Omega Virus (Book 1): Beta Hour

by Jake A. Strife

  With the garage secure, he came back, slashing a few Corpses on the way.

  Wesley looked over his shoulder. “Hey, Frank!”

  “Zach!” I said. “My name is Zach!”

  “Yeah, Jack, whatever--” Wesley waved his hand.

  “Zach!”

  He cleared his throat. “Anyway, there should be a radio in the back seat. I saw it fly back there.”

  I looked around and felt under the seat and found the handheld receiver.

  “This?” I held it up.

  “Yes.” He snatched it and tossed it into the air.

  Tiffany snapped it out of the air and turned it over in her hands.

  “It’s linked to the security desk,” Wesley said. “Each employee with a car was given one. We radio the desk, and they open the garage with the security console, you know when we were doing overtime. But it only links to this building.”

  “We’re really going somewhere?” I asked.

  “Yeah, the 7n20.” Wesley named the local department store.

  “Why?”

  “Supplies of course.” He murmured. “And to show you guys the way of the world.”

  “Huh?” I asked.

  A smile hit the corner of his lips. “Never mind, I just need a new high score.”

  The idiot would doom us all for a few points.

  Tiffany handed me the radio. “Tell the others.”

  “R-right,” I held the button. “Hey. It’s me, Zach.”

  A moment later, Jeff spoke. “Jessie was worried sick! We watched you guys walk into the garage and then it sounded like a war going on in there!”

  “A horde of Corpses,” I replied as I looked from Tiffany to Wesley. Hopefully, she wouldn't mount and kill him at any second, although she glared every so often with utter hatred.

  “Are you alright?” Dave’s voice crackled through.

  “Yeah, all three of us,” I said.

  “Zach!” Jessie's voice chimed in. “Where are you now?”

  “We’re heading to the 7n20.”

  “Oh good,” Dave said, “Check out the game section. See if they have—ow!”

  “Sorry.” Jessie’s voice came back. “What were you saying?”

  “We need supplies. It looks like we’re going to be staying at the game studio for a while.”

  “Please be safe.”

  “We will. Over and out.”

  I rolled down the window as we drove through the streets. The city of Milpeg had gone to hell in just a matter of hours, and only Corpses still moved. Instead of a ten-minute trip, Wesley made it almost an hour. He stopped every time he saw a Corpse. The scoreboard in his head had to be overflowing.

  Finally, we pulled up outside of the expansive parking lot. Hundreds of corpses shambled around. Everyone had to have rushed for supplies and walked into a massacre.

  Before we climbed out of the car Wesley reloaded all of the guns and gave us extra clips.

  “I suspect. That we won’t be alone inside.” Wesley said, sounding a little too happy.

  “Probably not,” I agreed.

  Wesley ran to a clear aisle and motioned us over. We had to be careful. To catch the attention of one Corpse would be to bring them all down upon us.

  We made our way to the front of the store, just as drops of rain started falling. I looked up at the dark and dreary sky. We still had a while until nightfall, but a storm would make things worse, especially if we had to carry a ton of food and supplies to the SUV.

  A security camera on the side of the building moved back and forth, and I stared at it in suspicion.

  “What is it?” Tiffany asked.

  “Nothing,” I whispered. “Let’s just hurry up; it’s getting cold out.”

  “Of course, the zombie apocalypse had to start in winter,” Tiffany said, as she Swatted a water droplet off my nose.

  Her touch, ever so slight, gave me goosebumps. I shook off the feeling, reminding myself I wanted to be with Jessie, not Tiffany; no matter what my stupid dream had made me feel.

  “It’ll be Christmas in a week,” I said.

  “I could care less.” Tiffany checked her gun. “Holidays aren’t my thing.”

  “Well, I care,” Wesley announced as he fiddled with the sliding door mechanism.

  “You do?”

  “Of course,” he said. “It’s time to go shopping for some new toys.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Of course.”

  The doors slid open, and we walked through into the dark store. There were no Corpses anywhere, although blood pooled in multiple places. We walked through the woman’s clothing section and continued to the directory.

  “Guns and weapons upstairs,” Wesley grinned and started away.

