Z-Boat (Book 2): Z-Topia

by Suzanne Robb

“Ally didn’t want you to have any weaponry.”

  “I’m pretty sure she won’t mind since I’ll be using it to save her life, like your guard here was supposed to do, and that blubbering mess in the back is of no use either.”

  Hank raised his head but said nothing. Erdman let go, but the enraged fire in his eyes remained.

  What the hell is it with these people? Richards grabbed a few decimators, extra magazines, and moved toward the building when he saw Trevor in place. He kicked the guard once more for good measure.

  Chapter Sixteen—

  Time to go, Ally thought. She ran in the only direction with a clear path, right toward a burned out warehouse. As she neared it she assumed this was where the crispy zombie came from, the smell of burned flesh and trail of charred skin and organs nauseated her. Hoping there were no surprises inside she dashed in and shut the door behind her.

  Her breathing echoed around the skeletal building, a few shattered windows blown out by the heat of the fire let in some light. Enough for her to see shadows, and make out basic shapes. A thud on the door grabbed her attention. They wanted food and from the sounds of it were going to beat their way to her.

  She went toward the back with caution. While her eyes adjusted she made note of where everything was. A pile of blackened bones lay in the center, at least fifteen feet in height, on the outer rim the black shape of arms could be seen where people tried to claw their way out. Small indentations where bullet holes left their mark. She shuddered at thought of how many might have been tossed in here that weren’t infected. Fear makes people do terrible things.

  Ally tried to imagine the panic, the sheer terror people went through. Then amplified it to all cities and towns around the world and cringed. By now the zombies were everywhere, outnumbering the living at an astounding ratio.

  She reached the rear entrance and noted the locks and chains. Wedged in a corner was an axe blade with no handle left. Looking for some sort of weapon, only a rusty length of pipe was deemed useful.

  The door in front was giving way to the onslaught of the horde. Each moan of protest sent a shiver up Ally’s spine. Any minute she would hear gunfire and Hunter would help her. Then again, who knew if he cared, his assignment was to protect Joseph.

  Realizing she might not get any aid, an alternative survival plan took root. The corner to her left, the area where the blaze stemmed from, had a shaft of light coming in from a tear in the metal siding.

  She made her way over and peered out. What she saw stopped her in her tracks. Dozens of zombies gathered in the back. Some roamed. Others stood and sniffed the air.

  A high fence surrounded the area with banners and signs. From what she could see it was an attempt to quarantine people that didn’t work out too well. Several of the corpses wore scrubs, nurse’s outfits, lab coats, and military gear. She knew if they got free, those left alive in the surrounding buildings wouldn’t have a chance.

  As quiet as possible she moved away and looked for a different exit. Gunfire broke the silence. She rushed to one of the shattered windows in the front and saw Richards and Hank on either side of the writhing mass, Trevor sniping from the top of a roof.

  In a matter of moments all the undead were down and Richards walked toward her with gun drawn. Ally wasn’t sure if he planned to shoot her, or help her. He stopped six feet from her and spoke. “Doesn’t mean I like you.”

  “Feeling’s mutual. Give me a couple of decimators, and some ammunition.”

  Surprised when he handed over the items and didn’t argue, she blocked the front door as best she could, taken aback when Richards helped.

  “I suppose there’s a reason we’re doing this instead of going in the studio?” he said with a raised eyebrow.

  “Yep, in the back are about a hundred of those bastards. Looks like someone set up a quarantine, and when it didn’t work they tried to burn the infected. As you can see it didn’t work. I figure if we can take a chunk out of the ones in back and secure this building we can hopefully save the lives of those holed up around here.”

  “How do you even know anyone’s left?”

  “I did a scan on bio mode, there were several heat signatures, most of them in the news station.”

  Ally moved to the side of the building and took a peek at what she was up against. The small view provided earlier did not prepare her for the scope of what had happened here. The undead numbers were well into the hundreds.

  Almost three quarters of the town had been cordoned off. Tanks, military vehicles, and medical command centers were strewn about. A major battle had taken place, and the zombies won. Ally wondered how many other cities resembled this one.

  The two decimators she held would need to be placed in strategic locations. She glanced at Richards whose face reflected her own thoughts.

  “I need to get in there and place these near things that will inflict the most damage. I know it won’t add much but whatever will give these a little extra boom helps.”

  “You’re insane. I’m not going in there. You’ll die in seconds.”

  “You’re right, you aren’t going in there. I’m going to go in with a vehicle then you shut the gate behind me. I do what I can then come out, easy.”

  Ally walked away before he could say anything else and looked for a vehicle. Several lined the street, but since this was a more affluent area most of the ignitions were DNA activated. In a far off lot she came across an older model she could start by hand.

  She opened the door and was grabbed from behind, her face engulfed by a rotten smell as a hand with stands of decaying flesh covered her mouth. She struggled to free herself, but the thing behind her was hungry. Beside her ear, teeth gnashed together as it leaned it to bite her.

  Using her left leg to push off the car she faced, the momentum caused her to crash into the body behind her, ribs breaking and organs rupturing. The mouth so close to her ear she knew if the damn things breathed she would have been able to feel its cool breath on her neck.

