The Good, The Bad, And The Undead : A zombie Apocalypse (The Wild Wild Midwest Book 1)

by Gill, Bonnie

  "Oh no. You won't be any help until you're one hundred percent. You're going to stay here and make a plan for our next move. I think we're all getting a little stir crazy."

  "Why doesn't Dean, or Joey, or even Vinny make the plans?"

  "Actually, they have a few ideas they want to bounce off everyone, but they can't do that unless you're alert."

  "I'm alert." I widen my eyes at her.

  "Okay. I’ll go get them." She leaves the living room and comes back with everyone behind her.

  "I'm glad you’re feeling better," Dean says.

  Everyone takes a seat, including me.

  "Joey and Vinny are going to check out their house to see if anyone has been by there," Dean says.

  "How will you know?" I ask.

  "Oh, I set up a few booby traps before we left," Vinny says.

  "Did you know booby trap spelled backward is party boob?" I ask.

  Their mouths drop open. Except for Helga's, she's dancing around singing "Party boob. Party boob."

  "Taco cat backward is taco cat," I say.

  "Are you sure she's not on the drugs?" Dean asks.

  Star gets right in my face and stares into my eyes. "No, she's not. Her eyes look fine."

  "I'm just feeling better. Can't I be in a good mood?"

  Dean gives me a nod and continues. "Good. So, after Joey and Vinny visit their house, they're going to look for a truck. Hopefully a big semi."

  I look at them. "Do you guys know how to drive a semi?"

  "We'll figure it out." Joey winks at me.

  "Okay, what are we going to do with the truck after we get it?" I ask.

  "Well, Sebastian told us he gave you the map to his summer home. By the way, I hope you still have it." He raises his eyebrows in question.

  I let out a deep breath. "Yes, I do."

  "Good. We've been listening to the radio broadcasts. They have been reporting about hordes of gabbies heading this way. Tens of thousands of them. We're going to pack up the truck and a couple pickups and head north." Thousands of the undead? I can't even imagine how much damage they'll cause. We won't stand a chance.

  I look over at Joey and Vinny. "Are you guys cool with this?"

  "Yeah. We're going to leave a note for our moms," Vinny says.

  "But what if someone else finds it?" I ask.

  "They won't. It's going to be in a secret spot. Don't worry," Joey says. He seems so sure of himself.

  "We'll need to fill everything up with fuel before we leave. If any of the gun shop guys are still alive, they're probably near the gas stations," I say.

  "How come?" Ben asks.

  "That's what we'd do," Vinny says.

  "We'll need to split our supplies up evenly between the pickups and the semi. Just in case we have to abandon one in a hurry. Oh, we should weld some heavy brush guards on Dean's pickup and fabricate one for the truck. You guys will have to help me." I hate that I can't lift anything. Only one more week, and I should be totally healed.

  "We can do it. Where will we find the guards?" Joey asks.

  "There's a truck accessory store on Route Twelve, it's only about a mile from here. We're going to have to clear the store so I can work in there," I say.

  "I can help with the welding," Dean says.

  "Joey and I are going out this afternoon. Is there anything else we need to get?" Vinny says.

  "You shouldn't go alone. What if ten of those guys corner you?" Star asks.

  Joey winks at her. "Don't worry, we'll be fine."

  We eat a big breakfast of pancakes and fresh eggs from our chickens. Ben found more chickens, and now we're up to eight hens and one rooster. We keep them separated, but we let one female mate with the male. We're hoping for babies. We may have the last chickens left on the earth. The meat we'd collected spoiled a while ago, and I'm craving fried chicken. It'll be a long time before we can have any.

  Vinny and Joey pack up the SUV and say goodbye. Star and Daria follow them out to the garage. I can't help but grin. I'm happy they're finding companionship, even if it took the apocalypse to bring them together.

  "Raven, do you want to take the drone out?" Ben asks.

  "Yes. We can cover them from the sky so they don't get ambushed. We'll have a great view from above.” The weather is warmer, and I even saw a glimpse of the sun.

  We see the guys leave as we walk into the garage with the drone.

  "I hate it when we split up. We should've all went to make sure they're okay," Star says.

