Z-Burbia 3: Estate Of The Dead

by Bible, Jake

  “BACK OFF!” a voice booms. “If you don’t leave we will open fire! We do not allow bums into Reynolds Mountain!”

  “What did you call us?” Stella replies. “Are you joking? You’ll open fire. Who is that?”

  “I’m the deputy head of security while Mindy Starling is away,” the voice says. “That’s all you need to know, Ms. Stanford. I have been authorized by our mayor to kill any threats to the security of this community.”

  “Mayor? Mayor! Is that what that Jabba the Hut wannabe cunt is calling herself?”

  “Mom,” Charlie cautions, but Stella ignores him.

  “Listen deputy in charge of sucking my dick, open these fucking gates! Your precious mayor is a psychopathic bitch that’s done nothing but harm since…”

  A shot rings out and Stella screams as a spark kicks up in the pavement in front of her.

  The gunfire instantly panics the crowd and they rush the gates. Stella grabs Greta and Charlie to her as they are shoved forward.

  Then the shots start raining down.

  Stella has no idea how many are up there, but enough to steadily keep firing as the refugees are helplessly slaughtered in front of the gates. She pulls her children with her and turns towards the woods that line the lane leading to the community. She cries out in pain as a bullet singes the back of her neck, but it doesn’t slow her. Her only thoughts are on getting her children to safety.

  “Get down!” Stella shouts as she shoves Greta and Charlie ahead of her into the darkness of the young pines. “Get behind the trees and stay down!”

  “Mom!” Greta yells. “Where are you going?”

  “I’m going to get Lourdes!” Stella shouts as she turns and rushes down the road. “Stay down!”

  Fighting every instinct in her body, Stella races down the winding road back towards Merrimon. The mother in her is screaming for her to go back, grab her children, and hunker down. But the leader inside her slaps the mother aside and screams that there are other people’s children being murdered and she has to stop it.

  If it was just fighting Zs she could have rallied the refugees together; she’s good at that. But fighting other people? Especially when some of those people used to be her neighbors? Well, she needs Lourdes for that job.

  But that’s not in the plan.

  Something slams into Stella’s side, sending her tumbling off the road and into the thorny underbrush. A snarl and the stench tell her it’s a Z that’s got her pinned against the trunk of a pine tree. Stella hammers at the thing’s face. It snaps at her, but she is able to get her hand up under its chin and push. She keeps pushing and pushing until she hears the snap of the Z’s neck.

  She kicks out from under the thing and scrambles to her feet. The road is just in front of her, but so is a group of Zs. They must have followed up after the convoy. Stella counts eight, nine, ten, eleven of them and does some quick estimates. She realizes that staying in the woods is safer.

  Barely able to make out roots and small bushes, Stella scrambles down the hillside towards Merrimon Ave, praying the whole way she doesn’t fall and snap her neck. And praying that Lourdes and the others aren’t overwhelmed.

  ***

  The snap of a branch makes Charlie and Greta turn their attention from the massacre of their neighbors to the woods behind them.

  “What’s that?” Charlie whispers.

  “A raccoon?” Greta asks.

  But that guess is quickly proven wrong as a Z stumbles from behind a tree and lunges at the two teenagers. Greta screams as the thing falls on top of her. Its jaws snap at her face and she barely keeps it away by shoving her forearm up against its throat. The only problem is that the flesh around the throat is mushy and rotten, meaning that Greta can’t get enough leverage and the Z’s jaws just get closer and closer.

  Until its head goes flying off.

  “Holy shit,” Greta says as she looks up at her brother standing over her with a hunk of deadwood in his hand. “Thanks.”

  Charlie helps her up then looks up the hill. “Come on.”

  “Where are we going?” Greta asks.

  “The gate doesn’t wrap around the whole mountain,” Charlie says. “There has to be another way in.”

  “I heard they razor wired everything,” Greta says. “Like several layers.”

  “Yeah, I heard that too,” Charlie says as they make their way in the dark blindly towards the fence line. “But that’s to keep Zs out. We aren’t Zs. Maybe we can squeeze through or climb over.”

