Zombie Civilization: Genesis (Zombie Civilization Saga)

by Steven Ehrman

  “We don’t have time. There could be fifty of those things about to jump us. We need a plan now. Right now. You always act like the leader, so come on and lead,” said Steve. “The leader of your fan club abandoned us and left us on foot, so what are we gonna do? What are we gonna do?”

  “Will you just be quiet?” I said raising my hand. “Will ya? Will you just get yourself under control and be quiet? Will ya? Will ya do me a kindness and get a hold of yourself? Will ya do me a kindness? The last thing we need is to lose our heads and start fighting amongst ourselves.”

  With that, Steve sank back to one knee and pulled his hat down over his brow. His face was no longer visible in the darkness and I could not gauge his expression or his attitude, but he was right about one thing. We were in trouble and out in the open we could not last. Where in the world was Jude?

  “All right, here’s what we are going to do,” I said firmly and I hoped calmly. “We are going to keep moving away from where we know the creatures were, and we’re going to keep on the look out for some place we can hole up for the night. The woman said they are less active in the day. Tomorrow, maybe we can get out of town and… well, we’ll worry about that tomorrow.”

  Harley said nothing and I took his silence for agreement, but as usual Steve had his own ideas.

  “What’s wrong with this house right here or this shed?”

  “Listen, Steve, we’re too close to where all the action is. We’ve got them stirred up around here. Besides, I am not about to poke my nose into a dark house anytime soon. If we get caught in a small enclosed place again with those things at night, our guns might not save us. They’ll swarm over us and that’ll be it. Curtains, baby. Let’s keep looking for someplace that’s secure, but someplace we ain’t gonna get trapped or ambushed in.”

  With that, we took off more slowly and in single file. For a few minutes we crept from shadow to shadow, trying not to make any noise. Harley stepped on a branch on the ground and it snapped under his weight. It sounded like a gunshot and we froze for a few seconds. I now knew what it felt like to be the hunted and not the hunter. We kept moving at a stealthy pace and crossed through from yard to yard and crossed several streets. We must have been near the highest point in town as we walked underneath a water tower painted in orange and white checks like in the old pictures. We had seen no more of the creatures and no evidence they were nearby. I was beginning to think that maybe we were out of immediate danger. We were crouching by the shrubs in the side yard of a house painted some dark color. As the sun had completely set by this time it was too dark for me to make out if it was brown or maybe a deep blue. I looked skyward and noticed the clouds were obscuring the stars and the moon. I hoped the murky sky would help hide us from the creatures. I looked to the streetlights and half expected them to come on, but they didn’t.

  I was trying to decide if it was safe to move out into the open and cross the street when Harley tapped me on the shoulder and pointed. I looked down the street to the left where he indicated. I could not make out anything and glanced at Harley. He continued to point and I looked again. In the gloom I began to make out a swaying group of the creatures coming our way. I looked to the right and I could just make out several more coming from that direction. If we tried to cross now the chase would be on again.

  In silent agreement the three of us backed up and retraced our steps away from the shuffling killers. We went under the tower again and approached the cross street on the other side of the block. We crept alongside the house facing the street and hid by the side of the porch. We stopped for a moment and I looked up and down the street to see if the coast was clear. As we had passed this way safely only minutes earlier, I was hopeful. I was about to signal the others to proceed, when I heard Steve mutter, “Oh no! We’re trapped”

  I looked into the gloom and he was right. The street was slowly filling with the swaying creatures. As I was processing our dilemma, I heard a noise from the porch. I was hoping it was another survivor and cautiously looked over the top of the porch to find the death glare of one of the things staring back at me. Steve’s voice must have alerted him to our presence and he moved towards us with a growl. I backed away without crying out, but Steve aimed his rifle and fired once into the creature. The head of the creature exploded in a fury of blood and brains. Some of the exploding mass hit me in the face. I screamed involuntarily. The creatures did not see us, but the gunshot was certain to bring them down upon us.

