The Zombie Apocalypse (Book 1): Buried Instincts

by Henson, Lynn

"What do you make of that?" he asked Carrey.

  "Maybe he wanted us to stop to ask for help?" Carrey shrugged. "Maybe he wanted to trade information? Maybe he wanted to warn us about something that they're driving away from? We didn't stop, so it's anyone's guess."

  Blake shuddered at the possibility of that last suggestion. "I hope we're not driving towards an even worse situation."

  "Way I see it," Carrey began, "we know what's behind us. Even if we were going into a dangerous situation, it's probably preferable to what we've left behind. Besides, I can't imagine that there are many people out here. Maybe they've even been spared from infection."

  Blake sat back into silence again, not convinced but of Carrey's reasoning but knowing that going back was definitely not an option. Even if things ahead of us are a mess too, it couldn't be as bad as what happened in a large metropolitan center like Vegas. I just hope finding a small military base really is the right call. What if they just start shooting at us? What if Pendrake was wrong and the military was part of this? Blake fretted for another five minutes as Kyle snored in the passenger seat and Carrey grunted from time to time at the GT-S that continuously threatened to pull away if he let off on the gas pedal, then finally concluded that it was impossible to worry about what was going to happen until they got there.

  He looked down and the cat looked up at him sleepily, and slowly closed his eyes again, seemingly content with the current situation. I wish I was as relaxed as that cat. Blake thought gloomily.

  The road continued to unravel with a level of ferocity dictated by Bree and was swallowed up into blackness just as quickly. Unable to sleep anymore, he leaned forward and placed his elbows on the front seats so that he occupied the space in the middle of the car. Carrey glanced back at him briefly, but didn't say anything, still intently concentrating on driving.

  Blake stared at the red lights ahead of them, a beacon in the impossibly black night. His mind was completely void of thoughts and time seemingly came to a standstill. When he snapped out of it and checked the clock on the dash, an hour had gone by.

  Bree's emergency lights were flashing and they were rapidly closing the gap on her car. Carrey stomped on the brake a little harder than he wanted to and Blake gripped the seats to keep from getting launched into the front part of the vehicle. Kyle snorted awake at the same time and glanced around wildly at the sudden shift in velocity.

  Blake was about to ask why she was slowing down when buildings seemed to materialize out of thin air around them. The highway had widened and it became clear that they'd arrived somewhere. It was jarring because visibility was limited to what their headlights could see, but he eagerly tried to take in any details, grateful that one boring stretch of nothing was finally past them.

  Wherever they were, it was pretty minimal. From what he could see from the highway, there weren’t many buildings at all. Bree had stopped and Carrey pulled up next to her car on the right. Kim had rolled down the window and leaned her head out. Carrey rolled his window down as well and brought the car to a halt.

  "We want to stop here for the night," Kim informed them.

  Carrey nodded in agreement. The minivan behind them had rolled up to the right of their car by this time and Blake saw that Doris, the plain Asian girl, managed a blearily eyed glance at him as she rolled to a stop. He put his palms together and lay his cheek on one side as he tilted his head towards his hands. Doris nodded in understanding and seemed relieved at the prospect of rest.

  Blake heard Bree’s car engine rev a little and inched forward towards a building with some kind of adobe tower attached to it. She turned her brights on as she drove slowly at an angle to attempt to determine what was inside the building. The lights panned across the front of what must have been a rundown casino. The interior was devoid of motion, although at times because of the way the lights played across the front, it was hard to tell if something inside wasn’t moving. No one in the car was making noise while watching Bree finish her inspection of the building. Her arm emerged from the window and beckoned them forward. The tension inside the car lifted and Carrey moved them towards the casino. He whipped it around and backed into a spot near the front doors.

  “Uh... you know that you don’t actually have to park in a space, right? I mean it’s not like you’re going to get a parking ticket or something,” Blake pointed out.

  Carrey shrugged in response. “Force of habit.”

  The other cars followed Carrey’s example and also backed into spots. Blake heard a smacking noise and quickly turned to see that the van had backed up too much and driven up on the curb. It lurched forward and the back dropped back down onto the ground jolting everyone inside the car.

