Elements of the Undead - Omnibus Edition (Books One - Three)

by William Esmont

  Twenty

  Burnley Shipyards, East of Houston

  Ninety Minutes Later

  Aside from the rusting and twisted remains of a few scattered accidents, the Sam Houston Parkway turned out to be clear. They encountered a handful of additional signs along the way, all hand-painted like the first, urging them onward, bolstering their spirits.

  A steady rain fell from the leaden skies, transforming the road into a lustrous ribbon of black, punctuated only by the occasional weed.

  Megan worried. She hadn’t seen a single zombie for hours. She sensed they were out there somewhere, lurking in the endless suburban strip malls hugging the expressway, hunkered down in the abandoned vehicles, watching, waiting for an opportunity to strike. Except the undead didn’t do that. They didn’t wait. It wasn’t in their nature. They existed only to eat and to infect the living. If there was no food nearby, they would search until they found it. Years of coexistence had taught her that, and it was inconceivable that their behavior had suddenly changed. No. Something else was going on, something she didn’t understand.

  They found the main entrance to the shipyard closed. A rolling chain link fence stretched across the roadway, blocking their passage. A weathered padlock secured the gate.

  Ryan took the wheel and kept the truck running while Megan and Jack climbed out to investigate.

  Megan glanced around nervously and gave a weak thumbs-up as they approached the entrance. “I’ve got a bad feeling about this,” she whispered. “You’d think with all of those signs on the freeway, there’d be someone here at the gate.”

  “Yeah…” Jack murmured, glancing around. “It’s a little too quiet.”

  They reached the gate and stood in silence, listening for sounds of life… or death. Tall block walls stretched away to either side, limiting their view of the shipyard interior.

  Megan put her face to the gate and peered through the chain link, straining to see what lay beyond. Meanwhile, Jack turned to watch their rear.

  Gripping the padlock, she gave it a sharp tug. The hasp slid open with a well-oiled snick. “Huh?”

  Jack turned at the noise and frowned when he saw the lock dangling open. “What the…?”

  As quietly as she could, Megan lifted the lock and hung it on the fence. She grabbed the edge of the gate, a bulky, twenty-foot-long behemoth on hard rubber wheels, and gave it a shove. It moved a fraction of an inch and then rocked back into place.

  “It’s too heavy. Can you give me a hand?”

  “Sure.” Jack moved in beside her, and together, they pushed the gate open, creating a space barely large enough for the SUV.

  “Ready?” she asked.

  Jack nodded and led the way through the gate.

  Fifty yards ahead, a squat tan and brown cinder block building sat alone in the center of an expansive parking lot. The words Main Office were written in bold black letters on a dirty sign hung above the door. The blinds in the plate glass window facing the parking lot were drawn. A neon Open sign sat unlit behind the glass.

  “Well?” Megan said. “Shall we?”

  Jack motioned the truck forward, and he and Megan stepped aside to allow it through the narrow opening. Once the vehicle was inside, he made a twirling motion in the air with his finger, and Ryan drove the truck in a tight circle so the nose was pointing out again.

  The truck fell silent. The doors opened, and the rest of their group spilled out.

  The first words out of Archie’s mouth mirrored Megan’s thoughts. “Where is everyone?”

  Megan shrugged. “I was hoping you could tell me. It looks deserted.”

  Ryan cupped his hands around his mouth and was about to yell, but Megan stopped him with a finger to her lips and a “Shhh.”

  He gave her an annoyed scowl. “What was that for?”

  “Just hold on,” Megan insisted. “We don’t know—”

  Ryan laughed and spread his arms. “Come on. Can’t you see? We’re safe here.” He gestured at the block wall, the fence, and the lone building. “There’s no one here. They’re all gone.”

  “We’ll see,” Megan said. “I want to explore a little before we make that call.” She nodded at the office. “Starting over there.”

  Ryan rolled his eyes. “If you insist. But I think it’s a waste of time. I think whoever was here took off. Hell, maybe they’re on their way to Tampa.”

  The same thought had already crossed Megan’s mind and was her primary reason for wanting to search the office.

