2024-12-24 14:26:10
Previous Chapter
Related Chapters
Surviving In a Zombie Apocalypse Chapter Twenty: how it started
Six months earlier Sarah slept, finally, under the threadbare blanket they'd given her when I bitched long enough. She was learning to sleep through anything. Good kid. I kept an arm around her, shielding her whether or not there was any immediate threat. It had become an instinct, to keep as much of my body between her and the world as I could, even before the Epidemic I'd done that. We'd seen things in Africa nobody was supposed to, discovered in ourselves resources that just shouldn't have been there. I had done things... it didn't matter. I'd gotten us out of Nairobi. I'd gotten us across the border to Somalia. There had been three of us and now there were two. But we made it. Sarah's mother was, was, was not around any more but we made it. We made it to Somalia. Only to be picked up by a bunch of mercenaries at a roadblock and dumped in this cell with a bunch of other Westerners. Thrown here to await the pleasure of the local warlord. Fuck it. I wouldn't blame myself for what
Surviving In a Zombie Apocalypse Chapter Twenty one
A Chinese-built helicopter stirred up the dust in the courtyard with its lazily turning rotor. Whoever had just arrived must be important - I hadn't seen an aircraft of any kind in weeks. In the shade of the barracks building a group of huddled women in hijab dresses held their hands over the mortars where they'd been grinding grain. The girl soldier lead me past a pair of "technicals" - commercial pickup trucks with heavy machine guns mounted in their beds. A particularly Somali brand of nastiness. Normally technicals were crewed by mercenaries but these had been hastily emblazoned with Mama Halima's colors: light blue and yellow like an Easter egg. The vehicles belonged to the Women's Republic now. Girl soldiers loitered around the trucks, their rifles slung loosely in their arms, chewing distractedly on qat and waiting for the order to shoot somebody. Past the technicals we walked around a corpsefire. It was a lot bigger than it had been when Sarah and I were first brought to the
Surviving In a Zombie Apocalypse Chapter Twenty two
Now Eggsy sat on the floor of his kitchenette, surrounded by wrappers and boxes - all of them empty. He licked the inside of a wrapper that used to hold a granola bar, dug out the tiny crumbs with his tongue. All gone. He was hungrier than ever. He could feel his stomach distend. He knew he was full, fuller than he'd ever been in life. It didn't seem to matter. Being among the dead meant always being hungry, obviously. It meant this gnawing inside of you that you could never quench. It explained so much. He had wondered - in his old life - why they had attacked people, even people they knew, people they loved. Maybe they had tried to stop themselves. The hunger was just too great. The need to eat, to consume, was awesome and frightening. Was this what he had consigned himself to? Even as he considered this he was rising to his feet, his hands reaching for the cupboard. His fingers were clumsy with hunger but they obeyed him enough to get the door open. The cupboard was almost empt
Surviving In a Zombie Apocalypse Chapter Twenty Three
"Epivir. Ziagen. Retrovir." Osman went down the list shaking his head. "These are anti-AIDS medicines." I nodded but I was barely listening. Yusuf brought the good ship Arawelo around a few points and Manhattan appeared out of the clearing fog. It looked like a cubist mountain range hovering over the water. Like a crumbling fortress. But then it had always looked like that. I expected to see some kind of obvious damage, some scar left by the Epidemic. There was nothing. Only the silence, the perfect quiet on the water told you something bad had happened here. Osman laughed. "But Mama Halima doesn't have AIDS. You must be mistaken." I'd figured that as we approached the city I owed it to Osman to explain why we'd crossed half the planet only to come to a haunted city. He and Yusuf - and of course the girl soldiers - were about to risk their lives. They deserved to know. "These are my orders. Read them however you want." Mama Halima was the only thing standing between Osman's family
Surviving In a Zombie Apocalypse Chapter Twenty Four
