The Zombie Zovels (Book 1): Zombie Suburbia

by Lake, D. K

  “I don't know, something bad. This might have been used as a fallout shelter or something.” “You think they got attacked?”

  “I dunno, Lane, I'm just seeing everything you are, but I don't think we should stay here.” “If this place was used as a base, then the previous people would have brought supplies with them. There's probably food supplies in there.”

  “I don't think I want to go in there,” I said, eyeing the building, even from this distance I could see the red bloodstains down the front steps.

  “You really want to go in there?” I asked.

  “Yes.”

  “We might not come back out.”

  “Don't talk like that.” he said, pulling his rucksack from my arms.

  We had brought the baseball bat with us, it stuck out the top of the rucksack. Lane pulled it out. “How is your shoulder today? You didn't give me a chance to look at it this morning before you got dressed.”

  “It's good. Now stop stalling.”

  “Lane, I'm hungry as well. I just have a bad feeling about this place. I can smell the death in the air from here.”

  I looked at the building, one of the main doors was smashed and wide open.

  “You coming with? Or am I going in alone?”

  A bird flew overhead and landed in the parking lot, pecking at some sort of body part. My stomach rumbled loudly making the decision for me.

  “All right, but I'm gonna leave my bag here, it's heavier than yours and will only slow me down if we have to run.” I lifted it over my shoulder and sat it on the ground beside the bike. “Do you want to bring your valuables?” he joked.

  “I only have two valuables, one is the photo of my parents inside my jacket pocket and the other is tucked into my belt.”

  And my third valuable possession is standing in front of me.

  I took his rucksack from him, pulled out the flashlight and slipped the bag onto my arms. “Ready?” he asked. I nodded.

  We navigated our way across the parking lot. I had to cover my nose and mouth, resisting the urge to gag when I saw the rotting intestines strewn across the parking lot. They didn't look too old either. I searched the parking lot for anything I could use as a weapon, seeing how Lane had commandeered the bat.

  As we got closer I spotted a wooden trolley, maybe a towel trolley previously.

  “Wait a minute,” I said, stepping over a pile of soggy cardboard and a spa dressing gown. The trolley was already broken in places. I grabbed the longest part I wanted and broke it off using my foot. I lifted it up to inspect it. Not bad, it was sharp and sturdy. I walked back to Lane swinging my new weapon beside my leg.

  “I thought you were gonna pick up that arm for a moment then,” he said, pointing at the arm lying next to the trolley that I had completely overlooked.

  “Oh, gross! I didn't even see that.” I took a deep breath. “Right, let's do this.” I said, taking charge of the situation. “We need to locate the kitchens as quickly as possible, okay?”

  “Right, kitchens!” he repeated.

  I wanted to get in and out pronto. I had only one destination-the kitchens. I walked up the steps, Lane close by my side. The glass from the smashed door crunched under my boots, and there was more blood on the jagged shards of glass still inside the door-frame. We walked straight into the main reception area (or what was left of it). Upside down chairs, dirty bloodstained towels, paperwork covered the floor with bloody shoe prints zigzagging everywhere. I moved closer to the desk, taking in the scene before us. There was a bloody handprint and a smear along the side paneling. As I got closer I saw more bloodstains on the floor as though something had been dragged along it.

  “What's that smell?” Lane whispered, close to my ear. I jumped, bumping into him. I had nearly forgotten he was here as well.

  It was the smell of decay, slow rotting, decomposing flesh. Did he really need to ask? “I think it's coming from behind that desk.” I said.

  Lane gave me a concerned look and stepped around me. I took a guess as to what was behind the desk, I don't know why he wanted to even look. He held up his bat, as if ready to swing at a zombie, but I was pretty sure whatever was over there was way past dead.

  He walked around the edge, peering over, whatever it was must have been hidden from view because he walked all the way around to the other side.

  I watched as his face dropped. He gagged. “Fuck that's... nasty,” He quickly covered his nose with his neck tube.

  “What?” I said.

  “I think I'm gonna be sick. It's fucking disgusting!”

  “Lane, what is it?”

  He ignored me and shook his head at whatever was down there.

  Great, now I want to see what it is.

