He neared the end of the group of zombies when they all stopped moving towards the Trinity building. David cleared the group of zombies and continued walking forward, thinking about his father and how, if he had hurt Mother, he would pay. David glanced behind him at the group of zombies he had just walked through; they were now turned around and following David. David stopped and wondered why they changed direction and as he stood in wonder the group of zombies suddenly stopped also. David began thinking about his father again and how he wanted to hurt him if he had hurt Mother. The zombies began moving again, faster this time, toward David. David started to think it was possible he was willing them toward the forest behind him…toward his father! David looked to the side of the street at a broken down store. He focused the anger he felt toward his father and projected it toward the store. The zombies lunged to the side, attacking the store and wailing on the walls. They broke the window on the front and started crawling inside.
“You have to be kidding me,” David said as he now believed what his father said. David had willed them to attack the store. More zombies came from around another corner. Some were fast ones, others were slow and some were even crawling on the ground missing a leg or two. They began heading toward the store also snarling and moaning. David shook his head. “Oh my god” David said loudly. He thought back to Doc in the sheriff office. How Holiday froze and let Doc die. David was angry at Holiday then and once Doc turned into a zombie he lunged for Holiday. He remembered the Beast at the Gun Store and how annoyed David was with Jane’s stupidity. Most of those times, he remembered that the zombies would have attacked regardless of David’s feelings but there were a few times he remembered where he could have willed them to attack. David turned and ran toward the forest. Guilt ridden, he began to sob slightly. He exited town very quickly and ran into the forest. The sun, now completely set, caused the woods to be almost impossible to see in.
Ahead of David was a light shining out of a window from the log cabin. He rushed toward it, feeling he would be safe from his guilt once he reached it. He could blame everything on his father and mother and none of the things that had happened were his fault. After a few minutes of running toward the light, he finally reached the cabin. He looked in the window and saw a bunch of books, a computer on a table, a few table lights turned on but no father. He pulled at the front door trying to get inside but it was locked shut and wouldn’t budge. He ran around the side of the cabin and noticed a large light that lit up the other side of the cabin. David rushed toward it, coming around the corner to the rear of the cabin. A large rock was lying near the house with a thin post stuck in it. At the top of the post was a lantern which lit up a wide area around him.
Just then a massive force struck David from behind and flung him a few feet forward, head first. He watched below him as he flew over the ground and then he looked up as his face drilled into the rock that held the post. It took him a few seconds to recover from the hit and he rolled over onto his back with his eyes closed. He sat up slowly as his head pounded and blood trickled from his forehead. He opened his eyes and saw at the edge of the light his father standing there wearing a bright white lab coat. Everything was blurry to him but he could see beside his father was The Beast.
“You’re so much like your mother son.” His father said to him slowly. The Beast was hunched over almost frozen in place. Its’ one arm was skinnier then the other because of the unnatural healing. David realized it was the same Beast from earlier at his house.
“She wanted to ‘give’ the cure away also.” He continued with a sinister tone. “She didn’t want to control the virus; she wanted it to never begin in the first place.” His father laughed wildly. “She wanted to destroy all of our hard work!” He yelled toward David and moved closer. “She wanted to give it to Ellen and those bureaucrats at Trinity.” His father sneered and turned away as David reached forward to grab him. His hand hit the ground and he slumped forward. “Then after the accident with you, we had gone too far!” He said mocking David mother’s voice. “I tried to reason with her son - I really did. But she was persistent.” He said pointing a finger at the ground. David’s eyes started to clear, causing his blurry vision to return to normal. “Then she tried to destroy our work!” He yelled once more as The Beast roared into the night. “I got so angry with her,” His father continued as he walked up beside the Beast. David’s headache slowly pounded less and less. His father placed his hand on The Beasts massive arm, “then Gary here took care of her.” David’s eyes opened wide and he stood to his feet slowly.
“Gary?” David struggled to ask. His father turned back toward David and smiled.
“Yes that’s what I named him. Wasn’t his fault - he was just reacting to my emotions at the time.”
His father turned back to The Beast and patted his arm with his hand. “But I have learned to control it since….that accident.”
David, still gripping his massive pistol, raised it toward his father. Anger filled his eyes and he pulled the trigger.
The Beast lunged in front of his father causing the bullet to bounce off its skin. “So much like your mother.” His father said disappointedly as he leaned out from behind The Beast. David held his gun and aimed it shakily towards them. David’s head was hurt badly; blood began to pour more steadily out of the wound on his forehead that was caused by hitting the massive boulder.
His father sighed loudly, “You may be immune but if I will Gary here to smash or move somewhere - he still will, son. Plus, once you die the immunity wears off and you turn just like the rest.” His father patted The Beast on the back. “I guess that’s that then.” His father shrugged. He leaned up behind the beast and smiled. “Go get em.” His father whispered as he enjoyed the control he possessed.
