Zombie Botnet Bundle: Books 1 - 3: #zombie, Zombie 2.0, Alpha Zombie

by Al K. Line

  "Fuck, fuck, fuck," he muttered under his breath. This was not good, not good at all. He knew they were dodgy characters but not quite this dodgy.

  They obviously weren't going to rob the other people here. He could see that they were involved in something not only criminal but something violent too. Mike didn't care about them, and he didn't want to know what they were involved in, but one thing he would not put up with was letting them leave here to potentially killing innocents.

  He sorted it.

  Leaving everything well alone apart from a single handgun he left as he had arrived — quietly and under the cover of darkness. Mike got everything he needed ready then returned to the group to begin his vigil. Keeping to the shadows well away from the fire, he watched, waited. The three continued to sit around the crackling flames, deep in whispered conversation. Finally one man got up to relieve himself, Mike followed behind.

  At gunpoint Mike tied him up and loaded him into the Land Rover. The others soon followed.

  He drove them for miles through the back lanes then stopped the car.

  Each was made to dig a grave, the sweat pouring off them. The fear ever more palpable.

  "Get in," ordered Mike. Pointing the gun at the largest man.

  "No fucking way, no fucking way!" Mike smashed the shovel into the side of his head. He was unconscious before he hit the ground. He kicked him into the grave, pointed the gun at the other two. They got in, knees trembling, pleading for mercy.

  "Right, you have one fucking option and one only. Listen up, I am not going to be repeat myself here."

  They listened.

  "You either stay here for the rest of your soon to be over miserable lives, or you can live. I don't really give a flying fuck what you decide. I am sick and tired of people like you, bringing guns and your shit down on others. What was the plan?" No answer. "Fucking tell me."

  They told...

  "Fine, well you ain't doing that are you? You can either die now or leave, up to you. If I see you again, if you come back to the commune, or if I even think that you are going to try to get your weapons back I will shoot the lot of you... No, I won't, I will put you back in these nice holes and bury you alive. Do you understand me you little creeps?"

  They understood.

  He left them there, cutting the bonds to the girls hands, leaving the rest as they were.

  Back at the commune he explained the things he had done to the three, and also explained to Cassie about his past. He wasn't proud of it, but it was a part of him nonetheless. He hoped she could see through the things in his background to the man he now was.

  She could.

  After that they were alone at the commune, no longer a commune but just a home for them. The time would come when the local council would evict them, until then they decided to stay together in peace for as long as they could.

  The quiet times had ended.

  A new chapter for all of them was beginning.

  Nettle Wine

  Cassie quickly explained to Mike just who everyone was, and that there were some seriously mad things going on outside of their little isolated bubble.

  "No shit," he said. "Yeah, hi, sorry about earlier, this has been the craziest night of my life, and I have seen some bonkers stuff in my time, I can tell you."

  Ven and Kyle didn't doubt it. Mike was a pretty big guy and quite intimidating. The craziness in his eyes was unsettling, it sent multiple flashbacks of the horrors they had already seen running rampant. He didn't seem like he was about to eat them though, which was something to be grateful for.

  "Beer?" Cassie asked Mike.

  "You betcha baby, I may need more than one though." There was only one, times were not what they had once been.

  "So, we need to talk," said Ven, wanting to get everyone up to speed and see what Mike thought would be best. No offense to Kyle but Mike seemed like he might just be a little handier in a serious situation. Although this was slightly unfair as Kyle had done pretty well considering he was a young guy not really wise in the ways of people wanting to eat your brains. Which is understandable really.

  "Yeah, we do. This has been one seriously fucked up night. Excuse the language."

  "Oh, don't worry about that Mike," said Cassie. "My sister may be a bit hung up on some things but she swears worse than you."

  "Well, okay then. Look, I don't really know where to begin, and no offense but I just met you all and am seriously freaked out at the moment. Why don't you tell me what is going on here, then I can tell you what has been happening out there for me. I get the feeling one may have something to do with the other," Mike said wearily.

  "Me too," said Ven. It did seem that if this man was as stressed out as he appeared then the idea of it being safe at the commune was not turning out to be so accurate after all.

  So, once again events were explained, with more input from Kyle this time.

  Mike never said a word during the whole thing. He just listened and pondered the insanity described. At the end of it all he downed the rest of his lone beer and spoke. "There are no such thing as zombies. Not in the way you are talking about them anyway. The term has been bastardized anyway. A real zombie is a myth, and it refers to someone being brought back from the dead and controlled by a single person. This isn't happening here."

  "Well, not by a single person no, but we saw Paul die and come back to life, and we couldn't kill him," Kyle said.

  "You said he collapsed, went into some kind of anapyhlactic shock then attacked. And you said you stuck a spike in his neck but it didn't stop him?"

  "Exactly," said Ven. "He was unstoppable."

  "Look, think about it. I know it was a messed up situation, but if you hadn't been believing all that crap on the Internet would you have thought he was a zombie or had just gone mental?"

  Ven and Kyle shifted uncomfortably, trying to think over the events of the past few days without getting too upset or confused.

  Ven thought maybe Mike was right. If she thought about it more logically then it didn't mean people actually came back from the dead.

