In Dedication to Ashley. You are one of the greatest kids I’ve had the pleasure to know and help raise. Between Ash and my biological son, they both encouraged me to keep writing even when it felt I was stuck. Thank you for believing in me.

  I want to thank family and friends who helped me with the proof reading and pointing out the punctuation and other ways I’ve murdered the English language.

  Although many places in this book are described, I’ve taken liberties here and there. Many of you from the area will see them right off. For that I am sorry, writer’s privilege. All characters in this story are fictional, so any similarities to any real people in this book are purely circumstantial.

  This will be my 2nd short story in a series I hope the readers will enjoy. Once again, if you have any feedback, please feel free to let me know.

  I Hope you have as much fun reading this, as I did writing it. Written for my kids and family; with love.

  Copyright © 2013, Boyd Craven III. All Rights Reserved No part of this publication may be reproduced in any way without the prior written consent of the author. You may not circulate this publication in any format.

  Table of Contents

  Prologue –

  Chapter 1 - Bones

  Chapter 2 – Give a dog a Bone

  Chapter 3 – The Armory

  Chapter 4 – Bunker & Planning

  Chapter 5 – Beginning of Payback

  Chapter 6 – Aftermath

  Chapter 7 – Bill & Nancy

  Chapter 8 – Thoughts and Musings of a Vampire

  Chapter 9 – About that gunfire…

  Chapter 10 – A new Friend?

  Dead at Last – Book 2 - Payback

  Prologue –

  “Well, I have this...” He bent down and pulled a capped syringe out of one shoe side and a capped needle out of the other.

  “This is the serum. Perfected, tested and 100% foolproof.”

  “Why would they make something like this” Mariah asked.

  “Imagine a renewable food source that heals as fast as you eat it, and is immune to the plague they created by mistake.”

  “You mean the deadheads and ghouls?” I asked

  “Yeah... but guys, my wife, you have to help me, you have...”

  “Jake, just two questions for you. You ready?” Jake Nodded. “Do you want your wife back, and do you want payback?”

  The way he said yes will never pass my lips, because dial soap tastes horrible, but it was a very big yes.

  “Then I think before we do any more hunts for deadheads we go find Bones.”

  “And after that?”

  “We go to the armory.”

  Chapter 1 - Bones

  I know it must have seemed like days since we snagged Jake from the deadheads, blew up a whole parking lot full of them and found out what the vamps were up to.

  It was left unsaid, but Jake was now within our confidence, another true survivor. His ordeal at the hands of the vampires was appalling. How anybody could have survived the lab experiments and being bitten by both a ghoul and a zombie and kept his sanity was beyond me.

  The trick now was to be as smart and crafty as the vampires, avoid the deadheads, with their small army of norms. Sounds too easy don’t it? I know; sounds too easy to me too.

  What we needed was a plan. It was apparent that without one we would be walking right back into the trap we just got out of. I had an idea, but everyone hated it.

  “Well guys, I think Jake takes me to Bones.” Tres threw out there. For a second there was a pregnant silence.

  Everyone started arguing at once and Jake smiled, getting an inkling of what Tres was thinking.

  “No wait, I think I know what Tres is getting at here. I “take” him to Bones and you all jump him. Isn’t that the idea Tres?” Jake said.

  “Yeah, pretty much. From there we can wing it I guess.”

  “Tres, we don’t wing it, but I’ve got an idea.” Brice jumped into the conversation. “Do you think you’re up to a rescue mission like this, what if they caught you? Because if you are wrong, you are going to die, but if we can pull this off, we can save Jake’s wife…”

  “Karen, her name is Karen.” Jake shouts “She was a nurse before this all happened. I can’t lose her guys. I swear, you guys help me, we’ll take the fight to these suck heads so hard that... I don’t even know. I plan on making them pay.”

  “Well guys, then I have to do this” I said grabbing the plunger and needle.

