Rick saw she was in trouble and swung his bat, felling the zombie he was engaging. He ran to her, pushing an attacking zombie to the ground, trying to get to her in time. He was within four feet when he saw a zombie pull her head back and bite her face. Rick and Antonio reached her at the same time and dispatched both zombies that had a hold of her.
“Clear!” Steve called out. Everyone was somber when they saw Amy’s face.
“Do it quick,” she said. “I can already feel it working in me.”
Antonio stepped in front of her. “It’s been an honor,” he said to her.
“The same,” she replied, closing her eyes, tears already falling. Antonio wasted no time. He cut off her head with his axe.
Rick lay in his bed, unable to sleep, his body unused to caffeine. Maybe we should’ve had the coffee in the morning instead. But then the whole compound would’ve known. Antonio was able to make two pots late at night while most everyone else was asleep. It was like drinking liquid heaven. Only the older ones remembered the taste of real coffee. They all drank the first cup in honor of Amy before finishing off both pots. Lying in his bed, Rick knew he’d miss Amy as much as he missed his brother and sister. When sleep finally took him, he was transported back to that fateful day in his dream.
Chapter Two – Fall 2033
Since the Z.E.D. had taken away their parents, they stayed in their home. For whatever reason the Z.E.D. didn’t burn down any of the buildings in the area so the remaining residents continued to live where they were. A few swore that they were left there so the Z.E.D. could come back for more recruits. Frightened at that prospect some left but others decided they had nowhere else to go and stayed but were more vigilant, posting more sentries for incoming Z.E.D.s.
Ricky lived the same way his parents did. He began teaching Madison and Danny as much as he could about survival. Their living quarters looked as if he was the only one living there. If the Z.E.D. came back and took him then his brother and sister would go into the basement without him. The community had regular meetings to make plans if the Z.E.D. came back. All the youngest children and a couple of adults would hide like Ricky and his siblings did a year ago. The others would sacrifice themselves to keep the rest alive.
One day Ricky was showing Danny and Madison how to throw knives. He had traded some rabbit meat for some better throwing knives and wanted to have them experienced with them. They were near a group of trees and they were getting better each session. Danny was getting eight out of ten. Madison had improved to six out of ten from her previous four.
“Well, go get them!” Ricky grinned at them, waving them toward the target tree.
They giggled and raced to see who would get there first. Ricky watched for a moment as Danny began pulling the knives from the tree while Madison looked for the rest in the grass.
He heard yelling from down the street and turned to see a lone zombie dropping from a club to the head. He gave a thumbs-up to his friend Mark who returned it after checking himself for fluids.
Others helped remove the diseased corpse and clean the area where he fell. They still had a problem with zombies wandering close and Ricky realized that whoever was supposed to be watching out for the Z.E.D. must have not been doing their job. That zombie should have been taken out before it could get that close. He’d have to have a talk with them at the next meeting.
He heard the door close and looked for his siblings. He could hear giggling behind the door and realized they already went inside. Shaking his head, he picked up his training bag and followed them. Danny and Madison were giggling and hiding something behind them when he walked in.
“What do you have?” he asked, expecting that they brought some flowers or pretty stones. He wasn’t prepared for what Danny brought out.
“Can we keep it?” Madison asked, letting the puppy lick her hand.
“No!” he yelled, dropping his bag. He picked up a blanket and threw it over the puppy, grabbing it up roughly.
“Stay here.” He ran out of the door and held down the puppy under the blanket while exposing its head. It was a cute little mixed dog with slightly matted fur. He looked in its ears and looked close at its eyes. It seemed okay and he was just about to smile in relief when it opened its mouth to lick him and he pushed it away in horror. He saw the green pustules, some intact and some open covering its tongue and gums.
“No, no, no!” he whispered frantically. When he went back inside Danny was holding Madison, who was crying.
“That was mean!” he said to Ricky. “She’s always wanted a puppy. It wasn’t a zombie dog. It was just a puppy. Why did you have to kill it?”
Ricky just stared at Madison’s hands, his mind replaying the puppy licking her. Then he looked at Danny’s hands and wondered.
Ricky stood over the small double grave and cried. He knew it would be the last time he ever cried, he didn’t plan to care about anyone ever again. The community came out with their support but he shrugged them all off. This was his fault. He neglected to tell Danny and Madison that the infected weren’t always in a zombie state. He’d never actually seen one before it turned so he had been ignorant. And that ignorance cost his brother and sister their lives. Others in the community tracked down a small den where three more of the infected puppies were and killed them immediately. There was no sign of the mother but they knew she had to be somewhere near.
He went back inside and began packing. He wasn’t staying, although he didn’t know yet where he was going. Mark tried to talk him out of leaving, they all did, but nothing would change his mind. He snuck out as the sun was going down and began walking west. Within a mile, he heard strange snarling and growling. He pulled out his club and followed the sound. Under the bushes was a mixed breed dog. She was panting and drooling pus all around her. He saw the swollen nipples and realized this had to be the infected breeder. He took a closer look and recoiled in horror. Her eyes were solid red. Since she was lying down, it was hard to tell at first that she was hunchbacked with spikes protruding. Her tail was hairless but the tip of it was barbed, pus dripping from it. So, this was a mutant; he wondered why the puppies looked so normal and why they were born at all. He’d heard about them but never seen one. Mutant zombie animals were rare.
