Rise of the Necrotics (Book 6): Gas and Go Read online

  Rise Of The Necrotics

  Gas And Go

  Bradford Bates

  Copyright © 2018 Bradford Bates

  All rights reserved. This book is an original work of fiction, licensed for your personal enjoyment only. In accordance with the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, the scanning, uploading, and electronic sharing of any part of this book without the permission of the author is unlawful piracy and theft of the author's intellectual property. Thank you for respecting the hard work of the author.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.

  First edition: January 17, 2018

  Edited by: Jeanie Creech

  Proofreading by: Becky Bates

  If you need to contact the author, he can be reached at: [email protected]

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Also by Bradford Bates

  Chapter One

  Max Meridious

  Something was rattling off to my right. I wasn’t worried, though, it was probably just Basil playing with one of his toys. The damned dog only liked to play with her toys while I was sleeping. Not that it wasn’t cute as hell to wake up to a smile full of toy and waggling butt. It was almost like turning on my side triggered the barrage of action. So when the sound came again, I didn’t even bother to open my eyes. Instead, I just waved my arm in the air and mumbled, “Go back to sleep, Basil.”

  “Who’s, Basil?” a silky voice murmured from my right.

  Man, who did I bring home last night? Garfield was going to kill me. We probably had an early training session again, and here I was still at home. The thought of getting another reprimand started clearing the sleep from my head, but I couldn’t quite place the voice. I didn’t even remember going to the bar, let alone interacting with anyone long enough for her to end up back at my place. Maybe I just imagined it, or more likely I just fell asleep with the TV on again and misheard what the person said while I was getting up.

  Fumbling around for the remote, I grumbled, “Alexa, turn off the TV!” I shouted in annoyance at my smart speaker mistress who always obeyed my bidding without question. This time she didn’t respond. “Jesus, what’s a guy gotta do to get some sleep around here.”

  I didn’t get an answer, but the sound came again. It wasn’t anything that would have been on the TV, and definitely not a normal sound from my room. The last time I heard chains shaking in my room, was never. Not that I’d be opposed to it if a certain doctor was a little kinky and somehow magically ended up in my room. Thinking about Holly like that sent me down a spiral until I realized how I knew her. Then everything slammed back into place at once. Worst wakeup call ever.

  Wow, it had been a long time since I slept like that. The sleep of the dead I liked to call it. You know, that perfect night when you put your head down on the pillow and don’t wake up until just before your alarm goes off. That perfect uninterrupted bliss. That was where I had been. Now, now I was neck deep in the shit again.

  “Glad to see you’re back with us,” Holly snarked.

  “Heavy sleeper,” I grunted back. I wasn’t actually, but there were those few times I achieved sleep nirvana. That, or I’d just been so exhausted I couldn’t be bothered to wake up despite the threat of being eaten alive. “I’m not a fan of this new setting on the noise maker though. Rattling chains aren’t as soothing as one would expect.”

  Holly just smiled over at me as she finished pulling on her boots. “I always preferred falling asleep to a good thunderstorm or a nice gentle rain. This,” she looked over at the chains holding the small door at the back of the room shut, “is more like the wakeup call at a two-star hotel.” She stood up. “It’s also a good sign that we have a visitor.”

  “You’d think the dead would be more considerate.” I started pulling on my own boots. What I really wanted now that I’d regained my wits was a moment to piss, but whoever was trying to get through the door wasn’t going to give me the chance.

  “What makes you think it’s the necrotics instead of the cops?” Holly pulled one of her nine millimeters and continued walking toward the door at a leisurely pace.

  I finished pulling on my shirt and jogged to catch up with her. “If it were a person, they’d be screaming for help or cursing up a storm because they couldn’t get in.”

  Holly paused and pulled her other pistol free. “Makes a certain kind of sense.”

  “Any idea how long we were asleep?” There were some emergency lights scattered around the room, but the rest of the space was dark like the sun had already set. Had we really slept that long?

  “It’s just after seven.” Holly tapped the watch on her left wrist with the barrel of her gun.

  Damn, I must have been exhausted. Who knew you could sleep through the apocalypse? At least it wasn’t the cops that found us. Actually, maybe that would have been better. At least the cops wouldn’t try to eat us. If there was one thing I knew for certain, it was that I didn’t want to be eaten alive. Not this guy, not ever. There were about a million ways I’d rather die, and none of them included being chewed on by my fellow Americans.

  So like I said, worst wakeup call, ever. It was worse than the time Garfield let the guys fire shots over my bunk, and that had kept me up for a week straight. Not that the necrotics cared how I was feeling. They were just out looking for a snack. Hopefully they weren’t jammed solid against the gate, or the Bronco wouldn’t be going anywhere. The chain rattled again drawing my attention back toward the door. It was a good thing we blocked it after all.

  Not that looking at the door settled my nerves any. “Maybe we shouldn’t check it out, and just get the hell out of here.” I mean a quick poke outside would tell us if we had to come back this way or if we were clear to roll. There wasn’t anything else we needed here so unless we were forced to run through the door I was content to just leave it be.

