Just Another Day in the Zombie Apocalypse (Episode 7)

by L. C. Mortimer

  “But you didn’t find bodies in every house, did you?”

  “A lot of people left town when the virus struck,” Mark said. “There were plenty of cars missing.”

  “Were there, now?” Torrance glared at him, and Alice knew the woman was becoming upset. Alice groaned inwardly. She never should have tried to get Torrance talking, never should have tried bringing up these questions they didn’t really want answers to.

  Alice knew what it was like to lose something you wanted, something you loved. She could tell Torrance had truly loved this town, once upon a time, and why wouldn’t she? This was where Torrance was raising her son. This was where she was building her career. This was where she was creating a life, a future.

  And it was all gone.

  But Torrance’s determination that something had happened to the people of Raven made Alice feel a little bit uncomfortable. What if Torrance was right? Alice’s eyes met Mark’s, but Mark shook his head. There had been empty houses. Torrance was right. There had been several places where the cars were still there, the houses were empty, and there was no sign of death.

  Where had those people gone?

  Could Torrance’s theory have any weight to it?

  “I’m sure there’s a reasonable explanation,” Alice said finally, but Torrance just shrugged. Then she sighed.

  “Please,” she asked them. “Please, whatever you do, just be careful. These things are different. They’re tricky, and you guys? They’re smart. Don’t let them get you, and whatever you do, don’t let them take you alive.”

  Chapter 6

  Mark was surprised to see this side of Torrance. She was typically so restrained, so controlled. In many ways, she was like Alice: determined, poised. Mark didn’t expect to see Torrance break down and to be fair, she wasn’t, but he could tell she was on the cusp of it. With the right push, the right words, Torrance would tumble over the edge of sanity and drown in her fears.

  Mark didn’t want to see that.

  “We’re in this together,” he said firmly. “We’ll go together, we’ll fight together, and we’ll come back together.”

  “Be careful,” Torrance whispered. Mark knew she was saying goodbye. Maybe she didn’t realize that’s what she was doing. Maybe none of them did. He’d seen it enough times from his brothers in arms to know what a farewell looked like.

  And that didn’t sit well with Mark.

  “It’s just a recon mission,” Mark told her, but Torrance shook her head.

  “It’s a suicide mission,” she said. “There’s no reason for you to go after this thing. I know it spooked you, Mark. I get it, but that doesn’t mean you can just go fight it. You don’t know anything about this creature, and you don’t know for certain it knows this is our base camp.”

  Torrance had made up her mind, and Mark knew arguing with her would lead nowhere, so he just nodded. Torrance was scared. He understood because he, too, was frightened. As soon as they became used to one aspect of the apocalypse, something else happened that terrified them. As soon as they learned to cope with one aspect of the world, something else reared its ugly head, and they had to learn to cope.

  That was probably the most challenging aspect of life after the infection.

  It wasn’t scrounging for food.

  It wasn’t getting along with his friends.

  It wasn’t fear of the future.

  It was the sheer exhaustion that came with constantly being on guard. Mark knew they couldn’t rest for a second or the end could come. They didn’t get down time. They didn’t get relax time. They didn’t have the privilege of being able to just enjoy their new life.

  In any other situation, this setup would be sweet. He was living in the woods with his buddy and two hot girls. They had a lake and food and a huge damn lodge with a fireplace any camp enthusiast would kill for.

  What they didn’t have was the ability to go out in the woods without being attacked.

  What they didn’t have was the chance to just enjoy nature.

  Nature had reared its ugly head with this terrible infection, this horrible virus, and nature wanted to reclaim the world.

  Mark had a feeling that despite their best efforts, that would be happening very soon. There was no way anyone could live like they were living for long. Not forever, and certainly not for years. Unless they were somehow able to find other survivors and build some sort of large community, they were screwed.

  Totally, completely screwed.

