Death Plague [Four Zombie Novels]

by Ian Woodhead

  His cautious side refused to be browbeaten by a few hastily spoken words of support. Kenny rested his hand on the door handle, but no matter how hard he tried, he could not bring himself to open the door. “You fucking coward,” he hissed. He turned around and slammed his back against the door. What was it with him? He took a deep ragged breath, still feeling the sweat drying on his skin from when he’d been jolted back into reality.

  Kenny reached for the crossbow, pulled back the bow, and slotted a bolt into the botch. He’d never fired one before but he didn’t think it would be too difficult. He then allowed a slight smirk to play on his face when he realized that he wasn’t being gutless at all. Not after he’d been through, today. He shook off the alien feeling, putting it down to a side effect of being under that device. Kenny kicked the door open and ran out of the room.

  Several dead things looked up from their meal and growled at him. It took him just two seconds to recognise the partially eaten remains of his companion. Kenny yelled out and fired the crossbow, the bolt missing all of the zombies and burrowing into the wall. Every zombie slowly got to its feet and fanned out. Kenny saw the ones on the edge, flattening their backs against the wall and sliding towards him.

  “You’re not supposed to be able to do that!” he moaned. Three in the middle then glared at Kenny and smiled before lurching forward. He dropped the weapon, spun around, and dived through the door. He didn’t need to look behind him to know that his pursuers were almost on his back. What the fuck had happened to them, how could they be so attentive?

  He reached the outer door, grabbed the chair, picked it up off the floor and swung it around, crying out as the closest dead thing actually tried to duck under the object. Kenny smashed it over its head before rushing out of the door. This time he slammed it shut.

  “Fuck you!” he screamed. “Rot in hell, you bastards.” Kenny moaned out in disbelief as the door handle turned. He reached out with both hands, holding it upright, stopping them from getting out of the room.

  “It’s not been one of your better days, has it, Kenny.”

  No, not him. He turned his head to see Rossini standing in the middle of the corridor with the other Joseph standing behind him, his hand placed firmly over Diane’s mouth. Kenny looked into his sister’s terrified eyes. “Please, don’t do this. Just let her go, let us both go.”

  Joseph laughed. “Listen to you! Oh, you really are a funny man. You are not going anywhere, don’t you see that? As soon as you let go of that handle, those Source World zombies will be on you in seconds. Have you seen how fast those fuckers can move, Kenny? Oh, you’re going to be ripped into tiny little bits and there really isn’t anything you can do about it.”

  “It’s ready,” said Rossini. “The coordinates have aligned.”

  Joseph laughed. “Oh, that’s good news. It’s been fun!”

  Kenny blinked, watching the three of them vanish. “You bastard!” he screamed. “No, you’re not leaving me here to die.”

  The handle slid down, despite his best attempts to stop them. “You haven’t won,” he snarled. Kenny let go of the door and kicked it back, before spinning around and running in the opposite direction.

  He charged down the hallway, painfully aware that the dead things weren’t far behind him. His body was close to collapse, he couldn’t keep this pace up for much longer, and with each faltering step they gained a few extra inches on him. Kenny’s adrenalin died at the sight of the barred metal door at the end of the hallway. “It can’t end like this!” he screamed. Kenny clenched his fists, then stopped and turned around.

  “Come on then, you undead bastards!” he snarled at the two approaching zombies. “You won’t take me without a fight.” Kenny glared at the closest dead thing, a tall, middle-aged man with long, flowing white hair. “You’re going down!” He sent a silent prayer to his sister before running forward, screaming at the top of his lungs.

  The End …?

  Bright yellow light speared through his closed eyelids. He turned his head to the side and yelled out when he ended up with a mouthful of wet grass. Kenny snapped open his eyes and sat up. The fields stretched for miles in front of him, but this time, they weren’t empty. Thousands of people just like him were getting to their feet, looking around in fear and confusion.

  Kenny spun around and ran towards the small collection of individuals standing in front of a small grey building. They had already seen him and were making their way towards Kenny. He growled low in his throat, wondering which one to smack first, wondering how he was going to find out where those two had taken his sister.