Generation Dead Book 2: What You Fear (2 page)

I didn’t have time to admire my handiwork, since the third one was up and moving. I grabbed my tomahawk from its sheath and pulled my knife from its place one my belt.  As the zombie reached
up, I backhanded the tomahawk into its head and I was rewarded with a crack that put it down for good.  That solved my closest concern.  Another zombie was headed my way when it suddenly stopped moving and fell face first into the grass.

Huh.  That was weird.  I looked around and saw only one person still standing by the stage.  Jake was done with his supply of zombies and
he was coming over to finish off the two that were still writhing on the ground.  Two cracks later, and we were done.  I yanked out my sword and wiped off the blood and gore as well as I could.  Walking over to the stage, I approached the figure still standing there.  Several shapes were still on the ground, and they obviously had been dispatched with extreme prejudice.

As I reached the stage, the figure suddenly took two steps forward and jumped at me!  I brought up an arm and caught the person as they landed on me, swinging my sword wide and out of the way.  The person wiggled and wrapped their legs around my waist, and I felt teeth on my ear.

Chapter 2

“Gotcha
,” was all that was whispered.

I turned my head and kissed Julia.  “Yes, you do.” I put her down and she smiled up at me.  Even in the
darkness, I could see her smile.  “Weren’t you supposed to stay with the community until we got back?”  I asked.

Julia’s smile vanished.  “The local response team finally showed up, so I went out to find you guys.  I got chased by the group we just killed, and was on the roof of the gazebo, wondering what the hell I was going to do until morning, when you guys distracted them and I was able to get down and lend a hand.”

Jake wandered over just as Julia finished her speech.  “Take a breath.  How come you let yourself get cornered?”

Julia frowned.  “Don’t be an ass.  I would have jumped to the river in the morning if they were still around.”

Jake considered that and shrugged.  I thought it made sense, but I wasn’t going to admit it out loud and cause tension.

Jake surprised me with his next statement.  “Anyway, thanks for the assist.  We’ve taken care of twenty-three of these new ones, which leaves fifteen unaccounted for.  At
least, according to what the locals have told us.”

“True, there’s been enough time to contaminate others and they’re just completing the transformation process right about now, so we might be busy a little while longer
,” I said.

“
Which means we should get moving and check the other side of the river.”  Julia said.

“Let’s use that bridge.”  Jake said, pointing to an immense structure further south along the river.  Even in the
darkness, I could see its massive pylons and heavy steel beams.  It struck me as very curious as to why such a bridge was made for a little thing like a bike path.

We moved along quickly and quietly.  I was actually very happy to see Julia, but then these days I was happy to see her all the time.  She and I had grown up together, and until
recently, I had really thought of her as a sister.  But we had grown closer lately, and I discovered my feelings for her had become a lot deeper than I realized.  Imagine my surprise when I discovered she had the same feelings for me.

Jake was in the lead, and we could just make out his dark shape as we moved along.  I whispered to Julia as we walked.

“How are things with the survivors?” I asked.

“Pretty good.  They’re shaken up, wondering where the virus came from.  They’ve been pretty good about keeping themselves safe, suddenly waking up and finding new zombies wondering around that yesterday used to be your neighbor or brother is a little unnerving.”  Julia said.

“Can’t really imagine it,” I said.  I meant it, too.  If Jake ever got bitten, I don’t know if I could kill my brother, even a zombie brother.

We suddenly caught up to Jake, mostly because he had stopped moving.  The path split at this point, the left hand side
wandering off into a very dark, thickly wooded section of the path.  The right hand side went up to the big bridge, and that was a dark maw that opened to the other side of the river.  Looking up, I could see beams that I recognized as railroad ties, and that explained the size of this bridge.  It had to be huge to handle the weight of the trains that once ran over it.  When the bike path was built, it must have made sense to use the structure that was in place, rather than create a new one.  For all the dumb things, we thought people did in the past; this one was actually pretty smart.

“Anyone want to go first?” Jake asked, grinning in the night.

“I’ll do it,” I said, stepping forward.  I had never been afraid of dark spaces, even though there might be zombies.  I could handle those if I needed to, and sometimes did.  This bridge wasn’t pitch black, but it was dark.  On either side of me, there were openings that allowed me to see the river flowing past.  The bridge was made of wood, and I could easily hear myself stepping across the old planks.  My sword was held out in front of me at the low-ready position, with the thought that if there were a crawler on here that I couldn’t see, it would get a bite at steel and not my leg.

At the first set of pylons, I stopped and looked at the river.  It was very peaceful, and this would have been a nice place to live before things had ended. 
However, my reflections were interrupted by Julia bumping into my back and giggling.

“Keep going,
doof,” she said affectionately.

“Don’t stop, dumbass
,” Jake added, not so affectionately.

“Quiet, the two of you
,” I replied, moving forward again.

At the second pylon, my sword bumped into something. I signaled to the others and they immediately went into ready positions.  I explored what I hit with the tip of my sword, and figured out that whatever it was, it was about four feet long, and not moving.  Reaching down carefully, I touched the obstruction and found it to be covered in fur. 

Breathing a sigh of relief, I turned back to the other two.  “Just an animal.  Moving on.”  I stepped to the left and around the thing on the bridge, figuring it was someone else’s problem to get rid of, not mine.  Jake and Julia followed my steps, and as far as I could tell, no one tripped on Fuzzy.

