The Z-Strain Trilogy Box Set [Books 1-3]

by Morris, SJ

  “Once again, Abby, you have no idea what’s going on around you. This holier than thou act is quite redundant, and quite frankly, it’s getting on my nerves. You have no idea what I’m planning to do with those bombs. Hey, new tidbit of information you didn’t know... I’ve been working with Dr. Stewart Dodges, and your best friend, Troy. They’ve got some amazing advances regarding the Perdition Virus that we’d like to share with you. Maybe once you hear the full story, you’ll hand the bombs over willingly and want to work with me. Maybe you’ll even be happy to do so. It could happen,” Peter laughed as he sauntered around me, practically skipping around the room. This guy was a real head case.

  “So, you’ve got Troy and Stuart? What did you do, kidnap them too?” I asked bluntly.

  “Of course, we did! They, like you, wouldn’t have come willingly, so I had to make sure we could all work together. You know, for the greater good and all,” Peter said as he motioned his hands out to the laboratory around us.

  I rolled my eyes and laughed at him. “I highly doubt any of us would want to work with the likes of you but go ahead. Let’s hear it. What’s your spiel? Tell me your master plan, oh evil overlord.”

  “Well, now you’re just being overdramatic. I think it’s better if I show you anyway, little Miss. Drama Queen,” Peter said as he motioned for the two men holding me to follow him.

  From the looks of the hallways we walked through, and the room we entered, it seemed like we were in an old hospital. The room Peter and his goons lead me to was a viewing room with a surgical suite at the bottom and seats surrounding it like an arena of sorts. There was nothing in the surgical suite below us at the moment, but Peter radioed to someone, and the doors opened. An infected man strapped to a gurney was rolled inside.

  Peter laughed, giggled, and jumped around like a little kid as he clapped his hands. “I’m so excited about what’s going to happen next. I can’t wait for you to see this, Abby! You’re going to be absolutely thrilled! Clear the room and let ‘er rip!” Peter yelled into his radio.

  The person who had wheeled the infected in on the gurney exited, leaving the thrashing corpse alone in the room below us.

  “Look, Abby, look, look, look!” Peter screeched. I glanced up above us as a hose descended from the ceiling above the viral plagued body. The tube hovered about 10 feet above the rotting, thrashing corpse and began to spray a thick yellowish liquid. The liquid stained the floor, and everything around it like a glowstick would as the undead continued to pull ferociously at its restraints.

  Within a matter of seconds, a gurgling sound erupted from the zombie that I didn’t expect, and black blood was oozing from every orifice. The carcass now ceased all movement. Peter scared the crap out of me when he screamed loudly, “We did it! Did you see that, Abby?” he danced in place, doing the running man. “Troy came up with a serum that instantly kills anyone exposed to the Perdition Virus within seconds of contact. The liquid doesn’t hurt anyone who doesn’t have the Perdition Virus already. So... if we could use the bombs you so naughtily stole from me to disburse the serum, we could say bye-bye to all these undead freaks walking around once and for all! Now tell me you’re not going to help me do that.” Peter said with a duck-faced smile, placing his hand on his hip.

  “This was our plan all along you idiot. This is old news to me, Peter. I already saw Troy’s serum in action before. Now we need to find a way to get an incredibly large number of the infected in one place at one time so that we can release the serum using the shells that Brigantine was going to use to gas the planet. Why did you have to kidnap me to try to do this? We were going to do this on our own. Did Troy at least tell you that?”

  “He might have mentioned it... but you don’t have the resources I do!” Peter said, angrily stamping his feet like a child. “Brigantine never listened to me, and I’m not going to let you make the same mistakes she did. She’s dead after all, and I don’t want that to happen to you or those perfect little babies she gave you.”

  “Well newsflash dumbass, I already had the babies! They’re back at the cabin needing me to feed them, and I’m not there to do it because your stupid ass decided that kidnapping me was a good idea.”

