The Zombie Apocalypse (Book 1): Buried Instincts

by Henson, Lynn

  “We have been busy. Still busy. Don’t get run over,” Gao backed up quickly and swerved past them to drive around them.

  “Busy? Why do I not believe him?” Blake looked at the vans taillights.

  “I don’t know why Doris is with that guy,” Kim shook her head. “If he was any more of a dinkus I’d have to seriously consider ending my friendship with her just to be rid of him.”

  Herbie snorted disapprovingly.

  They got back to their car as the first vehicle in the procession passed them heading back the way they came. Kyle paused to pick up his brother and Blake thought he saw someone in the back seat of the car. “Blake!” he heard Tiffany from the truck. He turned his attention to see her waving from the driver’s side window. He waved and when he looked back, Kyle was already driving away. “Huh,” he noted as he walked the short distance to the truck and got in.

  “Where’d you go?” Tiffany asked as she slid back over to her side of the truck.

  “We ran into Kyle and Carrey,” he told her as he started slowly maneuvering the truck back and forth to get it facing the other way.

  “That’s awesome!” she laughed, clapping her hands together. “Um... why is everyone going back the other way?”

  “When we ran into the twins they told us they were driving the same way we’re going and ran into a zombie horde that blocked the way forward.”

  “Oh my God! How are we going to catch up to the Colonel?”

  “Well, they decided we should drive back the other way for now and figure out a way to get around that new group of zombies.”

  “That’s-”

  “Yeah?”

  “Well... I think if we don’t make the rendezvous the army is just going to move on without us.”

  He nodded. “I think so too.”

  “What were Kyle and Carrey doing this whole time?”

  “I’m not sure. We didn’t have time to get into that. You sleep enough? I didn’t want to wake you when the caravan stopped.”

  “No, but when I woke up and you weren’t here I got anxious.”

  “Sorry,” he offered his hand which she took. “Next time I’ll wake you no matter what.”

  They hadn’t driven more than five minutes in the dark of night when Blake looked over and saw Tiffany had nodded off again. He sighed, more than a little envious, but steeled himself for more driving. Actually, now that I know I have passengers in the back I could make them take a few turns. The thought was comforting and he found that the prospect of a break helped his fatigue.

  He drove in relative silence for fifteen minutes when all the cars hazard lights went on and slowed down. Shortly after, the caravan turned left off the highway onto a paved driveway.

  They drove slowly towards a series of buildings and parked side by side in the parking spaces in front. When he had the truck parked he squeezed Tiffany's hand and gently shook her awake.

  “Hmmm?” she asked groggily.

  “We’ve stopped again. Going to see what’s up,” he explained quietly.

  “Mmmkay,” she opened her eyes and looked out the window before stepping out.

  When Blake got out, he was joined by Herbie, Cammy, a young man with a military buzz cut wearing combat fatigues with his arm around a slender Filipino girl, and a man in his fifties who he remembered seeing around the depot. “Clayton” he introduced himself, offering his hand which Blake shook. “Curtis,” the young man waved. “This is Marie.”

  “Aren’t you a soldier?” Tiffany guessed. “Why didn’t you fly out with the rest of your unit?”

  “Because of her,” Curtis smiled and held up their intertwined hands for them to see. “Guess I’m AWOL.”

  Together they walked over to the lead vehicle where people had congregated. It was the older man who had decided to head back in this direction that spoke now. “We have what I think is a good idea and wanted to go over it with the rest of you.” He paused, and when he was sure everyone was paying attention he continued. “We’re going to put the vehicles out of sight here and wait in this motel for the zombies to pass. Once they pass, we’re going to continue the way we’re supposed to be going and meet back up with the military.”

  An alarm bell went off in Blake’s mind, though not really sure why. He could see a lot of the people thought this was a great idea and were nodding their agreement somewhat wearily.

  “So if there are no objections, let’s make sure these buildings are safe so we can hunker down.” Blake wanted very badly to object, but he couldn’t think of a reason other than that it felt wrong. The older guy looked around for a second then decided the matter was closed. People began to return to their cars to begin clearing the area.

