A Zombie Survival Series (Book 1): Infestation Iowa (6 page)

              Just then a hand gripped her shoulder tightly. She swung around raising her guns ready for a fight. David’s hand grabbed her arm stopping her mid spin, the force of his hand caused her arm to jump and she fired one of her guns. She looked at David and Holiday in shock but was quickly filled with fear as the same blood curdling roar from earlier echoed all around them. Then she realized she had shot her gun and drawn attention to where they were. She leaned around the corner of the tree once more, the six zombies that once stood motionless were now running at high speed toward her. What was worse was a number of fast running zombies poured out of the supermarket and began down the street toward her as well.

              “Run!” she screamed to David and began running towards the gun store. David and Holiday didn’t hesitate - they ran as fast as they could to keep up to her. Destiny crashed into the front door pounding on it loudly with the butt of her guns screaming, “Open the door!”

Nobody replied! All she heard was the increased sound of growling as the horde of zombies barrelled around the corner towards her. The disfigurements of each one seemed more terrifying the closer they got. Destiny raised her guns and began firing at them. David and Holiday, only feet away from her, both turned and began firing their guns. David let off six massive shots which overpowered the sound of the other’s guns. Destiny nearly covered her ears - it was so loud. As David reloaded, Holiday emptied his clip, severing decomposed arms and causing several heads to pop like blisters. When his gun emptied, he slid the clip out of the gun and let it fall to the ground as he quickly reloaded. His hesitation from earlier and his fear were completely overwhelmed by his anger and adrenaline. Several zombies fell dead as more seemed to pour out from the park and the street around the opposite corner. Some were faster than others but all moved with blinding speed. A few nearly reached the three but flew to the ground from the hail of bullets being fired into them. Holiday’s gun emptied again only this time he had no clips of ammunition left. He ran beside Destiny and began to bang on the door screaming almost louder than the gun shots. David had reloaded several times at this point and only had three bullets left. He slid the three into his gun and raised it for what he thought would be the last time. Over thirty zombies rushed them from all around as Destiny’s guns both clicked empty. Just then a massive barrage of bullets ripped into every zombie they could see. The sound of an army flew over their heads as Eric and Jane leaned out the upstairs windows with large fully automatic weapons. Eric screamed at the top of his lungs but nobody could hear him over the shots. His screams turned to laughter as the gun he held jostled his entire body. Jane was nearly in tears as the gun seemed to shake her entire body almost completely outside the window. There was a moment when David believed she would accidentally hit them. He ran up to Holiday and the three stood at the door crouched, covering their ears with their weapons and hands.

              After a mere minute passed Eric and Jane’s guns finally clicked out of ammo. Eric continued laughing and wooing, jumping back inside as Jane broke out laughing and began clapping, dropping her gun out of the window beside the others below. David, Destiny, and Holiday looked around at the mangled remains of dozens and dozens of bodies. Destiny banged on the door slowly this time as she waited for more zombies to pop out of anywhere. David turned to the door and with a massive kick he flung it open. Holiday quickly ran to the gun rack, picking up a shotgun and grabbing a box of shells. His hands shook slightly while he loaded the shotgun; his ears rang loudly in his head. David and Destiny slammed the door shut and leaned against it breathing heavily.

              “Nice gun!” she yelled - her hearing obviously impaired slightly. She pointed to David’s gun as she holstered a second gun in the back of her skirt. He handed it to her smiling and walked over to the gun rack beside holiday. He searched for more ammo for his pistol but found none. He shrugged slightly and grabbed another pistol from the rack. He was happy to have a normal weapon. Destiny went to give David’s pistol back but he shook his head and motioned for her to keep it. Her face grew even more excited as she holstered her new third gun into the back of her skirt. Holiday and David emptied the gun rack and loaded any weapon they found with ammunition. They started setting guns on the side table by the chair and some in front of the door.

