by Gayle Katz
What I do know is that they don’t attack me. They just stand there in a circle, surrounding me.
The perimeter around me isn’t exactly complete. When I see a break in the zombie chain, I stand up and decide to make my way to it. As soon as I approach, though, another zombie steps in to fill the gap. I back away. The stench is overpowering.
“I know you’re here,” I say.
No reply.
If I am going to die here, I’m not going down without a fight, and I want the whole world to hear. I click my walkie-talkie.
“Hello?”
Still nothing.
“I guess I’m not going anywhere.”
“That depends,” the professor's voice finally says.
“Depends on what?”
“On whether your rescuers are successful or not. I vote not. I didn’t do all this for them to take you away from me. I sacrificed myself, my students, and so many others to get you. My army and I will stop them and you’ll join us. Don’t be afraid, Jane. It’s our destiny.”
“Our destiny?”
“Hear that? That’s the helicopter coming to rescue you.”
“Yes. I hear it.”
I definitely hear that chopping sound coming closer and closer. And then a blindingly bright spotlight illuminates the classroom, and I can see the professor clearly. For a moment, my professor and I just stand there listening. If this is his hideout, there is nowhere else to go.
We hear a loudspeaker click on. It’s Jack!
“Professor. You’re a smart guy. Don’t be a fool. Give yourself up. The authorities want to work with you. They want to help you and your followers. They don’t want to destroy you, but they will if you make them.”
“Never!” the professor shouts up into the air, “Giving up is failure. I won’t tolerate failure.”
The chopper sounds are getting closer and louder. Within seconds, we hear a thud on the roof. I turn around and see four military guys drop from the ceiling, weapons at the ready. One of them is the soldier I spotted a couple days ago on campus. He’s at the front of the pack, handgun pointed. As they move closer, I see Jack behind them. Stunned to see him risking his life yet again for mine, I’m held hostage by fear. I don’t want him to get hurt. I try to get to him, but I’m still trapped in the circle.
“Will you give yourself up and cooperate with us?” the soldier guy asks the professor.
“Never!” the professor yells. He motions with his arm, and his swarm of infected begin stumbling toward the military foursome.
“Tell your followers to stand down, Professor!”
The professor laughs.
“Tell them to stop or else we’ll have to open fire.”
With one hand signal to the rest of his team, the military guys open fire. The zombies closest to them are taken out first. It’s a violent, macabre sight. Arms, legs, and heads fly across the room as if in slow motion.
I’m worn out. Exhausted. Everything happening around me at this point seems like just a really bad dream. I am in a haze.
The shooting stops. The first round of zombies is lying in bits and pieces on the floor.
“Ah! Welcome! You’re just in time,” the professor says, not particularly phased by the turn of events.
“In time for what?” Jack asks as he moves to the front of the pack.
“The ceremony, of course. Jane and I, we’re to be joined as one for all eternity.”
As he walks closer to me, the zombies still standing open the circle for him. The professor steps inside the snarling zombie circle and grabs my arm. His grip is tight.
“When I bite her,” he says. “She’ll be mine forever.”
“No. No. No!” I say. “I thought you said I was immune to bites.”
“I lied,” he says. “After I bite you, I’ll make enough of the serum so we both can stay lucid.”
I look at Jack and start to cry.
“Let me go!” I struggle against his hold.
“Too bad you and your friends can’t stay,” the professor tells Jack.
With a wave of his hand, his second swarm of zombies breaks the circle around us and starts walking toward Jack and his new military friends.
As the fighting continues, a couple of the zombies corner one of the military guys who is reloading. The rest keep their distance. Maybe it’s the smell? As they get closer to the lone military guy, he drops his gun and pulls out his long knife. He manages to stab one of them in the throat and his buddy shoots the other one in the head.
“Thanks!” he shouts as he rejoins his team.
Jack runs to pick up the weapon. As gunshots began to fly through the air again, I try to get to the floor. I pull against the professor’s grip, but I can’t break free. I’m too tired. He’s too strong. Why won’t this day end?
I look back at Jack again and see him looking at me. His voice booms louder than the zombie shrieks and gunfire across the room: “Duck, Jane! Get down!”
The professor keeps his tight grip and begins dragging me to his office. As we begin to cross the threshold, I see Jack take aim and start to squeeze his trigger-finger.
I still have the professor’s pen in my bag. I pull it out and, with all the strength I can muster, stab the professor in the leg.
“Here’s your pen back, Professor!”
Clearly feeling the pain, he loosens his grasp on me enough that I can pull free. A single bullet hits the professor from behind, and his head explodes in a gory splatter. I fall to the floor.
11:15 p.m.