  Holly seemed to consider it before shaking her head. “If something goes wrong at the Bronco, I want to know this way is clear. Plus I’d hate to leave someone stranded.” She looked up at me kind of sheepishly. “I don’t like leaving people behind.”

  That was a not too subtle dig at me, but overall it was a fair assessment. My only point of contention would be that I don’t particularly like leaving people behind. When it comes down to a one hundred percent them or me situation, I’m going to pick me, every goddamned time.

  Holly plucked at the chain. “Plus, you’re forgetting one simple thing.” She arched one eyebrow up in an I got you kind of gesture. “This door only opens from the other side.”

  While that might have been true, and I was pretty sure none of the slow ones could pull it off, did we really want to take that chance? I mean if just one of the fast ones was out there, they could flip open the door and just stand back while we were swarmed. It didn’t seem possible that someone could be so dead and so alive at the same time. The fast ones had me a bit rattled, but at least they seemed vastly outnumbered by their dimwitted brethren.

  “Are you really going to take the chain off?” I wasn’t on board with her choice, not by a long shot. Please tell me she wasn’t really going to take the chain off.

  “Max, we have to know if someone’s on the other side. It’s just like when you asked that man in your parents’ backyard questions before bouncing a seven iron off his head. Sometimes you just have to be sure.”

  I might not have supported the ide
a, but Holly was so insistent that I couldn’t say no. Instead, I tried to tamp down on the growing pit in my stomach. The thing telling me this was a bad idea. My stomach had been a little wonky since the cat got out of the bag, but could I still trust it? Holly reached out for the chain again, and my stomach rolled. I tried to grab her hand, but she’d already yanked the chain free.

  Holly reached out and banged on the door. “Hello, is there anybody in there?”

  “I don’t think getting them all riled up is such a good idea.” Who knows, the damn necrotics could just get lucky and accidentally open the door. Then we’d be totally screwed. Quickly patting down my pockets produced another magazine for the Desert Eagle. I moved the magazine into my left hand and used it to brace my wrist for a shot. If anything dead came through the door, I was going to blow its head off.

  “How’s someone trapped inside going to hear us if we don’t let them know we’re here?” She gave me a look that said simmer down everything is going to be fine before turning back toward the door. “You’re probably right, and it’s just a bunch of necrotics, but I have to know.”

  “I get it.” I really did, I just didn’t want to die so she could satisfy her curiosity.

  The door opened slowly, and a hand came through the gap. “Don’t shoot, I’m coming in.”

  A man walked through the door, he was jittery and covered in some kind of filth, but it didn’t look like he’d been bitten. His black hair was matted and crusted with something. Maybe blood? Overall he had a squirrely demeanor, and I didn’t trust him one bit. If I thought Holly would have still come with me, I would have killed him and headed back to the Bronco.

  At least it looked like Holly wasn’t going to drop her guns. Guy shows up out of nowhere the least you could do was keep a gun pointed at him. She kept one gun on the man and the other covered the door. She was looking over the man with clinical observation, almost like she was cataloging a specimen. Her gaze and the gun pointed at him must have unnerved him a bit as he slumped against the wall.

  “Please, you have to help us,” he mumbled as he avoided meeting our eyes.

  Holly rushed forward holstering the gun in her left hand. Her right hand still had a firm grip on her other weapon as she placed a caring hand on the man’s shoulder. “Is there something wrong, has someone been hurt?” When the man didn’t respond Holly prodded him further. “It’s ok, I’m a doctor.”

  “Then you have to help us.” The man grabbed at Holly’s hand and clutched it like a lifeline. “Please.”

  I already knew she’d fallen for it before she turned her head back toward me. Our eyes met, and she waited for just a moment, reading my face, looking for some kind of signal. I knew we weren’t getting out of here unless we did it, so I nodded to her because getting into a fight now wasn’t going to help either of us.

  “We’ll help you, just take us to your friends,” Holly said reassuringly.

  The man’s face lit up with a fervor. It was like some kind of switch had been flipped. “Thank you. We have to hurry. If we’re quick enough, we might be able to save Donnie. I’d just about given up hope.”

  He stood up, his face still looking haunted, but was there just a hint of a smile tugging at his mouth? It was hard to be sure, I couldn’t get a real solid read on the guy other than the fact I didn’t trust him. My gut twisted again, and I had no trouble believing it this time. My ability had always worked on people. Right now it was telling me following this guy was a bad idea.

  Struggling back to his feet, the man pushed the door open wider. Holly started to follow him, but I reached out grabbing her arm. She tried to pull away, but I kept my grip firm forcing her to look at me. “I changed my mind, this is a bad idea.”

  “Shut up, Max. Someone needs our help.”

  “Yeah, but that someone is creepy as fuck. Not to mention the fact he could be luring us into a trap.” I let go of Holly’s arm and let out an exasperated breath. “I can’t explain it, Holly. Sometimes I just get a feeling when something is wrong, and I’ve got it right now.”

