Death Plague [Four Zombie Novels]

by Ian Woodhead

  I found enough strength to nod.

  “That’s your great flea, Colin. They will consume anything and everything, and that includes us, and if you continue to look for her, the only remnant of you left will be dust. This is the reason, Colin. Do you understand?”

  I shook my head. As far as I could tell, this guy was talking in gibberish.

  The other hunter then scared the hell out of me by giggling; it was such an effeminate sound. He leaned forward, and I found myself falling into those twin volcanoes one more time. I couldn’t stop myself from crying out in fear.

  “Hush, you big baby, and open your bloody eyes. Come on, hurry up, you don’t want to miss this.”

  Reluctantly, I did as he bid.

  “There you go, that wasn’t too difficult was it?”

  The musty confines of the derelict shop had gone. I found myself high in the night sky looking down at dozens of white light trails criss-crossing the land. The lights rarely intersected, but when they did, they joined, resulting in a brief flash of red light. More often than not, just one white light departed that short-lived spark. “Pretty. I don’t know what I’m looking at though.”

  “You’re watching us, Colin. The lights are the essence of all hunters as they roam across the land, looking in vain for fresh meat.”

  “There are so many! I had no idea.”

  “You are looking at our birth, Colin. This is twenty years ago.”

  The image blinked out, then returned. Only this time, all I saw were two spots of white light. The spot directly below me had several lines of white meandering away; it looked a little bit like a glowing spider. I then noticed one more spot close to it, this one glowed a dark red.

  “This is what it looked like right now. That red spot is me and you. Don’t worry. Both lights will continue to glow when we go our separate ways. Your sister is but a day’s walk from here, Colin. She and around forty other hunters have found their way to one of only two settlements left in this part of the world.”

  “I had no idea I was so close.” It took effort not to feel relieved. I wanted to smile, I’d done it, and I had found her. “So, all the hunters are now in the two settlements?”

  “You still don’t see it do you? The white spots are the greater fleas.”

  As I watched, the lines shrunk, leaving just two white spots and a single red spot lying close by.

  “This is how it looks now. Apart from the two of us, there are no more hunters left to roam the landscape.

  “You mean, we’re all that remains of our species? Are you telling me that all the others are dead, including my sister?”

  “Of course not, you stupid man, but that could well be the outcome. The two great fleas, now mature and well fed, reached the stage that every species reaches at some point in their life—the need to procreate. Thankfully, nature isn’t that suicidal. The only way that these monsters can mate is with a lesser creature. That’s us hunter, in case you hadn’t figured that out.”

  The shop materialised around me. I shook my head to clear away the last wisps of dizziness and slowly got to my feet, using the wall to lean on. The other hunter stood just outside the shop, watching the one searchlight sweep across the road. He turned his head.

  “Welcome back to reality, sleepyhead. I didn’t think you were going to move.”

  “What?”

  “You’ve been in that position for almost two hours. Not that I’m complaining, mind”, he said, licking his lips. “It gave me time to remove one of those annoying lesser fleas. I’ll be dining on him as soon as we part ways.”

  Thick wet blood coated his hands and the cuffs of his shirt. I then noticed several bloody hand prints left on the walls “Jesus, what have you done to him?”

  “The him was a her, and that’s none of your concern, Colin. Now, I won’t lie here, I did enjoy our little chat. It was good to be able to share my talent with somebody else, and it does displease me that you’ll probably be dead in a few hours.”

  Julius pointed to the counter. “Present for you.”

  I stared at the dripping lump of unidentifiable meat staining the glass top, and despite myself, I started to drool. “Where are you going?”

  “I initially took you as an intelligent man, Colin. Well, apart from your sister doing the number on your head, I mean. It isn’t a coincidence that you have found yourself so close to your sister. Those two monsters laid down enough chemical breadcrumbs to enthral every one of us hunters. Unlike you and the rest of our species, I can tell the difference between male and female hormones.”

