Z.E.D.S. Series (Book 1): Z.E.D.S. Rising

by Botts, Bradley

  Coming Together

  Seth, Sloan and Emmitt and Emmitt’s two daughters were said to be residing at Emmitt’s house when it started. Shaun started driving in the direction of the house so we could pick them up and take them with us. Walkers surrounded the fields wandering aimlessly in search of new things to devour. Emmitt’s house came into view from the top of the hill. My dad appeared behind me and tapped me on the shoulder.

  “Atlas, do you see Sloan on the roof?”

  I glanced through the windshield and Sloan was resting on the roof with a rifle picking off the drifters all around the house.

  “Shaun, go faster.”

  Shaun pressed on the gas. I could see my father’s fingers digging into my headrest. I turned my eye on the house as we became closer to it.

  “This is good. Stop the truck.”

  The truck screeched to a halt.

  “Sloan!”

  Sloan rose off of his stomach and focused his gaze on me. I placed Kiere in the middle of our seats and stepped out of the truck.

  “ATLAS!”

  “Sloan! Grab Seth and Emmitt and the girls and let’s get out of here!”

  Sloan banged on the roof with his rifle and shouted, “Seth, Emmitt our ride is here!”

  He jumped off the roof as Emmitt and Seth came running out the house. A mob of zombies came stumbling around the house as they ran across the yard. My nieces didn’t appear from inside the house. Shaun and my dad jumped out of the truck and started shooting at the walkers that were chasing them. My brothers ran to the back of the truck and jumped in while firing a few rounds towards the couple of roamers that were getting close to the truck. Shaun and I were still firing shots at the zombies as we got back into the truck and my dad climbed in behind my brothers. We sped off leaving those mindless things behind us in a blinding smoke.

  “Emmitt, where are the kids?”

  “They were at school when the infection started. The mayor came over the local channels and said that all kids were going to be taken to a shelter. Before he could give us details, the station went down.”

  My heart sank into my stomach. I was going to find where they were taken one way or another, but right now I had to get back to the safe house. One of my teams has gone missing and I was determined to find them.

  Exhaustion had settled in and my legs felt numb. My head was leaned against the glass and images of trees sheered passed my eyes with bits of light peeking through the leaves. I started imagining my life before the post-apocalyptic day. My days were not consisted of worry. I used to skateboard down the sidewalks of my small town with music playing in my head. On rainy days, I would either read comic books or play Xbox. On off days, Shaun and I would talk about all the things we would do when zombies took over. We had ideas of survival, and we said we would never be bored because we would always have something to do. I have to tell you this, I would much rather be bored all the time rather than frightened every second. My life during my military service wasn’t as chaotic as this. Don’t get me wrong, it’s basically the same concept. I know the enemy, I face the enemy and I take care of the enemy. The main difference was I didn’t have to worry about my family fighting toe to toe with the enemy.

  “Atlas, you ready?”

  Before I realized it, we were already at the barricade Shaun and I encountered on the way to my parents’ house. Kiere had already begun to shake and everyone in the back started asking what we were going to do.

  “We have to run to the other truck. My brothers will guard the back of the group. Shaun and I will protect the front. Everyone needs to stay together. The truck’s about two miles up the road. Just stay in the group, and I guarantee you will be fine.”

  I looked at Kiere and told her to close her eyes and hold on tight.

  She nodded her head and closed her eyes real tight.

  I took a deep breath, loaded my gun and said, “All right, lets’ go.”

  Shaun and I jumped out of the truck while aiming our guns in each direction. Emmitt, Sloan and Seth jumped out of the back of the truck. The civilians followed in between us as we approached the barricade. Shaun climbed onto the top of it first to determine the path was clear. He turned around and lowered his hand to help lift the people to him. One by one we helped the people climb on top of the over turned vehicles. With each step they took, I could see the sadness in their eyes. The painful sorrow that was exerted from them was a sight I would never forget. Those faces still haunt me to this day. As I was helping one of the persons, I heard a haunting sound approaching us from behind. As I turned my head I saw a crowd of zombies marching towards us.

  I looked up and yelled, “Shaun! Get them out of here now!”

  Shaun looked up and I saw the freight come across his eyes as he said, “Oh shit. Come on, move!”

  Shaun begun pulling them up faster as I ran to the back of the truck and saw that there were more zombies heading towards us than I was aware of.

  “Shaun! Get them all to the truck now!”

  “What about you?”

  “Just get them to the truck. I’ll hold them off.”

  I ran back to the barricade and lifted Kiere to Shaun.

  Kiere began crying and yelled, “Don’t leave me!”

  While Shaun picked her up I said, “I’ll be right behind you. I promise.”

  Shaun lifted her over the barricade and disappeared. Sloan, Emmitt and Seth stayed behind with me. We each aimed our guns towards the mob and started shooting. As the zombies walked towards us, we walked towards them. They fell with each bullet, but it seemed as if each one we killed two more were born. We were becoming more and more outnumbered as their determination didn’t diminish.

  I looked at my brothers and yelled, “Get over the barricade!”

  Seth looked at me and asked, “What are you going to do?”

