Z Chronicles: The Beginning

by A. L. White

  “I guess I let my guard down; it took me completely by surprise,” he said.

  Lori listened to him and checked the rest of the apartment for zombies, then returned to Jonas with some towels from the bathroom and knelt down.

  “Can you walk?” she asked as she tried to stop the bleeding.

  “If there are more the shots will bring them. You have to go now.”

  “I can’t just leave you here for them. Can you walk?”

  Jonas put his hand on top of hers and pulled it and the towel away from his neck. “If the Lord wills me to die today then who am I to question Him?”

  Lori brushed his hand away and placed the towel back over the gaping wound on his neck. She didn’t think that Bob would leave anyone behind while they had a doctor back at the bunker and medicine. She wasn’t going to leave anyone either!

  “Look out the window and tell me what you see,” Jonas asked her. “Please look for me Lori.”

  Lori gazed down on him exasperated that he wasn’t even trying to help her. Standing up she went to the window and froze in horror. The street was full of zombies coming from all directions. He could tell by Lori’s expression what she was seeing. He knew they would be there.

  “We have to go out the back way and try to get to the river,” she stated.

  “I don’t think I will be going with you Lori. We both know you can’t make it with me slowing you down.”

  Lori returned to his side and continued to work on the bleeding.

  “We both know they can’t go upstairs right?” he asked her. “I will be safe enough here for you to come back and get me.”

  “You will bleed out while I am gone,” Lori replied.

  “If the Lord has a purpose for me, I will not bleed out,” he said smiling at her. “I believe he has a purpose for me. Why else would I have lived through all of this and met you?”

  Lori felt the tears welling up in her eyes as she pulled him close and hugged him.

  “Don’t you cry for me girl, you need to stay sharp and get passed all of that out there. Then come back and get the truck and me okay?”

  Lori let loose of Jonas and nodded her head yes. Pushing all of the towels next to Jonas she said “Keep as much pressure on them as you can. I will be back soon.”

  “Take this,” Jonas said, handing her the pistol. Lori pushed it back and said “You need that in case the two-point-zeros are around. We don’t know if they can climb stairs or not.”

  Seeing that he would not win this argument even if they had time to have it Jonas let the pistol fall into his lap. Further discussion would lead to Lori thinking about the sole zombie on the second floor. He didn’t want that, didn’t want her coming to the conclusion he had when the creature flew across the room at him with lightning quick speed. This was one of them and if she discovered that now there was no way she would get herself out of here.

  Lori checked the front window again and forced herself to say good bye to Jonas. Promising to be back as soon as she could she made her way back to the stairway. Through the windows on her way down she could see that the back was relatively empty. She couldn’t remember if she had noticed a fence or not back there, then decided it didn’t matter one way or the other at the moment. On the first floor there were sounds of movement all over the place. She pushed on the door leading to the back, and it swung open easily. Behind the building there was no fence to be seen. A sidewalk led down toward the river and a gazebo. There were a few zombies but only one had noticed her and headed her way. An arrow pierced it through the eye and she continued on.

  CHAPTER 12

  Jonas smelled them before he heard or saw them. It was the worst smelling thing he had smelled in his entire life. Looking up he saw them in the hallway eyeing him up through the doorway. The one he had shot after it attacked him seemed more alive that these new ones. Maybe it had just turned Jonas thought. He chuckled to himself at that; he wasn’t man enough to convince Lori that he was already a dead man but easily accepted it himself in thoughts, especially now as he could feel life slowly slipping away. Never taking his eyes off of the creatures he grasped the gun in his left hand and started to slowly lift it. The weight of the pistol had grown enormously in the last few minutes as Jonas’ strength began to fade. Smiling at the zombies, he raised it to his head placing the barrel just below the lips. ‘I will see you guys’ in hell was his last thought.

  Lori heard the gunshot as she followed the river back toward the bridge on the main road. She paused for a minute and thought about going back to where Jonas was, then decided that there wasn’t much point without the truck to help take him back to the bunker and continued on. A few times she had to duck down into the icy river when she heard zombies getting close by. At first the cold would paralyze her but then she would start moving again. She didn’t think that it would be possible for her to cross the river like this, just use it for cover when need be.

  It seemed to be clear when she reached the bridge; Lori decided to backtrack up toward Main Street and see if it was still full of zombies. When she got there what had seemed like thousands was now only a few here and there. Where could they have all gone she wondered out loud? Not knowing was the worst part. If she went down the street toward the truck they could be any place hidden from her view until it was too late to do anything.

  The truck was that way and so were the supplies that she and Jonas had gathered. Moving to the other side of Main Street Lori began checking cars for unlocked doors and keys. It would be nice to know how to hotwire a car like they all seemed to know in the movies right about now. Unfortunately she wasn’t in a movie and didn’t have the knowhow to hotwire anything, so Lori kept moving from car to car keeping a close eye on any zombies that she could see. They didn’t seem to notice her until she came within twenty or thirty yards. The wind was blowing in the wrong direction and they could not smell her sent, Lori thought. As soon as one noticed her, down it went. It was now a reflex more than a planned move. As soon as their bodies crumpled Lori moved over as stealthily as she could, placed her foot on their head and pulled her arrow out, wiped it off on whatever clothes they had on and replaced it in the sheath. So far everything was going her way; Lori nine, zombies one.

