Z Notes | Book 1 | Z Notes

by Lilly,Shawn L.

  “You think we should go in and see what might be in there?” asked Frank as quietly as he could.

  “Either that or, say, screw it and keep walking on and hope a cheeseburger falls into our laps,” replied Matt just as quietly.

  With that said Frank slowly crept up to the serving counter and leaned over to have a look behind it. There were blood smears all over but no body. There was a large blood pool at the far end, and the smear started from it and led toward them and around and past the kitchen door. Frank gave a silent prayer and walked up to the door to the kitchen.

  The door was one like one would see in any restaurant. It was one of those swinging doors that kept swinging open and close and reversed open and close till someone stopped it. It had a tiny circle-shaped window, so in case you were going in, you could make sure no one was there to be hit with your intrusion to the kitchen or dining area.

  Frank looked through the glass window, but it was also covered in blood. It looked to be a handprint of some kind and obscured the field of view into the kitchen. Frank knew the only way there was to have a good look was to just walk in and see. Matt figured this out as well and placed himself on the back of the door to toss his body in in case something tried to come out while they went in. Frank decided to pull the door open instead of pushing it just so Matt could do his thing if necessary.

  The door let out a loud creak as it was pulled open slowly, and Frank stopped in his entry to the door. Listening he could hear nothing moving or even shoveling around inside. Continuing on with the door, it gave no resistance to come open, and the creaking stopped after the first few inches it was pulled. Nothing came rushing out at them, and as for seeing what was on the other side of the door, it was almost impossible.

  Matt got an idea and left the back of the door and walked over to the eating tables full of rotten food and dead gruesome bodies. Matt looked down and could see the dead guy’s face was planted in what looked to be his breakfast that morning. He looked rather old, so Matt thought it could be that he wasn’t able to leave the table when he was attacked. But with his level of decomposition, it was hard to tell if he was really old or not.

  Leaning over the dead guy, Matt grabbed the back of the chair to brace him and found himself very close to the back of the old man’s head. Matt could even make out what used to be eggs and bacon on his plate. Even with the maggots and flies all over the plate, Matt seemed to be able to hear his stomach growl even more. Matt shook his head to push his mind away from thinking rotten food looked well. “I’m not that hungry yet,” he told himself, focusing back on his idea again.

  Using his free hand, Matt reached out and grabbed the string that hung next to the window and wrapped his finger around it and gave it a pull. The blind came up bringing in the sunlight and giving a whole new view of the death and carnage of the goings-on inside during the outbreak of zombie terror.

  Frank wasn’t sure what Matt was doing till he grabbed the string. Now with the light shining inside, he would have a better look inside the kitchen. It wouldn’t be a great help, but it’s better than nothing at all. Frank waited while Matt went from table to table and opened a blind up to bring in new rays of light into this tomb they called a diner. Looking back he could see more of the next area now with Matt’s idea of raising the blinds. But he waited till Matt made it back to him before entering the door to the dark room inside.

  Matt came back with a smile and helped pull the door open and looked around to find something to keep it open for them. It didn’t take long to find something. Just behind the door itself was a door wedge. Using it the door remained open, and Frank and Matt slipped inside with their weapons in their hands.

  The room was small and still dark in some places especially in the back parts. But the good thing they both thought was at least nothing inside rushed at them once they walked in. Keeping low they walked as best they could a little ways in. Frank walked closer to the hole the food would be passed through once done, while Matt made his way around the back area of the prepping table. Matt got another idea and stood up and looked around for what he needed for his next great idea.

  Frank could see Matt was up to something but stayed focused on his surroundings. Frank knew that was Matt all the way. He came up with ideas at the strangest of times forgetting how dangerous it was now. While he had to keep his eyes and ears at the peak of perfection for anything, he could feel something didn’t seem right. Making his way to the end of the table, he stopped because anything further and he would be walking in the dark and anything could reach out and grab him and he would be a goner.

  Light shot out into the darkness in front of Frank, making visible different small spots in the blackened area. Frank stood up and looked back to see once again Matt had a huge grin on his face. Next to Matt was a cluster of knives he had stuck in the wall in a side angle, and others just lay leaning up against pans. Matt had used the light from the outside that came in the kitchen and stopped at the wall. Knives were positioned to reflect the sunlight to light up the darkness ahead of him. Frank had to smile back because there was no way he would have thought of that. He would have more than likely said “Screw it” and left the diner hungry and moved on.

  Pain! The utmost pain shot through Frank’s head and enabled him to move or get away. Matt stood in there in shock for a few seconds before coming to his senses. Once the light was reflected to the back of the room and Frank stood and smiled back to him, a hand came out of nowhere and grabbed his friend. It appeared like it came out of thin air and grabbed a handful of Frank’s hair. But looking up he could see that on top of the pot and pan hanging was an undead zombie waiting for someone to get close enough to grab. Matt with machete in hand ran over and swung with all he had and watched Frank drop and crawl away. But still hanging in place was the hand which was still holding a fistful of hair. The zombie was now squirming around to get down at them and get him something to eat. Matt knew that wasn’t a good idea and started stabbing upward but kept his head down as he did so. After about thirty stabs, he must have hit the head because the blade struck something harder than it had before. The sound the blade made when it struck home was that of metal on concrete. The whole fight itself took a matter of seconds, but the commotion was that of a brawl in the kitchen that echoed throughout the whole place. Pots and pans that hung from the rack knocked against each other, and the rack creaked as it swung back and forth. A couple of pots even came off their hangers and bounced on the table to the floor and rolled away.