  Tiffany looked worriedly at Blake as the group dispersed, “What’s wrong? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

  The rest of their Vegas crew gathered around too, as well as Herbie, Cammy, and Clayton. “Well,” Blake tried to explain, “Staying here is going to end in disaster. We have to leave. I don’t know how I know that, but I feel that to my very core.”

  The group took a moment to absorb that, then Bree nodded, “How much time do we have?”

  “We don’t have any. I want to jump back into the truck and drive away this very second,” Blake shuddered.

  “Better get moving then,” Kim sighed, “I was looking forward to some sleep too.”

  “Wait, wait...” Clayton disagreed, “Waiting for the zombies to move past us seems like a good idea to me. How do you know for sure it’s not going to work?”

  “Ugh... well, I just have a feeling,” Blake tiredly explained.

  “And that’s it?” Clayton looked around at the others, “That’s enough for you to go along with?”

  “Yes,” Bree responded immediately. “I can’t explain it, but he’s been right every time. If he feels like this isn’t going to work, then I’m leaving.”

  All the people that they picked up in Vegas nodded in agreement.

  “Of course, you’re free to do what you like,” Carrey pointed out to Clayton.

  “Shouldn’t we try to convince the others?” Lisa asked.

  “They’ve already made up their minds. And they’re tired,” Kim shook her head. “And our reason that we should leave is that Blake has a feeling that we should leave.”

  “Shouldn’t we try though?” Lisa persisted, “It feels like we’re condemning them to death.”

  “If I didn’t completely trust my sister, I’d probably stay here. Wouldn’t you? There’s no logical way to convince them.”

  “And...” Blake shook his head sadly, “There’s no time.”

  “But the zombies are probably still two hours away,” Carrey guessed, “What’s the rush?”

  “I can’t explain,” Blake threw his hands up, frustrated. “I just know that if we don’t leave right now, we’re boned.”

  “Alright, take it easy,” Kyle put a hand on Blake’s shoulder. “Let’s just go.”

  “Why are you guys standing around?” came an accented voice from behind them.

  Blake turned to see Gao and Doris looking curiously at them. “This motel is not going to clear itself. Sooner we finish, the sooner we sleep.”

  “This ass is still with you guys?” Kyle rolled his eyes.

  “We’re leaving, it’s not safe,” Kim took a step towards Doris, ignoring her boyfriend. “If you want to live, you should come with us.”

  “What? Why?” Gao asked, looking very much as if he’d just realized that the brownie he had bitten into was actually made of shit.

  “Trust me.” Kim took Doris’s hands. “We have to leave.”

  Doris looked at Kim’s eyes, and her own widened in fear. She looked terrified and nodded. “Ok. Come on Gao, we’re leaving too.”

  “Fuck no...” Gao complained tiredly as he walked after Doris.

  “Don’t worry about her,” Kim smiled at the group, “She’ll make him go with us.”

  “I have mixed feelings about that,” Blake confessed
.

  “As do we all,” Kim nodded.

  fifty-six

  As everyone was completely engrossed in making sure the buildings were safe, no one noticed or cared when a few vehicles drove back out to the highway headed back in the direction of the depot. Tiffany tried to help Blake stay awake by chatting with him, but after he’d spoken a little bit about his time growing up, he glanced over discovered that she’d conked out again. Can’t blame her. Nice of her to try though. I’m not going to fall asleep though, this feeling of impending doom is like a bad itch. He was driving at the head of their small procession instead of Bree because he was the only one who knew where they were going. Not that I actually know where that destination is. More like I know it’s this way and when I get there this anxiety will fucking go away. They passed the road leading back into the depot and wondered after the people who decided to stay there. Just because I feel like I shouldn’t be there, doesn’t mean that all the people there are screwed, does it? Same with the people trying to rendezvous with the army unit. I can’t really know unless we can contact them in some way. Maybe I should remember to set something like that up the next time I get this feeling. If there’s a next time. He was quickly coming up on the small town that they’d passed through on the way to the depot when he noticed faint movement up ahead. He slowed down immediately as he tried to verify the cause of the movement. A moment later he was certain that the road going through the town appeared to be choked with zombies.

