Ultimate Undead Collection: The Zombie Apocalypse Best Sellers Boxed Set (10 Books)

by Joe McKinney

  Cade had never seen Rawley mad before. Now he was channeling Rambo.

  Cade left his perch at the bedroom window, went into the office and punched his PIN on the gun safe’s keypad. He pulled out his Colt M4 and four loaded thirty round magazines. It was a civilian model kitted out just like the personal weapon he used on deployment. Uncle Sam kept the fully automatic M4 when Cade left the teams.

  Returning to the room that overlooked the front of the house, by feel he seated a magazine, pulled the charging handle and switched the selector to fire. Bracing the rifle against his shoulder he practiced steady controlled fire and made his contribution to the body count.

  At first Rawley looked up at him with a bewildered look, but recognition dawned on his face and with renewed determination he kept on shooting.

  Ike and Leo joined Cade in the front bedroom upstairs and marveled at the shooting display. It was not planned but Cade and Rawley had the undead in a withering crossfire.

  Cade yelled above the din at the two brothers. “Ike, go downstairs, load the truck in the garage with all of the canned food, and then throw in all of the dry stuff that will fit.”

  Gesturing towards the open door in the hall he said “Leo, go into the office over there and take all of the ammo and magazines from the safe and throw them in this,” tossing a long black bag his way. “Do you know what a magazine looks like?”

  “It’s the square thing that fits in the gun, right?”

  “You got it. When everything is in the bag, have Ike help you put it in the Sequoia,” Cade said.

  The two boys sprinted down the stairs. Ike stopped near the front door as a shadow moved past the living room window. Curiosity got the best of him. He reached up and pried opened the louvered wooden slats a half an inch. A gaunt gray face with milky eyes peered back at him.

  Ike bolted back upstairs out of breath exclaiming, “The walkers are on the front porch now. I looked out the kitchen window and it looks like the backyard is still clear if we need to leave that way.”

  Leo added, “The sound of the shooting sure is attracting a lot more of them.”

  Having concluded the house wouldn’t be safe for much longer, Cade told the two boys to go downstairs, get in the truck and be ready to go.

  Rawley had culled most of the undead that had his house under siege. At least fifteen of the corpses were piled around the porch. The dead girl in the bloody sundress was splayed out exposing herself in an unflattering way. She faced downstairs head first and her dress was pulled up around the top of her torso. Flip flop boy in the PBR shirt had been shot through the eye socket and now lay on the pile of corpses as well.

  During a lull in the gunfire, Cade yelled loud enough so Rawley could hear him. “We are coming out in three minutes and are going to create a diversion for you!” He then entered the garage, drew his Gerber knife and cut two four-foot lengths off of the coiled garden hose hanging on the wall. “God Damn!” Cade muttered angrily to himself as he remembered he had left the ice axe strapped to his bike in the alley; it would have to stay behind. He had the two Glocks on his person. He stowed the M4 carbine up front in the truck, safety on, with the stock fully collapsed.

  Cade put a second long black canvas bag containing his other rifle and tactical gear in the back of his truck. A box marked Camping Gear held the headlamps, a pair of two-way radios, Bushnell armored binoculars and a camp stove. Next went the tent and three sleeping bags which they tossed unceremoniously into the back of the truck. Lastly he threw two empty five gallon potable water containers on top of everything and closed the door.

  Peering through the small glass windows lining the top of the garage door, he saw that the bulk of the remaining walkers were now on his porch and trampling the front yard. A very large ghoul was trudging up the driveway. A pair of walkers leaned on the front window and fell into the living room riding a wave of shattered glass. The smell of death permeated his home.

  Cade climbed into the truck and turned the key in the ignition. The V8 rumbled to life. He punched the remote button that started the garage door’s plodding upward movement. Achingly slow, it revealed the sunny outside and the giant rotting roadblock standing five feet away. He was missing most of his left arm. With each step the stub twitched like a dog’s cropped tail. Along with the arm, most of the flesh was missing from one leg leaving the white femur and kneecap exposed, all the while lending to his slow gait.

