Zombie Slayer Box Set 1

by Gayle Katz

Tonia’s body gave one last convulsion before she died. Zan quickly used her dagger to ensure that she would not reanimate again. “Should we use your dagger again and do the spell?” she asked Charlie.

  Charlie shook her head. “No, she is gone now. Crap. This is bad.”

  Steve was down by the floor shaking Tonia. “Tonia, come back!” he cried.

  “That’s so sad,” said Zan. “Now I don’t know if she was playing or really cared for him.” The trio stood up and went to sit on the couch while they watched Steve mourn his loss.

  “Well, there may have been some remaining humanity in her. But it’s impossible to have two zleaders at once. Unless, oh crap!”

  “What is it?” asked Owen.

  “Unless, someone lied to her and said it could be done. In that case, I feel a bit bad.”

  Zan scrunched up her face, cleaning her dagger on the couch. She then put it away. “Do you know how many people have died these past ten days?”

  “You’re right,” said Charlie. “Since you put it that way.”

  “So, who did it?” said Owen. “Was it Stewart?”

  Charlie shook her head. “I’ve known Stewart for years now. He wouldn’t betray the human race. No, this is someone else.”

  “Shit!” said Zan. “It’s Principal Allan.”

  “Yes,” said Charlie. “Because remember when early last week I said he was doing suspicious things? He met up with Tonia at The Bean Trip. I hadn’t realized it at the time, but that was her.”

  Zan and Owen nodded.

  “Wait,” she said. “I saw you and Allan leaving school later, last week.”

  “Oh, I was talking to him about the school dance,” she said. “Nothing sinister about that.”

  “There’s a school dance?” asked Owen. Zan nodded. He smirked.

  “And one other thing. I saw Principal Allan come here.”

  “So he is connected to this mess then?” asked Zan.

  “OK, now what?” asked Owen.

  “The next step is to find Principal Allan,” said Charlie.

  “Oh, so Allan was the one who must have given Tonia that spell so that she couldn’t be killed by the titanium,” mused Zan.

  “Yes,” said Charlie, grabbing her bag. The trio headed to the door.

  “But, why would he do that when he ultimately wanted to kill her?” asked Owen.

  “There is only one reason for it,” said Charlie. The others looked at her, waiting for an explanation. “He has thought up an even more diabolical plan.”

  “Sorry for your loss,” said Owen to Steve.

  They left and closed the door behind themselves.

  “I don’t think Steve will be any more trouble,” said Charlie, when Zan pointed to her dagger and thrust her head to the door.

  They walked down the alley and to the car.

  “Say, I have another question,” said Owen. The others looked at him as they got in the car. “Why do zombies progress at different rates?”

  “Oh, you mean decay or intelligence?” asked Zan.

  He nodded.

  “It’s just like with people,” said Charlie. “Some people are healthy, some aren’t. Humans die at different ages and have different diseases affect them. Zombies are no different. Tonia could have bitten one zombie who died in a day, while she could have bitten another one who’d live for a few months.”

  “Happy now?” asked Zan.

  Owen nodded.

  Charlie started the car and headed back to the school. She had been hoping that they’d be able to steer clear of the school, but no such luck. “I guess that Principal Allan remembered some of the spells from the spell book.”

  “You know what?” said Zan. “I’ll bet he’s a disgraced mentor and not allowed to practice anymore.”

  Charlie grimaced. “I think you’re right. I’ve never heard of a mentor turning down a potential zlayer. But he still has the cache of weapons for it.”

  “Well, we’re heading back to school, so we’ll figure out what’s up,” said Owen.

  “Right. Say, do you guys mind if you walk the last block? I want to think for a bit.”

  Owen and Zan looked at each other. “Sure,” they said in unison.

  As Zan closed the car door, Owen spoke up. “Did you want to go to that dance later this month? I mean, as friends,” he said.

  Zan smiled.