The Beast flew across the ground and swung at David hitting him in the stomach and flinging him into the cabin wall. David let out a loud grunt as he hit the wall and then the ground. He coughed and tried to stand up but was not able to. He barely found the strength to raise his gun toward The Beast. The Beast reached out and grabbed the gun from David’s hand, throwing it behind itself, smashing it off the rock. Then The Beast picked up David by the throat and lifted him into the air. David gasped for air and placed his hands around The Beasts hands.
“Dad!” He grunted. “Stop!”
“I am no longer your father son!” His father yelled walking up behind the Beast and sitting on the rock. The Beast growled loudly and brought its tiny head towards David’s face. Now face to face it squeezed his neck tighter and tighter. “You are a failed experiment and I should have killed you when I killed your mother!” he yelled, picking up David’s gun from the ground. The Beast then stopped growling suddenly. Its hand loosened as David’s face turned into an anger he had not yet known. The Beast released his throat and took a step back. David fell to the ground, partly standing up. He knelt on one knee and breathed harshly and quickly. David’s father looked at the Beast in confusion and yelled at it, “Kill him!”
The Beast turned to the side of the cabin and began walking slowly away. David stood up finally catching his breath. He looked toward his father sitting on the rock. His father screamed at The Beast once more, “Get back here Gary!” His father held the sides of his own head and tried to force the Beast to come back with his mind.
David stood with blood pouring out of his head, looking at his father angrily.
Off in the darkness of the forest, a rattling sound of chains echoed. The Beast stopped and with its massive arm, bashed the side of the cabin pouring out the light from inside of it as David willed it to. The light from the cabin shone into the dark forest, showing a tree with a very badly disfigured zombie tied to it in chains. David snapped his gaze back toward his father and stared intently as the anger in him grew. Even with the zombie being so badly disfigured, he could tell who it was. The clothing was once her favorite and even covered in mud, he could see her blonde hair clearly. It was David’s mother tied to a tree – obviously
dead for a long time. The Beast roared as David’s anger grew into a rage, moans surrounded the cabin as zombies shuffled towards it from all around. David’s anger had reached far away and brought many zombies from town and the fields around it toward the cabin.
“How?” David’s father asked, lowering his hands and listening to the sounds around him. “How are you controlling all of them?” His face turned to confusion as he looked toward David.
David sneered at his father as The Beast’s roar echoed once more. It rushed to the edge of the light and pulled up a massive log from the ground as David walked up to his father. David grabbed his father by his white lab coat and brought his face up to his.
“Where is the cure?’ David asked sternly. “Tell me!” He yelled into his father’s face.
“Our blood is the cure son. But it won’t matter!” His father screamed at David while looking into his eyes with fear. David shook his father back and forth.
“Why not!” David demanded.
“With Ellen gone, the only people who could make a cure now are so far away by the time you got there it would be too late.” His father smiled and placed one hand on David’s arm. “I sent everything I could towards Trinity building after you left son.”
His father patted his arm. “There is nothing left of it.” David heard a gun click and then a piercing shot rang into the air. David flew back as his father lowered the gun he had pointed towards David’s stomach.
“Where is the closest place?” David asked, slumping to the ground holding his stomach with his hands. Blood poured out onto his hands and he slowly laid back.
“Still thinking you can save the world eh son?” His father chuckled slightly. “Seeing how you won’t be around once the sun rises, let me tell you.” His father set David’s gun down on the ground and sat back on top of the rock. “New York City.” He laughed hysterically. “Not a chance in hell you’re going to get there!” His father pulled out a package of smokes and began to light a cigarette. David sat up as his father’s lighter ignited the tip of the cigarette with a dark red glow. His father looked toward David, shocked he was able to move. “Wow you are determined aren’t you?” His father said shaking his head and inhaling his smoke. David smiled and looked up at his father.
“Thank you for telling me….father.” David laughed as the blood stopped pouring out of his stomach. He stood to his feet and stared intently at his father. His father’s mouth opened wide as his cigarette hung in his mouth. “Whoever has the immunity virus,” David continued to speak as his father stood up,” can heal themselves from almost any injury aside from head wounds,” He said pointing at his head which still poured blood. “Can even walk freely past them and even control them.” David pointed towards The Beast named Gary. As his father looked, the Beast threw the massive log at him. It smacked into his face, chopping his head clean off. It also hit the pole behind his father sending the lantern into the trees igniting the bushes and leaves on the ground. David’s anger subsided slightly as the bullet wound on his stomach healed over. The Beast roared once more and ran off into the wilderness as David willed it to. The fire spread quickly to the cabin and surrounded David in a ring of flames. He slumped down beside the rock and in front of his father’s headless body. He breathed heavily, his shirt in shambles and jeans badly charred with soot as the fire raged on.
