20 Years After The Zombie Apocalypse
Lee Emerick
Copyright 2011 by Lee Emerick
Smashwords Edition
Smashwords Edition, License
Notes
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ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may
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respecting the hard work of this author.
Dedicated to my Mother-In-Law Josephine Spooner who has adopted the role of combined child carer and marriage counsellor. Without your help, I do not know where I would be.
Acknowledgements
The author wishes to thank the following people for their help, support and inspiration in the making of this book:
Alison, Libbi, William, and a special thank you to Holly the Dog
Foreword
The inspiration for this book came from a dream I had several years ago. The dream came to me in three parts over three nights.
It started from the initial outbreak of a zombie apocalypse, where I was a survivor and was rescued by several others. I felt hope knowing I was not alone, that I was safe. Together we could face the threat and help each other to survive.
The following night the dream moved on several years where I found myself trying to make a fresh start with the other survivors. We had barricaded an abandoned building from the dead and hid quietly, hoping it would all pass us by. As supplies slowly began to dwindle, we eventually found ourselves overrun. It brought to me the sensation that we would always be found. That nowhere was secure or safe. Before me, my friends and comrades died one by one reminding me that nothing was for certain. Nothing was guaranteed.
The following night was the last of the three dreams. I found myself in the abandoned ruins of civilisation. Around me, the buildings crumbled, as they stood decrepit and dilapidated. As I ran for my life, I found myself truly alone. No one else was with me and I knew that everybody had gone. They were all as dead as the zombies that walked around me. As I ran through the ruins, I knew that I was being stalked. At every turn, I expected something to pounce out on me and bring me down. As I hid in the ruins of an old stone building, I could see a very old zombie trying to find me. It knew I was there although the majority of its senses were long disabled through rot and decay. As it approached me, I found that my mindset changed. I did not want to run anymore. What was the point in carrying on when there was nothing left to run too? It was futile to try to escape, wherever I went they would find me so I may as well bite the bullet as it were and let it happen. The sooner it was over the less suffering I would have to endure.
Luckily, before I was eaten I woke up. The fear and loneliness stayed with me for several days afterwards. Although I knew this was a dream it still felt very real. It embodied my fear and loneliness of the time. I felt abandoned in myself and lost amongst ruins.
This is what I have tried to embody in this book. It is based on primal fear and the instinct of survival. Although we try our hardest to survive there are some situations where it only drags out suffering and pain. I mean this not in literal sense but more metaphorically. Some things we do, as we see that we have to, not by choice. Ultimately, we do have the choice. At anytime we can stop and say no more, enough is enough. We do not have to suffer or keep on running. The sooner we face our demons, for better or for worse we can stop running and no longer be afraid.
I hope you enjoy this work as much as I have enjoyed writing it. Although it may not be cheerful, it does embody what many people feel, abandonment, loneliness and the never-ending chase as we are slowly hunted down by life itself.
I personally learnt a lesson and I hope others can too. Nothing is inevitable and we have the choice, not to merely run and hide but to face it head on.
Lee Emerick
Prologue
Twenty years ago, my life changed forever. I was just a child when I watched my parents slowly die in front of me.
My seventh birthday had only been a week previously, when I watched both of them slip into a coma. As their fevers raged, I knew little time remained. Eventually their skin turned grey and shrivelled as they lost the battle against the inevitable.
The TV had said to remove their heads to stop them from getting up again. How was I supposed to do that to my parents? Nevertheless, the TV was right. It was the only way to be sure. As much as I loved them, they were definitely not the same people when they woke up.
Why did they try to bite me? I was only trying to help them, they were so sick. As I pushed them away, back into their bed, they kept trying to grab me. No matter how much I screamed and shouted at them to stop they would not listen. Eventually their strength grew and I could no longer hold them back. I tried to hide in the house but wherever I hid, they always found me. Deciding it was no longer safe to stay in there; I ran outside and locked myself in the shed. As I cried in shock and fear, my parents bashed at the door. I could hear their loud groans as they repeatedly attacked the flimsy wooden door that stood as my only defence. As I cried I realised there was only one thing that they wanted now and it was me. Not to look after me or to help, but to feed on my flesh. They were no longer my parents, just mindless killing machines. The sooner I realised this the better my chances would be.