  “Shouldn’t we start with food?” I asked.

  “You can.” Wesley nodded to the escalator. “I’m going to get me some guns, and maybe some new blades as well. And see if I can find any hottie survivors.”

  Wesley got on the still-moving escalator and rode it up. The doors were locked, but the escalators still ran. How long would the power last? The world would soon be even more depressing.

  Tiffany shrugged and rushed to catch up with him.

  “No one has their priorities straight.” I sighed.

  As I started after them, a shadowy figure struck Wesley on the head with what looked like a rifle. Tiffany didn’t have time to react and got slugged as well. They both collapsed.

  “Oh, crap!” I gasped.

  I scrambled around the side of the escalator and peeked upstairs. A couple of people dragged Wesley and Tiffany out of sight. One stopped and snapped their head in my direction. I pulled back and held my breath. My heart thundered so loudly, at any second, it would betray me.

  Wesley had been right; we weren’t alone.

  LEVEL 07 – LOADING PVP

  My companions were knocked out cold, and taken hostage.

  “Crap, crap, crap! What do I do?”

  Taking a silent breath, I closed my eyes.

  Figuring out their numbers would give me a chance. The reality remained, they had what looked like assault rifles. To try and fight them on my own would be suicide. The exact reason PvP sucked. I always ended up without a team, in games, and in life.

  “What now?” I whispered.

  I could barely swallow the sobs rising in my throat. If Jessie were captive, would I be hiding like a rat? Of course not. If it were Jessie, I would’ve run up the escalator going full attack mode. She'd do the same for me, but Tiffany or Wesley would surely leave me to die.

  I rocked back and forth, my arms wrapped around my knees. “Get a grip!”

  In my mind's eye, Tiffany stood back at the school, wearing her violet t-shirts, baggy jeans, and black hat. She needed a cut, but she had lovely, long, golden hair. She didn’t often smile, which made her cuter. She didn't wear makeup. I hated makeup and anything that made a person fake. I shook my head. Jessie or Tiffany, what did it matter? They needed my help.

  I checked my pistol; fully loaded with the safety off. “You don’t need a reason to help someone,” I repeated several times.

  A Corpse's groan came from nearby. I turned to find a child crawling towards me from the shadows. I stared in terror. He had a good chunk of his lower face ripped off, and bloody pieces of skin scraping the floor with each pull.

  I swatted the air between us. “Go away!”

  He groaned louder and kept coming. Corpses weren’t dogs. They didn’t obey commands.

  Dull thuds banged down the escalator. I sucked in my breath and drew my dagger. I'd become trapped between an undead and some freak with a rifle. A man grunted and leaped over my head, clearing my feet by mere inches. He stood straight and tall, wearing a flannel shirt torn in several places. The heavy stench of alcohol soaked the air.

  As he cracked his neck, I watched for a chance to flee.

  The guy reached down, picking up the undead child by its hair.

  “What do we have here?” he asked, his voice deep and g
ruff.

  The Corpse snapped and snarled, trying its best to grab him. The guy laughed and ripped off one of its arms.

  “The hell you doin’?” A deep voice bellowed from upstairs.

  He ripped off the Corpse's other arm. “Havin’ some fun!”

  “Well hurry up! This lovely little thing is piping hot; I don’t think I can’t take any more of just starin’.”

  The guy before me ripped off the Corpse's head and shouted back. “She needs to be purified first!”

  I started to crawl away but froze as he turned and looked upstairs. “Only Pa can purify the sinners!” He slammed the corpse’s head on the escalator railing, squishing it like a melon.

  “Oh, cmon.” A girl said. “She’s too young.”

  “Ain’t no laws like that no more!” The upstairs guy chuckled.

  Anger swelled up inside. They wanted to hurt Tiffany. I wouldn’t let them touch her, and I sure as hell wouldn’t let them purify her.

  In an instant, I rolled to my knees and stabbed my dagger right into the guy's crotch. The scream would haunt me forever.

  He fell to his knees, grabbing at the remains of his manhood. He sobbed violently, thrashing about in pooling blood. Fury ran deep in my veins as I thrust my gun to his forehead.

