by Mark Tufo
“Did…did you have sex with me to see if I would spy or do espionage?” That seemed to be the thing that Sam was getting hung up on the most in their new reality. “You know my alarm bells went off when you came up to me at that bar. I should have known, you were just too damned gorgeous. Want to know what I thought at first? I thought my friends had paid you to do it.”
“No one paid me…well, that’s not quite true.” She smiled. “Listen, I told you how we met was planned, the rest was not. And no,” she punched him in the arm, “I did not sleep with you because I’m a spy. I’d already left the agency. I loved you then like I love you now.”
“Have you ever slept with anyone while you were what? Clearing them?’”
“I’m going to pretend you didn’t just ask that. Come on, let’s hide the ATV.”
Sam and Julie watched as Emery emerged from the woods. He’d told them to wait there while he ‘boosted’ a car and that he’d pick them up soon.
“What’s to say he doesn’t turn us in or just get a car and leave?” Sam asked.
“Ever heard of the phrase, keep your friends close and your enemies closer?” Julie replied without looking over towards him.
“That is one of the least comforting things I’ve heard in quite some time.”
Sam spun around when he heard the explosion. Julie merely bowed her head.
“What was that?”
“Our home,” Julie said sadly.
“Julie honey, what the hell is happening?”
“I don’t know, Sam, but here comes our ride.”
“Are you kidding me? He couldn’t pick anything a little less conspicuous like maybe a snow plow?”
“What would we need a snow plow for? There are no zombies,” Julie said seriously. She was walking towards the roadway less than a hundred yards away across a field.
“A Gulf Wing Recreational Vehicle…and top of the line no less. What’s the matter, were they out of fire trucks?” Sam asked as he boarded the large vehicle.
“We’ve got to move,” Emery said with a pinched expression. “They’re getting ready to cast a net.”
“What?” Sam asked as he was nearly flung into a seat.
“They’re going to shut the roads down and do vehicle searches,” Julie filled in.
“I still don’t see how that’s not a good thing. We’ve done nothing wrong, at least you and I haven’t, Julie. I hope he fries for killing Arnie. No offense,” Sam added that last bit when he looked up and realized Emery was peering at him through the rear view mirror. “You know, screw that, I do mean offense. I’ve been friends with Arnie since he negotiated a deal with the neighborhood bully so we could use the slide at the city park when we were both seven. So basically, Emery, you can go fuck yourself. My life was damn near perfect right up until the second I met you.”
“I didn’t put the hit out on you, Mr. Pocket Protector. You’ve apparently pissed someone off so severely that they felt the need to eliminate your ass. And now, thanks to Mrs. Super-Spy, I’m forced to play for the away team.”
“At least until such time as your former team desires your return,” Julie said.
“Or that,” Emery replied.
“Fuck this.” Sam moved away from the two and to the middle of the RV where he sat down at a small dining table.
Julie was looking over a map and telling Emery which the least likely observed routes may be. Sam opened up his lap top. “Fine, they fucking want my invention they can have it along with everyone else,” he murmured as he waited for his computer to find a satellite signal for an uplink. “Here goes nothing.” He pressed send.
“Sam, what are you doing?” Julie asked, looking back at her husband.
“I’m giving them what they want.”
“What exactly does that mean?” Emery asked.
“I uploaded the schematics for my invention to the net.”
“I don’t think that was such a good idea.” Emery was peering intently at the road. “What you do now affects us all, you maybe should have discussed it with us.”
“Like you would have discussed putting a nine millimeter round in our foreheads?”
“Good point, but I use 40s…much more reliable kill round.”
“Sam?” Julie asked, coming to sit by her husband.
“It’s gone. I sent it to everyone on my contact list which includes hundreds of tech bloggers around the globe. It’s out now and nothing less than an extinction event is going to bring it back. The feds can go fuck themselves.”
“Whereas I can sympathize with your sentiment, I don’t think that was the appropriate play here. And by the way, Julie, it looks like your skills have been lapsing.”
“What?” she asked, going back up to the front. “Roadblock, son of a bitch.” She was staring at the red and blue lights as were they all.
The RV didn’t have a chance to pull up to the front, a team of seven SWAT members descended on the large vehicle, weapons drawn.
“We pulling a Bonnie and Clyde or a Butch Cassidy and Sundance Kid?” Emery asked in all seriousness.
“They all died,” Sam replied.
“Yeah, but in one of them they went out with guns blazing.” Emery was reaching down and checking the status of his pistol which was now firmly in Julie’s hand.
The side window of the RV was broken in and a flash grenade was tossed in. The effects of the released tear gas were compounded by the sonic boom. Within seconds, Sam and the rest of the traveling party had rifles pointed at the backs of their necks. Handcuffs were put on all of them and they were wrenched from the ground and ushered out the door.
“I don’t know what you guys did, but you are officially number one on Homeland Security’s most wanted list,” the captain of the SWAT team, Dillon Brewster, said. The trio were led into the back of a prisoner transport vehicle.
