Against Zombies Series (Book 5): Geeks Against Zombies Read online

  Geeks Against Zombies

  By

  Alathia Paris Morgan

  Copyright © 2019 Alathia Paris Morgan

  Geeks Against Zombies

  This is a work of fiction and in no way is meant to portray actual people, names, places, events or situations. The ideas were from the author’s own imagination and any resemblance to people living or dead is entirely coincidental.

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner without written permission, except in the case of quotations for articles and reviews.

  Acknowledgements

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Sneak Peek

  To Geeks everywhere: Thank you for reading. I hope I did justice to all of my favorite fandoms.

  Rebel Edit & Design

  Book cover: Nicole Paris

  Adobe Stock: cover photo purchased

  The Against Zombies Series:

  Moms Against Zombies Book1—Emma Jackson and Trish Walsh’s story

  Military Against Zombies Book 2—Brad Jackson, Patti Jackson, Linc Harris’ story

  Co-Ed’s Against Zombies Book 3—River Weaver, Stacy Morris, Angela Richard’s story

  Churches Against Zombies Book 4—Cole Jackson and River Weaver’s Story,

  Carson Walsh’s story, Andi Jackson.

  Geeks Against Zombies Book 5—Sean, Caleb and Finn’s story

  Governments Against Zombies Book 6—Cooper Walsh

  Prologue

  Sean

  I groaned and rolled over, reaching for my beeping phone. Hearing the sound coming from the floor, I tried to stretch enough to pull it close and tumbled out of bed. Thoroughly awake now, I pressed the button to shut it off. There was no point in climbing back into bed because I was going to be late for my class.

  This was the only class I had before noon, and my professor was a stickler about being on time. So I hustled. Only taking the time to throw shoes on my feet, I took off running.

  The campus had more students milling about than usual, but I didn’t pay too much mind to it. I had to make it to class before the professor locked the door.

  Sighing in relief that the door was still open, I rushed over and slid into my chair. Looking down at my watch, I found that I’d made it with thirty seconds to spare.

  Once the campus bell chimed, the entire class turned in their seats, anxiously awaiting the professor to walk through the door. As the murmurs of leaving if he didn’t show up by the time five minutes was up were growing louder, a student from another class popped their head in.

  “Classes have been canceled. Check your emails, it’s finally here!” he shouted in glee before running out the main entrance.

  I pulled up my email. “He’s right. They’re canceling school because of some virus.”

  “It says here that it’s causing people to go crazy and eat other people,” Robb announced from the row in front of me.

  “The zombies are here,” I joked, “and school’s out.” I did a little dance there in the aisle as people raced out of the room in a panic.

  “You’d think they’d be happy about this. We’ve been training for this moment for years. I’ve got skills that are hard to beat, and a score that’s the envy of all the girls.” Robb mimicked shooting, excited at the idea.

  “Dude, calm down. We don’t have real guns, and if we did we’d wind up hurting someone instead of defending ourselves.” I stopped dancing as the reality of things started to sink in. “We need to get to the cars and go stock up on groceries.”

  “Groceries? I can’t cook. Do you know how?” Robb questioned. “I always eat at the school or order out.”

  “Yes, I can cook. The stores are going to get crowded as word gets out. And remember, Cathy will need some formula for the baby. We can’t have her going out there and taking a chance on getting the virus,” I pointed out.

  “I guess you’re right. Let’s go get your car and make a quick run to the store then.” Robb fell into step beside me.

  We walked quickly, but I didn’t feel the need to run anywhere right now.

  The grocery store was busy, but it appeared that there were two types of people during this virus alert: Those who were staying home so they didn’t get the virus, and those who were stocking up for emergencies.

  Bread and milk were always the first things off the shelves, but I was focused on getting a few cans of formula for the mom down the hall. Her baby went through one can a week, so I grabbed four just in case this went on longer than expected.

  I’d done Cathy’s shopping for her over the past year after her boyfriend moved out once he knocked her up.

  I wasn’t interested in Cathy romantically, but I couldn’t leave her to do everything all by herself, and the guys took my lead, pitching in when necessary. We’d been her support system ever since the baby was born, and even helped watch little Jeff.

  My parents had been certain that I would never grow up or finish school. I was just doing it in different ways than they’d expected. I hadn’t even met a girl yet that could hold her own in a relationship.

  Maybe the bar was set too high, but I wanted someone who would understand that I loved to play video games.

  No one knew that I’d designed a video game that was somewhat popular. It wasn’t going to make me rich, but it would pay for my bills and let me help others around me as well.

  Robb was my roommate and had no clue what we might need to hang out from home for a few days besides chips and snacks.

  “Don’t we need some vegetables and fruit if we’re going to stock up?” Robb picked up a tomato and tossed it in the air, barely catching it before it hit the floor.

