The Zombie Infection: Originals S1 by Nick Venom (spiritual books to read txt) 📕

“Well, how did you get your weapons? Getting an assault rifle like that must’ve been difficult.” She asked.

Nick shook his head. “My father is…” He bit his lip before continuing. “Was a retired veteran of the army. Thanks to this, it was easy for him to get the rifle and the pistol. He had the guns stored in this house.”

Ashley nodded. “Wow, that’s cool. Do you mind if I can touch the gun?” She asked.

Eric nodded, handing over the pistol, but Nick stopped him. “Sorry, we can’t. Maybe later.” 

“Nick?” Eric asked, furrowing his brows. Nick glanced at him with a look that said, Are you an idiot?

“No, you’re right. My bad for asking something out of line.” She said, sadly. Eric noticed that the atmosphere was being tainted by Ashley’s negative emotions, deciding to step in.

“How about we play a game? The electricity’s out, but we still have board games.” He suggested.

Ashley shook her head. “No thanks,”

Nick, meanwhile, rose from his chair at the dining room table and moved to the front. He had heard something coming from outside. He crept upstairs, taking his assault rifle with him. He loaded the rifle with a new magazine that he had filled with bullets. Now fully loaded, he peered out of the second-floor window at the situation outside. Several men dressed in makeshift armor, most of it plastic or pieces of police armor, fought against the horde that grew because of Ashley and Nick’s shooting. The men were mainly wielding a collection of baseball bats, crowbars, 2x2 wood planks, and other small items that they used to fight the undead. 

Nick noticed one man in the far back of the group, shouting orders to his men. He wielded a Glock 22 pistol, the same one that police officers in the town used, but didn’t dare to use it. It appeared to Nick that he was reserving his bullets for any Infected that got too close to him or for emergency uses.

The man kept his distance from the Infected, having his group take care of them. His only mission seemed to be ordering people around.

Nick didn’t poke the rifle out of the window to get a clear shot, deciding to not act. He watched as the men pushed forward, fighting the horde. However, several of them were bitten for underestimating the Infected or extending too far on their own and being flanked and overwhelmed. The leader, the man with the Glock 22, didn’t care about the casualties, ordering his men farther.

“Come on, we’re almost done here! Keep going!” He shouted. “You want your families to live, then push forward!” Nick cringed at his stereotypical villainous words, slinking away from the window to avoid being seen. He deduced that they were bandits, not good people like he hoped. 

He crouched-walked to the door, heading downstairs and reuniting with Ashley and Eric, who had heard the shouting and sounds of Infected and humans dying outside. They were now peering out through the door’s window.

“Be careful, stay away from the windows. They’re bandits.” He whisper-shouted. Ashley and Eric nodded, backing away from the door. 

“How many outside?” Ashley asked.

“I didn’t count, but around twenty. Maybe more.” Nick said. 

“W-What should we do?” Eric asked. 

Nick shrugged his shoulders. “Try to avoid being seen?”

Ashley looked away from them, glancing out the window one more time before turning to face them. “I need bullets, you got spare?”

Eric glanced at Nick, who stared at Ashley. Do I risk arming her… Wait, shouldn’t there be bullets in her gun, or was she threatening us with an empty pistol. No… maybe she only has a bullet or two left. 

Eric noticed Nick’s hesitation, deciding to answer for him. If a fight started between the men outside and them inside, they would be overwhelmed. Having Ashley armed and ready would help them while coming at a small risk of her betraying them. Eric was ready to take that risk.

He motioned for Ashley to follow him, leading her to the safe holding their stockpile of ammunition. “Woah,” She mumbled, almost at a loss for words at how many boxes were stuffed in the safe. “How did you get so much ammo here?”

Nick, who followed them into the room, shrugged his shoulders. “This is my father’s stash. I have absolutely no clue how he snuck all of these boxes here. He must’ve done it while everybody was sleeping.”

Ashley nodded, her stare fixated on the huge stockpile. She had never seen so many boxes of ammunition before.

Eric, meanwhile, grabbed a box, opening it, and handed it to Ashley. She took out the magazine and loaded it fully. As she loaded the magazine, Eric thought to himself. She didn’t have any bullets in the gun? Or was there a bullet in the chamber? She… bluffed like she could kill me or was I really about to die?

While Ashley loaded two magazines that she carried in her pockets with ammunition, Nick heard something at the front door, the sound of somebody trying to enter the house.

“Damn, this house is locked! Can I get somebody to open it?” A man shouted; it wasn’t the leader of the group, but one of his several subordinates.

The teens froze, all eyes staring in the direction of the front door. Eric, however, didn’t freeze for long. He grabbed his loaded pistol and quietly tiptoed towards the door, but made sure to not stand in front of the door’s window. 

