Pandemic Z | Book 2 | Pandemic Z 2 Read online

  “Yorkshire,” Nathan said, butting in, though he knew Ryan had no Yorkshire in his blood.

  “Did he go twerk Ryan?” Mallory laughed as she joined in the fun, light-hearted conversation. “You know, Yorkshiremen go t’work every Monday to Friday, nine to five?”

  Sean couldn’t hold his laughter in. He tried to focus on the road, but it was hard with all the laughing. “Go to work. Twerk. Ha!” He laughed into the intercom.

  “Ha-ha. Real funny folks.” Ryan could see Sean uncontrollably laughing from his own Land Rover.

  The zombies had made everything so tense. Everywhere they looked, they saw empty streets, lumbering zombies, or frightened civilians, and there was no escape from the harsh reality of their current situation. Just for a few moments, as the platoon of soldiers drove through the gates of the power plant, all was well. Laughter was the perfect escape for their troubled minds.

  “I meant Canada, you assholes. My dad was from Canada, and he always called me his wee pucking growing up,” Ryan corrected, laughing along with the others. “He also used to use the phrase, ‘oh puck’ a lot, too.”

  “Canada eh!” Sean sat up straighter as he pulled his Land Rover into a space on the power plant parking lot. “I knew that,” He added to the conversation.

  “Oh, puck! I pucking love it.” Nathan chuckled, pulling into the parking space to the left of Sean.

  Usually, the mocking conversation would have pissed Ryan off to no end, but with the tense atmosphere, he was grateful for the laughter. “It was a pucking pain in the ass!” He parked his Land Rover to the right of Sean’s.

  “Kearley, where are you?” Sean asked, looking from left to right. There was no sign of the fourth vehicle.

  The intercom was silent, not even the crackling static could be heard.

  “Kearley, report!” Sean said, his voice getting louder and more afraid. Still, there was nothing.

  Sean looked into Ryan’s Land Rover, and he was speaking quickly into the microphone. Nathan was doing the same. Sean had no idea where Mallory had gone to, and he hadn’t thought to check if she was still behind them in the convoy.

  Fear rushed through Sean as he nervously tapped at the steering wheel. They hadn’t even been in the face of battle, and one of his soldiers was missing. He forced himself to think, needing to come up with a plan to go back and find her.

  “Puck off, guys.” Mallory Kearley’s voice finally emerged through the speaker as the last Land Rover pulled through the gates and parked next to the others.

  “Thank God!” Sean yelled into the microphone. “What the hell were you thinking, Kearley? I enjoy the joking, and it helps break the monotony, but making me think you’ve gone missing and something bad happened to you is not okay.”

  “Got it, sir,” she responded. “I apologize. I got too carried away.”

  Sean sighed heavily, sitting back in his seat. “It’s fine. Just don’t let that happen again—any of you.”

  The power plant looked empty. Sean couldn’t see anyone walking about, He knew the other power stations had been overtaken by zombies and were shut down by other platoons.

  “Alright, mates, listen up,” Sean said, holding the microphone close to his mouth.

  The intercom crackled, waiting for Sean to give orders. He knew the plan was to turn the power plant off, so it wouldn’t leak, but he also knew zombies were likely around.

  “We need to turn this damn thing off.” He leaned forward in his seat, resting his arms on the steering wheel. “To do that, we have to get inside.”

  “Uh… inside?” Nathan stumbled over his words. Going inside meant leaving the safety of the Land Rovers.

  “That means we have to ditch these babies,” Ryan said sadly. It was the first time he had ever driven a vehicle on a mission. He was usually the rear gunner, so he’d quickly grown attached to his Land Rover and didn’t want to leave it.

  “Yes, we will,” Sean said. “But we’ll be fine. I already have a list of the weapons we’ll need to take.”

  “Sean?” Mallory said as an idea popped into her head.

  “Yes. Go ahead.”

  “Sir, we should be able to drive the Land Rovers farther into the plant. The layout of the factory should allow us to do that. Then we would only have to walk a short distance to flip the switch.” She’d been nervous to give her plan but was confident it would work.

