The Zombie Chronicles - Book 4 - Poisonous Serum (Apocalypse Infection Unleashed Series) (24 page)

We made it to the next street, and I looked both ways scanning the landscape around me. Rivulets of sweat covered my back, and I felt my hands trembling on my weapon. “All clear,” I whispered.

The street was flooded up to my knees, and my boots sloshed around in the water as I walked. It was so quiet, so disturbingly dead and silent out there. Even the landscape of abandoned houses fit the picture, with overgrown grass, shrubs, and unkempt vegetation. Patches of moonlight cast shadows that danced everywhere I looked. It seemed as if the whole world had forgotten that lonely place. An ominous feeling hung in the air.
Are the zombies closing in on us?
I wondered.
Or have we managed to evade the looming dead?

My heart thumped a mile a minute, afraid of what might spring from the lurking darkness all around us. Something rustled, and I jumped; I felt like an idiot when I realized it had only been the wind, shaking the branches above me. My own imagination was my worst enemy. I tried to still my frantic, pounding heart, telling myself there was nothing around us. For the moment, we were safe. Still, I couldn’t help recalling that slithery hiss of a voice saying my name in that dark kitchen. Its grotesque face flashed in my mind, and I had to physically shake the image away. I hated that voice and hoped to never hear it ever again.

I stared at the water and noticed something was wrong. Something brushed against my legs. Bubbles rose to the surface, and then all was still. My breath caught in my throat, and I felt that sudden terror of looking down into the deep at the unknown, probably similar to the terror one would experience at the sight of a shark fin. Before I could say a word, a zombie sprung from the water and grabbed Nick’s foot, then pulled him under. As he flailed, another one burst from the water. The zombies had been hiding in plain sight, stalking us slowly, hidden underwater like frogmen. The splashing sound of water, muffled screams, shouts, and whimpering moans echoed through the air, deafening out the sound of the rain and thunder. I swallowed my terror. The dead were lumbering in from all directions.

Everything seemed to be happening in slow motion, as if fate was taunting me, and dead fingers clamped down around my ankle, then dragged me helplessly into the water with a giant
splash
. I let out an agonized shriek just before I went under. Its rotting fingernails tried to dig into my skin, but luckily, I was wearing boots. With all my might, I kicked the zombie back. Groaning, I scrambled up, spitting out dirty water as a cold chill shot down my spine. Letting out a hellish moan, another one sprung forward at me, knocking me back down to the ground, sending droplets spraying everywhere like two kids splashing in a pool. Its snapping jaws and jagged teeth were mere inches from my face. I hit it on top of the head again and again with the butt of my gun. Finally, on the fifth blow, I cracked its skull, and it finally released me.

Before I could even get up to celebrate my victory and to catch a breath that wasn’t tainted with muddy water and grass, another attacker assaulted me. Unfortunately, my hands were slippery, and my gun went flying over to the left. Those chomping jaws wanted to devour my face, but I stretched out my hands and bravely held the writhing creature back, then lay on my shoulders and lifted my legs. I knew I had to secure my knees into the upper arms of the zombie and tightly hold its wrists to keep it at bay. It was one of many moves my big brother had taught me, and it worked. I knew it would save my face from the zombie’s gnashing, rotted incisors. I suddenly sprawled my legs and kicked its knee with all the force of a Babe Ruth knock out of the park. Scrambling up, I frantically searched for my gun. A zombie missing a shoulder and half of its face stumbled toward me, followed by two more of his ugly friends.

My gaze shot down into the water. Where was my flippin’ gun? A zombie grabbed me in a choke hold, and I could tell by the way it moved that it was a hybrid. I pushed back with my legs and leaned my weight back against it, then pried its arm from my neck and twisted around. I kicked it square in the chest, and it went flying. I gazed into cloudy, vacant eyes. The other two zombies lumbered closer.

I desperately felt around the dirty puddle. Water dripped down my face and suddenly, my fingers curled around cold metal.
The gun!
The zombie with the missing shoulder hissed as its outstretched arms reached for me. I kicked the corpse in the gut as hard as I could with my booted foot. It staggered back, and I aimed. As it came back for Round 2, I stared for a split second into its bloodless green face, then fired off a shot straight into its head. It fell straight back with a giant
splash
. I fired off another shot, killing the third one coming my way.

As I tried to scramble away, I was quickly surrounded by more mutilated corpses. I refused to believe that my life was going to end on a deserted, flooded neighborhood in the middle of nowhere. On the other hand, if I survived the day, it would be nothing short of a miracle. Shots, raspy snarls, screams, and splashing echoed in the air as the group fought to survive. I’d lost track of Nick, aimed, and fired, but there were so many.

As I backed up in the water, which was now up to my waist because of the dip in the road. I noticed they were becoming slower and clumsier, and I was happy to have the advantage. I sloshed through the water. When I glanced over my shoulder, I froze. Like a scene out of some awful horror movie, at least twenty of them were right behind me. I kept shooting until my gun clicked, letting me know it was empty. Crap! I moved even faster and sped to the sidewalk. When someone suddenly grabbed my shoulder, my pulse pounded, and I heaved a lungful of air.

“
This way!” my brother said. He motioned me to follow him, and we jumped another fence and hid behind a shed that was camouflaged in a tangle of weeds and vegetation.

My throat tightened as we both stood there, completely silent. “Too…close,” I breathed out.

“
I’m sorry we got separated from everyone in all that chaos,” Nick said, finally breaking the silence.

“
I’ve learned that’s life, but we’ve gotta get Val, Jackie, and Lucas,” I whispered. “And what about all the others? We can’t leave them.”

“
Lucas knows what he’s doing. He’ll keep them safe.”