  “No. That’s what all those plants on the roof are, silly.” I shook my head at how unconnected to the world he was.

  “Oh, I just thought it was the other stuff you were growing.”

  “Shh.” I glanced around to make sure no one was paying attention. “Let’s get some meat, and I think we’ll be done.”

  “Shouldn’t we get more diapers if we’re getting formula?” Robb asked, just as someone started coughing a few aisles over.

  “Do you remember what size the baby needs?” I had a sense of urgency that hadn’t been there a few minutes before.

  “Yeah, he’s wearing a three, and not those leaky ones.”

  I was impressed that he remembered. “Go grab a shopping cart full of them and I’ll meet you at the checkout.” I didn’t want to stay in the store if the sick were close by, breathing the same air as me.

  “Yeah.” Robb took off at a jog, heading for the front of the store.

  It was when we were checked out and loading my car that I first heard the growls. It was something straight out of the movies and games we watched. Zombies were here.

  “Robb, we need to go, now.” I threw the rest of the stuff inside and raced to the front of the car, jumping in behind the wheel.

  “Right beside you.” Robb looked around, confused. “What were those sounds?”

  “I think our video games are walking the streets. Those were growls coming from the people in the parking lot. Thank goodness they’re not the fast ones from the looks of them.” I shuddered at the thought of zombies that could outrun us.

  As we drove home, we could see the panic starting to grow, as the sick started attacking random people. I really didn’t know if this virus was what we always imagined zombies to be like, but I was going to act like they were and prepare for that.

  Most of the people in our apartments were younger couples or singles who were going to college. There were a few families mixed throughout, but we needed a plan if this thing was going to be a long-term outbreak.

  I just couldn’t believe that all those discussions about what we would do if an outbreak happened were going to be put to good use.

  “Robb, get the groceries inside and I’ll start gathering those that are home to come meet. We have to prepare for this because the crap is going to get a little crazy.”

  “Yeah, I’ll holler at Finn and Caleb as well. Once we’ve loaded up, we’ll come help you.”

  I started knocking on doors and getting a head count to see who was home.

  Twenty minutes later, everyone who had made it home were assembled in the courtyard.

  “I’m sure most of you know that school has been let out and businesses are closing. We’re here to figure out how to keep us safe and keep the sickness out. Has anyone been coughing or not feeling well?” I took the lead because I was usually the one in our building that took care of things for people.

  A few hands raised, and I had them move over to one side. “Most of you know that I’ve hooked up our building with solar panels, and doing some projects on energy. While I don’t have anyone that can make you well, I’m going to work with the others and see if there’s a chance to that my ideas have merit while we find out how serious this virus is.”

  Finn spoke up. “We can’t fix problems if we don’t know they exist. Please don’t go outside the gates. And if you need to leave, that’s fine, but just let one of us know so we can make sure the gate is closed.
If you’re gone, we’d like to have an idea of where to look for you if you go missing.”

  “We know that the other buildings may not want to do things this way, but we’ve always considered ourselves to be a family, and we just want everyone to make it through this. Caleb, can you find out who would be willing to take shifts so we can keep the gates closed? Finn and I will check those who are sick and see what we can do to get them better,” I instructed.

  “Sean, there’s an empty room on the first floor that we can put those who are sick in so the rest of us don’t get infected.”

  “Great idea, Heather.”

  “Why don’t the sick people just go to the doctor?” Mike, our resident grouch, piped up.

  “Because, at the moment, people who are sick will get those who only have spring allergies really sick. This way, we have our own people here looking after each other.”

  “The news has already been advising people to just stay home and not go anywhere. They don’t have the room to take care of more people,” Cathy advised.

  “Well, I’m going back to my own apartment. I don’t even know why I came out here in the first place. I don’t have to do anything you people say,” Mike grumbled, waving a hand dismissively at the group.

  We were used to Mike not wanting to be involved, and that was okay. He’d be one less person to worry about for now. Our little building was one of eight in the gated area. It wasn’t the perfect place to sit the zombie apocalypse out, but it was better than most.

  Those first few days we all took turns watching and keeping those who were past sick, waiting to sink their teeth into those of us that were well.

  We lost a few of in our building those first few weeks, but because we’d taken the precautions to move them from the well people, they were the only ones who’d died.

  The other buildings weren’t so lucky. We’d waited a few days and made the rounds to see if anyone wanted to join us, but those who weren’t sick were dead. It was our first experience with the dead.

  If it wasn’t for our extensive training with video games and zombie lore, we wouldn’t have survived. We didn’t have guns, but we took out a different building, and once it was empty, cleaned out all the food and supplies that could be used in our building.

