Z Island Series (Book 2): War After Z Island

by Osborne, Terrence Jr.

  “Don’t be. The time will come to where you will wish you weren’t tired.”

  Eddy tapped him on his shoulder and walked back to Sam’s group as Dexter stood there and thought heavily on what Eddy said.

  “We have to find her. That’s the only way.” Sam said.

  “Where do we start? Those men attacked me and the others killed Carlos and took Faith. That’s the first spot we look.”

  “We can, but you said Faith was shot in the leg, right?”

  “Yeah.”

  “So, we can find some blood trail that could lead us to her.”

  Dexter nodded his head, “Yeah. Yeah, that could work.”

  “Okay. Let’s go.”

  Sam and the others arrived at the camp along with the rest of the survivors. A little cloud of smoke floated into the air while others picked up the dead bodies and carried them outside the walls. Sam just stared. He watched the two traitor’s bodies being dragged away and frowned. The trust he had for these two men were real. They guarded the place to keep it safe. At least for themselves. Sam was trying hard to convince himself that new people can be trusted, but this made him second guess himself. Then there was Carlos. One of Sam’s friends for a limited time. Seeing him brought nothing but remorse and a threat to Sam. Carlos betrayed them too. Sam rushed into his house and slammed the door. Only Eddy saw him walk away and he followed behind him. When Eddy opened the door, he heard rambling upstairs that sounded like things being thrown around. He creeped up the stairs and followed the sound into Sam’s room where he was sitting in the middle of the room with everything messy around him. Eddy pushed the door open and looked at Sam.

  “Sam, what are you doing?”

  Sam instantly started crying and forced his head down. Eddy saw the broken side of Sam that he never thought he’d see. It broke him too.

  “Sam…you have to get up.”

  Sam wiped his eyes and nodded his head, “I couldn’t protect my mother and my son! The only thing I had left from the old world. It’s not right. Now innocent people died because I couldn’t kill them all. How many more people have to die for my mistake?”

  “Sam, that’s not your mistake to carry alone. It’s not your fault. I need you to know that. Your group has that weight too. I know since you’re the leader you feel like you’re supposed to take all the blame and all the weight of those who died under your leadership, but that’s not all on you! They follow you because you get up and fight! For those who died, for those who will fight with you and for you, for everyone. You risk your life for us and we’ll do the same for you. Sorry to brake it to you Sam, but eventually we’re all going to die. Me, Dexter, Jess, you. What matters right now is choice. Are we going to die of old age or by those ugly fucking things out there? I know you should grieve over your mother’s death. You deserve time to yourself, but think about what I said. No matter what happens, we’re with you. Look Sam, I never killed a human in my life beside the zombies and I don’t want to, but the day will come when I have to.”

  “I hope it doesn’t come to it.”

  Eddy nodded and walked out of the room and closed the door. Upon closing the door, Sam stood up and opened on of the drawers. He pulled out an album and flipped through it. It was an album that Sam had gotten from their house and it had all their pictures up until the world went to hell. As he flipped through it, he flashed back to those times. His dad teaching him to ride a bike for the first time, Matthew pushing Sam in the pool, Tina baking a cake for Trey, all happy moments. The terror flooded Sam’s vision as he tried to concentrate on the photos. The picture with all of them caught his eyes because it seemed odd. Their faces warped and it appeared to be dissolving. Sam wiped his eyes and looked closer to the picture. Sam looked at himself in the picture and noticed his face was perfectly fine. Suddenly, his picture stopped smiling and looked into his eyes. Sam jumped and threw the album away from him. Sam wiped his face and stood there thinking about what happened. He knew he was hallucinating, but it messed with him unlike anything he ever dealt with. His grief was worse than ever. Faith knocked on the door and walked in along with the others. She said nothing and immediately hugged him. Sam hugged her back tightly and sobbed quietly. Everyone else hugged around Sam as he cried, but Eddy stepped to the side and held his head down.

  The radio on Jess’s waist made a static noise and she picked it up, “Faith?”

  I don’t think so.

  “Who is this? Why did you take her?”

  Jess, calm down. Jason wants to meet you. All of you. The true leader of the new world. This is the only way we can assure Sam doesn’t try anything.

  “Just leave us alone. Give us Faith back and we will go our separate ways!”

  Please, we both know that’s not how we roll.

  “What do you want?”

  Sam.

  Everyone looked at Sam and he snatched the radio from Jess, “That’s bullshit! I know it’s not just me you want. You want all of us! We’re all the ones that killed Jason’s men!”

  Sam! So, nice to hear from you again!

  “Cut the fake act. Give us Faith and we’ll spare you.”

  Sam, please. Don’t try to be the big bad wolf. Don’t forget how things worked out recently. You’re in no position to make those kinds of threats. Come to the building downtown with the red markings and we’ll discuss things.

