Zombpocalypse (Book 1): Contingency Read online

  Contingency

  Book One of the Zompacalypse Series

  By: Mariah Lynde

  Dedications and Acknowledgments:

  To My Family and Friends: I love you all, and thank you for supporting me in doing all of this.

  To Mark Tufo: Thanks for the ideas, the inspiration and the laughs. Zombies are forever.

  To Bobby: You have and always will be, My Evil Twin.

  To Raz and Dark: Thank you for needling out of my comfort zone.

  To My Aigie/Amanda: Thank you for the emergency save. I <3 You. Thank you for making this possible.

  Finally this book is dedicated to my Aunt Trina. While she may be gone, she is not forgotten and I truly hope wherever she is, that she knows I was thinking of her when I took this on. I love you, Aunt Trina. You will forever be, The Roller Derby Queen.

  Prologue – Introduction to Downfall

  It would be nice to tell you that the world is a perfect place. I would also love to tell you that for the most part, humankind is composed of generous people that put the good of the many above that of the few.

  I would really like to say those things, but sadly that wouldn’t be the truth.

  Sitting here, facing my own demise at the hands of the mindless throng of starving, mindless monsters wanting a human-y snack, I want to have a pretty clean slate with the man upstairs. Adding the title of self-serving liar is not exactly something that will get me through the pearly gates, especially when I have more than enough sins settled on my shoulders to account for.

  Don’t get me wrong, I used to be normal. Well, semi-normal. A part of me had always been out of step with what was considered the status quo. Now, during the end of the world, I just happened to be one of the last ones standing. In recent months, I have been many things: killer, cook, survivalist, whack job, taskmaster, cruel overseer, and displaced alcoholic. Bad as all of that sounds, I’m not keen on adding liar to that list. Through every phase of my post-apocalyptic evolution I have had a penchant for being brutally honest; no reason to stop that streak now.

  That said, there is one thing you need to remember now above all things: People are jackasses. This is not an assumption. It is a simple fact of life that is prevalent now more than ever. The last vestiges of ‘polite’ society are long gone. Those who had survived this long have done so because they are selfish assholes who have always looked out for numerouno.

  There is no ultimate truth to be found here. No words of encouragement or answer to your prayers. I have no explanation to you for just why all of this has happened, so I won’t offer you some half-cocked theory or panacea to ease your transition into the living hell our world has become.

  Some would say that all things resolve themselves in time. Others would say, go with God. I will not do either since it won’t prepare you for what is lurking out there.

  Do not be mistaken, life now comes at a cost. To survive the chaos that now rules our world, you have to put away all your preconceived notions about how things work. If that is something you cannot do then it is probably time for you to step outside of your comfort zone and take your chances surviving on the street nearby.

  Sadly, that does nothing for my situation. Sitting here, cowering in a dumpster along with the rather odious remains of some kind of garlic infused nightmare, I’m telling you my story. Much as I wish that things might be different, such is the truth of my existence right now.

  If this is going to be my last hurrah, I will at least leave behind some kind of chronicle of my events to date. Well, as best as I can considering the thoughts currently running through my mind. Allow me to say, this is not the most comfortable feeling in the world. There is currently a massive glob of slime resting against my lower back to accompany the god awful stench that has my stomach churning in preparation for a retch like none other. Add to that the slow, squirming advance of small worm-like creatures trailing down to creep under the waistband of my pants and seek purchase lower. Every part of me wants to stand up and scream in horror, but I can’t afford to make a sound unless I want to hurry along my demise.

  So where to start? Oh, yes. The End of the World.

  Some would have postulated that losing a mass number of the residents of our planet would have made for a drastic improvement. Those people were dead wrong. If anything, the world has become even more of a danger because now it’s just a few of us versus all of them. Mother Nature’s sense of humor was not lost on me. Never in my life had I considered the possibility that our destruction would come at the hands of mindless chaos and sheer luck.

  What is it that could elicit such utter havoc and destruction to put mankind on the brink? God help us all, because the truth is still barely believable.

  Zombies.

  Despite everything, I never would have believed this would be the end of mankind. Mother Nature breaking her own laws now had our species as a whole circling the drain and fast. While the anti-social gamer nerd in me didn’t truly miss the way things were, the practical side of my persona missed the little things that came with normal life.

  A sudden bang from a body slamming into the side of the dumpster made me jerk. The feel of ooze creeping even lower and insinuating itself in the waistband of my underwear made me shudder even as I fought the urge to scream. I had no other choice. I lifted my hand delivering a solid slap to cover my mouth and muffle any sound that might alert the creatures outside to my presence.

  The best thing I can do for myself and for you is to focus on what brought us to this point, so the best place I can think of to start is at the beginning. Here we go…

  Chapter One – Real Life

  If there is one thing I can say in the favor of a zombie apocalypse, it is the culling of idiots from the general population. Knowing I never have to deal with some of those sycophantic jack-asses ever again is something I’m completely okay with. However, I’m getting ahead of myself here.