  They go a few more yards, angling off to the left so they can put some distance between them and the continuing gunfire. It’s a treacherous hike, and both of them slip and nearly fall back down the hillside, but they finally get to the first string of razor wire.

  And stare at what’s before them, neither hiding the fact they want to cry.

  “What the fuck?” Charlie says.

  “Zs aren’t that tall,” Greta says as she looks at the razor wire.

  Lines of shiny metal are nailed into the pine trees starting at about six inches off the ground and continuing every six inches up the trunk.

  “It goes up like twelve feet,” Charlie says as he cranes his neck to look at the top most row. “Why?”

  “Because it’s not meant to just keep Zs out,” Greta says. “These assholes want to keep people out too.”

  “What do we do now?” Charlie asks.

  The teens can see beyond the first row of razor wire is a second row and then a third, possibly a fourth. Even if they could figure out how to get through the wire that is directly in front of them, they’d have even more to deal with. Greta walks forward and pushes down on the wire, keeping her hands away from the sharp parts.

  “It’s solid,” Greta says, close to tears. “No give at all.”

  “Fuck,” Charlie says, “then we stay here and wait?”

  “I guess…” Greta trails off.

  “What?” Charlie whispers.

  “Shhh,” Greta says.

  Charlie listens hard and realizes the gunfire has stopped.

  “Does that mean they’re all dead?” Charlie asks.

  “Shhh,” Greta says again.

  Then Charlie hears it. Moans. A lot of them. He grips the deadwood he still holds in his hand, his back to the razor wire fence.

  “At least they can’t get us from behind,” he says.

  Greta gets on her hands and knees and feels around until she finds what she needs. Slapping her own hunk of deadwood against her palm to test its weight, she looks over at her brother.

  “Love you,” she says.

  “Love you, too,” Charlie replies.

  Then they see the first shapes coming towards them.

  ***

  Stella nearly falls over the edge of the rock wall that lines Merrimon Ave at the base of Reynolds Mountain Village. Her arms pinwheel and she grabs onto a rhododendron to keep from falling into the street. Dirt and leaves kick out from under her shoes and rain down on the Zs below her. Some look up and start to hiss, their arms reaching for the meal that was delivered above them.

  “Fuck,” Stella mutters, seeing that her way is blocked.

  She knows the gunfire from above has stopped which scares the shit out of her, but the gunfire in front of her is still going. She looks down the street and can see a barricade of vehicles at the entrance to Reynolds Mountain Village and the bright flashes from rifles. Not known for her balancing skills, Stella has to use all of her concentration to keep from falling as she tightrope walks the edge of the wall towards the fighting.

  “Fuck!” Lourdes shouts as she turns her rifle on Stella. “I almost shot you!”

  “They’re killing them!” Stella yells over the gunfire as Lourdes helps her down behind the Humvee and other vehicles that keep the mass of Zs from taking them all.

  “Good!” Lourdes shouts. “We were hoping you could take care of the Zs! Sorry they followed us up when…”

  “No! NO!” Stella screams. “They’re killing us! T
he motherfuckers are shooting us!”

  Lourdes doesn’t say anything, as her mind whirls a mile a minute, trying to piece together what Stella has just said.

  “Wait…what?” she asks finally. “Who’s killing who?”

  “The fucking Reynolds people!” Stella yells. “They’re slaughtering us! They refused to let us in and when some of the residents rushed the gates they just opened fire!”

  Lourdes puts her hand to her mouth. “Jesus Christ…”

  “Greta and Charlie are still up there!” Stella yells. “We have to help them! We have to help everyone!”

  “I thought the gunfire was the guards shooting the Zs,” Lourdes says, looking up the road. “I never thought…my God…” She takes a deep breath and shakes it off like a professional. “We’ll need backup, but we can’t take everyone.”

  She looks down the line at the people firing at the Zs that are trying to get up over the vehicles.

  “Grab the Fitzpatricks!” she yells at Stella. “I’ll go ahead and clear the way!”

  “What about your people? They’ll fight better!” Stella cries.

