Dead Over Texas: (Infected Texas Book 1)

by John J. O'Mahony

To my disappointment, the inside was dark. I got out of the truck on the side entrance of the restaurant and read a cardboard sign taped crooked to the window:

  CLOSED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE

  Damn.

  The wind then began to pick up, swirling the still hot Texas air into a frenzy. I paused and looked around past the deserted parking lot of the boutique clothing shops and tool supply store and down to the Walmart on the other end of the shopping plaza.

  There were at least fifty cars scattered about the entrance to the big box store. People were running back and forth lugging everything from big screen TV’s to food and various drinks, from all the clinking of glass I figured it was alcohol, on those large pallets you would find the factory workers using.

  Loiters took opportunity any type of disaster to steal. And it didn’t matter what they stole, only that they did it. It was the type of scene you would see often before a major hurricane would touch down on the east coast. Everyone loses their shit and hordes supplies to survive the storm, or to sell the goods later once things calmed down.

  This isn’t real.

  Coming back down to earth, I gathered myself and made my way back to the truck.

  “So, we can’t eat here?” Emma said sarcastically hanging out the window. Teenagers love stating the obvious.

  “Afraid not. I have a feeling everywhere is the same. We’ll just have to make our way home before we can grab a bite girls,” I said taking my worn drivers seat.

  Hailey leaned in. “This infection going around is serious isn’t it?” She asked, but knew the answer for herself. She saw on my face the severity of the situation we were in before settling herself back into her own seat.

  We drove out of the parking lot, heading back toward home for whatever awaited us.

  In my rear-view I watched as the crowd of people fought over the stolen items.

  14

  Panic On The Highway

  Our truck cut through a patch of fog that had rolled in as I drove us back up the ramp to the highway.

  The truck’s headlights split into tight slivers from the grey fog before promptly catching parked taillights aligned up the road. Orange lit up our trucks cabin—effectively all but blocking our path any further I needed to find a way around.

  Groups of frustrated passengers stood outside their vehicles and voiced those frustrations in combinations of verbal as-well-as hand gestures.

  A chorus of car horns blared in various degrees of agitated pitches. High-beams flashed in rapid pulses throughout the chain of traffic layered with cursing and banging of car hoods for good measure.

  I watched as a man holding a tire-iron to his side approach and threaten a young couple parked in front of his SUV as his freighted children and wife looked on in embarrassment.

  These people were afraid and allowing their primal side to take over. It did little good regardless. Was his plan to threaten every vehicle that stood in his path?

  Momentary distracted from their smart phones, the girls peered between Hailey and I for a look.

  “Daddy are we still going home?” Ava asked sweetly.

  “We are Sweetpea,” I said motioning her and Emma to sit back down.

  “I’m going around them,” I said aloud while the girls shuffled back into their seats.

  I pulled over to the side and drove us slowly along the shoulder to see if I could bypass the traffic. A pileup had taken up most of the road ahead. The north ramp leading back home was blocked as an overturned semi had crashed further up the exit.

  Its back-end was open and smashed, and its cargo spilled over the barricade to the ground some forty feet below. A few dozen motorists were busy picking up its contents near a wrecked car that was set ablaze from the collision with the semi. From the logo on the side of the large container, it was hauling potato chips.

  “We aren’t going to be going that way,” I said without a real plan in mind for my next course of action. By the looks of traffic and the growing tension it had already caused, I didn’t want to stick around in case things started to escalate.

  Road rage was one thing. Complete pandemonium amidst an infection sweeping Texas was on a whole new level however.

  I checked around as the only other option would be to take one of the country roads and hope it put us on the other side of where we needed to be on the highway toward home.

  “I can shortcut back near the neighborhoods. Should put us on the northside I think,” I said as I turned back around the row of vehicles catching angry and tired eyes glaring at us from the cars stuck in traffic. Several other desperate people bypassed us to make it past the growing traffic, unaware of what we had discovered for ourselves. Or simply not caring.

  In their eyes I could see the hopelessness, the fear of the unknown and the growing disbelief of the seriousness of this illness. I wouldn’t have thought much of it either had it not been for what happened at the hospital.

  Even hours ago I was face-to-face with an infected and had no clue what type of danger I was putting myself in. It was stupid and a mistake I could not put myself back in for my family’s sake.

  Gravel flicked off to our sides, providing just enough traction to drive over the median away from the highway. Before us lay nothing but thick cedar trees and fog. A green reflective street sign shined bright as I hit it with my high-beams.

  The truck winded down the lumpy dirt road. Within minutes the chorus of traffic faded to only the sounds of the woods. It was almost unsettling, the normal-ness of crickets chirping felt surreal.

  We leapt up and down as tires bounced over varying depths of potholes and rock. The fog now thicken to a degree where I could just barely see ten feet in front of us. To either side of us a canvas of black, grey and green.

  “Nathan, do you know where we are going exactly?” Hailey twisted around checking for an exit. Her tone of voice was low as to not upset the girls. But mostly for show just for Ava.

  “I’m sure we’re heading the right direction, feels like we are at least,” I said slowing to a near stop from a light signaling ahead.

