The Zombie Zone

This chapter has no sex.

*****

"Theo...Theodore, wake up..." Hanover's voice echoed from far away.

Fire alarms blared. Red light brightened and dimmed. Screams and shouts were mere whistles in the background. A constant rumbling and distant booms superseded everything. All of this fell onto the numbed mind. Blurred and muffled by rattled consciousness.

Deja vu forced Theo's eyes open. Phantoms of the plane crash and an injured Hanover laid in front of him. He squeezed Susan's hand. However, the delusion faded when his addled mind cleared up. He sat up in the medical center bed.

Autumn, in the midst of setting up a transport board, saw the movement and popped up, "Theo! Oh, thank goodness! I thought I was going to have to drag you. Can you stand up?"

"Yeah, but what happened?" Theo didn't like how weak he felt. His sinuses ached from where Maria intruded. The headache only added to his collection of misery.

"I don't know. Susan and I heard screams, she left, and then there was a huge explosion. Everything's on fire out there," Autumn was ready to bolt. He barely contained his fear.

"Susan..." the idea of her being endangered made Theo rush to the door. His legs turned to gel, though, and he tumbled against the doorframe. He shoved the door open and looked upon the inferno.

The student center was in complete disarray. Flames ate at most of the back and sides, while dark smoke flooded the ceiling. Large gaps where the walls were blown out or crumbled were near the cafe and all along where the restrooms and performance stage were. Furniture and architecture were mangled, broken or ablaze, across the room. A metal beam jutted out from above, precariously hanging like a pendulum stopped in its swing.

Bodies were everywhere. Most were on the ground, partially buried, or on fire. A few survivors panicked. They either dashed about trying to find an exit, or hiding in nooks. What made it a difficult choice were the numerous zombies lurching about. They either rose from those who became recently deceased or stumbled in from the outside.

Try as he might, Theo couldn't see Susan or any of his friends. He yelled, which only seemed to be muted by the inferno's destruction, "Susan! Hank! Anybody!"

Autumn pleaded, "Theodore, I need your help. We need to move Snowdrop and...Hanover?"

Hanover's body was missing. Both of them glanced around, but didn't see her or any zombie version of her. Her body simply vanished.

"Dammit, where is she?" Theo's eyes went to the ceiling and corners, in case she transformed into a special zombie. No luck.

"I don't know. She was just here a minute ago," Autumn gawked, flabbergasted.

Theo saw how pale the unconscious Snowdrop appeared. His subconscious reminded him that the group had determined she was infected. He asked Autumn, "You sure you want to help her? She can turn at any second."

Autumn was torn and uncertain, "I...don't know. I'm also not safe. I might change, too. I'm sorry! But...I don't know."

Theo saw the warped pupils of his friend. The problems compounded. Much of Theo considered abandoning Snowdrop. He wanted to search for everyone else. However, a memory not only made him crack a smile, but he chuckled, too.

It added to Autumn's layers of confusion, "Why are you laughing?"

"At the beginning of today, Susan and I found Snowdrop in trouble. I wanted to help her; it gave me purpose for once. And here we are..." Theo decided to embody Susan and honor Hanover.

'They really depend on you...'

He picked part of Snowdrop up, and Autumn nimbly took her other side. Like Autumn, it didn't matter if she was going to change soon. Theo would continue to do the thing he knew motivated him. It did with Hanover; she saved his life and died smiling.

Theo would fight like hell to save who he could.

In the student center, disaster reigned supreme. Survivors who were not fully debilitated darted out and to different places.

One barista worker saw an opening to escape outside. They started running, but a hand grabbed their leg and tripped them. They thought it was a zombie, and prepared to kick them in the face, but held back the foot when they saw Neptune. She lay under a table and some roof debris, most of her body pinned beneath the debris. Tears streaked down her face and left lines in the dirt that caked it. She pleaded, "Help me! I can't get this off!"

The barista recovered and tried to move the debris, but it proved heavy. Then, two zombies zeroed in on them. The barista became mortified, and then said, "I'm sorry..."

The barista sprinted for the opening and left. Neptune cried and yelled, "Come back here, you bastard! You can't leave me to die!"

The zombies moved closer, but a third clambered over the debris and nearly landed on Neptune. It was Samantha.

"Sam! Please, it's me! Don't..." Neptune stilled her tongue when she saw her friend's face. Jagged pupils, sickened complexion, and a slacked jaw; Samantha was fully turned.

Samantha licked her lips, and then tore her pants away. It exposed her dripping wet pussy, which yearned for attention. She positioned herself over her living friend. Neptune shrieked, "No! Samantha, stop! Ashem! Ashem, save me!"

