Slow Burn (Book 8): Grind Read online

  Slow Burn

  Grind

  Book 8

  A novel

  by

  Bobby Adair

  http://www.bobbyadair.com

  http://www.facebook.com/BobbyAdairAuthor

  Cover Design and Graphics

  Alex Saskalidis, a.k.a. 187designz

  Editing, Research, & Proofreading

  Kat Kramer

  Cathy Moeschet

  Weapons Consultant

  John Cummings

  eBook and Print Formatting

  Kat Kramer

  Text copyright © 2015, Bobby L. Adair

  Previously, in Slow Burn:

  Book 1 – Zero Day

  Zed Zane wakes up hung over one Sunday morning and begins to fortify himself with tequila before going to his mother’s house for lunch – and to beg for rent. There, he finds his mother and a neighbor dead, and his stepfather in full-throttle, crazed cannibal mode. Zed, fighting for his life, kills his stepfather in a scuffle, during which he sustains a nasty bite wound.

  He tries calling 911, but the line is perpetually busy. That’s strange, but no stranger than the way that Zed is beginning to feel. He spends the next two days unconscious with a raging fever, and awakens as what soon becomes known as a “slow burn,” a carrier of a virus that destroys higher brain function and turns people into vicious, flesh-eating monsters.

  Together with Murphy, a fellow slow burn who escapes with Zed in the aftermath of a prison riot following his erroneous arrest for the murder of his parents and their neighbor, we follow Zed on his quest for shelter, resources, and a plan for living in the strange new world in which he finds himself.

  Although Zed himself has not “turned” completely, as have most of the other infected, the ambiguous, not-immune-but-not-dangerous category in which he finds himself will from this point forward direct his every thought and step if he is to survive.

  Book 2 – Infected

  Infected finds Zed, Murphy, and their traveling companion, Jerome on the move again following what proves to be a brief respite in a university dormitory, in the company of some extremely, albeit justifiably, paranoid ROTC students and three coeds, one of whom befriends Zed. In the process of stealing a Humvee, Jerome is shot by soldiers and Zed and Murphy head on alone to find Murphy’s family.

  With Murphy’s mother dead and his sister missing, their next stop is a house rumored to feature an underground survivalist bunker, where another surprise awaits.

  Book 3 – Destroyer

  Destroyer finds Zed saying goodbye to one friend and pressing forward with two new ones to whom we are introduced in Book 2 – Infected. Mandi, whom Zed and Murphy rescued from the bunker, is immune to the virus. Russell, whose home the others plundered in search of food and other supplies, is also a slow burn, but lower-functioning, childlike and docile.

  After seeing the carnage at the dormitory, a raging, vengeful Zed wants only to kill Mark, his nemesis and the former leader of the ROTC squad. Since Mark has disappeared, Zed unleashes his fury on untold numbers of infected in his path as he makes his way back to the hospital, in an attempt to rescue Steph, a nurse whom he befriended while seeking help for the feverish Murphy shortly after the prison riot. But the brave medical staff, holed up on the tenth floor of the hospital, and running out of provisions, has decided to take matters in hand by exposing themselves to the virus, and shooting those who “turn.” Zed is determined not to face another loss, but once again, time is running out…

  Book 4 – Dead Fire

  Dead Fire picks up following an infected attack on Sarah Mansfield’s fortified house, during which 3 people seek shelter with Zed Zane and his fellow survivors. In the confusion, however, Murphy is gunned down, and an unthinking, emotional Zed strikes out to enact revenge. Unfortunately, the shooting and commotion have only attracted more Whites. A diversion plan emerges to rid the horde of the Smart One trying to figure a way through the gates, and lead the other infected away from the compound. Momentarily safe, the survivors turn to the matter of where to bury the dead. Zed, being now the only one available who would not attract the attentions of the infected, accompanies Freitag on this morbid mission. In short order, Zed is once more embittered and hardened against trust, when he finds himself stranded. After a series of developments that prove the Whites to be more formidable foes than he ever dreamed, he finds his way back to Sarah’s house to find the compound overrun with infected and his friends mysteriously vanished without a trace, leaving Zed to rely once more solely on his wits to survive…