  He finally saw me. His large, shaking pupils showed only confusion. He looked broken; I didn’t know if I could finish the job.

  “Jus’ kill me,” he said. “Finish me off, you dirty little piece of crap!”

  He could barely raise his voice above a whisper. I didn’t have it in me to pull the trigger. I couldn’t kill someone, not like Wesley. I didn't have a murderer within.

  “Hear that?” The guy upstairs yelled. “Sounds like Henry got himself bit!”

  “Good riddance to the hog.” A deep, almost scary, voice said.

  “But he’s yer’ cousin Pa!” The girl shouted.

  “Doesn’t mean I don’t hate his durned guts!” snapped ‘Pa,' followed by a booming belch.

  “Yer a sick bastard!” A second girl joined.

  “Shuddup, Merlda! I’ll show ya what’s what when I take this pretty little thang into the corner to purify her.”

  Rage boiled through me. This Pa guy seemed to be the leader and an evil asshole.

  “Henry may ‘ave been poor in the sack, but you were even worse! Hell with the both of ya!” Merlda shouted.

  They continued arguing as the guy next to me, Henry, began to tug my pant leg. I looked into his eyes, and he knitted his brows.

  “Merlda’s muh wife.” he said.

  I regarded him with a frown. “Sorry.”

  “No,” he said. “Ye done me a favor, now do me another one and kill that cheating bitch. Make sure you feed that double crossing Pa to the deadies.

  Henry lifted a bloody hand to the side of his head. I wasn’t able to register the gun in time to stop him. I covered my mouth as he pulled the trigger.

  It was one thing seeing a Corpse get its brains blown out. Somehow you become quickly desensitized. You recognize they’re monsters. When you see a grown man beg to die, pull out a gun and blow his head off, it changes you forever.

  I stared at headless Henry, my jaw slack. My burning rage had been put out with terror.

  “Y’all hear Henry’s gun?” Pa asked.

  “Maybe you should go check it out, Santa?” said one of the women.

  “Can’t ya just look through that there security thingy?” Santa asked.

  “No, ya twit,” Pa said. “Stuff ain’t voodoo. It’s a highly technical thingamajig.”

  Their inbred speech made me want to put an end to their family.

  “You check, Kessa.” Merlda laughed. “It was yer idea.”

  “I don’t even wanna be here,” Kessa said.

  “Perfect time to get ye plump little ass gone then!” Pa said.

  “There’s no way I’m going down there alone!”

  “Fine,” Santa said. “I’ll take my machine gun and go blow up some deadies.”

  The one named Santa stomped down the escalator. Time to move. I snatched Henry's heavy handgun and darted toward the back of the store. I needed another way up. They seemed to be camped by the escalators. That left two options, the elevator, which created noise, or the stairs.

  I dodged between the clothing sections, and came across mangled dead bodies here and there, but all of the Corpses had been cleared out.

  Ducking, I peeked toward the front of the store, but couldn't see anything. I had to keep moving, faster than Santa could search. The longer he spent downstairs, the better.

  I made my way to the hall with the restrooms, stairs, and elevators. Down the hall I ran. Halfway, I found the door to the second floor. Exactly what I needed. I pushed, but it didn't budge.

  “Oh come on!” I grumbled.

  I slammed my shoulder into the barrier, and it opened a few inches. A Corpse's hand shot out and grabbed my sleeve.

  “Crap!” I gasped. I pulled the door and slammed it on its Corpse's wrist. On the sixth or seventh slam, its bone snapped, and I fell back against the opposite wall. “Okay, not that way.”

  As I searched for the elevator, I cursed a storm. Someone would check the dinging doors. I'd be a fish in a barrel unless I pulled some ninja moves and I didn’t have any ninja moves.

  As soon as I pressed the button, the door opened. A ding rang out, and my heart caught in my throat.

  “What was that?” Santa shouted. “One y’all using the lift?”

  I darted inside and hit the ‘2’ button.

  A calming song played in the elevator, but my heart thundered for the short ride. I drew both guns and held them out, sure an enemy would be waiting.

