Zombie Lockup Series (Book 3): Caged 3

by Buda, Chuck

  Claudia felt the surge of adrenaline run through her veins. It filled her system with more fight than flight response. Claudia stood her ground and kicked her leg at the zombie’s solar-plexus. The zombie caught the kick and dropped to its knees. Claudia felt excitement she might be able to end this battle before it turned against her. She grabbed the tangled hair on the back of the zombie’s head and punched it in the face. Claudia struck the thing several more times before flinching away from its gaping mouth. Each punch landed with a vicious slapping noise. Yet the creature only wanted to bite Claudia’s hand. It kept trying to get her fist inside its rotted mouth.

  Claudia shoved the zombie backward to the floor. She ran to the back of the cage and grasped the bars to search for help. One of the huge prison guards swung his baton at Claudia’s knuckles. She managed to retract her hands from the bars in the nick of time. He screamed louder than all the others.

  “Get back in there and fight, you fucking cunt.”

  Claudia’s eyes found the far wall in the cement den. She recognized the Warden, standing with his arms folded. His lips moved as if he spoke to someone, but nobody stood next to him.

  Claudia screamed out when the zombie bit into the side of her neck. Her automatic response was to pull away from the biting, but it only caused her flesh to tear away. A spray of blood splattered the bars to her right. Claudia clutched at her wound and began crying as she searched desperately for a means of escape.

  Her stomach knotted up and Claudia thought she might vomit. She was so upset her life was going to end like this. In all her wildest imagination, Claudia never thought she would die in a cage, in a prison, with a monster feeding upon her. And while guards cheered on in delight.

  Everything began to spin. The ceiling felt like the walls, and the floor felt like the ceiling. Claudia’s eyes happened upon a man outside the cage. He was a fat man with a shaved head. He wore a prison guard’s uniform but he held a camera, aiming it into the cage. He captured every image of the battle with a wide grin on his face. She couldn’t believe the man took pleasure in her death.

  As Claudia lost her sense of time and space, the fat zombie grabbed a hold of her from behind. It moaned and dug its gray fingernails into her face. Claudia screamed while a chunk of meat came free of her head. The zombie let Claudia drop to the floor in a puddle of her own blood as it was satisfied to chew on the piece it freed from her face. Claudia watched the creature hover above her. She blinked her eyes, wondering why the creature licked its fingers like someone who had just eaten barbecue chicken. Claudia wanted to laugh how none of the movies ever showed zombies enjoying every last morsel of flesh. The slogan ‘finger-licking good’ flashed before her mind’s eye.

  Then the monster was upon her.

  Claudia couldn’t fight back. The shock had overtaken her mechanical functioning. She stared at the fluorescent lights hanging above the cage while the zombie fed on her, with sickening sounds.

  All Claudia could think about was her sisters. Who would take care of them now that she was gone? Who would step up and become the new leader of D-Pod? Claudia hoped Shanika wouldn’t lose her temper and do something rash to endanger the other girls. Claudia was going to miss them, she thought. They had become her family in the pen. More family than she had on the outside. She couldn’t believe she was going to die in here.

  Claudia had always figured she would die in prison. But not in a cage with a monster. She couldn’t make sense of what was happening, the shock and blood loss robbing her of her will to go on.

  Tears streamed from Claudia’s eyes as she closed them and began to say her prayers.

  Mabel-creature continued to chew on Claudia until a silent voice in its head told it to stop feeding. The zombie climbed to its feet, roared at the ceiling and backed away from the prisoner who bled out on the icy, cement floor.

  Warden Gorgon assured the creature it did very well tonight. He was satisfied with how the battle had gone. He thought for sure the zombie would encounter more trouble, especially with a dangerous prisoner like Claudia. But the zombie won outright, without much trouble. Suddenly, the Warden’s plans for an undead army seemed attainable.

  Muncie turned the camera off and stood before the Warden. Gorgon could see Muncie had enjoyed the fight immensely. The rest of the guards who had been admitted to witness the new Warsaw Prison also enjoyed the carnage. Everybody had been on edge, locked inside the prison walls, knowing death was inevitable and closer than they wanted. The fight gave them all a chance to let off some steam.

