Zombie Havoc (Book 1): In The Beginning Read online

  Mrs. Peterson looks at me. I point in the direction of the six Zombies walking down the street. She stands up with deer in headlight eyes, in a panic stance. I yell again, “GET INSIDE YOUR HOUSE!” She looks at me, then runs towards her house.

  I shut my door, lock it and run over to my window. I get my binoculars as I notice the six Zombies walking straight towards my house. DAMNIT! Now what do I do? Where the hell is Isaac? I get the baseball bat ready as I stand at the window, watching the Zombies walking towards my house.

  I look up to my ceiling, “Dear Lord, please help me get through this Zombie apocalypse thing you’ve got going on right now. I have no idea how to fight them, Lord, so I really need your strength right now. Oh, and can you please make sure that Isaac gets home safely, please. Preferably, before I die. Thank you. Amen.” Okay, hopefully that bides me a little more time.

  I look back out the window as I watch the Zombies slowly walking across my yard towards my front door. SHIT! ISAAC! Where are you?

  I back away from my window as I watch the first Zombie about to bump against my front door. I stand back about ten to fifteen feet from the door, holding my baseball bat, ready, in case they open or knock down the door.

  I can hear them bumping up against the door and scratching at it. I can also hear them make weird grunting noises. I can see that the sun is almost down, Isaac should have been home by now, unless he’s not coming back home…maybe a Zombie got him. I feel a lump in my throat and tears fill my eyes with the thought of Isaac being eaten alive by a Zombie and never seeing him again. No…no…no…no…he’s alive and he’ll be home…very soon. I need to believe that.

  As I’m standing here, holding the baseball bat, ready to hit someone or something, whatever they are, they suddenly stop bumping, scratching and grunting. It’s quiet. Did they leave? I begin walking towards the door, when I hear a key in the key hole, then the door opens up, “ISAAC!” I run into his arms. When I look behind him, I see a pile of Zombies laying in front of the door.

  I step back and look at him as I notice blood all over him. He looks at me and smiles as he raises his hand, holding a bloody knife. “Thanks for the knife, babe, it really came in handy today.”

  Chapter 2

  Ryder Newman and Kassi Perkins

  I wake up with Kassi in my arms. Her blonde hair, her perfect eyebrows, her perfect, luscious lips. She’s so perfect, and she’s so good to me. How did I get to be so lucky? I look at the clock, ugh, it’s time to get up for work already. I turn back towards Kassi as I kiss her on her forehead and I whisper, “Kassi, it’s time to get up now.”

  She begins to stir, then she looks up at me with her sandy colored eyes, dazed and disoriented, “Already?” She asks in a raspy, morning whisper.

  I slide my arm out from under her as I slide out of bed, “Yes, unfortunately, it’s time to get up.”

  I put a pair of jeans on, grab my pack of cigarettes as I walk out of the bedroom and onto our apartment balcony to have my morning cigarette. As I’m out there, smoking, I hear Kassi open the sliding door as she walks out to bring me a cup of coffee. She stands next to me holding onto her coffee, while she sticks a cigarette in her mouth, and me being the gentleman I am, I light it for her.

  We stand out there, smoking and drinking our coffee as we relax before our work day begins.

  She looks over at me with a tired smile, “Anything special you want me to pick up for dinner tonight on my way home?”

  I think for a moment, “How about something easy like pizza?” I reply.

  “Pizza? We have pizza all the time. Don’t you want something different?”

  I look at her curiously, “Like what? Don’t you like pizza?”

  She shrugs her shoulders, “Yeah, but sometimes I get sick of it. We have it at least twice a week, every week.”

  “Yeah, because pizza is good, cheap and easy.”

  “I understand that, but sometimes variety is good. Change things up a little.”

  I look into her eyes as I put my hand on her soft cheek, “Surprise me. I’m sure I’ll love whatever you make for dinner.”

  She smiles at me, “Okay, I will. I’ll surprise you.” She replies with satisfaction.

  I put my cigarette out in our coffee can makeshift ashtray, “I’m going to take a shower and get ready for work.”

  “You do that. I’m going to make us some waffles for breakfast.”

