Zombie Apocalypse Series (Book 1): The Fall of Man Read online

  THE FALL OF MAN

  ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE SERIES 1

  JEFF DEGORDICK

  CONTENTS

  Copyright

  Foreword

  1. The Fall of Man

  2. Eight Years Later

  3. Travelers' Tale

  4. Lurking in the Dark

  5. David's Gift

  6. On the Road

  7. Checked Out

  8. Refuge

  9. Back on the Trail

  10. Roadblock

  11. Out of the Frying Pan…

  12. …And into the Fire

  13. School's Out

  14. Hillsboro Blues

  15. A Late-Night Snack

  16. Durham

  17. The Bridge

  18. Guardian Angels

  19. Jailbreak

  20. A Warm Welcome

  21. Confessions

  22. David's Army

  23. End of the Line

  24. Noah's Ark

  Afterword

  About the Author

  Copyright © 2016 by Jeff DeGordick

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical or otherwise, without written permission from the author.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author's imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

  Cover images copyright © Shutterstock

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  Other books in the Zombie Apocalypse Series:

  A Rising Tide

  Ashes in the Mouth

  In Shadows

  Coming soon:

  Scourge of Evil

  1

  THE FALL OF MAN

  The world ended sometime between Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune. That was when the first bite and spread of infection occurred, anyway. Raleigh, North Carolina was the first "ground zero" in the world, but it all happened so fast on every part of the globe that only a few would come to know this fact. No one knew why it happened. In the modern-day world of people being glued to their phones and their TVs and everything but the world around them, people didn't think to ask why. It just did.

  Sarah stirred her tea, watching the clock on the microwave. She was starting to get nervous. Darkness had fallen hours ago, but her husband still hadn't come home from work. She rested her hand on her belly. It was so big that she often wondered with half-seriousness if it would suddenly pop like a balloon. Her due date had passed by more than a week and that made her even more nervous to be at home alone if anything were to happen.

  She waddled to the armchair in the living room and sat down, placing her tea beside her. She picked up the remote and hovered her thumb over the On button. She changed her mind and put it down again. If she hadn't, she would have seen the first reports of the most significant event in human history.

  There was a knot in her stomach that wouldn't go away. She wanted to say it was worry about her husband, but it felt heavier this time, like an intuition that she didn't understand. She felt the baby move around, as if he, too, were restless.

  She got up and went to the window over the kitchen sink, sliding it open to invite in the fresh breeze gliding through the night. The crickets chirped, a neighbor's wind chime clanged, and the leaves rustled. The cacophony of night sounds calmed her. Her hands stretched to either side of the sink as she leaned forward, gently resting her bloated belly against the edge of the counter.

  "Where are you?" she said to herself.

  She swallowed down a lump in her throat and reached for her cell phone on the counter. She pulled up her husband's contact and sent him a text: Where are you? She held the phone for a while, her eyes just blankly staring at it, expecting it to spring into life. Another few moments passed and she swallowed another lump then put the phone back on the countertop.

  The breeze coming through the window stopped. The leaves settled and the wind chime quieted. Even the crickets were silent. A dark cloud fell across the night, and she felt it seep into her lungs like black coal dust. She held her breath. It was heavy on her chest, like it would suck the life out of her if she opened her mouth. And then the moment passed.

  The crickets chirped busily, the leaves rustled and the wind chime clanged, and behind it all, perhaps so faint as to not be there at all, a scream.

  Her ears perked up, the color washing from her face. She strained an ear toward the open window, trying to find the needle in the haystack of white noise. Her mind convinced her that she heard the scream again, but this time it sang in unison with the rustling of the leaves or the rushing of the wind. Every sound she heard turned into the blood-curdling cry until she thought that maybe she hadn't heard it at all. She closed her eyes and trained her ear on the open window.

  Vrrpt! Vrrpt! Her cell phone vibrated on the countertop and made her jump. She quickly snatched it up and went to her text messages.

  Traffics terrible almost home.

  Relief washed over her, but an underlying feeling of dread clutched to her gut. Her eyes retraced the words over and over to reassure herself that everything was okay, but she knew it wasn't. Something was wrong. She didn't know how she could tell, but the feeling was strong.

  She placed a hand on her bulging stomach. Her baby boy was peaceful. The mother's intuition that she was developing was powerful in her, and she knew on a level that had never been measured by science that nothing was wrong with her baby and that nothing ever would be. A ripple of warmth emanated from her womb and ran up her arm. It comforted her, like a shining beacon in a sea of darkness.

  Something groaned outside. She dropped the phone on the counter and took an instinctive step away from the window. Leaves rustled, but the sound was much louder than before. Her eyes scanned her backyard, moving over every dark contour. Then she saw it.

