OUTNUMBERED volume 4: A Zombie Apocalypse Series (2 page)

We watched as Jeff's body began its descent into the black hole of the curse he'd been drawn into. Lindy's body twitched violently as it transitioned to the undead menace. There was no choice but to shoot each of the deceased humans.

Softly I said, "I can't even imagine what went through Lindy's mind when she realized the children she'd risked her life for had been mutilated and dragged into the zombie world." Frances closed her eyes, exhaled and shook her head in silent disbelief. Tears of grief ran down her cheeks, and her posture slumped.

I looked behind us before closing the door. In the dimly lighted room there was movement to our right. Natural sunlight through two curtained windows let us see the main room, but left the corners in dim shadows. I swiveled and pointed my .45 caliber Glock in the general direction. Frances came out of her horror induced trance and focused there also. Something small moved on the carpet near the far corner. A medium-sized dog or a big cat maybe? And then there was a groan, or a moaning sound, or maybe a crude whimper. Something deep and primal that I'd never before experienced and couldn't place. Frances turned her flashlight on as I reached for mine. I wasn't prepared for the sight that my eyes locked onto. The narrow white beam focused on a small body twelve feet away. A large baby lay on the floor. Why hadn't the zombies attacked it? We both moved toward what we'd pegged as an infant. The child was whole; no chunks of flesh were missing. It lay on its belly; the small arms and legs kicked frantically. It was naked and caked in filth on the dark green carpet.

We were three feet away when it flipped over onto its back. "Aawww Christ!" Frances exclaimed, "that's the ugliest damn baby I've ever seen." She looked at me in awe. I was at a loss for words. I suspected what we'd discovered, and the very idea frightened and repulsed me. I've never turned to religion for strength, but I quietly prayed to God that I was wrong.

I studied the female zombie on the floor. She was full bodied, no sign of rot on her flesh. Several bite marks on her arms and body looked old and dry. She'd been rather plain but not ugly, about eighteen or twenty I guessed. The ratty, simple, pink cotton dress she wore was filthy. It had white buttons from the waist up the bodice. A large bloody stain had soaked the front of the fabric high on her thighs and turned brown as it dried. When she fell she'd landed on her back; her left leg was straight out and her right leg was pointed away from the left with her knee bent and her foot almost touching her left knee. Frances followed my stare. "No. You don't think. Surely not. No, that can't have happened.... Oh, my God, Tom."

I said, "Give me a hand, but be careful to not get fluids on you." We grabbed the bottom hem of the tattered pink dress where it lay bunched above the female's knees and carefully pulled it upward to her hips. The placenta and fetal membranes lay halfway expelled from the female body. "Are you accepting the same thing I'm having to?"

Frances dropped the pink material and straightened as she moved back several feet. "It's not possible for a zombie to give birth, is it? God almighty, tell me it's not possible. They're dead, they can't have sex and then have children. They're dead, damn it!"

"Can't they? They're dead, but they walk and bite."

Frances jerked when I laid my hand on her shoulder. "Don't freak out on me. Apparently it is possible. We've seen changes in the zombies from the rotting hulks we originally encountered to a new fast running type. Lately, we've come upon a few zombies that move fast, are more coordinated, and don't rot like the others. And they're silent when they attack. I suppose mating and birthing could be another step in the mutation or evolution taking place." I stepped back to the other two adult zombies and flipped them onto their backs with the toe of my heavy boot. Each looked almost normal except for the bloodshot eyes, filthy clothing and skin coupled with a complete lack of any form of personal hygiene or grooming. All three of the adult zombies had chunks of flesh missing where they had been attacked by other carnivorous zombies. The wounds looked old because the flesh had dried and cracked. But strangely, they hadn't begun to rot. I squatted between Barry and Carla. Each had big ugly depressions where flesh had been torn away. The wounds were still red meat but had begun to dry and turn dark

We turned back to the naked, mucus covered infant. It was on all fours, crawling toward us. Its jaws worked as it looked up. It couldn't have been more than a few hours old, but it had teeth and snarled at us as it smacked its jaws together noisily.

