The group walked quickly inside. First to enter was Destiny with the flashlight, then David holding his massive gun in front of him, Sam holding her baseball bat tightly over her shoulder, and Holiday casually carrying his shotgun.
“Help me,” Sam said pointing the flashlight at a large shelf near the door. “Block the door until morning.” Sam and Holiday both grunted loudly as they moved the large shelf in front of the door. It covered the door perfectly leaving only a small gap at the top. The wall beside the door was made of glass, but had been boarded solid long ago.
“So what exactly happened in Chicago?” David asked Sam before Destiny could continue her barrage of questions. “Who said it is better there than out here? Trinity Corp?” Sam shook her head no, as she walked into a back room. She brought out a large backpack and pulled out of it a small electronic campfire. Completely decorative and providing no heat. But the light would help them see the room better.
“I was here all day thinking about what to do,” Sam started o explain, “I was going to spend the night but figured I should head back as soon as possible.” The group sat down around the fake campfire, as if preparing to hear a ghost story while on a camping trip. “I don’t know who Trinity Corp is – all I know – it’s hard to explain.
“Try. We have all night after all.” Holiday said jokingly. Nobody laughed. It was at that time the group noticed a large scar on the side of Sam’s neck. It was jagged and was hard to see until now. Sam explained about the hospital she worked at when everything started. She told the group about Pauline, the man with the little girl and the cop that attacked her. The group was puzzled about how she was alive. Even more important, Sam decided to explain how she didn’t turn into a zombie. Sam decided to tell them everything.
Chapter 3 – Flashback
Shortly after Sam had passed out from the officer biting her, she found herself in a small dark room. It was almost like a broom closet but was completely empty. When she tried to move she realized her wrists were chained to the wall. She could feel a bandage on her neck where the cop had bit her. She screamed for help for nearly thirty minutes before finally someone opened the door.
“Let’s see your eyes,” a deep male voice commanded while a blinding light illuminated the room. “Hurry up, look here.” The voice continued. Sam squinted as her eyes adjusted to the brightness. In front of her she saw a man dressed in a black suit, on his neck was a small white square. It took her a few seconds to realize that he was a priest. Or at least dressed like one. He was holding a machete over top of her with a look on his face of extreme worry. His head was shaved with only a few days growth of hair on the top. A menacingly looking goatee lined his mouth and chin. She stared at him waiting for him to continue speaking. Eventually he did. “What’s your name child?” he said lowering his machete slightly.
“S – Sam” she stuttered. She was still wearing her white doctor coat and slacks from earlier. Surprisingly, only a few blood splatters dotted her clothes. She was very confused, and afraid. It was odd for her to feel that way as she was always the strong, commanding one. She was never considered a typical ‘girl’, something her father had told her whenever he could. She understood why, being such an attractive woman her father expected boyfriend after boyfriend to be causing trouble. But she caused more trouble than anyone. “Where am I?” Sam continued with a deep voice. “Who are you?” She demanded to know.
“My name is Father Martin.” The priest said while reaching into his pocket and pulling out a single small key. He leaned over her and unchained her wrists from the wall. “Do you know what has happened?” He asked softly.
“Some crazy fucker attacked me at the hospital.” She said rubbing her wrists with her hands. She looked up to see a look on the priest’s face of amusement yet regret, as if she had said something offensive. “Sorry father.” She said quickly.
“No,” he said quickly, “In these times I highly expect to hear much worse.” He smiled at her and walked out of the room. She quickly followed and to her delight she was in the back of the old theater that she had frequented while growing up. It was an antique to most people, barely operational. Bronze chandeliers, giant yellow screen, clumpy cushion seats, but it brought back memories of a simpler time. She was on a small stage in front of the yellow screen. The room she was in before was in fact, a broom closet.
“How long have I been out?” Sam asked.
“Two days.” Martin answered while continuing to walk away. He walked off the stage in front of the yellow screen and down the center isle to the only visible door.
“Why am I here exactly?” Sam asked loudly as she jogged to catch up to the priest.
“This is a safe place,” Martin said pointing around him in all directions. Once out the door Sam’s jaw dropped. In the lobby of the theater were over twenty people, all of them cleaning weapons. Some of them were children no older than six or seven.
“I don’t understand.” Sam said confused. “What are all these people doing?” Martin stopped walking and looked at her confused.
“Perhaps you were ‘out’ longer than I thought.” Martin said perplexed. He continued to explain that three days ago, a massive wave of zombies and other creatures began to attack people. He explained that a Corporal in the United States Army has been leading the resistance against the undead with the help of the residents from the greater Chicago area. Apparently all other military personnel were either killed or transferred to defend key areas, leaving him as the only one able to take charge. Whether that was true or not, didn’t matter to Sam. Although it sounded like a line this ‘leader’ used to gain support. She was still trying to understand what was going on. Zombies weren’t real. She knew that. She started getting a headache.
“Where is this ‘leader’ you are talking about?” Sam asked.
“I will take you to him. This way please.” The father continued walking past the people in the lobby and opened one of the two double doors leading onto the street. He motioned for Sam to follow. “We have been hoping to talk with you about what had happened to you before we found you."
