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

  As I’m standing there, waiting to see if she turns into a Zombie, Sally comes running back into the room frantically. “Blake! They’re here, there’s Zombies in the halls! We need to get out of here! NOW!”

  I look down at Ms. Conrad as her eyes open and she looks at me with white blank eyes and a growl. I take my scalpel and stab her in the side of her head, then her eyes close again as her head falls to the side. I look back at Sally, “Let’s get out of here.”

  Chapter 5

  Aaron, Nina and Mandy Bell

  As I’m in my bathroom, getting ready for school, I can hear my mom yelling from the kitchen, “Breakfast is ready!”

  I hear my dad walking by my bathroom, “Mandy, come on, breakfast is ready, we need to get going soon!”

  “I know, dad, I heard mom already.” I reply in an irritated voice. Parents, ugh.

  Once I’m done with my makeup and hair, I run downstairs towards the kitchen. My mom looks at me with irritation, “Mandy, you really need to start getting up a little earlier. You take way too long getting ready in the mornings and we’re always running late. Now, hurry up and eat your breakfast so that you and your father can get going.” She places my breakfast plate in front of me, then walks away.

  “Yes, mom.” I roll my eyes. Ugh, she’s always on my case about everything, it’s so irritating. I’m a fifteen year old girl, I need to make sure that I look good when I go to school, especially since I’m one of the popular girls and a cheerleader, the pressure is on to look good.

  I don’t know why she’s pressuring me to hurry up, my dad is just sitting there, drinking his coffee and reading the newspaper. I mean, he doesn’t even look like he’s in that big of a hurry, I seriously have no idea what she’s freaking out on.

  My mom turns on our small kitchen television, that’s located on the counter, near the coffee pot. That is where she stands every morning. She eats her breakfast and drinks her coffee as she watches her news. “Aaron!” She looks over at my dad, but he doesn’t respond. “Aaron!” She says a little louder. But he still doesn’t respond. “AARON!” She yells.

  My dad puts the newspaper down as he turns around and looks at her, “What Nina?”

  “Look! There’s Zombie-like creatures roaming around in Europe and Russia! There’s some sort of virus that’s turning people into Zombies! How scary is that? The Zombies are walking around eating people!”

  My dad looks at her completely dumbfounded, then turns around, looks at me as he chuckles, “Your mom watches too much television.” Then he puts the newspaper back in front of his face as he continues reading it. I just shake my head and laugh. Whatever.

  My mom looks at my dad, “Aaron, seriously, just come over here and look at this!”

  My dad sets the newspaper down again as he turns around towards her, “Seriously? You want me to get up to look at some Zombies on television?”

  My mom gives my dad the look, then nods, “Yes, I do. You need to see this. It’s freaky.”

  My dad pushes the chair out, stands up and walks over to my mom. My mom points at the television and looks at my dad with an I told you so on her face, “See…what did I tell you.”

  My dad stands there as he watches the television. He gets a dumbfounded look on his face, “Wow, that’s crazy. What the hell is going on? Do you really think this is real, or some kind of a ploy?”

  My mom shakes her head, “Why would it be some kind of ploy? Of course, it’s real. They’re not going to make something like that up. Would they?”

  My dad shakes his head, “There’s no such thing as Zombies, Nina. That’s impossible.”

  “Well, obviously there is. You saw it right there on television, you think they’re just going to make that up? How do you make that up anyway?”

  My dad shrugs his shoulders, “I don’t know. But that can’t possibly be real.”

  “I thought it looked pretty real.”

  “Nina, there’s no such things as Zombies, okay. It’s impossible.” My dad takes a swig of coffee, then stands up. He looks at me, “You almost ready to go, Mandy?”

  I nod, “Yeah, just let me get my backpack.” I stand up and then I run upstairs.

  My dad turns towards my mom, “I’m going to go to work.” He leans in and gives her a kiss.