"Go out to the truck, there's a digital camera in the glove box. We'll take pictures to show everyone, or they won't grasp the full gravity of what this means." Frances turned to leave. "On second thought, I'll go with you incase there are more of these quiet fast movers hanging around out there. These are another new fact of life we need to be prepared for every minute."

Minutes later we returned and found the baby had crawled back to the corner where we'd discovered it. We clicked off thirty-two photos before the batteries got too low to power the flash. It was time to quit because by then we had enough pictures to sicken and scare the hell of out everyone at Deliverance.

Frances said, "I guess it's not impossible for the undead, but I swear that ugly little monster has grown several inches in the last half hour. It's already moving like a ten month old baby.

"Well," I said, "I'll put a stop to that." The blast of my .45 caliber reverberated through the house as it ended the little monster's live cycle.

Before leaving the house, we searched it and found Lindy's small stash of ammunition. It wasn't an important find, but in the right hands it could kill several hundred zombies. We entered the kitchen and found the back door wide open. It had recently been forced open because the wood doorframe was freshly busted. Lindy's two children didn't have a chance against the three fast running zombies. I couldn't imagine the terror they felt as they were attacked and mutilated until they died.

In the garage, there were thirteen cases of cereal, fruit, vegetables and canned meat we could use. A piece of heavy gauge plastic sheeting from a roll above the ceiling joist was used to wrap Jeff's body for transport back home for a deserved proper burial. 

With heavy hearts we lugged Jeff's corpse to the top of the truck and bungeed it in place. Our last act was to take the children's books Lindy had gathered for her kids from the front seat of her car. They would be put to good use by some of our nine children.

Our route home took us back through the Iowa State University campus. Near the Student Center, a group of zombies filled the road a block ahead. Several fast runners in front of the small mob approached us in a sprint. I stopped the Expedition and grabbed my customized M14 from the back seat. Through the moon roof, I pulled myself up and sighted on the lead zombie as Frances watched my back. In five shots the four lead zombies fell. The remaining sixteen or so slow stumblers took the remaining bullets in the first magazine and part of a new one. Frances tapped my leg and said, "Off to the right at three o'clock position, two more fast zombies are streaking this way."

I swiveled and made sure they were zombies and not filthy humans. I took aim, but before firing I hesitated. Bile rose in my throat as I refocused and pulled the trigger three more times.

Back in the driver's seat, I laid the rifle in the back seat as the roof panel slid shut. The gearshift lever dropped into drive, and I drove ahead at fifteen miles an hour to dodge the corpses in the road.

I sensed Frances staring at me. "Are you alright?"

I shook my head. "No, but I'll get over it. One of the last two zombies I shot was Matthew Holden. He and his wife Maureen left Deliverance voluntarily several months ago. They were drug addicts and couldn't adjust to our drug free rule. They chose death instead. If Matthew is dead, I can only assume Maureen is, too. I still can't grasp how they placed such a low value on their lives."

~*~*~*~

We arrived at Deliverance well after supper had been served and the kitchen cleaned. Kira came running and we embraced passionately. Reluctantly, I broke away from her. "I've got to talk to Marcie. Jeff was attacked and killed by zombies earlier today in Ames. We brought his body back for burial. While I talk to her, there's something you could do for me if you feel like it." She nodded. "Will you get me some food from the kitchen; a couple of sandwiches, hot or cold will do. And a piece of pie if there is any.

"After I talk with Marcie, I need a shower and clean clothes." I keyed my radio and asked the leadership committee, plus Ira and Frances, to meet at nine in the office conference room for an emergency session. They confirmed, then I kissed Kira and left.

Forty-five minutes later, I sat at a small table in our room to eat. Briefly, I told Kira of the frightening zombie development. She was shocked and moved to stand beside me. "If large numbers of them become capable of reproduction we'll never see an end to them. I'd hoped in several generations at the most we survivors across the country might eradicate the damned things." I nodded with my mouth full as she continued, "Now that looks highly unlikely."