Outside Sam found hundreds of people walking the streets while the sun was directly overhead. Almost as if nothing had happened. On every corner there were people with armed automatic weapons who stood guard. Shops appeared to be open, she even heard children laughing and playing nearby.
“Did we win?” Sam asked. “I mean, this doesn’t look like zombies are attacking.”
“It is worse outside of the city.” Martin explained. “Most people wouldn’t last more than a few minutes outside this city. Not without the rest of us. This way please.” Martin continued to guide Sam down the street. Three blocks away he was going to introduce her to Corporal Kelly. The walk was fairly quick; everything looked as pleasant as always.
When she saw Corporal Kelly she couldn’t believe her eyes. Kelly was a very muscular man wearing stereotypical army clothing. He had on a solid green t-shirt, with green camouflaged jeans, and around his neck he wore very bright shiny dog tags. Fastened tightly on his head was a solid green beret, tilted slightly.
Sam doubted an army person would actually be wearing such clothing but if he was in charge she wasn’t about to question it. He was standing outside of the Wrigley Stadium where her favorite baseball team (The Chicago Cubs) used to play. He was speaking to several other people standing around him talking about boarding it up better, adding a fence outside as a defensive measure. He also gave several commands which made little sense to Sam. After all, the priest had just said the threat was outside the city.
“Corporal!” Father Martin hollered as they neared him.
“Ah!” Corporal exclaimed as he saw Sam, “So our mystery survivor has awakened!” He spoke with an almost unpleasant sureness of himself, as if before speaking any further he knew everything that was about to be said.
“My name is Sam. I am – or well I was - a doctor at Chicago Medical.” She stretched out her hand to shake his but he placed his h
ands behind his back and pressed out his chest. His attitude was everything Sam despised about men.
“You were bitten. How long ago?” He asked, ignoring any pleasantries.
“I guess – the first day.” Sam answered unsure. “Three days ago.” The Corporal and Father Martin both stared at her without saying anything. Eventually Corporal nodded and smiled.
“Immunity.” he said, “Just as I thought.” Sam shook her head in confusion.
“Immunity to what?” She asked, her voice trembling slightly with fear.
“The zeds, zombies, walkers whatever you wanna call them. When they bite you, a sort of disease gets in you. Turns you into one of those … things.” Sam looked at him unconvinced.
“It doesn’t work that way … It can’t” she tried to correct him.
“I am afraid it does. But!” Martin spoke loudly in hope Corporal wouldn’t scream at Sam in anger. He hated being corrected, “But, if you were bit three days ago, and didn’t turn. That makes you immune.”
“Or a liar.” The Corporal added. “Which is it?”
“I don’t know what to say.” Sam spoke almost in a whisper. “I guess immune but it doesn’t make medical sense.” Her eyes stared at the ground while her mind raced to make sense of any of this.
“Well,” The Corporal continued, “With our help we can maybe extend that immunity to my men.”
“Your men?” Sam asked.
“I mean the people of this city. If they were immune we could fight the zeds much easier.”
“Corporal!” A man in front of the door to the stadium yelled at him and waved him over.
“If you will excuse me, I have business to attend to.” The corporal bowed and walked away toward the man who was hollering for him.
“This way to see where you will be staying.” Father Martin said while gesturing for Sam to follow him. They walked back down the street. Sam’s head was still pounding from the confusion. Suddenly a thought crossed her mind.
“Sarah!” she exclaimed out loud.
“Who?” Father Martin asked her.
“My daughter Sarah! I have to find her! Oh my god how could that not be the first thing I thought of?” Sam looked around to get her bearings. “This way, we lived on maple dri-”
“I am sorry Sam,” Father Martin said cutting her off. “That part of the city was not secured until this morning. We found no survivors.”
Chapter 4 – Highway Robbery
Sam’s eyes filled up with tears as she struggled to say anymore to the group. Destiny too was crying softly.
“I can’t believe the government has a foothold.” Holiday said cheerfully. “I mean – I am sorry for the news of your daughter but,”
“It’s O.K. thank you.” Sam said wiping the tears from her eyes. “I has been a few weeks now.” David realized at that moment just how much time had passed. For being in such a hurry to get to New York, it had been nearly a month since everything started. They were still just less than 1000 miles away. David realized they spent too much time in Iowa City ‘preparing’ for the journey
“I can’t believe you have a natural immunity.” Destiny said. “David here is immune too, but-” David stared at Destiny shaking his head not to say too much. “That is from something else.” Destiny quickly finished
“I don’t believe he is really military.” David said changing the subject. “Sounds kind of shady. Like a line he was using”
“We should get some sleep.” Holiday said while shrugging at David’s comment. “In the morning we head to Chicago.”
Everyone agreed and the group began to lie down on the ground next to the fake campfire as Sam turned it off. The night passed quickly however the group barely slept more than an hour. With the first sign of light shining through the boarded windows, Holiday stood up.
“Well we should head out!” he yelled and kicked David’s foot to wake him up. “I can’t wait to get back to some form of civilization!” He added.