  I run back downstairs with my backpack as I run towards my parents. I give my mom a hug and a kiss good-bye as my mom says, “Bye Mandy, see you when I pick you up from school. I love you.” She kisses me on my forehead.

  “I love you too, mom.” I say as I follow my dad out the door.

  My dad takes me to school every morning on his way to work, while my mom picks me up from school every afternoon because she doesn’t work.

  As I get into the passenger seat of my dad’s car, he looks at me as he bursts into laughter, “Can you believe that your mom believes that there’s really Zombie creatures roaming around Europe and Russia?” He says as he laughs and shakes his head.

  I just stare at him as I shrug my shoulders, “I don’t know. I mean…I guess it could be believable, I mean they make movies about them, so why couldn’t it be true.”

  My dad looks at me confused, “Seriously? You believe that they could exist?”

  I shrug my shoulders again, “Yeah, why not? Where do you think the idea of Zombies came from if there was never such a thing?”

  My dad sits there with a thinking look on his face, “Uh…I don’t know, I guess I never thought about that.”

  “Well, maybe you should. If there were never Zombies, then where did somebody get the idea of them to put into movies?”

  My dad continues sitting there, looking perplexed, “Um…I guess you could have a point.”

  “Dad, you really need to start thinking outside the box.”

  My dad looks at me and smiles, “You’re a very smart girl, you know that Mandy.”

  “I know. It’s because I have smart parents.” I wink at him.

  We pull up into my school drop off line. I lean over and give my dad a kiss on his cheek, “I’ll see you later, dad, thanks for the ride.”

  “No problem, Mandy, see you later.”

  I get out of the car as I see my friends, Sara and Brittney, standing a few feet from me, waiting for me. I walk over to them as we give each other hello hugs.

  **********************

  As I walk up towards the pick-up line with Sara and Brittney, I see my mom already waiting for me. I turn towards Sara and Brittney as I give them good-bye hugs, “See you guys tomorrow!” They both wave good-bye to me as I get inside my mom’s car.

  My mom looks at me and smiles, “How was your day, Mandy?”

  I shrug my shoulders, “Same old, same old.”

  My mom laughs, “Same old, same old? You’re a teenager, isn’t there always something exciting happening with you?”

  I look at my mom and laugh, “No, why would you think that?”

  “Well, what about boys? Any cute boy in any of your classes that you like?”

  “Eh…I don’t know. Actually, there’s this boy in my drama class, Derek Barnes, he’s pretty cute.”

  “Derek Barnes, huh? Is he a good actor?”

  “Yeah, actually he is. He’s also a good singer. Actually, he’s one of those people that’s good at everything they do.”

  “Oh…one of those people. Don’t you just hate those kind of people?” My mom asks with a chuckle.

  “And he’s super cute.” I say with a dreamy look in my eyes.

  “What does he look like?”

  “Blonde, kind of longer hair, with his bangs hanging over his left eye, blue eyes and he wears glasses that make him look super smart.”

  My mom looks at me and smiles, “Well, he certainly sounds cute. Maybe you can have him over for dinner sometime so that we can meet him.”

  I look at my mom like she’s crazy, “Mom, I don’t even know if he likes me. Plus, I’m too shy to ask him over for dinner. I mean, what would the four of us talk about?”

  My
mom shrugs her shoulders, “I don’t know? Like school, drama, life.”

  “Eh…I don’t know. Another, more popular girl, Julia Biggs likes him. Plus, she’s pretty, with long flowy blonde hair and bigger boobs than me.” I say with a sigh of defeat.

  My mom looks at me curiously, “So…what does that have to do with anything? Just because you think she’s more popular and you think she’s prettier than you, doesn’t mean he thinks that. Not all guys are like that.”

  I shrug my shoulders, “I don’t know. I’ll think about it.”

  “Okay, you think about it. I’ll be more than happy to make a special dinner for him. Maybe you could find out what he likes to eat.”

  “Maybe. I don’t know.” We pull up into our driveway. I get out of the car as my mom gets out of the car. I look at her and smile, “Thanks for saying that I can have Derek over for dinner sometime, I appreciate that.”

