The Infected Box Set, Vol. 1 [Books 1-3]

by Zuko, Joseph

  She made a half step back to her gun.

  “I would not do that if I were you,” his tone threatened with extreme intent.

  She stopped.

  “I am going to give you two choices. Ready? Choice number one. You take me back to the bedroom and show me every ounce of passion you possess in that amazing body of yours. I want to feel like you are in love with me. Absolutely, head over heels, man of your life, in love is what I am talking about.” Eric drained more coffee from his mug. “I want you to act like you are having the time of your life. I want you to give yourself to me, freely. You do what I am asking and give me a very convincing performance, then I’ll be on my way.” He took another sip.

  Every fiber of Karen’s body cringed and filled with dread.

  “Choice number two would be that you refuse or I feel that you are not committed to the role, then I will have my five friends out in the truck join me in our scene… I promise you will not enjoy it and I am a man that keeps his promises.” Eric licked the corner of his mouth and then took the last drink of his coffee.

  Never in her life had Karen been put in a more diabolical position. No woman should have to make that kind of choice. The world was already a horrible and cruel place to live and the infection that had spread was only going to make it worse.

  Karen did not have time to weigh the options. She could see Eric was itching to go back to the bedroom with her. She knew exactly what to do. Karen’s body shifted. Her hip popped to the side and one shoulder dropped. She took the relaxed stance of a woman on the prowl. Eric noticed the change and he pushed himself off the counter and moved toward her.

  “Let me get you another cup. You’re going to need your energy,” Karen did her best Jessica Rabbit impression and slinked across the kitchen.

  “Yes, ma’am.” Eric handed over his mug. His face brightened up like a kid on Christmas morning.

  “That was cream and sugar, right?” Karen purred like a cat in heat. She removed the pot of coffee and turned back to face Eric. She could see he was already sporting an erection in his pants.

  “I would love the taste of your cream and sugar,” he said with a dirty smile.

  Karen batted her eyes and gave him a big smile back. “Can you get me a cup? I want to make sure I have enough energy for you too?” Karen pointed up at the cupboard.

  Without hesitation Eric turned and opened the cabinet.

  Karen swung the coffee pot. The glass erupted when it hit the back of Eric’s skull.

  Chapter 20

  Jim stood by the control switch for the garage bay doors. A loaded pistol on his hip and an assault rifle in his hand. Frank slid the bolt into position on his SKS as he stepped closer to Jim.

  “Is everyone ready?” Jim whispered his question. “Are you ready?”

  “Yeah, sure.” Frank said unconvincing. He adjusted the strap of his duffle bag and his shoulder holster for the two Berettas. Everything checked out and Frank gave Jim a nod. Jim reached up to the controls on the wall. His fingertips could feel the word “OPEN” engraved in the old plastic square button. Outside the horde had doubled and the metal doors flexed and groaned under the weight. Jim nodded to Cliff and then Sara. All the nodding reminded Jim of a favorite movie of his from his childhood, Johnny Dangerously. Peter Boyle and his team of gangsters nod at each other for close to five minutes before he yelled “NO MORE NODDING!”

  They cranked on the engines. Frank pulled his rifle in tight to his shoulder and aimed at the bottom of the first bay door. Jim pressed and held down the two buttons. The electric motors that hung from the ceiling made a ton of racket as they turned the sprocket that pulled the chain and raised the doors.

  The monsters outside dropped to their bellies. Their gnarled, chewed up bodies pawed at the concrete floor as they inched their way under the door and into the garage.

  Frank took the domes off the first ones. The bay doors crept along the tracks it felt like an eternity. The higher the two doors got the more zombies crawled in. They began to pour in like a flood of dead bodies.

  Sara revved the PT Cruiser’s engine. Its four cylinder engine sounded silly. It was closer to a go-cart than a zombie crushing machine.

  Frank’s rifle chopped away the closest infected beast. Jim had to keep his fingers on the buttons, but with his free hand he attempted to fire headshots at the encroaching horde.