  "I have a feeling those two will always be okay," Ben says.

  Star narrows her eyes at him.

  "They're weaponed up and know how to use them better than anyone else. Don't worry," he says.

  “He has a point. These guys are like their own army. I'm glad they're on our side.” I pull the drone out and set it up. Daria and Star watch the tablet over our shoulders. We follow the SUV from above, and so far, it looks like they're the only ones out on the road except for a bunch of gabbies. Most of the undead are slow, so they shouldn't have anything to worry about. We see them head toward the industrial park. "They must have decided against going to their house first.”

  I circle the drone around the area. There's a crowd of gabbies mulling around inside the locked gates. Star brings the radio up to her mouth.

  "Wait, " I say. "What if our coms are being monitored?"

  "They're in danger," she says.

  "No, not really. They know the gabbies are there. Look." I point at the guys driving to the gate.

  They stop the SUV. Joey gets out with a Smith and Wesson five-hundred. It's called ‘the world's most powerful and lethal handgun’ for a reason. He raises it in the air and points to the weapon, showing it to the drone. Yeah, he knows I'm drooling over it right now. It's total overkill, and he's probably been wanting to use it since this whole apocalypse started. I hear the recoil kicks like a pissed off kangaroo. He checks the chamber and points. One of the gabbie's head explodes. He looks at the drone, laughs, and points to the headless zombies. Oh, yes, we see what your big, bad gun did. He has to know the noise is going to attract every gabbie and bad guy in the area. What a dingbat. "Now he's in danger. I'd think twice about hooking up with him. He's an idiot," I say to Star.

  Joey tosses his huge gun into the SUV and pulls out a semi-automatic pistol. Both he and Vinny shoot non-stop. Gabbies are dropping like poops from a rabbit. I fly the drone around the area. I still don't see any vehicles.

  Several semis are parked outside of a warehouse. Vinny opens the doors and checks for keys in each one while Joey keeps watch. Okay, they have this down. Vinny checks five before he gives the thumbs-up signal.

  "Yes," Star says, and she pumps her fist in the air.

  Dark smoke blows out of the smokestack, and then the truck pulls forward. Joey hops back into the SUV and follows him out the gate. I tail them down the street with the drone.

  "I'm so glad they found a truck," Daria says.

  "Let's hope no one sees them," I say.

  "There you go again being all negative," Star says.

  "I'm not. We just need to be ready." Yeah, I was ready, and look at where it got me—captured and beat up.

  The battery light on the drone blinks.

  "Already?" Daria asks.

  I turn the drone around. "The battery must not have been fully charged."

  "Oh, I forgot to tell you, earlier this morning, before I was kicked off the internet, the CDC said it has a vaccine for the Gabhart virus. They had just sent it out right after the virus hit."

  Star and my jaws drop.

  "Why didn't you say anything? This is huge," says Star.

  "I forgot. Anyway, it does us no good. We don’t know where it was sent or if it even works. It doesn’t say the vaccine was tested on healthy people." Daria shrugs.

  "True. We have no idea if it was sent to hospitals or pharmaceutical companies. If we had more information, we could look for it," I say.

  "All I need is a working computer with
internet access. Right now, most providers are offline. If I can get into a CDC location, who knows?" Daria says.

  We're still watching the screen and only see a few gabbies here and there.

  "I wonder if you're vaccinated, and a gabbie bites you, will you get sick and turn? Or if it'll only work on the virus itself? Do you think it could turn a gabbie back to human?" Star asks.

  “Nope. They’re dead but maybe it’ll just kill whatever is powering their body.” I land the drone, and pack it up before heading inside.

  "I'm hungry. Do you guys want something to eat?" Star asks.

  What I want, is a nice fresh salad. It's funny because I've never liked salad before, and now I have a craving for it. It's probably because I can't have one. "Sure."

  "Me too," says Daria.

  Star pulls out three big cans of pork and beans. She tosses them into a large pan, cuts up an onion, squirts ketchup on it, and sprinkles brown sugar on top. She places the pan on the gas stove. It's not long before the sweet smell saturates the kitchen.

  My stomach growls.

  "If I had known you were that hungry, I would've made something quicker," Star says.

