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

by Botts, Bradley

  Her eyes began fill up with tears.

  “Don’t worry; he will be in front of you before the days end.”

  I put my hand on her shoulder and turned around to the teams.

  “Alright ZEDS, let’s bring our family home.”

  Shaun and I led the teams down off the property and onto the road. I saw a look in Shaun’s eyes that I hadn’t seen before. He knew his brother was in trouble and he wasn’t going to stop at anything to find him. It provided me with a sense of confidence that we were going to be successful as well as amped my training from over the years to where everything I have learned had been heightened.

  As we drove down the road a strange feeling grew in the pit of my stomach. My anxiety level preceded my comfort zone and my palms became sweaty and it wasn’t because of the heat. I looked towards the guy looking for a sign of hope but the sky wasn’t so bright anymore. Clouds were rolling in from the horizon and the sun had finally hidden itself. Sprinkles of rain kissed the windshield. I held my hand to feel the warm water trickle from the sky. Then the rain began to really make itself known as visibility became fuzzy from which the rain had shown its true potential. In the distance, through the drenching downpour, Shaun noticed a truck parked sideways across the road blocking all ways of travel.

  “Shaun, slow down.”

  Shaun pressed on the brakes as I could focus more on what vehicle we were approaching. As we became closer two men in military uniforms stepped out of the truck with their guns pointed straight at us. Shaun pressed on the brakes to come to a complete stop.

  I grabbed my radio from my side and proceeded to warn my teammates behind me,

  “Alright ZEDS listen up. We have military personnel up ahead with fully automatic weapons aimed towards us. Stay put inside your vehicles and I’ll see what the situation is.”

  Mark came over the radio fully aware of what could happen.

  “Atlas, you be careful. If they try anything we are putting them down.”

  I placed my weapons onto my seat and I hear Shaun cock his handgun just waiting to fight through. I stepped out of the truck with my hands in the air and began slowly walking towards the two men.

  As I got closer to them I heard one of them yell, “STOP RIGHT THERE!”

  I came to a halt and the man who had just commanded me to stop paced towards me with his gun pointed towards my head. The other personnel began patting me down searching for any hidden weapons I may have stashed anywhere on my body. I know what happens when an unexpected member travels upon military personnel. They pat you down, ask you questions and proceed with a judgement call on whether you can leave and live or stay and die.

  “What is your business here civilian?”

  As I looked at his uniform a smirk came across my face as I realized he was a private and I was a sergeant. If he had talked to me like that inside the army I would be allowed to treat him like a combative, insubordinate man and taken him to the ground without any punishment. I knew since I had no knowledge of anyone being stationed outside of my town for a checkpoint then I should not let them know who I truly am. The more you know and they don’t the outcome is in your favor.

  With my left arm still raised in the air I took my right hand and wiped the rain from my face and answered, “I’m looking for a couple of friends of mine that may have passed through here a couple hours ago. They were driving a red four door Chevrolet. Have you seen them?”

  “There hasn’t been any civilian to pass through here all day.”

  His voice was a bit crackled and had some hesitation with the sounds. I knew he was lying to me.

  I put my hands down to my side and asked, “So you haven’t seen anyone come across the road?”

  The man’s voice became angrier and his hands became tighter on his gun.

  “Didn’t you hear me the first time? I said no one has ventured down this road. Now this is a restricted area. I need you to get back into your truck and leave before I spill your blood all over the pavement.”

  As I stared at the two men who kept staring me down I noticed some abnormal activity taking place a couple yards from us. There was a chain linked fence with barbed wire running across the top of it and many people walking around it.

  “Leave now or you will die! Understood.”

  I nodded my head and turned around to walk back towards the truck. I opened the door and stepped into our vehicle and contacted everyone.

  “Listen up. Let’s go back about half a mile and regroup. Logan I need you to crawl to the bed of the truck without being noticed and use your binoculars towards the fence down the road. Keep focus on the metal building to the far right.”

  Shaun gripped the steering wheel and looked at me,

  “Did they say anything about Brock and Chase?”

  “They said no one came through here, but they were lying.”

  Shaun backed the truck up and we went down the road to scout the base.

  “Logan, did you see anything?”

  “Come up here and take a look. I believe Brock and Chase are in there.”

  I climbed on back of the truck and looked through the binoculars. In the metal building with two garage doors attached to it I seen the back end of a red truck with a black Z spray painted across the tailgate. That confirmed that Brock and Chase were being held there.

  “Listen up. They told me they haven’t seen anyone pass down this road. As Logan and I can see their truck is stashed inside one of the buildings. They have taken them and are hiding what they have done. If we go in there guns blazing we will probably get killed. I am going to sneak in to find them. I need you guys to stay here for when we get back. We have to be ready to run incase I’m not as stealthy as I believe I can be.”

  Shaun had an angry look on his face and gripped his UMP tightly with his right hand.

  “Why can’t I go? If they have hurt my brother I am going to kill every one of those pricks.”

