Dead Outside (Book 1) Read online

  To my right was another delivery truck flipped on its side. The bottom and front were covered in bloody smears and handprints, and there was one wide trail of blood leading from the truck into the bushes in front of me. The extra weight of the food in my bag was bearing down on me a bit, I’d get used to it soon though. I pulled out my map and slid my finger along the map and found where I was. I placed a red X with my pen where the supermarket was.

  I took a quick glance from right to left, checking for any Infected that might be trying to sneak up on me, but the parked truck caught my eye. I walked up to the truck slowly, and pulled out my 9mm pistol. I didn’t want to take any chances. my shotgun was too unwieldy when opening doors and my bat couldn’t help me if something jumped on me.

  I dropped to one knee and checked under the truck, no bodies, no blood, and the tires were inflated. The back was latched but there was no lock on it. I unlatched it and jumped back aiming my pistol into the back of the truck. The door slid open. The smell of rotting flesh hit me instantly. I covered my nose and mouth with my sleeve, the bandana wasn't going to cut it by itself. There were three dead bodies, an adult and two kids.

  It looked as though the Adult had killed the kids while they were sleeping, and then shot herself. I looked around and saw dozens of open boxes and food containers all over the floor. When they died they voided their bowels, which only added to the smell. I closed the door and threw up. So much for avoiding that.

  The steady moaning of several Infected filled my ears. I saw their shadows coming from the sides of the market. They must have heard me open and close the truck. I wiped my mouth with my sleeve and ran to the driver’s side door and shook the handle. Of course it was locked, so I smashed the window in with my bat and unlocked it. I brushed the glass off the seat and hopped in. The Infected were getting closer.

  They had just come into view, so I slammed the door. I looked frantically for the keys, first the glove box, console, floor, finally the flap above my head. They dropped into my hand. The truck let out a beep when the keys went in the ignition, the battery was charged at least. I turned it, praying that it would start. It puttered but nothing happened. I tried it again, looking frantically at the approaching Infected that were nearly at my door. There were twice as many as there were in front of the store, I turned the key a third time with my eyes closed.

  “Come on! Come on!” I muttered to myself. I glanced to my side and saw there were more Infected coming around the side of the building, “Start you son of a bitch!”

  I glanced again and saw the Infected closing on the side of the truck. I didn’t have long, if this truck didn’t start, I was going to have to fight my way out.

  I turned the key again, thinking about Sarah’s face, hoping I could at least see it one more time.

  Chapter Two: Innocence

  17 Days earlier.

  2:00 PM June 12

  A loud ringing vibrated through my pounding head. My eyelids were heavy. When I opened them it took me a minute to realize where I was, and that it wasn’t my ears that were ringing. It was my alarm clock. I reached over and hit the snooze button, hoping for a few more minutes of rest. It was almost halfway through summer already and being a substitute teacher couldn't pay the bills when there were no classes to teach. My attempts to find a temporary summer job had failed so far and had no sign of improving in the immediate future.

  The sound of my alarm going off again interrupted my moment of stressful self misery. After hitting the alarm clock again, this time shutting it off, I glanced around and saw the familiar sight that was my bedroom. I felt like I only got two or three hours of sleep. I glanced at the time. It was two in the afternoon. It took me a few seconds to calculate it in my head that I'd actually had about nine hours of sleep.

  I was at a party last night. My head was throbbing enough to give me slight vertigo, and my body ached. I rubbed my eyes and got out of bed. I looked down and saw that I was completely naked. I let out a sigh, “Well it looks like I had fun.” I glanced at the other side of my bed, which to my dismay was empty. "Then again, maybe not."

  After getting dressed I came out of my room and looked into Nick’s. He didn’t even make it to his bed. He was asleep in the middle of the floor. I laughed a little and shut the door. Then I noticed my keys were in the fish bowl, along with my wallet.

