The Decaying World Saga Box Set [Prequel #1-#2 & Books #1-#2]

by Garza, Michael W.

  Jenn reached the door as Jake stomped the top stair and disappeared down the center aisle. She leapt up to the seat and the bus came to life. The wheels were turning when Jafar and Michael reached the entrance into the station. Chris ran out in front of the bus and the three men picked up the wagon in one lift. Jenn continued the turn, bringing the bus between Chris, Jafar, and Michael and the mass rushing toward them.

  She could see the pursuers clearly, and the sight brought a sudden horror to her that stole her breath. There were children among them, their bodies covered in stains of blood and muck. Their faces were wild as animals. Several vehicles sped up the road behind the main group moving toward the gas station.

  Jafar was up the stairs first, lifting the front of the wagon as he went. Chris and Michael shoved at it from behind until Jafar was forced to toss his end over the front seat and let the contents spill out onto the floor. Chris jumped over the wagon as it crashed down on the stairs. The bus sped up as Jenn finished her turn. Michael dodged the wagon as it slammed out on the street, and then he jumped on the bottom step.

  All three men gasped for breath, their eyes focused on the trailing group now falling behind. Jenn made sure Michael cleared the opening, then slammed the door shut and stomped her foot on the gas. It wasn’t until they were back on the highway that Chris stopped watching for someone to come roaring up the road after them. Jenn caught Jafar’s eyes in the review mirror, and he read her mind.

  “You don’t even want to know.”

  16

  The road was surprisingly clear all the way into Utah. Jenn stayed at her post and drove the bus the rest of the day. No one bothered to ask what happened in Grand Junction until they stopped for the night. Jafar wasn’t willing to go into the details, but Michael provided enough to answer everyone’s questions. Apparently, there were people who could survive a bite from the infected and not become the hideous things that walked the streets at night.

  Jafar had taken down the first one in a house while they were searching for food. The man could talk and appeared to have control of his mind. He tried to catch Michael off guard when Jafar caught him. They weren’t sure what he had planned for them if he’d caught them, but Jafar had a good guess. A group of them surrounded the house where Michael and Jafar found all of the supplies.

  They fought their way out, killing several of the attackers and spending most of their ammo in the process. They were on the run from then on. It was only by chance that they were headed for the gas station when the bus was refueling. Jafar confirmed these others had vehicles and firearms. He guessed there were several dozen, but he didn’t know much more.

  Jenn stopped the bus for the night, and it went by with little more than a rustle of leaves. The woods on either side of the highway were deathly quiet. Everyone had a turn at watch with Jake and Alicen pulling one shift together. The sun rose early, but the temperature did not rise with it. There was a frost on the grass reflecting the sunshine as it broke over the trees.

  The bus argued with Jenn as she tried to start it up. It took three tries before it came to life with a deep growl. Chris spent the morning going through the rations. There was enough food to last several days if they kept it light. Most importantly, there were a couple of old milk jugs filled with water. He divvied out a breakfast for everyone and then focused on the road.

  Chris’s limited knowledge of the highway told him they would reach Las Vegas by the afternoon if the road was clear. Everyone kept to themselves. No one was willing to pass up free downtime. Even Jake and Alicen kept quiet. It was closing in on two o’clock when they passed a road sign declaring their arrival.

  Las Vegas 10 miles

  “Do you know where you’re going?” Chris asked.

  Jenn nodded and then shrugged. “Kind of. We’re looking for the strip.”

  “And you know how to get there?”

  “I know the highway will get us close.” She made eye contact in the mirror. “We’ll follow the signs from there.”

  “We never really talked about how we’re going to do this.” Chris struggled with how to approach the subject. “I mean there’s no way for us to be sure—”

  “I know,” she said bluntly. “I have to try.”

  “But we—”

  “I won’t put us at risk.” She focused back on the road. “If there’s no chance, I’ll move on.”

