New Beginnings Read online

  New Beginnings

  By

  H. Frederick

  In a zombie infested world young Alex deals with loss of friends, family… and the unknown is a new beginning. The apocalypse came and went now the world is filled with the living dead. Alex and his closest friend have to fight to survive, meeting new friends, and new enemies. Can they survive through the coming trials of life and death?

  New Beginnings

  Author: A. H. Frederick

  Photographer/Photo Editor: Veronika Frederick

  New Beginnings, author A. Frederick, ©2017, except as provided by the copyright act [2017 etc.] no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the publisher (Author Published).

  Chapter 1:

  At every end is a beginning

  A gun shot ring echoed throughout my the empty air of a small town named Savannah. I came back into my body after staring blankly into the sky. I looked into my arms of my newly dead best friend.

  I`m sorry for not keeping my promise. Those were his last words before leaving me in this hell hole of a world. As I return from my shock state, I looked in front of me and saw my other best friend running away from a horde of zombies and towards me with the others we came across and joined with. My friend slid in front of me and saw Trevor soaking in my arms and drying blood covering my fingers.

  “Alex, I know he was close, but we have to move!” Jack yelled at me. My ears still ringed of the gun shot I had to take as Emily kneeled in front of me and saw Trevor in my arms. She placed him beside me.

  “Alex, can you hear me?” She asked. I couldn’t speak, so I nodded and she smiled kindly at me. That’s when I looked down and felt the metal of my glock in my hand. Emily grabbed my arm and got me up on my feet. Sestra stood up and we started jogging up the street to a storage building that’s fenced up, home sweet home, the other survivors were there, either trying to keep up defenses or sleeping off the nightshift of guarding. We could only afford a small party to scavenge since the base is so big to guard. We got up to the ten-foot gate and John unlocked it from the inside.

  "Morning Jack.” John greeted.

  “Morning, John." He replied as the gate opens.

  “Where’s Trevor?” John asked. Jack looks at me, but at the time I didn’t notice because I was trapped in the horror of shooting my best friend after a simple mission of getting supplies. Jack then looked back at John.

  “He didn’t make it.” He said. John nodded and let us in. We passed the guards who most of them were watching for threatening zombies, the rest were just chatting from the other survivors. As we walked passed the aisles of storage units that John converted into rooms, I noticed a woman in aisle A, laying down in the middle of it.

  "What happened?" I asked as Sestra walks closer to her.

  "What do you-" John stops in his tracks and aims at the body with his pistol.

  "Sestra!" I called. She looks at me, then noticed John and backs away from the woman. John crept carefully up to her until he was a foot away. I moved to the side of the woman as I pointed my own pistol down at it.

  "Check for vitals." John ordered. Sestra steps closer to her, by that time she had her pistol out and aimed at her head when I kneeled down to feel for a pulse, she felt frozen as I moved my fingers onto her neck. A pulse couldn’t be found after a few moments and around us grew silent and eerie. I looked up at John to shake my head as I felt my instincts telling me to be cautious about her. Sestra grabbed her legs and started pulling her to the back of the complex to dispose of her, but a groan came from the woman’s throat. Sestra looked at me and I stared at the corpse with my pistol aimed at her forehead. John pulls out a sharpened piece of metal and stabbed it straight through the woman’s temple. The groan had ceased and Sestra continued to drag her to the outside of the fence with both of us covering her. Sudden hollow screams came from the distance, indicating that nightfall is approaching and that zombies were near. That was the normal to hear, especially when its dusk or dawn. We don't know why, but they get more aggressive at night. Sestra and I normally get ready when we hear them, so I walked into the building where John made it more home like. It was more of a home to me than anyone else because of my past. I walked through the garage door to look around. There was a wall as soon as you walk in for security, but the doors were on either end so you can get inside. I continued to go inside and the kitchen was the first room you go into because it’s better to grab a knife in the kitchen to defend the building if you are unarmed. We kept all of our food we found from our missions in the kitchen. It was a challenge getting the refrigerator working with our generator in the basement because of the old circuits, but messing with fuses allowed us to learn and now we could have meat and food for a longer period. I walked past the wooden cabinets and granite counter space. Packets of food and bottles of water were on display on the counters for anyone to have, but one person could only have one of each a day. Sestra came in through the other door from the living room, where I was about to walk through, I saw she had her Dragunov strapped it over her shoulder along with my sniper rifle with the sword optic scope in her hand. She handed it to me and I tossed a bottle of water to her, she caught it and started to drink it when we exited the building and into our storage units that we made into our own rooms, my unit number was 125 and I glance at it every time I enter into it. I grabbed my gray cloak hanging on a piece of metal that was peeling straight off of my wall; exposing the cement layer behind it. The cloak was torn at the bottom from being grabbed, me walking, and running on the streets; house hopping with Sestra on our missions back when the houses were still untouched. The cloak was my lucky charm because since I have been wearing it, we started to have better luck in both tight situations involving zombies and other survivors who killed for fun, food, or both. After I strapped on an ammo pouch around my chest, Sestra walks in front of my storage unit. I looked at her to see that she was outfitted in her BDU, a grey, splotchy camo that makes it harder for her to be noticed in an urban area, much like the reason why I have a gray cloak. With her riot armor on her leg arm, she was better at sneaking in our scouting missions in this armor than anything else. She also had an ammo pouch that she had strapped to her chest.

