Brent Acuff - Undead Nation 01 Read online

  "Is everyone okay?" Liam asked.

  "No time," Alex yelled, forcing himself from the floorboard and wrenching the door open. "Everyone out! Liam, kill the engine." Alex was out of the truck cab in a flash, taking two steps away from the truck and kneeling to the ground in one fluid motion. The gun raised to his shoulder and he took aim at the approaching corpses.

  The rifle cracked followed almost immediately by a second, dropping both of the zombies before Morgan, Sam and the others could exit the truck. "Everyone out, now!" Alex was on his feet grabbing at the opening door and nearly pulling Morgan out of the truck by her arm. "Get her inside," Alex commanded grabbing for Gemma's outstretched arms. The front door of the house swung open and Trinity appeared in the doorway.

  "What the hell just happened?!" Trinity was looking at the car with a questioning look, and finally through the cracked windshield at Liam. He shrugged his shoulders and mouth "Sorry" to her.

  Paula and Sam were scrambling over the rubble of the destroyed column, turning to help Gemma and Morgan over the ragged pile of bricks and mortar that blocked their way to safety. Everyone stopped in mid-run. It sounded as if a million voices had just been awoken.

  "Get inside!" Alex yelled and he dove back into the car. Morgan and Gemma were pulled over the remaining rubble pile and rushed towards the door, Trinity ushering everyone in through the door. Just before Morgan disappeared from view she looked back over her shoulder. Alex could just make out the words "I love you" on Morgan's lips. "I love you, too," he whispered to himself.

  "Come on, love bird. What do we do now?" Liam's sense of adventure was one that Alex had never gotten used to. He supposed it would serve them well now.

  "Well, Liam. Now we make as much noise as we possibly can."

  As the door closed behind them, Morgan and the others could hear the truck roaring down the street, car horn blaring as they drove into the distance.

  -----

  "Christ, man. Do they every shut up?" Liam was peering through the curtains of the attic window at the mob that was now surrounding the house across the street. "Well, what do we do now?" he asked stepping away from the window and looking at Alex who was quietly pacing the floor in the middle of the small upstairs room. Liam and Alex were approximately one mile away from Liam's house and relative safety, taking refuge in the largest and closest house they could get into after abandoning the truck. Their plan had been to jump out of the moving truck, leaving it running and hopefully drawing the zombies a little farther away from them. The truck had instead veered to the left just after their exit, jumping a curb and slamming into a tree and lodging the horn so that it continued to blare through the neighborhood.

  "To answer your questions in order, 'no' and 'I don't know'. Does that help any?" Alex was sarcastic and at the same time very truthful. This hadn't gone exactly to plan and he was stuck. Right now there were countless numbers of zombies converging on the truck leaving them little or no place to go. "I'm stumped, how 'bout you?"

  "Hey, hey. I'm the brawn here, the blockhead who just does what he's told. You're the brains of this operation so get to braining." Liam had always been able to match Alex snark for snark and usually shared in Alex's feelings of humor in any situation. But Alex couldn't tell if Liam was being serious now or just poking some fun at him. Alex decided to not let him off the hook that easily.

  "Liam, you are one of the smartest and most creative people I have ever met. If neither one of us can come up with some kind of idea, then we must really be screwed." Alex dropped to the floor, crossing his legs and resting the rifle he was carrying in his lap. He held his head in his hands, shaking his head slowly from side to side.

  "Okay, you want creative. I'll give you creative." Liam crossed the floor and placed a hand on Alex's shoulder. "What if we just walk out the door?"

  Alex's head stopped in its nervous motion. Slowly he looked up to meet Liam's gaze, then in a moment of realization he creased his brow and smiled. "I told you that you were one of the smartest men I knew. That might actually just work." Alex shrugged Liam's hand from his shoulder and stood quickly.

  "Now wait a minute," Liam started to back peddle. "I was just kidding. We can't go out there! Those things will be everywhere."

  "Exactly, and they will all be head in one direction...straight for the blaring car horn." Liam still did not understand what Alex was getting at and shook his head again in protest.

