The Red X Chronicles (Book 1): Emergent Read online

  “She’s not just a… I mean.” I was stumbling over my words, trying to figure out what to say.

  “She?” He questioned me with one eyebrow raised.

  “Yeah, she’s this girl I work with, and I… um…” I wasn’t sure what to say about her at the time. It wasn’t like we were dating. In fact, we didn’t really talk all that much. I guess you could say I had a crush, though when you’re young you always think it’s more than that.

  John rolled his eyes, pulled the car over, and turned around to face me directly. “She’s your girlfriend.”

  “No, that’s not really-”

  He cut me off. “Oh so you want her to be your girlfriend, but you’re too chicken shit to ask her.”

  He saw right through me, but it hurt my pride to admit that he was right. “No! It’s more like-”

  “What it just hasn’t come up yet? That’s bullshit!” He stared at me waiting for me to respond. “Nah we don’t got time for this shit.”

  “Then let me out of the car.” I was scared shitless to get out of the car, but I could tell, even though he was trying to run away, there was still kindness in his eyes.

  “Ok.” He got out of the car and opened the door for me.

  I stepped out and started making my way toward the coffee shop. When I heard him close the door, and get back in the car I started to panic. All of the sudden I realized that my gamble, might have just got me killed. After about ten seconds I could hear one barely audible muffled word come from inside the car. “Shit!” The car swung around. He rolled the window down to talk to me. “Get in the car.”

  “Really?” I was so relieved that he didn’t just up and abandon me.

  “Yes really, you stubborn little shit. But let’s make this quick we have to go!” He was mad, but his insult came off more like a compliment.

  I was elated by the gesture of kindness. “Thank you.” I said opening the back door of the car and gladly jumping back inside.

  He let out a heavy sigh. “So where is she?”

  “She’s at that coffee shop about a block back where we came from.”

  “Fine.” He started driving. “But she better at least be pretty.”

  “It’s what’s inside that counts though, right?” I answered back.

  “The outside matters too and everyone knows it!” His answer gave me a bit more insight into who he was. He viewed things as they were, rather than through rose colored glasses. It was neither pessimism nor optimism that defined his perspective, merely what he saw and expected. And this made me realize that his decision to leave town was not out of panic or fear, he just knew what was coming.

  When we had pulled up to the shop I worked at I was bothered by a nagging question in my head. “What did you mean when you said stovepipe earlier?”

  “Huh? Stovepipe?”

  “Yeah, when you got back in the car just before you ran those… um… things over, you said something like ‘of all the times to stovepipe?’”

  He grabbed the shotgun mounted in the center console of the car, pumped it to load a shell into the chamber, and looked back at me with flat eyes. “It means my gun jammed.”

  Chapter 3

  We stepped out of the car and heard screaming. It sounded like an older woman, which I know shouldn’t have made it any better, but somehow it did. John quickly moved around the car and ran inside the front door. It was still light inside as the café didn’t close until eleven at night. I got inside just in time to see John pull the shotgun to his shoulder and blast one of them right in the arm. It didn’t go flying or anything like that, instead it just stumbled slightly to its right and looked over at us. It started heading for us instead of the women behind the counter. “What the hell?” John shouted while he pumped the shotgun. The shell flew out, smoke drifting from it as it swirled through the air, then it collided directly with my face. I gasped at the impact and was still wincing from the sound of the gun firing. To which John looked over and said “Sorry.”

  He took aim again and this time put sights straight on its head. I covered my ears this time in anticipation of the gun shot. It was still loud through my hands, but I guess that was the underwhelming part. The shell blew its head practically to bits, what was left whipped back, then rolled forwards. There wasn’t much left of its face after the shot. I wouldn’t say its head exploded, more like caved in from the front. Although it did still paint the tables behind it with bits of skull, brain, and a copious amount of blood. It fell to its knees first, then to the ground. When it didn’t show any signs of stirring, John got the idea. “Alright, shoot them in the head I guess.” He worked the pump action on the gun again, this time lifting the barrel of the gun so as not to hit me with the shell. There were three more zombies trying to crawl their way over the glass counter to get to the women behind it. John raised the gun, then put it back down. “I can’t get a clean shot.”

  He rushed over to the counter and tried to pull one of them back so he wouldn’t have to risk shooting one of the girls. They were doing their best to keep the zombies from coming over the counter, shoving them back with the cash register, and whatever else they could grab. John yelled at me. “Mark help me pull ‘em away so I can shoot the fuckers!” He was having trouble because he only had the use of one arm while holding the gun. I ran over and grabbed a hold of one of their legs. With a hard yank, it fell face first onto the floor. I lost my balance when it let go of the counter and I dropped backward. John pulled the gun to the back of its head and blew red paste out the other side.

  The zombie that was closest to us stood up from leaning on the counter, turned and grabbed John. He was pushing it back with all the strength his arms could muster, but when he reeled back and put his foot to its ribs he sent it flying, almost comically into the other zombie knocking them both down to the floor. John put two more shells into each of their respective faces. “You fuckers.” He said under his breath and wiped off his forehead. “Are you two ok?” He looked over the counter at the women who were still frightened.

