The Zombie Zovels (Book 1): Zombie Suburbia Read online

  “Why wouldn't they tell us?”

  “Maybe because they don't know what to tell us. I don't think even they know what's happening, plus it would cause worldwide panic.”

  Lane cleared the plates away and I finished my lemonade.

  “Sorry if I killed the mood,” he said.

  “It's okay, I think it's killing everything... literally.”

  “You think they're all dead?”

  “I dunno, but I think you're right about the government hiding something. All these people started getting sick right after those reports of people getting bitten from bats started popping up.” “You think all these sick people caught it from a bat?”

  “I don't know, we haven't heard much about the bats recently, but it's possible. I mean that's when it first hit the news that people were getting sick with a strange new virus.”

  “Psycho bats that turn savage and attack people, carrying a new virus that makes humans sick and confused. I dunno maybe? I heard someone in Brazil contracted this flu,” he said using air quotes when he said the word flu. “then when they woke up in the hospital they just went crazy and started biting everyone in sight-”

  Lane noticed my disgusted face.

  “Sorry! Maybe you shouldn't walk home tonight?”

  “I think I'm going to take the truck. I only had one beer, I didn't even touch the second beer.” “Well, we wouldn't want you getting bitten by a bloodthirsty bat.” Lane joked.

  I looked at him, kind of wanting to laugh at his inappropriate joke.

  “Sorry, I'll stop talking.”

  My cell pinged. Message from Pip.

  Where are you?

  “It's Pip, she's finally noticed I'm missing.”

  I stood up and tucked the stool back under, and Lane cleared the glasses into the sink. “Thanks for hiding with me,” he said, turning to look at me.

  “Thanks for letting me borrow your T-shirt.”

  “It's okay you can keep it.”

  “No, I'll wash it and give it back to you at school.”

  “Or you could keep it and wear it, I think it looks better on you.”

  Lane moved across the floor and positioned himself in front of me.

  “So what are you gonna do now?” I asked.

  “I'm probably going to go downstairs into the basement and play Xbox in Lewis's man-cave.” “Well, you have fun with that.” I said, trying to sidestep around him, but he put his arm down on the counter blocking me.

  I turned to go around him and he quickly placed his other hand on the counter, trapping me inbetween his arms. I hadn't realized I had been slowly backing myself into the counter. I thought about ducking under his arm.

  “Don't even think about it,” he said, guessing my next move.

  I looked up to meet his gaze and he smiled, watching my lips.

  “What are you doing?” I asked.

  He didn't answer and moved closer to me, pressing me into the counter. Even in my wedge trainers, Lane still towered over me, but I was slightly arched over the counter which didn't help. He leaned closer and I leaned further back. I brought my hands up and placed them on his chest. He stopped and looked at one of my hands, I should have pushed him away, I shouldn't have even wanted to kiss Lane Walker... but I knew deep down it was all I wanted to do.

  I found myself licking my lips in anticipation, and when I didn't push him back he took it as permission to close the distance between our lips.

  His lips pressed against mine and his hand cupped the back of my head. I gripped onto his T-shirt pulling him even closer to me.

  His tongue slid into my mouth, flicking against mine, and roughly exploring my mouth. Both his hands moved to my face, gently holding me in place as the kiss continued.

  I hadn't kissed many boys, but this kiss was making all the other kisses non-existent. I knew I should stop, but I knew after tonight Lane probably wouldn't talk to me again. It was one of those never again moments and I was enjoying it far too much. His hands fell to my waist and he broke away from my lips, but only so he could lift me onto the counter. He pushed his way inbetween my legs and took my face between his hands again, and my hands slid under his T-shirt, exploring his rock-hard abs.

  The back door suddenly swung open, and we broke apart, which was more like me pushing Lane away, he wasn't too pleased we'd been interrupted.