  Book 5 – Torrent

  Following his none-too-soon reunion with his friends at the safe house, Zed is hoping things can finally fall into a stable routine, but in post-virus Austin, things are far from stable. On a mission to raid the ammunition bunkers at Camp Mabry, Zed and Murphy spot a group of the newer, naked infected, who are exhibiting some sophisticated and disturbing new behaviors, such as scouting and hunting – for them.

  After a narrow escape, the two pass the home of Mr. Mays on the return trip, stirring Zed’s predictable rescuer impulse. Finding Mr. Mays dead, Zed brings fellow chain gang escapee Nico along to join the group, whose numbers have grown again, thanks to their merger with the girls on the riverboat, where the group has moved, as seems to be the safest hiding place… Or is it?

  Book 6 – Bleed

  Zed and Murphy are trying to find their surviving friends to finally get out of Austin and head west to safety, away from the zombie hordes. But trouble, their perpetual companion, dogs them at every turn as they discover that infected humans aren’t the only source of mortal danger.

  After finding Murphy’s sister out at the lake, and a standoff with a group of survivors on Monk’s Island, Zed and Murphy separate from the group, finding refuge in Austin.

  Book 7 – City of Stin

  In theaftermath of the battle for Monk’s Island, Murphy has been nursing Zed back to health in a remote house at the west end of the lake. But every day they see helicopters cross the sky, heading south and then back north again.

  Zed wonders if the helicopters are proof that not all civilization has collapsed. He convinces Murphy to seek out the place where the helicopters are landing so they can find the answer to that question. As they acquire new transportation from an abandoned shop—an electric 1968 Mustang—they’re able to outrun the infected and discover others who are just like them. What they find at the end of their journey is both more dangerous and hopeful than either would ever have guessed.

  Foreword

  Well, here we are again.

  Each time I sit back and start to relax after wrapping up another Slow Burn, it seems like it’s only a few weeks that go by before I start missing Zed & Murphy. As you know, I write other series in addition to Slow Burn, and they’re really wonderful books, but there’s something that really draws me in with my two favorite characters. If you’re reading Slow Burn 8, I’m guessing you can relate.

  As a writer, I get the benefit of living vicariously through my characters, so the reality is that I although I might sit in my office with my two dogs all day, I see myself as the machete-wielding Zed—bold, fearless, exciting, with a wonderful sidekick. Instead of mundane things like emptying the dishwasher and mowing the lawn, I’m out hunting for food and mowing over Whites with farm implements. See what I mean? Does Zed ever have to get online and pay bills? NO! Going to the DMV? Uh-uh. Laundry? Nope. Cuss like a sailor? 24/7.

  So did you ever wonder where story ideas come from? Road trips and restaurants. No, really. A lot of Slow Burn 8 came from a road trip. Slow Burn 7 was plotted out at Rudy’s BBQ in Austin, where I spread out Post-It notes with ideas all over the table and they fortunately don’t run me off. Ebola K came
from a “what-if” discussion while driving in the mountains outside of Denver… what if terrorists weaponized Ebola? It’s a fantastic book that probably put me on an FBI watchlist, but I highly recommend it if you like thrillers.

  Back to Slow Burn. We recently took a little drive across rural Texas to see my son graduate from college, actually along the same path that Zed and Murphy are taking toward College Station. On a drive that I used to think was kinda long and a little boring, Kat and I started brainstorming. If you were being chased by zombies, where would you hide? Where would you find food? What were the quirky things about the landscape you might find interesting?

