Zombies Ate My Neighbors, Family & Friends (Book 3)

by J. D. Chambliss

  Terry ran his hand over the mark, and Amanda closed her eyes. This was it. Sarah was going to be killed, or exiled from the community. Jamie began to consider all sorts of scenarios. Maybe, they could convince Terry to let them all leave. They could live together in the wilderness. That would work, right?

  Surely Terry had to be at least that reasonable. Either way, things were about to change, and neither Amanda nor Jamie were looking forward to it. Jamie took a deep breath and glanced around the room. Maybe, there was something here they could use. There were the knives in the kitchen, of course. They could kill Terry and dump the body outside the wall where it would be eaten by the undead. No one would ever be the wiser, at least not at first.

  Terry stood up and turned away from Sarah.

  “It looks like she's clean,” He said.

  Amanda couldn't believe what she was hearing.

  “Clean?” Jamie echoed Terry's words.

  “Were you expecting something else?” Terry raised an eyebrow.

  “No,” Amanda said. “Of course not.”

  Terry looked from Ross, to Amanda, to Jamie.

  “You people are strange,” he muttered as he showed himself out of the house.

  As soon as he closed the door, Amanda jumped into action.

  “What the hell, Sarah?” She said. “Why couldn't he see the bite mark?”

  “I didn't want him to,” Sarah shrugged. “Did you want him to?”

  “What?” Amanda said. “No, of course not, but how can you stop someone from seeing it? It is right there; we can all see it.”

  “Yeah,” Ross said. “Not going to lie; it's a little creepy.”

  “Ross...” Jamie started, letting her words trail off.

  “People see what they want to see anyway,” Sarah said, matter-of-fact. “It's not that hard to alter their perception. I should have done better the other night...”

  “About the other night?” Jamie moved closer to Sarah, kneeling in front of her, and taking her by the hands. “Sarah honey, I need you to tell me something, okay? Did you kill that little boy like Terry said?”

  “Yes, I did,” Sarah nodded. Jamie blinked, she was clearly taken aback.

  “Why?” Amanda asked, moving closer. “Why would you do something like that?”

  “Well, here's the thing,” Sarah said, letting go of Jamie's hands and standing up. “You guessed right when I first came here. I was autistic, mentally retarded, whatever the lingo is these days. It wasn't a fun life, now that I remember it, but back then things were a lot simpler. Then I was bitten, and very slowly, I started become more aware. When Ross found me, I was almost as you see me now.”

  Amber and Jamie were stunned to hear this coming from the mouth of a little girl, but Ross simply laid back on the couch and stared at the ceiling.

  “So you're saying...the bite...cured you?” Amanda asked.

  “It cured me, and it made me better,” Sarah nodded. “I can do things now that I couldn't before. Lots of things. But, that's not important. What is important is that I can see the future. Not very far, but I can see what's going to happen, and I need all of you to listen to me now.”

  “I learned to shut up and listen a long time ago,” Ross said, still staring at the ceiling.

  “In about forty-five seconds everything is going to change. Ross, I know you're a hot head, but I need you to keep to yourself. I need all three of you to live, do you understand? If you don't live, all of this is for nothing.”

  “I don't understand,” Jamie said. “What do you mean everything is going to change?”

  As if on cue, the siren sounded outside, followed by yelling and the sound of footsteps against concrete.

  “I just want you to know,” Sarah spoke quickly, and made her way toward the door, past Amanda and Jamie. “I love you all, I love you so much. I'm sorry it had to end this way.”

  With that, she was gone, out the door before any of them could say another word. She disappeared into the night, her dress trailing behind her, and her feet pounding against pavement until she could no longer be seen.

  Chapter 13

  “I want this area secured!” Dunfield shouted to his troops. “Place guards around the entire perimeter, no one in or out!”

  As he stared straight ahead at the Westlake Gated community, he spied a few civilians rushing to the top of the wall, each armed with what appeared to be a hunting rifle.

  “Weapons are not permitted!” Dunfield shouted through a bullhorn from the top of his tank. “Lay down your arms or face the consequences!”