  “I need them to stay down here and hold the line,” Lourdes yells. “Get the Fitzpatricks!”

  Lourdes takes off up the hill as Stella runs to the huge farm boys that are standing behind a pickup truck. Buzz and Porky are firing into the herd of Zs while Pup reloads rifles, handing them to his brothers the second theirs shoot empty.

  “Boys!” Stella shouts at the men that are anything but. Each one towers over her. “Help!”

  Buzz spins about and she fills him in. Even in the darkness of the night, Stella can see his face grow redder and redder with rage. The men quickly grab up every bit of ammunition they can shove in their pockets and race up the hill. Stella is right behind them, but her short legs can’t keep up with the stronger, faster men.

  Soon she’s alone on the road, her lungs burning and the muscles in her legs ready to cramp up. But she pushes past that because all she can think about are her babies.

  “Please let them be safe,” Stella prays, “please.”

  ***

  Greta doesn’t need light to know the color of the gunk that splatters across her face as she crushes the skull of a Z that lunges for her. It’s black. It’s always black. She ducks to her left and lets another attacking Z rush past her. It quickly gets tangled in the razor wire to hers and her brother’s backs and starts to shred itself as it struggles to get loose.

  “Down!” Charlie shouts as he swings towards Greta.

  She ducks as Charlie’s hunk of deadwood whooshes over her head and slams into the face of a Z that had gotten caught earlier. The force of the blow, coupled with the sharpness of the razor wire and the softness of the creature’s neck, results in a very messy decapitation. Charlie kicks the snapping head down the hill at the other Zs as they come at the siblings.

  “Use the fence!” Charlie shouts.

  “I know!” Greta replies as she sweeps the legs out from under a Z and watches it tumble into others.

  “Get them caught in the wire!” Charlie yells, ripping the jaw off a Z with an uppercut blow.

  “I know!” Greta replies again, this time as she brings her deadwood flat against the chest of a Z, caving in its softened ribcage. It slows it down enough for Greta to use her momentum and spin completely around, increasing the force of her hit as she nails the Z in the temple. Its entire head crumples under the force and rotting brains spill out from the shattered skull.

  “If we trap enough we can use the razors against them!” Charlie shouts.

  “I KNOW!” Greta screams. “SHUT UP!”

  Charlie uses his elbow to shove a Z to the side as he kicks another in the knee, shattering the thing’s leg. It crumples and Charlie brings his wood down hard on the Z’s skull, silencing it forever. The limp body rolls down the hill towards the other stilled corpses.

  The Z that Charlie had knocked aside reaches for him, but he ducks under the arms and rams it in the chest with his shoulder, driving it up against the wire fence. The monster struggles, struggles, then breaks free as most of the putrid flesh from its back tears off in drippy strips. But Charlie uses its forward momentum, and good old gravity, against it and sticks out his leg, easily tripping the Z.

  It falls face first into the dirt and Charlie brings his wood down on the back of its skull. The first blow just shoves the Z’s face into the soft earth, but the second blow splits bone and the thing stops moving.

  Charlie is barely able to get the hunk of deadwood up in time to fend off another attacking Z. It grips his shirt and tries to pull him forward, but he jams it in the chest with the end of the deadwood and shoves it away. The sudden loosening of the Z’s grip sends Charlie stumbling backwards and he screams as his arms are sliced by the razor wire behind him.

  The fresh blood sends the remaining Zs into a frenzy and their usual shambling attacks turn quickly into a full on rush. Greta steps forward, not wanting to have a repeat of what happened to Charlie happen to her, and kicks out with her right leg, nailing the first Z in the gut. Soft, fetid intestines spill out around her foot as the Z’s belly splits open. She swallows the gorge that rises in her throat and concentrates on keeping her traction as she almost loses her balance when her gore slicked foot comes back down.

  The Z snarls at her and lunges, but gets tangled in its own guts as they spill from its midsection and slide around its legs. Greta bashes the thing’s head in before it can get free of its bowels. Greta’s gorge wins this time, she turns her head, and projectile pukes against a small pine tree.

