It is 2016, four years after the apocalypse that robbed Alexia McQuillan and her son, Hawk, of their happy lives. After her husband, David, contracts a deadly virus that transforms him into a violent zombie intent on killing her, Alexia is forced to make an unimaginable choice. Now, with her husband dead and their safety in jeopardy, Alexia and Hawk must embark on a dangerous journey across America's wasteland in search of other survivors. As they travel east, Alexia and Hawk must learn how to survive while battling voracious zombies and escaping ruthless renegades. The two must keep hidden or risk being turned into mindless, brain-eating creatures themselves. Meanwhile, Lucas Kruczek and his daughter, Leah, mourn the loss of their loved ones while building a fortress around their city. Forced to live under the strict rule of a fugitive from another planet, father and daughter make many alliesincluding Alexia, Hawk, and Sydney, a little girl forced to grow up fast or die young. In this science fiction adventure, Alexia and her newfound group of friends must team with a clever zombie hunter, a spiritualist intent on protecting mankind, and an innovative scientist to battle a war against a deadly virus that threatens to destroy Earth's population.

DEAD EVOLUTION

THE SECOND DARK AGEBy Brita Woolums Larry Buhr JR.

iUniverse, Inc.

Copyright © 2012 Brita Woolums and Larry Buhr Jr.
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4759-4038-1

Contents

Preface.................................................xi1. Memories.............................................12. Tough Decisions......................................153. Commune of the Undead................................434. The Memorial.........................................915. Arenatown............................................1096. Dead Gladiolas.......................................1497. New Friendships......................................1718. Undead Visions.......................................1899. Bob Zombie...........................................22510. Stansssleeeyys Nottsss Herreess.....................24711. White Zombie........................................28412. Market of Doom......................................31513. Reunion.............................................37014. Strange Behavior....................................39215. A Holiday to Remember...............................40516. Hives...............................................43117. Crazed Voices.......................................45518. Loss of Innocence...................................47619. The Siege...........................................50620. Dead End ...?.......................................526Epilogue................................................553Acknowledgements........................................555

Chapter One

Memories

"Alexia"

I REMEMBER BACK WHEN my life was simple, when my husband David and I had first gotten together, and when my son, Hawk, was first born. These were the good days when I was able to go to work, come home, and live my life as normally as I possibly could. I got along well in life and had minimal fears, apart from the normal worries about money and the sometimes occurring worries about my job.

The town I had lived in was a small town just outside of Reno, Nevada called, Winnemucca. It was the perfect town where everybody knew your name and where everybody was always happy to see you. The population in Humboldt County was 7,174. Winnemucca was always known as the city by Battle Mountain. Thousands of oaks, pines, and evergreens, covered the beautiful lands that layered the landscape on all sides of the nearby mountains. The crisp, clean air had always been so pleasant to my nose. All in all, we had moved to Winnemucca to get away from the hustle and bustle of city life.

Now is the afterlife. The year is 2016, four years after the apocalypse. It was weird. Who would have believed that 2012 would really be the end? Looking out of the crack of my boarded up window, I remembered back.

For me, Alexia McQuillan, it had started with the death of my husband of fifteen years. He had disappeared at dusk on a warm spring night in search for our son, Hawk, who had gotten mad and stormed out of the house. Hours later Hawk had returned home after calming himself down in some hideout that he had found outside, but David had not returned to the house with him. It wasn't until the next morning that David had come home and his arms had been all scratched up. When I had asked him what had happened, he had just grunted and went to take a bath.

That night and the following two nights, he had been complaining of having a high temperature. He had to put a new shirt on every three hours, then it became every hour, and quickly it became every half hour, because he had been sweating so badly. When I had asked him if he was okay, he had just continued to grunt at me. I had told him to drink more water, but it didn't seem to help. Nothing did. Another hour passed and he had collapsed on the bed. Slowly spreading to the rest of his limbs, his head, and last of all, his chest, the open gashes on his arms had begun to ooze with a greenish brownish liquid that reeked of moldy flesh. As I had tried to get near him, the heat had made it too unbearable for me to touch him.

