The Zombie Zovels (Book 1): Zombie Suburbia

by Lake, D. K

  The key was still in the door.

  Stacey and I looked at the boys confused.

  “The door was locked and I checked under the pot.” Lane said.

  “Lucky guess.” I said, opening the door.

  I walked into a wide hallway with cream walls and orange floor tiles. I could see the kitchen at the end of the hallway, with painted orange walls. The owners must have loved orange. Lane left Jasper on the couch and helped us secure the house. The previous owners also had hundreds of scented candles decoratively placed everywhere, which made things easier for us, it meant we didn't need to trek outside to another house in search of candles. I shut the blinds and drapes and Lane helped me move a tall bureau in front of the window, and a bookcase in front of another. I closed the drapes in the dining room, pulled the door shut, then wedged a chair under the handle, we didn't need to go into the room, and I didn't want anything coming through that way.

  I didn't feel too afraid, we hadn't run into any zombies, and zombies wouldn't bother us if they didn't know we were inside. As long as we were quiet and they didn't see the candlelight from outside we would be fine. I locked the front door again and left the key in it. The back door also had a key in it, but I had no intention of going out the back door after dark.

  We all met up back in the front room, the house was dimly lit as we had blocked out all of the light. Stacey was walking around with my flashlight. She was been over the top, it wasn't that dark. I set up candles and realized Stacey and Lane had vanished.

  “Where'd they go?” I asked.

  “Lane said something about a basement.” Jasper replied, moving his foot around. He'd taken his shoe and sock off.

  “How does it feel?”

  “Sore, like I sprained it.”

  “You're lucky you didn't break it. How did it happen?”

  “We were doing flips.”

  “And you flipped off?” I said, trying not to laugh.

  “Don't laugh, I used to be really good at it, I'm just out of practice.”

  “Well, I hope you learned your lesson.”

  “No more trampolines.” we both said together.

  “And stop doing dumb shit!” I added.

  Stacey and Lane came back into the room carrying bottles. On closer inspection I saw they were wine bottles.

  “There is, like, a hundred bottles downstairs.” Lane said, lining them up on the coffee table. “I'll get some glasses.” Stacey said, already halfway down the hallway to the kitchen. “Err, no, we can't get drunk in the middle of Zombieland.”

  “Alex, what zombies?” Lane said.

  “Just because we can't see them doesn't mean they're not there.”

  “You worry too much, Al, you need to relax.” Jasper said, pulling out a joint.

  “You're going to get high and drunk?” I said disapprovingly.

  Stacey walked back in with four wine glasses and a corkscrew.

  “Um, no, you're not drinking.” I said.

  “Alex, you're not my mom.”

  “Alley,” Lane called. I ignored him.

  “Yes, but I'm apparently the only one with a brain in this room.”

  “Alex,” Lane said, lifting me to my feet, and pulling me out the door.

  He let go of me and I walked down the hallway, and into the kitchen. Lane stopped in the doorway and pulled out his cigarettes, lit one and watched me as he took a drag.

  “This is crazy!” I said, hopping up onto the counter.

  “We haven't seen one zombie today, and we've been in loads of different houses. Not a single zombie. Relax!” he said, walking over to me and pushing his way in-between my legs. “Ugh, don't say relax, Jasper says relax and it just pisses me off.”

  “Okay, you need to take a night off.”

  “From what?”

  “From worrying. Stop worrying about everything and everyone. Just for tonight can you try to act like a normal teenager.”

  “If either one of them pukes on me I'm locking them outside.”

  Lane laughed. “I saw a bucket in the basement, will that do?”

  “I don't like Stacey drinking, she never has more than a glassful of alcohol back at the prison.” “She'll be fine, we're all here to look after her, and I think this is the safest town we've ever been in. Just trust me, a few glasses of wine and you're going to forget what you were even worrying about.” “Okay, but she's not getting high. You can't smoke that until she's gone to bed. Agreed?” “Agreed! She'll giggle the fucking house down.” he said.

