POW! (Book 1): The Zombie Days

by Wonder, Peter

  Vincent's face exploded with joy and excitement. "And you have some incendiary rounds? That's so fucking badass, Pete!" said the enormous man while slapping me on the back.

  "Yeah, I'm kind of the one that figured it all out. It was sort of named after me and shit. It's pretty awesome. Too bad we're running a little bit low on the rounds, though. We'll have to be careful how we use them. But, we do still have the grenades to fall back on. I think we'll do just fine in all of this. Now, I think that's enough of a delay. Everyone be as quiet as a mouse, and let's go see what we find out at this test site. Bully, you stay close to Evelyn and Carolina, okay? Andrew, I’m going to give you your rifle back so you can stay back and keep an extra eye out and keep them safe, alright? With your injured ankle you won’t be all that great in a fight against them." I really didn’t think he’d put up much of a good fight even if he was at his best.

  Bully gave his usual nod as Evelyn put her arm around his shoulders and pulled him in close. Carolina wrapped her arm around the wormy Andrew and helped him to continue hobbling along on his way.

  I stepped out in front next to Vincent and we all began our stroll toward the powerful scent of the dead. Adrenalin was pumping through my veins and I was slightly excited to see the mad doctor in action. I imagined him like a wizard casting spells on the walking dead.

  As we got nearer to the source of the smell, we could hear a dull murmur off in the distance. All of the trees in this area made it impossible to see too far ahead of us. The testing facility could have been twenty yards ahead of us for all I could tell.

  "I really hope that it clears out a little bit when we get to this testing site of yours," I whispered to Vincent, who was on my left.

  "Yeah man, we're almost there. I'm pretty sure you'll be able to tell once we've arrived."

  "Why is that? Is there a big arch above it with the words 'Welcome to the test site' scrawled on it?" I asked.

  "Not exactly. You'll see, man, it's basically like a big ass concrete trench that the zombies can't get over."

  "So, you're saying that we're safe over here on this side?"

  "I'm saying there's a big ass trench out here in a location where we usually have to try to find them rather than them finding us. I'm also saying that it smells like a cemetery farted out here, so you’re free to do with that information what you will, Pete."

  "So it's a coin toss. I got you."

  Vincent rolled his eyes at me and kept walking onward. Up ahead, the trees began to thin out a bit and the murmuring continued to get louder and louder.

  "Those are the fucking voices of the dead. They're speaking, dude." Vincent cringed as he spoke the words.

  "We don't know that just yet, bro. Calm down. They could just be saying 'Uuuugh' or some shit for all we know."

  Then I heard a female voice from out of the cacophony.

  "They . . . approach," she shrieked with her nose up in the air.

  "Okay, Vincent. That was a voice."

  "Fuck, man,” whined Andrew. “The doctor said that this bitch was bad news. Fuck this shit, guys. Let's just get out of here. There's no reason for us all to get eaten today."

  "Andrew, dude, this is no time to be a coward. Quit shaking in your little boots or they'll get you while you're busy pissing in your panties."

  Andrew swallowed hard and did his best to steady himself. He damn sure didn't wish to be left behind to fend for himself in a situation like this. I wondered how he’d come to be one of the only two guards for the research team.

  “Repeat after me, man,” I said to Andrew. “ ‘I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past, I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.’ ”

  “What the fuck kind of gay shit is that? I’m not saying all of that shit.”

  “It’s what Paul Muad’dib says before he- you know what, nevermind, bro. I don’t think we have the time to try to make you into a man right now, anyway.”

  “Pete’s such a nerd,” Kyle informed everyone.

  We neared the edge of the tree line where I had everyone stop a few paces away. Vincent and I walked up to the clearing and were able to observe the doctor. He was standing behind the queen of the undead as she commanded her army of corpses and held him prisoner with his magical brain bowl atop his head.

  I looked at Vincent and he looked back at me. Together we walked back to the group and I addressed them.

