As The World Dies Untold Tales Volume 3 Read online

  At least, that’s what he thought until he heard gunshots and a woman screaming.

  With a sigh, he came to a full stop, twisted around on the bike, and stared over his shoulder at the barricade. He’d only progressed a short distance up the road and he could clearly see a swarm of people gathering behind the fortification. Rune instantly knew the new group was bad news. Bloody and screeching, the newcomers attacked the armed men. Considering the firepower the town guards carried there weren’t as many shots firing as there should have been. But then again, they had wasted full rounds shooting over the heads of innocent, desperate people. Now that the armed men were under attack by a real threat, they were probably scrambling to reload.

  Idiots.

  The beautiful young woman with the streaked hair again screamed. She was bravely fighting one of the undead creatures. The police officer in charge attempted to duck under the barrier to save her, but was grabbed from behind. The cries and shouts of the armed guards mingled with the screeches of their attackers.

  “Oh, hell,” Rune grumbled.

  The motorcycle roared. Cursing himself for being a sucker for pretty women, he circled about and sped toward the violent scene. Drawing closer he saw that the guards were losing their battle with the zombies. It was going to be messy saving the girl. Parking his bike on the shoulder of the road, he leaped off and drew both Glocks. He sprinted past the car with the shattered, bloody windshield, ignoring the sobs of the man inside. Lifting one pistol, Rune took careful aim, then fired at a blood-covered young man rushing toward him. A bullet to the heart didn’t stop the zombie, so Rune shot him in the head. The man tumbled onto the hot asphalt, blood and brains spilling out of his shattered skull. The overwhelming coppery smell of blood mingled with offal.

  “Movies got that right,” Rune muttered.

  Ahead of him, the blonde was handling herself better than expected. Using basic self-defense moves, she kept breaking the hold of the undead creature grappling with her. It was a male clad in fatigues. A soldier. Twisting away from the zombie, the young woman tried to dart away, but it caught her about the waist, lifting her off the ground. A shriek of terror, or maybe pain, erupted out of the woman’s mouth.

  Rune fired a few shots at some of the creatures crawling under the police barrier. He hit one in the head, but the other two kept coming. Reaching the struggling pair, he grabbed the woman’s head and shoved it forward and down, so her chin pressed into her neck. He pressed the end of the barrel against the monster’s forehead and fired. The zombie fell, dragging the woman with him. She landed on her stomach, the zombie on top of her, and flailed, attempting to extricate herself from underneath the corpse.

  Rune was about to lean over and help her up when a hand clenched his ankle. Looking down, he saw a crawling zombie straining to draw its ruined face to his leg, its bloody maw ready to bite. Rune fired, killing it. The other zombie was struggling to its feet on legs that looked far too chewed up to support its body. Rune tried to ignore the fact that it had been once a woman and put a bullet in its brain.

  The struggle behind the barricade continued. He scrutinized the scene and immediately saw that the sentries were swiftly losing ground. A group of undead clustered around the policeman who had been in charge, ripping at him with their teeth and hands. Two men abandoned the struggle and climbed into one of the police vehicles. The squeal of tires and the stink of burning rubber filled the air as the escaping car ripped through the oncoming onslaught of undead pouring out of the town.

  “So much for keeping their town safe,” Rune huffed, holstering one of the Glocks.

  Kicking the dead body off the struggling woman on the ground, Rune kept his eye on the zombies. Since warm, fresh, bloody meat was right within eating distance, the zombies ignored him for the moment. Taking advantage of the respite, Rune moved to help the woman get to her feet.

  “Don’t touch me!” She slapped his hand away.

  “Hey!”

  “Back off!” The pretty woman rolled to her knees, her hand pressed to the back of her neck. Glaring at him, she stumbled along the shoulder of the road. Rune noted that she was still clutching her cellphone.

  “Hey lady, let me help you,” he said hurrying after her. A long trail of blood was running down her back. “Did it get ya?”

  “Back off, asshole!” she snarled. Reaching her dark blue sedan, she yanked the driver’s side door open.

