“Gregors.” David said looking towards him with a solemn look. Eric’s smile slowly faded as he remembered the name.
“Great …” He said with a monotone depressed voice.
“What?!” Destiny yelled. She was not from around there and had no idea what was going on.
In Lone Tree everyone knows everyone. Gregors were known as the hermits who lived on the farm outside of town. His parents never got into town unless it was with or for David. After they passed away, David made sure he was not seen the same way and frequented town on a daily basis. Slowly, the stigma of his last name dimmed down and he would have to remind people of who his parents were, although he didn’t like to do that.
“His place is a little bit outside of town,” Eric said softly gesturing toward David. “We would need a car to get there anytime soon.”
“Oh.” Destiny said pausing and looking at the ground they all seemed to enjoy looking at so much. “Great.”
“Viv might have one in her garage.” David said. “If it meant us getting out of here she would take us to my place.”
“Then let’s get going!” Destiny said jumping off the bed.
“We should hurry; rescue could be arriving there any minute.” Eric said heading toward the tent flap.
“Watch as you go outside.” David said quietly, “We have been making a lot of noise, anything can be out there.” Eric rushed out of the tent ignoring David’s advice.
“It’s clear!” Eric shouted. Destiny and David walked quickly outside, their eyes adjusting to the dark and quickly revealing Eric and an empty park field. “Viv lives over there right?” Eric asked, pointing his hammer toward a group of trees.
“Yup, hopefully she is there. I know Holiday cared a lot about her,” David checked the magazine of his gun once more and readied his weapon. “Too many losses and we need a win right now.” He said with great enthusiasm as he started jogging across the field, ignoring the exhaustion which was nearly crippling him. The others followed, ready for anything.
Just then, two figures emerged from the tree line ahead of them. David dove to the ground to hide in the dark. Destiny and Eric crouched just behind him as Destiny aimed her guns toward the figures. They moved toward the three of them slowly but silently. David began thinking about who they could be. ‘If they were people they might not have seen them, but if they were zombies, why weren’t they moaning?’ David’s mind raced with thoughts as the figures grew closer and closer. Finally, they heard it: a horrific moan as one of the figures fell to the ground. It slid up to its feet and walked forward. Now David’s mind had other questions which he could not answer. ‘Could they see in the dark? Are they just wandering aimlessly or driven by the flesh on his body?’ David aimed his gun carefully and was about to fire. Just then Eric whistled slightly. David looked back to see Eric creeping past him pointing at his hammer. He whispered
“I got this.” Eric walked swiftly around to the side of the zombies. They didn’t turn to him and continued shuffling toward David. He looked back at Destiny who was still pointing her guns toward them. He looked forward and watched as Eric crept up behind one of the zombies and bashed it in the head. It fell quickly with the sound of bones cracking. The other zombie turned toward Eric and shuffled closer. Eric kicked it back, causing it to fall to the ground. He stood over it and repeatedly bashed at its head with his hammer. David and Destiny walked towards him as he continued to bash the zombie. Finally, he stopped and threw his hands up holding the hammer and yelling “WOO!” The second he yelled it, he lowered his hands realizing what he had done. Figures from the tree line emerged from all around them. Eric’s celebration had drawn some attention. Destiny dropped her head in disappointment,
“I thought Jane was bad.” She said quietly, then raised her guns and began firing at the figures. Moans seemed to fill the park as the countless zombies swarmed closer to the group. Eric ran up to a few that were by themselves and beat them over the head. Now he was shouting just to draw their attention, making it easier for him to aim at a target coming head on rather than side to side.
“Push to Viv’s!” David yelled as he ran toward the trees closest to Vivian’s house. He fired into the zombies in front of him trying to clear a path but more just filled the gap. David paused as pain gripped his chest. Lack of sleep had caught up to him, his body was shutting down from all the physical exhaustion he had endured since this all started. His body fell to the ground with a thud.