Samantha lowered her body, but one of the dining chairs flew over and smashed against the sex zombie. The hit knocked Samantha away from Neptune.

Lorenzo moved over, hoisted the table up just enough, and unpinned Neptune. She crawled out. Aside from bruises riddling her lower body, she could move. Nothing was broken.

Samantha recovered from being knocked over. She tried to crawl over to them, but Lorenzo's Timberlands met her chin. He stomped a couple of times with full force. The eventually snap and limp body confirmed the kill.

Lorenzo snorted and spat. He turned to a stunned Neptune and offered a hand, "C'mon! Get up!"

He raised her to her feet. She tried to lean into him for stability and comfort, but he kept his distance. Emotion warped her face and she whimpered, "Thank you! Thank you so much!"

Lorenzo didn't pay any attention. He tried to make heads and tails of the room. Zombies were everywhere. Some commotion drew him to the center of the room.

Lucija used her strength to powerlift a chunk of the cafe sign. It hadn't crushed Jenah, but it had hit her. A nasty gash covered the right side of her face and blood poured out like a curtain of red. Lucija helped the elf up.

"Are you okay?" Lucija examined the damage. She clutched her side, from where she landed hard against a chair. Her ribs felt bruised, or broken.

"I'm not dead yet..." Jenah checked. Lots of pain, which meant all the fire wasn't Hell. She stayed temperate nonetheless, "Thanks - now I owe you twice."

Lucija put on an accent, "Not today, Satan!"

"That's...whatever," Jenah couldn't retort, and instead blushed at her cuteness.

Lucija's eyes wandered, since zombies were swarming by the dozen, and she saw Susan lying on the ground. She stirred slowly, after having been concussed by the explosion. A couple of zombies were feet from reaching her.

Susan opened her eyes and winced in pain. Her whole body ached, her lungs stung with each breath, and a loud ringing deafened her. She struggled to register the undead closing in on her, because her mind went to the children. She gazed over to where she saw them last. Their scorched electronics lay on the floor, destroyed and surrounded by flames.

Susan's heart shattered, "No..."

The zombies descended on Susan. They grabbed her legs and went for a bite each. She panicked and tried to wrestle free. Jenah and Lucija weren't going to reach her in time. Susan cried out, closed her eyes, and waited for the inevitable...and then a few gunshots went off. It killed the zombies and made them fall still.

The gunshots came from Tony, who was closer to Lorenzo and Neptune. He wasn't injured, but shook uncontrollably. He briefly glanced at Laylie, who was sprawled across the ground and with a hole in her head.

Jenah and Lucija reached Susan and helped her to her feet. Susan could barely speak, "No, please, God...why?! Why is this happening?! They were just kids..."

"Susan, listen to me. We need to survive," Jenah tried to level with her. Susan hugged Jenah, to which the elf awkwardly patted her shoulder. Lucija took this moment to deal with a zombie that fell through one of the collapsed walls.

"This has to be a nightmare...it has to be..." Susan tried waking up.

Jenah sympathized and relaxed against Susan's need for connection. She rubbed her shoulder, "I wish that, too, but if we don't act, more of us will die."

"I need to find Hank!" Lucija stared ahead at the kitchen. The wall separating it from the cafe was blown wide open, but engulfed in fire.

"I have to get to Autumn," Jenah twisted around to face the medical center.

"Theo..." Susan remembered his condition.

However, as all the survivors looked about with different goals in mind, one factor ruled all. Zombies swamped the student center. There was nowhere to escape or slip to without risking a bite or grab.

"We're dead!" Neptune vocalized everybody's realization. They were outnumbered three-to-one.

A heavy thud from a boot knocked loose some of the broken glass wall of the gaming corner. It was shattered by the explosion, which left jagged teeth randomly around the framing. Everybody saw that the consoles, PCs, and shelves were all ablaze. Ant plucked a part of the broken glass. He held it like a dagger and, backlit by the fires, he bestowed the room with crazed glee. The criminal's chain was broken and dangled from his wrist.

"You could break free whenever you wanted?!" Tony gawked in disbelief.

"The body is contained, but the spirit is free!" Ant belted a laugh, and then declared. "Let's rock!"

The wild man bounded from the window in a sideways splay. He stabbed the skull of the nearest zombie and booted a second nearby zombie in the face while he fell. Both brainless bozos hit the ground at the same time Ant did.

