I Zombie I [Omnibus Edition]

by Jack Wallen

  When the orders were given, to the untrained eye, it would seem chaos had infected the headquarters. Those in the know, however, would be witnessing a danger ballet so beautiful in its execution, it would steal the breath of even the hardest hearted of drill instructors. The scrambling sounds of chaos lasted all of ten minutes. Once the dust had settled, every soldier had a gun trained on the swirling cloud of dust just within eyesight.

  The whirling Hell-dervish drew ever closer. The sound was filled with dissonant undertones, disturbing beyond any imagination. All soldiers knew the drill; no firing until given orders. Wasting ammunition was a new cardinal sin in the religion of realism. All soldiers held their shot and their breath.

  The size of the dust cloud being kicked up meant a horde. A horde meant many bullets would fly. Many bullets could easily translate to many a missed shot. No one needed a Vin diagram for that eventuality.

  “What kind do you think we’ll be up against sir?”

  Lieutenant Samuel looked down at Corporal Beaner, the youngest of all his men. The young man’s weapon was shaking.

  Samuel lifted his binoculars toward the sandy cloud. The news to report wasn’t good and wouldn’t ease the young Corporal’s mind one big.

  “Judging from the height and density of the cloud, I’m guessing we’re going up against moaners and screamers.”

  “But no boners?”

  The nickname for the bone-armored zombies was tragic, but no one seemed to think the undead would mind. The name also tempered the fear instilled by the new flavor of fear mongers.

  “I can’t say. Let’s just concentrate on getting your first shot off. Remember, steady breath makes steady aim.”

  Samuel patted Beaner on the shoulder. The act seemed to bolster the kid’s confidence enough to keep him from wetting himself with fear.

  The binoculars eased back up to Samuel’s eyes, only to see the oncoming swarm of monsters well enough to know he and his men were swimming deep in the waters of trouble. There were no moaners in the horde – this was nothing but screamers and boners. The situation jumped instantly to Defcon 1. The pistol was cocked. Nuclear war was imminent. All just metaphor for Oh shit!

  The Lieutenant brought his radio to his lips. Everything seemed to slow down around him. This was a moment he never wanted to see happen – a fight to the end. Only one side would come out victorious. Samuel had to do everything in his power to make sure the spoils of this war was not brain-pan soup.

  “All soldiers prepare to open fire on my mark.”

  Judgment day came in all shapes and sizes.

  “Soldiers ready.”

  Every soldier and civilian knew death longed to crack open their skulls and dine on the sweet meat within

  “Soldiers aim.”

  The apocalypse was hungry.

  “Fire!”

  The heavy metal popcorn brought New San A to life. The collective trigger finger of the ZRT danced across the metal of the gun. Bullet after bullet sailed through the spans between barrel and beast.

  “They’re not going down sir!” Beaner cried out.

  “Keep firing soldier. You don’t stop until either you or those bastards are dead. You hear me?”

  “Yes sir!”

  Beaner continued rattling his death-dealer at the oncoming monsters. Still, the dust cloud marched toward the city. Eventually flailing arms could be seen, just above the nearly six foot high wall of flying dirt and flesh. The way the arms moved clearly indicated screamers. Scattered within the pale, rotten fleshy arm meat was the tragic site of hardened bone.

  Samuel trained soldiers and soldiers never left their post. Even when the beast of beasts was revealed among the bringers of pain and suffering, not one man budged. All weapons continued to heat up the air. Slowly but surely, the number of zombies dwindled – at least the screamers. As for the boners, the bullets bounced and popped off their exoskeletons, only serving to piss them off even more.

  The scratchy, metallic screeching of the boners cracked through the air, raising the arm hair and fear level of the soldiers. Lieutenant Samuel’s radio lit up with voices.

  “Sir, they aren’t going down!”

  “Sir, what are we going to do?”

  “Sir, should we retreat?”

  They may as well have been lobbing Nerf bullets at the zombies. With little thought on the matter, Samuel opted to go with a few rounds of the heavy artillery. It was standard operating procedure to avoid using anything louder than a machine gun. Samuel switched his radio to simultaneously broadcast to all listening channels; he wanted to be sure no soldier missed his message.