  Warden Gorgon chuckled. Muncie laughed too.

  They had found a new beginning in the end of the world.

  Chapter 7

  Shanika slammed her fist into the cement wall.

  Maria held Luna as she buried her head into Maria’s chest, her sobs muffled as she dug her face into the orange jumpsuit.

  Bo and Tracee held hands. They continued to watch in horror.

  Diandre sniffled and dabbed her eyes. Her attention riveted to the screen.

  The women in D-Pod had gathered around the flat screen television hung in the common room. As lights out neared, the women heard the screaming which echoed from the television speakers. The electric glow of the dormant screen drew the prisoners out of their rooms and beds, like moths to a flame.

  What they saw couldn’t be comprehended.

  Claudia had been locked inside a cage. And a horrific creature hunted her down within the confines of the deadly cell.

  “I will fuck the muthafucka up!” Shanika bellowed and slammed her other fist into the wall. The pain from the first punch still burned through her bloody knuckles. She growled at adding to her own misery with another damaged hand.

  Shanika had loved Claudia. Not lesbian love. Sisterly love. Claudia was the one person she could count on in the joint. Shanika liked the other members of their crew, but it had always been Claudia who held them together. Her eyes watered as she watched their relationship come to an end.

  “What are we gonna do now, chicas?”

  Maria’s voice trembled with sorrow. But an undercurrent of rage threatened to make its way through.

  “We figure out the next move.” Bo glanced at Maria. “Claudia’s plan failed.”

  Shanika lunged at Bo. She shoved the much smaller woman away from the grasp of Tracee. “What the fuck is that supposed to mean, you fucking chink bitch? You saying Claudia fucked up? Maybe I should fuck you up, you rice cunt!”

  Diandre threw her excessive weight in between Shanika and Bo. Shanika huffed over Diandre’s shoulder, pointing at Bo. Bo lowered her gaze to the floor before speaking softly.

  “I know you don’t mean that, Shanika. I’m hurt by this too. All I’m saying is we need to think things out. A little more than we did before.”

  Shanika immediately felt her stomach swirl. She knew Bo was right. And she felt awful about attacking her smaller friend. But Shanika only knew rage in her life. And this bloodbath deserved retaliation of equal or greater proportions. She turned away from Bo and Diandre to watch the final moments of Claudia’s life.

  Each moment stirred the bile in Shanika’s gut. She allowed the tears to run down her cheeks but she refused to cry out loud. She didn’t want to give the Warden the satisfaction. Shanika swore to herself that she would rip the Warden’s heart out of his chest and eat it raw. Then she vowed to paint her skin with his blood. She would do it to honor her fallen leader.

  As she stared at the television, Bo slid next to Shanika and wrapped her small arms around her waist. Bo squeezed Shanika tight. The gentle touch caused Shanika’s body to tremble. She fought hard to stave off the crying, but the sorrow reverberated through her limbs.

  Tracee stepped closer and placed one hand on Shanika’s shoulder and the other on Bo’s arm. Diandre dropped to her knees and cried into the cold floor. Maria held Luna, whispering prayers at the ceiling.

  The rest of D-Pod took their cues from the ladies. Their little crew had always set the pace inside the pod
. Or at least, Claudia had. Everything had revolved around Claudia. She calmly led the women through their worst moments. She hadn’t always been gentle. Claudia had beaten her way to the respectful top of the pod. It took intimidation and fear and ruthlessness to establish her order. Then she softened her approach once she had earned everyone’s respect.

  The collective mood in the room was one of hopelessness. Most of the women understood their days were numbered, rotting inside prison walls. However, a peaceful understanding had been achieved. They would slowly rot inside the walls. Together. As a family. Without Claudia, the stench of death crept nearer.

  Claudia’s plan had brought about a renewed sense of hope. The rumors of her unannounced sacrifice on their behalf made them love her even more. They had a new chance at living outside the prison bars. Maybe a new beginning in an upside down world.