  “Dad, I have to pee,” Luke announced.

  Ryan turned to him, seeming annoyed. “Go ahead, then.”

  Luke took a few steps, but stopped in his tracks and looked around. “Uh. Where?”

  Ryan rolled his eyes. “I don’t know.” He pointed at a dilapidated green dumpster a few dozen yards from the gate. “How about over there?”

  Megan sensed Luke’s reluctance to go alone, and she was about to volunteer to accompany him when Jack stepped forward and announced he had to go as well.

  As Luke and Jack set off for the privacy of the dumpster, Megan returned her attention to the gate. “Let’s see if we can secure this thing.”

  Retrieving the lock from where she had hung it on the fence, she threaded the hasp into the latch, and without thinking, closed her fingers around it, pushing the hasp into the base of the lock. It closed with a solid ker-chunk.

  “Shit!” she cursed, tugging frantically on the closed lock. “Goddamn it!”

  “What is it?” Archie asked, coming to her side.

  “I locked it,” Megan responded. “By accident.” She felt sick to her stomach. They were trapped inside the shipyard.

  Archie chuckled. “I’m sure the key is in the office somewhere.”

  Megan grimaced and looked toward the dark building. “It had better be.”

  ***

  A quick search of the office turned up the key to the padlock, but no indication as to the fate of the former inhabitants of the shipyard. In the top drawer of a battered metal desk near the front window, Megan discovered a notebook written by the former office manager. Inside was a chronicle of the weeks immediately following the uprising. The pages painted a picture of a rapid and irreversible descent into despair as the unlucky employee first lost contact with the outside world, and then bit by bit, with her own sanity. It ended with a single statement: “I’m done.”

  A map on the rear wall of the office illustrated the extent of the shipyard complex. It showed the visitor entrance they had used, as well as a larger industrial entrance a quarter mile to the west, at the other end of the shipyard.

  “We need to check that entrance,” Megan said, indicating the larger of the two. “Make sure nothing can get in.”

  Archie volunteered, and Jack said he would assist. Ryan offered to go as well, but Jack declined with a shake of his head. “We’ve got it. Why don’t you see if there’s anything else here we can use?”

  With a shrug, Ryan took Luke and set off on a more thorough search of the building.

  Megan caught Jack as he headed for the door and planted a quick kiss on his mouth. “Be careful out there.”

  “Always,” he replied with a grin. He patted the gun strapped to his hip. “We’ll be back in a few.”

  Archie held his arms open. “What? I don’t get one?”

  Megan gave him a mock scowl and pecked him on the cheek.

  “Much better,” Archie said with a leer.

  As soon as the men were gone, Megan sank into an office chair and let out a long sigh. “What a day…” She picked up an old newspaper, dated a few days before the uprising, and a profound sadness seeped into her as she scanned the headlines and tried to recall how it had felt before. She still found it difficult to believe how fast things had fallen apart, how one day she had been looking forward to a much needed vacation, and the next, she was watching her friends and coworkers being eaten alive. A shudder raced through her, and she closed the paper.

  A steady drumming noise
began overhead, quickly building to a roar as the storm intensified. Megan laid the paper down and went to the door. She cracked it open, and the noise level spiked. Rain was falling in torrential sheets. She could barely see beyond the edge of the roof. She took a hurried step back and closed the door.

  She could hear Ryan and Luke banging around as they explored. She looked around the room and, for the first time all day, found herself at a loss for what to do. The newspaper had sucked the wind right out of her. Jack and Archie returned a few minutes later, both soaked to the bone.

  “It’s locked up tight,” Archie announced as he wiped sopping strands of hair back from his forehead. “And no sign of any visitors either.”

  Megan went to the window. She pulled the blinds aside and peered out. “With this rain, we may as well plan on settling in for the night. We’ll explore more in the morning.”

  “Is there a door in back?” Jack asked, nodding at the doorway leading to the rear of the office.

  “Uh huh,” Luke said. “It’s locked. There’s also a window, but it’s got security bars.”

