by W. A Castle
End of Days – Part One
Copyright© 2017 by W.A Castle
All Rights Reserved
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the author. The only exception is by a reviewer, who may quote short excerpts in a review.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
It's the day after the 4th of July when all hell breaks loose and a sickness propagates throughout the population causing the infected to turn into cannibals. Survivors call them walking dead, reanimated corpses, but they couldn't be farther from the truth. For a group of survivors who band together to make their way to a safe haven, this is the End of days.
End of Days
Part 1
Chapter One: Home of the Brave
It was the day after the 4th of July block party when all hell broke loose and people started turning against one another and tearing each other to pieces. Hours before, everyone had been out in the streets setting off fireworks and having a good old time at the cookout during the annual 4th of July block party in my neighborhood. The fourth had always been one of my favorite days of the year, America’s birthday and pyrotechnics, hell yeah. Land of the free and home of the brave. Home of the brave, yeah, that sounds fitting now. If you’re not a brave son of a bitch now, chances are you’re already dead.
I parted the blinds in my living room a fraction of an inch to have a look outside. One of the grills was knocked over, the coals scattered on the asphalt, the meat rotting on the ground. Everything had happened so suddenly, if I wasn’t such a paranoid bitch, my mother and I would have certainly succumbed to the mob of flesh eaters. As soon as I had heard the screams and the growls of the mob of people sauntering their way to our end of the cul-de-sac, I knew what it was.
Well, I thought I knew, and hoped to hell I was wrong about it, but I wasn’t. I’d pulled my mother up the steps to our house and locked us in. We starred through the blinds as our neighbors either ran and locked themselves in their houses or got torn apart in the street by the flesh eaters.
At first, I thought maybe I was just crazy to automatically assume it was a zombie attack. Heck, maybe it was a local gang coming to wreak havoc and ruin the family fun. You know, it happens right? But the growls the flesh eaters emitted made the hairs on my arms stand up. I’d seen enough zombies on TV to recognize the sound. It seemed silly to put stock on things I’d learned from television shows, but fuck if it didn’t end up saving our lives. The fact that they were eating people, tearing into their bodies with their teeth and taking a chomp just as you would a sandwich or a chicken leg really drove the point home; something was horribly wrong.
I could feel my heartbeat all throughout my body; I realized that I was shaking. I looked to momma who was crying silently, her hands over her mouth to keep from making noise. Her terrified expression scared me more than what was happening outside. I had never seen that look of fear on her face before, she was the type of woman that took everything in stride and dealt with all the shit thrown at her, but I guess the zombie apocalypse could faze even the strongest of people. I let out a chuckle of incredulity. That was me, the one that laughs at inappropriate times.
In the distance I could still hear fireworks exploding. I soundlessly slid down to the floor and sat on my legs, my hands resting on the floor. I felt myself in the verge of a panic attack. I knew sooner or later we were going to have to leave the house and venture out into that madness outside. If the zombie apocalypse wasn’t enough, I had other fears to worry about. I was an agoraphobic. I had been a partial shut in for about a decade. I could venture around the cul-de-sac by myself walking on egg shells around the panic that lurked on the recesses of my mind the entire time, but beyond the cul-de-sac I had to have someone else with me for when the inevitable panic attacks took over me. Oh god, oh god, oh god.
I reached out for my mother’s hand. She sat beside me with her back against the wall right under the window; she clasped my hand in hers and squeezed tight. We could still hear screams coming from outside and even gun shots ringing throughout the night over the sporadic fireworks. What were we going to do? Where was there to go while the end of days was unraveling? I shut my eyes tight and tried hard as hell not to think of the people outside. How was this happening? There had been no mysterious illness going around, conspiracies where all over social media but those had been around since the internet became a vital part of our everyday lives. This just happened so… suddenly.
“What are we going to do, Maddie?” My mother, Sue-Anne, whispered, drying her tears with the back of her hand. Why was she asking me? The look on my face must have reflected my inner question because she let out a breath of a chuckle and raised an eyebrow, “You’re nuts about this apocalypse stuff. Surely you have had a scenario like this play through your mind before?” She tapped my temple gently. I looked at her wide eyed and couldn’t help the laugh that escaped me. She lunged at me and pressed her hand on my mouth while trying not to laugh out loud too. She wasn’t wrong. I wasn’t exactly a ‘prepper’ of sorts. But I did dabble in preparing for some sorts of disasters. I just never thought I should have been preparing for the goddamn zombie apocalypse. A shudder took over my body just thinking about that word, apocalypse.
“I may have an idea.” I whispered and reached into the back pocket of my jeans and pulled out my phone. I was friends with a fellow prepper guy named Jax, if anyone was ready for this shit, it would be him. I knew he’d had a bunker installed in his property a few years ago and had often teased me to invest in one. But for one, I live in the goddamn city, where the hell would I bury a fucking bunker; Two, who even has that kind of money to invest in a safe haven when reason says that you will never actually need it, not me that’s who.
