They Rise (Book 1): Zombie Outbreak Read online

  Morgana Wray

  THEY RISE

  Zombie Outbreak

  UUID: 4710c762-61cf-11e7-ac87-49fbd00dc2aa

  This ebook was created with StreetLib Write

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  Table of contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  CHAPTER 1

  Everything seemed all peachy and normal this morning. There wasn’t any hail raining from the skies and the sun was beaming brightly behind the glass of my bedroom window. I dragged myself lazily from my bed and hobbled to the sink. There wasn’t much room in the studio flat that I lived in. It was a shitty hovel that I could just about manage to afford.

  “Damn it!” I groaned, as I stumbled over some garbage bags.

  I hadn’t gotten to taking those out yet. My face slammed into the ground. I was lucky I didn’t lose anything. I scampered up to my feet. Nothing was broken, or busted. I couldn’t afford to take a day off. I was paid by the hour.

  It was summer and I was sweating like a wild pig. The ventilation in the flat was a total write off. I slapped the sweat off my forehead and blew some hot air against the mirror before me. My left hand found a used razor and I proceeded to scrape all the fuzzy hair from my face. Yep, I was looking a damn handsome sight, or so I thought. Maybe it was a dose of home made delusion pills.

  With clothes on my back, I put a face cap on my head and gazed at the mirror, catching a quick glimpse of myself. There were a few patches of grey in my jet-black hair. I tried not to notice that. I tried not to think about the fact that I was nearly pushing forty.

  “You don’t look so shitty, you old dog,” I arched my lips a bit, smiling sheepishly at my own reflection.

  That said and done, my hands squeezed on the door handle and I squeezed through the gap in the door. Pushing my back against the door, I pushed the door shut behind me. I felt a bit nervous about starting the day. I wasn’t quite sure why there was an unsettling feeling of doubt rushing over me. My eyes were squeezed shut and my hands roamed casually against my thighs.

  “What the hell? What the bloody hell are you doing up here, Miss Maple?” I slapped her chubby arm off my collar.

  “You weren’t coming down. So I thought I’d come up here and get you. That bus isn’t going to drive itself, you know.” Miss Maple clucked annoyingly at me.

  That woman made my skin crawl. I wasn’t exactly happy to have her here in the general vicinity of my humble abode. Her chubby face and those keen eyes were definitely a put off. Those eyes were keen but was also all kind of crazy in a messed up kind of way.

  “I am only about five minutes late! You did not need to show up at my house where I live!” I paced up and down the lobby with an irritated look on my face. “How do you even know where I live anyway?”

  Miss Maple pushed one beefy leg in front of the other and planted herself uncomfortably close to me. Her lips parted and the words rolled out, “You silly billy. Everyone knows where you live Mack. Its no big secret. This is a small, small town where everyone knows everyone else’s shit.”

  “Well, that doesn’t mean I want you in my rolling all over my private shit,” I grumbled, as I shot her a livid look.

  “Don’t blow a gasket!”

  “If you had bothered to be punctual I wouldn’t be stood here, would I?” Miss Maple wrapped her stubby fingers around her waist, hissing dismissively at me.

  She hurried briskly down the metal stairs that led out of the first floor of the one story building where I lived. I hesitantly descended the stairs, trailing behind her. The insufferable sounds of the clacking of the high heel shoes on her feet was even more irritating than her constantly perambulating lips.

  She just did not know how to shut up. I pretended to be listening to her and just nodded my head casually. I had learned to do that whenever Miss Maple found it appropriate to open her mouth and talk.

  My mouth sagged in awe when I looked ahead of me. What was wrong with this woman? Was she completely bonkers upstairs?

  I believed that the answer to that question would have to be an emphatic yes. I was livid. I was sorely tempted to shout some obscenities at her but I restrained myself from doing that. Miss Maple was a senior teacher. I would definitely have lost my job if I had overreacted in that way. Either that or she would have found a way to make my life as bus driver for the school very difficult.

