POW! (Book 1): The Zombie Days

by Wonder, Peter

  "It looks to me like we just got a new potential member of the good guy squad, Mac. Want to give me a hand dragging this fool into the cell?"

  "For sure, man. I'm glad it's this little dude we have to drag and not that big motherfucker. I think he might have actually weighed a ton." We each grabbed the guard under his arms and began to drag him to our former prison cell.

  We got to the room and tossed the puny guard inside. Lucky for us, Vincent was still knocked out cold. He was much easier to reason with in this state. I saw that they each had handcuffs on their belts, so I reached down and grabbed the set off the little dude’s belt and tossed them to Mac. Then, I walked over to put a set on Vincent myself.

  I started lightly slapping Vincent across his face in attempt to wake him up without pissing him off too much. His eyes fluttered open and anger immediately filled his face. He lurched forward in an attempt to rip my head off. Considering our last meeting, I felt this was a totally reasonable reaction to seeing me. I must admit, I may have been slightly worried that he might rip the cuffs in half before tearing my head off.

  "Sorry about earlier, buddy,” I said. “I hope you don't take it personally. Trust me, we're the good guys in all of this madness. How long have you been working with Doctor Dickhead?"

  Through gritted teeth, the beast growled, "For about a year."

  "And, in that time, have you noticed any changes in him? Because we're here thanks to his wife and daughter dragging us down here to save his sorry ass. And you know what? We all wound up thrown into a damn prison cell for our efforts. Does that sound like someone you would like to represent?"

  The giant looked lost in thought . . . or maybe he was just still really pissed off at me. I couldn’t quite tell which.

  "Doctor K said that he was going to get rid of all of them. He said that he was working on a device that could be deployed locally and sold around the world for a fortune. He said that if I worked with him and made sure everything went smoothly, then I would come out of this with all the money I could ever dream of spending."

  "Oh sure, and it would have been fantastic for you if that was all that his magic hat did. But did you know that that thing alters the thoughts of the zombies? It actually puts some of his thoughts into their dead brains. And that doesn't always work out quite as well as the good doctor had intended, believe it or not. You see, sometimes the creatures are able to hold onto some of his thoughts and are able to gain intelligence and become able to learn and evolve into something even more terrible. Did you know that some of them can talk?"

  "More terrible?” he asked. “That's not good. These things are a constant pain in my ass every single day as it is now."

  "And that's not the worst part. Little did the doctor know, some of the zombies’ thoughts ended up seeping into his mind as well. That's why he seems like a bigger dick than usual . . . hopefully. That's where we were hoping you might come in to help us out a little bit. If you can get your massive hands on the doctor and smash his noggin around a little bit, maybe you can make him come to his senses and see what a fucked up mess he’s making of everything. Having been on the wrong side of those fists, I know it can change your mind about some shit real quick. And I can tell that you’re quite a big fan of hitting things, isn’t that right? What do you say, big guy?"

  "I say fuck no!” he said without hesitation. “What are you, crazy or something? What if you're wrong and I lose out on my shot to be rich when this is all over?!"

  "That's one way to look at it,” I began. “The other way would be, what if I'm right and he unleashes an altogether new terror upon this already hell of a planet? You think those dead dudes are a big pain in the ass now? Wait until they start to organize and plot out how to harvest us instead of being driven by pure instinct. What then? There's no amount of money that could save you in that scenario. You'll be fucked just like the rest of us. And in that case, there probably never would be a time when this is all over. It would be the end of life as we know it. We’d all be doomed."

  "Why would I trust you, anyway?” he asked. “You slammed my head in the goddamn door."

  I looked at him without saying anything at first. I just blinked once or twice in disbelief. "Seriously? Do I have to say it? You shoved your brick of a hand through my face and stomach multiple times with no provocation at all. You just did it because you enjoyed it. If nothing else, I’d say we're just about even on that level. Wouldn't you say?"

  "I guess so. I haven't really gotten to beat many people up lately. I've been kind of frustrated, I guess."

