by Ricky Sides
“They may have led some zombies in our direction. Tomorrow morning, I’ll take the guys out to check a few miles in both directions,” Randy said.
“Good. It’s possible that they did lead some here. They’ll follow vehicles, and you’d never even know it at night,” Herb said.
“Did they say where their camp is located?” Randy asked.
“No, and I didn’t ask. If they wanted us to know, they’d tell us. If they didn’t want us to know, then they’d just lie about it,” Herb responded. “Did Hernando and Jesse succeed?”
“Yes, they said the mission went off without a hitch,” Randy responded.
“That’s good. I was running out of things to talk to the man about before you got back with the medical supplies,” Herb quipped.
“It’s a good thing they were out on a training exercise, patrolling the forest to our west with some of the greener men. They had the men with them wait in the woods while they planted the tracker under the van, and then they scampered back to the trees,” Randy explained.
“It’s also a good thing Bill persuaded you to make one of the trackers standard gear for patrols,” Herb pointed out.
“Well, if his device works, we’ll soon know where those guys have a camp,” Randy stated with satisfaction.
“Great. They may be all right, but you never know. They wouldn’t be the first group of marauders who showed up here wanting supplies,” Herb said. “If we do have any problems with them in the future, it would be nice to know where their base is located.”
A mile from the refuge, John’s driver stopped on the road beside the RV and the marauder leader got out of the van. He handed four of the injections to the former army medic, instructing the man to treat their wounded with them. He instructed the rest of the men to prepare to move out. They were returning to their base camp where he intended to plan their next move.
John then entered the RV where he found Dana waiting. “Welcome back, Lover,” Dana said warmly.
“You’re not worried about what I found at the refuge?” John asked.
“No, not in the least. I was honest with you,” Dana said.
“Yes, you were. And you were right about them upgrading their security. They added another fence all right, but they also dug a damn moat around the place and constructed defensive berms inside the compound. They are turning that place into a formidable defensive position. They could hold that position against a lot of zombies or hostile humans. An all out assault on that place would cost me most of my men, and we’d probably still fail.”
“So you’re not going to try to take the place?” Dana asked. John could see the disappointment in her eyes.
“We don’t have to take the risk. They gave us a large supply of the cure. We now have more than enough for my men and the few people with us at our base camp.”
“You got the cure? Give me one of the shots,” Dana said.
“I thought you said they cured you already,” John said.
“Yes, but the last thing they did before exiling me was inject me with something to neutralize the nanobots,” Dana explained. “You see, the woman who discovered the cure happens to be married to Herb. She was pissed that I tried to have him killed.”
“And you think just taking another of the shots will restore the protection? Is that it?” John asked.
“Why wouldn’t it?” Dana asked.
“I suppose it’s worth a try, but I’m not so sure that will work. Whatever she injected you with might still be inside you.” He shrugged and set the case on the small table in the RV. He then opened it and removed two of the inoculation kits. “Here you go,” John said as he slid one toward Dana. He then took the other one and injected himself.
“It’s time for me to get the driver headed for our base. I’ll see you in the bedroom in a few minutes,” John said.
“Good. I feel like celebrating,” Dana replied as she pulled the needle out of her arm. “Screw you, bitch,” she said in reference to Erma.
“Are you talking to me?” John asked with a hard edge to his voice.
“No. I was talking to the bitch that deactivated my protection the day I was exiled.”
John chuckled as he walked away. “One day, I may have to screw her for you, since that’s the way you feel.”
“If you do, I hope you rip her apart,” Dana said vehemently with an angry glint in her eyes. She was well aware that John was one of those rare men who could use his manhood as a weapon, if he chose to do so. He even had her feeling a little sore, and no man had been able to do that since she had learned the methods needed to accommodate the well endowed.
Chapter 6
Origins.
Mankind didn’t know it, but the Akins’ parasites were a biological weapon created by a race of space faring beings in another of the spiral arms of the galaxy. That war was over. It had ended several millenniums in the past. The beings and worlds that fought it had long since ended their mutual existence. The meteor that transported the parasites to Earth had missed the home world of its intended victims due to a malfunction in the firing system that launched it. It had then spent thousands of years streaking across space being influenced by the gravitational pulls of various solar systems, stars, planets, moons, comets, and asteroids before becoming trapped in Earth’s gravitational well. Although not designed for the physiology of Earthlings, the planned hosts had been similar enough that the parasites had the same impact on them that they had on their intended target when other meteors were launched successfully.
***
The sun was beginning to peek above the horizon when Shaunna and her followers stopped on the road beside the bloody bandages left by Big John Walter’s men. The zombies moaned and swarmed over the bloody rags, tearing them to bits in their insistent struggle to grasp them in their hands so that they could stuff them in their mouths.