  The two men gave no sign that they were ready to comply. In fact, one actually took aim at Dunfield. Before he could fully bring his rifle to bear however, a man in Dunfield's platoon fired, shooting the man in the head with an M4 round.

  “I love this part!” Dunfield shouted, though not into the bullhorn. “God I wish we could do this every day! Ram the wall!:

  Moments later, they had all but overrun the gated community. It was theirs, or rather, it was Dunfield's. The small community had offered very little resistance, and those who appeared with weapons were quickly put down. Massive lights and generators were deployed around the perimeter, ensuring that the entire community was bathed in white hot light.

  “Get everyone out of the houses!” Dunfield shouted. “I want them up front, here, by this flower garden!”

  It didn't take long to drag all of the people from their homes, not at all. Dunfield's people were efficient, and his rule was ruthless. Not a single man dared to betray him, even if it meant killing women and children. From his vantage point, Dunfield could see virtually everything and continued shouting his orders. He grinned widely as he saw a husband killed simply trying to defend his family. It was just as well, they needed another free woman to pass around. These men had fought well for him, they deserved some sort of reward.

  Within half an hour, all the residents of the gated community had been gathered in front of the flower garden, standing in what was once a parking lot. Dunfield stood on the wall, pacing back and forth with his bullhorn. Every eye was upon him, and every gun was trained on the civilians. One wrong move would mean their death, simple as that. Dunfield was certainly not against killing everyone in the gated community simply for sake of finding Sarah Frost. He needed her, and he was going to find her.

  “My name,” Dunfield shouted into the bullhorn. “is General Marcus Dunfield. I am the current Commander of the United States Military on the Eastern Coast. My word here is law! I don't have a need, nor do I have a desire to kill everyone here, not by a long shot. What I do want, however, is someone you've been harboring here. Her name is Sarah Frost.”

  When he said the words, the people began to look at one another, shrugging and shaking their heads. They had clearly never heard of her.

  “Someone in here knows exactly who I'm talking about,” Dunfield said. “Until that person comes forward and gives me the information I need, I will proceed to kill one of you every ten minutes, starting now.”

  There was an audible gasp, and the crowd began turning left to right, seeking a way out of the situation. Everywhere they turned a gun was still trained on them. There was nowhere to go. As Dunfield prepared to choose his first victim, he stopped short as he watched a young girl in a blue sun dress walk quietly across the front of the crowd.

  “Hello, Marcus,” Sarah said with a slight grin, her pale white face practically illuminated by the row of spotlights. “I hear you've been looking for me.”

  ***

  “Keep shooting!” Carl screamed. “Don't let up! You let up, and you die!”

  “No shit!” Amber screamed back. They had found it a bit difficult to maneuver their ATV's and shoot at the same time, but they were doing it nonetheless. Desperation made the impossible, possible. They had successfully punched a hole through the ranks of zombies, but Carl realized that if they didn't clear the horde, Frank would have an incredibly hard time driving his ATV through.

  On the back of Amber'
s ATV, Kelly screamed loudly and incessantly. Amber thought that screaming had become her sister’s job, and in an odd way, it reminded her of humanity screeching against this horrific reality. It was weirdly the new norm, and at the same time, incredibly annoying. She didn’t want to be reminded of humanity; she had killed so many who had once been human. She didn’t want to be reminded of mortality.

  “Shut up!” Amber screamed. “Just shut up!”

  “Where's Daddy?!” Kelly could be heard to scream. “I want Daddy!”

  “He's right behind us!” Amber lied, “You just have to be patient!”

  Amber brought her ATV around and killed two more of them before realizing that she was out of slugs. She reached into her pocket and found five more, loading the shotgun once again.

  “I have more if you need it!” Carl shouted, dispatching a few more zombies.

  As they continued this dance of lead, something strange happened. One of the zombies began to run toward them. Amber was taken aback. Up to this point, the zombies she had seen were slow and lumbering – none of them had shown any indication that they could run. Was this some sort of evolution?