  “Tell Jasper to smoke it when she's passed out. The drink will probably knock her out and she'll be dead until morning.”

  Lane took a drag and blew the smoke away from my face. He knew the consequences of blowing directly in my face usually resulted in a slap to the cheek.

  He leaned closer, grabbing the back of my head, pulling me toward him, and crushing his lips to mine before I could object.

  He was such a good kisser, I found it hard to resist once he pushed his tongue into my mouth. He tasted of smoke, I used to hate it, now I couldn't get enough of it, it was so Lane. He pulled away, I looked up him, and he kissed the tip of my nose. I had come to realize, Lane kissing me on the end of my nose was his way of telling me how much I meant to him. He lifted me off the counter with one arm and set me on the floor. He picked up my hand and led me back to the living room. He sat down on the couch and pulled me onto his lap. Stacey had uncorked six different bottles and was in the process of sampling them all. She decided on one she liked then handed me a glass of red wine. I was so not a wine drinker. Lane took the glass from me and had a sip, wrinkled his nose, then looked at me and shrugged. I lifted the glass out of his hand and took a sip. I didn't know a thing about wine, all I could say was, it tasted fruity.

  The evening passed in a blur. The drink went straight to my head. I hadn't eaten lunch which didn't help. I'd only consumed one protein bar since we'd left the prison and half a bottle of water. I remember two glasses of wine, laughing, joking, more wine, strip poker, me running around the living room in my underwear with Lane chasing me, another glass of wine, getting dressed again, lots of wine... then I vaguely remember Lane carrying me up the stairs, me giggling, falling off the bed, my panties vanished, Lane was suddenly naked... then there were a few images of us, our bodies naked and entangled in bed together... then nothing.

  Chapter 22

  A loud smash woke me up. My head pounded and my stomach felt queasy. I slowly sat up and stayed deadly still, wondering if I'd dreamed it.

  How much did I drink?

  The flame from a candle flickered, still burning.

  Lane was asleep next to me, but nothing ever disturbed Lane when he was asleep. I heard a clattering, possibly from the kitchen. I checked my watch 1.20am.

  Another crash, this time from the hallway, and it sounded like someone (or something) just knocked over the small table that was down there.

  “Lane,” I said, shaking him.

  “No, I don't wanna a Pop-Tart.” he mumbled.

  “What? No, Lane, wake up. I think there's a zombie downstairs.”

  Lane's eyes shot open and he sat up.

  “What happened?” he said, holding his head.

  “Well, apart from the fact we drank too much, I just heard a load of random noises downstairs.” Lane threw the covers back and jumped out, I followed suit and quickly tugged on my jeans. My bra was nowhere to be seen, but I was in a rush so I yanked on my T-shirt, stuck my feet in my boots, and searched around for my hoodie, then I remembered I'd left it downstairs. Well, I think I had left it downstairs

  Crap.

  Lane picked up his bat but I couldn't locate my bat or my gun. My head swirled and I swayed into the dresser. I was still drunk. I knew it was a bad idea to drink too much. I must have left everything downstairs.

  I helped Lane lift the dresser away from the door, trying to be as quiet as possible whilst moving it, not wanting to alert the zombie (or zombies) we were upstairs. We could just
stay in our room, but I had to check on Stacey, I had left her downstairs with Jasper, they might even still be down there passed out.

  Lane crept to the other bedroom, it was empty and the bed was still made. Where was Stacey and Jasper? Lane gingerly tiptoed to the stairway and I stayed close behind him. A loud thud came from the living room, it sounded like someone falling over, or a zombie tripping over the coffee table. I urged Lane forward, he looked over his shoulder.

  “Sorry! Just hurry up already.” I said in a hushed tone.

  Lane gripped the bat and held it up, I realized I didn't have anything, and quickly grabbed the decorative vase from the table at the top of the stairs, I, at least, had something to throw. We descended the stairs and saw the candles in the front room were still burning. Lane had just stepped off the bottom step when we both heard a giggle.

  Stacey's giggle.

  Lane lowered the bat and looked at me relieved. He walked into the living room more at ease. I placed the vase on the couch and looked at the pair of them.

