The Infected Box Set, Vol. 1 [Books 1-3]

by Zuko, Joseph

  Eric’s body slammed into hers and they crashed into the sheetrock next to the front door. Pain exploded across Karen’s back. Eric threw punches into her ribs and stomach. She couldn’t breathe. He moved so fast she couldn’t think. She tried to block his strikes but his fist crashed into her wrapped wrist and she saw stars.

  Karen was in full blown panic. Eric’s face was right in front of hers. The primal parts of her brain activated and she saw an opening. She reared her head back and brought her forehead down onto the bridge of Eric’s nose.

  Blood jetted from his nostrils and down his black shirt. His eyes squinted and he was blinded by her counter attack. Karen rung her own bell. She could hear her children crying in the living room. They had learned the lesson from their Mama’s previous fight and stayed away.

  Eric stepped back and held both hands to his face. Karen stepped forward and hooked her leg around the back of his and pushed through him. He fell backwards onto the hardwood floor as Karen raced over his body and back into the kitchen.

  She frantically searched for her gun. She spotted it and reached for the pistol. She could hear the men outside yelling for Eric to answer them. One of them had an itchy trigger finger and opened fire on the front door. Bullets ripped through the thick wood. Karen dropped to the kitchen floor and covered her head. She hadn’t reached the gun yet.

  A stray round zapped Eric in the calf and the bullet grazed his skin “STOP SHOOTING YOU IDIOTS!” Eric rolled to his stomach and the blood on his shirt allowed him to slide faster across the floor after Karen. His outstretched hand gripped tightly around Karen’s ankle. He pulled himself up her body and began to mount her.

  “You are going to pay for this!” He yelled in her face.

  Leon and Troy were about to step through the threshold of a promising looking home about three blocks away from Penny’s when they heard the sound of gunfire.

  “That was close to Mama’s,” Troy squinted his eyes as he turned to face the popping noise in the distance.

  “Let’s go!” Leon stopped on a dime and sprinted back to the car. Troy was right on his heels.

  Sara stomped on the brakes and screeched to a halt at the end of Penny’s driveway. Jim was the first to step from the car. His rifle was pulled tight to his shoulder and desperation spread across his face.

  “KAREN!” Jim strained.

  Who were these guys?

  Why are they shooting into the house?

  Had Karen or Penny turned?

  What the FUCK is going on?

  The five men turned and drew their weapons on Jim and the approaching van.

  Frank stepped out of the Cruiser, “Jim?”

  “Stay close to the car,” Jim said without looking back. Frank kept the SKS aimed at what looked like the leader’s head.

  Karen heard Jim’s voice outside. Eric’s powerful hands crept up Karen’s body and found her neck.

  “Ji-!” Karen’s windpipe was pinched off as Eric’s thumb pressed into the center of her neck. Karen turned her hand into a claw and raked Eric’s face, catching one of his eyes with her nails. Karen’s free hand opened a floor cabinet. She clamored for the first solid object her hand could find.

  A heavy ceramic bowl sat on the lower shelf. She launched it into the side of Eric’s face. The force of the blow knocked him off of her body and he released his grip on her throat.

  Karen gagged out a cough and almost puked. She hit him a few more times with the bowl until it shattered into a hundred pieces.

  Jim raised one hand in the air and pointed the rifle at the ground. He wanted to show that he was friendly and not wanting a fight, “What’s going on?!” he called to the men.

  Brother Paul’s words were ringing in Jim’s head. ‘I do not want people running around Vancouver murdering every person they meet.’ It was just yesterday when the Preacher had Jim and his crew with black bags on their heads making them promise to be good Christians. ‘I will only give you this one warning.’ Brother Paul said, ‘If you cross me, I will make you and your families suffer.’

  Jim did not want a blood bath on his hands. He had to get them to leave without firing a shot. He could sense something had the five men juiced up and even more on edge. It wasn’t just the zombie hordes in the area. The look on their faces told Jim they were guilty of something.

  Karen cried for help and it sounded supersonic when she yelled, “Jim! I’m in here! HURRY!”