  Peter looked completely flabbergasted. “You what? You still have a baby bump!” he said, reaching out to try and touch my stomach.

  I pulled away quickly as far as the thugs holding me would allow.

  “Yes, you idiot. I had the babies a few days ago. It was a C-section if you must know, and I still have the baby bump because I’m still swollen from the surgery! I should be in bed right now, you stupid fuck!” I cursed at him, trying futilely to pull away from the giant tree-sized men holding me.

  “Well, we need the girls,” Peter said menacingly. “That’s just the way it is. I need them.”

  It was my turn to get serious now. “I never said they were girls. How did you know that?” I asked, giving Peter the stink eye and wanting to throttle him even more now.

  “I might have had a hand in creating them...” Peter replied. “Genetically perfect creations with your rare genetic marker, just like Allycia had,” Peter laughed maniacally.

  His words crushed me. I was sore, and I was tired, but what he said zapped the remaining bit of energy from my body. I was completely defeated. “You what? You... created my babies?” I asked, tears spilling from my eyes now.

  Peter stepped forward, cupping my chin in his hand as I fell limp in the arms of my captors. “Those girls are Allycia’s clones. Well, they’re more perfect than she ever was, but on a molecular level. They’ll look exactly like her as they grow older. I had everything I needed from when you and Jack were together before the outbreak. We kept all of your family’s genetic material on file for when we needed it. You see, we edited the genomes of your embryos using CRISPR, removing all of the genes associated with any disease and made sure the one we needed to create the Antivirus 1015 was activated. Those girls are for lack of a better word... perfect. They are my masterpiece, my crowning achievement.” Peter whispered into my ear as he kissed my cheek wet from my tears.

  “You’ll never take them, Chris and everyone else will die before you ever get your hands on those babies. I’ll kill you first,” I decreed defiantly.

  “You have no idea what I am capable of Abbigail Norrington, but you’ll soon find out. Those little girls will be calling me Daddy in no time,” he laughed.

  I would love Ella and Kasey no matter what, but the thought of them calling Peter their father sickened me. Knowing that after all of this is over, I’d have to see Allycia’s face every day for the rest of their lives made my chest grow tight with anxiety, but I would love them all the same. I just had to get back to my daughters and save them first.

  Chapter 16

  Jimmy Smith

  I caught up with Dr. Nasser, and it looked like the infected were distracted by the raging inferno that was the Visitors Center and the smaller fires that were created by the grenade. Thankfully, we made it to the cabins with no unwanted stragglers.

  Lynn burst from the door of one of the small cottages and checked Dr. Nasser over quickly before rushing us both inside. Other than some superficial abrasions and shocked nerves, Dr. Nasser was unharmed. I, on the other hand, had a three-inch piece of metal embedded into the top of my shoulder.

  Luckily the metal only pierced the skin and didn’t impale my muscle or shatter any bones. I was walking away from this with a sore shoulder and a bunch of stitches. Lynn gave me some pain meds and ordered me to get some sleep. She was taking the first watch, and Kamil was going to take the second. I was going to be able to sleep off the pain from my injuries, and I most definitely was not going to say no to that.

  I woke slowly to Lynn grabbing my hand and whispering into my ear, “Jimmy, get up. The ghouls are everywhere.” She shook my hand harder. “Jimmy... get up!” Lynn whispered forcefully.

  “I’m up, I’m up,” I replied quietly, rubbing the sleep from eyes. “What’s going on? How’d they s
urround us with you guys watching?”

  “That’s the thing, they just kind of showed up, but they don’t know we’re here yet. I think the fire at the Visitors Center died out since the infected are just kind of milling about. If they figure out we’re inside the cabins though... we’re done for. There’s too many of them,” Lynn murmured.

  “So, we stay quiet and keep away from the windows. Hopefully, they don’t figure out there’s a buffet in here.”

  Lynn dropped her head. “I agree. I just hope the others in the other cabins do the same. We have no way of getting in contact with them to make sure they know. That’s what worries me.”

