Death Plague Omnibus [Four Zombie Novels] (41 page)

He grinned. Ralph should have guessed that they’d be making their way over there. Gary had refused to tell him where they were going. They said that he’d tell and had threatened to beat him up.

  Well, let them go in there and get all contaminated. Ralph didn’t care. It’s not like any of them were nice to him. The only reason they let him hang around was because Ralph’s dad was their district’s cadaver exterminator.

Not that there was much call for his services these days; even so, the other kids all thought his dad was way cool.

“They wouldn’t say that if they had him as their dad,” he muttered.

Ralph climbed off the van and walked in the opposite direction. He wondered if he’d be able to sneak into the west district. He knew that the district wall just beyond the habitation zone had more than a few missing bricks knocked out of it. Ralph overheard his father complaining that west district were hoarding food again. Apparently, they even had apple trees.

  He tapped the dial on his giger armband and gave those other boys one last glance before breaking into a sprint. He’d have to hurry, it would be dark soon, and if there were any ground bursters left, the night time is when they came out.

Something stuck out of the ground, and it caught his moccasin. Ralph cried out and crashed into the long grass.

“That flipping hurt!” he shouted. Ralph gazed at the bright red blood leaking through a large hole in his trousers; he knew his mum would be furious with him. It had taken her a whole week to make these for him.

He examined the ground, trying to find out what had tripped him up; he gasped in surprise when he saw the corner of what appeared to be a metal box sticking out of the ground. Ralph had expected to find a rock.

The dirt around the box was soft, and it didn’t take him that long to excavate enough to allow him to pull the bizarre contraption out of the ground. After walking round and round the box, he eventually identified what appeared to be an opening. This was so exciting! Ralph fell to his knees and with shaking hands, he managed to prise the lid off. His excitement diffused when he gazed inside; the only thing in the box was a dead animal. It looked a like a small rat. He shook his head in puzzlement. It definitely wasn’t a rat, this thing had a furry tail. He thrust his hand in the box.

Ralph screamed in agony when the animal suddenly came to life and bit into his finger.  

The End.

Mouthful of Carrion

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are products of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. 

Copyright February 2015

by Ian Woodhead 

Proofed by Linda Tooch Proofreading Svc.

https://www.facebook.com/LindaLTooch

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, scanning or otherwise, without prior permission of the author. 

Chapter one

Straight to the Point

I rolled the ball down the side of my face, and after a moment’s pause, I gripped it tight and rubbed it down my cheek. I can’t deny that the sensation pleased me. As strange as it sounded, the experience took my thoughts back to a more pleasing time. Back to when we indulged in our excesses every minute of every hour.

Then the world went to complete shit, and the dead things shambled across the face of the land, and like a vast plague of locusts, they munched down on anything not already dead.

How any of us poor fuckers managed to live through the opening scene to Armageddon is beyond me. I guess that even the living dead underestimated our tenacity for clinging to this fragile life.

Oh, wait. It’s difficult for me to continue this sombre tale without chuckling here. It’s the irony that’s causing the laughter. You see, all this ‘us’ business is really a bit of a red herring. I’m not really one of ‘you.’

I sure hope that I haven’t upset your delicate sensibilities with that rather profound proclamation. By that, I’m really saying that I sure hope you haven’t fucking shit your pants.

Yeah, you got it in one. Go to the top of the class. Collect a goldfish, and pin a gold star on your chest. I’m what you normals call a Hunter, and I won’t deny that I do rather like that title. It evokes a sense of fear, respect, and reverence. I say, if the gloves fits, then wear it.

It also evokes repugnance as well as hate, but we can’t have it both ways now, can we? We’re mutants, hybrids, a creature halfway between zombie and human, or perhaps a melding of the two is more to your liking?

We have your intellect yet we also possess the insatiable desire to consume your sweet tasting flesh. So I'd advise you to keep that plug firmly stuck up your arse, and hold on to something tight. You see, if you're reading this, it can only mean that I'm not that far away. Wait, forget the holding onto something, just sit the hell down, I really don't want you to properly shit yourself. I prefer my food untainted.

Still here. Fuck me, ain't you the brave soul. Fair enough, keep reading, and I'll show you exactly what I do to ‘brave souls.'

I rolled this tennis ball around in my fingers, hypnotised by how those two pieces of fabric just snuggled together to form my latest find, and such an ingenious design, two making one. They held each other so tight, like two babies holding each other as they slept. "Or perhaps brother and sister," I murmured. I squeezed away that profound sense of loss, allowing anger to fill that vacuum. Anger was good. That particular emotion was my best friend; it would help me sort out this current situation. I knew how to deal with anger.

Do you read sentiment there? Sure you do, so what? Just don't take it as a weakness. Don't you ever do that.

This room, lacking everything save for two metal chairs, a window, and a single lightbulb, had one more occupant. Right now, this other person's gaze hadn't moved from the window as three strips of bright light squeezed out through the gaps between the wooden boards nailed across the frame. The lightbulb gave off the rest of the light, not that I needed it. My captive didn't know what I was, although I supposed he suspected but had no definite proof. I decided it was time to allay his suspicions.

I squeezed the ball tight, and the rubber beneath the fabric strained, but it stood little chance as I exerted more pressure. The material split open, spilling out its insides. It felt like I'd just killed one more piece of our old civilisation, and it was a good feeling. What made the moment complete was when my new friend's mouth opened like a dead fish. Tiny spit bubbles rolled down his lips and dropped onto his knees. He didn't notice, his eyes were too busy searching for a way out, a way to get past me and out of this room.

