Apocalypse Z (A Zombie Novel) (25 page)

Jet took her shades from her pack and put them on, just in case they ran into someone that hadn’t turned. She didn’t want to chance having her eyes freaking them out and having an axe buried in her head. Dedee pointed out there were birds in the sky circling over something ahead, and Mark took that as a bad omen.

The first two and a half miles were clear. The sounds of birds in the air and an occasional cool breeze had a calming effect on everyone. It was the last half mile that they ran into trees that had been cut down and were lying across the trail. One at a time, they climbed over them, but this slowed them down and they started to tire quickly. The third tree they had to climb over was almost six feet in diameter.

Mark gave Lisa a boost to get up, as she reached over, something cold and rough grabbed her hand. She shrieked and jumped back, almost knocking Mark to the ground. She told him what happened so Jet climbed onto Jeff’s back to look over it. On the other side, she saw two men, and they were huge. Both were well built and stood almost six and a half feet tall.

Jet reached over with her sword and started swinging; she quickly brought them down to size as she cut through their necks and chests. A little embarrassed, Mark said, “Oh, yeah, I forgot to mention that almost all of them are over six feet tall and built like tanks.”

Lisa sighed. “And you just remembered this?” She shook her head and asked, “By the way, how many of them are there?

He thought before he answered. “Anywhere between thirty-five and eighty-five of them… Well, minus two now.”

They climbed over the trees and continued to the edge of the camp. They watched as dozens of tank-like zombies moved about in the camp. Mark pointed through it to a trail on the other side and said, “Okay, all we have to do is make it to there, it’s just a short 400-yard run and we’ll be back on the trail.”

Lisa asked, “Why can’t we go around it?”

Mark said as he pointed, “This side has an eleven-foot rock wall and the other has a few hundred trees on the ground with four- to six-foot diameters.”

Tami looked at him and sarcastically said, “Only a short 400-yard run through all these zombie tanks? Not a problem.”

Mark nodded. “Ready?” Then he said, “Go!” They all started to run through the middle of the camp. They had only covered a hundred yards before they were noticed, and the lumbering zombies all moved to intercept them. Mark pointed his pistol as he ran and fired a shot into ones chest. The only thing it did was piss it off.

Lisa was right behind Mark and fired a second shot, hitting it in the head and stopping it. They kept firing as they ran, clearing a path down the center. When they were a little more than halfway across, they ran out of ammunition and had to start a zigzag pattern to avoid them. When Mark and Jet were almost to the trail, he heard a shot and looked back. Somehow, everyone else had been cut off and they had gone inside one of the buildings.

The first ten feet of the trail was pretty steep, but they made it up quickly. They both watched as the zombies flocked around the building and trapped their friends inside. Mark turned to Jet and said, “Jet, I need you to do something. You have to run to the cabin, get more weapons and ammo, and run back. Be careful that you don’t run into anymore zombies on the trail. Oh, and before I forget, you have two keypad entry doors you need to remember the combinations for.”

Her eyes grew wide and her stomach turned into knots. “Huh? But how?”

He put his hand on her shoulder to calm her. “It’s easier than it sounds. When you get to the cabin, go up to the door. To the right of it, count up five boards, then over three knots. Push it with your finger and lift the board up. Take the key and put it in the lock, then give it a quarter turn clockwise. Enter the code 07041776 on the pad—just remember Independence Day. The light will turn green and open the door, but be sure to turn the key back to the original position before you remove it.”

“Okay, is that all?”

He shook his head. “No, but it’s really easy like I said. Once you’re inside, go to the green metal door, use the key just like you did on the first one. On that key pad enter the code 12071941—just remember Pearl Harbor. Go inside that room and get a shotgun with a pistol grip from the wall, there’ll be a red zippered gym bag on the floor right under it, get that too.”

“Is that it?”

“No, just a little more.” Her eyes grew even larger, her breathing became rapid and she started to panic. He continued. “Grab some more pistols. These will be forty calibers and have a longer barrel. Get three of them and a lot of magazines, then put them in the zippered bag. Look for some green boxes of shotgun shells with white number twenties printed on them. Grab two boxes and put those in the bag too. Be sure you close all the doors and bring the key back with you. Now… can you remember all that?”