  “Uh...” Carl said. He'd seen it too. It was running faster and faster. Suddenly, it was ahead of the crowd, and it stopped, immediately. It was different from the others. The head was slightly larger than the average human, and its face appeared to be covered in boils. The eyes bulged out and were the size of silver dollars. Suddenly, it raised its arms to the sky and screamed a shrill scream.

  “Oh God!” Amber said as she clamped her hands over her ears. Was this a zombie? If not, then what the hell was it?

  The creature's human hands were practically torn to shreds as tentacles took their place. It fired one tentacle off, stretching it about one hundred feet, picking up a car and tossing it at Carl. Carl responded by throwing his ATV into gear and driving out of the way. It was almost too late, as the car slammed into the ground just inches from his ATV, chipping the pavement and scraping the roof of the tunnel.

  “Out of the tunnel!” Carl screamed. “Get out of the tunnel!”

  “What about Dad?”

  “He'll catch up!” Carl waited until Amber threw her ATV into gear and followed him out of the tunnel, though to be honest, he hadn't planned to wait long. Ahead of them, another car slammed into the pavement, forcing them to split and drive around it, even as it slid into its final resting place. As it impacted the ground, the driver side door bounced across the pavement like a wayward domino, and the zombie occupant of the car fell from the driver's seat. Carl dispatched it with a bullet and turned his attention back to Amber and Kelly.

  “We have to go,” He said. “We can't wait.”

  Almost as if on cue, the creature reached into the tunnel to grab another car, but this time it made a mistake. This time it grabbed a propane truck.

  “Holy shit!” Carl said as he saw the tube-like vehicle lifted and dragged against the roof of the tunnel. “Oh shit, shit, shit, spud muffins, shit!”

  It threw the tanker as if it were nothing but a baseball, but it didn't have enough air to clear the tunnel. Instead, it bounced off the roof. Carl saw the sparks fly.

  “Drive!” he screamed, though his words seemed to come from his mouth in slow motion. As they accelerated, flames engulfed the tunnel, and the tentacle monster. “Go, go, go!”

  Carl continued to scream, even as the tunnel collapsed behind them. He looked again and swore. The creature was following them, still engulfed in flames.

  “Oh my holy shit!” Amber screamed as they sped down the freeway, avoiding car wrecks and lumbering undead.

  The thing was fast, very fast. It was able to keep up with their ATV's. In fact, Carl was convinced it would overtake them in a matter of minutes.

  “Oh holy crapshit!” Carl screamed.

  As the thing ran, it casually grabbed cars, tossing them ahead of Amber and Carl, forcing them to alter their path every few seconds. Moments later it tossed a green freeway sign like a Frisbee, slicing Carl's rear tire and sending his ATV into a spin.

  “Carl!” Amber screamed.

  “Keep going!” Carl shouted. “Don't you dare stop for me!”

  His words were nearly lost in the sound of a violent collision as his ATV slammed sidelong into a parked car. The thing was bigger now, much bigger. It was sporting webbed feet and reverse jointed legs. How the hell had this zombie changed so much in the last few minutes?

  Carl climbed off the ATV, limping, he was certain that his leg had been at least fractured. He cried out in pain as he limped to the center of the road, bringing his rifle to bear on the creature. This was it. He was going to die.

  ***

  “All those people,” Jack Frost said to Jonah from the back seat. “Are they going to be okay?”

  They had been driving for the better part of an hour. Jonah had created his cure and simply left them. Aimee seemed to be recovering in the passenger seat, leaving Jonah to believe there was nothing to worry about.

  “It would seem that way,” Jonah confirmed.

  “So, if you could cure that virus, why not fix everyone?”

  “It's a little more complicated than that,” Jonah said. “In every outbreak, there is at least one person who is immune to the effects, and from that person we can create an antivirus. But, it's important to remember that once a person is a zombie, they're as good as dead. I can do a lot of things, but I can't bring back the dead, I need you to understand that.”

  “So, you can stop it from spreading, but you can't save the people who are already infected.”

  “That's right,” Jonah confirmed. “It's a sad situation, but it is what it is, so to speak.”

  “Who the hell are you?” Jack demanded. “How do you know so much about this?”

  “I think we'll have to save the question and answer session for later,” Jonah said. “We're here.”

