A Zombie Survival Series (Book 1): Infestation Iowa

by Smith, Nathan A.

  He hopped a little to steady himself as he crouched there. “Because they were. Before a few days ago.” He stared at the radio in anger waiting for a response. Then he spoke again as the woman started to say something. “We have fought off some big red ugly beast three times now, crossed the city by going from shops to parks to houses. We lost Doc, and Vivian, and Jane.” He continued to ramble but the radio beeped loudly interrupting him. The radio was silent for a few seconds. “He-Hello?” David said worried.

  “I’m still here David,” the voice said as he sighed loudly. “I know a lot has happened and I know how bad it has been. Trust me I do.” David shook his head in agreement sarcastically. “But we have to talk about what we are going to do next and about what you are dealing with out there!” She said in a stern tone.

  “What do you mean what I am dealing with out here?” He said being very snappy.

  “The different kinds of infection are all classed. We have seen the different mutations and we have helpful information for you.” David swallowed loudly and took another deep breath.

  “Sorry … uh … doctor?” David said into the radio slowly.

  “I’m Ellen.” She said easing his tension.

  “O.K. Ellen what should I know?” he sat down on the floor beside Eric’s body and listened intently. Ellen told David about the classifications. Stage one was the slow zombies, easy to handle alone but in groups they are almost impossible. Stage two was the fast zombies, after a slow zombie eats, it usually mutates into this faster and stronger version. Stage three was The Beast, with virtually no memory and pure instinct, it hunts off of sound alone but it only remembers the last few seconds at any one time. Stage four, were the flying horrors, they only attack large electrical energy sources and that is all they feed on. They can hide almost anywhere and are only noticeable when they start chirping. As she continued to explain the stages, David interrupted her. “So the birds – I mean flying horrors, they won’t go after us?” He asked into the radio

  “Unless you are a car, helicopter or something else that uses a lot of electricity you should be fine. Finally Stage five is the most-“

  “So all we have to do is get rid of the flying horrors by my house and you can send another helicopter right?” David interrupted her again, his eyes wide with hope once again.

  “Yes but –“

  “I will be back on this radio once they are dealt with.” David dropped the radio on the ground and bolted up the stairs. He moved so fast, Ellen didn’t have any time to tell him more.

  “David wait! I need to tell you about Stage five it’s the most important one …. David?” She said over the radio to a now empty room

  Chapter 10 – It Sings No More

  David flew out of the basement and ran around the corner into the kitchen. “Destiny!” He yelled. She walked out of the bathroom wiping her mouth. “Destiny!” David yelled again.

  “Ya?’ She replied walking across the living room. She leaned around the corner watching David in the kitchen. “What do ya need?” she asked as David searched the ground. David opened what remained of his Kitchen cabinets. He flipped over some wood looking on the ground and started moving around the room with intense speed searching for something. He squished through some puddles and headed toward the boarded up hole leading outside that the Beast had entered through earlier. He pulled on the table and pried it away from the hole. He threw it to the side and walked through the massive hole, his eyes still searching the ground. Destiny spoke again. “David?” She followed him through the hole, “What are you looking for?” David raised his eyes from the ground for only a moment and looked at Destiny.

  “When you found the pop earlier …” He started to speak but stopped as he reached down and pulled up a small board on the ground which covered a large puddle. Destiny listened intensely, waiting but was getting frustrated.

  “David!” She yelled at him. He stopped searching and stood straight up looking at Destiny. “What are you looking for?” she said calmly now with his full attention.

  “A bottle of alcohol.” He replied and continued searching the ground.

  “Alcohol?” She asked, looking at him perplexed. “Guess we could use a drink but-”

  “No I am not going to drink it.” He said interrupting her. He kicked the ground searching through the debris from his house as Destiny moved closer to him. “I know I had a bottle of whiskey!” He shouted loudly raising his hands near his head and making fists shaking them. Then, to his right, he saw a small patch of grass with something inside it. He reached in it quickly and then yelped. Destiny rushed up to him as he pulled his hand to his mouth and sucked on his finger. He had cut it on something sharp.

