Z-Railed

by Holcomb, Joshua

  Prologue

  Daniel Boone National Forest, KY

  “Slow down and wait for me!” Haley cried, as she forced her slender body through the narrow passage cave explorers dubbed a ‘key-hole’. She and three other friends had ditched school for the day to explore a small cave they had found while camping the previous autumn.

  The voice of another member of their group, Jason, resounded through the passage. “You’re the smallest one of all of us, and yet you’re taking the longest time!” Jason chuckled. “What’s the matter, are you scared?”

  Haley popped out of the key-hole and found herself facing Jason, and the other two members of their exploratory party, Hannah and Tommy. “I’ve never been in a cave before, okay? I’m just trying to be careful.”

  “Well,” Tommy cut in before Jason could tease Haley anymore, “it looks like this is the end of the road for us, anyway.”

  Hannah panned her Harvard Industries headlamp around the dome they were in, revealing the jagged rock walls that years of water had carved out of the soluble limestone. Stalactites still dripped with the calcium carbonate rich water, giving rise to many stalagmites below. The ceiling towered over her. “I’d wager this room is at least eighty feet tall.”

  “Let’s find out,” Jason said, grinning as he opened his caving pack. Always the tech savvy nerd of the group, he whipped out a Lengtho distance meter. Aiming the laser at the ceiling, he said “Hannah, how much are you willing to bet on eighty feet?”

  Hannah thought for a moment. “A Triple Bypass Burger from HeartAttakz on the way back to Lexington!”

  “You make me sick!” Haley pretended to throw up. “That thing is so greasy and disgusting!”

  “Deal!” Jason retorted. Glancing at his instrument’s screen, he soon announced “One hundred and eleven feet! Hannah, you owe me some burger goodness!”

  “Aww crap!” Hannah found a seat upon a gravel bar and spat into the stream trickling around her ankles. “I’m tired. What do you say to a 15 minute break?”

  “Suits me” Tommy said, as he eyeballed the moist rock wall in front of him.

  “What are you looking at?” Jason asked, watching Tommy’s puzzled facial expressions.

  Tommy pointed. “I think... It looks like there is a small passage up there! Maybe about ten feet up.”

  Jason surveyed the wall. “Yeah, I think you’re right. Want a boost up?”

  “Sure, just don’t drop me like last time,” Tommy replied, as he fingered a couple handholds. “I think if you push me up a foot I can grab that knob sticking out,” he jutted his chin in the direction, “and slip my right foot into that crack.”

  Jason grunted and grinned at the girls. “Prepare to be awed by manliness!”

  Haley giggled, "You're so cute, Jason. I love you," as Jason roared like a lion and boosted Tommy up to the ledge. Tommy climbed over the edge and disappeared from view.

  Jason was about to respond, but was instead caught off guard by Tommy excitedly reappearing and shouting, “There is passage up here! I feel a breeze!”

  “Then go check it out, dude!” Hannah said, exasperated. “The rest of us are sitting here to rest before we head back out. Just be back in 30 minutes!”

  “Gladly!” Tommy disappeared, squirming his body headfirst through the opening until no trace of him remained.

  “Well he’ll be gone for a little while,” Haley said. “Make room for me, Jason.” Jason shifted in the gravel so that Haley could curl up with him, laying his head against a stalagmite. He put his arms around her in an effort to keep her warm, and she laid her head on his shoulder.

  Hannah rolled her eyes and shifted her pack to the side, hugging her knees to her chest.

  “Wake us up when Tommy gets back, please,” Jason said, making himself comfortable. "We're taking a nap." He smiled back at Haley.

  “Sure thing,” Hannah grunted as she glared at the lovebirds lost in each other’s embrace. Although she was happy for them, she still harbored jealousy. She and Jason had grown up together since kindergarten, and even up until the 11th grade the two had made plans to attend senior prom together. But that all changed when Haley moved to town. Jason soon forgot all about his promise to Hannah, instead falling head over heels for Haley. Now, as she sat there watching the couple fall asleep she wished she was anywhere on earth besides this small confined cave.

