WorldLost- Week 1: An Infected Novel Read online

  “The doc had picked up the phone and was calling 911, but he got a busy signal. We went back to the break room and found Melanie. She had calmed down and told us what had happened. She explained that the pregnant woman convulsed while checking out like she was having a seizure. She fell to the floor and started to seizure. Vee rushed out to the waiting room to help her while Melanie tried to call 911. Vee was on the ground trying to help the women when Vee screamed. Melanie looked over the counter and she sees the pregnant women ripping flesh off of Vee’s face.”

  I poured another drink for myself and moved to a bar stool next to Butch. The booze was starting to make me tired and standing up was getting harder for me.

  “Anyway, we hung out in the office trying to decide what to do for a while, trying to contact the authorities and any emergency services we could get a hold of. We didn’t have any luck, nothing was working and then I got your text. I grabbed my backpack, grabbed some medical supplies, thinking we might need them and headed to my place to pick up a few other things and then got started towards Amy’s.“

  He rubbed his eyes and saw that his hands had blood on them. He got up and walked into the kitchen to wash the blood off.

  “I got home without too much trouble, I just stayed to myself on the way,tried to use the alley’s and went through the back door of my building. If I saw anyone that looked sick or was acting weird, I moved away from them. There were so many people on the streets, that it was easy to blend in. At home, I grabbed some food, grabbed my hunting knife, a change of clothes and headed out.

  “What was it like out there trying to get to Amy’s? Did you have any problems?”

  “I stuck to the alley’s just like when I went home. I ran into the Dumpster King. He said he had seen you and asked if I wanted to hang out.”

  “Dude’s not going to last hanging around that bakery,” I said.

  “I left there and ran into some trouble with a few of those things. What are we calling them, anyway?”

  “I’ve heard them called infected, zombies, and freaks.” I smiled. “Take your pick.”

  “Zombies? Sounds too much like a movie. Anyway, coming out of the bakery alley, I ran into a group of them and once they saw me, they all started after me. I pushed one to the ground, I kicked another in the knee making it fall to the ground and jammed my elbow into another one’s face. I was able to get free from them and just kept running.”

  “Kung Fu Fighter!” I laughed.

  “Not even close, dude. What the hell is going on? This is crazy shit. What are we going to do?

  I poured another shot and drank it, slamming the shot glass on the counter. Butch gave me the eye, raising his eyebrow asking me to answer him.

  “We should gather some supplies, things we need to survive, food, weapons, things like that. Then we need to get a car and head north to your parent's place. They are out in the middle of nowhere and secluded, should be safe out there.

  “So we should check out some of these other apartments after we eat and before it gets too late,” I say as I walk into the kitchen stepping around Butch and remove the steaks from the oven. I grabbed two plates, silverware and proceed to put the steaks out to eat.

  I have to say, the steak was the best I’d had for some time. Who knew, it might be my last meal.

  Butch sat down and took a bite. We sat there for a while, eating, not really saying anything.

  I threw the plates into the sink and grabbed my bat. “Let’s go.”

  “We should clean up, Amy won’t like us leaving this mess.” He said.

  “Seriously? The world is ending, a little mess in the sink won’t make a difference. Let’s go so we can get out of here to your parents.”

  Butch shrugged his shoulders and grabbed his knife. We both had empty backpacks hanging off our shoulders.

  We stepped by the couch blocking the front the door, unlocked the door and stepped out into the hallway.

  Chapter 11

  We headed into the first apartment next to Mike’s since I had already been in his place. The door to the apartment was locked, but Butch was able to kick the door in, letting us move inside.

  Mistake number one never bust in a locked door open when you don’t know what is in the room. Standing in the middle of the living room was a chubby old woman that I had seen before but didn’t know her name.

  “Hey, Ms. Hinckley,” Butch said to her as he moved past me and into the living room.

  Ms. Hinckley’s bloodshot eyes looked at Butch as she reached for him. Butch didn’t even seem phased by the look she gave him, he just pulled out his knife and drove it into her head through her left eye socket. She instantly dropped to the floor, motionless.

  “That is so wrong,” I said to Butch as I tried to hold back the steak we just ate from exiting my body. “Truly, just wrong.”

  “We’ve got to be more careful,” Butch said as he looked around the room. “Busting through the door was a bad idea. We’ve got to come up with a plan when entering into unknown places. That’s the only way we will make it.”

  “No more breaking down doors without knocking first,” I replied as I moved into the kitchen space. “ Got it. It is rule number 1.”

  ‘Rule number 1 is staying alive.” Butch said as he moved through the living room looking for anything that might be of use to us. “Rule number 2 is to watch each other’s back.” He moved to the bedroom area. “Rule number 3 is to be quite.” He said loudly from the bedroom.

  “Rule number 4 is head shots only. That is what drops them. And rule number 5 is knocking before entering a room,” Butch said as he moved into the kitchen. He repeated each rule counting them off on his fingers.

  “You’re just making it up as you go along. But I get it.” I said to him.

  I moved through the kitchen picking out items we could use, things that would last. We found some canned food, water, and some basic medical supplies. Everything went into the backpacks and we headed out of the apartment.

