Death Plague [Four Zombie Novels]

by Ian Woodhead

  “Is there any point in me talking, Kenny, you seem to know everything now.”

  “I don’t know when your plague almost wiped out your population,” said Kenny. Shallow circles rippled across the skin of the shards. Their tune shifted frequency. He took two steps back, feeling the hairs on his head vibrate.

  “It’s been at least a decade now, Kenny. Look, I’m not sure what any of this has got to do with anything. We need you. Joseph told us what you would eventually be.” Stephen gripped his shoulders, blocking the gateway from Kenny’s view. “We can shut off the gateway at any time, but if we did that, we would all be dead. It’s only the medication from your world that’s keeping us alive.”

  Stephen’s fingers dug deeper. “Will you help us, please? If we don’t sever the cord, they’ll turn what’s left of this world into a charnel house; they won’t stop until they bleed us all dry.”

  “How do they enter your world? Do their soldiers come through this gate?”

  Stephen violently shook his head. “No, it’s one way only. This location is one piece of information that they were never able to torture out of Joseph. We have no idea how they travel here, the bastards just appear.”

  “You might want to revise your information, Stephen. Look at the archway.”

  The big man’s fingers gripped Kenny tight. “Oh fuck, I can feel the vibration!” He slowly turned his head. “No, no way.” Stephen ran over to the archway. “We have to get out of here, I mean, right now.” His fingers danced over several buttons on the fist-sized console embedded in the pillar next to the archway. “They’re coming through the gateway! It’s not possible, how did they manage to open it?”

  A single scream ripped through Stephen’s frantic cries. Kenny spun around and ran over to his sister, grabbing her wrist and pulling her away from the wall. He felt the change in the air and knew what was coming next, and it wasn’t going to arrive through the archway. A pair of dead-fish eyes materialized next to a technician.

  “Move out of the way!” The man had no chance; the rest of the dead thing appeared as soon as Kenny shouted out his warning. It lunged at the unwary man and bit into the side of his neck. Three more dead things appeared behind the first one and fell onto the shrieking man.

  Every guard in the room opened fire, filling the small space with the deafening sound of automatic gunfire. They didn’t discriminate; the guards took out all four dead things and shot the technician as well.

  “Not again,” cried Stephen. He left the archway and rushed over to Kenny. “Turn around, you idiot! There’s two more behind you.” Kenny moaned and grabbed Diane, pulling her back as the dead things rushed them. Stephen blasted the closest one in the head, then pushed the pair of them to the side and kicked the remaining zombie in the face. Kenny heard the crunching of teeth as it flew backwards, then watched Natalie rush over and stamp on its head.

  “I’m so sorry,” whispered his sister, showing Kenny her bloodied arm. “The bastard bit me. It’s too late.” Tears ran down her cheeks. “I’ve failed you.”

  “Stop that, right now,” he hissed, following the others over to the open door. Kenny pulled Diane out of the room and gently sat her down, leaning her back against the wall. Kenny jumped when the door behind him slammed shut. He looked at the survivors, horrified to see that there were only four of them left. Kenny nervously glanced both directions down the hallway, hoping that those things wouldn’t appear out here as well.

  He turned back to Diane, pulling out his knife. Kenny sliced the blade across his palm and clamped the hand tight around the bite mark, praying that this would work. He heard two more gunshots but didn’t bother looking up. He should have known better than to believe that those fucking rotting bastards would only appear inside that room. The two survivors would be able to deal with them.

  “I feel so cold,” Diane said.

  He took off his shirt and wrapped it around the wound, pressing it tight, and kept his hand on her neck, waiting for her pulse to stop. “Don’t worry, you’re not going to die on me, Diane. I cured Stephen, I can cure you as well.”

  The woman’s eyes flickered and her head slumped forward. “No, you’re not dead, please, you can’t be!”

  He felt someone pull him up. Kenny tried to shrug off the grip but he couldn’t move.

  “Leave her,” shouted Stephen. “I’m really sorry, but she’s gone. We have to go. There’s more of them coming this way.”

  “I’m not leaving her!” Kenny shouted. “You go take care of them, I’m not going anywhere without my sister.” He cried out when the man point the gun at Diane. “Don’t you fucking dare!” he growled.

