Doc was watching the girls for me as most of the residents helped Kamil and I unbarricade the doors upstairs. We were leaving the hurricane shudders down until we were able to clean up outside. The foul smell of the decomposing infected was already permeating every inch of the cabin, and we didn't need to help the stench flow further inside.
I stepped out the front door, and the sight was just as you would have expected it to be. Rotting corpses littered the ground, and black goo was everywhere. This cleanup was going to be a massive undertaking.
Newcomers, Bowie and Mace, looked around in disgust with their shirts pulled up and over their noses.
I went to check on our livestock, and they were all but devoured. A few chickens and goats were hiding in the barn. They had thankfully made it, scared, but unscathed. But all of the horses, cows, and sheep were dead, covered with the now lifeless leaking bodies of the super-infected.
Finding more livestock was going to be an absolute priority once we got everything cleaned up.
I took stock of the exterior of the house, the barn and the fields we grew our food in, and I didn't know where to begin, or if we should even try. Yes, we had everything we needed here, supplies, a small hospital, housing underground, food, and water. But could we grow food here anymore? The ground was saturated with the blood and eviscerated bodies of the infected.
Had we gone through all of this to end up losing our home anyway?
Troy and Stuart came outside and stood next to me, taking in the carnage laid out before us.
The three of us stood silent for a while before Troy finally spoke. “This is not good. Not good at all.”
I looked over at him and hung my head in defeat. “I was thinking the same thing. This land is no longer viable, is it?”
“Nope. We have to think of the infected's blood like radioactive material, and we have to avoid contact with it at all costs. We can't stay here anymore.” Troy nudged a lifeless arm of one of the infected with his boot.
“Where the hell are we going to go?” I asked.
Mace came over to me, wrapping her arm over my shoulder. “Look at the bright side, we're still alive and hundreds, maybe even thousands of these awful pieces of shit are finally dead. It's a win even if you have to leave. Hey, you could come with us! Our plan has always been to find a boat and sail it one of the islands in the Caribbean, clear it of the revenants and call it home. I'm sure we can find a beautiful place with an all-inclusive resort on it and make it our new sanctuary. We'll be sipping mojitos with our toes in the sand before you know it, sister,” Mace laughed.
“Yeah, it'll be cute for those two little girls of yours to grow up looking like the Coppertone girl,” Bowie chuckled as she smiled at me.
“We might just have to take you up on that offer. I'll talk it over with Chris when he gets back. We should get everyone together and have a meeting to decide what to do next. This wasn't just my home; it was all of ours.”
Everyone else went back inside. The smell was just too much for them to take, I guess.
The sun was shining brightly, there were fluffy white clouds in the sky, and the birds were chirping loudly. The weather was a stark contrast to the horrors laid out before me, and I realized I couldn't let this bring my hopes down. Mace was right. We had survived, and we only lost one person to the hundreds of zombies that now lay dead at my feet. We could make a new home somewhere else. We just had to find that place and make it our own.
Chapter 29
Abbigail Norrington
A few weeks had passed since our epic defeat of the undead at the cabin. Chris and the others who were physically able to do excruciating manual labor went out on runs to collect trailers and box trucks to carry all of our supplies as we prepared to move our entire community to new locations. We didn't know where those places were, but we'd find them.
Everyone had the list of ingredients and instructions on how to make the serum to neutralize the infected, so we all had the same capabilities and we made more, lots more.
Troy recreated the technology Brigantine had pioneered with the EMF emitters, and every vehicle we had was outfitted with them. The technology made going out on runs so much easier.
Stuart led a team of fighters back up to Brigantines compound to collect the supplies from there and brought back two more Stryker vehicles and a few more of the massive trucks with plows she carted her troops around in. They also found a few more survivors along the way too. The vehicles would make it easier for the caravans to travel to new locations safely. It wasn't optimal traveling accommodations, but at least they were dependable and protected.
We didn't have to scavenge for supplies before, so the area surrounding our home was still rife with things we could use. We even found a few more smaller groups of people who had survived the plague.
