by mike Evans
Lockdown
A collection of ten terror-filled zombie stories
Contributors:
Mike Evans
James Wallace
Kindra Sowder
Claire C. Riley
Katie Cord
James Dean
William Allen
Kya Aliana
Doug Dandridge
Greg P Ferrel
Copyright © 2017 by:
Mike Evans
James Wallace
Kindra Sowder
Claire C. Riley
Katie Cord
James Dean
William Allen
Kya Aliana
Doug Dandridge
Greg P Ferrel
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without the prior written consent of the Publisher, excepting brief quotes used in reviews.
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170311.004139
Foreword by Timothy W. Long
Lock Down
“Zombies, man. They freak me out.”
These words, spoken by Dennis Hopper in Land of the Dead, pretty much sum up my feelings regarding zombies. I’ve been a fan of zombies for many years but this is really a golden age of the genre. It seems like every day there is a new zombie book, comic, or even a television show. Since the grand-daddy of the genre, George Romero unleashed a small and unassuming movie on the world called Night of the Living dead in 1968, things have only gotten better for us zombie fans.
Zombies are now so pervasive they have appeared in everything from Stephen King’s take on people becoming infected via their phones in Cell, to J. K. Rowling’s inferni who are dead humans reanimated via dark magic. The undead have infected everything around us and isn’t that the way we like it?
The unique thing about modern zombies, and a good zombie story, is the fact that the zombies aren’t the stars of the tale. That honor falls to the characters and their struggles to adapt and survive. Previously, we had many movies but they generally fell into the voodoo or Haitian mythos where a single victim was brought back via magic. Now-a-days, it’s a virus, or a passing comet. It could be a man made toxin that has been spread, or maybe in a terrorist attack. Or it’s not even explained, leaving the onus on the reader to decide if it’s even important to the story line. No matter the source of the undead, there’s a pretty good chance all they want is to make life hell for their victims.
When I first heard about the Lock Down, I was immediately intrigued. Mike Evans has assembled a horde of zombie authors who are all ready and willing to take a fresh stab (or bite of brains) at the genre. Each story in the Lock Down anthology take place in a different floor in a tower, each is a unique take on the genre, and each was contributed by an author who brought their unique spin to the zombie mythos.
With such a variety of stories, I’m sure you’ll find something to keep you turning pages well into the night.
Timothy W. Long
October 2016
Thanks and Acknowledgements
A special thanks to Burning Willow Press for editing many of the stories as well as donating the cover free of charge. It is indie spirit like this that makes for awesome connections among friends. Please check out all of their titles here! http://www.burningwillowpressllc.com
Thank you to Timothy W. Long for taking time out of your busy writing schedule to write our forward. We very much appreciated it! We are all very glad to have you around and healthy again!
Book cover art done by Ryn Katryn Digital Art http://lorainelotter.wixsite.com/rynkatryn
Contents
Floor One – Mike Evans
Floor Two – James Wallace
Floor Three – only screams were heard
Floor Four – Kindra Sowder
Floor Five – Claire C. Riley
Floor Six – Katie Cord
Floor Seven – James Dean
Floor Eight – William Allen
Floor Nine – Kya Aliana
Floor Ten – Doug Dandridge
Floor Eleven – Only Screams Could Be Heard
Floor Twelve – Blood Dripped From The Walls
Floor Thirteen – Greg P. Ferrell
The New Guy
Floor one
Mike Evans
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© 2016 Mike Evans, All Rights Reserved
Mike Evans on Amazon
Floor one
Chapter One
First day
12 PM Friday afternoon
Frank held the door as Ian walked in. He couldn’t have been more impressed with the young engineer on his first day. “You sure you got enough to eat, Ian?”
Ian held up his hands in defeat. “Well, let me say that when I told them I was done after the first course and then they brought the main meal, I was pretty damn sure that I was going to need a stretcher if you wanted to get me back here.”
Frank went to say something when a group of people that would have to improve to be called freshly dead pushed through the doorway, knocking Frank to the ground and Ian forward. Frank went to say something until he noticed that they had no badges on. He yelled for the guards, “Hey security, these people don’t belong in here, get them out!”
The guards weren’t stupid and those that valued their jobs knew exactly who Frank was. When the guards tried to confront them, they started clawing at their faces. The bystanders attempting to help did the same and when Frank saw their pupils he said, “I think we should get back to the lab.”
“But these guys need help. I think we-“
“For someone with as many degrees as you, you don’t know when to get out of dodge. You can be thankful that you have me here to mentor you. You take my advice right now and get your skinny ass moving.”
The building’s polite warning message came over the intercom about locking down the building as they watched the strangers get thrown to the curb. Ian said, “Jesus, did you see that? They tossed them out and locked the place down in like ten seconds.”
“We take our building security seriously, kid.”
Ian watched as people cradled wounds and twisted their arms, blood coming from them as they walked into their wing of the building. Ian asked a stranger, “Are you okay?”
