Southern Zombies Three Book Box Set: A Story of Survival, Southern Hospitality, and Southern Blood

by Ann Riley

  Marc and I exit the room and I wipe my eyes.

  “This is fucked up. I’m going to kill those fuckers when I find them.” Marc says.

  “I’m right there with you on that.” I tell him.

  We head back in the same direction. We assume our previous positions for a room check. I push the door open and Marc aims.

  As soon as I push the door open, the stench from hell assaults our olfactory senses and I almost gag. Now, I have a strong stomach. So does Marc as he hunts and cleans his kills, but this, holy hell on a bicycle. This is walker smell, dead body smell, excrement and rotten gut smell all rolled into one.

  Then a walker grabs my hand from around the door. I already have my ka bar in my hand so I stab it right between the eyes.

  “Holy fuck.” Marc says.

  “Son of a bitch this stinks like hell. We look into the room and see why. There are two bodies in beds. Dead. It looks like they have been dead for a while because the skin has darkened and there are maggots falling out of the ears. So mix that smell, a walker, the toxoplasmosis parasite, maggots and excrement, and you get the fruity floral smell of “Nasty as Hell”. Wonder if I can market that to keep pesky neighbors away that you don’t like? Just add a little to your door steps to ward off any aggravating neighbor.

  Now, a new dilemma.

  “Why did those two not run?” I ask Marc.

  “They didn’t have toxo or they didn’t get the flu shot.” Marc says.

  “Let’s look.” I tell him.

  “Fuck Tracie. You want to go in there with that smell?” Marc asks.

  “Shut up whining and bring your ass.” I tell him.

  ‘Stinking ass mess. If I puke on you don’t say shit.” Marc says.

  “Whatever. I want to see if they have signs of Toxo parasites. If they don’t, then what killed them?” I ask Marc.

  “Good point and all, but fucking hell, this smell is debilitating.” Marc says.

  I burst out laughing.

  “What?” Marc asks.

  “Well, you are a big hunter, tracker, field dresser and all and this smell has you about to throw in your chips. I’m telling Trey when we get home so he can talk about your ass.” I tell him.

  “Don’t tell that boy his daddy has a weak stomach. I’m supposed to be strong and indestructible to him. And I will never hear the end of it.” Marc says.

  “Get your ass in here.” I say to Marc.

  We walk over to the bed. There is really no way I can see if they had Toxo. The eye will be cloudy due to death. Why weren’t they taken out? They apparently died before the zombie I just killed turn or these bodies would have been eaten. So why leave them in?

  “This makes no sense.” I say.

  Marc nods.

  He apparently has trouble speaking with the smell in the area.

  Chapter 9

  Marc and I look around the room and try to come up with a valid explanation as to why the bodies were left. We have none. The room is empty except for a few food items and water bottles. Nothing belonging to either of the people is in the room. Why does it have to be so hard to find answers?

  “Come on. Let’s check the other rooms.” Marc says.

  We walk down the hall and enter the next room. One dead body on the bed.

  Looking closer, I can see it received a shot to the head. So was this one turning?

  “Shot in the head.” I tell Marc.

  He nods.

  “Where are all the people that supposedly work here?” I ask.

  “No idea.” Marc says.

  We turn to leave out of the room and run right onto a gun in our face.

  Son of a bitch, I think to myself.

  “Well, what have we here?” A man asks.

  “How did y’all get in here?” He asks.

  “We walked in.” I answer.

  “Well, someone had to let you in.” He replies.

  “What is this place?” I ask him.

  “My name is Dr. Adams.” The man says.

  “Nice to meet you. What is this place?” I ask again.

  “My you are a snippy one.” Dr. Adams says.

  “Why aren’t you answering my question?” I ask.

  “Well, it’s a hospital, of course.” He says. He has a deep Southern accent. Almost like a Louisiana accent, but not quite.

  “A hospital doesn’t leave dead bodies in beds.” I say.