  ***

  Fourteen dazzling spotlights took out of my recent just discovered past, and back into the present. “He said I had a Teflon mind.” I blinked rapidly, desperately trying to bring back every one of my dilapidated senses. I ached all over and felt as though I’d just fallen under a bus.

  “For God’s sake, he’s coming around!”

  That voice sounded familiar. Right now, though, the identity stubbornly refused to surface. Not that it surprised me; how could I concentrate with those fucking lights in my face?

  “Quickly, hurry up, before he speaks again!”

  Damp flesh landed over my mouth. The shock of the touch helped to push back some of that insensitivity. That feeling of wearing a dozen wool jumpers receded, and I could now make out the outline of what looked like several arc lights embedded in a pale white ceiling a few feet from where I lay. A pair of blue eyes found mine.

  “Please, hunter. You need to stay still, and try not to move.” The eyes moved a little closer. “I know this is hard, but please trust me.”

  How could I trust somebody who I didn’t even know? I wanted to close my eyes; if anything, it would stop those lights from drilling through my eyes and spearing my brain. I couldn’t even contemplate attempting such a motion. My body would send my tired mind to sleep, I was sure of it. Instead, I strained against the flesh and tilted my head to the side, finding two more figures swim into view, a man and a woman, both around the same age.

  I did know them, and their faces caused an avalanche of connected imagery to cascade and fill the void. The flesh clamped down and muffled my scream. I couldn’t help it, the pictures, sounds, and smells were just too much for me to hold. They threatened to burst me. I felt like I was drowning in sand, every grain rushing through every orifice, grinding together, flowing into every niche.

  “Will you keep him fucking quiet, Nathaniel?”

  A dozen heads flashed past a wire reinforced glass window set into a grey door. The images continued to fall, but now I at least was able to control the flow. I slowly sat up, inadvertently sending the boy crashing into the side of the wall. A head paused at the window, then turned. I saw a pair of jet black eyes while hearing three low moans currently sharing this very bright room.

  I turned and slid my legs off the bed, a little disturbed to discover that this was an operating theatre. The two humans clutched each other tight before rushing past me. Conflicting feelings of fury and elation coursed through my body as I stood up in what felt like a ‘newborn’ body. Julius had been spot on about Danielle fucking with my head. She’d almost succeeded in turning me into a human, or at least thinking like one. The anger didn’t last too long, though. How could it? I mean, she was my older sister, and as far as she was concerned I needed looking after no matter what the cost.

  The door opened and a blonde haired man stepped inside, followed by two more men. They all were identical sneers and similar black uniforms. The situation took me straight back to that filthy little room. On this occasion though, the brakes had been well and truly taken off.

  I jumped forward and grabbed the noses of the closest two hunters, twisting my fingers viciously to the side. Before either of them had chance to scream out, I drove my fingers through their eye sockets, lifted the pair of them off the floor and spun around. Their corpses landed beside the side of the bed.

  The remaining one tried to bolt, but I was way faster. I caught the back of
his neck in a vice-like grip and slowly squeezed, watching in fascination as my fingers and thumb stretched his skin tight, until the overwhelming pressure ripped open the skin in half a dozen places.

  I let the dead hunter fall to the floor before turning around to smile at the three terrified humans. “I take it you ‘saw’ my last vision?”

  Linda was the only one to nod.

  “I don’t think that will be happening again, my very tasty looking friends.” Their mice-like minds went into overdrive when I grinned at them. I felt their soft probes and brushed them away. It was now as easy as smiling. There were several more minds beyond that door, each one had ‘felt’ the death of their comrades and were doubling back right now. I quickly pulled the corpse into the room and shut the door.

  “Make with the white noise!”

  “It won’t work,” squealed Linda. They’re too close.”

  “Did I ask you to fucking answer back? Just do as you’re told.”