  “Follow me!” I said, and took off back the way we had come.

  I could sense, rather than hear, footsteps behind us as a plan formed in my head.

  “We’re trapped,” said a huffing Harley. “Let’s attack and try and punch our way through. I’m tired of showing them my back.”

  “This is a dead end, too,” said Steve.

  “Just follow me. I got an idea,” I said grimly.

  We jumped another chain link fence and I came to a halt in the shadows.

  “Why have we stopped?” asked Steve. “They’ll be on top of us in a minute.”

  I looked at the both of them. Steve looked scared, but strangely calm while Harley had a bloodlust up and looked like he just wanted to kill.

  “We’ve stopped because we’re here,” I explained and pointed up.

  Harley and Steve craned their necks back and realized we were standing under the town water tower.

  Chapter Fourteen

  The water tower was the old-fashioned kind with four steel legs supporting an orange and white checkered ball. A ladder ran up a separate leg that gave access to the water tank. The first ten feet or so was covered by a mesh guard that was secured with a padlock. This was probably used to keep kids from climbing the tower and tagging it. In the dark I could not see if the townspeople were successful at keeping kids off of the tower, but a mesh guard was not going to stop me or my guys. Not with death tugging at our sleeve.

  I looked at Harley and saw a wide grin covering his face.

  “Our new home in the sky,” he said. “You boys start climbing and I’ll hold off our friends if any of them get too nosey.”

  Steve had already slung his rifle over his shoulder and was working his way past the mesh guard. In a matter of moments he was past the guard and he was scurrying up the ladder. I scanned the area and seeing no creatures, I followed Steve as quickly as I could. I leaped in the air and landed halfway up the guard. I slid my fingers through the mesh and tried to push myself up with my boots. They slipped on the metal and I dangled for a moment by my fingertips. I was unable to move up and I felt myself losing grip on the metal lattice. As I was about to fall, I felt hands grab my feet. It was Harley.

  “Let me give you a boost there, buddy,” he said. “You ain’t as nimble as Steve.”

  “I’ll return the favor some day.” I grunted and with Harley’s aid, I managed to make it to the uncovered rungs. I was climbing to the top when I realized that Harley must have set his guns down to help me and now he didn’t have any help. I looked down and I could just make out Harley’s form at the bottom of the ladder. Harley was more burly than the rest of us and I wondered if he could make it by himself. He was about to begin his ascent when I spotted two dark forms approaching behind him. I started to cry out, when he spun around to meet them. I expected Harley to pull one of his guns, but instead he charged the creatures and I lost him in the darkness. I heard the sounds of a struggle. It was a mixture of the animalistic growling I was growing accustomed to and the grunts that I knew were Harley. The sounds lasted less than a minute, but I was frozen and did not react. Only when the noise stopped, did I realize I had done nothing to help my friend.

  “Harley,” I hissed softly. “Can you hear me? Are you all right?”

  I was too scared to call out louder for fear of alerting the creatures. After several seconds of silence I heard what I thought were footsteps going away. I listened closely for another minute and all I could hear was my heart pounding. I looked up the ladder. Steve had disappeared
through the opening to the catwalk and I could no longer see him. I was debating going back down the ladder, when I became aware of the sounds of multiple foot steps at the base of the tower. Hating myself for about the third time that day, I began climbing up the ladder to escape any prying eyes.

  In a matter of moments, I was through the opening and found myself laying on a catwalk about three feet wide with an enclosed railing about two and a half feet high. It wasn’t much of a hiding place, but if we stayed down no one at the bottom could see us. I looked around for Steve, but he was nowhere in sight. I figured that he was on the other side and I leaned my head against the tower in frustration and shame. I heard soft steps coming from around the catwalk and looked up to find Steve staring down at me.

  “I kinda reconnoitered our tree house,” he said. “There’s another ladder around the other side that takes you right to the top of this thing. And yeah, we’re alone.”