  Tall hedges created a wall along the back of the yard, and a spot right in the middle of them shook violently. Another groan. It sounded like someone in great pain. Just then, an arm protruded from under the green mass. It twisted in the air, then grabbed a big handful of grass. Another arm slid out. Before long, an entire figure dragged itself out from under the hedge and wriggled across the lawn.

  Sarah took a few rubbery steps to the light switch beside the sink and punched it off. The fluorescent light that basked the sink disappeared, covering the kitchen in darkness.

  The man outside sat up on his knees and gently swayed from side to side as his head rolled around on his shoulders. A long, raspy moan escaped his throat as he looked around the yard. There was something unnatural about his movements.

  She turned off the lamp in the living room and moved to the patio door. She placed her fingers on the handle as uncertainty churned in her stomach like a roiling sea. The man looked hurt and disoriented, and he reminded her of a lost child. She wanted to go out and help him, but fear gripped her.

  She slid the door open wide enough to stick her head out.

  "Are you hurt?" she asked.

  The man's head snapped up at her.

  "Do you need help?"

  His eyes glowed in the moonlight like a pair of milky white marbles.

&n
bsp; Far off in the distance there was a loud crash that shattered the gentleness of the night. Screams.

  Sarah's heart jumped.

  The man hadn't been startled by the sounds at all. He just stared at her, his jaw slackened, hanging open like a cartoon character in shock. It was hard to see in the stark black of the night, but his face looked like it was the wrong color, and his skin looked rough.

  He let out a sharp grunt and then he rose. He staggered toward her, a raspy whine coming from him, as if he were trying to say something but didn't have the ability to. His lumbering figure moved closer to her, step by step. He raised his arms out to her as more distant screams pierced the gusting wind.

  She didn't know what was happening, but fear took hold of her. She snapped her head back and slammed the door, securing the lock. She stumbled backward into the living room and fumbled with the house phone. She pressed the call button and held it tightly to her ear. The phone was dead.

  She pulled the cord on the lamp, but nothing happened. The light next to the kitchen sink didn't do anything, either. It had been so dark in the house that she didn't even realize the power had gone out.

  The fear rippled through her body. She frantically checked her cell phone, but there was no signal. All her darkest fears came to life as she stood against the back wall of the living room, away from the patio door. Her arms wrapped around her stomach instinctively, protecting her baby. And again, even with fear and darkness all around her, it brought her comfort.

  The man outside walked up to the door. She expected him to try to open it, but what he did instead scared her more: he walked right into the glass and bounced off as if he didn't know it was there, then he walked forward and bounced off it again, as if he didn't care. The glowing white marbles sunken into his skull stared at her as he raised an arm and slapped it against the door. The glass reverberated in its frame, sending a sharp sound echoing through the house.

  Sarah whimpered, terrified that the glass would shatter. She moved along the wall and backed into the main hallway, keeping her eyes locked on him. She imagined him staggering through the broken glass and hurting her, hurting her baby...

  He raised his other arm and slapped it on the glass. His hands slid down, producing a loud squeaking sound that made her skin crawl, and left two long streaks on the glass of something that was too dark to make out. Then his fumbling hands found the door handle.

  The whine of the door swinging open echoed through the hallway and she screamed and spun around.

  The front door of the house stood open and her husband, David, walked in. "It's okay, honey, it's just me. Crap, the power's out, huh?" he said, flicking a switch in the hall. He fished in his pocket and pulled out his cell phone, searching for the flashlight app.

  Sarah ran to him and threw her arms around him. She burst into tears as she finally felt relief from the terrors of the night. David pushed her back a little and appraised her.

  "Hey, what's wrong?" he asked.

  She tried to put everything into words, but she could only form unintelligible sounds that were somewhere between words and sobs.

  He pulled her in tight. "Hey, baby, it's okay. You're safe, I've got you. What happened?"

  Finally, she pushed herself away from him and pointed toward the living room. "There's a... there's a..." She looked at the patio door in the living room.

  The man was gone. Only the two dark streaks remained.

  She looked around frantically toward the backyard. "There was a man."

  "A man?" he said. "Where?" He let her go and walked past her toward the living room.

  She reached out and grabbed his arm, pulling him to a stop. She let out a soft and unexpected sound as she felt something pop inside her. Wetness trickled down her legs.

  He saw the concerned look on her face. "What is it?"

  "I think it's coming," she said, tears still rolling down her face.

  "What... the baby?"

  "I think my water just broke."

  "Oh shit, okay..." He took her by the shoulders and led her to the front door then helped her put her flip flops on. His brain went into overdrive and he paced around, trying to remember the procedure they had planned out.

  He went off to get the go-bag of supplies they preemptively packed for the hospital when a strong cramp squeezed her uterus and she doubled over, wincing at the incredible pain.

  "Are you okay?" he asked.

  "Yeah," she said in between shallow breaths, "but we need to go."