  The closer she got to the truck the more zombies there were in front of her. At one point she began to wonder if it would be possible to recover it and more importantly if it was important enough to. She could probably find more of the supplies later on when she was safer. The thoughts kept going back and forth that way as she moved forward. At last the truck was in sight, in reach with a few obstacles in the way. The obstacles weren’t even paying any attention to her; something on the far side of the parking lot had their attention. Lori would use that to her benefit and decided to just walk to the truck like it was the normal thing to do, no cares in the world.

  With each step she could hear muted screams coming from the other end of the lot. In her heart she knew what those sounds were. Briefly a thought danced in Lori’s head to see if she could help. The thought passed quickly when the rancid smell overwhelmed her, distracting her just long enough for something to move upon her without being noticed. Lori felt the iron grip envelop her shoulder dragging her backwards. A scream escaped drawing the attention of the herd feeding across the way, causing it to move in that fluid way that a flock of birds do. Lori spun around as best she could pointing the arrow in the zombie’s face and fired. It fell to the ground still grasping her shoulder.

  To Lori it was like all time had stopped. The pain was intense coming from her shoulder, blood was oozing down her arm and her breathing was heavy. The zombies were moving toward her in that slow steady movement like she had seen so many times in the past few months. There was no fear inside of her, no anger or anything else for that matter. Lori now existed in a place that all of humanity’s ancestors clear back to the earliest had been in. Like them the will to survive had taken over every part of her. Dropping the crossbow and grasping the hand that clutched he
r shoulder, Lori ripped it off with all of her might until she was free of it. Standing up she again retrieved her arrow like she had earlier over and over again, placed it in the crossbow and nailed the closest zombie. She took a few steps toward the truck and nailed another one. A few more steps put her at the door; opening it she turned and brought down another one. Once safely in the truck Lori started the motor and locked the doors.

  “Let’s see who is ‘Queen of the Street’ now!” she yelled at the zombies as she laid on the horn for about a minute. Sure that she got their attention, Lori put the truck in gear and revved the motor up. Popping the clutch the truck lunged into the herd trapping all in the path. Lori drove the truck around and around mowing down the dead like she was mowing the lawn back home. For the first time she felt like she was in control and they were at her mercy now. There would be no mercy and no quarter given today. She didn’t know how many went down under the truck, didn’t care one way or another as long as they couldn’t get back up. Knowing it was futile as the numbers grew surrounding her didn’t make a difference either; striking back was all that counted now.

  After a while it became apparent that the battle here couldn’t be won and it was growing dark. The gas was now down to just over a quarter of a tank and it was time to go home. Lori made one more circle through the zombies coming out of it when she was headed in the right direction down Main Street. Up the middle of the street she plowed over them until the truck broke free. Her mind was a well-tuned machine now. She felt like she could see better, hear better and react faster. The pain was dulled now to a mild irritant in her shoulder. Knowing what blood on her was hers and what was Jonas’s didn’t cross her mind. Getting back home before dark was all that Lori could think about. By the time she reached the bridge the zombies were behind her and nothing was in sight ahead of the truck. Lori didn’t even slow down as she passed the two vehicles by the dirt road which they had passed this morning.

  CHAPTER 13

  The gate leading into the bunker was laying on the ground. It looked like something had flew into it bursting it from the posts. Lori slowed down to a crawl and turned the lights on bright. There was still enough sunlight to see for the most part; she just wanted to make sure she could see everything and see it well.

  There was no sign of anyone as the truck glided to a stop by the shed that held the generator. The large steel door was open but there was no light inside. Lori looked toward the RV and then the trailer - still nothing. Where the will to survive had been was now replaced by fear of being alone. It took a long time for her to build up the courage to get out of the truck. A part of her said to stay there until someone came for her. No one would come she told herself. If something happened they are all probably in some kind of emergency bunker; the bunker that Bob had forgot to tell them about. She looked around as best as she could from the cab windows. No signs of foul play anywhere, just the door being wide open and no one coming out when she pulled up. Not even Virginia and the dogs, and they always came out to see anyone who came if they were inside and the door was open.

  Lori turned the truck off and closed her eyes. The thought had come up to lay on the horn again like back on Main Street. It passed quickly, not wanting to attract unwanted attention if she hadn’t attracted it already. The seats were causing her to get cramps and the pain from the wound on her shoulder was beginning to grow. It was then the idea had come to her; more of a plan than an idea really. She could sit in the truck all night and deal with whatever was out there in the light of a new day, take the chance of freezing in the truck or using what gas she had left to keep warm. That was one option. The other was to leave the safety of the truck and run into the bunker. Once there she could latch the door behind her and deal with anything she found inside.