  Through the fog I could see two blinking white lights. These weren’t hazard lights. Instead a man wearing army fatigues was standing in the middle of the road holding high-powered flashlights in either hand.

  He was flagging us to stop.

  15

  Dead End

  “Ya’ll people ok?” The man asked as I cracked my window. He came across as the country bumpkin type. But was amusingly dressed head-to-toe in loose fitted military fatigues.

  Must be a regular at that Army Surplus store we passed some five miles ago. I thought as I stared at him blankly.

  He looked like the kind of guy that hand stitched his name to the lapel’s of jackets and hats. That kind of guy. And it seemed he had as I read the name stitched slightly to a skew on his jacket; Gary.

  “Heard the crash earlier, been on the lookout for anyone coming this way, to warn them about the potential flooding,” He said as he pointed to a near-by creek that ran under a squat concrete bridge. The sign warned of such flooding was bent over the edge of the creek.

  I continued to stare blankly at this strange man. Fumbling my thumbs over the steering wheel I looked at Hailey bent over in her seat coughing.

  Then, a flash of rain began to fall in steady succession as the sky opened up a downpour of raindrops that pelted the trucks hood in near-deafening thumps.

  “Just looking for an alternate routine from the highway. I was looking for a shortcut and decided to try this road,” I finally said.

  “Don’t think you’ll be making your way that way, it’s a dead end my man,” He said seemingly joking. I peered down the dirt path into the nothingness as wind began to gather in intensity and the rain fell with even more motivation.

  The man began to pull from his jacket, I flinched my head back into the truck, grabbing my gearshift unsure of his intentions. Hailey grabbed my shoulder. She was following my lead as I knew she couldn’t hear our conver
sation with the sound of rain drowning out our words.

  “No worries friend, just an umbrella is all. No need to be alarmed,” He said as he produced a travel sized umbrella from under his heavy coat and opening it over his head.

  “Sorry, it’s just with everything that happened today, I’m a bit jumpy,” I said putting on an awkward smile.

  The man pulled a cigarette from the front pocket of his jacket and lit it using his free hand by matchstick from a near empty pack of bar matches. The match flared to life as I could see the mans face reveal a scruffy mustache that dangled over pursed lips as he took a deep drag of the cig.

  “Want one?” He presented the pack of the cancer sticks my way.

  “No, I don’t smoke,” I replied doing my best not choke on his smoke.

  He shrugged and nodded over my truck to a boxy trailer to Hailey’s side of the country road.

  “I have a bunker ya’ll are welcome to come to just over there.” He pointed to beside the old trailer. I had to look sharply through the fog as the bunker was seemingly built underground.

  “We’re just trying to get home, any other way to get onto the twelve from here?” I had to now yell through the piercing noise of rainfall.

  “Afraid only the way you came,” He said as he took another drag of the cigarette dangling from the side of his mouth. I half-expected his mustache to catch fire from the embers that gathered atop from each deep drag he inhaled.

  Bursts of lightening fractured the night’s sky followed by a low rumble in the distance.

  “Storms-a-brewing, ya’ll are welcome to take shelter in my bunker,” He offered again tilting his head upward to the sky. “With all the shit happening out here, best to be in a safe place until we can all wait this out,” He continued taking another drag from his cig. A crack of lightening then pierced the dark grey of sky, a thunderous boom promptly followed.

  I considered just what else lurked in the night and just how we would get home with that semi doing a good job covering up the highway and with all those vehicles all gathered up blocking the exits. And with the chance of flooding mixed in for good measure on top of it all now, it gave me enough to think about to consider his offer.

  I needed to do what had to be done to keep my family safe. Those, infected, were out there. Hungry as we all were by now. And just as motivated to feed themselves.

  “Apologizes for my rudeness—“ The man in the army fatigues said as he tossed the near finished cigarette to the growing puddle at his feet.

  “Name’s Gary,” He said extending a boney hand through the crack of my window. I hesitantly embraced his with mine.

  “Hi Gary, I’m Nathan,” I said shaking his hand.

  The rain continued to beat down in waves as even the sounds of nature became silenced. I couldn’t chance making it back home tonight. I looked to Hailey, she was slumped in her seat exhausted from the day’s events.

  “Do you—” I began wanting to not sound like it would have been a hand-out.

  “—have anything to eat?” I asked.

  “For my girls.” I pointed to the backseat as Emma and Ava popped up from behind their phones.

  Gary twisted his head to the rear window. I glanced back to them from my rear view mirror. The girls looked to Gary. Ava waved politely. Emma was quick to return to her phone.

  “Sure, I got plenty of food down there. Enough to last out all of this,” Gary said proudly.

  He looked like the type of man. A prepper I believe they called themselves. They were the type of paranoid people to stock their pantry’s with tin cans of SPAM, dried fruits and any number of big warehouse sized tubs of anything remotely edible in the event of an apocalypse.

  Everything from canned tomatoes to canned meat. Suddenly that TV special I had watched, mocking those crazy people seemed like I was the dumb one to not have prepared for a situation like we now found ourselves in.