With three guns Destiny was feeling very confident and strutted around without a care in the world. Outside, moaning sounds cut her celebrating short. She ran up to the door holding it closed and peered out the peep hole. All the fast zombies from earlier sprawled out across the road motionless and completely destroyed. Now a massive group of slow zombies shambled their way from everywhere she could see and headed toward the gun store. Most had climbed over the bodies and were headed toward the store. Others crawled and a few fell over the bodies unable to completely stand up afterward. She smirked and continued celebrating.

              “There more?” Holiday said cocking his shotgun

              “Ya but just some slow ones.” She said smiling.

              “If enough slow ones get on us, we won’t be able to do much. Even this store can’t hold out forever.” Holiday continued as he walked toward the door and peered outside the peep hole. “I’m going out, watch this door!” He said harshly and opened the door. He walked outside firing his shotgun into the zombies. Again, he severed limbs and imploded heads as the slow crawl of zombies got closer and more massive. As he fired, Eric and Jane ran down the stairs; Jane in her underwear and Eric missing his shirt and trying to pull his pants up.

              “What’s going on?” Eric asked confused, “Is there more?” He finally pulled his pants all the way up and buckled them in place as Jane covered herself with her hands. She started to go back upstairs but paused and said.

              “You said we won? Victory sex is so- Over!” she then stormed up the stairs to find her clothes. The others stared at Eric with their heads lowered.

              “What?” Eric said turning to go back upstairs to find the rest of his own clothes. Destiny and David chuckled and both looked out the peep hole as Holiday fired his shotgun wildly.

              “I’m Destiny.” She said in between the sound of gun shots. Smiling, David looked at her amused by her name.

              “David,” He nodded out the peep hole towards Holiday, “And that is our sheriff Holiday.” Destiny’s smile grew wider as Holiday screamed profanity at the zombies who were falling almost faster than they could count. “He has been through a lot today.” David said,

              “Everyone has been,” Destiny replied her smile fading. “Did you know Bartley? The guy who owned this place?”

              “Ya, since I was a kid.”

              “We lost him last night, he went out to help-” Destiny tried to continue but went silent.

              “Ya that would be Bartley!” David said proudly. They moved back as Holiday pushed the door open breathing very quickly. He turned around and held the door closed as zombies from outside banged against it. Eric and Jane ran back down the stairs this time fully dressed. Destiny and David lunged themselves beside Holiday and held the door.

              “Eric! Grab the hammer!” Destiny screamed. Eric looked around, his eyes searching wildly for the hammer but he could not see it. Everything had been moved around since David and Holiday came in. Weapons were all over the table and floor and no longer on the rack.

              “Where is it?” He screamed as he kicked away some guns in front of him with his feet. He got on his hands and knees and began sweeping with his hands frantically looking for the hammer.

              “Here it is!” Jane screamed as she ran to the table by the chair. It sat under another shotgun. She grabbed the hammer and pulled it out fast. The shotgun fell to the ground and fired off a massive burst of pellets hitting Holiday and Destiny in the leg. Holiday fell forward screaming in pain. Destiny looked at her leg, she was barely hit but it still stung. She shook it off and pressed against the door harder than ever.

              “Sheriff!” David screamed as he bent down, still up against the door as it pulsed with the bangs from outside. Holiday rolled around slightly as he held his leg. Blood squirted out everywhere from his lower leg. Jane held the hammer tightly in front of her chest horrified.

              “Oh My God! I am so sorry!” She yelled nearly crying as always. Eric got to his feet and rushed over to her. He grabbed the hammer out of her hand and grabbed a pail filled with nails from behind the table. Then Eric started pounding nails into the frame of the door, securing it with the boards already on the door.

              “That should hold it!” he shouted. David and Destiny moved away from the door watching it. It continued shaking but seemed to be holding strong. They bent down to Holiday; David held his shoulders as Destiny pried Holiday’s hand off his leg to get a better look. As she did even more blood gushed out. She released his hand and he clasped back onto it in agony. Destiny shook her head at David, suggesting that Holiday wouldn’t make it. Suddenly, the banging on the door stopped. Eric rushed toward it and looked out the peep hole. “They are moving away.” He whispered.

