The Zombie Virus (Book 1)

by Paul Hetzer

  Other Loonies around them hadn’t so much as looked up at the commotion. We glanced over at Jeremy to make sure his attention was elsewhere when this occurred. Thank God it was.

  We saw several brutal fights break out among the males, with blood being drawn. They usually ended as quickly as they started with the combatants moving away and ignoring each other. Occasionally we would spot a Loony feeding as it walked or sat. We guessed they must have been eating animals of some sort, although sometimes we were sure that they held the bloody remains of something that looked human.

  We even once saw a Loony walking around feeding from a large bag of potato chips, shoving its face into the bag like a horse sticking its head into a pail. Others attempted to get to the bag and there would be a snarling punching match until the original Loony with the bag was able to dodge away.

  By mid-afternoon when the sun was at its hottest, we didn’t observe any of the infected up and moving. They were all taking shelter in the shade.

  Once in the afternoon we heard a series of shots off in the distance but they were never repeated. That buoyed our hopes that there were other survivors like us out there.

  In the late afternoon they were moving again. Several came close to our building causing Holly, who had the watch, to sound a warning. We all quickly found concealment until they passed by, totally ignoring the restaurant. Kera relieved Holly at 1800 hours and Holly and I sat down to make cheese sandwiches for everyone. Frank sat with us and helped, munching on a few along the way.

  Jeremy was snoozing at one of the booths. We woke him up to eat and the four of us sat around quietly devouring the meager meal, washing it all down with bottled water we found in the back. Kera quietly ate while she stood by the front doors staring out into the fading day.

  I sat snuggled up against Holly, thankful for the reassuring and familiar touch of her body next to mine. She wiped crumbs away from her lips and leaned in to give me a kiss.

  “I love you, Steven,” she said.

  “Love you too,” I answered with both words and a return kiss.

  “None of that crap in here,” Frank said, his eyes crinkled in amusement. “You’ll spoil my dinner.”

  “Hey! How about me?” Jeremy pleaded from across the table mockingly.

  “Son, our love for you is beyond words,” I replied seriously, reaching over and combing back his mop of dark auburn hair with my hand.

  He didn’t realize that he was the driving force that kept Holly and I going in this post-apocalyptic world.

  Holly turned her radiant smile on our son. “Honey, we both love you and are so proud of you this week.” Her voice cracked, then she quickly regained control. “Just don’t grow up too fast, okay?”

  “Oh, Mama,” he replied, face reddening in embarrassment, “I’m not a little kid anymore.” Then he smiled also, his face revealing so many of his mother’s features. “I love you both, too.”

  “That’s it!” Frank said, standing. “This mushiness has killed the remainder of my appetite!” He slid out of the booth and slung his rifle over his shoulder.

  “You sure it wasn’t the six sandwiches you already devoured?” Holly asked, her eyes crinkling with her smile.

  He just grunted and walked back toward the bathroom.

  Kera came over and grabbed another of the thin sandwiches off of the pile then went back up front to stare out the doors while mindlessly nibbling on the food.

  Frank came out of the bathroom and sat back down at the booth and started to say something about it being dark shortly. The explosive noise of the shotgun firing in the restaurant sounded like someone had set off a stick of dynamite, drowning out the rest of his sentence.

  The shot was followed by two more, along with the sounds of shattered glass hitting the floor. We were out of our seats in an instant and running with our rifles pointed to the front where Kera stood with the smoking shotgun in her hands. The glass was gone from the front doors and three corpses lay out on the sidewalk not twenty feet in front of the entryway. Jeremy reached her first, quickly followed by the rest of us.

  “What happened?” he demanded of the older teenager.

  She shifted uneasily as she looked back at us. “I thought they saw me,” she replied apologetically, looking back out at the bodies of the three Loonies. One was the half-naked man we had observed earlier.

  “That was a stupid move, Kera,” I admonished her, “You just told them all where we are!”

  She narrowed her eyes at me and said nothing.