  As you pass out of Austin, the landscape changes dramatically, away from the live music venues, the University of Texas, and a horribly-outdated freeway system, to rolling hills, giant oaks, Victorian farmhouses, and miles of country roads. We passed John Deere tractor dealers, grain silos, antique oil pumpjacks, rusted old trucks. We even got out of the car, walked around, and listened to the crunch of gravel under our feet and the wind blowing through dried cornstalks as we examined the possibility of hiding from zombies on top of fertilizer tanks—a good thing the small-town police didn’t stop and ask what we were doing. But Texas is full of beautiful old courthouses on town squares, little cafes, mom-and-pop convenience stores and post offices. In many cases a land time forgot, and in some places it seems oddly post-apocalyptic, with not a soul in sight. Driving those country roads, you realize that there are hidden stories along the way, and a lot of places to hide if the need arose.

  The only limit is your imagination.

  So I hope you like this installment of Slow Burn. There are a few new characters and your old favorites as well, plus some little surprises along the way. Hmmmm… I wonder what Mark is up to these days?

  As always, your reviews (woot!) and interactions on Facebook are appreciated and keep me writing!

  – Bobby Adair, September 2015

  Chapter 1

  If only you could get your family far enough away or get there fast enough.

  If only.

  Maybe to Grandma’s house.

  Or Uncle Jim’s.

  If you could get to that safe bug-out cabin in the woods.

  If only.

  But there’s all that goddamn traffic.

  And there you sit, thinking that instead of having spent the extra $2,500 on the four-wheel drive option that would have let you tear ass cross country and get off these goddamn clogged roads, you’d opted instead for the two-wheel drive model and spent the difference on that fucking giant flat screen television, so you could see even the tiniest of details, HD-clarified to the point of perverse intrusiveness. Like those tiny glistening bubbles of sweat on the football players’ skin when they were hammering it on fourth and one.

  Sweat bubbles?

  How fucking important are those details in the grand apocalyptic view of a highway clogged with cars all the way from San Antonio to Dallas, maybe beyond? Hell, maybe every damned highway in the country is constipated with four-wheeled steel, stalling in the heat, running out of gas, waiting for what all the panicked rumors said was coming.

  Virus!

  Worse. People—regular people—turned monster.

  You don’t believe it even though you saw them on the TV with your own two eyes. You saw them on the Internet. Coworkers shared videos on your phone. You told yourself over and over again there had to be a rational explanation.

  But there wasn’t one. Only terrifying truths.

  And you’re afraid those truths will turn every one of these fucking cars into coffins full of diminutive corpses and fat, dead parents.

  Don’t think that way.

  Breathe slow. Solve the problem.

  Don’t panic.

  The kids are already tense.

  Don’t make it worse on them.

  The wife is bitching in the front seat about how you should have gone the other way, taken that shortcut that her friend Elva told her about, because Elva and her husband—number three, was it?—are already out of town. Yeah, that was her on the phone a moment ago. The wife just said so. And the kids are whining in the back seat because the girl needs to piss, and that little fucker of a son won’t stop agitating her.

  And the virus is coming.

  The radio is spewing fear like it's on a half-price Labor Day sale with a mattress thrown in and the wife is ratcheting up her crazy-ass coulda-shoulda’s like there’s one per-fuckity thing you can do about it now.

  And still, the fear.

  Every time you see somebody in the rearview mirror who’s not in a car, you think, that’s THEM.

  That’s one of THEM.

  But it’s not. Not yet.

  Still, people are outside, loitering, acting like idiots, spewing their anger on anyone stupid enough to come within range of their shouty voices and balled fists.

  Things aren’t right.

  Understatement.

  The traffic isn't moving, and your biggest fear is that you're fucked—not just you, but the kids in the back seat, the whiner, and the agitator. No matter how much they’re pissing you right the fuck off, you know you love them more than anything else in this whole traffic-jammed town, in this whole God-fucked world, and you reach over and grab your wife and bury your face in her shoulder, even while her bitching is burning your ears, because you don’t want her to hear you cry.

  And you do cry, because you know all the way down to your balls that they’re going to die—your wife and your kids—because you fucked up.

