Zombies: The Black Rock Read online

  Zombies: The Black Rock

  By Simon Smith-Wilson

  Copyright © 2015

  Zombies: The Black Rock

  Simon Smith-Wilson

  Books by Simon Smith-Wilson

  ***

  Five Days Notice (City of Sin1)

  Curse of Meredith Holmes

  Hand of God (City of Sin 2)

  Last Tomorrow (City of Sin 3)

  Three weeks have drifted by since Bishop was turned into one of the walking dead. At first he had been a brainless corpse fuelled by his lust for flesh, but the more you eat, the more of yourself you regain. Bishop is hot on the trail of his wife. His revenge is close at hand. No matter how hard he tries, he cannot shake the image of his six-year-old daughter’s death. He had killed her. He had eaten her. He had bitten out her throat. He deserved to die for what he did, but first he had to find his wife. He had to find the woman that used his daughter as a human shield. Colt and the survivors find refuge at a military base close to outbreak ground zero. A black rock that came from space stands high above the city. Scientists study the alien asteroid in the hope of finding a cure to the zombie virus, but instead they find something born from the nightmares of the criminally insane. Colt and Bishop are caught up in a violent bloodbath, as an army of the dead is controlled by some mysterious force in this incredible action-packed sequel.

  Ellen walked through the dark foreboding house. Blue flashes of light shone through the gaps in the boarded up windows, offering momentary illumination. The storm outside was getting worse. The rain was battering the side of the house. It sounded like someone was throwing pebbles at the abandoned building. Upstairs she could hear the children giggling, as they played in the back bedroom. It was then that a scent caught her nose. It was a foreign smell. It was a smell that meant danger. Ellen spun to face the boarded up bay windows. Shadowy figures were moving around the front of the house.

  ‘Oh no,’ she gasped.

  Ellen charged out the living room and into the hallway.

  The front door burst open, spraying broken wood everywhere.

  Wide eyes looked at the hooded figure holding the handgun. Lightning crackled across the horizon. Ellen made a split second decision. She had to lead them away from the children. She had to get them out of the house. Three gunshots echoed through the house, as Ellen sprinted down the hallway into the kitchen. All three bullets struck her in the upper back. One bullet cut through her lung, as another penetrated her heart, but she didn’t stop running. Suddenly, the back door opened. Another figure was stood there holding a long rifle. A fourth bullet struck Ellen through the back of the leg, blowing out her kneecap. Her momentum carried her forward, but gravity was doing its work. She grasped at the figure. It was a blonde haired, blue eyed man. Ellen pulled him down, landing on top of him. The man grabbed her throat, as Ellen’s rotting teeth snapped shut, biting at the air.

  ‘Help,’ he screamed, ‘help me!’

  ***

  ‘Out the way,’ said Natasha, knocking Sheridan to the side. The beautiful black haired woman marched into the house, pistol in hand. Instantly, she headed up the stairs towards the landing. Water dripped down through the roof, as the cold air blew in through a smashed window. Deep brown eyes glanced left and right, high and low, as she reached the landing. Three of the four doors were shut. Wet footprints on the carpet led into the open door. Raising her pistol, she stepped forward. Inch by inch, she moved across the landing and into the room. A faint orange glow flickered out of the doorway. Natasha moved into the room. A candle was sat on a dresser. Two children were cowering in the far corner of the room. They had to be no older than six years old. Natasha sighed, as she crossed the room.

  ‘I’m scared,’ said the little girl.

  ‘I want my mummy,’ added the little boy.

  Two pairs of dead eyes looked up at Natasha. It was only now that Natasha could smell the rotting flesh.

  ‘Sorry, kids,’ she announced, before putting a bullet in the little boys head.

  The little girl screamed, hysterically.

  ‘MUMMY!’

  A second gunshot painted blood, brains and gore over the wall.

