The Zombie Uprising Series: Books One Through Five

by M. A. Robbins

  Jen let Zeke guide her. He caught her once as she tripped over a prone zombie, but they made it to the door and inside the building intact.

  Zeke leaned her against a wall and pressed a button. An elevator door slid open seconds later.

  “Electricity,” she said. “Good sign.”

  She grabbed a rail in the elevator car and kept herself upright. The doors slid closed and the sound of upbeat soft music filled the car. “Are you shitting me?” Jen groaned. “The end of the world and I have to listen to this shit?”

  The doors opened and Zeke helped her into a well-lit carpeted waiting room. He eased her onto a couch and plopped down beside her.

  Lying back, Jen put a hand to her throbbing temple.

  The stairway door flew open and Wayne and Josh stepped out, carrying Mercy between them. A trickle of blood ran from Josh’s scalp, down his brow, and dripped off the end of his nose.

  “Is she OK?” Jen asked.

  They laid Mercy next to Jen. “I think so.”

  Eyes closed, Mercy didn’t move. Jen pressed a finger against her carotid artery. “She’s got a pulse. That’s a start.”

  Josh pointed down the hall. “Equipment I need is down there. I want to get this footage up as quick as possible.”

  Jen tried to stand, but fell back to the couch. “Shit.”

  “Stay here,” Wayne said. “I’ll go with him.”

  “Mercy’s the editing whiz,” Josh said, “but we can’t wait. I’ll have to upload the raw footage.”

  “Do it,” Jen said.

  The two men hurried down the hallway.

  Jen leaned forward, head in her hands, and rested her elbows on her knees. Closing her eyes, she relaxed the muscles in her face and neck. The cloud in her mind cleared.

  Tingling ran down her spine. What the hell?

  It became more intense and Jen straightened.

  “What’s wrong?” Zeke asked.

  “There’s a leader nearby.” She rose to her feet and wobbled. Zeke jumped up next to her and held onto her arm.

  “You should take it easy,” he said.

  Jen ignored him and walked to the window. She peeked through the blinds.

  Hundreds of shredded zombie bodies filled the street. Hundreds more shambled over them. An Apache hovered over a building two blocks away, its guns silent.

  Zeke crept up next to her. “The army took out a bunch of them.”

  “Why aren’t they firing anymore?” Jen asked.

  “Probably out of ammo,” Zeke said. “I talked to one of their pilots at breakfast one time at Fairchild. He said their chain gun spits out 625 rounds a minute, but can only hold a total of 1,200. That’s why they fire in bursts. Even then, they run out fast.”

  Movement down the street caught Jen’s eyes. Several Humvees and two tanks came into view. Dozens of soldiers crowded behind them. The zombies in the street turned and sprinted for them. Machine guns chattered and the zombie threat was eliminated in seconds.

  “Shit,” Jen said. “With no leader, there’s no horde. With no horde, the army just mops them up.”

  A sharp pain seared her gut. “There’s more than one leader, and they’re close.”

  “What’s happening?” Mercy said.

  Jen turned to Mercy. “How are you feeling?”

  Mercy shook her head. “Like shit.” She looked around. “Where’s Josh?”

  “He and Wayne went to load the video,” Zeke said. “They’re just down the—”

  The lights went off. The hum of the air conditioning faded. A yell of frustration came from the hallway.

  Jen pulled the blinds up. Indirect sunlight filled the room.

  Another chatter of gunfire came from outside. The troops were passing their building. Jen stepped back out of sight and doubled over as another stab seared her stomach. Zeke put a hand on her shoulder. “Jen?”

  Wayne and Josh rushed into the waiting area. “Fucking power’s out,” Wayne said.

  Jen panted. The pain eased and she straightened. “What was your first clue, Einstein?”

  “Did you upload the video?” Mercy asked.

  Josh shook his head. “I was seconds from getting it out.”

  Wayne kicked a chair. “What the hell’s going to screw us up next?”

  “The army’s invading,” Zeke said. “They’ve cleared our area.”