  “You O.K.?” She asked, crouching beside him.

  “Ya.” He said quietly. Then he reached in and pulled out what cut him. It was the bottle of whiskey he had been looking for. The top of the bottle was missing, leaving a jagged sharp top.

  “Got it!” He said enthusiastically. He held it so the alcohol left inside wouldn’t spill out and he walked back inside through the hole. Destiny shook her head with confusion on her face and followed him. Holiday stood in the Kitchen as David entered. Holiday placed his hands on his hips and spoke sharply.

  “What the hell son!” he pointed towards David with one hand. “You know how long it took us to board this up?”

  “Need your lighter Sheriff!” David said, ignoring him and holding out his hand. The broken bottle of whiskey was fairly large and still held most of the alcohol it had before it had broke.

  “I don’t have one!” He said patting his shirt and pant pockets. “Lost my Zippo at the gun store.”

  “You always have a backup,” David said moving closer to him.

  “Maybe a backup gun, but why would I have a backup lighter?”

  “I don’t know! Why would you even have a lighter? You don’t smoke!”

  “It was a gift from Vivian! She smokes!” Holiday said pointing towards the hole at the front of the house where David’s door once stood.

  “Then she would have a lighter.” David said softly looking at Holiday with sympathy. The two of them walked out the hole in the front of the house. Vivian’s body still lay where Holiday had shot her. “You wanna get it?” David asked.

  “O.K.” Holiday replied under his breath and bent down beside Vivian’s body. He made sure not to look at the remains of her head. He barely acknowledged to himself it was Vivian he was searching.

  He reached into her pockets and pulled out a small package of smokes. He opened it and looked inside. The package of smokes had only four smokes left inside, beside them also inside the package was a lighter. Holiday pulled out the lighter and handed it to David. Holiday went to close the pack when he saw on the inside of the top flap some writing. It was his name with a heart around it. Holiday hadn’t known this, but Vivian always wrote his name with a heart around it on anything she could. Holiday smiled and closed the pack putting it inside his pocket.

  David rushed to the side of his house with the broken bottle and the lighter. A few bodies of zombies who had attacked still lay by a boarded up window. He crouched down beside them and set the bottle and lighter on the ground. He reached toward one of the zombies and ripped a piece of clothing off its decomposed remains. He picked up the bottle and shoved the piece of cloth into the broken top of it. Then he grabbed the lighter and rushed back out front. Holiday and Destiny watched him whiz around, confused about what he was doing. Destiny noticed the bottle with the wick of cloth inside of it.

  “Wait!” She yelled as David rushed towards the tree. David didn’t pause for a moment and struck the lighter to ignite his homemade Molotov. The cloth on the bottle burst into flames causing him to move it further away from himself. He then swung his arm as hard as he could and tossed it up into the tree.

  The bottle hit the branches and the flaming liquid sloshed out covering a small part of the tree. Inside the tree the flying horrors began chirping loudly as the fire sp
read quickly onto them. They rushed out of the tree as the entire flock burned slowly. After a few seconds the chirping died down and the flock slowly fell to the ground. It looked as if a fireball had launched into the sky and was now falling to pieces. David cheered as Holiday and Destiny watched in awe. Another moment of hope filled them as the final flying horror fell to the ground dead.

  “We are getting out of here!” David yelled in excitement as he ran back toward the house. Holiday clapped briefly and Destiny flashed David another smile. He rushed into the living room and nearly jumped down the stairs into the basement. He picked up the radio and pressed the button once again.

  “Ellen?” He said nearly out of breath. “Ellen its David - come in.” He stuck his tongue out of his mouth and bit it waiting for a response.

  “Thank god! Hello David!” Ellen said over the radio enthusiastically. “What the hell happened?”

  “The bird thingies are taken care of!” David exclaimed. “You can send another chopper!” David smiled so widely he believed his face was about to rip into two.