  “It's unfortunate that we don’t have the manpower to remove those, but we are running low on resources now.” Dr. Adams says.

  “What do you do here?” I ask again.

  “We are trying to find a cure for this parasite.” He says.

  “By infecting people?” I ask.

  “Sacrifice the one for the good of the many.” He says.

  “That’s bullshit. You are sacrificing more than one.” I tell him.

  “Have y’all found any way to stop this?” I ask.

  “Not yet, but we are close. I expect we may have a viable cure in the next month.” He answers.

  Marc and I look at each other. Doubting his words. He seems to me to be crazy.

  “We are leaving now.” I tell him.

  “I can’t let you do that. Y’all are apparently looking for something and I can’t let you leave?” He says.

  Well, hell, I think.

  “We need more test subjects and you two will do just fine.” Dr. Adams says.

  “You are not testing shit on us.” Marc yells.

  “Oh, but I am. What is your name, please?” The doctor asks Marc.

  Marc just stares at him. As do I.

  “No matter. I don’t need a name to test on you.” He says.

  “Walk down the hall and turn left at the end.” He says.

  We walk. We get to the end and take a left and walk about four more doors down and the doctor puts the gun in Marc’s back and pushes him in.

  “You aren’t separating us.” I say.

  “Yes, I am. There is no need for you both to be in the same room.” He says.

  “Yes, it is. His arm is broken and I need to check it.” I say very rudely.

  “Get inside.” The doctor tells Marc after searching him for weapons.

  Damn, I do not want us to be separated. Marc is wounded and can’t defend himself properly.

  Marc goes in the room and tells me not to worry, he will be fine. I don’t believe that shit for a second. So I start planning an escape in my head. I have a knife hid in my pant leg that I hope he don’t find.

  We get to the next room after he locks Marc in and he searches me. I almost slap him for even touching me, but I figure that won’t help my situation any. He doesn’t find my knife.

  “You won’t get away with this. I will make sure of that.” I tell him.

  “And if you hurt Marc, I will personally cut your heart out while you watch.” I say.

  “My, you have an overactive imagination.” He says.

  “Yeah, I do. And I act on it.” I tell him.

  When I get in the room and the doctor leaves, I start looking around for anything to help me with defense. I find a bottle of water and a hospital gown, some plastic tubing that is for an oxygen tank and a roll of tape. Not much, but it will do hopefully.

  I walk over and sit on the bed. There is an oxygen tank next to the bed so I check to see how much is in it. Almost full. Not really a help unless I was to oxygenate someone to death, if that’s even possible.

  I get up and walk around to look for things I can use. I do find a scalpel and hide it in my boot. Nothing else though.

  Shit. How am I going to get back to Marc? I can’t leave him in there alone with a broken arm.

  I hear the door click open next to mine. Marc’s room.

  What are they doing? I put my ear to the wall that connects to his and see what I can hear.

  “Get that away from me.” I hear Marc say.

  I hear a pop.

  “You son of a bitch. I’m going to kill your ass.” Marc says.

&nbs
p; Then I hear something hit the floor, like a person hitting the floor. Was it Marc? Did they knock him out? Fuck. What am I going to do?

  I pace around the room and think of what I can do to get him out of that room. Nothing comes to mind. I hear the lock click on my door and Dr. Adams walks his sneaky ass in the door.

  “Hello.” He says.

  I say nothing.

  “Are you ready for your tests to begin?” he asks.

  “Where is Marc?” I ask.

  “He is in testing now.” The doctor replies.

  “What the hell have you done to him?” I ask.

  “Just sedated him and gave him an injection of the flu vaccine.” He says.

  “If he gets sick, I will kill you. I promise. Slowly.” I tell him.

  “You should worry about yourself.” He says.

  Then I feel a sting in my shoulder, look down and see a dart in it. I start to pull it out, but can’t get my hands coordinated with my brain.

  All I can do is fall to the floor and hope that I don’t die.