“Well, once you’ve seen it you can’t un-see it.” he muttered and clubbed her until she stopped moving. “West,” he said to himself, “I’ll just keep moving west.”
Ricky avoided any groups he saw, unsure of what kind of people they were. Three days later, he saw a small squad of Neo-US soldiers and almost went in with his club swinging. They were ordinary forces, not Z.E.D.; not that it really mattered. The Z.E.D. faction started from the Neo-US. He was only sixteen and not nearly trained enough to take down four men on his own. If he attacked them and lost, they’d go looking to see where he came from. He didn’t want to lead them back to his former home. Hiding behind the boulder, he waited for them to fall asleep or pass out. By the looks of the bottle they were chugging, passing out would happen first. The meat on the spit smelled delicious and he was hoping to sneak off a piece before going on his way. He leaned back and waited, even falling into a light doze, until a loud, drunken snore woke him up.
He opened his eyes and was about to move in when a shadow from the moonlight draped over him. It was a zombie and it was in bad shape. This one had radiation burns on the left side of its face, which left a huge hole in its cheek. Other than the burns, there were no obvious mutations like the rumors said. Its pustules were leaking and he tried to melt into the boulder as it passed.
How did it not see me?
He dared to look up and saw that its eyes were completely full of pus. So it really couldn’t see well but it could hear the snore perfectly fine. He followed its path as he peered around the boulder and watched in silence as the zombie dropped next to the closest solder and tore out his throat. The soldier’s eyes opened immediately but he was unable to make a sound without a throat. He thrashed as the zombie continued to eat him
but the others were still in their drunken slumber. His struggles weakened as his blood pooled under him. The zombie crawled over him and quietly bit into the next soldier. He was able to get out a yelp as the zombie bit into his face. Blood flowed into his ears and he opened his mouth to scream. The zombie reached with a bone-exposed hand and ripped off his jaw.
The other two soldiers were starting to stir and the brunette spoke out half asleep, “If you’re going to dream about my sister, do it quietly!”
This earned a laugh from the last one who sat up and yelled at the sight, his blond hair mussed and sticking up in all directions.
“Holy shit!” he reached for gun and his comrade restrained him.
“If you fire a shot, others will come,” he whispered. “We don’t know if this is a loner or part of a herd.”
The zombie continued to ignore them as it finished off his current meal.
“We need to come at from behind with our axes.”
The brunette nodded and they rolled away. As they were sneaking up behind it, they both failed to notice the first victim. His body had been silently shuddering and jerking. Ricky stared wide-eyed, feeling he was about to see something new. With each new jolt to the body, something erupted like old body modifications he’d heard about from the early 2000’s. Soon his body was lumpy with sharp points at his knees and elbows. His mouth seemed to get wider and his teeth sharper. When it opened its eyes, Ricky saw they were solid red.
A human mutant! But what made this one turn into a mutant when the one that bit him was a normal zombie? As if any zombie could be considered normal. Could it have anything to do with the radiation burns? Maybe the mutants weren’t created from the ones first exposed, but those bit after?
Ricky thought about warning the two soldiers but his hatred of the fascist government caused him to grit his teeth and watch. The blond solider came up to the zombie and swung his axe with a practiced swing, burying its edge in the zombie’s head. He turned to grin at his friend and he swung his axe at him.
“What are you doing?” the brunette yelled, reaching for his gun and backing up. He backed up right into the mutant zombie. Before he could turn around the zombie grabbed his head in his hands. Ricky realized that although the zombie was still his original size, his hands had become larger, the fingers longer and stronger. The zombie squeezed the soldier’s head and within seconds popped it like a grape. It instantly dropped down and began scooping up the brain matter that was now all over the ground, stuffing it into its mouth. Bits and pieces of it fell out of the hole in its throat. The remaining soldier swung his axe again, decapitating the mutant. Infected fluids sprayed from the jagged neck and drenched the soldier as well as the cooking meat.
Shit, I guess I wasn’t hungry after all!
The soldier screamed and dropped the axe. He began to tear off his clothes and frantically wiped at himself. It was too dark to find a body of water so he picked up dirt and rubbed it all over himself.
If only that worked, Ricky thought, remembering some poor soul from his community who tried the same thing.
The now naked man sat in the dirt crying; he knew he was doomed. Ricky was about to go and finish him off, then thought that he might observe the change instead.
If a normal zombie created that mutant, what would the mutant create?
He was worried that whatever it turned into might be more than he could handle. He had nothing else going for him right now and knew this might be important to know. It didn’t take very long, and what he saw chilled him to his bones.
Chapter Three – 2035
He woke to the smell of burnt toast. Oh, great, Rick thought, Tracy must be cooking breakfast.
She was a great fighter but couldn’t cook to save her life. He stared at the ceiling for a few more minutes, thinking about how different his life had turned out. His mother had thought he might become the leader of the community in which they lived. If Danny and Madison had survived, that might have been his destiny. Now hatred drove him; hatred for the zombies but just as much for the Z.E.D.s. Everything he was now was because of them.
