Dead & Alive Collection #1 [Books 1-6]

by Smith, I. J.

  A baseball bat swung at him, Jack allowed it to hit his thigh, locking his arm over it, he kicked out at the enemy, gaining control of the bat, Jack smashed against the man’s knee, a cracking noise could be heard followed by a scream. Someone grabbed him from behind.

  A female voice spoke as she held a knife to his neck, “Time to die fucker,” she told him.

  Jack launched his head back, grabbed her hand that gripped the knife. He turned and shoved the blade into her throat, he watched as the fat woman choked on her own blood and fell to her knees. Jack wiped away the blood that sprayed him.

  Alice still lay on the floor of the truck covering her head. Jack looked around and most of the people were now concentrating on the swarm of zombies entering. “Alice, come on,” Jack shouted to her.

  Nervous to move, she froze until Jack grabbed her hand, “We have to move,” he told her again.

  Getting out of the truck, they were confronted by the dead, “Round there, go,” Jack pointed to the side of the truck. Alice rushed past, as Jack pulled his machete and started swinging; looking back Alice watched Jack fight the dead.

  She could not help but be impressed by him, he was like a machine. She knew he was exhausted, hungry and hurt, but he just kept going. She watched as he took the head of a zombie with one swing, Alice could not believe his strength. He wasted no time in taking down the dead, he rushed to Alice, “OK, where are your husband and the others being kept?” he asked in a rush. She hesitated for a moment, while she looked around. “They are in large trucks, but no here, they must be on the next level,” She told him.

  “Shit,” Jack uttered as he looked around the dead were now overpowering and many of them now obstructed their path.

  He looked towards the entrance of the stairs, getting passed the zombies were one thing, but how many more living enemies were up there.

  He sighed, “OK, no matter what you stay with me, I move you move,” he instructed her.

  Not giving her chance to respond, Jack rushed towards the door. Weaving in and out of the zombies, he tried to resist getting involved in a fight that would slow him down. Suddenly a man appeared in front of him, Alice gave out a shocked scream, as she looked at his half-eaten face. He was still alive, it would have been easy for Jack to end his suffering, but the evil these people had committed he refused to give it. He punched the man in the chest, making him fall back into the path of the dead who quickly sank their teeth into him, tearing the flesh from his still living body.

  Showing no emotion, Jack gripped her hand and carried on rushing for the closed door. A zombie grabbed at Alice, pulling her back, with the knife Jack gave her; she quickly launched the blade up through the zombie’s jaw and pushed hard into its brain. The Zombie fell back.

  She quickly rushed to Jack’s side again and they made it to the door. It was locked, “Shit,” Alice spoke out. Jack simply kicked the door through, the hinges snapped off the wall. As they walked in, they were met by repeated gunfire down the stair towards them. They stood against the elevator doors, as it was the only place of cover from the flying bullets.

  Bullets smashed into the concrete wall, sending small bits of stone flying around, a small bit of debris hit Alice in the face. A small cut appeared, wiping her face; she asked Jack, “What now?”

  “Stay here,” he told her.

  She looked in shock as Jack pulled his sidearm and dashed for the stairs, quickly shooting and hitting a man in the neck, he fell forward towards Jack. Grabbing him, he used him as a shield against the other shooter, as bullets tore into the man’s back, Jack threw the body against the shooter. The man fell back hitting his head against the stars, before he could move Jack appeared and instead of wasting a bullet stamped on the man’s neck, snapping his head from his body like a piece of wood being broken.

  Keeping his gun held high, he called out to Alice, “Come on, quickly.”

  She stepped carefully to join him, the bodies of the two men lay on the ground, Jack was grabbing their guns, but threw them down when he realized there was barely a few bullets left. Jack slowly walked to the next level, the door was shut, the groaning of the zombie below echoed throughout the car park. He knew they would be making their way up, “Do you know where the prisoners are being held?” he asked her.

  Nodding her head, “On this level,” she quickly replied.

  “Stay behind me,” he told her as he opened the door.

