Chapters 6 & 7 of Zombies of the Red Descent

Below are chapters 6 and 7 of my zombie novella, “Zombies of the Red Descent.” Purchase the full version of the book here:
http://tinyurl.com/a7p7vw

http://zombiesofthereddescent.blogspot.com/
http://becomeguitaristfromhell.blogspot.com/
http://www.youtube.com/user/zevi35711


Chapter 6: First Conversation and More

He squeaked open the metal door of his shelter. The rusty hinge was noisy, he would have to oil it soon. He stepped out and looked around and listened hard for zombies and thankfully there weren’t any. He walked twenty paces over to an old green Toronado, unbuttoned his pants and urinated for a long time. He inhaled the early morning air and today it actually didn’t smell so foul for some reason, then he zipped up and turned around.
Maxine was standing no more than ten feet from his shelter.
He shielded his eyes from the red sun – (which the Red Descent had permanently stained) – then he squinted, trying to get a good look at her. The slight wind made her hair blow over into her eyes. Her hair actually looked shiny now, not as dirty as it had before. Maybe she washed it, he thought. Her skin had a light bluish-gray tint and the red radiation blotches caused it to glow slightly.
He waved and motioned for her to come closer. She did, looking down as she moved around the rusty car frames, the big truck tires, the stacked batteries, the thick rusty pipes that could roll and perhaps crush her at any second. He stared at her blood-stained sweater with the gaping holes as she walked toward him, smiling shyly. She moved rather slowly, even though Alex knew she was a runner and possessed formidable speed. He knew that much from seeing her save his life the other night.
I wish I had my .38 right now, he thought. I might have to put a bullet in her brain before this is all over. Maybe her note was just a trick to get food.
She stopped within five feet of him. Clasped her hands and did not look into his face. She adopted another bashful smile, pushed the hair out of her eyes. She wasn’t acting like a zombie at all. But he knew she was still infected. Probably 25% of her was still full-fledged “ghoul,” and he stared down at her blood covered sweater. Through one large hole, he could see part of her left breast. She realized what he was looking at, but she did nothing to cover herself.
It had been months since Alex had seen any type of female up close – even a woman who was half-zombie – and lust surged throughout his body. He looked up at the dried blood on her neckline, at her slightly yellow eyes stained with chemical radiation and the tiny red dots spotting her face. Still, his lust remained.
Remember, he told himself. She’s still half-zombie, don’t ever forget it. Now say something. Anything.
“Hello there,” he managed.
“H-Hi,” Maxine said.
Her voice was soft yet raspy with chemical fatigue. Upon hearing it, a voice slightly similar to the other zombie voices he had heard in the middle of the night, Alex instinctively reached for his .38. But it wasn’t at his side. He saw her eyes follow the movement of his hand.
“Are you sick?” he asked.
“Y-Yes. But n-not all th-the way. I-I think I’m g-getting better.”
“When did you get sick?”
“S-Soon as the r-red fell f-from the s-sky. H-how about y-you?”
“The red chemicals never affected me. I must have some kind of natural immunity. But I don’t know how strong it is. Maybe the chemicals are working on me right now, just a little slower. I may turn into a zom– ...”
He didn’t finish the word. His face flushed with embarrassment and he dropped his eyes.
“I-I’m not g-getting worse,” Maxine said. “I-I know I-I’m getting b-better.”
Then a pause in the conversation.
He stared down at the ground, not knowing what else to say.
She took a few slow steps forward, reached out and touched his chest. He felt an adrenaline rush from the danger, but could immediately tell she had no bad intentions.
He looked up at her. Her mouth was open in an inviting way and there was a special glint in her eyes. He stepped backward. Maxine advanced and lifted his hand, placing it on her left breast. He put his arm around her and led her toward his shelter. After opening the squeaky door, they both slowly stepped inside. Then Alex slammed the door closed and ratcheted the numerous locks into place.



Chapter 7: A Good Plan

The wind blew through the numerous cracks in the shelter and made ominous whistling noises. Alex stood staring out one of the cracks, pondering what he had just done.
Sex with a zombie.
Or, she was half-zombie, to be precise.
Nevertheless, he would have never thought himself capable of doing such a thing.
It hadn’t been bad sex either.
Some of the best he’d ever had, to be honest.
A little awkward at first, but she was definitely a wild one, which he had discovered toward the end of the session.
Maxine lay not far away from him on three old truck seats that he’d crammed together as a makeshift bed. A yellow blanket was covering her legs.
“D-d- you h-have a p-plan?” she asked, her voice shaking a little.
Alex turned and looked at her. “What do you mean?”
He was wearing only boxer shorts and suddenly grew self-conscious about his ribs protruding from the drastic and rapid weight loss he’d suffered. He took a black T-shirt from the floor and slipped it on.
“Wh-when are y-you going to leave h-here?”
“The junkyard? I’m not leaving. Why would I?”
“Y-you will r-run out of f-food, w-won’t you?”
“Probably. But I guess I’ll just have to starve here since I don’t know where else to go. And I’m sure it would be just as bad somewhere else.”
“I-I heard on the r-radio once, a w-week after th-the red d-descent came, there was a r-report about s-scientists w-working on a c-cure.”
“Where?” Alex lifted his eyebrows.
“H-H something. It s-started with an H. C-Can you t-take me to th-the scientists? Can you h-help m-me get c-cured?”
He stepped over and sat down on the edge of the makeshift bed. “We don’t know where the scientists are, Maxine. And how would we get there if we did? Walk?”
“W-we can’t stay h-here much l-longer though. We’ll st-starve, or there will be m-more z-zombies that come and k-kill us. There are l-lots of c-cars around h-here. I-is there a c-car that r-runs?”
He rubbed his beard and looked out another crack in the shelter. A mangled zombie ran by not far away. He stared and thought for a few minutes. “I never tried to get one of the cars to run. But maybe there is one capable of being fixed.”
“W-we should t-try it.”
“Maybe you’re right. I guess we should leave before we completely run out of food.”
“Y-yes, w-we should.”
“I guess it’s time to take action.”


Thanks for reading. Purchase the full version of the novella here:
http://tinyurl.com/a7p7vw

Also, it would help out the author greatly if you purchased one of his other books from Amazon.com, or another online book store of your choice. Thanks again.

http://zombiesofthereddescent.blogspot.com/
http://becomeguitaristfromhell.blogspot.com/
http://www.youtube.com/user/zevi35711

Bio: Jason Earls is the author of Cocoon of Terror (Afterbirth Books), Heartless Bastard In Ecstasy, How to Become a Guitar Player from Hell, Red Zen, If(Sid_Vicious == TRUE && Alan_Turing == TRUE) {ERROR_Cyberpunk(); }, and 0.136101521283655... all available at Amazon.com and other online book stores. His fiction and mathematical work have been published in Red Scream, Yankee Pot Roast, M-Brane SF, Scientia Magna, three of Clifford Pickover’s books, Mathworld.com, AlienSkin, Recreational and Educational Computing, Escaping Elsewhere, Neometropolis, Thirteen, Dogmatika, Prime Curios, the Online Encyclopedia of Integer Sequences, OG’s Speculative Fiction, Nocturnal Ooze, Bust Down the Door and Eat All the Chickens, and other publications. He currently resides in Oklahoma with his wife, Christine.