Z-Burbia: A Zombie Novel by Jake Bible Read Free Book Online Page A

is.
    Jon pulls my shirt from out of my jeans and I hear the wet flop.
    “Oh, damn,” Jon says , and then hushes up as he tries not to laugh. “That sucks.”
    “It’s a tongue, isn’t it?” I ask. Jon nods. “I feel so dirty.”
    “D on’t be a wimp,” Stuart says. “You’ve had worse splattered on you.”
    “From Zs,” I say, shaking myself a little, trying to get rid of the heebie-jeebies.
    “You going to be okay?” Jon asks.
    “Yep,” I nod.
    “Good,” Jon says, as we make our way around the dead kids. “What about these bodies? Zs will be on them soon. That’s gonna make the area less secure and our way home a little harder.”
    “I have a feeling there aren’t any Zs close by,” Stuart says. “At least not free roaming.”
    “Free roaming?” I ask. “What are they? Chickens?”
    Stuart actually smiles at this. It’s a little more than off putting.
    “You may be more right than you know,” Stuart says.
    “Don’t do that,” Jon says. “Seriously.”
    Stuart’s smile goes away quickly and his eyes narrow.
    “Come on.”
    We hike up the long, winding street until we reach a large colonial house. Three stories with wide decks on the back, Stuart leads us through the gate and up the back stairs to the top most deck. As soon as he looks out and below, he hisses and waves us down. My leg hurts like hell.
    “You cool?” Jon asks.
    “Right as rain,” I smile.
    “Shit,” Stuart says. “Shit shit shit. Get down.”
    We flatten ourselves on the deck boards and crawl to the edge for a better view. What I see takes my breath away. I can hear Jon’s gasp and I look over at Stuart.
    “How long have you known about this?”
    “Not long,” h e says. “Melissa and the scavenging crew have avoided North Asheville for months because it’s pretty picked over. I came out here a week and a half ago just to be alone.”
    “You know you can just not answer your door,” Jon says. “It’s safer to be alone in your own living room.”
    “Unlike the rest of you,” Stuart says. “I have no illusions of safety in Whispering Pines. I come out here to train and stay sharp. I have bags packed and weapons ready at a moment’s notice.”
    “Jeez,” Jon says , “that’s no way to live.”
    Stuart grunts in response and then looks down at the lake below. We do also, and I begin to study what I am seeing.
    Beaver Lake is a small lake, about the size of an oval football field. It’s man made and can be filled and drained in less than 24 hours. Right now , it is drained. Yet it’s filled too.
    “Are all of those Zs?” Jon asks.
    “Yes,” Stuart replies, “but they weren’t there when I first came here. The wall was, and the guards, but not the Zs.”
    Surrounding the lake is a massive wall cobbled together from all sorts of materials. Steel, wood, aluminum, car hoods, reinforced chain link, stone, and brick. Guards are posted every twenty feet at least. And these guys look like business. Semi-automat ic rifles, body armor, some have helmets and goggles. Even from up here, I can catch the occasional squelch from a walkie-talkie. Which means they have power available to them somewhere.
    “You brought us here to analyze and asses s what they were building, right?” I ask Stuart. He nods. “But it looks like we now know what they were building.”
    “The real question is why,” Jon states.
    “I think I know why,” Stuart says. “The real question is when.”
    “How do you mean?” Jon asks.
    While Jon and Stuart talk, I have been busy doing a quick calculation.
    “7,000,” I say.
    “What?” Jon asks.
    “God,” Stuart responds , “that many then?”
    “At least,” I say.
    Jon looks at me then down at the dry lake. “Are you saying there’s 7,000 Zs down there? My Lord.” He looks at Stuart. “So you know the why, but want to know the when? I’d like to know the answers to both of those questions.”
    “They’re making a herd,” I say. “They are weaponizing the