Children of the Apocalypse: Mega Boxed Set

by Baileigh Higgins

  Her eyes flashed to the vehicle. It stood only a short distance away, ready to go. Even as Laura hesitated, torn between the need to escape and the dubious safety the flat offered, the guard went down.

  He disappeared beneath a mass of squirming bodies, and his gurgling shrieks announced his unpleasant demise. The maid followed soon after, and Laura realized she had to do something fast. It was either run back to the flat or break for the truck.

  “I’m not going back. It’s either now or never,” Laura said beneath her breath while her eyes mapped out a likely route and her brain calculated her chances of success.

  With a deep breath to fortify herself, she darted out of the stairwell, heading straight for the nearest car even as the stench of death filled her nostrils. Do or die.

  Laura’s Bane - Chapter 3

  Laura darted for the car that filled the nearest parking spot, and she ducked down in front of it before any of the zombies could spot her. She had a small window of opportunity while they were busy with the maid and the guard. It was her only chance.

  On her hands and knees, she crab walked across the concrete, the surface rough beneath the palms of her hands. With her head at eye-level with the front number plate, she reached the gap between it and the next car.

  The moaning and groaning of the undead buzzed in her ears, threatening to derail her fragile courage. With her heart banging a wild beat in her throat, Laura scrambled across the opening as fast as she could. She reached the other vehicle without incident and crossed two more gaps in this fashion. Until she reached an empty parking spot.

  Laura hesitated. The space she had to cross unseen was a lot larger than the previous ones had been and a quick peek showed her several zombies wandering around nearby. She squeezed her eyes shut for a second before making a run for it.

  As she reached the other car, still unseen, her shoes caught a patch of gravel. The crunch of stones beneath her soles sounded loud to her ears, and she froze for a split-second. No, no, no!

  The sound of approaching footsteps confirmed her worst fears, and she dropped to look underneath the chassis. Sure enough, a pair of bruised and bloody feet were heading her way followed by more on the other side. She was being surrounded.

  Panic dried up the saliva in Laura’s mouth until she thought she would choke. Seeing no other way out, she fell to her stomach and slithered underneath the car, still clutching the golf club in one sweaty hand. It was a tight fit, but she’d make it, she thought until her backpack caught on the front bumper.

  She squirmed like a worm on a hook, but the pack refused to move. She was stuck, and the feet were coming ever closer. It’d be mere seconds before she was discovered. Almost sobbing with fear, Laura wriggled her arms out of the straps, each movement more frantic than the last.

  They slid off just as the undead feet reached the front tires of the car, and she crawled underneath with moments to spare, leaving the pack behind on the concrete.

  Once hidden, Laura lay as still as a statue, sour bile pushing up her throat as her stomach protested the rush of adrenaline that coursed through her veins. She held the golf club against her chest, ready to lash out if need be.

  The feet moved around the front of the vehicle and paused next to the pack. There they stayed, the owner seemingly undecided what to do next. It was all Laura could do not to whimper out loud, and she pressed a balled fist to her lips until the skin split and she tasted blood.

  The feet on the other side also reached the front, and the two pairs shuffled together like an inexperienced young couple on a dance floor. Finally, they moved away, and Laura could breathe again. Not for long though when she realized she was still three parking spots away from the truck and the swarm of zombies was growing by the second.

  “What now?” she mouthed almost as if expecting someone more experienced to answer her.

  But there was no one else. She was alone, stuck beneath a car, and in the middle of a swarm of dead people who’d eat her in a heartbeat if they saw her.

  With slow, careful movements, Laura shifted closer to the edge of the car she hid beneath until she hovered next to the open air. She craned her head to the right. It was clear. To the left, however, it wasn’t.

  Several pairs of legs in various states of decomposition shuffled around in typical zombie fashion. There was no way she’d be able to crawl out, get up, and run to the truck in time. No way.

