Death Plague [Four Zombie Novels]

by Ian Woodhead

  Tony stopped and turned around. “Diane, didn’t you feel the effect on your body when that hole behind them opened up? Kenny was right, that must have been how you moved.” He nodded to the dead things. They hadn’t moved that closer to them yet. “I’m sure you’ve seen the vast hordes of corpses shambling across the landscape on television. Millions of them, all grouped together. It must be the same on the other worlds as well. I think one of your holes has emerged right inside one of these hordes.”

  Diane paled, “You mean there could be millions of them about to come through?”

  “It’s possible.”

  “Fuck, as if we didn’t have enough to worry about.”

  Kenny was not with them. Tony looked past Diane to see the back of his head, still peering around the corner of the building. “What is the fool doing?”

  “I’ll go get him.”

  He shook his head. “I’ll do it.” Tony ran past her and caught up with Kenny. “Come on, man, we can’t stay here.”

  “We can’t go, not yet.”

  The two other runners had made the unfortunate mistake of been seen by the dead things. They didn’t stand a chance. Tony turned away, not wanting to watch as four of the vile corpses closed in on their new victims.

  “You’ve got to stop him!” Diane shouted.

  Tony looked back to see that Kenny had ran right by him, racing across the asphalt and heading towards the man and woman. “You insane bastard!” He set off after him, watching hundreds of heads shifting their gaze away from their original targets and looking at Tony instead. A low collective moan erupted from the mouths of the growing horde, as Tony attempted to catch up with Kenny. At least ten of the things broke away from the main pack and began moving towards him. “Kenny, for fuck’s sake, we can’t save them.”

  From his limited vision, Tony watched the big woman punch one of their attackers to the ground, while the heavily muscled man next to her sliced through the necks of two more dead men. His fighting spirit didn’t recede when the remaining zombie lunged at the man and bit into the side of his stomach. The man let loose a shriek that overwhelmed the zombies’ mass moaning. He brought his fists together and slammed them down on its head before it could bite him again.

  The ten heading for Tony were now just a few meters away. He put on a burst of speed and caught up with Kenny.

  The vibration inside Tony’s bones returned with a vengeance. He cried out and dropped to the ground, fully aware that those ten dead things were just a couple of feet from him now. He couldn’t move. It felt as though his whole body was coming apart at the seams. The smell of death now covered him like a decaying blanket; he was about to end up as food and there was nothing he could do to stop them. Tony couldn’t move a single muscle. His eyelids slid down, saving him the humiliation of seeing them bite into his flesh.

  The inevitable agony of feeling all those ragged teeth never came, and the vibration died down. The only moans he could hear now were human, and they were coming from his mouth. He reluctantly opened his eyes and found the only dead that remained was the one the man had put down.

  Diane reached down and picked Tony off the ground. “Are you alright?”

  He wasn’t sure how to answer that question. Tony sighed and shook himself down before looking around the landscape. They were definitely alone again.

  “They all just vanished, Tony. I saw you fall and I ran to you.”

  Tony smiled, “Thank you. Wait, where’s Kenny?”

  “Look behind you.”

  Kenny crouched in front of the big man, inspecting the wound in his side. As Tony and Diane reached them, the woman looked up.

  “Thank you for trying to help us,” she whispered.

  Diane joined her brother. The thing had managed to bite off a small chunk of the man’s flesh. Tony watched the big man’s eyes flicker; he didn’t have long to live now. His size would help. Tony knew that if he’d been in his place, he would have already succumbed.

  “Do you have a knife on you?”

  He blinked before shaking his head. “Kenny, we really should go. I’m sorry but there’s nothing we can do now. We all know he can’t be saved.” Tony listened to the woman’s sobs get louder. “Honey, come with us, you don’t want to be around him when he changes.”

  Kenny looked at him sharply. “So what?” he snapped back. “I was bitten too. You’re the one who called me the chosen one.” He pulled the man’s axe out of his hands and ran his thumb across the blade, hissing in pain. He dropped the axe then held his bleeding thumb over the wound.