  The sound of running bootsteps almost drowned out the mental rage coming from the hunter’s minds. Danielle’s shackles had left, leaving me feeling quite unlike anything I’d felt in my life. She must have had me bound up right at the start of my change. If I could gaze into the eyes of Julius right now, my reflection would stare back at me. I was a powerful hunter, certainly more than a match for these pathetic specimens that had found their way to this isolated township.

  Eight hunters might be a little too much, even for me. The tainted humans had all shut their eyes and were so trying to project their unique talent. I too closed my eyes and focussed, tapping into all three of their minds. Their bodies and minds all cried out as I applied one of my own newly awaked talents and expanded the white noise until this room and the three bodies of the hunters winked out of existence. Although my eyes were shut, I still ‘saw’ the other hunters race past this door.

  “Those clowns don’t deserve their name.” I gave it another couple of seconds before I pulled out of my companion’s heads. I sighed, it was so warm in there, but I knew I couldn’t stay in there for too long, not without causing serious damage.

  What do I mean? Well, imagine that your brain is a dry sponge, then envision that I fill that sponge with ice-cold water, using a water cannon. Yeah, a bit like that, but with a few fish hooks.

  I left the shivering trio in the unpleasant company of the dead hunters and set off to get my sister back. As far as I was concerned, their usefulness was well and truly over. They’d only get under my feet; besides, I expect they’d want to go back home now to whatever sad lives they left behind.

  This magnificent buzz charging through my body and mind just kept getting louder and louder. It’s like, oh, it’s like feeding, but knowing that you’ll never come down from the after-feed high. I saw myself like a music box, only when the lid was opened, you didn’t see some crappy ballerina rotating to the sound of some plinky plonk nursery rhyme. Fuck no, you got a nuclear detonation in your face.

  I paused and turned around. Those remaining hunters were still running. That didn’t seem right, unless they really were trying to run us down. I suppose that made some kind of sense; after all, I had just slaughtered three of their mates—mainly for fun.

  “Whatever, it’s not like you won’t be that hard to find.” I chuckled to myself. “Keep your appointment schedule clear for around five pm, guys. The siblings will be seeing you then.” Yeah, that sounded sweet to me. I’m sure my sister will so enjoy ripping those bastards into tiny bits of meat.

  When I was inside my little human friends, piggybacking and expanding the white noise, I inadvertently ‘saw’ why the humans and the hunters had come here. The whole reason why everything still worked in here was because that’s what it had been designed to do.

  This was a bomb shelter. Hell, that’s probably its most unassuming title. This place had been designed to hold the cream of the cream: the government officials, the high society, the scientists, all those guys with more money than we’d ever see in our lives.

  Oh, sure, the bombs never did go off, but you can’t deny that the two decade old Armageddon didn’t have more than a few comparisons. I can well imagine the smug look the faces of the ones that had managed to get here before the shit really hit the fan, well pleased in the knowledge that they would be safe down here.

  If what happened to my dad was anything to go by, the smugness would have soon turned into utter terror. I ran my splayed fingers along the solid concrete wall, and I could almost pick up those long gone screams and shrieking from the desperate humans who were being hunted down by their turned comrades. “There would have been nowhere for them to go, trapped like rats in a maze.”

  Linda and her family used to work here back before the greater flea turned up unannounced, doing their very best to help to rebuild the human species as well as keeping the zombie hordes at bay. I suppose having access to the huge amount of stockpiled weapons would have been of some help.

  There was so much intense history within these walls, not to mention the fun and games they must have had just after the arrival of that ‘whatever the fuck it was.’ So many questions too. For a start, I still had no idea exactly how the freaky hunter with the camp voice fit into the scheme of thing here.

  I wasn’t going to allow any of this to bother me though. Why should I? None of the drama was any of my concern. I’d collect my sister, probably stay to butcher the hunters, and that was that. Goodbye to all of it.

  When we hit the road again, things were going to be a little different between me and my dear sister. I was no longer the one who needed looking after, fuck no. This time, I’d be the one taking charge. It would be me hunting down the humans. God, I couldn’t wait for that!

