Pandora: A Novel of the Zombie Apocalypse Read online

  They were just making their way through Fayetteville, North Carolina, with Mike in the lead again, when he stopped in the middle lane. He got out and ran to Sean’s car.

  “Give me your binoculars,” he said rapidly.

  Sean handed them to him, and he put them to his eyes. Adjusting the focus, he fixed on a water tower just beyond the exit ramp they were next to.

  “There’s a young girl up there,” Mike said. “She’s waving her arms and calling.”

  Looking through the windshield, Sean squinted his eyes then peered up at Mike. “Maybe it’s a trap.”

  “I don’t know,” Mike said, putting the binoculars to his eyes again. “She looks really, really scared. I don’t think you can fake that amount of fear.”

  “We’re starting to draw some zombies,” Linda said, leaning over the console. “What do you guys want to do?”

  “I think we should go down there,” stated Mike.

  Sean stared up at him. “Are you sure?”

  “Look,” said Mike, looking around, “we’re getting a crowd here. Let’s go down there. If it looks dicey, we’ll go back up the far entrance ramp and avoid this cluster.”

  “Sounds like a plan. Let’s go,” Sean said, rolling up his window.

  The three made a hard right. Avoiding a snarl of two tangled pickups, one with a body draped out of the shattered windshield, they mounted the median curb and went down the exit ramp.

  Leaving the zombies behind, they wove through a couple of streets until they reached the water tower. The girl, standing on the metal walkway around the tank, had seen them coming and was calling out to them.

  “Help me! Help me!” she screamed. “Please do something. You have to help me.”

  Underneath the metal legs of the tripod holding up the large water tank were a dozen moaning zombies. They were reaching up and clawing the air, as if their sheer will would get them their meal. Each time the girl yelled, they redoubled their efforts.

  Mike got out and ran to Sean and Jack, who had emerged from their cars.

  “I count twelve under the tower,” he said. “We can take them out.”

  “I’d rather not use the ammo,” stated Sean. “Besides it’ll draw others. We’ll wind up having to fight our way out of here.”

  “What’s the alternative?” asked Mike.

  Jack pointed to the grassy lot the tower was perched on. “I’ll drive up there, hit one or two of them, then slowly drive away. Hopefully they’ll follow me. I’ll lead them out then circle around the block. You two drive up, and get her down. I’ll meet you back here, and we’ll shoot back to the entrance ramp and be off.”

  They agreed, and Jack jumped back into his Jeep, explained the plan to Malik and Carol, then drove into the grassy lot. Driving straight at the zombies, he spun the wheel hard. The SUV fishtailed, and the rear of the Cherokee struck two of the undead. Jack threw it into reverse and quickly backed hard into another. Then, shifting back into drive, he pulled ten yards away and braked. Carol and Malik rolled down the side windows and hung out, calling and taunting the zombies. Turning now, the creatures all started after the car.

  Jack slowly started forward, keeping a ten-yard distance between the car and the zombies. As if they were in a parade, they marched out of the lot, with Carol and Malik cheering them on.

  Once Jack’s car had turned right and started down the street, Sean and Michael quickly drove up to the water tower. The girl, astutely grasping the tactic, was already on her way down the tower. When she was down, she ran up to Sean’s vehicle.

  “Oh, thankyouthankyouthankyou!” she blubbered, tears running down her pretty face.

  “Quick,” commanded Sean. “Get in.”

  She jumped into the backseat, and the two cars drove back to the street. They heard a roar, and Jack’s Cherokee came barreling down the opposite street. The three cars then sped off. They drove to the I-95 entrance and, avoiding a stalled, abandoned UPS truck, drove up and away.

  Sean turned to his new passenger. “Are you all right? Have you been bitten?”

  She was sitting with her head back. “No. No. I’m fine,” she said in a shaky voice. “I thought I was done for.”

  “Well,” he replied, “it’s a good thing Mike saw you.”

  “Who’s Mike?” she asked, opening one eye.

