Flesh-Eater (Book 1): Fear the Fever (8 page)

A
fter what seemed like an eternity, Chad and Zuckerman finally made it to the outskirts of town.  Never had they thought the sight of the Worthington welcome sign, would bring tears to their eyes.  They had made it.

The closer they had gotten though, the more they knew that things were not looking good.  Their once peaceful town, was filled with the sound of panic.  More than once they had watched silently as people ran screaming, in the direction they themselves, had just come from.  They knew they should have warned them, but neither one was willing to step out of the safety of the corn fields.

They continued on their way to Worthington General, doing their best to remain hidden.  Desperate for some answers, they both still clung to the idea that they could help their friend before it was too late.

As they slunk through the streets, they saw a completely different town to the one they had grown up in.  It was heart-breaking to see.  Some storefronts had been boarded up already, others had been completely deserted.  The few people they saw were either running for safety or stumbling about in the throes of the fever that had consumed so many already.

There were bodies strewn across the town green, a bloody mess surrounding them.  They did their best to avert their eyes, but it was like a train wreck, you couldn’t help but stare.

Scared faces peered out of windows as they passed by.  They couldn’t believe how much had changed in the short time they had been away.  Had it really only been a matter of hours?  How had this taken over so quickly?

The chaos seemed to intensify, the closer they got to the hospital.  Cars had been parked haphazardly in what appeared to be a makeshift barrier.  More bodies lay about the streets, some covered in bite marks, others missing whole limbs.  Flesh-eaters in an almost drunken state gorged themselves on their fellow peers.

Chad and Zuckerman edged their way between two cars, and in through the entrance to the hospital.  A nurse clad in breathing apparatus ran up to them.

“Have you been bitten?” she yelled over the terrified voices around her.

“No,” Chad said, looking between the nurse and Zuckerman.  “We came to get help for a friend.  He’s sick.”

“In case you hadn’t noticed,” she waved her hand around the room, “everyone is sick.  I’m sorry to be the one to tell you, there
is
no help,” she said warily, tears in her eyes.  “They’ve left us for dead.  Now if you’ll excuse me, I have patients to see.”

“Wait.”  Zuckerman grabbed her arm.  “What do you mean, there
is
no help?  There has to be!  Where are the doctors?  The army?  Surely someone is coming?” he demanded.

“Haven’t you been watching the news?  They don’t know what it is or where it came from.  They have no idea where to start on a cure, and it’s spreading faster than we expected,” she said sadly.  “The doctors have families too, most of them left to be with them.”

“So, if there’s no hope then why are you still here?” Zuckerman pressed.

“I’m a nurse.  This is what I do.  I may not be able to fix my patients, but I can be there for them, and make them comfortable.  It’s all they have left now.”  She looked down at his hand clasped around her arm.  He let her go, his hands dropping to his sides.  “I’m sorry,” she said earnestly before walking away.

“Now what?” Chad asked, deflated.

“There’s gotta be something we can do.  We can’t just give up.  Someone round here must have some answers!  At least some sort of idea of what to do!” Zuckerman said, clearly unhappy with what he’d been told.  He began to stalk down the corridors, stopping at each door.

“What are you doing?”  Chad pulled at his arm.  Zuckerman spun around to face his friend.  He pointed a finger down the hall to the reception area.

“They might be ready to give up without a fight, but I’ll be damned if I’m going to live in fear the rest of my life.  Someone must know something!”

Zuckerman was right.  They couldn’t just sit around waiting to be next.  Chad watched him run from room to room.  They needed to think about this rationally.  The doctors didn’t know where to start looking, because they didn’t know where it came from.

As far as they knew, Ross had to be one of the first to turn.  Perhaps he was the key?

Chad thought back to where he first saw him that morning.

“Zuckerman!  I have an idea.  It’s not much of one, but it’s a start.”  He waited for his friend to stop and listen.  “We need to go to the supermarket.  Ross was there before he got on the bus.  Maybe they saw something.”

“Now you’re thinking.  Let’s get outta here.”

S
linking back through town, Chad and Zuckerman made their way to the supermarket.  There appeared to be even more infected people around, so they had to keep hidden in the shadows.  Using cars and alleyways for cover, they slowly crept closer to their destination.