  “You drove that bus here? Are you even licenced to drive that?” My knuckles pushed under my chin in frustration.

  She did not answer me. Her silence was rather disturbing. Her head was planted firmly against the door of the school bus. My eyes caught sight of a trail of blood. It led all the way to her parted legs.

  “Is everything alright? Are you okay, Miss Maple?” I asked in a mellow tone of voice, placing my hand on the chubby woman’s shoulder.

  She moved, letting out faint groans. Her eyes were a bit sore behind those glasses on her face. She looked a mess. Her back was plastered against the bus. The bus slanted under the strain of her weight. I was a bit on edge. I had never seen that woman look so messed up before. She was usually a perfectionist when it came to keeping herself tidy. I could say that much about her.

  “You look like you just saw a ghost? Are you squeamish or something?” Miss Maple croaked, as she wiped her nose with a handkerchief.

  “Uh, I just don’t want to get sick or anything okay?”

  “I’ve got so much bills I am drowning in them. Just can’t afford to be sick.” I shot Miss Maple a panicked look.

  She pushed herself closer to me and I stumbled backwards. Whatever she had, I did not want to catch it.

  “Don’t be such a dick, Mack! I get nose bleeds, okay! That’s all it is!”

  “So are you going to get this bus moving or what?” Miss Maple rolled her eyes at me.

  I shoved past her and climbed up the steps of the bus. I didn’t bother to invite her in. I just sank into the driver’s seat and scanned around the dashboard for the keys.

  “Looking for these?”

  “You only really needed to ask.” Miss Maple batted her eyes at me.

  I couldn’t stomach her casual flirting today. I simply wasn’t in the mood for that, especially from the likes for her. I reached out and snatched the keys from her hand. She didn’t let go with the keys. She pulled my hand towards her robust bosoms. The back of my hand sank into them. I did not know how to handle the situation. She had taken this whole throwing herself at the new guy thing a bit too far.

  “I don’t have time for this!”

  “Can you please release my hand, Miss Maple?” I beamed her a cold, unperturbed stare.

  She didn’t seem very intimidated by my unfriendly, scrunched up face. She took her sweet time letting my hand go. The car key was snugly placed into my opened palm. As soon as her hands were off mine, I recoiled in complete irritation.

  “That one definitely needs locking up. That woman is crazy,” I muttered to myself, as I twisted the key in the ignition.

  Her enormous behind wobbled ceaselessly, as she walked past a row of seats behind me. I didn’t mean to look at that. She was kind of hard to miss with the mirror in front of my face capturing everything behind me.

  It was a quiet drive. I could hear Miss Maple’s phone bleeping away. Hopefully, it would be a dating app and maybe some unfortunate chump would swallow her baited hook. I wondered what anyone would ever see in her. She wasn’t exactly
very easy on the eye but she did have nice legs. I imagined her profile picture would be her legs.

  On the other hand, it might have been her mother checking up on her. She looked like the type of grown up kid that never quite left the nest. Whoever it was, I reckoned they were doing me a favour. While she was distracted, she was less able to flaunt her goods in my face.

  Thirty minutes had swung by, and the bus was now loaded with chattering school kids. Their faces were bright with glee. They had not yet been tossed into the massive grinder called life. Complete ignorance was truly bliss.

  I still needed to pick two more kids up-James and Emily Baker. They were anything but saintly. They usually caused mischief when they were on the freaking bus. Sometimes, I felt like kicking them in the backside. They were an absolute displeasure. Unruly kids are always a drivers worst nightmare. James and Emily were certainty never short of tricks. I knew never to shake their hands or accept anything edible from those two.

  “Are we good, Mr. Davis? You look stressed?” James laughed, walking past me with his fingers in his pocket.

  “Just take a seat, James! No theatrics or any of the other funny stuff today!” I shouted out to him.

  “Sure! Whatever!” James jeered cheekily, turning his face back to stare mischievously at me.