Back in the freezer section of the little bodega, back in the dark Eggsy finally found what he'd been looking for behind smooth clear glass. He took the box of hamburger patties up to the front and laid them out on the plastic counter by the display of disposable lighters and the lotto machine. They'd been cool to the touch in the freezer - completely thawed out and with a little fuzzy white mold on top but still good he thought. He contemplated different ways to cook them until he got up the nerve to just bite into one raw and take his chances. His mouth flooded with saliva and he forced himself to chew, to savor the meat even though his eyes were watering up. The tension in his stomach, the crawling hunger, began to subside and he leaned on the counter with both hands. It had taken him all of the morning to find any scrap of meat at all. He'd wandered far afield from his apartment, north into the West Village. But at every butcher's shop and grocery store he'd found only empty wa
Surviving In a Zombie Apocalypse Chapter Twenty Five
"That one is too active," Ayaan said, scanning the wharf with her binoculars. The dead man in question wore nothing but a pair of tight jeans that overflowed with his bloated flesh. He clutched to a wooden piling with one arm while the other snatched at the air. His hungry face followed the boat as we steamed past. On top of the wheelhouse Mariam called down for her Dragunov and one of the other girls passed it up. Mariam steadied herself against the Arawelo's radar dome and peered through the scope of the sniper rifle. I put my fingers in my ears a moment before she fired. The dead man on the pier spun around in a cloud of exploding brain matter and fell into the water. Sixteen years old and Mariam was already an expert sniper. When did the girl soldiers have time to train? Osman cleared his throat and I looked back at the map. "Here," I said, pointing at a blue letter H on the map, just a few blocks in from the Hudson. I looked up at the line of buildings on the shore and pointed
Surviving In a Zombie Apocalypse Chapter Twenty Six
Fanning out across the street the girls threw hand signals at one another. The barrels of their Kalashnikovs swept the street corners, the recessed doorways, the hundreds of cars abandoned on the cobble stones. I had expected - well, I guess I had hoped - that the roads would be clear. We could have commandeered some transport and driven to the hospital. Not a chance. In the panic of the Epidemic the usual Manhattan gridlock must have turned into a death trap. There were cars everywhere, many of them dented or damaged. They lined every side-street we passed, crowded every intersection. I saw a Hummer 2 up on the sidewalk, its shiny front bumper wedged permanently between a mailbox and the broken wood front of a deserted bistro. On the other side of the street Fathia clambered up on top of a taxi with four flat tires and scanned the road ahead with her rifle at her eye. "This way," I told Ifiyah and she gestured for her troops to follow us. I led her down a short block of Horatio str
Surviving In a Zombie Apocalypse Chapter Twenty Seven
Eggsy shook his head hard and slowly rose to his feet. Looking across at Hoboken he saw nothing but empty buildings and quiet streets. The geysers of poisonous gas he'd seen erupt there were gone, had never been there. Just a hallucination. He flexed his hands, observed himself for a second. Everything intact and in working order. In fact he felt better than ever - the buzzing had left his head and his hands didn't shake like they had before. Most importantly his hunger was gone. Not entirely - he could feel it looming at the horizon of his awareness, knew it would come back stronger than ever soon enough but for now at least his stomach felt at peace. He turned around slowly, uncertain how long this newfound sense of health might last or how fragile it might be. Behind him he saw that nothing else had changed - New York was the same as ever. Just as quiet. He saw a pair of boots on the ground by the bodega where he'd fought with the trucker cap guy and decided to investigate. What
Latest Chapter
Chapter 130
