by Brett, Cal
Worse Than Dead
Cal Brett
Copyright © 2019 Cal Brett
All rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-7347226-0-4
DEDICATION
For my grandmother, Eunice, who told us the scary stories and inspired us to believe in things that go bump in the night.
COVER ART
Kim May-Ohara
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Many thanks to my family and friends who inspired, supported, critiqued, nagged and even those who told me it could not be done. To my beta readers and editors, I am eternally grateful.
Special thanks to the writers who inspired me with their work and honored me (the new kid on the block) with their support:
Ryan C. Thomas – author of Hissers, The Summer I Died, Born to Bleed, Bugboy and many other books that will terrify and enthrall.
Tyler Barrett – author of the What Remains series. Barrett has a great spin on zompocalypse fiction that will keep you on the edge of your seat.
If you enjoy Worse Than Dead, I encourage you to pick up any of their books, available at Amazon of course, for a good scare!
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Zombies weren’t the worst thing about the apocalypse. As with the entirety of human civilization, people held that distinction. When the ravenous undead hordes rose up and ate their way through the best of human kind, they only left two types of people in their wake; the frightened, starving, skittish folk who scampered through the ruins, and the brutal takers who preyed on them. In some ways they were symbiotic. The meek were too scared to rise up and the strong coveted their power and violence such that they would not stoop to build anything more than what they had. There was no tomorrow. Only the day. Only the moment. Because in the world after the end of the great age, fortunes could and often did, change in an instant.
Chapter 1
It happened so fast Robbie didn’t feel the pain of the punch until he was on the ground. The unexpected blow to his jaw sent him reeling. He bounced off the wall and fell to the hard floor with a flailing thump. An involuntary gasp escaped him as his lungs pushed the air out of his chest, leaving him breathless. Then the kicking started and loud grunts rattled out of him with each booted blow to his ribs, until he lay curled in the corner, in shock and pain, unable to move.
“God damn you make a lot of noise Robbie.” Trent growled down at the beaten boy. “You need to shut up unless you want those dead fuckers coming up here for dinner.”
“What the hell…?” Robbie groaned through swelling lips. He turned his head to look at the older man, standing nearby, flushed and out of breath from the exertion. “Why…?” he gasped weakly.
“Why?!” Trent chortled. “I’ve been hanging out with you two for weeks and you’re still keeping all your stuff to yourself. That’s why, dumb ass. Didn’t offer to share. Not that I’d share, but that would have been polite. I need to know where you keep your supplies. I can’t spend another day skulking around with you two pathetic losers. You’re going to give me what I need... then, we can start to enjoy ourselves, or I can enjoy myself. You two...” He pointed “not so much.”
Robbie took a shallow painful breath and was able to look beyond Trent to see Kelly on her knees beside him. He had his right hand tightly gripped in her hair and was holding her down facing the floor. She struggled against him, but he held her firmly.
“You fucker,” she mewled flailing her arms at him, “leave us alone!”
“Oh don’t worry, bitch,” Trent replied looking down at her, “we will get some alone time soon. Now quit fighting or I’ll beat the fuck out of you and cut up your little boyfriend.”
“Damn it!” Kelly seethed angrily and lowered her arms in fuming submission.
“That’s better, now we can get on with things,” Trent gloated still catching his breath. Like a puppeteer, he used his fingers in her hair to raise her face towards Robbie.
“Oww!” she shrieked and Robbie caught the fright and anger on her voice.
“Quiet now.” Trent chided. “Quiet… Let’s not invite the stinkers up to our party. Now, let’s all calm down and try to have some fun… wouldn’t you like to have some fun?”
Trent made her head nod as if she were agreeing with him. She struggled ineffectually against him until he kicked her hard in her ribs. The wind was knocked from her and she collapsed onto her knees gasping.
“That’s a good girl.” Trent said looking back and forth between Kelly and Robbie, trying to determine if there was any fight left in them. Deciding there was none, he used his left hand to slide off his back-pack and pull out a large knife. “Remember this? It’s my BFK. My ‘Big Fucking Knife’. Don’t fuck with me and I won’t have to use it on you. Got it?!”
Robbie and Kelly both nodded. They had seen the knife before. It was Trent’s primary tool and weapon. It was a heavy thing almost as big as a machete and he used it for everything from hacking up zombies, to breaking into houses, to cutting open cans of food. They both knew it was sharp and he was good at wielding it. Neither wanted to test him at the moment.
Trent shoved the knife into a sheath on the back of his belt and dug back into the pack. “Now see, I have something special for both of you,” he said as he wrapped a thick, leather collar around Kelly’s neck and tightened it up to fit snugly against her throat. Kelly’s eyes widened as she felt the rough leather press against the skin of her neck.