  ***

  Colt rushed down the side of the building and stepped out into the garden. ‘Fuck sake,’ he cursed beneath his breath, as he pulled his combat knife from the belt beneath his poncho. Oliver was lying on his back, fighting off Ellen, as she chomped at the air, trying to bite off his face. The zombie had lost all the skin on the back of its head, exposing white skull to the world. ‘You are always so fucking messy.’ Colt grabbed Ellen by the scruff of the neck, hoisted her up and stabbed the tip of his combat knife through the side of her head. He dropped her lifeless body back down on top of Oliver. Lisa was following closely behind. The sexy young blonde soldier laughed, as she stepped over Oliver and into the house.

  ***

  Natasha came down the stairs, unzipping her wet coat. She was wearing a torn football jersey underneath. It was slightly too big for her, but somehow looked good on her. Sheridan was standing in the hallway with the two kids they had rescued from the massacre at Green Hills. Dwayne and Nicky were orphans that were no older than eight years of age. Stood in the broken doorway was Levi. He had led them to this house, promising them a wealth of supplies.

  ‘Where is the food?’ asked Colt, marching down the hallway.

  ‘It’s in the cellar,’ replied Levi, pointing to a close door beneath the stairs.

  ‘How do you know all this?’ Sheridan had been meaning to ask him since the moment they met.

  ‘This was my house.’

  ‘Did you know these people?’

  Natasha walked by them both without even a glance.

  ‘Ellen was my sister in law. The children were my nephew and niece.’

  He headed into the living room, leaving Sheridan with the kids.

  ***

  The light of his torch offered very little illumination, as Colt inched his way into the cellar. He cocked his head to one side, straining to listen for any sounds of movement. The room was pitch black and the howling winds outside concealed any noises. Slowly, he took one step at a time. His torch scanned the darkness. Experience dictated that if something didn’t feel right then something was probably not right. Going into dark cellars during a zombie apocalypse really was classified as a bad idea. The issue was that they needed supplies. The group was hungry and they had found nothing more than scraps since leaving Green Hills a week ago. Lisa came down the stairs behind him. Her torch searched the far corners of the room, as Colt focused on what was directly in front of him. In the middle of the room, hanging from a ceiling, was a bulb and chain. Colt pulled on the chain. He braced himself for the assault that was about to happen. The bulb clicked on, lighting up the small cellar. It wasn’t as big as the darkness misled them into thinking. Stockpiles of tinned food and bottled water were stacked against the walls. There were clothes, sleeping bags, camping equipment and weapons. This was a gold mine. And better than anything, there was not a single zombie in sight.

  ***

  The large white helmet amplified the sound of his breathing. Breath misted up the visor, as Doctor Baby approached the black rock. The middle-aged man wore a white biohazard suit and carried an oxygen tank on his back. In his hand was a black briefcase with all his equipment. Four hundred yards away high ranking military officials and renowned scientists watched from a secured room. The black rock stood at nearly a hundred foot high and was about fifty foot across. The black rock sat directly in the centre of a deep crater. The impact of the asteroid had completely destroyed Winchester. Wiping away century’s worth of history in a blink of an eye. Dark brown ooze covered the craters landscape. It was an inch deep and felt like you were walking through slushy snow that was starting to melt. At the base of the black rock was a ramp that led into a dark cave. It was as if a drawbridge had been lowered. Doctor Baby clicked on the two torches attached to his shoulders. He could feel his heart rate rapidly increasing, as he approached the mouth of the cave. White smoke was slowly billowing out of the interior. He swallowed down the lump in his throat. This was the moment he made history.

  ***

  ‘I am entering the black rock,’ said Doctor Baby.

  Doctor Fills glanced at the other people in the secure command room. Two dozen important people were stood by the reinforced glass window, overlooking the crater. The figure in the white biohazard suit looked so small in comparison to the black rock. The Doctor paused for a brief moment before heading up the ramp. Commander Val tensed up, stiffly. This was the moment he had been pushing for. This black rock held the secret to the zombie plague. The asteroid was the cause of the mass outbreak.

  The Doctor walked up the ramp.

  The entire room went silent, as he disappeared into the mouth of the dark cave.

  ‘This is incredible,’ gasped the voice of Doctor Baby.

  His words came out of a speaker above the glass window.

  ‘I have never seen anything like this. This isn’t an asteroid. This is a space...’

