The Zombie Zovels (Book 1): Zombie Suburbia (29 page)

I didn't feel too afraid, we hadn't run into any zombies, and zombies wouldn't bother us if they didn't
know we were inside. As long as we were quiet and they didn't see the candlelight from outside we
would be fine. I locked the front door again and left the key in it. The back door also had a key in it,
but I had no intention of going out the back door after dark.
We all met up back in the front room, the house was dimly lit as we had blocked out all of the light.
Stacey was walking around with my flashlight. She was been over the top, it wasn't that dark.
I set up candles and realized Stacey and Lane had vanished.
“Where'd they go?” I asked.
“Lane said something about a basement.” Jasper replied, moving his foot around. He'd taken his
shoe and sock off.
“How does it feel?”
“Sore, like I sprained it.”
“You're lucky you didn't break it. How did it happen?”
“We were doing flips.”
“And you flipped off?” I said, trying not to laugh.
“Don't laugh, I used to be really good at it, I'm just out of practice.”
“Well, I hope you learned your lesson.”
“No more trampolines.” we both said together.
“And stop doing dumb shit!” I added.
Stacey and Lane came back into the room carrying bottles. On closer inspection I saw they were
wine bottles.
“There is, like, a hundred bottles downstairs.” Lane said, lining them up on the coffee table.
“I'll get some glasses.” Stacey said, already halfway down the hallway to the kitchen.
“Err, no, we can't get drunk in the middle of Zombieland.”
“Alex, what zombies?” Lane said.
“Just because we can't see them doesn't mean they're not there.”
“You worry too much, Al, you need to relax.” Jasper said, pulling out a joint.
“You're going to get high and drunk?” I said disapprovingly.
Stacey walked back in with
four
wine glasses and a corkscrew.
“Um, no, you're not drinking.” I said.
“Alex, you're not my mom.”
“Alley,” Lane called. I ignored him.
“Yes, but I'm apparently the only one with a brain in this room.”
“Alex,” Lane said, lifting me to my feet, and pulling me out the door.
He let go of me and I walked down the hallway, and into the kitchen. Lane stopped in the doorway
and pulled out his cigarettes, lit one and watched me as he took a drag.
“This is crazy!” I said, hopping up onto the counter.
“We haven't seen one zombie today, and we've been in loads of different houses. Not a single
zombie. Relax!” he said, walking over to me and pushing his way in-between my legs.
“Ugh, don't say relax, Jasper says relax and it just pisses me off.”
“Okay, you need to take a night off.”
“From what?”
“From worrying. Stop worrying about everything and everyone. Just for tonight can you try to act
like a normal teenager.”
“If either one of them pukes on me I'm locking them outside.”
Lane laughed. “I saw a bucket in the basement, will that do?”
“I don't like Stacey drinking, she never has more than a glassful of alcohol back at the prison.”
“She'll be fine, we're all here to look after her, and I think this is the safest town we've ever been in.
Just trust me, a few glasses of wine and you're going to forget what you were even worrying about.”
“Okay, but she's not getting high. You can't smoke that until she's gone to bed. Agreed?”
“Agreed! She'll giggle the fucking house down.” he said.
“Tell Jasper to smoke it when she's passed out. The drink will probably knock her out and she'll be
dead until morning.”
Lane took a drag and blew the smoke away from my face. He knew the consequences of blowing
directly in my face usually resulted in a slap to the cheek.
He leaned closer, grabbing the back of my head, pulling me toward him, and crushing his lips to
mine before I could object.
He was such a good kisser, I found it hard to resist once he pushed his tongue into my mouth. He
tasted of smoke, I used to hate it, now I couldn't get enough of it, it was
so
Lane.
He pulled away, I looked up him, and he kissed the tip of my nose. I had come to realize, Lane
kissing me on the end of my nose was his way of telling me how much I meant to him.
He lifted me off the counter with one arm and set me on the floor. He picked up my hand and led
me back to the living room. He sat down on the couch and pulled me onto his lap.