  Lewis came through the door with a very drunk Katherine under his arm. Lewis had seen us and was about to say something when Katherine fell onto his chest and crushed her lips to his, she hadn't noticed us yet. After a brief kiss, she pulled away and Lewis smiled down at her, holding her up by her arms as she was unsteady on her feet.

  “Sorry, man, didn't mean to interrupt,” Lewis said, turning to look at us again.

  “I was just leaving.” I said, pushing Lane back so I could get down.

  Katherine looked up at the sound of my voice and spotted Lane. She quickly unhooked herself from Lewis and swayed to the side, using the counter to balance herself. She stumbled forward and into Lane's arms.

  She slid her arms around his neck and tried to kiss him.

  “Katherine, what the fuck?” Lewis muttered.

  Lane grabbed her wrists and pulled them away from his neck, then he held her away from him at arms length. Her eyes drifted to me.

  “Alex James?” she said with a snotty laugh.

  I slipped around the pair of them and headed for the back door.

  “Alex, wait,” Lane called. “Here you can have her back,” Lane said, passing Katherine back to Lewis.

  I dashed around the side of the house, and Lane came jogging up behind me.

  “Alex,” He grabbed my arm.

  “What?” I said, turning to face him.

  “Don't run away.”

  “I'm not, I'm just going to find Pip.”

  He let go and stepped back giving me space.

  “Are you going to talk to me at school next week?” he asked.

  “I don't know, are you even allowed to talk to me? I don't think Lacey will approve.” “I don't really care what Lacey approves of.”

  “Alex!” Pip called from over the fence.

  “I have to go, she's looking for me.” I took three steps back, but Lane reached out and grabbed my hand pulling me to a stop.

  “Is that it?” he said.

  “Is what it?”

  “You're gonna give me the cold shoulder now?”

  “Lane, we were never friends, we don't even know each other.”

  “What if I want to change that?”

  “I don't think it's your choice. You hang around with the populars, and I'm not one of them. It would be social suicide for you.” I said, trying to wriggle out of his grasp.

  “Okay, Alex, have it your way.” he said, letting go of my hand. I took another step back. “but if you change your mind-”

  “I won't. You're not my type.” I said.

  “I think you're wrong, and I'm going to change your mind about me,”

  “Good luck with that... I know exactly what you are, and I'm not interested in having a ride on the back of your bike.”

  “Was that code for something? I didn't get it,” he smirked.

  “Goodbye, Lane,”

  I hurried down the path and hopped over the flower garden to next door and spotted Pip on her cell phone.

  I tapped her on the shoulder.

  “I was just ringing you.” she said.

  “You were.” I mumbled, patting my pockets down looking for my cell.

  “Where did you go?”

  She was my best friend and I loved her, and there was no way I was going to tell her I had just been exchanging mouth saliva with her hero.

  “I was.. err..”

  “What are you wearing?” she asked.

  “Liam puked on my top.”

  “Liam?” she said with a skeptical look.

  “Yes, Liam.”

  “Is that why you disappeared? Wait, whose is that?” she asked, eyeing the T-shir
t I was wearing. But before I got a chance to answer, she squeaked.

  “Lane's walking this way,” she whispered.

  I didn't turn around and looked down at the ground, pretending I couldn't care less. “Alex,” Lane called my name.

  I was still looking at the ground when Pip shuffled closer and knocked my leg with her crutch. “What?” I said, casually looking up at him.

  He was holding my cell in his hand.

  “You forgot this.”

  “Thanks,” I said through gritted teeth.

  I could practically feel Pip's eyes burning holes into me.

  I was waiting for him to leave, but he wasn't in any hurry.

  “I said thanks, you can go now.”

  He smiled to himself, stepped around us, and lightly tapped my butt before he left, thankfully, Pip didn't see it.

  “Oh, and Alex,” I looked up to meet his eyes, still recovering from the weird pat on the ass. “Game on!” He smirked and turned on his heel.

  I was still deciding if he was just messing with me when Pip whacked me in the leg again with her crutch.

  “Oww!”

  “Why did Lane have your cell and what did he mean by game on?”

