Tales of the Zombie Apocalypse
Issue #1 – August 2015
Other Zombie Apocalypse Stories and Collections Published by
Michael Anthony
These Stories are all Free if you are a Kindle Unlimited Member.
Otherwise, only 99 cents each.
Tales of the Zombie Apocalypse Issue #2
Tales of the Zombie Apocalypse Issue #3
Clearing the Zombies from the Tampa Zoo
Zombies Attack a Day Care Center
The Rabid
Miguel and the Zombie Apocalypse: Getting Out of Jail
Table of Contents
Supply Run Disaster – by Michael Anthony
A Story of Nothing, Least of All Living – by Jackson Hewlett
Family Dinner - by Christina Estrada
Zombie Apocalypse, The Generations Suffer – by H.K. Sutherland
A Dead World is Born from Chaos and Pain – by Jackson Hewlett
Fire and Blood – by Jack Blare
Surprise, Surprise – by Jennifer Fuson
The Feast – by Christina Estrada
The Estimation of Death and the Undying – by Jackson Hewlett
Last Chance – by Brendan Cole
“Supply Run Disaster”
Story #1
By
Michael Anthony
Struggling to keep the dead thing from eating him alive was taking every ounce of Jeff’s strength. Greyish black liquid oozed from the creature's mouth toward his face like syrup. It smelled like rotten death as the thick black goo slowly slimed onto his cheek. He tried to turn his head away from the thick grey colored slime but stopping the creature from sinking its teeth into his throat took a higher priority. He counted himself lucky that none of the slime got into his eyes or mouth. He figured that would likely be enough to infect him with the virus.
The creature had crawled on top of Jeff after grabbing at his ankles and tripping him. In the dark PriceCo store, Jeff wasn't able to see the creature laying on the ground in front of him when he almost stepped on it. It looked like a dead body, but here it was on top of him and reaching for his neck and gnashing its yellow rotten teeth at his face.
For the first time he got a clear look at this thing's face, and it was definitely not a person anymore. Its skin was cold and leathery. Its cheeks were sunken in, almost skeletal. Its eyes were a sickly yellowish brown color with no pupils. Its teeth were jagged and yellow but covered with that greyish black slime which moments ago had dripped onto Jeff’s face.
Jeff gripped the thing's wrists tightly, struggling to stop its grey bony hands from strangling him. The infected thing growled, letting out a stench from its gaping mouth that smelled like fish rotting in the sun with old eggs mixed in.
It rolled its eyes in random directions as it kept gnashing and snapping its teeth next to Jeff's face. Jeff didn't know how much longer he could hold this thing off. It was much stronger than it looked and it didn't seem to be getting tired at all.
His face turned red as he gritted his teeth in one last desperate attempt to throw this dead looking horror off of him. It was no use, Jeff couldn't hold on any longer. The thing reached its head down further. He felt its teeth scraping at the skin of his neck.
His arms were hurting like hell but if he let his grip on its wrists loose at all, this thing would bite him and he would be infected. Not only would it devour him alive but he would come back as one of these disgusting mindless dead things. It seemed like a fate worse than the painful death of being eaten alive.
The dead thing’s head jerked backward and a bowie knife was jabbed deep into its eye up to the hilt. The infected creature let out an unholy howl that echoed through the building then slumped down on top of Jeff. It stopped moving completely.
Jeff looked up at Dana's face. She was obviously exhausted. She must have run from the other side of the almost pitch black store to get to him. With all the trash and debris covering the floor, it must have been a difficult run to save him from this zombie.
He pushed the lifeless corpse off of him.
“Thanks, you got here just in time. I thought I was fucked there for a second.” Jeff said as he tried to catch his breath.
“I was afraid I didn’t make it in time. Did it bite you?” Dana was worried she would have to watch her only remaining companion die then come back.
“No, but it slimed me all over my face. Christ, that gunk smells awful. Good thing none of it got in my eyes or my mouth.” Jeff said.
He tore off his long sleeve flannel shirt and desperately began wiping the nasty smelling black zombie saliva from his face.
Dana picked up her flashlight and switched it back on, shining it towards Jeff to help him see what he was doing with the now tainted shirt. He threw the dirty shirt on the ground and shivered. His sleeveless undershirt did nothing to keep him warm with the cold wind stirring up outside.
The glass doors at the front of the PriceCo membership store had long since been shattered, probably back when the virus first hit two months ago. There was nothing to stop the elements or the risen dead from coming into the store. The sun had already set and now even the front of the store was covered in darkness.
Jeff shook his head and grumbled in frustration. This place had been ransacked over and over again. There was nothing but trash and debris all over the floor and it smelled like old dead bodies. He was worried that they may not find any food tonight. It had already been two days since he or Dana had eaten anything.