  The hand loosened and Ally grabbed it and yanked it clear off the body with the surge of adrenaline coursing through her veins. She spun and pulled her knife out, the gun too risky to use because of the noise.

  She didn’t move fast enough, the creature moved forward again with its mouth wide, tongue slithering around like a bloated worm. Ally found herself pinned between a car and a gross place. Black and green teeth snapped at her as she moved her head to and fro. A strong arm held her left shoulder in place. She was confused, the level of rot this thing showed meant it wasn’t new and hadn’t fed. So, why was it so damn tough.

  With her left hand on its neck she managed to keep it from biting her even as the flesh tore and slid under her skin. She freed the abomination of its other arm with a few well-placed jabs and slashes. This caused the full force of its upper body to be thrust at her.

  She plunged the knife in the thing’s side with no effect, more of an instinct than anything else. Bracing herself she gathered her wits and squeezed its neck as she hacked at it back and forth.

  Clots of blood and chunks of rancid flesh flew everywhere. An eternity later the head lolled to one side and the jaw moved in awkward motions. One last slice and she hit vertebrae, well, her knife jammed in one.

  The thing still came at her, missing her cheek by less than an inch when her left hand lost its grip, green slimy fluids coated everything. She moved to the right and used her left elbow to smash the thing into the window of the car. The glass splintered as did the head of the zombie, bits of brain and the greenish ooze she realized some time ago was a bacteria that survived for some time outside of the host. She took a deep breath and wiped her hands with some loose dirt on the ground.

  Ally never thought she would care about the environmentalists who claimed if the world wasn’t careful it would become an asphalt garden, but as the lifeless and desperately thirsty soil absorbed the gore from her hands she thanked them.

  To her right she watched the tainted blood move toward her an
d wondered what their plan was. Killing them one by one would take forever, and since the zombies had the numbers, the effort would be futile.

  The car door opened with a squeak and she scanned the interior to make sure there were no surprises. Sitting on the driver side she wiped her knife clean on the seat next to her then bashed the control panel with the hilt. Tearing the cover panel off, she reset the program and started the car.

  After four false sparks the wires connected and the vehicle sputtered to life. The core light flashed and she sighed when she saw how low it was. She needed to make her trip into hell a quick one. She drove out of the lot and approached the gate, a nervous looking Richards waited for her.

  When he saw her he lifted the bar keeping the quarantine fences in place and let her roll through. Nodding to him as she went by she hoped to hell this was the right thing to do, and wondered if Richards would be there when she needed to leave.

  * * *

  Dale woke from his snooze due to an insistent poke in his side. He opened his eyes and saw the girl, woman, looking at him with an annoyed expression.

  “What the hell do you want? I’m trying to sleep.”

  “Okay, go back to bed. When the car stops moving because your dumbass guards didn’t check the core and zombies surround us, I’ll be sure to remember you needed beauty rest.”

  Dale’s eyes turned toward the dashboard and he realized whatever-her-name was right. The display panel showed a uranium leak. Outside it was nearing dark, and the stretch of road barren. He stopped the car, hit the release button for the back, and motioned to the girl to get out as well.

  “You grab the leaky one from the front, I’ll get a new one from the back,” he said.

  “Are you serious? I have no idea how the hell to get the damn thing out. And I sure as hell don’t want to touch radioactive shit.”

  Dale wanted to scream, she might have saved his life, but how much did he really owe her? If she wasn’t going to put out she was dead weight.

  With a grunt he stomped to the back of the car and flipped open the hatch. He pulled out a lead box and a thick pair of gloves. Moving to the front of the car, stopping to hit the hood release button, he took every opportunity to glare at the girl. Once in front of the mess of tubes and wires he slipped on the gloves and made sure to place the box between himself and the leaky core. He grabbed what he hoped was the core trying to remember how it was attached. He flung it about thirty feet behind him and opened the box with a grunt. As he was about to install the new one a small hand stopped him.

  “I can take it from here, just give me the gloves.”

  He gave her a dirty look but did as she said. He headed to the back of the car. He thought of ways to get rid of her, since she saved his life he didn’t think it was fair to kill her. Then again life wasn’t fair.

  “My name is Janelle by the way, in case you were wondering.”

  He felt her hand sweep over the back of his shoulders and within seconds his arousal was obvious. Okay, maybe she could stay a little bit longer.

  “Hi, Janelle, you can wait for me in the car. Just need a couple minutes.”

  He heard the door slam a few seconds later and forced himself to take some deep breaths. He slammed the back hatch. Night approached and he figured now was the best time to relieve himself than in pitch black. He stood at the side of the road sure Janelle could not see him.

  He unzipped his pants and was halfway done when he heard footsteps behind him. In his head he screamed at the stupid woman who couldn’t even let him piss in peace.

  “Do you mind?”

  He didn’t turn around until he felt a hand on his shoulder. Dale used his right hand to remove it and realized how peculiar it felt. With a slight twist of his head he saw a zombie, with a shrill scream he turned away from the dead grip.