  “What the fuck are you playing at?” screamed the woman.

  “I think I can save him,” Kenny replied. He looked at Tony. “You had all better move back in case this doesn’t work.”

  The man opened his eyes wide and howled out in agony. His whole body convulsed. The woman tried to hold him down but she couldn’t keep hold. He flayed his arms out and Tony jumped back to avoid the big man’s fists. The man’s eyes closed and he settled down.

  Instinct told Tony to run, to get away before the infected man woke up. It took a huge amount of self-control to keep his feet fixed to the ground. Diane jumped back as the man’s eyes opened. Tony saw none of the usual signs of death. He blinked a couple of times before staring in wonder at Kenny.

  “You’ve just brought me back!”

  He couldn’t say any more as the woman flung her arms around his neck. “I thought that I’d lost you!”

  Kenny stood up. He walked over to the woman and held out his hand. The woman looked a little uncertain before she started to grab it. Kenny pulled his arm back. “No, you don’t understand.” Kenny dropped to his knees and placed his bleeding thumb over one of the multiple cuts on her arm. “I want to cure you as well.”

  “I haven’t been bitten though. I’m not sick.”

  “We all are,” Kenny replied. “You should know that better than most.” He looked at his sister. “Diane told us that you’re one of the people that runs the city?”

  The woman slowly nodded.

  “So why those were poor fools trying to kill you?”

  Tony watched the woman’s features twist into a grimace. For the first time, he now saw exactly what Diane meant. The woman now looked like a hellish demon.

  “That fucker Rossini wants me dead, that’s why,” she spat. The woman dragged herself to her feet and eyed Tony’s weapon. “Give me your gun,” she demanded. “I have someone to kill.”

  He backed away, not intending to give his gun to anybody, especially her. “Not a chance,” he said. “I need this.” Tony spotted movement to the left of them. He spun around and saw more dead things shambling out of one of the buildings behind them, as well as a group of uniformed men running towards them.

  Two of them raised their weapons. Unlike the now eaten celebrities, these guys wouldn’t miss. He looked at the gun in his hand before throwing it on the ground. He had no wish to get shot.

  As the guards sprinted towards them, Tony’s guts whirled as the feeling of separation ran through his body one more time. “Oh please, not now,” he moaned. Tony jumped at the sound of an explosion of air behind him. He turned to see Kenny and Diane were still with him but the others were gone. “What the fuck happened?”

  Kenny pointed at the wall. “They fell through that.” The man’s face suddenly grew pale. “Oh fuck, not him.”

  Tony turned to see a large man with long pale hair walking towards them. He knew him. He’d seen Rossini’s face dominating the posters for a long time. He wasn’t too shocked to see that the sudden disappearance of the other two hadn’t fazed the big man.

  “Hello there, Kenny. Did I not say that you were going to be my biggest star? You won’t believe the viewing figures.” Rossini nodded to one of the uniformed goons and the others grabbed the siblings and began marching them down the road. Rossini’s fingers wrapped around Tony’s arm when he tried to follow them. “Wait for one minute, you. I have a couple of questions first.”

&nbs
p; Tony jumped when shots rang out and he saw three zombies hit the floor.

  Rossini chuckled. “Calm yourself, young man. I have no intention of killing my new stars. You though. Well, you need to give me a very good reason as to why I should keep you alive.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out four large pills. The man nodded to himself. “Yeah, I thought you’d recognize them. We took them from your friend, Joseph. He refused to tell me what they were used for. Perhaps you will be a little more cooperative?”

  Tony kept his mouth shut, hoping that this goon didn’t have the sense to decide to search his pockets. All he needed was for Rossini to release his arm for just a second and he would be out of there.

  “Not too keen on talking?”

  From what he heard, this fucker already had Joseph, and if he wanted to keep Kenny alive and as long as Rossini didn’t work out when made him so valuable, there wasn’t much more he could do. Tony gazed at the tablets in the big guy’s hands. He licked his lips, trying to think of how to play this.