  “No problem, sweetie. I love you and I just want you to be happy.”

  “I am happy.” I open the front door of the house as I walk inside and go upstairs to my room.

  *********************

  When I’m done with my homework, I go downstairs, and I notice that my mom is busy making dinner. I walk into the kitchen and ask, “Hey mom, do you need any help?”

  My mom smiles at me as she replies happily, “You can set the table, if you don’t mind?”

  I smile at her, “I’d love to.” I walk over to the cabinets and start pulling out plates and glasses.

  As I’m setting the table, my dad walks in the door. He walks over to my mom and gives her a kiss. “How was your day, honey?”

  “Very uneventful, which is a good thing.”

  My dad smiles as he looks over at me, “How was your day, Mandy?”

  “Eh, it was okay, same old, same old.”

  My dad smiles at both of us as he announces, “I’m going to go upstairs and change into something a little more comfortable.” He walks out of the kitchen and towards the stairs.

  After I’m done setting the table, I turn on the television that’s sitting on the counter in the kitchen. As I’m watching it, I notice something strange, I look over at my mom, “Mom! Come see this!”

  My mom walks over to me, stands there and stares at the television, “Oh, my God!” She puts her hand over her mouth.

  My dad walks downstairs as we’re watching the news. He walks into the kitchen and stares at my mom and me. “What’s going on?”

  My mom looks at him shaking her head with deer eyes, “The Zombies have spread to Africa! They’re growing!”

  My dad looks dumbfounded as he watches the news with us. I look up at my parents with confusion, “So, what does that mean?”

  My dad shakes his head, “I have no idea honey, no idea.” He puts his arms around my mother and me as we stand there, watching the news.

  My mother walks back into the kitchen and announces, “Dinner is ready.”

  My dad kisses me on my forehead, “Let’s go eat dinner.”

  I stare at the television as I nod, “Yeah, I’m hungry.”

  We sit at the table, eating our dinner in silence. I sit there and watch my parents with their blank looks, like they have no idea what the next move is. I look at my dad with wondering eyes, “So, dad, if the Zombies do come here, what do we do?”

  My dad looks at me shaking his head, “I have no idea, sweetie. I don’t know the first thing about Zombies.”

  I nod, “I’ll look it up on the internet tonight after dinner and find out how to fight Zombies.”

  My mom looks at me as she bursts out laughing, “You are way too cute, Mandy. But…actually…you know what…that is actually a brilliant idea.”

  My dad looks at my mom as if she’s gone crazy, “You think that they’ll have information on the internet on how to fight Zombies?”

  My mom shrugs her shoulders, “I don’t know, but it’s worth a try. They have everything else on the internet, why not that?”

  I look at my dad with an I’m serious look, “Dad, they have pretty much anything you need to know on the internet. I’m almost one hundred percent positive that they will have information how to fight Zombies on the internet. I’ll even take notes so that I can show you tomorrow and we will be well educated on how to take care of them. I want to help out too. I want us to be able to survive. Didn’t you see all those people dying in the other countries? We have an advantage because we have extra time to read up on it before they come here.”

  My dad looks at me dumbfounded as he replies, “Okay then. Read up on it and educate us tomorrow morning at breakfast.”

  I smile with satisfaction, “Thanks dad, I will.”

  We sit there the rest of dinner, talking about our day with each other, like we normally do. After dinner, I go up to my room so that I can get educated on how to kill Zombies. Hopefully, there’s enough information on the internet about it, so that my family and I can survive the Zombie Apocalypse together.

  *********************

  The next morning, I go down to breakfast with my notes that I took on Zombies. I sit down at the table and look at my mom with an ear to ear smile. My mom looks at me curiously, “What’s up sugarbug?”

  I lay my piece of paper down on the table, “I took notes on Zombies last night?”

  My mom looks at me and chuckles, “They really had information on the internet about Zombies?”

