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

***

Howler arrived outside of Nick and Eric’s house a week later as opposed to arriving the day after the break-in attempt since that wouldn’t be the way to forge a positive relationship. Instead, he gave them the breathing room to cool down. 

He arrived around noon, which he guessed based on the sun’s position, and rattled his knuckles on the door. “Hello, I need to talk with the people inside.” He said, loud enough for Nick and the others to hear, but not loud enough for the Infected to be attracted.

After several moments, he received no response, deciding to knock again and repeat his statement. The second knock got a response with Nick asking Howler, “What do you want?”

“I am here under the…” He seemed annoyed to be reading off a script, evident by the paper he had in his hand. “... Under the banner of the Lost City Gang. It’s only me today and I want to speak with you gracious people about a relationship.”

Nick questioned the man’s intention. Ashley was by his side, holding her pistol while he held his rifle. Eric, currently, was on the second-floor window, trading positions with Nick after the break-in. With him freezing, it was decided for him to take over the spot, since a person who could shoot, even at point-blank range, was needed downstairs. Upstairs was for people who couldn’t kill from point-blank range.

“Why a relationship?” Nick asked, peering through the window on the door. He recognized the man from before, the leader of the group that raided the neighborhood. “Were you the leader of the men who attacked us?”

Howler shook his head. “No, that was a rogue group that worked separately from us to capture a woman they liked. It had nothing to do with us and I never participated in it.” He said, lying through his teeth. He was the leader of the efforts to capture Ashley, but now that he was assigned as the messenger, he couldn’t afford to give Nick a reason to reject the friendly relationship or even kill him.

Nick glanced at Ashley, who raised an eyebrow. “I don’t trust him, but we're almost out of food. Eventually, we’re going to need to get food and they already raided the majority, if not everything, in the neighborhood. We’re going to have to travel to other neighborhoods, but who knows if they have already cleaned those blocks out. Let’s invite him in for now and go over the pros and cons with him

Nick nodded, taking her suggestion. He peered out of the window again. “Come inside, let’s talk.” He said before moving the couch, the main object that barricaded the front door. 

Howler hesitated, unsure if he was being led to his death, but he had no other option. Return without establishing a relationship with Nick and the others and he would be killed for his failure. The King had already killed other people for failing him but never made it publicly. Wishbone always did the messy bits.

“Okay,” Howler responded before the door opened, revealing two teens standing on the other side, decades younger than him. They both wore casual clothing in dark blue jeans, different colored tee shirts, and black pair of sneakers. Nick carried his rifle, pointing it towards the ground to show that Howler wasn’t being threatened. Ashley, behind him, pointed the gun a little higher, prepared in case Howler attacked them first.

Howler, however, didn’t attack or even threaten him. He stepped into the living room, being told to sit down on one of the three wooden chairs in the room. He sat down, watching as Nick moved the other two chairs in front of them and sat down on one of them. Ashley, meanwhile, locked the front door and sat next to Nick - who had his rifle on his lap. 

“You want a relationship between us and your ‘Lost City Gang’ people. What are your demands from us?” Nick asked.

“We want you to supply us with your help if needed and…” He skimmed through what was said on the handwritten script given to him. “... and we want to buy any uneaten food and unnecessary weapons and/or ammunition.” Who says and/or, Wishbone? Man, all I need is a ‘thou’ or an ‘O’ Romeo, O’ Romeo’, and I could confirm that he’s not from this time period.

“Buy unnecessary weapons and/or ammunition?” Ashley questioned. “We aren’t giving any of our weapons up.” She fiercely stated.

Howler nodded his head. “You don’t have to, it’s only if you want to buy something from us - you could by using guns and other weapons as money.”

Nick nodded. “I still don’t trust you as it was people under that same banner that you came here with… that attacked us.”

Ashley glanced at him, but he reassured her with a nod. “Here’s a different idea, let’s sign a peace treaty for now. When we fully trust you, then we’ll sign whatever you want to make us allies.”

Howler furrowed his brows. What a smart idea from such a young girl. He thought in his mind. “I’ll have to ask my bo-” He stopped himself. “My King… I have to ask my King before we can get that treaty signed. I’ll excuse myself for today and I’ll see what he thinks of it.”