  Silence fell over the comm system, and he heard a loud thump outside his vehicle. His senses were high on alert.

  Tap, tap, tap.

  He turned to see Mallory standing outside his driver’s side door. The thump had been the sound of her Rover door closing. He sighed heavily and pushed the button to roll down the window.

  “Kearley, I’m glad it’s you. You have no idea how close you were to getting a bullet to the face. Well… if I had a gun.”

  She smiled. “I’m actually a zombie.”

  “Ha-ha,” Sean sarcastically said. “What the fuck are you doing here? It’s not safe for you to be out of your vehicle. Do you want to die?” he asked more seriously.

  She lifted a folded-up piece of paper. “I have a map showing the layout of the power plant.” She opened up the map and laid it out on the window frame so both of them could see. “We’re here—” she pointed to the entrance of the plant “—and we need to get here,” she said, tracing a fairly simple line to the far end of the plant.

  Sean smirked. It seemed simple enough. It was almost a straight line. “That doesn’t look all too bad.”

  “It’s harder than you think,” she corrected. “From here—” she pointed to a smaller distance between two drawn lines “—down to the switch here.” She traced the winding line. “We’ll have to be on foot, and God only knows how many walking dead there are.” She felt proud of herself, never having considered herself useful in the team until that moment.

  “True,” Sean agreed, formulating a plan in his head. “We can drive through the narrow corridor though, can’t we?” he asked, double checking to see if his plan would work.

  Mallory nodded. “Although, the terrain is a little rough here.” She pointed to the area just ahead of them.

  Sean looked out of the windscreen. The terrain ahead of them wasn’t meant for vehicles to go through. Stone benches and foliage littered the entryway. Beyond that were small alleyways and large dumpsters filled with refuse.

  “I think I have a plan,” he finally said, shuffling himself to face Mallory.

  A growl sounded out just a second before a zombie stepped out from behind the rover on Sean’s left. Mallory saw it, and her face went pale. She immediately shoved the map through the window. “Do it! It’ll work!”

  Sean’s eyes were wide. It seemed to him that she was giving up before the fight even started. “Get your ass in my truck!”

  She turned to run around the front, but she stopped hard as another crawled toward her. It had been so low to the ground that no one had seen it approaching out of the shrubs in their tall vehicles.

  Sean was about to jump out of his vehicle when he saw her rush forward and kick the zombie hard under the chin. The force of the kick rolled it several times before it landed on it’s back. She charged forward and stomped as hard as she could on its face, crushing its weakened skull and killing it instantly.

  Sean looked in his driver’s side mirror to check on the location of the other zombie as he rolled up his window. It had disappeared out of the driver’s side mirror and was now crossing around the back of the vehicle.

  Anger immediately crossed his face as he began to have flashbacks of his time in Syria. Cordell was sitting beside him, laughing and talking about life one minute, and the next, he was a charred corpse. He couldn’t let anyone else die.

  He slammed the Land Rover in reverse. “Die, you piece of shit!” he yelled as the rear end smashed hard into the zombie. The body fell to the ground, and Sean continued to drive, backing it over with both the back and front tires.

  He looked around and sighed
in relief. He didn’t see any others. He quickly looked forward and motioned for Mallory to hurry and climb in his vehicle.

  She smiled, and he could see her visibly sigh. She took a step forward, her body poised to take off in a sprint to his car. As her left foot fell, a greyish arm reached out from under the Land Rover that had been parked to his right and grabbed hold of her ankle.

  Everything happened so fast, he barely had time to react. Within in a single breath, the zombie had tripped and taken Mallory to the ground and had pulled her almost all the way under the large vehicle. She screamed as it bit hard into her neck, and blood gushed from the wound as he tore a chunk out of her.

  The adrenaline that must have been coursing through her allowed her to reach for the knife on her leg. She pulled it out and thrust it backwards, stabbing the zombie in the face.

  Almost immediately, her hand fell, the knife still stuck in the zombie’s skull. Her body twitched a few times before finally going still.