  He recognized his panicked wife’s voice. Jim stepped up the driveway and was a few feet from the truck when he heard a second voice throw out the command, “Kill him!”

  The five men opened fire! Jim ducked down behind the truck’s back tire. Rounds tore into the back end of their own truck, the PT Cruiser and Cliff’s van.

  Karen reached to pull herself up off the floor. She grabbed the handle of a drawer and got to one knee when Eric caught her by the waistband. Karen could feel his fingertips grind at the top of her ass. He yanked her back to the floor and the drawer came out of the cabinet with her. Cutlery and other kitchen utensils hit the hardwood. They spread out with a loud crash and slid to every corner of the kitchen. Karen fell to her back and Eric hovered over her torso. He snatched a fork and stabbed it into Karen’s chest close to where her shoulder connected. She howled. The fork stuck deep in the meat of her chest and Eric wiggled its handle back and forth digging it deeper into her.

  Frank turned and retreated. He ducked down and hid behind the back of the PT Cruiser as rounds passed over his head. He wasn’t mentally prepared to take a human’s life. In the flash of a second that he had the headshot lined up, he panicked and couldn’t fire. Frank had never been fired at before. His hands shook uncontrollably. He just wanted it to be over. He pressed his body up against the back bumper of the car. Every shot fired seemed like it was coming straight for him. Every bullet had his name on it. The fear of death had never gripped him so strongly.

  How the hell do we get out of this?!

  Sara ducked under the steering wheel. Shards of glass rained down on her as the bullets ripped the windshield and interior apart.

  Devon started to speak, “I got-!” his words were cut short. Devon was not quick enough and he couldn’t get his injured leg to bend for him to scoot under the dash. Blood splashed over every inch of Sara’s face. She ran her shirt sleeve along her brow and wiped the blood out of her eyes. Devon’s body and face had been peppered by the incoming rounds. His body slumped across the center console. She reached for his hand as if she could shake him back alive.

  “Devon!” she couldn’t hear her own voice over the pounding noise inside the car.

  Where is Jim and Frank?!

  Maybe Tina can fix this? She was slipping further into shock and the gravity of his wounds were not registering fully with her yet.

  A flurry of gunfire hit the front of Cliff’s van. The windows exploded. Cliff cranked the wheel and hit the gas. He panicked and was blinded by glass hitting him in the face. He sped down the street behind the PT Cruiser. The shots kept coming and they punctured the side of the van. The instant his sight returned it was too late he was barreling down on a parked car. The van crashed and spun out! The engine cut off. They were stuck with the broadside of the van facing the gunmen. Out of sheer desperation Cliff popped open his door and fell to the asphalt, away from the incoming rounds. His own blood was cascading down the front of his face. A jagged gash zigged through his eyebrow and down to his cheekbone. His saw landed on the ground next to him. The van filled with the screams of his children.

  Karen’s eyes rolled back into her skull. The searing sting in her shoulder was unimaginable. She raised her knee and it landed square on Eric’s balls. He let go of the fork. Karen hooked her hands behind his head and pulled him down closer to her face. She dug her teeth into the top of his skull! The taste of metal filled her mouth as she peeled off a three inch chunk of scalp. Eric reared back and Karen spit the bloody mouthful of skin into his face. His hand pressed against the ragged wound.


  As Leon swerved the Subaru around the block, the warzone came into full view. The muzzle flash made it look like fireworks were going off in the front yard.

  “What the hell is this?!” Leon slowed down. Bullets were flying all over the street. A man laid on the street next to a van that was getting perforated by gunfire. An older man clung for life at the back of Karen’s PT Cruiser.

  Troy noticed Jim on the ground hiding behind the truck’s back tire, “That’s Jim.” Troy pointed him out. Leon punched the gas and cranked the wheel. He pulled the emergency brake and the Subaru slid sideways into the next door neighbor’s driveway. Gunfire was coming their way. Bullets stamped holes into the hood of the Subaru. A short stone wall separated Penny’s property from the neighbor’s. As Troy opened the door to get out, the hailstorm of lead drifting his way and the bullets stabbed dime sized holes up the front quarter panel of the Subaru. Troy fell forward to hide behind the stone wall. He got off a single shot before completely disappearing behind the wall. The buckshot shredded a gunman’s leg. He stumbled to the ground cursing. The others stopped firing and went to help their buddy.

