Apocalypse Z (A Zombie Novel)

by Swanson, G. E.

  They slowly worked their way over to the couch. They found a head face-down on it, but they couldn’t tell if it was a man or a woman. The face had been eaten off, the top of the head had been pulled apart, and the brain was missing. On a blood-soaked cushion next to it was a lady’s hand. Jet noticed the long fingernail on the index finger had been broken off and she figured it probably happened as she fought for her life.

  They noticed there were some bloody footprints going from the couch into the kitchen. When they checked it out, they found part of a thigh on the linoleum floor in front of the sink. Devouring the fleshy ruminants on the bone, were several hundred large roaches that looked to be about two inches long.

  Jet shuttered. “Ewwww!” She immediately said, “We need to check another house. I can deal with zombies and dead bodies, but I hate roaches. They give me the creeps and I’m not spending the night in this house with them running around and crawling all over my body.”

  “Okay, let’s go out and tell Mark we’re movin’ to the next house.”

  Jet went right up to Mark and told him. He gave her a strange look, but said they would check out the next house. Jet and Jeff went in again. The first thing Jet did, was check the couch and kitchen. As they went through every room in the house, she moved items around and checked in the cabinets and drawers for any signs of insect life. Once they were through, everyone came in and selected a comfortable spot to sleep for the night.

  XV

  Amy and Dedee ate and quickly slipped into a big soft bed. Tami and Sheryl checked on Jet, and then talked for a while, but they too went to bed early.

  Jeff sat on the floor with his back against the couch. Jet sat on his lap, facing him. This time, she was the one helping him eat. She giggled as a piece meatloaf fell from the fork and rolled down his chin. He caught it before it his shirt and fed it to her. They both smiled at each other as she chewed it. She started to lean in and kiss him, but she caught herself and stopped. She said, “Just a couple more days.”

  Lisa watched as Mark lay on the bed looking at the map. He said, “So close, yet so far. If we had transportation, we could be there in about a day or so.”

  “We’ll find something. If not, it shouldn’t be much longer anyways.”

  “No, we’re close, but once we get to the sawmill it’s still a six mile hike up into the mountains. The trail can be a major pain in the ass, but at least the zombies won’t be able to get up there.”

  “If it’s so remote, how’d your grandfather build it?”

  He shrugged. “I don’t know. He built it a long time before I was born and I never bothered to ask. To me, it’s always been there and that’s all I really know.”

  “Maybe we’ll find something tomorrow. I know it has taken way longer than what you expected, but I think some things have turned out pretty good.”

  He put the map to the side and moved closer to her. “I know you’re right about that.” He leaned in for a kiss.

  ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

  Lisa woke up and heard an engine and screeching tires off in the distance. She woke Mark and he listened, he quickly got dressed and grabbed his gear. “I think we better check this out.”

  Mark opened the front door and heard Jeff say, “Hang on, bro. We’re coming with you.” Jet and Jeff joined them and they started toward the noise. They had to kill a few of zombies on the way, but made it to what looked like the center of town. They saw two guys, about sixteen, in a big red four-wheel drive pickup, driving around an oval shaped park. One of them was in the back with a baseball bat and they heard him yell, “Go for the one in the blue shirt.”

  The truck drove toward it, and when it passed, the guy in the back swung the bat. He hit the zombie in the shoulder and spun it around as the arm flew off, and the zombie fell. The driver yelled, “Single, advance to first base.”

  “No way! That was a double!”

  “Nope, single is all you get.”

  “Fine! Then that means all my bases are loaded.” He looked around, “Hey, go for the one in the red t-shirt”

  The truck drove toward it. As it passed, the guy in the back swung. The bat made a metallic ping when it hit. The zombies head flew off, breaking into pieces as it sailed through the air. “Grand-fuckin-slam!” he cried out, and held his arms up in the air as he yelled, “Woooo whooooo! Yeah!”

