Copyright: 2018 Alathia Paris Morgan
This is a work of fiction and in no way is meant to portray actual people, names, places, events or situations. The ideas were from the author’s own imagination and any resemblance to people living or dead is entirely coincidental.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner without written permission, except in the case of quotations for articles and reviews.
Acknowledgements
Jackson Family Tree
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Sneak Peek: Co-Ed’s Against Zombies
A Word from the Author
Thanks so much to my editor. I love that you really get into the story and love or hate my characters.
Rebel Edit & Design
Book cover: Nicole Paris, thank you. You are amazing!!
Brad Jackson—An undisclosed location Overseas.
As the apocalypse begins…
Doug comes running into our tent.
“What’s wrong?” I asked, hoping that my life wasn’t about to get even more complicated than it already was, but I knew from the look on his face that it was.
“They’re declaring it’s contagious. They’ve asked scientists to come in and do some tests and send the reports to the government.”
“Crap. Can we contain the spread of it?” I asked.
“No. Some of the doctors and scientists working on the wounded have gotten it as well and were all sent back to the hospital in Germany.” Doug’s breath slowly returned in-between his gasps for air.
“Have we been put on red alert?” I started to put my boots on in preparation.
“They’re going to have us move out and return back to the main base. Here, in the middle of nowhere, the only thing between us and a horde of those things is a thin wall of sand bags, barbed wire, and a large wooded area.” Doug waved toward the south end of the base to make his point.
“So, when do we evacuate?” I asked wearily.
“Twenty-four hours. In army speak, in about a week.” Doug sank onto the other bunk, trying to get his second wind.
“Why would they wait so long to get us out of here?”
“There are other outposts that have higher priority due to their more isolated areas. We’re not at the top of the list, but I’d put us close to the middle. The bright side is that there are others who have to wait even longer than we do.” Doug started to take his boots off, but gave up, falling back on the cot.
“Don’t they want us to take a shift on watch?” I asked, incredulous that he could even attempt to sleep right now.
“Oh, guess I left out that part. We don’t have to report until second shift. They’ve brought another group in that were on a mission. They got some sleep last night and they’re insisting that we get some rest in case we have to move out in a hurry. We’ll be running full-out to escape these things.”
I finished lacing up my boots and stood.
“You’re not going to sleep while you can?” Doug inquired.
“I need to call Emma and make sure they’re safe.” I almost reached the tent flap when his words stopped me, chilling me to the bone.
“If the carriers of this disease reach America, I don’t think we can save our families. Plus, you can’t tell her anything because it’s all classified.” He flung an arm over his eyes, ending his side of the conversation.
I just hoped that I could catch Emma and convince her to take our newborn son, Pierce, to Nana and Pop’s house on Jackson Mountain.
Hearing Emma’s voice was wonderful, but I was worried. If the sickness reached America, there wouldn’t be any way to stop it. I had to make sure it didn’t happen.
The sound of a chopper brought me back to reality. I knew that trying to get some rest was what I should do, but I headed over to find the staff sergeant instead.
“Jackson, what do you need? We’re kind of busy here.”
“Yes, sir.” I returned his salute. “I can take an extra shift if you need me to.”
He looked me up and down, taking into consideration the fact that I’d just come off a twelve-hour shift.
“Fine. Go help the newbies get settled until we can get them transferred out with the next batch they have coming in from the outposts. The corporal over there will be the one you need to talk to while I—” The radio buzzed, interrupting him, before he continued. “The next group is going to be the last one for a few hours. We’re not finding many survivors in the outposts this far out.”
With a wave of dismissal, he returned to issuing orders, and I went to find the new layover of soldiers.
“Corporal, the sergeant sent me over to see if there was anything that you needed to get settled?” I did a double take as the petite figure turned at the sound of my voice.
“Brad?” Corporal Jackson gave a quick salute, but then stepped out of character by giving me a hug.
“Patti, it’s so good to see you. I mean, Corporal Jackson.” I knew how hard she’d worked to get where she was, and I didn’t want to be disrespectful, even if she was my second cousin.
She turned back to the men in line waiting for some food. “Is there anything you need, men?”
“No, ma’am,” they chorused.
“We should be fine until everyone’s eaten. Why don’t you join me and I’ll fill you in on what I know at the moment?”
“Yes, ma’am.” I couldn’t say no to a direct order, especially if it got me more information about what was going on out there.
I followed her and her men through the line, only picking up a dessert since I’d eaten just an hour ago.
“Can you tell me why they had to bring you in from the outposts?” I knew that I might not have clearance, but she was a senior officer and my cousin, so I could only hope that she would tell me the truth.