  “What the others do is out of our hands. We can only worry about ourselves right now.”

  As if on cue, a collective moan from the crowd of infected raged outside. I peered out the boarded window to see every zombie in the area turn toward one of the other cottages. They began clawing at the walls, doors, and reaching for every window. Glass shattered and screams from inside the small building interrupted the wailing of the walking dead.

  Lynn gasped at the scene playing out before us. “We have to do something to help them. That door isn’t going to hold for long, then the people inside are going to get swarmed and torn to shreds.”

  I looked over at the M16 I had taken from the guard earlier today and had another bright idea. “I’m going out there.”

  Lynn and Kamil both spoke in unison, “What?”

  “Shh!” I scolded them. “The dead are focused on the other cabin, not ours as long as you two keep your voices down. If I sneak outside unnoticed, I can climb up over the ridge and fire down on the horde. Hopefully, I’ll be able to take some of them out, and they’ll come after me giving you guys the chance to get the others out of here in the other direction. Pack supplies quickly, this is going to have to happen like now.” Lynn looked at me as if she was going to argue that she should go. “No, Lynn. My shoulder’s fine, I was able to get some rest, and I have more experience with the M16 than you. No matter what rank you were, it makes more sense for me to go instead of you.”

  Lynn sighed. “Fine. Kamil, hand me that bag from over there. I’m only going to grab the first aid stuff. Knowing how Jimmy here does things, he’s going to have a new injury for me to patch up when we meet up again. And we will meet up again. Right, Jimmy?”

  I looked at her with a smirk. “You know it. You kissed me before, so I have to find out where this thing between us is going.”

  Kamil’s mouth dropped open. “You guys are hooking up? Shit, I can’t wait to get back to the cabin and gossip with Abby your juicy zompoc romance,” Kamil laughed.

  I helped Kamil, Lynn, and Dr. Nasser pack up as many supplies as possible before I checked to make sure the coast was clear. The undead were beginning to pile up heavily around the other house. So much so that they were backing up to ours, so I had to do this quickly.

  I rushed outside soundlessly, M16 in hand. I crept between bushes and trees to avoid the rotters before making it to the trail that led up the dirt path. I made it to a high enough vantage point where I could make my shots count, but I could also run when the need arose.

  I switched the M16 from automatic to semi-automatic so I could fire one shot at a time and picked out the targets that looked like they were the closest to making it inside the cabin. Firing one shot after the other into the brains of the infected monsters created enough noise to begin to thin the herd. Unfortunately, because of the canyon wall behind me creating an echo, the zeds couldn’t tell where the shots were coming from. So instead of coming after me directly, they were spreading out.

  I was going to need a better distraction, one the undead could see and follow. The only thing I could think of that the zombies were going to see and track would be another fire. The problem was that I didn’t have any matches or even a lighter to start one.

  I did have a watch with a loud enough timer on it, though. I could surround the watch with rocks that would amplify the sound, and I might just be able to get the undead to focus in a different direction. If this works, I might just be able to make it back to my friends and help get everyone out and on our way back to the cabin. It was worth a shot anyway.

  I set the rocks up in a semi-circle around the timepiece and set it for two minutes. I ran back to my vantage point on the rock face and continued taking out the infected as I waited for the alarm to go off.

  Soon enough, I heard it, and I stopped firing, hoping the undead would chase after the sound. Some of them did, and some of them didn’t. The alarm just wasn’t loud enough. I did manage to get the swarm away from the cottage, so the occupants were out of immediate danger, but they weren’t able to flee just yet. The undead weren’t hammering at the house anymore, but they were still wandering around outside if it. If anyone tried to make a run for it, they’d be zombie fodder in no time.

  The only distraction I had left was myself. What I wouldn’t give at this very moment to have a few of Tabitha, the crazy cat ladies’ cats on hand to distract the zombies. When in doubt, throw kitties at the problem, right?