  "Alex, we can't go out there. That'd be suicide." Liam began backing away from Alex, turning back towards the window to look once again on the growing horde of zombies.

  "Liam, think about it. What is the loudest thing happening in the area right now?" Alex's eyes gleamed with a light that seemed to come from inside.

  "The, uh, car horn?" Liam was confused and did not want to agree to anything that Alex was proposing at the moment.

  "Exactly. With that car horn blaring, what are the odds that anything is going to hear us sneaking out the back door of the house?" Alex moved with excitement at the idea forming in his head. "And even if one were to hear or see us, or however it is that they track their prey, its moans from looking for the truck horn would not raise any other suspicion that there might be something else alive and moving in the area. Right now, the only zombies that we have to worry about are the ones that see us, not the ones that hear us." Alex crossed his arms as if he had just delivered the most brilliant insight possible. "And I don't know about you, but I really don't plan on being seen."

  Liam's head hung in resignation. "Shit. I hate it when you are right." He looked again out the window at the growing number of zombies surrounding the truck across the street. Looking back at Alex he said, "So, when do we go?"

  Alex smiled. "Before that horn gives out."

  -----

  The rifle butt cracked against another zombies skull, crushing the bones and sending shards into the brain. The creature dropped to the ground, silent. "Got another. How many you get?" Liam smirked.

  "Shut up," Alex snapped. "Keep quiet and keep your eyes open." Alex's head swiveled back and forth, searching the shadows for another shambling corpse. "Seven," he whispered. Liam grinned.

  The two had spent the last hour creeping through the woods in a desperate attempt to avoid any walking dead in the area. Considering the number of zombies they had seen surrounding the truck earlier, both men considered themselves pretty lucky. Only twelve zombies had crossed their path, and all of them obviously headed for the sound of the blaring truck horn now audible only in the distance. In fact they had come across these creatures almost by accident and were able to dispatch them before most of them had even become aware that the men were near, if you could consider the zombies aware at all.

  "It's going to start getting dark soon," Alex mentioned quietly. "What do you think we should do?" His ever-moving head stopped moving for just a moment to glance in Liam's direction.

  Liam furrowed his brow in concentration and looked around the area quickly trying to determine exactly where they were. "We're not too far from the house. I guess we could try to move a bit faster. Maybe get there in fifteen or twenty minutes, depending on how many of those bastards we run into." Liam looked to Alex for his thoughts. Alex had stopped a few feet back, his head craning back in the direction they had come from, concern coloring his face. "Alex?" Liam asked quietly.

  Alex looked back to Liam. "Does it seem quiet to you?" Both men looked back towards the wrecked truck. Realization dawned on the two at the same time and their eyes went wild with fear. The truck's horn had stopped. A moan sounded from the shadows near Liam. Each man turned to face the zombie that was crawling through the underbrush, trying to reach them. Liam swung his rifle in a devastating arc connecting with the temple of the zombies head and nearly severing it from the neck of the creature.

  "Shit, man," Liam cursed looking again at Alex. Alex was again looking towards the truck, fear racing across his features and his breathing rapid.

  "They'
re coming," Alex warned. Liam spun on his heels to see the hordes of dead now facing him, cloudy white eyes appearing to reflect the lowering rays of the sun. Alex turned to face Liam. "Run!"

  Alex began sprinting away from the massed corpses, grabbing Liam as he went by and pulling him along. "Keep your eyes open. We don't want to meet any of them ahead of us." The two men had a good head start on the approaching horde, but concerns about leading them back to the house and their families forced the two to slow their pace and try to think of a solution.

  Abandoning the relative cover of the treeline, Alex and Liam chose to take the path of least resistance, running down the middle of the street. Cars, both empty and not, littered the street. Most had been abandoned when the initial panic of the outbreak had hit. Some were jagged wrecks from the collisions caused by impatient and panicky people desperate to get out in front of everyone else. These two types presented little problem other than obstacles impeding the two men's path. The worst, however, were the cars that were still occupied. These cars did not contain living souls that were still attempting to leave the area. These cars were instead inhabited by those who had been infected before getting in their cars, only to succumb to the virus and reanimate trapped behind the wheel of their vehicle. These creatures, now alerted to the presence of living flesh, began to moan their desperate hunting cry and reached from the shattered and broken windows of their car.

