Z-Risen (Book 3): Poisoned Earth

by Long, Timothy W.

  Roz rolled onto her back, saw the shuffler as it attacked Anna, and didn’t sit around waiting for help. She scissor-kicked from her side and caught the rotter in the thigh. A normal man would have howled with pain, but this just pissed off the shuffler.

  “Fuck you, asshole,” she said and kicked again.

  The shuffler shrugged off the blows, and his mouth leapt at Anna.

  Anna did a neat trick where she leveraged her body off the ground and twisted to dump the shuffler on his side. She tried to move away, but the thing scrambled to its knees and then went for her.

  Christy dashed past Joel with a flaming can in one hand. She skipped the last step, hit the ground running, and only paused to slam the improvised Molotov onto the shuffler’s head.

  Anna crab-walked out of the way as fire streamed around them.

  The shuffler screeched as his hair flared to life. He leapt off of Anna and fell, slapping at his head as the fire spread. Skin and stringy hair burned. The shuffler tried to bat at the fire, but as he came up into a kneeling position, Joel put an end to his struggles with a shot to the head. The 5.56 round passed through his skull and exited with an impressive amount of red and rotted brain matter.

  The shuffler’s head snapped back, and for a second he stared with hatred at us. Even I was fucking shocked at how long it took for the thing to slump to the side.

  Joel and I helped the ladies to their feet, and he quickly took point. He kicked a Z out of the way and shot another at almost point-blank range, blowing half its head off in the process.

  Anna limped, and warded her injured arm, holding it tight against her body. Her Smith & Wesson hung in her other hand. Roz clung to me, her arm draped around my waist. She stepped on something on the ground and almost fell. I lifted her back up, surprised at how weak she seemed.

  Christy moved to my side, Frosty sticking close to her. Christy had her little snub-nosed revolver in hand and fired into the darkness. The round caught a shambling Z in the shoulder. He spun away and crashed into another rotting corpse, and the two went down in a heap of limbs.

  Behind me, flames crept out of the second-story windows, casting an orange and yellow haze over the backyard. I didn’t want to think about the things coming for us, but I looked anyway. I should have kept my damn eyes front and center, because there were more than enough to kill us.

  “Joel, we’re about to be overrun!”

  “I know, fuck, we’re here though. Get them in the back and I’ll start the truck. Christy, shoot any fucker that gets close, and don’t let Frosty run off. Get her in the front seat with you.”

  “Got it,” she said. Christy opened the gun’s cylinder and dropped spent shells on the lawn. With deft and practiced fingers, she reloaded from her jeans pocket.

  I had to kick a Z out of the way. The shambler had been hanging out in the tiny space between the camper and the side of the house. He fell on his back, and when he looked up I met his gaze with a blow to the head. My wrench felt like a fifty-pound lead pipe, but I managed to lift it one more time.

  Anna slid past me and hit the side of the truck. She peeked around the corner and held up a hand.

  Joel hopped in the driver’s seat and started the truck. In the movies this would be the part where the engine wouldn’t turn over no matter how many times Joel cranked it. The first piece of good luck all night occurred when the engine roared to life.

  Anna swung around the back of the truck and fired two measured shots.

  “Clear!” she said.

  Roz and I clutched at each other as Anna opened the back door. She watched our six as I helped Roz on board. I didn’t need to be reminded that we were surrounded, so the Zs thumping at the sides and back of the truck were like hammer blows upside my now-aching head. I needed water, some aspirin, and about fifteen hours of fucking sleep.

  Roz and I collapsed on the floor. Anna slammed the door shut and locked it. The truck’s engine engaged and Joel backed up. Anna was thrown off her feet and hit the little dining table. She grabbed at the edge, but lost the battle and was tossed to the ground.

  “Fuck me!” she said.

  ###

  04:05 hours approximate

  Location: Just outside of Oceanside

  I struggled to get on my hands and knees as the truck rocked us. I managed to pull Roz to my chest when Joel hit the engine again. The truck accelerated while I struggled to get Roz to the bed. Her breathing was labored and she had gone almost completely limp in my hands.