  Eric clutched his scalp and rocked back on his knees. From her back Karen kicked into Eric’s chest with both feet, sending him into the stove’s window. The glass shattered and sliced his back. Eric laid half inside of the oven. His wounds were compounding and slowing him down. Blood trickled off his forehead. Karen rolled to her side and made another attempt at the gun. She noticed the look on Eric’s face. The arrogant asshole that walked through the door was second guessing his house call.

  Jim could hear the confusion on the other side of the truck as the gunmen tried to aid their fallen friend. They were yelling at each other rapid fire and they had completely stopped shooting.

  “Oh, my God, dude! He’s bleeding out!”

  “Guys, I’m hurting bad!”

  “What about Eric?”

  “Fuck him man we’ve got to go!”

  “Eric’s got the keys!”

  “Shit, I don’t know!”

  “I think I saw kids in that van!”

  “This is so fucked! We are so fucked!”

  The way the group talked to each other and how quickly they fell apart when one of them got shot helped Jim conclude that these weren’t battle hardened soldiers, but weekend warriors. Jim got his feet back under him. He had to make his move. If he stayed here they could easily surround him. The fear in Karen’s voice gave him the courage and strength he didn’t know he had to stand up and charge around the end of the truck.

  Before Jim knew it he was up, and charging towards the four gunmen that had circled around their wounded friend. He moved at high speed and caught them off guard. With the butt of the gun he came down full force into the back of one of their heads.

  “GET YOUR FUCKING HANDS IN THE AIR!” Jim barked at them. He held the barrel of his assault rifle inches from their faces.

  “Don’t shoot! It wasn’t our idea to stop here, man!” One of the men dropped his gun and put his hands up in the air.

  Leon hung his head around the side of the Subaru and watched Jim take control of the gunmen. The revolver they found last night rested in his sweaty fist. He had been aiming at the gunmen before Jim raced over and now Karen’s husband was in his sights.

  I could do it. In the confusion no one would know it was me.

  Karen would be all mine. I did an amazing job as Dad this morning with the girls.

  Leon squeezed the trigger and the hammer began to pull back on the revolver.

  She could be mine. All I have to do is shoot.

  “Jim! It’s me!” Troy’s head bobbed up from behind the stone fence.

  “TROY?” Jim called out.

  “Yeah!”

  “Get over here and get a gun on these assholes!” Jim kicked away a few of their rifles that they had dropped to put their hands in the air.

  Troy stood up and blocked Leon’s shot.

  Damn it!

  Leon relaxed his trigger finger, “I got time.”

  Frank peeked a look at the action from the back of the Cruiser, just as Sara stepped from the driver’s side. She was showered in blood.

  “Oh my god! Were you hit?” He raced to her side. As he neared the open door he could see where the blood had come from. “Oh, no!”

  “Devon’s dead! They killed him!” Sara had lost it. She reached back into the car, grabbed her shotgun and headed for the gunmen.

  Karen reached her pistol and turned to face Eric. He leapt to his feet and grabbed ahold of her wrists to keep the gun pointed towards the wall. Karen squeezed off a round. It ripped a hole in the kitchen wall and sailed off into the garage. The collision sent the gun clattering over the counter top and into the dining room. Eric pinned Karen into a corner of the kitchen. He swung a devastating hook that caught her in the cheek. Karen saw stars as she spun around and her head and hands landed in the sink. She was slumped over the counter with her head in the stainless basin. Eric stood behind her with his groin pressed against her butt.

  “You think you’re safe?!” Blood flew off his lips and splattered the back of her shirt. “You are not safe.” He dropped an elbow into the center of her back and followed it up with a jab to her skull. Karen teetered on the brink of unconsciousness.

  “I am going to cause you so much pain.” He dropped another elbow into her back.

  Penny’s favorite cast-iron skillet was still in the sink next to her head. Leon had used it to make pancakes that morning. Her fingers curled around the handle.

  Troy racked another round and stood over the group of gunmen. Jim wanted to give the big guy a hug, but there was no time.