  I placed my hand on his shoulder and said, “I can’t afford to worry about you while I need to focus on getting them out of there. Plus if I don’t make it back the team will need all of you to keep things going. Keep the radio on channel 5. I will contact you when I retrieve them and we are on our way back.”

  I walked to the truck and grabbed my shotgun, my Beretta, a pair of binoculars, my Winchester Blade that I received from Brian and my separated capable blade I like to refer to as Snake. I nodded towards the rest of the team and sprinted through the drenching rain. I knew if I had the ZEDS help this could have probably gone a little smoother, but I knew if the situation became a worst case scenario then our work can continue on. I came upon the two men who had stopped us before standing next to their inconvenient truck parked across the road. I stationed myself in some brush near the side of the road and looked through the binoculars to try to find any sign of Brock and Chase. All I could see was around twenty odd soldiers roaming around the base with automatic weapons and a fifteen foot high chain linked fence. I placed the binoculars into my back pack and snuck around the truck. I gripped my survival knife with my right hand and walked up to the soldier on the right. I gripped his head and shoved my blade into his spine. The other soldier turned around saw me. I threw my knife into his shoulder and jumped onto the truck. I ran across the hood and tackled him to the ground. I pulled my knife out of his shoulder and forced it into his head. Blood splattered into the rain as I lifted my blade from his skull. I gripped both of their assault rifles and placed them across my shoulders. I walked up to the tree line close to the gate and did a quick re-con of the area. Two men walked passed the gate and began talking to each other while disappearing to the other side of a small building. Once they were out of sight I knew this would be my chance to invade. I ran steadily towards the barred gate and leaped over it. I kept sprinting towards a military hummer and ducked next to it. I grabbed my binoculars back out of my bag and focused in on the ZEDS truck. Four men were surrounding the building with assault rifles. I placed the binoculars back inside
my pack and sprinted towards the building. I placed my back to the wall and slowly stepped towards the four soldiers. One of the men came around the corner and instinctively pushed him up against the wall and knocked him out with my right fist. I dragged his body underneath a nearby truck. I grabbed the zip ties from his belt and tied him to the axel of the vehicle.

  The rain was not letting up and I knew it would be good cover for me to sneak around the back of the building and get inside to survey the truck. I watched as two of the soldiers that was guarding the building stepped away from their post and that just left me with one to deal with. I stepped out from underneath the truck and walked around to the backside of the building and entered through a window. The other soldier was still keeping guard to the front entrance and not noticing that I was inside. The ZEDS truck was stripped down and cleaned inside and out. All that was left was the body. I started looking around the inside of the garage and was a two door locker with a small combination lock attached to it. I kneeled down and began configuring the lock.

  Before I was able to break the lock a voice appeared behind me and said, “Don’t move. Stand up slowly and walk backwards towards me.”

  With caution I rose from the floor and slowly stepped towards him. He placed his hand on me and reached for my gun. I gripped his gun with my left hand and struck him in the face with my right elbow. He placed both of his hands onto his nose. I connected my foot to his legs and he fell to the ground. I pulled out my Beretta and aimed the sights towards his head.

  Very frightened he put his hands in front of my gun and said, “Wait, wait. Please don’t kill me.”

  “The two guys that drove this truck, where are they?”

  Blood streaming from his nose and his eyes filling with tears he replied, “If I tell you you’re just going to kill me.”

  “All I want are my friends back. Just tell me where they are and I won’t kill you. This is their truck and I know that they are here. So if you actually want to live you will tell me where they are right now!”

  The soldier slowly stood off the ground with his hands in the air.

  “I will tell you where they are as long as you promise not to kill me.”

  “I give you my word. Your life is not what I want.”

  He wiped the blood from his nose and said, “They are in the South East building.”

  “Thank you. Now open that locker over there.”

  The soldier walked over to the locker and with his eyes focused on my face he opened it. The locker was filled with guns, hand grenades, M9 hand guns and Desert Eagle hand guns. I hit the soldier in the back of the head with my gun and he fell to the floor unconscious, I grabbed a duffle bag hanging from a hook on the wall and filled it full of the arsenal that was in the locker. I threw the bag over my shoulder and locked the locker back with the soldier inside of it.

  The opening was clear for me to sneak out of the garage and hide the duffle bag inside of another military vehicle close by. I knew if I had to that this truck would be a quick getaway. The keys were left in the ignition so it wouldn’t be a problem starting it. Soldiers proceeded to pace up and down the base so I had to be extra cautious about moving around the area. The rain hadn’t let up and I was beginning to feel the weight of the wet clothes. I knew I was going to have to find them soon or people would notice to soldiers missing from their post. I shadowed around two buildings without being seen, but the following building had three soldiers placed at the entrance.

  I let the rain collapse on me for a while trying to devise a plan on how to get passed them. I prayed for some kind of sign that would allow me to gain access to the building or at least get close to it without being targeted. A soldier was marching towards the side of the building I was stationed at and I realized this is the answer. Even though I could have done this task four bodies ago I didn’t realize it until now. I raced to the other side of him and dragged my knife across his throat. His body went limp into my arms and I pulled his body behind the building. I stripped him of his uniform and stripped myself of my clothes. I placed my clothes into my pack and placed his clothes onto me. I reached into my pack and gripped Snake from the inside. Just to clarify I call this blade Snake because once it separates into two different blades they are just like snake teeth. They are deadly and contain quick striking abilities. With Snake in my hand and the soldiers uniform on, I walked toward the three guards and each of them were cuffing their cigarettes in their hands so the rain didn’t put them out.