  “If I tell you, then you’ll have no use for me.” Tony looked at the wall beside them. “I’ve seen how you treat the people who piss you off.” He smiled. “That’s why you set those dim-witted fools on her, isn’t it?”

  “It’s not a wise idea to assume the worst, young man. Prepare for it, yes. But try not to believe that’s your sole remaining option.” Rossini pulled Tony away from the wall. “Joseph was trying to reach out and find new unexplored worlds to visit. All the city elders knew that much, mainly because he wouldn’t shut up about it.” He held one of the tablets between his thumb and forefinger and crushed it. “I’ve had this analyzed already. It’s exactly what we expected to find.” Rossini then stopped and turned around. He pushed Tony towards a depression in the grass. The man bent down and picked up half a brick, which he threw into the air. The brick landed in the middle of the depression and a circular area of grass and soil dipped, revealing a deep hole.

  “There’s quite a few of these dotted around my arena, Tony. Would you like to take a closer look?” He forced Tony’s head forward. “Look at them all down there, young man, just begging for me to throw you down to them. I’ve watched them take a human body apart, you know. People want to believe that it’s a quick death. Believe you me, it isn’t. The wild ones will go for the throat to make sure you don’t get back up. You see, they don’t want any more like them, all fighting for the same food supply. Down there though? They know you’re not going anywhere, so they’ll take you apart slowly, bite after bite.”

  Tony strained against the man’s hold.

  “Now you can assume the worst, young man.” Rossini picked him up as if he weighed no more than a small child, and held him over the pit. “This pit was reserved for Natalie and her Source World boyfriend. They have evaded me this time but they’ll be back.” He turned him around and leaned forward. “Now tell me what those fucking tablets do to you!” he screamed.

  Tony saw movement behind them. He could hear the things below him, straining to reach his feet. Despite his predicament, he furnished the man with a slight smirk after making sure he had a firm grip on Rossini’s wrists. “I don’t assume the worst,” he said. “Look behind you, Rossini.” His smirk widened into a grin as the man yelped and stumbled back, bringing Tony safely away from the pit.

  “Your guards are gone, Rossini,” he said, watching the huge group of dead things shamble towards them. He reached into his back pocket and pulled out his remaining tablets. “You wanted to know what these do? Keep watching.” Tony pushed the two tablets into his mouth and chewed before swallowing. He watched the background begin to fade. “It’s such a shame that you crushed yours.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  Mortimer opened his eyes; it took him a few seconds for his view to solidify. His stomach and his head felt as though they had swapped places. “I want to die,” he uttered. Mortimer quickly turned his head and leaned over, waiting for his guts to realign. His eyes traced a single dark red trail along the filthy concrete floor. Mortimer followed it until the path stopped at a man-shaped bundle of clothes. “Please,” he moaned, “I don’t want to be here again.”

  There was no stopping his gaze from following the clothing until he looked, once more, into the flat eyes of his dead brother. “It’s not him!” he cried, shuffling back until he reached the far wall. Mortimer then yelped out when a hand landed on his thigh.

  “Why are we here again?”

  Just the sound of his brother’s voice, even layered with trepidation as it was, had a cathartic effect on his frayed nerves. His heart still refused to slow down but now he could at least attempt to take stock of their situation without feeling like a lost lamb, hearing the sound of wolves howling.

  Mortimer ran his tongue over his cracked lips. “Daniel, you scared the shit out of me.” His voice echoed through the dank cellar. His only source of light filtered down from the stone steps to the left of where they lay. The filtered daylight wasn’t strong enough to banish the long shadows cast from their decaying companions, but there was enough illumination to see that the enquiring voice did issue from his brother’s lips.

  “Mortimer, why are we here?”

  “Since when did I become the font of all knowledge?” he snapped. “Hush your flapping mouth and let me think.”

  The arm attached to his body, as well as the pudgy hand now covered in black dirt, could not belong to anybody else but him. Like his brother, this truly was the real him down here. With his comfort barrier snatched away, Mortimer’s anxiety quadrupled. Without that glimmer of uncertainty that they could still be inside a digital playground, the lost lamb sensation threatened to take control. He’d be a fool to believe that wherever they were, wolves weren’t nearby.