  “Don’t worry, I have a plan.”

  While still shooting, my brothers ran to the barricade and climbed over it. The zombies continued to become closer and closer to where they were going to surround me. After firing a couple more times towards them, I aimed my gun towards the gas tank of the truck. I shot five holes into the tank until I could smell the gasoline covering the road. I reached into my right pocket and pulled out my Zippo lighter that had a bio-hazard symbol on the front. People always called it my zombie lighter. Drifters began to surround the truck effortlessly with no awareness of the trap they were walking in to. With one flick of the lighter, the flame shined out of my hand.

  “All you sons of bitches can burn in Hell.”

  I tossed the lighter towards the truck and ran towards the barricade. The truck caught on fire immediately after the flame connected to the gasoline. Once I reached the top of the barricade I turned around and shot one more walker in the head. Before I could turn back around in order to jump off the over turned vehicles, the truck exploded. The force of the blast pushed me off the blockage backwards onto the road. The impact of me hitting the road on my back knocked the breath out of me. My head began to hurt and I felt a slow drip of blood surrounding the back of my head. All I could hear was a loud ringing sound, and I saw white dots all around me.

  “Atlas, the compound is just over the hill. Our orders are to find and destroy the weapon.”

  “What about the civilians inside? We can’t just leave them there.”

  “Screw it. We save as many as we can and we get out now!”

  My mind had escaped back to my life as a sergeant. I know that’s not where my body was, but my mind wanted to escape there. While I was trying to regain composure I felt my body being lifted off the pavement. My body was still limp, and I felt someone’s shoulder pressed into my gut as I was being carried. I didn’t know who was carrying me, but I was grateful for whoever it was. I tried to regain my senses, but only my eye sight was functioning properly. I looked up and saw my brother Seth running behind us with sweat dripping down his face. I looked to the side and caught glimpse of my brother Emmitt sprinting as fast as he could.
My hearing was starting to come back as Sloan tried to tell me something.

  In a raspy voice I said, “You can put me down. I’m fine.”

  So they all stopped and Sloan placed me back on my feet. I looked at all three of them trying to catch their breath with their hands on their knees. I looked around at where we were, and I realized that we were just a mile away from the truck.

  “OK guys, we have to keep moving. They are waiting for us.”

  We began running again and we didn’t plan on stopping this time. Our legs became weak and dehydration was our number one enemy at the moment. I tossed Seth my canteen of water, and he tossed it to the rest of my brothers. I looked straight ahead and saw Shaun waving at us to come on. Our adrenaline kicked in, and we ran faster towards the truck. Towards mid sprint an image caught the corner of my eye. I suddenly stopped as I saw Sarah running from our left limping with a bloody arm. The troubling expression I could see in her face worried me. As I started to walk towards her, she fell to the pavement as her body went limp. I told my brothers to go ahead and get to the truck. I ran up to Sarah and kneeled down to her. She was laying on her stomach so I turned her over and dragged her body closer to me. She could barely catch her breath, and her blood was surrounding us. I searched her body for a wound and I came across a bite mark on her right arm along with deep claw marks across her body. I felt regret as I looked at her, but I wanted to try and comfort her in any way possible.

  “Sarah, you’re going to be fine.”

  She grabbed my hand while searching for her breath. I could see in her eyes that she was slowly fading away. Tears became streaming down her eyes as she gripped my hand tighter and her last breath became apparent. As I saw her eyes focus into a place that was beyond this one, her hand went limp in mine. I brought her head to mine and shed a tear while stroking her hair. I carefully rested her head onto the pavement and crossed her arms across her chest. The Desert Eagle was had fallen onto the pavement beside her with a cloak of blood dripping from the barrel. I gripped the wet steel in my hand and stood up slowly while aiming my gun at her head. I silently waited for her to turn. I wasn’t going to allow her to roam this world as a drifter. I was going to provide her mercy. Her eyes began to wonder, and her arm began to twitch.

  “I’m sorry Sarah.”

  I pulled the trigger and Sarah was dead once more. I didn’t want to leave her body lying on the road. The mob she was fighting was approaching from the road that she had just run from, and I didn’t have enough ammo to fight all of them off. Kiere was screaming for me to run to the truck and everyone was waving their arms in the air signaling me to hurry. I grabbed one of the grenades from my belt and pulled the pin. I gripped it tightly and threw it into the hoard. I lifted Sarah’s limp body into my arms and began sprinting to the truck. The explosion sent a couple of those flesh eating cannibals flying around me. The civilians on the back of the ruck lifted Sarah’s body and gently placed her down onto the bed. I jumped into the truck and Kiere hugged me really tight. I struggled to catch my breath as Shaun put the truck in drive and we sped off down the street.

  We were dodging different abandoned cars all down the road with smoke covering the buildings. Zombies had over run the town, and I thought there were no more survivors until I caught a glimpse of a burgundy car speeding through town like a drunk driver was behind the wheel. I told Shaun to speed up so I could see who was driving the car. We became closer and closer to the car, and I saw it was a 1967 Chevy Impala. I told Shaun to drive up to the driver side because my friend David owned one of those. Shaun got closer to the window, and I looked inside the car.