“David!” Destiny yelled as she ran over to his body, still firing into the zombies who were getting ever closer. “Eric! Help!” She screamed.
Eric ran over to her and grabbed one of David’s arms.
“Grab the other one!” He yelled. Destiny handed him one of her pistols and together they pulled him back toward the tent while firing into the horde of zombies wildly. David was completely passed out, still holding tightly onto his pistol.
“What are we going to do?!” she screamed as her gun clicked. She reloaded quickly only letting go of David’s arm for a moment.
“Bring him to the tent!” Eric yelled back
“That won’t help!” She screamed.
“I know!” Eric let go of David’s arm and dropped his gun.
“What are you doing?!”
“What can we do?!” He screamed as he fell to his knees. The zombies closed in and were only feet away as a car horn rang through the air. Sheriff Holiday’s car lights shone brightly at the group as it accelerated towards them. It swerved and plowed into a bunch of zombies in front of them. The door closest to them opened and Holiday leaned over from the driver’s side and yelled at them.
“Get in!” Stunned for a moment Destiny dropped her gun. She picked it back up almost right away. Eric stood up and grabbed David’s arm. Together they dragged him to the back door and flung it open. The shoved him inside, causing his gun to fall out of his hand and onto the ground. Destiny jumped into the front seat as zombies surrounded the car and pushed the door closed on her. She shoved at the door knocking back a few zombies and jumped into the passenger seat. Eric dove into the back and pulled at his door. An arm of a zombie reached in, clawing at him menacingly.
“Drive sheriff!” Eric screamed trying to hold the door closed. The car jumped forward, running over a group of the zombies. Then suddenly, the car wouldn’t move forward anymore. Its front tires spun on the bodies beneath it.
“Give us a push will ya!” Holiday jokingly yelled at the zombies. The windows all around the car began to crack as zombies wailed on them with their fists and heads. Holiday put his car in reverse and stepped on the gas as hard as he could. The car launched backward, mowing down several zombies behind it. “Thank you kindly!” He said loudly and waved at the zombies that were in front of the vehicle. He turned his head around, flashing a massive smile as he stared out the back window and drove out of the park through the destroyed bushes his car had made coming into the park. When the car hit the road, he swerved sharply and came to a stop. He threw the car into drive and did just that. He sped faster than he ever had in his life and within seconds, they arrived at Vivian’s house. The clearly insane sheriff opened his car door and limped toward the house. Destiny got out and looked around for the horde. They moaned loudly from inside the park and were nowhere to be seen. Eric still held a zombie arm with one hand and the door with the other, his eyes closed tight. Destiny swung open the door; Eric opened his eyes, suddenly realizing what was happening and he dropped the zombie arm with a thud. He then got out of the car and pulled David closer to the door. The two of them carried David and followed Holiday. Holiday reached the front door and knocked some sort of jingle on the door. The door opened and they headed inside.
Vivian was one of the nicest people anyone had ever met. She was normally emotionless with her words but everyone knew she cared deeply about them. She was short for her age, had long brown hair and had rings on almost every finger on both hands. She motioned for them to bring David to the next room and closed th
e door behind them.
A few hours later
David’s eyes slowly opened as the sunlight hit his face from a window beside the bed. He could hear laughter and for a moment thought he was a child again. He sat up quickly as he thought about the last thing he remembered. The intense pain and everything going dark was all he could recall. He pulled off a huge comforter from on top of him and then flung it back onto himself. He was naked, and his clothes were nowhere to be seen. Again he heard laughter from outside the door of the room he was in. It was a nice room; it had brightly colored flowers by the window, clean white flower wallpaper, a large mirror and dresser.
“Hello!” David yelled.
“David’s up!” Eric yelled as laughter erupted once more. The door opened as Destiny walked into the room.
“Morning!” she said cheerfully. “Sleep well?” she placed David’s clothes on the mirrored dresser as David nodded slowly.