  Charlie just sat in the car, leaving it running. She placed her head on her hands, which were resting on the top of the steering wheel. She had really believed that they had been near the end of their quest. Once Tonia was dead, they wouldn’t have to do anything else. Now that was not the case.

  Her phone rang.

  “Hey! It’s me, Stewart,” he said.

  “Bad news,” she said, and told him what had happened. She hung up and went back to sitting in her vehicle. Around her, the streets were quiet. This was quite unusual for Portland, but then, the same thing had occurred when the zombie uprising happened in Dallas, Texas.

  “OK, let’s get going,” she said to herself. She drove to the school and hopped out of her car. Her friends were waiting for her in the parking lot.

  “OK, this has to stop now,” she said. “Here’s what we do. Owen, I need you to drive to the hardware store and buy some bags of salt. When you have them, I want you to pour the salt around the perimeter of the school.”

  Owen looked horrified. “Are you serious? Do you know how many bags that’ll take?”

  She laughed. “It only has to be a few grains. Do your best.”

  “What should I do?” Zan asked.

  “I want you to get any staff or students out of here. I expect there are still some lingering, uncertain what to do.”

  “Got it,” said Zan. Her friends headed off on their tasks.

  Charlie entered the school. She walked down to the bottom of the stairwell and picked the lock. She then walked down the long hallway to the weapons room. Once there, she picked that door lock too. She opened it and walked inside.

  The room was untouched. She wasn’t certain if Principal Allan had any use for the weapons, but it was possible that his zombies could use them. She found some oils on the shelf, and combustibles too. She scattered them around the floor. She also found a stash of candles and matches.

  She grabbed a few of the daggers and placed them into her backpack. You could never have too many daggers. She pulled open a few drawers. Much of the room seemed to be storage for the rest of the school. Inside one of the drawers were sheets of paper with photocopied cartoon characters on them. In others, she found quizzes and tests. Some drawers had endless amounts of pens and pencils. She even found a dead rat on one shelf.

  She briefly thought of grabbing it. It may come in handy for a spell or two. She was getting better at the spells, but mostly would let Stewart handle them. After all, she had misunderstood about the spell associated with the titanium dagger. Either that, or Stewart’s mind was slipping.

  She looked wistfully at the weapons on the walls and shelves. She really wished that she could save them all. But after she gave it more thought, in the wrong hands, they could hurt a lot of people. The weapons had no place in the basement of the school. Whatever being was responsible for the mentors, they would be immensely displeased if they knew that Principal Allan had placed all these weapons beneath the school.

  She lit the match and touched it to several candles. She then tossed the match in the air, and tipped over all the candles. She watched as the fire took hold. This not only solved the problem of the weapons, but would also draw Principal Allan out of the school.

  When the flames were well on their way, she headed for the door. She turned the knob but it caught. “Dammit!” she said. Someone had locked or jammed the door somehow. She turned and looked behind her. The fire had reached the essential oils that she’d poured on the floor. The flames tripled in seconds.

  Chapter 15

  ________________________________________

  “Where is she?” asked Owen f
rantically. Owen and Zan smelled smoke and ran up and down the hallways of the school looking for Charlie.

  “She wouldn’t be in the basement would she?” asked Zan.

  They raced to the stairwell and down the stairs.

  “Did you have a chance to spread the salt?” asked Zan.

  “Yep, to the best of my ability. Good thing the store was only a minute’s drive away.”

  The door to the hallway at the bottom was open and unlocked.

  “Did you see Principal Allan anywhere yet?” Owen asked her.

  The students raced down the hallway to the weapons room. As they approached, the smoke was getting much thicker.

  “Yep,” she said. “He was in his office. He didn’t see me.”

  “Help!” came a cry from inside the room.

  “Quick! Open it!” said Zan. She pulled on the knob while he tried to pull out the daggers that were stuck sideways in the door panel.

  “Hey, is that you guys?” asked a friendly voice.

  “Yes, we’re trying to open the door,” said Zan.

  “Please hurry! The flames are getting closer,” she called.