  “I borrowed a T-shirt from Lewis's house, and Lane was there playing Xbox. I must have forgotten to pick my cell up after I'd changed.”

  “You borrowed Lewis's T-shirt?”

  “Um no, this is-is Lane's T-shirt.”

  “What!”

  “It's just a T-shirt, Pip, calm down. He saw me wandering around outside and said I could borrow one, so we went inside and I changed into a clean T-shirt and that's about it.”

  “I thought you said he was playing Xbox?”

  “He was... he saw me through the window.”

  Damn, I'm a terrible liar.

  “Did he say anything?”

  “About?”

  “Did he say anything about me?”

  “No... he didn't say much, then Lewis turned up with Katherine, and I left.”

  “I can't believe this,” Pip squealed.

  “I know right, who knew Lane Walker could actually speak to a non-popular.” “Do you think you could maybe bring me up in conversation next time?”

  “Next time?”

  “When you give him his T-shirt back, you could drop my name into the conversation.” Pip was so fucking deluded sometimes that it drove me mad.

  There was no way I could tell her he said I could keep the T-shirt, she'd probably steal it from my drawers when I wasn't looking, and I suddenly felt weirdly attached to it.

  “Maybe, we'll see. Why were you ringing me, are you ready to go?”

  “No, I don't want to go, but my dad's freaking out.”

  “Why, what's wrong?”

  “Another three teenagers have gone down with the flu this weekend. One of them was Courtney.” “Huh? I wondered why she wasn't with the rest of them.”

  “Dad said they've started shutting schools down in some places to try and prevent the flu from spreading.”

  “The flu. It's not the fucking flu!”

  “Well, whatever it is, my dad doesn't want me hanging around with anyone from school unnecessarily.”

  “C'mon, I'll give you a ride home.”

  Chapter 4

  Oregon. Eighteen Months Later. “You should have tried out for the track team,” I said, coming to a stop beside the dead zombie. He gave it a kick to make sure it was definitely dead. I was certain it was.

  Its skin had paled and turned green from the infection, and infected wounds oozed puss down its arms. This one was male, the only way I could tell was by its enormous feet that had a pair of large walking boots on them. His other clothes were barely hanging on by a thread.

  As the disease spreads, it gets harder to tell what sex a person would have been, their hair falls out and they become hollow shells, with their sunken eyes and frail skin, which can easily be damaged. He was bent over examining the zombie. I didn't know what he found so interesting. He straightened up and grinned at me.

  I hadn't seen this boy since that night at Sean's party. The following Monday I never got a chance to see him as we were all sent home before lunch, and that was the last day I ever attended high school.

  “You got him straight in the back of the skull. Good job, Alex!” he said.

  “I'm surprised you remember my name.” I said.

  “Of course, I remember your name.” I raised an eyebrow at him. “I mean, you were always with that girl, the one with only one leg.”

  I smiled grimly. He didn't even know her name. She had spent years convinced she was in love with him and he couldn't even remember her name.

  “Pip. Her name was Pip.” I said glumly, reminding myself of a life that felt as though it happened a million years ago.

  He nodded and started patting down his pockets.

  “I'm Lane... you know, in case you forgot.”

  He pulled out a packet of cigarettes and lit one, watching me carefully.

  Cigarettes were easy to come by, but when most people raided homes and stores they were looking for edible food, water, and clean clothes, not cigarettes. He coughed a deep mucousy cough. “You won't be able to keep running like that if you keep smoking those.”

  He didn't say anything and looked down at the makeshift weapon in my hand, that was covered in zombie blood, as were my hands.

  “You're good with that,” he said.

  “Well, I've been using it for a long while.”

  The weapon was mine, and it was the one I had lost in the last town when I got into a scuffle and had to make a quick exit. The only other weapon I had on me was a fork inside my messenger bag, and I wanted to keep using it to eat with. I assumed he had been following me for awhile and picked up my weapon for me.