  Before this hell on earth began, I was your typical, everyday American drone. I woke up, I went to work, I went home. Some nights I was lucky enough to sit down and play video games to my heart’s content with my best friend chuckling in my ear, others I was just so disgusted with life that I went to bed and prayed that something would happen to interfere with work the next day.

  I had a crap job. Not minimum wage, but definitely not live comfortable salary. Like most anti-social pragmatists, I worked in the IT department of a company that shoved me into the figurative bowels of their building. This is the part of the building where the floor smells like wet dog or a Louisiana swamp in the middle of July. So basically, I was already living in hell, the apocalypse just ramped it up to the next level.

  The day that all of this began for me was no different than any other. My alarm clock sounded just like it did at six o’clock every morning. There was of course, my typical answer to the disruption of my precious sleep. I rolled my ass right over and slammed my hand down on the snooze button for an eight minute respite.

  Those precious eight minutes of my morning were my personal nirvana. In this place between sleep and wakefulness, miracles could happen. I could imagine calling into work sick and spending the day lying on my couch and watching Star Wars like it was some cure-all for my lack of a real life. It was a beautiful thought, no lie. Looking back now, I wonder if there would have been a certain bliss in following through with that plan to have one last day of normalcy.

  There would be no spreadsheets, no inter-office memos. There would be no phone calls from holier-than-thou suits upstairs with looks and no brains asking me why their screen ‘thingy’ wasn’t working.

  Why can’t I do that again? Oh, right…

  Rent.Car Payment.Electric.Inter
net.Bills, bills, and more bills.

  I had a healthy amount of hate and discord in my heart for my parents. No one had prepared me for the sheer amount of suck that came from living in the real world.

  No matter what I would have preferred to do with my day, my obligation to pay my bills and keep the air conditioning running in the early spring won out. When my alarm began to peel once more, I was already rolling out of bed with a groan.

  Disgruntled that my personal nirvana would have to wait another day, the sound of my hand slapping on the snooze button had my clock clattering to silence as I finally moved in order to join the world at large.

  Turning my head, I peered out my window. Already the sun was out and promising to deliver another humid day to the Sandhills region. At least back home in the coastal plains, the winds coming off the Atlantic Ocean had a tendency to make things a little more bearable. Already I could feel my hair beginning to stick to the back of my neck causing me to groan.

  Just as I sat up the phone beside my bed rang. Ever since high school had ended and I moved away from home, these daily phone calls had become a cherished moment of my day. Pressing the button for speakerphone, I smiled as I nestled back into my pillow.

  “Hello?”

  “Heya, sweetie!Happy Hump Day!” Sure enough, the sound of my best friend’s voice filled my small bedroom and had me shaking my head in amusement. Robbie Arino, my brother from another mother, had always been and always would be my line to sanity. No matter my situation, his almost infectious happiness always seemed to bleed through and give me a buffer to the world around me.

  “Ha! We should both be so lucky on the humping.” Chuckling softly, I moved to lift myself out of bed to pull open the doors to my closet as I continued, “Heya, doll. How’s your morning going?”

  If you have never had the pleasure of a true best friend, I grieve for you. Everyone needs that one person who knows all your faults and foibles, that person that, no matter how much they know, accepts you for who and what you are. After fifteen years and a shit load of mistakes on both sides, we were still thick as thieves.

  “Pft. It’s barely light outside and I’m already heading into work. I bet you’re just now getting up…I envy you. That said, what’s your plan for the day?” I detected that peevish note in Robbie’s voice as he spoke.

  “Same as usual. Go to work and come home to watch T.V. or you know, hop on the internet to play some video games with my bestie until I have to go to bed.” Pulling out my work stuff from the closet, they were thrown on the bed with unceremonious dismissal. “How about you?”

  A soft snort on the other end of the line caught my attention. Well, if nothing else, I could still manage to amuse Robbie.

  “Now, darlin’, we’ve talked about this. A killing spree against those assholes is not worth the prison time. Besides, you could do that job even if you were two pickles shy of a cheeseburger. Bonus side is, it lets you work on that little pet project of yours.”

  “I know, I know. If I can ever get the time for it since my job is so easy. Oh, wait, it might be easy except for the overabundance of stupid calls that I get. They kind of make it hard to get time to finish the outline for writing a book.” I grumbled softly as I moved back towards the bed. While I considered my next words, I was already pulling out my watch and lanyard from the bedside drawer to deposit them with my uniform. “Am I at least allowed to keep hating these assholes, or will you kill that for me too?”

  “Hell, no! You’re damn right you get to keep hating those bastards! So fuck them. Hate away.” I couldn’t have loved Robbie anymore. While he kept me in line to the best of his ability, he would always be there to take my side.

  “Alright then, I’m okay with that.” I stood moving to grab the phone as I walked into the kitchen to start a small pot of coffee. Just as I flicked the switch to turn on said appliance, I came to a sudden realization. “Hey, you never gave me an answer about tonight.”

  “That’s because I don’t have one yet.” For once, Robbie sounded discomfited. All I had to do was wait for a moment before I heard it…that nervous laugh which was a dead giveaway that something was up.