  “It’ll be all right,” Mark said to Torrance, but the look in her eyes said she knew he was lying. She wasn’t about to call him out in front of his friends, but she knew this was a mission that carried with it great risk. Mark wasn’t unaware of that, but he also knew that anything worth doing in life carried with it risk.

  If hunting this bastard now meant they could be safe for the winter, he’d do it. He’d sacrifice a future with Alice, with Kyle, and even with Torrance if it meant he could protect them just a little while longer.

  He grabbed his guns. He took two: one in each holster. The double holster was something he’d wanted for a long time and they’d been lucky enough to find one in Raven. It fit him well and meant he could carry more weapons than he otherwise would be able to. Slipping one gun in the waistband of his jeans was fine. Slipping in multiple guns was just silly.

  “Ammo?” He asked Kyle.

  “Got it.”

  They brought their weapons and Kyle carried a small backpack with water and snacks in it. Then the three of them left the lodge.

  “Are you sure she’ll be okay?” Alice asked as they closed the front door. Kyle locked it with a set of keys so Torrance wouldn’t have to get up and hobble over to lock the big door. “She seems really anxious.”

  “Torrance is a strong woman, Alice. She’ll be fine.” Mark was certain. He knew the girls were worried about going out in the wilderness, but there was no need to be scared. Fear was what led to accidents. Fear got you killed.

  Mark didn’t have time for fear anymore.

  “He’s right,” Kyle said as they took off into the forest and down to the water’s edge. “I know you’re worried about her, but she’s going to be okay.”

  “She’s not the one I’m worried about,” Alice said. They passed a couple of the empty cabins. Mark wondered what they should use them for. It’s not like anyone was going to be coming to visit. Maybe they could create extra storage units or extra housing if they ever found any other survivors. They could build a fence around the perimeter of the campsite. The possibilities were endless.

  “I’m nervous, too,” Kyle admitted. “But we don’t have a choice.” They reached the canoe and climbed in. Then they paddled quietly across the silent water to the forest’s edge. Mark kept his eyes open for any sign they were being watched, but there was none. Nothing. There were no noises and no scares. No watchers. They were alone.

  They hauled the canoe up on the shore and grabbed their gear, and then they started walking into the woods. They followed the footsteps from the day before as far as they went, which wasn’t very far.

  “They’ve stopped,” Alice whispered after a few minutes, and Mark motioned for her to be silent. They couldn’t talk here. Even if they were quiet, chances were that it wouldn’t be quiet enough. These things were smart, brilliant. They were clever. No matter how quiet the group was, they needed to be quieter.

  He squatted down and looked, trying to piece together what he could. Mark didn’t pretend to be some sort of expert tracker. That wasn’t his job, never had been. Still, he’d been on enough hunting trips to know that there were other signs of movement in the forest that didn’t just involve footprints.

  After a few seconds, he spotted his first clue. He pointed to an area where some shrubbery seemed displaced. There were a couple of broken branches, like someone had clumsily bumped into them. The group followed him that way.

  Although the sun streamed through the forest, they had brought flashlights, and Mark kept his steadi
ly in front of them. He moved it from side to side, making sure he had a clear visual of what was up ahead. He didn’t want any surprises today.

  Alice and Kyle were much too loud, but he knew they were doing their best to be quiet. It was a work in progress, he knew. He had to admit they were quieter than they had been on previous excursions. Maybe they were learning.

  Still, with each crunch of twigs beneath their feet, with each scuffle of dirt, Mark cringed. If this watcher was as insane as he suspected it was, it would hear them coming long before the three of them could find it.

  But oh, they would find it.

  That was the plan, after all.

  They were going to find this creature’s lair because Mark knew it definitely, absolutely had a lair. They’d find its home and destroy it. They would kill it, and then they would be free. The zombies wouldn’t be organized after this. They wouldn’t have a quiet, evil leader who guided them toward fresh meat. No, they would be finished.

  They would conquer this thing.

  They continued to walk silently, looking for signs that the creature had come this way. Every so often, Mark found something that assured him they were going in the right direction.