  “I think we need to get out of here,” Holly said, staring out past the manicured lawn of the restaurant. The infected were flocking together and heading instinctively toward the direction of the noise. The lead group was only a handful of yards away.

  “Shit!” Frank spat sourly. “I was just starting to enjoy this place.”

  Holly grabbed Jeremy by the shoulders and turned him around, pushing him toward the back.

  “See if you can get the service door open in the stockroom, I’ll try and hold them off,” I called to her over my shoulder.

  Kera was already raising her shotgun and sent two loads down into the approaching mob, causing several in the lead to crumple to the ground. She quickly swapped mags for a fresh one.

  Frank positioned himself beside me and aimed his rifle over Kera’s shoulder at the rapidly approaching pack. The deafening sound of his rifle joined Kera’s shotgun. I added to the earsplitting blasts with my AR. We reduced the closest group to a writhing mass of broken bodies. Others were closing in fast. We all completed mag changes while we had the chance before the horde pressed closer.

  Let’s get to the back!” I ordered sharply, eyeing the increasing numbers of infected headed our way, some moving at a stumbling shuffle while many more were at a full run. I pulled Kera back from the door and shoved her down the aisle. She shook off my hand but continued toward the back.

  Frank fired off two more shots and was quick on our heels on our retreat toward the kitchen. The smell of the decomposing bodies in the stifling kitchen was nearly overwhelming, however, the fear of those things behind me forced me to quickly step around and past the reeking bodies. I ran to the open door of the small stockroom where Holly and Jeremy were trying to open the steel entrance door. They were both futilely kicking at it in an attempt to bust it down.

  “It’s locked!” Holly gasped, holding a rag over her nose to deaden the smell.

  “Let me try.” Frank pushed through, seemingly unaffected by the sickening odor permeating the room. He kicked out with one of his tree-trunk sized legs causing the door to reverberate with the force of his blow, but it held.

  “They’re coming in the front!” Kera screamed, looking out through the kitchen door’s window into the dining area.

  Frank savagely kicked the doors again several more times, nevertheless they resisted his effort.

  “We need the keys,” I said, looking around the dark kitchen for any hanging on the walls.

  While Kera watched the Loonies streaming into the restaurant, the rest of us frantically scoured the kitchen area with our lights for the keys.

  “Could they be in the office?” Holly asked.

  I looked out the window past Kera, the room was packed with the infected rampaging through the room emitting their rabid growls and wails. It would only be moments before they came through this door.

  “There’s no way we’re getting back to the office now,” I said calmly. We were boxed in.

  Holly walked over to the freezer, opened its insulated door, and peered into the dark stinking interior, “We could hide out in here until they’re gone,” she suggested. Terror crept up my spine at the thought of being stuck in that dark, confined room, however, I didn’t see any other options. It was bigger and more secure than the tiny stockroom.

  “Could they have the keys?” Jeremy asked, pointing to the two covered corpses. Something banged on the outside of the kitchen door causing Kera to duck down. Someone pushed against them from the oth
er side and she used her body to block the doors from swinging open.

  I raced the few feet over to the bodies, skidding in the syrup-like muck of their leaking bodily fluids, and dropped to my knees beside them. Trying to remain oblivious to the ghastly sight beneath the covers, I whipped the stained tablecloths off and rooted around in the corpses’ clothes for any keys.

  More infected were piling against the outside of the kitchen doors. Frank jumped over next to Kera and helped hold them closed against the onslaught.

  “Hurry!” Kera urged frantically as the flimsy doors buckled.

  I gagged when my hand touched cold, clammy, decomposing flesh and sticky viscous fluid while I probed under the bodies. Then I felt something metallic in a pocket of the woman’s skirt. I reached in and my hands closed around a set of keys. I almost laughed in relief. I stood up, nearly slipping in the gory mess around the bodies, and ran through the stockroom to the exit door.

  “Hurry!” Kera cried again from out in the kitchen.