  I edged closer to the desk and he stuck his hand up.

  “Alex, don't. Stay there.”

  “Well, what is it?”

  He gagged again but didn't move away.

  I quickened my pace and walked around the desk. Regretting it.

  “Oh... my... Ugh!” I gagged, covering my nose with my sleeve.

  “What happened to it?” he asked.

  By it he meant him. It was human from what I could tell, wearing a checkered shirt, ripped at the sleeves. The bottom of the shirt was in tatters, as was the bottom of his torso. Everything from the waist down was gone.

  “Come on,” I said, pulling Lane away.

  We walked back around the desk.

  “What... I mean what did that... How did that... did a zombie do that?”

  I thought about it for a moment, a single zombie couldn't cause that much damage, it would get fed up after awhile and move on to the next victim or when it was so full it started up-chucking. It looked to me as though more than one had got to him and had a field day, more like a large group. I was sure parts of the man were out in the parking lot. I tugged Lane's sleeve and pulled him further away from the desk. He looked like he was either going to throw up or pass out, and I didn't want him doing either. There were three different routes to take leading off from the reception area. Each corridor looked dark and horrifying.

  “Which one do you think leads to the kitchens?” Lane asked.

  I switched on the flashlight and shone it down one of the corridors hoping I wouldn't pick up the outline of any figures. I flashed it down each one, we chose the one that looked less cluttered. One of the corridors looked completely barricaded with furniture at the other end. I shone the light on the floor so we could see where we were walking, and I tried to avoid treading on the glass from the many candles that were everywhere as it made a terrible noise under my boots. Every few seconds I shone the flashlight down the corridor up ahead. Some of the doors were open. As we passed I quickly shone the light around all the corners of the different rooms, not wanting a zombie to follow us from behind. One room we looked inside, which would have previously been a massage room, had a cabinet full of oils and lotions. The massage tables had been pushed back to the wall, and blankets and towels covered the floor. It looked as though there had been people sleeping in the room. I picked up a chunky candle and popped it inside the rucksack. We kept moving, more doors were open, but the rooms were empty and the furniture had been taken out, probably used to barricade other areas. The corridor led to a large foyer area, with a set of stairs leading upstairs. At the top of the stairs was a circular glass roof, letting light into the building. The foyer split into two directions. I peeked through a small round window into a bright room, the swimming pool room, windows lined the wall on the other side letting daylight in. The water looked murky, and I could see furniture in the pool along with two floating bodies. I took a step back but bumped into Lane as he was looking over my shoulder.

  “Do you think the zombies found them and got inside?” he asked.

  “Maybe, or maybe there was one already on the inside and they didn't know until it was too late.” I replied, looking at the corridor to the right, which was probably the changing rooms, sauna, and more pampering rooms. Which meant the
kitchens might be down the other one, they weren't likely to be upstairs... and there was no way I was going to check. This place was already scaring the crap out of me and making my skin crawl. I heard scuttling coming from the other corridor. I quickly shone the flashlight around the floor trying to locate the noise.

  Then there was a loud thud from upstairs. I froze, watching the stairs. Then I heard more scuttling and rustling... two rats shot out from under a box and ran past my feet. Lane jumped out of the way and knocked me into the wall.

  “Lane!” I hissed.

  “Sorry. I don't like rodents!” he said, cursing as another rat ran behind his feet.

  There was another noise from upstairs, and what sounded like a lumping noise right above our heads.

  “Let's hurry up.” I said, tiptoeing down the corridor, trying to keep the flashlight low. All the doors were closed, but each door had tiny round windows and I didn't want to alert any zombies of our presence with the flashlight. There could possibly be a zombie or two shut inside the rooms, and if they saw us they would create a lot of noise banging on the doors trying to get to us. At the end of the corridor was a set of double-doors with frosted glass, letting light into the corridor. “Quickly go and peek inside the frosted doors. If you see anything zombie-like close the door and we'll just leave.” I said, trying to encourage him forward.

  “What about this way?” Lane asked, pointing left, down a corridor with a tall window at the end. I was sure the parking lot was on the other side of the window.