  Sean stared in horror, his hand on the handle of the door. He’d gripped it at some point, ready to jump out and save her, but there hadn’t been time.

  Ryan Moo’s door clicked, and Sean quickly jumped into action, his heart racing. He grabbed the mic and put it to his mouth. “No, no, no! Don’t get out. Close that fucking door right now.”

  “But—”

  “She’s gone,” Sean said, a quiver in his voice. “It happened too fast. As soon as the bastard tripped her, he tore a chunk out of her throat. There was nothing…” He inhaled deeply and let it out in shaky bursts. “Nothing any of us could do.”

  “She didn’t die in vain,” Ryan Moo said softly in the intercom.

  “She died saving us,” Nathan Davids said, clearing his throat and nodding, trying not to cry.

  Sean glanced at the crumpled map on his lap, brushing his tears away. He tried to focus on the mission at hand. “I don’t know what to do. Just keep your eyes open. They’re hiding everywhere,” he said as the anger welled up inside him. Tears wanted to flow as the ache for his teammate set in.

  “We’ll drink to her after we get the power plant shut down, deal?” Ryan said, trying to be strong. With one member down, it would be tough for the three of them to shut down the power plant. They couldn’t afford to have anyone, especially their leader, shut down.

  Sean nodded. “Sounds good,” he muttered, scrutinizing the map. “We need to get to the main hallway. T2, I think it’s called.” He followed the course with his finger. “Moo, be careful when you pull out. Swing it around to…” He paused, not wanting to finish that sentence.

  “I know. I won’t hit her,” Ryan replied softly.

  Sean put his Land Rover in drive and turned it to face the power plant. The entryway would be an interesting obstacle course. He knew the Rovers could do it, but he wasn’t sure if they would survive all the hedges and gates.

  “We’ll follow,” Ryan said.

  Sean made it easily over the first hedge. The Land Rover trampled it as if it had been made from thin paper. He hoped there were zombies hiding in there that he’d flattened. The other two hedges followed closely.

  Nathan hated the offset silence. He’d lost people before, and feeling completely alone always drove him a bit crazy. He began thinking of mortality and questioning why bad things happened to good people. Knowing he needed to stay on task, he decided to fill the silence with whatever popped into his head. “Folks, did you know that the peach was the first fruit to be eaten on the moon?”

  “A peach?” Ryan said into the microphone.

  Sean turned the next corner to see three large zombies dressed in high visibility vests and orange jumpsuits like prisoners. “We’ve got company up here,” he said as his two teammates rounded the corner. Nathan whizzed across the tarmac, hurtling straight into one of the orange jumpsuit zombies.

  The zombie was caught off guard and easily taken down. Ryan revved his Land Rover, and the noise attracted the remaining two zombies. They began to haphazardly stumble towards the powerful machines, and they walked like lopsided rag dolls being pulled by strings.

  Ryan crushed the skull of another zombie. It died quickly as the Land Rover squashed its head in. Guts began spilling out all over the smooth tarmac. Sean ran over the last zombie as he tried to push the thought of Mallory from his mind.

  “You know, Sean,” Nathan said as they continued on their winding journey to the power plant switch, “I had a neighbor once who trimmed the bush in his front yard to look like a peach.”

  “Really?” Sean replied, humoring his teammate even though he didn’t want to talk about peaches or bushes.

  “It looked like a bottom, but he was certain it was a peach,” Nathan said as he followed the convoy closely.

  “We need to be on foot for the last part,” Sean told his teammates. “You guys are armed, right?”

  Nathan chuckled. “With my wit,” he said, glancing around his vehicle, searching for extra weapons.

  Ryan Moo sighed. “You’re probably going to die then. You won’t get anywhere with that.”

  “I have a couple of knives,” Nathan said seriously. He’d used the tools to modify his Land Rover.

  Sean knew he had nothing in his Land Rover to fight with, he didn’t even have a long stick to protect himself.

  “I have a hammer, a letter opener, and a handful of circular blades we can Frisbee at them,” Ryan reluctantly said. He felt useless for his collection of weapons.