  "You ready?" I asked. She nodded in response, then we started walking toward the office building. With my sword rifle slung over my shoulder, I followed behind her and we walked up the stairs to the rooftop. Sestra positioned herself on the right end of the building. I laid on the other side with my feet touching her own so we can communicate effectively. I then placed the stand of my rifle onto the roof to stabilize it as the sun slowly sets to the west of us and my shadow stretches on the other side of me. I pressed my feet on the bottom of hers and she pressed her foot against my own and lifted our feet up, a signal we both made for being ready for the night. As the sun fully sets, the howling of hollow screams becomes louder as it becomes more dark and the only light are flaming barrels that follow the road. "Remember how to say too many?" I ask in routine. She lifts my right foot, then after a moment she presses on my other foot, then hits the heel of my foot with another press to the other. "Good. And ammo?" My final question. She hit my left foot two times. I then switched to night vision on my optic scope “Good.” I praised as I looked through it to make sure it's working. She then makes a pressing combination on my foot that indicates her night vision is working. I breathe in calmly and search for zombies that will approach the fence. Sestra then hits the side of my foot. Silencer? She indicated so that I wouldn`t forget to check if I had my suppressor on the barrel of the rifle. I looked at my barrel to find my suppressor equipped and so I stepped on her foot to indicate yes, I then press
ed on her other foot to indicate ammo load. She replied with yes, ammo is loaded.

  "Remember, discipline keeps us alive and less mistakes." I whisper, hearing the clicks and snaps of her loading the ammo. I do the same, trying to block the recent death of Trevor and his face from my mind. Once the screams started to get closer and it was on my side of the roof. I looked through my scope, in a search to find the screamers. When I found them, I watched them running like someone would do if their life was on the line. I aimed for its head in my cross hairs until they past the warehouse, then I took a shot. His head explodes while his body collapses to the ground with brain and blood splashed on the still hot pavement. "768” I whispered to myself, this is the moment when they usually come out of hiding in search of human flesh. The scent of blood that once belonged to their own draws them out of their hiding places as well and they get more aggressive. I pull back on the bolt to release the bullet cartridge from the barrel, I then hear Sestra firing. Usually it’s just a horde of zombies for the whole night. I search my perimeter and saw two more running towards the fence. I shot them both three seconds apart. "770” I whispered. Seven more bullets I think to myself as a reminder of how many are still in the clip. I then brought out another mag and set it beside my rifle as I continue to scan the perimeter. I then hear ten shots from Sestra with equal pauses before she hit my left foot, she had another zombie and no bullets in the rifle. I swung around and aimed at the one left over. I took the shot as I heard Sestra click in a new mag. I then laid back down as I pulled back the bolt to release the cartridge and placed the stand back in its place. The empty bullet cartridges started to hit the ground and we heard the little clinging of them. When I made sure the perimeter was clear, I then brought out another clip beside the other. Six more left I reminded myself. I then hear six shoots from Sestra’s side. "It’s gonna be a long night." I whisper with annoyance in my tone. Yes, too many She indicated with her feet. "No kidding. Good thing we have their backs." I said, meaning the whole storage unit and the people inside. Yes, she indicated then signed to aim better. The screams started to calm down, this is when we can be more calm. I took the moment of pause to drink my water and didn't stop till it was empty, I then tossed it off the roof. When I checked the perimeter, I saw a man and woman running towards the gate. "Hey, I got two living running to the gate." I said. Safe Sestra signed, still looking through her scope, meaning is it safe? "I don’t know. Hey, Austin!" I yelled. Austin was the guard that was supposed to be standing near to the building so we can have someone to alert John if we saw anything important, but he was the type of person that would rather prove he was a jerk. "Austin!"

  "What!" He yelled back up in an annoyed tone.

  "Two survivors at the gate! Get John!" I yelled down.

  "You do it!" He yelled back. I got frustrated and decided to do it myself. Sestra could handle two sides, for a short time at least.

  "Fine, but if I get his wrath for leaving my post. I’m aiming it to you." I warned. When I past him after I stepped out of the building, I scuffed towards him and made my way to John. As I searched the base house to find him. I heard Sestra fire off a shot. I started to panic a little when I heard another shot in the same time frame. Finally, I found him guarding the East side of the fence.

  "Alex, why did you leave your post?" John yelled while the crackle of the barrel fire came afterwards from the roof and towards my side of the compound.

  "Austin sir. He told me to find you, but that’s not important now. Two survivors are running north side of the fence. Last I saw they were twenty yards out." I explained.

  "Alright thank you. Let Austin know I will have a word with him after this." He said. I sighed and nodded, then ran back to my post as fast as I could.

  "Hey, what he say?" Austin said when I ran past him. I ignored him as I rushed up to the roof. I saw that Sestra went back to her side of the roof and I patted her back before I laid back down on my stomach and searched for the couple.