She motioned toward a table at the back of the mess tent, where it would be harder to be overheard by the others enjoying their meals.
“Brad, it’s bad out there. Our outposts were simply there to make sure the rebels didn’t try anything, but by the time we got the order to fall back, two of the five outposts had been overrun by these infected people.”
Patti took a bite before continuing. “We’d had reports that the rebels were moving closer, but still hadn’t made any movements that would indicate they were going on the offensive. We barely got a distress signal from the first two outposts when we saw this horde coming toward us. The helicopter had already landed since we’d lost communication with the first two outposts, and I was keeping a lookout while we waited. But even from several miles away, the people that were coming toward us weren’t quite right. Their movements were slow, and there were a few of our men with them.”
“Wait, our guys were part of the horde that was about to attack you?” I asked incredulously.
Patti glanced around to make sure that we weren’t being watched and nodded in confirmation. “I shouldn’t tell you any of this until after the debriefing in an hour, but you’re family, and someone should know before they issue a complete blackout.
“Our group had split up to cover several of the area outposts since they’re only a few miles apart, but I think the other groups had already been taken out by these things before the evacuation was ordered. The sound of the helicopter seems to draw them like fl
ies because when the pilot had taken a sweep over each of the other outposts, he didn’t see any signs of the actual living, just those things in a frenzy, looking up at the chopper. So, by the time he headed for us, those things were already trying to follow him and had moved the few miles toward us quickly. I had everyone loaded into the chopper, but we waited to see what was really coming toward us.” Patti grimaced at the memory.
“Brad, these things weren’t shooting at us. They were barely alive. I mean, not alive, but moving. There were children with arms missing, grown men with bones sticking out, and they acted like they weren’t in any pain. I gave the order to lift off, but hover around and see if we could make a dent in them with our guns.” Patti stopped and ran a weary hand over her face.
I knew it was bad if Patti, who had been on lots of missions that had gone fubar, was upset about it.
“Our bullets didn’t make much of a difference. We were blowing holes in those things and they kept moving. Only head shots seemed to be working, but on our guys with their helmets on, there didn’t seem to be a way to take them out unless we had the sniper do it. The chopper couldn’t stay in the air long enough for that since they had more evacuations scheduled. We didn’t want to leave our guys down there, so I told them to light it up.
“The fire from the rocket only burned their flesh, and they continued to move around. It was awful. I don’t think there’s a way to win this if it spreads.”
I placed a comforting hand on her arm. I’d never seen her so defeated or scared before. Then again, she’d just lost a lot of close friends. There hadn’t been any way to save them, even if the unofficial motto is to leave no man behind.
“Excuse me, Corporal Jackson. The staff sergeant is asking that you come with me immediately.”
Patti put on her soldier’s face, hiding the small amount of emotion she’d displayed while she told her story.
“Lead on.” She gave my shoulder a quick pat as she passed.
I cleared her tray off and went back to the tent to write Emma an email that I hoped would save my family.
The next few days were filled with fewer and fewer evacuation teams coming back with our troops. There was talk about having us head back to Germany for transportation back to the U.S., but the higher-ups decided to send us directly back to the States. A cargo plane was scheduled for first thing in the morning, and everyone had to be looked over by the camp medics for any signs of illness. They didn’t want us taking whatever this illness was back to our families. Those who were sick were staying behind to tear down the camp and would be sent back to Germany, to the infectious center. I didn’t know exactly all the science details; I was just a foot soldier. Whatever the illness was, it was infecting a lot of people really quickly.
Doug and I both checked out as healthy and were tasked in helping with guard duty for our last few hours at the post.
We settled in with our guns behind the walls because all patrols and lookouts had been pulled inside the temporary walled-off structures. Ours was a semi-permanent base, so it was more secure than the normal lookout posts, but that didn’t mean that those zombie things couldn’t overrun our fortifications.
“This is some messed up stuff, huh?” Doug asked while keeping his eyes on the blackness beyond the walls.
I adjusted my night goggles to get a better look through the darkness in front of us. “Yeah, it really is, but what’s freaking me out is that we could see the town lights from several valleys over, and now those lights are going out, leaving us in darkness.”
“Dude, lighten up. I know it isn’t good, but it’s not the end of the world. The whole area has been having trouble keeping the electricity on; that’s probably all it is. Ever since Emma got pregnant, you’ve become such a worrywart.”
“Hey, now. I’ve had to listen to you talk about your sister and how much you worry that some guy will take advantage of her. You can’t act like it doesn’t bother you that you haven’t heard anything from her since all of this started.” I knew I worried too much about Emma, but the world had started to look different to me when I found out that I was going to be a dad.