  Stacey and Jasper sat on the floor cross-legged in front of each other, chucking M&M's into the air, trying to catch them in their mouths.

  “Oh, hey... you two. I thought you'd gone to bed?” Jasper said.

  I rubbed my eyes and yawned. “Well, we were until you two woke us up. What are you still doing down here?”

  I didn't get a response from either one of them. They both fell forward onto each other giggling. “Is she high?” I asked.

  “Guilty!” Jasper said, as Stacey chucked a handful of M&M's at his face, they bounced off everywhere. Stacey burst out laughing, followed by Jasper.

  I couldn't be bothered with this. I grabbed Lane's arm and was about to pull him back upstairs... when a glass smashed on the tiled kitchen floor.

  We all froze.

  “Did you invite anyone else?” Lane asked quietly, lifting his bat.

  Stacey squeaked and stood up, backing across the room.

  I glanced around for my bat and gun. Nothing was where I had left it. My bag wasn't anywhere. Maybe I had taken it upstairs. The drink had severely affected my memory of earlier. I grabbed the fire poker instead. Jasper stood there not sure what to do, and Stacey hid behind him. Great help those two would be. The noises continued along the hallway, I could hear the zombie brushing along the wall on the other side, knocking picture frames to the floor. I positioned myself on the other side of the doorway and Lane stood near the drapes. The room was dimly lit, maybe it wouldn't see us.

  I looked back at Stacey and Jasper, they were gone, I could only assume they were hiding behind the La-Z-Boy together.

  The zombie walked in, leaning to one side. It walked straight past me. Lane nodded his head at the zombie. My turn first I guess.

  I crept up behind it and took the first swing, striking the fire poker across its back. It grunted but didn't fall, trip or stumble, which was what I was hoping for. It turned around to see what had struck it, but Lane was already in front of me swinging his bat. The zombie fell onto the couch and Lane cracked the bat across its back again, causing it to groan loudly. It sounded more annoyed than hurt, they rarely reacted to pain. Stacey straightened up with Jasper by her side and we all watched Lane beat the crap out of the zombie. No one would be sitting on that couch again.

  “How did this get in?” Lane asked, before whacking the zombie on the head again. Stacey and Jasper looked at each other with guilty expressions.

  “Did you leave the back door open?” Stacey asked.

  “Me? You came in after me.” Jasper said.

  “What were you doing outside? We locked the doors for a reason. What are you, complete morons?” I said.

  “We found some sparklers and took them outside.” Stacey said.

  I shook my head and Lane looked at me briefly, probably thinking the same thing I was. What were they thinking?

  Stacey screamed from the corner of the room. I spun around to see another zombie entering the room. Lane moved in front of me and swung at it, and I darted around it. I needed to shut the back door before any more wandered inside. I ran into the hallway and skidded to a stop as another two dark shadows blocked the kitchen doorway.

  “Two more!” I yelled just as something bumped down the stairs.

  Another zombie came tumbling down the stairs head first. They never could master coming down the stairs.

  “Make that three,” I added.

  My guess was Stacey and Jasper had attracted a lot of attention, making too much noise outside. I should have shut them in the other bedroom and barricaded the door.

  I pushed the coat stand to the floor, hoping to slow down the two on their way through from the kitchen.

  I heard Lane yelling at Jasper to help me. The first zombie tripped over the coat stand and the other tripped over the other zombie. With those two temporarily down I turned my attention back to the one at the bottom of the stairs, that had somehow managed to get its foot stuck in the banister. Bonus for me.

  Jasper appeared in the hallway, shaking like a frightened dog.

  “Deal with that one,” I said, pointing to the one at the bottom of the stairs. The easiest one to take care of.

  The other two were trying to stand back up, using each other as leverage. It wasn't working in their favor and they kept falling over each other. I drove the fire poker into one of them. It went straight into its neck. I yanked it back out and struck it on the head. The other one clawed at me and I rammed the poker into its eye.

  Ugh!