  What in the hell happened last night? I thought to myself as I pulled everything out of my wallet to dry. I couldn't help but think about how my life was going nowhere. I spent most of my time worrying about when I'd get my next paycheck, or how I would pay my soon to be overdue bills. It didn't help that my roommate and best friend Nick still hadn't found a steady job as police officer, despite having a degree and having graduated the police academy. His lack of experience caused him to be passed up more times than I could count. Not that I had done any better. I'd been turned down by every retail store for 30 miles because of a few bad references from when I was fresh out of high school.

  I was looking for my phone when it began to ring. I found it in the fridge, which in retrospect isn’t as unusual as it might sound, considering some of the other places I’ve found my phone. Roxie was calling. I flipped it open and answered. “Hey Roxie, what’s up?”

  Luckily my sister Roxie was helping us make ends meet. She was still in college, working as a barista at the local coffee shop and actually made decent money. Our parents had moved back to our home state of Ohio after we graduated high school when our father was transferred. Roxie and I decided to stay in Florida because we'd lived here most of our lives, all our friends were here, and more importantly, Sarah was in Florida, at least she was when I decided to stay.

  “Hey Sam, not much, just wanted to make sure you guys were ok after last night.” She laughed, “You two could barely get your bedroom doors opened. Is Nick still on the floor?”

  “Well I managed to make it in my bed somehow. Yeah, he’s still curled up on the floor. I was going to give him a pillow, but it’s funnier this way,” I chuckled, last night's events slowly coming back to me. Nick was barely able to stand, let alone walk coherently. He made it two steps before stumbling over himself and falling asleep on the spot. “How did you get up in time for work?”

  “Well I didn’t drink nearly as much as you guys,” She responded. “I had to work today, plus somebody had to drive you two idiots home, so I took it easy. Otherwise I’d probably still be in bed too.”

  “Well that’s true I guess, so what are you doing today?” I asked as I poured myself a cup of coffee.

  “Not sure,” she said. “Why, you want to do something?”

  “Well I was hoping to get everyone together for a little get together at the bar before I leave tomorrow.” I was leaving to go to Ohio to help stock, clean, and fix the family cabin. My family had been making these 'work weekend' trips every couple of years whenever the firewood gets low, or if part of the siding is damaged from the weather.

  When Roxie and I were kids we would just play in the woods, but now that we were grown up we actually had to participate in the manual labor of the trip. Roxie didn’t have to go this year because she couldn’t get off work, or so she said.

  “I don’t see why not.” She said, “I’m not doing anything after work.”

  “Alright cool.” I said, “Nick and I are both free.”

  “Fantastic!” she said excitedly, “Well I’m excited. What time you want to go?” She asked.

  I thought for a second before answering, “Six o’clock sound good to you?”

  “Sure,” She answered, “I’ll be home around 4:30.”

  “Okay, see you then” I added.

  “Bye,” she said before hanging up.

  After I hung up I took a sip of my coffee. Nick came strolling out of his room slowly and sat at the kitchen table. His dark brown hair was sticking up on one side, and he had the rug texture imprinted on his left cheek. Not wearing a shirt only drew more attention to his slender frame. He was taller than me though not
by much, though my shoulders were broader then his.

  “You look like shit.” I said as I took another sip of my coffee.

  “Thanks, you’re not too bad yourself.” He replied nonchalantly. “What’s for breakfast?”

  I opened the fridge and looked around, “We’ve got Chinese, Pizza, and oh look at that, more pizza.”

  “I’ll have the Pepperoni if there’s any left.” He yawned, “Who was that on the phone?”

  “Roxie,” I answered as I tossed him a box of pizza.

  Just then my phone started ringing again. I pulled it out of my pocket and looked at it. This time Sarah was calling. I flipped it opened and answered it,

  “Hey sleeping beauty,” I heard through the phone, “I heard you partied pretty hard last night.” She laughed.

  “From what I remember at least,” I laughed nervously. “So when are you getting back in town?”

  “Sunday,” she said. “I tried to get there last week, but couldn’t get away.”