  Moving slowly, he was surprised by how quiet it was, the burning oil drums made the only noise of wood cracking in the heat. The place was deserted; he could hear gunfire coming from the driveway, which led down below. He knew everyone down there would be too busy fighting the dead, this gave time to find the prisoners. Alice started to tap Jack on the shoulder in a panic, he turned to see a big tattooed woman standing there, she held a long blade in her hands. Jack pushed Alice behind him to protect her, nothing was said, the woman tapped the blade against her hand trying to intimidate him. Jack gave out a sarcastic laugh; he held his gun up and shook it at her. Her expression changed, her eyes looked side to side and without warning, she dropped the blade and ran away.

  Shaking his head in disbelief, “They don’t make them like they used to,” he joked.

  “THERE!” Alice shouted out, as she ran towards a large truck.

  Quickly following, he grabbed her arm, “Wait,” he told her sternly.

  She was in a hurry to open the doors, but Jack was more cautious. He looked around the truck, nothing stood out as a trap, “OK,” he uttered.

  Opening the lock, he pushed the door up, scuffling noises could be heard in the back. The back of the truck was pitch black; he knew there was people inside but understood how scared they must be. He turned to Alice, “Call out for your husband,” he told her.

  She moved towards the rear of the truck, “Zack, it’s me Alice,” she spoke out gently.

  From the darkness a male figure appeared, he was dirty, bruised and bloodied. He held his hand in front of his eye, the small amount of light shining through the door hurt his eyes. He stumbled forward looking for the female voice he recognized, “Alice, please god be you,” he spoke out.

  A tearful and emotional Alice, screamed out, “It’s me, I’m here,” as she cried.

  Zack rushed out of the truck and into her arms, he held her so tight she could barely breathe but she did not care. They stood holding each other as Jack coughed to get their attention, “We need to get you all out of here,” he told them.

  Zack looked strangely at Jack, “It’s OK, he is a friend,” she told him.

  Shouting back into the truck, “It’s OK come on,” Zack attracted the others.

  As they disembarked the truck, Jack was shocked and appalled at seeing there was over twenty people inside, men, women and children. He looked around the group looking for Frank, but there was no sign of him, he turned his attention back to Zack.

  “Hey, I’m looking for a man called Frank, dressed in similar clothes to me. Have you seen him?” he asked, concerned he was already dead.

  Jack showed is anger as he punched the truck, he looked around again, hoping to find another truck sitting amongst the rubbish those evil bastards had accumulated.

  “Wait!” Zack shouted to Jack, “They took a Zarina from here earlier and I overheard her being told she was needed for something important. If your guy is important to them, they wouldn’t put him in here with us,” he finished telling him.

  “So, he could be here,” he quickly responded to himself.

  Looking around Jack spoke out, “OK, grab whatever you can use for weapons and get the hell out of here, Alice will show you the way.”

  “We’re not leaving you,” Alice replied.

  “Yeah, we can help you,” Zack added.

  “Look around, you need to get these people out of here,” Jack replied, indicating the other prisoners who all looked scared and beaten down.

  Alice approached Jack, “You saved me, you have helped them. Now you need help,” she t
old him.

  He took her hand in his, “You got to go, you have to get these people out. Wait for me outside and then we can all put this nightmare behind us,” he told her gently.

  “You can’t do this alone,” she responded with a little emotion in her voice.

  He smiled, “Come on, you’ve seen me, do you really think I am going to let this lot win,” he replied.

  Before she could say anything else he called to Zack, “Get them out,” he told him.

  Zack took her hand, he gave a smile of gratitude to Jack and he pulled her away. Jack watched as they all disappeared from sight. He stood quiet for a moment, closing his eyes taking deep breaths knowing things were about to get crazy. Opening his eyes, he muttered, “Let’s do this.”

