Trepidation

by Chrissy Peebles

  The Zombie Chronicles – Book 7

  Trepidation

  by

  Chrissy Peebles

  Copyright 2013 by Chrissy Peebles

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, brands, media, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of various products referenced in this work of fiction, which have been used without permission. The publication/use of these trademarks is not authorized, associated with, or sponsored by the trademark owners.

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright Page

  The Zombie Chronicles - Book 7 - Trepidation

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  To be continued in Book 8: Impact

  Cover Art by Kellie Dennis at Book Cover by Design

  www.bookcoverbydesign.co.uk

  Books by Chrissy Peebles

  ***

  The Enchanted Castle Series

  The Enchanted Castle Series Book Trailer: http://youtu.be/Ysb6uzIdsEk

  Enchanted Castle - book 1

  My Haunted Fairytale - book 2

  Enchanted Dreams - book 3

  The Ruby Ring Saga

  The Original Ruby Ring Book Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_w-eZwPJbA

  New Updated Trailer: http://youtu.be/JJzoHW0xVMI

  Eternal Vows - book 1

  Eternal Destiny - book 2

  Eternal Fire - book 3

  Eternal Faith - book 4

  Eternal Bloom - book 5

  Eternal Flame – book 6

  The Crush Saga

  The Crush Saga Book Trailer: http://youtu.be/4eMF8KXEUc4

  Crush - Book 1

  Crash - Book 2

  Chosen - book 3

  Chaos – book 4

  The Hope Saga

  The Hope Saga Book Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CF9UkY0qiSo

  Apocalypse - Underwater City - book 1

  Rebel Princess - book 2

  Rebel Warrior - book 3

  Trapped in the Hollow Earth Novelette Series

  Book Trailer: http://youtu.be/viwT0M8Ms_g

  Book 1 - Castaway

  Book 2 - Dread

  Book 3 - Peril

  Book 4 - Outlive

  Book 5 - Endure

  Book 6 - Persevere

  Book 7 - Turbulence

  Book 8 - Hope

  Book 9 - Termination - The Conclusion

  Apocalypse Unleashed Series

  Book Trailer for The Zombie Chronicles Series: http://youtu.be/ociUHiL1g70

  Val (prequel to the zombie series) Book Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7mp43Ml4hvE

  Val - The prequel to The Zombie Chronicles

  The Zombie Chronicles - book 1

  The Zombie Chronicles - book 2 - Race for the Cure

  The Zombie Chronicles - book 3 - Deadly City

  The Zombie Chronicles - book 4 - Poisonous Serum

  The Zombie Chronicles - book 5 - Undead Nightmare

  The Zombie Chronicles - book 6 - Revelation

  The Zombie Chronicles - book 7 – Trepidation

  Come stop by and say hello!

  Facebook fan page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Chrissy-Peebles-Fantasy-Author/351121651567296?ref=bookmarks

  Blog: http://www.chrissypeebles.blogspot.com

  The Zombie Chronicles Book Trailer: http://youtu.be/ociUHiL1g70

  Humans are a rare and endangered species. Swallowing down our fear, we must fight to protect humanity at all costs. Protecting the human race must be our number one priority. We need to fight for the future we want, not the one that’s been delivered to us. Taking back our world is a fight I will never give up on. And in my opinion, that makes every zombie hunter a very special breed of warrior.

  — Dean Walters - survivor & zombie hunter

  Chapter 1

  “Run, Dean!” Nick shouted.

  “Hurry!” Val chimed in.

  Flesh-eating zombies shambled behind me, their creepy moans echoing through the hallway. My footsteps clicked and clacked as I ran down the long corridor, faster than I’d ever run before. It was dark, spooky, and downright eerie, but I could see the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel. Nick, Val, Claire, and Lucas beckoned to me, so I pumped my legs even harder. I was just about to step into the light when something grabbed my legs. I fell on my stomach, reaching out for my brother.

  “Dean!” Nick screamed.

  “Nick!”

  Something sinister was pulling me away from them, dragging me to Hell. I kicked and flailed, to no avail. It had too tight of a grip on my ankles and was taking me back to be devoured alive. I could hear the others shouting for me hysterically. I reached out for them, but as I was dragged away, they grew smaller, their cries became quieter, and everything became darker. Before I knew it, I was surrounded by a maniacal choir of snarls and moans.

  Suddenly, a dim light flickered to life, and I frantically rolled onto my back. I stared into countless sets of white eyes as the zombies leaned over me. They inched closer, reaching out for me, ready to sink their teeth into my flesh. Pain exploded in my shoulder when one bit into me. “Nooooooo!” I screamed.

  Gasping and sweating profusely, I sat straight up in bed. My shirt was stuck to my clammy skin. My heart was racing faster than a horse hooves at the Kentucky Derby. I wiped my face with my sleeve and took deep breaths, trying to calm down. It was just a dream, just another nightmare, I told myself. I wasn’t really back in that terrifying lab. I jumped down from the top bunk and opened the window. The cold air felt good on my face, cooling my skin as well as my nerves. It was cloudy outside; a storm was fast approaching.