  “He’s the guy driving the Yukon ahead of us.”

  Linda turned around in her seat. “I’m Linda,” she said. Pointing at Sean, she said, “And this is Sean.”

  “Hi. My name’s Jennifer. Uh, Jenny.”

  “How did you wind up on the water tower, Jenny?” asked Sean.

  “My boyfriend Justin and I were trying to break into an empty house. He was forcing the door when this stupid dog starts barking at us. It’s standing there on the sidewalk, barking. So Justin’s trying to bust open the door with his shoulder now, and this…this fucking dog won’t stop. I ran at it to chase it away, when all these zombies start converging on us from everywhere. The dog sees them and runs off.” She snickered. “It runs off and gets away scot-free. I freak out and run back on the porch with Justin. He’s still trying to break the door open.”

  Jenny paused, looking down and shaking her head. “Justin’s a cool guy, but he never was very big. The zombies by now are up on the porch, moaning and growling at us, when Justin finally breaks through.” She had tears in her eyes. “He…he grabs me and throws me inside, just as they fall on him. I’m screaming and I have his hand, and I’m trying to pull him in. But there’s just too many now. Some have fallen, and they’re crawling and grabbing my legs. I…I lose…Justin’s hand slips out of mine, and he goes down.”

  Linda handed her a bottle of water and said softly, “Here, drink this.”

  Taking a couple of gulps, Jenny continued. “I run upstairs, and they start to follow me. There’s this tall grandfather clock on the first landing, so I push it over. It slides down the stairs, taking out the freaks coming up. Then I run into a bedroom and lock the door.” She looked up at them. “Brilliant, huh?”

  Sean asked her, “What happened then?”

  “Then I realized I was fucked. I ran to the window and looked out. The roof was under it, and I jumped out. I ran along until I came to the garage. Then I threw down my knapsack and jumped down to the garage roof. From there I jumped to the ground and started running.”

  She drank some more water and continued. “I kept running and running, and these zombies were coming from everywhere. By the time I reached the water tower, I couldn’t run anymore. My side hurt, and I was just too damned tired, period. So I climbed, period. I got to the walkway and looked back down. There must have been fifty of them below me. I was so tired that I just sat down. It was night, and I guess I must have fallen asleep.

  “When I woke up, it was daylight, and when I peeked over the side, there were only a few left. I guess because they couldn’t see me up there, they must have gotten bored or maybe forgot why they were standing there in the first place. So they left.”

  Sean and Linda looked at each other, knowing they had important information for the future.

  Jenny smiled brightly and said, “And then you guys came.”

  They smiled back at her, and Sean said, “You must be hungry. Look in the back and grab a can. There’s an opener there too.”

  Kneeling backward in the seat, the young girl went through some cans then pulled one out. “Oh, my God, canned peaches! I love canned peaches.” She sat back, opened the can, and, with an amazed smile, started eating.

  Linda turned back to the front, grinning. Jenny looked like a kid holding that oversized can. She was most likely about eighteen or nineteen. Cute, with a spray of freckles across her nose and a short, spiky hair, she was probably adorable when cleaned up.

  In the first car, Mike was asking Sue about her experiences back at the hospital. She told him about her floor, how things went bad and how they all had gotten together. She told him sadly that it was Brandon who remembered the maintenance area
and that it was because of him that they had gotten out. He let everyone else go first. Because of that, he didn’t make it.

  Naomi and Mariam, not wanting to relive that experience, sat in the back, quietly talking about old boyfriends. Naomi was in the middle of a hilarious story about a guy she went out with once. He had stopped the car and gotten insistent, ignoring her repeated nos. So she hauled off and broke his jaw.

  In the rear car, Jack drove while Malik and Carol talked about various weapons. Jack was wearing an ironic grin, listening to the popular doctor of internal medicine and the tall girl who hoped to fade into the wallpaper argue the various virtues of different firearms.