  I stuck my head out the window and yelled, “David! David!”

  He looked at me and had a surprised look on his face. He rolled down his window very quickly.

  “Follow us!”

  With no hesitation, he shook his head yes, and we pulled in front of him to lead him to the safe house. It was good to see him alive because I thought he was one that had possibly turned from the start. I never heard a word about him or his family so that’s why I assumed it. He has been in my life since I was four years old, and we have always had each other’s back.

  While I was keeping an eye on David through my passenger mirror a static noise came over my radio. I thought I was hearing a voice, but I couldn’t tell what words were being broadcasted. I gripped the radio off my belt and held it closer to my ear as the static became louder with a faint voice hidden between the crackle.

  The faint voice said, “Can you hear me?”

  I pushed the button in and said, “Hello. Hello.”

  The voice faded from the radio and the static was the only noise I could hear.

  “Hello? Is anyone there?”

  The voice did not come back. Shaun looked at me, and I could tell by the look in his eyes, he was hoping it was Brock as I was to. We still had not heard from them. Worry was starting to take hold.

  The Z.E.D.S. Is Born

  I’m going to take you back a couple of years. We are going back in time, before the Army and before the infection. The time where it seemed like the end of the world started every day at 7:00am; the story of how we became the Z.E.D.S. and why it became so important to us.

  This story begins on a Monday morning in the year 2004. Justin, Brock, Mark and I had gone to the movie theater to catch the premiere of Shaun of the Dead the Friday before. It was a really funny movie about two guys in London, England and they are forced to face the zombie apocalypse. Between their antics and obsession with alcohol they were forced to save lives and hide in an English pub and wait for the apocalypse to stop. I figured I would give you a brief summary of the movie considering you may never see it. We were sitting in the cafeteria at our high school waiting for the bell to ring to proceed to our first class. I was sitting next to Justin, Brock and Mark.

  Justin looked at me and said, “I really don’t want to be here this morning. This place is a prison.”

  Brock shook his head, “I can’t wait until we graduate.”

  I was trying to join in on their conversation, but I couldn’t stop thinking about the movie. Not only was it a comic relief, but I just couldn’t help thinking about what if that actually happened. What if we were presented with that type of situation? Would we be ready for it? Would this world survive? The many movies that have been created of the zombie apocalypse should provide people with an idea of how to handle that type of scenario, but people are more deadly to themselves than they are of what they truly know. I interrupted my friends with my obvious question.

  “Hey guys. What would you do if zombies did rule the world?”

  They gave me a look of befuddlement. They stared at me like I was crazy.

  Mark looked at me and asked, “What are you talking about?”

  “Shaun of the Dead was a great movie. We talked about it all night after we left the theater. We never discussed what we would do if it actually happened. What if the world found a way to sustain the population of mankind to where it created a virus to eliminate the ones that aren’t necessary to sustain the world?”

  Justin looked at me and asked another question.

  “What if it wasn’t natural selection? What if it was government created?”

  They started getting serious looks in their eyes. I started a brainstorm.

  Brock was smiling during the conversation, but I could tell he wanted to research more of what we would do and what we were going to do.

  “So what would we do if the infection didn’t get us in the beginning? We are a bunch of sophomore’s in high school with curfews. If the zombie apocalypse started right now at this very moment we wouldn’t last a week in that world.”

  I knew what Brock was getting at. It intrigued us to a point where that day we started preparing.

  “In the movie they were caught completely off guard but they survived. I know it was just that a movie, but it had some truth to it. Simon Pegg developed a plan that benefited them. He led them to a place that ha
d decent protection and more than one way out in case they were trapped. What we need to do is develop plans, escape routes, research weapons and ways to survive without the things we have now. We need to practice and research the skills that we need to inherit.”

  Mark looked at all of us and asked, “Well if we are going to do this what should we call ourselves?”

  I name popped into my mind that was actually said in Shaun of the Dead. When Nick Frost asked Simon if there were any zombies outside his door Simon said “Don’t say that word.” Nick followed with “What word,” and Simon replied with, “The zed word.”

  “How about calling us the ZEDS? Zombie Eliminating Defense Squad.”

  They stared at me and I explained to them about the scene I just described to you. With a smile they all agreed with me. That moment on we decided to become doomsday preppers for the zombie apocalypse. During that entire school day I paid no attention to anything the teachers were trying to teach me. All I had in mind was preparation. I drew plans for a bunker, I thought of different survival supplies that would be needed. When I went home I researched bug out bags that would help someone survive for 72 hours if a disaster were to happen. I talked to Justin, Mark and Brock through MSN messenger about where would be the best place to equip ourselves with the things we need. We found out that Justin had a cousin who lived 30 miles away and worked at a shooting range. Every available weekend we had we went to the shooting range to practice our shooting and gun control safety.

  We noticed a man that was there each day we were there. He was an aged man with a long white beard, a Superman t-shirt and in army camouflage pants. For weeks he watched us and didn’t say a word. Each day he had on the same kind of pants but a different superhero shirt.

  One day during our training he approached us.

  “What exactly are you kids practicing for?”