  Chris wasn’t sure he believed her. The city came into view, and he took a seat. The famous welcome sign greeted them, and the bus pulled past it as Jenn slowed their speed. They were surrounded on both sides by low-rise buildings a moment later. The stillness hit Chris profoundly. Uneasiness settled over the group.

  Jenn brought the bus to a crawl as she started the turn toward the Las Vegas Boulevard exit. Massive structures rose on the skyline as the first hotels came into view. She finished off the turn, but then she was forced to slam on the brakes. Chris looked out over the main throughway at a battlefield.

  The road was covered from one side to the other with overturned vehicles and an assortment of charred and bullet-ridden barricades. There were clear areas of established defense, making it easy to imagine where someone had dug in for a last stand. The bottom floors of the once breathtaking hotels were in varying degrees of destruction. It was impossible to tell who or what fought in the war, but the fight had been enormous.

  “We don’t want to risk getting the bus stuck in there,” Jenn said. “We might not be able to turn around if we have to.”

  Harrah’s Casino was a good distance from where they stopped. Chris calculated they would be out in the open for several minutes if they walked it. He looked back and discovered Jafar already gearing up.

  “I’m not staying here again,” Alicen said defiantly.

  Jake joined in as he shoved the remainder of a bag of chips in his coat pocket. “We all should go.”

  Chris turned to Jenn.

  “I have to go,” she said.

  He didn’t put up much of a fight. Chris was leery about taking everyone, but he saw the logic in not leaving a small, poorly armed group behind. They set off on foot, with Jafar and him up front and Michael in the rear. The remainder of the group moved between the protected line.

  The devastation to the buildings was astounding. The scene was something out of a war film. Chris couldn’t figure out why the place would have taken so much damage. He guessed there was a fight for supplies, but there was no way to be sure. The troubling part was a gut feeling that the fight, whatever it was for, had taken place very recently.

  The group hiked in a well-trained military formation with each member scanning their surroundings. The air was still and musty with little moving in either direction. There was a tinge of gunpowder hanging above the street. The maze of burnt out vehicles and piled barricades felt purposefully placed. They were midway between the bus and Harrah’s, when Chris felt Jenn tap him on the shoulder. He got down on one knee and brought the group to a halt. Jenn moved up close and whispered.

  “I saw someone.”

  Chris looked over his shoulder. “Someone or something?”

  She peered at the hotel, her eyes running up the length of the building. “I’m pretty sure I saw someone in a window up there.”

  Chris examined the building, and his mind wandered. He wasn’t sure if Jenn wanted to see someone more than anything else. He also wasn’t sure what she might do if they didn’t find anyone or even worse if they did and they were all dead. He nodded and then focused on Jafar.

  “Let’s keep going.”

  The distance took longer to cross then anyone would have guessed. The rest of the way was covered by an elaborate maze of vehicles. Chris expected something to jump out at him around every turn, but nothing ever did. They reached the main entrance of the casino and settled in under the covered valet stand.

  Chris approached the front doors alone and peered in through the broken glass. An assortment of slot machines and gaming tables stood stacked across the entrance. Several ho
les in the defense made it appear as if the line was given up a long time ago. The open floor beyond was shrouded in shadows, but there was enough light to provide a glimpse of what awaited.

  The casino floor was in shambles. The tables were either in pieces or stacked on top of one another. A thick layer of debris covered every inch of the floor, and there was little to give away what happened to the place. The lack of blood caught Chris’s attention.

  He got everyone on their feet with a wave and headed for the doors. Jafar pushed over a blackjack table from its resting place and a way opened up. They were inside at the base of the steps when the first sounds reached them. Chris held his hand up, but everyone was already frozen. A slight thumping echoed from deeper in the interior, but it was difficult to locate the exact location.

  “I knew it,” Jenn said and then started off. “They’re here somewhere.”

  Chris grabbed her by the arm as she went past. “Hold on.” Her expression soured. “There’s no telling what that is.”