  “Break out the heavy metal. I want anything larger than M82s to open fire.”

  The rattling of machine gun fire evolved into a deeper, deadlier tone. The cloud of dust rose higher. The monsters continued onward.

  Suddenly, the death dealers were upon the New San A Zombie Response Team. The sounds of large caliber machine guns were replaced by cries and gasps for help. Those cries went unanswered. One by one the soldiers were robbed of limb, life, and lobe. With a single crack of bone-covered forearm, the boners gained access to the brains of the men.

  Zombie crack.

  One of the boners spotted the Lieutenant and rushed toward him; his rotted eyes locked onto his next meal. Before Samuel was cracked open, he managed to contact the ZRT leaders to inform them the city had been breached and destroyed.

  The triumphant roaring and slurping echoed into the phone and through the streets and alleys of New San A. The Texas City protectorate had perished and a new Hell-spawn army had arrived to wipe clean the slate of man.

  Chapter 25

  November 25, 2016 12:01 PM

  Seattle, Washington Underground City

  “We’ve been compromised. Hundreds of them; all screamers and boners. I have no idea where they came from. All of my men are down. I repeat, all of my men are down. There’s a new type of undead… it seems to be wearing… ”

  The horrific screech of the monsters nearly blew the tiny smart phone speaker out of its casing. Morgan sat the phone down in front of her and dropped her head. Tears plipped and plopped onto the glass front of the smart phone.

  “They’re dead. All of them. How did this happen? How did all of those monsters find their way to my men?”

  I didn’t want to speak, to confess the answer to the question. The attack had to have been my fault. Hundreds of the undead had to have been the work of the Zero Day Collective and I led them to San Antonio. Me. There were two clear paths for me to follow. I could lie and keep Morgan and Josh oblivious to my connection with the event, or I could confess and ensure truth is the driving force behind every action taken. Lies on top of lies on top of lies. The discord of untruth had already grown so thick, it was impossible to know how long it would be before we’d reclaim any semblance of honesty. I’d much prefer my baby grow up in a world that was founded in honesty. The shit sandwich was already too steamy and too thick. I had to find a much higher road.

  “This was all my fault.” My voice was undercut with a guilt anyone should be able to pick up on. “I lead the ZDC to San Antonio. I planted a false trail that would misdirect them away from us. I assumed there would be enough fire power in San Antonio to fend off an attack.”

  Josh immediately grabbed Morgan to control her. Blood rushed to her cheeks and forehead in a hot rush of rage.

  “You were wrong!” Morgan’s words shot out of her mouth with a contrail of angry spittle. “Now my men are dead… all of them!”

  “She couldn’t know what would happen Morgan.” Josh’s deep southern voice caressed the air in an attempt to calm the ferocious woman in his grasp.

  “What right did you have? You lead those bastards straight to them!”

  Tears flowed down Morgan’s mottled cheeks. Guilt flowed through my veins.

  “What the fuck?” Jamal jumped in… hopefully to save my ass. “It’s the apocalypse, we’re all in danger at every damn second of every day. Bethany did
what she did to save herself, her baby, and this underground city. I’m very sorry about your men, but I’m not sorry B didn’t lead the ZDC here. I highly recommend you two get over your anger and your guilt respectively.”

  How Jamal knew what was pounding my conscience didn’t surprise me. The man could read me like he could read a line of PHP code. After his outburst, the room went silent. Josh released Morgan from his beefy grasp and everyone took a deep breath.

  Morgan sat at the table and glared for a moment. The tears finally dried up and her breathing returned to normal. How long before she pulled out a knife and sliced my throat? Hopefully Morgan would get busy enough to forget what had happened. I could only hope. Eventually she pulled a US map front and center. “Josh, we need to split up Austin and retake San A.”

  “Why don’t we move Austin and Houston both to New San A. The facilities at San A are superior and it’s better armed. With the amount of men we’d be moving from those other cities, they could surely take out a horde of zombies.”

