The Zombie Chronicles - Book 2 (Apocalypse Infection Unleashed Series) (2 page)

“
Yeah. I can’t wait to tell the guys back on the island about this.” I climbed up another block and reached my hand down to help up Jackie and Claire. Slowly but surely, we made our way over cracked slabs and busted-up cinderblocks.

Suddenly, unexpectedly, without any warning whatsoever, our ascent was interrupted when a moan pierced the air and a bony hand reached out from behind a tattered pillar and grabbed Claire’s ankle.

I gasped.
A zombie!

The grotesque, half-decayed thing slithered on its stomach like some kind of snake.
Dark liquid dripped from gaping wounds all over the zombie’s green, torn flesh. The muscles and black veins in its back tightened and contorted as it thrashed.

“
Claire!” Jackie yelled, pulling out her gun.

“
Don’t shoot!” Val motioned. “It’ll only draw more of them.”

Before I even had a chance to do anything, Val had sprung into action and brought her heel straight into its ribcage. Bones crunched, and rotting guts sprayed. I could see its blackened lungs, green slime oozing out.
The thing was completely naked and so disgusting that it made me want to vomit just to look at it. Its skin was so decayed that it seemed to be dripping off in chunks.
Reaching down, Val wrapped her fingers around a metal pipe lying in the rubble. A crunching sound filled the air as she smashed the rusty pipe into the zombie’s mouth, snapping in two what was left of its gnarly jaw.

Claire let out the breath she’d been holding and scrambled back from the zombie. “Thanks, Val.”

Jackie rushed over and hugged Claire. “Oh my gosh! Are you okay?”

“
I’m fine.” Claire placed her hands over her chest. “But my heart’s still racing a million miles a minute.”

“
Not bad, sis,” Nick said.

Val shrugged. “Meh, cop instincts, that’s all.” Dropping the slimy pipe, she wiped off her hands on her pants. “A gun might’ve been easier, but attracting more of those freaks is the last thing we wanna do.”

“
Exactly,” Lucas said.

Nick bent down to examine Claire’s ankle. “Looks like it didn’t get you. Thank God for that.”

“
Yeah, we can’t have one of its long, dead fingernails scratching you, now can we?” Jackie said.

Claire playfully slugged her. “No, we can’t. No matter how bad you think your life is, stuff like this makes you realize that you really do want to live another day. I thought about that thing biting into my ankle before I could get loose. I thought,
No, I’m not gonna let it. I’m going to fight. I’m going to live!
”

“
Nobody understands those words more than me,” Val said.

Claire met her gaze. “You’re one of the most wonderful people I’ve ever met, Val. Really. I’m so sorry this happened to you, but you know we’ll never give up. You’ve got a family here…in us.”

“
Thanks, Claire,” she said. “Bad things happen. It’s life, and it sucks but sometimes in tragedy, we find our life purpose. If this cure works, I’ll spend the rest of my life trying to help people.”

“
That’s very admirable,” Jackie said.

The sun beat down hard, and droplets of sweat rolled down Lucas’ face. He glanced up and met Val’s gaze. “Well, like Winston Churchill says, ‘If you’re going through hell, keep going.’”

“
All right then,” Val said. “Let’s get our butts moving.”

We kept walking; all of us hoping to reach flat land soon. We didn’t know what might be hiding in all that rubble, and we didn’t want to find out. Forcing those grim, worrisome thoughts to the back of my mind, I kept a steady pace.

Chapter 2

Just as I took a few steps around a giant cinderblock, I slipped; the earth seemed to be sinking out from under me. I threw out my hands to catch my balance, but I landed with a
thud
, facedown, loosened debris raining down on top of me. I moaned, rolled over, and spat out a mouthful of dirt. I could hear the concrete and metal shifting above, but my vision was blurred by colored spots, neon lights, like florescent amoebas dancing all over the place. The air felt a few degrees cooler, and a damp, dusty smell filled my nostrils. When my eyes finally adjusted to the dimness, my first thought was,
Oh crap! I’ve fallen into some kind of death trap…by myself!
I covered my head as large sheets of d
irt
and rock
fell
from the
ceiling.

“
Dean!” I heard the others shouting down. “Are you okay?”

“
Did you break anything?” Nick yelled, shining a flashlight through a long crack in the ceiling.

Sunlight spilled in, and tiny dust particles hung in the air. I coughed. “I’m fine. I’m not hurt, but it sure smells like something died down here.” My eyes were burning from all the dust I’d stirred up in the fall, and I bit my lip hard at the sound of snapping ropes and
creaking
metal.

“
Um, okay. Just don’t panic, Dean,” Lucas said. “We just have a little problem.”

“
Little?” Nick’s voice echoed.

“
What?” I yelled back, fearing the answer.

“
There’s a metal beam blocking the opening you fell through,” Lucas said.

I glanced up at the mangled s
teel
beams jutting from the rubble. “Great. Just freaking great.”