  “Here? Here where?”

  Rather than answering, Jonah simply climbed from the vehicle and took a look around. They were parked next to what was once a corn field, without much else in the distance. Jack too climbed from the car, looking around.

  “Across this field,” Jonah said. “Is a gated community called Westlake. Your sister is there, and she is probably being held captive by Dunfield.”

  “What?!” Jack shouted. “Dunfield? How? How do you know this? What the hell is going on?”

  “Calm down,” Jonah said. “It's warm, your voice carries. Dawn is going to break in about ten minutes, and we're going to walk in there.”

  “Walk in there?” Jack demanded. “Walk in there and what?”

  “We're going to walk in there, and get your sister back, that's what we're going to do. Plain and simple. If you want it to happen, then you'll need to do everything I say, to the letter. Understood?”

  He didn't understand. He was more or less angry, having been left out of the loop for so long. Millions of questions raced through his mind, though he felt he didn't have enough mouths or adequate time to voice them all.

  “I hate you,” he said finally, drilling holes into Jonah with his eyes. “I really hate you.”

  Jonah nodded. “That's understandable, but we have some things we need to do before you deal with your own anger issues.” He turned away before Jack could muster a retort walking to the back of the car. Jonah popped the trunk of the car and walked to the back, pulling out a black metal case. Closing the trunk, he set the case on the vehicle and opened it. Jack recognized the contents immediately. Inside was a Glock 37, Generation 4. A .45 caliber handgun, used by military and police alike.

  “I think you're going to need more than that,” Jack commented.

  “This will do fine,” Jonah said as he pulled the pistol from the case and checked the magazine. It seemed to be loaded properly, ten rounds. He loaded the magazine and cocked the gun, then dropped the clip into his hand.

  “What the hell are you doing? Why did you unload the gun?” Jack demanded.

  “I tho
ught you were in the military,” Jonah said, almost snidely. “Once you cock the weapon, drop the magazine and load another round, then you have ten rounds in the magazine and one in the chamber.”

  “So...that means you can fire eleven rounds from a gun that only fires ten?”

  “....yes...” Jonah said. “That is what I said.”

  “I didn't know that.”

  “Clearly.”

  Jonah placed the weapon in his waistband, ensuring that it was well hidden by his leather coat. At the same time, he reached into his coat pocket and removed his PDA, examining the screen.

  “It's about a mile across this field,” He said. “We're going to hoof it, and once we get there, I'm going to have to do some shooting. I'd rather not, but we don't have a choice at this point.”

  “You can't kill them all,” Jack said. “Especially if Dunfield's over there.”

  “I'm aware,” Jonah said. “But I don't need to kill all of them. Two or three should do it.”

  “Just rolls off the tip of your tongue, doesn't it.”

  “Pardon?”

  “Thinking you can kill two or three of Dunfield's guys just like that. I mean really, who do you think you are?”

  “I think you mean, who am I,” Jonah corrected. “You'll find out soon enough. Let's get over there.”

  ***

  Bang

  Bang

  Bang

  Carl fired three rounds into the creature as it approached him. It didn't even flinch. Up close, it had plenty of human attributes, but it definitely wasn't a human being. It was like a human had become a zombie and then mutated into something completely different. Was this the only one? Were there others? If so, how many? Just one of these things could cause a serious problem for humanity, but many of them? That would be a different story.

  Bang

  He fired another round into it as it came closer. It took a swipe at him with a tentacle, but he managed to duck out of the way. At this point, however, he was too exhausted to do much else. His shirt was shredded, road burn and various lacerations covered much of his upper body. He hoped that Amber had driven away without him. He hoped to God she wasn't going to play the hero and drive back. That could be catastrophic, to say the least. He raised his rifle to fire again, but was rewarded with a hollow click. He was out of ammunition. He searched his pockets but found absolutely nothing. There were no more bullets, and he was out of luck. He turned around and glanced at the downhill grade behind him. It was filled with wrecked cars, and he could see Amber in the distance, driving away with her sister. That was for the best, at least. He turned back to face the creature that had already moved several steps closer. His time was up.