  Shanika felt horrible. It was all her fault. She had allowed Claudia to get under her skin and stab Claudia. Shanika looked up to the heavens and wished it were her in that cage. She knew she could overpower the monster which had its way with Claudia. Claudia was tough and opportunistic. But Shanika was a beast. And she never had to lock horns with Claudia. If only she had, the girls would know Shanika was the one to be reckoned with. And they would have looked to her to save them instead of Claudia.

  My little baby girl, Shanika whispered.

  The zombie stopped feeding upon Claudia’s body. It stood up and backed away as if it knew how to control itself. Stop itself from continuing.

  Shanika’s tears halted. She wondered how the monster had acted differently than every zombie she had seen in movies. Shanika thought zombies ate the dead until there was nothing left. But this one had stopped. It even stopped before eating too much of Claudia. It didn’t make sense to her. Shanika’s head throbbed with anguish as she tried to understand what she witnessed.

  “How could it just stop?” Bo glanced up at Shanika.

  Shanika shrugged and snorted the snot up her runny nose.

  “Looks like we have two sets of monsters to fight now.” Tracee spoke quietly. “Zombies and guards. Those guards wanted blood as much as that thing did.”

  “We have a lot of work to do. I think we should hold a vigil for Claudia to remember her. Quickly. So we can focus on the task at hand.”

  Shanika nodded. “That would be nice. Claudia deserves that.”

  Bo rubbed Shanika’s back and gathered Tracee to begin making arrangements for a ceremony. The other women followed Bo. The television screen went dark as the feed was cut off from beyond the walls of D-Pod. Shanika stared at the black frame, still envisioning the horrific scene. The nightmare replayed over and over like a phantom movie.

  Shanika clenched her fists and screamed at the top of her lungs. She threw a combination punch, shattering the television screen. She ignored the broken shards of glass sticking out of her knuckles. She breathed heavily, spittle flying from the corners of her mouth. She stared at the ceiling and shouted.

  “Nooooooooooooooo!”

  Chapter 8

  Jack felt all eyes on him. It was comforting and burdensome. He liked the fact the men looked to him as their leader. But he felt the weight of the men’s lives on his shoulders.

  He listened as Frenchie and BJ argued over 8-Ball. Frenchie had aired his belief 8-Ball would suffer the same consequences the female prisoner had. BJ thought 8-Ball deserved more than a zombie attack. Frenchie took exception and started calling BJ names.

  “Would you shut the fuck up?”

  Jack’s words brought an immediate end to the argument.

  “You saw what happened. We now know there are infected people INSIDE Warsaw. And we now know how far the Warden will go to keep us in line. It was no mistake that the television came on. He wanted us to see that woman die. And he wanted us to know he could use the zombies as a weapon.”

  “I ain’t playin’, honey. I’d rather Muncie fuck me to death than get eaten by that zombie bitch.” Frenchie tossed an imaginary flock of hair back over his shoulder.

  “I bet a zombie is the first thing in this place you WOULDN’T blow.” BJ laughed at his own joke. Swede stuck a meaty paw into Frenchie’s chest to stop him from going after BJ.

  Melvin shuffled forward. “I’m too old for this bullshit. We gotta make a move now, Jack.”

  Jack knew Melvin was right. But it wasn’t going to be as simple as they had all thought. Jack’s original plan was stymied by Muncie. And now the Warden and Muncie knew he was up to no good. He had promised the Warden he would keep the men calm, but he never agreed how long he would help. Time might have just run out on that bargain.

  “We have to be smarter. They know our tricks. If we lose again, the message is clear. We will be fed to the zombies. And everyone will have front row seats.” Jack nodded at the television screen across the pod.

  Joker chuckled.

  The men in Jack’s bunk room turned their attention to Joker as he laughed louder.

  “Here we go. Crazy is as crazy does.” Melvin rubbed his temple. The sound of his dried palms along his scalp reminded Jack of sandpaper along wood.

  Joker hopped off the top bunk and danced around the room. He jabbed a finger into each man’s chest as he made his way around the circle. Jack raised his eyebrows at Swede. The big man grabbed Joker by the throat and lifted him off the floor.