  Mercy rose from the couch. “What if the power outage is local? There’s one more news station at the university.”

  Jen dropped into a chair as more battle sounds crept in from a distance. “Sounds like the army’s launched a full assault against the city. I don’t think we’ll have a chance to find another station.”

  “It shouldn’t take them long to clear the zombies out,” Wayne said. “Now that the undead are disorganized.”

  Another stab in the gut. Jen closed her eyes. Only one way to stop the pain.

  She rubbed her temples and tried to relax. I know you’re here. Where are you?

  A video played in her mind. She stood in a street, surrounded by zombies. An explosion sounded and the camera swung left, pointing down the street. Four blocks away, a mass of tanks and Humvees rolled into view. Fire spat from their mounted machine guns and mowed down any zombie in their path. Several dozen soldiers paced the vehicles, their gunfire added to the mix.

  I need you, Leader. And others like you.

  The camera tilted.

  Gather the zombies around you.

  Zombies sprinted to the leader’s side.

  Show me.

  The leader turned slowly, panning its gaze over a hundred zombies, all still.

  Send them to attack.

  The zombies stampeded toward the soldiers, who mowed them down before they could get within a block.

  Help me reach the others.

  A buzzing surrounded Jen and she couldn’t tell if it was in her own head or the leader’s.

  Like an explosion, the one viewpoint she had became two. Then four. Then ten. Ten video screens in her mind’s eye, each with a different viewpoint.

  Ten leaders?

  She slowed her breathing.

  Gather as many zombies as you can and get to the corner of South Kansas Avenue and Southeast Sixth Avenue fast.

  The scenes on the screens bounced as the leaders ran. Jen focused on the one that stayed still, and her viewpoint zoomed to that one screen.

  The soldiers had stopped as the street before them filled end to end with zombies. They opened fire, mowing down rows of the undead. More arrived to fill their places.

  Jen zoomed back to see all ten screens. She concentrated on four of them at the top.

  Attack the soldiers from behind.

  The scenes in those screens changed as the leaders followed their orders. She zoomed back to the leader facing the soldiers.

  Attack.

  The leader sprinted toward the soldiers. Zombies fell to its left and right as the horde closed in on the enemy. Twenty yards from the soldiers, the screen went blank.

  Jen switched to the other four she’d ordered and picked out one. The horde raced up a street and turned. A Blackhawk swooped overhead, but didn’t fire. Another horde merged with the one she watched, swelling its ranks.

  One more turn and the backs of the soldiers appeared a block ahead. The soldiers yelled and turned their weapons toward the oncoming horde.

  Too late.

  Like ants on a dropped ice cream cone, the horde swarmed over the infantry and their vehicles, clawing, biting, and chewing their way to victory.

  Jen swallowed the bile that hit the back of her throat. Never wanted it to come to this.

  Someone shook her. “Jen.”

  She opened her eyes and looked into Zeke’s worried face.

  “We need to get out of here before the army starts clearing buildings,” he said.

  Jen rubbed her eyes. Even with them open, the communication lines with the leaders hummed in her head.

  “We don’t need to move,” she said. “The ar
my’s about to get their asses kicked out of this city.”

  21

  Jen watched the progress of the attack through her multiple leaders. The army did their damage and took out tens of thousands of her zombies through bullets and bombs, but the numbers were too overwhelming.

  “Holy shit,” Zeke said. “Will you look at that?”

  Jen joined Zeke and the others crowded around the window.

  Several Humvees sped by, followed by troops on foot running their asses off.

  Jen opened the window and stuck her head out. A tsunami of zombies poured down the street toward her. Looks like one of those battle scenes in movies set in the Middle Ages.

  The Humvees reached the intersection and screeched to a halt. One heartbeat and they were swarmed by two hordes, each hitting them from a different side. The gunner of one Humvee was yanked from the vehicle and tossed into the pulsating mass of undead flesh, where he disappeared.

  Zombies tore another gunner apart, pulling his arms off as easy as a kid could pull off a fly’s wings. The soldier wailed as a zombie ripped his throat out.

