Z Island Series (Book 2): War After Z Island Read online

  “I got it.”

  When Jess walked up to the zombie, she stabbed it in the head, but other zombies appeared in front of her. She gasped and backed away quickly while Eddy and Steven snatched their knives out.

  “Shit! We have to go!” Jess yelled.

  They ran ahead of the zombies, but they followed them. Eddy grabbed a lighter from his back pocket and pulled his back pack in front of him.

  “What are you doing?” Steven asked.

  “Fighting back!”

  The zombies approached closer to Eddy as he prepared the Molotov. Steven grunted and ran to the zombies, killing them to buy him time and Jess helped. Eddy shoved the towel inside the bottle and ignited the lighter. When it caught fire, Eddy smiled and stood up.

  “Move!”

  Jess and Steven ran back and Eddy threw the Molotov in front of the pack. The fire spattered in front of the zombies and burned most of them in front while Eddy grabbed his backpack and continued running. Steven ran past all the stores and looked around.

  “Shit!”

  “What?”

  “I don’t see the car.”

  “What car?”

  Steven looked around and found the vehicle ahead of them, “There!”

  Steven ran ahead and killed a couple of zombies in front of them. When he arrived at the van, the doors seemed to be locked. He tried tugging at the door handle, but it still wouldn’t open. Steven grabbed a rock from the ground and shattered the glass.

  “Climb in!”

  Steven scraped the glass from the window and jumped inside. Jess went in afterwards while Eddy continued to fight the zombies back. As soon as Jess crawled in, she turned around and yelled for Eddy to hurry. Eddy shoved one of the zombies back and ran for the van, but when he tried crawling in, his backpack caused him to get stuck midway and he started struggling.

  “Shit! I’m stuck!”

  Jess grabs the top of his backpack and began pulling as the zombies got closer to Eddy. One of the zombies grabbed Eddy’s foot, but Eddy kept kicking his feet and kicked the zombie in the face. Steven grabbed the other side and pulled hard. Just before the zombies got to Eddy, they pulled him inside, making him fall on both of them while the zombie surrounded the van. Steven hurried and crawled to the center of the floor.

  “Move out of the way!”

  Jess and Eddy stepped back while Steven grabbed the floor and pulled it up to discover a hole in the ground. Eddy looked confused and stared at Jess, but Steven scoffs.

  “It’s a shortcut. Trust me,” Steven said as he jumped down.

  “Yeah, trust the quiet guy going into a creepy hole and follow him. Great!”

  Jess and Eddy followed Steven down the hole and fell to the ground. Jess moved out of the way before Eddy came falling, groaning as he fell stomach first while Jess chuckled a little bit. Steven just watched them as they stood up and looked around in awe. The hole turned out to be a passage way to an underground walkway. Steven dug into the dirt and pulled out a flashlight.

  “It gets dark, so stay close.”

  “This is…crazy. How did you manage to do this?” Eddy asked.

  “Time.”

  “Does anyone else know about this?” Jess asked.

  “No, and I would like to keep it that way if you don’t mind.”

  “Sure. We trusted you with our place.”

  “Okay.”

  30 minutes went by, but Eddy groaned as if it’s been hours. He dragged his feet and held his head up facing the ceiling. While walking, Eddy heard something crawling around, but when he concentrated hard enough, he noticed it was a rat.

  “Rat!” Eddy screamed.

  He ran backwards, but Jess grabbed her knife and stabbed the rat through its head. Steven laughed and Jess smiled, but Eddy was breathing heavily.

  “Get it away from me!”

  Jess grabbed its tail and lifted it up, “Okay.”

  She tossed it at Eddy and he screamed loudly while sticking to the wall. He ran away from the rat and walked past Jess.

  “That’s not funny!”

  “A little bit!” Steven laughed.

  “Are we there yet?” he asked angrily.

  “Actually, we’re here.” Steven laughed.

  “Oh, thank God.”

  “Sorry Eddy. I had to.” Jess chuckled.

  “I’m going to scare you so bad one day.”

  Steven grabbed the ladder on side of him and leaned it against the dry dirt wall. He began climbing, but as Jess grabbed the ladder, Eddy pulled her back.

  “Jess, I don’t know if this is a good idea now that I think about it.”

  “We came all this way. Might as well go ahead and go.”

  “It’s not too late. What if the others don’t think like him?”

  “Guys? You coming?” Steven yelled down.

  “Yeah. Here we come,” Jess turned back to Eddy, “it’s now or never. Plus, we can defend ourselves.”

  “No!” Steven yelled.