  "Well, let’s go unleash your frustrations on the doctor. And I've got something else for you to think about. Assuming that I’m right, and you bashing the crazies out of the doctor's skull does work, who will he have to thank for it? I'm sure he wouldn't forget about you in his future business endeavors if you were the one who rescued him, right?"

  Vincent let that one sink in for just a minute.

  "Plus, I have the keys and if you decide not to come help us, you'll kind of be stuck in here with this other guy," I concluded.

  At this point, the other dude started to come around.

  "What the fuck? Vincent, not you too!” he said, horrified. “I was hoping you would be able to rescue me. Shit. This just got a whole lot fucking worse."

  "I am rescuing you. We're on their side now, Andrew. Let us out, Peter."

  "What do you mean we’re on their side? You fucking traitor!” Andrew lashed out. “The doc is gonna be pissed right the fuck off when he hears about this."

  "You don't want to join us?” Vincent asked, sounding unconcerned. “That's just fine with me. We'll come get you later. I don't know how long it's going to be, so just sit tight, alright?"

  "Fuuuuuck . . ." Andrew hung his head. It was fun watching The Hulk argue with puny Bruce Banner. "Okay, I give; I’m with you guys. Let's go ahead and kick this mutiny off. I'm not going to be stuck in here as a prisoner all by myself while you all go out and get yourselves killed by zombies. What do we have to do?" he asked.

  "We have to go stop the doctor from using his precious device and destroying everything that's left,” Vincent summed up. “You good with that?"

  Andrew had a sickened look on his face. "It doesn't really look like I have much of a choice in the matter, now do I?"

  "Great to have you on board, Andrew! I'm Pete and this is Mac. You'll meet the rest of our little crew in just a little while. Thanks for agreeing to do this, Vincent. I know it probably wasn't an easy decision for you to make."

  "I'm nowhere near the genius that my boss is, but I know the difference between right and wrong. This world could use as much good as we can give it right now."

  "I knew I'd like you, man. Thank God you're cool and not a giant douche," I said.

  "I'm cool too, guy!" chimed in the weasely little Andrew.

  "I'm sure you are, bro. Like I said, we’re glad to have you aboard," I lied as I uncuffed Vincent. I tossed the keys to Mac so he could release the other new member to our party. He took off the cuffs, handed them back to Andrew, and began to walk over to me.

  "Now!" cried Andrew as he jumped onto Mac's back like a spider monkey. Mac tossed the little man completely over his head and he landed on his back at Mac's feet.

  Expecting to be the next victim of this pre-planned attack, I twirled around to find Vincent looking down at his coworker with a grin on his face.

  "Are ya all finished up, fucker?" he asked.

  "I guess I may have read the situation wrong,” Andrew said as he winced in agony. “Just give me a second and I'll be good to go. Sorry, guys."

  “Are you ready to stop being such a little bitch and start being a bro?" I asked the guy on the floor.

  "Yup. Lesson learned. I said I'm sorry, can we just move past this, guys?"

  "What do you say, big man? Can we trust him?” I asked Vincent.

  “I think he knows better than to fuck with me and my boys. He made a mistake. Let's pretend this didn't happen. We'r
e all good here, fellas."

  I walked over to Andrew and offered to help him up to his feet. He grabbed my hand and slowly pulled himself up.

  "Thanks, dude," he groaned.

  "How many more of you are there in this place?" I asked either one of the former security guards.

  "Guys with guns?” Vincent asked. “It's just the two of us. But there are about ten of them on the research team including Doctor K. They have a bunch of those helmet things. They've been testing them out and messing with them in different ways, but it's always Doctor K who wears and tests the thing. I think it must be some kind of ego thing. Anytime someone else tries to put it on, he kind of flips out like a goddamn psychopath."

  "Yeah, that's pretty much what I expected. It turns out that his thoughts are somewhat zombified since he started fucking around with his metal hat."

  "What do you mean zombified?” Vincent asked. “He's not going to start going around trying to eat the living, is he?"