  At the next apartment, we knocked first instead of just breaking the door down. We listened at the door for any movement. we knew this apartment belonged to a younger woman that worked at the hospital on the late shift, so chances where she was at work. After a few minutes, we broke in the door and were rewarded with an empty apartment with no surprises.

  We really didn’t much of anything except for the pistol in a drawer in her nightstand, which we took. We were a little surprised she had it since she really didn’t seem like the type to own a gun. But, then we found the handcuffs, the whip, the black corset and various sexual toys that an S&A mistress might have. Again, we were both shocked as she really didn’t fit the bill for that type of behavior.

  “I’m definitely coming back when this is over to see if she‘s interested in a new slave” Butch laughed. “I hope she makes it through this and we meet sometime down the road.”

  We moved out of her bedroom to check the rest of the apartment. We found some more food and water, but nothing much else we needed. If we were here longer, we could always come back for the other food and water.

  Before Leaving, I stopped Butch and said, “We need to think about weapons.”

  “What about them?” Butch replied.

  “What would be the best weapon. I mean, guns seem like the best choice, but they are loud and require bullets. Maybe they should be used as a last resort.”

  “My knife works pretty well. The only problem is that you have to be close to them. Maybe we could attach a knife to a broomstick, kind of like a spear.”

  “A spear would be good. We should check each apartment for broomsticks. We could sharpen the ends. They’re pretty light, so we could carry more than one, attach them to the backpacks.”

  “Yeah, that’s a good idea. Body armor would be good too, just in case they get a hold of us and try to bite us. I bet you they couldn’t bite through padding used for football or biking. That kind of stuff. It could save our lives.”

  We agreed that body armor w
ould be a good thing to pick up the next chance we had. With nothing else in the apartment to take with us, we moved out to the hallway and headed back to Amy’s apartment to drop off the items we had collected.

  We empty the items we found and notice that Amy wasn’t on the couch anymore. I walked down the hallway and saw her bedroom door open. Inside I found her on the floor holding Shelby as she cried.

  Amy cried even harder as she looked up at me. “We need to do something with her; we can’t leave her here like this.”

  “We will, we need to stay here tonight and determine our next move,” I said to her as I helped her off the floor and helped her place Shelby on the bed and got her covered up again.

  We walked out to the living room and we all sat down on the couch. “We have some supplies that we got in a couple of apartments. We still have some of the apartments to still check out. We think we need to get out of the city, maybe go to Butch’s parents place up north.”

  “My parent's place would be a good place. Lots of land, out in the middle of nowhere and close to the lake.”

  “What’s the point of the lake?” Amy asked.

  “Zombies don’t like water; it could be the best place to be, out in the middle of the lake.”

  “How long do you think it will take to get there on foot or should we steal a car?” Amy asked. “If we steal a car, we can bring Shelby and bury her on the way.”

  “We’ll decide tomorrow. Let’s finish the sweep of the other apartments and see what else we can find.” I said as I stood up.

  Just then, it hit me and I really started to feel the strain of the day. My muscles were stiff, my hangover was slowly making its way back after drinking the Jack with Butch. The adrenaline was wearing off.

  “Let’s get this done before I fall over.”

  Before leaving, Butch let Amy know about the rules we came up with. We all grabbed a weapon; I grabbed my bat, Butch grabbed his knife and Amy grabbed one of Mike’s swords. With our empty backpacks slung over our shoulders, we headed back out into the hallway.

  We headed past the last apartment Butch and I had been in arriving at the next apartment. The door was open so we figured it was empty.

  Once we all inside, we found some pot plants in a closet in the bedroom, a few bongs and pipes and a bowl full of different colored pills on a small dining room table. “I always knew this douche was a pot smoking, pill popping freak,” Amy stated. “You could smell the pot out in the hallway.”

  With nothing of importance, we moved on.

  At the next apartment door, we knocked first. “She’s not home,” Amy said. “Andrea was on a business trip and I was taking care her plants.” Amy pulled out the apartment key and opened the door. “I wonder if she is walking around in some foreign city, eating people or if she is running for her life trying to make it back home.”

  “Let’s hope she is safe and in a safe place.”

  We found the typical supplies, but we also grabbed her broom and used Butch’s knife to sharpen the end. I had my first spear. We also found some duct tape which we could use later. I also grabbed some large stainless steel cutting knives which we could use to make our spears even more deadly.

  We moved to the next few apartments, finding food, water, some Gatorade, more broomsticks, another bat, a .22 rifle (which we left) and some tools. Amy and Butch thought I was stupid for bringing the tools, but I wanted to see if I could fashion a weapon that would have some killing power when used.

  I was still concerned that I wouldn’t have what it takes to kill one of the infected, but I could at least make sure I had a weapon just in case. It would also help to keep my mind busy on something instead of thinking about all the bad things I had seen today.

  After taking everything back to Amy’s we moved to the south side of the apartment complex. There were three apartments, two doors opened and one closed and locked. I knew this because I had tried it when I first came out of the elevator. We didn’t find anything out of the ordinary in the two apartments that were open. At the locked door, we knocked and listened.