Chapter 3

We reached the far side of the bridge without incident, and found ourselves in a small subdivision.  There were small cottages along the river, and further to the west, there were some larger homes. Large trees lined the streets, and small fences separated the yards.  I was sure that in the daylight this was a very beautiful place, one I might have only seen pictures in some of the books mom used to have. 

We walked north, passing under the big tunnel that connected the north and south ends of the subdivision on either side of the tracks.  The homes were quiet, the people either asleep or absent.  I didn’t see anything out of the ordinary, even thought we were looking for zombies.  Jake, however, didn’t miss much.

“Aaron, what’s strange about these houses?”  He asked.

I looked at the homes and didn’t see anything really out of the ordinary.  “I’m missing it. What is it?”

“The front doors are open on every other one on the river side,”  Jake said, pointing with his mace.

I’ll be damned.  He was right.  It was like clockwork, and very, very weird.  “I have a bad feeling about this
,” I said.

Julia nodded in the dark.  “Me, too.”

“We’d better have a look,” Jake said.

“What are we looking for?” I asked, stepped over a small fence that blocked off the yard from the street.

“Something that might tell why there was an outbreak up here,”  Jake said.  “They don’t just happen on their own these days.”

That was true.  Actual accidental outbreaks were very rare, and we had found that recently someone was causing them deliberately.  Why, we had no idea
, but we knew we had to stop them for the simple reason we were the only ones around that could.

I reached the door and waved back the other two.  “I got this.  Just hang on.”

Julia frowned but didn’t say anything.  I knew I might have to soothe some feelings later, but right now, I didn’t have the time.  I left my sword on my back, since it was almost useless inside a room that wasn’t as big as a classroom.

I stepped through the door and looked around
carefully.  The house looked like it was lived in, but there wasn’t any activity. I moved through the living room and looked into the kitchen.  The place was neat and clean, so someone must at least take care of it.  I carefully opened a cabinet and found canned food there, so I knew somebody had to call this place home.

I stepped back into the living room and moved towards the hallway that led to the bedrooms.  At the nearest door, I looked in and saw a small form sleeping quietly on a bed.  The little one was snoring softly and
it was blissfully unaware of any danger.

I closed the door carefully and stepped across the hall towards the other bedroom.  I felt a little weird, since I really had no real explanation as to why I was there
, except for the fact the door was open.  Someone could seriously take a shot at me and no one could blame them.

In the other room, things were very different.  A man and woman lay on the bed, and both were breathing heavily.  They were on their backs and covered in sweat.  Their eyes stared blankly towards the ceiling, and didn’t respond when I tapped carefully on the dresser with my tomahawk.  I stepped closer,
and then pulled out my small flashlight.  I had a bad feeling about these two and needed to be sure.

Replacing the clear lens with a blue one, I shined the light carefully on the couple’s faces.  Their skin glowed yellow under the blue beam, a sure sign they were infected with the virus.  I had very little time, as their breathing was slowing down, and soon they would slip away, their bodies reanimated by a virus that
just refused to go away.

I pulled a length of cord out of my pack and tossed one end under the bed.  Circling
around, I pulled it up and stretched it across the pair’s necks, effectively pinning them to the bed.  I flipped it under the bed again, and this time stretched it across their stomachs, keeping their arms from rising up.  As I finished, their breathing stopped.  From this point, I had about an hour.

I ran outside and grabbed Jake and Julia.  “We
have a problem,” I stated, and filled in the other two.  They were shocked at first, but got serious enough when I mentioned the child.  “We have to check the rest of the houses with the open doors.  I have a feeling we’ll see a lot more of this. “

Jake bared his teeth slightly, a sure sign he was pissed off.  “We have to get the kids out if they’re uninfected.”

“Quit talking to me and move, then,” I said.  Jake threw me a look, and then was off down the street.

Turning back to Julia, I said, “Take care of yourself.  I don’t know what’s in the rest of the houses, but chances are they’re infected.”

Julia nodded and was off like a wraith.  I went back into the house and checked on the couple.  Their eyes were still closed, so I used my tomahawk to send both over the divide fully.  Once that was done, I went back to the other bedroom and carefully gathered up the small sleeping form into a snug bundle.  The little guy, who couldn’t have been older than three years, slept through the whole thing.

Leaving the house, I moved towards the next one with an open door, and waited until Jake came out.  He was leading a t
eenage girl and a small boy, both of whom were trying to hold back tears.  I spoke to the girl and got her to take the small bundle from me.

I motioned Jake to the side. “Same thing?”

“Looks like it.  Both parents were infected and about to turn.”

“Way too coincidental.  You thinking what I’m thinking?”

“If you’re thinking about Julia’s ass, no, I’m not,” Jake said casually.

I almost missed what he said, and when I had finally processed it, he was already off, heading towards the next house in the line.  I bit off my retort, especially when I realized I
was
actually thinking about Julia’s rear end.  Shaking my head, I went past the third house down the line just as Julia exited, carrying a small bundle.  It was a little boy, no older than three months.  I exhaled slowly, trying to contain my rising anger.  If his parents had turned and found him, likely they would have consumed him entirely.  Not a fun thing to think about.

Chapter 4

Julia looked up at me and frowned, and I was about to speak when Jake waved me over to the last house on the row.  I ran over quickly, followed by Julia and a small collection of weepy, sleepy kids.

“What’s up?” I asked, wondering what the trouble was.

“Need you to see something, then tell me what you think it means
,” Jake said.