  "Okay, guys,” said Vincent. “Our situation isn't looking too great, as you can well imagine. There are a whole lot of them and they have a leader. Also, they have taken a prisoner."

  "DAD!" cried Evelyn.

  I gave a somber nod. "This is going to be quite a challenge, but I think we can do this. Are you guys with me?"

  "We've come this far, homie, I don't think you've gotta worry about any of us abandoning you any time too soon," Kyle reassured me.

  "Damn straight, Kyle. You know we've got your back, so let's get at it, Pete," added Mac.

  "My mom and I still have the pistols, so we'll do what we can while keeping Little Bully away from them," Evelyn said as Carolina and Bully both nodded in agreement.

  “I’m here to do whatever I can, too, Pete,” chimed in Andrew, although no one really acknowledged him.

  "I'm all set to get these creeps out of the way, too,” said Vincent. “They're all that stands between me and my much deserved fortune. The sooner we can all get this done, the sooner I can happily live out the rest of my days as a fat cat."

  "We all get some kind of cut too, right, Vin? After all, if it wasn't for us, the doctor would just be missing and basically as good as dead!"

  "Kyle, right now really isn't the best time for entering contractual negotiations,” I said. “You guys need to stop your fantasizing and get your heads in the game. Plus, we'll probably need a lawyer present for when we make that kind of deal. Let's focus for now, kids. The bottom line here is we need to keep the doctor alive and take out the queen. After the queen goes down, I’m sure the rest will go back to their stupid mindless ways. They’ll have nothing to fight for—just plain instinct once more. Now, I want no explosions near the doctor. Is that understood? This is, above all else, a rescue mission, got it? Now, are you guys ready?"

  "Yeah, homie. My bad. Let's do this."

  "Sorry for getting sidetracked, Pete,” said Vincent. “Let's do it to it."

  Mac threw out a nod in my direction to let me know that he, too, was as ready as he’d ever get. It was time to go to war.

  I passed each member of our team a few extra magazines as well as a grenade to use as a last resort, or a way to get them out of a sticky situation. After all, we had plenty to go around. Once I felt as though everyone was sufficiently armed, we made our way up to the tree line.

  I pulled out a grenade and showed it to everyone. My plan was to toss it into an area that was thick with them and take out a good sized chunk of them right off the bat. I pulled the pin and lobbed the grenade into the trench.

  The thing exploded, and when it did I saw two halves of a single zombie go flying up in the air. It was just a torso and a set of legs. It looked like he must have sacrificed himself by diving on the grenade to save the rest of his undead platoon.

  I was dumbfounded and felt my jaw drop in surprise as my eyes widened. This was going to be a lot worse than I’d initially thought. We now had the attention of all of our enemies at once. The ones that were out of the trench, on the other side by the queen, charged at us and did a crowd-surf maneuver over the others as she pointed at us with a horrific nub of a finger and groaned a nightmare-inducing sound.

  "Holy shit! That bitch is like Evil Marie Antoinette leading her army," shouted Kyle.

  "You're thinking of Joan of Arc, dude,” I corrected him. “Marie Antoinette is the French chick that got beheaded. Joan of Arc is the one
who led the French army with God's guidance," Vincent corrected him.

  "No, man you're thinking of Noah's Arc from the Bible. You're all dicked up. He led a bunch of animals into a boat. Besides, the only zombie in the Bible was Jesus," Kyle volleyed back.

  "Let them eat cock!" I shouted at the top of my lungs as I readied my rifle. "FIRE!"

  We unleashed on the first wave of them and they went down easily enough. One by one they all fell.

  "Uh, has anyone else noticed that these bastards are a lot faster than any of the others that we've encountered thus far?" asked Mac.

  "I'm guessing that their minds have grown enough to be able to force their muscles to move faster, despite their current state of rigor mortis. Perhaps it’s all part of an effort to save their queen," Evelyn offered up.

  Silence.