  You picked the route.

  You drove the car up on the highway entrance ramp.

  You watched the traffic back up, slow, and then stop altogether.

  At so many points along the way, you could have made a different choice. You could have listened to her. You could have lost your temper and rammed your way between the assholes in the next lane and gotten away across the median five miles back, maybe.

  Maybe.

  But not now.

  Now you’re stuck.

  And the wife is stuck.

  And the kids are stuck, and they don't even know what's going on, except that the smell of fear is in the car. It’s running up their nostrils and slamming their brains full of primordial get-the-fuck-out-of-here. But moving their feet is pointless because they’re seat belted into the upholstery tight enough to pillow it out around their spindly torsos. The taste of panic is in their mouths, and they’re spinning off so much frenetic movement, you have to keep looking to make sure the belts are still buckled.

  Then the girl pisses her pants.

  The boy shrieks a laugh because he’s half hysterical with new emotions that his little suburban-cocooned ass never knew existed. And because he’s just a little prick sometimes.

  And what the fuck are you gonna do about all of it?

  Nothing.

  Nothing.

  Just fucking nothing, except wait while the engine idles, the wife screams at the boy, and the gas gauge creeps ominously closer to E.

  And you beat the steering wheel with your fist and you curse all the dumbasses in front of you, because you’re just sure that some accident by some idiot up there is the reason the traffic isn’t moving, and you want to jump out of the car, run up there, find the dipshit that caused this mess and punch him in the nuts.

  But you don’t.

  You can’t.

  You can’t leave your kids. Not in this chaos.

  Something changes.

  The sounds are different.

  Keening. Malicious. Hungry.

  You turn the radio down, hoping it’s not a squealing belt in the engine, while you pray to God and your eyes plead with the apathetic clouds above that it is only that.

  It’s not.

  Then THEY come.

  Fritz said, “Just drive across the bridge.”

  I turned away from a Subaru with broken out windows, streaky stains of sunbaked blood on the hood, and the dark shapes of flesh-scavenged corpses insi
de. For some reason, that one, of all those packed on the highway below in a similar state, captured my attention and caught me up in imagining what had happened to its occupants.

  I looked at Fritz, his words having woken me to the realization that I’d been staring and letting my imagination drag my mood down to an ugly depth. I turned toward the gaps between the burned wrecks on the bridge over the highway, exaggerating a nod as if I’d been going through a silent, evaluative process on whether to cross the highway at just that spot.

  “You all right?” Fritz asked, not bothering to hide with some tact his concern that I might be slipping a little too far from reality.

  “Yeah.” Of course, I said ‘yeah.’ That's the only answer to that question, when what somebody is really asking is the rhetorical, "What the fuck is wrong with you?"

  I put my foot to the accelerator and the electric Mustang rolled over the bridge above the highway, crossing from West Austin to East Austin. Along the access road on the other side of the interstate, rummaging through the lines of burned hulks of cars that four months ago had been waiting their chance to get into the unmoving line on I-35, white skinned monsters—formerly normal people—glowed in the moonlight.

  They didn’t notice the silent Mustang. None had since I drove away from the old power plant down by the river. We’d passed hundreds on our rat-maze race through Austin’s gentrified warehouse district and into the high-rise condos and bank buildings closer to the Capitol. Along the way, as I caught glimpses of the statehouse, I saw that the fires I'd started in the subterranean Capitol Annex were still burning in the hundred-fifty-year-old domed building. Now, beneath the red granite dome, the building’s windows flickered orange and dribbled rivulets of acrid ash into the black sky, hiding the stars behind smoky ribbons of our ruin.

  The Whites did notice the rattling diesel engine and the noisy off-road tires on the Humvee Murphy was driving at a distance a few blocks behind. His vehicle loudly announced the coming of a meal and the Whites reacted accordingly, waking up, chasing into the street to catch him and his passengers, pouncing on the armored Humvee from the sides.