  “Come on Roz, we’re just about out of here. Tell me what hurts, okay?” I said.

  She shrugged and pointed at her mouth.

  The interior of the camper was cold and dark, so Anna hit the overhead light.

  I nearly dropped Roz.

  Her mouth was covered in blood and gore. She struggled away from me, so I let her go.

  Roz spit out a mass of blood and saliva, then furiously wiped at her mouth with her sleeve. She rolled to her side, curled up in a ball and vomited. The reek hit me and I almost threw up myself. That would have been an interesting chain reaction, because Anna might have joined the barf patrol.

  “What’s wrong with her?” Anna asked.

  “Don’t know,” I said.

  I stared at Roz in horror. If she’d been bitten, we needed to get rid of her, and soon. I liked Roz a lot. We’d even shared a moment in a garage a few months back. She’d been with us ever since. If we had to toss her, I didn’t want to be the one to tell Joel.

  The truck spun tires and swerved to the right, and I was thrown off my feet.

  “Jesus, Joel!” I yelled.

  I doubt Joel heard me, but the truck accelerated for a full twenty seconds before he slammed on the brakes again. This time I’d barely gotten to all fours when I face-planted onto the tile floor. My arm stretched out to stop my forward momentum, but my nose ended up taking the impact anyway.

  Cursing, I pushed myself back up and got to my feet. I wedged myself between the floor and the low ceiling and held on for dear life, because sure enough, the truck roared forward again. This time I got to the little table and sat down before Joel could knock me down again.

  Roz was curled up in a ball and shaking. Anna lay next to her, and shot pleading looks my way.

  “Can you tell what’s going on with Roz? Was she bit?” I asked.

  I rubbed at my nose and didn’t find blood, but it hurt like hell.

  “She’s wounded, but I can’t tell how it happened,” Anna said. Her eyes didn’t meet mine.

  Anna’s body language changed. She tensed and her hand crept to her holster.

  “Is she?” I couldn’t finish.

  “I said I don’t know.”

  “Roz. You okay?” I asked.

  She nodded but didn’t reply. One of her arms wrapped around her head like it was about to explode.

  “Fuck,” Anna said, which seemed to sum up what I was thinking as well.

  That was all she got out before we hit something. Two somethings. The truck swerved again, and then came to a shuddering stop.

  Frosty was in the front with Joel and Christy, but something must have spooked her, because her bark carried into the camper.

  Roz rolled across the floor and hit the little bed. Anna and I managed to hang onto the table. The truck moved again and came to a halt.

  “He’s playing fucking pinball up there,” I muttered.

  I moved to the window and slid the curtain aside. Anna didn’t move, and kept an eye on Roz.

  “What’s going on out there?” Anna said.

  I didn’t even have the words to answer her.

  The quiet neighborhood we’d found eight hours ago was filled with the dead. They were in the streets, streaming around houses, shambling corpses covered in rags and filth. White eyes fixed on nothing as they advanced.

  The truck backed up a half block and came to a halt again as we hit a couple of Zs. They bounced under the bed and were chewed up by tires.

  “We are so fucked,” I fi
nally said.

  Anna moved to the window and looked outside. She turned to me, her lips a slit as her mind churned.

  “Maybe he can find a way out,” Anna said.

  Joel’s assault rifle spoke. It rattled off a few measured shots, and then the truck moved once again. It accelerated and swerved to the right. Anna grabbed at me as I reached up and wedged myself against the roof.

  Another shot rang out. From the sounds, it was the little revolver that Christy carried. I didn’t stop to let the surrounding horror consume me. I needed to assess the threat from up high, and there was only one way to do that and communicate with Joel.

  The trapdoor was small, but I thought I could at least get my head out, and maybe an arm.

  “Keep an eye on her,” I nodded at Roz.