"Don't get too upset. We don't know enough about what's happening to make judgments or predictions yet. Wait, learn and see. It may not be as bad as we imagine."

I leaned over and kissed her belly. "When I finish eating we need to go to the office. There are pictures I want to print off so everyone at the meeting has a copy. You'll want to puke when you see them."

I patted her belly. At four months it had started to show a little mound on her slender frame. Ira had detected two heartbeats and I' been thrilled at the thought of twins to spoil. We wouldn't know their sex until the birth. The leadership committee had declined to install x-ray machines or ultrasound equipment and had instead committed to a gradual lessening of our dependence on modern technology. Some of our people wanted to extend the way of life we'd enjoyed prior to the zombie influx, but we felt when the electrical power failed it would be like stepping off a cliff. It was deemed better to give up selected modern conveniences slowly rather than losing all of it abruptly.

At eight-forty I walked into the office with Kira. We kissed, and I hugged her tight before sitting at a computer. I hit the start button on the machine, waited a minute, then plugged the card from the camera into the computer slot. When the pictures appeared on the screen, I scrolled through them. Kira gasped and groaned several times before I highlighted the entire file and hit the print button.

Kira sat on my lap and clung to me fiercely as the printer rattled and banged while kicking out color prints of the baby monster, its mother, and the rest of the room.

Shane, John and Ed walked through the office to enter the small meeting room beside it. They wanted to know what the emergency meeting was about. I put them off by promising to show them something new and frightening after everyone arrived.

Kira and I entered the meeting room almost at the appointed time. Everyone else was there. We'd separated the photos into eight stacks of thirty-two and Kira passed them around as I took my place at the head of the table. A digital recorder was in my shirt pocket. I laid it on the table and hit the record button. Andrea, Ira, Frances, and Morgan had entered through the primary entrance. They appeared as curious and apprehensive as the rest of the group.

That curiosity caused everyone to flip through the pictures one by one, some faster than others. I heard, "Oh, my God!" "Holy Shit.", "What the hell?", and several bolder expletives voiced as total surprise and disbelief gave way to the gravity of what they saw.

Side conversations broke out as several members went through the photos a second time. After a few more minutes, I banged my knuckles on the tables.

"Okay folks, you've all had time to grasp the enormity of what Frances and I experienced today. Before we discuss the situation, take a moment to mourn the loss of Jeff Tanka. He and a new member to Deliverance stumbled into what we took photos of.

A few seconds passed before I started on the meeting's agenda, "As you can see, these new zombies almost look human. The bloodshot red eyes and general grubbiness are the main features that set them apart from us. The close up shots of the baby indicate it was born a few hours preceding the photos being taken. The photos of the female zombie clearly indicate, without doubt in my opinion, that she was the birth mother." Several members spoke until I cut them off. "There's more you need to know before a discussion begins. Frances, will you give your opinion on the growth of the infant we found; remember everyone, the photos of the birth mother indicates the birth was very recent, a matter of hours." I looked to Ira. "Do you agree Ira?" He nodded and absently mumbled, yes, as he continued to stare at photos. I nodded to Frances.

"In my opinion, Tom is correct in everything he's said, and I agree with him completely. While the baby was newly borne, it showed signs of being nine months to a year old. As the pictures show, it was crawling and had a full set of upper and lower teeth, and a full head of hair that needed to be cut. I didn't touch it because it was slimy and dirty. The thing looked healthy, and I guessed it weighed eighteen to twenty pounds." She looked at the individuals for questions.

When none were forthcoming, I added, "There also was no stench like that we've encountered with the stumbling slow zombies because these hadn't rotted. Up close, they had an odor I associated with a homeless person who hadn't bathed in a year or more. Also, the wounds that killed them were dry; they appeared to have healed some time ago."