Ant steamrolled and popped up to his feet. Three zombies came at him, while the one he booted crawled for his feet. He hopscotched on the crawling zombie's head, grabbed one of its arms, and tore it right out of the shoulder socket. He whirled the limb around and bashed the inbound zombies. He wasn't afraid of throwing a shoulder tackle, grappling, and headbutting alongside the nunchaku limb.

"He makes it look so easy..." Susan gawked.

"We can do this!" Lucija borrowed Ant's fearlessness. She ran in his, and the kitchen's, direction, "Reach the others! I'll find Hank!"

A couple of zombies blocked the medical center. Jenah swung her bat around the best she could, but with the head injury, the force wasn't that strong. It knocked the zombie aside instead of killing it. She nearly collapsed from the sheer amount of disorientation.

"Let me..." Susan took the bat. She nervously readied a swing for the second zombie. However, the first one also lurched at her. She freaked out and yelped, but bullets zipped by and pegged the undead.

Jenah and Susan glanced over at Tony, who came in clutch with his aim. While Ant ripped through a small horde, other zombies pressed in on Lorenzo and Neptune. Tony fired two more times to clear the ones next to them. He made a quick count and recognized that he didn't have enough ammo. Lorenzo seemed directionless, all the while Neptune cowered behind him.

It was Lucija joining the fray that convinced everybody what to do. She took out a couple deadbeats, ducked under a leapfrogging Ant, and executed zombies like her cricket bat was a giant's club. Ant opted to use his knuckles to de-jaw a few zombies, or forcefully gauged out their eyes to blind them.

"We have to fight!" Tony stepped up next to Lorenzo and Neptune.

"What?! That's crazy!" Neptune shivered.

"It's do or die," Lorenzo accepted. He grabbed a leg of the table that pinned Neptune and snapped it free. Tony did the same and cracked another loose for Neptune. She took it, but looked mortified.

Jenah watched on; the group's will to live inspired her. What Autumn wanted suddenly became a need for her. Today wasn't the day to die.

Susan scanned the room. She saw a couple of survivors near the front. Too afraid to move, and too traumatized to go outside. Susan cursed their luck, "Oh, balls! Get to Theo and Autumn. I have to help the others."

"They're not worth..." Jenah tried to prevent Susan from unnecessary risk, but gave up after Susan darted away. She switched to the clinic and barged in.

Theo and Autumn were nearly finished with strapping Snowdrop to the carry board.

"Autumn!" Jenah moved over to him.

He stood and hugged her. The scarlet mask made his gut twist, "You're hurt!"

"It's fine for now. We must leave."

"What happened out there?" Theo asked.

Jenah shrugged, "No idea. There was some crashing in the cafe, and then a fire, and then an explosion. I don't..."

Theo wondered why she trailed off. Autumn's eyes widened with abhorrent terror, "Hank..."

"Hank? What about him?" Theodore's anxiety rose.

"He was making fire bombs for the zombies. Something must have gone wrong. We need to find him and get the hell out of here," Jenah became antsy and uncomfortable.

"Let me finish," Autumn said and kneeled by Snowdrop to latch the last belt.

Theodore asked, "Is Susan okay?"

"She's roughed up, but moving."

Theo sighed with relief. That gave

Autumn room to ask, "Have you seen Hanover, by any chance?"

Jenah raised an eyebrow, checked the floor where Hanover's blood was, and gasped. She shook her head, and like they did before her, checked around the room expecting a zombie professor.

"What in the world?" Jenah expected Theo and Autumn to have the answer.

"I don't know, but let's focus on getting out of here," Theo leaned down to pick up the board.

"Hold on," Jenah stopped him and took his spot. "I'm all over the place after being hit. It's better if you took the lead to protect us. Put those muscles to good use."

"Thanks for the compliment," Theo accepted his position. Autumn and Jenah raised Snowdrop up. The board made it significantly easier. The trio left the medical center and entered the inferno.

Lucija jumped a downed zombie and swung her bat straight into its cranium. Behind her Ant lofted a zombie up in the air, and then hammered his fist into it and knocked it down. It didn't kill the thing, but Ant looked like he was just having fun. Tony struck and broke his table leg across one humper's face, and then spun around and fired a shot into others who approached Neptune. She didn't attack or do anything, but shadowed and panicked behind Lorenzo. He didn't have his table leg anymore, but found a fire axe, taken from its cabinet on a nearby wall. He viciously cut into anything undead and backed each swing with his brawn.

"That's more like it," Theo admired the group's fighting spirit.