  "Look, something is obviously totally and utterly fucked up, and it sounds like I should probably kill you right here and now, but they aren't zombies. If you are dead then rigor mortis sets in a few hours after you die. You go stiff as a board. And it takes up to a day for it to fade. And, well, for fuck's sake you can't bloody walk if you are dead can you!" Mike had got to his feet whilst talking, getting into a rage.

  Ven shifted uncomfortably, he really did look like he might consider killing her for her part in whatever the hell really was going on.

  "Grrrr," growled Bos Bos, getting up and trying to vibe Mike into behaving. Mike was not fazed, a slightly rotund Labrador being the least of his problems.

  "He's right Ven," said Kyle. "It makes sense. At least more sense than people actually dieing and coming back to life."

  "But what about Paul? Kyle stabbed him and he hardly bled and he hardly slowed down," asked Ven, very unnerved by how angry Mike had become.

  "I dunno. His blood has thickened and he doesn't bleed so much? He can't feel pain? He didn't give a fuck... whatever. There are not undead out there. But I can tell you that I pretty much believe the rest of your story. You are one sorry excuse for a human being Sarah, Ven, whatever your name is, and I want you gone from here. I don't want to see you again, and I certainly don't want to be around when all of this catches up with you. If you haven't already killed everyone because of this stupid shit you have pulled." Mike was ready to explode, it was obvious from the way he was pointing a shotgun straight at her terrified face.

  "Woof, woof." Bos Bos was getting seriously concerned about this big angry man. He sidled up to Ven to protect her, doing his best to give off an air of menace and danger.

  "Good boy Bos Bos," said Ven, patting him reassuringly on the head.

  Ven just wasn't sure. What Mike said made sense, but the things they had seen made her doubt her own sanity, let alone whether or not zombi
es could actually exist.

  "Mike, Mike, calm down. Please," begged Cassie. "Ven may have done something very bad, but there is no way she meant to cause what has happened. She has told you what she did, and the outcome, just try to think about what could actually have really happened. Please." Cassie was distraught.

  "Okay, look, sorry, it's been a night from hell and I'm letting myself get too worked up. I need a drink."

  Cassie brightened, remembering the nettle wine she had been saving.

  "Nettle wine," she beamed.

  Mike couldn't help but smile, bless her, she really did think it was a nice little drink she had created there. It was what he loved about her: an unending optimism. Even when it really did seem like the world was ending she thought a nice nettle wine would help solve the problem. Heck, maybe it would, shouting wouldn't that was for sure, and Mike knew that.

  Nettle wine for everyone it was. It brought some semblance of normality to a very surreal situation. Cassie couldn't understand why everyone was smiling as they sipped the concoction, happy to have peace but unaware of the grimaces when her face was turned away.

  "This zombie thing," said Mike, "I know you all thought that was what was happening but it can't really be that. In fact it actually sounds worse. At least with a zombie as we see it in the movies they are slow and bits just fall off them after a while. And let's face it, how do they have a shit if they are dead? It would just push out of them after a time I guess, but if base bodily functions don't work, and they rot, then they are going to be a damn sight easier to kill then what it seems like we have to deal with. You said they slowed down when they were full?" he asked.

  "From what we saw, yes," answered Kyle. "After they had, um, eaten enough, they seemed to almost go into a coma of sorts, they just lay there, looking happy." He shuddered as he replied, the memory of what he found at his home haunting him again.

  "Well, that's something," mused Mike, "but they are going to be a lot harder to deal with than an actual zombie. If they don't rot and are just alive and out for flesh then we have basically very active and insane people on our hands that don't seem to feel pain, don't seem to bleed out like they should, and can shit out unconsumed flesh and go at it all over again."

  No-one said a word, the full horror of the situation sinking in even deeper than it already had up until now.

  "But they will die off sooner or later won't they?" asked Cassie. "I mean, at least no-one else will get infected from them will they? And no-one will go on the Internet anymore either, not now."

  "Cassie, you don't get it, the world lives via the damn Internet. This won't stop people, if this virus hangs around or grows, which it sounds like it will, then people will carry on getting infected as long as there are power sources and ways of accessing the Web."

  "He's right Sis. But honestly, most people will already either be infected or dead by now, and if these zombies, or whatever they are, don't actually die soon then they will kill more and more people."

  "Plus infect them if people get bitten but actually manage to escape being eaten," said Mike.

  "What? I don't understand," said Ven. "I thought you said they weren't actual zombies in the sense that it can be passed on from one zombie to a person if they are bitten."

  "I don't mean turning other people into zombies like them, or infected, whatever you want to call them. I mean that if they bite you and you manage to get away, or if they rip your skin with their nails or something then think about the infection you will get in the traditional sense. All that rotting flesh stuck in their teeth, bits of gore and pus and shit and who knows what else. All decaying, with bacteria multiplying and rot setting in, it will seriously fuck you up."