He dug around in the pack again and came out with a chain which he attached to a loop on the back of the collar. There was a click as he snapped it into place. The chain looked like one that might be used to tether a large dog. Thick and strong, with small bells, it jingled lightly as Trent used it to pull Kelly backwards towards the wall across from Robbie. She coughed and pulled at the collar as her knees dragged across the floor.
The room they were in was once the fifth-floor utility room of a downtown office building. A narrow window provided a good view of the street below and enough light to see during the day. The glass was tinted so they could see out but no one, and no thing, could see in. The walls were lined with steel pipes running from the concrete floor up through the metal skeleton of a long gone dropped ceiling. The pipes, which once ran water and electricity to keep the building alive back when it was filled with busy 9 to 5 staff, now were simply cold, solid metal tubes.
Trent wrapped Kelly’s chain high up on one of the heavy pipes and secured it with a padlock. She sat down and leaned back against the cool metal with an angry grunt, her eyes glared up at the lock that bound her in place. Trent admonished her to “stay” while he walked over to Robbie and locked him similarly to a pipe on the adjacent wall. The man who, until moments ago, they had thought to be a friend stepped back to admire his work.
Although still in pain from his beating, Rob
bie pushed himself up. He leaned back against the pipe and stared out through his long, dark bangs as he caught his breath. The ringing in his head began to subside and he was able to take stock of their situation. Kelly sat directly across from him but well out of reach. Trent was closer, between them, but still too far away to attempt a counterattack. He thought of his weapons but realized they were in his backpack which Trent had taken from him at some point.
Robbie felt like an idiot. They had only known Trent a few weeks, but they had begun to trust him. They had run into him while scavenging and hit it off. He had helped them clear a few houses of the dead, with that BFK of his, and having a third set of eyes and arms had proven helpful several times. These days it wasn’t a good idea to trust people too quickly, but he seemed ok. He didn’t complain about sharing what they found together and didn’t push them on their supplies or where they were living. It had only been yesterday when they had shown him their hideout in the office building.
Robbie had spotted Trent staring at Kelly a few times, but love was rare in the apocalypse and if those two hit it off he wasn’t going to get in the way. She had been his big brother’s wife, but they hadn’t seen Roy in over two years. Kelly did a pretty good job taking care of herself, him too since Roy went missing. So, if Trent stuck around for her it didn’t seem like it would be a bad thing. But here it was... A bad thing.
“Ok,” Trent said looking at Kelly with a wry smile, “you know what comes next.”
Kelly shook her head and said, “Fuck you Trent!”
“Not yet, sweetie,” Trent replied. “First, go ahead and strip down to your skivvies.”
“Come on Trent,” Robbie said angrily, “leave her alone!”
Trent looked over at Robbie and laughed, waving the knife at him. “Oh you thought I just meant her? No, no, no. You too, Bro. Strip out of those clothes. I better see some skin from you all in the next few minutes or I’ll have to start cutting on someone.”
“What the hell man?!” Robbie cried. “Why are you doing this!?”
“I said…” Trent kicked Robbie in the chest again, driving his big boot down hard into his ribs. “Take ‘em off!”
“Robbie!” Kelly screamed.
“See, there you go, getting noisy again Kelly.” Trent said turning to her, “I hope you don’t bring the dead heads up here looking for a snack. Cause you guys are all tied up and it would just be a zombie buffet for them.”
Trent moved as if to kick Robbie again, but Kelly stopped him “Wait! Ok. Ok. Don’t hurt him.”
“That’s better,” Trent said and stepped back from Robbie.
“It’s ok Robbie,” Kelly said, starting to fumble with the buttons on her jacket, “do what he says, and he won’t hurt us. Right, Trent?”
“Yea, that’s right.” Trent replied with a snort. “Don’t worry, Robbie. I ain’t no pervert. I just figure you’re less likely to run off or try anything stupid in your boxer shorts. Just don’t try any hero shit and you’ll be fine.”
Neither Kelly nor Robbie believed him but there wasn’t anything they could do about it at that moment. As distasteful as a stripping for this jerk would be, it wasn’t the worst thing that could happen, Kelly thought. At least it might keep them alive long enough to figure out a way to escape from this lunatic. She saw Trent watching her and made a point not to look at him as she stretched up to pull down the coat’s inner zipper. She remembered reading somewhere that it helped if you could personalize yourself with an attacker, but Trent had been hanging around for a month and probably knew them as well as anyone could. If he hadn’t developed any sympathies for them by then it was doubtful anything she did in the next few minutes would change his mind.
She pulled the heavy, green Army jacket off her shoulders and drew her arms from its thick sleeves. It was late spring and the days were getting warmer but they never went outside without being fully covered. The long sleeve, red T-shirt she had on underneath was dark with sweat and stains. They seldom got fully undressed or changed clothes anymore. They lived, slept, and wore what they had until it was too damaged or they came across something better. She slid the jacket down behind her and used its bulk as a pillow against the hard metal pipe.