  “Well am I going to see you before I leave tomorrow?” I asked, pulling a slice of pizza out of the box on the table..

  “Maybe,” she teased.

  I took a bite of the cold and slightly stale slice of pizza, “Come on, you’ve been gone for so long.”

  “I visited last Christmas break.” She reminded me, "It wasn't that long ago."

  “Yeah well it's felt like a lot longer than that, besides do I need to have a reason to hang out with you before I leave for a week? I mean come on the summer is only so long, then you're gone for the rest of the year again.” I looked into the laundry basket and found my shoes and a slice of pizza. “Besides, you owe me. You were supposed to be back for the party last night.”

  “Well I got into a college out of state,” she apologized. “You know I only get to come back a few times a year.”

  “Yeah, I know,” I said with a sigh. “But this Fourth of July is going to be awesome. Nick and I bought like two hundred dollars worth of fireworks yesterday. It’s going to be epic.”

  “Sweet!” She exclaimed. “I can’t wait to see you guys blow yourselves up again!”

  “Hey, I only lost one eyebrow that time.” I thought back to last year’s fireworks display when the fuse burned a little quicker than I thought it would, and singed my eyebrows quite a bit. “And it wasn’t my fault, the fireworks were defective. Plus, there’s only so much fun you can have without the world’s worst karaoke singer."

  “When are you going to let me live that down?” she asked with a frustrated laugh

  Her laughter made me smile. It always had.

  “Never.” I replied with a smirk that she couldn’t see, but could hear in my voice.

  “Fine, I have to go. We’ll finish this discussion when I see you when you get back from Ohio!” she said with excitement in her voice.

  “Alright, see you then!” I replied, returning the excitement.

  “When are you just going to tell her you love her already?” Nick asked as I hung up. “I mean come on. You guys have been beating around the bush for years. Just ask her out.”

  “It’s not that simple.” I argued. I’d been holding a torch for Sarah since I first met her, but something always managed to keep me from taking the next step, either her constant stream of boyfriends beating me to the punch, or simply being too nervous to say the words out loud.

  “Yeah, it is,” he countered. “All you have to say is, ‘Sarah, will you go out on a date with me?’ and then she says yes, and you guys can finally have that sex you’ve been dreaming about.”

  I shook my head, “Why is everything about sex with you?”

  “Isn’t it with everyone?” he quipped as he took a bite of his pizza. “Wasn’t it Freud who said ninety-nine percent of our actions are influenced by our penises?”

  I laughed, almost spitting bits of pizza out of my nose, “I don’t think he said it quite like that, but you’re close enough.”

  “So what are we doing today?” he asked as he finished a slice of pizza.

  “Oh yeah, we are having a get together at the bar tonight, one last hangout before I go to my grandfathers cabin in Ohio.” I answered, finishing my own slice.

  “Thanks for asking me,” he said sarcastically.

  “Your welcome,” I responded. “Now go put some pants on. You’re embarrassing yourself.”

  We pulled up to the local bar in Nick’s Mustang. Roxie had called saying she needed to work a few more hours, and that she'd meet us at the bar. When he got out of the car he puffed out his chest and had the usual goofy cocky look on his face. He loved that car.

  “Would you lose the goofy ass face?” I laughed. “We passed six other mustangs on the way here.”

  “Shut the hell up,” he came back with, “Its better then your shitty ass truck.”

  “You were singing a different tune when we needed to move something bigger than a few bags of groceries.” I shot back, patting him on the shoulder, “Calm down dude, it’s a cool car. You’re making all the other middle aged men jealous.”

  He just shook his head and smirked a little. “Alright come on, and let’s get inside so you can lose all your money to me at pool.”

  “Sounds like a plan,” I replied accepting the challenge.

  The bar had a misty appearance to it from the combination of low lighting and cigarette smoke. There were the usual bar patrons, old drunks, middle aged singles trying to find partners, and quite a few college aged kids who had just reached the legal drinking age.