  At first sight of the truck and its occupants, the one armed gargantuan started moaning excitedly, alerting the other walkers of his find.

  The ghouls swarmed inside the house through the broken front window, spilled into the garage and began banging on the back of the SUV.

  “Go, go, go….!” Ike screamed hysterically from the back seat of the Sequoia, staring eye to eye with Cade’s dead next door neighbor, Dave. Judging from his condition, he wasn’t here to borrow tools.

  The instant the door was fully opened, Cade gunned the truck forward. Several undead now flanked the driveway. They pawed at the closed side windows as the three ton truck sucked the muscular one armed ghoul under the front skid guard; its skull popped like an overripe melon as a rear wheel rolled over it.

  Cognizant of the ghoul-filled garage behind them, he stopped the SUV momentarily to survey the scene across the street. There was no sign of Rawley.

  Chapter 13

  Day 2 - Southeast Portland

  The walkers were converging on them from both directions. From the west came the largest group he had seen yet. Cade noticed that the more walkers there were, the faster they seemed to move.

  Easing out onto the road fronting his house he paused to steal a last glance at the home he grew up in. He said a silent goodbye, unsure he would ever see it again.

  He planned to creep slowly east up the street and try to get as many of the dead to follow them as he could. At this slow of a pace the walkers were crowding around trying to get into the truck. The ones too slow to get out of the path of the truck ended up fleshy speed bumps. The Sequoia’s windows were getting smeared with gore from the zombies’ attempts to get at them.

  In the rear view mirror Cade noticed flashing headlights. It was Rawley in the Bronco trying to get his attention. He sped up to get a safe distance from the walkers, then pulled over to the right on the shoulder and waited.

  Rawley opened his window as he pulled up next to the Sequoia.

  “Man, those fucks were getting thick out there. Your house was on the verge of getting overrun also,” he commented cheerfully.

  “A couple of them broke my front window right as we were finishing loading up the gear. Persistent bastards, aren’t they?” Cade added.

  “Persistent is an understatement. I was hoping to ride this out at home. You’re right, those fucks are very determined. We’re lucky, it looks like we both got out of there just in the nick of time. Hey, I need to thank you for stepping in when you did. Where the hell did they all come from anyway?” asked Rawley.

  “The two that saw you unloading supplies alerted the others in the area when they started that fucking moaning.”

  “I had no idea it was that bad, but I wanted to get some groceries just in case,” Rawley said.

  “What store was open?” Cade queried him.

  “The only one I found was the Mini Mart on Holgate. I had to use my credit card because every marked price was jacked up twentyfold. I had no beer in my house either, so I got their last case. That little bit of stuff ran me four hundred dollars. The beer alone was half of the cost. No worries though, if I ever see another credit card statement I’ll be amazed. Shit’s changed forever, man.”

  Nodding his head in agreement Cade said, “You hit the nail on the head. I was hunkered down in my house since this all started. I have to confess though, I haven’t been very neighborly lately. I had to kill Ted from around the block... he left me little choice.”

  An incredulous look adorning his face, Rawley asked what happened.

  Sparing no detail, Cad
e told him about his first introduction to this new reality.

  “Heavy shit, man. If I turn into one of those fuckers, please finish me quickly, will ya?” Rawley implored his neighbor with a deadly serious look thrown in for good measure.

  Reaching into the center console Cade said, “Take this.”

  A two-way radio sailed through Rawley’s open window.

  “10-1 is the channel we will be on. We’re heading southeast to find Brook and Raven. Along the way I hope to help these two find some family.”

  “Mind if I tag along?”

  “We could use another set of eyes and ears. Just wondering, where did you learn to shoot like that?”

  “I come from a family of hunters. I’ve been hunting since I was six or seven. I like to shoot recreationally as well.”

  “And the SKS…”

  “Oh, this little guy,” he said, affectionately patting the rifle on the seat next to him. “I bought it at a gun show quite some time ago. Hell of a fun weapon to shoot!”