“
Don’t worry,” Jackie said, trying to make me feel better. “We’re looking for something to use as a crowbar. Meanwhile, do you see another way out?”

I peered around in the dim light that filtered through the cracks above me. “It’s kind of dark down here, but from what I can see, there’s no way out but up.” The place had an eerie feel to it, or maybe it was because I hated being trapped in that dark, isolated place, separated from the others.

My eyes locked on the ceiling. The creaking sound of metal told me the place wasn’t stable. My
tangled
heap of
concrete
and
steel jail cell
could collapse at any second, burying me beneath it, only to be a snack for a zombie that might happen by or—worse—to become one of those suckers. Tiny pebbles and streams of dirt rained down on me, and I could taste dirt in my mouth.

“
You have a flashlight in your backpack?” Claire called down.

Glancing up, I could barely make her out amidst the tangle of debris that had shifted to trap me. “No. Lucas and Nick have ‘em,” I said, coughing again.

“
All right. We’re gonna throw one down for you,” Jackie said.

“
That’d be wonderful!” I called back.

I could hear my brother arguing with Lucas, and that didn’t do my nerves any favors.

“
Digging him out through solid rock on shaky ground that’s about to collapse will never work. Besides, we don’t have the proper equipment!”

“
I know that, Nick,” Lucas said, “but we have to try. He’s trapped under tons of concrete and steel that might crush him any second.”

“
I’ll try to squeeze through an opening,” Nick said.

“
That little slit?” Claire said. “I don’t think so.”

“
Guys,” Val interrupted, “I found something we can use, so shut up and get to work!”

A
hiss
pierced the air, and my heart pounded; my senses told me it probably wasn’t a snake. I was trapped down there with a zombie—or zombies! “There’s one of those undead freaks down here!” I yelled. “Hurry up and get me the heck outta here!”

“
I’m coming!” Nick yelled. “Hold on, Dean!”

“
You’ve got a gun, Dean. For goodness’ sake, use it!” Val shouted. “I know I said not to before, but this is an emergency situation!”

“
Just stay calm down there, buddy,” Lucas said.

“
Yeah?” I said. “Easy for you to say!”

“
Look for a weapon,” he continued. “If you run out of bullets, you’re gonna need something like a pipe to bash its rotting head in.”

I could hear the others panicking from above, and I began to really panic myself.
There’s no way they can move one of those heavy beams, and how am I supposed to get back to the top anyway? Fly? There has to be another way out of here…and I need to find it fast.
But before I could even assess the situation, the thing came out of the shadows and directly into the sunlight.

I whipped out my gun like an old Western movie sheriff, but before I could get the shot off, crumbling bricks and loose plaster fell from the ceiling, hitting my hand, making me drop my weapon. My hand throbbed, and blood trickled from an open wound on my wrist, but I didn’t care. All I cared about was finding my gun in all that debris. The zombie moaned and inched slowly toward me. Searching the ground, I swallowed hard.
No gun! On to Plan B.
I began searching frantically around the rubble, trying to find something—anything—I could bludgeon the thing with before it bit a chunk out of me.

I opted for a large piece of jagged asphalt. Before I hit the thing, I stared into its skeletal face, those milky-white eyes. Its clothes were caked in dirt and mud, and it swayed and moaned as it approached. Adrenaline surged through my veins, and I spread my feet in a fighting stance.
Game on…and this thing’s going down!

Chapter 3

The thin man with pasty green skin, wild black hair, and bulging white eyes stood hissing at me. His sickening stench filled the air, and I gagged with bile. Or maybe it was his peeling scalp pulled back from its skull. Whatever the case, I tried not to vomit. I kicked the thing in the gut with my boot, then smashed the chunk of asphalt against its head, squashing it like a rotted cantaloupe. It was much easier than I expected. Just as I shouted out over the easy victory, two more came at me.

I kicked the left leg of the first one, demolishing its knee joint, then grabbed the neck of the one missing a bottom jaw.
I rammed it hard into the wall, smashing its sorry face against the cold stone. I did this a couple more times before I threw it down, just for good measure and to make sure the thing wouldn’t come writhing after me.
By then, the first was back for more, so I kicked it in the stomach with every ounce of might I had, sending it crashing into the wall with the momentum of my terror-fueled kick.

Next, something clawed at my pants, and cold, dead fingers wrapped around my ankle. My heart lurched.
It was the smashed-knee zombie, back for a second try
. I swung my boot into its rotten flesh, straight into its brittle skull. A cracking sound, like a dinosaur egg being split open, echoed all around me. The thing took its last gurgling breath, and for a moment, I actually felt some pity for it. I didn’t kill them for pleasure. I just had to survive.

The stench of putrid, rotting flesh grew stronger, and I knew that could only mean one thing: More were coming.
But from where?
I didn’t have to wait long to find out. All my senses were on high alert, so the slightest movement from the ground caught my attention. The ground shook as a decomposing hand with yellow bones burst through, followed by dozens more. My stomach lurched.
Will they be able to dig themselves out?
I didn’t want to find out.