Apocalypse Z (A Zombie Novel)

by Swanson, G. E.

  “Hold on. I’ll go get them for you.”

  Mark watched as Jet left the room. After a few minutes, another girl came in. She looked like she was a few years older than Jet. She had long sandy-blond hair that hung down past her shoulders and blue eyes. Mark was caught off guard momentary; he never expected to see someone like her walk into the room. Handing him his clothes, she said, “Sorry about that. We had to make sure you hadn’t been bitten.”

  Mark blushed and felt a little uncomfortable as he looked toward the door. “We?”

  “Well, actually I did. My name’s Lisa by the way. Like I said, I needed to make sure I wasn’t bringing someone in that had been infected. You also had some nasty cuts we had to clean up, but don’t worry, you were covered while they were in here.”

  He looked around the room. “I’m Mark… Where am I and why am I here?”

  Lisa went over to him and sat on the edge of the bed. “Don’t you remember?”

  He thought, but drew a blank. “Remember what?”

  “You were in an accident yesterday. We found you and brought you back to our apartment.”

  Mark started to feel a little anxious. “Where are my parents and my brother?”

  “Was that your brother in the back seat with you?

  Mark was becoming impatient and said, “Yes, his name is Jeff. Where are they?”

  She held her finger to her lips. “Shhhh, we have to keep the noise down so the rot-bags don’t find us.” A look of dread came over her face. “Your brother is in the other room with Jet and Dedee.” She paused before breaking the news. “I’m very sorry about your parents.”

  Mark had a lost look on his face. He was hoping she didn’t mean what he thought she did. His jaw tightened as he spoke. “What do you mean by sorry?”

  She set her hand on his shoulder. “I’m sorry, but they didn’t make it. They were already…” She couldn’t bring herself to say the word. “when we found you and your brother.”

  Mark fought to be strong. Tears filled his eyes and he tried to keep his jaw firm. Lisa sat next to him and tried to comfort him. Finally, it became too much and he buried his face in his hands. She whispered, “It’s alright. Just let it all out.”

  Jet came back into the room and stood there. She looked at Lisa and lipped the words, “You told him?”

  Lisa nodded and lipped, “Give us a few minutes.” Jet nodded and looked down as she left the room.

  Lisa stayed with him until he regained his composure. Mark looked up with red eyes and he cleared this throat. “I need to see my brother.”

  Lisa stood up and said, “Go ahead and get dressed. I’ll be waiting outside in the hallway.”

  After she went out and closed the door, Marked picked up his clothes. He noticed they had been cleaned and neatly folded. When he stood up to get dressed, his muscles felt a little sore and his body ached, he saw his right side had several cuts and bruises. When he was dressed, he stepped out into the hallway where Lisa waited for him. He ran his hand over his shirt. “I want to say thanks. I appreciate the clean clothes and what you did for us.”

  She nodded. “You’re welcome. We’ve been trying to keep up with everything while we still have electricity.” She paused and her expression became serious. “Before you go in, I need to tell you something else. He’s having trouble remembering things.”

  “Okay, but I didn’t remember the accident either.”

  She was silent as she tried to figure just how to word it. “It’s not just that, he doesn’t remember where he is or what’s going on. He remembers his name and who he is, but other than that, he has little to no personal memories at all.”

  This was very difficult for him to hear. All he had left was his brother, now he might not even have that. “Does he have a head injury?”

  “Nothing we could see. It just might be from stress and his mind has locked some of his memories up. I knew of someone years ago that had it happen to them. It took time, but everything came back.”

  Lisa opened another door and walked down the hallway. When he looked in, he saw Jeff inside sitting on the bed talking to Jet and Dedee. Dedee had long sandy-blond hair and he though she looked a lot like Lisa, just younger. They were smiling and seemed to be having a good time. Mark closed the door and found his way to the kitchen. On the floor next to the table was all of their gear and duffle bags. He knelt down and opened them.

  Lisa came up behind him. “Did you talk to your brother already?