I open my eyes. Jack is looking down at me and holding me in his arms. He’s smiling.
“Hi,” I say.
“Hello, beautiful,” he replies.
“Is that the military guy from campus?” I ask as I look over at him. Not only is he wearing his familiar fatigues, but this time he’s also decorated with what looks to be an arsenal of guns and weapons.
“Yeah, he’s military. His name is Chris. Listen, I couldn’t leave without you, and he and his friends said they would help. They said you were dead, but I never believed it. I knew you were still alive.” He turns and smiles at his military teammate.
“Did you get off campus? Did the sickness spread?”
“No, at least not yet. We need to get moving, though. The military is getting ready to bomb campus.”
“Bomb? No, no. They can’t. Not yet. The professor injected himself with something to keep himself from completely turning into a zombie,” I say as I sit up.
“What? Where is it?”
“I don’t know. He didn’t tell me, but we have to find it.”
Jack helps me up.
“How much time do we have?” I ask.
“Twenty minutes.”
“That’s not gonna be enough time, Jack! I don’t know where it is, but we have to look. We have to try. We have to make time. What about the students still on campus who are afraid and hiding?”
Chris whispers into what seems to be his hidden communication device, “Hurry up, guys. Grab it so we can get moving.”
“Use the walkie-talkie. We’ve got to try to warn everybody one last time to get off campus and it’s the best we can do right now,” Jack says.
I grab my walkie-talkie and click the talk button.
“This the final broadcast from campus radio 97.5 FM WZOM. My name is Jane. I’m an overnight DJ. I’ve been helping combat a zombie infection that has broken out because of Professor Benjamin Carter. It’s spread campus-wide. We can’t fight it. We can only destroy it. That’s the only way. If you can hear my voice, you have to listen to me. Get off campus now. You don’t have much time left. Minutes maybe. And then the military is gonna drop a bomb to purge the area. Be brave, and run like your life depends on it because it does. This will be the last broadcast you hear on this station. Godspeed.”
After that, Jack grabs my hand, and we run. As fast as we can, we follow Chris and his team out of the building. The same helicopter I saw when the professor was taking me away is righ
t outside waiting for us. We hop into the helicopter and are greeted by Logan and Bill. The dog licks my face.
As we’re waiting to take off, the rest of Chris’s rescue team hops into the helicopter with us. One of the guys is carrying an odd-looking case.
“What is that?” I ask.
“That’s classified, ma’am,” he replies.
The rest of Chris’s team piles into the helicopter. Chris doesn’t follow them.
“I have to find out what happened to my Marie!” he shouts with a desperate look in his eyes. “I’m gonna stay and search for her.”
Jack says, “We can stay and help you.”
“No, you’re civilians. Get to safety. We’ll be fine.”
Jack and Chris shake hands. Jack says, “Thank you, Chris. Good luck. I hope you find her.”
He smiles. Chris doesn’t come with us.
As we fly to safety, we see people fleeing campus on foot and others hopping into military aircrafts.
The campus begins to fade from our view. Despite the distance growing between campus and us, we see buildings on campus explode. It looks like slow-motion the way all the wood, stone, and concrete are flying apart in the air. I can’t believe what’s happening. Jack holds my chin with his index finger and thumb and turns my head so I’m facing him, not the devastation behind us.
“We made it. I told you we’d be fine,” he says.
“Yes, you did. You believed in us from the beginning.” I smile.
CONTINUE THE ADVENTURE
Jane’s life changes forever when a technical mishap at work reignites the undead epidemic. Now, torn between her humanity and giving in to the darkness, she struggles to keep her sanity.
In a race against time, can Jane and her bunch of unlikely allies escape the zombie onslaught, get to safety, and save themselves from the sickness?
Rotting Rage is the second book in the Jane Zombie Chronicles, a series of undead adventures. If you like zombie fiction that’s action-packed, fast-paced, and entertaining, then you’ll love Rotting Rage.
Buy Rotting Rage to experience the sickness today!
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Thank You
________________________________________
For taking this journey with me, I can’t thank you enough!
I hope you enjoyed reading my debut zombie novel. If you have time, one of the best ways to help me write more books is to leave a review on Amazon. It would mean the world to me.
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Again, thank you so much for buying my book and supporting me!
Best,
Gayle
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About the Author
Born and raised outside of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Gayle discovered her passion for zombies when her husband introduced her to video games in 2009.
Gayle writes about the undead because they scare the bejesus out of her and she likes it! She’s also an advocate for always facing your fears as she’s an author of self-help, nonfiction too.
CLOSED CAMPUS is her debut fiction novel and the first book in the Jane Zombie Chronicles.
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