  "Come on, where are you?" I whispered to myself, hoping their still alive. I finally found them running and screamers were hot on their trail. I took out the closest one and counted seven more behind them. I pulled back the bolt and brought out another mag for quick reload. I started to pick them off, each shoot found the marks to the closest zombie head. I was about to reload until I saw an eighth one come out of nowhere from the dark. I hit Sentra’s foot and she swings her rifle over my head and aimed down, taking out the last four zombies that came out while I reloaded. I looked over to the gate and saw three guards present to greet the survivors and to keep the zombies off of them as much as they could. I tried to help with the zombie situation, but I had to hesitate before taking the shot because the survivors were too close to them. I then had the decision to either stay up on the roof and help here, or go to the fence and help to thin out the zombies. When I choose to help at the fence, the survivors had started to run up the hill that the storage unit was built on with only three zombies that came out of the darkness. I started to pack up my things on the roof as Sestra stayed. I walked down to the base entrance where Austin stood and he was blocking my way out.

  "Yo, bitch. I asked you a question. I expect you to answer, especially after your round of cowering behind your rifle on the roof." He insults. Sestra then punches him square in the face before I could even notice that she had followed me down. I grabbed her arm and pulled her back. "Stupid bitch!" He yelled out. I then looked up at him as my anger rose rapidly, reaching for a knife that I had hiding on my back.

  "I’m warning you! Without us, everyone would have to deal with the zombies at the fence." I told him. He then grabbed my shirt.

  "Austin!" John yells, walking toward us, the zombies must be slowing down due to the hill, or John wouldn’t have drawn his attention from me. He then grabs Austin’s arm and pulled him away from me. "That’s it! Pack your things. I gave you countless warnings about starting fights and now you’re fighting with Alex and Sestra? You’re gone. I’m giving you five minutes to get ready while I take care of our new arrivals." John ordered. Austin had a cocky smirk on his face, then looked down at us. John pushed him to the direction of the storage units, then looked down at us. "You two ok?" He asked.

  "Sestra punched him in the face because he was being rude." I confessed, releasing the knife hilt from behind me. Sestra grabbed my arm tightly. Why did you tell him? Was my guess of what she meant by it.

  "Well, I would have done the same thing. In this world, you have to fight for everything, including respect." John said. "Plus I have to look out for my youngest members here, don't I?" He added with a smile. I smiled back and nodded, even though I felt that demeaning. I then looked over at the new survivors that just came in through the gate.

  "Sir, may we go see the survivors?" I asked, really curious about them and to see if they were a threat.

  "Yeah, just don’t question them yet. Let us build some trust with them first." He said, then jogged to two guards near the storage units. I turned to Sestra and she looked angry at me.

  "Oh, don’t give me that look! We have trust with him so we have to be truthful to him. If we lied, he may have lost trust with us." I explained to her. She looked away, still angry at me, but as we walked to the new survivors, she had forgiven me. We continued to walk towards the new survivors who were still at the gate, having their questions answered by one of our guards. When we approached them, I saw a little hand on the woman's shoulder. I swung my rifle over my shoulder as we approached.

  "Hello." I greeted to the man that was asking the guard his questions about the conclave and the woman standing beside him was listening, reading the guard. They both looked like they had a long day, exhausted and in pain.

  "Hello." The woman replied after she noticed me. “What’s your names?"

  "My name is Alex; this is my best friend Sestra. She doesn't talk and so I translate when she tries to communicate.”

  “Hello Sestra." The woman greeted. Sestra smiled and waved. "My name is J
ulia and this is Jensen." She introduced to a little boy that was clinging to her back.

  "How old?" I asked.

  "He said he is four years old, we found him on our journey back to our people, but got in trouble with those zombies. Thank you by the way, for helping, we saw the barrel fires on the roof and saw you walking out of it. How old are you two?" She asked.

  "I’m 18. I don’t know how old Sestra is because she won’t tell me." I answered. The guard then looked down at us.

  "Ok you two, quit bothering them and get back to your post." He said. I nodded and Julia, Jensen, and the older gentlemen walked inside the base, but as Julia pasted me, Jensen smiled at me and showed his sharpened teeth. They looked like they could chew through flesh easily. I stared for a moment, but I had to keep suspicion down and so I had to look away. Sestra and I then walked towards home base, while I was watching John and Austin arguing. Suddenly, Austin tries to punch John, but John was too fast and dodged it, before kneeing him in the stomach. That brought Austin to the ground. John handcuffed him behind his back while his knee was pressed to Austin’s head. John then brought him up and drags Austin to the front of the base with the other two guards carrying his bags.

  “I want everyone out here now!” John yelled. One of the guards walked past Sestra and I and into the base. “You’re lucky that we have a system here, or I would have you thrown out of this base faster than you could say Mississippi. I gave you ten chances. Ten! So you could have changed your ways from when I brought you from the bandits we raided, but you’re done!” John said harshly.

  “Like you ever cared!” Austin yelled back to him. When the guard returned, he was carrying a week’s worth of food and water. As the guard was putting it in his bag, the base members started to surround Austin, John then makes him sit up.