As I wiped away my tears, I looked for what I could use. My dad’s axe hung from the wall. He had used it to chop wood for the log fire in the house. With all my strength, I picked it up but it was such a struggle with my size. It was so heavy but as the TV had said, it was the only way I would be safe from them.
Eventually the wooden door gave way. My father stumbled towards me with his mouth wide open. Drool and blood dripped down his chin in his anticipation. The tips of his fingers bled from where his nails used to be. With his impatience of getting inside the shed, he had mutilated himself but he did not care. There was only one thing he wanted now and that was to feed.
As I cried waiting for what I was about to suffer my father looked me in the eye. As I looked into the rotting dark orbs that now occupied his eye sockets all I could see was hunger. My father certainly was not there anymore.
As he stumbled towards me, I lifted the axe as high as I could above my head. My muscles hurt as they strained against the sheer weight of the axe. As he neared me, I swung it as hard as I could.
I will never forget the look on his face as the axe crunched into his head. There was no fear or pain, just a blank expression. He barely flinched or made a sound as it sunk deep into his brain.
With a splat, the axe was deeply embedded in my father’s skull. Blood oozed and splattered from the impact as he fell backwards onto the ground.
That was the first time I had ever killed a zombie and certainly would not be the last. Why did it have to be my father though? I was only seven.
Chapter 1
Harriette Madyson sat next to a small campfire. The fire popped and crackled as she watched the flames dance above the burning wood. She felt almost hypnotised as she stared through unfocused eyes at the flame.
Huddled under several blankets she fought to stay warm. It was bitterly cold that night but the fire gave her a slim chance of making it through to the morning.
In front of her, the campfire continued to crackle away. The flames leapt energetically as they fed on the energy released from the dead wood. It was a rarity that Harri could spare the matches or find any fuel for that matter but she had been lucky tonight.
She wished she could build a larger fire but it would attract unwanted attention. She did not need to call any more attention to herself than she already had.
Harri sat on a log surrounded by an outcrop of rock. Snow and ice covered everything around her for as far as they eye could see. The outcrop provided her suitable cover from a cold wind that blew around her. Without shelter, Harri knew she would not last long. The bitterly cold wind would freeze anything to the bone if it stayed still for too long.
Feeling alone she looked down at an old tatty photo of her parents. Dried tears and blood marked the photo in numerous places along with dirt and grime. Harri had been alone for so long now she wondered why she bothered. There was no one to talk to or comfort her.
The last person she saw alive was over five years ago. In a moment’s madness, she had lost him as she had lost everybody else. However, death was not the end it used to be. Although he had died, he was still very much on his feet.
Tears welled up in her eyes as she thought about him, and what they used to have. She quickly wiped them away not wanting the tears to freeze. Her face hurt so much from the bitter cold already; she did not want it to get any worse.
The night was so quiet. Apart from the wind, nothing could be heard. There was not much left alive now to make much noise anyway.
Harri knew though it would not be quiet for long. He was out there and he wanted her. She folded the small worn photo of her parents and placed it in her pocket. It would soon be time to move again.
Alerted, Harri lifted her head. A faint howling could be heard in the distance drifting over the hills.
The noise sent shivers down her spine as it quietly drifted past her.
“Just leave me alone!” Harri shouted at the top of her voice. It did not matter whether he heard her or not. He always found her regardless.
Abruptly, Harri kicked snow over the fire to put it out. The last thing she wanted was to give him a heat source to warm up by. The dead moved faster when they were warm.
A different moan drifted now from another direction in response. He was getting the others attention she thought. Quickly she got all her stuff together and packed it into a tatty old rucksack.
Harri set off again into the cold of the night. If she could get enough distance between the stalker and herself, she might be able to get an hour’s sleep. He was not that fast in these low temperatures anyway. It would take him a while to catch up. The others were barely worth worrying about anymore, with the amount of rot and decay that slowly disabled them. As Harri marched through the snow, she thought about how she longed for a gun. It would be so much simpler if she had one. She could quite happily blow her brains out and not worry about surviving anymore.