Most Raider camps were nothing but common criminals and thieves. Being a thief helped while scavenging but if you stole or committed a crime within your own camp, you were punished in the worst way. Your knees were broken and you were outcast to the wastelands. There was always a wandering zombie or three. You were given a knife and if you were smart, you’d use that to kill yourself first. You could fight but the zombies always won.
Rick had been in two other Raider camps before meeting up with Antonio. He liked the way Antonio thought and ran his camp. He shared Rick’s hatred of the Z.E.D.s. Lawlessness was just a part of life but he kept the camp and everyone in it safe and sane. They were more like scavengers than raiders; they didn’t steal from the living, unless it was Z.E.D.s. They only brought back what had been left behind.
Rick dragged his ass into the common area and got a cup of coffee. He didn’t know if he could ever call this coffee again after tasting the real thing. He put four of those little sweetener packets into it. About a year ago, they came back from scavenging with a Walmart truck full of supplies. The sweetener packets and salt helped improve the taste of what they had been finding. The garbage bags were a plus as well as the latex gloves. Unfortunately, the gloves were used up quickly. But there were bags and bags of rice and flour. They ate a lot of rice at meals but it was better than going without. They learned how to make bread from scratch; well, Edna did anyway. He took two slices of toast after pushing them around with a napkin to find the ones burnt the least.
“What are you doing?” Tracy asked, putting four new slices on the platter; the scorched smell wafted into Rick’s nose. “Why were you digging through them?”
“I was... looking for the biggest slices,” he lied, not wanting to hurt her feelings.
“Well then, you’ll want these two that I was just about to put out.” She took his carefully picked slices off his plate and replaced them with two larger slices. They were even blacker than the ones he’d first avoided.
“Thanks so much Tracy,” he spoke smiling, until he turned away to sit at a table and looked down morosely. He shrugged and picked them up; he’d eaten much worse.
“Really liking that blackened toast huh?”
He looked up to see Antonio sitting down next to him, with the very slices Tracy had taken off his plate.
“Back before all this, blackened food had a completely different meaning.” Antonio reminisced, “I loved blackened fish, Cajun style; spicy enough to burn your mouth but the flavor. Ah!” He took a bite of his toast and made a face, “Well, I guess at your age, you wouldn’t know what you were missing.”
Then he did the most amazing thing. He opened a sweetener pack and sprinkled it on his second slice.
“Not bad,” he mumbled with his mouth full. Rick grabbed another packet from the stack on the table and did the same thing. It helped a lot and he thought he might try dunking the toast in his coffee tomorrow to see if it helped even more.
“We’re going out to that eastern section that has had a lot of zombie animal sightings. They’ve been wandering too close so we need to thin them out. I believe there’s a building hidden back behind those rocks, too,” Antonio told him. “We might have a good scavenge. At the very least we can kill some infected.”
Rick nodded in agreement and stuffed the rest of his breakfast in his mouth, chewing while he went to get geared up.
The old converted school bus went out of the gates and headed east. Antonio was driving and Steve was riding shotgun, literally. He had his only shotgun propped in the open window. He only had a handful of shells so he rarely used it. Guns were too noisy and attracted the undead so they saved the few they had for defense against human threat. Ammo was just too hard to find out here.
Rick and Tracy sat in the middle on each side and Bobby Wayne sat in the last row, facing back to watch the road. They all looked wistfully at the spot where Amy would n
ormally sit. It was just a part of life being a Raider. It was a long and bumpy ride but in this world no one got anywhere fast.
“Movement to the right behind that pile of rocks!” Tracy called out just loud enough to be heard inside the bus.
The bus slowed down and the engine cut out. Rick, Steve, and Bobby Wayne kept watch on all sides while Antonio went down the steps, both axe and machete in his hands.
“Now that’s something you don’t see every day. Even nowadays,” Antonio said as he put his axe back in its sheath. He took two unhurried steps back as it crawled out into the open. “Woof,” he added, as he readied his machete.
It was a zombie dog. Well, it was half of a zombie dog. Right below the ribcage was nothing but ragged diseased flesh. It dragged itself along on two front legs, snapping at Antonio’s feet in a vain attempt to eat him.
Rick glanced out the window and said, “Bobby Wayne, keep an eye on this side please.” Then he ran down the bus steps.
“Wait,” he told Antonio, looking around.
“What’s up?” Antonio asked, “Do you want to do it? I know how much you hate dogs.”
Rick shook his head. “Where’s the other half?”
“Who cares?” Antonio replied, “It’s only the front half that can bite you.”
The others inside the bus heard him and laughed lightly.
“Look,” Rick said, pointing at two swollen nipples that were still on this half.
Antonio looked up and cocked his head. He held up his hand for silence as he and Rick listened carefully. Rick nudged Antonio and pointed to a small brush. They walked quietly to it and peered around the leaves. The bottom half of the dog was there in a pool of bloody pus. Three normal looking puppies were nursing on teats that couldn’t possibly be producing milk, at least not normal milk.
Survive (Book 1): Salvation Page 2