  I got cleaned up, then dressed. We’d survived the nightmarish lab and had triumphed, but in spite of our victory and our survival, I was haunted by those dreadful memories. The room began to spin, then grew smaller and smaller, and I felt a hot flash. Am I losing my mind, or is this just some kind of panic attack? I wondered, horrified. I grabbed my gun and rushed into the living room where the others greeted me.

  “Well, well. Look who finally decided to join the living,” Lucas teased.

  “Dean,” Val said, “are you all right? You’ve been sleeping for twelve hours.”

  “It’s morning?” I asked.

  “Afternoon,” she corrected.

  “How are you feeling?” Nick asked.

  “Like...driving down the highway and
popping a tire. I mean...like I’ve lost control of the vehicle, have crossed into the opposite lane, and am lookin’ at an eighteen-wheeler barreling toward me at some ridiculous speed.”

  Val came over to hug me, but I gently pushed her away.

  “I don’t wanna talk about it,” I said.

  “Well, talking or not, you gotta be starving, little buddy,” Lucas said. “You haven’t eaten since before we went to the lab.”

  I sucked in a deep breath. “Don’t mention that lab to me.”

  Claire walked over with a plate of orange slices. “Wanna share?”

  “Nah, I’m not hungry.” I was still so freaked out by the nightmare that my hands were shaking, but I tried to hide it. “I’ll be back,” I muttered.

  “Dean, what’s wrong?” Val asked. “Where are you going? Why can’t you just—”

  “I just need some air, all right? Is there some crime against a guy needing to breathe?” I screamed back at her in a tone she didn’t deserve.

  Val stood. “At least let me go with you.”

  I shot her a look. “No. I need to be alone.”

  “Please, Dean,” she pleaded.

  “No, Val.”

  When she tried to follow me, Lucas pulled her back. “Look, Val, Dean’s been through a lot. He just needs to be alone and deal with all this in his own way,” he said. “I can respect that, and so should you.”

  “Yeah, just let him go, sis,” Nick agreed. “It’s how we Walters brothers handle things.”

  As they kept talking amongst themselves, whispering about me, I walked out and shut the door behind me. I hurried down the corridor and climbed down the rope ladder, then headed outside. The sky was gray and cloudy, and droplets began to sprinkle down on me. Still, there were kids outside, bouncing a ball and laughing in delight. So naïve, I thought. So clueless to all the dangers that surround them. I’d give anything to be that carefree again, to smile and laugh and not be plagued by all the horrible memories I can’t seem to get out of my head.

  A woman named Jan ran over and straightened out a large tarp, then placed it at an angle to catch the rain. “Dean,” she said. “Grab the buckets.”

  I obediently walked over and grabbed the buckets, the perfect water filtration system: holes in the bottom, with layers of sand, charcoal, then sand again. We also boiled the water to kill any bacteria. It was a lot of work living off the land, improvising ways to survive in a world devoid of modern conveniences and technology, and everyone was much too busy to be too disturbed about the losses I’d suffered and all I’d gone through. It felt as if, while my life had taken a turn for the worst, everyone else just wanted to ignore it and continue living theirs.

  I’d seen the atrocities firsthand, up close and personal. Horror had a very distinctive, unforgettable face, and I’d met it. We don’t live in a perfect world anymore,” I muttered, trying to accept it. The apocalypse had swept in like a hurricane, given birth to hordes of flesh-eating monsters, and left a path of destruction in its wake. We could never relax; we were always running from the all-consuming, big, black hole that seemed to gobble up everything we’d ever loved, including my Jackie. We tried to stay one step ahead of it, fighting, but it just pounced on us, kicked butt, and left us to pick up the pieces of everything we’d once cherished. Like everyone else, I had to rebuild my life after all the losses, all the tragedy, because I didn’t want to sink into hopelessness. That small sliver of hope, which seemed to be shrinking all the time, was all that kept me going. Life goes on, whether we want it to or not, I finally concluded, watching as Jan rigged up the rain buckets.

  Jan looked up at me and smiled. “We’ll have fresh water soon.”

  I nodded.

  “Don’t look so sad,” she said, her brown hair whipping around in the wind. “You got your happy ending. You survived that horrible place, that Frankenstein’s lab.”

  I met her gaze. “There’re no such thing as happy endings—only survival and pain.”

  “Dean, you can’t let the zombies take away what we have left. You still have friends and family to love, to laugh with, to talk to. Dance! Enjoy every moment with them. Enjoy life.”

  “I want to, but I have so many regrets, so many things I wish I could change.”

  “Like what?”

  I shrugged. “It doesn’t matter.”

  “Look, hon’, I’m not here to judge. I’m here to listen.”

  “Okay. Well, I have so many regrets I don’t even know where to start—just a lot of what-ifs or what-coulda-beens.”

  “We’ve got no time for regrets. It might sound cliché, but life really is too short for that.”