  * * *

  Haley’s eyes snapped open to the piercing cry of a human in anguish. The haunting sound reverberated through the cavern and sent chills up her spine. “Jason?” she whimpered. “Jason, where are you?”

  “Right here next to you, babe.” Jason yawned. “What’s going on?”

  “Did you hear that?”

  “Nope. What was it?”

  “It sounded like somebody screaming,” Haley stammered. She panned her light in the direction of Hannah. “Hannah, did you hear…?” She stopped midsentence when she saw the look of horror etched into Hannah’s face. Hannah's mouth moved, but she couldn't form any words.

  “You’re probably just imagining things,” Jason said, trying to comfort her.

  “No I’m not!” Haley pulled away from Jason. “I want to leave, now! I don’t like being…” The cry emanated louder, this time much closer.

  Jason’s eyes opened to their fullest extent and he swung his headlamp around the dome in a futile attempt to light up the entire room. Shadows cast by the rugged walls increased his uneasiness. “Okay, you’re right. Let’s get Tommy and go!”

  “Tommy! Tommy! Let’s go! We’re getting out of here!” Jason bellowed, cupping his hands to his mouth. No answer. “Tommy!” Haley cried again.

  “Okay, let’s just go. He’s past the 30 minutes anyway. None of us can free climb that wall to go find him. We’ll just go get help,” Jason replied, already backing out of the dome, pulling Haley in tow.

  Hannah, still frozen in fear, finally gained control of her voice and shouted, “Wait! Listen!”

  Jason and Haley froze, straining to hear the slight muffle growing louder with each passing second. The trio aimed their beams of light directly at the passage Tommy had entered into. The mind of each individual raced with unending possibilities as to what might materialize out of the passage at any second. No one dared to speak, for fear of missing the slightest noise that might clue them in on the frightening mystery lurking just above their heads. And then, the noise was over.

  Hannah was the first to break the silence. Exhaling a large volume of air she turned to Jason and arrogantly spat “Well, you were worried about nothing. It’s probably just Tommy trying-”

  Haley’s piercing scream cut Hannah off mid-sentence as the unmistakable image of a mangled human in free fall came soaring out of the passage from above.

  “What the f-” Hannah cried as the body hit her with the force of a small car. The impact drove her backwards, bashing her head against the rock wall. Had she been wearing her helmet, her life would have been spared. Instead, the toothed edges of a stalagmite sliced through her skull like a machete through a watermelon.

  Jason didn’t hesitate for a second. He forced Haley back through the narrow key-hole passage as he briefly caught a glimpse of the figure using the brute force of fists and fingernails to claw its way into the still corpse of Hannah. He hardly noticed the searing pain as the rock walls collided with his knees and tore skin away from his exposed arms. All he cared about was keeping Haley moving and getting as far away from the grisly scene as possible. It was this determination that powered him through the excruciating pain, until everything came suddenly to a halt.

  In a blur, Haley stumbled. Her body twisted around sideways and a loud crack resonated in Jason’s ears. He tripped over her body, and the last thing he remembered was his
face smacking against a rock and everything going black.

  * * *

  A single drop of water left the tip of the stalactite and accelerated on its journey to the ground forty feet below. Jason’s eye fluttered open as the drop of water landed squarely on his eyelid. Throbbing pain washed over his head as he regained consciousness and slowly took in his surroundings.

  Rolling over onto his side, he rubbed his face with his hand and struggled to aim his headlamp onto Haley’s still figure lying three feet away.

  “Haley?” Jason slurred, as he pulled himself across the rock and gravel strewn floor of the cavern passage. “Haley?” As he drew closer he began hearing a soft whimpering.

  “Jason… You’re alive.”

  “Yeah, I’m not sure what happened. I remember tripping over you. Then I hit something and everything went black.” Jason touched his forehead and winced. A large lump the size of an egg was growing above his left eye. A large gash ran from his left temple over to his nose, leaving a trail of blood down his face and neck.