  Holly flipped her light on, illuminating the half-dozen keys on a ring with a bright red and yellow restaurant’s logo fob hanging on it. “Just pick one!” she urged, her voice an octave or two above normal.

  I tried the first one my fingers closed around and it wouldn’t slide into the deadbolt’s keyhole. I fumbled for the next one, my fingers slick with the black-red gore from the dead woman, and slid it into the hole. There was a loud bang behind me and Kera squealed and Frank cursed.

  “They’re pushing the door off the hinges, Papa!” Jeremy exclaimed behind me. “We gotta get out of here!” The desperation was evident in his voice.

  I jiggled the key in the lock and couldn’t get it to turn. “Shit!” I pulled it out and slid the next key into the lock. It wouldn’t turn either. I didn’t dare turn around and see what was happening behind me. The sounds of Kera and Frank struggling to hold the doors closed amongst the wails and banging of the creatures on the other side told me that time was running out. I could feel the adrenaline coursing through my body. I tried for the next key and was horrified when the entire ring slid from my jittery, slime-covered fingers.

  Holly caught them before they hit the floor, pulled out the next key on the ring, and shoved it into the lock. The oiled mechanism turned smoothly, releasing the deadbolt from the upper frame and floor. I wiped as much of the sticky fluid off of my hands as I could onto my pant legs and pushed the release bar with my hip, throwing the door open and letting in the sweet, humid air and the dwindling bright sunshine.

  Two Loonies were outside near a dumpster. I dropped them each with a single shot. Holly grabbed Jeremy, shoved him out the door, and followed him out onto the hot pavement. I went back into the kitchen. Kera and Frank were both crouched on the ground with their legs braced against whatever they could get purchase on and their shoulders against the deformed thin metal doors.

  I could see the wild rage-filled faces of the infected through the two round Plexiglas windows, the doors where bent in at the top and numerous arms protruded though with clawed hands grasping at air.

  I strode purposely toward the doors and started shooting. I shot through the doors until the magazine was empty. “Go! Go!” I yelled to them as I quickly changed mags. They both flew by me, jumping over the dead woman and running into the small room and out the back door. I backed up, careful not to trip over the two decomposing corpses. The kitchen doors flew open and the infected poured through.

  I emptied another mag and watched in satisfaction as my bullets tore through faces, skulls and chests. I backtracked to the open service door and to the outside. Frank and Holly slammed the door closed as soon as I was past them, shutting out the terrifying sight of the multitude of infected fighting to get into the tiny stockroom after me. Jeremy leaned a wooden pallet against the door, under its large silver doorknob, jamming it shut.

  “Lock it!” I yelled to Holly when they began pounding on the inside of the door.

  “I can’t,” she reluctantly admitted. “I left the keys in the lock on the other side.”

  In my haste I probably would have done the same.

  “That won’t hold ‘em long,” Frank said, turning around and hefting the .308 rifle. “Where to now?”

  “We can’t stay here.” Stepping over the bodies around the dumpster, I peered cautiously past its steel bulk at the rest of the parking lot. It was swarming with ever increasing numbers of infected. “We have to make a run for it,” I called back over my shoulder. The Loonies inside the restaurant were banging on the back door. Frank was correct, the pallet wouldn’t hold them long at all.

  Across the narrow back parking area was a small berm containing a line of trees which ran beside an access road between us and another shopping center. There were groups of Loonies in all directions and no safe way out of where we were.

  “We are in some deep shit,” Frank spat, looking back over his shoulder at Kera and scowling at her. “Thanks a lot girl.”

  She huffed at him then turned away.

  “Any plans, bro?” he asked, eyeing the groups of infected as they closed in. “I’m down to two full mags and what I have left in this one. I know y’all have to be low also.”

  I looked him in the eye and said in a dry, matter-of-fact tone. “We have to get to the truck and reload. Otherwise we’re not going to make it out of this one.”

  Before he could reply a half dozen Loonies appeared around the corner of the building. They spotted us instantly and charged, snarling like the wild animals they had become.