  Laura closed her eyes in despair and dropped her forehead to the concrete. She was as stuck as it was possible to be. There was no escape, and all her plans had been for nothing. Hot tears pricked her eyelids, and she had to swallow hard on the sobs that threatened to break free from her lips. Suddenly, her eyes snapped open as an idea presented itself. Diversion. I need a diversion.

  Silently, Laura shifted around until she faced the front of the car, each movement slow and careful so as not to make a single noise. After making sure no undead lingered nearby, she reached out for her abandoned backpack and grabbed the strap.

  Bit by agonizing bit, she edged it closer until it lay in front of her face. She unzipped it, biting her lip to still her nerves. Her hand slipped inside and felt around until she found it. Her phone.

  With her thumb, she increased the volume to max before clicking on a specific song she knew for sure would grab attention. Before it could play, she tossed the phone out from underneath the car and as far away as she could manage. It skittered across the concrete as the trill of a feminine voice filled the air.

  “All the single ladies, all the single ladies…” Beyonce sang, the catchy tune an instant hit with the wandering undead.

  They rushed toward the sound and congregated around the device that continued to play for their amusement. The familiar song by one of her favorite artists reminded Laura of better times. It almost drew a smile from her lips. Almost.

  There was no time for fond teen memories, though, and she scooted over to the other side again, taking the backpack with her. After making sure her side was clear, she rolled out and jumped to her feet before rushing toward the truck.

  Behind her, the phone stopped playing as it was trampled by undead feet, and a frisson of fear shot through Laura’s spine. Oh, crap. Hurry!

  She dodged around the two cars between her and the truck just as the zombies spotted her and sent up a hunting cry. With moments to spare, she opened the door and jumped inside, automatically putting on her seatbelt.

  Laura twisted the key in the ignition as the first of the crowd reached her and banged on the window. She jumped in her seat but kept it together and jammed the gears into reverse.

  She winced as the truck bowled over several infected that sought to pluck her from its protective casing and prayed the windows would hold.

  As Laura prepared to drive out of the lot and through the open gates, she spotted several people on the balconies above her, staring at the spectacle with wide-eyed wonder. They were holidaymakers just like her, and Laura refused to leave them with a complex full of zombies.

  As she drove outside, she stopped and waited until she was sure all the undead had followed the truck before closing the gates once more. That left the corpses of the maid and security guard still inside, but there was nothing she could do about that.

  “I’ve done my best,” she said to the people still inside the complex. “Good luck to you and yours.”

  Laura revved the engine and roared up the street in a cloud of exhaust smoke, eager to leave the crowd of zombies behind. Ahead of her, more of the undead wandered around, but it was nothing compared to what lay behind her.

  As the building that housed their holiday flat grew smaller in her rearview mirror, she shook her head in disbelief. She realized that she’d never truly believed she’d survive. Not once the zombies got in, at least. “I made it. I can’t believe I made it.”

  The moment she’d been attacked on the beach now seemed distant, almost unreal and overlaid by the more recent horror of the maid and security guard’s deaths. Their screa
ms rang in her head, and the faces of the undead who’d chased her were still fresh in her mind. Every detail stuck. From their vacant, milky stares to their horrific wounds and the way they howled when hungry. It was enough to drive the sanest of people to the brink.

  Laura shook her head to clear out the gory images and sucked in a deep breath. “Focus. I need to focus.”

  Once she’d calmed her racing heart, she asked herself the first question that rose to mind. “Where will Mom and Dad have gone to do their shopping?”

  The answer was obvious. They’d go to the same shopping center they’d been going to for the past week. It was the most likely place they’d be. Determination filled her, and Laura lifted her head and squared her shoulders.

  The time for fear and panic was done. Now was the moment for hope and courage. Her family needed her and against all the odds, she’d escaped the complex and was on her way to them. “Right. Mom, Dad, Stan…just hold on. I’ll be there soon.”

