Mark Clodi - Undead Advantage, a Zombie Chronicles Novel

"Aw shit Amber, here they come, they probably don't want us sitting here on their street now. Bunch of dumb fucks, like they can keep us out of the goddamn club, what gives them the right?" Ken said, he kept his eye on the man approaching them. The guy was wearing boots, carrying a bat and had a revolver tucked into his belt, he was also wearing a jacket with a name tag on it, Ken made it out to be 'Dave' as the guy approached. He powered down his window so he could talk to 'Dave'.

"Listen man, you can't stop us from parking here to decide what we are going to do now that your little group has booted us the fuck out of a goddamn public sto…" Ken's explanation, if indeed that was what he was attempting, was cut short when Dave shot him through the window in the chest. Amber started screaming, the kids started screaming. Dave looked them over, seeing no weapons, he calmly gut shot the woman, not killing her and leaned in through the window to rip out Ken's throat with his teeth. The warm, salty blood thrilled Dave to no end, it was almost orgasmic. Dave didn't think it quite approached the same level as sex, but unlike sex he could do this all day. While he was in the middle of his meal the woman had managed to fall out of her door and pull the side door open, she was on the ground trying to reach up to get the kids out of their car seats.

' Stupid, stupid' , Dave thought as he came around the car, 'First stupid to waste Ken like this, chances are good I won't get back to him, then stupid thing number two was to let the woman get out and open the door, the screaming might bring some heroes from the Mike's Club over, and stupid thing number three was the fact that the car seat manufacturers made seats a four year old couldn't get out of in a hurry.' Not ever having kids before Dave really had no idea what he was talking about, the whole point of a car seat was to ensure the kids did not get out on their own.

Dave plucked the woman off the ground and shoved her into the van onto the floor in front of the bench seat. He shut the door, which jammed up with a crunching sound on the woman's foot, undoubtedly breaking it, then he punched the woman a few times in the gut until she stopped moving. For good measure he slugged one of the kids too, the other got the idea pretty fast and shut the hell up. Pausing a moment Dave looked the kids over, while thinking of the parapet on the roof, smiling he closed the side door, the passenger door and moved back around to the driver's side of the still idling van. Ken was still alive, Dave took another thirty seconds to suck enough blood out of him to kill him, then pulled him out of the van and casually smashed his head in on the panel beside the door. Dumping his body on the pavement he hopped into the van and drove it away.

By nightfall Dave was back on his rooftop perch watching the men at the Mike's Club intently. He had missed the caravan leaving, but he noticed a few of the nicer trucks and cars were gone. 'Interesting' he thought, 'I wonder what the plan is now?'

One thing eating had done for him was clear his head. Revenge might be overrated in today's new world, but a steady food supply was not. He thought, maybe, he could prey on the edges of this group, pick off a few here and there, or at the very least get the ones they turned away easily enough. A new softailed Harley-Davidson motorcycle sat in the alley fairly well concealed between two dumpsters. The hog should make catching up to anyone this group turned away a piece of cake, the new glock he found in Ken's van with a box of ammo, rounded out Dave's trusty pistol very well too. Dave was a bit of a throw back when it came to firearms. Automatics were nice, but for ultimate reliability and jam free action you simply could not beat a revolver. Hunkering down on the roof for along night Dave watched the club intently.

"You ever think we were being watched?" asked Kevin to the men was sharing his watch with.

"Oh sure, yeah, all the time, I know they are out there. Not the dumb ones either, the smart ones, they are there, I can feel them." said Jeff.

Kevin liked Jeff, he was not bad for a know it all white guy in his forties. He had a beer gut or 'pony keg' where his belly should have been and the wife beater he was wearing in the cool night air was stained with sweat and Gatorade from the day's work. He was about six feet tall and had brown hair, eyes and an unshaven face. He carried a pistol that looked pathetically small, tucked into his belt, no holster. When he spoke his eyes never left off scanning the houses and businesses across the street from them. "I know those fuckers are sizing us up, casing the joint, if you know what I mean. Only makes sense, the dumb ones stopped coming about midday yesterday, you think they left on their own? No way man, the smart ones, they called em back, I bet they are getting ready for an all out assault right now, probably hit us in the morning, or maybe at sunset tomorrow night. That is what I would do anyway."

One of the other men made a 'pah' sound and Jeff looked up sharply, "Yeah, you don't believe me Doug? You just wait and see then."

A voice came back out of the dark, "Just watch Jeff, just watch and keep your cake hole shut. We don't need to be keyed up anymore than we already are, okay? You get us all scared and we'll end up blasting the next guy that comes around the corner and maybe it will be someone alive instead of a horde of zombies."

"So? Don't believe me hey? Care to put some money on it? I have a thousand dollars that says they attack at dawn." Jeff retorted.

"Only a grand, sure I'll see your kiddie bet, wanna throw in something useful, like our guns? I could use a spare."

Jeff stammered a bit then said, "Naw, we can't do that, I don't want you unarmed when I win, even if I disagree with you."

Mockingly, Doug's voice came back, "Sure Jeff, I understand."

Kevin's shift ended at sunrise, so he was looking forward to seeing who won the bet. He noticed movement on the rooftop on one of the corners, hissing he said, "You see that Jeff?" Kevin pointed at the building, "On the roof?"

In the pale light of the moon Jeff nodded, "Yeah I got it." louder he said, "Something on the roof on the corner, no bullshit, something moved."

Voices came back softly, indicating they understood and for a few moments every eye was focused on the building's roof, just when everyone started to look elsewhere again the movement came again, drawing them back in.

"See? I told you a dawn attack, that is their scout!" said Jeff.

"Jeff it ain't dawn! It's like three in the morning." retorted Doug from the darkness.

"Don't mean nothing, they are getting ready to attack. Can anyone see anything?"

A chorus of 'Nos' came back.

No one noticed a shadow detach itself from the middle of the street and scramble over the barricade about halfway between the more heavily populated corners of the 'wall'.

' They deserve to die.' Dave thought, 'This is going to be almost too easy.' As the night wore on into morning he noticed the groups move away from the centers of the walls and people congregated in the corners. There were still a few small groups with bats wandering around inside the place, checking on the people they had confined in the parking lot and making sure no one was asleep. He saw them bring out snacks and drinks a few times too, sometimes they stood watch so people could head back in to the building. Probably they had to use the bathroom. There was a thought Dave hadn't had for awhile. No bathroom breaks for him. No urges anyway. He had 'voided' a few times, more to release pressure, especially out the 'back door', it was always a foul smelling ichor that poured out, never solid chunks. The interesting thing was he had no urge to go, he could have held it forever, and maybe just got fatter and fatter? Nothing to think about now, not when he was waiting for the next trio to march along the wall towards him. 'Here they come now' , he thought, readying himself for two quick kills and a leisurely meal. He had to be quiet though, with groups less than twenty yards in either direction he could not afford any unnecessary noise. Crouching further into the shadows between two cars he calmed himself and prepared for what he was about to do.