The man looked at his hand and at Ian as if he was a moron. “Do I look okay, kid? Hell no, I'm not okay! That shit hurt! God knows if they had some kind of transmittable blood disease I’m going to have to get checked out.”
Ian tried saying something else and that was when the lights in their hallway started flashing red. Frank said, “Well, we might get to stay late tonight.”
“Can I assume that those red lights are bad?”
“Only if we need to get out of here quickly. They just locked us in tight. I’d like to get to the office if we can. I fear that we can only sustain locks for so long inside our building. They shut everything down except the emergency lights. I want to lock the equipment down so no one thinks they are smart enough to fuck with it. Last thing we need is someone accidentally working on something they shouldn't.”
The two men hustl
ed past the other workers. Ian was trying to give the sneering strangers apologetic smiles and excuses, but they knew who Frank was and knew he could care less if he was rude to anyone. He barged past all of them, wounded or not.
8 AM Friday morning
Knock knock knock, “Honey…..Ian, are you okay, baby?”
The sounds of puking came back simultaneously. Ian tried to speak between choked breaths, but couldn’t. When his stomach rolled one last time he lost what was left in his stomach, and then it morphed into the dry heaves. His wife, Megan, was doing the sign of the cross for him. She was worried to death.
“Ian, are you sure you aren’t sick? You know how bad the flu is going around right now. The news was saying four out of ten people in the metro area are coming down with it.”
Ian crawled to the sink, pulling himself up onto shaky thin legs. “It isn’t the flu. Just give me a minute and I’ll be out. I’ll be okay; I just need to get through today.”
“Are you sure you don’t want to let them know you’ll start on Monday? I'm sure they’d understand if you just told them what was going on, babe.”
“Yeah, Megan, of course. I’ll just say, hey you know the guy that you just hired with a giant bonus and moving expenses that is going to assist and put you on top of the robotics industry? Well, he can’t come in because his anxiety is too unstable to drive twenty minutes to come in and do what he’s been researching and studying for the last decade. Is that okay with you if I just start on Monday? Christ you know if I don’t go in that I’ll just have to relive this all over again.”
“You aren’t giving them a chance, Ian. Did you take your anxiety meds?”
Ian stared at the toilet, nodding. “Yeah, you know I did, but funny thing hun? When I started upchucking, I lost every single last drop that was in my stomach. I'm pretty sure that they, along with what I attempted to eat for breakfast, are in the toilet as of now.”
“Do you want me to make you some eggs, then? I can drive you if you don’t think you’ll be able to handle it yourself.”
Ian opened the door. The look on his wife’s face said it all in regards to his appearance. “Oh shit, Ian. I'm driving you, and you're getting a flu shot this weekend just in case it is the flu going around. They can’t get mad at you for calling in sick next week if you do get sick. That is a legitimate reason.”
Ian kissed her cheek and walked to the bed, collapsing face first onto it. He said, “I’ll take some toast if you don’t mind, preferably dry, and with a double dose of prescription please. If you could drive me, then that’d be great, sweetheart.”
She sat on the bed next to him and rubbed his back. “Ian, I promise you they’ll be great to work for. The recruiter said how they’d never gone through so much effort to recruit one person. You should be a little confident going into things knowing that. You have some weight going for you.”
“You know where smart guys work, honey? With other smart guys. They might have recruited me but, in the end, I'm doing something totally new. I know next to nothing about prosthetics, or working with amputees. What do you think is going to happen if I have to actually talk to an injured war vet?”
“You can do like you do with me and bore them to death with the medical talk until they fall asleep. Or you could start off saying thank you for your service and we are going to make you all better now.”
Ian pushed over onto his back, clutching his stomach for a moment, making sure a return trip was not in his future before saying, “Hey smartass, you knew you were getting a nerd when you married me. There’s nothing to do now but, embrace it.”
She rubbed her hands down his thigh and said, “Oh, if only you didn’t look like you were on your death bed, honey.”
Ian tried to think of something clever to say, but realized the rocking motion if he got some might put him over the edge and then he wouldn’t see any action for quite some time to come if he began dry heaving again. “I’ll definitely take a rain check, Megan. Can you get me something that won’t require a tie to wear today? There’s no way in Hell I’ll be able to handle one. “
She pushed off the bed, praying they’d made the right move coming all the way from California to Chicago. His anxiety wasn’t any better there, but at least she knew he was comfortable at the robotics lab that he’d had a grant at. She had been the one to help the recruiter convince him to make the move, thinking of the injured warriors program and half of the proceeds went to the foundation. Also, those who they used to treat first were always vets with or without insurance. She found a sweater vest combo for him. “Well, I don’t care if you are a nerd or not. You are going to be a well-dressed nerd.”