  “We only have one exit,” Jafar reminded everyone. “If we go in any farther, we risk being trapped.”

  “I didn’t come all this way to stand by the door,” Jenn said.

  Chris tried to calm her down. “We need to make sure we can get out if we have to.”

  Jenn didn’t appear convinced, but she stopped pulling away from him. The gaming area ran the entire west side of the floor. The east way opened to a circular lobby. A pair of escalators rose up from the center of the entryway toward the second floor. Chris kept his focus on the noise.

  He started across the gaming area, keeping close to the front wall. They edged slowly between the demolished tables and the sound grew the farther they went. Chris had his eyes set on an emergency exit against the far wall. He stepped away from the last of the debris, and Alicen’s voice cut through the silence.

  “Oh boy.”

  Chris spun around with his gun at the ready in time to watch the little girl shoot out from the line behind him. Jake swiped at her arm but missed as she whizzed by. Alicen’s eyes were bright and focused, a wide smile firmly planted on her face. She dodged between two tables and swept something up off the floor.

  “It looks brand new.”

  She was yelling when she brought the doll up to her face. It did in fact look brand new, but Chris wasn’t as excited about it as Alicen appeared to be. Jake reached her by the time everyone heard a new sound wash across the gaming floor. A sudden recognition ripped the smile from Alicen’s face as the dreaded moan of the dead echoed from the bar across the room. Chris urged them to move.

  “Come on, let’s go.”

  Jafar stood at the ready as Jenn, Sarah, and then the kids ran past him. The moaning intensified tenfold in a matter of seconds. The first of them pushed through a swinging door behind the bar, and the putrefied figures poured out onto the main floor in a tidal wave of rotted flesh. They were sparsely clad with the full extent of their decay open for all to see. The moaning was harmonious to a point, all focusing their lust for the living on the new arrivals.

  Chris backed away, pulling Jafar with him. He turned to find Jenn standing at the emergency exit, door open, but refusing to step through. He reached her a moment later and pushed past everyone to discover what caused the fixation. The stairwell was blocked, both leading up into the hotel and down into the basement levels. There was no way to count the number of broken bedframes, battered armoires, and an assortment of bedroom furniture.

  A lone beer bottle dangled from the middle of the staircase. It was hung from a string that ran up higher than the sunlight cascading through the open emergency door would allow Chris to see. He took a few hesitant steps, never forgetting the surge of death moving in their direction. He pushed himself up on his tiptoes, tugged at the bottle, and pulled it free.

  “We’re running low on time.”

  He heard Jafar’s warning, and out of the corner of his eye, he saw him raise his pistol to fire. Chris removed a rolled piece of paper from the top of the bottle, opened it up, and read the words. The inscription was short, to the point, and would have been useful a few minutes prior. Pull open the main set of elevators on the second floor and climb the ladder. Chris rolled his eyes. “Now you tell me.” He pushed his way back into the main room. “We’re not getting up this way.”

  The dead filed in fast. Chris urged the group back in the direction they came, staying near the exterior wall, and hunched as close to the ground as they could manage. The leading pack of the dead was comprised of two dozen or more. Most were clad in dealer’s vests, still proudly displaying the casino’s patch over the shirt pocket.

  Chris neared the midway point of the gaming floor and knew at once they would not make it to the main doors. There was a fight coming and only a precious few seconds remained. He slid his rifle over his shoulder and barked at Jafar, “Grab that end.” He motioned to the opposite side of a roulette table and Jafar appeared to understand his approach.

  There was no sense in using the few remaining precious rounds. Chris was moving again, this time with him holding the roulette table at one end and Jafar at the other. Everyone else pulled in close behind the table. The dead closed in all around them, their arms stretched out for a piece of living tissue.

  “Hold it steady and wait for my signal,” Chris said.