  Laura’s Bane - Chapter 4

  Laura drove toward the shopping center where she hoped her family would be with controlled haste. As much as she wanted to race there with a screech of burning tires, it wasn’t possible. The roads were a mess.

  Everywhere she looked there were zombies. Tons of the things. It was astonishing considering that an hour earlier, there were none. “How fast is this thing spreading?”

  The undead shambled about with little thought for the rules of traffic. Laura winced when a woman came right at her, showing total disregard for her own wellbeing. The truck’s bullbar plowed into her middle, and she somersaulted over the bonnet before smashing into the window with a resounding crash. Her skull split like an overripe tomato, and she left a spray of blood behind before tumbling out of view.

  That woman was the first of many as Laura made her way through the suburbs filled with holiday flats and houses just like the one they’d stayed in. It wasn’t long before the truck’s white paint and windshield was covered in gore.

  “Sorry!” Laura called out as she hit yet another zombie, though why she bothered she didn’t know. It’s not as if zombies have feelings. But they used to be people once. People like me. Moms, dads, kids. grannies…

  It was a depressing thought, one as gray as the overcast skies. She craned her neck to see through the stained glass in front of her and switched on the wipers. That turned out to be a bad idea as they simply smeared the blood and guts over the window until she couldn’t see a thing.

  “Damn it,” Laura cried as she pulled over to the side of the road. “What now?”

  She had to get out and clean it. That was the only answer. With a nervous hand, she reached for the handle of the door but jumped when a zombie appeared in her view. It beat its fists on the window next to her face with insistent groans. So much for that idea.

  Laura edged forward to try and get away from the zombie, but this proved impossible. With no way to see the road ahead, she was risking a serious accident. She rolled to a stop again, and not for the first time that day, she wanted to cry. Her hands shook as she clutched the wheel, her knuckles white with the effort.

  The zombie had followed and resumed its banging. Its growls sawed into her brain, and she squeezed her eyes shut to block out the sounds. To no avail. A second zombie joined the first and added its fists to the steady beat. Not long after that, two more showed up.

  The window groaned in its frame, and Laura realized she had to move, whether or not she could see. It was that or wait for them to break in and pluck her from the truck like a ready-to-go meal.

  A rumble of thunder gave her hope, and she craned her head to look upward. A bolt of lightning struck the thick undergrowth off the road, and a garbled shriek left her lips as she jumped.

  Drops of rain fell, slowly at first until it built into a steady downpour. Laura slumped over the wheel as relief turned her muscles to jelly. “Oh, thank God. Thank you, thank you.”

  Once more, she edged forward while the wipers worked at their fastest speed. Bit by bit, the muck cleared from the windshield until she could see ahead. At last, she got going again, but driving through the streets was difficult.

  It seemed like the townspeople had cottoned on to the undead threat. People were running around in a panic, loading their families and belongings into their cars to escape. Other were barricading their homes. She saw more than a few nail wooden boards across their windows.

  The general chaos was worsened by the narrow winding roads which left little room to maneuver, and the thunderstorm that roiled above their heads. It was almost as if Mother Nature herself had set the scene for the apocalypse and shut off the sun for the day.

  Rivers of mud and water flowed down to the ocean, and the roads were slick and treacherous. Laura passed more than a few wrecks along the way. The crossings were the worst, though, and she cursed when the intersection ahead was blocked by cars.

  Two vehicles had crashed in the middle, causing a chain effect as more plowed into them until the area was a mess of twisted steel and glass. People were screaming and crying, a few were fighting, while others abandoned their cars. As yet, there were no zombies, but they were coming. Already a few shambled that way, arms outstretched as they rasped their hunger through eager throats.

  “No, no, no! What are you doing?” she cried as one of the panicked drivers reversed into another car to escape. The idiot only made things worse, spinning his wheels when he got stuck.