David and Holiday quickly moved the shelf away from the door. On the ground, empty wrappers of chip bags and chocolate bars rustled loudly as they slid it across the floor. Sam opened the door after the shelf was out of the way and looked outside.
On the street, in front of the gas pumps, two zombies stood over a body eating. Sam recognized the body they were eating. She saw him before leaving Chicago- he had been a guard. She couldn’t remember any more about him, not even his name.
“Block the door!” Sam yelled causing the two zombies to twist their heads toward her direction. They sprinted toward her almost right away; one smashed its arm on a gas pump causing it to nearly fall over.
Holiday and David quickly pushed the shelf back in front of the door the instant Sam closed it. Destiny held her knife ready to defend herself. Both of her pistols were still tucked into her jeans. Holiday searched the floor for his shotgun and quickly found it. He picked it up and readied to fire. The door quickly broke away as the two zombies bashed their way inside.
The shelf shook horribly; it would only be a matter of time before the two zombies rushed inside.
“David!” Destiny yelled, “Try and make them leave!” she shouted. David closed his eyes and focused as much as possible.
“What is she talking about?” Sam asked while looking at Holiday. He shrugged as if he didn’t know but Sam could tell he was lying. She waited with anticipation for the zombies to burst inside, holding her baseball bat tighter than ever. David’s body started shaking as he tried harder and harder to make the two zombies outside leave. It was much harder than before and David didn’t know why. Fear filled his heart; he doubted he could ever control the zombies again.
Suddenly the banging stopped and the shelf stopped shaking. Everyone was stunned, even David. He opened his eyes and flashed an enormous smile. It was cut short when the shelf blocking the door quickly tumbled over, letting the two fast moving zombies into the store.
Holiday fired his shotgun hitting one of them in the chest. It flew to the side but quickly stood back up. It’s chest missing bits of flesh from the gunshot. Sam swung her baseball bat smacking the other zombie in the head. It grabbed her arm and threw her backward onto the floor. David raised his gun, the massive .44 caliber pistol Holiday had given him long ago. He fired two shots; they plunged into the heads of both zombies causing them to fall to the ground with lightning speed.
“More!” Destiny shouted pulling out her one pistol which still had some ammo in it while holding her combat knife firmly. Four more zombies rushed from the tree line on the other side of the road and dashed toward the group.
“Holiday how many sho-” David attempted to ask how many shots Holiday had, but was cut off with an answer.
“Not enough!” Holiday shouted running outside. He ran into the zombies firing just before reaching them. One shot flew from his shotgun then he started using it as a club. He swung like a crazed maniac at the zombies pushing them away only to have them lunge back at him.
Destiny flew out the door next shooting one of the zombies in the head and jumping onto a different one stabbing it in the head. Sam rushed out bashing one of the zombies still attempting to bite Holiday. David was the last one out of the store. He raised his gun but didn’t have a good enough shot to actually shoot.
“Fuck!” Destiny shouted pointing down the road. Over a dozen zombies shambled down the road toward them. Some moved fast but most of them were slow. Holiday successfully hit the zombie after him in the head causing its head to cave in. It fell to the ground as he went to assist Sam with the zombie she was bashing. By the time he went to help, she had already killed it. Holiday was impressed, but that only lasted a second.
The huge wave of zombies neared quickly. “Where did they all come from?” Sam shouted.
“It’s just how things seem to work out for us.” Holiday said smirking. “I got the ten on the left; you guys get the ten on the right.” He continued before rushing forward.
David and Destiny shook their heads in disbe
lief but followed immediately. It took Sam a minute to realize it but she too was moving toward the horde. Adrenaline surged through their bodies as Holiday collided with three of the leading zombies. Snarls and moaning filled the air around them. Destiny emptied her pistol’s remaining bullets into some zombies until it clicked loudly. She dropped it on the ground and leaped slightly to stab a zombie in the top of the head. David attempted to fire his gun but it only clicked. He only had two bullets, and those were used inside.
“Get down!” A loud voice echoed around them from a loudspeaker behind the group. David looked to see a military Humvee sitting beside Sam. In it were three men wearing bullet proof vests. One was on the top holding a large machine gun of some kind. The one behind the driver seat resembled what Sam had described as the Corporal. The man in the passenger seat had a red bandana tied on his head.
“Holiday! Destiny! Duck!” David screamed before diving to the ground. A hail storm of bullets flew over top of David and ripped apart the zombie horde barely missing Destiny and Holiday as they dove to the ground away from the horde. The steady stream of bullets drowned out any other sound. David squeezed his eyes shut and covered his head as the bullets continued to fly overhead for what seemed like forever. In reality it took only a few seconds for the gun to click empty.
“Piece of shit!” the man holding the gun shouted.
“Doesn’t matter, we got them.” The man with the bandana inside the Humvee said. David looked toward the horde; they were nothing but bits of flesh littering the road. Destiny and Holiday stood up smiling. Holiday began to laugh.
“Thank god for the United States Military!” he shouted raising his hand in the air. David smiled and looked back at Sam. His smile faded when he saw her face - it was in complete terror. Her bat was on the ground and she stood with both of her hands on her head.
Infestation (Book 2): Infestation Chicago (A Zombie Survival Series) Page 3