Sundown Series (Book 1): Prepared Read online

  Stepping off the ladder, Alex slid her motorcycle gloves on again. She wasn’t positive that contact with the blood of an infected didn’t harm you somehow, though she seemed to be ok even after running into a bloody Lucy. The leather should also protect her hands, in case a stray tooth came near her skin. Flexing her hands, she felt the leather move with her, as if she had just grown a new layer of skin. It warmed quickly with the heat of her body, making the leather even more soft and flexible.

  Alex pulled her bowie knife from its sheath and made a plan to exit the garage from the side door. If she could slide out, dispatch Gary, and slide back without being seen by anyone else, she would be blessed. Her concern right now was not attracting any additional unwanted attention. If she could keep the dead from her home, getting the car loaded the next morning, and getting on the road would be even smoother.

  The banging of Gary’s body and hands against the metal sped her steps as she got to the side door. She slowly slid the door open a crack and peered out into her side yard. Nothing. With a deep sigh of relief, she opened the door and slid out, closing it behind her. Next, she would have to open her gate, and she knew that had a squeaky hinge. She had asked Blake a million times to fix it, because WD-40 wasn’t doing the trick, but he never got to it. It just wasn’t necessary before. Well stealth was necessary now.

  Unlatching the lock, she first peered through the slits in the gate, to make sure there wasn’t any other dead that would be surprising her. She had her 9 mm on her hip as well, but she really rather dispose of Gary quietly. As she pulled the door open quickly, the squeak sounded as if it was a car alarm in Alex’s ear. Moments later the banging on the garage door stopped. Alex prepared herself for facing off against Gary.

  The sound of sliding along the door reached Alex’s ears. Gary’s uncoordinated body caused him to lean against the door as his dead brain forced him toward his food. Alex didn’t want to move too far toward the front of the house, wanted Gary to come to her. On the chance other dead were in the neighborhood, she didn’t need them all thinking this was a free buffet. After what seemed like an eternity, Gary’s dead form entered her view.

  As if he knew exactly where she was, before he saw her, Gary’s head snapped around as he rounded the corner and he limped toward her. His arms were outstretched, and Alex realized in horror that the bite she saw on his shoulder wasn’t the only one. He was missing most of his forearm and hand on his left arm. She could see the bones of his right thigh, muscle, skin and fat flopping all over as he walked.

  Gary’s growling and snarling became more urgent the closer he got to her, and when he was within a few steps, Alex raised the bowie. The next step Gary took, Alex side stepped and threw all of her weight directly into the knife as it landed centered on Gary’s temple. She still was not sure which part of the skull would do, but she was going to keep with the temple as long as she knew it worked.

  The dead body immediately stopped moving, and Alex’s knife was pulled from her hand as Gary’s body collapsed. Alex reached down, grabbing the bowie knife, twisted and pulled. Gary, now completely dead, was luckily clothed under his robe. Thank god for the small miracles of the world, Alex thought to herself. Preoccupied with cleaning her knife, Alex was surprised when she heard more hissing coming up her driveway.

  “Shit,” Alex mumbled. Stepping forward she cautiously peered around the side of the house. It was just one more, a woman she didn’t recognize. Which Alex thought was going to help her conscience with all this death. If she really thought about it, she had already had to kill all of the people she loved in Las Vegas, except her children. She was done killing people she knew.

  The woman was obviously a runner, something they got a lot of in Alex’s neighborhood. Living on the edge of Las Vegas had many perks. And running through the quiet desertscape that surrounded the homes was a draw to many people. The woman’s neck had been mauled by whoever had attacked her. Strangely her earbuds had stayed intact, her iPhone strapped to her upper arm.

  Alex stepped back into the small side area in front of her gate and waited. She knew the infected sensed, or heard where she was. Alex wasn’t sure how they tracked yet, but it sure knew she was there. The woman had better control of her walking, as the infected that got her did not get a chance to feast on her legs. As it got closer, she could see the dead black eyes, and she had no issues ending its dead walking life.