  Jack nodded. “Good. Thanks. We should post guards outside, just in case.”

  Megan considered Jack’s recommendation. She didn’t relish the idea of spending the night outside, and she didn’t want to ask anyone else to do it either. She agreed with him, however. They couldn’t let down their guard. She went to the storage locker and pulled the door open. She rummaged around inside, pulling out item after item and dumping them on the floor behind her. “I thought I saw these earlier,” she said as she yanked out a tangled bundle of yellow fabric. “Raincoats.”

  “Good find,” Jack said. “We can definitely use those.”

  Megan shook the coats out to their full length. “So who wants to go first?”

  She was met by silence.

  Ryan broke the impasse. “I’ll take first watch this time.”

  “Me too,” Archie said. “I’m already wet, and I can’t bear the thought of sitting down for another minute.”

  “What about me?” Luke asked.

  Ryan put his hand on the boy’s shoulder. “Count yourself lucky. You get to stay inside where it’s dry. Don’t worry. I won’t be long.”

  Out of the corner of her eye, Megan saw Jack breathe a sigh of relief, no doubt glad he had escaped the first shift.

  She tossed jackets to Archie and Ryan.

  Ryan caught his in one hand and raised an eyebrow at Archie. “You ready for this, old man?”

  Archie let out a chuckle. “More than you’ll ever be.”

  Ryan shrugged into his jacket. “We’ll see about that.”

  “Do you want to eat first?” Megan asked as the men headed for the door.

  Archie and Ryan stopped and looked back at her.

  “I’m not hungry,” Archie said.

  Ryan shook his head. “Me neither. We’ll eat when we come back in.”

  Megan pulled on the remaining raincoat. “Suit yourselves. I’m starving. I’m going to go out to the truck and get some food.”

  Twenty-One

  Burnley Shipyards

  East of Houston, Texas

  Later

  Ryan pulled his hood tight against the blowing rain and shivered. Despite the raincoat and the two shirts he wore underneath, he couldn’t shake the feeling of being soaked to the bone. He cupped his hands and blew into them in a futile attempt to warm them. It didn’t help.

  Taking a step backward, he leaned against the wall between the rear door and a small barred window and tried to find a comfortable position. He had ten more minutes before he switched places with Archie, who was covering the far side of the building, near the front door, and the time couldn’t pass soon enough.

  The wind gusted and stinging needles of rain lanced his face. He turned his head away.

  Then he heard it.

  The noise was faint at first, yet impossible to mistake—the rattle of chain link fence. Cocking his head in the direction of the gate, he focused all his attention on trying to separate the noise from the steady din of the rain, hoping against hope it was only a figment of his imagination.

  It came again. Jingle-jingle. Jingle-jingle. The noise was louder, more insistent. Squinting, he strained to see through the darkness, but the downpour was an impenetrable wall, obscuring everything beyond the edge of the roof overhang above him.

  An electric current of fear arced through his body as something brushed his elbow.

  Acting on instinct, Ryan twisted away from the unexpected contact, trying to put as much space as possible between himself and whatever had touched him. A vision of Luke’s sleeping face flashed before his eyes as he drew his pistol and brought it to bear on the threat. A split-second before his finger tightened on the trigger, he eased off.

  Archie stood before him with wide eyes and a look of surprise on his face. Ryan cursed himself for not noticing the man’s approach. His shoulders slumped in relief. “God damn it, Archie! You scared the fuck out of me!”

  “Sorry.” Using one finger, Archie gently pushed the barrel of Ryan’s pistol away from his face. “I thought I heard something.”

  Ryan swallowed and lowered his gun. “You too?”

  Archie gazed into the storm. “We need to wake the others.”

  “I was just—” Ryan jumped as a muffled crash rang out in the distance. “What the hell was that?”

  Archie took off at a lumbering sprint, heading for the other side of the building. Ryan followed close on his heels. When they burst through the front door, they found Jack awake, his feet propped on the office desk and a small flashlight trained on the pages of a thick paperback novel.

  Jack’s feet thumped to the floor. “What’s going on?”