  “I’m going to kill you.”

  We’ll see.

  The radio disconnected and Sam sighed with frustration, “We have to get Faith back. I can’t lose her.”

  “Sam, I know what you’re thinking. We’re with you no matter what. I’m fighting with you,” Dexter said.

  Eddy walked up, “Same here.”

  “I don’t want anyone else to die.” Sam said.

  “We’re going to die one way or another. I’d rather die fighting for my life than live like this.” Dexter replied.

  Faith tried to look around and figure out where she was, but the sheet over her head prevented her from seeing anything. She overheard men talking and someone slammed her down on a chair. She struggled to get free, but one of the men slapped her and she groaned loudly. They tied her hands and feet to the chair and pulled the sheet off her head. Her hair flew across her face as she took deep, loud breaths and looked at the men standing around her.

  “What the fuck are you doing?”

  One man walked up to her and smiled. He was in his mid-30s and he was built with an even-shaved beard and slick brown hair. He gave a big creepy smile and leaned in front of her, “It’s so nice to meet you Faith.”

  “Who the hell are you?”

  He pulled out a large hunting knife and tapped it on her cheek, “I’m Jason.”

  “So, you’re the leader?”

  “More or less.”

  “What now? I die? If so, could you just get on with it.”

  “I love your heroism, but that’s not what’s happening. See, I have a plan in place, but I’m going to need help from all of you.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  Jason leaned closer to her ear and whispered, “I’m going to make Sam suffer in the worse way possible. Stop the bleeding on her leg. It’s almost time.”

  IV

  SURPRISE, SURPRISE

  "We are going to be gone for a while and I need you to stay here just in case.” Dexter told Eddy.

  “This isn’t fair! I should be coming with you! Is it because I haven’t killed anybody before?”

  “No, Eddy! I can’t lose you. Look, we all have risks we take every day and you being in danger is one of them. I can’t do it. You must stay here.”

  “This isn’t right. I should be fighting with you. That’s what brothers are for right? Protecting each other?”

  “Yes, that’s why you have to stay here. If I die, you should continue to fight. For me and the group. For those who won’t make it.”

  “Dexter-”

  “No more discussion. Please, just stay.”

  Eddy si
ghs, “Okay. Fine. I’ll protect the community I guess.”

  Meanwhile, Sam and Jess are in Eric’s house talking out their deal with Jason, but he wasn’t pleased.

  “You mean to tell me that you brought these dangerous men to my community! Do you know what you’ve done?”

  “Look Eric, it’s not my fault. We’ve been dealing with this since the outbreak. They created this and they won’t stop until they’re the only ones left in the world. We’ve seen them control so many people and make them do things that ultimately led to their deaths. We’re going to take care of them Eric. Don’t worry.”

  “And if you don’t?”

  “Then we’re all in trouble. I’ve never met Jason. Apparently, he’s the leader of everyone.”

  Eric sighs, “If things go south, do not come back here. You will do nothing but endanger us all.”

  “Eric, they already know where we are! Even if we do run, they will find us! Just…prepare to fight. Just in case. If you truly want to be a leader, convince them to fight with us. Let’s go Jess.”

  Sam grabbed Jess’s hand and walked out of the house. Eric moves the curtain and peeks out the window at Sam and Jess walking away. Maria walked up to him and wraps her arm around his body.

  “Eric, trust them. It’s not their fault.”

  “It’s their fault they’re here,” Eric removes her arms from around him, “and I can’t forgive them for that. They’re about to cause something that I fear will cost the lives of many of our people!”

  “Then fight!” Maria shouts.

  Eric was startled to hear her say that, “Maria, I didn’t create this community for us to fight!”

  “No, you created it to have the ‘perfect life’ you’ve always wanted. Look around Eric! This community is temporary! It isn’t going to last forever! We need to fight for this community to keep it stable for as long as we can.”

  Maria walked out of the room and left Eric to think about what she said. Sam loaded the vehicle with weapons and supplies as Jess and the rest of the group entered the vehicle.

  Eddy walked up to Sam and sighed, “Well, my big-headed brother told me to stay here. I should be with you guys right now.”

  “Eddy, you’re young. You have a lot to learn. Even in a world like this. What we’re about to do is something I don’t want on your mind. It’s best this way.”

  “Yeah, I know. I just want you to know that I will do anything and everything to keep this group safe.”

  “I know you will. That’s why we need you here.”

  Sam gets in the car and starts it. Eddy stood behind and watched as the rest of his group drove away without him. He understood why they did it, but at the same time, he felt distrust. Lisa and John walked up to him and tapped him on the back.

  “Hey, we have some questions?” John asked.

  Eddy smiled, “Of course!”