Dana gasped when a breathy growl cut through the silence. Jeff thought it sounded about 30 feet away. He put his finger up to his lips to Dana. She nodded quietly at him with a terrified look on her face. The sound of shuffling and paper objects being dragged along the concrete floor set them both on high alert. The darkness didn’t make it easy to figure out where the noises came from. Jeff turned in place slowly and decided the sound must be coming from the back of the store.
He grabbed Dana’s forearm and pulled gently, pointing toward the front door. Dana nodded and shut off the flashlight as they slowly made their way back to the front door as quietly as they could.
Jeff was thankful that he came across Dana. He wasn’t sure she would have survived the end of the world on her own. After two months of corpses walking around attacking the living, Dana still wasn’t used to seeing one of the infected dead face to face. He was surprised that she was able to help him with the zombie that almost made a meal out of him a few minutes ago. Her ability to grab the thing by the back of the head and shove a knife in its eye really shocked him. Dana was such a sweet girl, but taking care of her was definitely a task. She still had zero survival skills.
Another raspy growl brought Jeff’s mind back to the task of getting them both to the front of the store alive. Dana gasped again. This time it sounded closer, much closer. The sound of paper and debris dragging along the floor was unnerving, especially since it was so close.
The sudden tug of Dana’s arm pulling free from Jeff’s grasp made his heart race. He turned toward Dana but he didn’t see her there.
“Oh God! Help! Jeff!” Dana gasped and screamed from behind him.
Jeff crouched down and felt around for something, anything he could use as a weapon. He grabbed on to a large piece of metal, maybe a pipe and stood up. He turned toward the sound of Dana’s screams and waved the pipe around in the air in front of him. He couldn’t see anything at all. All he had to guide him were the sounds of her being torn apart and her desperate crying.
He must have gone in the wrong direction. He wasn’t finding Dana or the dead things that were attacking h
er.
The sound of her crying out in pain and anguish made him cringe. Jeff felt around on the ground for the flashlight but he couldn’t feel it anywhere on the ground. He had no idea where Dana was, only that she was somewhere in the dark toward the back of the store. The store was now pitch black except for the dull moonlight near the front door and that was no help.
Dana’s screams for help became weak gurgling noises. He had failed her. He wanted so badly to go back and help her, but he knew it was too late. He could hear sickening wet tearing sounds as she kept making that dreadful gurgling noise. He knew she was drowning in her own blood as they ripped her flesh to shreds and fed on her. Even if he could stop them and save her somehow, she was infected now. Jeff turned back to the front door and shuffled forward slowly and quietly.
When he made it outside, he leaned back against the wall outside the store. He clenched his fists, cursing as quietly as he could. He couldn’t believe he lost Dana. He thought he would be able to protect her and take care of her. He imagined himself tearing the building down with his bare hands in his anger. He pounded his fists against the concrete wall and tried to regain his wits.
An eerie unearthly howl nearby snapped him out of his inner rage. He realized quickly that he had to get up on the roof. There were zombies all over the streets. The only safe places in a city were usually on the roofs of the buildings. Zombies generally couldn’t get up a flight of stairs.
Jeff was hungry as hell. The PriceCo looked like it was totally pillaged and they got there too close to sundown to make a good search of the place. He hoped he would be able to rest with his hunger bothering him so badly.
Jeff carefully made his way around the back of the PriceCo. There were several infected wandering about the parking lot and he had to dash around, hiding behind and under cars and displays of various outdoor products to get past the zombies that were near the walls of the warehouse store. It felt like an hour passed before he found his way to a fire ladder in back of the building.
He stuck the metal pipe in his belt and climbed the ladder.
“Shit.” Jeff mumbled under his breath.
The heavy breathing and eerie growls on the roof of the building meant he wouldn’t be getting any rest right away. He peered over the edge of the roof and shook his head in frustration. Three infected were wandering aimlessly on the roof. They must have been employees working up here when they died.
Jeff gripped the pipe in his right hand and tried to psyche himself up for another fight. He was so exhausted and hungry, but there was nowhere else for him to go get a little rest. He had taken on three of them before with a bat. He decided to try to take them on.
Luckily only two of the zombies were close to each other, the third was off by itself near the corner of the roof. Jeff finished the climb on to the roof and rushed the lone zombie, pipe clenched tightly in his hand. He swung as hard as he could. The sound of the pipe smashing into the side of the zombie’s head was unnerving like a wet squish with a simultaneous loud metal clang.
The dead thing’s head flopped to the side, hanging on its shoulder as it growled and lumbered toward Jeff with its leathery arms stretched out toward him. Dark slime poured from the wound he made in the side of the thing’s head. Its eyes seemed to glow a sickly greenish-brown. It came toward him slowly.
Jeff swung the pipe again, connecting with the zombie’s head a second time and the thing fell to the ground. Its teeth gnashed at him with its arms stretched out as if it was still trying to reach Jeff from the ground. He swung the pipe again, over and over again. Black goo sprayed from the thing’s head with each blow. After a dozen smashes in the head with the pipe, the thing finally stopped moving.