  I pushed a chair in the middle of the floor and stooped as I stepped on it. The hatch popped up, but there was a bar that kept it from opening all of the way. I hit the little door, but it was bolted tightly. I grabbed the bar that held it in place and twisted until it popped loose. The screw that held it against the opening wasn’t that strong, and the head hit the floor. It popped like a champagne cork and flew off. With any luck, it smacked a Z upside the head.

  I grabbed my 9mm and pushed myself up into the opening. I wiggled my gun hand out and got my upper body wedged in the entry. With a little more twisting I managed to get my shoulder in along with my arm, so I hoisted myself up and on top of the roof, which wanted to buckle under me.

  It was still dark, but morning was coming on, and with it, enough light to wish it was still pitch black. The things were all around us, and I understood now why Joel had been bouncing us all over the damn place: the Zs were an ocean in every direction, illuminated by the burning house we’d left behind. Sure enough, Joel’s idea had turned into an inferno. That meant it wouldn’t take long for the rest of the neighborhood to go up in flames.

  Something rattled loudly in the distance, shaking the night. I twisted around, looking for the source of the sound, pretty sure I knew what it emanated from.

  Hands hit the side of the camper as they reached for me, but I was far enough up that they weren’t a threat.

  Christy’s head appeared as she slid out of her window and crawled on top of the cab. She shot a Z that would have grabbed her ankle, and slithered on top of the truck.

  “Joel said we have to get inside and fortify.”

  “How were you planning to get in here?” I asked.

  “You were going to open the little roof door, duh,” Christy rolled her eyes.

  I shot a Z that got a little too adventurous. The bullet passed above one eye and exited the back of his head with a fair amount of dead brain matter.

  Joel leaned out of the window and shot a pair of Zs in rapid succession. The bodies fell away into the crowd.

  “SITREP?” Joel turned and shouted at me.

  “One word: fucked!”

  “That’s three words. How fucked?”

  “We are so fucked, dude,” I yelled back.

  Joel nodded and ducked back into the truck. “Coming out the starboard side.”

  “When you use fancy navy terms I get all hot in my pants, Joel,” I called back. “What about Frosty?”

  “I hope you got that smart mouth ready when they close in on us and start eating us feet first. I’m going to leave her here for now until I come up with a better plan.”

  “A better plan? Better to let her go. Frosty’s smart and quick. She’ll get away,” I said.

  Gunfire again as he shot three or four Zs that were crowding around the passenger side window. Joel slithered out the side of the truck, and shot a Z in the process.

  I leaned over and covered him, shooting a man with dreads. Dude’s head snapped back, and he was a twice-dead dread. “Joel, don’t, man. You won’t make it.”

  Joel shot another Z. “New plan,” he yelled.

  Joel disappeared and the truck jarred me against the roof. I grabbed the hatch and held on with a death grip as he shifted into reverse. The way behind us wasn’t much clearer, but I understood what he was doing even as the truck backed up. With the weight of the camper we’d have more traction. Couple that with the fact that it was rear drive, and we’d buy ourselves a few more minutes, at the very least.

  Christy got creative and used the camper’s small side window to haul herself up. A Z reached for her, but she was quick to kick him in the head. He fell back and quickly stretched for her again. Christy grasped the edge of the camper’s roof. I pushed through the portal and stuck my hand out for her, but she slipped away.

  A Z roared and I just about went over the side.

  Christy’s hand reappeared, and this time I put a death grip on her wrist and pulled her up.

  “Ouch, Creed. You’re going to break my arm.”

  “I thought they got you, Christy, Jesus!” I said, and hugged her as I dragged her toward me.

  She slithered around me and grabbed hold of the half-demolished hatch. I helped her turn around and got my arm around her waist.

  “I’m going back in. You need to be right behind me, got it?”

  She nodded, eyes wide.

  I scrambled for purchase as we turned multiple Zs into speed bumps. The truck's rear lights lit up the faces of white-eyed ghouls before they were crushed to a pulp. Joel kept it at a steady fifteen or twenty miles an hour as he smashed the horde aside.

  The hard part was getting my left arm back inside while I held onto Christy. She grasped the open hatch, slid around, and slipped her legs inside.

