A New Death (Savannah's Only Zombie Novel) (8 page)

Jeremy eyes shot open. He lifted his head off of the table
and looked around. He was in the break room at work. He must have dozed off.
His empty energy drink can sat in front of him.

Was it all a dream?
He thought.
Did I just dream
all of that?

He looked at the clock. It was only 4:15. He’d been asleep
for five minutes. It had all been a dream. A really fucked-up dream. It was
cliché, but he pinched himself to make sure. Yes. Pain. He sighed a breath of
relief and went to stand up, but as he did, Ashley walked into the room.

“Jeremy, what are you doing? Brian is looking for you!”

He went to open his mouth, but she placed her finger on his
lips and pushed him back down on his chair. She quickly straddled him and sat
on his lap.

“
I’ve been looking for you,”
she whispered
seductively into his ear.

She slowly ran her hands through his hair, tugging his head
back gently, but firmly, as she began to kiss on his neck.

What is going on?
He thought; his mind racing.

And then it became evidently clear as another figure entered
the room. This woman was slender, like a runner. Her blonde hair was long and
full of tight curls. It hung loose around her head, but would look equally good
pulled into a pony tail. She was wearing a loose-fitting Foo Fighters t-shirt,
with one shoulder exposing a bright red bra strap. She was wearing no pants;
her smooth legs tight and muscular like someone who ran.

Oh no,
Jeremy thought.

The woman walked over to him, as Ashley continued to nibble
on his neck. She reached up into her shirt and unclasped her bra.

Oh no, oh no.

He was dreaming. This wasn’t happening. He tried to shake
himself awake, but the two of them held him down.

“You want to leave us?” Ashley asked painfully.

“You’re not real!” Jeremy yelled. “This is a dream!”

He squirmed to get free, but the two women’s grip was solid.

“Oh, Jeremy. Don’t you think we’re pretty?” Ashley asked, as
the skin from her face began to fall away.

It fell in clumps to the floor, until finally just muscle
and bone was exposed.

Wake up Jeremy! WAKE UP!

***

Jeremy’s eyes shot open. He awakened to Lexx looming over
him, one finger pressed up to his lips. The man had a very serious look on his
face. He took the finger from his lips and pointed towards outside. Jeremy
nodded. Something was wrong.

Tori and Ben were both already awake. Tori was checking her
weapon. Ben was at the cracked back door peering out. She moved over next to
him, pushing him aside. She shook her head and closed the door. Jeremy stood up
and moved towards the others. He could feel tension in the air.

“How the hell did that thing get in here?” Tori whispered
harshly. “You were supposed to be keeping watch Lexx!”

“Me? You had first watch!" He shot back.

She swore under her breath.

“Let’s just go shoot it and be done with it,” Ben
interjected.

“And attract more of them with a gunshot or its moan? I
don’t think so,” Tori said.

Silence.

“So, what do we do?” Jeremy finally spoke.

“We take it out. Quietly,” Tori said.

They began collecting their weapons. Ben grabbed his
hatchet; Jeremy his machete. Tori grabbed a crowbar from the tools borrowed
from the hardware store. Lexx ran out of the back room and returned quickly
with an odd looking hammer. It had a square head, flat sides, and a long,
chisel-like end.

“Found this up on one of the work tables. Should do the
trick,” he said with a smile.

“Alright,” Tori started. “Who wants to be the bait?”

“Bait?” Ben asked.

“Yeah, someone is going to have to distract it while the
rest of us run up behind it and bash its brains in.”

“I’ll do it,” Jeremy said, not waiting for someone else to volunteer.
He shocked himself with the willingness he just had. He’d never do that at
work.

Tori nodded. She motioned for Jeremy to move towards the
door.

“We’ll wait for you to get its undivided attention, then
we’ll flank it and take it out. Sound good?”

Jeremy nodded and stepped outside.

As good as it’s gonna get.

***

The zombie wandered around the yard aimlessly. He was a
large one too. Easily over three hundred pounds. Jeremy could not tell if it
was always this big or was bloated from “over-eating." Whoever he was before
he died, he did not mess around when it came to getting food.

