“It’s been getting a little quieter,” Matt said. “But yeah, they’re still at it.”
The older man shook his head and headed inside, glancing over his shoulder once more to smile sadly at the young couple embracing on the balcony. He wished it were under different circumstances, but he was glad that they were getting a moment of peace together.
He took a deep breath and let it out very slowly, like his wife did when she practiced yoga. His heart clenched painfully.
CHAPTER TWELVE
6:00PM
Thick black smoke covered most of the Austin skyline in the evening sun. Fires raged out of control, swallowing buildings with no regard for the living or the dead. Brandon ran his hands through his hair. He had no fucking idea where they were going to go from here. If there hadn’t been a rescue yet, there wouldn’t be one in the dark.
How long was it going to be? Would there even be one? Had this thing happened in multiple locations, and the whole country—or even the whole world—had descended into this, leaving nobody to do any rescuing?
“How are we looking, big guy?” Matt asked quietly, approaching him.
Brandon shrugged. “Same as before, just with about twenty percent more smoke.”
“Another fire?” The young man furrowed his brow, leaning against the railing next to him.
“One of the condo high rises on the west side,” the Officer explained, pointing to the general area that was now hidden in smog. “Started going up about an hour ago.”
“Candace found a butane grill,” Matt said, forcing cheerfulness into his voice. “She’s doing her best to heat us up some dinner.”
“That’s mighty nice of her,” Brandon replied sincerely.
The young man clasped his hands in front of him, eyes downcast. “Hey, Shelton? Can you level with me?” He raised his gaze to fix on the side of the Officer’s face. “Do we have any chance of getting out of this alive?”
There was an awkward silence in which neither of them even took a breath. The older man hadn’t wanted to say it. Hadn’t wanted to think about it. Otherwise he could keep pretending it wasn’t real.
Brandon shook his head. “No, we don’t really have much of a chance of walking away from this,” he said quietly, and then paused. “Well. I take that back. We do have a chance. If this is as bad as it looks—and given that half of downtown is currently on fire, it leads me to believe that it is—then the military might get involved. So yeah, it’s pretty grim, but don’t give up hope just yet.”
“Thanks for being honest with me,” Matt replied, picking at a loose thread on the sleeve of his shirt. “Just… can you do me a favor?”
His older companion raised an eyebrow. “What’s what?”
“If Candace asks, can you give her the more positive version about the military coming to our rescue?” Matt avoided his gaze, cheeks flushing a bit with having to ask for dishonesty. “I know she’s a strong girl and all-’
Brandon snorted. “That’s an understatement.”
“You ain’t kidding,” Matt confirmed. “But I just… I don’t want to cause her any undue worry. Her hearing what you just told me isn’t going to change our situation… so I’d rather spare her if I can.” He sighed. “Does that make sense?” He turned his eyes helplessly on his companion.
“It does,” Brandon replied gently. “Besides, it’ll be nice to know that at least one of us will get to sleep soundly tonight.”
As if on cue, Candace opened the balcony door and headed over to them.
“Speak of the Devil,” Brandon teased.
She smirked. “You boys talking about me?”
“Yeah, your boyfriend was just telling me what a wonderful cook you are,” Brandon told her.
“Well I am,” she breathed on her nails and then pretended to polish them on her shirt. “But let’s get one thing straight, fellas. Only reason I cooked tonight was because I knew that if I didn’t set that kitchen up just right, you boys would fuck it up. So tomorrow, one of y’all is fixing breakfast. I’m not doing to be doing his housewife bullshit all the time.”
The two men chuckled and nodded like bobbleheads.
“Good,” she replied with an indignant raise of her chin. “Now that we’re in agreement, come inside and get yourself something to eat.”
They filed inside, sitting by the windows to keep watch as they ate.
“At least we have some nice dinner music,” Matt joked, inclining his head to the freestyle drumming of zombie hands on the door.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Midnight
Brandon listened at the stairwell door, the banging having stopped but the shuffles and echoes of groans still audible on the other side. He sighed and grabbed a bottle of water from the cooler, stepping gingerly around the two lovers curled around each other on the floor, sleeping.
He slipped outside, closing the sliding door softly behind him. He cracked open the bottle and took a deep draught, leaning on the railing as he watched the city he grew up in burn to the ground. Several more high rises were engulfed in flames. He didn’t know if the zombies had caused mayhem and accidents, or if people had set the buildings on fire on purpose to kill as many creatures as they could.
Either way, it illuminated the city in an eerie amber glow. He was thankful that at least there weren’t any big ones near campus, so the flames weren’t an immediate threat to them. He couldn’t help but feel like it was an almost beautiful sight. While the flames were pretty, the horror of what they were consuming that was not.
