SHTF (NOLA Zombie Book 0)

by Zane, Gillian

  "I'm just staying the fuck away from anyone coughing," I laughed and smiled at Lena. She visibly relaxed under my attention.

  From across the bar, I noticed the brunette from earlier catch my eye and wave. I tipped my head and smiled at her.

  Martinez turned his head to scope out who I was interacting with. The brunette took a step toward us and did a little wobble on her very high heels.

  "I wonder if she has a cough," he laughed.

  "She wasn't coughing earlier." I elbowed him and was surprised to see Lena turn around and check out the brunette. She turned back around and frowned at me. Was she frowning at me because she didn't approve of drunken brunettes or that I was flirting with one from across the room?

  "A suspected pandemic won't keep Romeo away from drunk tourists," Martinez laughed.

  "Drunk tourists are the best, and she's not infected. And look, she's got a friend," I slapped him on the back and turned around to face the approaching drunk tourist.

  "Next drink says she barfs on you," Martinez whispered.

  "You're projecting, start taking notes..." I hissed back.

  Four

  The Red Dress Run

  SHE didn't barf on me and as it turned out she wasn't a tourist. In fact, she was a resident of the condo complex right across the street. She and her friend joined us and turned the conversation to lighter topics, like their real-estate business and shoe sales. Charles and the friend were actually hitting it off and I just shrugged and rolled my eyes as Martinez glared at me.

  The brunette, who told me her name but I instantly forgot it, sat right next to me and made a point of grabbing my leg over and over again and leaning over to whisper in my ear every chance she got. Thirty minutes in and I had a noticeable erection and I was nice and distracted from any talk of viruses or airport closures.

  "I'm getting sleepy." The brunette delicately yawned and looked at me pointedly. It was still early, so I guessed she had an agenda. "This neighborhood is sketchy, would you mind walking me home? A big man like you would chase off any muggers." She squeezed my knee again. How could I say no?

  I left the group at the table with a quick, "be back in a minute." Knowing it would probably be an hour. Hopefully a little longer. I wanted to come back and join the group, but I also wanted to see what Red Dress had to offer.

  Martinez glared at me with fake animosity as I left him sitting with Lena, Charles, and Red Dress's friend. They were still cutting up, the conversation now much lighter than earlier as the booze flowed easier. When I glanced back, Lena rolled her eyes and flipped me off, but added a smile to convey she really didn't mean it.

  I didn't get women.

  Red Dress didn't play games. The moment we were in the stairwell to her complex, she pushed me up against the railing and had her tongue in my mouth and her hand on my cock.

  "You better fuck as good as you look," she purred and I almost left her right there. The dirty girl. Seems Red Dress only wanted me for one thing, my body. I was so ashamed. But, I went along with her as she dragged me into her condo, I was easy.

  She called out to her roommate the moment we crossed the threshold to check that we were "good to go." Or that was what I thought she said as I peeled off her dress and confirmed that her tits were store bought but still felt nice in my palms.

  I went to yank off my own clothes, but unfortunately, the moment I began to undress my phone began to ring. I recognized the ringtone and sighed. It was my little sister and I couldn't ignore it.

  Red Dress pouted as I held up a hand and answered the phone.

  "Tim," Alicia and Hank, my siblings, were the only ones that called me Tim. Even Hank's wife Barbara called me Romeo.

  "Leesh?" I asked, trying to hold in the moan as Red Dress fell to her knees in front of me and began to unbutton my jeans.

  "I'm sick of their shit, Tim!" she cried into the phone. "Barbara is all freaked out because of this virus bull and has me under house arrest. I'm coming to live with you."

  "You can't live with me, Alicia, you know that. I'm never home."

  "That's fine, I'm okay with that, I'm independent, I'm almost fifteen, I can just stay at your place and I'll be good."

  "It's not okay, Leesh, I'm gone more than I'm home, half the time I don't even get notice when I have to leave, we went over this. Hank and Barbara are much better guardians than I am." Red Dress had pulled my pants to my ankles and was now showing me exactly how good she was at oral. She had quite a technique, I was impressed, but I couldn't let it show. I had to get Alicia off the phone.