  “Okay, I’ll be out in a few minutes.” I walk inside and go into our bedroom to take a shower.

  When I’m done with my shower and I’m dressed for work, I walk out of our bedroom and into the living room on my way towards the kitchen. I see Kassi standing in the living room, looking dumbfounded as she’s staring at the television. I stand next to her as I look to see what she’s watching. I stare at the television for a moment, trying to figure out what’s going on. She’s watching the news and it looks like something catastrophic is going on somewhere in the world. I look at her confused, “What’s going on?”

  She looks at me shaking her head, “It looks like some kind of disease or something is happening over in Russia and Europe. They say that Zombie-like creatures are walking the streets and eating people. It’s just so weird, like out of a movie or something.”

  I shake my head, “That’s just too weird for me. That’s like you trying to tell me that Aliens are taking over the world or something.”

  “I hope they don’t come over here, that would be awful.”

  “Eh…they aren’t going to come over here. Don’t worry about it. I’ve got some guns in the closet, I’ll kill anything that gets near us.” I say with a wink.

  She just stands there, staring at the television, shaking her head, “That is just so sad.”

  “Yeah…it is. I’m sure they’ll get all the militaries together or something and try to keep it contained to certain areas and quarantine them or something until they’re better.”

  “I hope so. They’ve already killed hundreds of thousands of people, it sounds like.”

  I make my way into the kitchen to grab a plate and a couple of waffles. I stand there eating my waffles, drinking my coffee and thinking about what Kassi just told me. Zombies? Really? That’s just too unreal, I mean, there’s no such thing as Zombies, is there?

  I finish my breakfast and coffee, as I go into the bedroom to give Kassi a good-bye kiss as I’m ready to head out the door. As I lean down to kiss her, I can see concern in her eyes. “Kassi, it’ll be okay, don’t stress about it, okay. Just go to work as normal and I’ll see you at dinnertime, okay?”

  She looks up at me and smiles, “Okay, see you at dinner.”

  I walk out of the bedroom, through the living room and out the front door. I walk down out second floor stairs and into the parking lot towards my motorcycle. I get on my motorcycle as I head out of the parking lot towards work.

  When I arrive at work, I see Tom, the owner of the auto shop. “Hey Tom, what’s up?”

  Tom turns towards me, “Hey Ryder! I have a motorcycle in the shop here, just waiting for you to work on it.” He says with a wink.

  I smile at him, “Thanks man.” I walk towards the motorcycle as I start checking it out, trying to figure out what’s wrong with it.

  Mike, a fellow co-worker comes up to me, “Hey Ryder, I see you found the motorcycle, lucky you. I’ve got that piece of crap truck from the eighties over there, which has more problems with it than I can count.” He says with a wink.

  I look up at him and chuckle, “Yeah…that sucks.” I look at him curiously, “So, hey, have you heard about that disease thing going on over in Europe with Zombies eating people, or whatever it is they have going on over there?”

  Mike thinks for a minute, “Yeah, I think I saw something like that, but I switched the channel. It looked like they were trying to make some big deal out of some disease, probably to just scare people. I’m sure it’s some kind of exaggeration. I mean…Zombies…come on. That’s just ridiculous.”

  I chuckle
, “Yeah, I thought the same thing too. Kassi is all freaked out about it. I just wanted to find out what someone else thought about it. Zombies…come on. They can do better than that.”

  Mike laughs as he walks towards the old eighties truck he’s working on, while I continue working on the motorcycle.

  ********************

  When I get home from work, I open the door as a delicious smell hits me in the face. I take a whiff…hmmm…something sure smells good. I walk inside and shut the door. I walk towards the kitchen and I see Kassi in there, cooking. I wrap my arms around her waist as I kiss the side of her neck. She quivers as she lets out a giggle, “What are you doing?”

  “I’m kissing my beautiful girlfriend as she’s cooking me a delicious dinner.” I look around her to see what she’s cooking, “What are you making for dinner?”

  She laughs, “Tacos. I’m making Tacos.”

  “Really? They smell good.”

  “It must be the seasoning I put in the meat. Plus, I threw in a few extra ingredients to make it more filling, and somewhat healthy. Peppers, onions, jalapenos, tomatoes.”