  "To put it more simply, they can move faster now. A lot faster," she said.

  "Ooohhhh . . ." Everyone could now decipher the smart lady's message.

  Some of the zombies down in the trench were beginning to lie down in order to form a set of stairs made out of living corpses. The ones that were still vertical began to make their way toward us, climbing over their companions to rise out of the trench that was like a massive tomb. We unleashed another series of rounds as they rose up and began to approach us. The queen had made her way to the control booth of this testing facility site with the doctor. The control booth was made out of the same concrete as everything else that had been related to this whole, crazy area. We could just barely view them through the small, thick, bullet-proof glass window. In order to get to their new love booth, we were going to have to somehow cross the trench and meet her face to face.

  Once the final zombie of the second wave had taken his rightful place on the ground amongst his fallen brothers in death, it was our turn to advance.

  I had everyone pull out a grenade and toss it into the trench in order to save on rounds. There was no telling what may still lie ahead of us before we could destroy their leader.

  The grenades dropped down into the trench where the dead were peacefully waiting with no chance of escape. The explosives went off and sent puss, blood, and all the bits and pieces of zombie goodness flying straight up from the pit like a crack from Hell had just sneezed out some gore filled fireworks.

  It was time for us to attempt to find a way across the trench. It turned out to be much wider than I’d previously thought.

  "Alright, guys, we've done a fantastic job so far. As a matter of fact, this all seems a bit too easy. But, I have hope that the reason behind that is just because zombies aren't the best at battle planning. I'm just glad we got zombie Marie Antoinette instead of zombie Sun Tzu," I said, smiling. "What we need now is a quick way across, but also sturdy enough to make a quick retreat should any more fucked up shit happen over there."

  "How about a log?" asked Vincent.

  "That's a good start,” I agreed. “How about we grab two logs and lash them together so we have something a little wider and more sturdy? I still have some rope left over to bind the logs together with. Let's go grab some logs, guys. But continue to keep an eye peeled! Andrew, you stay here and keep an eye on Bully and the ladies. Mac and I will grab one log, while Kyle and Vincent grab the other. We'll meet up right back here. Ready guys? Break."

  The four of us took off back into the tree line. All of us began looking for sturdy logs long enough to serve as our bridge, which didn't take us too long. We lifted them up and hauled them over to the trench.

  "So, how are we going to get the logs across this gap?" asked Vincent.

  "I hadn't exactly thought of that just yet,” I said, trying to think of something. "I suppose if we all put our weight on one end and turn it all together, it'll keep the other end from dropping into the trench. After that, we can use the log already lying across as a bridge for the far end of the other log to roll along."

  "Let's see how it goes," said Vincent with a shrug. He clearly didn't have a better idea.

  The four of us got to work on the one end of the log, but it wouldn't budge.

  "Kyle, how about you go to the other side and push from there to get some momentum going?" I suggested.

  He skipped over to the other end and gave it a good shove. It was now spinning in the desired direction, so Kyle came back to keep the heavy thing from dropping down.

  The far end reached the other side of the trench, effectively completing phase one of our bridge. Once we were satisfied with its placement, we rushed over to the other log and brought it over. We tossed one end up on the bridge and were able to easily roll it along until the far end landed on solid ground where we needed it to be.

  "Perfect," I said, rather proud of this engineering feat. I ran back to my pack, which I’d dropped by the girls, and grabbed my rope. I brought it back to the bridge. Carefully, I straddled the bridge and shimmied my way about a quarter length of the bridge. This was where I began to lash the two logs together. After I felt they were secure, I scooted myself another few feet and repeated the same process.

  Once I’d finished securing the final knot, I stood up and rocked back and forth, challenging the integrity of the bridge. Everything seemed to be holding in place.

  I lightly jogged back across the bridge and grabbed my rifle. I opened up my bag and grabbed what I would need, leaving it open so that everyone else could do the same.