  "They're horrible! They don't let me do anything, they won't let me go out with Marcus tonight, just because some people are infected with some cold, how unfair is that? They made me come home and it's not even midnight!"

  "Alicia, listen to me, you're acting like a spoiled brat." I regretted the words the moment I said it, but I couldn't concentrate and I didn't have the faculties to argue with a petulant teenager, especially about a boy–something she should not even be considering. "You have to follow the rules. It’s only for your protection, every time Barbara and Hank tell you to do something you can't run to me to get out of doing it. You shouldn't be out with a boy anyway and you also shouldn't be out after midnight."

  "I hate all of you!" The phone went dead. I was used to it. Alicia was eight years younger than me, twelve years younger than Hank. My parents insisted that they had planned for her, but when Mom got pregnant at thirty-nine it was pretty obvious to everyone that it was a surprise pregnancy. When my parents were killed twelve years later in a car accident, Hank was engaged to Barbara and he took custody of her. There wasn't even a question as to who she would live with, I was in the Marines and on my third tour in Afghanistan. I couldn't have taken custody even if I wanted.

  For the last two years of her living with Hank and Barbara, it had been one battle after another. I understood she was hurting, we were all hurting, but she didn't sulk or mourn, she rebelled. It made it hard on Hank and Barbara and it put me in the middle. I didn't want to resent my little sister, but she made it damned hard.

  Red Dress brought my mind back to the present as she did some crazy trick with her tongue that left me breathless.

  "I need a bed, now," I growled and she scurried back, leading me to a bedroom. She fell back, lounging on the bed, her legs spread provocatively for me, with no shame. She was one of those girls that like to stay perfectly neat and trimmed, like a little piece of art. Fuck.

  I fumbled with my boots and jeans, kicking them off but not before grabbing the condom I had slipped into my pocket. I ripped it open and slipped it onto the length of my cock.

  "God, you're so big," she said, licking her lips as she watched me. I liked her even more, a girl after my own heart. Wish I remembered her name, but Red Dress had a certain ring to it.

  "That I am," I chuckled and went to the bed. Now the question would be, would she expect a little bit more from me, or could we just go at it? Personally, I wanted to get back to the bar and Martinez before it got too late. I had been enjoying myself and the conversation.

  She spread her legs wider and answered my question. Right at it then.

  She was warm, really warm, and as I pushed into her she made these fun little moaning noises that I could just eat up. She also wrapped her long legs around my back, allowing me to go deeper and fuck her nice and hard. When I flipped her over and took her from behind, she didn't complain and screamed my name as I picked up the pace.

  There was a terrible clatter from the front room and I paused and held back a little.

  "Don't stop!" she moaned. But, the clatter came again and this time it sounded like someone had fallen and knocked over furniture or something. This wasn't just a random thing falling, someone was out there and making a lot noise, they might even be hurt. Was that someone moaning? She had said she had a roommate, but they hadn't been home.

  I pulled out of her and she groaned, complaining as I turned around to look behind me. We had left the d
oor open and I could see into the front room from here. From my vantage point I could see someone in the front room, from what I could tell it was a woman, she was staggering around the room like she was drunk and it looked like she had knocked over a chair.

  "What the hell?" Red Dress said, sitting up on the bed and turning around. We both got up from the bed and she moved in front of me and went to the door.

  I grabbed for my underwear on the floor and slipped them on. Didn't want to meet the drunk roommate with my dick hanging out.

  "Eva–what the hell happened to you?" I heard Red Dress cry out. There was no answer.

  "Eva!" Red Dress screamed and I moved quickly out of the bedroom and into the front room. The roommate was a petite blonde, dressed in workout clothes with her hair pulled back in a tight ponytail. She was currently reaching and grabbing for Red Dress who was holding her at bay by her shoulders.

  "What's going on?" I asked.