  “Well, it smells delish.” I say with a wink. “I’m going to take a shower and change. I just want to get out of my greasy clothes.”

  “Okay, dinner should be ready in like ten minutes.”

  I wink at her, “Okay, I’ll be there.” I turn around and head into the bedroom to take a shower.

  When I walk out of the bedroom, Kassi is standing in the living room watching television, shaking her head. She looks up when she sees me. She has a scared look on her face. I walk over to her, “What’s wrong?”

  She continues shaking her head, “That disease is starting to spread to other continents.”

  I stand next to her as I look at the television screen, “Is it here?”

  She shakes her head, “No, not yet. But what if it does come here? What do we do?”

  I put my arm around her, “Don’t worry about it. I already told you that I have guns. I’ll protect you.”

  She just looks at me with tears in her eyes, “I’m scared. I don’t want to get eaten by a Zombie.”

  I let out a chuckle, which by the look on her face, wasn’t the right thing to do, “You’re not going to get eaten by Zombies. I have guns, I will protect us.” I kiss her on her beautiful, luscious lips, “Can we eat now? I’m really hungry.”

  She nods as she heads into the kitchen. She walks over to the stove as she makes herself a plate of food, then walks over to the table to sit down. She just sits there, staring out in space as I walk over to the stove to make myself a plate. After I make myself a plate, I walk over to the table and sit down across from her, looking at her, wondering if she’s okay. “Hey, Kass? Are you okay?”

  She shakes herself out of it, and looks at me, “I’m scared, Ryder. What if they make it over here?”

  I shake my head, “Kass, it’s all over the news. The United States has a lot of technology and military. I’m sure that they are working on something right now to protect the borders, harbors, airports, all that stuff. I’m sure that they’re not going to let anything like that happen here. I’m sure that they’re on it. Don’t worry about it. We’re one of the best equipped countries for stuff like this. Relax and enjoy your tacos.”

  She nods in agreement, “You’re right. You are. I’m sure that they are doing everything in their power to protect our country from the Zombie creatures.” She begins eating her tacos, but I can tell by the look in her eyes, that she’s not quite convinced.

  After we were done eating, I told Kassi to go lay down while I clean up the kitchen. I know that she’s stressed out and not feeling very well about all that’s going on, so I wanted her to relax.

  After I was done cleaning up the kitchen, I walk into the bedroom and I see that Kassi has fallen asleep. I walk over to the bed and I kiss her on her forehead. Then I go outside and have one last cigarette before I go to bed.

  *********************

  I wake up and as I look over, Kassi is gone. Hmmm…she’s up early. Usually it takes me a while to get her out of bed. I slide out of bed, grab my cigarettes as I head out of the bedroom. I don’t see her out here. As I walk by the table, I see a piece of paper laying on it. I pick it up, ‘Ryder, I went to meet my mom for breakfast. Love, Kassi’. Huh…that’s weird, I don’t remember her saying anything before about meeting her mom for breakfast. I shrug my shoulders and walk into the kitchen to brew some coffee, so that it’s ready for drinking when I’m done with my morning cigarette.

  After I’m done with my first cigarette of the day, I pour myself a cup of coffee, drink it up, then I go into the bedroom and take a shower. After I’m done with my shower, I go back into the kitchen, stick two waffles into the toaster and pour myself another cup of coffee. As I’m standing there, waiting for the waffles to toast, I think to myself, wow, it sure is quiet and eerie without Kassi here. It’s weird. It’s weird not to have somebody to talk to.

  My waffles pop up, I pour my syrup on top and begin eating them. When I’m done eating them, I finish my coffee, grab my wallet, cell phone and keys as I head out the door.

  I pull up into work, and I see Tom standing outside working on a car. “Hey Ryder! How are you this morning?”

  I walk towards him, “I’m good. Kassi was gone before I woke up though, that was weird.”

  Tom looks at me shocked, “Really? Where’d she go?”

  “She left a note saying she was having breakfast with her mom. She must have had a hard time sleeping.”

  Tom nods, “Yeah, women are very strange creatures. I’ll never understand my wife, Betty. They are just completely different than men, they are in their own little world.” He shakes his head.