  “We don’t need your antics, you crazy fuck. We need solutions. Make him understand, Swede. Then get him the fuck outta my sight before I show him why I rule the roost around here.”

  Swede punched Joker’s eye, which swelled up immediately. Joker continued to laugh through the stranglehold. Swede repeated the blows.

  “Not...usual...nuther...” The words choked out in between gasps.

  Jack jammed his arm inside Swede’s cocked fist. Swede lowered his hand but held Joker high with his other arm. Jack closed in on Joker’s bloody face. He tilted his head to the right as he considered whether he wanted to give the nut case a chance to speak. Why not, he figured? If he says something stupid, I’ll twist his fucking head off myself, Jack thought.

  “Choose your words carefully, Joker. Because the first wrong word out of your smelly mouth is going to earn you a slow death.” Jack glared into the bloody eye which hadn’t closed up yet. He nodded at Swede, who dropped Joker to the floor with a thudding sound.

  Jack knelt down to listen closely to Joker’s comments. Joker coughed and spat some blood which had run down his nose into his mouth.

  “Gotta...get outside...from the inside.”

  Jack grimaced. He had hoped Joker had something real he could use. He decided he had to kill Joker so he could minimize his distractions. It might be a new way to get Muncie to open the doors again, too.

  Jack raised his fist to slug Joker. Joker blinked and stammered out one word.

  “Jonas.”

  Jack held his punch back. “What about him?”

  Joker licked his bloody lips, clearing away the crimson from his gold caps. The gold quickly darkened with blood again.

  “Jonas be the weak link. You get to him, you get outside.”

  Jack thought about Joker’s words. He might have found an option he hadn’t considered before. Jonas had been the one to filter information to them through BJ. Maybe fighting Muncie directly wasn’t the best use of their resources. Joker’s idea of working their way through the soft guard might get them closer to breaking out of the pod. And possibly the prison walls altogether.

  “You gonna listen to this nutcrackuh? Jack, he’s outta his damn mind.” Melvin rested a hand on Jack’s shoulder.

  Jack stood up. He circled the room and scratched at his stubble. “The nutcracker might have saved us.”

  Melvin shook his head. He glanced around at the other men in the room. “You trust this crazy muthafucka?”

  “No.” Jack responded quickly. “But I trust that motherfucker.”

  Jack pointed at BJ. BJ sat up straight and swallowed a lump in his throat. “Oh, wait a s
econd. How am I going to get a chance to talk to Jonas? There’s no way they’ll open the door again after all we’ve been through.” His nervous eyes pleaded with Jack.

  “But you have something he needs.”

  BJ looked around the room incredulously. “I do? What do I have?” He held his arms out as if to show he was empty-handed.

  “You have information that could save his life.”

  Everyone stared at Jack in wonder.

  Jack continued. “You have a message for him. His life will be spared when we break free.”

  “And why would he buy that? I don’t have to remind you we’re the ones locked up, not them.” BJ pointed at the door to indicate the prison guards. “We have no bargaining power.”

  Jack laughed. “But we do. You see, Joker here was going to tell Muncie how Jonas was feeding us info. But you stopped Joker from blowing the whistle on Jonas. And for that, he will be grateful. And willing to work with us.”

  Everyone glanced at each other. Joker’s smile faded. His bloody lips trembled. As he scrambled to get to his feet, Jack dove on Joker’s back and applied the strongest choke hold he could muster.

  Joker struggled to fight off Jack’s attack but he began to lose steam as his oxygen supply diminished. Jack glared at the men in his room that stood idle as he killed someone in front of them.

  Frenchie started to move forward until Swede jammed his elbow into his stomach.

  Joker’s will to live evaporated and Jack used his time well. He snapped Joker’s neck hard to the right. A crunching sound echoed off the cement walls.

  A growing spot of urine spread across Joker’s jumpsuit, his legs sprawled across the floor.

  Jack tossed Joker’s limp body aside and climbed to his feet. He brushed his hands along his pant legs. He looked at each of his mates before settling his eyes on Melvin.

  “I like Joker’s idea.”