He pushed up, seeing the ensemble, and gave a thumb up. “You do realize after I’ve been in that lab ten minutes that I could probably walk around naked and no one would notice considering all we ever wear are lab coats, right?”
“Well, at least if you take me out to lunch soon you’ll be dressed right. You’re going to take me out on your first day. Maybe you could show me your setup and lab?”
He rubbed at his stomach and shook his head no. “There’s a damn good chance I’ll be rocking Tums and a Coke for my lunch today. You come next week and I’ll take you somewhere nice. Being a big fancy robotics guy I’ll be able to afford to do that now. No more grant money begging for new research funding.”
Megan rubbed at her belly and said, “You think that you’ll be making enough to put a lil something in here?”
Ian smiled slowly and then said, “The idea of having a baby isn’t going to do anything for my anxiety today, honey.”
She helped pull off his sweat-soaked shirt and get the new one on before giving him a long kiss on the forehead. She said, “Maybe you shouldn’t worry about the diapers so much as all the fun that we are going to have making one. Until I get a job, you’ll just have to be my sugar daddy, baby.”
He looked in the mirror, checking out his frail frame that looked even more pathetic given the state of his complexion and sweaty hair. He said, “I don’t know what kind of a dad I'm going to be, Megan. I mean, that kid might as well dress heavy so he or she does not blow away. Do you not remember the pictures my mom showed you when I was a kid? The word runt is all that comes to mind.”
“You were a cute kid, and you’ll have cute kids. And remember, just because they aren’t huge doesn’t mean they wouldn’t be amazing like their father. And, of course, their mom. You’ll be fine today, you will do great, and I will pick you up at five after work tonight and you can take me out for a fancy dinner after your first day jitters are over. We’ll get a very nice glass of scotch to wash away whatever remaining fears you have left. How does that sound?”
“Like you're going to try and get me drunk and have your way with me, Mrs. Wood.”
“Oh, you know that I am, honey. You can’t be my sugar daddy if you don’t put out.”
Ian gave her a quick kiss, grabbing the clothes and heading back to the bathroom for a quick rinse. “You're a temptress, my dear, a temptress I tell you.”
“That’s why you married me. Now, get rinsed off so you aren’t late. I’ll get you some coffee and toast for the road. You okay with that?”
“Yeah, I’ll be out hopefully in ten minutes. Thanks, Megan. You’re the best. I love you.”
Chapter Two
They were off in less than twenty minutes. “I think we are going to be late, babe.”
“You can’t be late when you're salaried, Ian.”
“I'm not salaried until I actually get there and get my paperwork all figured out. Then the riches begin to roll in. Do you think downtown traffic is always like this?”
“Yeah, unfortunately I do. Maybe, after we learn our way around a little bit, we could figure out the bus and train system. It might be faster for you to take that route in. I'm sure other important people still rely on it to get them places, don’t you think?”
Ian looked up at the buildings, nodding his head absentmindedly. When they got withi
n a block of his new workplace, the building stretched almost as wide as it was high. He whistled, “Little bit bigger than UCLA huh, babe?”
“Uh, I think that would be an understatement. That building is enough to make someone want to work there. State of the art, security up the ass, and such a crazy set of different businesses that you could get everything from your taxes done, to a tattoo, to well God knows what else.”
Ian flexed his ropey bicep, smiling. “You think Bill Gates would get pissed if I put the Apple logo on my arm?”
“Christ, you're a nerd, and I love you for it. Maybe we could get the Harry Potter lighting mark on your butt cheek, though. Make it a couple’s dates and we could both get some ink done. Maybe I could figure out E=MC2. Would that be hot?”
“Oh, definitely.”
“Are you feeling better, Ian?”
“Yes, and thank you for taking my mind off things. I appreciate it.”
“That’s what a good wife does when her husband is having an anxiety attack. Try to make a friend today, say hi to a few people you don’t know. Don’t just work all day. Remember, you work there now, they want you-”
Ian cut in thinking of the Saturday Night Live character and said, “And gosh darn it, I’m the best me that I can be.” He leaned over, giving her a quick kiss. “Don’t forget to pick me up after school, Mom. I'm playing at Joey and Shaun’s tonight.”
Megan pinched his ass cheek as he pushed out of the car, sending him stumbling forward. He tripped on the curb and crashed to the ground. Megan opened her mouth to say something, unsure of what could right the wrong. She said, “Let me just start off by saying, I’ll happily give you a blow job later if you’ll just forget about that.”
An older woman walking by heard that and gasped, walking into the building. Ian rolled over, pushed up so he was just sitting staring at his wife, and shook his head. “You realize I love you all the time, but sometimes, just every so often I get to really put that to the test.”
“Are you okay?”
“My pride is hurt, but now I’ll be thinking about getting head later.”
She blew him a kiss, reached over, and pulled the door shut. She rolled down the window as he pushed off the ground. “Just think, now you won't be worried about being the new guy all day. You’ll be thinking about better things.”