  “I gotta check on Karen!”

  Leon stomped across the front yard and took a stance next to Troy. He stuck the revolver against the back of a gunman’s head. “Go check her out. We’ve got them covered.”

  Cliff rolled to his back. His body ached everywhere from the car crash. His brain throbbed. He had blacked out for a moment. Something was in his eyes. He wiped his face and rubbed at his eye sockets with his hands and they came back red. Cliff was not sure where he was and what had happened to him. In a flash it all came back. He looked up at the opened van door. It was quiet inside the vehicle.

  “No!” Cliff wailed as he got up on his elbows. He struggled to get to his feet. Cliff pulled himself up the side of the van and peered into the busted window. He couldn’t see anything. It was too dark. Something was on the window. He tapped at the back of the van as he made his way around to the sliding side door. “Babies…?” he whimpered. “Tina…? Morgan…?” Cliff slid the door open and a pool of red poured out onto the street. Cliff fell to his knees a broken man.

  Jim raced to the front door only to find it locked, “KAREN!” He stomped his foot into the door to bust it open, but the solid oak held firm.

  The noise at the door caught Eric’s attention and he was about to strike a right cross into the back of her head when he turned slightly toward the noise. Karen could feel his weight lift off of her back. She stood up from the sink, spun into him and with both hands squeezing the life out of the pan’s handle, nailed Eric in his jaw. His face cracked and his jawbone snapped. He spun like a top and collapsed to the wood floor. Jim kicked at the door again and again until the frame gave and the door swung open. He stepped inside the house just in time to see a blood covered Karen straddling Eric. She lifted the pan above her head.

  “Karen don’t!” Jim pleaded.

  Karen held the pan high in the air and looked at her husband standing in the kitchen entryway.

  It’s a dream.

  He isn’t real.

  This asshole punched me senseless and now I’m hallucinating.

  The suffering had sent her over the edge. She swung the skillet down onto Eric’s face. Her face had already started to swell when Eric’s strikes had landed. Jim dropped his gun and rushed to her side. She threw her arms up and around Jim’s neck and began to cry. He lifted her off of the dead
body and carried her out of the room quickly.

  “It’s okay. You’re going to be all right. I got you.”

  “Daddy?” Valerie called to her father.

  “Baby, it’s me!” Jim carried Karen toward the couch to set her down. Valerie crawled out from behind the couch. She paused for a minute and helped Robin get out from their hiding spot.

  “Girls!” Jim set Karen down on the sofa and knelt down in front of her. Seeing both of his children alive and racing toward him filled Jim with more emotion than he thought was possible. Tears instantly streamed down his face. Both girls climbed up into their father’s arms. Jim kissed them over and over again.

  “Where were you Daddy?”

  “Mama’s hurt.”

  “We stay in Ganny’s bed.”

  “What happened to your head, Daddy?”

  They hammered him with questions he couldn’t begin to answer. It had been twenty hours of misery, loss and fear but all of that was washed away with the simple embrace of his sweet children. Jim interlaced his fingers with Karen’s. She wasn’t ready to tell Jim what had happened. She was covered in blood and it was clear she had just gone ten rounds with the stranger that was lying dead in the kitchen. Jim wanted this moment with his family to last forever, but a commotion was erupting outside.

  “Girls, stay here with Mama. Daddy has to check on his friends.” None of the females that were clinging to Jim wanted to let him go. He gave all three of them another round of kisses, “I’ll be right outside and back in a second I promise.” He had to pry the little arms off of him. The commotion was now a full on screaming match.

  “Karen!” Jim gave her hand a squeeze. She had zoned out completely, possibly shock. Most likely she had a concussion. “I’ll be right outside.” Jim waited for her to nod at him before he stepped out of the living room.

  Without thinking about it Jim picked up his rifle before going outside. An argument was taking shape and Jim could make out who was yelling bloody murder. He paused and waited in the doorway. He just realized that he did not want to step back out into this zombie filled world. He wanted the people outside to solve it without him. He was sure that they would look to him for the answer and he did not want the blood of these men on his hands. He stood still, closed his eyes and listened.