Let’s hope that’s changed
, Jeremy thought to himself.
Who am I kidding? Look at this fat fucker.

Jeremy slowly crept around the large oak tree that seemed to
grow out of the center of the yard. The fat boy, as Lexx would say, was on the
other side of the tree, standing there in a daze. It just stood there. A twitch
or leftover muscle spasm every now and then, but other than that it was glued
to the spot it stood on. As Jeremy was about to come around the tree into view,
the zombie started sniffing the air. Maybe sniffing is not the correct word.
Snorting? Inhaling large amounts of air through the bulbous piece of flesh that
used to be its nose? Either way it smelled something. It smelled food. It
smelled Jeremy.

“Hi there,” Jeremy said, as he walked out from behind the
tree. “Do you have a minute to talk about the Lord Jesus?”

The zombie snapped out of its daze and lunged for Jeremy.

“You know, for a big fella, you got some speed in you!
What’s wrong? Don’t like fast food? Cause I couldn’t tell!”

It did not seem fazed by Jeremy’s sarcastic taunts. It
wanted to kill him anyways. Jeremy ran towards the gate where they parked the
truck the night before. The geek shambled after him as fast as its short,
stubby little legs could carry it. Jeremy stopped and waited for the thing to
catch up. The three others were sneaking up behind it. It was so focused on
Jeremy that it didn’t even notice.

“C’mon big boy! Come and get me,” Jeremy shouted at it.

Its jaw was clamping up and down, drool dripping down its
decaying chin. Ben ran up behind him, and raised up his axe, prepping to bring
it down on the zombie’s head. He lost his footing, tripped, and brought down
the axe on the freak’s shoulder instead of the death dealing head blow he
planned. Its arm went flying, the axe cleaving straight through the soft,
rotted flesh. The axe head kept going and clipped the side of the zombie’s
massive stomach. Blood, puss, and bile spewed from the hole.

It finally turned to its attackers and seeing Ben on the
ground, reached out for him first. It did not even seem fazed that it was
missing an arm and juices were shooting out of its side like a geyser. Ben
scrambled backwards, kicking at the ghoul. Lexx ran up and brought the chisel
end of his hammer down on the z’s head. It seized, then went limp, and
collapsed into a heap in front of Ben. A large, brown puddle of blood and feces
collected around the mountain of dead flesh.

“Well, that was easy,” Lexx said, trying to catch his
breath.

He did not even get the words out of his mouth before one of
the crazies began shrieking off in the distance. Others joined in and moans
began to fill the air. They all looked towards the fence. Zombies were coming
from everywhere. The fence was now lined with walking corpses. The crazies
arrived and began climbing over the fences. They hit the barbed wire and did not
stop as it ripped chunks of flesh and meat from their bones. Their bright, red
blood showered all over their slower comrades.

“Run!” Tori yelled.

They all booked it for the back door to the warehouse.
Jeremy broke out into a full out sprint. He looked over his shoulder and saw
that two of the crazies had untangled themselves from the barbed wire and were
running after the survivors.

They’re mangled but yet still so fast
, he thought.

Jeremy was a pretty decent runner. He ran cross country in
high school, the one extracurricular activity he did besides work. But you
don’t get scholarships for being responsible and holding down a part time job
in high school. So, cross country it was then. But that was in high school and
once he graduated he didn’t run as much as he used to. No time when you’re
trying to help your mom make ends meet.

Right now though, he summoned up whatever leftover speed he
had, and ran like a madman towards the door. The others had been a little
closer, but he passed both Ben and Lexx on the way there. Tori held the door
open and was shouting for them to get inside. Jeremy ran inside and was followed
by Lexx. As Ben entered, one of the crazies reached the door and grabbed him by
the shirt. Jeremy quickly brought his machete down on its arm. It fell back and
down the stairs, Lexx slamming the door shut.

“Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit,” Ben muttered over and over.

“Get yourself together!” Tori barked. “We’ve got to get up to
the front of the building. They saw us come in the back, so they’ll be back
here trying to get in. Let’s go.”

They ran towards the front of the warehouse. Lexx grabbed
Tori’s bra on the way.

“Hey, you might want this!” He said with a boyish smile.

