Z-Strain (Book 3): Fallout

by Morris, S. J.

  I looked over at the M16 I had taken from the guard earlier today and had another bright idea. “I’m going out there.”

  Lynn and Kamil both spoke in unison, “What?”

  “Shh!” I scolded them. “The dead are focused on the other cabin, not ours as long as you two keep your voices down. If I sneak outside unnoticed, I can climb up over the ridge and fire down on the horde. Hopefully, I’ll be able to take some of them out, and they’ll come after me giving you guys the chance to get the others out of here in the other direction. Pack supplies quickly, this is going to have to happen like now.” Lynn looked at me as if she was going to argue that she should go. “No, Lynn. My shoulder’s fine, I was able to get some rest, and I have more experience with the M16 than you. No matter what rank you were, it makes more sense for me to go instead of you.”

  Lynn sighed. “Fine. Kamil, hand me that bag from over there. I’m only going to grab the first aid stuff. Knowing how Jimmy here does things, he’s going to have a new injury for me to patch up when we meet up again. And we will meet up again. Right, Jimmy?”

  I looked at her with a smirk. “You know it. You kissed me before, so I have to find out where this thing between us is going.”

  Kamil’s mouth dropped open. “You guys are hooking up? Shit, I can’t wait to get back to the cabin and gossip with Abby your juicy zompoc romance,” Kamil laughed.

  I helped Kamil, Lynn, and Dr. Nasser pack up as many supplies as possible before I checked to make sure the coast was clear. The undead were beginning to pile up heavily around the other house. So much so that they were backing up to ours, so I had to do this quickly.

  I rushed outside soundlessly, M16 in hand. I crept between bushes and trees to avoid the rotters before making it to the trail that led up the dirt path. I made it to a high enough vantage point where I could make my shots count, but I could also run when the need arose.

  I switched the M16 from automatic to semi-automatic so I could fire one shot at a time and picked out the targets that looked like they were the closest to making it inside the cabin. Firing one shot after the other into the brains of the infected monsters created enough noise to begin to thin the herd. Unfortunately, because of the canyon wall behind me creating an echo, the zeds couldn’t tell where the shots were coming from. So instead of coming after me directly, they were spreading out.

  I was going to need a better distraction, one the undead could see and follow. The only thing I could think of that the zombies were going to see and track would be another fire. The problem was that I didn’t have any matches or even a lighter to start one.

  I did have a watch with a loud enough timer on it, though. I could surround the watch with rocks that would amplify the sound, and I might just be able to get the undead to focus in a different direction. If this works, I might just be able to make it back to my friends and help get everyone out and on our way back to the cabin. It was worth a shot anyway.

  I set the rocks up in a semi-circle around the timepiece and set it for two minutes. I ran back to my vantage point on the rock face and continued taking out the infected as I waited for the alarm to go off.

  Soon enough, I heard it, and I stopped firing, hoping the undead would chase after the sound. Some of them did, and some of them didn’t. The alarm just wasn’t loud enough. I did manage to get the swarm away from the cottage, so the occupants were out of immediate danger, but they weren’t able to flee just yet. The undead weren’t hammering at the house anymore, but they were still wandering around outside if it. If anyone tried to make a run for it, they’d be zombie fodder in no time.

  The only distraction I had left was myself. What I wouldn’t give at this very moment to have a few of Tabitha, the crazy cat ladies’ cats on hand to distract the zombies. When in doubt, throw kitties at the problem, right?

  I took a deep breath and decided now was as good a time as any. I started screaming and waving my arms in the air like a lunatic. The undead definitely paid attention to me and started heading in my direction. I turned and ran up the trail back towards where the Visitors Center was. If anything, I could make my way back to one of the quads and lead the horde away so I could double back to reconnect with the group.

  I ran as fast as my legs could carry me and stopped once I got to the top of the hill. I could see that the fire from the earlier explosions was no longer visible from ground level. The fire was still burning, but only down underground. That’s why the infected lost interest.