  Leaving the blade where it was, Matt made his way to his friend to check on him and see how he was doing.

  “How’s your head? Did it cut, scratch, or open any kind of wound on you?” rambled Matt like a drunken loon.

  Frank didn’t reply but stood there rubbing his head with his free hand to prop himself up on the floor. Matt ran over the other side of the table and the knife mirror wall he had made. He grabbed a knife and yanked it out. Turning back he ran over to Frank careful not to slip in the zombie’s goo or run into the handle of his stuck blade. Frank was now trying to get up when he saw Matt carrying a knife and running at him. Frank turned white and tried to crawl away doing the backward crab crawl.

  Matt seeing Frank was at a loss of what he was doing closed ground on him before he could get away and grabbed his arm and hoisted him up to a standing potion. Frank closed his eyes and waited for the killing blow to come but instead just felt Matt bend him over on the cooking grill.

  “Sorry, dude, but no matter how lonely you get, I don’t swing that way,” said Frank trying to fight Matt off him.

  Matt stopped and was at a loss of what to say at first.

  “First, I’m using the knife to give a little light so I can see your head and make sure there is no cut or anything it might have given you. And, second, you’re not my type,” replied Matt with a weak laugh at the last comment

  With the whole event done and over with, it was back to what they had come inside to do in the first place, and
that was to find some food. With some well-placed pots and broken pieces of glass Matt found in the restroom, they had set up their own little light source within the diner. They both couldn’t see the diner in its entirety, but it would make do with what they had. Matt did his thing and looked where he wanted, while Frank looked in the places most people would not think of looking.

  Frank looked under the appliances and the small tables in the kitchen, looking for maybe some canned fruits or bag of beans that might have fallen and were pushed out of sight except for cooks or waitresses walking in and around the kitchen. It didn’t take long before Frank found a can of pears. It looked to have fallen off the shelf and rolled under the prepping table in the darkness. If it wasn’t for his keen eyesight, he might have overlooked it. But with the light source they had rigged up, he could see the metal top of the lid.

  Relinquishing his search for now for more food, his hunger got the better of him. Running over to the table, he searched for a can opener. There was not one in sight. He looked in all the obvious places and even checked the sink to see if it was being washed and found nothing. Setting the can on the table, he went back to look for more food because his mother always said, “The things you’re looking for come out when you stop looking for them.” He thought back about it now and hoped his mother was right about this one, or he was going to end up chewing a whole can of delicious pears.

  Matt could hear Frank moving around in the kitchen while he was in the dining area of the dead. Moving from corpse to corpse, he checked their pockets for anything he could find. There was mostly change they might have received from their meal or just what they kept on them, just in case. He did find a matchbook with a couple of matches within. Those he pocketed. He came across several pocket knives. As he had a couple in his bag, he wasn’t in need of any, so he placed them on the table in sight in case others came by and needed one.

  Matt moved finally behind the counter and started looking around. The first place he started was the cash register and tried to open it, but with no luck it would not open. Remembering what he had seen on TV, when he could afford cable that is, he used his hand and slammed it hard down on the keys of the register. The register made a loud banging sound but did not open up at all. What Matt learned just then was movies lied about two things: One, they don’t open up at all and, two, it hurts like hell when you try and do it the way he did.

  Matt was about to give up when he saw the key on the board that said cash. Shrugging he pressed it and the register opened up with another loud ring. Inside was a little bit of cash, and lifting the tray he found nothing. But Matt was smarter than some crook, so he lifted the tray higher and under was a key taped at the bottom. Smiling he removed the key and the cash and closed the drawer. Besides the cash, key, and matches, there was nothing else of use. Walking to meet up with Frank in the back, his eyes caught a juice can opener on the bottom shelf behind the counter. It was mostly just for opening juice cans to help pour out the liquids inside, but what the hell it could be useful. Grabbing it he walked in the kitchen and saw the can on the table. It was like a sign from God saying, “Come and eat me, Matt, please.”

  “Don’t mind if I do,” Matt said out loud and went straight for it.

  Frank heard Matt say something, but it didn’t make it to his brain till he heard the popping of the can and turned around to confront his buddy.

  “That’s mine, bitch,” yelled Frank, not looking happy.

  “Sorry, dude, but I didn’t see your name on it, and don’t forget I’m an injured man here,” said Matt, smiling and taking a swig of the can’s yummy goodness that was inside waiting for him.

  Frank walked over and snatched the can from Matt’s hand and took a large drink himself before replying to Matt’s smart comment toward him. “You think you’re hurt now. Wait and see what happens next time you’re hurt and I decide not to help you out.” With a smirk Frank took another drink and passed it back to Matt.