She nodded as she gasped. “Yeah… Gawd, I hope so.”

“Good, now go, and please hurry back.”

She jumped up and started running up the trail as fast as she could.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Lisa held the door as everyone ran inside. Dedee was the last one through and fired both barrels at the zombies outside, just before Lisa slammed the door shut and threw the latch. Jeff and Sheryl slid a bunk bed across the floor and up against the door. There were no windows, only open square holes covered with a heavy wire for a screen. Dedee sighed as she took out her last shell and placed it in the shotgun.

Tami looked out and said, “Hey, Mark and Jet made it to the trail.”

Lisa went over and saw Mark talking to Jet, after a couple of minutes, she took off running up the trail and Mark stayed behind. They watched and saw the numbers were growing, as more zombies came up to the bunkhouse. Lisa sighed and said, “Well, looks like there’s about fifty of them out there now.”

Tami asked, “Can we close these shutters? I can’t stand seeing all those rotting faces looking in here at us.”

Lisa went around and closed them all, except for the one with a view of the trail. She watched as Mark threw rocks at other buildings, trying to distract some of them. At one point, he stood up on a boulder and started yelling at them. This pulled a few away for a short time, but they returned to where Lisa and the others were at.

Sheryl gasped when the latch broke and the door hit the bed they placed in front of it. Lisa and Tami quickly leaned another bed over onto the first one to add more weight. Dedee looked around and said, “That’s the only way in or out. We’re trapped in here.”

Jeff and Lisa began trying to figure out a way they could escape if the rot-bags started coming in through the door. They went around and checked all the wire screens, but they were attached really well and weren’t going to give any. Jeff found a large axe and said as he held it up, “We can chop our way out.”

Lisa shook her head. “That won’t work. This place is surrounded and they’ll be waiting for us on the other side before we even make a hole large enough to fit through.”

“I’m not talking about a chopping through a wall.” He pointed up.

He and Lisa moved one of the bunk beds close to the back wall where the roof was lower. He lay on the top bunk and began chopping at the planks. Lisa, Tami, and Sheryl moved two more beds over against the door. Every time the door would swing in, the beds were pushed back little more. Jeff continued to chop upward and hit the planks, trying to break through to the roof.

The door swung open enough for one of them to reach in and grab the beds to try to push them away. Jeff started to break through and a beam of sunlight shot down onto his face. He felt a little hope and began to chop faster. The door swung open again and one was able to step through and began to push on the beds against the door.

Jeff broke through and a few planks flew outward with a loud crack. One by one, they climbed on the top bunk and Jeff helped them up on the roof. The door flew open all the way and more started to push the beds back. After he helped Tami up through the hole, he jumped up and started to pull himself onto the roof. He shouted, “One’s got me!” as he started sliding back inside.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Jet ran up the trail, she figured buy now, she must be at least halfway to the cabin. Her legs were starting to feel tired, but the thought of Jeff and the rest of her friends trapped, kept her going. She saw movement on the trail ahead and wasn’t sure if it was a person, animal, or one of those logger zombies. When she was almost right on top of it, she froze. A big bear stood next to the trail and she thought it must have been the largest one that lived in area. It looked up at her and sniffed the air, but didn’t seem to be concerned as it went back to eating its meal.

There was no doubt she would have to leave the trail and go around it, and that would cause a delay in her return. Moving as quickly as she could, she had to climb over an outcropping of rocks and a few fallen trees to work her way around and back to the trail. Once she was back on it, she pushed herself to run even faster to make up the lost time.

When she finally got to the cabin, she did exactly as Mark said. After she opened the green door, her jaw dropped. Along the wall to her right, were more rifles, pistols, and shotguns than she could have ever imagined. To her left, the entire wall was lined with shelves all loaded with boxes of ammunition. She thought there was enough there to supply a medium sized army.

