Z-Burbia 3: Estate Of The Dead by Jake Bible Read Free Book Online Page A

Brenda.
    The two women pull their collective bulks into the back with Elsbeth. Melissa just nods at them then pulls away.
    “What do you think of our fortifications, Mr. Stanford?” Brenda asks as the massive gate closes behind us, shutting the development off from the rest of the Z infested world. “I’m sure it’s not up to your brilliant standards, but we haven’t had a breach yet.”
    I grunt.
    “I’ll take that as a compliment,” Brenda sneers. Not that I see the sneer since I’m focusing on the road in front of us and refuse to turn and look at her. But I hear that sneer. That snippy, smarmy sneer…
    We pull out onto Merrimon Ave and drive south towards the Grove Park. Everyone sits in silence. Mindy tries to make conversation, but every time she opens her mouth, Elsbeth turns to her and frowns. She shuts up.
    Our phones chime. All of our phones. Landon has been busy making sure the Wi-Fi is city wide. Solar batteries and routers everywhere.
    “LAKE JULIAN UNDER SIEGE! ALL HANDS NOW!”
    “Fuck,” I say. The power plant.
    Albert Shumway, a muscled fireplug that works under Lourdes’s supervision has spent months retrofitting the Lake Julian power plant from coal into natural gas, which luckily we are flush with in Asheville. He’s an ornery asshole and we haven’t gotten along well, but he does know his power plants. He’s made a lot of progress with getting us closer to city wide power.
    If the Zs would leave the plant the fuck alone.
    For some reason, and none of us can figure out what it is, the Zs like the power plant. They migrate there in hordes. Thirty, forty, fifty at a time they show up. Half the week is spent killing Zs and not working on the plant.
    It sounds like there’s more of a herd this time than a horde.
    “Status?” I text back.
    “FUCK YOUR STATUS, STANFORD! I NEED EVERYONE HERE NOW! FUCKING HERD!”
    I was right. Not that I want to be right about this. I like being right in Trivial Pursuit, not about civilization-crushing Z herds.
    “Looks like the meeting is postponed,” Melissa says as she floors it.
    “What?” Brenda screeches (it’s her default tone). “You aren’t dropping us at the Grove Park?”
    Melissa hooks a thumb at the men and women in the bed of the truck. “Everyone means everyone, Brenda. It doesn’t mean make a pit stop to let you out so you can lounge by the pool.”
    “Oh,” Mindy says. I guess she had planned on lounging by the pool.
    “Well, don’t expect me to fight,” Brenda says. “I’m a leader, not a fighter.”
    “You’re a slug,” Elsbeth says.
    Brenda starts to reply then realizes who she is replying to and shuts the fuck up right quick.
    “You know where Stuart is?” Melissa asks.
    “Nope,” I say. “I’ll try to find out. We’ll need him.”
    “He’s with Julio,” Elsbeth says.
    “He is?” I ask. “How do you know?”
    I look over my shoulder and she just stares at me.
     
    ***
     
    When Z-Day hit it was a Sunday.
    The day is only significant because on the Biltmore Estate, that’s a busy day. Thousands of tourists crowded the sprawling house, and surrounding grounds of one of America’s former families of robber baron royalty . The Vanderbilts.
    For some inexplicable reason, the management of the estate decided to lock down everything when the dead began to rise. They closed and barred the gates, barricaded access roads, fenced o ff bridges. There was no way in or out.
    Did they get a heads up? Did someone say, “Hey, zombie apocalypse! Eve ryone’s sleeping here tonight!”
    No one knows because within days the place was nothing but a nest of Zs.
    Odds are someone had a heart attack and it all went downhill from there. One guy gets up a little peckish for human flesh and pretty soon it’s the meme of the day to eat your friends, family, fellow flabby tourists.
    Whatever the circumstances, the Biltmore Estate pretty much stayed off limits to the survivors of Asheville. Why would anyone even bother when faced