  Chapter 10

  I wake up to find I am in the bed that was in my room. My head is killing me and the light hurts my eyes. I roll over on my side to try to get myself together. I lie there for a few minutes while my mind clears. Marc. Damn. Is he alright?

  I try to sit up, but find that I am dizzy. I also feel as though I have a fever. Son of a bitch, he gave me that damn flu shot. Marc and I don’t have the toxo parasite so I don’t know why he wanted to give us that shot.

  I am freezing now from the fever and look around for something to wrap around me. I have to get to Marc. I walk to the door and start yelling.

  “Get down here you bastard. Come and open this door.” I yell.

  FUCK!

  I pull the knife I hid in my pants out and put it on the table. I look around for something I can pick the lock on the door with.

  I spot a small paperclip on the floor in the corner and go pick it up. Walking back to the door, I start yelling again to see if anyone will come down here.

  They don’t. I assume that maybe they won’t, which is good, so I can try to get the hell out of here.

  I start picking the lock and finally, after what seems like hours, I get it open. I never claimed to be a professional lock pick.

  I leave the door closed and walk over to get a bottle of water someone put in here. I wash my face because I don’t trust drinking it. They may have something in it. I get my knife and hope like hell I can get to Marc.

  I hear some footsteps in the hall so I go back to the bed and lie down. I hear the door to Marc’s room open and close. I wait and see what is going on but can’t hear anything in there.

  Soon, I hear the door close and footsteps leaving. I walk back to the door and put my hand on the knob and turn. It opens and I peep around to see if I see anyone. I don’t. I slowly go into the hall and look at Marc’s door. I take my paperclip and start picking his lock. Dear Gods, don’t let it take me hours again. I work on it for about ten minutes and I hear it click. I turn the knob and go in. Marc is on the bed. And I almost pass out. He is pale and looks like he has no blood left in his body. I walk closer and see he is burning with fever. I take a towel and wipe his head and call his name.

  “Marc. Can you hear me?” I ask.

  He cracks an eye open and nods.

  “I’m getting us the fuck out of here. Can you make it for a while longer? Did they give you the flu shot?” I ask him.

  He holds up two fingers.

  “Two shots?” I ask.

  He nods.

  “They gave you that fucking toxo shot with the flu vaccine. I am going to kill that son of a bitch dead.” I tell him.

  Marc nods and closes his eyes.

  I grab an extra blanket and cover him so he can hopefully sweat some of the fever off.

  I have to find some pyrimethamine and sulfadiazine to give him for the toxo parasite.

  I get him covered and tell him I will be back for him. He whispers, “Be careful.”

  I nod.

  Now I’m on a killing mission because I will kill every last fucker I see in this building that has anything to do with this shit.

  I get out in the hall and walk. Not sure of where to go. I come to double doors labeled “Employees Only”, so I go in. It has to be something in here, right?

  The first thing I see on the left is a big glass window looking into a room. There are walkers in there. It looks to be about ten.

  I guess they bring them here when they turn. I keep walking and come upon another door labeled “No Admittance”, so I go in there too.

  This looks like a lab.

  Maybe it’s’ where they are making this shit they claim is a cure. I walk down the hall and hear a door open. I step into a doorway and watch. The doctor comes out with a syringe in his hand.

  I watch him go into another room and close the door. Presumably giving someone else a death shot. Bastard. I wait for him to leave the room so I can continue my walk. He comes out and goes back into the lab. This man is killing people. How are we supposed to repopulate and rebuild if he kills everyone? I walk out of the doorway into the hall and run face to face with a man in camouflage. I ram my knife up into his chin before he can alert anyone. He drops to the floor and I pull him into the room I was in.

  I check him for a gun and find one. It must be my lucky day.

  I close the door and walk back into the hall and toward the lab. The doctor must have left out of the lab when I was dragging that man in the room. I go into the lab and look around. I am about to play arsonist today.

  I gather up some items for a fire. I’m not familiar with these chemicals and don’t know if they will burn, but I’ll give it a shot.