Shaunna stepped away from the throng at her back. She stared down the road in the direction that her prey had traveled. She held out the decaying form of Lily, as if to let her sniff the cold morning air for the scent of their enemy. Then, when the anizombie didn’t respond, the Alpha female vented a scream of rage, challenging the woman she hated above all others.
Behind her, the other zombies stopped what they were doing and grew silent as Shaunna’s scream reverberated through the still morning air. When her scream ended, a collective moan erupted from their midst that grew into a loud and protracted undulating moaning sound.
Shaunna the zombie didn’t look back at her followers as she resumed tracking the marauders who had carried her enemy away. Behind her, the lesser zombies forgot their excitement and proceeded to follow their leader.
The civilized world had fallen before mankind managed to learn all there was to know about the reanimated creatures that were besetting them. Man had yet to discover that not all zombies were created equal. Shaunna was one of the rare Alphas, which was why she had gathered a following the night she had turned in Hayti, Missouri. That status had made it possible for her to lead those who followed her in the slaughter of the townspeople, as well as the Marine Company the following day.
She had left Hayti with only her former pet, Lily, and the two male zombies in tow while the others feasted on the dead. She could have gotten them to follow her, just as she was doing now, but she hadn’t. Despite all that had happened, the powers and abilities given her by the parasites were still new to her when she headed south back into her home state of Arkansas. Returning to the familiar territory was pure instinct with her, and not a conscious decision on her part.
The average zombie is an opportunistic killer. They will kill humans or animals on sight if they can. They will also follow them and continue moving in the last direction they had seen them traveling until they either caught their prey or encountered something else to distract them. The Alpha zombies were different. If they felt a yearning to attack a specific target, they would actively hunt that prey, ignoring distractions or leaving them to the lesser creatures
traveling with them. They hunted by instinct, much as a wolf, utilizing their senses of smell and eyesight, but also things less tangible, such as an innate understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of their opponents.
If all zombies had been created as Alphas, then mankind would have been rendered extinct within a month, but that wasn’t the case. The Akins’ parasites manipulated the bodies of people with a very specific genetic profile, enhancing them and making them stronger, as well as giving them the instincts of a predator at the top of the food chain. Less than one percent of the population of the world had the genetic predisposition to become Alpha zombies. Many of those people had died in such a manner that they could not be reanimated. Others were still living. As to the remainder, they were now like Shaunna in that they were much more deadly than the average undead creatures that regarded them as their leaders.
Shaunna didn’t look back as she broke into a trot. The fastest among her followers managed to keep up. The others became stragglers that would catch up as soon as they could do so. Those were able to track the rest by utilizing their enhanced sense of smell.
As she ran along the road, Shaunna scented the air. The odor of her prey was still present, but it was now much fainter. None of the other zombies could smell their quarry at all. Yet, the parasites had hard wired them to follow an Alpha when one was present among them, which is what they did.
At the head of her column, Shaunna detected an odor that captured her interest. She was hungry and needed fresh meat. When she detected growls emanating from the nearby trees, she led the zombies past that area and proceeded down the road another sixty feet before she entered the woods with the fastest zombies right behind her. She made her way through the woods, circling the animals that her keen sense of smell had located. When she reached the road again, she voiced another of her harrowing screams, which caused all the zombies present to stop where they were. They now had a large section of forest surrounded, and the prey she knew was present was trapped inside that circle. The stragglers continued to arrive, so Shaunna waited a couple of minutes, but then she moaned loudly and started into the woods.
The zombies that could see her followed her lead. Those who couldn’t see her, moved when those near them did so. Soon, an undead wall of zombies closed in on the creatures they were hunting in an ever-constricting circle of the undead several individuals deep.
At the center of that contracting group of hungry zombies, a pack of feral dogs barked and growled their fury. The pack was comprised of large breeds. All of the smaller dogs had fallen victim to the appetites of the larger breeds in the months since the fall of man. Four of the six animals were mixed breeds, but two were purebreds. One was a Rottweiler and the other a German Shepherd.
Shaunna grew as excited by the prospective kills as the rest of the zombies present. She placed Lily on the ground beside a tree and stood erect. Moving to the forefront of the constricting circle of her followers, she shouldered past them and faced the dogs. The animals were standing about twenty feet from Shaunna. They had stopped barking and growling. Now, they stood still and silent for just a moment, and then the big Rottweiler lunged at a zombie to Shaunna’s left. The German Shepherd charged Shaunna, leaping into the air and snapping its jaws at her throat.
As the attack unfolded, time seemed to slow for the apex predator named Shaunna. She saw the Rottweiler take down the zombie on her left as her own big opponent launched an attack at her. She ducked underneath the airborne canine, and her left hand shot up into the air and struck it in the sternum so hard that the animal’s flight through midair was altered. Her blow sent the animal careening through the air, its flight terminating when it collided with the Rottweiler that was ravaging one of her followers, knocking it off its feet.