  He decided a detour was in order and turned left a little later than would have been optimal making a very wide turn causing them to go off the road briefly, narrowly missing some signage and a cluster of yellow pylons to get on the intersecting street. He stepped down harder on the gas, anxious to get the caravan on to their new route without incident. Where are we going? Feels like east. That’s no good, I’m heading back towards the main horde. I need to figure out how to go south, maybe divert around the zombies in town? Figures appeared out of nowhere and he slammed the truck right into someone, sending him careening off to the left somewhere. “Shit!” he observed, suddenly anxious, but forcing himself to hold the steering wheel steady. More figures were on the road ahead, but not as many as what he’d seen back where he’d turned. It’s just going to get worse and worse. We need a third option. Go back and wait it out with the others? No. That was absolutely wrong. South. I have to go south. He made his decision and turned right, going off-road. “Blake?” Tiffany looked ahead eyes widening. “Fence! Fence!” she pointed.

  I hope this works the same as in the movies. “Hang on,” he told her and he pushed the gas pedal to the floor, accelerating the truck at the chain link fence. He hit the fence at around fifty-five miles per hour. The fence made horrible screeching noises as it deformed into the shape of the truck cab. There was a half second of resistance where their speed dropped but they kept moving forward. They hit a low embankment which launched them up briefly, then they landed hard and Blake struggled to maintain control of the truck. Mercifully, it didn’t flip over and Blake continued straight into the desert. He risked a glance behind him and their convoy seemed to be all over the place. Probably because my truck is dragging a large section of the chain link fence behind me and they didn’t want to risk driving into it.

  Blake floored it, stubbornly hoping that the fence would snag on a rock and pull free of his truck. The results were disappointing, not only did the fence remain stuck to the front of the truck, but they also weren’t gaining any more speed. He drove on though as other options didn’t seem to be forthcoming. He spared another glance at Tiffany who was looking at the fence in disbelief but was content to sit back and let him do the driving, dragging, and deciding. After another minute, the truck suddenly slowed down despite Blake’s continued pressure on the gas pedal when suddenly the resistance was gone and the truck was driving almost normally again. He checked his mirror again and saw at least part of the convoy back there. “Look out!” Tiffany yelled and he looked forward to see someone walking in front of the truck. He slammed on the brakes which elicited screams of protest from behind him as he heard heavy sounding stuff slide around. He plowed into the figure anyway and they got tangled up in the fence that was still stuck to the front of the truck. “Shit! I hope that wasn’t a person,” he confided to Tiffany who nodded in agreement while holding her breath. The body stuck to the front of their truck like a grisly ship’s figurehead and was gesticulating feebly with her arms out to either side, her back impaled on the fence. Blake gassed it again which drew a look of surprise from Tiffany. “What?” he asked. “I’m pretty sure it’s a zombie.” The truck lurched again over a bump and then the truck was on a paved road again. And from the looks of it, it was a big one. Not wanting to look a gift horse in the mouth, he drove on it thankful for the reprieve from driving on sand.

  “Blake! This is a runway!” Tiffany said with excitement edging into her voice. “Are we flying out of here?”

  “Uh... definitely maybe,” he muttered in reply.

  fifty-seven

  There were more zombies on the runway. Not horde quantities, more like a sprinkling. He struggled to maneuver around them but was confounded by part of the fence screwing with his steering. He ended up adding two more zombies to join his hood ornament and had snagged several more with the trailing wings of the fence before getting to the airport proper. “Huh,” he said as he brought the truck to a halt, “Expected more of a rectangle with a tower sticking out of it.” The reality though was that the airport seemed to consist of someone’s house next to a large white cylinder that Blake guessed was full of fuel. ”Now what?” Tiffany wanted to know.

  “We escape, I hope,” he replied as he got out of the truck.