  “Y-yes I think we’re fine.” Said the older of the two. She was a brunette with hair that went just past her shoulders, and I called her boss when I wasn’t using her name, Shannon.

  “Thank goodness you two are alright.”

  “Mark is that you?” The short haired blonde asked.

  “Yeah, we stopped to save you.”

  John rolled his eyes and started to talk to himself. “That’s what, four shots right?” He was too busy trying to keep count of what was left in the gun, but he eventually snapped out of it. “Ok, we’re good Mark?” I knew what he was really asking, She’s the one right?

  “Yeah we’re good to go.”

  “Good, let’s get the hell out of here before things get…” He turned toward the front door, only to see another zombie coming inside because of the commotion it heard. “problematic.” He shouldered the gun again and fired. This time he just barely missed shaving the left side of its face off. It didn’t seem too thrilled about it. It made that gurgling hissing noise, that just didn’t sound right. John made a grimace. “That’s five.” He slung the gun over his shoulder on the strap and reached for his pistol again. He pulled it out and took his time to aim. Right dead center of the forehead, it was a good shot. “As I was saying, let’s go!”

  The women climbed out from behind the counter. I helped them down on the other side. I was trying so hard to be a gentleman, but in hindsight, I was no knight in shining armor. John did most of the work saving the girls, and if it hadn’t been for him, I wouldn’t have been there to help them. We ran outside to the car. Shannon got in the front with John, while Elizabeth and I got in the back. John started the car and we were moving.

  “Ok, no big deal… We’ve still got time.” John was talking to himself again.

  “Thank you.” Elizabeth said to John. I was a little jealous that I wasn’t the one getting the thanks, after all, I was the one that convinced John to help save them. But I didn’t think it appropriat
e to tell them that John was trying to dodge his duties.

  Shannon was breathing heavily. “Yeah… Thanks.” Her voice was quiet as she spoke, which I thought was odd at the time. I always remembered her as a very loud and brash woman. She collapsed backward into her seat.

  “So where are we going?” Elizabeth asked.

  John sighed. “We’re heading out of town.”

  “Is she ok?” I asked no one in particular. John looked over at her and took a hold of her wrist.

  “Weak heartbeat… Does she have a bad heart or something? It’s like she’s in shock.” John said putting his eyes back on the road.

  “Not that I know of.” Elizabeth answered.

  “Is she going to be ok?” I leaned forward to ask him.

  “Maybe… maybe not.”

  “We’ve got to get her to a hospital!” Elizabeth cut in loudly.

  “Oh no.” John was resolute in his words. “We are not going to a hospital, not now.”

  “What are you talking about? Of course we’re going to the hospital.” At that moment Shannon started to stir.

  John glanced over “See, she’s fine.”

  I interjected. “I think he’s right…” I didn’t want to say why, but I had my fill of violence for the night, hell for a lifetime, and at that point, I was starting to agree more and more with John, running was our best option.

  Elizabeth was unsettled by the conversation. “You too? I understand that she’s always been thick headed and doesn’t want to see a doctor…” She broke her train of thought to address the woman in the front seat. “No offense Shannon, but we should at least have them look her over. Besides, she said someone bit her on the arm earlier. I imagine a doctor would want to at the very least have it disinfected and bandaged.”

  Shannon started to make that gurgling noise we had heard earlier, followed by a long drawn out moan. John slammed on the brakes, causing the tires to shriek. The car’s rear end lurched to the side as we slid to a halt. Shannon had not put on her seatbelt, which sent her smashing into the dashboard, while Elizabeth and I did much the same into the steel mesh that separated us from the two in the front seat. John reached for his gun, but Shannon… or I should say it, reached out and grabbed a hold of him.

  We could tell the struggle was not an easy one for John. He was trying his best to keep her from taking a bite out of him while attempting to get a spare second to grab his weapon. Meanwhile Elizabeth and I watched from the backseat. “Shannon? What are you doing?” Elizabeth cried, not fully understanding what was going on.

  “It’s not Shannon anymore!” John yelled still trying to force her back.

  “What do you mean it’s not Shannon?” But John had since stopped trying to answer her.

  “We’ve got to help him” I tried to open the door, but found myself confused. I looked at the side panel desperately. “Where’s the door handle?” I reached around and fumbled in the dark hoping that I just couldn’t see it.

  “There isn’t one!” John grunted. “It’s a cop car, the door has to be opened from the outside.” John punched his attacker in the face trying to stun her for a second, but it had little effect.

  That’s when the panic set in. There was nothing we could do to help, we were stuck there, trapped… If John couldn’t do this on his own, then we weren’t getting out of that car till someone else came to help us. That’s when I remembered what I did in his situation. “Jam something in her mouth!”

  “Huh?” John didn’t quite grasp the concept.

  “Put something she can’t bite through in her mouth! They don’t spit things out!”

  John got the message but struggled to find anything in the car worth grabbing to stop her attack. It wasn’t as though he had time to look, but the car was kept clean either way. That’s when he reeled back and pushed her hard. It gave him only a fraction of a second, but he was able to get a hold of the car’s radio receiver and thrust it down her throat. She chewed and gnawed that radio in her attempt to consume it. This gave John the little bit of time he needed to wrest his gun from its holster. He pulled it up to her head and sprayed red chunks all over the passenger side window.