What did she have to survive for anyway? The human race was for all purposes extinct. With it, all of humankind’s technology and prowess had soon followed suit.
The once grand civilisation of mankind had since crumbled and disintegrated into nothing more than rubble and dust. Nothing worth mentioning was left anymore. Harri longed to have a roof over her head for a night but barely any structures stood, to her knowledge, anymore. What did stand was not usually safe to enter.
Her life would be simpler if she could just shake off her stalker but on reflection, he was the only constant thing she had left. Although he was now a zombie she still loved her fiancé Marquis Quinn. He was all she had left.
Harri slept restlessly the next night. Her lonely mind filled itself with people she once knew. This was the only time she had to see the long forgotten faces of her past.
Harri dreamt back to a few years after the initial outbreak. Since her parents’ deaths, she had been on the run with several survivors who had found her in her parents’ garden shed.
Clyde Colton led the small group. He had been the one that found her all those years ago cowering in the corner of the shed crying unreservedly.
The dream became more vivid as she relived the moment.
The way her father’s corpse had fallen prevented her mother gaining entry. She had tried to make her way past him but the cold motionless corpse of her father sufficiently blocked the doorway. Harri felt like she had been waiting there forever. She had no hope of rescue as she slowly fought off hallucinations from her severe dehydration. All that she had to look forward to was death, which she knew was likely to take her any moment.
Outside Harri heard someone walking up the garden path. On the path lay gravel; this made a distinctive crunching sound whenever anybody walked over it. Harri feared it was another zombie but was still too frozen with fear to do anything. Even if she could, Harri struggled to comprehend what was real anymore. She just hoped it would be over as quick and as painlessly as possible.
Harri felt so thirsty. It had been a couple of days since she had last had a drink. With the dehydration came delirium as she profusely hallucinated. The real world and her dream world blended as she felt she was not really there. She was at home having a nightmare and would wake up at any moment. Her mom or dad would walk into her bedroom and comfort her. It would only be a matter of time until it happened.
As Harri looked out of the doorway, another figure walked up behind her mother. Harri struggled to see who it was but her vision was blurry. She raised a hand and tried to touch it but she could not reach. As she watched, the figure lifted a spade and brought it crashing down across her Mother’s neck.
With a sickening crunch and splatter, the decaying neck of her Mother was easy game for the spade as it easily cut through it. As her mother’s body fell backwards, the head left the neck and her mother’s head rolled across the ground towards her.
Harri covered her mouth and held her breath. As the severed head rolled to a stop besides her, she tried not to scream. The cold dead eyes of her mother stared at her.
“This is your fault Harri,” said the head of her mother as it lay motionless on the ground.
“If you had looked after us better this would never have happened!”
Harri covered her ears and rocked backwards and forwards. She knew she was hallucinating again but could not bear to be told off by her mother.
The corpse in the doorway was not a pretty sight. It lay there half-decomposed with an axe embedded deep in its head. Blood surrounded the corpse, which lay mostly dry, as it had been there for a few days.
The man carefully stepped over the corpse trying not to get any of the blood on him. The last thing he wanted was to become infected himself.
To his surprise, he found a young girl cowering in the corner. She sat there rocking backwards and forwards with her eyes tightly closed and her hands over her ears. Her hair and appearance was a mess. Her clothes were ripped and blood stained. Beneath her, the floor was soaked with her own urine and faeces. The stench was foul.
“Its OK darling,” said Clyde reassuringly. He knelt down next to her and held her head. Harri opened her eyes as he smiled at her.
“You’re OK now, you’re safe!”
Harri stared at him blankly. She felt no emotion, nothing. She did not know whether this was real or another hallucination. Terrified she had stayed in the same spot for several days now without eating or drinking.
“Where are your parents? Is anybody with you or looking after you?” he asked.
Harri looked down at the bodies that lay on the ground. The strange man nodded with a knowing look that he understood.
“I’m so sorry for your loss,” he said as he took her hand and held it firmly.
“There’s nothing you can do for them now. They are gone. I need you to come with me.”