  After waiting for a minute, we didn’t hear anything so we broke in. “I don’t really know the guys that live here” Amy stated as she walked inside. The apartment was like all the others, a kitchen just inside the doorway, a small dining area between the kitchen and the living room and a hallway leading to the bedrooms and bathroom. This was a two bedroom apartment and all three doors down the hallway were closed.

  We all moved into the apartment. As usual, we decided to check the rest of the place before looking for supplies, making sure it was clear of infected. I was designated as the last person in line with one of the others leading the pack. This time, Amy was first to head down the hallway and at the first bedroom door, she knocked and got no response.

  Amy whispered to Butch, “You open the door and I’ll take the lead.” Butch nodded and counted to three before turning the handle. The door had just opened a crack when a hand reached through and grabbed Butch’s hand on the door knob. “Oh shit, we got a live one here.” He screeched.

  “Hold the door just enough so we can see its head, I’ll stab it and then we can move in,” Amy replied as she moved into position to stab the infected in the head. Butch opened the door a bit more and through the small opening, the infected’s head appeared. It opened its mouth to moan, but nothing came out.

  The infected esophagus and windpipe had been ripped out and all that was left was a spinal cord with a head on it. Amy drove the tip of the sword straight into its eye and the sound of the brain popping could be heard. A blackish blood squirted out and landed all over Amy’s shirt. The infected dropped to the floor as Butch pushed the door open so we could enter.

  Amy stood at the door and looked down at her t-shirt. “Son of a bitch, this is my favorite t-shirt.”

  “You can wash it and it wouldn’t matter,” I commented as a loud crash came from the bedroom.

  Amy rushed in and saw that Butch was up against the wall being held there by the other occupant of the apartment who had also turned.

  This infected’s throat was ripped out just like the first one, so it couldn’t make a sound. Amy took a step towards it hit the infected clean through the neck. The heads fell to the floor, but it was still snapping its teeth, moving its bloodshot eyes around looking at each of us.

  The body fell to the floor while a rush of black blood poured from the open neck wound. Butch rubbed his neck and shoulder where the infected had been holding him against the wall. “That thing came out of the bathroom like a bullet and grabbed me quicker than I could react.” He kicked the head like a soccer ball and it skidded under the bed, still snapping and moving its eyes. “Piece of shit. That was not expected.”

  “I’ve seen fast ones before. It seems like the older they are the quicker they are, especially when they have fed.” I explained. “Not sure what this one was feeding on. The other one seemed slow and only had its neck torn out. Look at it, just the neck, no other bites.”

  We looked around the room and saw some serious amounts of guns lying on the bed with boxes of ammo. Against the wall were three gun safes with the doors wide open and empty. These guys were getting ready to deal with the problem outside and then one of them had turned and attacked the other. At least that’s what it looked like.

  One or both must have had a flu shot and that started the whole problem.

  “We should each grab as many guns and ammo as we can carry and take everything to Amy’s and then come back and check the rest of the apartment,” Butch said as he grabbed a handful of guns and ammo. He headed for the front door without looking back, so Amy and I both grabbed what we could and followed him out the apartment.

  Both Amy and Butch made a second trip to move the remaining guns. I headed into the bathroom between the two bedrooms, but found nothing of importance except for some basic home medical supplies, so I move into the second bedroom and found something I thought I would have never seen in my life.

 
Tied to the bed, with hands, and feet tied to the four posts of the bed, was an infected teenage girl, completely nude, with an S&M ball in her mouth. There was blood all over the bedroom; on the walls, the floor, and the bed which was drenched with it.

  A video camera was set up at the end of the bed and it was currently turned on and hooked to a laptop on the desk. As I was standing there taking everything in, I heard Amy and Butch enter the other bedroom.

  I quickly moved back into the first bedroom and held up my hands to stop them both. “There is an infected girl in the room, tied to the bed. She was being videotaped by the two guys that lived here. Just want to give you fair warning.”

  “Are you fucking kidding me?” Amy said as she moved passed me and headed into the other room. She quickly covered the infected girl up with the sheet on the bed so here nudity was covered.

  “This is fucking sick,” she said, moving to the video camera to the side and shutting it off. “People are scum sometimes. This young girl is from a family upstairs. I’ve seen them in the rec room downstairs; I pass them in the garage and in the front lobby. I had conversations with them. We’ve got to go up there and see if they are home so we can tell them where their little girl is.”

  “I agree,” Butch said.

  “Hold on, let’s discuss this a little bit. We have no clue what is happening upstairs or on any of the other floors. There could be a 100 infected on her floor. She could have escaped from up there and ended up here. Anything could have happened.” I said, looking at both of them.

  “Let’s look at the video and see if we can determine what happened,” I said as I turned to the computer and hit the replay button on the video.

  Chapter 12

  The video began with one of the guys looking at the camera, smiling and then saying, “We’ve got something very special for everyone this week. A special little something that everyone will enjoy.” He continued. The camera then panned to the left and there on the bed was the girl, naked except for a gag in her mouth and unconscious.