“You keep it!”

“Yes! Merry Christmas to me!”

He held it up to his nose as they made their way up front.
When they got there, Tori went up to the door and pushed her ear against it.
She was listening to see if it sounded like any zombies were right outside the
door. She held her head there for a few seconds but it felt like hours.

“Sounds clear.”

“Oh, man… What about the truck?” Jeremy asked, just
realizing that the twenty foot flatbed truck that they had parked in front of
the gate the night before to
protect
them from an attack was now
trapping them inside during an attack. Not a good situation.

“Shit. That’s right. How are we gonna move that truck?” Tori
said.

A brief silence.

“I got this,” Lexx said with an unwavering assurance.

Tori started to protest, but Lexx, in all his macho bravado,
put a finger up to her lips and shushed her.

“I got this.”

He stretched out his hands in front of him and cracked his
knuckles. He walked up to the door but then turned back to the others.

“Look, I’m going to go out there and move the truck. As soon
as you hear the engine crank, you run to the Jeep and get the fuck out of here.
No matter what happens to me, you get outta here. You understand?”

The three of them nodded.

“Alright then, here we go,” he said.

He reached for the door knob.

“Wait!”

Tori walked up to him and planted a kiss on his cheek.

“Be safe you idiot,” she said.

He smiled.

“Of course.”

With that he opened the door and ran out towards the truck.

***

Lexx ran full sprint towards the gate. Tori was right. All
the zombies, the crazy ones, had made their way back towards the back door.
They didn’t even notice Lexx yet. The slower, dumber ones along the fence on
the other hand, they noticed. They pushed against the fence. It swayed against
the weight of the dead.

When he reached the gate, he yanked the unlocked chain
through. The noise grabbed the attention of the crazies. He cursed himself
under his breath. They shrieked in response to the clanging of metal chain
against the metal chain-link fence. Lexx swung the gates open and quickly
climbed into the truck. He left the keys in the ignition, just in case
something did happen, and they had to get out quick. He promptly turned the
keys, the diesel engine roaring to life. Being quiet was really no longer an
issue. He threw it into reverse and began to back the truck over the line of
walking dead behind him. The sound of bones cracking and the jostling of the
truck brought a faint smile to Lexx’s face.

Fuck ‘em.

***

“There’s the engine! Let’s go!” Tori yelled.

The three of them bolted out into the sunlight, a stark
contrast from the darkness inside of the warehouse. As their eyes adjusted,
they scrambled for the Jeep. Jeremy ran towards the driver’s seat with keys in
hand. He jumped in, then Tori, and then Ben. As Ben was climbing in, Jeremy
turned the keys in the ignition and the Jeep came to life. He floored it in
reverse, taking out one of the crazies in the process. He threw it into drive
and sped out the gate. They saw Lexx and the truck still reversing over the
dead down the street.

“We’ll wait for him around the corner,” Jeremy said, seeing
the concern wash over Tori’s face.

She nodded, her eyes fixed on the large truck behind them.
Jeremy sped around the curves and pulled back out onto Highway 17. He pulled
the Jeep over right before a bridge that went over train tracks. Shifting into
park, he turned and joined Ben and Tori in looking out the back of the Jeep.
His mouth slowly dropped as he watched the truck cross the highway in flames,
followed by dead corpses also on fire, and crash into another warehouse.

The flames from the warehouse burned brightly in the
afternoon sun. Thick, black smoke rose up slowly into the clear blue sky. The
three of them stared on in shock. Lexx was dead. He crashed the truck into the
warehouse so they could escape. Someone else had given their life so that
Jeremy could live. Someone again who barely knew him. Jeremy was the first to
snap out of it.

“We have to go.”

“We have to go see if he made it,” Tori protested.

Jeremy looked into her eyes. He could see that she was
fighting back tears. Although they said they only met yesterday, Jeremy felt
that the two were closer then they let on. Surviving with someone will have
that effect on you. Jeremy felt a companionship between Ben and himself. He
gently placed his hand on her shoulder.

