Omega Virus (Book 1): Beta Hour (9 page)

LEVEL 12 - A DELICATE
FILE

There
were no dreams to be had that night, only nightmares
;

Tiffany hating me, Wesley trying to kill
me, and the Gamer's Guild being torn apart by Corpses.

When I finally opened my eyes, I expected to be in my
bedroom; yellow peeling paint, posters all over from when it had been my
mother’s room, dust and cobwebs everywhere, and the ancient bed on which my
parents conceived me. Instead, I found myself in a dimly lit white room with
silver shelving. I also found myself lying in a pile of $100 bills, with a
gorgeous leggy blonde curled up against me.

In my daze, there were only two possibilities. Either A:
My entire life had been the dream, and I happened to be some billionaire
playboy sleeping in my treasure hoard with my mistress of the night. Or B:
Outside existed an ever-expanding apocalyptic wasteland of zombies and crazy
rednecks with guns, and I'd saved this amazing girl.

The truth? Option B.

I stretched one of those awesome stretches. Every inch of
my body felt refreshed. I let out a loud yawn, and when I saw my bandaged
hands, the pain flooded back in. Before I could cry out, luscious lips landed
on mine and muffled my voice. I closed my eyes and wrapped my arm around Kessa.
She rolled over and straddled me, still kissing me passionately. Just as she
began to gyrate her hips, the pain caused me to reach my breaking point, and I
screamed.

Kessa scrambled off, crying out, “Oh
m'Lord
!
I’m so sorry! I thought I was somewhere else. I thought you were someone else!”

For some reason, her words felt like a sudden stab,
sharper than any blade. She snuggled against my shoulder again, and I allowed
myself to imagine a relationship between us. But did she have a boyfriend
already?

“Who did you think I was?” I asked, afraid to hear the
answer.

“N-no one!” she stammered.

“You have a boyfriend, don’t you?” I sighed.

Her silence told me enough. I climbed to my feet and
adjusted all of my clothing, then put my gun back in my belt. I tried not to
look at her, but the vault door had yet to open.

“I didn’t mean it like that, my
ang
--”

“Zach.”

“Zach. I was confused. I thought it was the past! I didn’t
know I was here. Or any of this was real!”

I shrugged. “Don’t worry about it.”

Her voice began to crack. “I’m glad this is real. I wanted
it to be.”

“The zombie apocalypse?” I scoffed.

She climbed to her feet. “I wanted to be here with you. Ya
saved me from that nightmare, and I don’t care if there are zombies out there!”

I hesitated; did she want me or not?

I faced her. “Let’s just focus on what’s at hand.”

Tears poured down her face. “Ya saved me. I more than owe
you my life and myself as a whole. You’re a good guy! I’ve never known a good
guy. They’ve all been—”

“Assholes?” I asked.

She nodded, playing with her pigtail. She chewed her lip
and shifted her weight between her heels and the balls of her feet.

“So who did you think I was?” I asked.

“His name was Mike.” She said.

“An asshole?”

She nodded. “I dated him for six months. He treated me
alright, and even gave me a beautiful emerald ring as an engagement ring.”

“So what happened? Might as well tell me, the vault isn’t
open so we aren’t going anywhere.”

She leaned against the wall, placing her bare foot against
it.

“Well, his roommate told me the truth about him.” She
revealed. “Mike had been cheating on me with four other girls. Three of which
were girls he met at conventions and on social media sites. The fourth was his
actual girlfriend he had for years. He stole the ring her grandmother left to
her and then put it on my finger. Can you believe it?”

I shook my head. “Wow, that guy was something else!”

“Well, I was stupid. I stayed with him.”

I said the only thing I could, “Oh.”

“But that’s all in the past now.” She said, coming off the
wall, doing a sexy b-line towards me.

“Where is he?” I asked as she wrapped her arms around my
neck.

“When the zombies came, he didn’t even wake me up. He left
me naked in bed. I heard him yell something about hurrying up and leaving.
Something bad was going down on the news. I didn’t know what, and when I got out
of bed, I found Merlda, sleeping on the couch. I asked her where Mike went, and
she said, he was going out for milk.”

“What a lame lie!”

She began to sob. “I know! We had a whole gallon in the
fridge!”

I stepped closer, feeling drawn to her. “Never came back?”
I asked. I could smell her sweet breath; even in the morning, she remained
perfect.

“When we saw the news report we ran straight to Pa's
church.”

I shook my head. “Merlda was your roommate?”

“Yes.” She whispered.

I was about to respond when Kessa’s hands rested on my
behind, and she roughly pulled me against her and put her finger to my lips. “We
have some time. And I love mornings, don’t you?”

I blushed like mad as my mind raced with ideas of what she
could mean.

She lightly pushed me to the floor and carefully straddled
me this time. I held my breath as she took her fingers and put them under her
tube top. She started to pull up parts bit by bit. I couldn’t believe it. I
couldn’t take it. But I didn’t want her to stop. I wanted; I didn’t know what I
wanted. But why resist? The world had ended.

She pulled her flannel shirt closed and wiggled.

“Guess what I'm not wearing now?” she giggled, and the
roundness of her breasts filled out the shirt.

All of my blood rushed south, but then the vault trembled
and the gears of the door started to click and clank. My head snapped back to
see the door cranking open.
  

“We can get out! We’re not trapped!” I cried.

Kessa glared down at me and shook her head.

“W-what?” I asked.

