by Dallin Smith
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Dead Sector: Salt Lake City
Zombie Apocalypse in Utah’s Capitol City
by
Dallin Smith
Cover Design by Anthony Walsh
www.horrorharvestpub.com
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or are used fictionally. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or to actual events or locales is entirely coincidental.
This book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This book may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with.
Copyright © 2016 Horror Harvest Publishing. All rights reserved. Including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof, in any form. No part of this text may be reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the author.
Version 2012.04.22
ISBN-13: 978-1539623731
ISBN-10: 1539623734
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This is NOT the place!
He had been worried about making rent this month. That concern had been the heaviest thing weighing on his mind after he had lost his job. On a Tuesday morning, he had sat in the coffee shop trying to figure out how he would pay his past due rent, his heart had been pounding, his palms sweaty; everything in his world was at stake if he couldn’t make rent this month. And now, as Jason Fraley swung a sledgehammer into the side of a writhing, feral human’s skull, he paused to remember just how badly he wanted to worry about things like the rent again.
Salt Lake City, Utah, had been gorgeous. Had being the keyword. On a Tuesday morning, not more than a week ago, violence reigned supreme. At first, the news had thought that it was some strange new drug that was causing people to trip out and attack one another, but those theories died down once those who had been bitten rapidly became gibbering, rage filled animals, chasing down the living to tear them apart and feed upon them. No one had really known why it happened, but everyone who was currently scrambling to survive had a theory.
Jason had his own theories on what would cause a person to die, then revive, but he kept those theories to himself. The Mormons also had a theory but he wasn’t sure if this was the wrath of God coming down on mortal men. Jason wasn’t sure at all about the how or the why but he knew one thing, there were more and more of them with each passing hour. They were zombies, and he had always thought that a zombie would move slow but these things were quick. He had seen it happen before his very eyes. A woman had burst into the coffee shop, screaming about some psycho attacking her, clutching her wounded arm. A few men had gone to assist her but they were instantly surprised as the woman suddenly turned on them too, biting them with a frenzy . There was a moment of disbelief with the rest of the patrons and spectators but then all hell broke loose. Some of the bigger guys lasted longer but within minutes every single person who had been bit had turned from a regular human that walked, talked and had reasoning skills into a psychotic maniac, shrieking and biting at anything living.
Jason had managed to slip out the back of the coffee shop after the woman began biting, he certainly didn’t want to be around when the cops showed up, but now? Now he would give anything to see a cop. After that, Salt Lake City turned red overnight. Now, Utah wasn’t the largest of states and certainly didn’t have a big population but when the streets were filled with hundreds of people running and screaming from feral zombies it became apparent just how large the city was. He had run for hours through the streets.
Jason paused from his reflections as he swung his sledgehammer into another shrieking beast. The hammer connected with the zombie’s skull, shattering the man’s face and spraying Jason with blood. Jason grimaced as he felt the warm liquid splash onto him and he felt the urge to puke, but he held back. The piece of real estate he was now guarding was a spot between an industrial dumpster and a brick wall with an 12 foot chain link fence to his back. He needed time to think, to play his hand right.
Jason was, more or less, a deadbeat of a man. He meant well most of the time, but in all honesty he was a bit of a bastard. He cheated, lied and occasionally gambled with others people’s money, but it was because he always had a solid plan. His plans were perfect; the issue was that most folks didn’t believe him when he said he would pay them back. His last foray into honest work had ended in a spectacular failure but that was because he had tried to automate a few computer processes and ended up deleting a lot of sensitive information. He didn’t care for data entry much anyway. Jason Fraley didn’t actually care about anything except his ex-fiancee Sarah and getting rich. Unfortunately getting rich had gotten in the way of taking care of Sarah and she laid out an ultimatum one fine afternoon as she was leaving for work.
“It’s either money or me!” she had demanded one morning. “I’m tired of you always trying these ridiculous schemes and failing miserably. Either you get a real job or we part ways.”
And to his credit he did get a real job, but it didn’t last. She didn’t much care for him getting fired due to hi jinks and threatened to leave him for good unless he put his money chasing ways aside. He had promised he would and promptly wasted all of his money on a sure to win back alley poker game plan. When he rushed home in a hurry and told her to pack all her things and get moving, she said that was it. She needed some space and while Jason was free to get his legs broken by bookies as long as he wanted, she needed to figure out where she was going in life.
Jason reflected on that word as his sledgehammer crunched hard against a barista’s jaw, killing the zombie in an instant.
“Oof,” he wheezed as he dropped his weapon for a moment, bending over to catch his breath. He hadn’t been prepared at all for such chaos, such violence but then again who was?