  Mark glanced at her and shook his head. “It looked like they were having a good time. I figured it would best if I let him enjoy it.”

  Lisa brought in another bag and set it down. “Here are all your weapons. I was just curious, I was going to go out with Jet and see what we could scrounge up for food. And… well… would you like to come with us?”

  “Sure, but why not let them have fun? You and I could go out a grab some things. Just let me get my gear together.

  Lisa hesitated, she usually didn’t trust someone she just met, but for some reason her gut had already told her he wasn’t a danger. She went over and started to put some shells into her shotgun.

  Mark came over and looked at it before asking, “Have you ever fired a pistol before?”

  “Yes, once a long time ago.”

  “Come over here.” He reached into the bag and brought out an auto pistol. “This is a Glock 17, it fires 9mm rounds.” He dropped the magazine, cleared it, then handed it to her, “Let me show you how it works.” He stood behind her and started to reach around, but stopped. Feeling a little nervous, he asked, “Is this okay?”

  She nodded. “Yes, but only to show me how to use it.”

  As he reached around her, his arms touched hers and she felt a tingle. It was like static electricity dancing just above her skin. It caught her by surprise and she became distracted for a moment.

  “Here is the safety. Just pull it back flush with the trigger like this, then continue to pull the trigger back. Remember; never rest your finger on the trigger. The only time you touch it is if you’re going to shoot. Hold it just like this. This hand goes here and the other goes here, just like that. These are your sites. Just line them up and pull back on the trigger, never jerk your finger back. Make sure your hands are out of the way of the slide. Take slow breaths and exhale as you take your shot. This is the slide lock and this button here is the magazine release.” He stepped back and looked at her. “Okay, think you got it?”

  “Umm… I think so. You might need to show me one more time just to make sure.”

  “Okay, let’s do this one more time.”

  He stood behind her and went through it again. This time he noticed her palms started to sweat. After the lesson, Mark got into one of the bags and took out a gear belt, a magazine pouch, gloves, and a tactical holster.

  He handed her the gloves. “Put these on. I noticed your hands were sweating a little and these will help you keep a better grip.”

  She noticed it too and didn’t understand why it had happened. She put the gloves on and said, “Yeah, that usually doesn’t happen.”

  When he had everything all put together, he knelt down in front of her. He put the belt around her waist and started adjusting the size so it would be snug. While he was working on this, he heard someone behind him say, “Oh my gawd! Get a room!” He turned and saw a girl, about thirteen-years-old, with dark brown, shoulder-length hair standing in the kitchen doorway with her hand over her mouth.

  He stopped and turned. “No! It’s not what you think.”

  The girl turned away and ran back into the living room. Lisa chuckled. “That was Amy. She lived down the street from us. Her younger brother, Todd, is here too.”

  “Are there any more people here I haven’t met?”

  “No, that’s all of us.”

  “No parents or other family?”

  Lisa got quiet. With sadness in her eyes, she said, “Dedee is my sister, but our parents disappeared when all this started. Jet’s parents were
bitten and infected, but before they turned, they dropped her off and asked if she could stay with us. One night Amy and Todd knocked on our door. They said their parents hadn’t come home yet and wanted to wait here with us until they did, but they never came home.”

  He lowered his eyes. “Oh.”

  He went back to work and adjusted the belt so it was snug, and secured the holster strap around her leg. He reached back into the bag and pulled out three magazines. He put two in her pouch and one in the pistol. Before they left, he showed her how to draw it from the holster.

  Lisa went back to the room, said she and Mark were going on a food run, and gave Dedee the shotgun. As they entered the streets, Lisa took the lead. She was more familiar with the area and knew the best routes to take. Lisa cautioned Mark, “Not only do we need to watch for rot-bags, but we have to watch out for the goon squad as well.”

  Mark was a little puzzled. “What is the goon squad?”

  “They’re a bunch of armed criminals that run the streets. They’ll patrol in groups of five or more, looking for survivors. If they catch you, they’ll rob you and use you as zombie bait.”

