The Wilder Side of Z

He walked and the app began to beep and as he moved along the line of closed doors, the app began to beep more quickly. The beeping was now a steady hum as he stood in front of the door with Wilder’s vehicle. He nodded and turned off the phone and repocketed it. He ran back to the side of the building and found a place to hide. He didn’t know if or when Wilder would be back to claim his vehicle, but he would chill out for a while. If nothing happened, he’d find a hotel and leave a monitoring device on the door of the storage shed. Wilder had been gone for a while and it may well be days or weeks before the man came back. That was a big part of his job, waiting. He reached into his jacket and pulled out a candy bar and unpeeled the paper. At least it didn’t stink back here. He leaned his head back and settled himself for a long wait.

Ž

Bobby’s eyes slid to Avery Pendanski, who sat hunched against the passenger door of the Humvee. The man was chewing his nails and Bobby thought maybe the kid would chew his fingers off. The boy wasn’t the brightest bulb in the pack. His sale’s record was one of the lowest.

“Relax Avery, you’re safe in this beast. Ain’t none of them zombies gonna get through this. Here, watch,” Bobby Wheeler Dealer said as he swerved the large vehicle onto a side street between two large buildings. The entire area was in heavy shadow and there were three wavering creatures standing in the middle of the street.

“What the fuck?” Avery nearly screamed as his hands flew out in front of him. The heavy bumper of the Humvee hit the first zombie and there was a wet snap that could be heard inside the vehicle. Then the other two meandering zombies were hit and the Humvee rocked slightly as the wheels rolled over the bodies. Avery made a gagging noise and looked at Bobby in panic.

“Don’t you puke in my vehicle, damnit. Roll that window down if ya gotta,” Bobby said through clenched teeth. It had taken him most of the day just to round up Avery, his other employees either weren’t home or didn’t answer their doors. He was disgusted by their cowardice. Well, enough, they’d wish they would have joined up with him in the days to come. He and Avery had been hitting up stores in the area. He was trying to figure out where to go to set up his little kingdom. The dealership wasn’t it, since those large showroom windows could be shattered easy enough. He’d have to move farther out in town, maybe take a look at one of the corrections facilities. They were built to keep prisoners in, but now, maybe they could keep those zombies out? Would there be any police or corrections officers present? Would the prisoners still be housed there or let go because of the virus?

“I’m gonna head us on over to the medium security facility over on Northside. I want you to go in and see what’s what,” Bobby said as he moved the vehicle back to the main drag.

“What?” Avery squeaked, his face white as death, his dark eyes looking like pits in his face.

“You heard me. We need a secure place to hole up. You think this shit is gonna end soon? Son, we’re in the beginnings of a zombie apocalypse. If we don’t set up some kind of secure holdings, we’re gonna be screwed.”

“But…but, that’s the law there and them is prisoners in there.”

“So? Look, just walk in like you’re gonna visit someone. You know, play it cool. If there’s officers and such, just turn around an’ walk back out. Simple as that. Don’t make this harder than it has to be. Next, we’ll need to head over to Yooloo’s Gun Shop. I wanna pick up some hardware. Unless you’d like to fight these zombies with your bare hands?” Bobby laughed. He snorted with glee, he’d been waiting for the end of the world for years now and it was finally here. He hoped his ex-wife was walking around out there with her throat ripped out. She’d been bleeding him for years now and the thought of her being one of the infected tickled him on so many levels. Maybe he’d swing by her place and take a look.

Ž

Xander’s brain hurt, pure and simple. It was now becoming apparent that they were square in the middle of a zombie apocalypse. There was no other explanation for it. Zahara had tried to contact work with no joy. Once they were on the interstate, they found more and more abandoned cars. He weaved in and out of the stalled traffic and as he got to larger cities, the roadways were nearly impassable. They’d gotten off the interstate and took secondary roads which were little better. More and more of the zombies were becoming visible as the sun edged its way west.

“You think we should use your little car?” Zahara asked in a bored voice, her feet propped on the dash.

“I think I want a tank. There are dozens of these things around, if not hundreds. Did you see down in that valley? I think there were thousands of them, just moving around.”

“You think they’ll turn us if they bite us?”

He looked over at her and she had a slight smile on her face. He snorted and shook his head.

“How the hell should I know? I’m no expert on a zombie apocalypse, I don’t even believe in this shit,” he said.

“Ready or not, believe it or not, it is fucking here. What dumbass, douchebag politician or government wanted this shit let loose?”

“You really think it was our country?” he asked, his eyes sliding back to her legs, she had spilled a