  The infected woman lunged at Alex, but she easily pivoted away from the attack. Alex thanked her constant Pilates and self-defense classes for agility. Before the infected could turn at her again, Alex plunged her knife into the back of the skull. The knife pierced easily and the dead body became truly dead almost instantly. Alex pulled her knife free and cleaned it on Gary’s robe before sheathing it.

  Peeking around the house, Alex surveyed the rest of the neighborhood. Everything else seemed not to be moving. Down the street she saw cars with doors still open. A briefcase was dropped in one driveway, papers escaping in the breeze. For Alex this plague started 12 hours before, but it seemed things may have been building for a few days. She thought back to the news reports in Florida, the blame being put on drugs. Was the government just trying to hide what was really happening? Or did they not know?

  Mitch Duncan had always believed that the government would be the cause of the end of the world. Greed led to wars, wars led to weapons, and with weapons came teams of people always trying to build something new and better. 20 years ago, Mitch was already sure the government was using biological agents to control the American people. It was just a matter of time until it all went wrong. He was right about some things, maybe he was right about all of it, Alex thought.

  If the government had caused this outbreak, Alex thought they would do whatever they could to stop it. She had not seen one emergency vehicle around in the times she had watched outside. Though standing there outside, she could hear distant sirens. She imagined that didn’t mean much, as those emergency personnel were going to be over ran dealing with the infected. Alex would be fending for herself and her children, there was no help coming.

  Stepping back through the side gate, Alex almost screamed as she ran directly into Billie and Henry. Her first instinct was to be angry with them for not doing as she told them, her second was to cry, because they could have easily been in danger out of the house. She quickly ushered them back into the house and locked the side garage door, as well as the door from the house into the garage.

  “What were you two doing? I told you to stay in my room!” Alex exclaimed.

  “You took so long. We got scared,” Billie replied sheepishly. She was still holding the scissors she had found, and she had a firm grip on Henry’s hand. Both children were pale, as if the blood had completely left their faces.

  “Ok, it’s ok. I’m sorry I yelled. You just have to listen to what I say right now ok? Things are very dangerous.”

  “Is that why you stabbed that woman?” Henry asked. Alex froze. She was trying to protect the kids from seeing anything horrific. With the population in Las Vegas, Alex knew she could only keep their eyes innocent for so long. Trying to think of an explanation, she led the kids to the couch and sat with them.

  “Yes. Remember I told you, people are getting sick. And it makes them very dangerous. How did you see that?” Alex asked.

  “We were looking through the cracks in the gate to find you,” Billie replied, Henry nodded his head to agree with his sister. “The woman looked weird Mommy.”

  “Yes she did. That’s how the sick look. Their eyes get black, and they move weird,” Alex said. She decided she needed to give them as much truth as they wanted to know. They were going to need to be prepared for what was coming.

  “Tomorrow, we are going to leave the house. We are going to go to Gramp’s house in Montana,” Alex said.

  “It’s Uncle Rafe’s house now,” Billie pointed out.

  “You’re right little girl. It’s Uncle Rafe’s house. And it’s safe. We can’t be safe
in Las Vegas. Do you understand?” Alex asked. Both children nodded.

  Alex decided that was enough for the evening. She made the kids each a large ice cream sundae, a luxury they wouldn’t be having much of in the future. With their sundaes, the three of them climbed into Alex’s bed and watched an animated movie, one they had seen at least 100 times before. The kids sang each song between bites of ice cream. Their fearless giggling made Alex smile, feeling carefree for the first time in the day. She grabbed a hold of that feeling, because she knew it would not last.

  A few hours later, the kids were asleep and tucked into Alex’s bed. Using only a flashlight, she checked all the doors and windows again. The power was still on in the city, she could see the Luxor light illuminating the sky from her house. The streetlights were on, and an infected stumbling down the street was caught in a pool of light. Alex stayed in the shadows of the window and watched its behavior.

