DEAD Series [Books 1-12]

by Brown, TW

  Juan didn’t say anything to that remark. From what he’d seen, the deaders showed no signs of kicking over any time soon. Whatever mysterious force had brought them seemed to be enough to keep them going. Besides, he doubted that they actually needed food. He’d seen some of those things eat people when they didn’t even have a stomach for the food to go into.

  “We are gonna have to fight our way out of here no matter what,” Juan finally said to the expectant faces staring at him as if he had some sort of solution.

  ***

  Brett dipped under the tree limb and brought his worn-looking ax down on the head of the most frightening creature he’d ever seen—which was saying a lot these days. The undead wolf collapsed just like a human zombie. It was instant. That was about the only positive thing that he could think of at the moment.

  Looking up the small hill that he had slipped and fallen down, he saw Chad and Ronni standing back-to-back, machetes drawn and swung any time that one of those cursed monsters got within range. Scott, who had been at his back until he stepped wrong and lost his footing, was trying to circle around so that he could have the father and daughter duo at his back and minimize his exposure.

  For just a second, Brett felt the twinge of betrayal. And then it was gone. These were not normal times. It was all well and good to watch out for each other, but the moment you became a liability, it was either cut the cord or drown with the poor sap. If he could make it back up the hill to them, it would all be fine. However, that was a nasty “if” at the moment.

  Three more of the wolf-zombies stood between him and his friends. They were not missing any limbs like their fallen companion, and thus, proved to be more mobile. They were still slow like any other undead (Brett thanked whatever god had seen to that), but their heads were smaller and lower to the ground. This made for some awkward swings when you were standing amongst pine trees in snow that was anywhere between knee and waist deep.

  He watched as the closest wolf slunk towards him. It seemed to know precisely where to step in order to avoid breaking the crust that had formed on this particular layer of snow and plunging through.

  Shifting himself just slightly so as to have all three of the abominations in an arc before him, Brett cocked his arm back and waited for the first wolf to close the distance. He only had a few seconds to think about the possibility of other animals being affected in the same way as these wolves.

  The creature took two more tentative steps forward. To Brett, it looked as if it were checking the surface of the snow to be certain that it would not cave underneath. If these things had the ability to learn…all bets were off as to how long humanity would survive.

  Judging the thing to be in range, Brett swung in an overhand arc and brought the flat end of the ax down hard. The last thing he needed now was for his weapon to get wedged in the skull of this attacker. He’d gotten lucky once after swinging out of pure instinct; he would not chance it again.

  The weapon came down with a sickening crunch. There was very little indication that he’d been successful other than the creature sinking into the snow and not moving. If he’d had the time to look, he would have seen the oblong depression in the wolf’s skull. The other two were coming from opposite sides and looked like they might arrive simultaneously. This was the real problem. The closer that they got, the more difficult it was for him to keep them both in view.

  Just as he was making the SWAG (silly-wild-assed-guess as his late grandpa used to say), a yell drew the focus of he and the wolves. Ronni had bounded down the hill about halfway and was closing in on the wolf to his left. He did not want to waste the distraction by waiting to be ensured of her success and lunged at the one on his right.

  He brought his weapon down again. This time his aim was just a bit off and he peeled back a section of matted fur as well as one ear, revealing bone and the dark smudge of what he assumed to be rotten blood. The wolf opened its mouth and snapped its jaws down on the piece of air where his hand had been only a split second ago.

  His second swing was accurate and the wolf was done. He looked up to see Ronni already wading through the snow to rejoin the others at the top of the hill. After catching his breath, he followed.

  “That’s the third group today,” Chad said as he went through a check of his gear.

  “I don’t think that tower has gotten any closer,” Scott snarled.

  He was referring to the fire watch tower that sat atop a hill on the other side of the valley that they could now look down into. Chad shielded his eyes and scanned the area.

  “Actually, I think this is the last little valley we will have to go through,” Ronni said and pointed. She had the binoculars up to her face. After a moment, she handed them to her dad.

  Everybody took a turn and followed to where her finger indicated. Sure enough, there was what looked like the base of the tower through some widespread pines.

  Still, the human eye plays tricks. When they had first spotted the tower over the tops of some trees, the thought was that they could reach it before nightfall. They had been mistaken. Two days later, they were still trying to stave off hypothermia, the occasional walker, and for the past day and a half, zombie wolves. They wanted to believe that they could reach that tower before dark.

  After checking his bindings, Chad pushed off and began the journey down another slope. At the bottom, they discovered another creek. The beauty of the ice formations that had accumulated was lost on them, but not the fact that they could refill their canteens.

  Just as the sky was turning to a star-filled bed of darkness, they reached their destination. It had cost them five of their precious glow sticks, but the payoff had been worth it.

  Together, they climbed the switchback staircase and reached the big, open tower. The most welcome sight came from the woodstove in the very center of the single open room. Within the hour, they had a small fire burning. Huddled close for added warmth, the foursome drifted off to the sleep that comes so fast when the body is beyond exhaustion. Only Chad woke once to add a few more pieces of wood to the fire. He thought he heard a distant cry carrying on the still night air, but he was simply too tired to care.

