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

by Osborne, Terrence Jr.

  “Maria.”

  “Hi.”

  Maria hugs the man then walks towards Jess, “Jess, guys, this is Marcus, Jenny, and Hank. They were gone when you came, but they’re…well, the best of what we had.”

  “Good. Nice to meet you.”

  “Too bad I can’t say the same.” Hank said.

  “Excuse me?”

  “Well, since we already have enough to deal with, I don’t think adding a sociopath to the list is okay.”

  “This isn’t their fault!”

  “Please Eddy. Spare me!”

  “Look Hank! I don’t know you and you don’t know me! So, to keep this going as smooth as possible, I don’t want you coming with us.”

  “That’s not for you to decide.”

  “If it could involve my life, it does.”

  “Maria!”

  “Look, there’s only so much I can do. Whenever you go on expeditions, you never let Eddy go.” Maria backfired.

  “Yeah, you never let me go!”

  “You’re reckless and funny. That’s a weakness.”

  “Wow. Thanks.”

  “Same scenario. You’re dangerous to the mission.”

  “I’m coming.”

  Jess sighs and walked up to Hank, “The second you do something I don’t like that could kill us, I will not hesitate to kill you.”

  “Did you just threaten me in front of my team?”

  “Take it how you want, I don’t care. That goes for all of you.”

  “Watch yourself!” Jenny said.

  “Who are you?” Jess asked.

  “I’m the wrong one to threaten.”

  “Then I suggest you take my advice.”

  Jenny stared at Jess with hatred, but Jess didn’t care. She wasn’t going to let them ruin the only opportunity she had at killing Jason.

  “We move in the morning, come with your fucking attitudes out the window or don’t come at all.”

  Jess walks out of the room while they all stood around with nothing to say. Dexter and Faith walked out also, but Eddy stopped at the door and turned around.

  “Should have let me come,” he smiled.

  Faith walked out of the house, but quickly noticed Lisa and Steven throwing knives at the tree. She walked up to them and exhaled.

  “Lisa!”

  “Oh. Hey, Faith.”

  “What are you doing?”

  “Practicing throwing knives. It may come in handy one day.”

  “Yeah. Maybe.”

  “I’m serious!”

  “Okay!” Faith laughs, “but I’m going to teach you how to shoot a gun.”

  “Oh, my god! Are you serious?”

  “Yes, I am.”

  “Wow, okay! Cool!”

  The night rose again and Jess laid in her bed, but her body was filled with anxiety. Her legs were shaking, sweat dripped down her forehead, and her brain felt like it was going to explode inside her. She jumped up and rushed to the restroom. As she looked at herself in the mirror, she took a long observation at what she had become. She’d become broken. Unlike anything she’s ever seen.

  “Come on Jess. Pull yourself together. You got this.” She said to herself.

  Jess looked up at the ceiling and smiled, “I’m still here Sam. I’ll always be here.”

  “What are you doing?” Sam asked.

  “What? I’m giving our son a bath. He needs one.”

  “Daddy, tell her I’m a big boy!” Austin says.

  Sam smiles, “Mommy, Austin says he’s a big boy now. You got to let him wash his own butt.”

  “Yes, but Austin doesn’t do it right.”

  “Yes, I do!”

  Jess sighs then smiles, “Okay, buddy. Wash yourself, but do it right.”

  “I’m going to show you!”

  “Alright.”

  Jess wipes her hands on her legs and stands up. She walks out of the restroom and started folding the clothes on the bed. Sam wraps his arms around her and rests his chin on her shoulder.

  “That’s your son.” Sam laughs.

  Jess laughs, “Yeah, but you gave him to me.”

  “And I don’t regret it.”

  Sam kisses her on the cheek and helped her fold.

  “So, is this somewhere you want to stay? You think we can do it?”

  “Yes. It’s perfect for him. It’s perfect for us.”

  “Yeah.”

  “Austin, you’re okay honey?”

  “Yes ma’am!”

  “Where’s Tina?”

  “Talking with Maria. I think she likes it here too.”

  “Who wouldn’t? I haven’t had something this close to home in a long time. Just don’t let anyone bother you.”

  “Yeah. I like…uh…what’s his name…”

  “Who? Eddy?”

  “Yeah! Him. His attitude seems nice, but then again, you can’t trust everyone.”

  “Yeah. We’ve ran into enough of those, huh?”

  “Yeah, no kidding.”

  “Well, if anyone or anything tries to attack this place, we’ll handle it. Like we always do.”