The man smiled at her. The smile was warm and loving, a fatherly smile. Harri knew she could not stay here anymore. There was nothing left for her other than bad memories and the decomposing corpses of her parents. She began to cry as the realisation of what had happened dawned on her. The man embraced her as she sobbed her eyes out.
“It’s OK, let it all out,” he said reassuringly. “You’re safe now.”
Harri's fear and loneliness expressed itself as she cried. Tears streamed down her cheeks as she buried her head in to his chest. An adult was with her now to help her and to look after her. She was no longer alone.
He squeezed her tight as he began to sob too.
“You remind me so much of my daughter. I will not let them get you. I won’t watch it happen again.”
Finally, they both calmed down. The man looked at her and smiled.
“My name is Clyde, Clyde Carlton,” the man said as he reached out and shook her hand.
“Mmm...,” Harri stuttered her words as she struggled to talk.
“Mmm my name is Harriette. Mmmy parents cccall me Harri.”
“It’s a pleasure to meet you Harri,” said Clyde as he reached into his pocket. After a moment, he removed a bottle of water and a candy bar.
“Here you go darling. Let’s get some energy back in you.”
As Clyde passed the supplies to Harri, he turned his head suddenly. Shuffling could be heard outside slowly coming towards them.
“If it’s OK with you we should probably find somewhere more pleasant to talk?”
Clyde helped Harri to her feet. Once she was up, he picked up the spade he had used on her mother. He raised a finger and placed it on his lips.
“Shh,” he said as he raised the spade. Blood dripped off the end and splattered on the ground as he quietly sneaked round the corner of the shed. Harri looked at the window and saw a silhouette of someone shuffling past towards the door. The silhouette disappeared as the zombie moved out of view. All of a sudden, there was sickening thud as Clyde whacked the zombie with all his might. With the assault, the creature fell to the ground motionless. Harri left the shed to find Clyde standing over the body. He placed one foot down on its chest as he pulled up on the spade. Blood shot out from the corpse as the spade was subsequently removed from the body.
“Please don’t look Harri. It’s not a pretty sight,” he said as he wiped the spade on the grass to remove the worst of the blood.
“You will be pleased to know we have a young lad about your age. I’m sure you will both get on famously.”
Clyde reached down and took Harri’s hand. He then raised the other arm and signalled with the spade towards the garden gate.
“Shall we?” he asked.
Together they left the Garden and Harri’s home. That was the last time she had seen the house and her parents.
Clyde stopped at the gate as he turned to face her. As Harri looked on Clyde’s face slowly turned grey. His eyes went dark as blood began to dribble from his mouth and nose. Harri felt her hand hurt as he squeezed tighter and tighter.
Harri screamed as she watched Clyde turn into a monster before her very eyes. She tried to pull away but it was no use, he was too strong. Harri looked on in fear as he opened his mouth and howled loudly at her. The howl conveyed hunger and pain as Clyde pulled her close and bit into her young vulnerable flesh.
The vivid dream abruptly ended as Harri woke up. She could hear howling again but this time it was real, and close by.
She felt so cold as the bitter wind bit into her exposed flesh. Harri looked at the small fire burning in front of her but it did not provide much heat now as it had died down. It was now mostly ash and a few burning embers.
Quickly she got up and packed her things. Harri cursed at her self for sleeping too long but the constant tiredness was taking its toll on her. Oh how she wished she could end it all now. She would too, if it was not for a promise she had made to herself several years ago. There was only one place she wanted to die and that was at home with her family. Certainly not on her own in the middle of nowhere.
Chapter 2
Harri walked through the frozen wilderness. Wrapped in several deteriorated blankets she slogged it out against the elements. Snow lightly fell all around her. In another lifetime, this would have been beautiful but now it only reminded her of the daily struggle she faced to survive.
In the distance, she could see the silhouette of a former town. Usually she would avoid such places but as it was particularly cold, it was worth the risk.
Her supplies were meagre at best. Over the last few years, she was lucky to find anything useful, everything had been left for a long time and disrepair had taken its toll.
As she neared the abandoned town Harri could see the tell tale signs of the zombie population. Bodies lay frozen on the street. They were mummified in appearance. Dry, frozen skin barely clung to the old bones they hung from. The only sign of the occupant’s clothes were bare tatters mostly destroyed by the elements and decay.
