Omega Virus (Book 1): Beta Hour (5 page)

“Oh
good,” Dave said, “Check out the game section. See if they have—ow!”

“Sorry.”
Jessie’s voice came back. “What were you saying?”

“We
need supplies. It looks like we’re going to be staying at the game studio for a
while.”

“Please
be safe.”

“We
will. Over and out.”

I
rolled down the window as we drove through the streets. The city of Milpeg had
gone to hell in just a matter of hours, and only Corpses still moved. Instead of
a ten-minute trip, Wesley made it almost an hour. He stopped every time he saw
a Corpse. The scoreboard in his head had to be overflowing.

Finally,
we pulled up outside of the expansive parking lot. Hundreds of corpses shambled
around. Everyone had to have rushed for supplies and walked into a massacre.

Before
we climbed out of the car Wesley reloaded all of the guns and gave us extra
clips.

“I
suspect. That we won’t be alone inside.” Wesley said, sounding a little too
happy.

“Probably
not,” I agreed.

Wesley
ran to a clear aisle and motioned us over. We had to be careful. To catch the
attention of one Corpse would be to bring them all down upon us.

We
made our way to the front of the store, just as drops of rain started falling.
I looked up at the dark and dreary sky. We still had a while until nightfall,
but a storm would make things worse, especially if we had to carry a ton of
food and supplies to the SUV.

A
security camera on the side of the building moved back and forth, and I stared
at it in suspicion.

“What
is it?” Tiffany asked.

“Nothing,”
I whispered. “Let’s just hurry up; it’s getting cold out.”

“Of
course, the zombie apocalypse had to start in winter,” Tiffany said, as she
Swatted a water droplet off my nose.

Her
touch, ever so slight, gave me goosebumps. I shook off the feeling, reminding
myself I wanted to be with Jessie, not Tiffany
;
no
matter what my stupid dream had made me feel.

“It’ll
be Christmas in a week,” I said.

“I
could care less.” Tiffany checked her gun. “Holidays aren’t my thing.”

“Well,
I care,”
Wesley
announced as he fiddled with the
sliding door mechanism.

“You
do?”

“Of
course,” he said. “It’s time to go shopping for some new toys.”

I
rolled my eyes. “Of course.”

The
doors slid open, and we walked through into the dark store. There were no
Corpses anywhere, although blood pooled in multiple places. We walked through
the woman’s clothing section and continued to the directory.

“Guns
and weapons upstairs,” Wesley grinned and started away.

“Shouldn’t
we start with food?” I asked.

“You
can.” Wesley nodded to the escalator. “I’m going to get me some guns, and maybe
some new blades as well. And see if I can find any hottie survivors.”

Wesley
got on the still-moving escalator and rode it up. The doors were locked, but
the escalators still ran. How long would the power last? The world would soon
be even more depressing.

Tiffany
shrugged and rushed to catch up with him.

“No
one has their priorities straight.” I sighed.

As
I started after them, a shadowy figure struck Wesley on the head with what
looked like a rifle. Tiffany didn’t have time to react and got slugged as well.
They both collapsed.

“Oh,
crap!” I gasped.

I
scrambled around the side of the escalator and peeked upstairs. A couple of
people dragged Wesley and Tiffany out of sight. One stopped and snapped their
head in my direction. I pulled back and held my breath. My heart thundered so
loudly, at any second, it would betray me.

Wesley
had been right; we weren’t alone.

LEVEL 07 – LOADING PVP

My companions
were knocked out cold, and taken hostage.

“Crap,
crap, crap! What do I do?”

Taking
a silent breath, I closed my eyes.

Figuring
out their numbers would give me a chance. The reality remained, they had what
looked like assault rifles. To try and fight them on my own would be suicide.
The exact reason PvP sucked. I always ended up without a team, in games, and in
life.

“What
now?” I whispered.

I
could barely swallow the sobs rising in my throat. If Jessie were captive,
would I be hiding like a rat?
Of course not.
If it
were Jessie, I would’ve run up the escalator going full attack mode. She'd do
the same for me, but Tiffany or Wesley would surely leave me to die.

I
rocked back and forth, my arms wrapped around my knees. “Get a grip!”

In
my mind's eye, Tiffany stood back at the school, wearing her violet t-shirts,
baggy jeans, and black hat. She needed a cut, but she had lovely, long, golden
hair. She didn’t often smile, which made her cuter. She didn't wear makeup. I
hated makeup and anything that made a person fake. I shook my head. Jessie or
Tiffany, what did it matter? They needed my help.

I
checked my pistol; fully loaded with the safety off. “You don’t need a reason
to help someone,” I repeated several times.

A
Corpse's groan came from nearby. I turned to find a child crawling towards me
from the shadows. I stared in terror. He had a good chunk of his lower face
ripped off, and
bloody
pieces of skin scraping the
floor with each pull.

I
swatted the air between us. “Go away!”

He
groaned louder and kept coming. Corpses weren’t dogs. They didn’t obey
commands.