  "Looks like it'll hold, but let’s keep it to one person on the bridge at a time, anyway. Andrew, I still need you to stay here and keep our non-combatants safe, k?" I said.

  Andrew nodded, looking quite relieved that he didn't have to cross the River Styx into Hades.

  The rest of my four-man team collected the grenades and full magazines which would be required for the mission. Once everyone felt prepared, we headed across our bridge. I was the first one to make it to the other side and, as soon as I did, I headed straight for the control booth where the doctor was being held captive by the dead woman. Once I could see her through the thick window, I could just barely make out the fact that she was laughing. A thick, raspy cackle came from between her black teeth.

  I stopped in my tracks as I heard what sounded like a herd of elephants charging out of the forest about sixty yards away.

  I decided it would likely be the best course of action for me to swap out my standard ball round magazine in exchange for something with a little more boom. I reached into my cargo pocket, grabbed what I was searching for, and stuffed the magazine into the open well of the rifle.

  We all took aim in the direction of the sound. The first one of them came running out and went down nearly as soon as it made itself visible. Kyle took the shot which went strait through the creature’s left eye. Another one of them came hauling ass out from the trees at us. This time, Vincent pulled the trigger and caught him right between the eyes.

  After those first two went down, a steady stream of them began came pouring out of the tree line. As more bodies piled up on the ground, the zombies began to leap over them rather than tripping over them as they had previously.

  "Guys, start to back up over the bridge. There's no way they can keep coming at us over such a narrow path," I instructed them, shouting over my shoulder. Kyle was nearest the bridge, so he was the first one to slowly make his way towards the others while Vincent and Mac were picking off zombies.

  Vincent was next to go back over as Kyle moved to a position where he could begin firing some rounds into the undead mass.

  When the herd was about twenty yards away from me, I chose a target towards the front and fired a round into her stomach. The explosion was so great that it knocked me down. I guess the cluster was so compact that the flame was easily spread from creature to creature, creating a giant, bloody zombie bomb.

  When the concussion hit me, it wasn't in the form of a mere a shock wave. I was met with a speckling of blood, and something that felt like a thumb hit me squarely in the left cheek just below my eye. I really hoped it was a thumb.

 
; When I got to my feet, it looked like a majority of them were on the ground, but the forest was still violently vomiting out copious quantities of cadavers.

  I headed back across the bridge to join my friends on the far, safer side of the trench. Evidently, while I was down from the blast Vincent and Mac found time to make it across our little bridge. Everyone’s face was filled with awe as I looked back.

  "Pete, that was amazing! That POW shot is unbelievable!" exclaimed Vincent, looking over my blood-soaked face.

  "But was it worth it? You almost got your eyeball taken out by a flying dead dude dong. There ain't no kind of glory that's worth sucking off a severed zombie dick, homie!" Kyle said, looking like I’d just come out of the closet and tried to propose to him.

  "Shut the hell up, dude,” I gruffed. “I'm pretty sure it was a thumb. I’m covered in blood and it smells like the Grim Reaper had us over for a barbecue. But that was totally fucking badass."

  The zombies kept running at us, but they were falling into the trench and were still mostly unable to reach us. The ones that were lucky enough to make it onto the bridge were shot down easily enough, and they fell into the trench with the rest of them.

  "So, this shit ain't workin' out too well for us, fellas,” I informed my comrades. “We've got to get to the queen and take her out. I'm pretty sure that's the only way they'll stop coming at us so hard."

  "Are you guys ready to accept retreat as a viable option yet?" Andrew said hopefully from the sidelines of battle.

  "Andrew, this is not the time for your shit! If you're not going to be helpful, then just shut the fuck up!" I could tell that Vincent had built up quite a distaste for Andrew during his time spent working as a security guard with him.

  "No, that actually might be a good idea. They sure as hell have us outnumbered, but they're still too stupid to actually work together as a team. Is there another way we can get around to that control booth?" I asked Vincent.