  “Okay. Well, let me get Austin.”

  Sam walks into the restroom and talks to Austin while Jess smiles and finishes the clothes.

  “Jess?” Maria interrupted.

  Jess shook her head and chuckled a little, “Yes?”

  “I was coming to check on you.”

  “I’m fine.”

  “I know you’re not Jess. I know what you’ve lost. You can’t possibly be okay right now.”

  “I’m trying to fight through it. Jason is the reason Sam’s dead. I have to kill him.”

  “Jess, I know you think you have to do this, but you’re not alone.”

  “I know.”

  “Then why won’t you admit-”

  “I’m hurt! Okay? Is that what you want me to say? I’m fucking hurt and I want Jason dead! I lost my son, Tina, David, Trace, John, and Sam! I’m…hurt!” Jess cries.

  Maria rushed up to Jess and hugs her tight, “It’s okay to fight back, but don’t deny your feelings. Don’t tuck them away.”

  “I miss them.”

  “I know you do. I didn’t know them long, but long enough to know that they were good people.”

  Lisa shot the gun and flinched her eyes at the sound of the bullets shooting out of the gun, but Faith laughed and watched her miss the tree many times.

  “Are you ever going to-”

  Lisa shot the tree and smiled widely, “Yes!”

  “Yes, but keep the gun away from everyone and keep your finger off the trigger.”

  “Oh.”

  Steven looked at her and smiled. Lisa, blushing until her cheeks were red, turned around and chuckled.

  “So, I just need to practice more.”

  “Later. Time to wrap it up.”

  “Alright.”

  Lisa hands Faith the gun and walks away with Steven. They both laughed and pushed each other as Faith walked up to the tree and noticed Lisa hit the tree more than once. It surprised her that she did it.

  “Wow.”

  Eddy was glancing beyond the gate on his roof, staring at the truck that was parked close to the community. He was ready to fight Jason and his men, but he also worried about what could happen. He didn’t want to blank out and hurt someone he cared for, but he doubts it would happen. Suddenly, Eddy got an idea that was absurd, but it could work.

  “Oh, my God!” Eddy said to himself as he climbed down the roof and went inside.

  Dexter was staring at his knife as he placed it back into his case and tossed it on his bed.

  “Dex!” Eddy shouted from downstairs.

  “What?”

  Eddy ran into his room, “I have an idea.”

  “That’s too risky!” Maria said.

  “Yeah, Eddy. It sounds great, but…it is risky.” Jess agreed.

  “It is, but they did it to us. We can do it better.”

  “How?”

  “We find the bigger, scarier
ones.”

  “What bigger, scarier ones?”

  “No, Eddy!” Dexter said.

  “It could help us! A lot!”

  “This isn’t going to be easy!”

  “I know, but in the end, it could help.”

  “Do you know what you are asking of us?” Hank asked.

  “Look, if you’re not comfortable with the idea, there’s the door.”

  “Look, I don’t know who you think you are now, but-”

  “But what?” Dexter said as he stepped in front of Eddy.

  “What are you going to do?”

  “Please, stop this!” Marcus interrupted, “Hank, sit down. Please.”

  Hank scoffs and sits on the chair while everyone stood around each other and thought to themselves.”

  “I’m not against the idea, but I don’t think now is the right time. We don’t have enough time for that. We need to attack now.”

  “Okay, fine. It was a good idea.”

  Jess laughs, “Yeah, it was.”

  “Okay, so when do we go?”

  “I can do now.”

  “I can too. If it could save everyone here or out there, I’m down.”

  “Hank?” Maria asked.

  “We don’t need you.”

  “Bitch please.”

  Jess walked up to him and punched him in the face, causing him to fall. Jenny grabbed her gun, but Jess grabbed her wrists and twisted it. Jenny screamed as Jess threw her on the floor and grabbed her gun while Dexter pointed a gun at Marcus and Eddy drew his gun at Hank and hit him in the face.

  “What the fuck Eddy!”

  “Look, I don’t know why you hate us so much, but we’ve done nothing to you. You have no idea what we’re dealing with. I’ve been facing his men for five years. Running, fighting, killing. It wasn’t easy! Recently, I’ve lost my child and my husband and I’m not about to deal with this shit right now! If you’re going to hate me fine, but do not forget who’s the real enemy here!”

  Hank stood up, “Look, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to be such an asshole, but I’ve lost men too. Recently, and I’m just…I’m not in a good place right now.”

  “I understand, but if we can’t get along, you can’t be with us. It’s a liability.”