“Okay, it’s just up there.”  Chad pointed as they crouched behind a park bench.

“It doesn’t look like anyone’s in there,” Zuckerman whispered.

“No it doesn’t.  But they could be hiding.  The town is pretty overrun right now.”

“Good point.”  He looked around, careful to keep out of sight.  “I’ll run to that trash can and scope it out.”  He took off before Chad could even say anything.

Chad sat back on his haunches, keeping an eye on his friend, ready to run at a moment’s notice.

Zuckerman was on all fours, crawling to the window of the supermarket, when a flesh-eater rounded the corner.

“Behind you!” Chad called, leaping to his feet.  He pulled the secateurs out of his pocket as he ran.  Zuckerman was scrambling backwards.  Chad leapt over him and plunged the secateurs straight into the temple of the flesh-eater.  He dropped to the ground, letting out a long sigh as if relieved of his pain.

Chad wrenched the secateurs back and wiped them on his jeans.  He walked over to Zuckerman and offered his hand to help him up.

“Thanks, man.  I owe ya one.”  Chad just nodded and marched to the door.  Turning his back against it, he cautiously touched the handle, took a deep breath and pulled it open.

The room was still lit up like any normal day.  Only, this was far from an ordinary day.

The aisles had been ransacked and products littered the floor.  There were trolleys laying on their sides in the middle of the aisles.  The shelves were no longer in straight lines, but skewed, as if a commotion had broken out.

The most obvious change though, was the lack of people.  No customers, no friendly cashier waiting to greet you, no people stocking shelves.  It was deserted.

Chad dropped his shoulders, deflated.  There goes his big plan.

“Hey, while we’re here, we may as well grab some food,” Zuckerman said, slapping a reassuring hand on his friend’s shoulder.

“We can’t do that!”

“Why not?  Everyone else has.  Things have changed now.”  He walked past and grabbed a basket.  “You keep watch if you want.  I’ll just grab a few things.  I’m starving!”

As if on cue, Chad’s stomach growled.  “Me too,” he sighed.  “I guess a couple things would be okay.”

Zuckerman threw a candy bar in his direction.  “Heads up!”

“Don’t just get food.  See what they have in first aid supplies too.  Anything we can use to help us out there.”  He motioned to the streets outside.  “We’ll need a bag to carry everything too.”

“For someone who wasn’t keen on the idea, you’re sure full of requests.”

“I’m just being practical.  Like you said, things have changed.  We need to be prepared.”

Zuckerman nodded and carried on gathering supplies.  He grabbed fruit, muesli bars, biscuits and a few bottles of water before going to the first aid area.  He threw in some bandages, scissors, tape, saline solution and antiseptic.  He carted his findings over to show Chad.

“Anything else?”

“Maybe some matches.  A knife would be handy too if you can find one.”

“Good idea.  I’ll go see.”

“Check out the back, in the staffroom.  There could be a bag we can borrow out there.”

“On it!” he said, jogging around the store once more.

After a few more minutes of scavenging, Zuckerman made his way to the back of the store.  He rummaged about the cashier’s desk, finding a box cutter and a pair of scissors.  He pocketed those, before heading to the Staffroom door.  He was about to push it open, when he could’ve sworn he heard a scurrying sound.  Slowly lowering his basket to the floor, he crept closer, listening.

There it was again.  Only this time, it was coupled with a muffled whimper.  Zuckerman turned to Chad, who was still keeping watch, making wild gestures towards the door.  Chad took one last look outside before easing the door closed and crept to where Zuckerman was waiting.

“There’s someone in there,” he whispered, holding a finger to his lips and leaning his ear up to the door.

“Hello?” Chad called out, reaching for the door knob.  “Is anybody in there?”

“Leave me alone!” a girl’s voice screamed out from behind the closed door.

“We’re not going to hurt you.  Are you okay?  Have you been bitten?”

Something was being scraped along the floor.  Chad and Zuckerman prepared themselves.

The door opened a fraction and two eyes peered out.

“What do you want?” she sniffed.

“We were just looking for a bag to carry our… things,” Zuckerman said, realising that they had just stolen from her store.  “We can find one somewhere else though.”  He turned on his heels.  Chad put his hand out to stop him.