I searched for Jax’s number in my contacts and pressed dial. With each passing ring that he didn’t pick up, my heart thunder with anxiety. When the call ended and he didn’t answer I swore and was ready to throw the phone against the wall when I remembered I had to remain quiet. Maybe Jax was fighting for his life right this minute. Maybe I gave away his hiding location with my call. Maybe he didn’t answer because he was already dead…
I didn’t know the exact location of his bunker, but I knew he lived in Wyoming. Fuck, fuck, fuck. We were in the middle of L.A.
“We may have to make our way to Wyoming, if Jax isn’t … dead… already he might let us into his bunker.” I crouch down next to momma.
“It figures you’d know a guy with a bunker, Madison.” She says sarcastically. I ignore her remark and brave another look through the blinds. A few hours have passed since hell broke loose and now there are only a few straggler flesh eaters wandering around the cul-de-sac. A movement in one of the windows from the house across the street caught my eye. I looked up and saw a Hispanic woman; Mrs. Salas’s tear stained face was looking right at me. I waved at her without thinking. I cringed and brought my hand down. Who the hell would wave? But to my surprise Mrs. Salas waved back. Janet and Marcos Salas had just welcomed a beautiful baby boy four months ago. My heart climbed up to my throat thinking of baby Diego. I hoped to God they would all make it unscathed. Mrs. Salas pulled back her curtain and disappeared behind it.
I let my eyes wander across the street, the flesh eaters that weren’t on the ground munching on what used to be people were walking aimlessly in circles, every once in a while one would lift its face to the air and look around at the houses. They didn’t look like the walking dead t
hey portrayed on television shows and movies.
Their eyes seemed to still be able to focus on things; the only visible difference I could see in their eyes from this distance was the whites of their eyes were completely red, where all the capillaries in their eyes had seemingly burst. Aside from the blood trailing from their mouths and some that had been shot or maimed, they looked like the average John and average Jane. They looked almost… normal. That is until they opened their mouths and that animalistic growl came out.
I pulled back from the window and sat on the ugly green floral couch a few feet away from the window.
“There’s nothing left to do but wait, momma.” I sighed and threw my head back on the headrest.
“I’ll go see what you have in the pantry. Those hotdogs we had at the cookout weren’t all that filling.” Momma whispered and walked out of the living room. I chose to ignore the catch in her voice and let her wander off to get her emotions in check. I closed my eyes trying to get my own thoughts in order. I could feel panic set in in my gut but I knew that the moment I freaked out that would be the end. In every dangerous situation you are told to never panic. You need to breathe and keep a level head. When you panic you can’t think rationally, and you just put extra stress on your body. If you faint during a dangerous situation, baby, you are fucked.
Breathe.
Keep your heart beat in check.
Keep panic at bay.
Think of a solution.
Survive.
My heart beat erratically no matter how many deep breaths I took. I sat up looking around my living room. My eyes fell on the wooden front door. Deciding to keep busy, I pushed the table next to the entrance in front of the door. Just seeing the door ‘barricaded’ made me feel more at ease. But I knew our true weakness were the windows. There was no way of barricading those.
My stomach grumbled and I lay my hand flat on my stomach. Of all the problems I’m facing, this is one I can easily fix. I made my way down the hall to where the kitchen was. I stopped in my tracks.
It was quiet. Too quiet. I should be hearing the clanging of aluminum cans and mommas soft footsteps as she moved around.
“Momma?” I half whispered half yelled.
“In here.” She called out in a loud whisper from the walk in pantry in the kitchen. Stupid Maddie, I chastised myself, placing a hand on my chest. I didn’t need a flesh eater to do me in; I would end up killing myself without a problem if I kept giving in to irrational fears. Yeah, irrational. As if people eating people wasn’t irrational enough.
“I counted thirteen cans of food and three 28-packs of water bottles here.” Momma had a hand on her hip and a notebook in the other hand.
“There are a few more gallons of water under the kitchen sink.” I leaned against the door frame. My pantry was well stocked, canned food, boxes of cereal and granola bars and other foods with a long shell life.
“No MRE’s?” Momma teased.
“Nope, they’re too gross. Nobody’s got time for that.” I grinned.
Through the closed blinds I could see that the sun was starting to set. The kitchen was becoming increasingly dark. I grabbed a box of mac and cheese and set some water to boil in the stove. Everything was still working, the gas, electricity and water. Although I knew sooner or later these luxuries would eventually stop and modern commodities would be a thing of the past. Momma’s sister had sent word that everyone was okay, so cell phones and even landlines were still working as well.
I thought back to Jax. And as if my thoughts had conjured him, I felt a vibration coming from my back pocket. I had kept the damn phone charged throughout the day to make sure I was reachable. Not that anyone had checked in. Being a shut in tends to put a damper on your social life. I answered the phone with trembling hands. Before I was able to say anything Jax cut in.
“Maddie, are you okay? Your momma, everyone is safe?” His breathless voice rang through the speaker. After almost 24 hours of keeping quiet and barely speaking, hearing a voice higher than a whisper set my heart to frantic beats. I tried covering the speaker with a hand.
“Momma and I are fine, Jax. As safe as we can be right now.” I whispered as loud as I dared. “Are you okay? I called you but when you didn’t answer I thought…” I trailed off.