  Jasper screamed behind me. I turned around to see him backing away from the zombie. He was holding the ax but wasn't doing anything with it. The zombie had freed its foot and was lurching toward Jasper. Lane ran into the hallway and swung at the zombie, and it spun around like a ballerina and landed on the floor.

  Something grabbed my arm. Both zombies were clawing over each other to get to me. One was severely hemorrhaging from the neck and the other only had one working eye. I pushed one away using my foot and it fell backward. The other one dived at my legs and knocked me down. A gust of wind blew through the hallway and I whipped my head back to see the front door wide open. Damn Jasper.

  Lane jumped over me and hit the zombie with the bat and I wriggled out between Lane's legs. Stacey dashed out from the living room and out through the front door.

  “Jasper!” she called.

  I chased after her, and grabbed her from behind, covering her mouth.

  “Be quiet!” I urged.

  Outside was dark, with only the soft glow from the moonlight. My eyes darted everywhere. We had to get back inside. Outside every shadow looked like a zombie. I took her hand and tried to lead her back inside, but she slipped her hand out of mine and took off running across the street. “Stacey!” I hissed, not sure what to do.

  I walked backwards, toward the house, watching as she ran through an open door across the street. Something bumped into me and I flinched away about to ram a fire poker through whatever it was... But Lane grabbed my arm preventing me.

  “Where are they?” he asked.

  “I don't know. Stacey just ran through that door, I think she followed Jasper, I'm not sure.” “C'mon, stay close to me.” Lane said, pulling me with him.

  We ran across the street. My eyes scanning the trees, expecting a zombie to step out from behind one. I saw something moving down the street but didn't look too closely and quickly followed Lane into the other house.

  Inside, the house smelled musty, with a hint of cat wee.

  “Stacey? Jasper?” I whispered.

  “What the hell is going on? There weren't any zombies around during the daytime.” Lane said. “Maybe they were asleep, they do sleep, right?” I said, watching the front door. I couldn't shut the door as it would block out the only light there was.

  A noise came from the front room. Lane edged closer to the archway leading into the room. Then the wind chimes outside the front door jingled, and another zombie came charging through the front door at a rapid sp
eed. I moved aside and fell into the wall and Lane batted it on the head before it knocked into him. I heard a whimper, but it hadn't come from the zombie. It came from inside the dark room with the archway. Lane was already going badass on the zombie, and I crept inside the room with the fire poker out in front of me, so if a zombie came running toward me it would hopefully impale itself. I heard someone crying.

  “Stacey?”

  I was inside another living room, this house was laid out differently, with a long living room and dining table at the other end, and patio doors letting light in. There was another archway leading into the kitchen.

  “Alex,” Stacey snivelled.

  “Where are you?”

  “Behind the drapes.”

  I looked both ways. The front window had blinds, the patio doors had drapes.

  A loud scream came from the kitchen, I stopped and stayed still. It was a newbie scream. The newbie didn't run into the living room, instead, it ran along the hallway, heading straight for Lane. “Yeah, take that, bitch!” Lane said from the hallway, taking care of the situation. I hurried over to the drapes and something from the corner of my eye caught my attention. More zombies were standing in the kitchen. I counted three. They hadn't seen me, yet.

  “Stacey, come here, now!” I whispered. “We need to go.”

  The drapes moved and she peeked out, but the zombies must have heard me and were all rushing to the archway, getting stuck as they all tried to get through at the same time.

  “Run!” I said, backing away.

  Instead of running toward me she rattled the patio door and slid the door open and ran outside. I snaked around the armchair, coffee table, and ran to the archway, trying to warn Lane, but was greeted by a zombie. I backed away and saw two of the zombies chasing Stacey out the patio door. The zombie in front came at me, I swung at it, but this one had a few more brain cells left and actually dodged out of the way. That had never happened before. I stood open-mouthed for a few seconds by the reaction, before trying a new tactic, impaling it through the stomach. Yep, it didn't see that coming.

  Over its shoulder I could see Lane making use of the shoe rack, launching shoes and boots down the hallway.