  “It will take us about an hour to get to you! Good job!” Ellen congratulated David and the radio once again went dead. David, still holding the radio, ran up the stairs to the living room. Holiday and Destiny sat on the couch drinking more warm soda.

  “We are getting out of here!” David said cheerfully.

  “About time!” Holiday said, relaxing back into the couch. Destiny only smiled and took another drink of pop. David sat on the couch with them, beside Destiny. They all smiled thinking about how it was all almost over. The next hour crawled by. They just continued to sit there and nobody said anything. David at one point grabbed Destiny’s pop out of her hand and took a drink. Still showing a disgusted face, he handed it back as Destiny chuckled.

  The sound of a helicopter approached and landed almost exactly to the minute that Ellen had told David it would. The three of them rushed outside to it. The helicopter was almost the length of David’s house. A group of men in military uniforms stood beside it, aiming their guns all around, dutifully on guard for anything.

  Destiny and Holiday ran up the ramp the helicopter had lowered out of its side. David turned to look at his house once more. It was barely recognizable. He headed into the helicopter and within seconds the armed men jumped inside and the ramp slid in while the door closed.

  The helicopter lifted off the ground and moved quickly over the fields on its way toward Iowa City. The inside of the helicopter was massive compared to what David thought it would be. A long cargo type of helicopter, it had seats jury-rigged to the sides all the way along the inside. The group couldn’t hear the helicopter blades but they knew they were moving. Holiday began to feel sick but took a deep breath and closed his eyes. Destiny sat next to Holiday as a large man, wearing a long white coat, kneeled in front of her. He was looking at her wrist and asking her questions about the pain. Destiny smiled at David who sat down on the other side of the helicopter across from her. The man with the white coat slid out of her way toward Holiday and started asking Holiday about his leg. Destiny stood up and walked across the helicopter toward David. The helicopter shook violently for a moment causing Destiny to fall onto David. He held her in his arms as she looked at him in surprise. He flashed a smile at her and she giggled uncontrollably. Across the helicopter isle Holiday, with his eyes now open and answering the doctor’s questions, smiled and looked toward the two of them. David and Destiny stared into each other’s eyes romantically. Destiny turned her head away slightly and flung her long hair off her shoulders. Then she looked back at David and lunged forward. Her lips pressed up against his as he closed his eyes. He placed his hand on the back of her head and leaned her back slightly. They kissed several times causing Holiday’s smile to grow even wider.

  “We will be landing in two minutes!” The pilot yelled over the intercom speaker. Destiny pushed on David’s chest and moved her head back. She looked sensually into his eyes and slid into the seat next to him. She rested her head onto his shoulder as he looked toward Holiday. Holiday nodded at him, still smiling. David smirked slightly and they both let out a loud laugh as the doctor walked away into the front of the helicopter. David hoped this was going to happen with Destiny. Ever since they had met there were sparks. “There is going to be a slight delay while we look into something.” The pilot said loudly over the intercom as the doctor came back into the compartment they were in and stood in front of Holiday.

  “Sir, can you please come with me to the back compartment?” The doctor spoke softly and clearly as two of the military men walked to his side.

  “Something wrong?” Holiday asked sitting forward.

  “What’s going on?” David asked, slowly standing up as Destiny raised her head.

  “Just need to do some routine tests.” The doctor replied, smiling gently at Holiday. Holiday hesitated to do anything and opened his mouth unsure of what to say. “Just routine with an open wound, we have to make sure you’re not infected.” The doctor reached out one hand toward Holiday and with the other pointed to a room at the back of the massive plane.