  The foot soldiers grouped together in the middle of the street, firing into the two hordes coming for them from either side. The mass of zombies washed over them.

  Jen staggered from the window and fell to her knees, puking on the two-toned carpet. Zeke put a hand on her shoulder.

  The window slid shut and Wayne was at her side, grasping her under the arm. She stood with their help and they guided her to an overstuffed chair. She fell into it.

  “What have I done?” she said. “Mark always said the soldiers were innocent and that we shouldn’t harm them.” She dropped her head into her hands. “I’ve killed hundreds of them in minutes.”

  Wayne knelt before her and embraced her. “You’re doing what needs to be done. You didn’t kill those men. People like Howell and Cartwright did.”

  She looked at him. Josh stood off to the side, his camera pointed at her. She found herself not caring.

  “I know that here.” She pointed to her temple. “But not here.” She pointed to her chest.

  “How many are you controlling?” Zeke asked.

  Jen took a deep breath. “Hundreds of thousands. Maybe a million.”

  Mercy gasped.

  “I close my eyes and I see through their eyes. I can choose just one to see, or I can see many, like how a fly sees.”

  “You’re all kinds of awesome,” Zeke said. “You’ve got superpowers no one’s ever heard of before.”

  Jen gave Zeke a weak smile. Don’t ever lose that innocence.

  She closed her eyes and watched her zombie army overwhelm the enemy. They reached the edge of the city and the ragged remnants of the army fled east on Interstate 70.

  Go no farther.

  The zombies stopped.

  Jen opened her eyes. “The army has been driven from the city. We need to see if we can find another news station.”

  “There’s another one,” Mercy said, “but it’s halfway across the city.”

  Jen pushed herself to her feet. She wobbled and Zeke grabbed her arm, steadying her. “I’m good,” she said. “Let’s get going.”

  They took the stairs to the ground floor and exited into the entryway. She cracked the door and peeked through the opening. Zombies. Everywhere.

  She eased the door shut. “Let me make a few adjustments.”

  Clear South Kansas Avenue.

  Pounding feet rushed by the door.

  “What did you tell them?” Zeke asked.

  “Sorry,” she said. “Forgot you can’t read my mind. I told them to get off my damn street.”

  She opened the door and walked to the middle of the empty street. Turning around, she waved the others out. “It’s safe.”

  Zeke pranced to her side. “This is so fucking awesome. Do you know how awesome this is?”

  Jen smiled and spread her arms. “Not one zombie on South Kansas Avenue.”

  “You told them to get off South Kansas Avenue?” Wayne asked.

  She nodded.

  He pointed to an intersection. Zombies packed the crossroad on either side of South Kansas Avenue. “Looks like they took it pretty literally.”

  “What happens when we get close to them?” Mercy asked. “Will they attack us?”

  Jen scratched her head. “Hadn’t thought of that. I’ll order them to lay off you guys.”

  These people that are with me right now are your allies. Not only will you not attack or bite them, but you will assist and protect them.

  She smiled. “Order given.”

  “Let’s test it out.” Zeke sprinted toward the intersection.

  “Zeke,” Jen yelled. “Wait.” She ran after him.

  Zeke slowed as he approached the intersection and withdrew his katana. He crept toward one of the hordes, stopping twenty feet away. Not a zombie moved.

  Jen caught up. “Don’t you think we should test this on a smaller scale?”

  Zeke shrugged. “Better to find out now if it doesn’t work.”

  He strode toward the zombies. Hundreds of yellow eyes shifted toward him, but not one of them moved. He stepped nose to nose with a twenty-something zombie with a half-shaved head and spiked purple hair on its unshaven side.

  Jen came up behind him. “Looks like a zombie version of you.”

  Zeke coughed and backed away. “Maybe you could order them to take a bath?”

  “Looks like it works.” Wayne approached Jen from behind. “Can we go find that news station now?”

  Josh came closer, his ever-present camera taking in the scene. Mercy kept the big videographer between her and the horde. “It’s a long walk.”

