Transformation

TRANSFORMATION

Book Two of the Euphoria Z Series

LUKE AHEARN

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author. To obtain permission to excerpt portions of the text, please contact the author at [email protected].

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher/author Luke Ahearn.

Disclaimer: The material in this book is for mature audiences only and contains strong content.

Copyright © 2015 Luke Ahearn

All rights reserved.

DEDICATION

Julie, Ellen, and Cooper

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Special thanks to DM Wolfenden, author of

Behind Blue Eyes
for all her effort.

Editor, Madeleine Fox

Cover Art/Design, Steven J Catizone

Readers; Jen Shipley, Zombie Glorya Snodgrass,

Rachel Heynneman, and Lin White of Coinlea Services

And all the readers of Euphoria Z book one.

1.

The absolute quiet of the post-apocalyptic world was torn by the scream of tires as the SUV slid to a halt. Turning a full 90 degrees it threatened to roll over at the last second as it went up on two wheels but then it dropped to the pavement, coming to a rest.

Long black ribbons stretched behind it for well over a hundred feet, smoking and filling the air with the stink of burning rubber. The sound travelled for miles and echoed throughout the city off hills and buildings. Many dead faces looked up, confused as to its origin. Thousands of corpses started shuffling this way and that across the Monterey Peninsula. Few people were still alive to hear the screech of tires and to them it meant there was one less living person in the world and one more zombie.

The Land Rover sat silently except for the low cadence of the idling engine. When that ceased, the silence was complete. It was as if nothing had ever happened, but inside the occupant needed more time to recover.

Coopers’ hands shook and his heart pounded painfully in his chest as adrenaline flooded his body. He had to sit still for a moment and take a few breaths. He knew if he tried to stand right away, he would likely fall flat on his face. This delay turned out to be very fortunate for him. As he slowly exhaled, he looked over the people he’d almost run down. They seemed so much closer when the threat of hitting them was a strong possibility. In actuality they were a good ten yards away, at least. He watched them from his passenger side window as he took in another long slow breath.

He could hear the wind as it buffeted the SUV, causing it to move only slightly. The hair and clothes of the group before him flapped and jumped and they all turned away from it. At the center was his sister Ellen and immediately he knew something wasn’t right. He hesitated, fighting the strong desire to jump from the SUV and run to her but something held him back, something just wasn’t right and he couldn’t put his finger on it. Maybe his hesitation was just the result of days spent in a constant state of alertness and paranoia.

Only seconds passed but time in the quiet car dragged on. Cooper gave himself a few moments to examine the group of five. He only knew two of them, his sister and her boyfriend Trevor. Trevor was a large guy with long hair and a very long beard. His arms were tied to his sides, there was a birdcage on his head, and a long chain around his neck. That was very strange, but that’s not what kept Cooper from jumping out of the car. If anything it piqued his curiosity, adding to the desire to leap from the SUV.

But why was he just sitting and watching? What made him feel so uneasy? He almost popped the door open, had his hand on the handle, when it registered. His sister looked angry, pissed off, and that was unusual. Her default expression was one of happiness and her eyes always smiled. It took a lot to make her look this angry. She looked so pissed off that deep down Cooper was a little afraid she was mad at him. As her little brother he was a lightning rod for her frustrations growing up, but it went both ways. He knew the subtle differences between her expressions and he knew the difference between sibling inspired irritation and real hate fueled anger. Maybe she would’ve looked angry briefly after almost getting run down by a car, but her face hadn’t changed. There was definitely something wrong. It was obvious Ellen couldn’t see him as she would have smiled or called out or approached him or waved him off—she would have done something. But she just stood there looking angry, smoldering mad about something.

The rest of the group, the other three, stood with weapons at the ready. This wasn’t odd behavior these days, but his sister was unarmed. She stood a bit in front of the other three in the group.
Yeah, there is something wrong
, he thought. The question now was how to proceed. One thing was damn sure, he wasn’t going to leave his sister. He popped the door open and a blast of cold air from the bay went through him. After days inland and an hour or more inside the stuffy SUV the bay air was refreshing. He let it lift his mood as he stepped from the car. The wind buffeted him, whipping his hair in his eyes and tugging at his hoodie.