  “Jason,” Haley began sobbing. “I’m stuck. I’ve been trying to free myself for over an hour.” She motioned to her right leg as Jason arrived at her side. Haley hadn’t seen the opening in the rock below her as she ran to escape the gruesome scene behind her. Her foot had slipped down into the undercut passage and twisted her ankle, calf, and lower leg like a pretzel. To top it off, the sharp rock had sliced through her pants and lacerated the full length of her leg. “It’s no use,” she cried as Jason tried to free her leg. “Please just lay beside me. I’m feeling very tired and sick. I just want to close my eyes and go to sleep for a long time.”

  "No, no! I need you stay awake, babe!" he begged, frantically tapping the side of her face with his hand. He heard a muffled sound from deep within the cave and looked up quickly.

  Haley coughed, and Jason spun back to face her. He noticed her eyes and was deeply puzzled by a sudden change in eye color. “Wha... why are your eyes a reddish-grey!?”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” She grasped his hand and pulled Jason closer. “Tell me you love me.” Another round of tears sprung forth like an artesian well as Haley began coughing up a red frothy liquid.

  What the heck is going on? Jason wondered, confused by Haley’s rapidly deteriorating condition. He gently ran his fingers through her thick brown hair and kissed her forehead. “I love you, Haley. I won’t leave your side.” He felt powerless watching his high school sweetheart die in his arms. All he could do was cradle her head, hold her hand, and stifle the torrent of tears building up inside of him. In an instant, a fun simple day of skipping school had turned into his worst nightmare.

  As Haley’s lungs exhaled spent oxygen one last time, and her body movement ceased, Jason could hold it in no longer. His upper lip trembling uncontrollably, a torrent of tears gushed forth and he burst into sobbing fits. The sound was haunting, bouncing off the cavern walls as he buried his face in her hair.

  What he didn’t see was the transformation taking place inside Haley’s body. Her brain had hardly shut down; her heart had hardly stopped; the last carbon dioxide had hardly escaped from her lungs when every organ in her body was reanimated. Every cell was bent on a sinister purpose that craved one thing: living flesh.

  Jason was deeply lost in tears as he mourned the unexplainable passing of his girlfriend that he was oblivious to her sudden movement underneath him. In a flash her eyelids fluttered and a grotesque rumble emanated from deep within.

  “You... you're ali... What the...-“Jason stammered as Haley’s head lunged forward. He screamed in agony as her extended jaws latched on to his neck. “Haley, what are you doing?” he cried and tried to pull himself free. Her teeth sank deeper and sawed back and forth as Jason pulled away, screaming at the top of his lungs.

  Finally managing to escape the death trap, he scrambled away in the gravel and mud and looked back to what used to be his girlfriend. Haley’s leg was still wedged where she had fallen. Instead of seeing the attractive young female that he knew and loved, Jason’s eyes beheld such an image inconceivable to the common man. Her eyes were reddish-grey, blood-shot, and her outstretched arms and fingers clawed at the empty space between the two. Fresh blood dripped from her open jaws and ran down her muddy coveralls.

  Jason turned his back on Haley and stumbled forward, clutching at the gaping wound in his neck, desperate to exit the cave. In his dazed state, he did recall a two-foot deep stream near the mouth and figured he must be close.

  Haley’s cries of hunger grew fainter as he forged onward and finally plunged into the stream passage. Ahead in the distance he finally glimpsed the small speck of daylight that signified what he believed to be the end of the hellish day.

  He stumbled, tripped, and fell face first into the water, bashing his head yet again against a rock. The water around him turned a deep crimson red as blood continued to gush from his neck wound. He weakly pulled himself up and gulped in large quantities of air, but nothing would quench the fiery pain erupting from his body.

  After what seemed like an eternity, Jason finally hobbled out of the cave entrance and clawed his way up the dirt bank. It was a welcome relief to be back in the humid temperate forest he called home. He found a small tree surrounded by dead leaves from many autumns' past and curled up to close his eyes. As he drifted off into blackness, his thoughts of Haley were the last dreams he would ever experience.

  Rising from the ground a couple minutes later, Jason was no longer dreaming of Haley or thinking of much at all. He stumbled aimlessly through the forest with only one thing on his mind: flesh.