  ***

  “I always wanted to go to London,” Gemma sighed.

  “Wait,” Vix pulled up and turned to face the younger girl, “you’ve never been to London…ever?”

  “My parents just never liked the city. They thought Basingstoke was too big. If they’d had their way, we would have lived out in the middle of nowhere.”

  “Some would say Basingstoke is in the middle of nowhere,” Vix grumbled.

  “I guess I expected more…fires,” Gemma sighed as she climbed up on the back of a panel van to get a better look at the looming city.

  “It has been months,” Vix pointed out. “I am sure there were plenty. But they have all burned out by now more than likely.”

  “Still…” Gemma shielded her eyes needlessly against the cloud cover.

  “I don’t want to spend too much time out here in the open,” Vix prompted.

  They had followed the M3 for days until they came to the M25 interchange. From there they had travelled north in search of the M4. Things had gotten a bit tense around Heathrow, but Vix had insisted that they keep low.

  After bypassing the fourth or fifth group of survivors, Gemma had asked why they weren’t at least checking them out to see if they might be friendly. Vix had reminded her how “friendly” certain members of their previous group had been.

  “So you aren’t going to trust anybody?” Gemma asked with a mixture of doubt and concern.

  “Not until I have found what I am looking for,” Vix replied.

  “And you are letting me tag along, but can’t be bothered to tell me what we are looking for,” Gemma grumbled.

  “It’s complicated,” Vix said with a sigh. “You see, if I tell you and you think I am daft, then you might just take off.”

  “And you would miss me!” Gemma practically squealed.


  The truth was, she thought that she would need an extra set of eyes and hands when the time came and she reached her destination. But if that made Gemma feel better, then that was fine with her.

  “We still have a long way to go,” Vix said as they climbed over the fence that ran alongside the A40. The road had switched over a ways back and they were coming to a big, circular interchange.

  They passed a statue, but Vix had seen something that piqued her interest. She made her way to an archway and risked a look inside. Nothing was moving. That was a big plus.

  “What’s this?” Gemma whispered, being careful to make sure that she did not startle her friend. They’d had enough talks about that over the past several days to last her a lifetime. Sometimes she thought that Vix was worse than her own mum.

  “I don’t want to get your hopes up.” Vix moved through the arch and looked around. She sighed and headed in despite the obvious sacking that this place had been subjected to by frantic individuals hoping to survive.

  “Why would anybody want to shoot pigeons?” Gemma whispered as she observed one of the signs posted just inside the arch. “Seems a bit cruel.”

  “Clay pigeons,” Vix replied, doing her best to stifle a laugh. “They are discs that get launched into the sky for people to shoot.”

  “Okay…” Gemma let that word hang in the air for a bit. “I still don’t get it.”

  “Bird hunters use this as practice so that when the birds come out of the bushes and try to fly away, a hunter can hit them on the move.”

  “Sounds cruel,” Gemma shrugged as they approached the open entry way to the West London Shooting School.

  “Yes, well I was hoping that we might get lucky, but I should have known that places like this would be hit early.”

  “You seem to know a lot about all of this sort of thing.” Gemma climbed over the broken door behind Vix and froze.

  Against the far wall was an arc of dried blood and bits. A handful of bodies lay sprawled on the floor. Red and green casings for a variety of shotgun shells littered the floor. None of the bodies had much of their heads remaining.

  Vix moved in for a closer look. Gemma wrinkled her nose and decided that she could see well enough from the doorway thank you very much.

  “This is why I am not interested in trying to make contact with any of the groups of living people that we have passed,” Vix whispered. She used a stick to roll the nearest body over. Her suspicions were confirmed.

  “I don’t understand.” Gemma took a tentative step closer.

  “None of these people were bitten. They weren’t infected. Somebody had them line up against this wall and then they shot them.”

  “How can you know that?”

  “Because, for one thing, zombies don’t line up for folks to shoot them for one. For another, not one person has a scratch on their body. And from what is left of their heads, I don’t see anything other than the damage caused by the guns used to kill them.”

  Vix took a cursory look around, but she already knew that she would find nothing of use here. It was no surprise. Still, she would have felt silly if she hadn’t at least checked.

  They exited the building and continued on their way. As had been the case for the last few days, they only encountered an occasional zombie. When they did come across them in greater numbers, they were usually surrounding one building or another. More than likely, whoever had been inside either managed to sneak away, died of starvation, or threw themselves into the horde. Those large groups were so focused on the last thing that had drawn them that, as long as she and Gemma remained quiet, they could easily slip past.

  That night they made camp atop the center of three conical mounds in a place called the “Northolt & Greenford Country Park” overlooking the roads and the surrounding area. From their vantage point, they watched as several small dots of light flickered into existence when the night fell.

  ***

  Danny sat by himself away from the trio huddled around the small fire. Jody was watching intently as Katherine was running through a series of signs. Then, Selina would translate. Jody would make very slow and deliberate attempts to duplicate those same signs and gestures.

