping the cat to the dirty floor with a hiss. “You know nothing of what Harry would have wanted. He was a good man, and he saved my kitties from those beasts outside. I need to keep him alive and fed, so when this is all over, he can come back to me. Maybe I should just kill you. I thought you would help me, but I guess I was wrong,” she yelled, picking up a butcher knife from the table beside her.

  “No, Tabitha! I’ll help you, I will. I just thought that knowing what I know of the infected... I didn’t think Harry would want to live like that. He was a great guy. Like you said, he took care of you for all of those years, and I know you want to take care of him now, but... I’ve known people who have turned, who have become one of the rotters...”

  “Harry is not a rotter!” she shouted, slamming the blade down, splintering the wood of the table it was now embedded in. “Harry is just sick, and the only way for him to get better is for me to keep him fed and safe until someone figures this whole thing out.”

  “I know the doctors, Tabitha! The doctors who started this whole thing, and the ones who are working on a cure! I know them. Some of them were with me when we got separated. You can’t kill them when they come looking for me, or you’ll be losing your one and only chance to get Harry better,” I lied.

  “Well, then. I knew I was keeping you alive for a reason. You better not be lying to me, Kamil. There’s one thing I hate more than people who don’t like cats, and that’s liars,” Tabitha said as she picked the cat back up petting him softly.

  She walked over to the door the banging and moaning was coming from and gently caressed the stained wood. “I’m getting you help, my darling. We’ll be together again soon. I promise you that.” Tabitha turned back to me. “I’ll bring you some of the rice and beans I made. You’re going to need your strength. I can’t have your friends seeing you like this. They’ll think I tried to hurt you.”

  Tabitha turned and walked up the old wooden stairs and out of my sight. I heard her shuffling above me as I frantically looked for any way out of my restraints. I needed to get away from this woman as fast as I could. I’d rather take my chances with the infected outside.

  Chapter 10

  Jimmy Smith

  I was glad to finally see some asphalt instead of mud. The ride up here was much more difficult than I anticipated, but once we got off of Route 284, the dirt and debris from the storm seemed to clear up.

  We stopped to get Dr. Nasser’s ATV out of the mud a while back and were swarmed by a herd of infected. We all hightailed it out of there as quickly as possible and it finally seemed like we might be in the clear.

  I stopped our little convoy trying to make sure that everybody was okay and realized that Kamil was missing.

  “Has anybody seen Kamil?”

  “I haven’t seen him since he helped me get out of the mud when we got overrun back there,” replied Dr. Nasser.

  “Well, I hope he’s just taking his sweet ass time to catch up to us. Maybe we just wait here for a bit and see if he shows? If not, I’ll have to go back for him.”

  Dr. Nasser stood on her ATV, looking around to see if she could find Kamil. “I don’t see anything other than downed trees and wrecked cars. I think we’re going to have to backtrack and see if we can find him.”

  “I think you’re right, but let’s give him at least ten minutes before we head out. Maybe you, Troy, and Dr. Madison should continue on to the Wawayanda Camp while I look for him. I’ll catch up with you guys after I find him.”

  “I don’t think it’s a good idea to split up. Every horror movie I have ever seen never ends well when the group splits up, so I’m not really for that. And if you haven’t noticed... we’ve been living in a horror movie as of late,” joked Dr. Madison.

  “What if Kamil got into trouble, and you end up needing help? The more people against the dead, the better the odds are that everybody returns,” Troy said, finally chiming in.

  “I hate it when you’re right, Troy, but we do need to get Dr. Nasser and Dr. Madison back to their camp before some of their people decide to come looking for them. Then we’ll have more people wandering around putting themselves in unnecessary danger.”

  It was decided that Troy, and Dr. Nasser we’re going to continue onto the Wawayanda campground to reconnect with their group. Dr. Madison and I were going to backtrack looking for Kamil. If we weren’t back in three hours, Dr. Nasser was going to send a group of people looking for us as well just to be safe.

  We said goodbye to Dr. Nasser and Troy as they continued on down the highway offramp. Dr. Madison and I waited a few more minutes, and when we didn’t hear or see anything, we slowly rode back the way we came.

  We made it back to the bridge over Route 284 and stopped to have another look around. At the edge of the overpass, we got off of the quads and listened carefully to our surroundings. I was trying to hear any movement in the trees around us. The infected that had forced us to leave in a rush without Kamil had thankfully moved on, and I was able to find our tracks in the mud.

  Behind some wrecked cars was Kamil’s ATV frozen in the muck sitting lifeless with the keys still in the ignition. I guess he got stuck when we all took off, and by the look of his footprints in the wet dirt, he went running into the trees to take cover.