  “Yeah, but you don’t have to worry.”

  “Okay.”

  Jenny stands up and holds on to her wrist.

  “I’m sorry.” Jess said.

  “Yeah, so am I.”

  “Now that we’ve got this out of the way, can we get on with killing Jason?” Marcus asked.

  “Yes. We move out in 2 hours.” Jess declared.

  Jason walks around his community and observed his men getting prepared at the front gate. He smiled as his right-hand man, Drew, came to his attention.

  “Sir, we got word from our mole on the inside.”

  “And?”

  “There planning to attack. Today in about one hour.”

  “Great.”

  “Great?”

  “It’s time to end this little dance that’s been going on.”

  “Then why don’t we just attack them?”

  “Where’s the fun in that? I’ll let them throw the first punch. We can wipe them out in one strike. I’ll let them feel like they’ve done something.”

  “And the mole?”

  “The mole will die along with them. Don’t you get it Drew? If you want to get what you want, all you have to do is sweet talk a couple of people.”

  Drew cracks a fake smile, “Good thinking Jason.”

  “You’re a good man Drew. This’ll all be over-”

  Gunshots were heard behind the community and Jason grabbed his gun and yelled for his men to cover the back. Suddenly, the two guards in the front were shot and Jason’s front gate blew open. A car came rushing in, but his men opened fire at the car. It ran over a couple of them, but it crashed into one of the shacks. One of his men went to check the car, but no one was there. The car was rigged to drive on its own.

  “Boss, there’s no one-”

  Someone shot him in the head as many people came flooding inside the gates. They hid behind the front buildings while Jason smiles and runs to his home. Jason’s men grabbed their guns and fired back at the people, but most of them were shot in the chest from the side of the walls. Jess was sitting in a tree with a sniper as she closely looked through the scope at the other men. Jess grabbed her radio and put her sniper rifle away.

  “Dexter, Hank. I saw him, he’s headed for the back building.”

  Got it! We’re on our way!

  Dexter and Hank planted the bombs on the back gate and ran away from it.

  “Are you sure this is going to work?” Jenny asked.

  “Maybe.”

  Once they got further away from it, Hank pulled the switch from his pocket and held it.

  “Alright, waiting on your command.” Dexter said into the radio.

  Jess watched Jason run into the building, “Okay, now!”

  Hank pressed the button and the gate exploded open. Smoke flooded the whole area and they couldn’t see anything.

  “Hold on!” Hank shouted.

  A few of Jason’s men came from the smoke firing their weapons, but no one was there. Suddenly, Dexter and the others came around the corner and shot the men dead. They all smiled with pride and approached the gate slowly.

  Jess and Faith met Eddy at the front gate and helped him fight off Jason’s men. Jason walked on top of his building and looked down at the battlefield inside his community. Anger flowed through his veins and he frowned with frustration as he squatted down and picked up a weapon. While firing at his men, Jess got back in cover to reload. As she reloaded, she noticed many shadows moving through the trees. She focused on the trees and noticed zombies coming at them. Runners ran past the walkers while a few crawlers ran through the trees.

  “Faith!” Jess pointed.

  Faith gasped and grabbed her radio while Jess tried to warn the other survivors on the other side of the community.

  “Guys! Fall back!”

  They looked her way, but the whole building blew up and the survivors flew against the gate and burned to death. Jess screamed and followed the smoke trail to Jason holding an RPG.

  “We have to retreat!” Faith yelled into the radio.

  What?

  “A herd is coming! I don’t know how big! Let’s go!”

  Okay! We’re on our way!

  Jason laughs and puts the weapon down.

  “Stupid bitches. That building was begging to be blown up.”

  He looked ahead and saw the horde coming, “Shit!”

  “Okay, guys. Let’s go.”

  “I’m not going.” Dexter said.

  “What?”

  “We came here to kill Jason. That’s what I’m going to do.”

  “No, Dexter. We can’t do this now!”

  “Fine.” Dexter scoffs.

  “Okay. Let’s go.”

  Hank ran around the community and shot a couple of zombies out of their way. Jess and the others met them halfway, but the horde was closer than expected. It was now or never.

  “Hey guys!” Jess said.

  “What do we do?” Faith asked.

  “We go back and get everyone out of the community. Jason’s going to attack us next. This plan went south.”

  “Where’s Dexter?” Eddy asked.

  Hank looked behind them and grunts, “Shit!”

  Dexter creeped up behind the men standing by the back door and stabbed them in the neck. He grabbed his gun and ran inside the building.