“How…?”David started to ask but was cut off.
“Just get dressed and come in the next room. We are all waiting for you.” Destiny closed the bedroom door smiling wide and walked away. David, still confused, got out of the comforter and threw on his clothes quickly. They were cleaner than he had ever had them. He opened the door and walked into the next room. Eric sat in an enormous cushioned arm chair and he sat forward saluting David. Destiny stood with her arms crossed, leaning up against a table. Vivian and Holiday stood next to her, facing away from David and toward the table. “Holiday!” David said with excitement. Holiday turned around and smirked at him. “How did you -?” again David was cut off
“You didn’t think a little old thing like a fire would stop me did ya?” He laughed.
“No but it wasn’t exactly just a fire sheriff.” David said walking up to Holiday and hugging him.
“Bah! Wasn’t anything I couldn’t handle.” Holiday said as David stepped back.
“What about the rescue?!” David raised his voice and turned toward Eric. Vivian walked up behind him and placed her hand on his shoulder.
“It would take them at least another day to reach your place.” She said. David smiled and gave Vivian an enormous hug lifting her off the ground and twirling her around. “Last I heard on the radio they had medical teams all over the place helping people. Iowa City should be safe by now.”
“Finally some good news!” Destiny rejoiced.
“Destiny helped you out of your clothes last night,” Eric said leaning forward once again, “So Viv could wash them.” Eric raised his eyebrows up and down. David looked at Destiny who was shaking her head no at Eric, then looked at David and smiled.
“I’m impressed by the way.” She said with a giggle.
“Anyway!” David tried to change the subject as he smirked. “How did you get out of that store Holiday?” Holiday led David to the couch and they both sat down.
“This ought to be good.” Eric said, “He has told the story a few times now, every time it gets more unbelievable.”
“That is because every time I remember more about how it happened.” Holiday said as they all chuckled. David looked around confused at first, then Holiday started his story.
Chapter 7 – Incredible Adventure
“It happened like this,” Holiday said, “So there I was lying on the ground with my leg missing-!” David grabbed Holiday’s leg,
“Looks attached to me sheriff.” He said cutting him off.
“I’ll get to that!” He said, moving David’s hand off him. “It is now but-” he sighed heavily, “You wanna hear this story or not?” he said looking sternly at David.
David smiled uncontrollably and nodded his head yes as Eric chuckled quietly.
“Like I said I was lying there on the ground with my leg missing when the fire started. You see what happened was, The Beast let out a terrible roar and breathed fire all over the place. I, having misplaced my lighter, took this opportunity to light a cigar I had been keeping for a special occasion.”
“Now The Beast started the fire?” Destiny said rolling her eyes.
“That’s right now hush.” Holiday replied before continuing. “When I lit that cigar The Beast got really angry. Well, I had just about enough of his attitude. So I grabbed my leg which lay at the feet of the creature and shoved a piece of metal pipe into where the bone used to be.”
“Where did you get the pipe?” Eric asked. Holiday stared at him and put his fingers up to his lips. “Sorry.” Eric said and chuckled once more. It was becoming clear why everyone thought this story was amusing.
“So now I had my severed leg in my hand with a pipe sticking out of it and I rammed it into the stub where it once was. It was at that time I stood up.” Holiday stood up from the couch, bandages and wood wrapped around his leg where Jane had shot him earlier. “The Beast, in what was obviously a jealous rage towards my super humanness, roared a second time. This time I ducked under its fire breath!” Holiday bent over re-enacting his harrowing tale.
“I ran up to The Beast and punched it right in the jaw, locking its teeth together as to keep its mouth closed.”
David leaned back into the couch and shook his head in disbelief. “The Beast grew angrier and picked me up with its massive arms. It shook slightly as I admit I have put on a few pounds recently.”
Everyone chuckled including David.
