Z Strain

by SJ Morris

  Reed was looking out of the metal basement door that was open, letting in the cool night air. Chris sat me up slowly and looked me over. I looked at the floor and there was Ryan. Unmoving, his eyes still wide with fear, and his own knife sticking from the side of his neck.

  I had never been so happy to see someone dead, but I was only doing the happy dance in my head since I was still getting the feeling back in my arms and legs.

  “We have to get the rest of them. They went upstairs a few minutes ago and we can’t let them anywhere near the cabin.”I whispered as quietly as I could, without bursting into tears like I wanted to.

  Tom slowly walked up the stairs and out of sight. I heard the door click open and then close. Tom came back down the stairs with a calm look on his face.

  “I don’t think they know we’re here yet and there's no one in the kitchen outside this door,”Tom said motioning his head towards the stairs.

  “Let’s get Abby back to the truck with John, Harry, and Reed to keep an eye on her. Then, we go in and get rid of these assholes. We can’t risk having them show up at the cabin. They might bring reinforcements, too.”Chris said with a very angry look.

  Chris got me up and grabbed my leather gear and boots that had been tossed in the corner of the room. He helped me up the basement stairs where they had entered and led me to the black van that was parked under the cover of trees and darkness.

  I must have been knocked out for a long time since it was now night.

  I didn’t see any other vehicles, which worried me, but John, Harry, and Reed were in the van. I had already seen Tom and Chris but where was Dan, Justin, and Mark?

  “Where are the others? Where are the other trucks?”I asked Chris as he set me in the back of the van softly.

  “They’re fine. They have the other two trucks down the road. We didn’t know how many to expect when we came in to get you, so we wanted to come in as hidden as possible and the van is quieter than the Jeep. Plus, it's black, so it is easier to hide.”

  “Oh, thank goodness they’re okay. I’m sorry I let this happen, Chris.”I said as I let my head fall with shame.

  “Oh no, you don’t, Abby. This is not your fault at all. These monsters planned the whole thing. They ran into Jake as they themselves were heading to the cabin. They found out through Jake, that Tom and I were already at the cabin. They knew I would never let them in. Somehow, they found out that I knew about what they did on their extra missions. They came up with the plan to kidnap you, get rid of us, and take over the cabin. You could never have known what would happen. I, for one, am just glad you’re okay, but now I have to go clean house and get rid of the other three assholes. I’ll be right back.”With that, Chris pulled out of the van and closed the back door quietly.

  Harry was in the driver’s seat, John was in the passenger and Reed was in the back with me.

  He started to ask me where I was hurt the most as he pulled out a first aid kit, but I couldn’t think of the words to answer him.

  Everything started to get dark and the world started to spin. I felt nauseous but I couldn’t seem to move my hands to my stomach to comfort myself.

  I couldn’t move my arms or put together words at all; something was very wrong.

  The last thing I remembered was hearing gunshots and the van starting up.

  After that, I was enveloped in black once again.

  Chapter 18

  I blinked, but there was nothing but black all around me.

  I could tell I was still in the back of the van because I felt the hard metal floor underneath me and felt the rocking motion of the vehicle moving.

  I reached out to my right and felt the bench seat where I remember Reed being just seconds ago.

  Or was it longer?

  I realized that I must have blacked out again.

  I tried to feel around, but I was very dizzy and the van was moving so quickly the rocking motion threw me off. I tried to talk but my mouth was very dry and wow was I thirsty. I felt like I could drink a gallon of water without stopping to breathe. I was still in my underwear and t-shirt from when I was tied up at the farmhouse. The blanket Chris covered me in was crumpled up at my feet.

  Even with the minimal amount of clothes I had on, I felt really hot and I was sweating profusely.

  Then, it hit me. I was sore all over, I was extremely thirsty and I was running a fever.

  Shit.

  I jumped up immediately to let Reed and the others know that I might be infected but was met by a huge pair of arms, throwing me back to the floor of the van.

  I put my hands out in front of me to brace myself and they slipped, causing me to slide, face first, to the floor, into something wet and cold.

  A light clicked on in front of me and I saw it was a flashlight that happened to be attached to a very large rifle, aimed directly at my head.

  I looked down to my hands and saw I was covered in bright red blood.

  I screamed and backed up into the doors of the van as far as I could go. The person holding the gun on me lowered it enough for me to see his face in the glow of the flashlight and it wasn’t Reed, John or Harry.

  It was one of the men from the basement. I think I remembered that asshole Liam saying that his name was Ben and he was his number two guy.

  Shit, again.

  “What the fuck is going on back there? Is our guest awake again?”Liam called from the driver’s seat.

  Shit!

  Liam was driving and his asshole buddy was pointing a gun at me.

  What the hell happened while I was out? Where was everyone else? How long was I out for? Shit. Shit. Shit.

  Shit was quickly becoming my word of the day.

  “She sure is, Boss, and she doesn’t look so good. Maybe we should stop. I don’t want to be stuck in the back with her if she’s throwing up all over the place.”

  “Shut up and stay there. She’s fine. She’s got a concussion is all. She’s a strong lady, she’ll pull through! Right, sweetheart?”