  “Tres, NO!” it was almost a shout by all of them with Mariah being the loudest.

  Being 13 means almost being a man. Being a man means... well, it means having to do grown up things, make grown up decisions. In for a penny in for a pound.

  I stuck the needle of serum that Jake had brought along in case the vamps plan failed into my leg and pushed down the plunger. I didn’t know if I would live through the day, but being immune to a zombie bite and have the crazy fast healing the vampires have sounds like a good deal to me.

  Everything was blurry as I came to. My head hurt and I could hear small snatches of conversation going on around me. At first all I could pick out who was talking but things became clearer every second I was awake.

  “Are you sure that won’t hurt him?” I would know Mariah’s voice anywhere.

  “He’ll be fine, they honestly perfected the serum.” Said a voice that sounded like Jake

  “He wouldn’t have gotten knocked silly if your fat ass hadn’t landed on him” Brice or Stephen said. I couldn’t tell.

  “My fat ass? You… you are the one who tripped and knocked me into him you son of a...”

  “GUYS!” I Had to shout, apparently my eyes being open and my arms flapping around wasn’t enough.

  “Guys, calm down. I hate needles, this always happens when I get a shot.” I explained

  “Wait what? You always pass out?” Mariah was smiling that snotty smile I used to hate. She came over and helped me up off the floor of the van.

  “Yeah, and unless we want to be out after dark we better go get Bones.” I said.

  “Kid has a point” Stephen said looking over at me.

  “What’s the best way to get into the house where he’s at Jake?” Brice asked.

  “What if we make him come out to us? Then we can set the trap, and make life so much easier.” Jake said

  “How do we do that?” Stephen asked.

  “I drive your van to the house where bones is holed up in. You all hide in the back of the van, Tres sits in the front seat with a gag to make it so he look like he’s been captured. When Bones gets in the van to check it’s really Tres you guys jump him.”

  “Man, that sounds too easy.” Stephen Said

  “I remember watching the A-Team when I was growing up” Brice was saying “and I remember a couple of their favorite sayings. A simple plan leaves little to go wrong, and I love it when a plan comes together.” Brice was always remembering old TV shows like this.

  Everyone old enough to remember the TV show laughed.

  “What if we have Tres in the cargo area where he can be seen from the front but Bones has to get in the back to check him out.” Mariah says. “We stick by the side walls of the van’s cargo space and grab him as soon as he pokes his head through the door from the front cab to the Cargo area.”

  “What’s to keep him from just opening the back door and ruining everything?” Jake asked.

  “I’ll Maglock the door. Tell him you grabbed Tres and left us for the swarm of deadheads but the back door was still locked. If he even notices or asks” Brice said

  Did I ever mention before that when things seem like they are going to be too easy, they usually are? I want to cut in at this point to tell you about Murphy. He’s not a real person, but from the way that Brice rants and raves about him you would think he was.

  Murphy ’s Law says that the worst things can and will happen at the worst possible moments. I hope that damn Murphy wasn’t listening in on this conversation; otherwise it was going to be a long night.

  “Ok, so here’s how we’re going to do it…”

  Chapter 2 – Give a dog a Bone

  The plan would have been brilliant, but apparently Murphy was riding along with us in the van after all. Jake drove the panel van up to the house that Bones was waiting for Jake to return with me in it, or not show up at all. It was all a matter of time according to what Jake told us. Jake honked the horn a couple of times waving his arm out the window.

  “Here we go.” Jake muttered as a bald guy came flying out of the house. Trying to talk while not looking like you are trying to talk is harder than it looks. I am glad my mouth was duct taped because I almost laughed out loud.

  “Jake, you idiot.” Snapped Bones. “Every deadhead around here is going to hear you. What the...” Then Bones broke off when he noticed Tres belted in on the passenger side, duct tape across his mouth and his arms behind him.

  “You got Tres? Wow… I mean that’s great, Bill and Nancy will give me a promotion for this I’m sure, but how did you…” Bones said, visibly excited.

