Apocalypse Z (A Zombie Novel)

by Swanson, G. E.

  Gritting her teeth, she said, “Over my dead body, asshole.”

  He put his hand over her mouth and reached behind his back. When he brought his hand around he had a large hunting knife in it. “That can be arranged. It doesn’t matter to us if you’re breathing or not.”

  Her eyes were fixed upon the large blade as it drew closer. She struggled and let out a muffed scream as he held it in front of her face, taunting her with it. She closed her eyes and felt the sharp steel against her throat. Knowing she was about to draw her last breath, she let out one last muffed scream.

  From somewhere behind, there was a loud pop and she felt the knife as it fell to the side. Her eyes opened and she saw the man staring down at her. There was a small round hole in his forehead with blood trickling out of it. He slowly slumped forward and lay on top of her. She heard two more pops and the other two men dropped to the ground next to her.

  Lisa struggled to get the man off, but he was too heavy. His dead weight was forcing all of the air out of her body and she couldn’t breathe. Suddenly, his weight was lifted off her and she was finally able to take a deep, cool breath. When she looked up, she saw Mark standing over her with his hand extended. Grabbing it, she was pulled to her feet.

  She looked over at the burning car, then back at him, trying to figure out what had happened. Lisa had an urge to throw her arms around him and took a step. When she realized what she was about to do, she stopped and stepped back. She straightened her shirt and buttoned her pants. In a firm voice she said, “I thought you were dead.”

  “Well, for a minute there, so did I.”

  “I can’t believe you just went off and left me!”

  “I didn’t. I was trying to get them to follow me so you could get away. I didn’t intend to get pinned down behind that car.”

  She looked back over at the car. Puzzled, she said, “But I saw you behind it just before it exploded. How did you survive?”

  “Once I got over there, I saw an open manhole next to it and remembered seeing another one around the corner. I went down it and came up through over there so I could get behind them. As I went down I tossed a grenade in the car to distract them so I’d have more time to get into position.”

  She thought for a minute, then slapped his chest, causing him to flinch and take a step back. “Then what took you so long?”

  “I ran into a zombie down there. Did you know there’re zombies in the sewer?”

  She fastened her belt and holster and then picked up her pistol. “I want you to know, that while you were down there playing with zombies in the sewer, I was up here by myself about to get my throat slit and gang raped!”

  “Okay, I’m sorry. I moved as fast as I could. I didn’t intend for you to get hurt.”

  She looked around. “We need to get out of here. I’m sure the rot-bags heard the shots and are going to smell the blood. They’ll swarm this whole area in a matter of minutes.”

  Mark ran over to the truck, got in, then jumped back out. “We need the keys.”

  They both heard a chorus of moans and saw dozens of them coming around the corner behind them. At the other intersection in front of them, more approached. They ran over and started pulling everything out the pockets of the dead men as the zombies moved toward them.

  When Mark pulled the keys out of one of the pockets, a zombie reached down, latched onto his back, and tried to bite his shoulder. It was stopped short when Lisa fired a single shot into the front of its head. Black goo spattered out and onto the side of Mark’s face. He reached up and quickly wiped it off as he stepped away.

  Mark and Lisa ran for the truck. Once inside, he locked his door. Lisa started to panic as they surrounded the pickup. She screamed, “I can’t lock my door! There’s no lock!”

  Mark struggled to get the key in the ignition as he told her, “Push the door handle down.” She did and heard the click.

  Mark turned the key and the engine fired to life. He put it in gear and it rolled forward about three feet before it came to a dead stop. By now, zombies surrounded the truck and they started banging on it and the windows. He put it in reverse and tried backing up, but it stopped again. He repeated this two more times before the windows started to crack.

  He set his rifle on automatic and handed it to Lisa. He told her to pull the trigger and sweep over the front of the truck as he drove forward. She did and the front windshield blew out. Small fragments of glass fell on them and scattered across the hood. The zombies in front of the truck jerked wildly as the bullets ripped through their rotting flesh and into others behind them.