  As the truck passed them, the driver hit the brakes and the guy in the back slammed against the back of the cab. He yelled out as he fell into the bed of the truck, “What the hell, asshole?”

  “Dude! We got people here.”

  The driver got out. The one in the back jumped out and asked with a smile, “Where do I enlist?”

  Mark asked, “What?”

  “You know, enlist. I want to serve with her.” He pointed to Lisa.

  She rolled her eyes as she shook her head. “We’re not Army.”

  “Oh, are you responding to one of my web posts?”

  “No, we’re just passing through.” Then he asked, “You have internet?”

  “Not now, I did have before the power went out. I posted about this place and I had a bunch or replies saying they’d be coming. We’ve been here waiting for them to show up.”

  He started to take a step toward Mark. As he did, Mark and Lisa both put their hand on their pistols. He stopped and said, “No, the bat’s not a weapon. We’re just paying a little zombie baseball.” And he set it down on the sidewalk. “By the way, I’m Mitch, and this is my friend Joe.”

  Mark said, “I’m Mark. This is Lisa, my brother Jeff, and that’s Jet.”

  They both waved, then jumped back when Jet looked at them. Mitch said, “Whoa—shit! What happened to your eyes?”

  Jet just stared at him without answering the question, then she asked, “Know where a girl can get a pair of shades around here?”

  Joe pointed to some stores behind him. “Yeah, right over there.”

  They followed them across the street to a sunglasses store. Jet tried on several pairs before she found one with sleek black frames and a darker tinted lens. They fit nicely and both she and Jeff liked them. As they walked out, Mitch offered them a ride back to the house and they gladly accepted.

  Once they were there, they all went inside and Lisa introduced them to everyone else. Mitch immediately smiled at Dedee as he said, “I can see pretty runs in the family.” Dedee blushed and returned a shy smile. Lisa cut the conversation short and offered him a seat at the table. Dedee pulled out a chair and sat down across from him while Joe sat at the end.

  Mitch told them about his web posts on all the social networking sites and that about twenty people had responded to them, but Joe was the only one who had shown up so far. Mark told them about his grandfather’s cabin in Washington. Both Mitch and Joe sounded interested, but said they were still waiting for more people to show up and needed to stay in the area for a little while longer.

  Mitch also told Mark about an RV rental place in town and said he may use one of them to come up and visit some time. Mark’s ears perked up and he asked more about it. Mitch said it was in a zombie-infested part of town and it was kinda dangerous to go into. He offered to take them to the edge of it, but until the zombie population thinned out a little more, he wasn’t going in.

  No one wasted anytime packing up and they were ready to go in less than ten minutes. Mitch drove them back to where they had first met and headed west from there. After driving five more blocks, he stopped and got out. Pointing north, he said to Mark, “Walk six blocks north, and then make a left. Go another four blocks and you’ll see it on the right hand side of the road. If you go to the back entrance, there’s a gate that has a weak latch, just give it a good kick and the gate will open.”

  Mark waited for everyone to get out and said to Mitch, “Thanks, if you guys ever get tired of this place, there’s plenty of zombie-free mountains and RV parking where we’re going.”

  Mitch nodded and replied, “Be very careful. The zombies around here are mean, nasty, and pr
etty fast. Believe me, you’re gonna need those guns and a fast aim. Good luck and I hope to see you again someday soon.” He smiled at Dedee and said, “Especially you.” He got back into the truck and waved at them as he drove off.

  Mark checked his magazines, pulled two extras out of his pack, and put them in his back pocket. Lisa and Jeff did the same, and Dedee made sure her shotgun was loaded and ready. She opened a box of shells and stuffed a bunch of them in her front pockets so she could get to them fast if she needed to. Jet took off her glasses and put them in her pack, out of the way. Amy, Tami, and Sheryl all nodded when they were ready.

  They walked down the middle of the street. Mark figured if something was to jump out or lunge at them, this would give them a few more seconds of response time. The first two blocks were quiet; there was no movement or sound. Halfway through the third block, one came at them from out of an auto parts store. Mark did a quick point and shoot. The bullet impacted the chest, a little blowback spattering on the road. Its feet flew up into the air and it landed on its back with a mushy thud.