The men outside attempted at the door, but they couldn’t get in. After several tense minutes of trying to push the door open, which was stopped by the defenses they had put up, the men left. Nick and Ashley unfroze with Nick heading upstairs while Ashley stayed with Eric on the first floor.

Nick peeked out of the second-floor window and watched as the group raided the neighborhood, throwing their goods into a car that had pulled up. The group was significantly smaller than before, now only a fourth of their original force. Seventy-five percent of their force was laying on the ground with a bullet between their eyes, drenched in blood and guts - some their own and some from the Infected.

“Unroot the entire neighborhood if you have to, we’re-” The leader was stopped halfway through his stereotypical speech as a small horde of Infected arrived, attracted by the gunfire and shouting of the group. The leader, seeing that the truck that they brought had filled up, called everybody to leave. Most of his group followed his order with ease, but a few stragglers decided not to.

Meanwhile, Ashley moved to the back of the house, peering through a small gap between two pieces of wood pinned against a window. Two men attempted the doorknob before deciding to throw their weight at the door. The door sighed and wined, but didn’t give in - thankfully because of the crude defenses keeping the door together. 

However, they managed to break the doorknob off and get a small view into the room. With the defenses keeping the door somewhat in place, the men weren’t able to see much through the small sliver that the slightly ajar door gave them. Even so, it was enough for them to notice Ashley’s blue jeans. 

“There’s a woman in there.” One man said creepily.

“Ooh, let’s take her for ourselves. Let’s don’t tell the boss.” The second man said.

The other guy agreed, both men proceeding to try to force the door open to no avail. Ashley, who had been watching the situation escalate, pointed her gun at the door and pressed the trigger. The bullet was ejected out of the gun and crackled through the air before hitting one of the men. The man screamed as the bullet tore through his left shoulder blade and cleanly went through. 

“She’s crazy! Let’s go! We’re coming back for you, woman.” The first man spat. The second guy agreed with the first man, both men running off with their tails in between their legs. They didn’t expect Ashley to be armed and to shoot at them. 

Eric and Nick regrouped with her, both confused at what happened. Ashley responded in one sentence. “They’re going to be back and they intend on doing it forcefully.”

Both male teens understand what she meant. They needed to be on their toes for the arrival of the group. They were now in danger with the bandits promising, as a stereotypical villain would, to come back later. 

They armed themselves, preparing for nighttime. 

TBC…

They began to prepare for the eventual attack of the bandits. Eric reinforced their crude defenses with more nails and sturdy items while Nick repurposed the second-floor window as their main shooting hole. He draped a black blanket over the window, using it as cover to hide his existence before he would push the barrel of his rifle out of the window and fire at the people outside. 

Ashley, meanwhile, loaded every magazine full at Eric’s suggestion. She double-checked that every weapon was prepped and ready in case of a firefight. After that, she helped Eric reinforce the first floor’s windows and doors. 

With their preparations completed, they waited for the night. Eric waited downstairs while Nick stayed upstairs - Ashley moved in between the floors. 

Eric stayed quiet, waiting for the shuffle of footsteps and incoherent mumbling of the bandits. Nick, on the other hand, wasn’t as quiet. He kept an eye on the outside, his visibility set to extreme low as the street lights were lighting the area faintly. They were being charged by dying batteries and would soon die without a battery change. 

Ashley, who appeared by his side, peeked out into the night sky as the moon floated above them. She backed away from the window, looking around the room. 

Nick glanced at her before looking back through the window. “Hey, Ashley.” He whispered.

Ashley turned around to face him. “What’s up, Nick?”

“Sorry about what I said earlier.” He said, not facing her. “I didn’t mean what I said.”

Ashley shook her head. “Don’t worry about it. I understand what you meant when you didn’t let Eric hand me the gun. How could you trust me, someone you just met?”

Nick turned to face her. “I didn’t mean to treat you like that, it’s just… I wanted to be careful that you wouldn’t betray us.”

Ashley nodded her head in agreement. “I get it. I’m an outsider here.”

Nick shook his head. “You’re not an outsider, especially not now. We desperately need your help.”

Ashley shook her head with a small smile that was filled with more sadness than joy. “Well, it’s also my fault that we’re in this mess. I made a mistake by being at the backdoor. The barricades you guys created were keeping them out, but I stupidly thought I could do something. I should’ve stayed out of sight.”

“But who knows if they would’ve gotten in. You saved us by being there, plus there’s still a chance they would’ve returned with a lockpick or one of those shotguns that the FBI uses to break doors down. Don’t worry you aren’t a burden, Ashley.” He reassured her. “Right now your help is invaluable.”

Ashley smiled, this one looking more genuine than the last. “Thanks, Nick.”

Nick smiled as well. “You’re welcome, Ashley.” He told her before glancing out