  Sam and the group stopped their car in front of zombies laying down in front of them. Sam put the vehicle in park and stepped out.

  “Let’s kill them now. They’ll follow us.”

  Sam slammed the door and caused all the zombies to jump up and charge after them. Sam grabbed his machete and started killing the zombies while Jess and the others circled around them and picked them off one by one. After they were done, they heard noises coming from around the corner.

  “What is that?”

  Sam listened carefully as his eyes widened, “Runners. Get in the car now!”

  Sam rushed into the car as a huge horde of runners came running from the neighborhood and yelled at them. Sam forced his foot on the pedal and drove forward to get pass them.

  “Come on! Come on!” Sam yelled.

  As Sam drove passed them, nearly all the zombies impacted the vehicle hard enough to send it flipping over on its side and dragging across the street. Bleeding heavily from the forehead, Sam jumped up and tried to reach for his gun, but the runners burst through the front windshield and grab Sam’s arm. Their teeth nearly meet his flesh before he got ahold of his gun and shoots them in the head. The other zombies reached through the windows and starts scratching at Dexter and David, but they managed to stab them in the head. Zombies surrounded them, more than they could handle, but they did not give up. Jess grabbed her gun and shot them in the head, but more came behind the dead zombies.

  “Their everywhere!” David shouted.

  “Keep going!” Sam demanded.

  One zombie snatched Dexter and drug him towards its mouth, but Dexter placed his knife in front of him and shoved the knife below its chin and pushed its head backwards. He then slides the knife down and opens its throat, causing blood to spatter everywhere as Dexter pushed it out of the way. They all got up and made their way to the middle of the vehicle while some of the zombies tried crawling in over the others. Sam grabbed his gun and shot the zombies in the front with Jess while Dexter and David handled the back.

  “How many are there?” Dexter asked.

  “Just keep killing!”

  Sam shot the last zombie in the front and looked around, “Alright. That’s it.”

  Sam walked over the zombies and ran behind the vehicle to kill the rest that were trying to get to Dexter and David. He grabbed one of them and crushed its head against the car and stabbed the other one in the head. As Dexter and David exhaled with relief, Sam grabbed the bag from under the zombies and opened it. Inside were extra guns and grenades.

  “Okay, they’re fine,” Sam closes the bag, “we need to go. It shouldn’t be that far now.”

  “How in the hell did that many zombies do that?” David asked.

  “Apply enough pressure, it’ll happen.” Jess replied.

  “It was the tires. They slashed them.”

  “Great!” Sam sarcastically mumbled.

  “Well, unless we want to deal with more runners or any zombies for that matter, we might want to get moving. Now.”

  Sam began walking down the road, leaving everyone behind. Jess runs up behind him, but doesn’t confront him when she noticed how determined he was to finding Faith. She slowed down behind him and stopped.

  “What’s wrong Jess?” Dexter asked.

  “He doesn’t want Faith to die, but we don’t know she’s alive.”

  “We have to believe that. That’s why we’re doing this, right?” David said.

  “Yeah, but…I don’t know.”

  They all ran to catch up with Sam as they glanced at the long view of downtown. It was miles away, but Sam didn’t want to waste any time.

  Jason throws water on Faith and scares her awake. She starts coughing and stares at Jason.

  “Don’t do that again.” Faith yelled.

  “You’re in no position to make demands young lady.”

  “I can do whatever the hell I want!”

  “Clearly.” Jason chuckles, “Faith, I don’t want to hurt you…yet. When they come, and trust me they will, we’ll be ready to play a little game. See, you did a lot of damage to my group. Yes, we are a very larger group considering we created the virus, but we are supposed to be the sole survivors to start the new world!”

  “Please, you know the virus got out of hand.”

  “And that it did! They were supposed to die a long time ago, but somehow, the virus has mutated. It got way out of hand and now we can’t stop it. So, the only way to deal with it is to survive it out.”

  “So why kill everyone?”

  “Oh, wow! You don’t listen at all, do you?”

  “I’m just saying, why waste your time trying to kill everyone when you could just wait it out like you said?”

  “We are, I don’t know why my group wants to kill everyone. I am a patient guy, but I guess it’s something about your group that makes my ass itch, so I must get rid of what pains me deeply. You know what I mean?”

  “So just finish the job already!”

  Jason pulls out his knife and presses it against her cheek, “See, I could do that, but it’ll be no fun! I want Sam to be here to experience it all!
I want him to suffer. What better way to do that?”

  Jason cuts her cheek and listens to her groan. He smiles and walks away while his men surrounded Faith.

  “I’m Drew.”

  “I don’t care.”

  “You’re a rude bitch, aren’t you?”

  “Yeah, I am. So, call me a bitch one more time.”

  “Bi-”