  I know ammonium nitrate powder, zinc powder and hydrochloric acid will start a fire so I look for those. I find some in a cabinet under the sink. I find a flask and pour in some ammonium nitrate and zinc powder, then add a bit of hydrochloric acid. And presto, I have a flame that I can drop on some papers spread on the lab table. I’m not sure if this will blow, or if it just flames, but I don’t stick around to find out. I get the fire going on the table and set some more flammable chemicals up so they can be ignited. I go back in the hall and watch to see if it spreads, and it does. I continue walking down the hall. There are more rooms, but they are empty. The doors are open and there isn’t anyone around anywhere in the hall or in the rooms. Is there anyone here except for that doctor?

  I hear footsteps so I go into one of the empty rooms. I hear the doctor yell something about a fire. Two more men come running into the lab with fire extinguishers and suddenly I hear a blast. I guess you can’t douse a chemical fire. One of the men comes out on fire. Serves his ass right, I think. I pull my knife out as he is coming my way. He gets to the room I am in and he stops and stares at me until I stab him in the top of the head. He drops and I listen for the others to come out.

  The doctor is running around shouting out orders to put the fire out. I look at the man I just killed to see if he has a door badge or key card that will open doors. When we came down, the men had key cards that operated the elevators. I need one. I see one attached to his shirt and take it off.

  I walk back to the lab and the doctor looks up and sees me.

  “You. You did this you bitch.” He says.

  “I did. Flaming pretty good isn’t it?” I ask him.

  “I told you I would kill your ass. And I meant it.” I tell him.

  “You can’t hurt anyone. You are burning with fever. You don’t have long before the infection takes over. I can see your skin getting paler by the minute.” He says.

  “Come close and we will see if I can hurt someone.” I say.

  He runs at me and knocks me to the ground. I try to protect my head from hitting the floor, but I hit it on the side of the cabinet. He is sitting on top of me punching me in the face. Son of a bitch don’t mind hitting a woman I see. I cover my face and head and bring my knee up and hit him in his family je
wels. He doubles over and rolls off taking a handful of my hair when he does. He drags my head with him and slams it into the floor as he rolls over.

  My knife has flown out of my hand and across the floor. Damn, I’m going to die today. I can’t get his hand out of my hair. The bastard has a tight grip and isn’t letting go.

  Then I remember I have the scalpel in my boot. I pull it out and start cutting my hair from his hand. When I get my hair cut that he is holding, I stab the scalpel into his arm. He screams and calls me a string of expletives as I roll to get away from him. I turn around to see the two men who brought us down here come in the door. One of them comes right at me and I grab my knife and stab him in the throat. Blood sprays and he gurgles his way to the floor.

  “You remember what I said? I told you I would cut your balls off.” I tell the other one.

  He runs at me and I kick out and catch him in the knee. He falls, screaming.

  I walk closer and kick him in the side of the head, he is disoriented, so I cut his pants in at the crotch and reach in and pull out all his little goodies. I take my knife and cut his balls off and as he looks at me and screams, I throw them in his face.

  “I told you bastard. You try to kill me or mine, and you get no mercy from me.” I say through clenched teeth.

  It’s not a nice feeling to have someone’s body part in your hand while they scream, but, how much empathy can I have for people who try to kill us?

  Would you be able to make the choice of kill or be killed?

  It’s not hard when you are put in that situation. All I know is that I have to get my nephew out of here and make sure he is alright. That is the only concern I have right now. I will do what I have to in order to get him the hell out of here.

  I look up to see the doctor coming back for round two. He doesn’t give up I see. He runs at me and I swing my knife at him.

  “You stabbed me bitch.” He says.

  “Yes. And if you get close enough, I will stab you again.” I tell him.

  I have lost the gun I found. That’s just my luck. I am still burning with fever and I am dizzy now, so I can’t get focused on him.

  He runs at me and knocks me down again and he’s back on top of me. Damn can I stay out of this position.