  We followed his tracks through the woods on foot, leaving the ATV’s at the tree line just in case we had to make a quick getaway. As we trekked through the woods, killing a few stray infected here and there, I found out that Dr. Madison was pretty good with a sword. She took out the infected like a professional ninja. I think she just liked showing off, but I wasn’t complaining. I was getting to spend some quality time with a beautiful, athletic, tall, smart woman. Her long dark brown hair thrown up in a makeshift ponytail spinning as she wielded her blade was almost mesmerizing. She was gorgeous with her emerald-colored eyes, and her barely-there freckles peeking out from under a thin layer of dirt covering her oval-shaped face. But I had to focus on finding Kamil. Then maybe I could see if I stood a chance with this astonishing woman.

  Don’t judge me. It’s hard meeting women in the apocalypse!

  We heard the moaning and smelled the stench of the infected b
efore we saw them through the trees. They were circling around a small cottage in the middle of a clearing. They weren’t banging on the walls as I would’ve expected them to, but they were milling about randomly moaning and bumping into the heaps of garbage on the overgrown lawn.

  My face scrunched up as the wind blew in our faces bringing their stench directly to our noses. “Ugh, sheesh. I don’t think I’ll ever get used to that smell,” I said, pulling my handkerchief from my pocket, tying it around my face.

  “Do you have one of these, Dr. Madison?” I asked, pointing to the red rag covering my nose.

  “No, and please call me Lynn. Dr. Madison is too formal nowadays,” Lynn responded, smiling at me.

  I smiled back. “Sorry. Lynn, it is. So, Lynn, what kind of doctor are you exactly?”

  “I am... or I was a Captain in the Air Force as an orthopedic surgeon. I specialized in the cervical spine, but when you’re in the Air Force, you have to be a jack of all trades, so I’ve done it all. When you’ve treated soldiers with bullet holes in the abdomen that split their bowels, pouring waste into the abdominal cavity, smells seem to not matter that much anymore. I had to focus on stopping the bleeding and saving that person’s life. I think that’s why the smell of the ghouls doesn’t get to me that much,” she said casually. “Let’s focus on the task at hand, though, shall we?” Lynn said, pointing towards the house surrounded by the undead.

  “Right, sorry.”

  Every few seconds, I’d watch a cat dash out of an open upstairs window to sun itself on the roof. If I were Kamil, that’s where I would have gone.

  The open window was hopefully how he had gotten in, and we were going to find him inside, waiting for the infected to clear enough for him to be able to leave this broken-down hovel.

  It was not going to be an easy task because there were so many infected outside and only the two of us to fight them. I took out a mirror from my tactical vest and tried shining it into the window, hopefully catching Kamil’s attention if he was inside.

  There was no response other than a few cats jumping out of the window and trying to attack the light. It was quite comical. I hadn’t watched a funny cat video in over a year thanks to this stupid plague, but now I could at least find a little bit of amusement in real life.

  Lynn didn’t find it so funny, though. She wanted to get in and out as quickly as possible, avoiding the infected and head back to her group as soon as we could with Kamil in tow. I didn’t blame her.

  We were downwind, and the smell from the house and the infected was almost more than I could take. I wanted to be out of here as soon as possible too. Hopefully, Kamil was actually inside, and we weren’t risking our lives to go after a few stray cats.

  We made a plan to create a diversion. Lynn had some metal cups in her pack that she was stringing together to hang on a branch. Fortunately, the storm hadn’t completely lifted, and the wind was still blowing hard enough every now and then. When the wind blew, it would shake the branch with the cups on it to hopefully make enough noise to have the undead heading in that direction, away from the house. Once they were all focused on the cups clinking, we were going to make a run for it.

  Lynn and I separated as she went to tie the cups to a branch at the other end of the property. I stood watching, making sure the infected ignored her presence for at least the time being.

  Lynn was back quickly, and I could already hear the metallic clanking noises from across the yard. The infected seemed to hear it also as they began moaning and shuffling towards the sounds. We waited a few more minutes until the coast was pretty much clear, and we ran as quietly as possible through the dense grass up to a staircase made of rubbish that led to an overhang. We climbed up to the roof, and dozens of cats scattered immediately.

  I peeked my head over the side of the roof, confirming the undead were still moving in the direction of the cups instead of us. It appeared the infected were none the wiser to our movements, and Lynn crawled through the open window. I heard her gasp and cough. “Oh my God, I’d rather smell the undead any day over the cat piss that’s in here!”

  I didn’t want to, but I peeked my head inside the window. Even the handkerchief over my nose was no help against the blast of the strong ammonia smell that hit me like a sock full of butter in the face. I reluctantly climbed through the window to stand inside next to Lynn. She now had her shirt over her mouth and nose. The smell of cat pee had nothing on split bowels, I guess.

  We both looked around the messy room and were utterly shocked by the sheer number of cats in the small space. The door to the bedroom we were in was open, so we crept as quietly as possible to the doorway and listened.