  “That furniture barricade is down there somewhere, I don't want to get trapped down there.” “Oh, yeah, I forgot.”

  “You'd forget your head if it wasn't screwed on. Come on,” I said, nodding my head at the doubledoors.

  Lane dropped his bat to his side and took hold of the doorknob. He slowly turned it and I swear the only sound I could hear was my heartbeat, it was so loud, thudding in my ears. He opened it just far enough to stick his head inside.

  “It's clear.” he said, looking back at me.

  “Really?”

  “Yes, it's the dining room.”

  “Then the kitchen must be around here somewhere.” I was about to move away and start checking doors when Lane called me back.

  “Alex, wait, there are more doors at the other end of the dining room.”

  “Kitchens?” I said excitedly, wanting to get this over with already.

  “Follow me,” Lane said, going inside the room.

  I walked into a rather posh dining room. Red carpet, with cream walls, large paintings hung on the walls, and at the end of the room, there were windows reaching from the floor to the ceiling. The room was rather spectacular, with tables on either side and a spacious walkway down the center to the windows, and a set of doors to the right at the other end. The only thing out of place was a few overturned chairs. All the tables still had perfectly white tablecloths, with menus, and cutlery laid out wrapped inside serviettes. It was a complete contrast to the outside corridor carnage. We hurried across the room, the windows looked over another swimming pool outside, which had a random sun lounger and a shoe floating around. No bodies this time. The doors on the right had two round windows at the top like fancy restaurants had. I was too short to see inside, so Lane peered in for me.

  “Kitchens?” I asked.

  “Yep, kitchens.”

  “See anything else?”

  “I can see a rat running along the cooker.”

  “Anything else?”

  “I don't think so, but I can't see all the way around the corner.”

  “See any food or supplies?”

  “Actually yeah there's bottled water on the floor, and packets scattered everywhere.” “Packets of what?”

  “Food.”

  “Just open the door already, I want to get out of here.”

  Lane pushed the door open and walked into the kitchen. He moved his bat around, ready to swing. I kept a safe distance from him and his bat and moved away from the door. It swung shut behind us. He lowered his bat. It was just us and the rat. There was another door at the other end and I saw a fire exit to the left. I crouched down and picked up one of the packets.

  “Huh? Pre-packed food, that's still in date. It looks similar to the stuff we were eating back at the Lab.” I said.

  “Tastes like crap, though.” Lane grumbled.

  “Well, if it keeps us alive I don't care what it tastes like.”

  I loaded the rucksack up and positioned it on my back, I was scared to even lean backward in case I tipped over from the weight. Lane searched the rest of the kitchen. Drawers had been left open and a couple of cupboards were open.

  “Lane, let's get out of here, we've got what we came for.”

  “Ah, here,” he said, picking up a salt shaker.

  “What's that for? We can't kill zombies with salt, they're not slugs.”

  “It's for the food smart ass.”

  He stuck it in the side pocket of the rucksack. Then a loud crash came from the dining room. “Crap! I didn't shut the dining room door.” I said.

  “Fire exit.” we both said at the same time, just as the door at the other end of the kitchen banged against the wall.

  A female zombie staggered through the door. Half her hair had fallen out and she looked almost bald. The only way I could be sure she was female was because she had nothing on her top half. Her large breasts bounced as she bumped into the counter. We both hurried over to the fire exit. Lane spun around watching the zombie and I tried pushing the bar down.

  “Lane, it's stuck!”

  “What?” He stood with his back to me, covering me.

  “It won't budge, you try it.”

  He turned around and pushed down on the bar. I watched as the zombie walked toward us, she had one arm dragging along the counter, knocking things off. She wasn't in a hurry, maybe she knew we weren't going anywhere. Another crash came from the dining room. I looked back at Lane, who was still struggling with the door.

  The female zombie drew closer. I raised my wooden weapon, not knowing how well I would do, I was already loaded down with water and finding it hard to move as it was.

  “Alex, door.” Lane said, pulling me back and moving in front of me. “Keep trying the door. I'll take care of this.”