Stacey had uncorked six different bottles and was in the process of sampling them all.
She decided on one she liked then handed me a glass of red wine. I was so not a wine drinker.
Lane took the glass from me and had a sip, wrinkled his nose, then looked at me and shrugged.
I lifted the glass out of his hand and took a sip. I didn't know a thing about wine, all I could say was,
it tasted fruity.
The evening passed in a blur. The drink went straight to my head. I hadn't eaten lunch which didn't
help. I'd only consumed one protein bar since we'd left the prison and half a bottle of water.
I remember two glasses of wine, laughing, joking, more wine, strip poker, me running around the
living room in my underwear with Lane chasing me, another glass of wine, getting dressed again,
lots of wine... then I vaguely remember Lane carrying me up the stairs, me giggling, falling off the
bed, my panties vanished, Lane was suddenly naked... then there were a few images of us, our
bodies naked and entangled in bed together... then nothing.

A loud smash woke me up. My head pounded and my stomach felt queasy. I slowly sat up and
stayed deadly still, wondering if I'd dreamed it.
How much did I drink?
The flame from a candle flickered, still burning.
Lane was asleep next to me, but nothing ever disturbed Lane when he was asleep.
I heard a clattering, possibly from the kitchen. I checked my watch 1.20am.
Another crash, this time from the hallway, and it sounded like someone (or something) just knocked
over the small table that was down there.
“Lane,” I said, shaking him.
“No, I don't wanna a Pop-Tart.” he mumbled.
“What? No, Lane, wake up. I think there's a zombie downstairs.”
Lane's eyes shot open and he sat up.
“What happened?” he said, holding his head.
“Well, apart from the fact we drank too much, I just heard a load of random noises downstairs.”
Lane threw the covers back and jumped out, I followed suit and quickly tugged on my jeans. My
bra was nowhere to be seen, but I was in a rush so I yanked on my T-shirt, stuck my feet in my
boots, and searched around for my hoodie, then I remembered I'd left it downstairs. Well, I think I
had left it downstairs
Crap.
Lane picked up his bat but I couldn't locate my bat or my gun. My head swirled and I swayed into
the dresser. I was still drunk. I knew it was a bad idea to drink too much. I must have left everything
downstairs.
I helped Lane lift the dresser away from the door, trying to be as quiet as possible whilst moving it,
not wanting to alert the zombie (or zombies) we were upstairs. We could just stay in our room, but I
had to check on Stacey, I had left her downstairs with Jasper, they might even still be down there
passed out.
Lane crept to the other bedroom, it was empty and the bed was still made. Where was Stacey and
Jasper? Lane gingerly tiptoed to the stairway and I stayed close behind him. A loud thud came from
the living room, it sounded like someone falling over, or a zombie tripping over the coffee table. I
urged Lane forward, he looked over his shoulder.
“Sorry! Just hurry up already.” I said in a hushed tone.
Lane gripped the bat and held it up, I realized I didn't have anything, and quickly grabbed the
decorative vase from the table at the top of the stairs, I, at least, had something to throw. We
descended the stairs and saw the candles in the front room were still burning. Lane had just stepped
off the bottom step when we both heard a giggle.
Stacey's giggle.
Lane lowered the bat and looked at me relieved. He walked into the living room more at ease. I
placed the vase on the couch and looked at the pair of them.
Stacey and Jasper sat on the floor cross-legged in front of each other, chucking
M&M's
into the air,
trying to catch them in their mouths.
“Oh, hey... you two. I thought you'd gone to bed?” Jasper said.
I rubbed my eyes and yawned. “Well, we were until you two woke us up. What are you still doing
down here?”
I didn't get a response from either one of them. They both fell forward onto each other giggling.
“Is she high?” I asked.
“Guilty!” Jasper said, as Stacey chucked a handful of
M&M's
at his face, they bounced off
everywhere. Stacey burst out laughing, followed by Jasper.