  Ben comes into the kitchen. "Something smells good. Is there enough for me?"

  "Of course," she says.

  I pull nine bowls from the cabinet. "How long until the beans are ready?" I ask.

  "A while. How long do think Vinny and Joey will take?" she asks.

  "It depends on whether or not they run into trouble."

  Star's jaw drops.

  "They're fine," I say. Only my gut has a feeling the last part of their journey won't be as smooth as the first part was. "Look, if they're not back in a couple of hours, we can go look for them."

  "What? Did you see something on that screen you're not telling us?" Daria asks.

  "No. Nothing at all. It's just that I have this little feeling."

  "Stop it right now. If you love me, you'll totally shut up," Star says.

  I should shut up, but I can't stop worrying.

  The radio static grabs our attention. "Gabbies, about twenty are heading from the west. Weapon up people," Dean says.

  "Twenty or so?" Daria asks.

  "Raven, you need to sit this one out," Star says.

  "Copy," I say into the radio.

  "Raven, come take my place," Dean responds.

  Urgh. I climb the stairs and immediately realize why I should take watch instead of joining in on the fun. I'm still sore and could hurt myself again.

  Dean passes me on the way down. “We got this. We need you to snipe from the window.”

  I sit in the seat by the window.

  "Are you there, Raven?" Mrs. Garcia calls from the room across the hall. Just hearing her sweet voice is comforting. I'm glad she came with us.

  "Yes?" I say.

  "Keep me posted. I can't see them from this side."

  "Will do." I look through the binoculars. One. Two. I count up to twenty gabbies. This batch is all shapes, sizes, and backgrounds. I have a great view from the window.

  Star, Daria, Dean, and Ben are outside. Dean and Star have pistols with silencers. Good, they're not going to mess around. There's too many.

  Dean and Star start shooting, and they kill two right away.

  Daria swings her tire iron and clobbers an overall-wearing grandpa gabbie in the head. He falls, and she gives him another smack just to be sure.

  Ben has a crowbar and sinks the claw part into the eye of a teenage girl wearing pink gym shoes.

  Dean and Star shoot more. Eight are down. I scoot closer to the window.

  "What's happening," Mrs. Garcia calls out. Oh, yeah. I'm supposed to report what's going on.

  "Eight are down, and twelve to go," I say.

  "Good."

  Ben cracks the skull of a male gabbie missing one arm. Daria smashes her tire iron into the head of a teen boy zombie. Star and Dean kill three more.

  "Twelve down, and eight are left," I say. My nerves are trembling. I want to help.

  A huge undead male is heading for Ben. Someone needs to shoot him. I move even closer to the window, as though it’s going to change anything. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Dean's rifle leaning against the wall. I open the window and grab the weapon. I take aim. Ben needs to get out of the way. Dean also has his gun trained on the giant gabbie but can't get a clean shot either. Ben does a backflip thing and catches the big guy under the chin with his foot. The gabbie staggers back from the momentum. I aim and squeeze the trigger. The bullet skims his head, but he still stands. Ben runs toward him and stabs his crowbar into his eye. The big gabbie sways and then drops to the ground.

  Star and Daria together have killed two more.

  "Five are left."

  Star and Daria are swinging their weapons. Star must have run out of rounds. Dean takes another one out with a bullet to the nose.

  "Two are left."

  Ben strikes a blonde gabbie with big boobs in the temple. Her breasts jiggle before she topples over. Ben stares at them with awe. Star and Daria see him watching the gabbie’s chest and point and laugh. Yeah, Ben will never live this one down. They all stop and zero in on the remaining gabbie.

  "One left."

  The last one was a little gabbie boy of about eight years old. Everyone is looking at him. I imagine no one wants to kill a little kid. He bares his teeth, and brown stuff drips out of the corners of his mouth.

  I sight in on him with my scope. The little gabbie is barefoot and wearing dinosaur pajamas. His mouth is wide open like a baby bird. My finger is on the trigger, but I can't pull it. He’s just a little kid.

  Dean finally pulls his pistol and shoots him. The kid gabbie plummets face-first onto the pavement. Dean tightens his lips as he slowly holsters his pistol. My heart feels for him. It's the first zombie kid we've had to destroy. I guarantee Dean's having guilty feelings about it. I know I couldn't kill the little gabbie.