  Back in Sean’s Murano, Sean and Linda were softly talking about Brian. They didn’t want to disturb Jenny, who appeared to be sleeping.

  Jenny squirmed in the rear seat and appeared to be uncomfortable. Damn it, she thought. My leg is itching again. She wanted to reach down and scratch her ankle raw. Instead she pulled up the cuff of her pants. Looking down, she saw, now turned red and purple, a small seeping bite mark. Making a face and glancing up at Sean and Linda to make sure they didn’t notice, she pulled her pant leg back over the bite. Folding her arms, she closed her eyes and lay still. She didn’t feel so well.

  21

  Tommy Di Meola saw Jacob Fine walk up to him. Jacob was one of the remaining residents of Diamond Sea Estates, the small community they were now in. Jake, as he insisted on being called, was a ramrod-straight, sixty-six-year-old commodities broker. He had made hundreds of millions on Wall Street. Deciding that he’d had enough and that it was time to play, he got out, came to Florida, and bought the biggest mansion in this small, very exclusive community. Jake was also the de facto spokesman for the rest of the residents.

  There were only two other houses still occupied by their original owners. Next to him (and “next” to was a misnomer, as each house stood on a large parcel of land) were the Jacobis. Morris was a very refined-looking gentleman. With a full head of white hair sweeping back over the tops of his ears, the New York attorney struck a handsome figure. His wife Emma was very petite with curly, stylish hair. Down five houses were Robert and Margaret Mills. Bob was a hail-fellow-well-met and always had a hearty handshake and smile for everyone. He owned a string of polo clubs and a lot of real estate in the Midwest. His wife Margaret was nice also but much lower key.

  The five of them were all that were left of the owners. Some of the rest were dead. Others, either on vacation abroad or just out of state when Pandora hit, had fates unknown. Jake walked up to Tommy and said, “How are you today, Master Sergeant?”

  “I’m fine and you?”

  “I’m well. It’s nice and quiet today.”

  Because of the circumstances, Tommy and his squad had reverted to a more casual discipline. Everyone still called Tommy “Sarge,” and his word was still law, but everything else was of a more relaxed nature.

  “Quiet is good,” replied Tommy.

  The past couple of days had been a bit hectic. Because the community was on the Intracoastal Waterway, Tommy wanted to secure the marina area. Although not directly inside the walled enclosure, the marina was next to it, which proved a little problematic. They cordoned off the area with trucks and cars and surrounded that with barbed wire. Three yachts docked there were owned by Diamond Sea Estate residents. Jake owned the largest one, and the other two were owned by the deceased. Having an alternate means of escape, in case things took a turn for the worst, was a definite plus. They set up a machine gun in the window of one of the estates overlooking the marina. Tommy also was worried about looters and any ersatz pirates.

  This activity unfortunately drew some curious undead, who were eliminated before they could draw a bigger crowd. There was a very large horde of the undead in Fort Lauderdale, and Tommy was afraid of what would happen if they started moving this way.

  “What’s happening today, Sergeant?” Jake asked Tommy.

  “Well,” Tommy explained, “I have Sergeant Ortega, Jamal, Travis, and Walt doing supply runs northeast along Route 1, and Rich, Luis, James, and Mario heading northwest toward 95 to do the same. Boca’s been picked clean, and I’m leery of heading too far south.”

  “Why is that?”

  “There’s a very large concentration of Zs around the Fort Lauderdale area, and I don’t want to draw any unwanted attention this way.”

  “I see you have the situation well in hand, young man,” said Jake with a smile.

  “As well in hand as a zombie apocalypse can be,” Tommy replied.

  Sergeant Ortega went as far as Boynton Beach then headed back. This part of the coast was heavily looted in the more depressed areas. They were able to pick up a few supplies, but they had to fight rival gangs over others. When the inevitable zombies came in force, the soldiers were able to drive the Humvees away, leaving the remaining gang to try to fight it out with them.