“Are you okay?” he asked the girl again.  She nodded, biting her lip before opening the door further.

“I got scared when I saw those…
things
running around.  I shut myself in here so they wouldn’t find me,” she said quietly, tears threatening to fall over her long lashes.

“That was pretty smart.  It’s kinda scary out there,” Chad said.  “We’ve lost some friends to it already.”

“Oh, I’m sorry.”

“It’s not your fault,” he paused.  “Actually, we were hoping you might be able to help us.  Our friend was in here this morning, before it all happened.  He was the first that we know of, to turn.  We thought maybe you might have seen something?”

Stepping out from the staffroom, the girl eyed the basket in Zuckerman’s hands.

“It’s chaos out there.  We needed supplies,” he said defensively.  She just nodded.

“We weren’t very busy this morning.  I can remember everyone who came in.  What did your friend look like?”  She turned to Chad.

“He’s about my height, bigger build though.  He was angry when he left here, something about having a run in with some other guy?”

She pursed her lips, thinking.  “Oh of course.  Derek was in here.  He was in a terrible way, looked like death warmed up.  He collided with your friend before he left.”

“Derek?”

“Yeah, Derek Dawson, lives on a big farm out that way.”  She pointed.  “Sorry, ‘lived’ out that way.”  She dropped her head.

“What do you mean, ‘lived’?” Zuckerman asked.

“I heard he died this morning,” she whispered.  Chad and Zuckerman looked at each other.  This was what they were looking for.

“Wait, so you were in contact with him too?” Chad questioned.

“Yeah, I served him at the counter, had a few words before he left.  That was the last time I saw him.”  One lone tear slipped down her cheek.  “It’s so sad.  He was a lovely man.”

“So you saw him this morning, and you haven’t been sick?”

“No, I feel fine.  Why?”

“Our friend got sick too, but he hadn’t been bitten by anyone.  We’re the only ones on our bus who didn’t get sick – that we know of, anyway.  It’s like it’s airborne but some of us aren’t being affected.”

“Hmmm.”  She chewed the corner of her lip.  “I’m not even sure that’s a good thing.  What are we supposed to do with that?”

“I’ll tell you what
we’re
gonna do, we’re going to go out to this Dawson farm and find some answers.  Do you know the way?”

“Yeah, I was on the same school bus as his son, Zeke, when we were younger.”

“Good, you’re coming with us,” Zuckerman said.

“If you want to,” Chad added, giving his friend a warning glare.

“Well, it’s not like I have anywhere else to go.  I certainly don’t want to be on my own.”  She brushed her fingers through her hair.  “I’ll just grab my bag, you can put your supplies in it.”  She smiled, offering her hand.  “I’m Tammy by the way.”

“Hi, Tammy, I’m Chad and this is Zuckerman.”

T
hey had made it as far as the stream before the sound of gun shots was in the air.  Millie looked at Zeke with tear-filled eyes.

“Oh my God, Zeke!  That sounded really close!”

“I’m sure she’s fine, Millie,” he replied with a worried expression.  He noticed that her face was looking pale and drawn.  Her hand shook in his.  He didn’t want to think about what that could mean.

Giving her hand a squeeze, he pulled her into him.

“Everything’s going to be okay,” he promised, stroking her hair gently.  She was clammy to the touch.  Her petite body felt as though it was shrinking, as if she was wasting away.  He vowed to get her to the hospital as soon as they had found Harper.  “Come on, we should keep moving.”

He wrapped his arm around her shoulders, leading her forward.

More gun shots rang through the air and they quickened their pace.  Millie was panting, but wouldn’t stop until she knew her sister was safe.

Breaking through the last corn row, they were unprepared for the sight before them.  Harper was curled in a ball on the ground, sobbing.  Her clothes were dripping with blood.  Bodies lay scattered around her.

Millie let go of Zeke and ran to her sister, collapsing on top of her.  They clung to each other, fat tears rolling down their cheeks.

“I’m so glad to see you’re okay,” Harper said, clutching her sister’s face in her hands.  “I thought for sure I’d never see you again,” she wept.

“I was so worried when I heard the gun go off,” Millie cried, still not really comprehending how her sister had survived so many of them.