  “I don’t like it here,” whispered Daniel.

  “I’m not that keen either, but it’s infinitely preferable to where we just came from.” Mortimer stopped talking and turned back, intending to ask Daniel if he felt any different. He couldn’t shake the feeling of belonging when he gazed around this cellar, no matter how bizarre that sounded. His question died on his lips when he saw his brother’s eyes, grown to the size of marbles.

  “They’re not all truly dead.”

  He hoped there’d be more time to prepare before the meeting with his first wolf. The stink of death increased and he heard a single low moan coming from the other end of the cellar. As Daniel whimpered, Mortimer frowned. He used his brother’s trembling body for support as he got to his feet, turned around and shook off Daniel’s hand.

  “What are we going to do?”

  Another hand, followed by a skinny arm, pushed up from between two bodies. “You idiot, Daniel.” He jumped over the bodies and grabbed the arm, wrapping his fingers around the wrist. “It’s Joseph. Don’t just stare, help me get him out from under here.”

  With his brother’s help, they pulled the unconscious man out from under the corpses and dragged him over to the stairs. The man moaned once more but didn’t regain consciousness. “We ought to count our blessings, Daniel,” Mortimer said, pulling Joseph onto the first step. “Can you imagine appearing under a pile of corpses, unable to breath, feeling their weight holding you down? I’m glad the guy isn’t awake.”

  “None of this makes any sense to me, Mortimer.” Daniel lifted Joseph’s face. “You know he only gave us the same tablets that Martin freaked out over. How did we both end up back home?”

  This experience was turning into one serious head fuck. Daniel’s words circled his mind, each revolution confusing him more and more. He could still be inside that fucking device, hell, he might not have even left it. A game within a game? Why not? If the designers were able to construct such an elaborate scenario in the first place, it would be easy to fool the user that they had woken up, not once but several times.

  “Could we still be sitting in our chairs?”

  Mortimer looked into Daniel’s eyes, looking for any signs of real life. If he was still in the game, the original o
ne, then this Daniel was just another digital representation, just like Joseph. As for the tablet they took to supposedly get them into another world, now that did sound contrived. How opportune was it that this Joseph had them upon his person? If this was a game, those pills would make a convenient plot device.

  “Why are you looking at me like that?”

  Mortimer shrugged then lashed out with his left leg, his foot connecting with Daniel’s shin.

  “You fucker!” he squealed, dropping Joseph and jumping back.

  He then threw a punch that Mortimer easily dodged. “Calm down. I was just testing out a theory. I wasn’t sure if you were really here or a collection of pixels.

  “If you hit me again, I’ll stamp your pixels into the fucking dirt.” Daniel picked up Joseph by the shoulders and dragged the man up the rest of the stairs. “So let’s say we get out of this house and we’re attacked by a load more dead things. It’ll be okay if they kill us all, ‘cause we’ll wake up? You think about stuff, Mortimer. That’s always been your problem. Stop pulling it all apart and go with the flow. Fuck, it’s all we can do anyway.”

  “How can you stand there and spout all that bullshit? Just look around you, for crying out loud. We both know this can’t even exist. It’s an impossible place and we both know it.”

  “We can’t walk about with our heads in the clouds, hoping everything will turn out for the best. If we don’t work this thing out, we’ll both end up like Martin.”

  “That’s utter bollocks. Martin ended up fucking dead ‘cause he did try to work this out.” Mortimer looked at his brother scornfully. Why was he even trying to have a debate with Daniel? He followed him up to the top of the stairs and pushed past the pair of them. Mortimer pulled open the cupboard above the microwave and pretended to look inside. The door provided a convenient obstacle so he wouldn’t have to look at his brother’s simpering face. As he tuned out Daniel’s continued bleating, Mortimer examined the contents of the cupboards.

  “Shut up a minute, Daniel, and come here.” He leaned back and grabbed his jacket, trying not to get angry when the man flinched. “Look at this, come on. Tell me why this doesn’t look right to me.”