  He was straining. The weight of the table was about as much as he could bear. He clenched on with the tips of his fingers, leaning forward to keep his momentum going. He kept one eye on the dead as they closed in only a few feet away and another on the short set of stairs beyond them which led up to the foyer.

  “Now!”

  Chris and Jafar rushed forward and gave the table a solid thrust. Michael followed through from behind and the result was a monstrous groan from the zombie horde pushing toward them. The table crashed down on the front of the group and smashed them back into the rest. The move trapped the front line on the ground and forced the remainder to move around.

  Michael came out in front of Chris and reached the stairs first. They looked back at the true size of the dead now filling in the floor from every available opening. Chris climbed the stairs and pulled Alicen up in front of him. Jafar backed up one step at a time, and Chris turned his attention on the grand foyer.

  Chris had a decision to make and he had to make it quickly. If he believed the note, he would have to lead them farther into the hotel to reach the elevators. There was a good chance the dead would overtake the entrance and make it impossible to get back out. If they went out into the safety of the street, they would probably never be able to get back inside.

  “The note,” he heard himself say. “It said we need to get to the elevator.” His eyes were on Jenn although he was speaking to everyone. Her face told him she understood the dilemma.

  “There’s got to be another way,” she said.

  “They’re coming.”

  Chris didn’t need to look to know what Alicen was talking about.

  Jake tried to interrupt the stare down between Chris and Jenn. “Guys?” He pulled at Chris’s arm. “I really don’t think it matters.”

  Stacks of furniture pressed against the doors skewed the view outside the shattered entrance. The open space between the fittings showed through to shifting shadows. Chris pushed past Jenn and came to a stop beside Sarah who was already taking in the scene outside. The streets were alive as figures stepped out from adjacent buildings and hidden locations between the burnt out cars and trucks. The sight left little to debate and Chris headed for the escalators.

  “Doesn’t look like we have a choice anymore.”

  17

  Everyone was running and Chris wasn’t sure how to keep them going in the same direction. The wide foyer and central corridor of the casino bent to the right, leading directly to a bank of escalators. The broken mechanical lifts led up to the second floor where at one time thousands of visitors a year would check into their rooms. Presently, the lifts might be the only thing that could save C
hris and the others from the army of undead racing after them.

  The view of the street in front of the casino was blocked behind them, not that anyone was looking. The stacks of furniture barricading the doors had little to do with the distortion. A mountain of maggot-infested walking corpses pressed their decomposing bodies against the broken glass trying to get in. Another legion of the undead made their way up the short set of stairs from the gaming floor and were now pushing into the foyer and the hall beyond.

  A chorus of flesh-eating desire raced after Chris and the other survivors. There was little time to do anything but run. Jafar hit the escalators first and rushed to the top. Chris stopped at the bottom and urged Jenn and the others up ahead of him. Alicen was beginning to fall behind, but Michael and Jake grabbed one arm each and dragged her to the middle of the pack. Chris started up the stairs with the dead only a few steps behind, and the smell of their rot engulfed him as he went.

  He took three steps at a time and nearly slammed into Jafar when he reached the top. The others were still moving, now crossing the once plush red carpet leading to the check-in desks. The elevators and any hope of escape lay against the far wall on the other side of the wide ticketing floor. Chris and Jafar looked down on the dead, and neither man had the words to express the situation they found themselves in. The entire first floor corridor was filled from one side to the other with bodies. A sea of putrid flesh, all twisted and dead, pressed together trying desperately to reach the moving bait.

  “What door?”

  Chris turned as the first of the dead pushed their way onto the escalator and clumsily started up after them. Jenn was passing the ticket desks and nearing the elevator doors.

  “How should I know?” Chris yelled.

  He counted eight elevator doors as he neared and a nefarious thought ran through his mind. Chris had bet their safety on a note, stuffed in a bottle, hanging in a stairwell for only God knows how long. What were the chances that whoever wrote the note was still alive, let alone still safely hidden away? Something told him they were about to find out very soon whether they liked it or not.