  Lori opened her eyes and stared into the dark hole of the door and in an instant decided that she had to go into the bunker. If not for the warmth and food that could be found inside, for the meds and answers she would find. Pulling the crossbow onto her lap and counting the number of arrows she had left, she knew that she had to go right then. Opening the door, Lori ran as hard as she could into the dark space, pivoted on her right foot and slammed the large steel door shut. Then in one fluid motion Lori shoved one of the steel bolts home locking the door and flipped on the light switch. The lights glowed orange and then flickered to life. Across the room on the floor two zombies were eating the remains of what looked like had been Bob. The first arrow rang true finding its mark just inside the ear canal. She missed on her second shot because a sudden surge of pain caused her to pull up. The zombie turned and started toward her. The third arrow brought him down easily.

  So far so good, she thought to herself. One room clear and four more to go. From here she could see something hunched over on the floor of the kitchen area but did not judge it to be a threat. The fire looked like it had burned down a while ago and the door to the sleeping quarters was slightly ajar. Lori wanted more than anything to sit down for a few minutes and let the pain ease. It was now working its way up to being unbearable. She let that thought pass and worked one of the three remaining arrows into the crossbow, focusing all of her attention on the narrow opening between the door and door jam.

  She took three fast steps and then paused to listen, then three more and paused again. There was no sound at all. Satisfied she moved to take three more quick steps only achieving two because on the third step her foot had collided with and kicked an empty water bottle. It sailed across the room and banged noisily on the door. Lori froze petrified to the spot, waiting for something to jump out at her. Instinctively she began moving forward hoping to meet whatever it was on her own terms.

  Reaching the door she used her good shoulder and bumped the door wide open, jumping back a little to let the light shine into the room. There was no sign that anything had been in there. All of the bunks were made up just as they had been when she left this morning. To make herself feel better she flipped that light on as well and did a slow walk around the room. The bunks were laid out around the walls leaving the middle of the room open. No place in here for anything to hide and none of her friends were to be found. Lowering the crossbow she turned toward the kitchen area; the only places left to check were the storeroom and the firewood room. The door to the storeroom was closed, not much threat from there at the moment. The firewood room was wide open and something was on the ground blocking the doorway. For the first time since leaving the truck Lori began to worry about Virginia. Could the lump blocking the door be her? Without thinking she ran to the room at full speed. The bloody mass on the ground was too large to be Virginia and judging by the clothes, it had to be Julie. It looked like she had gone down fighting but came up on the wrong end. Lori bent down to get a closer look. She didn’t know why but she did, setting the crossbow down.

  The creature had been on her from the moment her knee touched the ground. Massive strong hands had her by her head, pulling her into the firewood room. Lori grabbed hold of the door jam and forced her legs out from under her. When her feet met the walls, her legs pushed as hard as they could. Her body lunged backwards freeing her from the grip but barely lasting a second before the creature was on top of her biting at any part of Lori it could reach. The teeth made a clicking sound with every missed bite. Lori pushed with all of her might against its chest trying to throw it off. She felt the room start to go black as a hand dug deep into her flesh and pulled a chunk of muscle out. Lori lay there with her arms spread out and life passing from her. The creature dug back into the same spot pulling more flesh from the shoulder area and stuffing it into its dead face. Lori felt the crossbow and arrow under her fingertips. Grasping the arrow she waited for the creature to move toward her shoulder again. Once she knew it was going to grab more flesh Lori put every ounce of strength she had left into bringing the arrow up to the creature’s eye then shoving it deep into its brain. It stopped immediately and the full weight pressed down hard on her. Lori had no strength left in her to pus
h the creature off. There she lay with the smelly beast on top of her as consciousness slipped away.

  Sometime the next morning she was awoke by the pain surging through her body. It took more than a few minutes for the mind to convince itself that the pain meant that she was still alive. Slowly she worked her body out from under the zombie and crawled over into a corner. It looked like she had lost a lot of blood during the night and she felt weak. As far as she was concerned death would be welcomed. Then she thought about Virginia. Her baby sister wasn’t in the bunker. She could have left with the dogs and made it away safely. She was probably hiding someplace nearby waiting for signs that it was safe to come back. Lori forced herself to her feet, dragging her legs with every step as she went to the steel door. With her good arm she struggled at first, then freed the bolt, opened the door and stepped out into the light. It was quiet, peaceful even, she thought to herself. Looking around for any signs of Virginia or the dogs and finding none she started to walk toward the trailer and stopped. She could see Jack’s remains, what was left of them anyway. Then she knew, if Virginia had lived through this, she would have went up toward the farm. More than once she had brought game back from around the old barn there.

  Fighting the feeling that she was going unconscious again Lori struggled over to the truck and climbed in. It took a lot to start the truck and work the clutch but against all odds she did it, heading back up the dirt road toward the main road and the adjacent farm, keeping it in first gear the whole way. She slipped in and out of consciousness several times, only emerging from the last slip at the sound of horns and crunching steel. An unfamiliar face kept telling her to “hold on, you will be okay”, then she was unconscious again.