“My wife and I haven’t done anything wrong, Captain Brewster, this is all some sort of a misunderstanding. I work on a super-collider.”
“Maybe you figured out how to make a black hole. What do I know?” the captain said.
“You too?” Sam asked.
“Captain, sir, there’s someone on the radio says its urgent they talk to you,” one of the policemen said as he ran up.
“This is it, boys and girls, the order is in to just shoot us and be done with it.” Emery watched the captain talk animatedly into the cop’s car radio handset.
“They can’t just shoot us on the side of the road,” Sam said hopefully.
“Is he swearing?” Julie asked. “He sure looks pissed.”
The captain was storming back to them, an expression of pure anger flooding his features. “Listen, I don’t know what kind of bullshit you pulled or what is going on.” He turned Julie around and undid her handcuffs, followed immediately by Sam. “But you two are free to go. Seems there was some sort of misunderstanding like you said.”
“I told you!” Sam said happily. “These bastards blew up my house, though. Now what?”
“Well, this one is being handed over to Homeland Security for murder and grand theft. My suggestion to you two would be to get on the horn to your insurance company and get a claim going. I’m sorry about the flash grenade,” the captain said as he shoved Emery into the back of the van.
“What’s a little blindness and deafness among friends,” Sam said sarcastically.
“What a horrible day!” Sheila, Julie’s sister said as she got up to get Sam and her husband John another beer. “What now, honey?” She had come back in and was rubbing her sister’s shoulder.
“Well…we rebuild our home I suppose and try to move past this entire thing.”
“You know you two can stay here as long as you want,” John said as he took a long pull from his beer.
“We appreciate that,” Sam said. “The insurance adjuster told us that we get a hotel allotment as part of the claim. I think a little time away is exactly what we need.”
“They have Arnie’s killer, though?” Sheila asked.
Julie nodded. “We would like to stay here a couple of days until the claim goes through if that’s alright.”
“Of course, sis, our home is your home.” Sheila gave a hug to her little sister.
***
“I can’t believe they just backed off after you uploaded the file,” Julie said as they lay in bed that night.
“What would be the reason to keep hunting us down?”
“I guess…but there’s still something missing.
***
They and the rest of the world would get the answer less than a week later just as Sam and Julie were heading out the door and off to the Marriott for some much needed rest and relaxation.
John was seeing them off when a news bulletin broke through the baseball game.
“We are just now receiving reports that a bomb of some sort was detonated in Paris. It is confirmed that at least a thousand people have been killed.”
An aerial image next to the anchor woman’s head showed hundreds of bodies on the ground as if they’d just stopped whatever activity they were doing. The anchor had her left hand up to her ear.
“Francois, we understand you are live on the ground? Is the feed ready?” she asked. “I’m sorry, folks, this is a fluid situation, but a bomb has killed thousands in Paris. We are about to get a live feed from the ground, the images you are about to see are graphic and disturbing, they are not intended for all audiences. If you have any children in the room we strongly suggest you move them away.”
The warning had no sooner come from her lips when the ground feed came on. People that had been walking their dogs, jogging, sitting on a park bench drinking coffee, playing Frisbee or laughing, had all fallen to the ground. There was some blood, but not in amounts that would be expected from a severe bomb blast.
“Oh, God,” Sam said as he moved away from the front door and closer to the sixty-inch flat screen television.
“What is it?” Julie asked as she got to his side. Her hands flew up to her mouth as she gasped.
“Charlene, what you’re seeing here is the devastation wrought by this cowardly terrorist attack.”
“Forgive me, Francois, I sympathize with the devastation to your countrymen, but this does not look like a bomb scene.”
“You’re right, Charlene. The police have completely barricaded the area off from everyone…including reporters, but the cameraman has zoomed into the device that we believe was detonated. It seems that it has emitted some sort of pulse, killing humans, and animals alike.”
“And bugs!” Sam cried.
Check out these other titles by Mark Tufo
Zombie Fallout Boxed Set
All the books you love in one easy to go e-box! Perfect for when you have to leave your house in a hurry! TAKE YOUR EREADER!
Zombie Fallout
It was a flu season like no other. With the H1N1 virus running rampant through the country, people lined up in droves to try and attain one of the coveted vaccines. What was not known, was the effect this largely untested inoculation was to have on the unsuspecting throngs. Within days, feverish folk throughout the country, convulsed, collapsed and died, only to be re-born. With a taste for brains, blood and bodies, hordes of modern-day zombies began scouring the lands for their next meal.
This is the story of Michael Talbot, his family and his friends: a band of ordinary people trying to get by in extraordinary times. When disaster strikes, Mike a self-proclaimed survivalist, does his best to ensure the safety and security of those he cares for. What he encounters along the way leads him down a long dark road, always skirting on the edge of insanity. Ensconced in a seemingly safe haven called Little Turtle, Mike and his family, together with the remnants of a tattered community, must fight against a relentless, ruthless, unstoppable force. This last bastion of civilization has made its final stand. God help them all.