  Laura shook her head. If she wanted to get through, she had to hurry. Shifting into reverse, she backed away before edging up onto the paved sidewalk. The way was narrow, and a deep ditch ran alongside the road. If she made a mistake…

  “I won’t,” Laura promised herself as she maneuvered around the crossing.

  Others saw what she was doing and followed suit. One misjudged the lane, though, and his car plowed over the side and into the deep trench with a loud crash. His alarm went off, blaring into the air and adding to the general atmosphere of panic and chaos.

  She’d almost reached the other side when a woman with two kids ran toward her. The woman banged on Laura’s door and cried, “Please, help us. Please!”

  Laura hesitated for only a second before nodding. She popped the locks and said, “Get in!”

  The woman and her children piled into the back of the truck, their breathing harsh and frantic. The youngest of the kids, two girls, whimpered in the corner while the other clung to her mother as if afraid she’d disappear.

  As soon as they were inside, Laura prepared to drive off, but stopped again when the woman said, “Wait! Wait for Harold, please. I beg you.”

  She pointed at the crossing, and Laura spotted a heavyset man sliding over a car’s bonnet while the owner screamed at him. Though his progress was slow, he was almost in the truck.

  “Come on, Harold. Hurry!” the woman screamed as she slammed on the windows, her face streaked with tears while her terrified children looked on.

  Laura could see why. A horde of zombies had made their way up the road, drawn to the noise. They’d flood the intersection at any moment, and anyone trapped inside would be a goner. It was a nightmare.

  “Come on, Harold,” Laura said, adding her voice to the din.

  He sped up a little while squeezing between two cars, then a lot when he saw the zombies coming toward him. His face turned as pale as buttercream before it flushed with blood again. His hair was plastered to his skull by the rain, or was it sweat?

  Harold reached the truck just as the first zombies flowed through the stranded cars like water. He huffed and puffed to the passenger side before hauling himself inside. The minute his door was shut, Laura was off.

  Five minutes later, they’d left the intersection behind, though it would be harder to leave the memories of it behind. The screams, the cries, the wails…it was all imprinted on Laura’s mind with brutal clarity.

  The woman had calmed herself and the kids and now leaned forward. “Thanks for saving us.”

  “Yeah,
sure. It was nothing.”

  “It’s not nothing. You’re very brave.” The woman squeezed her shoulder. “I’m Marge, by the way, and this is Lynn and Evie.”

  “Nice to meet you. I’m Laura.” She cleared her throat and looked at Harold. “So where are you going?”

  He stared at her. “What do you mean where are we going? We’re leaving town, aren’t we? You’re leaving town, aren’t you?”

  She shook her head. “No, I’m heading to the shopping center up on Fifth. My family’s there, and I have to rescue them.”

  “What?” His eyes bulged. “You can’t do that. It’s too dangerous.”

  “Not if we get there before the zombies do.”

  “Zombies?” he said.

  “That’s what they are,” Laura replied.

  “It can’t be zombies. Those people are sick. It’s probably rabies or something,” he protested. “Ebola, maybe.”

  “No, I’ve seen these things rise from the dead,” Laura said. “It’s zombies, all right.”

  “Either way, we have to get out of here,” he insisted. “Now.”

  “No,” Laura said, her lips compressing into a narrow line. “I’m getting my family first.”

  “You’re crazy!” he burst out.

  “Harold,” Marge admonished. “Don’t speak to her like that. She saved our lives.”

  “And now she’s putting them back in danger. We have the kids to think of.”

  “It won’t take long,” Laura said. “You can even wait in the car.”

  “I’m sorry, but I can’t allow that,” Harold said.

  “What?”

  “I can’t allow that. My family comes first,” he said, producing a gun from his pocket in a sudden move that nobody saw coming.

  The kids screamed, and Marge gasped, “Harold, no!”

  Harold ignored them all and fixed his pale blue eyes on Laura. “Stop the car.”

  The business end of the steel barrel pointed at her face, cold and uncompromising, and a shiver worked its way down her spine. “What are you doing?”