Another day had passed and David had started to reek much worse than before. On the fifth day of his progressing, seemingly incurable illness, David had been unable to move, speak, or hardly breathe. He had seemed almost dead. The oozing green, mysterious slime had spread to occupy most of the space around him in his bed. I could hardly look at him anymore without crying.

After fifteen years, my husband and I had grown so close together that I couldn't bear to see him like this. I had tried my best to keep checking up on him but after a while, I could hardly make myself look at him anymore, even if it was to just check on him.

I had kept Hawk from seeing his father in such a state as well even though he had kept asking me questions upon questions. I just couldn't talk to him about it. I knew it would've only been mentally scarring for even a fourteen-year-old to have to see the slow death of his father.

David's face had turned to a greenish looking hue with slime coating his every crevice. The sweat and ooze combined had seemed to form a deathly mixture of toxins which were taking over what life he had. His stomach had started to appear as if it was slowly inflating and pulsating abnormally and his fingertips had looked as if they were transforming into points, similar to little daggers. It had seemed like his flesh was rotting off of his bones.

It was on the seventh day of David's illness that I had to do the most horrible, unimaginable thing. I remembered it as a day of a lot of crying and of rocking myself back and forth on the carpet and of Hawk trying to comfort me.

I had been downstairs throwing my mind inside of a book, trying to get away from reality as best as I thought possible, when I had heard some heavy, dragging footsteps nearing me from behind.

"Hawk? Is that you?" I had called out into the dry air, still not lifting my eyes from my current page.

No answer.

More heavy footsteps pounded closer behind me. "Hawk, whatcha doin' hun?" I had called out mindlessly again.

Still, no answer.

Just as I had lifted my head to look up, I had seen a form in the hallway. "David, is that you?" I had called out in peeked interest.

He had let out an unnatural moan and then had made a lunge at me with his large arms.

Dashing out of my chair with my book falling fast to the ground, I dodged him, but he kept lunging towards me. I had started screaming at him, "David, what are you doing? David! David! David! Listen to me David! What are you doing? This isn't you! David you have to fight it! David!!!"

Standing, he had looked as if he had died and come back to life. The slime that had once covered his body had seemed to subside, just leaving behind a residue of dark brownish green, oily, malodorous skin that coated his body and oozed out of him like oozing warts. Parts of his skin had looked as if it was falling off to reveal his bones. His eyes had sunken back into his head, revealing part of his skull, and had a strangely glazed, with a reddish hue, cataract look to them. By the looks of it, the hair atop his morbid skull had appeared as if he had been dead for years, only revealing a scattering of hairs. And his fingers had resembled giant claws, while his toes had also seemed to grow long, oozing claws, which had grown out of his bone. With clothes hanging limp on his shoulders all slashed and soiled, David had turned from my groom to my worst nightmare.

Lunging at me again with his large, rotting-like arms, he revealed his vicious looking claws.

I had dodged him once again, now bawling out, "David! What the hell?! It's me, Alexia, your wife!"

He had lumbered at me moaning all of the way out into the garage with his arms extended the entire time, as if he had been going to try and grab me.

Why was he acting like this? What was happening? Why would he want to hurt me? My mind had popped out a million questions, but none of which that I could honestly answer. "Ahhhhh!" I had screamed at the top of my lungs as fear gripped me. "Somebody help! David why?!"

David had dived towards me and I stumbled down to the hard concrete floor. My head had crashed against a nearby chair on the way down, causing extreme shooting pain across my skull. I had squealed out in agony and had reached my short arms back behind me, scaling the smooth concrete, trying to grab anything nearby. My fingers had reached and finally latched onto a crowbar. I had pulled it with all of my strength in front of me just as my mad husband had been encroaching on me trying to claw at my chest. His claws had hit the crowbar which had rested in my hands just inches away from my chest. Reaching his hands up in the air again, he had prepared to drive his oozing claws into my unscathed chest. I had stopped him just inches from me and with all my strength I had pushed him back just enough to wedge my foot in between us, to roll sideways, and to leap to my feet. I had lifted the crowbar above my head and in one swift sweep had slammed the steel beam down on his head. A loud crack had rang out in the dry air as David's head had splintered before my chartreuse eyes. As he had fallen to the floor, I had struck him once again with another blow to his already bloody head, making him collapse limp on his stomach on the cold concrete. His neck had oozing blood out all over the surrounding pavement right in front of my bare feet. Spackled with blood, the color of an unripe green tomato, my toes, sweatpants, and sweatshirt, had taken the brunt of my attack.