“He didn’t make it. There’s no way someone could survive
that…”

She sat there in silence. She had grown somewhat attached to
Lexx. They had been together since the outbreak in the restaurant, and as goofy
as he was, she knew she could trust him. He couldn’t be gone. It’s crazy how
when the world falls apart how quickly trust can be built or broken.

“Ok,” she finally said. “Let’s go. He wouldn’t want us to
waste his sacrifice.”

Jeremy put the Jeep back into drive and turned the jeep
around. He stopped for a moment, staring at the wreckage and the burning
building.

“Where are you going?” Ben asked from the back seat.

“We’ll cut through the edge of downtown and get on I-16 from
there.”

Ben nodded. Tori slunk down in her seat and staring out the
passenger window; her eyes glazed over lost in thought.

“Where are you guys going?”

Jeremy and Tori spun around as Lexx climbed into the
backseat.

“Lexx!” The three of them shouted in unison.

“Yeah?” He asked, grinning.

“We thought you were dead, man!” Ben said.

“How did you? Where did you?” Jeremy stammered in sheer
surprise.

Lexx just grinned, his smile from ear to ear.

“What? Did you think I was still in the truck? Haha, that’s
rich! I lit a rag on fire and stuffed it into the fuel tank, threw that bad boy
in drive, and dropped a box of screws on the gas pedal. Got the truck rollin’
in the right direction and ditched it. The geeks didn’t even notice me drop
out. They were too preoccupied with the burning truck. Those dumb ass-bags even
caught themselves on fire!”

Tori’s countenance changed, she was now trying to hide her
happiness behind a smirk of disapproval.

“What’s wrong, babe? Did you miss me?” Lexx asked, leaning
in towards Tori’s direction.

“I’d be lying if I didn’t say yes. Don’t get too excited
about it,” she replied.

“I told ya you’d find me irresistible,” he said with a
boyish smirk.

“Well, don’t plan on getting down on one knee quite yet. I
still don’t
like
you.”

“I can live with that,” he said, leaning back in his seat.
“I only regret that I left your bra in the truck.”

“Oh, I’m
sure
that was an accident,” she said.

Lexx chuckled.

“Maybe. Maybe not. We’ll never know for sure. Now Jeremy, if
you would be so kind, would you kindly get us the fuck out of here?”

“With pleasure,” Jeremy answered, as he floored it towards
downtown Savannah.

***

The neighborhood they passed through was rough looking. And
that was before this whole zombie thing broke out. Savannah was weird like
that. She had this beautiful historic downtown, coastal marsh land, and
beautiful architecture, but at the same time, she had her fair share of
projects, trailer parks, and ghettos. As some parts of the city moved forward
in progress, other parts were left behind to rot, no matter how much SCAD tried
to restore them to former glories. The diversity of Savannah is spread wide.
From SCAD students to the homeless, from old money to no money, Savannah was
dripping with culture.

Jeremy was unsure of what culture was dripping from the
doorways of the houses they were passing. It seems that the hood ain’t no
different from the islands when it comes to the dead coming back to life.
Zombies don’t care how much you make, or your skin color, they just want to eat
you.

He made a left turn when he came to the end of the street.
Another fork in the road. Left would take them around the outskirts of downtown
a bit more. Right would have taken them to MLK Jr. Boulevard aka the edge of
downtown. Jeremy wanted to stay out of downtown as much as possible. Too many
corners and tight streets to navigate. Too dangerous. Even in the Jeep, the
last thing they needed was to get stuck on one of Savannah’s squares surrounded
by the dead.

As Jeremy bobbed and weaved through abandoned vehicles, he
noticed the cemetery to the left of them. One of Savannah’s countless historic
cemeteries. Graves for as far as the eyes could see, until old oak trees
blocked your view. The trees have probably been there longer than some of the
graves themselves. The tombstones looked weathered by time, fading in the
sunlight. They looked peaceful.

It was then that Jeremy realized something about the
cemetery.

“Hey guys,” he said out loud.

“Yeah?” Lexx asked, the other two perking up as well.

“Check out the cemetery,” Jeremy said, pointing with one
hand.

The three others looked out towards where Jeremy had
pointed. They stared for a moment before Lexx looked back at Jeremy.

“Yeah? What about it?” He asked with a puzzled look on his
face.