  He stumbled down a small hill, full dark was upon them and he felt his way around. A rustling in the dead foliage let him know he wasn’t alone, a shiver ran up his spine as he wondered how many of the creatures roamed around. His hands shot out, scared he would touch something, and terrified one of them would connect with him first.

  Instinct told him to call out to Janelle, but then his position would be given away. Though odds were she was already dead. He zipped himself up, ignoring the fact that he pissed all over the front of himself. Remaining on his hands and knees he crawled until the incline was tangible.

  Making his way up, a cold hand on the back of his leg caused him to open his mouth and let out a silent scream. He kicked back with all his strength and crawled faster, not caring about the noise, his goal—the car.

  A light popped on and Janelle stood there covered in gore and a sneer on her face. She pointed the gun at him and he closed his eyes as he waited for the death shot. Bitch betrayed him.

  “Whatever you do, Dale, don’t move.”

  Bullets zipped by, one leaving a burn mark on his cheek, he resisted the urge to lift a hand and rub it. What seemed like an eternity, but lasted less than thirty seconds, was over.

  “Come up the hill, and don’t look back.”

  Dale marched up the hill as fast as possible. When he met Janelle at the top he looked where he came from. He’d assumed maybe two or three zombies were there, but when he saw nine bodies he threw up.

  “Hope you toughen up, things only get worse from here.” Janelle turned and went back to the car.

  Dale stood there, the pile of bodies no longer visible since she took the flashlight with her. How the hell was he going to take care of this problem? All of the intel he’d gathered, as well as what people told him, didn’t match up with what he was seeing. The entire country was infected, nowhere was safe. He’d been lied to.

  * * *

  Ally drove the car with care after Richards closed the gate behind her. The zombies appeared weak but she knew that didn’t mean anything. Her last encounter was proof enough they didn’t have all the facts when it came to these things. A crack on the passenger side window made her jump. She glanced over, keeping the car moving by maintaining pressure on the wheel.

  A hand print stared back at her, the thing that made it nowhere in sight. She glanced around the quarantine for any source of power, or flammable items. All she discovered was an overflowing dumpster.

  The creatures swarmed the car, their pitiful moans and appearance made part of her feel sorry for them. She kicked the thought out of her head because thinking like that, seeing them as anything other than the monsters they were, would get her dead. Time to move, if too many got in the way she would be trapped. A glint caught her eye and she squinted to make out the object, the first genuine smile in a long time came to her face.

  “That will work just fine.”

  Ally added more pressure to the wheel and felt several of the walking corpses crunch underneath the car. She pulled up to the side of what was once the military control post, right next to the ammunition depot. A foot between her and the door, the zombies trying to squeeze in and get to her.

  She rolled down the passenger window and shot the lock off of the knob, when the door opened she tossed in a decimator. Two bony hands reached in as she pressed the window up button they refused to pull out. Pushing on the wheel she lurched forward and left two one-armed things in her dust. Less than a minute to toss the other decimator and get the hell out. She turned the car around and scanned the area.

  A large group meandered near the slit in the building she found earlier, not good. Making an on the spot decision, the car was the next best thing for her to toss a decimator in. If she was lucky the core might ignite and take out the whole area.

  Twisting in her seat she saw that only a few of the things were close. Outrunning them would be easy, but that meant trusting Richards would be there to let her out. With a sigh she hit the hood release and exited the car. As she ran by she tossed the grenade in and raced for the exit.

  To her surprise Richards waited. When he spotted her he struggled with the bar to get it open in time, from the
look on his face she knew the pounding was not her heart, but several zombies chasing her. As she crossed the threshold a thunderous boom rattled the ground knocking both her and Richards off their feet. Bits of metal shot in every direction, the sound of it tearing and rending everything in its path unmistakable.

  She rolled onto her back and saw the flames lick at the sky, dark smoke spread everywhere, and bits and pieces of the undead fell from the heavens.

  “The gate,” Richards rasped.

  Ally forced herself up to see it had been blown open and a few of the ones chasing her were getting to their feet, or stumps in a few cases. The corner of the building protected them from the worst of it, their counterparts farther back resembled something a meat grinder would spit out.

  “Crap,” she said.

  Rising to her feet she stumbled to the shredded gate and pulled with all her might. Richards appeared beside her and helped. The bar slid into place with seconds to spare.

  “This gate is totaled, we need to put some sort of barricade in place,” Ally said.

  Richards stalked away and broke the window on a large truck. A second later he struggled to move it, swearing up a storm. She ran over to help him and was glad to see Hank join them. Together the three were able to move the vehicle in neutral to block the gate.

  “I hope it was worth it,” Richards said as he returned to their cars.

  “So do I.”

  Ally waited a minute and followed the other men, now the hard part. Get Joseph into the building, convince the people inside of who he was, and then put him on the air for a news flash.

  The sky was almost full dark, she forgot how short the days were. Part of her wondered if time was running out as well.

  * * *

  An uncomfortable silence hung in the car since the incident as Dale liked to think of it. His pants dried, but the stale scent of urine permeated the air. He hated awkward situations, feeling the need to fill them.