  Archie threw back his hood. “There’s something out there.”

  Jack cursed and got to his feet. “Shit! Are you sure?”

  “Absolutely,” Ryan added. “We both heard it.”

  Jack crossed the room to where Megan sat slumped against the wall with her chin on her chest. “Megan,” he whispered, giving her shoulder a gentle shake. “Wake up.”

  “Huh…?”

  Jack picked up the rain jacket from the floor beside her and put it on. “I’m going outside for a minute. Archie and Ryan heard something.”

  Megan’s eyes snapped open, and she scrambled to her feet. “You heard something? What was it? Where—”

  Ryan cleared his throat and glanced toward the door. “The fence, I think. But there was another noise. Inside, somewhere.”

  On the floor, Luke stirred. He sat up, yawned, and scrubbed at his eyes. “What’s going on, Dad?”

  Ryan squatted beside him. “It’s probably nothing. We need to check out a noise.”

  Luke gripped Ryan’s wrist, the steely strength of his fingers a shock. “No. I don’t want you to go.”

  Ryan put his hand over Luke’s and gave it a squeeze. One by one, he pried his son’s fingers loose. “It’s okay. We’ll be quick. You stay here with Megan.” He glanced at Megan, and she gave him a small nod of confirmation in return.

  “But…”

  Ryan picked up Luke’s pistol, which had been pushed aside while he was sleeping. “Take this,” he said, placing it in Luke’s open hand and closing the boy’s fingers around the grip. “I’ll be right back.”

  Luke stared at the gun and then back at Ryan. Ryan could tell by the way his son cocked his head, he knew he wasn’t getting the whole story.

  With a resigned sign, Luke double-checked the safety and then placed the gun in his lap, within easy reach. “Are you sure?”

  “I am,” Ryan said, trying to project an air of confidence he didn’t feel.

  “Are you guys ready?” Jack asked.

  Ryan stood and exchanged a nervous glance with Archie. “Sure.” He went to the door.

  ***

  Ryan’s trepidation turned to shocked terror when he pulled the door open and found himself face to face with the naked, decayed remains of a morbidly obese wom
an. Unable to tear his eyes from the sight, time slowed to a crawl as he drank in the endless rolls of blue-gray flesh, the breasts, flat and deflated, at one with her round, distended belly. Worst of all was the monster’s face—the exposed lower jaw, the bone yellowed and fractured from overuse, the flesh long ago ground away. The creature’s stench assaulted his nostrils in an overpowering fetid blast. The cloying odor of rot triggered an involuntary gag reflex. Tears sprang to his eyes, and he watched in frozen terror as the creature’s ruined eyes focused on him, offering him every bit of its deadly attention.

  In a flash, it was on him, wrapping its beefy hands around his neck and propelling him backward into the room. Ryan collided with Jack, and they all tumbled to the floor, a writhing tangle of living and undead, limbs and teeth, locked in a frantic struggle for dominance.

  Ryan let out a choked scream. “Fuck! Get it off!” He battered the creature with his fists as it snapped its teeth in an attempt to bite him. He gripped the monster’s upper arms and tried pushing it away. His fingers plunged into soft, mushy flesh. He felt hard bone underneath. The creature fought back with the strength of ten men, squirming and twisting, slippery from the rain and decay, getting closer to a fatal bite with each passing second.

  “Shoot it!” Archie shouted over Luke’s terror-filled wails.

  Ryan closed his eyes and thrashed his head from side to side to dodge the diseased morsels of flesh and poisoned saliva cascading from the zombie’s mouth. It took everything in his power to keep his mouth and eyes shut.

  He heard a grunt and then the pressure on his neck disappeared. He opened his eyes and sucked in a great lungful of foul air.

  Jack had the creature in a headlock and was dragging it across the room toward the open door. The muscles of his arms and neck bulged with the effort.

  With an insane roar, the zombie slithered free from Jack’s grasp and turned on him like a feral dog. Megan screamed. Ryan leaped to his feet and reached for his gun, but it wasn’t there. He spied it a few feet away, near the door.