Cooper blinked at the winds and bright light, watching the reaction of the group. He especially watched his sister. How she reacted to his arrival would tell him everything he needed to know about the situation. He walked towards the five people with a big smile and a wave.

“Hey! Sorry about that. Wasn’t expecting people on the road.”

Ellen’s eyes went wide with fear and that’s when Cooper knew for sure that she was in the group against her will. He looked away from her and towards the tall man, the only one smiling. He seemed to be the leader and probably the biggest threat. The man stepped forward.

“Glad the brakes work on that thing.” The tall man motioned with his rifle. He appeared emaciated, but not weak and stood with a casual confidence. A very self-assured vibe came from him. He smiled as if he knew something funny that he wasn’t going to share with anyone. He had small eyes like a pig that darted about under long black hair that blew stiffly in the wind. Other than the large hunting rifle he held pointed to the ground there was nothing particularly unique about him. The other two men looked scared, their eyes shifting from Cooper to Pig Eyes. Cooper knew that this was a showdown poorly disguised as a friendly introduction. He still couldn’t think of anything to say.

“You alone?” Pig Eyes asked as he looked past Cooper at the SUV sizing up the threat.

Cooper looked back over his shoulder. The glare of sunlight on the glass hurt his eyes, and he squinted. It was impossible to see inside the vehicle. He was smiling when he turned back to Pig Eyes.

“Nah, I got a couple of guys with me.”

“Well bring ‘em on out!” The leader spoke loudly. He smiled and waved at the SUV as he tried to step past Cooper. Cooper stepped sideways and blocked his path. Pig Eyes took a step back, his eyes narrow and suspicious.

“I wouldn’t do that.” Cooper said, not sure what he was going to say next. He locked eyes with the man. To look away now would expose his bluff.

The man stared back, clearly trying to decide what he should do next. Cooper was not going to leave his sister with these three armed men. He was getting more nervous by the second and wanted to lash out and club the guy, maybe draw his guns. But he knew a rash move like that would just get him killed.

“Listen fellas.” Cooper kept his eyes locked on the leader as he folded his arms. He forced his mouth into a big shitty grin.

“There are two men in the back of that SUV with high powered rifles.” Cooper was grateful for the buffeting wind as it concealed the fact that he was hugging his body tight and shivering uncontrollably. He finally broke the standoff and backed away a few steps. He pointed at the other two men.

“If any of you lift a weapon, your head will explode like a ripe melon.”

The two henchmen started to back away.

“Stand your ground pussies!” The leader yelled. “He’s full of shit.”

As the leader began to raise his rifle a flash of silver passed over his face. He fell backwards clutching at his throat, his rifle clattered to the ground. The other two men dropped their weapons and took off running as Pig Eyes was jerked backwards. Cooper pulled his guns from under his jacket.

Ellen was on Pig Eye’s back choking the life out of the man using the length of chain, but he was strong and fought back. He tried to elbow her and then tried to bash her face with the back of his head but she held tight and his attacks missed. His face turned from red to purple and his arms flailed weakly. Ellen didn’t let up.

Cooper extended his baton and smacked Pig Eyes in the head. The man dropped to the ground like a sack of wet cement, his face a patchwork of purple and dark red. His throat was bloody where the chain had torn his skin. There was a dent in his skull and Cooper thought he might have killed him. He looked around and the other two men were still running away at full speed. He helped his sister to her feet and hugged her tight. He could feel himself tearing up and smiling uncontrollably. He didn’t want to let her go again. He was overwhelmed with relief. He always felt safer with his big sister no matter what the circumstance. After a few moments he pushed her away to look at her and it was then that he noticed the chain was zip tied to her arm. Her hand was turning bluish in color.

“Here let me cut that.”

“Hello yourself,” she held out her arm. She looked around. “I don’t think the other two will return. They wanted away from White too.”

“His name is White?” He snipped the plastic ties from her arm, and they hugged again.