The crackling of fire all around him was all he could hear. It was so loud. The light of the fire flickered in the dark as the nearby log cabin slowly burned. He started to hear movement all around him in the forest, but could not see through the ring of flames. He knew it was the zombies he had drawn toward him but he no longer willed them to do anything. He had given up and was no longer angry enough. Blood poured from his forehead, filling his brow and steadily it dripped onto the ground as he closed his eyes and began to pass out from exhaustion and blood loss.
The cold night air howled as he slowly lost consciousness, his short black hair slightly moving with the breeze. Then a sudden loud snap of wood and an enormous thud caused him to whip his head to the side, a massive tree had fallen, severing the ring of fire that surrounded him and landing just beside the rock he leaned against. He picked up his pistol on the ground and barely raised it with his arm toward the opening the tree had made. He groaned and was shaking from both the fear and the pain. He knew what came next; he had seen it too much, the first couple fall down easy, but it all ends the same. You scream in pain and wish you ate one of your own bullets before they are through with you. He didn’t have the strength to control them anymore. He could barely stay awake. He saw a figure climb onto the tree on the other side of the fire. It began slowly walking toward him. As it got closer, the fire around it made it light enough so David could see what it was. His pain subsided. His fear turned to anger at what he saw. His eyes narrowed and then he fired.
The bullet flew out of the gun and across the yard. It plowed into his mother’s head as her zombie remains shambled across the log. The tree had fallen and freed her from her chains. David had put her out of her misery and could now rest.
Chapter 14 – Aftermath
The sun rose over Iowa City a few hours later. The Trinity Building stood badly damaged from the attack. All types of infected attacked last night, causing many guards and scientists to die. Destiny and Holiday stood on the roof of the building looking out toward the forest that David had gone to yesterday. Smoke billowed out of it as the entire forest burned. Holiday placed his hand on Destiny’s shoulder.
“He probably made it out and is on his way here now.” He said to her as her eyes filled with tears. Slowly, off in the distance, they heard a sound. It was an engine revving and getting closer to them. They looked around for where the sound was coming from. Below in the city half way between the burning forest and themselves was a station wagon blazing through the street. No Flying Horrors were left nearby and most of the zombies in the city had died during the battle. The car drove over groups of dead bodies as it hurtled toward the tower. Destiny ran toward the stairs and bolted down them. Holiday, with his leg feeling much better, followed after her. They exited on the floor they last saw David on and pushed the elevator button. After seconds which felt like hours, the doors opened and they jumped inside. They headed to the ground level in hopes the car was being driven by David. It was a small hope but they clung to anything they could. Finally, the doors opened and they exited into the lobby. Most of the scientists and armed guards were nowhere to be seen. They rushed through the revolving doors and bolted toward the opening in the fence. No guards stood there and most of the fence was tipped over. The car stood in front of them only feet away as the door opened. Destiny’s heart skipped a beat as David emerged. Holiday smiled and lifting his sheriff hat off his head he cheered raising it high above him. Destiny nearly jumped into David’s arms and gave him a kiss she never thought she would be able to give him again once he left.
“I’m so glad your back!” She exclaimed as he pulled his head away.
“We aren’t done yet.” He said, looking deeply into her eyes. He turned his head toward Holiday. “We have to go to New York!” He shouted at him.
“Wha- Why?” Holiday asked lowering his hat somewhat disappointed they couldn’t rest.
“You think your story was good Holiday?” David said smirking. “Wait until you hear what happened to me.”
Table of Contents
Dedication
Disclaimer
Acknowledgments
Chapter 1 – The End of the Beginning
Chapter 2 – Meanwhile
Chapter 3 – David’s Run
Chapter 4 – Meeting Destiny
Chapter 5 –The Beast
Chapter 6 – Trinity
Chapter 7 – Incredible Adventure
Chapter 8 – Holdout
Chapter 9 – Rescue?
Chapter 10 – It Sings No More
Chapter 11- Scientific Method
Chapter 12 – Mindgames
Chapter 13 �
�� End Thy Name is David
Chapter 14 – Aftermath
Table of Contents
Dedication
Disclaimer
Acknowledgments
Chapter 1 – The End of the Beginning
Chapter 2 – Meanwhile
Chapter 3 – David’s Run
Chapter 4 – Meeting Destiny
Chapter 5 –The Beast
Chapter 6 – Trinity
Chapter 7 – Incredible Adventure
Chapter 8 – Holdout
Chapter 9 – Rescue?
Chapter 10 – It Sings No More
Chapter 11- Scientific Method
Chapter 12 – Mindgames
Chapter 13 – End Thy Name is David
Chapter 14 – Aftermath
Infestation (Book 1): Infestation Iowa (A Zombie Survival Series) Page 12