  I dropped to my knee and pulled the trigger as soon as I had one in my sight. The round entered her right eye and blew out the left side of her head in a puff of brilliant crimson, fanning her hair out behind her like some new age afro. It was as if a switch had turned off and she went lifeless and tumbled to the ground.

  I tried to find another target, but the rest were down, dying or dead from gunshots inflicted by those around me. We had the attention of all the other groups within sight now. They were sprinting toward us across the asphalt everywhere I looked.

  “Let’s go!” I yelled. I grabbed both Jeremy and Holly and pulled them in the direction that we had ditched the truck. We ran flat out across the side parking lot, taking shots at Loonies when they came too close.

  They were damn fast, too fast! I fired at the swiftest of a large group that was close on our heels. I was rewarded with one stumbling and falling lifeless to the pavement. The others of our group were shooting and running also. We were encircled and there were too many. I was losing hope that we would make it out of this alive.

  “I’m out!” Frank yelled breathlessly, not breaking stride. He slung the rifle onto his shoulder and removed the sawed-off double-barrel shotgun from its leg holster while pulling the revolver out of his waist strap with his other hand. He and Jeremy were leading the charge.

  We reached the street separating the two restaurants at a dead run. Holly was firing her rifle at several infected approaching from her right when she stumbled and fell. She let out a cry of pain as she tumbled to the pavement. Kera was beside her instantly and helped her to her feet while I covered them from the rear.

  Frank and Jeremy had reached the other restaurant’s parking lot without realizing we weren’t with them. Frank had emptied the shotgun and was down to the six shots in his .44 magnum. They continued running up the hill.

  I shot the last of my mag at the closest group as Kera helped my limping wife across the street. I changed mags, then ran over and got on the other side of Holly, supporting her while she tried to run. She was limping badly and crying.

  “My ankle,” she grunted in pain. “I don’t think it’s broken but I’m not going anywhere fast on it.” She shook her head in disgust at herself.,= “I’m sorry.”

  “Don’t worry, we’ll make it,” I said kissing her on the cheek, silently vowing to myself to protect her at all costs.

  Less than a fifty yards ahead of us Frank and Jeremy had finally stopped to look back. I saw
the concerned look and fear spread across Jeremy’s face when he realized we weren’t right behind him. He started back toward us.

  “No!” I yelled and Frank grabbed my son by the shoulder and held him back. “Get him to the truck!” I screamed at them. “We’ll meet you there!”

  The infected were already between us, he couldn’t have made it back if he tried. “Papa! No!” Jeremy cried, trying to break free from Frank’s grasp.

  “Go!” I yelled back. “We’ll be okay. I’ll see you soon!”

  Frank dragged him reluctantly away while the infected closed in on them and us. I caught one last glimpse of my son as they crested the rise above where the truck was. Jeremy looked back once then disappeared over the edge. I heard the .44 fire once and Jeremy’s .223 discharge twice.

  Holly’s face paled when he vanished over the rise. “Oh God, Jeremy!” she cried. “Steven, what are we going to do?”

  I looked desperately for a way out, lifting my rifle and firing at two Loonies who were closing in fast and thanking God when they both dropped. Kera unloaded on several to our left, the shotgun loads tearing through them with ghastly results. Three of them dropped in a bloody spray of gore.

  “That was my last clip,” Kera uttered, looking hopelessly at the approaching hordes. She pulled the empty mag out of the shotgun and then slung the gun around her shoulder.

  Holly told Kera to take the Beretta out of her left leg holster and gave her the spare magazine, and then turned to me. “This is my last full mag, Steven,” she informed me, stifling her tears as we stopped near the edge of the road, looking for a way out. She remained propped between Kera and me, the insane approaching us from every direction like an unstoppable tide.

  I continued firing at individual Loonies as I looked for a way out the deadly mess we found ourselves in. I didn’t see any. The ‘tang’ sound of the bolt locking back informed me that the magazine was empty. I deftly dropped out the old mag, shoving it in my pocket and inserting the last 30 rounder into the rifle and released the bolt.