  “Wait, you have a ride, let’s get back to the base!” And with that he opened the passenger door and roughly pushed Tres to the middle of the driver and passenger seats right on the floor and hopped in the seat himself.

  “Guess you aren’t such a weak sister after all...” Bones said with a snicker. I don’t know what that meant to Jake, but I think it was a prison term. I’ll ask him about it later.

  Getting s tuck between the seats wasn’t in the plan, but it should have been. We opted to keep me visible to draw him out then Bones was going to hop in, somebody was going to grab Bones and life should be so easy with all this planning, right?

  What actually happened was that he noticed that my hands weren’t bound at all, and I didn’t have the look of somebody who had just been chased down by a horde of zombies, watched all my friends die, and got kidnapped all in one fell swoop. I probably looked pissed.

  He bolted out the van and towards the house. He definitely sensed the trap.

  That’s another part where the plan fell apart because suddenly I was in the way. Everyone but Jake was locked in the back of the van and I am in the middle so they could only hear part of the conversation.

  “MOVE” Jake yelled at me. So I did just that.

  “We need him alive” was another thing I heard behind me.

  This part of the plan would have worked out if Bones Hadn’t bolted. What happened though was that Brice and Stephen hit the pavement to follow Jake and me running after Bones. Mariah slid into the driver’s seat as a get-away driver if we needed it.

  I was First to scamper out of the van, quick on me feet. I hit the ground running and ripped the tape off my mouth to get a deeper breath. I was by far the fastest of the group. I remembered I still had Brice’s .45 and pulled that about two seconds before the front door of the house was slammed shut in my face. Did it hurt? Smacking my face on a wooden door? Oh yeah. It almost knocked me silly.

  Jake hit the door at full tilt and the wood just shattered. There wasn’t much that was going to stop him from getting to Bones. Luckily Bones was a horrible shot because he missed Jake with all six bullets from the chromed revolver he shot at us from the front window after slamming the door shut.

  I said he missed at what he was aiming at right? That didn’t help me out at all. I got shot in the ass, left cheek. Red hot pain kicked in after a few seconds and I started to grind my teeth. Stephen yelled for Brice to go on he would get me out of the way.

  I blacked out for a while. Maybe it was the pain, maybe I just was scared of getting shot, who knows?

  When I awoke, I was laying in the back of the panel van leaning up against Stephen. Mariah was anxiously watching us, and keeping her shotgun in the stomach of the fellow sitting on the other side of me.

  That’s when I noticed it was Bones, the shaved head, heavily tattooed convict. For some reason, he was sitting there sweating buckets. Mariah is scary enough without a gun in her hands, but the double barrel in his guts would have had me saying all kinds of prayers and stuff. I guess Jake prepping a syringe also had him nervous.

  “Jake man, don’t be giving me no swarm blood, you know I was following orders, I...” Smack! The wet sound of Jake’s hand across Bones whimpering mouth.

  “Bones, man I don’t really care...” Jake said quietly.

  “Jake, Chill!” Brice started in. Apparently we were all in the van, but it was hard to see in the darkness more than a few feet. The cargo space was closed off from the front cab. Maybe we were hiding out?

  “Since the plan is shot, how are we going to get my wife out of there?” Jake said quietly.

  “If you guys let me go, I can help you get Karen free.” Bones looked up hopefully.

  “How does that work?” Jake was sitting in front of Bones now, Mariah moving out of the way. Jake showed him the loaded syringe of swarm blood, only a pinprick away from infecting him.

  “If the boy is hurt...” Smack!! Ouch, Bones is almost crying by now.

  “Tres, his name is Tres” Jake almost shouted. This had to end quickly or the noise will attract every deadhead in the area.

  “If the boy is hurt I am to take him to Karen. They have a spot setup near the lab for her. The vamp doctors can’t come out during the day, but she can keep all but the worse cases stable until the doctors can come out. If he is hurt, I’m supposed to take him to her.”