Kelly looked up at Trent who leaned against the windowsill, watching them. When his eyes met hers, he flashed a crooked smile and waved his knife at her. “Pick it up cupcake. No dawdling, I’ve got plans for later. You too, Robbie. Quit fucking around.”
Kelly leaned forward as much as her restraints allowed and started unlacing her boots. It took a few minutes to get them untied and she had to tug forcefully to pull them off. She had been wearing them for weeks and it felt like the heavy leather hiking boots had molded to her feet. Her thick socks were slick with sweat and dirt and the smell made her pull her head back. Holding her boot at arm’s length she got a whiff of her armpits too and winced at the harshness of her own body odor.
“Ugh!” Kelly scowled at the smell as she began pulling down her socks. “I don’t suppose you’re going to wash these clothes for us?”
“I said, shut up!” Trent charged quickly at her and slapped her hard across the face, “Shut up and strip off!”
The slap sent Kelly tumbling over with a muffled cry. Robbie lunged forward but the collar caught him. Trent spun around and pointed his knife at the younger man.
“I told you no hero shit!” Trent growled while waving his knife. “Now get to it or next time I swear, somebody loses a finger. I‘m looking at you, Rob!”
“Ok, ok…” Kelly sobbed “I’m sorry. Please don’t hurt us. I was only trying to…”
“Trying to buy some time?!” Trent raged back to her. “Trying to get me off guard?! Hoping I’ll give you a chance to take my head off?!”
“No, no…,” Kelly said her face still stinging, “I was…”
“Enough talk!” Trent growled. “Now get on with it or I start cutting things off you and I damn sure will leave some marks so you remember that shit! You too, fuck-head!” He shouted at Robbie as he walked back to the window and looked down at the street. “Shit, I think all this yelling has got them stirred up out there. I sure hope they don’t figure out we’re up here and come looking for lunch.”
Robbie kneeled down at the end of his tether with his attention entirely on Kelly who lay curled up on the floor across from him. In spite of the older man’s warnings he was not worried about the zombies getting in. The first floor of the building was a pharmacy and medical supply store with brick walls and narrow windows well above eye level. That’s why they had chosen this place. Kelly and he had pulled down the metal security doors to cover the glass on the front entrance. The back door was reinforced steel and he knew it was securely locked. Even if they got in they would need to get through another locked door in the back leading to a short hallway with some elevators and stairs. They had blocked all that off from the inside.
The only practical way in was by climbing up onto a dumpster in the alley and jumping up to the fire escape ladder. All that took way more agility than any zombie could manage, any zombie they had seen anyway. A few years ago, nobody had ever seen dead people come back to life, go berserk and start killing the living. Who knew what would happen next. Anything was possible.
His eyes met Kelly’s as she sat back up. A red blotch marked the spot on her cheek where she had been hit. She looked at him and mouthed “I’m ok,” but she was clearly shaken. Her hands quaked as she reached back down and continued removing her heavy socks. She nodded for him to continue as well.
Robbie sighed angrily but sat up and began pulling his jacket off, sliding it to the floor behind him. Leaning back onto the cool metal pipe he started unlacing his boots. With each move his ribs screamed and he could feel the bruises yanking at the nerves under his skin. He slowed his movements and did his best not to groan each time the pain flashed through him.
Half-way through the laces he had to sit back and take a breath. Looking down at himself for the first time in a while it oc
curred to him that their ‘survival workout’ had replaced the extra weight he had always carried with a more taught and muscular frame. ‘Not that the extra muscle helped today,’ he thought as he went back to work on loosening his boots.
When Kelly had her socks off she paused and realized the next step would be humiliating. She would need to remove her pants. She was wearing shorts underneath but taking away the protective covering of her long pants would leave her exposed in a way she did not want to be, with this asshole Trent. She decided to bite the bullet and just pull them off.
She kicked off her heavy green safari pants causing the memory of when she first put them on to pop into her head. They were a lucky find in the stock room of a home and garden store they had looted the previous fall. ‘That means,’ she thought, ’I’ve been wearing them for about six months.’
She liked them because they had plenty of pockets and were tough on the outside and soft on the inside. She looked at them crumpled at her feet and immediately missed their warmth as she felt the cool air of the room creep up over her legs.
Looking down at herself for the first time in a while, she noticed that her legs were more toned and muscular than she remembered. The extra cushion that used to adorn her hips and bottom was gone and her muscles were visible through the taught skin over her thighs and calves. There were even taught, rope-like muscles stretching down her arms. Trading an easy life for one where every day required feats of extraordinary strength to survive had resulted in a gymnast like body.
‘Wonderful,’ she mused internally, ‘it only took the end of the world to get into the best shape of my life and everyone else is too dead to appreciate it.’
She also saw the cuts and bruises that she had known were there but hadn’t actually seen. Each purple spot marked a hard collision with something. Most often done in an effort to outpace the ferocious dead.