  Maybe I could lure some, if not most, of the herd into this burning pit. I looked back and saw that the infected were still following me, but some were starting to break off again, so I began ranting and raving about anything that came to mind. “Hey, you undead assholes! Come and get me! Dinner is served you, lamebrains! Let’s throw another shrimp on the barbie!” I don’t know where the Aussie speak came from, but it popped into my head, so I said it. The infected didn’t care what came out of my mouth, as long as I presented myself as a possible food source, they were on their way.

  I ran around to the other side of the flaming pit that was once a building housing dozens of people and waited for the rotters to catch up. There was a relatively decent sized crater in the ground that was spewing flames, but it wasn’t going to be wide enough to swallow the entire horde that was following me, so I had to be ready to run... again.

  Crap was this whole zombie apocalypse thing getting tiring. “I’ve had enough cardio for one day, thank you very much!” I screamed at the oncoming plague of rotting corpses.

  It was working, for the most part. I hung out at the top of the pit just on the opposite side of where the zombies were coming from, and they began to tumble into the burning mess. I was excited this was actually something I could chalk up in the win column, but the smell... oh, dear god, the smell was horrible. Imagine if you took a dead animal corpse, threw it in a pot of raw sewage, and boiled it. This... this was worse.

  When the bodies started to pile up in the hole, I had to back away. I couldn’t take much more of the odor, and then it happened. The wind shifted ever so slightly, as it does with all fires when one is trying to avoid the smoke, and it blew the aroma right back into my face, filling my nose and mouth with the essence of burning, plague riddled corpses. I vomited on the spot. It was not my finest moment, but the infected continued falling into the flames instead of terrorizing my friends, so still a win, puke and all.

  Just when I thought I was going to be able to relax a little, the moans of the ghouls and the crackling sound of the fire was interrupted by a blood-curdling scream. It was a sound like none I had ever heard before. It was definitely not a scream from something living, but it wasn’t a sound I had ever heard the infected make before.

  I froze where I was, listening hard to try and figure out what direction the scream had come from when I heard it again. This time it was followed by a chorus of similar screams. The sounds were coming from the horde, or at least from the same direction within the swarm.

  Whatever it was, it definitely felt like I needed to get out of here and quick.

  I was off running again, the M16 bouncing on my back. I stopped to turn and fire at any infected that might be too close and pose a threat when I saw the most frightening thing I have yet to see in this entire zombie apocalypse. A dozen or so fresh zombies were pushing the other, more slow zombies, out of their way, and screaming as they did. They ran with such speed and intensity, I’m pretty sure I pissed myself.

  With no time to stop and take aim, I turned, and high tailed it out of there. I was getting tired but seeing the absolute rage in their newly undead eyes gave me the shot of adrenaline I needed to keep me moving quickly.

  I got to the bushes, tossed the branches we used to cover it with earlier, and hopped on my quad. The wild undead were mere feet from me when I hit the gas and took off.

  I didn’t want to drive too fast in the dark, but these infected were not giving up. I continued on, over the downed fence and just as I got to the bridge,
I saw Jeep headlights coming toward me. I flashed my lights at the oncoming vehicle and ventured another glance behind me. I couldn’t see the undead anymore, but I could still hear their war cries. That meant there was still not enough distance between them and me.

  The Jeep slowed as it got closer, and I knew I would only have a few seconds before the infected were on us. God, I hoped this was someone from the cabin and not marauders looking for someone to rob. That would just be massively unfortunate timing.

  I pulled up to the driver’s side door and silently thanked everything holy that it was Chris and Jasmine, each with their sniper rifles at the ready. “No time to talk. Superfast zombies on my six. There are still people at the compound we have to get. Do what you can to take out the infected!” I yelled as quickly as possible before taking off again. I hoped Chris understood everything I said because I couldn’t be caught by the raging undead. They would tear me to pieces within seconds of catching up to me.

  I turned quickly enough to see the flesh-eaters enter the beams of Chris’s headlights, and I watched dark black plumes of brain matter explode from their faces as Chris and Jasmine put their amazing sniping skills to good use.

