Z Notes | Book 1 | Z Notes

by Lilly,Shawn L.

  The house was boarded up and looked pretty safe from the outside. But as Matt and Frank knew looks could be deceiving. Pressed close to the outside of the house, Frank moved closer to the steps of the front porch. If they could make it up on the porch, the window the screamer kept visiting would be out of sight of whatever the arrow was pointing to.

  Matt took a deep breath and rushed the steps two at a time following Frank’s lead. Upon the porch was a metal container with blood smears all over it. Frank looked around for something to open it with. Not knowing whose blood it was could be fatal. If it’s undead blood and you had a small cut on your hand and it was to get into it, well the change would be as fast as, let’s say, a bite. But you would turn in a week or two.

  In a bush to his left was a half-burned parcel with new clipping. Grabbing the clipping, he placed it on the lid of the box and opened the box. Inside the box was a piece of paper in a plastic slip. Frank pulled out the paper and saw that it was the only thing that was contained within the box. Matt closed up beside Frank to read over his shoulder to figure out why they risked so much for a crummy paper.

  Hello, my name is John Stolks or, to my friends, Big Jo. I don’t have much time to explain what’s happening here. But the dead have awoken and are killing at will. Once you’re bitten, you’re as good as dead yourself. I have a recorder upon me and will be placing tapes of our progress along the way. My first tape will be at the church in Great Hills about days of walk from here. That would be days if you walk day and night, but it’s not safe at night so travel only by daylight, my friend, and stay safe. I travel with my son, Ben, so if you are alive and looking for others, follow the clues left and meet up with us as soon as you can.

  P.S.

  Replace the note in the box, in case others come along like you. Thank you and Godspeed.

  Frank placed the note back in the box and closed the lid. Using his foot he slid the container back against the wall and leaned against the door. Matt finished reading way before Frank and had been watching the surrounding area for any type of changes.

  “You finished?” asked Matt, looking back to see his reply. “Because I think it’s time for us to split this place in case a walker happens along and sees us out in the open.”

  Frank used his elbows and pushed off the door and stood up straight again. Opening his mouth he was about to spit a comment back at Matt’s eagerness to get moving when sounds of footsteps broke the deadly quiet of the town. Matt heard them nearly at the same time as his buddy, and they both dropped to one knee and got there weapons in their hands and waited as still as a lion in the bushes watching its prey.

  The running was getting louder, so whatever it was, it was coming closer in hopefully their sight and not the other way around.

  Matt scooted back next to his friend and leaned in close. “What do you think it is coming this way?”

  Frank closed his eyes and listened to the sounds coming closer. “Not sure. It is running toward us and should appear just over there,” said Frank, pointing across the street about a block away from where they came in sight of the house. “I hope it’s not a runner. Even if it isn’t, it sure does sound like one. But they wouldn’t be running unless they caught sight of a kill.”

  Matt not waiting to see what it was slid back toward the front door and turned the doorknob. Of course, it was locked. “Locked. Why not? It’s just the end of the world. Let’s just lock our doors and leave,” Matt said to himself. But Matt was prepared for this. Reaching in his pocket, he pulled out two thin pieces of metal and inserted them into the doorknob’s lock. Frank standing there heard the rattling of the handle from behind him and saw what Matt was doing.

  “Dude, you haven’t been able to do that yet. So do you even bother to keep trying to pick locks?”

  Matt held his hand still so not to lose his work in progress and looked back at Frank.

  “One of these days, you will thank me for saving our lives with my handy man-made picks.”

  Frank shook his head and spun his head back around to watch the corner of the street where the footsteps were coming from. While Matt was still trying his best to open the door, Frank saw something coming from behind them and knew their time was up. The unknown footsteps now had a picture to go along with the sound of Matt picking the lock of the door.

  The running sound belonged to a middle-age woman who seemed to be alone and looking scared. As she busted around the corner of the building, she spotted Frank staring at her almost in a matter of seconds. It was like she knew he was there and was looking for him. Frank’s blood ran cold as her eyes fell on him. She looked to be among the living, but how she made it this long alive was beyond him. People learned fast that you just shouldn’t go running around without looking and scouting up ahead or where you’re going.

  Even though she was well off, Frank could see the fear in her eyes and knew she was in trouble. Frank reached back and smacked Matt on his head by mistake trying to get his attention. Matt dropped his metal rod on the porch and watched it fall between the wood floor. It disappeared underneath into darkness.

  “Damn it!” Matt yelled louder than he intended and looked back. “You made me drop my pick, ass.”

  Frank didn’t even look back to acknowledge what he had done. Instead he kept his eye on the woman standing in the corner looking back at him. Matt placed his remaining pick in his pocket as he stood and looked over to where his buddy was watching intensely. Matt was in shock to see the same thing as Frank. It wasn’t uncommon to see the living, but it had been a month since they saw anyone alive and walking around freely.

  The woman now seeing two living and breathing people looked around and started making her way to them. She took one more glance behind her and took a step off the sidewalk and into the street. The step seemed to be more of a move than a thought-out one from the brain. She ended up stepping on her ankle and reaching back to grab the streetlight to steady her.