  “Obviously that is out of the question.” Brice fumed.

  “Bones, would they be expecting me to come back to the gates?” Jake asked.

  “I don’t know. Most of us didn’t think the plan would work and all of you would be dead. I think taking the boy alive was just a bonus.”

  “Why are you being so helpful all of a sudden?” Stephen demanded

  “Oh Stephen, I can tell you. First-hand knowledge and all. See this syringe I’ve got close to his neck? Swarm blood. I inject this dirt bag here, well it’s like the smell of Chicken Nuggets to starving Ethiopian kids. The deadheads won’t stop till it wears off, or they eat him. That’s why you are being so helpful isn’t it?” Jake said.

  Jake playful jabbed the needle towards Bones who shrieked like a girl.

  “Oh man… man... doesn’t... I don’t want to I... Don’t...”

  I pointed this out and Mariah just stuck her tongue out at me. My butt still hurt, did I mention that?

  Brice snagged a handful of zip-ties, tossed Stephen the back door keys and started trussing up Bones.

  No matter what happens, I thought, this was about to hurt. Mariah had gotten out the first aid kit. I tried to roll over but Mariah rushed over and told me to hold still while showing me the bandage they were using to slow the bleeding through the back of my jeans.

  Surprisingly enough there wasn’t as much blood as I expected. Not that I’ve been shot lots of times and know what to expect.

  “Mariah, you and Stephen drag Bones here back into the house, Jake, bring that briefcase with you where you found all the needles and we’ll meet up inside.”

  “What needles and stuff Brice?” I asked.

  “We found a whole kit of syringes that had swarm blood and the special serum. I’m not sure what bones was going to do with it, but for now we’re taking it. Now lets go.”

  “What about me Brice?” I asked.

  “You little bud, are going in the easy way.”

  Easy doesn’t mean it didn’t hurt. He scooped me up and threw me over his shoulder like I was a little kid and didn’t weigh over 130 pounds. Surprised as I was, it didn’t stop the pain. It was white hot and I gritted my teeth together as he walked me through the shattered door and put me on the couch.

  “Keep pressure on this.” Stephen told me. I was only too happy to do so. It isn’t every day you get your ass shot off.

  “Yeah Tres, this isn’t time to play grab ass.” Mariah said with a snicker. Sometimes, pretty or not, I just want to put her in her place.

  “So what’s the plan Brice?” Jake asked.

  Chapter 3 – The Armory

  The ride to the armory wasn’t comfortable. Brice’s van has almost no shocks, and the exertions of the day were making the guys sore and irritable… not to mention that there were only a couple of hours of daylight left. Jake would do anything to get his wife back from the suck heads.

  The large swinging gates to the Armory were closed tight, and it looked like extra razor wire was strung around the compound. More than had been here before. Maybe the vampires were having problems with the zombies also? Maybe it was humans trying to get in? Trying to keep humans from getting out? He suppressed a shiver thinking about it.

  “Hey let me in!” Jake started shouting and honking the horn as the guards raised their rifles at the van. We had parked just in front of the gate and the guard shack was just on the other side of the fence.

  “Hold it right there. Wait, you’re Jake right?” One of the guards asked.

  “Yeah man, you have to let me get my wife Karen to the boy right away. Bones shot him and he don’t have much time.” Jake said hoping that the plan to get me would have filtered back to the guards.

  “Well, let’s get him inside then.” The guard said starting to open the gate.

  “I had to leave him back with Bones. There was a struggle and Bones got his knee stomped so he shot the kid. I couldn’t move him. If he dies before we can get him to Bill and Nancy they’ll string me and my wife to the fence…”

  “Let me make a call. Pull in and stop right here ok?” He said pointing to a spot right next to the shack. There was a wide turnaround nearby. The guard swung the gate shut but didn’t latch it as he immediately went to the guard shack to use the radio.

 

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