  Bloody hands crashed into the side of Cliff and Tina’s van. The children screamed at the top of their lungs as the van rocked back and forth. Rich sat next to Morgan in the middle row and the two of them clutched one another. The newly bolted on hunks of metal did a good job keeping the monsters out of the windows. Cliff watched the zombies creep closer in his side mirror. Tina closed her eyes and said a prayer to a God she rarely talked to.

  Sara and Devon watched helplessly as Jim and Frank risked their lives to save the others. Devon sat in the passenger’s seat. A pistol laid in his lap. He had asked for it, but was very afraid to hold it. He did not want to shoot his other leg by accident.

  An infected broke free from the pack and sprinted right for Jim. Frank was in the middle of flipping over his SKS’s magazine for a fresh one. Jim wildly fired his rifle and was unable to land the killshot. The rounds ripped through its chest but only slowed it down. The beast was right on top of Jim and there was little time to react. The doors were almost raised enough for the cars to fit through. He just needed to hold it a little longer. Jim threw up his leg and caught the beast in the chest with his boot. He landed what they called in his Krav Maga class a defensive front kick. It worked perfectly. It stopped the monster cold in its tracks and Jim stomped it down to the ground. Jim had the zombie pinned to the floor and he popped its ugly face with a shot from his rifle. That was it. He could not hold down the button any longer.

  Jim released the controls and yelled, “GO!!”

  Cliff and Sara stepped on the gas. The tires burned out and both cars lurched backwards. Body after body was sucked under their rear tires. The top of Cliff’s van scraped along the bottom of the bay door, but they made it.

  Jim and Frank ducked out of the garage and into the lobby. They hopped over the front counter and headed for Rich’s office. The zombies were right on their heels. If either of them stopped and tried to take a shot they would be swallowed up by the horde. Jim glanced over his shoulder for an instant and the image behind him was all red stained teeth and claws. The horde moved like it was one body. One constant flowing river of death. The horde took the path of least resistance and just like water, once it got rolling it was nearly impossible to stop.

  Jim and Frank entered the back office. The main lights were out in this room. The word “EXIT” glowed on the far wall. On Rich’s desk was an office phone. Its LCD screen said it was eight twenty five in the morning.

  Maybe I’ll make it there in time to make the kids breakfast? The warm thought made Jim’s legs pump even faster for the door. Frank hit the exit first and the room filled with morning sunshine. The horde overturned Rich’s desk behind them. As Jim breached the doorway his hand hit the wall. A surge protector dangled next to the exit. Jim’s index finger found the on switch and he pressed it as he passed through the door.

  Cliff and Sara were pulling around to the back of the building at that moment. Frank dispatched a few zombies that littered the back lot of the garage.

  The surge protector’s power switch flickered orange. Electricity coursed through the five outlets and down the cords plugged into it. Jim’s crew had round up every lamp in the building. They placed them all in the back office knowing it would be the last room they would escape through. When the power hit the bulbs they exploded into balls of fire! Gasoline rained like napalm out of the five bulbs and doused the zombies with fire.

  Jim couldn’t believe it worked. He had seen it in a few movies, but there was no time or way to test them. He was sure it would not get all of them, but he hoped that it would blind the front runners and slow down the rest. The trap did just that
.

  Sara skidded to a stop only a few feet from Frank. He opened the backdoor and dove onto the bench seat. Jim was right behind him. He slammed the door shut and that was the signal for her to punch it. A few burning beasts stumbled out the back exit. They fell to the ground with melted skin dropping off their faces and hands.

  Sara cranked the steering wheel all the way to the right, whipped the car around and headed for the street. They breathed a collective sigh of relief.

  Jim spun around in his seat. Cliff’s van was right behind them.

  “Holy shit!” Jim spun back around in his seat. He extended his hand for Frank to give it a fiver.