  The sound of something go pop in my ears almost made my legs slip off the accelerator pedals. The bus skidded to the left, almost ploughing into a sign board. Luckily, I had hit the brakes in time to stop the bus.

  I held my shit together and looked sideways. There she was, looking unapologetic. Her brown penetrating eyes stared blatantly at me. James’s sister had just blown up a bubble gum right next to my ear. I didn’t even know she was there, right next to me. She hadn’t taken her seat yet. There was an indifferent, ballsy grin plastered across her face. Her scarlet T-shirt had something emblazoned on it. The words were unflattering but very much descriptive of the person that was bedecked in the shirt. She was definitely a rascally kid with a very annoying tendency to provoke frustration in grownups like myself.

  “What the hell did you do that for?”

  “Get back! Get your scrawny little backside in your seat, right now!” I barked forcefully at Emily.

  Head nodding to the music seeping into her ears from the headphones on her ears, she traipsed slowly away from me, finding a place next to her brother. If that kid was mine I would have totally made her scrub the house clean before breakfast. Kids these days just lack any decency.

  “Brats!” I moaned, wearing a rather dejected look.

  “Damn it, you old piece of shit! Start already!” My hands struggled with the keys.

  There was nothing but faint noises coming from the engine. I felt stressed. I felt really stressed. This so wasn’t happening. This hunk of junk wasn’t on its last legs was it.

  “This isn’t going to take all day, is it? What’s up with the bus?” Miss Maple howled from her seat.

  Her smug, chirpy voice irked me. I was already feeling not so happy emotions rushing through me. I lifted myself from my seat and walked down to where she was seated and rubbed my chin. My gaze met hers. There was an expectant look on her face.

  “Well? Are you going to stand there all day? What’s wrong with the bloody bus?” Miss Maple snapped at me impatiently.

  “Its an old bus! There are bound to be a few not very responsive parts!” I pushed my hand casually against my face cap.

  “Well, we have kids that need to be shuttled to school so why don’t you try doing something helpful like getting this bloody bus on the road.” Miss Maple spat out the words in a slow and condescending manner.

  I did not respond to her demeaning, reprimanding words. I just turned my back on her and walked slowly away from the situation. I headed back to the driver’s seat and sank into it. I took some time to breathe and think. Then I gave the key another twist in the ignition. Luck smiled on me.

  Finally, the bus shot forward. I had it moving. My eyes fixated on the stretch of road ahead of me. I had a kit kat in my breast pocket. My left hand reached for it. There was a bump or something in the road. The bus jerked a bit as the tires went over the bump, causing the damn kit kat to fall on the floor, between my legs.

  “You are not getting away from me that easy. I am fucking famished right now,” I groaned, as I reached for the chocolate bar between my legs.

  There was a thud. Something went flying in front of the windscreen. It happened in a matter of seconds. I couldn’t see exactly what I had just crashed into properly. I pulled over on the side of the road.

  “What did you just do? What was that?” Miss Maple screamed.

  “Uh, I think it was a dog or something! It came out of nowhere! The damn thing just jumped in the way!” I threw my hands on my head.

  The kids behind me didn’t seem particularly perturbed. They seemed to be getting excitable about the whole nasty business of ramming into the unfortunate animal.

  “Who wants to see some guts and gore?”

  “Mr. Davis just flattened a dog! Pretty savage stuff!” James roared in excitement, rising to his feet to address the other kids on the bus.

  CHAPTER 2

  Eleven year olds could really be an excitable lot. Their parents must definitely be aware of the sort of bizarre, twisted stuff that their kids have been binge watching.

  “Cool it Baker! You get back in that seat this instant and don’t get any ideas!” Miss Maple snapped at the overenthusiastic boy.

  “Cut us some slack. That frown really doesn’t suit you, Miss. It sort of makes you look old,” James sneered at Miss Maple, pushing out his tongue at her.

  She simply frowned dismissively at him and pushed him back into his seat. Waving her fingers in front of her eyes she said, “I have got my eyes on you, you dreadful, dreadful boy. If you move a muscle while I am gone, you shall spend the entire school term in detention. That is not a bluff.”

