The Z Strain

by Matthew Isaiah Crawford

  The phone rings.

  And rings.

  And rings.

  He slams the phone back into the receiver and scans the room frantically as if looking for a solution. He moves slowly to the doorway and pushes his shoulder against the door to peek out into the hallway. The gap that opens in the door is just enough for two cleaning workers and Barton Landis, senior partner to get their hands through and force their way into the room. Steve Brehman backpedals three steps before falling backwards. Steve’s screams die out, and the world fades to blackness as Mr. Landis bites off a large chunk of his cheek.

  Parsons Tennessee

  Friday, August 16th, 7:45 AM EST

  A green pickup races down a dirt road, kicking up rocks and dirt, as it fishtails across the road. At the end of the road sits a two-story white house with red trim. In the large bay window at the front sits April Robertson and her eleven-year-old son Douglas. They had been reading a book together, but Doug shot out of his chair like a rocket when he saw his father’s pickup racing down the road.

  “Look mama here comes daddy! Wow is he driving’ fast!” April turns to look she pushes her red hair out of her face and holds her hand over her eyes to block the sun.

  “Lord of mercy! He trying to get himself killed?” She exclaimed getting to her feet. The green pickup skids to a stop feet from the front door. Through the cloud of smoke, a tall gauntly man in a camouflage shirt leaps from the truck and runs for the house without closing the door.

  “April!?! AAPRIILLL!?!” He yells as he crashes through the front door. April bounds around the corner to the front hallway where her husband is sweating profusely. April has short blonde hair, cut to her shoulders. Dennis stands 6’3 without his cowboy boots on, and their son Dennis is a spitting image of his father already standing. Dennis just turned twelve and is already nearly a full head taller than his mother.

  “Dennis? What the hell you trying to do, kill.” She started yelling but was interrupted by her frantic husband.

  “April God damn it, there’s no time, we gotta pack up and go, NOW!!!” He yelled striding right past her. He went straight to his gun cabinet nearly fumbling the keys as he tried to get to the little one for the small brass lock set in the polished red cedar cabinet.

  “Pack, what? What’s going on honey?” April was panicked, she had never seen her husband so flustered.

  “The whole town’s crazy, they’re all killing each other, and they’re heading this way.”

  “Dennis, what are you talking about, you must be.” April was interrupted again.

  “What, drunk? No, as a matter of fact I haven’t had a sip, now pack your fucking shit before I leave your ass behind. Doug? Douglass!” He yelled.

  “What daddy?” Douglass pops his head out from around the corner where he was obviously standing eavesdropping.

  “Douglass, run upstairs, pack a bag, all the clothes you can. Plenty of socks and underwear, okay.”

  “Dad, people are really dying out there?”

  “Yes, and they’re coming this way, so we need to hurry up and get out of here, okay son.”

  “Yes daddy.” And with that Douglass was bounding up the stairs disappearing around the corner to his room.

  “April!” He yelled, she looked his direction. “Canned food, flashlights, get the lock box with the .45, the hunting rifles, and all the ammo. I’m going to load up the genny and the rifles, along with the camping gear from the garage.” April only nods and moves quickly to do what she was told. In thirteen years, she had never seen her husband anything close to this upset, in all their time together he may have cursed once or twice, and never at her.

  In less than ten minutes they were buckling in to the bench seat of the truck and were peeling out of the driveway.

  “Where are we going Dennis?” She asked grabbing hold of her son’s hand and holding it tightly in her lap.

  “Thought we’d go up to Dad’s old cabin. Get out of town and away from the people for a few days.” April nods, and turns to look out the window. The trees and surrounding area seem so calm and serene, it’s hard to believe that there is chaos erupting in town.

  “Dad why are you acting so crazy?” Dennis asked.

  “You did come tearing into the house like a madman. You’re scaring the heck out of me. Would you mind backing up to the beginning, and explaining to us exactly what’s going on?” April said as calmly as she could.