Dull
thuds banged down the escalator. I sucked in my breath and drew my dagger. I'd
become trapped between an undead and some freak with a rifle. A man grunted and
leaped over my head, clearing my feet by mere inches.
He
stood straight and tall, wearing a flannel shirt torn in several places.
The heavy stench of alcohol soaked the air.

As
he cracked his neck, I watched for a chance to flee.

The
guy reached down, picking up the undead child by its hair.

“What
do we have here?” he asked, his voice deep and gruff.

The
Corpse snapped and snarled, trying its best to grab him. The guy laughed and
ripped off one of its arms.

“The
hell you doin’?” A deep voice bellowed from upstairs.

He
ripped off the Corpse's other arm. “Havin’ some fun!”

“Well
hurry up! This lovely little thing is piping hot; I don’t think I can’t take
any more of just
starin
’.”

The
guy before me ripped off the Corpse's head and shouted back. “She needs to be
purified first!”

I
started to crawl away but froze as he turned and looked upstairs. “Only Pa can
purify the sinners!” He slammed the corpse’s head on the escalator railing,
squishing it like a melon.

“Oh,
cmon
.” A girl said. “She’s too young.”

“Ain’t
no laws like that no
more!” The upstairs guy chuckled.

Anger
swelled up inside. They wanted to hurt Tiffany. I wouldn’t let them touch her,
and I sure as hell wouldn’t let them purify her.

In
an instant, I rolled to my knees and stabbed my dagger right into the guy's
crotch. The scream would haunt me forever.

He
fell to his knees, grabbing at the remains of his manhood. He sobbed violently,
thrashing about in pooling blood. Fury ran deep in my veins as I thrust my gun
to his forehead.

He
finally saw me. His large, shaking pupils showed only confusion. He looked
broken; I didn’t know if I could finish the job.

“Jus’
kill me,” he said. “Finish me off, you dirty little piece of crap!”

He
could barely raise his voice above a whisper. I didn’t have it in me to pull
the trigger. I couldn’t kill someone, not like Wesley. I didn't have a murderer
within.

“Hear
that?” The guy upstairs yelled. “Sounds like Henry got himself bit!”

“Good
riddance to the hog.” A deep, almost scary, voice said.

“But
he’s yer’ cousin Pa!” The girl shouted.

“Doesn’t
mean I don’t hate his durned guts!” snapped ‘Pa,' followed by a booming belch.

“Yer
a sick bastard!” A second girl joined.

“Shuddup,
Merlda! I’ll show ya what’s what when I take this pretty little
thang
into the corner to purify her.”

Rage
boiled through me. This Pa guy seemed to be the leader and an evil asshole.

“Henry
may ‘ave been poor in the sack, but you were even worse! Hell with the both of
ya!” Merlda shouted.

They
continued arguing as the guy next to me, Henry, began to tug my pant leg. I
looked into his eyes, and he knitted his brows.

“Merlda’s
muh wife.” he said.

I
regarded him with a frown. “Sorry.”

“No,”
he said. “Ye done me a favor, now do me another one and kill that cheating
bitch. Make sure you feed that double crossing Pa to the
deadies
.

Henry
lifted a bloody hand to the side of his head. I wasn’t able to register the gun
in time to stop him. I covered my mouth as he pulled the trigger.

It
was one thing seeing a Corpse get its brains blown out. Somehow you become
quickly desensitized. You recognize they’re monsters. When you see a grown man
beg to die, pull out a gun and blow his head off, it changes you forever.

I
stared at headless Henry, my jaw slack. My burning rage had been put out with
terror.

“Y’all
hear Henry’s gun?” Pa asked.

“Maybe
you should go check it out, Santa?” said one of the women.

“Can’t
ya just look through that there security thingy?” Santa asked.

“No,
ya twit,”
Pa
said. “Stuff ain’t voodoo. It’s a highly
technical thingamajig.”

Their
inbred speech made me want to put an end to their family.

“You
check, Kessa.” Merlda laughed. “It was yer idea.”

“I
don’t even wanna be here,” Kessa said.

“Perfect
time to get ye plump little ass gone then!” Pa said.

“There’s
no way I’m going down there alone!”

“Fine,”
Santa said. “I’ll take my machine gun and go blow up some
deadies
.”

The
one named Santa stomped down the escalator. Time to move. I snatched Henry's
heavy handgun and darted toward the back of the store. I needed another way up.
They seemed to be camped by the escalators. That left two options, the
elevator, which created noise, or the stairs.

I
dodged between the clothing sections, and came across mangled dead bodies here
and there, but all of the Corpses had been cleared out.

Ducking,
I peeked toward the front of the store, but couldn't see anything. I had to keep
moving, faster than Santa could search. The longer he spent downstairs, the
better.

I
made my way to the hall with the restrooms, stairs, and elevators. Down the
hall I ran. Halfway, I found the door to the second floor. Exactly what I
needed. I pushed, but it didn't budge.