  Corporal Richard Foley and his group were much more successful. The majority of the population west of I-95 were elderly, and those who remained didn’t fare well in trying to forage at the supermarkets and stores. As slow as some of the older zombies had become, they were still faster and, more important, more persistent than their prey. They never got tired, and they never felt pain.

  22

  It was four o’clock in the afternoon. A torrential rain had started a half hour before and hadn’t let up. If anything it seemed to have gotten worse. It was difficult for the windshield wipers to keep up with the sheets of water coming down. The three SUVs, winding their way slowly through the abandoned cars and trucks, came to an overpass. Mike stopped, opened his window, and yelled back, “Let’s stop under the bridge.” Sean gave a thumbs-up, and they headed for the shoulder to reach the overpass. Suddenly Mike stopped.

  Underneath the concrete arch was a mass of zombies. It looked as if they’d all gathered under the bridge purposely.

  “Shit,” Mike said disgustedly. “As dumb as they are, they’re smart enough to get out of the rain.”

  “Maybe the rain makes them rot faster,” suggested Naomi.

  “Maybe,” replied Mike, “but it doesn’t help us out here.”

  Mike sped up and headed for a sudden hole in the zombies’ ranks. The three SUVs got through with minimal damage to them and not-so-minimal damage to the undead.

  The wind had picked up, and the teeming downpour was coming in at an angle. Mike pulled alongside a large tractor-trailer; partially shielded from the rain, he got out and ran back to Sean’s car. Sean opened the window.

  “We’re getting off at the next exit to see if we can find a place to ride this out,” Mike said. “I can’t see shit out here.”

  They drove another three miles and got off the highway. About a mile up the road was a motel. They pulled into the parking lot. Sean broke into the manager’s office and grabbed a bunch of keys. There were no other cars in the lot, so Sean figured there would be no surprises. He had pulled under the large roof of the car park connected to the office. He motioned for Mike and Jack to do the same.

  Protected from the rain, which had let up some, they got out and stretched. Sean came over and said, “We have five keys here. Let’s split up into pairs. Linda and I in one room, then Mike and Sue, Naomi and Carol, Jack and Malik, and Mariam and Jenny. We might as well stay the night in comfortable beds.”

  “I hope this ain’t one of those places that rents by the hour,” Naomi drawled with distaste.

  “You’d better pull the comforter all the way down,” joked Malik. “You wouldn’t want to stick to it.”

  The women all said, “Eww,” and made faces while the guys laughed.

  As everyone was taking their belongings, Sean walked over to Jenny. “Are you okay?” he asked. “You really don’t look so hot.”

  She smiled what seemed a sad smile to him. “Not so hot? I thought I was as cute as a button.”

  “No, really,” he replied, “you’re very pale.”

  “I’m okay. Really I am,” Jenny
insisted. “Justin and I caught bad colds sleeping outside, and I think it’s coming back again. A good night’s sleep, and I’ll be fine. Really.”

  Sean stared hard at her. He squinted up his eyes and said, “Are you sure? You don’t look good. You sure you weren’t bitten?”

  “I’m fine!” she said angrily, then spun on her heel and walked off.

  As they were splitting up to retire to their rooms for the night, Sean pulled Mariam aside and whispered, “Jenny doesn’t look good.”

  “Yes, I noticed.”

  “Keep an eye on her,” he continued. “If you suspect trouble, come get us.”

  With that they said good night and went to their rooms.

  In the middle of the night, Jenny lay in bed, unable to sleep. Looking at Mariam in the next bed, she saw that the young Latina was sound asleep.

  Suddenly another round of cramps forced her to curl up in a fetal position. Her body and joints ached. She had a terrible headache and felt nauseous. Worse was the horrible throbbing coming from her leg. After getting up slowly, she sat on the edge of the bed. Another bout of shakes traveled up and down her body. Wobbling to the bathroom, she went in and closed the door.

  Turning on the light, the formerly pretty young girl looked at herself in the mirror. She couldn’t believe what was looking back at her. It was as if another, older, hideous person were staring back.