  Most of the ones in front were cut in half and the top sections of their bodies tumbled and fell to the ground. The hood and grill of the truck became black and sticky from the zombie-gut blowback as pieces flew. Finally, it crept forward, crushing the rotting bodies beneath the wheels. When they broke free, Mark drove toward the apartment as fast as the old truck would go.

  When they arrived, Lisa jumped out, ran to door, and banged on it. She waited, but no one answered it. There was no sound or movement from inside the apartment. She banged on it a second time and started yelling for someone to answer the door. When Dedee opened it, she ran inside and said, “Everybody grab your stuff and get it out to the truck. We only have a couple of minutes, so only take what you need.”

  Jet asked, “We have a truck?”

  Dedee was scared. She could feel every muscle in her body tighten as she asked, “What’s going on?”

  “Yes, we have a truck right outside. Right now we have a bunch of rot-bags on the way here.”

  In a panic, Dedee asked, “Lisa? Just how many is a bunch?”

  She didn’t want to scare them, but at the same time she didn’t want to downplay it. “I’m not sure—a hundred, maybe two.”

  Dedee’s eyes grew and she started moving faster. After they grabbed what they needed, they headed out of the apartment, Lisa bringing up the rear. As they climbed into the back, a wave of zombies came around the corner two blocks away. They were moving pretty quick and closing the gap fast. Lisa got back into the cab with Mark and he pulled onto the street heading away from them.

  III

  They drove ten miles through town before they stopped next to a line of cars parked along the curb. Mark got out and stepped to the back of the truck. He handed Jeff a screwdriver and hammer, then pointed to the gas can in the bed of the truck. “I need for you to punch some tanks and fill this thing up.” Jeff took the tools and hopped out of the back.

  Lisa came up as he watched for zombies and said, “I owe you and apology.”

  “For what?”

  “Back there, when you saved my life, I shouldn’t have criticized you like I did and… I’m sorry.”

  “It’s okay. I understand. But just so you know, I would never let anything happen to you.”

  She smiled and leaned against the back of the truck. Mark watched her from the corner of his eye. He thought Lisa was probably the most beautiful girl he had ever seen. He was more of a tech geek and knew girls like her were always out of his league. Usually, he was a clumsy wreck around them and would end up looking silly, so he knew the most he could hope for, was for them to be friends.

  It only took three cars for Jeff to fill up the truck’s tank. Mark put the tools back under the seat and they resumed their journey. Mark was not familiar with the freeways in this area, so to avoid heading the wrong direction or running into a checkpoint, he stuck to surface streets. Around 5:00 he began to check residential areas for a safe and suitable location for the night.

  They drove through half a dozen neighborhoods before they found a house they felt would be safe. Mark carefully backed the truck into the garage. Lisa closed and latched the door from the inside. Before anyone went inside, Mark and Jeff cleared the house. Once inside, Dedee and Jet gathered blankets and began covering the windows. Lisa, Amy, and Todd brought in the bags from the back of the truck and set them on the floor.

  Mark sat on the couch and
broke his rifle down on the coffee table. He had just started cleaning it when Lisa came into the living room and stood over him. “We need to go through some of the other houses in the neighborhood.”

  Mark glanced up as he cleaned the barrel. “What for?”

  “Food.”

  Mark pointed to the pantry. “There’s food in there.”

  She was quiet for a moment before she spoke in a low voice. “Okay, we need to try and find some hygiene products.”

  “What? I thought I saw soap and towels in the bathroom.”

  Lisa just stood there with her hands on her hips, staring at him. After a minute, she huffed and shook her head.

  “Am I missing…” Then it hit him. “Oh!... You?”

  “No, it’s not for me. She’s already self-conscious enough, so don’t say a word. Just come with me and we’ll get some food.”

  “Alright, just give me a couple of minutes here and we’ll go.”

  As he reassembled his rifle, Lisa asked, “Have you given much thought of where to go? I mean, we had planned to stay in the apartment until this thing blew over.”