  “That sounds good on a bumper sticker or coffee cup, but it’s hard to live by when the burden is so heavy. I killed a man in self-defense, Jan. How can I not regret that? It will always haunt me. I guess...well, this whole thing has changed me into someone I don’t recognize, made me do things I never thought I’d do. Maybe everything’s just catching up to me.”

  “You need to let go of all the blame, anger, and pain. Don’t worry about past mistakes or failures, sweetie. Nobody can judge us for acts we’ve done while trying to survive in this new world. Heck, I had to shoot my mother, father, and sister the first day. I mourn their loss every day, but I also know they’d want me to go on, and I’ll tell you what. That zombie virus might’ve taken my family, but I refuse to live like a prisoner. I’m gonna enjoy my kids every chance I get.”

  “Mommy! Mommy,” a little girl said. “Are you gonna dance in the rain with us?”

  “Yes, baby,” she said. “I most certainly am!”

  The rain began to pour down in sheets, and I watched Jan and her children laugh and dance. In all that darkness and gloom that surrounded us, I finally saw a shining light. Maybe she’s right. Maybe I shouldn’t regret the past or fear the future. Then, for just a quick moment, I felt my lips curl into a tiny smile.

  ***

  I wanted to go back to the lab, but Nick insisted that I wait until things settled down. I waited for a week, and even though the snow had come, I was still determined to go.

  Huge snowflakes fell as I stared at the monstrous pile of rubble before me. The smell of concrete and metal filled the air when the wind blew in our direction. I was dressed in a brown coat, a white shirt, ripped jeans, and scruffy black boots. My feet crunched in the snow as I slowly walked over to the ashes of what once had been the lab, all of it destroyed in the explosion Jonathon had singlehandedly caused in the fear that if any of us lived, we’d expose the entire world to the virus. He’d gladly triggered the self-destruct mechanism and was happy to die a martyr. Luckily, he didn’t take most of us with him. Still, Steven was mourning his death and had even insisted on holding a funeral for him. I’d attended, but only because I didn’t believe he was involved with the tortuous experiments in the basement of the lab.

  “This place brings back so many painful memories, Dean,” Claire said. “We were drowning in lies. I was locked up in that jail cell, used as a human pincushion, Jackie was killed here, and mad scientists did horrible experiments in their evil laboratory hidden deep underground.”

  Really, Claire and I just wanted to go back to the site where Jackie was buried, so we could grieve properly, maybe get some sort of much-needed closure. I opened my mouth to speak, but no words would come out. I was pretty numb inside and didn’t even know the right words to say. I glanced over my shoulder at some of the guys who were standing guard, with their Glocks and rifles ready to go, since Max had insisted they come with us; we had plenty of firepower in case any zombies decided to show up at the party uninvited. The zombie herd had left, though, so for the time being, it seemed the city was safe. No zombie would cross the perimeter of the greater part of the city due to an explosion a few months back. I was packing some serious firepower of my own, with my trusty rifle slung over my chest. In that new world of ours, strapping on a gun every single day was the new reality.

  “Just pretend like we’re not h
ere,” one of the guys called. “I know Claire said she’d rather be by herself, but you shouldn’t go anywhere without somebody havin’ your back.”

  I nodded. “Yeah, we know. Thanks, guys.”

  “Take all the time you need. We got you covered!” he shouted back.

  Claire said a few words for all those who had lost their lives. During the following moment of silence, she let out a sob, knelt, and placed a bouquet of artificial flowers on the debris-scattered remains of the floor. “This nightmare will never be behind me,” she said, “but I’ll never forget you either. You were more than just my cousin. You were my best friend, and you’ll live in my heart forever.”

  I then set down some artificial red roses, and they showed up brilliantly in the snow. “Jackie,” I said, “not a day goes by when I don’t wish I could have one more kiss or hug from you. I know you want us to go on, and I’m sure you’d hate all this mushy stuff and all this fuss. We’ll move on, Jackie, for you. We’ll never stop trying to make this world the place you would have wished for, and one day, it will be. Ultimately, zombies are just dead humans, and they’ll continue to rot. If we can survive four or five more years, we’ll get our world back. They’ll die out, but we’ll still be here, making the world you loved as beautiful as you were.”

  “We will get our world back,” Claire promised. “It’s just gonna take some time.”

  I took a step closer and laid down a second bouquet of flowers that Val had made. “This is for all who were lost on that tragic day. May you rest in peace.”

  We stood there, holding each other. Claire cried in my arms, and I held her close for a long time. We didn’t even care about the cold or the snow. I could think of no more words to say. I tried to hide my hurt, but deep down, my heart ached. Jackie had touched me in a way I was sure no other girl could ever could, and she’d always be in my heart.

  “I didn’t want this to be Jackie’s final resting place,” Claire said. “I tried everything to find her body, but I guess my best just wasn’t good enough.”

  I touched her back. “You have every right to be upset, but we can’t change the past, Claire.”

  “No, we can’t,” she whispered.