  I nod, “Yes, they did. Anyway, it says right here that you need to go for the head when you kill them. They are also attracted to light and sound, so you need to be quiet if you don’t want them to notice you. You can also burn them. So, I hope that this information helps. You can use any weapon you want, but the thing with guns, is that they’re loud, so they say you should use a silencer as to not attract other Zombies.”

  My mom just stares at me, “Oh, okay.”

  “Yeah, not a stake through the heart, that’s Vampires, some people get confused with Zombies and Vampires.”

  My mom nods with deer eyes, “Oh, okay.”

  My dad comes downstairs for breakfast, “How are my ladies this morning?”

  “Dad, here’s my paper on Zombies for you to study today while you’re at work. Hopefully you can come up with a plan for us to fight them off if we need to.”

  My dad looks at me dumbfounded as he glances at the paper, “Uh…okay, thank you, Mandy.”

  I look at him proudly, “No problem. Anything to help the family.”

  My dad holds the paper up in the air, “I will definitely study up on this while I’m at work today.”

  My mom turns on the television. ‘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 the screen goes black.

  My mom just stands there staring at the blank television as she simply asks, “Did you guys hear that?”

  My dad and I just stare at my mom and the television set with our eyes bugging out of our heads and our jaws to the floor.

  My mom turns towards my dad as she asks, “Now what do we do?”

  Chapter 6

  Adam, Ana, A.J. and Amber Payne

  “KIDS! COME ON! IT’S TIME FOR SCHOOL!” Ana yells as she’s trying to get breakfast made for the family before we all head out to work and school. “THE BUS WILL BE HERE IN FIFTEEN MINUTES!”

  A.J. and Amber come running down the stairs and into the kitchen. Ana just stands there, staring at the kids, “You two are the slowest people when it comes to getting ready in the mornings.” She says with irritation in her voice.

  Amber rolls her eyes, “Well, A.J. knows that I need to d
o my hair and makeup in the bathroom and he purposely takes his time taking a shower and a dump.”

  A.J. bursts out laughing, “Hey, you can get ready after my shower and dump.”

  “It stinks. I’m not doing my hair and makeup when it stinks.” She rolls her eyes again.

  Ana looks at me, “Adam?”

  I put my hands up in surrender, “Don’t look at me, I’m not going to get involved in their sibling rivalry.”

  Ana shakes her head, “Just eat your breakfast and get on the bus. I really don’t have time to drive you to school. I need to get to work.”

  I turn on the television so that’s there’s a little bit of noise over the awkward silence of my family right now. As I’m drinking my coffee and eating toast, the news catches my attention. I stand up and walk over to the television to get a better look at it. Then I look over at Ana, “Hey Ana, look at this.”

  Ana walks over to me and looks at the television, “What is that?”

  “They say that there’s Zombie-like creatures roaming around in Europe and Russia. Hmmm…I wonder what that means?”

  Ana shakes her head, “Zombies? Is there even such a thing?”

  I shrug my shoulders, “I don’t know. I guess so.”

  A.J. stands up and walks over to where Ana and I are standing, “Zombies? Cool.”

  Amber gets up and walks over to us, “Gross! They’re eating people!”

  A.J. pretends to be a Zombie and playfully tries to attack Amber as she screams, “GET AWAY FROM ME YOU WEIRDO!”

  Ana looks at the kids with a stern look, “STOP IT YOU TWO! NOW GET READY FOR SCHOOL! Actually, why don’t you just take your toast to go and get to the bus stop…NOW!”

  A.J. and Amber grab their backpacks and toast as they head out the front door. They both yell ‘bye’ on their way out.

  Ana and I walk back to the table to finish our coffee and toast. Ana looks at me curiously, “So, do you think those Zombies are real?”

  I shrug my shoulders, “I don’t know. They looked real to me.”

  Ana looks like she’s thinking, “Do you think they’ll come here? Do you think that we have anything to worry about? Do you think that we need to get prepared for something like that?”