  A lesser human being would have been none the wiser. Me, not a damn chance in hell I would have missed that. This was a person I had spent the last fifteen years in the trenches of humanity with.

  Every alarm in my head was sounding off, as I spoke once more, “You have a date! Spill!”

  “It’s just coffee. I’m meeting someone for coffee so we can get to know one another?” Robbie’s voice trailed off and I found myself arching a brow as I stared at the phone before snorting.

  “Someone him? Or someone her?”

  For a moment, I thought maybe Robbie had dropped the call on the other end of the line. There was an absolute and total silence that had me glaring at the phone. Just when I neared my limit on patience I heard a softly whispered, “Both.”

  I couldn’t help it. Rude as it was, I snorted and laughed, pausing in mid-motion from pulling my travel mug from the cabinet. Tilting my head back to stare at the ceiling with an idiotic grin on my face, I continued, “Both?”

  “Yes, both. You know I like keeping my options open. So, I’m meeting a girl for coffee. If that goes well, I’ll ask for a date. If not, I’m meeting a guy a couple of hours later.” In no way were his words a defense, just a statement of fact. Such was the way of our friendship.

  Setting the mug on the counter, I frowned a little as I spied the sink. The stack of plates from my current survival on sandwiches and Hot Pockets making my lips pull down in a frown while I made a mental note to try and eat actual food tonight. Shaking my head, I moved to the fridge to grab my Chocolate Caramel creamer and set it out next to my mug before I answered.

  “Well then, you know what I say...” I began.

  “Yeah, yeah. Whatever floats your boat,” Robbie chimed in.

  “Just remember…”

  We finished the phrase together, “You can’t cross the ocean in a dinghy.”

  Both of us exploded into a fit of infectious laughter. These few moments were pure, lighthearted bliss. However, that mood was soon broken as Robbie spoke again, his voice taking a serious turn, “What about you, darlin’? Are there any potential candidates on clearing those cobwebs out from between your legs?”

  “Hell, no. I’m staying off the market until further notice.” Two sugars and a healthy dose of creamer later, I made my way back towards the bedroom to get dressed with my coffee in hand. Considering the time, I’d have to skip my usual morning croissant since there’d be no time to stop on the way to work. While I’d prefer having the whole shebang of eggs, bacon, and toast – cooking first thing in the morning did not happen to be my happy place, especially when I already happened to be running short on time.

  If anyone remotely close to me knew I had a tendency to skip breakfast, there’d be hell to pay. As it was, I knew just how worried Robbie was about my exile to this hell hole. With a majority of my free time spent holed up in my apartment and socializing via my computer only, I knew exactly what to expect when I heard him sigh on the other end of the line.

  “It’s been two years, Angel…”

  “Then I suppose it will just be two more. Look, I’m not a girlie girl. I learned a long time ago, I’d never be what the world at large wants me to be, and eventually I’ll find someone that is okay with that. Right now, is just not that time.” Recognizing the bite in my words, I finished softly, “I’m sorry, I don’t mean to snap at you. I just don’t like this discussion.”

  “Sweetie, you can’t keep − ”

  “I need a shower. Text me later to let me know if we’re on for tonight?” Sufficiently done with the current conversation, I knew it was time to end the call. I rarely, if ever, cut off a conversation with Robbie but there were some things I just couldn’t talk about. Not right now at least.

  “You know I will.” There was a brief pause after those words. My hand was less than an inch from cuttin
g off the phone when Robbie spoke again. “You know, one day you’ll have to talk about him and what happened between the two of you.”

  “Yeah, but today is sure as hell not that day. Jim is in the past and that is where he needs to stay for right now.”

  “I don’t like this, Angel. I’ll let it go…for now. Have a good day, sweetie. Loves you!” That serious tone to his voice was gone, replaced by that infectious happiness and unconditional love that I needed so badly.

  “Loves you too, babe. Talk to you later.” This time I waited until I heard the soft click on the other end of the line before I breathed a sigh of relief. I missed my best friend more than anything. Late night cooking sprees watching the food network, nights singing songs off key or watching movies…

  If anything, I just missed having somebody around to share stuff with.

  One day I would be back home, but until then I had my daily phone calls as a pick me up. What more could I possibly need?

  It’s not like things could get any worse than they already were.

  At least that was what I thought.

  Chapter Two – Mindless Monotony

  The rest of my morning ritual was uneventful. After a quick shower, I got dressed and headed to work. As was to be expected, the parking lot across from the building was already filled with expensive luxury cars and high priced convertibles, which seemed to be a staple of the airheads up on the top floors of the building. Upper management always showed up early to impress upon their cohorts and us lesser beings that they were the lords that acted as our slave drivers. One day, I’d give a damn about making it known they were in no such way my overseers and I’d take great pleasure in parking my pollen and dust covered Ford Explorer right at the front of that stupid parking lot.

  Today was not that day, so I was relegated to finding a space in the Overflow Lot about four blocks away. I could justify not being angry about this by saying I needed the exercise but in truth, it was probably just so I didn’t rage all the way into work and have a day far worse than I already expected.