It had been over. I had stood looking at what I had done in shock, worry, and sadness all in one. My mind had been overwhelmed with a tornado of feelings that I couldn't handle. I had dropped to the floor landing on my knees, crying profusely.

Being the daughter of a Marine, I had always been my daddy's little soldier. I always thanked God for giving me such a father who was so strong and powerful, and who had taught me the art of fighting. Because of my father's encouragement, I had gotten a black belt in karate and for someone as petite as me, that was a great feat. I was grateful that I was as knowledgeable in survival as I was. It had certainly paid off by getting me out of a lot of difficult situations in the past.

Noticing the pounding feeling in my skull, I felt to see if there was any damage. I had sat motionless just staring for what felt like hours. It wasn't until my son Hawk had come home and had seen what had happened that I had been jolted back to reality. At first, he had freaked out to see his father dead on the garage floor with the blood everywhere. However, after I had told him what had happened, he had seemed a bit relieved to know that his father was now out of his agony.

"It's how he would've wanted it, Mom," Hawk had said trying to reassure me, rubbing my back.

However, I had not felt reassured.

Now looking back out the crack in the boarded up window, I tried to stop thinking about the past. As I started crying again, I relived the thoughts of my husband's death of which I was still unsure whether to blame myself or not.

* * *

"What was that?" I jerked around paranoid next to my peephole out into the real world.

"What's wrong Mom? What is it?" I heard Hawk rustle and mumble out to me from the floor, after just waking up. "Everything all right?"

"Yeah, I guess so," I said still looking around, worrying about any sound that I heard, even if it was just the wind blowing the trees in the spring air.

Hawk fell back down resuming a sleeping state.

I started cranking my portable AM/FM radio to see if there had been any updates of anymore attacks. Only silence followed. For me though, that was a relief.

Neither Hawk nor I had seen any other people in three years. After escaping several attacks in Winnemucca, it seemed like the world had been in chaos around us. These strange, undead creatures had begun attacking anyone in sight and so we had left by car to escape to the mountains. Unfortunately, all of the gas stations had been overthrown, so we had only got so far up the Nevada Independence Mountains and then had to continue on foot, hiking for almost a week. Making camps in trees, and hiding deep in forests, Hawk and I had hardly slept. It wasn't until we made it to this deserted cabin high up in the Independence Mountains, that we had begun to feel somewhat safe. But for me, I was always in a constant state of paranoia. Always watching. Always listening. The cabin had looked deserted and yet full of everything we needed except for more wood to get the fireplace going. It not only had a good store of supplies inside, but it also had what only looked to be a garden in the process out in back. After studying a great deal about edible plants, I felt confident that I could salvage any meal. The wooden abode seemed like it was a hunter's cabin.

We gathered wood once a day during the daylight, while we watched nervously for predators. The two of us had grown so close and dependent upon each other for survival. We both had lost someone very close to us and we both knew what the other was feeling.

Hawk had taken the role of the strong, unworried, optimistic one, where I had assumed the role of the strong, terrified, paranoid one. However together, as mother and son, we were a team.

"What's that?" I whispered, peering out of the cracks in the wooden boarded window.

Hawk woke up and crawled his way over to where I was sitting on a hardwood bench, "What is it, Mom?"

"Do you see anything?" I asked anxiously as I reminded my son of the constant threat in the outside world.

"I don't know," he replied groggily, still half asleep. "It's no use worrying yourself mad though. Here Mom, I'll make you some tea to help calm your nerves."

Minutes passed and Hawk returned with some tea. I took the metal cup from my son's steady hands and held it close to my chest, only taking sips every once and a while.

"Mom?" Hawk spoke quietly looking at me searching for answers. "Whatcha thinkin' about?"