  Part of him wanted to join in. However, he was still having some issues when it came to dealing with the fact that he had killed a man. His rational mind told him that he had done the right thing. Still, it was one thing to fire into a crowd of zombies, or even return fire when dealing with insurgents over in Iraq. It was quite another to kill one of your own. And despite how everything had played out over the past few months, Charles “Slider” Monterro had been a fellow soldier.

  If that were not bad enough, he could have sworn that the bastard had a grin on his face after Danny had put the shaft of a crossbow bolt through the man’s chest. That was what he kept seeing every time he closed his eyes: that grin.

  “Hey, Danny, you hungry?” Jody had come over and was standing above him holding a can of something.

  “Not really,” Danny said with a shrug.

  “You okay?” Jody sat down beside his friend. He was genuinely concerned about the normally wise-cracking kid from Boston. “You been pretty quiet since we got back.”

  “Think I’m just tired,” Danny lied.

  “Well then, let me stand first watch tonight. Selina can take the second and you can have the last. Wake everybody around dawn and we can see about scavenging some extra supplies before we hit the road again. Don’t want you to miss your date with Yankee Stadium.” Jody laughed, but Danny just nodded, laid down, and pulled his blanket up over his head.

  Now Jody was really concerned. As a diehard Red Sox fan, the one request that Danny had made when Jody set out his plan on their journey north was to be able to take a piss on home plate at Yankee Stadium if they managed to get close enough and if it did not prove too dangerous. Honestly, Jody had immediately dismissed the idea. He did not envision any scenario that would make going into New York City even a remote possibility.

  “Kat wants to know where we are headed,” Selina spoke, her hands moving as well so that the girl could follow.

  “I think the best bet is for us to move north. What we gain in nasty weather, we should hopefully make up for in a lack of zombies,” Jody replied.

  After a moment of the two females signing, Selina nodded and returned her attention to Jody. The girl beside her suddenly found something interesting about the zipper on her jacket.

  “She wants to know why we aren’t just heading to someplace out in the sticks like the Appalachian Mountains. She says that she went on a hike last year and that there are some out of the way places that we might be able to hold up in until the winter passes. And they have an added benefit of our being able to venture out into some of the surrounding one-stoplight towns for supplies.”

  Jody looked at the younger girl for a moment. His mind had been so focused on putting distance between him and Slider (as well as the entire situation back in Bald Knob) that he might have gotten a bit too grand in his ideas. After all, one cold, snowy region was as good as the next. Right?

  “She has a really good point,” Jody conceded. “So the first thing we will do tomorrow when we are out searching for supplies is to find a map. In fact, I will want a few. Seeing as how they are made of paper, I don’t think they will have a great life expectancy. We can keep spares in sealed plastic bags. We can plot a course and maybe agree on someplace good. I really believe that we need to try and find the best combination of remoteness and hard to get to. Zombies don’t seem to be much into hiking. I think they are more into a least-path-of-resistance sort of thing.”

  When Selina finished signing all of what Jody had said, Kat put her hands to her mouth to stifle what Jody assumed to be a laugh. She flashed a few signs to Selina, who had a bit of a giggle herself.

  “Okay,” Jody said with as much of a scowl as he could muster, “what’s so funny?”

  “She says that you seem way too prepared for the walking dead. She wants to kno
w if you were one of those types who watched those kinds of movies.”

  “Not really.” Jody shook his head. “But you would be surprised at how many out-of-the-ordinary scenarios you get thrown at you when you are on active duty in a foreign and hostile country.”

  Selina signed Jody’s response. Kat nodded with a sudden look of seriousness on her face. She got up, walked over to Jody and gave him a hug.

  “What was that for?” he asked.

  Kat was already signing to Selina before he had finished the question.

  “She says thank you for serving and taking care of this country. And that, even now, when there is no more country to protect, you are doing the honorable thing.”

  With that, the two females huddled together, sharing their blankets for added warmth, and went to sleep. Jody got up and went to the door, giving one look back at his companions. He hoped desperately that there were more of his brothers-in-arms out there…and that they were not like Slider.

  ***

  Major Wanda Beers signaled for the caravan to stop. For two days they had travelled in search of that ragtag group of rejects that had blindly followed Willa.

  “Traitorous bitch,” the major grumbled as she looked back at her convoy.

  During the past two days, they had lost three vehicles. It was likely that they would be without any before much longer. Gasoline was becoming harder to find. And what they did manage to scavenge was almost useless.

  She needed to find a place to settle in for the winter. Maybe there really was no longer any reason to look for the president’s daughter. It wasn’t likely that there would be anybody left to give two shits.

  Actually, if she was being honest with herself, she hadn’t cared whether they found that little over-entitled brat to begin with. She was simply seeking leverage. It didn’t take a genius to know that the world was screwed three ways to Sunday. Yet, for some strange reason, people were having difficulty coming to grips with what was truly valuable these days.