  “You shouldn’t walk around in plain sight up here, man. What if those things see you?” I said.

  “Way up here in the dark? You worry too much.”

  I was trying to decide if it was possible to worry too much in our new world when I noticed Steve stiffen and cock his ear towards the ground.

  “What is it?” I asked softly.

  He held up a finger and then replied in a hiss, “I think someone is climbing the ladder. Wait a minute. Where’s Harley?”

  I shook my head in answer and pulled out my revolver. Steve readied his rifle and we both stared at the black opening in the walkway. The sounds from the ladder began to grow closer and I felt my heart begin to race. My forehead was slick with sweat and I fought the temptation to wipe away the perspiration because I feared losing sight of the opening. I could sense that someone, or some thing, was just below us. The noise stopped and I felt my heart stop waiting for the next sound.

  “I hope you aren’t thinking about shooting me,” said a voice. It was Harley.

  Chapter Fifteen

  With a sigh of relief I dropped my weapon to my side. In just another moment Harley’s burly form issued through the opening and joined us on the catwalk.

  “Oh my God, brother, I thought you were dead, or worse,” I exclaimed.

  Harley had his characteristic grin on his face and shook his head.

  “I wouldn’t leave while we’re having this much fun. I just had a little party with some of our friends down there. I had to kill a couple of them or maybe kill them again, I guess.”

  “But I didn’t hear any gunshots,” I protested.

  “I didn’t use no gun, man,” he said. “I put this to work.”

  Harley pulled his large Bowie knife out from the sheath on his belt. It looked black with blood in the darkness, but the silver inlay in the hilt shone even in the gloom.

  “I didn’t want to draw any more trouble to us with a gunshot, so I took out the two that were down there as quiet as I could. I was going to try the ladder again when I saw six or seven more coming at me. I led them away from the tower so any commotion would not lead others here. Every time one of them got close I nailed him with my blade. They’re not so tough in the open. Anyway, I put the fear God into them. I left one alive to tell the tale like they say and circled back here. There weren’t any of the creatures around the base of the tower and I don’t think any of them saw me climb up. We’re safe, fellas.”

  I wondered if the creatures could feel fear. If they could, the sight of Harley with that knife would surely scare them. I clapped him on the shoulder and pulled him to me in a bear hug. Steve joined us and embraced us both. All I could think was that just since this morning our tight group had been whittled from five to three. After a few seconds we all sat down with our backs to the tower. We needed to talk.

  “So what’s the plan for the morning, Billy?” asked Steve anxiously. “We can’t stay up here forever, can we?”

  It had been an unseasonably warm fall day, but the night felt cooler than it was up in the tower with cold steel as a backdrop. I tucked my hands in my pockets and felt a shudder of cold coming on. I was afraid my teeth would start chattering in a minute if I didn’t stop thinking about it.

  “There’s only one thing we can do as I see it,” I said firmly. “We stay here tonight. In the morning hopefully the zombies will not be active during the day and we’ll find a car and get out of here.”

  “Wait a minute,” said Steve. “Zombies? Like the living dead zombies? That’s crazy. It’s a plague or something. Maybe the Russians bombed us.”

  Harley was staring up at the sky. The stars and the moon were hidden, but maybe he saw something I didn’t. At any rate he remained silent. I wasn’t even certain he was listening.

  “I don’t know everything about everything, but I know enough to believe my own eyes,” I said. “ I didn’t want to believe the woman either, but she was right. They aren’t monsters. They are the dead returned to life. Something, I don’t know what, killed them and brought them back as zombies. Call them ghouls, zombies, living dead I don’t care, but let’s stop pretending. We’ve been running most of the day from them and they’re real. They killed Holland and he turned into one. I saw it and so did both of you. The next time we see Jude, if we ever do, he’ll be one. Once we face that truth and come to grips with the new reality of life, the better. The woman said it’s been weeks since this happened and if the authorities aren’t here yet maybe its because there aren’t any authorities left. Guys, we may even be the last living people on the planet.”