  I just chuckle, “Yeah, they are. Anyway, I’m going to go work on that motorcycle. I think I figured out what’s wrong with it yesterday, now I just need to fix it.”

  “Do you think you’ll have it done by the end of the day?”

  I nod, “Yeah, I should.” I continue walking into the garage. Mike’s in there working on his truck. “Hey man.” I say as I pass him.

  Mike looks up from under the hood, “Hey Ryder.”

  “You having any luck with that truck?” I ask in a sarcastic voice.

  Mike shakes his head, “Ha, ha, ha. As a matter of fact, I have already fixed three out of like eight things on the list of things wrong with this truck.” He declares proudly.

  “Wow…eight things wrong with that truck?”

  Mike nods, “Yep. Eight. Can you believe it? I seriously can’t believe that they even made it in here to drop it off. Amazing.” He shakes his head as he sticks it back under the hood.

  I continue walking towards my motorcycle shaking my head as I let out a chuckle.

  As I’m working on the motorcycle, listening to music on a radio that Mike has on, when a special announcement comes on. ‘Everybody needs to stay in their homes! Do not travel! Millions of people are fleeing the cities and getting trapped on the highways in road jams and pile-ups while Zombie-like herds are walking down the streets eating anyone who gets in their way! Everybody needs to stay home! Do not leave your house! There is an International Travel Warning! All public transportation has come to a halt! The Zombie-like virus has reached the east coast of the United States! Repeat…The Zombie-like virus has reached the east coast of the United States!’ Then there’s just static.

  Mike and I both stop what we’re doing while we just stand there, staring at the radio. Mike looks at me with confusion on his face, “Did you just hear what I heard?”

  I look at Mike dazed, “Um…I think so…I’m trying to comprehend what I just heard.”

  Tom comes walking into the garage humming, then he stops as he notices us just standing there, doing nothing, with confused looks on our faces. “What are you two doing just standing there?”

  Mike looks at Tom, “Um…the Zombies made it to the United States. They just announced that everybody needs to stay in their homes an
d don’t travel. Then the radio just went static.”

  Tom just looks at us, then he bursts out laughing, “You are too funny, Mike.” As he turns and walks towards his office.

  I look at Tom, “It’s true, man. It’s true.” I look at Mike, “I need to find out where Kassi is?” I take my cell phone out of my pocket to call Kassi. But nothing happens, I look at Mike, “I don’t have cell phone service. How about your phone?”

  Mike takes his cell phone out of his pocket and tries to call his wife. He looks at me with a blank look on his face, “Nothing.”

  We both go inside Tom’s office. I look at Tom in his eyes, “Tom, listen, we’re not making this up. They made this big announcement on the radio and then it went static. We both just tried our cell phones and they’re both dead.”

  Tom looks at us like we’re crazy. Then he goes to grab his landline phone. “Let me try my landline.” He picks it up, then looks at us with deer in headlight eyes, “There’s no dial tone.”

  I look at Mike, then back at Tom, “We need to leave. I need to make sure that Kassi is safe at home.”

  Mike and Tom both nod their heads. Tom stands up, “I need to check on Betty.”

  Mike nods, “Yeah, I’m out of here too. I need to make sure Marie and Matthew are okay.”

  The three of us walk out of the office. Tom puts his closed sign up as he locks all the doors. Then we head our separate ways to make sure our families are safe.

  I get on my motorcycle as I wave good-bye to Tom and Mike, not knowing when I’ll see them again. I put my helmet on as I pull out of the parking lot in the direction of home. As I’m driving down the road, I notice someone walking with a limp. I slow down as I drive past them, and realize, that it wasn’t a normal looking person. Their face was gray, their eyes looked almost white, they had blood on their mouth. Shit! That must be one of the Zombie-like creatures! I speed up as I frantically try to drive home.

  As I drive farther down the road, I hit a traffic jam. People are honking, getting out of their cars, yelling obscenities at the cars ahead of them. I quickly turn down a side street as I take some back roads to get home. I don’t have time to sit in traffic, I need to get home to see if Kassi made it home okay. I know that she had the day off, so I’m hoping she’s home safe and sound.