  It was nice to see them at work. We all needed to focus on the task at hand. That task? Securing our safe haven. With the barrage of horrors from all angles, I lost track of what it was I was doing. My sense of direction and focus was lost. But with the realization came a crystal clarity I hadn’t had for a while.

  “Jamal. Did you have any luck finding a chemist or biologist?”

  Before Jamal could answer, Morgan stood and with wide, excited eyes, addressed the question.

  “We have a chemist in Portland. We could get him here in three or four hours.”

  I gave Morgan the go head on the chemist. She and Josh dismissed themselves from the room, leaving Jamal and I alone.

  “Thank you for saving my ass.” My head found its way to Jamal’s shoulder.

  “You owe me one.”

  “Actually I think I owe you like five. How exactly do you plan on collecting that payment?”

  I didn’t even have to glance at the man do know his smile nearly ripped the cheeks from his face.

  “You are a bad, evil man Jamal T.”

  “You make me that way Bethany N.”

  Our eyes locked onto one another, the end result was all too obvious. Just before our lips made contact, a high pitched scream tore the mood asunder. The voice was Echo’s.

  “Bethany!”

  The sound of my name sent shudders of cold shock through my system. When Echo rushed into the room, the look in her eyes threatened to force me to my knees.

  “They’re gone. Bethany. Jacob and Gabe are gone! I laid down to take a nap. Jacob’s bassinet was on the bed next to me. When I woke he was gone. I ran to Gabe’s room to see if he had Jacob, only he wasn’t there. I’ve looked everywhere. Bethany… I’m so sorry! What do we do?”

  My heart took a nose dive into the well of my gut. How could I have been such a fool to trust a man and a young girl I had only just met.

  “Fuck!”

  The word ripped out of my throat and echoed off the walls.

  Jamal ran to a desk and grabbed a radio.

  “We have a breech in security. A young man in jeans and a black sweatshirt, carrying a bassinet. Stop him at all costs, but do not, I repeat, do not harm the infant. This man must not be allowed to reach the surface.”

  Jamal clipped the radio onto his back pocket, grabbed a pistol, and reached for the door. Before his hand could turn the door knob, he turned to me. “Bethany, I promise you I will bring Jacob back.

  I wasn’t about to sit back and wait it out while Jacob was being carried off. When Jamal tried to stop me, I shook my head. The look in my eyes clearly communicated my intention, because Jamal held the door open and nodded me through.

  “You want a weapon?”

  “You have extras?”

  “You don’t know the half of it.”

  Jamal’s words were assuring – especially after he handed me a Glock 9MM pistol. He didn’t even bother to ask if I could ‘Handle a weapon’. He knew better.

  My feet met the floor of the hall at a sprint. I had no idea where I was going, but I assumed neither did Gabe. Jamal’s shoes violently slapped the floor of the underground city behind me.

  The obvious plan would be to run to what was Gabe’s room and then branch off from there. Certainly there had to be some method to the man’s madness. But then, how could there be method when he clearly had no idea the precious cargo he carried. Unless…

  Just as I reached Gabe’s room, the radio in Jamal’s pocket crackled to life.

  “The male has been spotted. He reached the ground level and was picked up by a black sedan. We couldn’t get a clean shot. He’s gone.”

  The pronouncement dropped me to my knees, the flood of tears polka-dotting the ground below me, even before I could suck in air and release a wail.

  “Get a team together and track that car down. Find them and return that baby, no matter the cost. Is that clear?” Jamal barked.

  “Yes sir.”

  The radio went silent. I did not.

  “No! Oh God no! My baby.”

  I felt an arm around me and assumed it to be Jamal’s. He spoke, but his words didn’t register. The only sound I could hear was that of my cries and my heart and breath catching in my throat.

  “Did you… oh no!” The guilt-ridden voice of Echo made itself known.

  “What are we going to do?”I could hear the words, but no meaning registered.

  “Jacob!”

  My legs lifted me from the ground and carried me swiftly forward. I had no idea what I was doing – anything but nothing. There was no way I could do nothing – not when my baby was most likely being carried back into the arms of the Zero Day Collective.