  I

  Lexington, KY

  It was a typical hot summer day when store manager Franklin Moore left earlier than usual from work. The heat radiated off the asphalt as he slowly walked to his car. He was the spitting image of your typical department store manager: white button-up shirt, khaki pants, short brown hair, light stubble, and average height. He opened the door to his green, two-door hatchback and slid into the driver's seat. "Another day, another dollar," he groaned, as the shocks creaked due to his added weight. He pushed the clutch and slipped the car into first gear, easing his way out of the parking lot.

  Driving home he scanned through the local radio stations, tapping the steering wheel, frustrated with the slow-moving traffic. He grumbled and finally gave up searching as he decelerated at a red light. Looking in the rear-view mirror at his reflection he rubbed his chin. "I really have to quit snoozing my alarm--forgot to shave again, dadgummit! At this rate I'm going to be a regular Grizzly Adams.” He chuckled. His wife of seven years, Jackie, always told him he looked homeless when he stopped shaving so he groomed for her. He and his son, however, liked the scruff. Whenever Franklin would come home from work, his three year old son Seth would run to him shouting, "Daddy, Daddy!" Franklin's face softened at the thought of collecting Seth in his arms and rubbing his scruffy face on Seth's cheek. He would squeal, "Daddy, stop! That tickles!" and then giggle and squirm before running back to his mother.

  The light flickered green, snapping Franklin back to reality. As he depressed the accelerator, a man suddenly stumbled off the sidewalk and through the intersection. Slamming on his brakes, Franklin skidded the tires as he narrowly avoided hitting him and fisted the horn on the steering column. "What the crap, knucklehead?" he shouted. "Stick to the sidewalks, man!"

  The random man, clad in muddy coveralls with blood running down his neck and a cracked helmet strapped to his head, didn't heed Franklin's warning. He just stumbled on through the traffic while Franklin stared. Weirdest homeless guy ever! he thought.

  A sudden, loud blast from a diesel pickup made him jump and brought him back to reality. He pressed the gas again and carefully maneuvered around the crazy figure in the street before him. Driving on, he let each passing mile fade his memory of the incident.

  When Franklin pulled in the driveway to his modest two story home, he saw Seth playing in a sandbox beside the garage.
His wife Jackie was sitting next to the sandbox in a lawn chair with her smartphone in her hand, perusing possible menu ideas for dinner.

  "You're home early, dear. What do you want for dinner?" she asked, popping up out of her chair and giving him a quick kiss.

  "Give me a steak!" he said, grinning at her.

  Jackie rolled her eyes. "I guess you'll get what I make you."

  Franklin chuckled, and the trio went inside: Jackie to the kitchen and Franklin and Seth to the living room.

  Franklin flopped down onto the couch. "Daddy,” Seth asked, tugging on Franklin’s sleeve. “Can I turn on the TV for you?"

  Franklin grunted and said “Sure, Squirt!” as Seth dug the remote out from under the couch cushions where he had played submarine with it earlier in the day.

  "You want to watch the news, Daddy, because you're Daddy," Seth giggled as he looked up to his scruffy role model.

  Franklin laughed as he half-listened to the droning voice of the main anchor on the Unified News Network and stared down at the bills piled on the coffee table. "We have received several unusual reports today of a possible flu outbreak in isolated regions of the country that has led to physical brutality and the biting of bystanders. They appear to be isolated incidents and the public is advised not to change any of their daily routines. As of now the CDC in Atlanta has not released a statement. In other news today, Seattle Mayor Peter Astusis has told UNN that his indictment will not discourage him from seeking re-election...."

  "Honey! Did you hear that? It looks like some yahoos are getting high on bath salts again and chewing on people! Don't they have better things to do?" shouted Franklin back in the general direction of the kitchen.

  "What? I can't hear you!” Jackie replied. “I'm in the kitchen. Come in here and help me if you want to talk to me."

  Franklin groaned and stayed on the couch for a minute before hunger drove him to the kitchen. "By the way,” he said, gazing out the window as he grabbed a few tortilla chips out of a bowl and shoved them in his mouth, “that new neighbor across from us--has he bothered you again recently?"