  Jess looked up the hole, but Steven wasn’t there. She climbed the ladder quickly while Eddy followed behind her. When Jess got to the top, she noticed she was in a bus, but she looked ahead at Steven running towards his camp, and gasped in shock. Eddy came up next and watched Steven scream at his camp being consumed by flames. Jess and Steven ran outside the bus and chased after Steven, but he had already dropped to the ground crying. The camp was gone and they knew it. Jess walked up behind Steven and tried to help him, but Steven only frowned and stood up slowly. He stared at the fires with anger and neither Jess or Eddy interrupted him.

  “Steven…”

  They looked ahead at the camp and heard someone yelling from the inside. Steven ran ahead while Eddy and Jess followed behind him. Steven ran up to the fence that surrounded it and shoved it open. He fell to the ground, but Eddy helped him up and kept running. Every step they took was a dangerous one. They were surrounded by fire and they all struggled to see due to the smoke. Eddy coughed and Jess covered her mouth with her arm, but Steven kept looking around. Screams continued to be heard on the other side of the camp and Steven was determined to find whoever it was.

  “Steven! I can’t keep doing this! I can’t breathe!” Jess coughed.

  “We’re almost there!”

  Tents on fire, people’s flesh melting off their bones, and others just being engulfed by flames in their tents. A couple of zombies managed to get in, but Steven wondered how they could get in through the fire.

  “How did they get through the fire?” Eddy asked.

  “I don’t know! Steven, where are they?”

  “There!”

  Steven ran up to one of the tents that was on fire, but by the look of it, it seemed that no one could survive that. Steven noticed someone coming around the gates, but when he finally realized who it was, he ran out of the way and pushed Eddy and Jess away. A woman started shooting her gun at them and Steven pulled out his knife and threw it at her, piercing her chest and listening to her fall. They all jumped up and walked slowly towards the female while Eddy and Jess looked around them for anyone else.

  “That’s not my people. She’s-”

  “One of Jason’s men…or women.” Eddy replied.

  Eddy looked ahead of Steven and saw a man staring at them, but when he aimed at him, it turned out to be a zombie.

  “What is it?” Jess asked.

  “Nothing. Let’s go. Steven?”

  “What am I supposed to do now?”

  “Come with us.”

  “You don’t know me.”

  “Yet we let you stay the night at our community. Come on Steven.”

  “Yeah. Okay. I was just starting to get used to this community.”

  They ran out of the camp while Jason approached from around the gates and looked at them. The side of his head was scarred horribly from the gunshot and he stared angrily at them as they disappeared into the thick smoke.

  “Gather the trucks. Follow them.”

  They nodded their heads and wal
ked up to two trucks with large trailers behind them. As they entered the trucks, the trailers were shacking heavily and the sound of zombies filled the insides.

  Steven opened the board inside the bus and climbed down the ladder. Jess climbed down after him, but before Eddy could follow, he saw a flash of light blind him. He looked out of the bus and noticed Jason’s men following them.

  “Go!” Eddy yelled.

  They immediately shot at him and caused him to trip and tumble inside the tunnel. As he fell, he groaned as he rolled on the ground next to Jess.

  “Eddy! What happened?”

  “Jason’s men. They found us! We have to go!”

  Steven began running ahead of them as Jess helps Eddy up to run. Jason’s men ran inside of the bus and looked around. They approached the hole and pointed their guns down, but they were already running. His men jumped down and ran ahead to find them, but Steven stopped on the side of the wall and dug in the dirt. Jess and Eddy stopped in front of him and looked confusingly at him.

  “What the hell are you doing now?” Eddy asked.

  “I had something in case this happens.”

  “And?”

  “Move.”

  Steven pulled out a switch that had wire attached to it that hid below the dirt and Eddy’s eyes widen. They ran behind him and waited patiently with Steven as the sound of the men grew larger. Eddy pulled out his knife and creeped up a little more towards Steven. As soon as the men got close enough, Steven pulled the switch and the walls around the men exploded, burying them in dirt, but the whole tunnel started caving in.

  “Oh no!” Steven whispered.

  “We have to go!” Jess yelled.

  They began running as the walls around them crackled and broke, spreading dust dirt, and rocks in their faces.

  “Keep going!”

  They continued running, but the ceiling above Eddy broke and fell on him. He was able to jump halfway out before the dirt fell on his leg.

  “Damn it!” Eddy yelled.

  “Eddy!” Jess ran up to him and pulled him out of the dirt as the tunnel kept caving in. Eddy couldn’t get up, so he crawled away with Jess. Soon, the walls didn’t break and the ceiling remained intact. Eddy sighed with relief and rolled on his back. Steven was nowhere to be found and Jess stood up.

  “Come on. We have to keep going.”

  “Trust me. I’m way ahead of you.” Eddy said.

  “Steven. I’m sorry about-”

  “People die. As much as I would hate to admit that, it’s true. I just…I don’t know what to do anymore. I’m tired of losing people.”

  “We all are.” Jess replied.