  “Stop it, you know the fucking rules, we can’t have her rising!”

  He screamed and thrust his head back, feeling it connect with something that crunched. His grip was loosened enough for him to fight his way out of the man’s grip.

  Kenny wrapped his arms around Diane’s body, growing more desperate when he realized that he could feel her heart beating. “If you want to shoot, then go ahead and fucking shoot. You’ll have to kill me as well.”

  Through the thick blood streaming down Stephen’s face, Kenny clearly saw the man sneer. He raised his gun.

  “Don’t be a fool!” shouted Natalie, slapping the big man’s hand down. “Just look at her.”

  Kenny spun around to sees that her eyes had reopened. He saw only warmth in those blues orbs. She smiled weakly before leaning to the side and throwing up. He pulled up and helped her get back onto her feet. Kenny hugged her tight. “Oh God, I thought I had lost you forever, Diane.”

  “We’ll all be dead if we don’t get away from here,” shouted Stephen. The man wiped away some of the blood and flicked it onto the floor. “Look at them all!” He aimed his gun at the mass of shambling corpses filling the corridor, then sighed. “Fuck! Come on!” He turned and ran in the opposite direction.

  Both Natalie and Kenny helped Diane along by grasping her under an arm, and they all followed Stephen. The big man skidded to a halt at the next doorway. He pushed it open and held it open as the others filed inside.

  “We can’t go back, not yet,” he said, looking at Diane. “Not in your condition. Those things will shamble right past this door. The outer guards will deal with them; we’re only a short distance from the main entrance. Those dead things will have already tripped alarms.” He smiled. “Don’t worry, everything is going to be okay.”

  Kenny had doubts about that but kept silent; he had other things to worry about. He guided Diane over to a chair and sat her down. “Tell me how you feel, Diane.”

  “I’m just a little tired,” she whispered. “Thanks to you, I’m alive though, that’s the main thing.”

  Stephen sighed. “I’m sorry about that, really I am.” He looked over at Natalie and shrugged. “I know you saved me, but I was out of it while you were doing your thing. I couldn’t believe that you could save her. I suppose two decades of built-in survival is hard to break.” The man pushed his axe under the door handle and walked over to Kenny. He leaned over and offered his hand. “Next time, I’ll listen to you, I promise.”

  “There’re in here as well!” shouted Natalie.

  Stephen turned and tried to dive away as two zombies lunged out of the shadows. He tripped over Kenny’s body and fell on him, forcing all the air out of his stomach. Kenny couldn’t breathe, he certainly couldn’t crawl out from under the man.

  Natalie pulled the axe out from under the door and rammed the pointed end into the head of the zombie closest to Stephen. The big man rolled to one side. Kenny took in a huge lungful of air and crawled over to his sister, intending to pull her out of the remaining zombie’s reach. It literally fell on Stephen as he was still on his knees. He shrieked out as it bit into his shoulder just before Natalie cleaved the dead thing’s skull in half.

  The bitten man staggered back, falling against the far wall. Kenny ran over to him, trying to open the wound in his hand. Stephen held out his arm.

&nb
sp; “Oh no, I can fee…” His words just stopped.

  Kenny watched, unwilling to believe his own eyes as the man’s body slumped to the floor. His skin bubbled up in huge, weeping red blisters and then ripped open. He grabbed Natalie’s arm as the crying woman ran past him. “Don’t,” he warned. Deep red flesh pushed out through the multiple rents in the torn skin before changing to a consistency of pork jelly.

  Kenny spun the woman around and pushed her face into his chest, unable to take his eyes off the dissolving mess spreading out from the corner of the room. His sister caught her breath.

  “That’s going to happen to me if I get bitten again,” Diane whispered.

  The door bounced in its frame, then slowly began opening. Kenny ripped the axe out of Natalie’s hand before pulling the woman away from the door and over to his sister.

  “It’s okay,” she whispered, shrugging off his hand. “Since when did dead things open doors? It’ll be our men, looking for us. We’re in here!” she called out.