  The ramp leading into the cave slammed shut, cutting off communication with the doctor.

  ***

  Martin walked along the perimeter of the fence with Helen. The groans of the walking dead filled the air, as decaying corpses clawed at the chain linked fence. The crowd of zombies completely surrounded the base. The zombie crowd was about five walkers deep. Lifeless eyes watched the two soldiers walking by.

  ‘They
monsters like the look of you, Helen,’ laughed Martin.

  ‘That isn’t funny, Martin.’

  ‘I guess someone has to like the look of you,’ he laughed even louder.

  And that was when it happened.

  The groaning stopped.

  Martin and Helen came to a standstill.

  The entire zombie horde had stopped their relentless moaning. They were stood like stone statues.

  It was eerie.

  ‘What’s happening?’ asked Helen.

  Martin felt something hollow pull down on the pit of his stomach. All eyes were on him.

  ***

  ‘Commander Val, you have got to see this,’ said a young man with a crew cut. He was stood at a computer console towards the back of the command room. Commander Val and Doctor Fills moved away from the glass window that overlooked the black rock.

  ‘What is it?’ asked Commander Val.

  Sirens began to blare around the base, as red warning lights swirled upon the walls. Commander Val leaned over the shoulder of the young soldier and looked at the external feed of the CCTV cameras. He could hardly believe what he was seeing. The zombie horde outside the base was on the move. They were marching in formation towards the main entrance. It was like watching a horrific parade. Rows upon rows of zombies marched in step with one another. Soldiers behind the chain linked fences opened fire with assault rifles, but it did nothing to slow down the horde. Upon reaching the fence, the front row of zombies turned and hoisted the next row up.

  ‘Did you see that?’ asked Doctor Fills.

  Commander Van said nothing. He was too shocked.

  Soldiers took aim on the zombies coming over the ten-foot gate, but it was no good. The zombies were organised, they were fast and they were effective. And now they had gained accesses into the base. Glass exploded into the interior of the command room. Val and Fills spun around towards the reinforced glass window. It had been destroyed. Several people in the room had been impaled by the glass. Stood in the window was something not of this world. It was big. It oozed a liquid that dripped from its black skin. It was like an angel of death. It looked like a black shadow of pain and agony. A strange clicking sound vibrated from its throat. Four long arms opened up, spreading six foot across. Razor sharp claws shone like blades from a samurai movie. A terrifying smile split the creature’s mouth, revealing teeth that should have belonged to a great white shark.

  ***

  The sound of the motorbikes powerful engine echoed across the open landscape. The sun was starting to set on the horizon, casting the world in a strange purple glow. Bishop kicked down the stand and swung his leg off the bike. Beth was tucked into the backpack on his back. The young zombie girl had half her skull exposed, the rest of her face flapped in the wind. Beth had lost her arms and legs in the battle of Green Hills. Bishop scratched at his exposed cheek bone. It was weird because the injury didn’t hurt, but it felt like it itched pretty damn bad. A bullet to the face could do that to you. Python stumbled off his bike and gave out an annoyed tut. The rotund bearded zombie was still getting used to the makeshift wooden leg that Bishop had made him. Python had lost his right leg from the knee down. A bunch of fucking humans had tried to kill him, but he had managed to escape. He thought he was going to die until Bishop and Beth turned up, feeding him fresh meat to stop the madness setting in.

  ‘She isn’t far away,’ said Bishop, sniffing the air.

  He had been following Natasha since Green Hills.

  He was following his wife.

  He wouldn’t stop until that bitch was dead.

  Natasha had used Bishop’s five-year-old daughter as a shield when Bishop had turned. At the time, Bishop was just another brainless zombie, but the more fresh meat a zombie eats, the more of its former self it regains. Bishop remembers everything and soon he would have his revenge. A beautiful red glow of light hovered in the air. It was like some kind of beautiful optical illusion. Only he could see it. It was the link between him and Natasha. There was nowhere she could escape. He could follow her blood anywhere.

  ‘We may have trouble,’ said Python.

  ‘I smell it too,’ added Beth.