  “Hey, I’m trying to help you,” Rune said, frowning.

  Sliding into the driver’s seat, she kicked the door so it banged into Rune as he tried to follow.

  “Hey, ma’am, if you got a bite, I should look at it. I know first aid. I was a volunteer fireman in my younger days.”

  “This wouldn’t be happening if my stupid pathetic boyfriend had come with me instead of going for his precious little Pepe,” the woman said with a grimace.

  Rune arched an eyebrow at this comment, then cast a leery look in the direction of the zombies.

  Wadding up some napkins, she pulled from the console, she placed them against the back of her neck, flinching.

  “Ma’am, can you drive? Because we need to get out of here like right away. The way those things are chowing down, they’re gonna be done with their buffet mighty soon and they’ll come for us.”

  The woman grunted and swore as she dug around under her seat, her hand still holding the makeshift bandage to her wound. Rune caught sight of what looked like a deep bite through the bloody paper as her hair shifted.

  “Ma’am, are you listening?” Rune again checked on the creatures that were tearing apart the people that they had overwhelmed minutes earlier. He flinched at the sight of the things shoving meat—human meat—into their mouths. During his years on earth he had seen some gruesome things, such as a buddy after his bike was struck by a station wagon, but nothing could compare to what looked like a scene from a horror movie. “Ma’am, maybe you should come with me on my bike since you’re hurt.”

  Something hard jabbed his stomach. Rune tore his gaze from the zombie feast and stared at shock at the small pistol pushed into his belly just above his waistband. “What the fuck?”

  “You’re not going to rape me!”

  “What?” Rune took three sharp steps back. “Ma’am, I’m trying to help you!”

  “Fuck off! I know what your type is like!” She kept the gun trained on him as she leaned out far enough to pull the door shut. She slammed it so hard, the sound echoed.

  The zombies rose as one. Blood and meaty globs fell from their faces and dripped down their fronts as they stared at Rune.

  “Fuck!”

  Rune ran toward his bike.

  The footfalls of the creatures behind him were distant enough to let him know he had just enough time to reach his bike and get the hell out of dodge. Boot heels clomping against the asphalt, Rune ran for his life, one Glock still clutched in his hand.

  As he passed the car where the husband of the murdered woman still wept over her body, he banged his fist against the window to alert the man to the danger that was about to encompass his car. Lungs burning, he sprinted the last few feet to his Harley.

  Clambering onto his bike, he glanced toward the cluster of undead creatures hurtling toward him. They were much faster than he had anticipated. The zombies he had seen earlier by the river had been sluggish, but some of the ones rushing toward him were actually sprinting.

  “This isn’t good,” he muttered.

  The bike grumbling beneath him, Rune looked back one last time as he accelerated away. The injured woman had managed to pull her car about and drove through part of the throng, zombies bouncing off the hood. Meanwhile, a huge crowd gathered around the vehicle with the shattered windshield. Rune could hear the man inside screaming.

  Pulling his goggles on, Rune focused on the road ahead, leaving the others to their fate. He had done his best to help, but he wasn’t certain it had been the wisest thing to do. At least now he understood a bit more about his new enemies: zombies an
d human nature.

  The blue sedan zipped past him, dangerously close to clipping him. The wind shear knocked him slightly to one side and he promptly flipped the driver off. He burst out laughing as she thrust one manicured hand out the sunroof and gave him the bird.

  Even with the world dying, some things remained the same.

  Chapter 6

  Arms folded across his chest and straddling his bike, Rune gazed out over the valley toward the interstate in the distance. Tendrils of smoke rose slowly from the massive pile-up of cars while the charred zombies slowly wove in and out between them. The shimmers of the ghosts below made him uneasy. It was difficult enough dealing with the occasional ghost and now the world was filling with them.

  The gradually setting sun made finding shelter for the night his primary issue. There was no way in hell he was going to camp out in his tent when the dead were wandering around seeking out human flesh. That seemed like something a damned Yankee would do and he was too smart of a Texan to do anything so foolish.