  Sean pulled the Land Rover around the next corner to face a mass of haggling zombies, the group of them immediately turned towards the loud rumble of the engines. Sean rolled his eyes. He should have expected the zombies, but he had hoped the path would be clear.

  Nathan gasped at the undead crowd ahead of them. “How the hell are we going to like… You know…” His voice drifted off. He could see Sean just as defeated as he was in the Land Rover next to him.

  “Woah. That’s a lot of zombie flesh,” Ryan added, seeing the large group in front of them. In all his missions as a soldier, Ryan had never seen so many of his enemies gathered together in one space before.

  Sean didn’t say a word. He didn’t have anything to say as he revved his engine. He hit the gas and let off the brake, ramming right into the horde of oncoming zombies. The first few fell easily, their brains squelching under the framework of his Land Rover.

  “We just need some epic music, like the Ride of the Valkyries,” Nathan said into the silence. He pushed his vehicle into action as he hummed out the iconic tune.

  Ryan put his Land Rover into gear and joined in on the action from the right side. He considered driving forward at top speed, but then he remembered something he’d once seen on a television show.

  He gunned the engine, driving steadily toward the zombies. At the last moment, he locked up the brakes, fishtailing his Land Rover into a confused group of zombies. The back of the Land Rover was modified with spikes and a steel rear bumper to protect it.

  “This is for you Mallory,” Sean grunted as he pushed into the next zombie.

  “Now this is off-roading!” Nathan cackled as he ran over a fallen zombie.

  Ryan straightened out his Land Rover. “This is epic!” he cried out happily, topping a domino run of zombies. They fell, one after the other, as if stacked uniformly beside each other.

  Once they’d finished off that group of zombies, the three teammates continued down the disastrous path. They slowly made their way to the center of the power plant. Their mission was vital to defeating the zombies.

  They were unstoppable.

  Chapter Eight

  The raging sound coming from outside the service door fell silent. The frightened passengers darted nervous glances around, wondering what was happening. They knew the wolf was on their side, but they didn’t know where he came from.

  “Dude, does anyone know where the hell that dude came from?” Dude Guy asked nervously. His confident persona had slipped away to reveal his underlying anxiety.

 
Ben shrugged. “Don’t know, don’t care.” He looked down and picked at the hem of his jersey. From the original three boys dressed in jerseys, Ben was the only one who remained.

  BANG.

  The crowd fell silent, terror creeping into each person’s expression. The noise had alarmed them, and they frantically looked to Lena for protection. She jumped up with Barry following closely. He was still pale and seemed a bit weak, but he was recovering quickly give what he’d been through.

  BANG.

  The noise came again, louder the second time and even louder the third. Lena approached the door, unsure of what to do.

  “Don’t open it. It could be a ferocious zombie!” Jonny Wray whimpered.

  Barry smirked at the frightened giant. “Jonny, last time I checked, zombies don’t knock.”

  Lena nodded slowly. Barry was right. Zombies weren’t that smart. They were lazy and clumsy figures.

  BANG.

  The passengers backed away quickly, and Emily stood guard, ready to fight anyone who would attack them. Lena held the door handle tight as she took a deep breath, buying precious seconds.

  “Harrison?” she said with obvious worry in her voice.

  A growl came from the other side that didn’t sound like it came from a zombie. Quickly, she whipped open the door, ready to swing it back with force if necessary. Harrison ducked through the short entrance, growling and holding a wet black shirt in his large hand. The overhanging clouds had turned a darker grey, and rain sprinkled down on the plane and the surrounding zombie corpses.

  “Shoo. It’s just you.” Barry sighed with relief as he rolled his eyes. “Welcome home,” he sarcastically added.

  Harrison held out his hairy paw, taking the small black backpack from Lena. He grunted quietly as he sauntered down the hallway. The passengers parted like the biblical Red Sea as Harrison made his way through. He turned the corner and disappeared from view.

  Lena, Barry, and Emily watched the hub of passengers talk and argue about Harrison. No one was really certain where Harrison had come from and why he was a werewolf. The businessmen that were left among the crowd could hardly believe the zombies were real, let alone the added werewolf.