I couldn't be bothered with this. I grabbed Lane's arm and was about to pull him back upstairs...
when a glass smashed on the tiled kitchen floor.
We all froze.
“Did you invite anyone else?” Lane asked quietly, lifting his bat.
Stacey squeaked and stood up, backing across the room.
I glanced around for my bat and gun. Nothing was where I had left it. My bag wasn't anywhere.
Maybe I had taken it upstairs. The drink had severely affected my memory of earlier. I grabbed the
fire poker instead. Jasper stood there not sure what to do, and Stacey hid behind him. Great help
those two would be. The noises continued along the hallway, I could hear the zombie brushing
along the wall on the other side, knocking picture frames to the floor. I positioned myself on the
other side of the doorway and Lane stood near the drapes. The room was dimly lit, maybe it
wouldn't see us.
I looked back at Stacey and Jasper, they were gone, I could only assume they were hiding behind
the
La-Z-Boy
together.
The zombie walked in, leaning to one side. It walked straight past me. Lane nodded his head at the
zombie. My turn first I guess.
I crept up behind it and took the first swing, striking the fire poker across its back. It grunted but
didn't fall, trip or stumble, which was what I was hoping for. It turned around to see what had struck
it, but Lane was already in front of me swinging his bat. The zombie fell onto the couch and Lane
cracked the bat across its back again, causing it to groan loudly. It sounded more annoyed than hurt,
they rarely reacted to pain. Stacey straightened up with Jasper by her side and we all watched Lane
beat the crap out of the zombie. No one would be sitting on that couch again.
“How did this get in?” Lane asked, before whacking the zombie on the head again.
Stacey and Jasper looked at each other with guilty expressions.
“Did you leave the back door open?” Stacey asked.
“Me? You came in after me.” Jasper said.
“What were you doing outside? We locked the doors for a reason. What are you, complete
morons?” I said.
“We found some sparklers and took them outside.” Stacey said.
I shook my head and Lane looked at me briefly, probably thinking the same thing I was.
What were they thinking?
Stacey screamed from the corner of the room. I spun around to see another zombie entering the
room. Lane moved in front of me and swung at it, and I darted around it. I needed to shut the back
door before any more wandered inside. I ran into the hallway and skidded to a stop as another two
dark shadows blocked the kitchen doorway.
“Two more!” I yelled just as something bumped down the stairs.
Another zombie came tumbling down the stairs head first. They never could master coming down
the stairs.
“Make that three,” I added.
My guess was Stacey and Jasper had attracted a lot of attention, making too much noise outside. I
should have shut them in the other bedroom and barricaded the door.
I pushed the coat stand to the floor, hoping to slow down the two on their way through from the
kitchen.
I heard Lane yelling at Jasper to help me. The first zombie tripped over the coat stand and the other
tripped over the other zombie. With those two temporarily down I turned my attention back to the
one at the bottom of the stairs, that had somehow managed to get its foot stuck in the banister.
Bonus for me.
Jasper appeared in the hallway, shaking like a frightened dog.
“Deal with that one,” I said, pointing to the one at the bottom of the stairs. The easiest one to take
care of.
The other two were trying to stand back up, using each other as leverage. It wasn't working in their
favor and they kept falling over each other. I drove the fire poker into one of them. It went straight
into its neck. I yanked it back out and struck it on the head. The other one clawed at me and I
rammed the poker into its eye.

Ugh!
Jasper screamed behind me. I turned around to see him backing away from the zombie. He was
holding the ax but wasn't doing anything with it. The zombie had freed its foot and was lurching
toward Jasper. Lane ran into the hallway and swung at the zombie, and it spun around like a
ballerina and landed on the floor.
Something grabbed my arm. Both zombies were clawing over each other to get to me. One was
severely hemorrhaging from the neck and the other only had one working eye. I pushed one away
using my foot and it fell backward. The other one dived at my legs and knocked me down. A gust of
wind blew through the hallway and I whipped my head back to see the front door wide open.