  There were more than they could kill quickly, so Chris took off with the Jeep barreling towards the remaining undead. What I saw next brought my fear to a whole new level of ‘We’re fucked’ - The infected actually jumped on the hood of the Jeep, ran across the roof, and dropped down the rear window before turning around to give chase to the moving vehicle.

  I saw Jasmine lean out of the passenger window and continue to take shots at the runners. Finally, all of the infected were neutralized.

  I slowly followed the brake lights of the Jeep, keeping my head on a swivel, just in case more of these super-fast zombies were out here. I made it to Chris without being attacked, but after what I had just seen, I was more paranoid than ever that the finally dead infected were going to break the rules again and get back up to kill us, even with their brains destroyed. It’s not a warm and fuzzy feeling, I’ll tell you that.

  “Did you fucking see that, Chris?” I asked once I stopped by the driver’s side door.

  “I wish I didn’t, but yeah. Unfortunately, that’s not the first or the second time I’ve come into contact with these super-infected,” Chris replied, looking around to be sure we weren’t still being hunted.

  “What? Please don’t tell me this is the next step in evolution for these frickin’ things.”

  “I’m afraid that it just might be. Unfortunately, we’ve got other problems we need to deal with too.”

  “What happened now?” I asked, not even wanting to hear the answer.

  “Abby’s been kidnapped again. Some assholes showed up in a Black Hawk and took her earlier today right from the back of the house. In broad-fucking daylight, Jimmy!” Chris yelled, gritting his teeth and gripping the steering wheel with white knuckles in seething anger.

  “Funny you should say that. Troy and Stuart were kidnapped from the Wawayanda Visitors Center a few hours ago, and those assholes, as you described them, were also flying around in a Black Hawk. Oh, and they blew up the Visitors Center. It’s now a hole filled with fire and a lot of the undead. Well, the undead was my doing; the fire was from them blowing up the building.”

  “What the fuck? When is this shit ever going to end, Jimmy?” Chris asked, looking defeated. Jasmine just sat shaking her head in the passenger seat. “Do you want a ride to get the others? Where are they now?” Chris asked.

  “I’ll keep the quad, we’re going to need all the space we can get to haul the survivors back to the cabin. The Wawayanda people have nowhere else to go now, Chris.”

  “I hear you, but you have to be mindful of these new, stronger, and faster infected we might have to deal with. Sure, you’re quick on the quad, but you’re also exposed.”

  “Yeah, maybe you’re right. I guess I’d rather be safe than sorry, and by safe, I mean alive.”

  “Smart choice. Park the quad over there off the road and hop in. I’ll radio the cabin and ask Tyler to send someone with the big truck you and Abby stole from Brigantine. Will that be enough room for the survivors?”

  “Yeah, that should do the trick. Plus, we could use the electromagnetic field emitter to keep away the stragglers. The explosion brought a ton of infected down on us, and the debris blown everywhere also knocked parts of the fences down. That’s why I was out here. I was trying to draw the herd away from the cabins so the others could make a run for it. They’re supposed to be heading to the cabin if they can.”

  “Let’s go get them then.”

  Chapter 17

  Christopher Bryant

  Jasmine and I ventured out to the Wawayanda compound to ask them for help with finding Abby, but now we needed to save them as well as Jimmy and Kamil, from a herd of infected. Well, Jimmy was able to knock out a large chunk of the undead mob, but if we hadn’t shown up when we did, Jimmy would more than likely be one of the undead thanks to the new super-infected that were now ambushing us more frequently.

  We still had a large number of the undead to take care of before we could rescue the people inside the cabins. The EMF from the truck that was on its way would help, but it would be a while before it got here, and using the EMF just meant the infected would move on and still pose a threat for another day. We needed a real solution to get rid of them once and for all.

  Jasmine had an idea for neutralizing large numbers of infected. She revised the concept of water cannons from her police training in riot control. Jasmine’s plan involved water guns, so it seemed stupid yet brilliant, all in the same breath.