              “They gave up?” Jane asked confused. For once everyone shared in her confusion.

              Then a loud crash of glass and boards snapped causing them to jump. The window on the wall over by the empty rack, slowly seemed to be sucked away. Boards flew outside as something pulled at them. The same roar they had been hearing all over town earlier filled the store.

Chapter 5 –The Beast

              A massive arm reached into the window. The length of the arm itself was nearly as tall as David and it was as wide as Holiday. It brimmed with bright red skin and the light glistened off its muscles upon muscles. It ripped out the final board from the window with its wide human-like hand. A large snarl followed as the hand receded through the window, slowly scratching the border with its claw-like nails. A head crept inside looking around with sharp movements left and right. The head was small compared to the arm; about the size of a normal man’s head but with an abnormally thick neck. It had no skin they could see; just muscle lining its face with tiny black sockets for eyes. It had no lips and bared menacing razor sharp teeth. Holiday began sliding toward the back room. The fear of seeing the creature had silenced his agony. David slowly picked up Holiday’s shotgun as Destiny stared in disbelief at the monstrosity emerging from outside. The sun began to set, slowly dimming the light behind the creature. The generators in the shop still ran strong, powering the lights, so they could easily see what happened next.

              The creature placed its hands on the window frame and with a seemingly effortless pull ripped most of the wall apart. Jane let out a shrill yelp as the others were too petrified to even move, except for Holiday. Slowly, he inched away toward the back room trying to stay unnoticed by the creature. Eric, in complete shock, walked toward Jane. He was afraid she would break out crying and cause the creature to rush inside. The creature stepped a foot into the store cracking the floor with its enormous foot. It stood roughly ten feet tall and was hunched over to see inside more clearly. Its body was roughly the size of a small car and reflected the light off its bright red skin. Its muscles seemed to contract and flinch all over its body. The creature sniffed the air and turned its head once more left and right with a sharp movement.

              David squinted his eyes unsure as to why it did nothing else. He leaned over to Destiny and whispered in her ear.             

              “I don’t think it can see us,”

              “Maybe it goes by smell.” She whispered back, “or sound?”

Eric, now beside Jane, slowly reached for her hand as she stared at the beast in complete terror. She grabbed his hand and squeezed it hard. Nobody had any idea what to do. “It’s so big!” Destiny continued looking out of the corner of her eye toward the stairs. “If we go slowly upstairs it might not be able to follow us.” She slowly moved to the stairs causing a floor board at her feet to creak loudly. The creature’s head snapped toward her direction. It had clearly heard the floor creak.

              Jane relaxed her grip on Eric’s hand and turned away from the beast, toward Destiny.

              “If it’s deaf,” she said loudly causing the beast to snap its head toward her, “and it can’t see,” the beast moved fully into the room and loomed above Jane blocking the lights above her. “Then we are fine!” She yelled, smiling. Her smile faded fast as she felt the steady breathing of the beast on her head. Eric backed away slowly toward David as Jane’s eyes filled with tears. She let out a horrible cry as the beast roared ferociously. It swatted Jane with its arm and ploughed her into the wall beside the door. It pounced forward and dug its teeth into her chest. Eric let out a high pitched scream but then quickly covered his mouth. The creature snapped its head once again toward the sound. Flesh and bits of clothing hung from its teeth as it chewed while staring. After a few seconds, it turned back to Jane’s body and continued to eat her.

              “Upstairs…” Destiny said in a slight whisper. The creature slightly turned its head but the whisper was not enough to draw its full attention. Eric, with his hands still covering his mouth, nodded in agreement and slowly walked toward the stairs. Again, a floor board creaked. They all froze and stared wide eyed at the creature. It didn’t notice the creak this time. It was too involved with its meal. Jane’s body was nothing more than a pair of legs and some hair from her head at that point. The creature ate very fast and soon would be able to hear them easier.

              Once again they headed toward the stairs but then suddenly Holiday screamed at them.