  They had only taken a few more steps, when two more came running at them from the left. Lisa fired once and hit one of them in the head. Dedee caught the other one in the abdomen and tore it in half with the buckshot. Intestines, a kidney, and part of the liver flew back and splattered on the storefront wall behind it. The top part sailed back a little, while the legs took another couple of steps forward before falling to the ground.

  At the same time, two more came from behind. Tami hit one, and the left side of its face caved in. Jet swung at a downward angle and opened the other one up from the left shoulder to the right hip. As it separated, nearly liquefied vital organs poured out from it like chunky maple syrup onto the street.

  More came out from the buildings and gathered in the street in front of them. Mark, Lisa, and Jeff fired at them, dropping one with each shot, but the numbers continued to grow. Some more came up from behind them. Tami swung wildly breaking ribs and arms. Jet severed arms, hands, and legs with every swing. Sheryl stabbed and cut each one that came close enough.

  Amy hit one and broke its leg, while another came up and grabbed her arm. She screamed as it jerked her into the air. Sheryl ran over, grabbed hold of her pack, and managed to break its grip as she pulled Amy back. Another reached in and grabbed Amy by the throat and lifted her off the ground. Sheryl pulled again, but Amy’s pack slid off her back.

  Jet ran in and was able to slice its arm off as it tried to bite into the top of Amy’s head. When it dropped her, Amy hit the ground hard and went down. Jet delivered another strike, and severed its head. Four more ran up to them. One reached around Amy and picked her up. Lisa turned around just in time to see it. She took aim, but it held Amy in front like a shield.

  Amy screamed and reached out for someone’s hand as she kicked and struggled to get free. Lisa ran toward them as the zombie squeezed her, and she heard a couple of snaps. Amy’s body jerked as two ribs broke through the skin and tore a hole in her shirt. Blood began to pour down her side and legs, and onto the street.

  Amy coughed and a small amount of blood shot out over her lips. Her mouth moved as if she was pleading for help, as the zombies had a tug-of-war with her body. Within seconds, there were the sounds of snaps, pops, and wet rips as her arms and legs were broken and torn from her body, one at a time.

  Her skin stretched as far as it could and snapped back as it tore. They surrounded her and ripped her abdomen and chest open with their hands, then pulled the organs from her body and began eating them.

  Lisa and Dedee started shooting and continued firing on them until there weren’t any left standing. They turned to see the number of zombies to the front had started to dwindle. They ran up next to Jeff and Mark and began firing forward. Slowly, they started walking toward the gauntlet of zombies ahead of them. When there were no more zombies left to shoot at, they started to run down the street.

  They ran another block and a half before ducking into an auto body shop. Mark opened Amy’s pack and had everyone put some of the stuff into theirs. While they watched through the front window, more zombies walked by. They refilled their empty magazines and got ready for another fight. Mark looked around the shop and saw several cars being worked on. There were tools, fenders, scrap metal, and a couple of torches. Lisa saw an evil grin stretch across his face.

  Lisa sighed as she said, “Oh shit! I know that look, Mark. Just what do you have in mind now?”

  “Were gonna have a little party. I need to get as many of those rot-bags in here as I can.”

  “Are you nuts? I hope you don’t expect me to hold the door for them.”

  “No way! I’ll prop it open.”

  He set a candle from Amy’s pack on the front counter and used her lighter. Once he lit the candle, he moved to the back and peeked out the back. “Okay, I’ll need everyone back here.” He gestured to the door.

  He took a set of oxygen acetylene tanks and rolled them outside. After he cut the ends of the hoses with his knife, he set the ends inside. He ran over and propped the front door open. Jet stepped out and yelled, “Hey, maggot brains! Can’t catch this!” She did a little dance, wiggling her hips. She and Mark ran back inside. When they started coming in, they waited for a minute, then ran out the back door and closed it.