Brandon reached into his pocket and slid out his wallet. For the first time that day, he allowed himself to pull out the little family photo from the insert. By the moonlight, he gazed down at the faces of the two women that meant the most to him in the whole world.
“I’m so sorry,” he whispered, the words coming out hoarse, his throat thick. “I should have been there to protect you, but I wasn’t. I hope you were able to get out of the city. I hope that you’re alive, and well… and safe.”
A tear dropped from his nose onto the photo, and he wiped it away with his thumb. His stomach sank at the thought that this was likely the closest he would ever be to them again.
“I’m going to see you both soon,” he whispered, and leaned down, kissing the photo twice before returning it to his wallet.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
6:00AM
The trio of survivors startled awake at the sound of a massive rumble outside. The building shook with the force of it, and they all sat up, instantly wide-eyed and awake.
“Shelton! What was-” Matt began, but Brandon put up a hand to silence him.
Another loud boom cracked in the distance, followed by the windows rattling in their frames. A metallic scream echoed and zoomed by them, and Candace darted over to the window.
“Look! Over there!” She pressed her hands against the glass, staring at the fighter jet in the morning sun that looped around to head back towards the city. “Shelton, you were right! The military is coming to get us!”
She jumped up and down and turned to Matt, who pulled her into a tight hug. Brandon’s lips were set in a thin line as he approached the window to stand next to him, scanning the skyline. There was a west side high rise that had been on fire the night before, that was completely gone. There was no way that it had burned up that fast.
He closed his eyes at the stark realization of what the military was doing.
When he opened them again, Matt stared at him over Candace’s shoulder, his expression questioning. Brandon simply nodded, confirming the young man’s fears.
They stood and watched helplessly as the jet did another pass of downtown, followed by another hellish explosion that sent flames a hundred feet into the air.
“Shelton?” Candace recoiled from the sight, pushing away from Matt as her face drained of color. “What… what are they doing?”
Brandon took a deep breath. “They’re doing the only thing they can do.”
Her hands rose to h
er mouth, and she stifled a sob. Matt reached out and enveloped her in another tight hug, stroking her blonde hair gently.
“I’m sorry I couldn’t get y’all out,” Brandon whispered hoarsely.
Matt shook his head. “You tried man, that’s all we could ask.”
The two youngsters opened up their hug and extended their arms to the SWAT Officer that had risked life and limb to rescue them. He stepped forward and allowed the embrace, taking what little comfort he could that at least the three of them weren’t alone.
More jets joined the first, and the explosions were closer this time, the windows shaking more, nearly toppling the trio over onto the floor. Things were bright, too bright, and they squeezed their eyes shut, tightening their embrace with each blast.
Three survivors. Survivors no more.
END
Thank you for checking out Dead America: Ground Zero. If you enjoyed it and want more zombie action, the following books set in the same zombie universe are available on Kindle as well as Paperback, Hardback, and in some cases, Audiobook. It is an ongoing series with new releases coming out monthly.
There are currently 47 books in the series released through the end of 2020, with a lot more on the way in 2021 and beyond.
Box Sets Link: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07RWMXVNJ
THE INITIAL OUTBREAK SERIES
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07QNSVPMS
Dead Texas - Day Zero
Dead Texas - No Comfort
Dead Texas - Lonesome Road
Dead Texas - The Journey West
DEAD AMERICA - THE FIRST WEEK SERIES
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07RM8CCX8
Carolina Front pt. 1-3
Operation Bismarck
The El Paso Invasion
Heartland
Portland
DEAD AMERICA - THE SECOND WEEK
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07TNDJ9JK
Mississippi
Heartland pt. 2
El Paso pt. 2
Cincinnati
Heartland pt. 3
Nevada Caravan
Carolina Front pt. 4
El Paso pt. 3
New Mexico
Portland pt. 2
Heartland pt. 4
Heartland pt. 5
DEAD AMERICA - THE THIRD WEEK
www.amazon.com/gp/product/B088FC42KW
El Paso pt. 4
El Paso pt. 5
El Paso pt. 6
Miami
Portland pt. 3
Mississippi Caravan
El Paso pt. 7
Bismarck pt. 2
Carolina Front pt. 5
Carolina Front pt. 6
Carolina Front pt. 7
Heartland pt. 6 - The Seattle War Plan
DEAD AMERICA - THE NORTHWEST INVASION
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08K8MXJ2H
Portland pt. 4
Portland pt. 5
Seattle pt. 1
Seattle pt. 2
Seattle pt. 3
Seattle pt. 4
Seattle pt. 5
Seattle pt. 6
Seattle pt. 7
Seattle pt. 8
Seattle pt. 9
Seattle pt. 10
Follow along with new releases at: www.DeadAmericaBooks.com
Dead America | Prequel | Ground Zero Page 6