- (Last Chapter) -Before I realized what was happening, a collar was being snapped around my neck, sharp electrical pulses shooting through me. Suddenly I couldn’t move, could barely breathe. Panic filled me, joining the adrenaline rushing through me, and my body wasn’t sure how to react. Keep fighting, or shut down.“What are you doing?” I heard Kat scream. “Let her go!”She could see me? The collar, maybe...Keep fighting. Definitely keep fighting. I tried to stand, but my legs refused to cooperate.“You want me docile? Leave the girls out of this,” I tried to shout, but only gurgles escaped.“Ethan?” Reeve gasped. “Help us!”“You told me you wouldn’t hurt Reeve,” Ethan shouted.Instant comprehension. He knew the Hazmats, because he was one of them.He was the spy—no doubts about that now—and he had gotten some of his information from Reeve. When I’d lived with her, she’d known my schedule. The rest he must have gotten by watching me.He’d covered his tracks very well. I still felt
Chapter 129
I wasn’t going to get through to her, was I? “Seriously, how did you find me? And who is we?”“I can answer that.” Ethan moved to her side, watching me warily.Ethan? The potential spy?Great. Wonderful. This couldn’t get any worse. “Fill me in before I have a panic attack.”“Well, for starters,” said another female, “I found out about the zombies.”Reeve stepped up to Kat’s other side.Okay. It was officially worse.“My dad doesn’t know that I know,” Reeve said.“When you disappeared, Reeve did some investigating, and told me what she learned,” Ethan said, “and that’s when we discovered the zombies, and your whereabouts, and decided to bring Kat in to help us save you. You’re welcome, by the way. Do you have any idea what we had to do to hack into Mr. Ankh’s computer and get the coordinates to this place?”I hoped that was rhetorical.“In other astonishing news,” Kat said before I could process everything I’d been told, “Frosty and I broke up—of course. He wouldn’t tell me where you
Chapter 128
He loaded a third. “This is a sedative.”I felt a third sting, and whatever the sedative was, it worked quickly. Darkness fell over me, and my knees collapsed. I knew nothing more.My head pounded as I blinked open my eyes. I lay on...my bed? No, the mattress beneath me was too narrow to be mine. Gingerly I sat up. Dizziness struck me, and I moaned.“Hey, Ali-gator.”Cole’s voice. I breathed deep in an effort to clear my head, saw the haunting beauty of his face. I hated to look away, but curiosity got to me. We...were in a small bedroom I didn’t recognize, with log walls and planked floors.“You’re in a secluded home Ankh owns. It’s twenty miles from my house,” he said, “but they aren’t highway miles, so it takes me forty minutes to get here.”I’d been banished.My expression must have fallen to reflect my dismay, even though I knew this was for the best, because he added, “You’re too dangerous to be around others right now, sweetheart.”Acid eroded my throat, and I choked. “I know,
Chapter 127
“O-kay. I should have guessed this was why you both took off so unexpectedly.”Nothing except Frosty.Dang it! I was so sick of interruptions!Cole sprang away from me, assuming a battle-ready position.Frosty rolled his shoulders, hard and intractable, and just as ready. “Don’t bother trying to get rid of me. I’m not leaving without Ali. Nana is worried.”“Fine. But you will turn around,” Cole snapped.Though he looked as if he wanted to protest, Frosty obeyed.My cheeks burned, and my heart pounded as I sat up. Cole helped me right my disheveled clothing before righting his own. Our gazes locked for a long, strained moment, and we both knew there were a million things we needed to say, but couldn’t. Not now.Later, he mouthed, hooking a strand of hair behind my ear.I should tell him no again, that this was it, the end. I might be dangerous to his health, but he was dangerous to my self-control. Instead, I found myself nodding.Cole kept his arm around me while we walked back to the
Chapter 126
“You trusted me,” I said, shocked to my soul, “despite what you saw.” That was absolutely, utterly huge.“Yes,” he said. He fit his hands against my jaw. “I told you I did. I’m in this thing, Ali. All the way.”“But...why did you stop texting me?”I saw the ice frost over his eyes, and I shuddered. “My dad was monitoring my phone feed.”Oh. The ice wasn’t for me, but for his father.I looked away from him, trying to give myself time to think, and caught a glance of my reflection in the glass. I stumbled backward.Zombie Ali was back.Flickers of red burned in her eyes, and the black smudges on her cheeks were thicker. She smiled at me, waved—and then, through the reflection, I watched her step out of my body, away from the glass.With the tick of a clock loud in my ears, I watched Z.A. glide off the porch and into the driveway. She paused to look back at me and crook her finger, a silent command for me to follow. A need to know her purpose consumed me, and I stepped off after her.Unc