  “Are you sure this is the way?” Alice asked. She glanced over her shoulder, checking behind them.

  “I’m sure,” Mark told her.

  “What if we get lost?”

  “We don’t,” Kyle said. “We just go that way and we’ll get to the lake. We’ve made a couple of turns here and there, but we’ve basically been going in a straight line. Haven’t you noticed?”

  She hadn’t, and she shook her head. Alice didn’t always have the best sense of direction, but it didn’t matter because both Mark and Kyle did. Mark had gotten himself out of some pretty tricky situations. This was just one more adventure to be had.

  “I’m nervous,” Alice said as they kept walking.

  “Why?” Mark whispered. They were getting closer and closer. He could feel it. If they didn’t find the watcher itself, they’d definitely find its home. They had to. It would be living close to town, not too far in the forest. It wasn’t a normal zombie. Mark wondered if this one slept, if it dreamed. How did it realize it could organize the others to do what it wanted?

  “It just seems too easy,” Alice shrugged. “Like if this thing is so smart, why would he make it so easy to follow him?”

  “I don’t think tracking a creature through the woods is exactly easy work, Alice.”

  “Think about it,” she said. “It just happened to appear on the side of the like when you were bathing. It just happened to leave footprints. It just happened to break all these branches for us to follow. It just…it feels like a trap, Mark. Maybe Torrance was right.”

  “Torrance is scared. She’s overreacting,” Kyle said.

  “She knows this place better than any of us,” Alice pointed out.

  “It’s not a trap,” Mark said, and Alice rolled her eyes, but followed him forward. It was only after they’d taken a few more steps, only after they’d tripped over the wire, only after they felt the ground drop in front of them that Mark realized Alice and Torrance were right.

  It had been too easy.

  And it had definitely been a trap.

  Chapter 7

  Kyle leapt sideways as the ground gave way. A trap. It had been a fucking trap. This entire outing had been a complete charade, and they had fallen for it hook, line, and sinker. He hit the hard ground of the forest and rolled into the bushes and shrubbery. A stick dug into his side and he bit his lip to keep from crying out. It fucking hurt.

  Alice and Mark had been walking ahead of Kyle and hadn’t been able to jump out of the way. He’d seen them drop when the ground gave way ahead of them. It was some sort of pit or hole. There had been a trapdoor just waiting for them.

  Kyle knew exactly who to blame, too.

  We should have listened to Torrance flashed through his mind, but he pushed the thought aside. Regret wouldn’t help them now. It was already too late for that. Now the only thing they could do was try to remedy the situation as quickly as possible. They hadn’t seen the watcher yet, but Kyle knew it would be close.

  It would be watching this spot, waiting for them.

  It was smarter than they’d given it credit for.

  They had been complete idiots.

  Each of them had thought it would be simple: find its hiding place, whether that be an abandoned house or a hut or even just a group of trees. Then they would kill the watcher. End of story.

  But it had laid a perfect trap, and now Alice and Mark were down a hole.

  Kyle got up and pulled the stick out of his side. It had torn through the shirt and into his skin. When he glanced down, he saw it wasn’t a regular stick, but some sort of spike. The end was carved into a sharp point. It had been prepared for someone, and it had been designed to kill or seriously maim.

  What the hell had they gotten themselves into?

  He pressed his hand to his side and pulled it back. Bloody covered his palm. Fuck. He was going to need stitches. He hoped Torrance knew how to sew because he wasn’t sure he could fix himself up. Not this time.

  Kyle made his way to the edge of the hole where Mark and Alice had disappeared.

  “Are you alive?” He called out quietly. He didn’t want his voice to carry. He had been loud enough when he fell. He glanced nervously over his shoulder, looking for Infected, but he saw nothing.

  He heard nothing.

  Even the birds had gone silent, he noticed. When he was a kid and would wander through the woods, it was always so loud. There were always birds circling above the trees, calling out, searching for food. There had always been insects chirping and tweeting in the darkness. There had always been noise.