Damn Jasper.
Lane jumped over me and hit the zombie with the bat and I wriggled out between Lane's legs.
Stacey dashed out from the living room and out through the front door.
“Jasper!” she called.
I chased after her, and grabbed her from behind, covering her mouth.
“Be quiet!” I urged.
Outside was dark, with only the soft glow from the moonlight. My eyes darted everywhere. We had
to get back inside. Outside every shadow looked like a zombie. I took her hand and tried to lead her
back inside, but she slipped her hand out of mine and took off running across the street.
“Stacey!” I hissed, not sure what to do.
I walked backwards, toward the house, watching as she ran through an open door across the street.
Something bumped into me and I flinched away about to ram a fire poker through whatever it was...
But Lane grabbed my arm preventing me.
“Where are they?” he asked.
“I don't know. Stacey just ran through that door, I think she followed Jasper, I'm not sure.”
“C'mon, stay close to me.” Lane said, pulling me with him.
We ran across the street. My eyes scanning the trees, expecting a zombie to step out from behind
one. I saw something moving down the street but didn't look too closely and quickly followed Lane
into the other house.
Inside, the house smelled musty, with a hint of cat wee.
“Stacey? Jasper?” I whispered.
“What the hell is going on? There weren't any zombies around during the daytime.” Lane said.
“Maybe they were asleep, they do sleep, right?” I said, watching the front door. I couldn't shut the
door as it would block out the only light there was.
A noise came from the front room. Lane edged closer to the archway leading into the room.
Then the wind chimes outside the front door jingled, and another zombie came charging through the
front door at a rapid speed. I moved aside and fell into the wall and Lane batted it on the head
before it knocked into him. I heard a whimper, but it hadn't come from the zombie. It came from
inside the dark room with the archway. Lane was already going badass on the zombie, and I crept
inside the room with the fire poker out in front of me, so if a zombie came running toward me it
would hopefully impale itself. I heard someone crying.
“Stacey?”
I was inside another living room, this house was laid out differently, with a long living room and
dining table at the other end, and patio doors letting light in. There was another archway leading
into the kitchen.
“Alex,” Stacey snivelled.
“Where are you?”
“Behind the drapes.”
I looked both ways. The front window had blinds, the patio doors had drapes.
A loud scream came from the kitchen, I stopped and stayed still. It was a newbie scream. The
newbie didn't run into the living room, instead, it ran along the hallway, heading straight for Lane.
“Yeah, take that, bitch!” Lane said from the hallway, taking care of the situation.
I hurried over to the drapes and something from the corner of my eye caught my attention. More
zombies were standing in the kitchen. I counted three. They hadn't seen me, yet.
“Stacey, come here, now!” I whispered. “We need to go.”
The drapes moved and she peeked out, but the zombies must have heard me and were all rushing to
the archway, getting stuck as they all tried to get through at the same time.
“Run!” I said, backing away.
Instead of running toward me she rattled the patio door and slid the door open and ran outside. I
snaked around the armchair, coffee table, and ran to the archway, trying to warn Lane, but was
greeted by a zombie. I backed away and saw two of the zombies chasing Stacey out the patio door.
The zombie in front came at me, I swung at it, but this one had a few more brain cells left and
actually dodged out of the way. That had never happened before. I stood open-mouthed for a few
seconds by the reaction, before trying a new tactic, impaling it through the stomach.
Yep, it didn't see that coming.
Over its shoulder I could see Lane making use of the shoe rack, launching shoes and boots down the
hallway.
“We need to get out of here!” Lane yelled.
“Tell me about it. I'm already gone. As soon as I get my fire poker back.”