  “Well, okay. I was standing in line at the pharmacy. And Mrs. Cooper was real sick, she said that she’d been tired, and hadn’t eaten for days. Matter of fact, lot of folks were sick. Longest line I’ve ever seen at the pharmacy. Well, all of a sudden Mrs. Cooper just falls to the floor. Mr. Neilson, the pharmacy man jumps out from behind the counter to help. He’s checking her breathing and such. Well, he just stops and says that she’s dead. And all the women in line gasp and all, well, he goes to get up and she grabs him.”

  “Who.”

  “Mrs. Cooper.”

  “I thought you said Mrs. Cooper was dead.”

  “Yes!”

  “Dennis honey, you ain't making no sense.”

  “I’m telling you the truth. She was dead, then she comes back, and grabs hold of Mr. Neilson and bites him right on the neck.”

  “She bit him?” April asked shocked.

  “Tore his throat clean out five feet in front of me.”

  “Oh my God.” April put her hand to her mouth.

  “Well as he’s flapping around on the ground, Mrs. Cooper gets up and starts attacking other people too. She bit Mrs. Riley before Ken Stockton bashed her over the head with his cane. Then Mr. Nielson gets up and starts attacking people too, his throat ripped clean out, his shirt completely soaked in blood!” April reached around her son and rubbed her husband’s shoulder.

  “My lord honey, I’m sorry.”

  “Well I turned tail and made for the door. It seemed like almost all at once the whole store was going crazy, so I got the hell out of there quick as I could. So, I get outside, and it’s spilling out into the streets. Everyone attacking everyone else, people lying dead in the street. It was insane.”

  “Oh my, I’m glad you’re okay.” April was holding Doug’s hand against her chest now, his fingertips turning white. Douglass wasn’t paying any attention, he was staring up at his father with a look of awe spread across his face.

  “Made it out of there by the skin of my teeth I tell ya. Jimmy, the bag boy from the market grabbed me right before I got to the truck, pulled me to the ground, tried to bite me. I was able to wrestle away from him just before he bit me.”

  “This sounds like something right out of some creepy horror movie.” Douglass says.

  “God.” April looks up and flinches when she sees a group of people walking in the middle of the highway walking towards them.

  “Should we stop?”

  “Only if you have a death wish.” Dennis hammers down on the accelerator and hit’s the group at 73 miles an hour. April screams out as blood, flesh, and bone smash against the windshield. After a terrifying moment where the truck shuddered and the front end of the truck painted red, the truck clears the heard of people. Dennis looks over to his wife who was staring blankly ahead, her beautiful face tinted pink from the red on the windshield. He runs the windshield wipers. It takes several seconds for the wiper fluid to clear the blood as it streaks across the glass.

  “My God Dennis, what the hell is going on?”

  “I don’t know, I only hope that it’s safe at the cabin.”

  Westin Hotel, 5th floor, Pittsburgh Pennsylvania

  Friday, August 16th, 8:37 AM

  Mark stands next to the window inside one of the guest rooms on the 5th floor, looking out onto the streets he watches in awe as dozens and dozens of people just milling around in the middle of the street. Many of which have visible injuries.

  “We jammed up the doors on the third-floor service area, any other points of entry you need a key.”

  “So nothing el
se can make it up here now right?” Steve asked anxiously

  “Unless one of them fuckers figures out how to reset the elevators down in the garage, or they sprout wings, no. But that’s not to say that there isn’t any on the floors already, like my old friend down in 530.”

  “Do you think they could get out onto the floors?”

  “Yea, I do Steve, we’re going to start clearing the floors, they probably won’t travel between the floors, but we need to stay alert.” Mark explained.

  “Okay, okay.” Steve relaxed a bit, but they could all tell he was ready to jump out of his skin.

  “Let us also not forget that there are three in the hallway on the 26th floor for sure.” John bursts into the room with an armload of tools making everyone jump. Herb Wathers, the Engineer strides in behind him with a big smile on his face, and an axe slung over his shoulder. Herb was a motorcycle enthusiast, and this appearance matched. He was in his mid to late 40’s with a greying goatee that hangs down the middle of his chest. He has tattoos all over his bald head, and up and down both arms. John released his armload of supplies onto the bed.