  I took a deep breath and decided now was as good a time as any. I started screaming and waving my arms in the air like a lunatic. The undead definitely paid attention to me and started heading in my direction. I turned and ran up the trail back towards where the Visitors Center was. If anything, I could make my way back to one of the quads and lead the horde away so I could double back to reconnect with the group.

  I ran as fast as my legs could carry me and stopped once I got to the top of the hill. I could see that the fire from the earlier explosions was no longer visible from ground level. The fire was still burning, but only down underground. That’s why the infected lost interest.

  Maybe I could lure some, if not most, of the herd into this burning pit. I looked back and saw that the infected were still following me, but some were starting to break off again, so I began ranting and raving about anything that came to mind. “Hey, you undead assholes! Come and get me! Dinner is served you, lamebrains! Let’s throw another shrimp on the barbie!” I don’t know where the Aussie speak came from, but it popped into my head, so I said it. The infected didn’t care what came out of my mouth, as long as I presented myself as a possible food source, they were on their way.

  I ran around to the other side of the flaming pit that was once a building housing dozens of people and waited for the rotters to catch up. There was a relatively decent sized crater in the ground that was spewing flames, but it wasn’t going to be wide enough to swallow the entire horde that was following me, so I had to be ready to run... again.

  Crap was this whole zombie apocalypse thing getting tiring. “I’ve had enough cardio for one day, thank you very much!” I screamed at the oncoming plague of rotting corpses.

  It was working, for the most part. I hung out at the top of the pit just on the opposite side of where the zombies were coming from, and they began to tumble into the burning mess. I was excited this was actually something I could chalk up in the win column, but the smell... oh, dear god, the smell was horrible. Imagine if you took a dead animal corpse, threw it in a pot of raw sewage, and boiled it. This... this was worse.

  When the bodies started to pile up in the hole, I had to back away. I couldn’t take much more of the odor, and then it happened. The wind shifted ever so slightly, as it does with all fires when one is trying to avoid the smoke, and it blew the aroma right back into my face, filling my nose and mouth with the essence of burning, plague riddled corpses. I vomited on the spot. It was not my finest moment, but the infected continued falling into the flames instead of terrorizing my friends, so still a win, puke and all.

  Just when I thought I was going to be able to relax a little, the moans of the ghouls and the crackling sound of the fire was interrupted by a blood-curdling scream. It was a sound like none I had ever heard before. It was definitely not a scream from something living, but it wasn’t a sound I had ever heard the infected make before.

&nbs
p; I froze where I was, listening hard to try and figure out what direction the scream had come from when I heard it again. This time it was followed by a chorus of similar screams. The sounds were coming from the horde, or at least from the same direction within the swarm.

  Whatever it was, it definitely felt like I needed to get out of here and quick.

  I was off running again, the M16 bouncing on my back. I stopped to turn and fire at any infected that might be too close and pose a threat when I saw the most frightening thing I have yet to see in this entire zombie apocalypse. A dozen or so fresh zombies were pushing the other, more slow zombies, out of their way, and screaming as they did. They ran with such speed and intensity, I’m pretty sure I pissed myself.

  With no time to stop and take aim, I turned, and high tailed it out of there. I was getting tired but seeing the absolute rage in their newly undead eyes gave me the shot of adrenaline I needed to keep me moving quickly.

  I got to the bushes, tossed the branches we used to cover it with earlier, and hopped on my quad. The wild undead were mere feet from me when I hit the gas and took off.

  I didn’t want to drive too fast in the dark, but these infected were not giving up. I continued on, over the downed fence and just as I got to the bridge, I saw Jeep headlights coming toward me. I flashed my lights at the oncoming vehicle and ventured another glance behind me. I couldn’t see the undead anymore, but I could still hear their war cries. That meant there was still not enough distance between them and me.

  The Jeep slowed as it got closer, and I knew I would only have a few seconds before the infected were on us. God, I hoped this was someone from the cabin and not marauders looking for someone to rob. That would just be massively unfortunate timing.