  He walked around the truck, passing a large metal container. He suddenly stopped and looked back at the container; he took notice of a sign on the side indicating flammable liquid. Jack gave a half smile as he approached it; he tried to lift the container and was happy to find it was full. He carried it over to the truck, he crouched underneath to puncture the fuel tank, fuel spilled all over the ground. He opened the lid of the metal container and started pouring fuel all around the ground, as he was finished someone crept up on him.

  He suddenly felt a sharp pain in his leg; he fell to the ground in pain. Blood gushed from an open wound; a slice had been taken from his leg. He looked up to see a woman with a broken nose looking at him with a cheesy smile.

  “Bet that hurts like a bitch,” Alina smugly told him.

  He attempted to stand back up and ignore the pain, Alina rushed at him, kicking him directly in the face; Jack slumped down another cut opened up across the top of his eye. His vision blurred, then she kicked him again, this time against the large gash on his leg.

  “You know it’s a shame, we could have worked together. We could have been very close,” she told him with a frowning smile.

  She was shocked by Jack laughing aloud, “You and me, I would rather fuck a rat,” he told her, while still laughing out.

  Not amused, she kicked him against the face again, spitting blood on the ground, he uttered, “You really do not want to do that again.”

  She laughed, “Really and why is that?” she asked.

  Looking up, his face was starting to swell as blood dribbled down. He smiled before he spoke, “Don’t you want to know how I found you!” he asked her, while still smiling.

  “Oh, is this a stall tactic, OK, I will play, how did you find us?” she asked sarcastically.

  He rolled to his side holding his leg, his hand soon drenched in blood. “Well, I actually found a little sniffing rat of yours, and he sang like a bird,” he laughed.

  Raising her eyebrows, “So you beat a confession from someone weak, I guess that makes you a real tough guy,” she replied, trying to hold back her anger.

  “Oh, he didn’t give you up easily; I had to take a few things from him first. Like his ear, and his eye. Then the music began, and blew his fucking brains against the wall,” he told her in a deep angry voice.

  She stood for a moment, she knew he was on about Toby, no one had seen him since the attack. Gripping her knife tightly she rushed at him, as she thrust the knife Jack grabbed the blade. He gripped it hard as blood began to pour from it, she looked in panic as he grabbed her arm, pulled her in and head butted her. With her nose bursting open, she screamed in pain and fell to the ground.

  Jack forced himself to his feet; he undid his belt and tied is around his leg above the gash, to slow the bleeding. He shook his cut hand, blood flew everywhere, as Alina got back to her feet, she faced him head on.

  “You want me, come and get me,” he told her.

  She ran at him, grabbing her by the neck, he began to choke her. She kicked at his leg, the pain built up and this only angered him. He gripped her neck tighter and pushed her back, he could not believe his strength, if she could talk, she would beg for mercy. He pushed her towards the burning oil drum, “You are one evil bitch, and I hope you burn in hell. But I can’t wait so I will get it moving,” he told her through gritted teeth.

  He swung her round, now holding her by the back of the neck; she panicked and screamed as she looked at the burning drum. Jack forced her head into the flames, she tried fighting back, but Jack did not budge, her arms also fell into the fire. The smell of burning flesh covered the area. Pulling her out he threw her to the ground, her face was like melted plastic, massive blisters formed, one of her eyes had basically melted, her arms were red and burnt down to the muscle. As she lay there screaming in pain, Jack showed no emotion, he kicked over the burning drum, lighting the fuel he scattered around the ground.

  The flames engulfed the area; they burnt high heading towards the truck. Alina dragged herself away, trying to get away; Jack watched her crawl away and just didn’t care. “That was for Josh you bitch,” he uttered, remembering the member of the team, she killed when he showed her kindness.

  Struggling to walk, blood soaked his trousers; he managed to reach the stairs as the truck exploded. The entire complex shook from the explosion. Jack started to walk up the long stairs, hoping to find his friend.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  RE-UNITED

  The explosion rattled everyone; Frank still hung from the chains next to a naked Zarina, Kane and two large men walked into the parking level. Frank overheard them talking about how zombies were swarming into the car park complex. He also heard about someone had driven and crashed an ice cream truck into the lower level, attracting the zombies. A smile appeared on his face.