  "How's it going boys?" Our waitress greeted us.

  “So Jenny how busy has it been tonight?” Nick inquired.

  “Not too bad, we had to deal with a couple of rowdy guys a few hours ago, but other than that it’s the same old same old.” She said with a smile.

  “Well, we’re meeting Roxie here in about a half hour we just figured we’d play some pool till then,” I explained. “Could you send her over there when she get here?”

  “Sure Sam, no problem,” She agreed. “Have fun losing your money to Nick.”

  As we walked away I turned to Nick. “Am I that bad?”

  He laughed. “Let’s just say you’re about to make my next car payment.”

  The building is split between the main Bar and a gaming section, with pool tables, dart boards, and quite a few old arcade games. Most of the tables were empty, but it was a little early. They would fill up rather quickly in the next hour or so.

  We walked up to one of the pool tables. It was the type that you put quarters into and the balls dispense, though they were rather old so you had to kick it after you put the quarters in for all the balls to come out, otherwise some of them might get stuck.

  It didn’t take long for Nick to beat me in the first game. Nick would never admit to practicing, but he’s had a lot of free time since he graduated the police academy six months ago.

  “How is the job hunt going man?” I asked him while he was racking the balls for the second game.

  He let out a sigh, “Not good. The sheriffs department wants someone with experience, just like all the others. I keep saying, how the hell am I supposed to get that experience if nobody will hire me?”

  “That’s true,” I agreed. This had been the same story for the last few departments Nick had applied to. Neither of us could seem to catch a break lately, and sooner rather than later we would be stuck on the streets. “Hopefully the next place will work out.”

  “Yeah me too,” He sighed again, “Roxie’s been hammering me again about getting married. How am I supposed to marry her when I’m not working?”

  “Yeah, I know what you mean,” I chuckled. I don’t know who Nick was trying to fool. Roxie had been talking about getting married for a while, and Nick always had an excuse for putting it off.

  “Speak of the devil,” Nick said, noticing that Roxie was walking over. “Hey babe, how was work?”

  She was a lot shorter then me, with the top of her head reaching just over my shoulders. She walked ove
r to Nick, who had to lean down to kiss her. Their height difference was pretty dramatic, a foot and a few inches. Nick could practically put his arm on her head to use as an arm rest, though Roxie would make him regret it.

  “Good,” she smiled as she gave Nick a hug. “Oh, and you not having a job doesn’t matter, my dad didn’t have a job when he asked my mom to marry him, and they were twenty-one when they got married. We’re twenty-four, time to move forward!”

  “Can we not do this here?” Nick asked seriously.

  “So,” I jumped into the conversation to cut the tension before it got worse and awkward. “Roxie, would you mind getting the next round of drinks? We’re about to start another game.”

  They stared at each other with spiteful eyes for a minute before Roxie broke the staring contest.

  “Why are you giving all your money to Nick again?” Roxie asked, tucking her straightened reddish brown hair behind her ear. It was naturally curly, but she often straightened it to keep it in check.

  I rolled my eyes and came back with, “Well obviously so he can give it all back to me next time we play poker.”

  “Have you talked to Sarah lately?” Roxie asked as we sat down at the table where Nick and I kept our mugs of beer.

  “Yeah I did today. She said she’s getting into town tomorrow sometime,” I informed Roxie. “So I don’t think I’ll be seeing her before I leave.”

  “I wouldn’t count on that,” I heard from behind me. I turned to see Sarah standing right behind me. She was a few inches taller than Roxie. She had her curly brown hair tied up in a ponytail, but it was still long enough to go past her shoulders.

  “When did you get here?” I asked awe struck.

  “I got on an earlier flight,” she smiled. “I called Roxie and she picked me up from the airport. I wouldn’t miss hanging out with you guys.”

  She reached over and gave me a hug, so I returned it. “Well I’m glad you could make it. You’re just in time to watch me kick Nick’s ass at pool.”