“Oh
come on!” I grumbled.

I
slammed my shoulder into the barrier, and it opened a few inches. A Corpse's
hand shot out and grabbed my sleeve.

“Crap!”
I gasped. I pulled the door and slammed it on its Corpse's wrist. On the sixth
or seventh slam, its bone snapped, and I fell back against the opposite wall. “Okay,
not that way.”

As
I searched for the elevator, I cursed a storm. Someone would check the dinging
doors. I'd be a fish in a barrel unless I pulled some ninja moves and I didn’t
have any ninja moves.
   

As
soon as I pressed the button, the door opened. A ding rang out, and my heart
caught in my throat.

“What
was that?” Santa shouted. “One y’all using the lift?”

I
darted inside and hit the ‘2’ button.

A
calming song played in the elevator, but my heart thundered for the short ride.
I drew both guns and held them
out,
sure an enemy
would be waiting.

The
doors opened, and I nearly pulled both triggers. An extremely cute girl with
blonde hair and green pigtails stood before me. Her long, bare legs ran up to a
pair of overalls, and down to cowboy boots. Other than that, she wore only a
small tube top.

“Uh,
uh, uh,” I muttered.

The
girl lunged, and I didn’t have time to shoot. She didn’t attack. Instead, she
wrapped me in a tight hug me.

“Oh
thank ya, Lord!” she rubbed her cheek against mine like a cat, “Ya sent me an
angel!”

“Uh.”
I gulped.

She
hugged me so tight; Jessie became a distant memory.

“Oh
thank the mighty Lord above for this angel!” She said.

“I’m
not an angel!” I tried, but her breasts muffled my voice.

She
pulled back and looked over her shoulder then back at me. “We gotta hide!”

The
girl grabbed my hand and pulled me into the woman’s restroom. I blushed hard,
but when she pulled me into a stall, I thought my face would pop. She pushed me
onto the toilet and climbed into my lap, wrapping her arms around my neck.

“Who
are you?” I gasped.

“You’re
an angel,” the tip of her nose touched mine. “You should know my name.”

“Since
when have you seen an angel with guns?”

“Even
angels need to keep with the times,” she shrugged.

“Kessa?”
I asked.

She
kicked her legs. “See you know my name!”

“My
friends are out there—”

“You’re
friends with the Dead Kissers?”

“Dead
Kissers?” I asked.

“The
guy with the long coat and the blonde girl!”

“That’s
them,” I said. “But what are you talking about Dead Kissers?”

Kessa
shook her head. “For an angel o’ the Lord you certainly don’t know a lot!”

“I’m
not--”

She
cut me off and started bouncing on my lap, leaving me even more red-faced than
before.

“An
angel o’ the Lord has come to redeem my soul!”

Either
confused or just crazy, I couldn't tell, but I liked her.

“Dead
Kissers!” I tried to hold her still. “What does that mean?”

“Oh!”
she held a finger to her chin. “Angels don’t know everything after all.”

I
rolled my eyes.

“The
Dead Kissers are the ones who brought the dead back to life!” she said. “My
pastor, Pa Bernard, stated that the walking ghouls came to life when these evil
people started coupling with dead bodies!”

“What
kind of crackpot theory is that?”

I
didn’t have an answer to where the Corpses came from, but it certainly couldn't
be something so absurd.

“Pa
Bernard said the Lord came to him in a dream last night.” Kessa snuggled
against me. “He was told how to purify the Dead Kissers. I don’t know if I
believe in his methods, though.”

“Then
help me save my friends!” I pleaded.

“I
don’t want to go against Pa!” she said, “He’ll purify me again.”

“What
you mean?”

“Just
like he’s about to do to the girl,” she said. “Pa doesn’t purify the guys.
That’s what Merlda’s for.”

I
shook my head. “What is wrong with this guy?”

“He
tells me I’m very impure,” she looked away. “And I’m going to become a
Deady
without his help.”

“If
you won’t help that’s fine, but I need to figure out a plan and save my
friends, who are not Dead Kissers.”

Her
bright green orbs were quivering, yet mesmerizing. She shoved her face into
mine and nearly sucked it off, all while sticking her tongue down my throat.
Then Kessa pulled back.

“May
the Lord watch over you, angel,” she said. “I’ll be here waiting for your
return.”

She
bounced off my lap, and I felt so stunned and confused.

I
shut the stall behind me. It took a few moments to catch my breath and
contemplate what had just happened. This hot girl thought me to be her angel.

“Angel?”
I looked at the ceiling. “If she wants me to be her angel, I’ll be her angel.”

I
hesitated at the door and pictured Jessie’s caring eyes, Tiffany’s stern but
alluring ones, and then Kessa’s mesmerizers. The dead returning to life and
girls paying attention to me three-fold
;
it had been
the craziest day of my life. But still I had no plan; I couldn’t just walk out
there and shoot everyone. They were human beings. It would be so much easier if
they were Corpses, but they weren’t.