Z Island Series (Book 1): Escape From Z Island

by Osborne, Terrence Jr.

  Zombies scream in the distance and Faith gets an attitude, “Dammit! I thought that was it. How many survivors are there?” she yells.

  “No telling. the ship broke in half. Plus, people jumped off the ship before the wreck so…” David mentions.

  “Ok, let’s move quicker!”

  The group starts to run faster, but Jess wasn’t trying to rush because she had a lot of water in a bucket. However, she could not see where she was going and tripped, wasting all of the water. She threw the bucket down and ran. While Sam and the others are celebrating, the yells of the group distracted them and Sam grabs his weapon.

  “Is that them?” Trace asked.

  Sam hears the zombies and a scream that sounded like more than one person, so he figured, “Yep, that’s them.”

  They run uphill to find them, but once they got up there, Faith runs past them but quickly turns around to see if the others were behind her. David appeared next then Jess, but zombies showed up right behind them.

  “Get ready!” Michael yells.

  Jess and David line up with the rest of them and Michael immediately starts shooting the zombies once he got clear. Zoe and Trace shoot them also, but Sam and his group stood there waiting for them to get closer and not to get into their line of fire. Michael and his group stop to reload, but the zombies kept coming, so that was Sam and his group’s opportunity to push them away. Michael and Trace reloaded their weapons, but Zoe didn’t reload in time. Two zombies surrounded her and bit her as they all rolled down the hill. Michael looked back but quickly refocused on the zombies in front of him.

  “Cover me!” Michael yelled at Trace.

  He nods at him and shoots the zombies for Michael to get to Zoe. Michael shoots the two zombies off Zoe, but it was too late. Her face was unnoticeable and this troubled him. She gurgled up blood while struggling to breathe. Her throat was torn open and Michael couldn’t take it.

  He pulls out his pocketknife and squats down next to her, “You died for a compelling cause.”

  He stabs her in the head and sits there in silence for a minute while the others above hill had just finished killing the zombies. Trace runs downhill and slows down as he had seen what happened. He puts his hand on Michael’s shoulder and walks away. Sam felt bad for them, but he didn’t let Zoe’s death get to him. Jess walks up to Sam and sighed,

  “We have no water now, because of me. I dropped it.”

  “That’s not your fault. Hell, anybody would have done the same thing.” Sam replied.

  “I know, but…we needed that.”

  “We can get some later. The men aren’t going to be here for another 12 hours. We have time.”

  David approached Sam, “Hey, can you talk to Dylan. He’s going off the rails. Ever since Sarah, he-”

  “I got it.”

  Sam walks up the Dylan after he throws the zombie down, but Dylan looked away from him.

  “You have to talk to me eventually.”

  “What do you want? Can I grieve in peace?”

  “Yes, you can, but I want to make sure your head is right. You’re going through something rough right now. Something no one should be going through right now. I want to make sure you’re straight.”

  “Don’t worry about me!”

  Michael jumped up and took immediate charge, “We are getting off this island as soon as they come. No exceptions! We kill them then we go home!” he yelled.

  “Yeah, but what in the hell are we going to do for 12 hours now?” Dylan asked.

  “Well, I guess we just sit here and wait. I mean unless you want to go back into the island and look for them…” Trace mentioned.

  “Well, we can start by getting some water again,” Sam mentions.

  “What happened to all the water we had before?” Michael asked.

  “I dropped it. I was trying to get away from the zombies. Sorry.” Jess says.

  “Hey, we all make mistakes. This time, more of us will go. Hurry so you can eat.”

  “Alright.” Sam says, “I’m going with you, Jess.”

  “Ok.”

  Hours pass by as the group prepares for Bruce’s arrival and Michael was beginning to get impatient. Sam and Dylan lifts one of the dead zombies and tosses it into a pile of the other zombies above the hill. On the side, Michael had Zoe’s body lying in a funeral-like position and he arranged the sand to surround her body with a circular form. He wanted to give her a proper burial and not treat her like one of them. Trace watched him grieve in silence and he walked away quietly. Sam came up to Trace and whispers,

  “Hey. How’s he holding up?”

  “Not good. Zoe was his daughter. I don’t think he’s going to except this lightly.” He mentioned.

  Sam was surprised to hear that Michael had just lost someone very close to him. To him, they were all strangers to each other, like him and his group. The experience they have all been through changed all of them. They all struggled, but as a group. They’ve grown closer to each other and it only proved to themselves that they would be safer if they were together. They could all relate in some way. Michael walks away from Zoe’s body and goes downhill into the tent where the radio was. Everyone looked at the tent, but suddenly Trace heard him talking on the radio with Bruce. Trace runs towards the tent along with the others, but when they pushed the tent curtain back, Michael held up his hand, causing Trace to stop him and the rest of the group from moving.