  Mark shook his head. “That sounds pretty sick.”

  “Follow me. I’ll show you one of their victims.”

  Mark followed her for five blocks. When they came upon the scene, Lisa pointed to a tree next to the street in a city park. When he saw the carnage, he froze in shock. There was a naked body hanging from one of the limbs. It had been slit open from the throat all the way down to the groin.

  The intestines had been pulled out and mangled. They looked like they had been partially eaten and the legs had been stripped to the bone. Below on the ground, were the bodies of eight zombies. She had to look away before speaking. “They’ll hang people up and slice them open while they are still alive. The zombies hear the screaming, smell the blood, then come for an easy meal. The squad will sit off somewhere in the distance and snip them as they show up and start eating.”

  Mark shook his head in disgust. “Sick bastards.” He saw the body move and heard it hiss at him. Instinctively, he raised his rifle and fired a single shot into its head.

  Lisa jumped at the sound. “Keep it down! If the zombies or goon squad hears that, they’ll come this way.” She looked around and said, “There used to be a store just a couple blocks this way.” She pointed to the left. “Let’s get out of here.”

  They had made it another block when they heard movement and several groans in front of them. They quickly ducked down behind a car parked alongside the curb and watched as seven zombies came around a corner.

  ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

  In the apartment, everyone had moved to the kitchen and sat around the table talking. Jeff pointed to Dedee. “Okay, you’re Dedee, Lisa’s sister.”

  She nodded and pointed to everyone as she spoke. “Yes, I’m Dedee. This is my friend Janet from school, but everyone calls her Jet. This is Amy and her younger brother Todd; he’s only nine.” She pointed to a heavier-set boy with short hair.

  Todd asked, “Jeff, can I ask you a question?”

  “Sure, go ahead.”

  “Okay, if zombies eat people…”

  Amy cut him off. “Stop it, Todd. That question’s so gross!”

  Dedee wrinkled her nose and Jet said, “Ewwww!”

  Todd looked around. “But I really want to know. It’s a serious question.”

  Jeff said, “Okay, Todd, ask your question.”

  “Well, if zombies eat people, where do they poop?”

  Jeff realized he should have let that question go unasked. He looked around the table and saw everyone looking back at him, except for Amy. She had her face buried in her hands as she shook her head. He thought before he said, “Ummm… I don’t know.”

  “Do you think Mark would know?”

  “No, if he did, he would have told me and I could tell you.” Jeff quickly looked at Dedee and asked, “Why did you stay here? Don’t you have a car?”

  Jet spoke up, “Dedee and I have our license, but no cars.” She lowered her head. “But I guess that really doesn’t matter anymore.”

  Jeff smiled a half smile. “But at least you got them and that’s something this mess can’t take away.”

  Dedee and Jet thought about it and smiled at each other. Dedee leaned over and lightly bumped Jeff with her shoulder and said, “You’re right. We have our license.”

  Jet scooted away from the table and went over to the counter where she picked up Jeff’s rifle. “Where did you and your brother get such ass-kickin’ guns?”

  Dedee quietly said, “Jet!”

  As soon and the words left her lips she realized he probably wouldn’t remember. Jet closed her eyes and sighed. “I’m sorry, Jeff; I don’t know why I asked you that.”

  Jeff turned in his chair. “That’s okay.” He got up and went over to her and Dedee followed. When he picked it up, it was like a light had come on in his mind. “This is a P90 rifle with a fifty round magazine of 5.7mm armor piercing rounds. This is the optical scope, this is the laser sight, and this is a rail light. Right here is the safety and here is semi-auto and here it is full auto.”

  Dedee and Jet just stood there with their mouths agape staring at him. Amy sat at the table and listened, then asked, “Jeff, how did you remember all that?”

  He stood there confused. “I don’t know. I really didn’t think about it. It just… was there when I picked it up.”