  Sadness swept over Alex as she saw that the infected in the street could not have been more than 15, a child himself. His body moved with uncoordinated movements that made his joints seem to pop out and change unnaturally. Yet, even with that characteristic, the infected stayed on his feet as he wandered the street. The clothes were torn to rags on some parts of the body, and Alex wondered what made an infected stop eating its meal, additional fresh meat?

  The infected wandered out of Alex’s line of sight and she exhaled a breath she didn’t know she was holding. Another question was answered, as it seems if they don’t have something to go after, they just wander. She would have to be prepared for that tomorrow. Tomorrow was the day they got out of Las Vegas. It was the day she turned plans into actions, and she was prepared.

  Back at the top of the stairs, Alex looked around, thinking of additional security measures while they slept. She grabbed a small bookcase that was in Billie’s room, and put it at the top of the stairs. In addition, she added a glass vase that had been in the bathroom to the top of the shelf. If anything tried to come up the stairs, she would hear the vase break, or at least the shelf move. She didn’t believe the infected had the capacity to break windows or pick locks, but she felt safer with the measure in place.

  Inside the master bedroom, Alex pushed her dresser in front of the door as quietly as possible. Nothing was coming through that door without notifying her first. For the first time, she opened up the larger gun safe they owned. The one thing Blake would never bend on was guns. He could handle her prepping, but he couldn’t handle an arsenal in the house. The larger safe only housed a shotgun and mass amounts of ammo for that and for the 9 mm. Pulling out a canvas duffel, Alex shoved every piece of ammo into the bag. She loaded the shotgun, and placed it on the floor next to her side of the bed.

  The children were cuddled together in the middle of the bed, so Alex slid under the covers next to Henry. She wrapped her arm over her children, breathing in their sweet scents, listening to their deep breathing. Her only focus in life now was keeping them safe. In addition, she knew she would do everything in her power to protect them from the infected. She kissed both of their cheeks, before curling up with her face pressed into Henry’s hair. Throughout the night, Alex was awoken by sirens, screams and gunshots. The city wasn’t going to sleep quietly for a long time.

  As dawn broke, Alex was already awake, lying quietly with the children. She continued to listen to the far off havoc that was happening. During the night, she only heard some shouts and possible shots that seemed to come from her neighborhood. Most of the chaos sounded far off into the city. In the soft light starting to glow outside, Alex made her plans for their departure from town. Her first stop was a few houses in the neighborhood that were obviously empty now, see if anything useful could be found. Then she was loading the kids, all their supplies, and they were heading out.

  The children woke up subdued. They both were not feeling the same after seeing their mother kill an infected. Henry was a little more dazed about it, but Billie was trying to put on a brave face for her mother. Alex tried to keep a smile as she poured them their favorite cereals and milk. She was also thinking she was thankful that the power was still on, so the milk was still cold for them. Alex sat with her own bowl of cereal and then handed each of the children a banana to go with their breakfast.

  “We are going to leave today,” Alex said. Both the children looked at her. Tears welled in Billie’s eyes.

  “What about Daddy?” Billie asked. Alex almost choked on her cereal, not ready for the question. She schooled her features as best as possible, not ready to break the bad news to the kids. She knew she would be forced to at some point, but she needed them in working order today, until they go far away from Las Vegas.

  “I’m not sure baby. I do know he would want me to keep you safe,” Alex said. She hated lying to her children. She wanted to tell them the truth, she wanted the three of them to be able to grieve together. Alex pushed back her sorrow and watched the children’s faces. Billie looked back into her cereal bowl and sat quietly. Henry seemed unfazed, as a child who just believed his family would always be all right and they would come back together.

  “I’m going to go check a few houses on the street, see if other people are ok. I want you two to stay in my room, with the door locked ok?” Alex said. She stood and cleared her plate to the sink. She left it there, looking at it for a moment, wondering if she would ever be back to wash it.