He turned toward the other two near the stairway door in the middle of the roof. After a moment to catch his breath and get his wits together, Jeff started toward the other two zombies.
He jogged toward the smaller zombie, grabbing its chest by the shirt. It couldn’t weight more than 130 pounds and it was so skinny, even for a weeks old walking corpse. It wore glasses and had a plastic pocket protector in its shirt pocket. The shirt said “Nerd Squad” on the left breast.
The skinny zombie was easily taken off balance and Jeff was able to push it almost toward the edge of the roof before the thing seemed to notice the smell of his flesh. He backed away before the thing could grab on to him, still clenching the pipe. He swung the pipe at its head but missed and it stumbled toward him.
He heard the other zombie howl behind him. He tried to catch his breath and shake off the lightheaded feeling from his hunger and he swung again. The pipe connected with another loud squishy clang. Its black horn-rimmed glasses flew off its face as its head lurched to the side. Jeff chuckled a bit to himself and swung again. The thin nerdy zombie faltered as Jeff rushed toward it. He grabbed at its chest again and pushed it to the edge of the roof. The zombie shrieked as Jeff threw it over the side.
He turned around and the other thing was right there behind him.
“Fuck.” He gasped, out of breath from the last zombie.
This one was fat with a half grown beard. It also had a broken pair of glasses hanging off one ear. It was easily 300 pounds of dead rotting flesh coming right at him. One of its eyeballs was hanging halfway down its face and it was missing half its upper lip, showing brown rotting teeth.
It lumbered right up to Jeff and wrapped its dead flabby arms around him. Its teeth were gnashing toward his face and the glasses fell off its ear. Jeff struggled to escape its grip but it was strong like a bull. The smell from this thing’s mouth made him sick. He fought the urge to vomit right there and desperately held his head back from its teeth.
The fat zombie thing was squeezing him so hard he could barely breathe. He worked his hand up to the thing’s chest, trying to get one of the pens out of its shirt pocket. He struggled every second to keep breathing and keep his face away from its teeth.
The thing lost its balance, falling on top of Jeff. It felt twice as heavy as the zombie inside the store, he could barely move. He grabbed one of the plastic ball point pens from the zombie’s shirt pocket and pushed it slowly into the fat zombie’s eye. Its eyeball popped, spraying Jeff’s face with brown foul-smelling gunk. He kept pushing the pen as the thing howled and thrashed its arms on top of him. The zombie didn’t stop moving until the pen was all the way in its eye socket.
He crawled out from underneath the fat dead zombie with great difficulty. He could barely move the 300 pound body from on top of him. But after what felt like four hours on a chest press machine, Jeff was free from the massive pile of slimy stinking dead weight. In reality, maybe three minutes had passed.
He walked over to the two now completely dead zombie bodies, dragging them one at a time to the edge of the roof. He pushed and rolled and pushed until he was able to get them over the edge where they landed below with a sickening squishy splat.
‘This fat one is going to be a problem.’ He thought to himself.
He stood over the slimy fat zombie body, scratching his beard and staring at it. He looked around when suddenly a lightbulb appeared over his head, figuratively speaking. There was a slab of plywood leaning against the inside stairwell entrance. Jeff grabbed the 4x8 plywood and set it on the edge of the roof like a ramp. He dragged and pushed the fat zombie body up the ramp with all his strength while he wheezed and sweated. Finally the body toppled over the side with the other two.
Jeff stood there next to the edge of the roof, wiping his sweat with his arms. His stomach growled. He went back to where the two zombies were originally standing about and looked around. There was a work duffel bag and two lunchboxes sitting there on the ground.
He opened the first lunchbox, unable to hide his excitement that he might find something, anything to eat. He didn’t know how long these two corpses had been standing around on the roof, but he was sure any kind of good food would have rotted away.
He pulled a ziplock bag out of the first lunchbox and looked at it cl
osely. It looked like it used to be a sandwich that had partially liquefied and turned green and black. He flung the ziplock bag over the edge
of the roof then pulled out a gooey apple. He wasn’t able to tell if it was a green or red apple, but that didn’t matter. He threw it over the roof.
Then he hit paydirt. Two snickers bars laid there at the bottom of the lunchbox. It was shit food, but it would stop his hunger from keeping him awake all night. He then pulled a large bottle of water from the lunchbox.
The second lunchbox had inside a can of warm Pepsi, a small bag of Doritos and a baggie of beef jerky. It was definitely enough to keep him going for a day or two. Well probably not the Pepsi, it would have to be flat and disgusting by now, he decided. He threw the Pepsi over the roof.
After gorging on the goodies he found, he rummaged through the work bag, hoping to find some useful items to make survival a bit easier. But the only useful thing he found was a small flashlight and a 4 pack of extra batteries.
Tales of the Zombie Apocalypse (Issue #1 | August 2015) Page 1