  Amy got up from the table and ran down the hall. A minute later, she returned with a deck of cards and a jar of pennies. Every one sat down at the table as she shuffled the deck. Todd opened the jar and counted out pennies. He made sure everyone had an equal amount in their stack to start.

  They played draw poker for a while; but no one seemed to be gaining any ground penny-wise. Jet thought Jeff was very nice and she kept watching him as they played. The few boys she knew from school all had a habit of looking at her chest when they talked to her. But Jeff was different. He didn’t do that. He looked into her eyes when they talked and she liked that.

  Several times, Jeff noticed Jet staring at him as they played. Occasionally, he glanced up, but she would quickly turn her eyes another direction or down toward her cards. As they quietly played, there was a hard knock at the door and everyone jumped. They all looked around at each other, afraid to move. A few seconds later, there was another hard knock.

  ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

  Lisa and Mark quietly watched through the car windows as the zombies came up the street, only slowing as they walked around a car sitting out in the middle of the street. These didn’t look like they had been zombies too long and walked at a pretty good pace. From the opposite direction, they heard the roar of an engine and screeching tires as an old green pickup came flying around the corner.

  Lisa motioned for Mark to stay down and be quiet. They watched as four men with guns jumped out from the back of the truck and two more got out of the cab. The men yelled and opened fire on the zombies in the street.

  Lisa tapped Mark and lipped the words “goon squad” as she pulled the pistol from the holster. They listened until the shooting stopped; then they heard one of the men yell, “Spread out and check the area. I’m sure the shot came from around here.”

  Mark set his rifle on single shot and motioned for Lisa to stay down and keep quiet. Before she could react, he jumped up and started firing rounds at the men as he ran down the sidewalk. Two of them immediately fell where they stood as his bullets found their target and sliced through the men’s bodies. The others aimed and started firing at him as he ran. Rounds hit the walls and ground in front of and behind him, sending chunks of concrete and stucco flying. He ran into the street and took cover behind a car.

  All of their fire focused on that car. The tires blew out and it shook as the bullets punched through the metal skin. The glass shattered and fell to the ground. Lisa watched as the car began to disintegrate before her eyes. Her horror became real when the car exploded. She could feel the
heat from the flames as they lunged out and up. She screamed, “Noooooooooooo!”

  There was a brief silence, as the men looked her way. One yelled out, “Get her!” She knelt down and moved to the front of the car, hoping the engine block would provide better cover. She held the pistol up over the hood and blindly shot toward them. Returning fire, they cautiously advanced on her position.

  When she emptied the first magazine, she quickly swapped it out with another and started firing again. One of the men was hit and thrown to the ground as the bullet ripped through his chest, but the other three continued to advance. Hot brass fell all around her like rain, making hollow pings as they hit the sidewalk. The smell of gunpowder filled the air.

  When she dropped the second magazine to insert the third, one of the men came around the front of the car and pointed a large-caliber revolver in her face. She heard the double click as he pulled the hammer back and said, “You move and I’ll blow your fuckin’ head off.”

  She slowly raised her hands and stared into the large bore at end of the barrel. Another man came up from behind her and took the pistol from her hand. Given a choice, a bullet tearing through her head was far better than being cut open and eaten alive by zombies, but she wasn’t ready to give up and die.

  She felt someone from behind grab her hair and pull her flat onto her back. The man kept his gun pointed at her face as he straddled her and squatted down. “I see we have a pretty one here. I think we should have a little fun with her before we feed the zombies.”

  She was disgusted by his dirty, sweaty face. His smell was foul and she almost gagged. His eyes were cold and she swore he had no soul. Thoughts raced through her mind and she wondered how she was going to get out of this mess. Mark was dead and everyone else was too far away to help. There was no way around it. She was all alone and about to meet a grizzly death.

  One of the men grabbed her hands and held them on the ground over her head. The man on top of her set his gun to the side and unfastened her belt and holster. She struggled, but he was too heavy to throw off. He unbuttoned her pants and started to unzip them.