Near the preschool we had found Gia, and all of her friends in last year was a townhouse community. We found ten survivors hiding out in the fenced-in clubhouse area there. They were more than happy to join us on our search for a more permanent place to call home.
Tyler, Christine, and Chase took turns on the radio, tirelessly searching every frequency for anyone to respond that may have needed help. There were more people out there than we had previously thought. We shared our knowledge of the serum and the EMF technology to everyone we talked to in exchange for them agreeing to pass along the information to anyone else they came in contact with.
Some of our growing group had decided to split up, and a few people from the Wawayanda group were going out west. Some of them had family out there, and even though it was a longshot, they wanted to see if they could find them. They were going to re-settle the farms out there in hopes of bringing agriculture back.
A few of the new survivors we found had worked on trains and were going with them to try and restart the rail lines. It was a huge task, but one we all would need if we were ever going to start living as we had before the outbreak.
The Union Pacific Railroad ran from New York state to California, so they were planning to settle in Kansas City, Missouri, which was the most prominent hub of the rail line. More tracks split off to the rest of the country in Kansas City than anywhere else. According to one of the railroad guys, anyway.
Dr. Emily Nasser said she had been to The Stanley Farm Golf Resort in Kansas City for a medical conference once, and it was acres and acres of lush green land. It may have been a golf course pre-apocalypse, but they were going to turn it into a farming community. It wasn't a bad idea, and I wished them the best of luck getting out there and getting established. I was sad to see Dr. Nasser go but understood that she needed to be with the people she had started this whole thing with.
I felt the same draw to stay together, which is why it was so hard for me to see Jimmy go with Dr. Nasser, Lynn, and their group.
Jimmy and I had been through a lot together after escaping Brigantine's compound together, but he needed to be with Lynn. He said she was the one for him, and the feeling was mutual, so they had my blessing. Not that they needed it or anything, but I was truly happy for them.
Before I knew it, the day had come when we were ready to all go our separate ways. I hugged Jimmy and the others from the Wawayanda group goodbye, and they were off to settle out west.
I stood in the now empty surgical suite where so many terrible and amazing things had happened. We lost Tom and Justin in this room when Brigantine attacked us. I gave birth to my girls here, and now I was saying goodbye, more than likely for the last time.
Chris came up behind me, gently wrapping his massive arms around me with his chest to my back. “Everything will be okay. We've got each other, the girls and the rest of our family and friends with us, Abby. We'll find a new home. One better than this where we can create happy memories,” he whispered into my ear as he kissed the side of my head.
“I know. It's just hard to leave this place. We've had so much happen that I’m overwhelmed with the prospect of starting over.”
“I kno
w, but we'll start over together. I'll never forget the first time we met. You were decked out head to toe in black leather, and duct tape smelling like death itself had chewed you up and spit you out. You’re a strong woman, Abby. You can do this. We can do this.”
“Well, since you say so,” I laughed and kissed him. “Hey, I'm going out to the graves to say goodbye to Lance, Allycia, and everyone else.”
“Do you want me to come with you?”
“Yeah, I know you need to say goodbye to Tom, Dan, and the others.”
Chris turned me around to hug me again. “Good. Even though we haven't seen too many of the infected recently, I still don't like the idea of you out there on your own.”
We told the others where we were going, and a few of them decided to join us. Kamil wanted to say goodbye to Dana and Chuck, Doc wanted to visit her husband, son, and daughter-in-law's plots one last time.
We stood outside in the fresh warm air around the gravesites of our loved ones. Most of the graves didn’t even hold the bodies of our loved ones, just memorabilia of the lives they had lived. Allycia’s ashes were here and I had buried Lance’s bow and arrow along with his high school letter jacket. There were tears, there were sobs, but most of all, there was love. I looked around at all the faces of my friends and family and realized how strong we were.
We didn't survive because the people memorialized in these plots had died for us, we lived so that we could honor their memories and build a better future for those of us that were left.
We had to be better than the people who started this plague. We needed to do everything in our power not to just survive, but to thrive and build a new, better society.
I left purple flowers on all of the graves and said goodbye for the last time while Chris held Ella and Kasey. They would never get to meet their brother or sister, but they would always be a part of them.