  Kyle gave a snort and muttered something about Asian drivers as he opened the door and stepped out. Blake got out as well, stretching his legs and immediately regretted it as they complained bitterly about being used too harshly. He went into a half crouch as he ungracefully thrust his palm out at the side of the car to avoid toppling to the ground. He was not alone in his awkwardness as other people similarly stumbled out of the vehicles and began their own rituals of getting the blood circulating again. Feeling returned to his extremities and Blake made his way to the entrance of the casino where people were congregating.

  “Well, we can’t just walk right inside. What if it’s zombie central in there?” Carrey pointed out.

  “Out here?” Gao snorted. “This crisis probably improved their business.”

  “Yeah, it’s not exactly the Ritz,” Kim agreed.

  “I’m just saying we should be careful,” Carrey clarified, “There doesn’t seem to be a whole lot going on from out here, but it doesn’t mean we need to draw attention to ourselves.”

  “Ok, ok, we will be careful,” Gao said, annoyed and walked over to the casino double doors. He paused and started prying the right one open. He got it far enough open that a person could enter, unlocked his cell phone and tapped his flashlight on. He shined it inside the casino, let out a high pitched shriek, and hopped backward comically almost knocking Doris off balance. Alarmed, Carrey turned his flashlight on and shined it through the doorway. Just inside was a slumped over figure in a wheelchair his wrinkled face looked asleep. As Carrey played the light around the man, Blake could make out a shriveled up IV bag, a cheap beige blanket covering his legs, and a large cup that proclaimed “Sahara” tucked to the man’s side. Transparent tubes went from his nose down to where his oxygen tank must’ve been attached to his chair.

  No one was moving, attention completely on the corpse in front of them. “Maybe he’s just dead,” Kim offered after a moment. The tension lightened a little and everyone relaxed a bit.

  “Well,” said Carrey after a moment, “let’s go in and see what’s what. Everyone stick together.”

  Carrey walked inside, giving the elderly corpse a wide berth. Kyle quickly plunged in after him and people followed him in one after the other. Gao looked conflicted about going in, but Doris wrapped her arm around his as if he were supporting her. He seemed to gain resolve and they went in after the disheveled blonde. This left Blake alone outside. Suddenly nervous, he took a quick look around and despite seeing nothing out of the ordinary, followed Doris and Gao inside. It was dark. Very dark. Up ahead he could see people’s flashlights stab into the darkness to reveal slot machines, gaming tables, and the occasional corpse. Blake turned on his own light and aimed it at one of the corpses. It was a lump of a body, toppled out of her wheelchair at the foot of a slot machine. Her hand had knocked an ashtray to the floor spilling ashes and cigarette butts to her side. She was dressed in brown slacks and a hand knit pink sweater. Her face was hidden from view from where he stood, and Blake was a little grateful to not have to see it.

  Blake looked ahead towards the front of the group, where the flashlights played about. Judging from the progress, Carrey was leading them around the perimeter of the building. Not a bad way to go. If there’s trouble we’re adjacent to emergency exits. They continued a
round the edge of the interior and Blake reached a couple of conclusions.

  “It’s all old people here,” Blake whispered to Gao who was looking around nervously in front of him.

  “What did you expect? Shithole like this?” Gao snorted.

  Point taken. “True. But I would’ve expected to see a little more variety by now. Haggard waitresses. Fat security staff. Sleazy management types? But there’s none of that. Just old people.”

  “They took off,” Gao replied dismissively, “Old people are a burden when the shit hit the fan.”

  “That’s pretty fucked up,” Blake observed, “I thought your culture embraced taking care of the elderly?”

  “I think you are a naive fuck,” Gao concluded.

  By this time they had reached the opposite end of the casino where the “employees only” access doors were. Blake saw Carrey’s flashlight disappear through a doorway with the rest of the group trailing after him. He paused before going after them, taking another moment to look around. Seeing nothing out of the ordinary, he moved into the employee area, following the people ahead of him.