Chapter 125
He even dropped me off at work, only to return an hour later and remain inside the coffeehouse for the rest of my shift. My coworkers stared at him, the guys frightened, the girls excited. Everyone whispered, speculating about who he was, and why he was there.I think I blew their minds when I left with him.“Any zombie sightings tonight?” I asked. The moon was high, full.“So far, none.”“Shouldn’t you be out there searching?”“I traded nights with Gavin.” His voice tightened. “He owed me.”“Don’t fight him over me. Over what happened.”“I want to, but I won’t,” he said tightly. “You aren’t mine. Not officially. Technically he didn’t do anything wrong.”He dropped me off at home but didn’t try to kiss me. I couldn’t blame him.I received a text from him the next day. No party tonight, I’m sorry & I’m not ditching U this time, promise. My dad is sending me out of town. Will U miss me?Me: I plead the 5th.Him: I will definitely miss U.Sappy girl. My heart soared.I could have gone to
Chapter 124
“I’m so glad you’re okay. When Cole called and told me you’d been in a car accident, my heart almost stopped.”“I’m sorry,” I said.“Ali, I don’t know what I’d do if I lost you.”“Nana, I...” Didn’t know what to say.“I know you’re fighting for a good cause, but it’s hard on me sometimes. Waiting and worrying.”“I’m sorry,” I repeated, but I couldn’t promise to morph into a normal teenager with normal problems, and we both knew it.“Yes, well, enough about that for now.” As she bustled around the kitchen to make me a sandwich, she changed the subject and said, “Are you and Cole back together? Or are you seeing two hot totties at the same time? Or are you single and just playing the court?”Hot totties? Playing the court? “No, Cole and I aren’t back together, but we are going to a party on Thursday. And Gavin... Well, he and I will only ever be friends.”“I think maybe you need to rethink things with Cole. He’s good for you. You light up when you see him, and he can actually get you to
Chapter 123
He instantly sobered. “Okay. Point taken.”“Tell me her name. I’m going to track her down and knock her teeth down her throat.”“As hot as that is, no. She’s part of a past I’d now like to forget. But...I’m glad you never slept with anyone. I don’t like the thought of you with anyone else, probably would have fed the fuc—uh, the guys more than teeth.”Must resist this possessive, charming side of him. “Do I get another question?”“You get as many as you want.”He sounded determined.I’d probably make him regret that.“Did you sleep with Veronica?”He stiffened, but he didn’t hesitate to answer. “Yes. But it was over a year ago, when we were dating.”“Mackenzie?”“Yes. Months ago, for a little while after we’d stopped dating. Then I met you, and that was over.”“Others?”“Yes. You want the exact number?”“No,” I grumbled. Yes. Maybe. “Am I the only girlfriend not to go all the way with you?”“No,” he said. “But I wouldn’t change anything about what we’ve done—and haven’t done. I wanted
Chapter 122
“I’ll tell him.” My pronouncement was quickly met with inquiring glances. “I know what it’s like to lose your family. And I know you guys do, too,” I added in a rush. They’d all lost someone in the war. “But with me, the loss is fresh. Jaclyn was his twin, and he loved her more than he loved himself. I felt the same way about Emma.”Mr. Ankh sighed. “Very well.”Cole made the call.It wasn’t long before Mr. Holland was escorting Justin to my bedside. He sat down opposite Cole, his expression closed off. He had no idea why he was here. My chin trembled as I said, “Justin, I met with a man named Dr. Bendari.”He nodded. “You’ve mentioned him before.”“Yes. He was...he was killed in front of me.” Tears streamed down my cheeks, burning, leaving track marks, I was sure.Justin softened. “I’m sorry.”“Before he died, he told me that your sister—”With a pained groan, he jumped up, the chair skidding behind him. “I know. Don’t say it. Don’t you dare say it.”“You know?” Cole asked.Justin cl