  “On it,” said Zan.

  Owen managed to pull out one of the daggers, but there were several more jammed in the door. Zan helped him pull out the others.

  One by one the daggers clunked onto the ground. Every now and then the doorknob would rattle as Charlie tried to get it open.

  Finally, the last dagger dropped to the ground. Charlie flung open the door and nearly knocked over the others.

  Together, they raced for the stairwell.

  “You set the school on fire?” asked Owen.

  She nodded.

  “Impressive,” he responded.

  The teens raced out of the school and into the parking lot. There, Principal Allan waited.

  “So you tricked Tonia into giving up her zleader status,” said Zan.

  “Oh, she just wanted to lead a normal life,” said Allan. “Zleaders are chosen. They don’t have a choice.”

  Charlie walked closer to him, examining his eyes. “But your eyes aren’t glowing green. Or you’re wearing contact lenses?” she asked.

  He shook his head. “I’m not the zleader,” he said. “But good job in pouring salt around the school. You could have kept me here if I was the zleader.”

  “You gave our addresses to Tonia, didn’t you?” accused Zan.

  “That I did do,” he admitted.

  Zan was angry. “I’d kill you, but I have a rule that I don’t kill humans,” she said.

  Suddenly, Principal Allan dropped to the ground.

  “I don’t have that rule,” said Steve, standing right behind him. He held a bloody knife in his hand.

  “Oh shit,” said Owen, quickly dropping to the ground to check on Principal Allan. “I think he’s still alive.”

  Charlie pulled out her dagger. She could see that Steve had glowing green eyes. “So she made you the zleader before she died. You lied to us,” she said accusingly.

  “That’s right,” he said. He came at her with the knife.

  Zan quickly pulled the dagger out of her pocket.

  Charlie struck with her dagger. She cut his arm. She was pleased to see that it didn’t immediately heal up. That meant that he wasn’t under the same protection that Tonia had been under. Though that could certainly change.

  Zan lifted her leg and kicked at his arm, knocking the knife from it. “Hah!” she said. “You guys should really pick zleaders who know what they’re doing. Picking someone off the streets is useless. That’s why most zleaders don’t last more than a few weeks.”

  Steve started running, but then seemed to hit an invisible barrier. He bounced back and fell onto the ground.

  “Hey, cool,” said Owen. “It worked.”

  Steve was on the ground, trying to pick himself up. Charlie pushed her hand against his shoulder and he fell back on the ground.

  The other two students surrounded him.

  “Just do it!” he said. “I have nothing to live for. Tonia is gone permanently now.” He pushed himself up from the ground, and then stood up.

  “I’m getting really tired of this,” said Charlie. “It’s been nonstop zombies for me the past two years. Enough is enough! This has to end now.”

  She took her regular dagger and plunged it into his head. He dropped to the ground, dead.

  “Umm, wait a minute,” said Zan. “I thought he was the zleader? But, he’s dead.”

  “Dammit!” said Charlie. She kicked the body. “What is going on here? Who the heck is the zleader? First, I think it’s Tonia, but then no, it’s supposed to be Principal Allan. But no, then it’s supposed to be Steve. None of this makes sense.”

  “So the real issue here is that we have one smart zleader,” said Owen.

  “Yeah, like who is it?” asked Zan.

  Charlie looked carefully at both of her friends. But there was no way it was either of them. They would have killed each other by now if it had been one of them.

  “OK, friend inventory,” said Zan. “Just who is left alive?”

  “Let’s see,” said Charlie. “Who is left alive?”

  “Well, for one, Stewart,” said Owen.

  “And Gran,” said Charlie, reluctantly.

  “And our families,” added Zan.

  “But they take no interest in what we do,” said Owen in protest.

  “OK, what about the rest of the teachers?”

  Charlie shook her head. “It’s not any of them.”

  “Students?” suggested Owen. “How about Ben, that guy from camp?”