  Beyond the doorway was a drab corridor, devoid of aesthetic features. They passed a service elevator, a laundry room, finally arriving in the kitchen. By the time Blake had entered, most of the group had spread out and were looking through shelves. The kitchen was necessarily large as it was meant to support the casino restaurant. Deep metal sinks with sprayers occupied a central place along one wall near a large industrial washer. A large metal door with a latch handle seemed to promise a wealth of food items that had probably gone bad by this point. Industrial stoves with large metal pots still on top of them lined another wall. Two sets of metal tables ran parallel to each other in the center of the room. One set had a second level of shelving above it which probably had heat lamps running along the top. Plates of various shapes and sizes adorned the top of the double-decker work tables. Kim and Bree were nosing through drawers, while Kyle and Carrey had opened the pantry door in a pseudo movie military style. Once they had determined that it was devoid of life or otherwise, they went in to see what treasures the room held. Gao had moved himself to the center of the room with Doris close by and was looking around with tense disinterest. The blonde girl cautiously followed after the twins into the pantry.

  Uneasy, Blake looked back the way they’d come again. Seeing nothing, he went to the center of the kitchen and ran his hand along the metallic workstation surface, enjoying the cool feeling. Behind him, he heard something click open followed by a gasp.

  “Aw! Nasty!” Gao yelled in protest and jumped over to shut the fridge that Doris had pulled open which had released a sickening, rotting smell. The sudden outburst contrasted greatly with the atmosphere and the tension ratcheted up as people stopped what they were doing to see what was going on.

  “Sorry...” Doris said sheepishly, looking around at everyone. Shaken, everyone returned to what they had been doing prior to their interruption. Kyle skirted around the blonde girl to get out of the pantry and walked over to where Bree and Kim were examining several bottles of spices.

  “Kitchen seems safe,” Kyle told them. “We should find some rooms to rest in.”

  Kim nodded as Carrey came out of the pantry. “There’s some stuff we can take in there. We can come back for it later,” Carrey informed them. “Let’s go, everyone. Stick together,” he said to the rest of the room.

  Kyle peered through the circular window in the kitchen double doors, swinging his flashlight left and right through it before pushing them open. Carrey went through after him, following close behind. Blake hung back to allow the rest of the group to go through. The blonde girl cast a curious look at him as she went by. He nodded at her and began to move towards her to assure her that he was right behind her. He paused again, the sense of unease getting stronger. He did a quick scan of the kitchen but saw nothing out of the ordinary. He pushed the doors open and followed his comrades.

  Beyond the double doors was the waitress workstation. Blake’s flashlight revealed a soda fountain and stacks of plastic cups. The people ahead of him were proceeding along the edge of the dining room, though progress was more cautious as the large amount of booths and tables created a lot of hiding places. Blake’s flashlight exposed the dated decor and tacky furniture, but despite the lack of obvious threats, he couldn’t shake the feeling that he was being watched.

  His light ran over a figure slouched in a booth. Blake stopped walking and shined his light on the person. It was the corpse of an old man who looked as if he was taking a nap on the table, the remnants of his final meal spread out around him. The old man was turned away from him, gray hair unkempt, twisting in several directions. Blake shined the light away from him, suddenly feeling like he was desecrating a tomb. Chills shot through his body and goosebumps prickled up and down his arms. A hand gripped his shoulder, and he stifled a gasp, whirling frantically to see what had grabbed him.

  “Keep together,” the blonde girl whispered. He gulped, then nodded. She squeezed his shoulder and walked quickly after the person ahead of her. He followed after her.