Chris and I were the last to leave the gravesites with the girls. We turned to go, and a harsh shriek cried out from the trees. Chris quickly handed me the babies and told me to run. We were both armed, but I couldn't shoot holding two babies, so I ran as fast as I could back to the iron gate.
I heard shots ring out from Chris's rifle behind me. I glanced over my shoulder, but Chris was no longer in sight. I was a hundred yards from the wall when four of the super-infected exited the woods in front of me. I stopped dead in my tracks, trying to plan my next move when the lead infected locked eyes with me. It looked down at the crying babies in my arms and growled as air hissed out of its dead lungs.
The creature stalked forward towards me slowly, and the others behind it stood fixed like predators faced with an opponent. I didn't want to make any sudden movements just in case it would cause them to attack, so I stood as still as possible while their leader continued to approach me.
The undead monster was now only five feet away from me. I could smell the stench of putrid rotting flesh emanating from the creature. The corpse was wearing hunting fatigues with a bright orange vest, and a red bandana hung around its blood soiled neck. It sniffed the air as it inched even closer to me. I wanted to turn and run, but there was no way I would have made it very far, so I continued to remain still.
The infected stopped practically nose to nose with me. I felt a tear slide down my cheek, and the zombie licked the tear from my face.
Ella reached her tiny hand up from her blanket in my arms and swatted playfully at the bloody handkerchief dangling from its neck. The infected looked down at the girls with its cloudy dead eyes and just stared.
There was a soft noise behind me that sounded like someone running, and the zombie's head snapped up towards the noise. It screamed a feral cry and bolted back into the trees. The others followed it.
Chris ran up to me, huffing and puffing from exhaustion. “What the hell, Abby! Why aren't you already inside the gates where it's safe? I heard more screams, so there's more of them out here. I just killed at least ten of those fast bastards. Let's go,” he demanded while he pushed me toward the gate.
Once inside the relative safety of the wall, I turned to Chris to share the experience I just had with the super-infected, but I couldn't get the words out. I couldn't find a way to explain what had happened because I myself had no idea what had transpired.
Chris stopped loading the last of the supplies onto the truck, and he turned to me. “Are you okay, Abby? You look like you've just seen a ghost.”
I looked down at my two daughters, who were cooing and wiggling in my arms as if nothing had happened. Ella had a black smudge on her tiny little fingers, and I quickly wiped it away with my hand.
“Yeah... yeah. I'm fine. I just... I'm ready to get on the road, I guess, and I zoned out.”
We finished packing up, and everyone loaded into the vehicles including Lilly who was excited to go on a car ride. We pulled out of the giant iron gate and headed south. The plan was to find a boat in Florida and see if we could find a vessel big enough to ship us and our vehicles to any of the islands where we could create a new sanctuary.
I put my experience with the super-infected behind me and focused on the future. I might never know what the connection my daughters and I had with the infected meant, but I wasn't going to let that stop me from being the best mother I could be and helping Ella and Kasey grow up as normally as this new world would allow.
We were spreading the word on how to defeat the infected, and I was confident that one day, humans would retake our planet from the dead.
The End
Thank you so much for reading Z-Strain: Book Three – Fallout. I hope you enjoyed the third installment of Z-Strain and will take a few moments to leave a review, every single one of them is much appreciated! Also, please feel free to email me with any questions, comments, or ideas that you would like to see our beloved characters run into next. You may contact me at [email protected]
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Other titles:
Before the Outbreak: William DeFranco’s Story
Before the Outbreak: Jessica Chambers’ Story
Before the Outbreak: Zhang Wei's Story
Richie's Ghost Squad: Book One - Ghost Cat
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SJ Morris was born in Anchorage Alaska, on Elmendorf Airforce Base, but now resides in Bordentown, New Jersey, with her husband, their two children, and two dogs.
SJ Morris has written short stories for as long as she can remember. However, it wasn’t until 2013 that she started to focus on writing her debut novel, Z-Strain.
When she is not writing, SJ Morris enjoys spending time with her family as well as their pets, hitting the gym, playing video games, and whenever possible, lounging on the beach, completely immersed in a good book.
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