  “No, it’s not him,” said Zan. “He took off with his parents and went to California. A zleader would never go that far from their city.”

  Charlie’s phone pinged. She lifted it up and looked at it.

  “I think I might have some idea,” she said.

  They quickly hoofed it out of there as the school’s fire alarms went off. The fire trucks arrived quickly and put the flames out. The team had already disposed of the bodies so there wouldn’t be any embarrassing questions. Principal Allan was found alive, so the paramedics transported him to the hospital.

  zzz

  Later that night, the three of them met up.

  “Is this a good idea?” asked Owen.

  “Sure,” Zan said. “There’s a guy at the hardware store who said he’s going to donate salt to anyone who wants to protect their house too.”

  “I’ve already done it for my house, and so has Zan,” said Owen.

  She nodded. “But why didn’t we know about this sooner?”

  “Because Stewart performed a spell to make the salt work,” Charlie explained.

  “Wait, is he a warlock or something?” asked Zan.”

  Charlie frowned. “I hope not. I think he just enjoys experimenting with the book. OK, Owen. I’m going to need you here. You need to help us sniff out the zleader.”

  “OK,” he said. “I haven’t done this before though. While I’m good at getting my parents to confess they stole my candy, I’m not sure about finding a criminal.”

  “Well, just do your best,” she said.

  “OK,” he replied.

  Everyone got in Charlie’s car and she drove to the movie theater. In downtown Portland, things were back to normal. Most people were oblivious that there was a zombie apocalypse. It was like things didn’t affect you until you got swine flu, a bad injury, or someone broke into your home. Most people simply carried on with their normal lives until something happened to them.

  They waited in front of the movie theater. Soon, Sara and Ce showed up.

  “Hey, guys,” said Ce. “Nice to see you again.”

  “Hi, everyone,” said Sara. They all exchanged greetings and pleasantries.

  “This movie is going to be so cool,” said Ce.

  Charlie looked at Owen. Owen was staring at Sara and Ce, puzzling things out.

  “Say, you related to Tonia?” Owen asked Sara.


  “Why, yes I am,” she said. “Do you know anything about her? She went missing after that school camping trip last week. Our parents are quite distraught.”

  “Nah,” he said.

  They went inside and paid for their tickets. Zan and Ce wanted popcorn and soda so they ordered from the food counter. Finally, they were seated in the theater.

  Charlie wasn’t able to sit beside Owen, so she texted him instead.

  “Any idea?” she asked.

  “Yep,” he said. “It’s Sara.”

  “What?” she said.

  “Yep. These guys are good. They’re learning to tone down the aggressiveness.”

  “OK, stay awake. I doubt they’ll pull anything during the movie,” she texted.

  The film was excellent. There was plenty of action and just enough plot line so the viewer didn’t get weary.

  After the movie, they dropped their garbage into the trash can and then left the theater.

  “Hey, guys. Let’s take a shortcut down this alley,” suggested Charlie.

  “OK,” said Ce, but Sara frowned.

  “That was a good movie,” Zan said to Owen. He nodded.

  Charlie was walking beside Sara. She quickly pushed her up against the wall. She took her hand and brushed it over one of her eyes.

  “Hey, what are you doing?” Sara asked.

  A contact lens popped out of her eye. Beneath, her eye glowed green. Charlie pushed her onto the ground, yanking her enchanted dagger out of the pocket inside her jacket. She quickly plunged it into her head and recited the spell, “Reliqua autem impius!”

  “Nooo, what are you doing?” screamed Ce.

  It didn’t take long. Sara struggled for a bit, but then quickly died.

  Not long after, Ce crumpled to the ground.

  “Good,” said Zan.

  “That should take care of any followers,” said Owen.

  They quickly hid the bodies in the nearest blue dumpster.

  As they walked back to Charlie’s car, Owen asked a question.

  “Say, do all the zombies die when you kill a zleader?”

  “Pretty much,” she said.

  “So, is that it then?” asked Zan.

  She nodded.

  zzz