  "I don't know, she's gone crazy or something. Eva!" Eva's skin was a gray color and her eyes were bloodshot and red-rimmed. Her lips were pulled back in a snarl and her teeth, bright white and capped, were chomping and trying to bite Red Dress.

  I went behind the roommate and tried to pull her off, but she was stronger than she looked. I managed to yank her off of Red Dress and she fell to the floor, only to get up quickly and come after me.

  "Fuck," I cried out as she fell on me. Her breath stank of old meat and I had to resist the urge to gag. I pushed her hard and didn't realize that Red Dress was standing over us trying to yank on Eva too. They both clattered to the ground, bringing a side-table with them, a glass lamp smashed on the tile floor and shattered.

  I scrambled to my feet, not liking that both women had gone eerily quiet.

  What I saw nearly unhinged me. Red Dress had fallen wrong, her head was at an unnatural angle on the floor, her eyes were sightless. But, that wasn't all. Eva, the roommate, was ripping at Red Dress, yanking at her flesh and leaning down and taking bites of her. Those perfectly capped teeth gnashed and tore at the flesh of her friend. Chunks of meat came loose from Red Dress and Eva swallowed them down like they were pieces of sushi.

  "Fuck," I whispered and those red-rimmed eyes shot up and found me. She pushed off from the floor, her fingers sinking into the torn flesh of her friend, making her slip and fall forward.

  I acted fast, pushing back into the bedroom and slamming the door. I clicked the lock and began looking for my clothes. I grabbed my pants when I found them and pulled them on. Then I reached for my boots, pulling them onto my feet. I yanked my phone out of my pocket and punched in nine-one-one. The line was busy.

  "Fucking New Orleans," I cursed. But it wasn't like it would do much good, they had just done an exposé on the news that had clocked the NOPD's response time at an average of two hours. With a current crisis going on, I would be lucky if they would be here in two hours. Eva was obviously infected with this iKPV virus, I didn't think she had two hours. I dialed Martinez's number.

  "I thought you would be longer," he said when he answered the line.

  "She's fucking dead, the roommate killed her, she's infected or something. If this is what the infection is, it's fucking whacked, man! The roommate attacked her and ate her! Ate her fucking flesh!"

  "Wait, slow the hell down. What do you mean, ate her?" Martinez said and I heard the hum of the bar behind him.

  "She's insane with the infection. When we came out to see what she was doing she immediately jumped on us, they fell to the ground and Red Dress was killed, broken neck, I think. The roommate started to eat her, now's she banging on the bedroom door trying to eat me."

  "You sure she's dead? Your girl, I mean?"

  "I didn't take her pulse, but she looked dead."

  "We should probably bring her to the emergency room, just in case. Can you restrain the roommate or something?" I looked around the room and noticed the curtains had thick, ornamental ropes to tie them back.

  "Yeah, I can tie her up. We'll probably have to bring both to the hospital." I cursed because we were planning on taking a taxi home and didn't have a car at our disposal.

  "Shit, alright, let me grab Lena. What's the unit number? I'll call Miller or something, see if they can get us a car, anything."

  "Building one, two-fifty-three, it's the first one off of the back stairs. He's got something tonight with a client...damn, we'll figure it out when you get here, just hurry up," I said and hung up the phone. I reached down to grab for my shirt and heard something slam against the door.

  I guess I had to deal with this.

  I moved behind the door with the rope in my hand. Red Dress had a chair in the corner of the room and I had pulled it out, closer to me. I opened the door, hiding behind it slightly.

  I opened the door and Eva came shambling in, creepy moans emanating from her mouth that was dripping with Red Dress's blood. I came up behind her and looped the rope around her neck. Maybe if I cut off her air supply she would pass out. But the harder I choked her, the more she struggled and I finally gave up and just pulled her to the chair.

  I forced her from behind into the chair, trying to stay as far away from her mouth as possible. I wrapped the rope around her chest and arms, tying her to the chair in a shoddy use of nautical knots. My scout leader would be ashamed.