“That’s what he called himself.” Ellen’s voice cracked a little. Cooper was still in disbelief that he’d found his sister, still struggled with the alternatives he fought to keep out of his mind. He wiped a tear from his cheek, hoping his sister wouldn’t catch him doing it. But she did.

Ellen smiled at Cooper. She felt the same way about him. She too was crying. She smirked at him.

“Pussy.” She whispered, tears running down her face.

Cooper laughed, wiping away fresh tears.

“I just got something in my eyes. It’s this damn wind.” He said. “I was so afraid I’d never find you.”

“Yeah.” She hesitated. “I was afraid to look for you. Because of what I might find.” She had the same fear Cooper had, that she may find him shambling along, a dirty naked corpse.

“Are you OK?”

“Of course.” She tried to look annoyed at the question but hugged her brother again.

Ellen pushed him away. “God what a wimp.” She said as she wiped huge tears from her face.

“Shut up.” Meaning I love you too, Cooper said.

They were on Highway 1. The large interstate ran north to south alongside the Monterey Bay atop massive sand dunes. The city and the bay were both lower than the road and the view was quite impressive. The highway continued on and cut across the peninsula. Farther south it narrowed to a two-lane road and wound along the edge of cliffs a few hundred feet above the Pacific Ocean. From the elevated road the city of Monterey Bay was visible. It filled the area between the bay and the large hills that bisected the peninsula. They moved behind the SUV for shelter from the wind.

Ellen held the silver chain that was locked around Trevor’s neck. The cage on his head was stuffed with his long hair and beard and the only thing visible were his amber eyes that seem to glow with their own light. He was gagged but mumbling as he looked right at Cooper.

They heard yelling. Ellen’s face lit up. She waved to three people farther down the highway and heading towards them. It would be several minutes until they closed the distance. She turned back to her brother who was ready with questions.

“What the hell happened to him?” Cooper nodded towards Trevor but looked away from the strange eyes. “And who were those guys? And these people?”

“These guys snatched us a few miles back.” She motioned to the man called White. She looked around for the other two as she spoke. “They were talking about going to the castle house. I assume they were talking about San Simeon.”

San Simeon was the hilltop castle on the coast of California built by William Randolph Hearst. It was massive, opulent, and very isolated. She wondered if that might not be an excellent place to survive the apocalypse. The thought was appealing but cut off by the shouts of the three approaching strangers. Ellen turned to them.

“Hey. You followed us?”

“Of course.” It was a tall thin woman.

“This is my brother Cooper.” Ellen said.

“Oh! We’ve heard so much about you already.” The thirty-something woman started to speak but Ellen cut her off.

“I told her what a big jerk you are.” Ellen smiled.

Karen smiled too, she had big brothers. She’d heard quite the opposite from Ellen about her little brother. Several times they had comforted each other as she too didn’t know how her brothers were. While she was happy for Ellen, this reunion made her own pain intensify. She’d struggled with depression before the world died and now she struggled just to muster up the desire to survive. What had kept her going was Ellen, but now that she was reunited with her brother, she felt her drive and determination slipping away. Her husband was barely a motivation but at least she still had him, as weak as he’d turned out to be.

“This is Karen and that’s Tom, they were my neighbors.”

Karen and Tom were skinny. They appeared to be frail. Tom especially looked weak in the face and scared. Previous to the end of the world he acted like a prick. He was arrogant and condescending. Now he looked like a little boy lost and confused.

“And this is Hector. We just met him passing through Watsonville.” Hector was a very thin Hispanic man, no older than early twenties and covered in tattoos.

Cooper raised an eyebrow and motioned with his head. “Gang tats?” He asked him. Was he still a gangbanger in his mind or a fellow survivor?

Hector smiled and held his arms out in front of him. “No gangs to be banging no more
ese
.” He used the slang term ese, and had a strong accent. But he smiled and continued in plain English.

“Seriously, that’s in the past just like everything else, right?”

“Yeah, sure.” Cooper nodded, feeling better about the guy already. “So what happened to Trevor?”