  Frank watched her trip and took a step toward her way from the porch only to feel Matt’s arm on his shoulder stopping him.

  “Don’t even think about it,” said Matt. “Have you—”

  But his voice was cut off with a high-pitched scream that made Matt and Frank’s blood run cold through their veins. Their faces dropped all color, and their focus was on the woman again. She was back up on her feet now staring at the house where the screamer was seen by the window. Frank knew she was scared when she came around the corner of the street. But now she knew she was a dead girl if she didn’t hide and fast. Using all her strength and determination, she started hobbling toward the boys’ spot.

  Matt seeing this and hearing the undead scream pulled the pick back out and ran to the door. It was only a matter of time before the streets were covered with the undead. Frank looked back and cursed.

  “We don’t have time for this!” he yelled and ran up and pushed Matt out of the way and gave the door a solid good kick.

  The door itself didn’t budge an inch. Frank didn’t give up; he continued to kick the door till finally on his fourth or fifth attempt the door started to give way. Frank stepped back and gave it all he had this time.

  The door of the house flew open, but it at least stayed on its hinges. Frank pushed Matt through the door and turned and half closed it. With one hand on the door, he steadied it; and with his other hand, he waved the girl on to move faster. Matt was just behind the door looking for something to wedge it shut with once she was inside. Then as he passed the side window, something caught his eye.

  The next house over had a side window, and through that window one was able to see out the front window as well. It was fast, but if it happened only once, he could say it was his mind playing tricks on him, something to do with his adrenaline pumping and fear leaping into his heart as well as his whole being. But that something that caught his eyes happened not once or twice. It happened several times with barely a break in between.

  Matt’s blood went cold, and he felt as if his heart had sto
pped. He didn’t need to have a second look. He knew exactly what the blurs were that passed the window he could see through. With all he had, he shouldered the back side of the door slamming it shut and almost hitting Frank’s head as well.

  “What the hell man?!” yelled Frank. “She was coming up the stairs to the porch.”

  Matt braced his feet to help keep the door closed as Frank broke the door lock when he kicked it. Looking up once in position, he said one word, “Sprinters.” That’s all he needed to say to have Frank throw his back onto the door and help keep it closed.

  The girl’s ankle was killing her from where she tripped, and she was on reserved energy now to make it to where the boys were waiting. Only a couple of feet away to go, she looked up to see the door was slammed shut in front of her. Panic set in a little deeper as she made it to the door. She tried to push it forward but found it would hardly budge open. Standing there she started to cry and pound on the door with both fists. The terror she was feeling was so intense she was unable to form the easiest of words from her mouth. All she could do was beat away and cry and cry some more. She was so into her fears that she never even noticed the shadows upon the wall next to her or even the ones slowly rising up higher than her own dark imprint on the door she was in most dire need to get open.

  On the other side of the door, Matt and Frank held firm as the lady on the other side pounded away at it to make it open. Matt closed his eyes and tried his best to block the sounds of her crying from the other side of the inch-or-so-thick wood that separated them apart.

  Matt was concentrating so hard to block her out he never heard her knocking stop and her crying lower down to nothingness. It wasn’t till Frank reached over and tapped his arm did he finally notice the stillness from outside on the porch. Frank placed his finger to his lips to let Matt know he needed to be quiet and remain still. Matt on the other hand didn’t need to know what to do in times like this. He wasn’t stupid.

  The peaceful silence lasted only a brief second or two before the crying turned into a high-pitched scream of absolute terror. Matt pressed as hard as he could to keep the door from moving, for whatever was on the other side of the door was slamming up against it countless times over and over again. The sounds of tearing flesh could be heard loud and clear, and the screams faded into gasps for air as the blood was most likely forcing its way out of her mouth and down her chin.

  The sounds were of slurping and smacking of what sounded like a slop being slapped onto someone’s plate in jail over and over again. Matt wished they would just hurry and eat and leave, because his legs were starting to cramp holding the door closed. It could be hours before they left or a day or so; it was up to the undead to tell when they would finish. But Matt knew all too well how long they would last before they left because it was not the first experience he had with the undead.

  Flashback

  “Mr. Comer! Mr. Comer!” yelled a lady running down a hall. Toward man tried to make it into his door before the lady could reach him.

  Matt turned his head and watched the landlady yelling at him while she closed in. If he could only get inside and close the door fast, he could turn up some music and pretend not to hear her at the door.

  But his luck was like most of everyone in the world. It was bad. Matt was trying so hard and fast that he ended up dropping the keys on the floor. Bending down to pick them up, the landlady’s shadow crept up over him, and she waited there. He felt like death had come up to take his soul to the netherworld.

  Matt rose up slowly and came face-to-face with something scarier than even death—the landlady. She was a bit shorter than him, but she made up for that with meanness. Her face looked like a dried-up orange, and her breath smelled as if she was up all night eating roadkill. Both of her arms showed liver spots, and her nails on each hand were as long as knives. She also had this tattoo on her upper right of a woman holding a spear riding on the back of a Pegasus. She must have gotten it when she’s eighteen. Now being older than dirt herself, the tattoo was disoriented beyond all recognition. It looked like a turtle on the back of a seagull.