  “We need to get out of here,” Kane told the two men.

  Frank suddenly started screaming out in, “THE REAPER IS COMING, I TOLD YOU! THE REAPER IS COMING FOR YOU!” as he laughed aloud.

  Kane ran at him, punching him to shut him up, but he just continued screaming out, “THE REAPER IS COMING!”

  Kane smashed him across the face again, “Got anything to say now funny man,” he asked.

  Kane stared at Frank, “Well, anything to say?” he asked again

  Suddenly a voice spoke out behind him, “Yeah, the reaper is here!”

  Kane turned fast to see a man covered in blood and holding a machete. Like in slow motion, Kane watched as Jack swung the machete into the back of a man’s head, killing him instantly.

  The second man swung round, Jack punched the man in the neck. As he choked and gasped for air, he watched as Jack smashed the machete into his skull. With both men dead, he stood facing Kane.

  With all the commotion going on around them, nothing seemed to bother either man. Kane laughed aloud while looking at Jack, “So you’re The Reaper I have heard so much about,” he sternly said while focusing his eyes on him.

  Jack was puzzled by the comment, but simply said nothing. He locked eyes with Kane and this frustrated Kane more. Showing no fear, showing no emotion Jack stared at him.

  “Let them go and you can walk away, this is a one-time offer,” Jack told him with a straight face.

  Not believing what he heard, Kane laughed out again as he pulled a gun from his belt and pointed directly at Jack. Noticing a smirk on his face, Kane grew angrier and walked towards Jack all the time pointing his gun at him.

  “You are crazy,” Kane commented.

  “It’s a crazy world,” he replied.

  Sneering at him Kane responded, “You don’t fear death, and that’s a shame because I wanted to see you beg for life.”

  Jack smiled as he shook his head. An angry Kane shouted, “What is so fucking funny?” he asked.

  Locking eyes with him again, Jack replied, “You, you’re weak. You fear death; you fear the one guarantee we have in life. I don’t fear the inevitable.”

  Kane marched towards Jack, and held his gun against his chest.

  “You’re an amateur who has watched too many movies,” Jack told him in a calm voice.

  A confused Kane responded, “What!”

  Before another word was said, in a flash Jack grabb
ed Kane’s wrist and with his other hand knocked the gun to the floor. Before he could react, Jack punched him in the throat, as Kane fell gasping for air, Jack kneed him in the side of the head. Kane hit the ground hard.

  “Smooth,” Frank spoke out.

  Jack approached him with a limp; Frank noticed the trail of blood he was leaving behind him. “Come on, let’s get out of here,” Jack told him. Pulling the chains, he managed to detach Frank from them; Frank paused and looked at Jack. “Looks like we both have had a bad day,” he joked.

  Jack looked at Franks beaten and bloodied face, he glanced at his hand and noticed two fingers missing. A feeling of guilt hit him, “Sorry I couldn’t get here quicker,” he told him. Frank without warning hugged his friend, “Thank you,” he whispered in his ear. A reluctant Jack took a moment before hugging his friend back.

  As they stood there a female voice spoke out, “Can someone let me loose.” Turning to Zarina, Frank quickly moved to release her. She quickly rushed for her clothes, covering her naked body.

  “Where are the others?” Frank asked, standing in front of him.

  “The furniture store, the place we first took cover,” he replied.

  Frank looked shocked, “They didn’t come with you,” he realized.

  “They don’t even know I am here, I was not going to risk more of their lives for one person,” he quickly replied.

  Remaining silent, he understood why Jack came alone. He looked with a smile of gratitude; suddenly he felt a hard pain on the back of his head. Frank hit the ground, Zarina screamed as she watched Kane rush at Jack. Before he could react, Kane was directly in front of him, he felt a sharp pain in the side of his stomach. Kane looked into Jack’s eyes, with pleasure. Looking down Jack saw the knife in his side, he felt dizzy and sick, he frowned as he looked into Kane’s eyes.