  I heard a scraping sound, metal on metal. I hoped it was Kamil, but I needed to check it out first. I told Lynn to stay here as I slowly crept through the hallway and down the stairs peeking my head over the railing seeing an older woman plating food for two. She looked to be in her seventies, so I wasn’t too worried except for the fact that there were two plates. Where was this other person?

  I looked around further and saw no evidence of anyone else other than the old woman and a large number of cats living here. One of the floorboards underneath my foot creaked, and the old woman looked up at me, our eyes meeting.

  She smiled and calmly said, “You must be one of Kamil’s friends. He’s been waiting for you, and so have I.”

  “You know where Kamil is? He’s here?” I asked, letting my guard down briefly.

  “Yes, dear, he’s in the basement taking care of some of my kitties for me. He’s a wonderfully helpful young man and so fantastic to have around. I’m sure he’ll be up soon. Would you like a cup of tea and something to eat? I’m Tabitha, by the way.”

  “Nice to meet you, Tabitha. I’m Jimmy, and no, thank you, ma’am. I really should get Kamil, and we should get going. We have the infected distracted for the time being, but I don’t know how long that’s going to last, so we should head out as quickly as possible. Where is Kamil exactly?”

  “Like I said, he’s in the basement taking care of some things for me. Are you sure you have to go? It’s not very often that I get visitors, and I’d love to have you stay. Even if it’s just for the night.”

  “I’m genuinely sorry, ma’am, but yes, we do have to go. We have other people that are waiting on us, and if we don’t show up soon, they’re going to come looking for us as well. If you’d like, you can go with us. We have two different communities working together, and I’m sure you’d be welcome in either one or both.”

  “Oh, thank you very much for the offer, young man, but me and my kitties quite like it here. Why don’t you come on downstairs and have some tea? I’ll see if I can get Kamil up here for you,” the old woman said, putting the plate she was holding down, grabbing a teacup from the cupboard. “You said ‘we’ have the rotters distracted. Is there someone else up there with you, dear? Kamil mentioned a doctor might be looking for him, and you are clearly not a doctor.”

  There was something off about this old woman. I couldn’t quite put my finger on it, but I felt the need to conceal Lynn’s presence in the house. “No, ma’am. I’m not a doctor and It’s just me, for now anyway. Like I said, if Kamil and I don’t show up at camp soon, another group is going to come looking for us. I’d rather we get going, so they don’t worry,” I partially lied.

  “Aren’t you a darling? Worrying about other people. It was quite nice of you to come looking for Kamil,” she said, pouring water into the cup and dunking one of those loose tea infusers. “Drink up, and I’ll just get him for you. I’ll leave the sugar on the table here. Take as much as you need.”

  Tabitha turned and walked out of the kitchen. I couldn’t see her anymore, so I ran upstairs quietly. I practically ran into Lynn as she was peering out of the bedroom door.

  “What’s going on down there?” she asked. “I heard you talking to someone. Is Kamil here?”

  “There’s an old woman down there who says Kamil is here, but he’s in the baseme
nt helping her with something. This doesn’t feel right. Please just stay here and be as quiet as possible. We may need to leave quickly, so be ready,” I whispered, closing the bedroom door behind me.

  I rested my hand on my holstered 9mm handgun at my waist and made my way back down the stairs quickly, hoping Tabitha didn’t realize I had gone.

  I made my way into the kitchen, and Tabitha was nowhere to be found. I looked around for any clues as to what might be going on, and I came up empty. There were cats everywhere and two plates of rice and beans on the counter. I peeked my head around the corner of the doorway to the kitchen, and the hall was empty. I turned back to the kitchen and quietly opened the kitchen cabinets and drawers looking for any indication as to what this woman might have been up to.

  One of the cupboards was full of prescription bottles, and I looked at each of them. One read, Procardia, which I knew to be a blood pressure medication, and a few others were known arthritis or pain medications, but one in a red bottle with Chinese characters on it caught my eye. The only thing written in English in the bottle was flunitrazepam... holy shit. That’s Rohypnol or as it’s more commonly known - the date rape drug.

  I heard a soft meow from behind me as I turned, the red bottle still in my hand.

  Tabitha looked at me with a frying pan raised above her head. “You weren’t supposed to find that,” she whispered as she brought the pot down hard on top of my head.

  For an older woman, she was pretty powerful, I’ll give her that, but she wasn’t strong enough to knock me out like she planned. I quickly grabbed the frying pan away from her, tossing it to the floor. I grabbed for her wrists, but she was quick to reach for the gun in my holster.

  We battled against each other, her reaching for my waist, and me fighting against her arms, trying to subdue her. I knocked her into the table, spilling the plates of food at our feet as dozens of cats swarmed the floor and the counters hissing and batting their claws at me.