  “Why have you been following me?” I asked.

  “What do you mean?”

  “I mean why are you following me?”

  “I dunno... because you're the first human I've seen in a month. What are you doing here?” He meant what was I doing in Oregon, a long way away from our home town back in Washington. “I don't know really. I just keep moving.”

  “Yeah I know what you mean.”

  I looked down at his feet. He was still wearing his red All Star Converse, I was surprised they hadn't worn out by now, but he might not have walked the whole way. I sometimes got lucky with the odd car that still had the keys and a tiny bit of gas left in the tank.

  I rubbed my hands down my jeans, smearing zombie blood down them in the process, they were already filthy and covered in old zombie bloodstains. I would have found a new pair back at the last town, but I got chased out by a swarm of zombies.

  Their instinct was to chase humans and to feed off of them. We were their idea of take-out on the go. Some towns were like that, completely taken over by zombies, but I usually stayed clear of those places, but the last one had appeared quiet when I'd first entered.

  “So which way are you going?” he asked.

  “Which way do you think?” I replied.

  There was only one route out of town and it was the one I had been following. He knew that. I think he was asking permission to come with me.

  I looked down at him. His jeans were covered in mud and there was a suspicious rip in his black hoodie. I stepped back and tilted my head, speculating.

  “Lift it,” I said, nodding my head at his hoodie.

  I think he thought I was kidding for a moment, but I waited for it to sink in I was being serious. He slowly lifted his hoodie along with his T-shirt, revealing a scrape across his stomach. It didn't look like a zombie wound, they become infected real quickly, it's how the disease spreads so rapidly. He spun around so I could see his back, which was smooth.

  “My legs don't have any cuts or bites if that's what you were wondering, but I can take off my pants as well, if you want?” he asked, smirking.

  “No, I'll take your word for it.”

  “Why aren't you with one of those s
urvivor groups?”

  “I was,” I said.

  He looked at me but didn't push me for any more info, and I was grateful. I didn't want to tell him about the last time I had taken shelter with a group of other survivors, and we were ambushed in the middle of the night. I was lucky I got away.

  “Why aren't you?” I asked.

  “I haven't found any.” he replied, looking at the dead zombie again.

  “I think the zombies are getting smarter. I think they figured out we hide in groups in large buildings so I figure my best chances are out here.”

  He nodded and looked around, checking the trees. I walked around the zombie and started moving, I didn't like standing around like this. I swung my weapon beside my leg and soon enough Lane caught up, matching my pace. I looked sideways at him and caught him smiling at me. He looked away and pulled up his neck tube, covering half his face. The picture on the neck tube was a skeleton skull, but only the bottom half of the skull, with teeth, it looked kind of creepy. Even though I couldn't see his mouth I knew he was smirking by the way his eyes looked at me. “What? It keeps my face warm.”

  I said nothing and pulled up my hood. We followed the road, my eyes glued to the trees. I hadn't been expecting to see a zombie in these forests. They normally stuck close to the towns, there was nothing for them to eat out here. They weren't clever enough to pick berries or hunt. They were driven by their hunger for flesh, to the point they would sometimes eat each other. I remembered on the news before we lost the TV broadcasting, they had said the disease affected humans and made them hungry for flesh. Everyone started calling them the flesh-eaters (basically a zombie). Their bodies started dying from the moment they became infected. The disease spread within weeks and soon became an epidemic. The disease originally came from bats that had traveled over from Mexico. No one knows what happened or why the bats suddenly became carriers of the virus. The bats became hostile and once a few humans had contracted the virus there was no stopping it. One bite was all it took to create worldwide zombie chaos. Safe to say I now hated bats. The only upside was the disease didn't affect animals, otherwise, I would have been screwed months ago with the amount of bug bites I'd had, and my fair share of run-ins with psychotic dogs. I'm not surprised they had turned that way, to them the humans were the ones that fed them and took them for walks, now most of the population walking around on two legs wanted to eat them.