You had to admire his optimism. The sheep was going nowhere. Those chains might be thin, but they were strong enough to hold his scrawny body in that chair. "So, I think we're ready to start, Adrian." His pure look of terror gave me such a cosy feeling. This really should be a piece of cake.

I dropped the destroyed ball and walked over to the chair, taking my time. His fear, almost palpable, tasted like the sweetest nectar ever created. I knew I had to be careful here. If I allowed my enthusiasm to take control, I wouldn't get anything from him.

"To me, you're dinner. Raw burger meat pushed into a sack of thin skin, and I see from your look that perhaps you have met one of our kind before." I dropped to my knees and gently placed my thick hands on his thighs. It took effort not to chuckle when Adrian's flesh rippled like a plate full of jelly. "Don't fret, young man. You see, this is your lucky day. Perhaps it doesn't seem like it right now, but believe me, this day will only get better from this point on." I paused to run my tongue across my lips, it seemed like the correct action to choose. "You see, I wish to walk along a path with you, Adrian. It's a simple, straight line where at the end, we both leave this shitty little room. Me with what you’re about to tell me, and you still in one piece. It’s what you want, is it not? We depart like men, to continue what this life, strange as it is, throws at us."

"What do you want with me?" he struggled to say.

His ragged breathing suggested that he wasn't having an easy time coming to terms that he was tied to a chair with a dark-haired fiend with a passion for human flesh, and just millimetres from his face. Yeah, I'm guessing that he was thinking that this wasn't what he'd class as a ‘lucky day.'

"Just some information, that's all." I gave him my most charming smile, and would you credit that this guy even smiled back? He showed me a mouthful of rotting gums with sparse outcroppings of blackened teeth stuck in there, standing like lonesome monoliths.

"I'm kinda new here. Oh, don't worry, I have no intentions of staying here. I saw the warnings. I know what you lot do to poor critters like myself." These docile fuckwits actually believed that if they nail up a few rotting corpses to wooden crosses with the legend ‘Hunter free zone' carved into the wood that it would keep their shitty little settlement safe. "You see, I know that my darling sister wandered into your quaint little town, and I so need to find her. She's my only living relative." I sighed heavily. "Blonde hair, intense blue eyes. She's a looker; you would have noticed her, that I guarantee."

Predictably, this sad specimen shook his head. Perhaps sensing that his life wasn't as over as he originally believed, that this might even be his lucky day, sensing weakness in me.

"You are joking, man. Hell, the only stranger in these parts is you. Believe me, any gal, looker or otherwise, would have been noticed, not only by me but by every other man existing in this God forsaken hole.

I nodded solemnly and sighed again, just for effect. I didn't need to even look inside this slime ball’s head to know that he was lying. I waited a moment longer just to see if he'd retract his statement. Call me a big softy if you wish, I'm cool with that. Hell, I'm willing to give anybody another chance, even this lying little fuckwit.

When no confession issued I followed through with the only option he'd offered me. I pulled up the other chair and sat opposite him, then I gripped the sides of his shirt and pulled, the buttons flying in all directions.

“What are you doing?”

The alarm that I heard in his tone felt so good. “Hush now,” I said, placing my hand on his chest. Like most of the humans in our post-apocalyptic world, this guy looked like a skeleton wrapped in pink shrink wrap. His skin was stretched so tight, I could actually feel his racing heart pulse through my hand.

"Fella, don’t do this to yourself. You know and I know that you're lying to me." I paused to run my tongue across my pale lips, taking my time, keeping my black eyes fixed on his, watching the blood drain from his face as my silent implication finally sank in." I can feel your heart working, Adrian. It's such a powerful muscle, and as much as I’d so love to start there, it’s doubtful that you’d be able to talk if I pulled that out of your body. I’d better start with something that won’t kill you straight away."

I settled my hand on his thigh, curling my fingers, my nails cutting through both fabric and skin. I jerked my arm back, smiling as both layers peeled away, exposing glistening muscle.

His raw scream blasted out of him, and Adrian jerked against his restraints, shaking, crying, and mumbling while looking down in disbelief at the raw open wound currently pissing out his precious blood.

Although I found his pain and noise so erotic, finding my own blood heating up, I couldn't allow my instincts to rule my head. Taking off the brake pedal right at this juncture would end up with me sitting surrounded by the man's wet pieces. "That powerful muscle is still pumping, Adrian. In fact, right now its beating so hard that if you don't calm the fuck down, you'll end up bleeding out in a couple of hours." I brought the palm of my hand up to my face and pushed the edge of my finger into my mouth and bit down, feeling my sharp teeth cutting through my thick flesh. There was a little pain, but nothing too worrisome. As soon as I felt my own cold blood welling up, I slapped my hand down in the open wound, splaying my fingers wide as I pushed my nails into the wet muscle. The man screamed even harder. I guess he wasn't expecting that.

"Hush now" I said, taking his heaving body and pushing the man's head into my chest. "The pain will ease shortly, believe me, Adrian. The chemicals in my own blood are even now helping your body to deal with the wound, numbing the surrounding area, filling your blood with a powerful coagulant. Don't fret though, the effect is local. There’ll be no contamination." I stroked the side of his head. "I'm really sorry for doing that, but you needed to experience some of the pain that tortured me for the last several months."

I lifted his head up. His eyes clouded over, looking now more like the glass-like orbs belonging to one of the shambling dead as opposed to one of the few remaining humans. "I know you have seen her, Adrian. You might even know where she is right now." I removed my hand, satisfied that he would no longer bleed to death. Judging from his reactions though, my immune system might have overloaded his. I hadn't anticipated that to happen. This poor bastard will be no use to me if he'd drugged up to the fucking eyeballs.