“Then it threw me through the backdoor into the parking lot behind the store as its teeth unlocked and it breathed fire once more. I stood my ground though and pulled out my lighter. I said ‘two can play with fire!’ and I thrust it into a gas main erupting the building and saving everyone.” Holiday bowed as everyone clapped and cheered. “Then all I did was get to Viv’s and after that come save you lot when we heard the commotion.”
Viv chimed in “Only reason that part wasn’t in the story is cuz he hasn’t thought up a way to explain how he rode a horse to your rescue yet.” Everyone laughed wildly.
“You’re so full of shit sheriff.” David said as he stood up beside Holiday, “But I am glad you made it.” David smiled at Holiday.
“Now that we have all gotten some rest,” Holiday said, “We should head to David’s place. From what Destiny and Viv tell me, rescue is going to be there sometime today or tonight.” Everyone nodded in agreement. Destiny walked up to David and handed Holiday’s old gun to him.
“Viv had more ammo for it,” she said pointing at the table. On the table was a small box filled with .44 magnum bullets. Beside the box was a crudely drawn map of the town. On it, David’s house was circled with a red marker.
On the floor was a very large backpack. Everyone started walking around and gathering things to put in it. They put in food of all kinds and some backup ammunition. David grabbed the box of ammo and jammed it into his pants pocket. It only sat half way in; even the slowest movement would cause it to fall out.
“I gave everyone a fanny pack,” Viv said, “Yours is on the table.” David picked up the fanny pack off the table. It would hold the small box of bullets easily. He clipped it around his waist and unzipped it. He placed the box into it and zipped it shut nodding his head slightly in agreement.
“Guess fashion don’t mean much now.” He said as he looked around at the others smiling. Nobody gave David the response he was hoping for; they just continued to pack some food in the backpack and reloaded their weapons. David’s smile faded and he shrugged slightly, walking toward the front door. He peered out of the window in the top of the door. Outside seemed overly peaceful compared to any other time. Even before the zombies, the city was always moving. He looked up at the sky as the sun dimmed. Thick black clouds were rolling in from out of town. Thunder crackled in the distance, everyone stopped what they were doing and listened.
“You gotta be kidding me…” Eric said.
“Rain never hurt nobody.” Holiday replied zipping up the backpack.
“No but floods do!” Eric yelled.
Holiday rolled his eyes and carried the backpack to the door ignoring Eric.
“Three in the back, two in front. Won’t be horrible.” David said as he turned the door knob and opened the door.
They all walked quickly out of the house; David in the lead with his massive pistol, followed by Holiday holding a shotgun, then Destiny with her two 9mm pistols, Eric with his hammer, and Vivian in the rear holding Destiny’s hunting knife. Vivian closed her door behind her and locked it quickly. Her house was relatively unmarked by the recent events. A single zombie corpse sprawled across her lawn in several pieces and only one of her windows was boarded up.
Vivian had run home once everything started going badly on that first night. She ran across town and into her home forgetting her car at the sheriff’s office. Since then, she had been careful not to draw a lot of attention. She never had lights on even during the day and living alone she had no reason to talk or yell. The houses around her were badly vandalized with scorch marks, dents and the occasional blood splatters but hers was still surrounded by bright white paneling almost completely untouched.
Together they walked toward Holiday’s car, aiming their guns all around them. Rain began to fall slowly; it lightly bounced off the brim of Holiday’s hat making loud spatter noises. Then, in what seemed like seconds later, the rain started to pour down ferociously. As the rain soaked their clothes, Eric and Destiny hopped in the back seat with Vivian, as David and Holiday jumped into the front.
Then they heard a sound they hoped they would never hear again. A monstrous roar filled the city. Down the street at the intersection, heading out of town, they saw debris fly through the air from around the corner.
“Hey guys!” David said, “I know Holiday’s story was full of shit but that monster was inside the store when it blew up right?” He turned to the back seat towards Eric and Destiny who just shrugged.
Infestation (Book 1): Infestation Iowa (A Zombie Survival Series) Page 6