"The past," I answered, staring out of the cracks in the boarded window. Then taking another small sip of tea, I reflected on how lucky we were to have had made it to where we were.

"Do you see anything, Mom?" Hawk asked while staring out blankly into the dark room.

"No."

"Do you think anything's near?"

"I don't know."

"It seems ungodly quiet."

"I know."

It wasn't more than three months ago that I had woken up at dawn and cranked the radio to see if there was any news. Unfortunately, there had been a crackling of voices that came through along with a bunch of fuzzy static. The voices of both men and women had been speaking in fear and had told of how the city of Reno, Nevada had been compromised and currently had several troops of these creatures—whatever they were—working together occupying the city, murdering many, and changing many innocent humans into their kind, by either clawing them or biting them. After observations had been made from close examinations and from watching these creatures develop from humans, it had been explained on the radio that people who had been bitten had become more powerful zombies than people who had just been clawed. Apparently, there had been some very dedicated citizens who had taken it upon themselves to report the situation to anyone who would listen, even if it had been extremely dangerous and life threatening.

The dead had risen.

I still didn't know what was going on; it was all happening so suddenly. People had begun to transform and had gotten real ugly. To add insult to injury, they had started acting violently and going crazy. The whole state of Nevada was panicking and the whole city of Reno seemed to fall apart in just a couple of days. I wished it was all a dream, but instead it had sadly become my reality.

It had sounded as though the zombies were working together in packs similar to wolves, where there were the minion soldier zombies who did all of the work and the hierarchy powerful zombies who took the position of power among all of them. All in all the concept of a more advanced species of beings taking over my world had been hard to swallow.

Coming out of my thoughts, I looked across the room to my son and felt a bit of happiness come over me that we had been able to stay away from danger for this long. On the other hand though, I was very superstitious and hoped to God that I being happy wouldn't lead to us being attacked. With my luck though, I was unsure.

Outside of our boarded up cabin, the spring season was underway. It was a time of growth, renewal, and new lives being born. Birdfoot Violets, Dutchman Britches, and Snowy Orchis', were only a few of my favorite mountainside wildflowers. However, birds were not chirping, but trees were blooming, and wild flowers were budding in our area, where rain seemed more prevalent during this time of year. I spent several sleepless nights just tossing and turning on the mattress pad that was my bed, while thunder and lightning crashed out into the night sky overhead.

It was on this particular night that the worst news came to us. The sad part, we had finally calmed down as much as we possibly could after three years of living in this seemingly deserted place.

Hawk already decided to call it a night and had lain down on the gray sleeping pad, which he had deemed his own.

As much as I tried to stay awake, my eyes would not listen as they kept on drooping. I decided to make one last routine check of any news to be heard on our tiny crank radio.

"Crrrrrr! Caaassshhh!" The radio's static was overwhelming.

However, just as I was about to turn it off I heard the strangest thing. "Heeelllppp! Pleeaassee Heeelllppp!" A young female voice echoed through my eardrums.

Eager to find out what had happened, I turned up the volume, the static became more intense.

The girl's voice cried out over my radio again in segments, now giving me more information in bits and pieces, like a puzzle to put together only in words. "Dead people—caaassshhh— attacking—crrrrrr—taking over—crrrrrr— Elko—caaassshh—Nevada—caasshh—taking over—crrrrrr, caaassshhh."

I cranked harder and faster now, but only static followed. My heart pounded as I began sweating with terror. What were we to do? Where were we to go? North? South? East? West? My hands shook violently as I continued to crank the static radio for nothing but support. For thirty minutes, I continued shaking, sweating, and cranking, until my hand just fell off of the radio, limp from the stress I had just been subjected to. As I just stared out in no particular direction, my mind felt numb. Knowing that Hawk and I would have to abandon our dwelling of three years in the dark of night, I pondered where to go.

(Continues...)

Excerpted from DEAD EVOLUTIONby Brita Woolums Larry Buhr JR. Copyright © 2012 by Brita Woolums and Larry Buhr Jr.. Excerpted by permission of iUniverse, Inc.. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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