  “Well, Jeff and I were headed north to our grandfather’s cabin in the mountains. He saw something like this coming a long time ago and set up a safe place.”

  Quietly, she said, “Oh.” She nervously looked around the room before continuing. “Are you still going there?”

  He smirked. “Yeah, of course we are.”

  Lisa had a tone of uncertainty in her voice when she asked, “When are you leaving?”

  Mark detected it and stopped. Looking up, he said, “I know I didn’t ask, but I kinda assumed we’d all go together. There’s plenty of supplies and room there for everybody. So, do you want to come with us?”

  In a mildly sarcastic tone, she said, “I’m not sure—let me think about it.” Then she smiled and said, “Okay, we’ll go with you.”

  He looked up and returned the smile. “Okay, let’s go find some hy… umm, I mean food.”

  The first house they came to had dried blood smeared on the front door and it was locked. They went around to the back and found an unlocked sliding glass door that led into the living room. It was dark so Mark used the light on his rifle to illuminate the room. He worked his way over to the switch and turned the light on.

  From there, they went into the kitchen. Going through the cabinets, Lisa found several cans of generic beef stew. She took them out and placed them in her bag. Checking around, they soon discovered this house had just about everything they were looking for.

  They slowly worked their way down the hallway until they found the bathroom. Looking in the drawers and cabinets, Lisa found everything she needed. Just as they turned to leave, they heard a thump on the wall from the next room. They stopped and looked at each other. Mark took the safety off his rifle and Lisa reached for her gun. She patted her leg and whispered, “Shit!”

  Mark lipped, “What’s wrong?”

  “I forgot my gun.”

  Mark looked at her and she could see disappointment written all over his face. She looked around and the only thing she found that could be used as a weapon was a toilet plunger. She picked it up and held it over her shoulder like a baseball bat. He tried to cover his smirk as he asked, “Do you know how ridiculous that looks?”

  She gave him a harsh look. “Shut up!” Then she motioned for him to move. “Let’s go.”

  They crept down the hallway to the bedroom door. Mark raised his rifle as Lisa stood in front of the door and slowly opened it part of the way. He shined the light inside the room and saw a dresser against the wall. As she pushed it open a little farther, the door was jerked from her hand.

  Standing inside the room only a couple of feet away from them, was a zombie. Its face was like over dried leather and it looked like the lips had been eaten off so the mouth was only a drawn up a circle with teeth inside. The eyes were blue-white and set deep into the skull. It hissed as it took a step toward them.

  Startled, Mark jumped back and hit the wall. Lisa shrieked and began to mercilessly beat it with the handle. Under the barrage, it fell back to the floor. She continued screaming as she stood over it and repeatedly slammed the plunger cup into its face as fast as she could until its skull collapsed. Black goo slowly ran out from the both sides of the head and into a puddle on the carpet.

  Mark got back to his feet and covered his mouth. He was bouncing around and she knew he was laughing. His face was red and tears streamed down his cheeks. He only removed it to say, “Oh my gawd! I have never seen anything like that in my life. You literally...”

  Lisa cut him off, “Shut up! It’s not funny.” She sighed. “I almost peed myself.”

  It only took a few seconds for the stench of rotting flesh to slap them and work its way down the hall. They ran out of the house choking and gagging, only drawing a breath when they were outside in the fresh air and the door was closed.

  When they returned, Lisa went to the back of the house and Mark sat down at the kitchen table. A few minutes later, she came back and sat with him.

  “Lisa, I think we need to stay here for a few days. We both know how the zombies are attracted to blood, so what I need you to do is discreetly let me know when one of the girls starts menstruating so we can hide out somewhere.”

  “Alright, but we’ll need to give another reason why. Like I said, some are very self-conscious.”

  “We’ll figure something out. If it takes a little longer to the cabin, then it will have to be that way. At least we’ll all get there.”