  Rune had avoided the interstates and the smaller highways, sticking to the farm roads. The lack of vehicles in rural Texas had been surprising. At one point, he’d seen an old white truck occupied by two women and a dog speeding along a road when he had been off in the bushes taking a piss. The truck had been heading deeper into the Texas Hill Country, but he’d decided not to flag it down. He was done with women for the rest of the day after dealing with the bitch at the barricade.

  Rune had considered trying to make his way south to Kerrville where some of his friends lived, but looking at the interstate he knew that was a bad idea. San Angelo was also on his list of possibilities, but he wasn’t too sure if venturing into a highly populated area was the best choice. Texans were heavily armed, but the rapid spread of the undead plague didn’t bode well for the bigger towns and cities.

  The temperature around him all at once began to steadily drop, causing Rune’s skin to tingle. Rubbing his nose, he exhaled, long and slow. “Damn.”

  “It’s bad down there. I wouldn’t go that way,” a voice said next to him.

  Rune rubbed the back of his neck and considered not answering the ghost.

  “I thought for sure it would be safe. You know...strength in numbers,” the male voice continued.

  Setting one hand on his thigh, Rune twisted on his seat to gaze at the unsteady image of a man standing next to him. “Where’d you come from?” He might as well get a bead on things from those in the know, which would be the dead.

  “San Angelo. It got bad there this morning. Real bad,” the spectral voice replied.

  Rune’s goggles began to frost over and he pushed them onto his forehead.

  The ghost took on enough form for Rune to see it was a young man in his early twenties with a pudgy frame and open friendly face. Grievous wounds covered him, and Rune flinched. The boy had met a terrible fate.

  “Me and my buddies were going to try to make it to my folks’ place. It’s near here. My parents are on vacation in Mexico. Or they were...I hear my mother calling my name. That means she’s dead, too, huh?”

  Rune gave him a short nod.

  “I thought so,” the ghost sighed.

  “So where’s your folks’ place? Is it secure?”

  “Five miles from here. We were so close. We almost made it.”

  “Sorry you didn’t.”

  The specter stared at the interstate. “We almost made it...”

  “So your folks’ place...” Rune prompted.

  “It’s up on top of a hill and the property is fenced in. It’s real nice.” The ghost pointed south of their location.

  “I’m going to go there and hang out until some of this bullshit blows over. Mind?”

  The ghost shook his head as he began to fade. “Mom is calling louder. I better go.”

  “You take care.”

  As the ghost faded away, Rune heard the disembodied voice say, “4-5-2-1.”

  “Eh?” Rune tilted his head. “What?”

  Twisting around, he saw that he was alone again. After wiping off his goggles, he tucked them over his eyes and turned the bike around, heading in the direction the boy had pointed. He hoped he could locate the house and hunker down for a few days to get his head together.

  The wind buffeting him carried the pungent rotting smell of something dead. Rune tensed. He’d seen only a handful of zombies since the incident at the barricade, but that had been enough for him. His goal was to keep away from the dead fuckers and not take any unnecessary risks.

  As the bike roared around a curve in the road, Rune saw the reason why the stench of death was so strong. At least twenty of the creatures were in hot pursuit of a short muscular man clad all in black. The man’s sleek dark hair glistened in the fading light of the day. Though the fleeing man’s powerful body moved at a quick clip, it was obvious he was tiring. The face that glanced over was flushed red, and his hand was pressed to his side. When he spotted Rune, he lifted one hand, waving, but that slight distraction slowed his pace. The fastest of the zombies closed in on him.

  The mob of flesh eaters started to scatter across the road as some were drawn to the grumble of the motorcycle, and veered to pursue it, which made it difficult for Rune to plot his course. The running man kept checking on Rune’s progress, obviously expecting him to help.

  A part of Rune just wanted to find safe passage past the mob of bloodied beings and keep going. After the drama and bloodshed earlier in the day, he wasn’t feeling particularly noble. Yet, it was the Christian thing to do. Rune knew he couldn’t leave someone to die if he could help them. Already he’d abandoned people to horrible deaths to save his own life. If he could rescue the man, he was going to do it.