  “By the skin of our teeth!” Frank grunted as his palm met Jim’s. It was one of the best high fives of Jim’s life.

  “Keep heading east. I’ll let you know when to turn.” Jim popped the magazine out of his rifle. Frank had the same thought. He handed Jim a box of ammo.

  “Jim, what are we going to do after we get there?” Devon’s question was on everyone’s mind. He was just the first to say it. Jim pondered the question as he loaded a few rounds.

  “Dude, I don’t know,” was the answer Jim finally settled on. It brought a short smile to Devon’s face, but no real comfort.

  A zombie stepped out into the street. Sara swerved to miss the collision, but it was too late. The zombie’s torso was chopped by the lip of the cow catcher. Its shoulder and neck split wide open and gore spilled out across the windshield. Its head and left arm rolled up the glass and over the top of the car as its body slid down and off to the side of the cow catcher. It was a disgusting device that worked beautifully.

  “That was nasty.” Sara attempted to clean the human remains off the window but the fence would not let the wipers do their job. The washers sprayed soapy water and it turned the crimson fluid to pink, but she could see again.

  Jim clicked his full mag into the bottom of the gun, “Guys, I really have no idea what to expect when we get there. The house could be empty. If so, we need to keep rolling.”

  “Hey partner, no one’s holding you responsible for anything. We are all flying by the seat of our pants and I’m not keeping score.” Frank did not look up from his gun. He just continued to load ammo into his magazine.

  Cliff kept his distance from the back of Jim’s ride. He was afraid if they came to a sudden stop, he would crash into them and this whole convoy would come to an end. Rich stared out the window. Vancouver was a violent blur. Dead bodies littered the streets. Whole families had been slaughtered by this infection. Wrecked and burnt out vehicle shells were scattered everywhere. Hordes of all sizes were growing in numbers.

  “How is this shit even humanly possible?” Rich said in disgust. “I see it, but I don’t believe it. Where is the army? Where are the cops? How are we the only two cars on this street? Jesus Christ is this how we go down as a species?”

  “The human race was a brittle house of cards.” Morgan wiped the excess saliva from the corners of her mouth. Her statement left everyone speechless. Jim’s car made a right turn and Cliff turned on his signal to indicate his turn.

  “Baby, who are you signaling?” Tina asked her husband with a teasing tone.

  “I don’t know. Habit I guess.” He turned off the signal. “I hope Jim’s mother-in-law has food for breakfast. I’m starving.”

  “Me too. The kids got full on popcorn, but I’m running on empty.” Tina rubbed at her growling stomach.

  “I hope she’s got a bed I can have dibs on. Old Richie boy is tired as hell.” Rich let out a loud yawn.

  “I hope the bed’s queen sized,” Morgan’s wrinkled hand found its way onto Rich’s thigh.

  “Yeah, me too darling,” Rich gave her a wink.

  Cliff looked into the rearview mirror at his mother. Morgan’s eyes met his and she gave him a set of double eyebrow raises followed by a wink.

  Cliff was not surprised at all. Rich was a man with a beating heart and that was just the kind of guy Morgan was looking for. Cliff crossed his fingers that the house had thick walls and doors. Morgan and Rich going at it was the last thing he wanted to hear.

  The PT’s brake lights flashed red, Sara was slowing down quickly. She stepped on the gas and pulled away from them.

  Cliff could finally see what the problem was. They were about to pass a Costco and it looked like everyone had the same idea. “Let’s go to the place with a ton of supplies, no windows and a heavy metal door.” The parking lot and street adjacent to the super store was packed with zombies. The big metal door was shut and everyone that made it there too late had been gobbled up.

  Cliff and Tina watched as Sara plunged the PT Cruiser into the wall of running zombies. A cloud of red blasted into the air around Jim’s car. Cliff stepped on the gas to catch up with them. She carved a path through the horde and to Cliff it looked like she was laying down a red carpet for him to follow her on.