Around her stood the ruins of a world long lost. Structures crumbled as the elements bit into them, slowly being eaten away as the dead had done to the living.
The sun was barely visible through the thick snow cloud. The town felt dark and eerie as she slowly walked through it in silence not wanting to disturb the dead.
Ten years ago the group of survivors she was with had decided they would move further north. As the zombies aged, they had noticed that the cold severely affected their mobility. The colder it got the slower they became until the point they would freeze solid fully rendering them disabled for a limited time.
Being frozen did not destroy them though. When they warmed back up they could move freely again. The weather did eventually break them down though until they could no longer move however, it seemed to affect zombies individually.
Harri walked down another abandoned street. It was just as deteriorated as everything else she had seen. The windows of the collapsed buildings were largely smashed and broken no doubt from the prolific looting by survivors from the years past. All around her Harri could feel the eyes of the zombies on her but they were far to cold and frozen to follow her. The zombies stood as still as statues. Frozen in the last position they had adopted before the temperature fell below freezing. Luckily, the sky remained overcast with snow cloud. If there had been direct sunlight to warm the population up then Harri would not have taken the risk of entering the town but with the zombies frozen, the risk was acceptable.
Alongside the zombies, human remains littered the street. They were largely the remains of zombies that had permanently succumbed to the adverse weather conditions. They lay shattered and broken all around. All though they may not be mobile anymore they still posed as much of a threat as any of the other zombies. Care had to be taken that the zombies did not grab or bite you as you walked past.
Most of the buildings lay derelict. The roofs had largely given in to the elements and the lack of maintenance. Bricks and rubble were strewn across the sidewalks.
As Harri moved further into town, she stopped by an abandoned convenience store. She recognised it from several years ago when she had passed by on the way north.
With a heavy heart, Harri headed into the convenience store knowing what she would find. She did not want to do it but she had too. She could not leave him here alone any longer.
The structure was largely intact. It was one of the few buildings she had ever seen in this condition, in the last few years at least. Quietly she turned the handle as she entered the convenience store’s side entrance.
There was a faint crying in the background, which she knew all too well. In tears, Harri fell to the floor. It was all too much. She could not go any further. As she cried, she pushed the door closed behind her.
Harri fell to the floor and curled up into a ball. As much as it hurt, she could not leave him alone anymore. She should have never left him in the first place.
As the tiredness got the better off her when she was at her lowest, she slipped into unconsciousness. With it, she flashed back to when she was last at the convenience store.
Harri lay on a conveyor belt by a convenience store checkout. Marquis stood next to her squeezing her hand. Her legs were spread apart as a woman looked between them. She was quite grubby in appearance but then again they all were. She wore fingerless green gloves. Her fingernails were dirty and broken. Harri struggled to remember her name but as the flashback became more vivid, the details came back to her.
“…Harri, I know it hurts but you have got to push. You’re doing so well!” said Annabelle Veronique.
In the real world, she had been a midwife. She was so fortunate to have her here.
Marquis squeezed Harri’s hand as he looked into her eyes. He looked so worried. The thought of childbirth in this hellish environment was a nightmare in itself.
Harri screamed as it hurt so much. She could feel the baby coming, but the pain was unbearable. They had run out of painkillers long ago. The convenience store although in good structural condition had already been raided. All the medical supplies had been cleaned out leaving nothing for them to use.
“Harriette, I need you to focus dear. The baby is crowning but I need you to push when I say so. He will be here with us before you know it.”
Marquis listened to the midwife before he turned his attention back to Harri.
“You hear that babe. He is nearly here! Just need you to keep pushing…”
There was no way to know whether it was a boy or girl. Marquis knew that but he still referred to the baby as a boy. Annabelle had always said that all the trouble the pregnancy had caused her meant it could not be anything else.
Harri felt another contraction come. She screamed loudly as she squeezed down on Marquis’ hand.
“That’s it, keep pushing!” shouted Annabelle.
“He’s coming!”
Harri could feel the baby passing through her birth canal. The pain was unbearable but she was so near the end now.