  “Mr. Comer,” said the landlady with a slimy smile, “I’m so glad I saw you in time. Your rent is three months’ overdue.”

  “Hello, Miss Leyro, it’s lovely to see you as always,” replied Matt. “I sent you a check for the rent just last month, Miss Leyro.”

  The whole time he spoke, he continued to try and get the key in his door to open it up. The landlady still smiling reached over and placed her cold scaly hand over his. Using her index finger, she lightly scratched her dagger-shaped nail on the back of his hand with the key.

  “Sorry, my boy, but that check bounced when I used it,” said the landlady, not taking her eyes off of him.

  “I see that it did and that wasn’t my fault. I sign the checks and passed them to you. Why don’t you cash them right then? Why did you wait for two weeks before you cash them? Instead of letting them, once you have them, you keep trying to cash them. Now my account is beyond negative.”

  The landlady’s smile never faded a bit the whole time she was listening to him explain the check bouncing wasn’t his fault and it was hers. Still scratching the back of his hand, she said, “Well, it is what it is. You still owe me three months of rent, and the problem with no money in the bank sounds like a personal problem.” Her smile widened up more if that was even possible, and her nails now ran in circles over his hand. “Maybe we could let me in, and we could knock off some of those late fees at least to help you out, if you know what I mean.”

  Matt nearly threw up in his mouth when he heard that. With his mouth going dry as it could, he finally found his keyhole and unlocked the door. Quick as he could, he opened the door and slipped inside and closed it in the landlady’s face. Just on the other side of the door, he could still hear her breathing upon the door itself. In some weird way, he believed he could almost smell it as well. Her voice came from the other side, “That’s a pity, Mr. Comer. Now that you won’t let me help you out in your predicament, I’m forced to come back tomorrow with my nephews and throw you out onto the street.”

  Matt pressed his ear to the door and listened as her footsteps walked away back down the hall to her own room. Matt released a breath he had no clue he was holding. With both hands, he pushed off the door and walked toward his kitchen. Once there he opened the refrigerator and grabbed a beer and closed it back. Walking by his counter he placed the bottle’s lid on the edge of it and gave it a hit, and the cap popped off. Not losing a step, he walked over to his couch and sat down and turned his television on.

  News channel 7 at five o’clock is about to start.

  Matt didn’t feel much like watching the news channel today. But he was feeling too lazy to change it to anything else at the moment. By the way all they ever talked about was death and misery. With Matt being broke and about to be homeless, he didn’t need to listen to more bad news around the world.

  Matt had a rough day at work as it was; half the crew didn’t even show up to work today. There seemed to be some kind of new virus going around knocking people out of commission. So out of a crew of twelve people, only four showed up. Hard labor was just a term most people used till you found yourself shorthanded as he was and then you knew what the meaning really meant.

  Matt worked in construction placing walls and floors for upcoming houses. Matt must have hung eight walls that day with three others. Then the boss seemed to call it a day at lunch time because he himself felt a bit under the weather. Matt had worked for this guy for three years now and never had an early day. Looking over at him at work, he could see he was scratching his arm a lot and seemed to sweat more a lot today than any other day.

  “Hey, boss, you feeling OK?” asked Matt.

  “Yeah, yeah” was his reply. “I was just playing with the dog this morning, and I guess I didn’t pull away fast enough and she nipped me on the arm. Damn thing been itching all day.” He pulled his sleeve up, and his arm was red from all
the scratching. The bit mark was starting to fester up, and a piece of his skin looked about to peel off.

  “Holy fuck, dude!” yelled Matt. “You need to rush to the emergency room right now and have someone look at that. It looks deadly as hell.”

  Matt’s boss must not have pulled up his sleeve till now and was just as much in shock as Matt or more at what he saw. So much so all he could do was nod and turn and walk away without another word said. Matt stood there and watched his foreman get into his truck and drive off slowly and around the corner.

  In today’s news, an illness is sweeping not just the state but, it would appear, the whole United States. Symptoms are headaches, high temperatures, rashes, and in some cases strange urges to eat abnormal things. Doctors say if you’re feeling any of these things more than a day, please go to the nearest hospital and get checked out. They say there is no need to panic for it is just a stronger off-the-wall strain of the flu.

  Matt had zoned out till the word “illness” was spoken on his TV. Matt took a swig of his beer and just sat there shaking his head at the idea of some new unknown illness out there. “Not like we don’t have enough of them already,” he said to himself out loud.

  Matt took a large gulp of his beer and got up to get another one while the news talked about some of the animals attacking their owners with some being seriously injured in the mishap. This is not anything new. People mistreat their pets all the time. It is just a matter of time before the animal kingdom get tired of it and strike back. And it’s about time too, thought Matt, getting his second beer.

  Now closer to home, a seven-car pileup on the freeway caused massive delays for afternoon worker and travelers. It is said the driver was swerving all and appeared to be drunk. The cause is still under investigation. But the truck shot across three lanes and hit the guardrail and seemed to bounce back into traffic. Doing so hit multiple cars at one time causing the vehicle to flip. The driver, Dale Matters…