The zombie reached for me, I leaned back, still very aware my arms were bare. I shoved my foot
into it and the fire poker slid out as the zombie stumbled backward into the hallway, where Lane
rammed a stiletto heel into its eye socket. Another zombie appeared, it bypassed Lane and ducked
inside the archway, heading for me. I backed away holding the fire poker out in front, waiting to see
if it was stupid enough to run into me. A high-pitched scream suddenly echoed in my ears. I
whipped around just as a newbie launched itself into me, knocking the fire poker aside. The impact
from the zombie caught me off guard and I could feel myself falling backward before I even
realized what was happening.
I crashed through the glass coffee table, with the newbie on top of me. I screamed as pieces of glass
cut my skin, then the zombie screamed, hungry for me. I grabbed its shoulders pushing it back as it
opened its mouth, snapping at me, trying desperately to take a chunk of my face.
“Lane!” I screamed.
This situation was getting way out of hand, I was about to be eaten alive if I didn't get this thing off
me.
I managed to roll it off me, sitting up to reach the fire poker. I grabbed it and stabbed the zombie
through the chest as it sat up to reach me. I jiggled the fire poker around inside it and it soon fell
back onto the floor. Out of nowhere zombie arms wrapped around me, and I felt the weight of a
body fall onto my back. It smelled of rotten vegetables and garbage. I dived forward, the zombie did
the same, grabbing my legs and clawing its way up my jeans. I kicked it in the face, but it tried to
bite my other leg. I crawled forward trying to get back on my feet, but the zombie was quick to
climb on top of my legs again, and I fell forward, my hands slid across the carpet, through pieces of
broken glass. My elbows dug into the glass as I tried to pull myself away, but this zombie was larger
and heavier than me. I felt its hands on my back, and pressure as it pushed me back down to the
floor.
I called out for Lane and within seconds the weight of the zombie lifted off me, I rolled over and
saw Lane ass kicking the zombie into the fireplace.
The outline of someone next to me had me scrambling to my feet, the other zombie I thought was
dead-dead, sat up and turned its head, looking at me, like something from
The Exorcist
, even after I
was sure I'd stabbed it through the heart. I realized I should have just gone for its brain like normal.
The fire poker was still sticking out of its chest. I shoved my boot into its face and it fell backward.
I stood over it stamping it in the head repeatedly until it stopped moving, I pulled the fire poker
from its chest and Lane grabbed my arm and pulled me to the door. He was in such a rush I nearly
tripped over my own foot. We made it out of the house without running into any more zombies.
I followed Lane down the garden path, picking glass from my arms. Lane was my eyes and ears
looking everywhere, I was too distracted de-glassing myself. My hands were in pain and covered in
blood, my blood, it was so painful I could hardly grip the fire poker.
The trash cans rattled behind us, we both spun around and Stacey came running down the driveway.
I looked across the street at the house we had originally come out from, a zombie stood in the
doorway, holding something up to its mouth, eating it... another zombie's arm. It saw us and
discarded the arm. Stacey bumped into me from behind, clinging to the back of my T-shirt.
“Quick, get inside.” Lane said, ignoring the single zombie, and looking down the street.
I peered around Lane down the street, wondering what he had seen. A group of zombies were
standing around on the street corner. Lane took off running for the next-door neighbor's house. He
was quicker than us and was already at the front door rattling the doorknob. The door wasn't
opening so he jumped over the small hedge that divided the properties and tried the next door. We
followed him over the hedge, my jump was more of a trip and fall, but Stacey was beside me and
we managed to steady each other. I looked back at the other zombie, it was a slow mover, it wasn't
going to catch us anytime soon. It was the zombies approaching from the end of the street that
concerned me more. I counted six. Two of them were fighting over something, probably another
zombie limb. Lane and Stacey were already inside waiting for me. I ran through the front door into
another dark hallway. Stacey turned the flashlight on, checking the other doorways and up the stairs.
Lane slammed the door and grabbed Stacey's arm and dragged her down the hallway with him. He
threw open another door. I thought he was about to shove her inside the cupboard under the stairs,
instead, he pushed her into a garage and reached back for me. He guided me inside and quickly shut
the door.