  “Alright.” Holiday said standing up. They began walking to the back of the helicopter as Holiday looked at the two armed military men with suspicion. The doctor ran in front of Holiday and opened the door. He still smiled politely gesturing for Holiday to go inside. Holiday nodded and the four of them headed into the room. David sat down into his chair worried about his friend. Destiny patted on his leg and whispered,

  “It’s going to be O.K.” Her words soothed David. He sighed and nodded in agreement with her as he placed his hand on top of hers. “Holiday is tough, I mean he has been shot in the leg, he has been blown up, and he was even punched by you!” She continued jokingly. David chuckled and leaned his head back resting it on the uncomfortable chair. After a few minutes the pilot once again came on the intercom.

  “We are now beginning descent. Please be ready to disembark quickly upon arrival.” The back door opened and the doctor and military men stepped out. David looked toward the back at the men. He grew worried almost right away. He was about to stand up and ask about Holiday when Holiday limped through the door behind the doctor. His leg was fully bandaged with gauze and he held a crutch under his arm.

  “He is going to be O.K.” the doctor said as they walked back towards David. David was relieved; anytime until now, whenever something good had happened there would be something worse that followed. Little did he know - something worse was still ahead for him and his group. The helicopter landed with a loud clang of metal on concrete. The door on the side of the helicopter flew open and the ramp slid out.

  Chapter 11-Scientific Method

  The helicopter had landed on an enormous building in the center of Iowa City. Trinity Corporation Tower was the tallest skyscraper in the city and was just erected a few months ago. The large landing pad on the top of it was mainly used for unmanned research deployment drones for the weather but it was large enough for the massive helicopter to land on. The group stepped out and walked down the ramp. The doctor, who had checked them over in the helicopter, ran ahead of them and opened a door leading to some stairs from the roof. As the three of them walked toward the door, a large group of armed military men rushed to the roof nearly pushing the doctor to the ground. They ran into the helicopter and it quickly lifted off the building.

  “This way please!” The doctor yelled politely as he headed down the stairs. The group followed him and started heading down the stairs. They walked down several flights, some more easily than others. Holiday limped his way down them, barely using the crutch given to him. Destiny and David held hands and followed closely behind him ready to help if he ever asked or seemed to need it.

  “How many stories is this building Doc?” Holiday grunted as he held the railing.

  “The TCT has one hundred and four stories, just four less than the sears tower in Chicago” The Doctor said proudly as he waited at the next landing beside a door. “Sorr
y, the Willis tower I believe it’s called now.” He smiled and held his hands in front of his stomach.

  “TCT?” Holiday asked.

  “Trinity Corporation Tower.” The man said with a wide grin on his face,

  “And what floor are we on?”

  Holiday asked leaning against the wall once he reached the landing the Doctor was at.

  “We are at ninety eight!” He said motioning toward the stairs leading down. “Doctor Ellen Page is on eighty eight, where we are heading” The Doctor said with a slight spring in his step as he proceeded down the stairs.

  “No elevator on this floor that we can take the rest of the way huh?” Holiday asked opening the door beside him. The Doctor ran back up to the landing and held the door shut.

  “I’m sorry that is restricted access only.” He said with a straight face and a demeaning tone. “Eighty nine is the lowest unrestricted level and-” The Doctor smiled again and shrugged, “well there would be no point in using the elevator to go one more floor at that point.” Then he continued down the stairs quickly. David reached forward towards Holiday as he breathed heavily.

  “I’m alright!” He said waiving David’s hand away, “no point in using the elevator to go one more floor.” Holiday said mocking the Doctor and then continued following him. David smiled slightly and walking with Destiny, they headed to the eighty-eighth floor.

  “Here we are!” The Doctor said opening the door as they finally reached the landing. “I have to go to the twelfth floor so this is where I say goodbye! Doctor Page will see you inside!”

  Holiday leaned on his crutch as sweat poured off his head. “If you remove the hat it may help you cool off!” The Doctor said enthusiastically. Holiday looked at him and flashed a grin for a moment. Then he walked into the room with David and Destiny behind him. The Doctor entered behind them and closed the door, then rushed off towards the nearby elevator and pressed the button. Holiday sneered and mumbled something under his breath. David couldn’t tell what he said but he knew it was nothing pleasant.