  Cade smirked. “Yeah I could tell.”

  They had been sitting on the side of the road for a few moments before Leo interrupted.

  “There are some of those dead thingies coming.”

  Cade saw the walkers. They were far enough away that they weren’t a threat, but there was also a small compact car with those stupid blinding blue headlights closing very fast from the same direction.

  Rawley attempted to wave the car around but the driver locked the brakes and slewed the gaudy Nissan to a sudden stop in front of the two SUVs.

  The neon-green import sported a rear wing that belonged on a top fuel dragster. Low-rider was an understatement. The car sat so low it nearly scraped the pavement. The car’s occupants glared at them. The passenger in the front seat was a Hispanic male wearing black wraparound sunglasses. A bloody do rag covered his head, gang banger style. Sitting in the rear passenger side of the four door Maxima was an Eminem-wannabe white kid with bad acne; he was brandishing a chrome semi-automatic pistol. The front seat passenger flashed an Ingram Mac-10 machine pistol. He had a shit-eating grin on his face and his gold grill glinted in the sun. The driver was mostly obscured from view.

  Not impressed, Rawley and Cade produced their own guns. A bright crimson beam emanated from the SKS and settled on Slim Shady’s neck. Cade leveled his M4, safety off, hand on the fore-grip and steadied the barrel next to his side mirror while keeping the door between him and the gang bangers.

  Leo stared straight ahead, slowly sinking into the front passenger seat.

  “Smoke the banger fucks,” Ike said from the back seat.

  “They may leave us no choice, Ike,” Cade replied in a hushed voice without removing his eyes from the carjackers.

  “Mind your own business, bro, and get your head down,” Leo ordered, playing the parent role.

  The banger in the front seat spoke up proudly. “We’re MS13, fool, and we takin’ those trucks, motherfuckers…”

  Cade didn’t let him finish. “Looks like we’re in disagreement here fellas! Move the car and we go our separate ways… no conditions. I’ll count to three. One...”

  He only made it to one before the dumbass in the front seat started to swing the muzzle of the machine pistol in Cade’s direction.

  Their true intentions made known, Cade caressed the trigger on his carbine. The .223 caliber round went through the banger’s gold grill, demolishing every tooth in his mouth and severing his carotid artery before exiting below his right ear. He wore a surprised look on his toothless mug as he voided his bowels and slumped forward, dying. The impact spun his shades from his face and the bloody bandana flew off, revealing a festering bite wound on his clean shaven dome.

  Simultaneously Rawley’s perfectly placed three round burst impacted right where the laser was aimed, erasing the Eminem-wannabe’s acne addled face.

  In the split second that followed, the panicked driver of the low-rider popped the clutch and mashed the accelerator to the firewall. The little sports car fishtailed and sped away out of control. The horrible sound of tearing metal and breaking glass followed as he wrapped it around a telephone pole fifty yards down the street. The pole shuddered and swayed but didn’t fall.

  The undead were only a hundred feet away and steadily approaching, drawn by the accident and gunfire.

  Cade and Rawley drove towards the crumpled Maxima. The destroyed car now steadily leaked water and antifreeze.

  After slowly rolling to a stop next to the mangled car, Cade put the Sequoia into park and got out. While he was looking inside the wreck, another car stopped.

  “Oh my God, is everything OK?” asked a frantic, middle-aged lady. Her car was loaded to the roof with what appeared to be all of her worldly belongings.

  “It is now,” Cade said, giving her a tip of his ball cap.

  Eyeballing the two pistols on his person and the big machine gun in his hand, she stammered “I, I, I’ll call the police!” as she sped away with the phone to her ear, apparently calling 911.

  Good luck with that, Cade thought grimly.

  While they were interacting with the Good Samaritan, the toothless passenger reanimated and began fighting the airbag to get at Cade.

  The driver, while still alive, was just coming to the realization that his legs were crushed and his midsection was stuck behind the steering wheel. Worst of all, he was within biting range of his undead homie.