  I hear the timer buzzer go off. I press the button on the radio "The beans are done.”

  20

  It's been three hours since Joey and Vinny headed to the accessory shop. We've been trying to get ahold of them using the radios, but they aren’t responding. Star and Daria pace the living room. There is so much tension saturating the room, you can scoop it with a shovel.

  "We need to go find them." Star slams her hands on her hips. I get she's worried. We all are. I want to look for them too.

  "Yeah. We can't sit here and do nothing," Daria says.

  Joey and Vinny are capable men. Whatever they're caught up in must be huge. I call everyone into the living room. The room seems bigger without the Italian cousins.

  Dean, Mrs. Garcia, and I stand off to the side while everyone else sits down. Helga is playing with a small stick. Whatever floats her canoe. Sometimes she's like a child. At least she still appears to have an innocence about her. I just hope it doesn’t get her into trouble later. We have to protect the weaker among us, especially since she's part of our little family now. She flashes me a huge grin, and sure enough, there's still green stuff stuck in between her teeth. I make a note in my head to give her another toothbrush and floss when we get back.

  "We're leaving to look for Joey and Vinny. The drone's battery is too weak to take out, so we'll have to go by vehicle," I say.

  "It's too dangerous. You know those two. If they can't get out of whatever they found, we don't stand a chance," Dean says.

  "I'm not going to stand by and let them get hurt. Not after they didn’t hesitate to come to my rescue,” I say.

  "Yeah, well they had explosives. We don't," Ben says.

  Tears stream down Star's cheeks. Daria wraps her arms around her midsection. They're both upset, and I don't blame them. Joey and Vinny are good guys, and we don't know how many are left in this world.

  "I can take a truck and visit the accessory shop just to take a look around. I'll park a few blocks away and sneak over there," I say.

  "We should wait for the drone to rech
arge," Dean says.

  "Have you seen the sun today? Me neither. It may take the drone a week to fully recharge with the cloud cover. We don't have that kind of time. Who's coming with me?" I look into everyone's eyes, one by one.

  Star and Daria nod. So does Ben. Dean purses his lips. Mrs. Garcia and Helga stand with wide, scared eyes.

  "What I can do to help?" Mrs. Garcia asks.

  "You can stay here, and hold down the fort," I say.

  "That doesn't seem like helping," she says sadly.

  "You can pack up, and get everything together. We may have to leave quickly," I say.

  "I'm going with you. Who knows what kind of trouble you'll find?" Dean says.

  A huge weight lifts from my shoulders. Having Dean around is comforting, to say the least. But if something happens to him, I'll feel like crap. "Okay, we leave in half an hour. Star and Daria, load the trucks with weapons and ammo. Don't forget the bug-out bags. Mrs. Garcia and Helga, you can keep watch and protect the house." I look at Ben. "It's up to you. Do you want to stay or go?"

  He glances at us and then to his grandmother. He doesn't want to leave her, that much is clear. If we all go, they'll be here alone. "I'll stay." His shoulders hunched.

  "Joey and Vinny set up traps around the house. They will keep you safe. We should only be gone for an hour or so. We're taking two vehicles, so if we run into anything crazy, we can split up," I say. I know he wants to go more than anything, and I feel kind of guilty just reminding him of the defenses in place.

  "I need to stay," he says.

  "Okay, let's get ready." I clap my hands to put everyone into motion.

  Star and Daria head to the garage, while Dean and I pull out a map of the area. The accessory shop sits on the main four-lane street. Across from it is the lake. Next to the shop is a fast food restaurant, and on the other side is a car dealership. There are residential houses behind it. The shop has a nice sized parking lot. I have no idea what we'll run into while we're there.

  Star and I take my truck, while Dean and Daria are in his. We set off, taking the backroads so we can sneak in. We park two blocks behind the shop. I take out my binoculars and peer around a house. There must be five-hundred zombies crowded around the accessory shop. A sinkhole forms in my stomach, threatening to suck in my lungs. How the heck are we going to get them out of there? Are they still alive? I don't hear any gunfire. Star takes the binoculars from me.