“
If they’re not dead already.” My mind reeled, and I prayed to God that our sister and friends were okay. I shook my head in amazement, pissed my brother wouldn’t go back for any of the others, not even the people closest to us. I could still hear their pained screams, shouts, and moans in my head. It was pure agony that I couldn’t help them, but I was fighting for my own life. I wondered if any others had managed to escape. My stomach was tied in knots.

He shot me a look. “If we go back, we’re as good as dead.”

“
What now then?” I asked, reloading my gun.

He held up the gasoline can. “We stick to Plan A.” He motioned for me to follow him, and we walked down a dark alley until we got to a street called Oakwood.

A twig snapped, and footsteps approached. I pointed my gun, ready to shoot. Focusing ahead, I let out a ragged breath.

“
Don’t shoot, buddy,” a man said in a shaky voice.

“
It’s Sam!” Nick said. “Put your gun down, Dean.” Nick motioned for the others to come out.

Ten guys from our group walked out of the tall, overgrown weeds, and I never thought I’d be so grateful to see them.

“
Did you guys see Val, Lucas, or Jackie?” I asked anxiously.

“
I think Val got away, but I’m not sure about the others,” one of the men said.

I was thrilled my sister had survived, but my heart sank as I wondered about Lucas and Jackie.

“
There’s their home sweet home,” Nick said, pointing the place out to the men. “I say we get snipers on the roof of every house surrounding it. Others can battle in direct combat.”

I stared at the hideout. It was nothing special, just a white, two-story house with overgrown weeds and a white picket fence. Zombies were pacing around it, and the street wasn’t as flooded as the one we’d just muddled through.

Our best shots took their sniping positions on neighboring rooftops and started firing away, taking zombies down one by one. Meanwhile, Nick and I and a few others started ground combat.

“
Dean,” Nick said, “get the ones coming from the left!”

I sized up my threat and was sure I could take them. I aimed and held it steady. A zombie with long black hair, a skull face, and long nails came toward me. I stared at empty sockets that used to hold eyes. Tightening my jaw, I fired and dropped the blind thing in front of me. Two more came at me, followed by six shuffling right behind it. I fired over and over again. When Nick’s shouts resounded in my ears, I glanced in his direction and aimed, ready to take down anything that got near him, but he seemed to be doing just fine with his knife and drove it into a zombie’s eye.

Gunshots, sniper fire, and shouts echoed all around me. Bullets flew everywhere, and zombies fell one by one. We were certainly a force to be reckoned with. I breathed heavily as I reloaded, but during those few brief seconds, an opponent took full advantage and moved in. Pain exploded through my body. Some
thing
had delivered a crushing blow to my back. I crashed to the ground and tried to recover the air that had been knocked from my lungs. When I looked up, I stared into cold, dead eyes and the glint of a knife blade hovering just over me. “Die!” it hissed.

I shuddered. It was a
smart
zombie, a hybrid, and it had that voice I had wanted to forget. It lifted it arms high in the air for more momentum to stab me in the chest. In a sudden blur, I reached for my gun. A bullet whizzed past me, and the zombie fell sideways, but I hadn’t yet pulled the trigger. One of the snipers had saved my life.

I could hear nails hammering away. Some of the men had made it to the house and were nailing all the exits shut. Others were boarding up the bottom windows. Nick splashed gasoline on the house and poured a long trail around the perimeter. He whipped out a Zippo lighter and ignited it. We stood across the street and watched. Within minutes, the place was a blazing inferno, burning the house and every living or not-quite-living thing in it to a crisp. The men gave each other high-fives, whistled, and shouted in victory.

Suddenly, a familiar female voice echoed through the air. I recognized it immediately, and so did Nick. We looked at each other, stunned to hear Claire. I didn’t have any rope to tie her up, and I had no idea how we’d get her back, but I ran toward the porch anyway, with Nick following along behind.

Straining with all his might, my brother began pulling one of the boards off the window. I joined in, and before long, we pulled off enough of the boards to squeeze through. Inside, I could barely see in the hazy blue-gray smoke swirling around me in billows. I stepped into knee-deep water. Hungry flames leapt, and heat radiated from all around me. I could feel the intense, blinding heat on my face. “Claire!” I shouted over the crackling flames. My lungs burned, and it was hard to breathe. Pulling my shirt up over my mouth and nose as a mask, I took quick, shallow gasps.

“
Dean! Nick!” Claire shouted over the roar of the fire.

Coughing violently, I spun around and gazed into Claire’s face. She was as beautiful as ever and hadn’t even been zombified. Instead, she was tied up. Nick pulled out his knife and cut her free, and she collapsed into his arms.

A shout pierced the air, and I spun around.

“
Dean!” a female zombie roared. “I’m gonna kill you and all your friends!” She stood with a big group around her.

I bit my lip hard, wondering if I could take so many on at once. Nick and I fired away through the smoke. Fire shot across the ceiling. Suddenly, bullets flew back at us, and we ducked for cover behind an overturned table. “What the…? They’re shooting back!” I said.

“
We’ve gotta get out of here,” Claire said, coughing as smoke engulfed the room.

“
You two go on,” Nick said. “I’ll cover you.”

I didn’t argue and gripped Claire’s hand and led her to the window. After she climbed out, I turned around to help my brother.

The bullets stopped and I wondered if they were out of ammo. Nick started firing and just as I went to reload, zombies shuffled toward me. I channeled my anger and kicked the zombie swiftly but efficiently, then finished it off with a hammer kick as it fell down. Another one came and I grabbed its shoulder and kneed it. Another undead freak reached for my throat, and I delivered a roundhouse kick to its head. I felt for bullets in my pocket and quickly reloaded.