  "We can't go to the house, Liam," Alex cried, any attempt to keep quiet suddenly abandoned. "Give me your thoughts. I'm out of ideas." Alex paused momentarily to raise his gun and dispatch another zombie that was leaning out of the broken window of a car, shredding its body on the broken glass trying to reach the two of them. There was no benefit of stealth now, just a mad dash to find safety. "Come on, man! Give me something!" Alex was becoming desperate, his mind racing and at every turn coming up blank.

  "Crazy ideas count?" Liam called ahead of him to Alex.

  "Anything," Alex yelled back as he again took aim on another zombie. "I'll take anything at this point."

  Liam cackled behind him. "Famous last words. Okay, try this one on. Why don't we just keep running?"

  Alex's snort could be heard clearly above the sounds of the zombies in the cars surrounding them. "And what, if you don't mind me asking, will that accomplish?"

  "Well, the way I see it," Liam said, "we at least won't be taking them back to the house. Sounds like the best idea we've got. And considering it's all we've got, I say we go with it." Both men ran on in silence for a moment. They were approaching the street that would take them to Liam's house and their families. Both men slowed at the corner and stopped, glancing in the direction of their loved ones.

  "You in good shape?" Alex asked. Liam's smile spread across his face. "Looks like we're going for a jog." Each man looked towards the house and waved in that direction. Alex held his hand out to Liam and the men shook. "Glad to have you with me. I have always said you were one of the most creative people I know." The men turned to face the approaching mass of bodies. Alex knelt and they took aim at the nearest zombies. "We should probably make sure they will follow us, don't you think?" The crack and pop of their guns echoes through the streets.

  -----

  "What are they doing?" Morgan screamed. The gunfire from Alex and Liam could be heard from down the street and drew everyone to the window. Everyone crowded around the window peering out at the scene before them. Alex and Liam continued to fire stopping only to reload their rifles. Each man took care to sight each approaching creature, dropping a zombie with every pull of the trigger. There was a crack each second, taking time to ensure that their aim was accurate. After what seemed an eternity, the first of the zombies appeared around the corner in their pursuit of the two men. Those in the house watched as Liam stopped firing and placed a hand on Alex's shoulder. The two of them began running in the opposite direction of the approaching creatures, continuing down the street and not towards the house.

  "Where are they going? Where are they going?!" Morgan started to become hysterical and began to reach for the door. Sam pulled her away from the door and held her wrists to keep her there. "Let go of me. You're hurting me," she cried.

  "Stop it, Morgan. You know what they are doing and you know they have to do it." Sam looked again towards the window. "If they were to come here they would bring every one of those zombies with them." Paula hurried to Morgan's side to place a comforting arm around her daughter. "Holy Christ..." Sam said.

  Josh Morgan, Liam's coworker, rushed past them to the window. Pulling aside the curtains he gasped; there were hundreds of zombies outside, all of them heading down the street in the direction that Alex and Liam had gone. "Everyone upstairs." He turned back to face everyone. "Everyone upstairs, now!" Pulling closed the window curtains, Josh hurried to shuffle everyone from the front room. Trinity was trying to help Paula and Sam with Morgan who was still fighting desperately to get to the door.

  "Let me go. Alex is out there and I need to help him. Dammit, don't any of you care?!" Morgan wrenched her arms away from her father and ran in the direction of the front door. Josh caught her in mid stride, lifting her bodily from the floor and shoving her back into Sam's outstretched arms.

  "Morgan, stop! Stop it, Morgan! What about Gemma? Huh? What would Alex want you to do about Gemma?" Sam was struggling to keep a grip on his daughter, his age suddenly showing as he wrestled to keep control of her. Josh's wife, Stacey, appeared in front of Morgan holding her daughter Gemma. Morgan's will broke and she sagged in Sam's arms sliding to the floor. "Can't you see that he's doing this to protect you," Sam softly spoke. "Can't you see he is trying to protect Gemma and the rest of us? He wouldn't want you or any of us to go out there. He and Liam are trying to keep us out of the danger. If you leave this house, then you have destroyed everything they are trying to protect." Silent sobs racked Morgan's body. She wasn't sure that she could go on.