  I hesitated for a moment, not wanting him to get hurt or bitten, he wasn't great at combat. I turned back to the door and shoved my weight down onto the bar. I soon realized it wasn't the handlebar, it was the actual door that was stuck inside the door-frame. I continued charging the door, keeping one eye on Lane at the same time. The zombie lurched forward, tripping on a saucepan, and falling to Lane's feet, making it incredibly easy for him. I watched him, he hesitated for a moment, then he realized the zombie was trying to get back up and cracked the bat against its hand that was clawing at the counter top, trying to pull itself up. The zombie let out a horrifying noise, groaning, howling, trying to scream, and still trying to pull itself up again using the counter. I didn't think it was planning on stopping anytime soon.

  “Make it stop,” I said.

  He quickly swung the bat into the zombie's face, repeatedly, until the noise stopped. I charged at the door again, this time, it gave way and swung open.

  I looked back at Lane who was standing over the zombie's body, staring down at the puddle of blood on the floor.

  “Lane, come on,” I called, from outside the door. He snapped out of it and ran over to me. The other door swung open and a newbie stood in the doorway. Its eyes appeared to light up when it saw us. Lane slammed the fire exit door. The zombie screamed and thudded on the other side of the door.

  “Time to go,” Lane said, jogging down the steps to the grassy gardens.

  The gardens were done in a way to replicate an oriental Chinese garden. With small ponds and wooden walkways. A small decorative house sat in the center of one of the ponds. I followed Lane under wooden archways and past a green dragon ornament amongst the shrubs. We ran around the side of the swimmi
ng pool and relief washed over me when the parking lot came into view. We just had to go down another set of steps and get across the parking lot to the bike. Lane was always a few steps ahead of me, making sure nothing would jump out from behind any of the bushes. A terrifying scream came from behind us and I turned just in time to see another newbie about to take me out. I ducked sideways and it crashed into the ground. It bounced straight back onto its feet and came at me again. I swung the best I could, aiming for its face. I clipped it on the side of the head, but it barely noticed and came at me again. I quickly tried a different tactic and plunged the sharp end of the wooden stick into its stomach. It reached for me, not caring it had been stabbed. I leaned back trying to stay out of its reach, holding onto the piece of wood, trying to keep the zombie at bay. Lane finally made it back to me, after what felt like forever. He cracked the bat into the side of its head and it went down to the ground, and I toppled backward from all the water weight. Lane was quick to react this time and was already beating the life out of it as I scrambled to my feet.

  “Get to the bike!” he shouted.

  I didn't argue and took off as fast as my legs would carry me.

  I scanned the gardens and hurried to the steps, I didn't have my piece of wood, it was still stuck inside the zombie, but I had my gun for possible worse case scenarios. I kept my eyes on the tall hedges to the right of me. The hedge looked to have a couple of openings, from what I could tell at first glances it looked like a maze.

  I grabbed the railing on the stairs but lost my footing as I stepped on a random boot left behind. My foot slipped down to the next step and I fell against the railing trying to catch myself, landing awkwardly on my ankle. I heard another scream from behind me somewhere and prayed Lane was right behind me. I regained my balance and went to take another step but my ankle gave out and I had to quickly grab the railing again so not to fall down the steps.

  “Crap!” I muttered, hobbling down the steps.

  I heard something behind me. I reached for my gun, just as something jumped down the steps next to me.

  “What are you still doing here? C'mon,” Lane said, jumping to his feet from his landing position. He took off and I hobbled the best I could, but I couldn't put any pressure on my right foot. I saw another zombie at the main entrance, it stumbled down the steps. Lane looked back at me, frowning, pulling a face that basically said: what the hell's taking you so long? The zombie on the stairs dragged one of its legs behind it and was headed in Lane's direction, he wasn't too far ahead of me and had placed himself in-between me and the zombie. He walked toward the zombie smashing the bat into its chin, knocking it clean off its feet. I focused on getting back to the bike and left Lane demolishing another zombie skull. I got to the bike and picked up my bag. Lane was already on his way over. He handed me the blood-soaked bat. I cringed and held it at arms length. He climbed onto the bike and I shoved the bat under my messenger bag straps, mentally gagging at the zombie blood that was now all over my bag. He started the bike, and I climbed on behind him, looking back at the main doors as we pulled off.