  But she was restrained and couldn't move. Her teeth kept chomping though and I couldn't look at her anymore. I grabbed a hand towel from the bathroom and shoved it in there, avoiding any nips or bites.

  Breathing hard, I went out into the front room. Red Dress was still on the floor, but her finger twitched.

  "Shit, are you okay?" I bent down next to her, but when I checked for a pulse it barely registered. Her neck was obviously broken. No one could live through that, right?

  I stood up and turned around, looking for a blanket. I didn't know if she would survive this, but she was nude and it felt appropriate to cover her up. Really I just wanted it for my own selfish reasons, her body, nude and covered with blood was making me nervous and I couldn't think with her lying there, exposed, now twitching even more. I was used to death, I had seen too many dead bodies, but the body of a female, a female I had just been with was too much.

  I found a basket of blankets next to the sofa and pulled one from the top. The sound of movement behind me startled me and I swung around, a small blanket clutched in my hand. Was she up? How is that possible? I didn’t see anything. I turned back around and grabbed bigger one from underneath.

  Something slammed into me from behind, hard. I flailed back against the sofa. It was Red Dress. She wasn't big, but her arms were flailing. They were reaching and grabbing for me, so I couldn't get ahold of her. I managed to push her back and off of me and got a look at her face. It was horrible. Her skin was now a deathly gray, her eyes were vacant. They were glassy and her teeth were snapping as if she wanted to sink them into my flesh–just like the roommate. It took everything in me to hold her back, but still her nails scratched at me, her legs kicked and she pushed forward, teeth snapping at my face.

  "Shit!" I yelled. I pushed with all my might and flung her off of me, her head hit the coffee table with a sickening crunch. She got right back up though, her head bobbing oddly on her neck as if it really was broken and she couldn't hold it upright. She slipped on the floor, her legs not able to hold her well, but she got right back up and came tearing at me again. Blood dripped down her face from her head wound, and the bites on her chest oozed in a horrific manner. None of that fazed her and she kept coming at me. She was intent on biting me. It must be from the infection. It must drive them crazy with fever or something and then make them want to bite so they'll transmit the disease.

  It was the only explanation I could come up with. Or at least the only one I wanted to accept.

  I kicked out with a front kick. I had to knock her out, get her incapacitated before she hurt me or herself. The kick didn't even slow her down, so I kicked her again, trying desperately to avoid her teeth. I heard t
he sickening snap of bone when my kick landed. I hadn't pulled it enough and it snapped her femur. She fell, but didn't cry out in pain. She just kept coming, walking on the broken leg, pulling herself on the one good leg toward me.

  I backed up across the front room, but still she moved forward, those teeth snapping, a horrible keening coming from her throat. There was blood everywhere, running down her face, her lips pulled back revealing all of her perfectly white teeth. Her nude body, the body that I had just been touching, was contorted in a terrible lumbering position, almost folded in on itself, hunched over and gruesome, as she reached for me.

  Loud banging began on the front door. The condo was all one big great room, so I could hear Martinez calling me through the door.

  "Martinez!" I yelled as I stuck my booted foot out to stop Red Dress from coming any closer.

  Martinez burst through the door with Lena and Charles at his back and they both stopped short, stunned looks on their faces.

  "Madre de Dios," Martinez breathed.

  She was still snapping at me like an animal, her face pulled back in a grimace of pain as if she was unbelievably hungry. She had fallen to the floor now, her legs unable to hold her upright, yet she still pulled herself toward me with her arms. She tried to push herself up again, to get back to her feet, but she crumbled to the floor. I walked over to her and pushed her down with my booted foot, to keep her down. I told myself it was just so she wouldn't injure herself more, but really I was scared shitless and I didn't want to see her get up again.

  "What the hell is wrong with her?" Lena screamed.

  "She's infected,” I shot back.

  "That is what infected looks like? Holy hell!" Charles windmilled his arms in front of him like he could ward away the invisible, viral bugs that were flying around the condo. There was panic written all over his face and he was turning a weird shade of green.