  “One moment Gary,” I said excusing myself to consult with Hailey.

  He nodded and pulled another cigarette from his pocket and lit up. I rolled the window up as Gary blew smoke around the side of my window as the rain continued to pour.

  “What are you thinking babe? Should we trust this guy?” I leaned to Hailey taking her hand. Her grip was weak but her face said it all. By now she was running on empty.

  Hailey looked flush with tiredness as she barely could lift her eyes open to speak to me.

  “We need to rest, I need to rest Nate,” She said quietly through the loud sound of raindrops hitting the metal of the truck. Her eyes closed as she leaned her head against the window tinted with Gary’s smoke.

  We’ll rest here, just for the night. I thought as the sound of thunder clapped and smoke spread through raindrops…

  About the Author

  I have, for over a decade, worked as a professional in various digital entertainment industries. At the beginning of my career I worked in the film and television fields doing everything from compositing film footage to animating whatever the client wished to bring to life on screen.

  I was a VFX Artist on the 2010 action film "The Expendables” and a 3D Artist on dozens of television shows and commercials throughout my years in film / television.

  Currently, my day job is working in the video game industry as an Environment Artist at a studio creating art for VR and console games. I enjoy the ability to bring worlds to life through my art.

  Outside of studio work, I enjoy making my own art and writing.

  In writing, you can will into existence any matter of wonderful thing from your imagination.

  Making something from nothing is one of the greatest joys we have out of life. And to share our creations with fellow creators and dreamers is why I keep creating. As I hope you do too.

  -John

  Author’s Notes

  Hi. John here. I’m so happy you took the time to read my book. Thank you. I can’t wait for you to see what is upcoming in the series.

  I was inspired to write this series through my love of all things zombie related.

  My wife and I recently visited Senoia, GA, the location where they film much of the AMC show “The Walking Dead” during a road trip home.

  It was then that I wondered what it would be like if we were returning home amidst a viral outbreak sweeping our state.

  This is my take on the zombie apocalypse set in the state I call home, Texas.

  I'm an avid consumer of post-apocalyptic and wanted to put the focus on a family experiencing the outbreak firsthand. Expect exciting twists and family drama aplenty as the story progresses.

  My plan moving forward with this series is to write it in the fashion of television. Expect future books in the series to be around the same length of 20k - 25k words per installment. With releases at least once a month.

  If you enjoyed this book, please consider leaving a review on Amazon. As a first-time author, every review helps and shows that there is interest in the series.

  Thank you again for reading this first entry in the “Infected Texas” series.

  -John

  For all updates on future books in the series, my other books and more, please check out my author website at:

  https://www.johnjomahony.com

  Book 2 Sneak Peek

  The sound of heavy rainfall belted off the steel door we entered on our way underground into the depths of our unknown shelter. Gary entered last as I took a look upward to watch as he closed the hatch—all but silencing the chattering of rainfall and growing thunder into a muffled chatter.

  I climbed down into the depths slowly, keeping a firm grip on Hailey’s feet as I guided them to metal rods while we descended into darkness. She was too weak to carry the weight of her body on her own as we stopped often so she could catch exhausting breaths.

  I felt the concrete tube that ran the length from above-ground to the pit of the bunker emit a cool-like air between us and the structure. It’s insolation of cold concrete felt refreshing compared to the heat swirling above-
ground.

  I was thankful for it strangely. That if we had to be stuck away from home with those infected lurking above surface, I’m glad we were at least somewhere seemingly safe and comfortable.

  We reached the ground level and I quickly helped Hailey to one of the bunks nearest a make-shift wooden cabinet stocked full of rows of canned foods, water jugs and rolls of toilet paper. And SPAM, lots and lots of SPAM. All of the essentials accounted for in the end times indeed.

  “You doing ok, babe?” I whispered as I took better inventory of our surroundings. Hailey nodded hesitantly at first. But the way her eyes spoke to me was a different story.

  She pointed toward a stack of water bottles aligned on a shelf. I snagged one and passed it over to her before glancing up to see Gary encourage the girls to take it easy moving down the ladder.

  Hailey produced then gulped down a couple of pain meds in a hurry, clinching the plastic water bottle in such a tight grip that it crumbled inward—water spilled from the sides of her mouth from her attempt at chugging like exploding tiny waterfalls.

  She let out a belching spittle of a cough from nearly choking on water before resting her head on a camouflaged wrapped pillow and closed her eyes. “Just give me a moment Nate,” she rolled over to her side as I embraced her briefly with a soft touch to her shoulder.

  “It’s ok, you rest,” I whispered and I went to kiss Hailey’s cheek as she closed her eyes.

  I glanced back up as Ava dangled her tiny self off the ladder and called for her sister’s assistance. But first making sure Pups was taken into the safety of her sisters arms.

  I sat by Hailey’s bedside as I watched our girls set about walking the parameter of the concrete box that was Gary’s survival bunker. Ava lagged behind her sister squeezing Pups in her little arms with the look of a lost child in a foreign land in the dim, red tinted room.