Sarah was a sweet woman but Jason was truly no good for her. At least before the dead rose. His handiness with getting in and out of locked buildings as well as his natural instincts to hide well made him a hot commodity all of a sudden. The world had changed in a flash, all the things Jason Fraley and his fiancee had been worrying about was gone. Instead, there was only survival and Jason knew that if he didn’t find her soon enough, he would most likely never see her again. Most of Jason’s plans had involved escaping from Salt Lake City and their 3.2 ABV beer for good, but now he was actually trying to get deeper into the city, looking for the love of his life. He was well aware of the irony.
As Jason took a breather from his swift assault on the undead, he glanced up to see several dozen more zombies were in the streets, wandering around. They were relatively docile when they didn’t see a human, looking a bit bewildered as if in a trance, but the moment they made eye contact they would dart at top speed and not stop until they were either incapacitated or on top of their target.
Jason had been hiding here and there for a few days trying to get a handle of the situation but once he got word that the city was beginning to evacuate he had realized there was no chance of this whole thing blowing over. Salt Lake City was in trouble and he would have to move. He grabbed a few makeshift weapons he had picked up over the last few days and worked his way down to the streets where he was promptly mobbed by eight of the undead. He had jumped into a coffee shop to hide but found the place occupied by a lone zombie. He quickly made short work of it swinging a piece of sheet metal and taking
off it's head.
Jason glanced up as he heard some noises against the window of the store. He felt his heart race as dozens of the creatures shambled up to the windows and began to press their bodies against the glass. There were at least fifteen waiting for him. They hadn’t seen him yet but were very attracted to the noise. The back door to the shop had been barricaded and he was now in a very unfortunate situation.
Their red-eyed faces were pressing against the glass as they gnashed their teeth and moaned deeply. He shivered as he watched what had once been regular men and women thrash their bodies against the glass. The windows were slowly beginning to crack and Jason knew that he was in trouble. The sledgehammer was heavy and unwielding. His run from his last spot to the coffee shop had tired him out. He glanced around the shop, looking for something that could be of assistance but found nothing more than some knives, a few chairs and the corpses of a few dead patrons. Nothing would be able to help him here.
Finally, the glass shattered and fifteen zombies fell in, groaning and moaning as they excitedly stumbled over one another. The lights were dark and they didn’t seem to notice Jason yet as he had hidden behind the sales counter. They were agitated by the noise and were stumbling around blindly looking for him. He wondered if they had a sense of smell but couldn’t be sure. Fifteen were a lot of undead and he felt himself grow tense as they staggered and stumbled aimlessly around the shop. If one spotted him, it would go into a frenzy and he would be killed easily. He took out his cellphone and looked at the small device. Groaning internally, he set the phones alarm to one minute and threw it out the shattered window. He counted down breathlessly and the alarm began to shriek loudly. The zombies all howled at the noise and turned to rush out the door towards the alarm at full speed.
Jason wasted no time and climbed over the table, rushing out the door behind the undead. The creatures were distracted once outside, by a small gaggle of teenagers who had unfortunately been out in the open. The zombies gave chase. There were three young men, one was wearing a shirt with the symbol of the Utah Jazz basketball team. He had a baseball bat and was crying out cheerfully “come on! Let’s kill these bastards!” as the undead swarmed him. The others, who were carrying tire irons and crowbars, lost their nerve as the pack of fifteen charged them and turned to run. “Don’t run!” the Jazz fan cried as he tried to fight against the wave of the undead. He managed to knock a few back but there were too many for him to hold his ground.
Jason tried to shout and scream to distract them but they were too far at this point. The young man was dead in seconds. Jason shook his head and felt his stomach churn at the screams of the young man cursing his friends for leaving him. The other two quickly disappeared into the very coffee shop that Jason had left. Jason thought about teaming up with the kids but couldn't bring his self to back track the half block or so between them.
Just as he turned to run on Jason watched in horror as Jazz fan stood up and began to shamble along, his limbs were severely damaged and most of his flesh was torn off, but he was able to move and was looking right at Jason. “Ah crap!” Jason shouted as he turned to run, only to see several dozen more corpses shambling in his direction. They seemed to be moving toward the unending sound of the alarm. The only problem was that Jason was between the alarm and the two hordes of zombies. He gripped the sledgehammer and felt himself wince. He was not ready for this kind of fight at all.
Behind him came a roaring of a vehicle. Jason glanced back to see a rather large Hummer with several young men clinging onto it for dear life . The vehicle pulled up next to him. A few of the lads began firing shots at the undead surrounding the vehicle and thinned the herd considerably. The zombies charged the car but were shredded by the bullet fire coming from the vehicle.
“Hey!” said a young man, armed with an AR-15 rifle. His expensive looking white sweater was incredibly stained with blood. “What are you doing out in the road? You’ll get killed out here!”
“My name’s Jason Fraley! I’m Looking for someone!” Jason replied as he swung his sledgehammer at one of the corpses that had its legs blown off and was crawling forward. It seemed the undead only died when they sustained a head injury.