  They could hear the zombies inside moaning and hissing as they hit the door, trying to get through. When it sounded like the building was nearly full, he looked at Lisa and asked, “Care to do the honors?” and gestured to the tanks.

  She smiled and opened the valve all the way. The hiss could be heard through the door and they all ran as fast as they could. They had only gotten two blocks, when they heard a loud explosion. The ground shook violently, and they all nearly fell, as a giant fireball rose up into the sky. They heard some secondary explosions; then Mark said, “Love that barbequed zombie.”

  They started to walk again and Mark felt his felt leg tighten. He had to stop and draw in a deep breath. They hadn’t gone far, when Lisa noticed he wasn’t next to her. When she looked, she saw him back where they stopped running. He was leaning forward with his hands on his knees and breathing hard. She said, “Wait.” She ran back to him. She asked, “Is it your leg again?”

  He nodded as he straightened up and replied, “Yeah, its cramping up on me.”

  She got under his arm to help support some of his weight and they started walking. He fought every time he had to bring that leg forward and it took a lot of strength to keep moving. They had only covered another block, when more zombies came out into the street.

  Jet ran toward them and went for some simple severing of the legs. She managed to take out two of them and Sheryl took out a third one by running the small blade into its groin area and lifting up. Its insides slithered out and coiled up on the ground at its feet. The zombie tried to take another step, but became entangled in its own intestines and fell to the pavement, face-first, with a mushy thwack.

  Tami hit the fourth one upside the head. Its neck snapped and its head fell to the side and sat on its right shoulder. Mark felt his leg tighten even more and he had to start dragging it. He said to Lisa, “You need to leave me here and come back after you get the RV.”

  She pursed her lips and said to him, “Like hell I will! You better get your ass moving!”

  “Believe me, I want to, really I do. But my leg isn’t cooperating.”

  Jeff had an idea and said, “Hang on a second, bro.” He ran back down the street and went into a business. A minute later, he reappeared with a red appliance dolly. “Here, get on this.”

  Mark looked at him like he was crazy. “Are you flippin’ serious? I’ll look ridicules on that.”

  Lisa smirked, but insisted. “You better get your ass on it, we’re running out of time before this area is infested again.”

  Mark shook his head, but he got on it. Jeff leaned him back and started to push it at a slow jog down the street. As the zombies appeared, they fired at them. Though mo
st had been taken out by the explosion, there were still quite a few stragglers walking about. When they got to the rental place, they went around to the back gate just like Mitch had told them.

  They saw the latch could easily be opened with a good solid kick, but it now had a chain running around the frame with a new heavy-duty lock on it. Jeff held it in his hand and said, “Our pistols ain’t going to be able to shoot this lock off. It’s all about up and over on this one.”

  Mark looked at the three strands of barbed wire running along the top that angled out. He didn’t know how he was even going to get to the top, let alone go over the wire. They all stared at it for a while and thought, then Jeff said, “I have an idea. Mark, give me the strap from your rifle.”

  They both dug in their packs and removed the straps from the rifles. Jeff climbed up the outside of the fence a few feet before he said, “Sheryl, Lisa, I need for you to push and keep me against the fence.” They did, and Jeff went to work. He placed the straps around the barbed wire about four feet apart and pulled them tightly together.

  Dedee folded one of the blankets twice and then handed it to him. He carefully set it over the barbed wire to act as a barrier. Then he leaned into it and had Lisa run the straps through the chain link below and pull them as tight as she could, then tie them off.

  Jeff cautiously reached over and pulled himself up. Starting with this right leg, he threw it over and used his foot to balance himself on the top bar while he brought his left leg over. Slowly, he lowered his right leg and climbed down the other side. He said with a smile, “Okay, bro, you’re next.”

  Mark started to climb, but his left leg was more dead weight than help. Suddenly, he felt two hands on his butt, pushing him up, and then he felt them squeeze. He asked, “Lisa? Is that you?”