  “Hey, Herb, glad to see you’re okay.” Mark said throwing his arm around his shoulder.

  “Thanks to John I am.” John turned and smiled.

  “It was nothing really, two of the stewards had turned and were pushing against the door to engineering, and Herb couldn’t get out.”

  “No shit man, but I woulda starved to death for sure if you hadn’t shown up. They were not showing any signs of letting up.” Herb shook his head and chuckled. “So, fucking zombies huh?”

  “Sure looks that way man.” Mark said eyeballing the array of weapons on the bed.

  “No shit. All the ways I saw this world going to the crapper, this was not even on the list.”

  “We’re glad to have you with us for sure. So, as I was just telling them, other than the door leading to the third-floor service area which is locked now yeah?” John and Herb both nod their heads in response. “Stairwell one is the only one that could be accessed by anyone outside the hotel, and it’s jammed up good, we checked all the other exits are they are all secure.”

  “Awesome, so what’s the plan?”

  “Well, we have to clear all the floors and make sure there are no more threats up here. Then, honestly, I don’t know, we’ll figure that out when we finish making sure we’re safe. We’re going to need plans for food and water, and that means eventually we have to take the 3rd floor. So, what are we looking at for weapons?”

  “This is what we got from engineering, really thought we’d have a better selection.” John said looking down at the weapons laid out on the bed. “We have one fire axe, three large pipe wrenches, two lengths of steel pipe, One shovel, and two rakes.”

  “Dibs on the axe” Steve chimed in.

  “I’m thinking the axe goes to who is clearing the rooms. That was scary stuff.” Mark said looking directly at Steve. Steve didn’t respond but turned away and looked out the window.

  “Flashlight works pretty well, but I’ll take a pipe wrench as a backup.” Mark said picking up a large red wrench off the bed. “Steve, I think you and Margaret should cover the hallway, while John, Herb and I clear the rooms. That way you’ll be right behind us if we need help.”

  “Fine.” Steve said sharply. Mark could tell that he was offended that he was asked to hang back with a woman, but he also had the suspicion that Steve was shitting his pants and was secretly a little thankful for not having to go into the rooms.

  “That being said Steve, you mind if I hang on to the axe?” Herb asked

  “No, sure, course not.” Steve pushed through the group with little regard and left the room in silence.

  “Thanks buddy.” Herb said with a half-smile and a raised eyebrow. The rest of the room shared similar confused expressions.

  And so, they began, one room at a time, and thankfully for a while, all the rooms they found were empty. They cleared all the 5th floor and were half way through the 6th floor before they entered room 619. None of them were prepared for an occupied room. Herb leaned in first, his axe resting comfortably on his shoulder. He didn’t see anything at first and stepped into the room.

  Mark was one step behind him and jumped back when Herb let out a very high-pitched scream. The axe came off of Herb’s shoulder and was brought down onto the shoulder of a young woman who was rounding the corner in a powder blue button up top. She had a bob cut just above her shoulders that looked like it had been recently dyed. It carved in just passed the collar bone before lodging in the breastplate.

  Mark was stepping over herb as he was reeling away from the woman who was now coming down on him with his ax lodged in her chest. He brought his flashlight down on the top of her head, but she didn’t stop. She came down on top of Herb, a low angry groan came from her, but it didn’t seem to come from her mouth. It was lower. He raised his flashlight again and brought it down on the back of her head. Finally, she went limp.

  “Ugh” Herb groaned beneath the weight.

  “Here.” Mark said reaching down for his friend. Just as their hands made contact the father and daughter came around the corner from the bedroom. “Shit!” Mark yelled. The dad looked like an accountant. He was thin and pale and was still wearing his glasses. Mark kicked the dad square in the chest, knocking the man back onto the bed. He bounced comically and smacked his face on the nightstand. Unfazed the was back on his feet in a moment.

  A moment where Mark hesitated, finding it very difficult to kill the small child snarling at him, it was a girl, about 10 or 11 years old reminded him of his oldest daughter. She was mere inches away before he was finally able to bring his flashlight down on her skull ending the creature’s existence.