“You’re right. Laugh all you want, but a college campus is full of germs. All those co-eds who don’t have a mom and dad to make sure they’re being hygienic.” Doug pouted.
“Really? We live out in the middle of nowhere, in tents, and you’re worried about the germs of co-eds? I have no idea how you even made it through basic.” I shook my head at Doug’s paranoid ideas.
“What will you do if they send us out to help keep the peace instead of going home?”
Emma would be safe if she’d made it to my family, but I couldn’t be worried about that until I made it back to the States. I had to believe that my family would take care of her and Pierce in my absence.
“I’m torn. They’re not going to let us go home because we’ve heard too many stories, and the National Guard isn’t going to be able to keep these things from multiplying. We won’t be able to either unless someone finds a way to keep people from getting sick. We’re going to have a huge upset in people versus zombies.”
“Look, we’re not the top people, we just do what we’re told. We have a system, or at least the symbolism of one that will keep most people from going off the rails through the first little while. Over here, we’re the only thing standing between most of these little villages, and once they fall, there isn’t a police force or military to stop them from moving over to the next town.
Patti’s group had already left two days before, and when our cargo plane landed to load up, it was in those few minutes just before dawn broke over the region that it happened.
I stood at the door of the plane as it started to lift off and realized that we had made it out by the skin of our teeth.
The ground surrounding our large compound was littered with black dots for as far as the eye could see. If we hadn’t been on the last plane out of the area, we would have been overrun.
Normally on a trip like this, I would’ve been pacing and full of nervous energy. Instead I leaned back between two guys I’d never met and passed out.
Several hours later, we stopped for a quick refuel, but they had our own guys get out and take care of the fueling.
“Nothing to worry about, everyone. They’re just taking precautions so that we don’t infect anyone here. We should be refueled and ready to roll out in less than thirty minutes, but just to be safe, some of our own will be taking a guard shift to make sure that we’re not overrun by the infected people.” The pilot’s announcement, which was highly irregular, had most of the troops awake and restless.
There weren’t any incidents as we took off, but I couldn’t get comfortable enough to go back to sleep again.
A few of the troops were starting to cough the closer we got to the States. This always happened when we made the change of atmosphere from east to west.
But the closer we got toward home, the sicker sounding those coughs became. The medics had taken all those that were showing signs of illness and moved them to the back of the plane. Our leaders hung blankets, hoping to avoid the spread of germs in the contained area.
With only about thirty minutes of flying over the water left, a growling sound started coming from the back of the plane.
Screams and grunts erupted from behind the curtain as a blood-covered hand gripped the blanket, pulling it down.
“Buckle in, we’re going to open the cargo door! I repeat, strap yourselves in…” The voice trailed off as everyone tried to grab their guns and strap in at the same time.
A blast of air was sucked out of the plane as the pilot tried to prepare everyone for the difference in air pressure.
I watched in horror as bodies flew out of the cargo door with blood dripping from their teeth. I felt bad for the ones who hadn’t been as sick but were being sucked out of the tail of the plane as well.
When the cargo door closed, I gulped in the fresh air, only to hear more
gasping sounds coming from the back of the plane.
Evidently, those who hadn’t been as sick were strapped into their seats and had become the infected dead, but they couldn’t do more than bite the person next to them.
My platoon officer yanked off his restraints, gun in hand, and ran to the back of the plane. Rapid shots followed and all the growling sounds were silenced.
Everyone on the plane watched as he walked around, checking each person and making sure those who were infected were dead.
While hard to watch, I knew it was the right thing to do, though I wasn’t sure if I could have done it myself.
The pilot spoke again. “Due to the growing problem, everyone will have to be inspected before they can leave the area and find a place to shower, eat, and rest up before orders are handed down.”
I groaned on the inside but knew that after what had occurred on the plane, extra precautions were needed.
With the way that things were going, they weren’t going to let us go home to our families. This virus, or one of those things, were going to take us out one by one.
Cooper Walsh
The beehive of activity grew as I got to the underground bunker, preparing for the arrival of the president. The jeep stopped outside of an ordinary looking building that would lead down to one of the safest places in the world. I was in charge of Operation Protection, to shut this newest threat down.
Saluting the men standing guard, I pulled my security badge out from under my shirt. My clearance was pretty high, but it still required a fingerprint and eye scan to enter this secure building. Although those were not completely foolproof for the safety of the president, I couldn’t mention the other methods because they were still top secret.
Walking through the halls, the connecting doors that closed behind me caused my claustrophobia to grow. Having seen what the zombie things could do and how quickly they multiplied, there would be no way out of these very close quarters deep under the ground if something happened. All it would take was one infected person and the place would become a tomb for us all.
Military Against Zombies (The Against Zombies Series Book 2) Page 1