  Lisa opened the cans of stew and warmed it up. As much as everyone would have liked it hot, they couldn’t chance of the smell of the hot food bringing unwanted attention. Meat was becoming a rarity, so everyone enjoyed it. After they got their fill, they sat around the table and talked.

  Omitting the part about the hygiene products, Mark told the story of how Lisa killed the zombie with a toilet plunger. By the end of the story, everyone but Lisa was convulsing with quiet laughter. She shot Mark an unappreciative glance, but then smirked when she thought about how silly it must have looked.

  Jeff had first watch that night so he sat on the couch while everyone else went to bed. He sat and listened for any signs of movement outside; occasionally he heard a dog barking off in the distance and would take a peek through the window. About an hour and a half into his watch, he heard movement in the hallway. He watched Jet come out of the bedroom and into the living room. “Hey, Jeff.”

  “Hey, Jet. Having trouble sleeping?”

  “Yeah, I figured I come in here and see how you were doing.” And she sat next to him on the couch. She looked up at him and asked, “Do you think things will ever go back to the way they were?”

  He shrugged. “I don’t know for sure, but I hope they do. Sometimes I think I’ll wake up and this will only be a dream.”

  She looked at him for a moment before she spoke. “I know. Sometimes I feel kinda sad if I think about it too much. I miss the way things used to be.” She was silent for a moment, then asked, “Is it okay if I stay in here for a while?”

  “I don’t mind. Do you want me to get up so you can sleep here?”

  “No, don’t get up.” And she laid her head on his shoulder. “I can sleep like this, if it’s okay.”

  Nervously, he moved his arm and put it around her and said, “Yeah, it’s okay.” She leaned into him and put her head against his chest. They sat there quietly for a long time and she eventually drifted off to sleep.

  At midnight, the alarm on Mark’s watch went off and woke Lisa. She looked at it and sighed, then got up. She went into the bathroom and took the band from her hair, letting it fall. She looked in the mirror and picked at it with her fingers until she was satisfied it wasn’t tangled. Before going into the living room to take her shift, she reset the alarm and set the watch on Mark’s pillow.

  When she walked in the living room, she told Jeff to go and get some sleep. She heard a faint moan and stepped closer. Looking
through the dark, she asked, “Is that Jet?”

  “Yes.”

  “How long has she been in here?”

  “I’m not sure, a couple of hours, I guess.” Jet moaned again and moved slightly, but she didn’t wake up. “If it’s alright with you, I’ll just crash here. I don’t want to disturb her sleep.”

  “No, that’s fine.”

  Jeff laid his head on the back of the couch and before long, he was asleep. Lisa stood by the window with the blanket pulled back just enough for her to see out. Occasionally, she glanced over at the couch and wondered what the future held for them. Some thoughts were pleasant while others were downright frightening. She was happy to have found Mark and Jeff, especially Mark. Before that, she was the one who had to make sure everyone was safe and fed. It was her burden and she felt like she bore it alone.

  Since they came along, some of the weight had been lifted off her shoulders. There was someone to share her burden, who could also watch her back. She felt safer now they were there and she thanked the powers that be for letting their paths cross. She glanced back at the couch. By the looks of things, Jet was just as happy about it as she was, but in a different way.

  Most of her watch was very uneventful, but at 3:00, she noticed a group of twelve zombies shuffling down the street. As they passed by, one of them stopped and stared at the house. She stepped back, her pulse raised and she looked down the hallway toward the bedrooms, wondering if she should wake Mark. When she looked back outside, she saw there were now two zombies standing out front, staring at the house. She felt goose bumps rise on her skin and she became nervous.

  She quietly woke Jeff. When she did, Jet woke up and stretched. When she saw Lisa, she froze and looked like she had been caught doing something wrong. She swallowed hard and asked, “Am I in trouble?”

  Lisa shook her head. “No, Jet, you’re okay. I’ve been here for a while. Go back to bed now.

  She got up and slowly walked down the hallway. Before she went into the room, she looked back and said, “G’night, Jeff.”