  Herb was halfway out from under the wife when the dad reached Mark. He was unprepared for the advance and stumbled backwards falling over herb into the entryway to the bathroom.

  “Herb!” Mark yelled as the man came down on him. Mark tried to scramble to his feet, but the man’s face was only inches from Herb’s. Herb strained to hold the creature back, but it was impossibly strong.

  Mark got to his feet just as Herb jammed a screwdriver into the man’s temple. John also appeared in the doorway near panic.

  Herb rolled the man off of him and finished pulling his legs out from under his wife. Mark slumped back against the wall out of breath.

  “You guys okay?”

  “That was too close.” Mark said.

  “You’re telling me.” Herb got to his feet and yanked the axe from mom’s chest. He held the axe out to John. “Here bub. Your turn.”

  “Sure. Sure, thing Herb. I’ll take a shift.”

  Nearly two hours later the group emerged worn and weary onto the 26th floor. Steve now held the axe as Herb was still recovering from an incident on 25 with a very large man in 2516. He had hit him with the axe right in the forehead, but it didn’t go deep enough, so the big bastard just kept coming. Herb had backpedaled and tried to spin around the corner but fell twisting his ankle. Margaret was helping him walk and hanging back quite a bit. John, and Mark were visibly exhausted. Steve hadn’t had to deal with anything yet, but his heart was beating through his chest in anticipation. The constant thumping resounding in his ears was all he could hear now that he was taking the lead into the rooms. His hands were shaking uncontrollably so he held them close to his chest so no one would notice.

  “I got your back Steve, we got this.” John said encouragingly.

  “Last time I saw them they were heading right for me from the other end of the building. I ducked into the service area there and went down the stairs.”

  “Well, they must be back on the other side.” Steve said mockingly.

  “Let’s keep quiet, maybe we can sneak up on them.” Mark said ignoring Steve’s snide comment.

  As they rounded the corner, they could see the woman, still standing at the far end of the hallway, her intestines still dangled loosely around her legs. There was no si
gn of the two men. Steve turned to look down to the other end of the hallway when the woman at the far end saw him. She emitted a guttural groan that froze in place. His knuckles turning white around the red axe handle. Without any further warning the two men rounded the corner from the elevator lobby and made for the group at remarkable speed. John sidestepped one, whacking him on the back of the head as he ran past. Steve decided to hold his axe up in front of himself as a shield, hitting the ghoul in the chest. It reached out for him grabbing his left arm, his face, squeezing his flesh with inhuman strength.

  Steve let out a high-pitched squeal that bordered on hysterical. John looked behind him to see that Herb was finishing off the one on the ground with a decisive blow to the back of the head with a steel pipe. John ran towards Steve raising his pipe wrench at his side. He swung striking it across the ridge of the right eye. He heard the bones beneath cracking and breaking. Unfazed, the man continued tearing at Steve. His jaw clenching over and over again searching for the warm flesh below. John turned and brought the wrench down on the back of his head, the zombie fell forward its broken face smacking wetly against the carpet. Steve was frozen in place, his eyes unblinking.

  “You okay?” John asked offering a hand to help him up. Steve snapped back to reality and accepted his help, but didn’t respond, he only stood there with a dazed look on his face. Only coming to life when another loud moan escaped from the woman at the end of the hall, who was now hopelessly tangled in her own entrails. “Take a break Steve-o, I’ll take care of her.” John pulled the axe from Steve’s hand and replaced it with the bloody pipe wrench.

  Mark walked around the corner with a very skittish looking Margaret in tow. She was literally hanging onto the back of his shirt as they walk down the hallway together. They watched as John sauntered down the hallway towards the woman. She had tripped on her intestines again and had resorted to crawling on the ground towards them. He strolled up and imbedded the axe into the back of the woman’s head. The axe sticks in the skull as he pulls it back out, as it pulls free it releases a jet of blood up onto the white ceiling. John turns around and looks at the group with an odd smile on his face.