  Liam had such a disgusting southern drawl it made my skin crawl. I normally liked southern accents, especially when spoken by a man. They usually hold such an old-world, gentlemanlike persona, which make them sound great, but Liam just sounded like the worst villain I could’ve ever imagined.

  The only response I could think of was to spit in his direction.

  Hell, if I was infected, after all, I might be able to take these two douchebags with me. Might as well spread as much of my infected fluids as possible, right?

  My spit didn’t land where I wanted it to but I didn’t have much moisture in my mouth and I still couldn’t see that straight yet. I managed to get out some words, though.

  “Where are you taking me? If it’s the cabin, good luck, because I’ll never vouch for you with my family and they’ll let you kill me before ever letting you in.”

  “No, darlin’. Change of plans, but I can’t tell you where because it’s a surprise. Go ahead and get some rest. We’re going to be on the road for a while.”

  Shit again!

  All I could do was sit and wait. I wasn’t going to sleep if I could help it. I wanted to see if I could catch my bearings and maybe figure out where it was that we were headed. Oh, what I wouldn’t give for my cell phone at this moment.

  ‘Excuse me, psychopaths, that are kidnapping me…again, can I call my kids to tell them that I love them one last time because I’m pretty sure that in a few hours, I’ll be dead and chewing on your insides?’

  Somehow, I didn’t think that would be a conversation that would go over well with my captors. It would be nice to know I had the ability to call my family, but oh well, work with what you got, right?

  I sat on the cold floor of the van, covered in someone’s blood; someone I was sure was dead by the amount that was here.

  My guess was that the crimson spillage was Reed’s and he probably died trying to protect me. I wanted to cry, but I had done enough of that since this crap started. I needed to figure out som
ething to do. I needed to regain control over this hopeless situation. I was pretty sure I was infected and it was only a matter of time before I died and came back as a walking corpse, so what did I have to lose?

  Ben said he was worried about being in the back with me if I was going to be sick, so maybe that was a good way to distract him while I tried to get to his holstered handgun or his knife that were both on his left hip, facing me. I opened my eyes and looked up at Ben.

  The sun started to rise and there was enough light in the van to tell that Ben was starting to nod off a little. I would love to wait and let him fall asleep, but I didn’t know where we were going or how long it would be before we were going to stop.

  Thus, I decided it was pretty much now, or never.

  Ben’s head started to fall ever-so-slowly and he jumped to sit up again but was very soon nodding off again. Just as his eyes drifted closed, I jumped up and reached for his knife.

  With one quick move, I had the blade free from the clasp and as I was pulling it back to me I sliced up and back.

  Ben was reaching his arms out to stop me but the knife cut through his brachial artery. He tried to get to me through the pain but quickly realized where he was cut and stumbled back into his seat clutching his arm.

  “What the fuck’s going on now?”

  “She got me, Liam. I need help, stop the van! The bitch cut me. She cut me good!”Ben screamed at Liam with a look of sheer terror on his face.

  As he had his head turned to yell at Liam, I stabbed the knife into Ben’s exposed neck. I made sure it dug into the hilt before I pulled it out.

  Ben fell towards me, gurgling up the blood that was now filling his throat.

  Liam started yelling at Ben to secure me and that we couldn’t stop because there were zombies all over.

  I smiled to myself since I now knew Liam was trapped with me, or he could get out and take his chances with the infected. Either option he chose was perfectly fine with me.

  He started to slow down, so I made up my mind to be sure he was out of the picture for good, while I still had such a huge advantage.

  I rushed the front seat with my knife raised and he managed to block my thrust. He had to keep at least one hand on the wheel, because now that I could see out the windshield I could tell we were virtually surrounded by infected.

  I knew he wouldn’t stop now. With my free hand, I reached back to Ben’s now lifeless body and somehow managed to unclip his handgun. It’s amazing the amount of adrenaline that pumps through your body and the strength it gives you when you really need it.

  This was a do or die situation and my adrenaline gland reacted just as I needed it to. All I could see in my mind’s eye was my children, safe at the cabin, away from all of this; away from everything the outside world had become.

  The Z-Strain virus was not just infecting and reanimating the dead, it was infecting all of humanity with all of the awful traits we as a species held. This man was already a sick bastard before the virus, but the pandemic had brought his cruelty to new heights.

  I had to end him.

  I was able to get the handgun, while still fighting to bring the blade down into Liam’s flesh.

  I brought the gun into position just above the headrest and said a quick‘I love you’to my family, as I pulled the trigger.

  Chapter 19

  Just before the shot, Liam was steering the van in and out of infected at about thirty-miles-per-hour.

  After the gun went off, everything seemed to happen in slow motion.

  Liam slumped over the steering wheel, missing the front part of his face. The van sped up as all of his body weight was now being pressed onto the accelerator. I recoiled from the gruesome sight that was now plastered all over the interior of the van and the smell of Liam, losing his bowels; because of this, I reached for the wheel a split-second too late and we drove up a concrete median.

  The passenger side wheels seemed to use the median as a ramp and the right side of the van flew into the air. I slammed into the roof, then the floor, over and over again as the van flipped.