  Now there was only silence.

  “Mark? Alice?”

  Nothing.

  Were they dead? He peered into the darkness, but couldn’t see down the hole. It was wide, and it looked deep. He wasn’t about to drop down there to see if his friends were still alive, and his heart sank as he realized he might be going back to camp without them.

  They couldn’t be dead.

  They had to be all right.

  Mark couldn’t be dead. He was their leader, their guide. And Alice was…well, she was Alice. Kyle remembered his flashlight and struggled to find it. He had dropped it when he’d leapt away from the hole. After a couple of seconds of rustling around, he located the flashlight and turned it on. Then he shone it down into the hole.

  Then he heard a groan.

  “Mark!” He nearly shouted with relief. He could see Mark beginning to move. He and Alice were lying at the bottom of what looked like a short well. The hole was wide – about eight feet in diameter – and he could see why they hadn’t noticed it. There was a wooden trapdoor at the top. Kyle saw where there was a tripwire that triggered the door to drop. It had been so small that none of them had noticed it.

  Alice groaned, too, and tried to stand.

  “Don’t rush it,” Kyle said. He flicked the flashlight around the hole. He guessed it was about ten feet deep. Maybe a bit more. Mark stood slowly, but when he stretched his hands up, he couldn’t quite reach the top of the hole, and the sides were too far apart for him to climb out of it.

  Finally, Alice was able to stand, too.

  “Nothing’s broken,” she said, relieved.

  “Just our pride,” Mark said. “And possibly our hope. How’s it looking up there, Kyle? Any sign of it?”

  He didn’t have to ask Mark what he was talking about. He knew. The watcher. That fucker had set a trap and it was going to find them. He just knew it. They both knew it. It was only a matter of time. How long did they have before it returned for them? An hour? Two? Less?

  “Nothing. There’s nothing up here. What about down there?” Kyle shone the flashlight, trying to see clearly. From his vantage point at the top of the space, he couldn’t see a door at the bottom of the hole or any way for Alice and Mark to escape
. Maybe if they had a ladder, or some rope, they’d be able to climb out.

  They didn’t have any of that, though, and Kyle wasn’t sure if it was a good idea to trek all the way back to camp just to get some damn rope. They’d walked for at least an hour. Did he really want to spend two hours going home and back again? A lot could happen in two hours and he didn’t want to risk his friends dying.

  He couldn’t.

  They meant too much to him.

  They were his family now, and he would do anything for them. He would do anything to save them, to rescue them.

  “There’s nothing down here,” Mark flicked his own flashlight on and began walking around the hole. Kyle could tell he was uncomfortable by the way he was moving. Had Mark hurt his ankle? Maybe it was his back. Kyle wasn’t sure. Still it was quite a drop, and he knew his friends weren’t going to come out of this completely unscathed.

  “Any chance you can climb out?”

  “Not unless you brought rope,” Mark said.

  “I didn’t, man.”

  Guns, he had.

  Knives? Kyle had those, too.

  A bat filled with nails? Oh, yes, of course, they had one of those.

  But fucking rope?

  Nope, they had forgotten that.

  And it might cost them everything.

  Chapter 8

  When Alice, Mark, and Kyle left, they locked the door. Torrance heard the lock click soundly into place, and then she got up. She might be injured, but she was going to pull her weight around here, damn it. No matter what was going on in the outside world, she wasn’t going to be a mooch. Yeah, she needed to rest, but she also needed to be active.

  Winter would be here soon, and they needed to be ready. She knew better than most exactly how rough the winters near Raven could be. Oh, it was cold all over Kansas in the winter, but Raven was its own little world.

  She went to the kitchen and started looking through their supplies. Alice and Mark had brought quite a bit with them when they’d come from the library. It wasn’t enough, though. Even non-perishables would go bad over time, and there simply wasn’t enough food for all four of them. Not if they wanted to keep eating a certain amount of food.