A hand pressed on Theo's back and pushed. He stumbled, and just in time to avoid an unseen zombie staffer who reached out from the dark corner. Jenah and Autumn let out yelps, but couldn't move much with Snowdrop. Theo whirled his bat around and sliced up. The strike cracked its neck backwards and instantly killed it.

Theo let out a nervous laugh, and then nodded at Jenah, "Thanks for the save."

He confused her, "For what? I didn't do anything."

"You pushed me?" Theo made it a question. He was certain he felt a hand. Jenah, however, denied it still. Her hands were preoccupied with the board.

"Susan!" Autumn verbally pointed out her conundrum. She, along with the swim team duo and the surviving staffers, were cornered. They were dealing with five zombies at once, and weren't winning.

"On it!" Theo ran over to lend aid.

Jenah glanced at the potential exits. When her eyes fell on the cafe, her whole person froze. Her mind involuntarily told her all the places she needed to hide. A massive, muscular silhouette loomed in the flames. The glint on the eyes instilled dread. Its skin and fur were heavily charred. Not only that, but about half its body was burned to the bone. Regardless, it stomped out of the cafe and revealed itself as a mutilated werewolf.

Half of Ashem's jaw and row of teeth were on full display due to how much fire burned it away. So were some of his ribs, femur, and spine. The pain became so mingled with the renegeration that he entered a relentless rage. His maddened eyes snapped to the closest living things; Lucija and Ant.

"RUN!!" Jenah screamed.

Ant and the others were spooked by Jenah's voice crack. Except Lucija, who saw the beast, since her goal awaited behind it. Ashem rushed her. She timed a swing to clock him in the head. However, he stalled to let the bat miss, and then lunged. His razor sharp teeth sunk into Lucija's arm and elbow. They pierced into the bone. She wailed, but couldn't possibly pull away.

"Put her down!" Tony fired his gun at Ashem until his handgun ran dry. Four shots didn't do anything.

Ashem growled and whipped his head. Like a dog and its mark, he mercilessly slung Lucija about and sprinkled blood from a now shredded arm. Her cries of agony drew quiet once he flung her back into the burning kitchen. She disappeared past a wall of flames.

"Lucija!" Theo called, horrified. He couldn't go to her, though, since he needed to help Susan and the others.

"Ashem! Protect me! Protect me!" Neptune waved from behind Lorenzo.

"Ashem? Are you fucking for real?" Lorenzo tried to steady his axe. His body trembled and cold chills ran down his spine.

"Oh, shut it. He's on our side," Neptune said proudly, no longer showing any sign of fear. She ignored the disturbing treatment given to Lucija.

Ant flew like a cannonball and rammed a shoulder into Ashem. The werewolf stumbled, but swiftly retaliated with a claw. Ant ducked and pulled a one-two boxing combo on Ashem's torso. It didn't do anything. It did leave Ant's head vulnerable to a bite. Ashem tried, but Ant answered with another headbutt. The angle bent some teeth in, while others sliced into the crazy man's head. It was, however, done with enough upward force that it caused Ashem to stammer back.

Ashem let his teeth realign, but when he glared back at Ant, he was met with an equal ferocity. Ant, eyes wide and smirk sinister, had streams of red pouring down from the teeth scrapes.

"Let the blood hear our names! We shall paint our war across the stars' tapestry, and have the farthest galaxy's seekers weep at its beauty!" Ant roared. Ashem howled in sync.

In the kitchen, Lucija hustled to her feet. She cinched her mangled arm close to her body. She performed every mental gymnastic to overcome the pain. Blood oozed out of the lacerations. Her body entered shock and vibrated uncontrollably.

The epicenter of the explosion was barely recognizable and practically intraversable. The haze of the fire and the deluge of smoke hindered her visibility. Lucija didn't even know which way the storage was. She held onto conviction and belted, "Hank!"

A crash of unknown objects sounded from somewhere. It was followed by a loud buzzing. Lucija squinted through the fire.

B4rry flew through the flames like nothing affected him. His fans blustered and snuffed out any fires that weren't fueled by grease.

"B4rry! I can't find Hank," the shock to Lucija's system made it hard to focus and think.

"Ah, Ms. Vukovic! You look in dire need of medical attention," B4rry analyzed her barely intact limb.

"Hank first," she prioritized.

"His phone's signal is right this way," B4rry hovered across the kitchen. His extendable arm came out of his body with a nozzle replacing the claw. He sprayed a liquid onto the grease fires. It smothered the flames and created a path. Lucija stumbled after him, all the way to the walk-in fridge. The door wasn't entirely closed. Lucija used her good arm to open the fridge.