  I don’t recall how many times the vehicle turned over before it came to an abrupt stop, as the van slid on its roof into the back of another car, causing me to fly towards the windshield.

  Again, all was black.

  When I finally woke up I felt like I was hit by a truck for lack of a better explanation, which was pretty true.

  Even though, it was more like I hit the inside of a truck more than a few times.

  The van was on its roof and somehow I was now all the way in the back, by the rear doors; One of which was open.

  What I assumed now was the midday sun, almost blinded, me making the pounding in my head that much worse.

  I laid there for a few minutes, trying to gather myself.

  I slowly reached around my body feeling places that hurt to see if I was really broken anywhere. Other than a few bumps, bruises, and scrapes I concluded that I was okay, which was amazing, considering what had transpired to lead me into such a predicament. I might have had a few broken ribs but I knew that I could still walk with broken ribs.

  Then, I remembered the reason for my previous harsh actions. I was infected, or at least I thought I was.

  I felt my body once again and there was no longer a fever. I wasn’t sweating profusely and I was thirsty, but nothing like before.

  Could I have been wrong? I thought. Was I not infected?

  After mulling it over for a few moments, I decided that it was a distinct possibility that my high fever and all of the other symptoms were due to the stress of being kidnapped.

  However, these questions would have to wait.

  One of the rear doors to the van was open and I could hear infected wandering around outside.

  Why they were not already inside, trying to tear me apart I did not know.

  I looked to the front of the van where Liam was and it was not a pretty sight. The only pieces left of him was bone and what the infected couldn’t reach of his legs, that were trapped under the upside-down, crumpled, steering column.

  So, the infected had smelled him and devoured him but left me alone, just a few feet away.

  This was good for me but left more unanswered questions on top of the ones I already had about the new reality that, thankfully, I was still living in.

  I searched the van for items I could use as quietly as possible. I heard a few moans from outside, but no unwanted visitors came knocking. I felt like I should try and close the back door but was worried that if I did the noise would attract every infected in the nearby area and I would be swarmed like I was in the Jeep.

  Except, this time, I didn’t have Chris, Tom, and the others to save me.

  Just the thought of them not being with me brought tears to my eyes.

  Then, I started to think about what could have happened to them. Liam and Ben had made it out alive and to the van. Did that mean they killed Chris, Tom, and the others in the process? I was fairly certain Reed didn’t make it, from the blood in the van earlier, but what about everyone else? I started to cry harder when I felt a bump against the van door and a soft moan. I froze and closed my eyes. For some reason, if I was about to be devoured I didn't want to see it.

  The soft moans trailed off, away from the van and I let out a breath of relief.

  I opened my eyes and realized that something else was missing.

  Where is Ben’s body?

  I looked down to the ceiling again and noticed drag marks in dark dried blood that led out the open door. I ventured a peek and quickly found what was left of Ben.

  His clothes were ripped to shreds and his entire body mirrored what remained of the top half of Liam. There was almost nothing left of him, except bone and tattered clothes. His belt was still around his waist and the rifle sling still over what was left of his shoulder. The rifle itself was underneath his minuscule remains and noticing it, I had only one thought; I needed that rifle.

  A slight movement caught th
e corner of my eye and I slowly rotated a little to be able to better see out the door towards the road.

  There was an infected, standing about five feet from Ben’s remains. He was just standing there. He was in battered jeans and a t-shirt and I almost wanted to say something to see if he was alive or infected, since I couldn’t see his face. Then I saw it. His hands were covered in dried blood and he had bits of flesh dangling from his torn fingernails. Just as I saw this the wind picked up and brought the smell of the dead to my nose. I slowly pulled my head back into the van and stifled the churning desire in my stomach to empty its contents, of which I was certain there wasn’t any remaining, anyway.

  I decided I needed a distraction to get away from my undead guard, but I knew that it would also be in my best interest to get as many things from the van as I could gather, before leaving my current sanctuary.

  I continued to search the van for supplies, very quietly, knowing that my friend outside was listening to everything around him.

  I pulled Ben’s backpack from the bench seats where it was wedged. I found he had a camelback filled with water, a few energy bars, fire starter, a metal spork, and a bowl with a collapsible cup, flares, porn magazines, and thankfully, another knife that was more of a multi-use tool.

  For an asshole, he was prepared to be outdoors, which was good for me.

  The porn, I set aside, but everything else, I kept.

  I questioned, opening the bench seats. I knew we put MREs, or Meals Ready to Eat, in them before we left the cabin, but I didn’t want them all crashing down on top of me and making noise since the van was still upside-down.

  However, I decided I might need the food to survive my walk back to the cabin, especially since I had no idea how far my walk would be so it was worth it.

  So, I slowly undid the latch while I held the lid closed.

  Then, eventually, I let the lid fall open, very slowly, stopping immediately, once I felt the contents it was holding shift.

  After catching my breath, I let the lid open just a little more, enough to be able to slide out one MRE at a time.

  I filled my newly acquired backpack and opened one for now. I wasn’t hungry at all and with the disgusting smells around me, the thought of eating actually turned my stomach.