Shaunna moved closer to the animal that had attempted to attack her. She punched the canine in the back of the head with her right fist, rendering it unconscious. The other zombies reached out to grab the animal, but her reactions were faster. She grabbed the heavy dog and lifted it with apparent ease as she moaned in anticipation. The other zombies near her had to settle for the Rottweiler that was just getting back to its feet. They fell on it from all sides, tearing the animal to pieces.
Inside the circle of zombies, her followers in a feeding frenzy were now attacking the remaining dogs. Shaunna ignored that activity and made her way back toward the tree where she had left Lily. A large male zombie stepped into her path and reached for the German Shepherd Shaunna was carrying in her hands. She shifted the body of the animal to her left shoulder as she gave voice to a sound meant to warn her minion off her catch, but the big male kept advancing toward her with the apparent intention of taking the dog from her. When his hand touched the German Shepherd’s body, Shaunna vented a scream of rage and lashed out with her right fist, caving in the forehead of the big male and dropping it in its tracks. She had killed the zombie to protect her prey because she had other plans for it.
Shaunna stood over the body of the zombie she had just vanquished. She lifted her prize into the air with both hands and screamed once more. All of the zombies around her stopped what they were doing and looked toward their leader, remaining silent. Only when Shaunna turned and walked away with her prize, did the others resume their feeding frenzy. The small horde was still ravenous long after the last of the meat from the slain dogs had been consumed, but not one of them dared approach Shaunna, who sat with her prize. She bit the animal several times, but she didn’t rip the flesh from its body because she wanted it intact. She also licked the wounds on impulse, not understanding that the parasites would spread much faster in that manner, but doing what her instincts told her she should do.
A couple of minutes into her wait, the German Shepherd awoke and tried to regain its feet, but she held it down. Attracted by the animal’s struggles and yelps of pain, some of the nearby zombies moved closer, but Shaunna gave voice to another of her strange warning sounds that was part moan, part guttural growl. Her minions that had been approaching her prize stopped and backed away from her, not looking her in the face as they did so.
Shaunna was able to return her full attention to the canine then. She noted that it was attempting to bite her, so she grabbed it by the muzzle when its jaws were shut and pushed its head down to the ground. The female dog’s struggles intensified as she pushed its nose into the soft forest floor with her free hand and kept its mouth shut with the other. She was suffocating the animal slowly. As its struggles weakened, she shifted her hand for a more efficient grip that would better seal off its mouth. Still, it took several long minutes for the animal to expire, and then she settled down to wait. She picked up Lily and held the little anizombie corpse out to sniff her kill. When Lily didn’t respond, Shaunna vented another scream of anger, which caused the zombies near her to back away and give her more space.
She squatted on her haunches near the dead German Shepherd and waited in silence. One of her followers shuffled forward with a haunch of dog meat. Shaunna turned her head in his direction, prepared to take action if he became a threat to her prize, but he didn’t do that. Instead, he held out the meat for her to take. The Alpha female stood erect and reached out her hand to accept it. The male zombie backed away from her, not looking her in the face.
Shaunna squatted beside the dog once more. She ate most of the meat, but saved a portion for the German Shepherd, which she knew would awaken hungry. For the first time since Lily’s death, she did not offer the anizombie a piece of meat. She didn’t know it, but she was transferring that behavior to another anizombie. One that had yet to awaken.
Chapter 7
The base.
Dana was impressed when she saw the fenced in area that Big John and his men used as a base. She was sitting in the passenger front seat beside John, who was once more driving the RV as they passed through the entrance to his base camp. She saw an assortment of over a dozen recreational vehicles, most of which could be towed by trucks, although she did see two of the motor hom
e versions. There were also several tents that occupied another area within the five acres the base covered.
Unlike the refuge, which was situated in a remote area, John had selected a spot near Forest City, Arkansas. They were far enough outside town to avoid most of the zombie problems related to the little city, but close enough to send in raiding parties seeking resources.
“I see you’re in the process of building another fence,” Dana observed. “I take that to mean you plan to stay in this area a while.”
“I was,” John said. “Forest City still has a great deal of resources that we can use, and the zombie population there is pretty low now.”
“You said you were planning to stay here a while,” Dana observed.
“Yes, but that was before I saw the setup at the refuge. I’m not sure how I feel about having such a strong camp in close proximity.”
“Close? We must be forty miles or better from them.”
“Yep, we are, and that’s too close for people who will need the same basic supplies. No wonder we haven’t been able to find much in the way of food and other supplies to our west. They probably beat us to the best stuff already. We haven’t been here that long.”
“Oh? Where were you?” Dana asked with interest.
“Up in Northern Arkansas for the most part.”
“Okay, well, I don’t understand. Didn’t you say that there were still a lot of supplies in Forest City?”
“I did, and there are when it comes to building supplies and that sort of thing. That’s also where we got several of those RVs you see here,” he explained, but then he shook his head and added, “You’re a smart girl. Look around this camp and tell me what’s missing.”