  Blake was relieved when they were finally clear of the restaurant because the light from the group would hit all the furniture and he constantly thought he was seeing movement. They walked past the elevators and found the emergency stairwell. As Kyle and Carrey cautiously made sure nothing menacing was in there, Blake thought his comrades weren’t looking too sharp. Everyone’s tired. We need a good night’s sleep. Fortunately, the stairwell seemed safe and they went up the second floor where there were guest rooms. They moved down the hall and while most of the rooms were locked and comfortingly quiet, they found the cleaning crews cart in the hallway and a cluster of rooms that were all in the process of being made before the staff had disappeared. Carrey insisted on clearing the rooms one at a time, which was grudgingly accepted by the crankier members of the group. The rooms were dated but looked to be well maintained. The first room had been made already and so was the very picture of what a dated casino hotel room should look like. Kyle searched the room quickly and found it to be safe to the point of boredom. There were two other rooms that were currently accessible but were still unmade. Crumpled sheets and small piles of towels on the bathroom floor made for a slightly more interesting search, but ultimately the room was as safe as the first one.

  “Let’s have a quick meeting,” Carrey suggested.

  Everyone gathered around the cart, and Blake could really see the fatigue in people’s faces.

  “We have to move the cars to someplace out of sight from the street,” Bree said tiredly.

  “You are being paranoid,” Gao said, annoyed. “Nothing’s going to happen.”

  Bree gave him a withering look, and he turned away annoyed. “We shouldn’t take chances.” she re-emphasized.

  “She’s right,” Kim agreed, “Besides, you want to get stuck out here?”

  Gao snorted but didn’t offer any further argument. He fished out the car keys from his basketball shorts, making a big show of it and once he’d found them waited impatiently while adjusting his crotch.

  “Right then,” Kim said, nonplussed. Bree headed down the hallway with Carrey and Gao in tow.

  Everyone else returned to making preparations for sleep. Blake returned to his staked out bed, one of the unmade ones, and proceeded to try to flatten out the sheets, pulling the corners taut. To his dismay, he noted several yellowed stains that had stiffened into several crusty patches across the bed sheet. He sighed inaudibly and stripped the sheet from the mattress, curling it up into a ball and went out into the hall in search of the cart.

  He peeked into the other rooms as he went and saw that most people hadn’t even bothered trying to make their beds. The blonde girl had already crawled into one of the ones that had been made and was conked out. Lisa had changed into her pajamas and was inserting herself into the other half of the bed. In the room opposite, Kyle had indiscriminately laid himself out on a rumpled one, appar
ently too tired to care about what condition it was in. He found the cart and stuffed his wadded up sheet into it. He pulled out a neatly folded up replacement, and though it smelled stale somehow, it was still vastly superior to what he’d just discarded.

  He carried his sheet back to his claimed bed and proceeded to make it up as best as he could. Kyle sat cross-legged where he was and half watched Blake with as much interest as his fatigue allowed.

  “You can just sleep you know,” Blake informed Kyle.

  Kyle shook his head stubbornly.

  “Your brother and everyone else will be back really soon. You might as well get some shut-eye.”

  “I can wait,” Kyle replied stubbornly.

  “How about this? If they aren’t back in the next five minutes, I’ll wake you up and we’ll go find them.”

  This must’ve satisfied him because he promptly flopped backward and cast his arm over his eyes.

  Blake continued to smooth over sheets and pulling them taut. After several minutes, he finally had the bed in a state where it could be photographed for someone’s travel blog. He enjoyed a brief moment of satisfaction and anticipation at being able to peel back the blanket and thrusting his feet into the bed, feeling the cool sheets along his skin. Blake stripped down to his boxers and dumped them in a wad on the plain nightstand adjacent to his bed. He had just peeled back the covers when there was a series of three knocks.

  He looked up, startled, but saw nothing. He paused, not sure what to do besides continuing to stare at the doorway. The only noise was from Kyle’s deep breathing. A glance confirmed that he hadn’t stirred at all. Blake inched forward towards the door and realized it had gotten much colder. Trying to calm himself, he stopped and took a long exhale. His breath floated out visibly in front of his face, proof that the temperature had nosedived. He edged forward again despite not having calmed down at all, gripped the side of the doorway and peeked around into the hallway.

  A high pitched shriek caused Blake to stumble back in alarm. He staggered backward flailing his arms in front of him and landed on his butt. He looked wide-eyed at the doorway and saw a shadowy figure walking slowly towards him. He whimpered and crab shuffled backward away from it. His head made hard contact with something and he tried to rotate himself around in a panic to determine this new threat.