  My feet hit the chair and I stumbled, falling the short distance, but managing to land with jarring impact.

  “What in the fuck is going on out there?”

  “It’s bad, Anna.”

  Christy lowered her body into the camper. I got my hands around her and guided her to the floor.

  “Roz?”

  “Not any better, and all this goddamn bouncing around isn’t helping. Do I need to go up there?” Anna asked.

  “If you think it will help, sure.”

  Anna pushed me aside and stepped on the chair. It shifted beneath her, but she got her good arm up and pulled herself to her feet.

  “Keep an eye on her,” she said.

  “I was kidding, I’ll go back up there.”

  “Creed, I’m trained and I’m a better shot than you. Stay here and watch over Roz,” she said, and then leaned close. “You know what to do if you have to.”

  “That’s Roz,” I whispered back.

  “If she turns, she won’t be anything except a danger. Do you really want a Z loose in the camper?”

  Anna locked gazes with me, nodded once, and then climbed on the chair. She put her hand through the trapdoor and tugged her body into the spot I’d just occupied.

  Anna’s body didn’t completely disappear from sight. She maneuvered around and got one hand inside the hatch. She pulled her gun and lay flat.

  Christy dropped next to Roz to check on her. She’d taken a towel off the counter and used it to wipe Roz's face. The she grabbed a bottle of water and started to clean up the mess.

  The truck came to a shuddering stop. I grabbed at the ceiling and managed to brace myself. Anna slid forward, but she quickly backed up until I could see her upper body again.

  The truck moved forward, turned slightly, and then accelerated backward again. Hands pounded at the door, but the thumping of hands ceased after we moved, and was replaced by the thumping of bodies under the vehicle.

  The truck once again slammed to a stop, and didn’t move again. Anna shot until her big revolver ran dry, then handed it down to me.

  “Where’s the ammo?”

  “In the pile. Just hand me another gun.”

  “How many Zs are there?” I asked.

  “More than we have rounds for.” She gave me a flat look.

  Christy had already dug into our supply and come up with a compact Ruger .40 we’d acquired somewhere along the way. I shifted stuff around and found the
little house sweeper.

  “Coming up,” I said and got on the chair again.

  Anna shimmied over as I popped out of the hatch.

  The night was lit up by the house we’d set on fire. Flames roared as the house was engulfed. The orange glow was genuinely creepy, with flares casting shadows over the undead.

  To the North there was a road that looked clear. To the South lay an army of dead.

  Between us and a shot at the road were at least a hundred shamblers. It’s great to feel wanted, except when a bunch of people want to eat your flesh and blood.

  “Joel.” I pounded on the roof. “About a block and a half North of here, the road is free.”

  Joel yelled back an acknowledgment. His assault rifle rattled a few times, clearing something of a path. He slowly backed the truck up, smooshing over bodies that reached for us even as he crushed them.

  The truck roared ahead and I got my hand around Anna in case she lost her grip. She shimmied around so we had a good view of the front of the truck, and we both opened up, trying to drop as many of the Zs as possible.

  The problem was that they just formed little speed bumps, but Joel wasn’t deterred. He hit the high beams, bounced on a curb, tore over the sidewalk, and cut closely between two houses.

  Our vehicle had enough blood and guts covering the hood and sides to make a horror movie fan stand up and shout for glee.

  The yard was half-finished, and Joel had no choice but to drive over a couple of deep holes that had probably been dug for more trees. I got a glimpse of a Z rising out of one of the pits like a fresh-raised dead. The truck smacked him down and then bounced into the air. Anna hung onto me, and I held onto the hatch.

  We were going to make it.

  “Ow!” Christy called from inside.

  “We see the road, Christy. Hang on.”

  What I’d taken for a low line of shrubs or trees turned out to have a different idea. As the truck bumped over the yard, the high beams told the tale: the road was indeed free, but Zs were closing in from every direction. Even this big-ass rig wouldn’t be able to make it through that mess.

  “I’ll get us as far as I can,” Joel called from inside the truck.