  “No!” Elizabeth cried out in terror of the situation. I would have been more startled by it too, but I was already starting to get the picture. Things were bad, as John said, and this was just the beginning. Elizabeth turned her head from the scene.

  John was gasping for air, and obviously riding the tail end of an adrenaline rush. “Fuckin’ bitch…” His words were not hard to hear even though my ears were still ringing from the sound of the gunshot.

  After a few seconds John turned toward us. “Did either of you get bit?”

  I waved him off, but Elizabeth was panicking. I grabbed her shoulder. “No…” she replied softly.

  “Good…” He turned back around and sat there staring out the front window. When he had regained his composure he checked to see that the car wasn’t surrounded by those things. “I’m not riding around with this next to me.” He got out of the car and walked around to the other side. He pulled the corpse out and let it flop to the floor with a sickening wet thud.

  When he got back into the driver’s seat Elizabeth spoke up. “You’re not just going to leave her there are you?”

  He locked the doors on the car and turned around to face her. “Do you want to drag her back into the car?”

  She didn’t like his response. It was clear she was not taking the situation well, but I couldn’t imagine a person who would. It was nerve wracking, watching things break down around you. The world as we knew it was coming to its end, but we were still alive. And the moment you quit trying is when you end along with it.

  John put the car back in gear, and we took off.

  Chapter 4

  Three minutes of driving in silence can do a lot to calm you down. Elizabeth had sat back in her seat correctly and started looking out the window. She would wince and close her eyes as we passed the horrors that were becoming more common.

  “We’re not stopping to help them… are we?” Elizabeth asked already knowing the answer.

  “There’s nothing we can do for them now.” John wasn’t wrong when he said it. “Even if I had the means to fight that many of them, we’ve only got one open seat anyway.”

  “So we’re just leaving?” She asked almost lifelessly.

  “Yeah…”

  Screaming, gunshots, and crashing noises filled the night as we passed by. It was quickly getting more out of hand, and I could tell by the way John had to drive. He slowed down and was driving around the wrecked cars and growing mass of zombies. He even had to backtrack a few times because the roads were blocked. It was Elizabeth that broke the silence between us. “So you’re saying we can save one more person right?”

  John was immediately on the defensive. “No! We don’t have time for that. We have to get out while we can.”

  “But it’s your duty isn’t it?”

  He was getting more uncomfortable by the second. “Duty...?” He looked at her in the rear view mirror as he had done for me.

  “Yeah, you’re sworn to protect and serve isn’t that right?”

  He contemplated her words. “Yes, I was sworn to protect and serve the people of this city. But it doesn’t help anyone if we all die here.” She could see the cracks in his armor.

  “What if it’s just one person, on the way, and we know they are ok?”

  He was quiet for longer than she wanted, but he finally sighed. “Fine, one more person. If!” He shouted. “If! They are on the way, and if they haven’t been bitten. I’m not going through that shit again.” He pointed to the blood and chunks slowly dripping down the window.

  “I need to make a call.” She was surprisingly more… I wouldn’t say comfortable, but she had pulled herself together in the wake of things. Her phone rang, till a voice on the other side answered. I couldn’t understand the voice from the sound of the car. “Hello?” She kept going. “Listen to me. Would you listen
to me for a second?” The voice on the other end of the phone kept chatting on and on. “Listen!” We both jumped in our seats a little bit when she yelled. “First off, have you been bitten by anyone?” A wave of relief washed over her when she got the answer. She put her hand over the receiver. “He doesn’t know what I’m talking about.” John rolled his eyes, knowing as well as she, it meant he didn’t even know what was going on outside, and that he had most certainly not been bitten. “Ok stay inside. I’m coming over with some-“ She paused to look at us. “Friends, we’re going to pick you up. Be ready, do you hear me? Be ready.” She hardened her tone of voice at the end of the call.

  John was frustrated as he listened to her. “Shit… Where am I going?”

  “It’s about four blocks from here, make a right at the intersection and cut over one street.”

  “I can’t believe this shit.” John was talking to himself. “So who is this anyway?”

  “Will. He’s my boyfriend.” Elizabeth’s mood had changed quite a bit since she had her small victory, but even small things can really count when odds are stacked against you. I was crushed on the other hand.

  I sat back in my seat hard and stared at the ceiling of the cab. I rubbed my face and let my eyes fall down to the mirror just in time to see John scowling at me before he shook his head. He started to drive more aggressively cursing under his breath.

  After a few minutes, Elizabeth gave the order to pull in behind some apartment complex. It was a nice place and seemed untouched by what was going on, which we knew wouldn’t last long. “There 203, stop the car.” John obliged, though not to his pleasure. He got out of the car and opened the door for Elizabeth to get out. She started running over to the door when I scooted over to follow behind her. I saw John’s hand reach down and grab my shoulder to stop me.

  I looked up at him as I had not quite gotten out of the car yet. “Boyfriend?” He asked me, perturbed and quiet enough that Elizabeth couldn’t hear me.