  Scavenging was one of the things that us guys were able to do easily. At some point we were going to have to go out into the world, but from what we could see of it, there wasn’t much left to explore.

  We were alone, and it was up to us to survive.

  ---------

  Chapter 1

  Zoe

  I was certain that the world had ended. I was still alive, and ten people were waiting on me to find enough food to keep away starvation for at least another few days.

  Feeling my way along the buildings, I tried to stay off of the main street where the dead were known to roam. I’d gone farther into town because food was getting scarce in the neighborhood we lived in.

  A small convenience store was up ahead, but I knew it was empty because I’d cleared it out myself. Our only hope for finding more food was three miles up the road and into the actual city.

  Everything was completely quiet, which was good. When the growls got close enough to be heard, that was when you were in trouble. I’d had to climb a tree or shimmy up a drain pipe a few times over the past few weeks just to avoid becoming Z bait.

  The others had helped me attach a baby wagon to the back of my bike to haul food back when I actually found some that wasn’t spoiled.

  At five foot five, I’d always considered myself average. It might have been true, except that I was sure that the Zs grew once they turned from being human to dead, which meant for me, average wasn’t big enough. I had a knife, but most of the time the Zs were on me before I could use it. My best chance to survive had been to outrun them, or climb somewhere they couldn’t reach. It had made for some interesting adventures, but then again, what else was I going to do for entertainment?

  Avoiding anything that would make noise, I continued to make my way closer to the city. The smaller stores didn’t have as many Zs in them as the other larger ones.

  I passed several box stores, but I knew they held nothing that was worth dying for, so I pushed on.

  Barely three blocks from my target, I heard them. A lot of them from the sounds they were making. They were going to be a problem. I’d never been good with directions, but I turned right, hoping that I could find another way that wasn’t so crowded.

  Riding in a circle for over an hour, I finally came to the area I’d been trying to get to for days—a strip mall of individual stores with specialized foods and convenience stores on all four corners.

  The pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

  I paused to see how close the Zs were, and the only sound I heard was the wind blowing. I scoped out where I should start first. The camping store would have some good things, but the food would be awful. We weren’t that hungry. Yet.

  The dollar store was right next to two other stores, and then another discount food store was at the other end of the building. I could only carry so much behind me, and I had to make it count.

  My bike needed to be out of sight in case there were other humans, but close enough that I didn’t have to make tons of trips back and forth, leaving me open for attack.

  Surprisingly, the doors to the store were unlocked and I pulled them open, listening for growls or shuffling feet. A box of plastic hula hoops was right there next to the door. Picking them up, I sent them into the store, hitting all sorts of things to make noise.

  Nothing moved or tried to get to the noise, but that didn’t mean I could let my guard down. Nobody had been here before me because the shelves still had cans of food on them.

  I did a little dance right there in the aisle, but it didn’t last long. I had people counting on me to get back before dark.

  The baskets at the front of the store were perfect, and would help me make one trip out instead of lots of little ones.

  It was shortly after noon when I got my cart loaded and started trying to find a way home that didn’t include the group I’d run into before.

  Pulling this much weight behind me was no joke, but I needed to a path that would keep the Zs from making me their noon meal.

  A bricked-in neighborhood seemed like a good choice to lose the group I spotted only a few blocks ahead of me. I pedaled quickly through the maze of streets, hoping that I didn’t hit a dead end before I found the back way out. I kept the edge of the wall in sight as a good way to not get lost in the suburban area. There were a few trees for me to climb from the top of the wall in case I needed to get high in a hurry.

  Avoiding a few roaming groups of dead housewives, I made it to the backside of the neighborhood, when more growls filled my ears. They just weren’t making it easy on me this time. I parked the bike full of precious food behind the concrete sign displaying Parker Heights. It would protect the food from getting knocked over since the Zs tended to flow around obstacles in their path.

  Using the sign to jump onto the wall helped, but I had to balance carefully before I made it to the tree for cover. I’d learned that people could be just as deadly as the dead ones roaming the streets.

  In another lifetime, this would have made the perfect place to hang out and read a book. The branches were set up in such a way that I could lean back with my feet up, cradled by a special nook in the tree’s trunk. I missed the carefree days before I’d had to be responsible for my grandmother. I closed my eyes, hoping that I could ignore the growls and snarls making their way toward me.

  I must have fallen asleep because I was dreaming that I was hearing voices. There were two hooded figures under the tree having a strange discussion.

  “As the White Wizard, I’m the leader. You haven’t gone through a death-defying experience yet, so you wouldn’t have as much experience to save the day,” the white Robbed figure announced, leaning on a large staff.

  “Nope, not how I see things, youngling. I have to lead until I have a brush with death or I’ll never ascend to the higher plain and become a white wizard,” a figure in the gray Robbe argued back.