“Oh it’s nothing,” She said and crawled towards her boots,
pulling them on. I could see enough
sideboob
to know
I'd screwed up big time. The sexiest girl ever had been on top of me and what
did I do? I knew I'd be beating myself up over it for
awhile
.
I would just have to add it to the list of
screwups
.

The thick tension had me barely able to breathe, but still
I said, “I'm sorry.”

“Don’t be, Zach. Getting outta here’s important. It can’t
always just be about me and my wants and my needs.”

I didn’t like the way she said needs.

Her heart ached, but I didn't feel so well physically. On
top of the cuts and bruises, I now had an aching below the belt.

“I’ll be out here.” I sighed and walked away with my tail
between my legs.

Kessa mumbled something as I left. The bright morning
light illuminated the room. On a support pillar just before me, I spotted a
note held up by a dagger
;
one of Wesley’s daggers. I
rushed over to the pillar and tore down the paper, sticking the dagger through
a belt loop.

It read:

“Zach, I’m writing you
a note because I don’t know how else to say it. I need to leave. I have stuff I
need to do. People to find, places to see, that kind of junk. Your journey is
going to lead you south to the big city, Houston I’m pretty sure.

You see, when we were
searching Epic Impossibilities Games, I found some reasons you’ll want to move
on. One reason was a letter. I left it rolled up in a bag of food supplies,
weapons and ammunition. It’s hidden in the corner under the seventh teller
station.

I’ll let you read it
since it's addressed to you, but don’t run off just yet. Finish this one.

My goals take me north.
I know what caused this. You know the zombies! I may be able to stop it before
it gets even worse. So I charge you with this. Stay alive. I want to see you
again because I never got to tell you that secret I mentioned last night. And
keep Kessa kicking too, not like that pervert! I mean alive! She’s hot, and I
wouldn’t mind tapping that if you don’t develop the balls!

So this is goodbye, or
it was hours ago after I tricked you into the safety of the bank vault. Zombies
were in here last night, and you would never have known. But I killed them and
cleaned the place up a bit. So anyway, yeah, I’m not good at this! So grab the
supplies and start on the road south. I’d avoid any freeways, though,
especially if you plan on taking a car.

Peace out brother, I
look forward to seeing you again, and nailing that pretty thing you perhaps
lost your virginity to! HAHAHA!

                  
--Wesley James

P.S. You better
remember it!

Some things Wesley said made me want to punch him, but for
the moment, I rolled up the letter, anxious to see the other. But who wrote it?

I walked to the teller stations and counted down the line
until I came to the seventh. I pulled open a cabinet, and a duffel bag sat
shoved inside. There were four handguns, the typical kind the police would use.
I wondered if he’d hunted down dead cops for those. Also, I found a long black
pump-action shotgun and even an Uzi. I couldn’t guess where he’d found that.

I dug deeper, past cans of food and bottles of water until
I found a large yellow envelope at the bottom, with my name written in large
letters. I pulled out the letter to find soft and feminine handwriting.

It read:

“Zach, it’s me, Jessie.

I don’t know if you’ll
read this, or if I’ll get to finish writing it. But I wanted to let you know
how I feel about things.

When we were children,
and you came to my eighth birthday party, I had a lot of fun. You were my
favorite guest, although we hadn’t spent much time together. I had a crush on
you. It was the best birthday
ever,
even though you
missed the piñata and hit me so hard it sent me to the hospital with a
concussion.

I don’t blame you at
all for that! You had to wear a blindfold, and couldn’t see me. I was trying to
sneak up and give you a hug. It was entirely my fault. Then my parents didn’t
let you ever come over again. And of course as you know the school found out,
and they expelled you. No one cared that I told
them
it was an accident. That’s when you became friends with Tiffany from what she
told me.

I hope you find
yourself rekindling that relationship with Tiffany. I know she liked you even
if she wouldn’t admit to it. That’s just how she was. She didn’t know how to
express herself. I’m sure she will take care of you now. I had hoped we could
be together, you know? I was hoping you would ask me to prom in the spring. I
watched you in class every day, hoping so hard that you would talk to me. I’m
glad we got to spend some time together these past few hours, even if the
zombies are everywhere.

As of now, we're all
okay.

I lied. Jeff just came
to me with Dave. He wasn't bitten, but he has a long gash across his chest.
Someone or something slashed him across the chest. He's delirious, so we don't
know. Dave needs help, so we can’t stay here. That said, we
won’t
be here when you get back.

After some debate,
we’ve chosen to head south to Houston. We wrapped up Dave, but it won’t last
for long. So all I can hope now is that you find this envelope, and you’ll at
least know how I feel.

Tiffany: Take care of
him like I never got to. Please. Thank you. You were my best friend forever and
always.
Okay, Tiff
,
stop reading now
.

Zach: I wish you three
the best of luck. Maybe we’ll meet again one day, if it’s not too late.

  
---Jessie

P.S. I love you

I folded the paper and put it in my pocket with the one
from Wesley. A whirlwind of emotion ran through me.

I zipped up the duffel bag and found a clock on the wall.
It was just past nine. Plenty of daylight remained. We’d have to get to the
road soon; the trip to Houston would be long, and of course, we were going no
matter what. We would find the Gamer’s Guild. I wanted to talk to Jessie, and
at least tell her of Tiffany's fate.

I walked back to the vault and found Kessa sitting,
cross-legged on the floor, back in her tube top. She looked up. Pangs of guilt
hit me. I could still choose Jessie, who said she loved me. My head hurt as
Kessa stared at me longingly, with adoring eyes.