  I came to an exit and flung the door open. Daylight stung my eyes. Silence deafened my ears. Somehow I expected, like a bad Hollywood movie, to step outside and see the black sedan just pulling away. For the first time that I could remember, I wanted my life to be produced by Hollywood – to know that, in the end, my baby would find his way back into my arms. Unfortunately the apocalypse wasn’t that kind.

  “Bethany!”

  Before my brain could register the warning, the screamer was on me, knocking me hard to the ground. The crash landing knocked the wind from my lungs, but not the gun from my hand. The zombie had my head in his cold, fetid grasp before I could muster up the consciousness to take aim. The beast had me pinned to the ground, his heavy body seated on my gut, nearly stopping all breath from entering my lungs.

  Crack!

  The beast smacked my head onto the hard ground.

  Crack!

  Stars and sparks danced in my field of vision.

  Crack!

  My vision started to tunnel.

  The monster let loose a raging roar. It had to know how close it was to dining on a brain-feast fit for a zombie king.

  The next sound was that of a large-caliber weapon, followed by the wet thunk of a body hitting the ground. The stars in my vision remained, but the weight of the zombie was gone.

  “Bethany! Are you… okay?”

  Everything fizzled.

  “She looks like… “

  Chapter 26

  November 25, 2016 6:22 PM

  Seattle, Washington Underground City

  “Jamal, she’s waking up.”

  The near-whisper of Echo’s comforting voice pulled me out of the worst headache-laden sleep of my life.

  “Jacob!” Reality sucker punched me in the heart when I realized what had happened. “We have to get out and find him.”

  “Morgan already has every Zombie Response Team on alert. If they spot him they will do everything they can.”

  “No. I have to be out there. I’m Jacob’s mother. Do you understand how important that baby is to me and to this fucking planet?” My throat hurt. My gut hurt worse.

  Jamal came to my side. The look on his face was as readable as it always was – he had a logic bomb to drop on me.

  “It’s too late for any of us to go up top i
n a desperate attempt to search for something when we have no idea what we’re looking for. Did Gabe remain in the car, or did he get transferred to a helicopter, or did he drop Jacob off at the car and leave on foot? Besides, Bethany, that’s not what you do best. You’re not a fighter, you’re a thinker. The best chance you have of recovering your child is to use your best weapon – your brain. And the last time you went up top, you were almost taken down by one of those armored zombies. Thankfully, a large caliber bullet, fired at close range, managed to make its way through the exoskeleton. Those things are bad ass by the way!”

  “Jamal, you know… ”

  Jamal silenced me with a gentle, warm palm to the cheek.

  “B. I’d do anything for you. If I thought I had a chance to go out there and bring Jacob back in I would do it. But we already have hundreds of people on the lookout. So what we need to do is concentrate our efforts in the best way we know how.”

  He was right. As much as the swelling ache in my heart wanted to contradict every word he uttered, Jamal was dead on. It would be foolish of me to think I could chase down the Zero Day Collective on my own. And who knew what kind of head start they had and which direction they went. If Jacob was to be found, I’d have to launch my own flavor of search and rescue mission.

  I swung my legs out of from under the bed sheets. My bare feet hit the cold, stone floor.

  “B. what are you doing? I thought I made myself clear… ”

  “I have an idea Jamal,” was all I needed to say. My cohort in many a crime immediately caught the hacker-twinkle in my eyes. He didn’t smile as he normally would when he spotted said gleam. I respected that restrain. Now was not the time for smiles.

  I pulled my Doc Martins on and pointed my feet towards the broadcast studio. My laptop was in there and that computer had everything I needed at the moment.

  “You gonna fill me in B-Zip?” Jamal fell into pace at my side.

  “Simple. I’m going to cobble together a script that will collect every transmission and every communication that has occurred within the last week and in real time. That script will then search the collected data for anything pertaining to the Zero Day Collective, Jacob, Gabe, me, our location, and anything else I might deem pertinent to the situation. When the script finds something it will alert me and I will then alert whichever Zombie Response Team is in the target area.”