  As the van entered into the horde and traveled over the busted up body parts it was like they had taken the van off-road. It was bumpy and jarring as hell. It also felt like driving on ice. The tires slid across the viscous surface. Swarms of infected closed in on the path Sara was making. When they hit the cow catcher on the front of the van the zombies met the same fate as their fallen comrades. The lip’s edge that Rich had installed was like a Ginsu knife. It sliced, diced and chopped up the bodies like they were sacks of tomatoes.

  Cliff was gaining on the PT Cruiser. His van was rocking a more powerful V6 engine and Sara was taking a lot more direct hits than he was. They were only half way through the horde and Jim’s ride was slowing way down. If they came to a stop that would be it. The infected might not be able to get into the newly fortified cars, but the humans would also be stuck inside. Trapped until they starved to death.

  Cliff was less than three feet from the back of the Cruiser and he was letting off the gas.

  “What are you doing?!” Tina yelled at him.

  “What?” He said in a panic.

  “Push them! Get us out of here!”

  “Do it Clifford!” Morgan seconded Tina.

  “The catcher will hold!” Rich yelled over the sound of infected bones breaking by the hundreds.

  Cliff put his foot into it and they crashed into the back of Jim’s car. The cow catcher grinded into the back bumper of the cruiser.

  “What the hell is he doing?!” Sara squealed at the top of her lungs.

  “Getting us through this shit!” Frank yelled it over the noise. Sara noticed the speedometer rising. They were getting back over thirty miles per hour, but she was driving blind. The windshield was covered in sludge and had started to spider web from impact of all of the chunks of flesh and thick skulls crashing into it.

  “Keep going and hold the wheel straight. The road doesn’t turn!” Jim commanded. They chugged like a locomotive. It became dark inside the car. The windows were blacked out and suddenly the noise stopped. The road became clear. Sara let off the gas and flicked on the window washers. She held down the lever and let a gallon of water spray out. The window washer stopped shooting water. It had run dry, but the window was still impossible to see through.

  “Hold up,” Jim called out. Sara came to a stop. Jim opened his door and stepped out. “Hand me that Burgerville cup.” Sara grabbed the extra-large cup in the front cup holder. It was still half full as she handed it to Jim.

  The exterior of the Cruiser looked like the kill floor of a slaughterhouse. The horde was a quarter mile down the street and heading this way. Cliff was already out of his van and trying the same thing Jim was about to do. He was pulling the cyclone fence up off of the window as Tina ran the blades back and forth to get it clear enough to see. Jim dumped out the water onto the window and stuck his fingers into the fence. The goo squished under his fingers as he lifted the fence just far enough away from the glass that the wipers took off at full power and cleared enough of the gore to let Sara see the road. The horde was a hundred feet away and Cliff was already back in his van.
>
  “That should do it,” Sara called to Jim from inside the car.

  Jim let go of the fence and it snapped back onto the glass. He raced around the backdoor and hopped into the car. Sara was already rolling when the door slammed shut.

  The convoy ripped down the road. A single biter would appear every now and then, but Sara was able to maneuver around them. With the light, almost nonexistent traffic on the streets and the rest of the way being horde free, they made excellent time.

  Jim’s stomach turned when they pulled into Penny’s neighborhood and he saw the monster pile of dead bodies that lined the street around the police cruiser. He was so close now. He could already feel the warm arms of his loving family around him. He could not wait to hold his little girls. He was not going to put them down for hours. Just carry them around and hold them like he did when they were infants.

  “Who the hell are they?” Sara pointed to the pickup that sat in the driveway. Five heavily armed men were jumping out of the truck and running for Penny’s front door. Jim did not recognize them or their truck. Ice ran through his veins. He knew they were driving toward a gunfight.

  Chapter 21

  Piping hot liquid poured down Eric’s spine. A shard of glass jutted from the side of his skull. Karen raced for the front door, shouldered it closed and locked it.