“Well we’re escorting folks to the Temple!” said the driver as he unrolled the window. “They’ve been prepared for something like this for a long time!”
“Who’s been prepared?” Jason asked as he glanced around the area. Several more zombies had taken notice of the noise and were slowly wandering towards the vehicle. The armed men held their fire but kept their guns raised.
“The Mormons!” the driver replied. “Police have ordered an evacuation and the church has given out orders to every church member, grab whoever you can and get to the Temple. It’s big enough to withstand anything!” Several more zombies were beginning to emerge from various stores and were staggering toward the hummer.
The driver looked at the cluster enroute and shook his head. “Hey I don’t want to be rude but these things lose their freaking minds the moment they can see you. I think they can see about 10 or 15 feet away, not sure. Hop in and we’ll get moving.”
Jason shook his head at the offer. “Sorry I’m looking for my wife. She’s further South, the temple’s the other direction from where I’m going.”
“Fella, your wife’s either dead or gone,” the driver replied. “Ain’t no use dying too. Come on.”
“Sorry but I can’t leave her behind. I’ll come after I get her.”
“It’s your funeral,” the driver replied as he revved the engine up.
“Wait!” said one of the young men. He was barely an adult and he held a rather long meat cleaver in his left hand. “I’ll help you find her!”
“Help him? Tommy, he’s got no chance out there!”
“I know, which is why he’s going to need help. I’ve killed enough of these things to know how to help him,” Tommy replied. The young man climbed off the side of the hummer and shoved another machete into Jason’s hand. “Here this will work better.” Jason looked at the kid, barely standing 5 foot 6 inches, and smiled. “Glad to have ya kid.” He went to mess up Tommy's short blond hair but Tommy ducked at the last minute. “Please don't call me kid!”
The driver grimaced at the loss. “Fine, whatever, look, radio chatter is saying they police are focusing on keeping State Road clear and open, if you somehow manage to find your wife and she ain’t a walking corpse, you can get to the Mormon Temple through that. They’ve got food, supplies, guns, everything needed to wait out this thing.”
“Mormons and guns, why am I not surprised?” Jason muttered.
“Hey I’m a Mormon, why didn’t I get a gun?” Tommy said as he looked at his cleaver.
“When you can shave you get a gun,” the driver replied with a laugh. “See you corpses later.” And with that the vehicle took off at full speed.
“Thanks for-“
“No time for talk, we gotta get moving!” Tommy hissed as he pointed at the horde that was dangerously close to the two. True to the driver’s word though, the zombies were completely unware of the humans being as close as they were to them. Any closer and they could kiss their asses goodbye.
“Ah crap, that’s a lot of them. What’s the plan?” Jason asked as he followed Tommy away from the street center. There were building everywhere downtown like any metropolis, and in the windows of those buildings Jason could see dozens of undead.
“What do you mean, what’s the plan? I figured you knew what you were doing!” Tommy hissed.
“My plan is to go south a couple of blocks to find my fiancee,” Jason replied.
“I thought you said wife!”
“It’s the same thing,” Jason said. “Now come on, we’ve got to think here. I need to get to 6th south, 2nd west.”
“What’s there?”
“Most likely my woman.”
Most of the street was deserted. There were a few cars but several of them had crashed into various storefronts and were in states of di
srepair. There was one large truck that read “Grub Truck” and there was a ladder hanging off the side of it.
“Come on, let’s climb that thing before we get run down,” Jason said as he rushed toward the ladder. The zombies were now shuffling after them a little more excited, hearing noises but still not close enough to see their dinner.
Jason scrambled atop the vehicle and grabbed Tommy to pull him up. He figured Tommy weighed about 125 pounds soaking wet. He took a second to catch his breath before looking out onto the street. He gasped when he realized there were not merely dozens of corpses but rather there were hundreds of zombies roaming the street. He felt his heart begin pounding hard as he noticed that several dozen corpses were wearing SWAT gear.
“So many of them,” Tommy nervously whispered. “I didn’t see that many earlier.”
“They’re fast enough to flood an area if they are on the hunt,” Jason replied as he looked at the cleaver in his hand. “There’s way too many to fight. And running through them would be suicide.”
“Well we can always try to distract them,” Tommy said
“How?”
“Throw something maybe?”
“I’ve got nothing on me that I can throw except for this sledgehammer and I doubt I can throw it very far.”
“what about your phone?”
“I already used it to lure some of those bastards away.”
“Do you have to curse?” Tommy asked.
“I think I’m allowed to swear a little!” Jason said. “Either way, do you have a phone?”
“No, already used that alarm trick to get out of a really bad situation in the Gateway Mall.”
“Oh man, the Mall too huh? What happened?”
“Well when you have that many stores and people in the area for a Food Festival…things don’t go too well. I barely made it out okay. Had a few people with me but they died or ran when we were jumped by some bandits.”