  "I don’t think so. At least, I sure hope not. What I meant is that he can't see danger in his current need to satisfy his most prevalent urge,” I clarified. “Luckily, that urge—as far as I know—is not to consume human flesh, but to attempt to 'cure' the undead problem. And that would be fine, if it worked properly. Look, we don't have time to go over all of your questions and stuff right now. Let's get out of here and meet up with the rest of the team. Sound good?"

  "Good point. After you, Pete." Vincent extended a hand and gestured to the locked door. It was time for the moment of truth. I'd have to turn my back on him and hope he was really on our side. I didn't really have another choice in the matter if I wanted a chance at stopping the doctor for the good of all mankind.

  I slipped the key into the lock and opened the door. I nervously looked back and was very pleased when I saw that I’d not been murdered by my new friend. He's officially one of us. I must have gotten through to him.

  I started to head down the hall before being called by the others.

  "Exit's this way, Pete," called out Mac laughing at me. Goddamn it. I turned around and followed behind of the pack like a jackass. The others were still grinning at my lack of direction when I caught up to them. We made a turn down a hall. I think it might have been the same one that the storage closet was in, but I really wasn't paying attention to that at the moment.

  “If you’re the only two security guards, then who was it that surrounded the rest of my friends?” I asked.

  “Since we’re so short staffed, the researches were called upon to help out with the capture mission,” he said.

  Damn, we were taken out by a team of scientists. How pathetic.

  Some stairs at the end of the hall led up to two huge, thick metal doors which Vincent opened by pressing a series of backlit buttons on the wall. The doors opened into the forest. I wasn't expecting it to have been so deep in the woods; the trees were really dense in this particular area.

  "I heard that there were a whole shit ton of the deadites out here. Is that true?" I asked, slightly worried about Evelyn and the others.

  "The fuck is a deadite? Zombies?” Vincent asked. “Nah, that's just something we say before bringing anyone out here. It helps to get rid of the people that wouldn't be willing to save their own asses should the need arise. Who did you hear that from, anyway?"

  "One of our friends was part of your little research team that didn't make it out here,” I informed him. “Sadly, he didn't quite make it back to the camp, either. In fact, I don't think there’s anyone at all left alive back there. It was a pretty fucked up day, as I’m sure you can imagine."

  "Sorry to hear that, man,” Vincent said. “I didn't live there before all this happened, but I'm sorry for your loss. Luckily, the truth is that there really aren't many of them out here in the woods at all. We usually have to try to lure them to us before they can begin testing that thing out."

  Chapter Twenty

  We emerged from the underground facility and I began to search around for Kyle, Bully, and the girls. It was much darker outside than I’d been expecting. Once I had emerged, it felt like we had only been down there for a very short while. I heard a crack from behind us and turned to point my rifle toward it. I saw Kyle stand up from a pile of leaves in which he had everyone hiding and immediately lowered my weapon.

  "Why the hell would you crack a stick, dude?" I asked him. "I thought you were a zombie creeping up on us or some shit!"

  "I was trying to signal you so you could find us without alerting any of the aforementioned zombies or the thugs that you rolled out with. Are you okay?" he asked with his rifle ready to rescue us from our presumed captures, even though they clearly presented no threat to anyone at the moment.

  "They're with us, bro,” I informed him. “Relax."

  "You got both of them on our side?" he asked, lowering the weapon. "Damn dude, you are good."

  "Guys, this is Kyle, Carolina, Evelyn, and the kid is Little Bully. He's not much of a talker, but watch your junk around him. He’s been known to punch a dick without warning. And you guys, this is Andrew and Vincent the Giant. They're going to be assisting us in our rescue operation."

  Evelyn ran over to me with a great big smile on her face and threw her arms around my neck. "You're amazing," she whispered in my ear and giving me a kiss on the cheek.

  "Have you guys seen anyone come out of these doors before us?" I asked.

  "No, this is the first time those doors have opened up since we’ve been out here, homie. Why do you ask?" said Kyle.