“I don’t even remember firing it.  I was on autopilot.  I guess all those lessons Dad made us take, paid off,” Harper said, dropping her head at the mention of her parents.  “I just wish I could’ve saved them.  I tried, but they were too quick and too many of them.”  Millie looked at Zeke, her eyes like saucers in her gaunt face. 
Not her parents?

“Couldn’t save who?” she asked in a soft voice, almost too afraid to hear the answer.

“Buddy and Mack,” she sniffed, pointing at the mound of flesh.

“Oh!” Millie gasped, holding a hand to her mouth, both relieved and horrified at the same time.  Her gaze followed her sister’s hand.  “They… did… that?”  She was hyperventilating.  Their beloved family pet was lying, lifeless, almost skinned to the bone.  The bodies lying next to him still held onto his limbs, his blood smeared across their faces.  “They were going to eat him?!”

Harper nodded.  “I didn’t want to believe it either.”  She placed her hand on her sisters.  “Millie?  There’s more.  I saw…” She had to stop and take a breath as she decided the best way to tell her sister.  “Ma was out there, in the field.  I followed a trail to a pack of them.  She was… she was one of them,” she whispered.  “They dragged Buddy out there.  I saw them… pulling him apart, he was already dead.  I couldn’t save him.”  She looked up.  “I couldn’t save any of them, it was already too late.  That’s when I ran back to the house and they followed me.  Mack tried to stop them.  He was so brave,” she sniffed, not wanting to see the anguish on her sister’s face.

“Oh God!”  Millie held her hands to her face.  “This can’t be happening.  Not Ma!  What about Pa?” she asked, woefully.  “Please tell me he’s okay.”

“I didn’t see him.  But, you know Pa.  He’s never far from her.”  Harper hung her head.

“No!  You’re wrong!  It wasn’t them!”

“I’m sorry, Millie,” Harper managed to choke out.  “They’re gone.”

“I want to wake up!” Millie screamed into the air.  “Wake me up!”

“Millie!”  Zeke grabbed her by the shoulders.  “Millie, stop!”

“No!  I don’t believe this is real.  I’m having a bad dream!”  She clamped her hands over her ears, shaking her head from side-to-side.

“No Millie, you’re not.  I know this is scary, and I really wish it were a dream too, but it’s not.   We can get through this though.  Together,” he soothed.

“Ma and Pa… they’re one of those…things!  They ate my dogs!  They attacked my sister!”

“I know.  But Millie?   She’s okay.”  He looked into her eyes, willing her to calm down.  He’d never seen her so hysterical before.  She was normally so carefree, he hated seeing what this was doing to her.  “Harper’s still okay.”

“Your Ma?” she gasped, her hand flying to her mouth as the realisation hit her.  “She was… She was going to eat you?” her voice was barely more than a whisper.  Zeke nodded.

“Yeah, Millie.  That’s why I had to…”  He let his voice trail off as he broke eye contact with her.  That wound was still too fresh.

“Oh Zeke!  What are we going to do?” she sobbed, throwing her arms around him.

“We’re going to survive.  That’s what we’re going to do.”

“I think we need to leave.  We can’t stay here with half of that pack still out in the field.  I don’t think I could… I don’t want to have to…” Harper broke down.

“It’s okay, you won’t have to.  We can leave,” Zeke said, thinking.  “Grab a few things, we’ll head back to mine.  You can get cleaned up there.”  Harper nodded and made her way into the house.  “Millie, do you think you can handle walking that far?”

Sniffing, she nodded her head, too drained to speak.

“I think we should head back to town, we can take the car.  You need to see a doctor.”

Millie looked confused.  “Why?” she breathed.

“You know why.  Millie, you don’t need to hide it from me.  I can see you’re struggling.”

She peered up at him with eyes so wide.  “I’m scared, Zeke,” she whispered.  “I don’t wanna turn into one of them.”

“I know you’re scared, I am too.”  He helped her to stand.  “I’m not going to let anything happen to you.  I can’t.”

“But…”

“It’s not going to happen.  Don’t even think about it, okay?  You’re gonna be just fine,” he said, unsure who he was trying to convince more.

“I love you, Zeke,” she said through her tears.

“I love you too, Millie.”