  I stopped directly in front of a dark grey metal door and rested the palm of my hand against the cool surface. Danielle should be just beyond this door, held in a small cell. At least, that’s the image I took from two of the hunters before I killed them. She wouldn’t be guarded, none of them dare go near her. I had to grin at that. Those other hunters were terrified of the woman, and so they should be. I can well imagine how she must feel being locked up, alone in some dingy cell.

  Well, not for much longer. Little brother was here to save the day. Everything would all be sorted soon enough. No fucker is going to stand in the way of me getting my sister out of this shithole, nobody at all.

  “Time to get this party started,” I muttered as I gently pushed open the door, not shocked in the least that the docile hunters hadn’t bothered locking it before rushing off. Candle glow greeted me when I pushed the door wide open, orange and yellow light danced with the shadows across the brick wall. “What the fuck is this shit?” I said, moving further and further inside.

  I saw no sign of any sterilised looking thick grey doors leading to the three small rooms that served as cells. No strip lighting, no concrete floor, no sign of anything remotely modern, and worst of all, no sign of my sister.

  For the first time since the dam broke, I felt that bastard sense of uncertainty creeping up my spine. This place didn’t belong in here. I turned away, gazing in disbelief at the rough shod brick walls, the filthy hay under my boots, and the three wooden stalls a couple of feet from where I stood. This was a stable, a goddamm stable!

  “Just who the fuck is messing with me?” I yelled. The image beyond the confines of this room hadn’t changed, the expanse of grey corridor wall and tiled floor still stretched past the door where I left the trio. The uncertainty had now taken a firm grip on my psyche and took control of my body, propelling me towards that door. I screamed out in fury as is swung shut just before I reached it.

  “Oh, no you don’t!” I grabbed the handle and pulled, only for the metal to come off in my hand. Panic now eclipsed my uncertainty, only made worse when I found that unlike the rest of this room, the door was very solid. I slammed my fist against the surface over and over, not giving a fuck that my hand was losing the battle. “Get me out of here!”

  “I don�
�t think there are enough words in the dictionary to explain my disappointment in your action, Colin. You’ve really upset my feelings.”

  The shock of hearing another human voice in here almost stopped my heart, especially one so familiar. I spun around, trying to locate the origin; this didn’t make any sense. I knew I was alone in here, my enhanced senses had already confirmed that. “Dominic, is that you?”

  “Colin, have you any idea of the trouble you could potentially cause? After all the time and effort I invested in humanising you.”

  I took a deep breath and tried to get my galloping emotions back under my control. This was just too much. There must be a hidden speaker somewhere in here, it was the only explanation. “Where’s my sister—and come to think of it, where are you?” I walked over to the two stall, and looked inside. Hay covered the floor in one of them, while the other one contained a single bucket. My nose told me exactly what that was used for. It didn’t take me that long to figure out that this is where those bastards had imprisoned Danielle.

  “Can you even hear me, or is this pleasant discourse all going to be one way?”

  “All I can do really, is apologise. It’s my fault. I should have listened. Thing is, I’m just too soft. Just because I changed, I obviously believed that I could help you discover your human side. Still, it’s not all bad news. Thanks to your timely distraction, we did manage to get Danielle out of her confines.”

  I crouched down and swept my hand through the hay, grinding my teeth in annoyance as some of the stuff stuck to the sticky red mess on the back of my hand. My efforts showed me that Danielle had been busy during her imprisonment. Judging from the dried blood and the deep score marks in the concrete, she’d literally tried to dig herself out of here using only her nails. I so wanted to burst into tears at the sight of those marks, imagining her anger, frustration, and terror of being trapped in here, yet for all the obvious distress that those score lines portrayed, all that emerged was fury. Those fuckers had used me, and that included my sister. “This is it then? You’re going to leave me in here to rot?”