  "Okay." He looked around the hall, a thousand thoughts trying to fit through the doorway to his mind at once. "Okay, let's go," he said, and guided her out the front door and helped her into the car.

  He sank down into the driver's seat and shoved the keys in the ignition.

  "Oh, shit!" he said. "The bag!"

  He forgot to grab it before they left, and it still sat in the closet under the stairs like it had for the last four months.

  "I'll be back in two seconds. Sit tight."

  Before she could say anything, he jumped out of the car and disappeared into the house. She called out his name under her breath, but she was all alone in the car with no one to hear her.

  The ominous night swept around her. The entire neighborhood stood in darkness, with no power anywhere. She thought of the man in her backyard and kept trying to tell herself that he was just drunk and hurt. But the way he moved wasn't normal. There was something wrong with him. The way his pale eyes just stared at her. His skin looked cracked and it was more than just the wrong color; her mind filtered the truth earlier, protecting itself from something it couldn't understand, but the image of him slapping on the patio door was burned into her mind and she knew that his skin was gray, like ash. She thought of the way he kept walking into the glass, like he didn't understand what it was. The two dark streaks he left on it that her mind now insisted were red. The way he disappeared into the night...

  She looked around the car, but couldn't see much in the darkness. The trees bent and swayed in the wind, turning into monstrous creatures in her peripheral vision. Even the houses seemed like blank faces watching her.

  She was scared, and her chest rose and fell in panicked breaths. That horrible crash and the screams she heard echoed in her head. Just as she felt that heavy black cloud worm its way into her lungs again, David came out of the house with a duffle bag in his hand. He was probably only gone for a minute, but it felt like an eternity to her. He tossed the bag in the back of the car and got in.

  "Are you okay?" he asked, squeezing her hand.

  "Yeah, but can we get out of here? Please."

  "Of course."

  He backed out of the driveway and sped down the road. As soon as they left, Sarah felt a wave of relief wash over her.

  Another contraction ripped through her and fresh tears came out of her eyes from the pain. She could feel their baby moving around inside of her, and she rested her hand on her belly, feeling that warm connection with him radiate up her arm.

  David squeezed her hand again. "Hey, you're doing great."

  A huge smile spread across her face and she broke down and cried.

  "What's the matter? What happened tonight?"

  She shook her head. "It's nothing. I just got scared being at home by myself."

  "What were you saying about some man?"

  She paused, wondering in retrospect how much of the night she had imagined. "I... think I saw someone in the backyard. I don't know, it was dark."

  "What was he doing?"

  "I'm not sure. He came up to the house, like he was trying to get in."

  His eyes widened. "Are you okay? He didn't get in, did he?"

  "No, I think he ran away when you came home."

  "Probably some burglar," he said, navigating the car through the dark streets. "You remember where we keep the gun, don't you?"

  "Yeah." She wanted to tell him about the screaming she heard and the loud crash that startled her, but she tried to forget about it and concentrate on
her breathing.

  They weaved through the residential streets of Roanoke, Virginia, heading for the hospital downtown. Sarah could feel her contractions get stronger as they went, and David talked her through them.

  The streets were quiet and mostly empty, with a few cars on the road here and there. The power outage seemed like it was city-wide. They passed a house with people sitting on the porch by candlelight. They shifted in their chairs, looking around almost frantically. She pressed her face to the window to get a better look, but the car sped by too quickly and they were out of sight.

  They turned the corner and set off down the next road. Another image flashed by the car. Someone running, their gait off-kilter. The car squealed around a bend, and another flash. One person lying on top of another in a driveway. The person on the bottom convulsing.

  She craned her neck, trying to see, but the sights were gone, replaced by empty streets again.

  "Did you hear that?" she asked him.

  "Hear what?"

  "Oh, nothing."

  She thought she heard screaming as the frightening still images sped past the car, but maybe she had imagined it. She felt safe in the car with her husband and soon-to-be-born son. Everything inside the car's glass and metal walls was a bubble of safety and warmth. The night outside was quiet and peaceful, but she couldn't shake the feeling that something very bad was happening all around them.

  Traffic started to get heavy when they got downtown. Her contractions were becoming intense and she spent the rest of the car ride doubled over, breathing rapidly between cries of pain.

  "It's not too much farther," he said. "We're almost there."

  Her eyes suddenly went wide as she looked at him.

  "What is it?"

  "I don't think I'm going to make it. I think he's coming right now."

  "Just hold on a little longer. We're so close." He held her hand as tightly as he could and stepped on the gas.

  They only made it a couple blocks before they turned a corner and saw a sea of red brake lights.

  "No, no, no... don't do this to me," he said.

  The street was jammed with cars, all stopped for some obstruction in the road ahead that he couldn't quite see. He craned his neck out the window to get a better look, then he pulled his head back in the car and looked at Sarah.