  Holly turned back towards the door. “If someone is hurt, it’s a chance I’m willing to take. It’ll be fine, Max. We’ve got this.”

  “Famous last words.” I took a box off one of the crates by the door and wedged it open after Holly went through. If we needed to back up in a hurry I wanted to be ready. The Desert Eagle almost felt warm in my hand as I trailed along behind Holly. My head kept turning from side to side, there was too much open space for me to keep an eye on it all. So when Holly stopped in front of me I almost bumped into her.

  Standing thirty feet in front of Holly was a man. His shirt was ripped open, and he had some kind of large metal rods shoved through the skin over each of his pectorals. Despite being unarmed, his stance was aggressive. The man we’d been following rushed forward and threw himself at the newcomer’s feet. The man we’d been following clutched at his master’s legs like a toddler does to its parents. What in the hell was going on?

  “See, I brought them for you.” The lying bastard oozed happiness as he gazed up from his spot on the floor.

  The pierced monstrosity just smiled down at him, black liquid slowly dribbling from his lips. Oh fuck, it was one of the fast ones, and he what, had a human pet? If he had a human following him he was bound to have other friends that we couldn’t see. I backed up a step, creating a little room so I had a clear line of sight as the pincushion ran his hand almost lovingly through the kneeling man’s hair. The entire time he watched us, but didn’t say a word.

  I’d been pointing my gun at the floor in front of the men, but now it snapped up to cover them properly. It almost felt like someone else was guiding my hand as I fired the first shot. The Desert Eagle bucked once, and a fraction of a second later the minion clutching at the necrotic’s leg, his head splattered like a watermelon.

  The necrotic didn’t even flinch. Instead he kept his eyes locked on us as he slowly lifted his hand to his mouth. He licked the bloody splatter off his fingers like a cat cleaning itself after a kill. A smile slowly spread across the creature’s face, and one arm came up finger extended in our direction. Then the necrotic leaned back and howled into the air.

  “Time to go!” I shouted as I fired a few rounds toward the necrotic. A couple slugs to the chest wasn’t going to do much more than slow him down, but all we needed was a little time to get the chain back in place.

  Holly turned to run, and I could see the lines of fear etched clearly across her forehead. I fired a few more rounds and sprinted after her. She made it through the door with me nipping at her heels. Skidding to a stop just inside of the door I yanked it closed and motioned for Holly to get the chain.

  “What in the fuck was that?” Holly grabbed for the chain on the ground.

  “I think that guy went full Renfield on us.”

  “Zombies don’t have Renfields!” Holly yelled back as she looped the chain around the door handle.

  “See, I knew you were a horror fan. Everyone is. Sometimes it's just really deep down.”

  “Max, stay on point.”

  “No point really, zombies don’t have Renfields. At least not in anything I’ve ever seen.”

  “Yeah well, they also don’t drip black goo from their lips.” Holly got the chain in place and was about to slide the bar through the links when the door burst open pulling the chain from her hands.

  It was Mr. I Put Metal Spikes Through My Pecks, and he looked pretty pissed off. Guess Renfields didn’t grow on trees. Despite the look of rage on his face he didn’t step through the door. Instead, he slowly faded back into the store as the sound of hundreds of shuffling feet filled the air. This was some next level shit. Had humans already fallen so far down the ladder they were working for the enemy? What was the reward for that, a living bite, instead of being turned into chow for the cattle?

  There would be time to worry about the ramifications of what we just witnessed later. Now we had to get the hell out of here. Time wasn’t a luxury w
e had any more. As soon as these things started thinking and not just feeding, life as we knew it had changed. How did we stop them now? Could we?

  Chapter Two

  Max Meridious

  The unchained door lurched inwards, and two necrotics fell on their faces in their haste to get to us. The two of them didn’t bother trying to stand. Instead they skittered towards us almost like some sort of perverted crabs. Black liquid dribbled from their lips and deep moans of hunger escaped from their throats. Holly moved with the grace of a dancer as she stepped forward putting a bullet in each of their heads before they could reach us.

  With a quick flick of her foot she flipped the woman over, and I noticed the familiar blue vest with white letters on it. Out of all of the places in the world we could have found ourselves, it had to be Walmart. Don’t get me wrong, I love all the funny photos. Heck, I even get my toilet paper from there, but if I’m going to be trapped anywhere at the end of the world I don’t want it to be Walmart. If I’m going to die I want it to be somewhere with a little style.

  When more necrotics didn’t come pouring through the door, it gave us a second to catch our breath and reassess the situation. I didn’t know what was holding the others back, I didn’t want to know. All I wanted to do was find a way to get that door chained again so we could get out of here.

  Holly started moving towards the opening as if she were going to march back into the other room and murder every last necrotic in the building. I was thinking of a much different strategy. One that involved running away as fast as we could before the guy with steel rods shoved through his chest called for more back up.

  I reached out, putting a hand on Holly’s shoulder. “Just get the chain in place so we can get out of here.”