  It really was sounding like a real undead zombie attack would actually be better than what they were facing, and Mike was right. Under normal circumstances a bite from one human to another will lead to a serious infection in fifteen percent of cases. It would require a series of antibiotics and medical supervision. Get bitten or clawed by a person that has rotting matter in their mouth or under their fingernails, feces embedded into the wound, all kinds of germs and bacteria that will have built up if no sanitary care is taken by the biter, then the consequences would be a very slow and extremely painful death over the course of a few weeks. Unless you get expert attention and some very specific drugs in you on a regular basis.

  "Oh, Jesus, I didn't think this could get any worse," said Ven. "How do you know this stuff Mike? No offense but you don't seem like the type, you know, the medical type."

  "Let's just say that at certain times in my life I have had the opportunity to do a lot of reading and not a lot else. And my reading matter was often quite limited so I read whatever I could get my hands on," Mike said, aiming at being enigmatic, although really everyone understood he was talking about prison time without coming out and saying it directly. Everyone was entitled to a past and none of them were in a position to judge anyway.

  The room was quiet for a while, the desperate truth realized. Ven and Kyle had been sure that they were facing a real zombie apocalypse of the undead type, the reports they had heard had kind of confirmed it. But the reality, if Mike was right, actually sounded not only a lot more plausible, but a hell of a lot worse.

  One thing was for sure, Ven was in no hurry to prove either herself or Mike right. If she never saw another zombie, infected person, whatever they were, for as long as she lived then she would be happy, but she knew that wasn't going to happen.

  Ven, along with everyone else, downed their wine and, because that was all there was, actually had another glass of the weed based beverage.

  Mike's Trip

  Mike had calmed down somewhat, was still looking pretty wild but able to tell his story once he had heard just what the newcomers had to say. Although he still kind of wanted to take Ven outside and kill her, he also wanted to make sense of his own evening, so he told of what he had seen.

  The more he talked the more it became apparent that this quiet corner of Wales was not the safe haven our hackers had expected it to be.

  Mike skipped over the exact reasons why he was traveling one hundred miles north to the farm, replacing the stealing of livestock with the excuse of going hunting well away from anywhere he could be associated with the commune. Not having a license was the excuse he gave for going so far from home.

  Using back lanes late at night Mike hadn't expected to meet anyone on the roads, and he didn't. Rural Wales was exactly that, rural. And wet, always a little wet.

  He knew where he was headed, a very well run farm about one hundred miles to the north east of Dyffryn y Meirw where they lived. The farm not only had many hundreds of sheep, but other livestock too, including pigs and a very large number of free range chickens that sold for a premium at local farmers markets, and to local family run stores.

  He hated himself for doing it, he had vowed a long time ago to stay clean and to live a quiet and safe life. The reality was that he and Cassie were up against it, so rather than commit anything criminal in a serious sense, or to have to leave and try to find a way to live peacefully in, God forbid it, Suburbia, he went on an occasional trip only when he really had to — taking a few animals to help him and Cassie out.

  The chickens were the higher risk, being much closer to the farm and also being bloody noisy buggers at times, so Mike always dealt with them first. He shut the headlights of the Land Rover off. Easing around a bend before the farmhouse was in sight and pulling over through an open gate, he parked up behind a hedge that was in serious need of cutting.

  He would sneak up on foot to the barns at the side of the house, the chickens had free range rights but would always return to the barns for the night. These were hens for eating, not for eggs and were ripe for the kill, weighing in at over four pounds each by now. Telling the story he skipped these details, instead saying that as he slowly passed the farm he heard a loud noise, then stopped the car thinking it was a problem with the Land Rover.

&nbs
p; The reality was that it was a shotgun blast and Mike knew it. He was already alongside the chicken barn, and really thought he had been caught out.

  Shit, just my luck, all the things I have done and I go down again for nicking a bloody chicken.

  The irony was not lost on him. He couldn't imagine the reaction he would get inside if anyone ever found out what he was in for.

  From here on Mike told the story to everyone more or less how it actually went down...

  "So, I heard this noise, thought it was the car so stopped. I couldn't see bugger all so went over to the farmhouse barns to see if there was room to pull in and check out the car. This fucking old woman came running around the corner at full speed, wild eyed and carrying a goddamn shotgun," he explained. "She was about as crazed as I have ever seen anyone, and when she saw me she tried to fucking shoot me, right there and then."

  Ven and Mike just looked at each other, all too aware of what was going to come next.

  "Luckily she missed, and before I even had time to grab the gun or run, or whatever, this bloody kid, maybe sixteen or so came charging around the side of the house and grabbed the old dear. He just grabbed her and went ballistic. I have never seen anything like it in my life. It was like some kind of a berserker frenzy or something. Totally rabid. Like, insane. He just flayed out at her, scratching, biting, anything, all over her, she was a bloody mess in seconds. He just kept at it, gouging and biting, and then I realized the little fucker was actually eating her. It was like some kind of surreal dream. I can picture it all now, but it was like some weird kind of hyper reality where you don't really feel like you can move, you know what I mean?" Mike was glad to take a breath, the madness of all the recent events taking their toll on him.

  "We know," said Ven. "Take a rest Mike, I know it's hard."

  And it was. Mike had seen countless fights, fights between hard men, with some serious injuries, but nothing even came close to what the young farm boy did to what he assumed was either his mum or his granny.