The Zombie Infection: Originals S1, Nick Venom [ebook reader that looks like a book TXT] 📗

“The virus that started in Europe has now spread overseas to the Americas. President Clark has called for a full evacuation of the east coast and midwest. Several tens of government-funded safe havens have opened on the west coast for the incoming refugees.” A male news anchor said. “Everybody within the Danger Zone ranging from North Dakota down to Texas and east of those states is ordered to retreat to the government safe havens.”

A man stared at the television, watching as the news anchor explained what had conspired over the last several months. President Edward Clark decided to stop people from entering the country after a virus began in Europe before ravaging the land. The virus then spread all over the Eastern world with many Eastern countries falling with very little resistance. The entire Eastern world fell by July 2014, several months after the virus began.

A handful of months later in August 2014, South America fell, and quickly Central America followed in November 2014. With North America being the last operational world not yet ravaged, the virus saw to it that they were taken down with heavy force. The east coast of North America fell by January 2015, leaving the midwest as the next target.

The man turned around, staring at the people behind him. He stood in the living room of his two-story home, now facing his family as well as his best friend’s family. “We need to leave now!” He declared. The others in the room nodded. 

The man, a 5’10 tall man named Jorge, turned back around to face the television, his eyes lingering on the screen for a few seconds before turning away. His wife, Grace, had already begun packing up their belongings and food supplies. His best friend, Tommy, and his wife had started with their stuff, helping with packing up whatever food or water they have. They cleaned out the cabinets and refrigerator of the shared two-story house. 

Jorge went to his room on the first floor, approaching his bed. He looked above the headboard, rattling his knuckles on the wall. A foot above the headboard was a fake panel that he had created to hide the safe holding his family’s most valuable items. He took the panel off, revealing the safe. He imputed a code into the safe, unlocking it and taking out several valuables - a few of which were guns and ammunition. Aside from the guns were other valuables that Henry had left in the safe, being a framed photo of his parents, his son’s birth certificate, several pieces of jewelry, and a handwritten note that was folded and kept in the back corner of the safe. He grabbed all of the items, except for the guns. He hesitated to take them out.

Tommy entered his room, looking for Jorge. His eyes widened as he saw the guns laying in the safe. He never knew about the gun’s existence. “Why do you have guns here?” He asked, keeping his voice low to avoid having his family or Jorge’s family from hearing him.

“We’ve been good friends, right?” Jorge asked suddenly.

“Yeah, I would say so. You wouldn’t have allowed my family to share this house with you if we weren’t.” Tommy stated.

Jorge nodded. “Then keep this a secret.” He turned around, holding a pistol. He handed the pistol to Tommy. “We don’t know if there are bandits or those infected out there, or even if those havens are truly safe.”

Tommy nodded, taking the pistol. He checked the pistol to see if it’s loaded, finding that there was no ammunition. All of the ammunition in Jorge’s small arsenal of weapons were kept in the safe. 

Aside from the pistol given to Tommy, there were two pistols and an assault rifle. The small arsenal was bought legally by Jorge after he had returned from his years of service in the army. However, due to the many laws and strict regulations in Illinois, he wasn’t able to use them without some type of problem - but he was now able to use them

“If something happens, they’ll be useful,” Jorge said as he took out another pistol. He grabbed a box of bullets, handing one to Tommy. “You don’t have much training, so I’ll have to train you later to use it. However, if you have to use it before I train you, then press this button.” Jorge pointed at the safety button on Tommy’s pistol. “Then point and press the trigger. Whatever’s at the end of the barrel will be what you’re shooting at.”

Tommy nodded, staring at the pistol - feeling the cold metal pressing against his skin. The intimidating aura of the gun was heavy on him. He wasn’t used to guns and was nervous about being around them. It almost felt like a snake was in his hand. Even so, he took the pistol with him. 

“I’ll take it for now,” Tommy said. “Oh, before I forget, Grace needs your keys.” 

Jorge nodded. “Okay… Make sure nobody else sees the weapons.” He said as he turned around, putting the fake panel back in its spot. 

Tommy nodded. “Got it.”

“Good,” Jorge said, turning around and leaving the room. He had his keys in his pocket, heading outside with Tommy following behind him. They went outside where their wives were waiting for them. They stood by Jorge’s hummer where half of the supplies were packed into. The other half remained inside, needing to be brought to the hummer. 

“We got to go soon,” Grace said.