  “That’s just cold, dude. Just cold,” said Matt, finishing the last of it and trying to open the can with the whole punch of the can opener to get the pears inside out to eat. Frank knew it’d be a while, so he moved on toward the back of the room. There didn’t seem to be a lot of food there. Maybe someone got to this place first before them. It wasn’t such a far-fetched idea that it could happen. So he went further back where it was too dark to see anything, but now there was no light.

  In the revealed darkness, there was now a door. It was metal and had a latch on the outside. It was most likely the door to the freezer. Knowing the power has been off for a while now and the food inside was most likely not enjoyable to smell, he pulled the bandana a little more tightly and reached for the handle and stopped. An idea came to him in that moment.

  “Hey, Matt, you won’t believe this,” yelled Frank from the back.

  Matt stopped his progress with the can and looked up to see Frank standing in front of a door. Matt set the can down and walked over to where Frank stood waiting for him.

  “‘Sup?” asked Matt, a little pissed he couldn’t get the can open before Frank called him to look at something as always.

  “I opened this, and there’s enough canned foods inside to last us all winter.”

  Matt’s mouth dropped open, and he reached for the handle without much of a thought. Maybe if he would have seen Frank hurry away from him he would have gotten a hint something was up. But instead his hunger was in overdrive, and he wanted the food back. Pulling the handle open Matt took a step inside and was in almost shock at the sight and smell. The smell was so bad it felt as if his eyeballs were going to throw up and melt off.

  Inside were all kinds of what must have been meat. Now it looked like melted fecal matter. It didn’t smell much better. Hurrying to close the door, something caught his eye in the back, and Matt froze in place. It seemed the smell and the horror of all the bad spoiled food was not even there. But what was there was a safe built into the wall in the very back of the room.

  Reaching around he pushed the door open and kicked the door stopper down to keep it open. Even with the light source he made, he still couldn’t see everything on the floor in front of him, so he would have to make more light back there. Running back to the bathroom, he busted out more of the mirror and returned to the kitchen. Frank was setting on the table now eating the pears.

  “Damn, Matt. You went to the bathroom when you’re sick and forgot to close the door. Now the whole place smells worse than it did before.”

  Matt ignored him and made his way back to the freezer and set up the mirror pieces to help out. Finally with them in place, he could see all he needed to and went inside toward the back. The safe itself looked simple and easy to break into, but all it needed was a key. Matt reached into his pocket and removed the key and was careful not to pull out anything else he had in his pocket and drop it in the nasty floor.

  The key was a perfect fit, and with a quick turn the door unlocked and was now ready to be opened. Matt reached up, pulled the handle down, and opened it up to look inside; and his mouth dropped open.

  Frank was down to a couple of pears left when Matt walked into the freezer. Setting the can down he decided to save his buddy the last one, even though he knew he didn’t like pears at all. Walking over to the door, he saw Matt in the back of the room at what looked to be a safe. It is a funny place to put a safe, Frank thought, but at the same time brilliant. Who would think to look for it there in the full freezer? When Matt pulled it open, his big head went and covered the whole view of what was inside.

  “What did you find?” asked Frank trying to see around Matt’s head.

  Matt turned around and held up a nice stack of cash. It appeared to be at least a couple grand. Frank thinking it was something good got his hopes up and came crashing down hard.

  “Nice cash,” said Frank a little louder and meaner than he meant it. “Well, if we run out of food, we at least have some cash now to go to Wendy’s and grab us a warm meal.”

&nbs
p; Matt smiled and pulled out his other hand and showed it to Frank. Now it was Frank’s turn to open his mouth and be at a loss of words.

  In Matt’s hand was a nine-millimeter gun with a bullet clip attached to it. Guns weren’t hard to find in this time of chaos; bullets were.

  “Open the clip and see how many bullets it has in it,” said Frank, forgetting about the smell and where he was at right then.

  Matt put the safety on and pressed the button and released the clip into his hand. The clip itself felt rather light to hold, so before even looking inside, he could tell it wasn’t a full clip. Flipping it over he angled it so the light from the mirrors he set around the diner could show him just how many casings were inside the clip itself. Matt counted about three bullets and pulled the slid back to see if there was one in the chamber. But it was empty, and Matt slid the clip back into the gun. Holding the gun up he spun it around to get a good look of it and make sure it wasn’t damaged in anyway. Upon holding it up so he could see, the light went out and he was left in total darkness.

  “Damn it, Frank! Move your fat head,” said Matt angrily.

  “I haven’t even moved a foot since I got here,” replied Frank just as snotty.

  Before Matt could send him a nasty comment back, the bell on the front door rang softly. Matt and Frank froze in place, and Matt hurried to the freezer door slipping the whole way. Frank being at the door was faster to go have a look and see what made the sound. Could it be the bird coming back in the door and hitting the bell? Or was it a raccoon coming in to feast on the bodies? Frank pushed that thought from his mind. There hadn’t been many animals left out in the forest nowadays. It would seem the virus that spread through bites, scratches, and most other blood contacts from the walking dead was too strong for the little animals, and they ended up dying within a matter of days.