  Alex got the kids settled in her room with a blu ray, crayons and coloring books. She waited until she heard the lock click, before moving to their bedrooms with a duffel bag. She tossed as much of their clothing that would fit, concentrating on the pieces that were functional for what they would be facing. Starting another bag, she grabbed all of their toiletries, to make sure they would be able to wash, brush hair and teeth. She dumped every hair tie Billie had into the bag, knowing they would need those. Who was going to do hair in the apocalypse?

  With the additional bags added to the boxes she had started packing downstairs, Alex slung a backpack over her shoulders, and then her shotgun on top. She checked the 9 mm, and ensured she had the bowie on her thigh. Taking a deep breath, she opened the front door cautiously. She closed the door quietly and locked it for the children’s safety. Then Alex waited, listening for any groans, footsteps, banging or anything else out of place. Once she was confident there wasn’t an infected waiting for her right around the corner, she started toward the street.

  Alex decided the first place she would check was her neighbor across the street. She knew whoever was left in the house was dead, or infected and not quite dead. The door still stood open. Alex pulled out her bowie knife as she ran across the street and up to the garage of the house. She waited again, to see if her presence brought any infected out. She saw nothing, so she edged toward the door. Peering into the darkness, she was saddened by the scene in front of her.

  The front room seemed to be bathed in blood. An infected was there, and had eaten whoever had been home. There wasn’t a body left, so Alex was cautious as she entered the house. Her first stop was the kitchen. She found a supply of reusable bags next to the fridge, and began to fill them with any nonperishable food items they had in the house. Once full, she left those by the open door, so she could grab them as she left.

  Alex stood at the bottom of the stairs, looking carefully around for any sign of an infected. The blood trail did not lead upstairs, but she knew that didn’t mean anything for sure. Alex took the stairs carefully, keeping her eyes above her, for anything that could jump out and attack. Nothing seemed to move inside the house. She walked passed a child’s bedroom and her heart ached in her chest. Alex prayed the child hadn’t been home when the attack had happened.

  Once she reached the master bedroom, she could see the struggle had happened there. A lamp was toppled over, blankets were strewn all over and there was a bloody handprint on one of the walls. The woman who lived here, Alex never met, but she must have put up a fight and ran downstairs, where she still met her demise. Alex chec
ked the cabinets and drawers in the bathroom, removing a small first aid kit and a couple of bottles of aspirin. She quickly threw these into her backpack and moved to the guest bathroom. Here she found another bottle of aspirin and a tube of Neosporin. These also went into her backpack.

  Alex traced her steps back to the front door, and grabbed the bags of food. She kept her knife hand free, keeping the bowie there. Alex would be prepared for any attacks. She stepped back into the sunlight, and waited again, watching and listening. Once she believed it was clear, she sprinted back across the street to deposit the food bags by her front door. As she turned to go back into the street, she saw two infected coming down the street. Shit, Alex thought to herself. One she knew she could take on with her knife, and make no additional noise. Two she did not want to risk.

  Pulling her 9 mm from its holster, she waited for them to get closer before taking her shots. She kept her back to her house, so nothing was sneaking up behind her, and she fired at the first infected. The bullet tore through its shoulder. Shit, Alex thought again. She adjusted her aim and fired a second time, having the bullet strike the infected to the left of its left eye. The body dropped immediately in the middle of the road. She had a moment before the second infected was close enough for accuracy, so she looked around, to make sure no other infected were showing up.

  While she looked around, she saw the blinds of a few houses move, which told her there were still people alive in the neighborhood. Alex knew she couldn’t worry about them right now. They would have to fend for themselves as they had for the last day. Alex could only worry about her own children, even though her instincts screamed differently. If she had the power, the resources, she would save everyone she could find. However, right now, all she could think of was Billie and Henry.