She went through and grabbed everything Mark had requested. When she was done, she closed the doors just as he had said and put the key in her pocket, then started her return run.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Lisa dove and grabbed Jeff’s arm as the zombies tried to pull him back in. Sheryl and Tami quickly grabbed the other, and a tug-of-war pursued. Jeff cried out, “The son of a bitch is biting my ankle!”

Dedee lay down on the roof and leaned over into the hole. Tapping it on the shoulder with the barrel of her shotgun, it looked at her as she said, “Nighty-night, jerk-off.” She pulled the trigger. Its face flew to the right as the buckshot ripped it away. Jeff was quickly pulled back up and stood on the roof, rubbing his ankle.

Tami examined his ankle and saw his boot was badly chewed up. She had Jeff take it off so she could get a better look. She noticed there were no teeth marks, and the inner layer of leather in the boot was undamaged. As she smiled, she said, “You’ll be fine.”

Lisa yelled over to Mark, “Where’s Jet?”

He replied, “Cabin!” He held his hands far apart. “Big guns!”

Lisa turned and said, “Let’s hang on until she gets back.”

They sat on the roof and watched the zombies walk around the outside of the building and look back up at them. Under them, they could hear the zombies walking around and moaning inside the bunkhouse. Going through their packs, they realized they had only one bottle of water and the sun was getting warm. They opened it, and each one took a small drink. Jeff was last and took the remaining swallow. After almost two hours of waiting, they saw Jet running back down the trail and up to Mark.

She handed him a shotgun and the red bag as she hunched over and tried to catch her breath. Mark took out one of the pistols and put some of the magazines in his pouch. He took one of the round drums, attached it to the bottom of the shotgun, and hung two more from his belt. He set two more on a rock by the trail before he said, “When I draw them away from the building, I want you to take the bag over and toss it up on the roof.”

She nodded and said, “Okay, what do you want me to do after that?”

“Just stand back and only take out what attacks you. Our first goal is to get them down and on the trail; we can come back later and clean out the camp.” A big grin came across his face. “Wanna see something really cool? Watch what happens when I shoot them with this.”

He chambered a shell and casually walked down into the camp. He yelled at them to get their attention, “Hey, fugly freaks! I dare you all to come and try to get me!”

They watched from the roof and Jet watched from a rock by the trail as they started to turn. He began walking backward as more started walking his way. Lisa saw him break out in a big smile as he brought the shotgun up. They all heard him yell out, “Watch out for falling rocks!”

He fired a shot; there was a very small amount of blowback as the slug sank into the zombie’s chest. A second later, its head flew into the air and the arms spun off to the sides as its torso exploded into teeny tiny fragments, leaving only a set of legs standing in place. Mark yelled out, “Timber!” as he watched them fall to the side.

Mark stood in place and repeated this as fast as he could point and pull the trigger. He emptied the first drum and replaced it with the second. From the roof they saw the ground covered with zombie heads, legs, and guts. Jet ran over to the building and tossed the bag up to them. Lisa opened it and handed Dedee a box of shells and Jeff one of the pistols.

They slid the magazines in and started firing down into the heads of the zombies that still walked around the outside of the building. Some of the heads blew outward and others cracked wide open as the forty caliber rounds punched through the thick bone. Dedee went over to the hole in the roof and started firing down into it. Hands and arms flew against the walls and beds as heads disintegrated into bone and hair fragments.

Lisa loaded a fresh magazine, held another in her left hand, and put another between her teeth. Then she dropped through the hole and onto the top bunk. She quickly scanned the room and fired at anything that moved, even at a couple of things she thought might move.

When the first magazine was empty, she ejected it, loaded the second, and continued to fire until the room was still. She told them it was clear and to come down. Lisa went to the door and peeked out; she saw there were only a few zombies close by that would have to be taken out. She opened the door and they all charged out of the building. Lisa and Jeff fired as they ran. One stepped in front of Dedee and Sheryl, and was blown into little pieces when Dedee fired both barrels into its chest.

Mark saw them running from the building and he turned and followed. Once they got to the trail, they started up. Lisa turned and waited for Mark; once he was up, they fired on a few more that tried to climb toward them, but they were stopped, dead in their tracks.