  Bishop frowned. He was so consumed by Natasha that he couldn’t pick up on the scent of fresh blood.

  ‘There is a human in there.’ Python pulled his pump action shotgun off his motorbike and headed towards the petrol station. ‘I will go round the back, you go around the front.’

  Bishop slipped the backpack off his shoulders and placed Beth down by the pumps.

  ‘I will be right back.’

  ‘Okay.’

  Bishop pulled his revolver from his pants. Only six bullets left.

  ***

  ‘Shit!’ Crystal ducked down behind the petrol station counter, as the two men began to approach. ‘Shit. Shit. Shit,’ she cursed, as she clutched her five-week old baby to her chest. In her left hand, she held a long kitchen knife. The blade was soaked with blood. ‘What am I going to do? What am I going to do?’ The baby began to cry.

  ***

  Bishop pushed open the glass door and stepped into the petrol station. One complete aisle length shelf unit had been knocked down onto the floor. Pretty much, every single item of food had been ransacked from the place. The only things that remained were various types of domestic cleaning bottles and clip strips full of crap that you couldn’t even get rid of in a looting spree.

  He sniffed the air.

  The scent of blood was powerful and fresh.

  ‘I know you are here,’ he announced, raising his gun towards the counter.

  Broken glass cracked beneath his boots, as he walked through the small store.

  ‘You should come out now and make it easier on yourself.’

  ‘Please don’t hurt me,’ said Crystal, her voice full of fear.

  ‘I am not going to hurt you,’ Bishop lied. In truth, he didn’t like hurting people, but a zombie had to eat. If he didn’t eat then, the hunger would take him and he would turn into a bumbling idiot just like those other zombies. The only way to keep your sanity was to kill. Crystal appeared from behind the counter, holding her baby. A tinge of guilt filled his chest. Why did she have to have a fucking baby?

  ‘I have a baby,’ she announced.

  The baby groaned.

  Bishop frowned.

  The woman covered the babies face.

  That was not the cry of a baby.

  He raised the gun.

  ‘Show me the child.’

  ‘No!’

  He stepped forward. Crystal waved the knife in the air, but that wasn’t going to do a fucking thing to hurt him. Python placed the barrel of his shotgun against the back of her head. He had managed to get right behind the woman without her even noticing.

  ‘Show us,’ he ordered.

  Slowly, the woman removed the hood of the baby outfit.

  The zombie baby growled and chewed at the air. Dead eyes looked up at the mother. Dried blood covered the newborn baby’s cheeks and chin.

  ‘Now that is fucked up,’ said Python.

  ‘Please, don’t hurt her,’ begged Crystal. ‘She is only five weeks old. They bit her, you know? She turned into one of those things. She doesn’t even have teeth, how is she supposed to feed?’

  ‘Is that why there is a chopped up dude out the back?’ asked Python.

  ‘I-I... I had to do it,’ said Crystal, madness swirled behind the windows of her soul.

  ‘You have been feeding your kid live humans?’

  ‘She has to eat.’

  ‘You are one dedicated mother. So, what do you want to do with her?’ asked Python.

  Bishop sighed and holstered his gun. This was too fucked up even for him.

  ‘I think we should refuel and get....’ An agonising pain splintered across his skull. It was like someone was trying to rip his brain from his head. Frightening images of a large black creature, screaming faces, a towering black rock and an army of zombies appeared within his mind eye. Bishop stumbled backwards, as the edges of his vision blurred into darkness. The world appeared to be spinning. Demonic black soulless eyes of the terrifying creature played in his mind like a bad movie. And then there was nothing but darkness.

  ***

  Crystal ran outside, her heart was beating at a hundred miles an hour. She skidded to a stop at the sight of Beth’s mutilated body. The child was unconscious, too, just like the two zombie men inside. Crystal didn’t know what just happened, but she knew that someone up there was taking care of her. She was sure they were going to eat her, but then, for no reason, they both collapsed at the same time. Tired eyes looked up at the heavens. The sun was setting and the darkness was creeping in. She had to find a new shelter within this limited light. Crystal sprinted across the main road, climbed a small wooden fence and began to run off across a field.