  The doors opened, and I nearly pulled both triggers. An extremely cute girl with blonde hair and green pigtails stood before me. Her long, bare legs ran up to a pair of overalls, and down to cowboy boots. Other than that, she wore only a small tube top.

  “Uh, uh, uh,” I muttered.

  The girl lunged, and I didn’t have time to shoot. She didn’t attack. Instead, she wrapped me in a tight hug me.

  “Oh thank ya, Lord!” she rubbed her cheek against mine like a cat, “Ya sent me an angel!”

  “Uh.” I gulped.

  She hugged me so tight; Jessie became a distant memory.

  “Oh thank the mighty Lord above for this angel!” She said.

  “I’m not an angel!” I tried, but her breasts muffled my voice.

  She pulled back and looked over her shoulder then back at me. “We gotta hide!”

  The girl grabbed my hand and pulled me into the woman’s restroom. I blushed hard, but when she pulled me into a stall, I thought my face would pop. She pushed me onto the toilet and climbed into my lap, wrapping her arms around my neck.

  “Who are you?” I gasped.

  “You’re an angel,” the tip of her nose touched mine. “You should know my name.”

  “Since when have you seen an angel with guns?”

  “Even angels need to keep with the times,” she shrugged.

  “Kessa?” I asked.

  She kicked her legs. “See you know my name!”

  “My friends are out there—”

  “You’re friends with the Dead Kissers?”

  “Dead Kissers?” I asked.

  “The guy with the long coat and the blonde girl!”

  “That’s them,” I said. “But what are you talking about Dead Kissers?”

  Kessa shook her head. “For an angel o’ the Lord you certainly don’t know a lot!”

  “I’m not--”

  She cut me off and started bouncing on my lap, leaving me even more red-faced than before.

  “An angel o’ the Lord has come to redeem my soul!”

  Either confused or just crazy, I couldn't tell, but I liked her.

  “Dead Kissers!” I tried to hold her still. “What does that mean?”

  “Oh!” she held a finger to her chin. “Angels don’t know everything after all.”
/>   I rolled my eyes.

  “The Dead Kissers are the ones who brought the dead back to life!” she said. “My pastor, Pa Bernard, stated that the walking ghouls came to life when these evil people started coupling with dead bodies!”

  “What kind of crackpot theory is that?”

  I didn’t have an answer to where the Corpses came from, but it certainly couldn't be something so absurd.

  “Pa Bernard said the Lord came to him in a dream last night.” Kessa snuggled against me. “He was told how to purify the Dead Kissers. I don’t know if I believe in his methods, though.”

  “Then help me save my friends!” I pleaded.

  “I don’t want to go against Pa!” she said, “He’ll purify me again.”

  “What you mean?”

  “Just like he’s about to do to the girl,” she said. “Pa doesn’t purify the guys. That’s what Merlda’s for.”

  I shook my head. “What is wrong with this guy?”

  “He tells me I’m very impure,” she looked away. “And I’m going to become a Deady without his help.”

  “If you won’t help that’s fine, but I need to figure out a plan and save my friends, who are not Dead Kissers.”

  Her bright green orbs were quivering, yet mesmerizing. She shoved her face into mine and nearly sucked it off, all while sticking her tongue down my throat. Then Kessa pulled back.

  “May the Lord watch over you, angel,” she said. “I’ll be here waiting for your return.”

  She bounced off my lap, and I felt so stunned and confused.

  I shut the stall behind me. It took a few moments to catch my breath and contemplate what had just happened. This hot girl thought me to be her angel.

  “Angel?” I looked at the ceiling. “If she wants me to be her angel, I’ll be her angel.”

  I hesitated at the door and pictured Jessie’s caring eyes, Tiffany’s stern but alluring ones, and then Kessa’s mesmerizers. The dead returning to life and girls paying attention to me three-fold; it had been the craziest day of my life. But still I had no plan; I couldn’t just walk out there and shoot everyone. They were human beings. It would be so much easier if they were Corpses, but they weren’t.

  I shook my head fervently. Human beings or not they couldn’t be allowed to act the way they did. The world had changed in mere hours and who knew why Wesley killed that woman, Serenade, but if she were anything like these people, this ‘Pastor’ and his lackeys, then she deserved what she got.