  Rune was forced to lower his speed to maneuver through the throng of zombies. He lost sight of the running man, but hoped the fellow was still on his feet. A few of the undead lurched in his direction, closing in faster than he’d like.

  Zooming past the first cluster, Rune deftly proceeded through the gaps in the mangled bodies. Clutching, bloody hands grazed him, sliding over his leather jacket. He kicked one zombie away with his heavy boot. The torn, gruesome bodies of the undead closed around him, drawn by the growl of his bike. Jerking one his Glocks out of the holster, he pointed it at a zombie who was blocking his path, exhaled, and pulled the trigger. Blood and bits of brain spouted into the air and the thing that had been an old man fell to the road. Rune rode over the scrawny legs of the being, clutching the handlebars with both hands, the Glock still grasped in his left hand.

  The undead certainly weren’t smart. They were confused by the sound of Rune’s bike and the prospect of two different feasts. Rune shot another zombie that got too close and barreled past four more. To Rune’s relief, the biker saw that the short man was still on his feet and armed with a tree branch he brandished like a club. Leaping into the air, the man in black knocked the closest zombie off its feet with a strong kick, landed, then bashed the creature’s brains out with three swift whacks. Two of the faster zombies were almost on the Hispanic man and Rune accelerated past them.

  “Amigo! Get on!” Rune shouted, swerving toward the other man.

  The smaller man surprised Rune with his agility. He darted toward the bike, snagged Rune around the waist, and easily swung himself onto the back of the seat. Rune didn’t hesitate to pick up speed, leaving the dead creatures behind in a plume of dust.

  Gasping for air, the man patted Rune’s shoulder. “Thanks, man! It was getting hairy!”

  Both men had to yell to be heard over the wind.

  “No problem, dude!” Rune shouted back.

  “My motorbike died on me. Those...things...came out of nowhere.” The man’s voice was ragged and tired.

  “They’re sneaky bastards. Name’s Rune, by the way.”

  “Tito. Good to meet you, brother.” Tito coughed a few times, obviously still recovering from his flight.

  Glancing into the review mirror he saw Tito’s flushed, sweaty fac
e, and, beyond it, Rune caught a glimpse of an elderly woman for a split second.

  “I don’t know what I would have done if you hadn’t come along.”

  “Gone down fighting like a true Texan,” Rune answered confidently.

  “Yeah, man. Absolutely. Fucking zombies. Fucking gawddamn zombies.”

  “Where you headed, Tito?”

  “Wherever you are for now. Later, Laredo.”

  “Laredo is probably bad.”

  “I know, but I ain’t got no choice. My family is there.”

  Rune watched the road, but glanced into the mirror. The old woman’s form flashed in and out of focus behind the bike. “Mother?”

  “No, wife and kids. My mama...she died earlier today.”

  “Ah.” Rune nodded slightly. That explained the ghost.

  “So, where we headed, Rune?”

  As the bike sped around the corner, Rune caught sight of a house perched on a hill. “Right there, brother. That’s it.” He pointed.

  “Looks good. Sun’s almost down and I don’t think we should be caught out in the open.”

  “Couldn’t agree more.”

  As the sun dipped behind the horizon, Rune’s bike turned onto the driveway that led up to a formidable wrought iron gate.

  Chapter 7

  Rune brought Charlene up to the gates, flipped down the kickstand, and slid off, letting the bike run. He didn’t usually trust his ride with other people, but he had a solid feeling about Tito. Rune surveyed the area. There was nothing dead shambling about, which was a good sign.

  The tall gates rose high over his head with a fancy pink granite wall extending from both sides of the entrance for a few hundred feet before being replaced with a barbed wire fence. Placing his gloved hands on the gates, he shook them, but they didn’t relent.

  “Got a keypad over here,” Tito called out.

  The device was inside a small box tucked into a granite pillar.

  “I suppose you don’t have the code? We could climb the fence,” Tito said. “Not sure how we can get the bike in though.” He wiped the thick sweat off his weary face.