Nick nodded, rising from his chair. “Whatever you have to do to get it signed. We’ll be here.”

“We won’t take any sudden attacks or intimidation, however.” Ashley chimed in. “We’ll know if it’s you guys or not.” She warned him.

He nodded, rising from his chair and heading to the front door. He opened it and was led outside. “Have a good day.” He said as he left the premises, leaving the teens behind. They locked the door behind him and re-barricaded the door before turning towards each other.

“You think they’ll attack us?” Nick asked.

Ashley shrugged her shoulders before letting out a small smirk. “Who knows.”

Eric, who by this time watched as Howler left the area, shook his head to himself. I froze and nearly got both myself and Ashley killed. I am such a disappointment, it makes sense why they put me up here. If I freeze here, they can carry the leftover weight. He stood up, ejecting the magazine and staring at the bullets inside. It was completely full, not a single bullet was used. He felt dejected while staring at it.

I couldn’t press the trigger. I’m sorry… Nick… Ashley… Mom… Dad… Nick’s parents… I’m sorry for everybody I couldn’t save with a single press of this trigger. He looked out of the window, watching as nothing changed in front of him. Nothing would change as long as nothing provoked the change. Eric needed that change.

***

Unbeknownst to everybody inside the house and Howler himself, they were being watched by one of Wishbone, a man named Oscar who was used to tracking people. He carefully watched Howler and tried to peek into the house as much as he could without being sighted. However, wood blocked the windows from letting him see inside.

“Damn, wood. I can’t believe a couple of planks are stopping me from my mission.” He whispered to himself.

“Not only wood.” A man remarked, appearing from behind him. The man held a gun to Oscar’s head. “You must be from the Lost City Gang, right? Those bastards.” He spat quietly, careful not to alert the people inside the house. “Tell your boss that the New Worlders will stop your criminals…”

Oscar froze, unsure of what to do. The cold barrel of a pistol was planted at the back of his skull. “H-H-Hey… come on, man, you don’t have to do anything drastic.”

The man behind him didn’t smile as if he found fun in threatening Oscar. “You’re a criminal, right? Maybe it’ll be best to tell him in Hell, your choice.” He pressed the trigger.

Hello All!

Thank you for reading THE ZOMBIE INFECTION: ORIGINALS S1. This has been a great and fascinating series to write. For anybody wondering about how familiar this plot seems, it’s because this is a soft reboot of the Original Saga [Rising From The Grave, Journey, & The Final Chapter] that will take the original story and develop the characters further while slowing down the pace - as you can see that Nick and his group haven’t left Lost City by the end of the first installment and they’re missing quite a couple of familiar people from Rising From The Grave.

To readers of the Original Saga, this soft reboot won’t change much. New characters and storylines will be introduced, but the events of the original three installments will happen - sometime in the future seasons. We’re in what’s called the ‘Rising of the Grave Arc’, which will take place entirely in Lost City and expand on the original elements of that 2015 short story and explore new ideas and characters. But again, nothing from the Original Saga won’t make a reappearance, even if they’re presented in a different form. 

As for people wondering the difference between the Original Saga and the Chronicle Saga [The Dead Walk, Heaven & Hell, and upcoming The Dead Remains], that story takes place a couple of months after Nick and his group leave the Lost City. The two sets of characters won’t be in Lost City during the same period of time, which means that overlap isn’t possible. However, they do take place in the same universe, so they could always meet each other in the future. 

What about future THE ZOMBIE INFECTION projects? Those tales all take place in the same universe but will introduce other survivors and communities within the country of the United States, primarily. None of them, unless stated explicitly, will follow the Original Saga’s characters or the Chronicle’s Saga characters. They will be their own self-contained stories or larger stories that play large importance for the universe. More details will be shared later via Jayhawk Alert (available exclusively on Scrapped, an e-book on Bookrix.com), which serves as my version of Nintendo Direct or E3.

Thank you for reading this long rant and I wish you the best for the remainder of 2021. Until next time, I bid you all a good day!

Publication Date: 09-06-2021

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