  “Sorry,” she says to the pine as she wipes her mouth with the back of her hand.

  “They keep coming!” Charlie yells.

  “I know!” Greta replies.

  “Oh, don’t start that again!” Charlie laughs. It’s a strained, almost maniacal laugh, but it must be contagious because Greta joins in with him.

  The Zs don’t know that the sounds they hear are two teenagers laughing at the insanity of everything; they just know food is in front of them. And they lunge, their ever present hunger pushing them towards death, whether the teenagers’ or theirs.

  ***

  “Oh, sweet God,” Lourdes says as she reaches the scene of the massacre in front of the gates. “What have you done?”

  “Get back, woman!” a man shouts. “We know who you are! You better listen or you go down like your frei…”

  Lourdes has her rifle up and firing before he can finish. She barely aims, just shoots at the head shaped shadows that line the top of the gates. Screams and cries of pain tell her she hits her marks. The fact that there’s no return fire tells her she hit every mark. Her last few shots kill the spotlights that glare down at her.

  Covered in Z gore, the Fitzpatricks come rushing up behind her.

  “Damn,” Buzz says. “Didn’t really need us, did ya?”

  “We still need to get inside those gates,” Lourdes says. “And then deal with the fuckers behind them.”

  “I can do it,” Porky says as he eyes the logs that make up the structure before them. “I like climbing.”

  “He does,” Pup nods. “My brother can climb a tree faster than a possum with a hound on its butt.”

  Stella, gasping for air, stumbles up to Lourdes, Buzz and Pup, as Porky runs to the gate and begins his ascent. He’s halfway up when a face peers over the side. Lourdes puts a bullet right between the face’s eyes.

  “Jesus,” Buzz says. “Maybe they weren’t gonna hurt him.”

  “You really want to take that chance?” she asks, sweeping her arm about at the corpses that litter the road.

  The corpses…

  “Ah, shit,” Pup says then looks at Buzz. “Pardon my language.”

  “Daddy’s dead, Pup,” Buzz says.

  “But he still wouldn’t like me cussin’,” Pup says.

  Buzz gives his brother a sad smile and nods.

  A couple of the corpses start to wiggle and shake.

&nbs
p; “They’re coming back,” Stella says. “Oh, God, they’re coming back.”

  Lourdes pulls her baton as Buzz and Pup turn their rifles around, butts down.

  By the time the gates slowly creak open, the refugees that tried to reanimate are silenced for good. Buzz, Lourdes, Pup, and Stella stand there with silent tears streaming down their faces.

  Then a high pitched scream echoes from the pines to their left.

  “GRETA!” Stella shouts and runs towards the sound.

  “Stella! Wait!” Lourdes yells, but it does no good, the woman is gone into the darkness of the woods. “Shit!”

  More screams fill the air.

  “I got this,” Buzz says. “Take my brothers inside there and kick some ass! I’ll make sure the Stanfords are okay!”

  ***

  Branches whip at her face, but Stella doesn’t care. Her babies are in trouble, her little girl is screaming! With each piercing shriek, something dies inside Stella until she feels like a hollow shell of the woman that just seconds ago rushed into the woods without a second thought.

  “GRETA!” Stella screams, knowing her voice will attract more Zs, but not giving two flying fucks of a shit. “GRETA!”

  Stella rounds a turn in the hillside and slides to a halt, her mouth open at the scene before her. She tries to walk forward, but her legs won’t move; they are frozen to the spot. Without warning, her knees buckle and she falls onto them, her hands out in front of herself so she doesn’t completely face plant.

  “Mrs. Stanford!” Pup yells behind her.

  “Stella!” Buzz shouts.

  The two men nearly run over her as they come around the turn. The rifle in Pup’s hand clatters to the dirt as he stares at the carnage that covers the area.

  “What the holy hell?” Buzz whispers.

  The two Stanford teenagers are busy slamming their wooden weapons down over and over and over.

  “Greta?” Stella says. “Charlie?”

  Charlie stops and gives his mom a maniacal smile. He straightens up and points his weapon.

  “Greta, stop,” he says. “Mom’s here.”