  "The doctor and the device seem to have gone missing. We—or should I say—I think they’ve gone out to find more subjects to do their testing on. We have to find him like right now, before he can do any more damage."

  "Your new friends don't know where they took off to?" Evelyn asked.

  "Nope, they used to tell us when they'd head out, but lately Doc K has been a giant drama queen and has been super secretive about his bullshit experiments. So we have no idea what's going on," explained Vincent.

  “Actually, I saw him taking the thing out the back entrance. I’m pretty convinced he went out to test it. You know that look he gets on his face,” said Andrew to Vincent.

  "So how are we supposed to find them out here in the middle of butt fucking nowhere?" Kyle tossed in his two cents.

  "I can take us to the site where they were going to do their experiments back in the day,” offered Vincent. “I don't see why he would have changed the spot, especially if his switch has been flipped to zombie mode as you've said."

  "Perfect. How far is this special testing spot?" I asked.

  "It's only about a half a mile away. We can be there in no time, so let's get on our way, guys. Maybe he hasn’t gotten started just yet." I didn't like not being in charge, but I guessed Vincent was the go to guy out for the moment. I followed closely behind him along with the rest of our group.

  "I'd like to take a second to point out that we should try to remain as quiet as possible. We're trying to sneak up on the doctor so he doesn't run away and get eaten by a zombie or anything crazy like that. We're trying to rescue him while at the same time not trying to attract any zombies to us."

  "I don't think we'll have to worry about that, Pete," Vincent said. "Attracting zombies is exactly what Doctor K is up to right now. I'd put money in it, if I had any."

  Chapter Twenty One

  We made our way through the woods at a fairly decent pace. At one point, Andrew tripped and I had to help him to get back up to his feet. I was really glad that I didn't decide to give this dude a gun back yet.

  "You alright, man?" I asked him out of annoyance more than anything else.

  "No, I think I rolled my ankle or something," he said in a whiny voice.

  "Well, this is no time to slow down. Lean on my shoulder if you need to and let's get moving. Hopefully, we can get this whole thing over with tonight." After the way things went down with Cliff, I really didn’t want to be upset at anyone. Especially at a time when ge
tting killed by a zombie was a real possibility.

  He put his arm around my neck and I had to drag his pathetic ass along, trailing the rest of the pack.

  Up ahead, I saw that Vincent had everyone hold tight. Within seconds I’d dragged Andrew up to the gang and asked just what the fuck was going on.

  "We're almost there, but it doesn't feel quite right. I can smell the scent of the dead in the air. There must be quite a few of them somewhere nearby. We'd all better get ready for some bad news coming up," Vincent informed us.

  "Alright, homie. If we have to throw down, I know we’re ready for it. You should see the state of chaos that we left that camp in. It probably looks like a red Jell-O giant took a great big shit all up inside of that walled off area. I bet that place is so fucking thick with flies that you couldn't even breathe if you even managed to get in there in the first place!" The grin on Kyle's face let me know he was trying to impress our new friends while making the girls thoroughly nauseated.

  "Was that before or after they all got Harvard degrees?" quipped Vincent. I was really beginning to like this dude.

  After a slight pause, I cupped my hand on Evelyn's jaw and gave her a long passionate kiss. We gazed into each other’s gaze for a brief second.

  "What was that for?" she asked with a big smile.

  "Oh, you know . . . just in case we all die," I replied with a smile.

  I watched her face as her expression morphed from contentment to disappointment to a hint of worry. I thought it was pretty funny to watch.

  "Just kiddin', babe, we'll all be fine . . . probably . . . The fact that they're smart doesn't mean we can't make them explode like the rest of them that we’ve encountered."

  "Explode, huh?” asked Vincent. “You think you're just going to throw your grenades at them in their current state of enlightenment? What if they throw them back or something?"

  "If they're that smart, then we still have our secret weapon against them. The POW Shots! See, if you shoot them in the gut with an incendiary round they pop like a gore balloon!" I said with a great big smile lighting up my face.