  Steven climbed into the car and noticed the zombies had disappeared. He unlocked the car door and pushed it open along with the dead zombies in front of the window. The streets had gotten too quiet and Steven paused. Jess and Eddy exited the vehicle with caution as they all stared at the zombies surrounding them, but they were all dead. With such surprise, Eddy walked around and noticed how they all died. They were shot in the head and he knew with this amount of zombies dead, it could only be one reason.

  “Jason’s men were here.”

  “How do you know?”

  “Look. There are bullets in their brains. Who else could do that to this many zombies?”

  “We have to get to the community before Jason. If he really did this, he could already be close.”

  “Let’s go then!”

  Dexter laid in bed and thought hard. The events yesterday didn’t sit with him too well. He just watched his only brother, the only person he truly cares for, do so much and didn’t flinch a little. It bothered him. he wondered how it could affect their relationship. He always took care of Eddy, but now he figured he didn’t do enough. Enough to keep an innocent man from doing something that could make him sinister. Someone knocked on his front door and he walked quickly towards it. He swung the door open with excitement, only to hide his smile again.

  “Dexter.”

  “Eric.”

  “Can I come in?”

  “Sure.”

  Eric walked in and sat on the couch while Dexter closed the door and walked into the kitchen. He brought out two bottles of water and offered one to Eric, but he refused.

  “What’s up?”

  “I wanted to talk to you.”

  “About?”

  “Sam.”

  “Yeah, Eric. I don’t want to-”

  “I’m glad he’s dead.”

  “What?”

  “He tried to take over my community! Mines! He can’t do that. Now he really can’t.”

  “Eric, that’s bullshit. He cared more for this community than you ever did!”

  “I don’t care?”

  “No, you don’t! When given the opportunity, you are going to run! You save your own ass! Everyone else is just here for liability and coverage. They die first to give you time to escape.”

  “You know what? I thought I could come here and talk to you about my feelings and obviously, that didn’t work.”

  “You don’t talk about my friends. Dead or alive. Now get out of my house. Before I throw you out.”

  “Careful. I still run this community and if I say go, I will kick you and your brother out along with Sam’s group.”

  “Get out!”

  Eric stood up and shoved Dexter with his shoulder as he opened the door and looked back at Dexter.

  “You know. It’s funny how-”

  A knife pierced through Eric’s shoulder as Dexter squatted down and dragged Eric from the door and closed it. Eric screamed with pain as Dexter ran to his room and grabbed his knife and gun.

  “Who the hell is that?” Eric screamed.

  “I don’t know.” Dexter mumbled.

  He ran back into the living room and picked Eric up.

  “Breathe.” Dexter said as he pulled the knife out of Eric’s arm.

  Eric screamed and put his hand over the wound to hold pressure while Dexter got up to get a towel. Upon getting up, a man kicked the door open and tackled Dexter to the ground. The man grabbed his knife and tried to stab Dexter, but he held his arm back and kicked him in the groin. Eric stood up and watched the two of them struggle, but ran out of the house. Dexter threw the man off him and grabbed his knife. The man was dirty. He had black paint covering his face and his teeth were gritty and yellow. The clothes on him were torn and he ran around bare-footed.

  “Who are you?”

  “The Silent Ones.”

  The man said as he charged after Dexter, but Dexter dodged his swing and stabbed the man in the back. The man dropped to his knees and shook in pain. Dexter pulled the knife out of his back and stabbed him in the head. Panicking, Dexter ran to the window and looked outside to see men and women running around killing people in the community. They weren’t killing the children, however. They just grabbed them and drug them out of the community. Most parents were saving their children while fighting the men back, but some failed to do so.

  Lisa opened her drawer and dug through her clothes to pull out a knife. John walked in on her, but he had one of his own. Faith loaded her gun and looked for Lisa and John, who were already prepared.

  “You have to stay in here, okay. When I say so, you run straight for the back of the community. I’ll be right behind you.”

  “We got this Faith.” John said.

  Faith kissed them both on the forehead and prepared to go out the door. As soon as she opened it, Dexter was standing in front of the door bloody.

  “Come on! Let’s go!”

  Dexter looked around and ran towards one of the men holding a child. He stabbed the man in the back of the head and caught the child before she fell. Lisa and John ran in front of Faith, but a man grabbed Faith and dragged her by her hair.

  “Faith!” John yelled.

  Someone shot the man in the face and when Lisa and John looked, it turned out to be Maria. She started shooting other men as Lisa and John ran towards Faith. As they helped her up, a tru
ck horn sounded in the back of the community. The people jumped out of the way as the back of the trailer came crashing through the gates and running over a couple of them. Maria stared and gasped in shock as another truck came crashing through the front. Men came rushing to open the trailer. Zombies came pouring out as runners and walkers flooded the community, so there was nowhere to run. The men tried climbing back into the trucks, but the zombies caught on to them quickly. Faith held Lisa and John closely while they ran alongside Maria.