  Are you okay?

  Michael replied with an accent, “No! I need assistance immediately! Come now!”

  Trace smile with excitement, “Oh my God.”

  Sam walks up to Trace, “What is he doing?”

  “He’s talking like one of the men we killed and Bruce thinks it’s him.”

  “Idiots,” David replies.

  I’m coming, sir! Should be there any minute now! Stay safe!

  Michael puts the radio down and smiles as Trace laughs while hugging him. Sam gets happy, but takes this moment to relax,

  “How many of them are there?” he asked.

  “I don’t know,” Michael replied, “but we have to get ready for his arrival.

  Everyone walks out of the tent and sits down on the ground, but Trace looks out at the ocean and sees a spot far out. He runs into his tent, comes out with some binoculars, and looks at the spot.

  “Ah!” he yells. Everyone surrounds Trace and looks out to the spot also while Trace is pointing,

  “That’s them. That boat is big, so we better be prepared to fight when they come.”

  “How many of them are there?” Michael asked.

  “Uh…three. Yeah, three men so far.” Trace noticed, “Yeah. Three men!”

  Michael turns to Sam and his group, “Get ready! We’re going home!”

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  TRAPPED PART 1

  Staring out at the moonlight, Tina gazed up at the sky, wondering about her son. She doesn’t know if he is alive or not and this bothered her. She had a feeling in her stomach that was unbearable, so she stood up and walked to the edge of the roof of the building. Everyone was asleep inside the building and she did not want to wake them. She wondered how they could get sleep in the first place with all the commotion going on. The streets around them were quiet, but the sound of gunfire and screams still scared her in the distance. People were running, and zombies were right behind them, yelling at them for a midnight snack. Tina looked at the neighborhood they were going to tomorrow and paid more attention to its surroundings. She had seen that it wasn’t that far from a boating dock. She instantly got an idea that she could go out and look for Sam, if possible. She would rather risk her life out at sea than risk being chased by the dead. Alex came up to the roof and watched her stare out into the city.

  “Hey,” he said with a low tone.

  Tina hears him, but she hasn’t forgotten what he admitted earlier, “What are you doing up here?”

  “I saw you weren't sleeping so I figured you were up here.”

  “Why are you w
orried about me? I’m fine.”

  “No, you’re not. I know it. I’ve been there. There’s someone you care about what's out there and you’re afraid that person may be dead.” He said.

  Tina sighed, “Wow. You got all of that from just looking at me huh?”

  “Pretty much. You’ve been showing it since we’ve been together. Sometimes you just know.”

  “My son was on the cruise when it crashed. I want to know if he’s still alive or not,” she explains, “So in the morning, when we head out, I’m going to go find him.”

  “And how are you going to do that?”

  “Look,” Tina points to the dock, “That’s where the boating dock is. That’s where I’m going.”

  Alex looks out at the dock and glances at Tina with a crazy look, “Why? I mean, I know why, but there is not a high chance you will find him! This is crazy!”

  “I have to. It’s either out there or here. I don’t know about you, but I’d rather be out there!”

  “What if you don’t find him?”

  “I might!”

  “But what if you don’t you need a backup plan.”

  “I don’t know. Maybe go somewhere else.”

  “What if I come with you?”

  “What?”

  “I don’t know where to go. I am basically on my own here. We’ll be safer together.”

  “Yeah, sure.”

  Tina walks away slowly and goes back into the building while Alex remains outside thinking about what she said. He wants to be alive, but at the same time, he considers her idea absurd. He looks down at the streets and watches the zombies roam around and others eating away at some innocent person. Alex walks away and closes the roof door.

  Bruce drives the boat onshore of the island and looks around, but sees no one. He and the three men hop out of the boat and they pull their weapons out, walking slowly around the camp.

  “Be careful!” he whispers at the men.

  One of the men walks into the tent and notices the radio was ruined. He walks out of the tent and yells for Bruce, but one of the sharp sticks pierced him in the chest and he falls to his knees. Bruce screams at the sight and looks to where the stick came from, but it was pure dark. Suddenly, fires shot out of the darkness and killed the other two men around Bruce, but Bruce ran towards the boat, whimpering along the way. Once he runs around the tent, Sam stabs him in the stomach with his weapon and pulls it out quickly. Bruce falls to the ground and holds his wound in pain. Sam stabs him again and watches him die. Stabbing Bruce hard caused pain in Sam’s wound, but he fights the pain. While Sam searches Bruce’s body for the keys to the boat while Michael and the others come from uphill and walked towards the boat.

  “Nice throwing Faith!” Michael compliments.

  “That’s what years of Olympics get you,” she laughs.

  Sam finds the keys and laughs, “I found it. Let’s go!”