  Jen jerked a thumb at an SUV parked down the street. “Let’s ride.”

  They tried three abandoned vehicles before they found a serviceable one. The late-model crew cab truck started right up after Wayne found the keys in the visor. “Which way?”

  Mercy pointed. “Follow South Kansas Avenue until you get to Southwest 21st. Take a right and follow the road until you get to the university. The studio’s in there.”

  Wayne hit the gas, squealing the tires and throwing everyone back in their seats. He laughed. “Sorry. Not used to this accelerator.”

  They reached Southwest 21st and he slowed. As it had been with every other intersection, zombies packed the crossroad.

  “I’ll take care of them,” Jen said. Clear Southwest 21st from South Kansas Avenue past the university. And clear the university grounds.

  As one, the zombies turned and ran into side streets as if a giant invisible broom swept them aside.

  “Damn,” Wayne said. “I’m not all geeky like Zeke, but that is impressive.”

  “Thanks,” Zeke said.

  “For what?”

  “Calling me a geek. I let my geek flag fly proudly.”

  Wayne grinned and let up on the brake. “Anytime, brother.” He turned onto Southwest 21st and gassed it.

  “In a hurry?” Jen asked.

  “No traffic,” he said. “No lights to worry about.”

  Jen looked at the traffic lights. “Shit. I hadn’t noticed the stoplights are all out. Doesn’t give me a lot of hope that the power’s on anywhere.”

  Minutes later, the university’s sign appeared on a neatly manicured lawn to their right.

  “Next right,” Mercy said.

  Wayne turned onto the road and followed it, winding through the campus.

  Mercy pointed at a one story concrete building on the left. “There.”

  Wayne parked in front.

  Jen jogged to the door. “Let me go first. I told the zombies to—”

  “Your zombies,” Zeke said.

  She sighed. “I told my zombies to clear out of the university grounds, but I’ll check just in case.”

  Pulling her tomahawk, she opened the door and stepped inside. The lights were out and she could barely see a few feet ahead. Fumbling her way to a window, she pulled the curtain aside. Light flooded the
room.

  She checked out a few offices, then went back to the entrance and pushed the door open. “All clear, but it looks like there’s no power here, either.”

  Mercy and Josh pushed past her and made a beeline for a door in the back. They disappeared behind it.

  “What’s next if this doesn’t pan out?” Zeke asked.

  Hadn’t thought that far out. “Guess we’ll have to find another station.”

  Mercy appeared, her shoulders slumped. “No good.”

  “Where’s the next station to check?” Wayne asked.

  Jen chewed her lip. “We can spend the whole day looking for unicorns in this dead city. We should move on.”

  “You sure about that?” Wayne asked. “Seems safer to me to try everything here. Who knows how it is out there?”

  Jen took a deep breath. “My mind’s made up. We go to Lawrence.”

  “You mean that town we passed?” Zeke asked.

  Jen nodded. “It’s what? Twenty-five miles away? The horde can reach that in an hour. They don’t get tired, remember?”

  “I don’t think it’s got a news station,” Mercy said. “It’s pretty small, and I’ve never heard of one there.”

  “Then what?” Zeke asked.

  “Then we keep going on to Kansas City,” Jen said.

  22

  Jen tapped Wayne on the shoulder. “Pull over here.”

  He maneuvered the Humvee through the packed horde and to the side of Interstate 70.

  Jen sat back in her seat. They’d cleaned the inside of the vehicle as best they could, but the stench of death still hung in the air. “We need to keep as hidden as possible in case the Air Force strikes. I can control the horde from the rear.”

  She closed her eyes and organized her many views from the leaders. They ran across grassy, rural areas and down the empty highway. No sign of the army.

  “Do you suppose the military’s retreated and left Lawrence?” Zeke asked.

  “They didn’t have a lot there when we came through,” Wayne said. “I’ll bet they’re setting up their line in the sand at KC.”

  Jen listened to their conversation even as she watched her zombie army’s progress through the leaders’ eyes. “Let’s get moving again.”