“I’m fine. Why are you whispering?” He replied, lowering his voice.
“We’re locked in my house but there are a lot of those things out there. The faintest of sounds gets their attention.” Momma came to stand next to me to be able to hear our conversation. The connection suddenly becomes grainy and I panic that the connection will be lost. Panic makes me raise my voice above a whisper.
“Jax?”
“I’m here. When this started I was at the 4th of July fireworks show at the local high school. Fuck Maddie, it was insane. I didn’t know whether it was real or not until Alexa was pulled from my arms and…” His voice wavered. Fuck. He had been dating Alexa for a few weeks. My heart broke for him.
“I’m sorry Jax.” I whispered.
“I-,” he paused for a second; “I will come for you Maddie and bring you back here. Your momma and you will stay in the bunker with me until this blows over.”
I closed my eyes and sighed with relief. My smile of hope faded as soon as there was a knock on the kitchen window. Momma and I both turned at the same time. Another knock… only it wasn’t a knock, it was more of a thump. The blinds were closed but I knew what it was. I whimpered.
“Maddie?” Jax’s voice pulled me back from the brink of panic.
“They’re outside.” I whispered frantically into the phone.
“Maddie get away from doors and windows. Those sons of bitches are stronger than they look. Whatever you do don’t let them bite you Madison.” Jax’s booming voice hurt my ear so I pulled the phone away slightly.
“I don’t think it can get in. The window is holding.” I whispered back.
“I will send you my bunkers exact location, in case I… something happens to me, or can’t get to you in time and you have to leave your home, you can at least have everything you need to get in.”
I nodded, forgetting he wouldn’t be able to see me.
“Yeah, okay.” My words were chocked as I swallowed thickly. “Thank you Jax.”
“Maddie, there’s something else you need to know. Those things out there, they’re not-,” Jax’s words were cut short when a knock on the window sliced through the quiet of the house followed by a hoarse ‘help’. My mouth fell open and momma rushed to the window, pulling back the blinds.
“There’s a woman outside! She’s alive. Oh God, Maddie we need to help her.” Momma practically yelled, forgetting to stay quiet.
“No Maddie, don’t!” Jax yelled through the phone.
“What do you mean?” I furrowed my eyebrows, focusing on his words. There was more static, making his words choppy. My concentration was torn between Jax’s static-y yells and mommas frantic words to the person outside, telling them to go to the back door. I followed momma to the back hall where the back door was.
“Maddison listen to me! The monsters, they come back, but it’s not them!” Then the line went dead.
I pulled the phone down and frowned at the screen. What the hell was Jax going on about?
At that moment momma opened the back door and the woman outside staggered inside. Momma gasped and took several steps back. I could do nothing but stand there with my mouth hanging open.
“Please help me!” The woman’s raspy voice made me cringe, every time she spoke gurgling bloody saliva came out of her mouth and ran down her chin; I took a step back in complete and utter horror. A scream was stuck at the base of my throat but my horror squeezed shut my throat preventing me from screaming my head off.
The woman’s face was covered in gore. Her red, white and blue strappy dress showed pools of blood where chunks of her flesh had been torn. She had a big gaping hole on her cheek where I could only guess someone had shot her. When I saw her eyes it dawned on me wh
at Jax had been trying to tell me. Her eyes were completely bloodshot and red rimmed. The tears that pooled in her eyes were a murky red color and when they rolled down her cheeks it looked like she was actually crying blood.
The woman fell to the floor and sobbed. “Please, help me!”
“I- I don’t know how. What’s your name?” Momma cautiously crouched next to the woman.
“Momma, don’t.” I warned. My voice sounded surprisingly cold and detached to my own ears. I wanted to vomit; I felt I was losing my mind living in a fucking real life horror shit show. I goddamned knew what Jax was trying to tell me. But my brain refused to wrap itself around this horrifying fact.
The flesh eaters, they weren’t dead at all. They were still very much alive.
Chapter Two: Star Spangled Banner
In all the hour’s momma and I had been hiding we had kept the television on the whole time. Waiting and hoping that the news could tell us what was going on. Waiting to hear from our government on what steps we needed to take to survive this. But there had been none of that. Half an hour after the flesh eaters had invaded our neighborhood, normal broadcasting had ceased and the blue emergency broadcast system screen came on. But no instructions or directions were given. And eventually even that blue screen went away and was replaced by snow. There was nothing but static for hours on end since then.
The small handheld crank radio I had only sputtered out with different broadcasts that said that in cases of emergency citizens had to stay indoors with enough water and food to last two weeks and wait for help to arrive. So, in other words the advice given was virtually useless. No one prepared us. No one guided us. No one gave us any hope. No one was here to tell us how to survive or give us information on how the world had come to an abrupt end.
Those few wise Californians who heeded the golden rule to have enough water and food for an emergency in case of an earthquake were better off than those who given the fact we haven’t had a major earthquake in decades had become comfortable and have not kept their supplies stocked. Times had made many people complacent. So when the end of days came, I doubt very few families were well stocked to remain barricaded in their homes for more than a few days.