  The door opened wide. Kenny moaned at the sight of Rossini framed in the doorway, his grinning face looking like a skull mask. Beside him stood Joseph; he too shared Rossini’s grin. They both moved to one side to allow three armed men, all clad in black body armor, to enter the room. One of them pulled the axe out of Kenny’s numb hands.

  “That’s most interesting,” said Joseph, looking into the corner. The man stood back, smiling as they were escorted out of the room. He pulled Natalie towards him. “What is it with you? Seriously, I mean what do we have to do to make you lie down and die?”

  Rossini pulled out a pistol and pointed it at her head. “I can do that for you, Joseph. It’ll only take a little pressure with my finger.”

  “Will you put that gun away, you stupid fat bastard? How will we get in that room without her codes?” He pushed her into Rossini’s arms. “If you want to do something, get her to talk.”

  Rossini shrugged and pushed his gun into his belt. “Whatever you say, boss.”

  Joseph growled, “And stop calling me that. While we’re at it, I thought I asked you to get rid of that jacket? It makes you look like a game show host.”

  “I’m an entertainer,” snarled Rossini. “What else do you expect me to wear?”

  “You look like a big fat clown.”

  Another two men entered the room and stood beside Joseph. Kenny barely noticed the two new arrivals; he couldn’t believe what he was seeing. From what his colleagues had said about this Joseph, the guy had no power; he just stayed in the background. From what Kenny could tell, he stayed in the background all right. He stayed there and ran the whole operation.

  The two new individuals hurried up to Kenny. He shivered at the sight of their dead eyes. The zombies showed more animation in their features than these two.

  “Stretch out your arm, Kenny.”

  He glowered at Joseph before he did as he was told, realizing that cooperation was his only option. He now saw that it didn’t matter what Rossini said or thought. He had finally met the true power.

  “Have they told you that I’m infected?” he whispered to the tall grey-haired man who was trying to take his pulse. “It would only take a few drops of saliva to make their way into your mouth.”

  The man’s cold smile froze Kenny to the spot. “We’re all infected, Kenny,” he replied. “Now I would advise you to do as you’re told. Your sister is very pretty, young man.” The man leaned forward. “Try to keep your dirty mouth in check and be compliant; otherwise, me and my colleague will play with her before feeding your sister’s body to a group of dead things.”

  “Are you having trouble there?”

  “Not at all, Joseph,” replied the grey-haired man. “I was just having a little chat with our friend.”

  The other man stepped up to Kenny and pushed a needle into a vein on his arm. Kenny took a deep breath; the sharp sting brought back so many uncomfortable memories. He had truly believed that his days and nights of having needles pushed into his flesh were well and truly over.

  “Well, do you have an answer for me?”

  The two men released Kenny. The one holding the vial of blood pushed the glass container into a palm-sized machine and studied the display before giving Joseph a quick nod.

  “I can’t be sure of this, Joseph, but the initial results do confirm your theory. This man does have a variant of the antigen in his system. I’ll need to run more tests to be sure though.” He looked at the grey-haired man. “As for whether it’s compatible with our existing vaccine, well, I really can’t say.”

  “What is that supposed to mean?” Rossini licked his lips. “Does he carry the ultimate cure or what?”

  “Did you even listen to what he just said?” replied Joseph. “Try to be a little more optimistic. We just need to catch up with the brothers.”

  “What if they’re dead, Joseph?”

  Joseph shrugged. “Within the next couple of hours, we’ll be able to snatch as many Mortimers and Daniels as we want. Okay, take him back.” Joseph turned around and walked over to Natalie. “It’s been fun playing you, playing all of you. Now though, the game is closing.” He placed both hands roughly against the side of her head and turned her to face the locked door. “Give me the codes.”

  “Fuck off,” she snarled.

  Kenny bit his bottom lip and tried not to cry out when two of their guards dragged the other Tony into the room. They forced the man to his knees before Rossini rammed his gun into the back of his head and fired.

  “Okay, let’s try this again. This time, if you don’t tell me the codes to your door, I’ll kill everybody in your world. Now, one more time, Natalie.”

  “No!” she screamed. “I’m not going to tell you anything, you’re going to kill us all anyway! At least we all die knowing that you will perish with us!”