  I marched towards them and asked, “Hey, can I have one of those? Mine got soaked in the rain.”

  The guard on the far left reached his hand into his pocket searching for his smokes and the other two were staring at me.

  One of the soldiers pointed at me and asked, “Where are you coming from? I haven’t seen you around here.”

  I gripped snake with both of my hands and separated the blades. I shoved one blade into the nosey guard and slid the other blade across the soldier’s neck that was standing right next to him. The soldier who was obtaining me a cigarette was having trouble getting his hand out of his pocket to help his fellow comrades. I pulled the blade out of the man’s gut and placed both blades into the last soldiers chin. When my knives exited his chin blood splattered on my face. He grasped his chin and began to scream for help. I gripped his head with both my hands and twisted it around until a crackling sound emerged. His body fell to the wet pavement and I was the only one left standing amongst the three dead bodies. I grabbed Snake from the drenched asphalt and blood trickled from the tip of it. I kicked open the door and a soldier that was sitting in the chair stood at attention.

  “WHO ARE YOU?”

  I threw one of the blades into his shoulder and pulled out my Beretta. I shot him twice in the chest and once in the head. I saw two people handcuffed back to back sitting in chairs with black bags over their heads. I raced towards the two people and pulled the bags off of their heads. Brock had a bruised face and cuts across his cheeks. Chase had an enclosed eye and a gash on his the top of his head with blood dripping down the side of his face.

  I kneeled down and said, “Eagle. You guys need my help?”

  As battered and beaten as they were they still had humorous remarks to say to me.

  “Took you long enough. I didn’t know whether I was going to have to call Triple A or not.”

  “We’re going to get out of here right now.”

  I aimed my gun at the chains and shot the bonds that held them. I helped them out of their chairs and we began walking towards the door. I handed Brock and Chase the assault rifles that were hanging off of my back.

  “We are going to run to a Hummer that is ready to get us out of here. The keys are already in the ignition and we have enough fire power in the truck to bust our way out of here.”

  We walked through the broken doorway and a soldier stood in our way.

  “Zombies have broken through the ga…. Who the hell are you?”

  I shot him in the head and we ran away from the building. The dead was roaming everywhere around the perimeter. We ran passed a couple of buildings and I heard someone yelling for help. The voice sounded like the man I had locked up in the locker. Even though I fulfilled my word of not killing him for information he seemed like an innocent man just trying to survive with the wrong group of people.

  “You two run to the second truck across from the white shed. I’ll meet you guys there.”

  “What are you going to do?”

  “I have to help that man.”

  They ran across the pavement with guns blazing. I ran to the garage and the soldier I locked inside the locker was screaming as the roamers were trying to reach him. I aimed my gun towards the cannibals and shot each of them one by one in the head. I walked to the locker and shot the lock off of the handle. I opened the door and he stood there with a surprised look on his face noticing that it was me that had saved him and no one else.

  “Let’s go.”

  I handed him my Beretta an
d he quickly pulled the trigger next to my head. I turned around and saw a zombie fall to the floor. We stepped towards the doorway and began shooting the dead that were coming towards us. We both ran outside the building looking in every direction. Bullets were flying passed my head and zombies were trying to surround us. With every blast of my shotgun and each bullet from my Beretta zombies fell one by one. I saw Brock standing on the back using the gunner mowing down most of the base and Chase was standing next to him killing the dead that were trying to reach the truck.

  I looked at the soldier running next to me and said, “You drive.”

  We jumped inside the truck and the soldier cranked the ignition and stomped on the gas. We began moving towards the gate and zombies were bouncing off of the truck as we struck them.

  I gripped my radio and said, “Guys, I’ve got Brock and Chase. We’re heading back in a military vehicle and with a new addition. Get ready to head back to Watch Tower.”

  A different voice I have never heard before appeared over the radio.

  “Atlas is it? I’ve got your friends right here with me. You broke into my base leading all of those things inside and killing my men. I’m about to make the score even and kill all of yours.”

  Shock and anger came over me like a title wave.

  I pushed in the button on the radio and threatened, “If you hurt any of them, I swear to the Lord above my face will be the last damn thing you will see in this life.”

  With confidence the man came over the radio again and said, “Come and join your crew and we will see if you’re a man of your word.”

  I looked at the soldier and asked him his name.

  “Riley.”

  “Get there fast Riley.”

  He pushed the pedal down to the floor and I replaced my shotgun shells. We crossed over a hill and I saw our teammates lined across the trucks with others pointing their guns at them.

  “Stop right here Riley.”

  He halted the vehicle and Brock jumped off the back of the truck.

  “Brock I need you to climb up that hill side and don’t shoot until I give you the signal.”