  That sort of felt oddly stimulating to me. I smiled to myself a bit, as I hit that button to open then bus’s door. I marched out of the bus, taking rather reluctant steps. I was reluctant to see whatever gruesome mess that the bus had made. I had been a bit reckless. I knew that. But hunger must be appeased when it comes calling.

  I could immediately smell something foul. My fingers pressed against my nose. I could not stomach the sickly smell. It was the stench of something that had been decaying for days.

  “Can you smell that? It really stinks, doesn’t it?” I said, turning to Miss Maple.

  “Yup, like my grandma’s old knickers!” Miss Maple wafted the air in front of her nose.

  She stuck closely behind me, as I pushed forward. I soon stepped into something sticky. It made it difficult to lift my foot. The gloopy, reddish-black stuff made a mess at the base of my shoe. I managed to pull my foot out of it, only to trip on my own feet and fall back. I soon crashed backwards, falling on my chest. I turned to see something disgusting. I was laying next to a disembowelled fox. The fox’s insides were hanging out of its belly. The fox wasn’t moving and it’s eyes seemed to be glassy.

  “Shit! Shit! Shit! Get off me vermin!” I smacked my face, batting away the flies that were hovering over me.

  I jumped to my feet and dusted my clothes. The carcass on the floor was in a very bad state. There was a small swarm of flies perching all over the decaying, bloodied animal.

  “I couldn’t have killed it! That fox looks like it’s been dead for weeks!” I yelled on top of my voice at Miss Maple.

  “You don’t have to shout, you know. I am not deaf. One thing we can agree on though is that that fox is dead and won’t be going anywhere on it’s own.” Miss Maple laughed without showing the vaguest signs of concern.

  “Oh you are not saying what I think you’re saying?” I shook my head disapprovingly, wrapping my fingers around my hips.

  I shot out an air of exasperation from my parted lips. I did a small u-turn and paced about a bit, fidgeting and swirling the key in my hand around.
/>   “Oh do put on your big boy pants and get your hands dirty. Play your cards right and there might be some pudding for you later,” Miss Maple teased, giving me a jovial slap on the back.

  “No thank you. I don’t get paid enough for this shit. Disposing of carcasses is not in my job description. That thing looks fucking diseased.” I folded my hands defiantly.

  I heard the clicking noises of snapshots behind me. What the hell was she doing taking pictures? That thing was grotesque. Who would want to see a mutilated animal anyway? Who would even find roadkill remotely fascinating?

  “Why are you taking photos of?” the words slipped out of my mouth.

  I was gobsmacked when I saw that the kids that were meant to be on the bus had surrounded the Fox’s carcass and were merrily snapping selfies in front of the bloodied and gutted animal. James was at the centre of it all. He was grinning and full of glee.

  “Go on guys! That’s freaking awesome, isn’t it? That fox will make some pretty sick shots to post online, won’t it lads?” James rubbed his cheek, urging the other kids on.

  “What? What are you lot doing?” Miss Maple thundered with puzzlement on her dazzled face.

  The kids seemed to be so carried away with the euphoric feeling of snapping shots of dead wildlife that they barely took notice of anything or anyone else around them. They behaved as if Miss Maple wasn’t there. That must have stung. Miss Maple was used to enjoying telling people what to do and having them do it without question. She was a forceful woman. She definitely loved to push. She hated it when people pushed back though. She hated being ignored even more. That felt like hot needles in her skin.

  This was something she would not let go. True to her nature, Miss Maple flung herself in the centre of the ruckus. She shouted loudly at the snap-happy kids, “Stop bloody snapping this instant!”

  The children started to fall into line one by one. One of them was more curious than the rest though. The blonde girl was so obsessed with the fox’s eyes that she didn’t pay any attention to Miss Maple’s authoritative rants. Her hands squeezed the dead Fox’s eyes open and shut. She poked her finger at it’s still eyes, giggling to herself as she did so.