  Only by looking at the truck from the outside was Blake able to truly appreciate chain link fencing. The fence was wrapped around the front of the truck and spread to both sides of the vehicle. He’d managed to pull about five truck lengths of fence complete with their metal poles free from where they’d been standing and dragged the whole mess to where they were. As he’d seen in his mirrors, he’d managed to snare a few of the zombies on the runway, but they were starting to work their way free. The others had looped their vehicles around to the front of the truck, their headlights making the three zombies stuck to the fence on his grill even more gruesome. He made his way to the back of the truck as Tiffany tried to open her passenger door. It was blocked by some of the fence which had gotten tangled up in the tire well. She shoved at it hard and the door opened, deforming the fence further around the door. She gave up and slid over to the driver’s side. He mentally sighed and made his way to the back of the truck. “Do you even know how to drive?” Gao complained as he pulled up in his battered minivan. Blake ignored him and walked to the back of his truck. “Everyone ok back there?”

  There were tired but affirmative responses.

  “Can you hand me a weapon, Herbie?” Blake asked. There was a quiet grunt and a moment later the black man leaned out to hand him an assault rifle. “Thanks,” he said as he accepted it. Herbie grunted again and shuffled towards the back to help with the others who were moving supplies to be unloaded.

  “Wait. Why are you guys unloading the truck?” he asked.

  “This truck’s done,” Curtis said as if he couldn’t believe he asked that question.

  “We’re not going to fly somewhere?” Marie asked as she pushed a box to the back.

  “This is an airport, right?” Cammy asked looking like it should be obvious.

  “Uh,” Blake said as he noticed that the people from the other vehicles were walking his way. “I’ll explain later. Busy.” He moved to join the others as Tiffany walked up to the group having taken the long way around the truck.

  “So what are we doing here?” Kim asked.

  “We need to look around,” Blake replied. “The truck is pretty much out of commission, so we’re going to need a replacement.”

  “Let’s fan out,” Kyle suggested.


  “Yeah, but make sure you’re armed. I’m sure you noticed the zombies all over the runway,” Blake said. “I’m going over to the building. Meet back here in fifteen?”

  Tiffany followed after Blake towards the small house looking structure. Kim, Bree, and Lisa all got into the GT-S and drove further down the runway to see what else was here. They moved towards the house and tried to find a window to see what was inside without actually going in. Failing that, he tried the door. It opened easily and he swung his flashlight around inside. A hand clawed at his face and he fell backward dropping the flashlight inside the house. Tiffany gave a little shriek as the hand swung around wildly. The door was the type that would slowly close itself, but with the hand thrashing around it had closed as far as it could. Blake had got to his feet and leveled the rifle at the door. “Tiffany!” he urged, “Push the door as hard as you can!” She looked at him in shock for a moment, then shrieked again as she gave the door a double-handed shove. The door swung all the way in and smacked into the wall. She backed up frantically, afraid of what might come out. He took a step forward, rifle at the ready. “Do you have a light?” he asked.

  “Oh! Um... yeah.” She pulled a pocket flashlight out and turned it on, shining it into the house. Much further into the house, there was movement close to the ground. A decrepit looking woman slowly came to her feet and started walking slowly towards them. He aimed carefully and pulled the trigger, sending a round through her forehead. She crumpled to the floor and was still. He waited a moment and when nothing more happened, he moved into the house, checking to his left and right before going deeper. Tiffany moved in behind him, shining her light around the house. When it seemed like there were no more threats in the house, Blake shouldered his rifle and recovered his fallen flashlight. The inside of the building was half office and half living room. There were old comfortable looking couches, a small drink fridge, a medium sized coffee table, along with a couple of desks that were covered with papers and a couple of model airplanes on stands. A couple doors that stood side by side each with the universal man and woman symbols delineating where each gender is permitted to drop a deuce. Together they performed a careful search of the entire place and found no other threats. Finally able to relax a little they searched for stuff they could use but other than several cases containing different types of sodas they didn’t find anything useful. “Now what?” Tiffany asked.