  After Troy had perfected the serum that killed the infected, and it no longer had to be injected to make it work, he started making as much as possible and stockpiling the liquid zombie killer. Most of my runs outside of the cabin, while Abby was still pregnant, were for the chemicals Troy needed to make the stuff. We now had a decent amount of it and were going to put it to good use.

  During one of our supply runs a while ago, Jasmine hit up the toy aisle, collecting those massive water guns with the backpacks on them to hold a lot of water. She wanted to fill them with the serum, and when we had a group of infected at our disposal, we could hopefully spray the walking corpses with the serum and see if it worked. I said we should use the chemical sprayers from the lawn and garden department, but Jasmine said they wouldn’t shoot as far, and they weren’t as much fun.

  There was no way we were going to be able to push the remaining zombie herd into the burning pit, but they were clumped together nicely. What was left of the horde at the Wawayanda Visitor’s Center was going to give us the opportunity to try out Jasmine’s new corpse neutralization approach. Jasmine was happier than a bird with a French fry to try out her unique method.

  We used the Jeep to lead the undead outside of the gates, so we didn’t have to do cleanup afterward if this worked, and we found a large open field. Jasmine filled up the four backpacks with the brightly colored serum and laid them out on the backseats, so they were easy for her to reach. Jaz stood on the back of the Jeep as I drove around the herd in the field, and she blasted the infected with the bright orange liquid. The water guns shot farther than I expected them to, and I was glad she talked me out of using the chemical sprayers instead.

  Within minutes of being sprayed, the undead started collapsing to the ground in heaps of black ooze. Every orifice from eyeballs to missing limbs leaked a dark tar-like substance. It was a morbidly, revolting sight, and the odor was far worse than I ever thought anything could be. It was like someone dipped my head in a bowl of rotting fish after they shoved baby shit up my nose. It was that in your face. There was no getting away from it. I pulled my bandana over my mouth and nose and turned the air-conditioning in the truck on full blast just to keep the air circulating. Even then, my eyes burned with the pungent stench.

  I was happy to see that the serum worked on a larger scale. Now we actually had a way to permanently get rid o
f the infected once and for all. Even if it was incredibly messy.

  We made it back to the cabins and told everybody the good news. There was a feeling of relief from everyone. We might actually be able to win this war with the undead. Now, we just have to take care of the living in the meantime and find Abby, Troy, and Stuart.

  Jimmy said he saw the Black Hawk take off heading southeast and thought they might possibly be going into the city. The only other black site Brigantine had used in the past that Jimmy knew of that was remotely in the area was in the city. It was worth a shot if it was going to help us find Abby. The plan was for Jimmy, Kamil, Lynn, and me to take the Jeep and go look for Abby. Everybody else was going to wait for the truck to show up and bring them back to the cabin. We made sure that everyone was safe and secure before we jumped back into the Jeep and headed out.

  The roads were in much worse condition the further east we drove. I could definitely tell there was nobody alive out here. The drive was teaching me to hate bridges. Every one of them we came across was blocked, and some we were able to drive off-road with the Jeep to avoid the bridge altogether, but others we had to get out, wasting precious time to move vehicles or debris just to pass over it. Each time we had the undead to deal with as well.

  We had to stop yet again to assess if we should move cars or take it off-road. The sun was beginning to set, and I really didn’t want to be out here at night. Not with the super-infected possibly out here. We hadn’t seen any since Jimmy’s incident last night, but I wasn’t banking on that luck lasting much longer.

  The terrain surrounding the overpass was not one I’d trust driving the Jeep through, and the water looked to be too deep for the truck to take. We were going to have to play busted musical cars again. This particular area was impassible thanks to a six-car pileup. There were a number of undead trapped in the vehicles that had become their tombs, and they were all too happy to see us. We decided to conserve ammo and serum and to just let the infected be, and tied the tow strap to the vehicles to pull them apart, allowing them to rest in the tall grasses just off the road.