  "Upstairs," Josh repeated, motioning for them all to take refuge in the one place that might save them. "Liam and Alex aren't stupid. They'll figure out a way to get back here and won't take any unnecessary chances. We've got to be ready when they get here."

  Morgan looked up at him from the floor, tears staining her cheeks and falling in her lap. "Promise?" she asked, hopelessness tainting her voice.

  "Sure, I promise," Josh relented. "As long as it gets you in the attic," he whispered to himself.

  Paula and Stacey helped Morgan from the floor and one by one they all climbed the stairs into the attic. Josh was the last to go and he pulled the stairs up behind him.

  -----

  "I'm not so sure this was such a great idea," Alex said as he squeezed the trigger of his rifle. Another zombie's head exploded in a cloud of bone and gray matter.

  "I never said it was great, just said it was an idea." Liam's riffle cracked twice in quick succession. The zombies were so close now that it was almost impossible to miss. "You were the one that agreed to do it, so don't complain." The proximity of the creatures was both a blessing and curse. While it provided the opportunity for the men to fire quickly and with a high degree of accuracy, it also meant that the zombies were closing in on them and their supply of ammunition was running dangerously low. "I've come up with the last two ideas. Your turn."

  Zombies were now surrounding the two men, cutting off any easy route of escape. If they were going to get out of this spot, they were going to have to find a way to fight their way out. "I'm not sure there is a way to fix this one, Liam. How's your ammo?" The click of an empty rifle sounded behind Alex and he paused briefly in his firing to check on his friend.

  "You have some damned bad timing, man. I'm out." Liam flipped his rifle over turning the high powered firearm into an expensive club. "Time to do this the old fashioned way." Liam took a few steps forward and swung the rifle like a baseball bat. The arc was wide and connected with two zombies, crushing their skulls and dropping them to the ground. "This'll be interesting."

&
nbsp; Alex continued to fire with the remaining ammo he had forcing himself to make every shot count. "Do you think we drew them away from the house?"

  "Man, take a look around. I think we got every dead bastard in the county here with us. Yeah, I'd say at least THAT part of our plan worked." Another swing, another wet crack, and another zombie collapsed at Liam's feet. "This isn't looking good, Alex." The first notes of concern were creeping into Liam's voice. If Liam was worried, Alex knew they were in trouble. Alex's rifle cracked again punching a small hole in the zombie nearest to him, then the rifle clicked empty. His hand groped for the pouch containing ammo for the rifle, but his had came away empty. He was out of bullets.

  "That's it, Liam. We're out of ammo." Grabbing the barrel of his useless rifle, Alex began clubbing the creatures as they approached. Both Liam and Alex tried to meet the creatures as far away from the center of their ever closing circle, desperate to keep as much free area for them to fall back into. The space was growing smaller by the second.

  "I don't think we are going to make it out of this one, man." Liam's voice was shaky as if he was fighting back an almost uncontrollable terror inside him. Alex could not blame him at all. Alex could not even speak around the terror that seized him. Take out as many as they could to make it easier for Morgan and Trinity back at the house. This is what the two men resigned themselves to do.

  Ten feet of open space. More zombies crowded in, their moans at a deafening pitch now.

  Eight feet. Body after body slumped to the ground, some moving still, but most remained still.

  Six feet...

  A car engine roared to near Alex and gunshots rang out. The sound of dozens of bodies slamming into a car and someone whooping filled the air, covering the moans of the dead creatures bearing down on the two of them. Alex's eyes glanced to his left just as a large Ford pickup truck, its brush guard and over sized wheels covered in gore, tore a path straight through the mass of zombies, narrowly missing Liam and Alex in its destructive path. There were three young men standing in the bed of the pickup truck, each holding a rifle or shotgun and blindly firing into the crowd of walking dead. A blast issued from the shotgun and Alex heard Liam yell.