Jorge nodded. He handed the keys to her. “Got it, let me go help the kids.” He turned around to head to the front door of his house, but his wife stopped him. She pointed at the neighbor’s house where their neighbor, Ms. Kennson, had stumbled out of her front door. She collapsed on the porch, laying on her front. 

“Oh my God, is she okay?” Grace asked.

“I don’t know, let me go and help her.” Jorge headed to Ms. Kennson with Tommy following closely behind him. They approached Ms. Kennson, an eighty-year-old widow who had been a kind and friendly person to them. 

As they neared her, Jorge noticed something off with her. She was slobbering and muttering incoherently to herself. He took a step back, hesitating to get any closer to her. However, Tommy didn’t seem to mind her muttering, reaching out to her. As he did, she jerked up, staring up at him. Her face was full of cracks, blood spilling out from within the cracks and drizzling down her face. Blood poured out of her eye sockets, trickling down her face and joining up with the other blood on her face. Her skin was slowly changing from her usual pale color to a shade of gray. 

Ms. Kennson was no longer human, now infected. She jumped up at Tommy, grabbing his arm and biting down on him. He let out a loud shriek which echoed throughout the neighborhood, catching the attention of some wandering ears.

Infected slowly trickled into the neighborhood, flanking Grace and Tommy’s wife. The Infected weren’t breathing heavily and they didn’t stomp their feet which would’ve alerted their prey. They moved almost silently aside from the small chirps of their shoes against the road, sidewalk, or grass. They were eerily quiet in their attempt at catching prey. And, unfortunately, they were good at it. 

Grace and Tommy’s wife were stunned as Ms. Kennson bit chunks out of Tommy’s arm that they didn’t notice the arrival of the Infected until they had grabbed their arms. The Infected quickly bit into their shoulders and arms. Tommy’s wife fainted immediately at the sight of her blood spurting out of the missing chunk in her arm while Grace tried to fight back, but was quickly overwhelmed. 

Jorge tried to help out Tommy, grabbing him and pulling him away from Ms. Kennson but his attention was caught by the screams of his wife. He turned and noticed his wife being devoured by the Infected. He turned back around and saw that Tommy had escaped Ms. Kennson’s grip, but now the elderly woman had gotten to her feet and jumped at Tommy, biting into his shoulder. He fell to the ground, pounced on by Ms. Kennson, and devoured without mercy. He was slowly being killed by Ms. Kennson and Jorge couldn’t do much but watch. The pistol he carried in his waistband wasn’t loaded and he feared being bitten by Ms. Kennson. 

He turned towards his house, seeing his son, Nick, watching from the second-floor window. Tommy’s son, Eric, stood by Nick’s side. Both kids had widened eyes and worried expressions. 

Jorge looked at the front door and saw that the Infected stood in his way. They were quickly surrounding him, leaving him no way out. He attempted to quickly load the pistol he carried, but the Infected were overwhelming him. The screams and shouts of Grace, Tommy, and his wife had attracted more Infected. There was no way he could escape in one piece.

He looked up at the second-floor window. “Go to my room and check the area above the headboard of my bed! There’s an open safe behind a fake panel! There are guns and ammunition inside it!” He shouted before the Infected overtook him, devouring him. 

Nick and Eric, two Hispanic black-haired kids, watched as it happened, both with teary eyes. They had lost their parents and soon the Infected would set their eyes on them. It was only a matter of time.

TBC... 

“W-Why?” Eric said, sobbing. He had witnessed both his parents die in front of him. He wanted to look away, but his body wouldn’t let him. It forced him to look at the gruesome sight of his parents being devoured. Fortunately, the Infected threw their bodies over his parents, shielding him from the sight of his parents. However, that thought wasn’t great either.

“I-I don’t k-know,” Nick said, sitting in a corner of the room. He was sobbing as well, horrified at what he saw. His parents were devoured by the Infected without a shred of mercy or pity. His parents, who had been living five minutes ago, were now dead. How could that be? I just saw them! They were living! He shouted internally. He still couldn’t believe that they were dead. How could he? The thought of a virus sweeping over the world and reanimating corpses that would then bite living people and turn them into more Infected was a thought nobody had. When the news reported the virus initially, Nick dismissed it as something that didn’t involve him, which now it did, or as an April Fools prank. How could people die before being brought back alive by a single bite? It didn’t make sense to him. Everything seemed like it was coming out of a fairy tale. 

Eric stood up, moving from his spot under the window to the door. He slammed his fist into the wooden door frame. “Why?” He shouted. He heard something slam against the front door. The screen door was closed, but the front door was still open. The Infected had a view into the house, able