  Cade saw that the white boy in the backseat had been head shot by Rawley. He was the lucky one and would stay dead.

  Pinned and helpless, the driver started screaming and calling out for his mom as the undead passenger bit his neck and tore away a mouthful of flesh and muscle. Blood sprayed everywhere while the attack continued.

  Rawley asked Cade, “Aren’t you going to put them out of their misery?”

  “Not a chance in hell. Thankfully, some things are worse than death.”

  Chapter 14

  Day 2 - Felony Flats, Outer Southeast Portland

  The encounter with the hoodlums was an eye opener. Not only were the dead a threat but so were some of the living. Anarchy would be close on the heels of the breakdown of society. Most people had no idea there was only a thin veneer between their comfortable lives and the end of civilization as they knew it. It happened most recently during Hurricane Katrina in the South, and it was happening everywhere now. From now on it was a dog eat dog world. Cade really wasn’t surprised that no one responded to the automatic weapons fire in a residential neighborhood. Cops and soldiers are people too. When the shit hits the fan, their families and loved ones go to the top of the list. This he understood all too well.

  “Folks, we are now on our own. Shoot first and ask questions later!” Cade said loudly to anyone within earshot as he reloaded his rifle.

  It was still morning. There was very little traffic but it was going the wrong way. Usually there would be a torrent of vehicles heading downtown to start the nine-to-five grind.

  Cade made a conscious decision to travel the back roads while they were still close to Portland and then avoid altogether the bigger cities they would encounter later. Soon the surge out of town would exponentially increase and he wanted to be ahead of the curve. There was an old highway that paralleled I-84 along the Columbia River; it was the one they planned to travel.

  Cade struck up a conversation with Leo. “I’ve seen you guys riding your bikes in the neighborhood. How long have you two lived there?” He was careful not to bring up their parents, considering what he had done to save the kids from their precarious perch in the tree house. Then Cade thought, What the hell am I doing? Remember to keep things professional.

  “I guess since about third grade for me,” Leo said.

  Ike piped up from the back seat, “I was a baby when we moved in.”

  “How old are you guys now?”

  “I’m nine.” Ike said.

  Leo exclaimed, “I’m seventeen and I just got my driver’s license at the start of the summer.”
>
  Cutting their conversation short, Rawley’s voice came over the two-way radio. “Come in. Hey, are you guys there?”

  Cade grabbed his radio from the center console. “I hear you ,what’s up?”

  “I’ve been watching my rearview since we had to shoot up those assholes back there. Don’t look now, but half of the Army is crawling up our ass.”

  The radio in Cade’s hand beeped as Rawley let go of the transmit button. A convoy of noisy military vehicles overtook them at forty-five miles per hour. Both SUVs slowed and moved aside. They were still in the city but the thoroughfare was lightly travelled. There were two Humvees, three Bradley fighting vehicles, and four more Humvees bringing up the rear.

  The longhaired Rawley caught icy glares from the sunglass wearing troopers riding shotgun in the trailing vehicles. He keyed his mic. “Where do you suppose they’re going?”

  “I don’t want to be anywhere near where they’re going... As far as I could tell they were in full battle rattle and frosty as hell. Also you don’t just drive a Bradley Fighting Vehicle in an American city unless you plan on using it,” Cade pointed out bleakly.

  “What do you think they’re going to be doing?” Ike persisted.

  “With that many fully armed Bradleys, Humvees and a platoon of soldiers all heading towards the interstate … my guess is they will be setting up roadblocks on the interstate and the bridges. They’ve probably been ordered to stop travel between Oregon, Washington and Idaho,” Cade answered.

  “We better find a back road then,” Leo said.

  Cade called Rawley on the two-way. “I’ve been thinking, we should go out the old historic highway that runs along I-84, circumventing traffic and roadblocks until we get near Hood River.”

  Keying his mike Rawley answered, “I concur.”

  Chapter 15