  He throws the keys to Michael and he looks at the boat, “It’s a lot bigger in person.”

  The ship was big enough for at least 20 passengers and it had two little rooms inside, but the boat itself was raggedy and dull. Majority of the boat was covered with rust, but it did not hide the fact that they could get off the island. Everyone gets on the boat and cheer with excitement as Michael goes to the front and turns on the boat, but the boat had trouble backing up.

  “Shit! Hey, we need to push the boat out of the sand!”

  Sam hops down, runs into the front of the boat, and starts pushing, but he couldn’t push it on his own. The sound of zombies was coming again, but it didn’t sound like a lot of them left. Trace and Dylan help Sam also, but a few zombies run behind them. Jess grabs Trace’s gun and starts shooting the zombies while they finally get the boat in the water. More zombies came and unfortunately, Jess ran out of ammo.

  “Shit! Where’s the other gun?” she yells.

  “I got it!” David yells.

  He and Faith grabbed the guns from the dead men and shot behind them as they got on the boat. Jess runs around the boat looking for the other gun, but she didn’t see one. Trace jumps aboard the boat, but Dylan and Sam stood behind, trying to get into the boat. Trace held out his hand and grabbed Sam’s hand. Dylan turns around and looks at the zombies closing in. Dylan lifts Sam up and forces him to flip over the boat. Sam falls, but quickly rises to reach for Dylan, but a zombie attacked Dylan to the ground.

  “Dylan!” Sam yelled.

  Dylan struggles with the zombie, but the zombie was then shot in the head, letting blood spill on his face and upper body. Jess screams at Dylan to get up and run while continuing to shoot the rest of the zombies. David and Faith hovered over the boat and shot the zombies below them. Dylan runs and jumps on the boat as they helped him get on. Michael turns the boat around and they sail out to go back home. Sam helps Dylan up, but Dylan snatches away in an angrily matter and walks away.

  “What’s the matter with him?” Trace asked Sam.

  “I don’t know,” Sam responded.

  Jess puts the gun down and smiles, “We’re going home!”

  Sam hugs her with excitement and everyone else joins in as they all hug in a group. Michael laughs and yells out at the island, “Fuck you island!” He points his middle finger at the island. Sam laughs and watches the island as they drew distance between the two of them.

  “It’s over,” Sam said.

  “Finally!” Faith exclaimed.

  They all started laughing and talking as they set out to New York, even though their fight is far from over.

  In the morning, Tina wakes up and looks around the room to find out no one was up yet. She gets up and walks towards the leader, who is peeking through the barrier behind the door.

  “Is everything okay?” she asked.

  “Well, considering those things out there are wandering around this building, no.”

  “But we can make it, right?”

  “I don’t know.”

  Alex and others wake up and walk around the building, unsure what to do now. Alex walks up to the leader and asked,

  “When are we leaving sir?”

  “It’s Bill and we’re leaving in one hour.”

  “Alright, Bill,” Alex says.

  Bill looks outside and notices that more zombies were piling up in front of the building, so Bill had to make a tough decision.

  “Wake up!” he yells, “It’s time to go! Now!”

  Everyone wakes up and gets ready to go. Some people have weapons, but a lot of others don’t. Most of the people were just random civilians trying to survive. Bill instantly knew some people wouldn’t make it. Bill calls for Alex and his partner, Chris, with him. When they arrived on the roof, Bill points to a destination a mile away from them,

  “We’re going to that supermarket. The one with the warehouse on side of it. Hopefully, there are more survivors and supplies for us to continue,” he explains.

  “We’re going to have to move fast then. Those things are everywhere.”

  Bill looks at Alex for confirmation and Alex nods his head. Bill walks away and goes down to make sure the others are ready, but Alex gets nervous.

  “This is going to be dangerous,” Alex says to Chris.

  “Why do you say that?”

  “There’s 20 of us going out to that supermarket in all of this. Those zombies will tear us apart. All of us won’t make it.”

  “We know, but sacrifices must be made for the greater good.”

  “What greater good?”

  “The chance to fight these things and win. I hope that we can find a cure within the next six months or so. Until then, we will fight and some will die. We can’t control what happens to them. They can only save themselves.”

  “So just let everyone else die?”

  “What did I just say? That’s up to them.”

  Tina approaches them, “Bill says it’s time.”

  Chris walks past Tina and turns around to Alex, “Don’t be a hero man. Save yourself first.”

 
Tina looks at Alex with confusion, “What happened?”

  “Nothing,” Alex says as he walks past her and goes into the building.

  Bill and Chris approach the barricade and begins moving the objects out of the way while everyone braces for the zombies. Chris grabs his flamethrower and holds it at the door. Bill moves the last object and grabs the door handle.