  I finished in a rush. It was a mouthful, but I was glad I said it aloud. Zombies. Man it even sounded crazy to me.

  “Wait. What about what the old man said?” Steve asked. “Henry, or whatever his name was, said it was a reckoning. Maybe he’s right. Maybe God sent a plague on us. The world is pretty screwed up, right? That’s gotta be it. There were zombies in the Bible, right? I mean they called them something else, but they were there.”

  “There are no zombies in the Bible. Man, you need to pick up that book one of these days. There’s one in every hotel room you know,” I said sarcastically and regretted it instantly as I saw how deflated Steve became. “Listen, it doesn’t matter if it’s a plague from God or a natural event or what. Now that we know what we are facing we can plan. I for one don’t plan to become a zombie any time soon.”

  Harley looked over at me and said, “As long as the plan includes killing those shuffling zombies, include me in. I have looked into too many of their dead eyes today. Let me tell you, guys, all I saw was hunger. There is no humanity left.”

  “I agree. These aren’t people any longer. They are the dead representations of people. We give no mercy to them and I think we can see we can expect no mercy from them. So, like I said before, let’s sack out here and stay low. In the morning we find a car and get out of Dodge.”

  “Just a sec, Billy,” said Harley. “Why not find a base here. In town are where we will find survivors if there are any and where there’s food and guns in these houses that we will need.”

  “I’m not talking about moving into a cave somewhere, but we can’t stay here because this is obviously where a concentration of the zombies are for now. Maybe they will disperse over time, but the town was filled with people and now it’s filled with dead people walking around hungry looking for something to eat. We need to get some space. I’m not saying we can’t come back for supplies, but job one is survive tomorrow.”

  “You’re probably right,” Harley said with a yawn. “I can’t believe after all we’ve been through I could ever shut my eyes, but I have to sleep. One of you two take the first watch and I’ll relieve you in a couple of hours.”

  I looked over at Steve and he was already asleep with his back against the tower. I smiled and nodded at Harley and he stretched out on the catwalk and within minutes I could tell by his steady breathing that he had joined Steve in the land of dreams.

  For the first time all day I felt alone, no one with me and no one chasing me. I had tried to be
calm and logical with the guys, but my mind was still reeling from the idea of the living dead stalking us. This was not covered on career day at school. I certainly couldn’t remember a zombie hunter booth at the last job fair I attended. I was worried about what had happened to Jude. I knew he wouldn’t just leave us stranded so something bad must have happened. I said a quick prayer for him and then added a quick one for me too. I was a little worried about the guys. Steve had been pretty close to cracking up completely a couple of times today. I would have to ride close herd on him. He had changed even before we had come down from the campsite. Trouble with him was he wasn’t one to let you inside. Harley was another story. He was a rock in most situations, but today his real character had come out. He had handled himself so well when the chips were down and never lost his head. He seemed a bit bloodthirsty but maybe that’s what we needed. I might have to rein him in a little.

  It was hard to tell how much time had passed since the guys fell asleep. I imagined it was probably after midnight, but that was just a guess. I felt my eyelids growing heavy and was tempted to wake one of the guys. With what they had been through they deserved to sleep, but I needed sleep too. I pulled my knees up to my chest and leaned against the tower. Everything was so quiet. There were not even any insect sounds. At the beginning of the evening I was alert to any sound of something coming up the ladder, but from what I had observed the dead couldn’t even operate a doorknob much less unlock the ladder guard and climb up after us. We were safe, I was certain. I closed my eyes to rest them and when I opened them again the sun was rising in the east. I had fallen asleep and left us vulnerable.

  A quick glance showed that Harley and Steve were still asleep. No reason to let them in on this I thought. My God, what if something had happened? Some leader.

  I noticed Harley was beginning to stir so I nudged him with my foot.

  “Rise and shine, man. Big day.”