I cautiously walked around the small car that was parked in the garage, checking for zombies as
Stacey shone the flashlight through the windows of the car and along the back wall. It was all clear.
Lane was already maneuvering a chest freezer in front of the door. Stacey and I rushed over to the
garage door. We both found a tin of paint to stand on to see out of the small windows, looking for
Jasper.
“Should I shine the flashlight through the window?” Stacey asked.
“Not unless you want them to know we're in here.” I replied.
“What about Jasper?”
“Jasper shouldn't have run off.” I snapped.
“He was scared.”
“And so was I, but I didn't run off and leave you all behind.”
Lane shushed us and we turned our attention back outside. I couldn't see the other zombies yet and
the one that had been following us was gone. I saw movement from the side of the house opposite.
“Look, there, by the house.” I said.
Jasper limped across the grass, still holding the ax, and ducked down behind a trash can.
“What's he doing?” Stacey asked.
“Hiding.” Lane answered.
The group of zombies started to come into view, one by one, walking down the middle of the street.
It was the creepiest thing I'd ever seen. The two in front stood up straighter than the rest, and
appeared to be sniffing the air... could they really smell us? Or blood? Was that even possible?
It was too late now for Jasper to run back to the house without getting seen. We all watched
anxiously as the group moved past. Every time one of them looked our way we all ducked down,
but it was dark in here, I didn't think they could see us. Well, I hoped they couldn't see us. Jasper
hadn't moved and was still hiding behind the trash can. A thud from inside the house made us all
jump, and we all looked at the doorway. Lane had done a good job barricading it with extra crates
and he had also placed a large toolbox on top of the freezer. No zombies would be coming through
that way anytime soon.
Stacey gasped. I quickly looked back outside, another zombie was making its way along the side of
the house, behind Jasper.
Stacey held up the flashlight and shone it through the window, moving it from side to side to try and
get Jasper's attention. He spotted the light and carefully looked around, and noticed the approaching
zombie behind him. He stayed down low and limped into the street. A frightening scream filled the
air and Jasper started limping faster. I could see panic and fear all over his face.
“Open the door!” Stacey screeched.
I moved out of the way and Lane rattled the garage door, but it didn't budge. I moved along and
hopped back up onto the paint tin. Jasper had just made it onto the driveway when one of the
newbies from earlier came running toward him. Jasper pulled something out from under his jacket, I
didn't know what it was... until I heard the gunshot.
He hit the newbie right in-between the eyes and it fell to the sidewalk like a rag doll. Another
zombie appeared on the other side and he shot again, then the group descended and all I heard was
gunfire as Jasper tried to defend off the group.
“It's locked.” Lane cursed, then ran back to the freezer. “What's happening?” Lane called.
I didn't answer or look away and watched Jasper as he hopped up the driveway, still shooting.
Another zombie appeared from under the hedge, its legs were in pieces so it dragged itself toward
Jasper, trying to catch up to him. Jasper got distracted shooting another newbie and the crawler
grabbed Jasper's ankle and tried to bite him. Jasper looked down and took his eyes off the group...
and the group attacked. It was like a feeding frenzy, all biting, and taking chunks off each other to
get to Jasper.
Stacey screamed and I looked over my shoulder at Lane, he was just sliding the freezer aside, he
looked back at me and I shook my head. He stopped moving the freezer and bolted back to us and
looked through the window.
After a few moments, Lane lifted me off the tin of paint and set me on the floor.
I didn't have to see outside to know what was going on... I could tell by the screams coming from
Stacey's mouth. Jasper was gone.
Lane picked Stacey up, she put up more of a fight, trying to reach for the door to see outside. I
darted back to the other door and pushed the freezer back, which was extremely heavy, it took quite
a few pushes, then I quickly stacked everything back on top, and anything extra I could find.
Stacey's screams continued. Lane restrained her arms and held her against him, he covered her
mouth and the screams came out muffled. It was too late now,
they