Zombie Fallout 2: A Plague Upon Your Family
The Talbots are evacuating their home amidst a zombie apocalypse. Mankind is on the edge of extinction as a new dominant, mindless opponent scours the landscape in search of food, which just so happens to be non-infected humans. This book follows the journey of Michael Talbot, his wife, Tracy, and their three kids - Nicole, Justin and Travis. Accompanying them are Brendon, Nicole's fiancée and Tommy, a former Wal-Mart door greeter who may be more than he seems. Together they struggle against a ruthless, relentless enemy that has singled them out above all others.
As they travel across the war-torn country side the Talbots soon learn that there are more than just zombies to be fearful of: with law and order a long-distant memory some humans have decided to take any and all matters into their own hands. It's not just brains versus brain-eaters anymore. And the stakes may be higher than merely life and death, with eternal souls on the line.
Zombie Fallout 3: The End…
As the world spirals even further down into the abyss of apocalypse, one man struggles to keep those around him safe. Michael stands side by side with his wife, their children, his friends and Henry the wonder Bulldog along with the Wal-Mart greeter Tommy who is infinitely more than he appears. Whether Tommy is leading Mike and his family to salvation or death remains to be seen...
Zombie Fallout 3.5 - Dr. Hugh Mann – Prequel
Before there were zombies there was the virus...
In this Zombie Fallout prequel, Mark Tufo tells the story of the virus that started it all.
Zombie Fallout IV: The End…Has Come and Gone
“The End…has come and gone. This is the new beginning, the new world order and it sucks. The end for humanity came the moment the U.S. government sent out the infected flu shots. My name is Michael Talbot and this is my journal. I’m writing this because no one’s tomorrow is guaranteed, and I have to leave something behind to those who may follow.” - From Mike Talbot’s Journal
So continues Mike’s journey, will he give up all that he is in a desperate bid to save his family and friends? Eliza is coming, can anyone be prepared?
Zombie Fallout V: Alive In A Dead World
Eliza turned to Tomas: “This is the end...he is no longer alive in a dead world.”
In this installment of Mark Tufo’s action-packed Zombie Fallout series, Mike Talbot and his family continue their fight for survival as Eliza plots their demise.
Zombie Fallout VI: ‘Til Death Do Us Part
Mark Tufo’s Zombie Fallout novels have their share of memorable characters. Throughout the series, we have become acquainted with Michael Talbot. We’ve gotten to know Mike’s wife, Tracy, their children, and several other characters, including Mrs. Deneaux, BT, and Tommy.
One character here, however, deserves special mention - that of Eliza. In Zombie Fallout 2, we discovered the queen’s origins. In particular, we learned of her transformation from human to vampire. Subsequent novels in the series, indeed, affirm this villain’s bloodthirsty nature. Eliza will not rest until she sees to the destruction of the entire Talbot clan.
Now, in the latest novel in the Zombie Fallout series, the moment has come for the final showdown. But as BT, Gary, and Mrs. Deneaux prepare to face Eliza, they have other worries. With Mike still missing, they cannot help but fear the worst.
Is Mike alive? Will the Talbot’s defeat their nemesis once and for all? Readers will learn the answers to these questions and more in the much-anticipated sixth installment of the Zombie Fallout series.
Zombie Fallout VII: For the Fallen
Mike is back
The battle with Eliza is past. Now Mike must strike out once again in a desperate race against time as his son and best friend are succumbing to the zombie virus within them. What he does not know is that an old foe has risen up and a more insidious threat has emerged to not just the Talbots but all of humanity.
Indian Hill
This first story is about an ordinary boy growing up in relatively normal times who finds himself thrust into an extraordinary position. Growing up in suburban Boston, Mike Talbot undergoes the trials and tribula
tions of all teenagers, from the seemingly tyrannical mother, to girl problems to run-ins with the law. From there, he escapes to college in Colorado with his best friend, Paul, where they begin to forge new relationships. It is one girl in particular that has caught Mike’s eye, and he alternately pines for her and laments ever meeting her.
It is on their true “first” date that things go strangely askew. Mike finds himself captive aboard an alien vessel, fighting for his very survival. The aliens have devised gladiator-type games - games of twofold importance that they use both for entertainment value and to learn about human strengths and weaknesses. The aliens want to better learn how to attack and defeat humans, and the battles are to the death on varying computer-generated terrains.
Follow Mike and Paul as they battles for their lives and try to keep the United States safe.
Indian Hill II: Reckoning
Reckoning starts where the first book in the series left off. After escaping from the Progerian alien vessel, Michael Talbot is given the opportunity to hide in obscurity with the rest of the human race or rise to the occasion and once again find himself immersed in a battle that he wants nothing to do with.
Mike goes home and decides to join whatever resistance force can be mustered to repel the oncoming invasion. As humanity gets thrust towards the abyss of extinction, two women in love with the same man make a desperate bid to travel across the country to reunite with him.
Mike will suffer the ultimate betrayal from those he loves the most. Will mankind fall and be ground to dust like so many other civilizations, or will the tiny humans thwart a takeover? Only time and shed blood will tell.