“There’s no dead rising.”

They all looked back over towards the cemetery. Jeremy was
right. No graves looked disturbed. There was no dead coming out of the ground
like you see in the movies. No hands trying to break free from the earth. Just
rows and rows of tombstones and crypts like you would normally see.

“What does that mean?” Tori asked.

“I guess,” Jeremy started, “I guess it means that whatever
this is going on, it doesn’t affect the already deceased. It only affects the
living.”

They all rode in silence as they let Jeremy’s words sink in.
It wasn’t necessarily good news, but it at least meant that this sickness only
affected the living inhabitants of the planet. All seven billion of them. He
continued to snake his way through towards West Bay Street. They were passing
under I-16 at the moment. Sleeping bags and trash could still be seen under the
overpass.

“What if they just haven’t gotten out yet?” Ben asked,
finally speaking.

“What do you mean?” Jeremy said.

“Well,” Ben said, “What if they just haven’t dug their way
up yet? Bodies are buried six feet under, right? Maybe they haven’t made it up
all the way yet. It hasn’t even been a full twenty four hours yet. I don’t
know, just thinking out loud.”

“I don’t think we will have to worry about them then.
They’ll starve themselves out before they break through the casket and six feet
of packed in dirt,” Jeremy responded.

Ben nodded, Jeremy’s answer seemed sufficient for him. He
went back to daydreaming out the window.

“Hey, Jeremy, can you stop the Jeep for a moment?” Tori
asked.

Everyone looked at her as Jeremy slowed the Jeep to a stop.
She looked like she was thinking about something.

“Um, well, my dad is a drill instructor out on Parris Island
and I know the plan is to head west, but if we can make it there, maybe it’s
safe. Maybe Parris Island is okay? Plus, it would be great to know if he’s okay
too. I mean, I know he is, it would just be nice to see him.”

Jeremy looked at Ben and he had the same look of concern.

“Look, Tori,” Jeremy said. “I’m sure your dad is fine, but
when me and Ben drove by Hunter, it seemed vacant. And-”

“Well, yeah,” she interrupted. “That’s the Army. Of course
they’d be overrun. My dad’s a
Marine
. Marines don’t get overrun.”

Lexx laughed. Ben looked back at Jeremy and shrugged.

“You think he’ll still be there?” Jeremy asked.

“I know he will. He’ll be expecting me to make my way to
him. That was our plan anyways,” she said, motioning towards Lexx.

“Ok, then. South Carolina it is then. Any objections?”

Lexx shook his head and smiled. Ben, on the other hand,
looked concerned.

“
Our
plan was to head west. Out past Rincon. My
parents live out there,” he said.

Tori turned in her seat to face Ben.

“Do you think they’re still alive?” she asked.

Ben nodded, albeit slowly.

“Well, if we get to Parris Island, we can better supply you
to go find them. The base is going to be our best shot for survival, Ben,” she
said softly.

Everyone in that Jeep knew that if they could make it to the
Marines stationed there, they just might survive this thing. Ben nodded again.
He knew she was right; he just didn’t like the idea of leaving his parents
alone out there much longer.

They were stopped in front of one of SCAD’s many student
housing units, a clear view of the Talmadge Bridge in front of them. Once they
got over the suspension bridge, it would be an hour drive to Parris Island.
Granted they didn’t run into any hang-ups. Or dead. Traffic seemed to be moving
over the bridge. Slowly, but moving.

Ben leaned in towards the front of the Jeep.

“Do y’all hear that?”

Everyone else got quiet and Jeremy lowered the windows. It
was the low rumble of jets in the distance. They watched as a pair of fighter jets
did a flyby of the bridge, passing just over the top of it. The two jets were
flying much lower than usual.

“What are they doing?” Ben asked.

“Probably just some surveillance. Those are Marine fighters,
probably from the Air Station in Beau-”

The two jets made abrupt turns and raced back towards the
bridge at breakneck speeds. As they got closer, you could see each jet drop
something that raced off in the direction of the bridge. Both planes took off
into the sky, disappearing into the clouds and sunlight.

The bridge exploded in a huge blast of fire and debris.