  “You really are a very brave woman, Natalie. It is very touching, and I’m shocked to see one of the council members with so much integrity. Okay, get them out of my sight.” Joseph paused and walked up to Kenny. “You have jumped through every hoop I put in front of you.” The man laughed. “Natalie, it was him who helped us get inside here. He’s the only reason why you will all die.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  Only two weeks ago the two men before him had done their hardest to get him thrown out of the inner-core affiliation. Joseph’s blood had boiled at their impudence. If it hadn’t been for his breakthroughs, Reuben Chan and Cameron Blake wouldn’t have been sitting in their plush, leather-bound chairs located at the head of their table.

  These two were the last ones on his list. It seemed only fitting that he’d reserved the worst fate for the last two members of the inner-core. His predatory grin displayed the warmth of a frozen dagger as he leaned closer to the monitor screen. Their arrogant smirks were long gone now; only silent screams remained.

  Chained to a revolving drum suspended over one of Rossini’s zombie pits, the men’s naked bodies rotated once every minute. As each rotation completed, the drum dropped down one notch with a sudden jolt.

  He had one last piece to dispose of and that piece stood right next to him, his eyes full of excitement. The fat fool reminded him of a spoilt kid watching a spider run in a circle right after he’s pulled off seven of its legs. Joseph wasn’t fooled by this man’s idiot savant expression though. Rossini wasn’t stupid. He’d proven that by somehow managing to take over Natalie’s controlling interests.

  That freak now had way too much influence and power. Not that Joseph was overly bothered. He’d already devised three plans, all ready to execute when his partner had lost his usefulness.

  Joseph held back his trademark, disarming smile. He needed to restrict his use of acting like the harmless, young scientist for when he really needed to fool this large freak. Right now though, he found it difficult to be able to read the man.

  Mulling over Rossini’s recent irrational behavior took up way too much processing power. What a dilemma. Without the psychotic, egotistical individual’
s assistance, Joseph would have never been able to pull this off. It irked Joseph to know that he still needed this maniac. He needed to tread lightly and take baby steps to dismantle Rossini’s powerbase and influence.

  “You surprise me, Joseph. I know these pricks did everything they could to humiliate you in front of the others, so I know how much you hated them.” Rossini chuckled. “It just goes to show that you can’t judge a book by its cover.” He faced Joseph and tapped the monitor screen. “This tells me that despite your own put downs and efforts to humiliate me, you do possess a creative side, obviously not as refined as mine, but it is there deep inside you.”

  Underneath those brusque words, Joseph clearly heard the threat. This fat clown had made plans of his own. He wanted to bite off his tongue; Joseph should have foreseen this outcome. The two terrified men occupied Rossini’s attention; perhaps he should dispense with his strategy and kill the bastard here and now?

  “I’m impressed. They still haven’t given up hope.”

  Joseph took his hand off his knife and watched the two men desperately trying to stop their hands from slipping off their sweat-soaked thighs.

  The camera panned down from the chains securing their ankles, down their bodies. Joseph sighed heavily as the lens passed over their genitals. “I didn’t need to see that,” he muttered.

  The camera paused on their wide eyes. “That’s a good shot,” said Rossini, “you can’t fake that look of pure horror showing in their fat faces.” He turned to Joseph and laughed. “I just have to see how our ratings are doing!” He beamed. “I’ve never seen the figures so high. Almost everybody has tuned in to watch these two fat fuckers die. Even the ones not in the comfort of their homes will be glued to the street-screens.” He rubbed his hands in glee. “I can’t tell you how exciting this is. I wish I was there though, presenting the show. With my charisma, I believe I could ensure everybody would watch.”

  This man’s self-image defied description. Joseph took his eyes from the camera as it now moved further down the pit until the upturned faces of the dead appeared on screen. He shuddered and imagined how everyone else watching this would be doing the same, especially the ones who were related to the zombies. These weren’t wild ones, brought in from beyond the thick walls. The guards had captured these from within the city. Joseph squinted and leaned closer to the monitor, sure that the one in the middle, reaching up, trying to grab hold of the shrieking men, used to be one of the gate attendants from the building opposite Government House. “The only way we could increase ratings now, Rossini, would be if we strapped your naked body to that metal drum.”