Dead Meat | Day 9, page 1
part #9 of Dead Meat Series
Dead Meat: Day 9
Nick Clausen
Editor: Diana Cox
First Edition 2021
Copyright © 2021 Nick Clausen
Kindle Edition
The author asserts his moral rights to this work.
Please respect the hard work of the author.
No zombies were harmed in the making of this book.
The following takes place on
Sunday, August 3
ONE
“Right, what’s his number?”
William’s voice causes Dan to startle. He looks around, and it takes him several seconds to realize he’s sitting on a chair in Holger’s bunker.
William is by the computer, looking over at him. “Were you sleeping?”
“I … I don’t know,” Dan says, rubbing his eyes.
William studies his face. “I think you might want to take a nap before we go out looking for your dad.”
“No, I’m fine.”
“You sure? You look like dog shit.”
“I’m fine.”
William shrugs. “If you say so. Give me his number then.”
Dan closes his eyes and searches his memory. It feels sluggish and uncooperative. But one by one, the digits appear and he speaks them out loud.
William types them in, then hits enter.
Dan strains to look at the monitor as the map loads. It zooms in on a coastline, showing half ocean, half land. Then a thin, red, rugged line appears, going from the water and onto land. At the end of it, a red dot blinks.
William lets out a gasp. “Holy shit, we’re in luck. He made it onto land. And looks like he’s still on the move.”
“Where is that?” Dan asks. “Is it Norway?” The thought of going back across the sea is enough to double the feeling of tiredness in his bones.
William zooms out, revealing more of the map. Dan feels a jolt of excitement as he recognizes the area.
“He’s here,” William says, looking at Dan with a nervous smile. “He’s in Denmark. And look, it’s even better than I thought.” He points to the monitor, tracking the red line. “This must be where we dropped him off. We were a lot closer to the coast than I realized, and your dad went straight for it. He only spent like fifteen minutes in the water, tops.”
“That’s more than enough for his lungs to fill up with water,” Dan mutters, biting his lip.
“We don’t know if zombies even breathe,” William encourages him. “And since he’s still walking around, that means he can’t be in too bad of a state, right? I mean, he probably didn’t break anything vital in the fall.”
“Looks promising,” a voice comes from behind, causing Dan to startle once more. He didn’t hear Liv enter the bunker. She’s holding two steaming cups, and she hands one to Dan. “Here, I figured you needed it.”
Dan takes the cup. The smell of the coffee isn’t exactly Dan’s favorite smell; in fact, he’s never learned to drink it, but Liv is probably right, and he sips the hot liquid.
“Much obliged,” William says, holding out his hand.
Liv doesn’t give him the cup, instead taking a sip herself. “Sorry, I didn’t make any for you.”
William glares at her, then looks at Dan. “What did I tell you? She’s got the hots for you.”
Dan swallows too big a gulp of coffee and coughs.
“Actually, I don’t,” Liv tells William coolly. “I just thought that since Dan and I haven’t slept all night and since we’ll be headed out soon, we’ll need all the help staying alert …”
“Hold on,” William says, frowning. “Are you going with him?”
“I am.”
William throws out his arms. “I could use your help here. With all due respect, we’re trying to save the world, and the clock is ticking.”
“Dennis will stay and help,” Liv says. “I already asked him. Plus, Lars wants to help too.”
Dan assumes that’s the name of one of the people who woke up from the curse.
“Okay,” William says, shrugging. “Well, if you’re intent on helping Dan find his dad, who am I to argue?”
“I’m not just doing this for Dan,” Liv says, downing most of the coffee, wincing at the heat in her mouth. “Both my parents are also still out there.”
“Oh,” Dan says, feeling stupid. He didn’t even think to ask. “Do you … know where they are?”
“I know where they might be. My sister told me she had to leave home when my mother woke back up and … and attacked my father.” A brief flash of hesitation on Liv’s face. Then determination returns. “If I’m lucky, they’re still in the house.”
“And where is the house?” Dan asks.
“In Viborg.”
“Hot dang it,” William says, nodding towards the monitor with a smile. “That’s gotta be fate, because that’s on the way to Dan’s dad.”
Dan nods, sipping his coffee. It’s hot in his throat and it lands like lava in his stomach. But he already feels a little better, a little more optimistic. “I’d be more than happy to have company,” he says. “We can take the van.”
“I think you should opt for something a little more cross-country,” William says. “Holger kept a four-wheeler in the garage. It’ll be a lot easier if you need to go off-road.”
Dan glances at Liv. “Do you know how to …?”
“How to drive a four-wheeler?” she asks, putting down her empty cup. “Sure.”
“It’s settled then,” William says, getting up. “Hand me your phone, Dan. I’ll install the tracking app. Oh, and don’t forget to stock up on holy water.”
TWO
When William returns to the living room after seeing Dan and Liv off, he finds Dennis already busy setting up Holger’s camera on a tripod. One of the guys is helping him.
“Good work,” William says. “But don’t you think we should do it outside? Seems less risky.”
“The sunlight is too bright,” the guy says. “We already tested it.” When William looks at him, he says apologetically: “I’m Lars. I’m a graphic designer.”
“Huh,” William mutters. “What are the odds?”
Most of the other people who woke up are sitting or standing around the room, talking in low voices or just following the conversation. Some of them seem to have left. William can’t imagine how it must be, waking up after several days being clinically dead, with no memory of what has happened or how many people you’ve killed, only to find the world is in even worse shape and with very little hope of finding any of your family members still alive …
“We’ll get a much higher quality video if we shoot it in here,” Lars goes on, dragging William out of his thoughts. ”And the more you can tell what’s going on, the better—right?”
“Right,” William agrees. “That’s the whole point of it.”
“There’s also the problem of controlling the environment,” Dennis goes on. “That’s a lot easier in here. Out there, a group of them could show up any time and cause trouble.”
William looks at him. Even though he hasn’t known Dennis for very long, the transformation the guy has undergone is still astounding. When William first met him, Dennis would have never used a word like “environment,” or any other word longer than three syllables, really. And it’s not just his vocabulary which seems to have improved; William can tell just by looking into Dennis’s eyes that a much bigger and brighter lightbulb is suddenly lit between his ears.
“Right,” William says. “So, how do we get a zombie in here? I think it’ll be too time-consuming going through the tarp-tactic again.”
“We can just lure it in,” Dennis says, nodding towards the courtyard. “There’s already a couple of them out there. If we open the front door, they’ll come in voluntarily.”
“Hell,” William says. “Why not?” He nods towards the camera. “Are we ready?”
“We are,” Lars says after checking the camera one more time. “It’s streaming.”
“Streaming?”
“Yeah, I hooked it up to my YouTube account. I figured we might as well stream it live, then put the video up afterwards.”
“Holy shit, that’s genius,” William says. “Is anyone watching?”
Lars shrugs. “I have a few thousand followers. They get a ping whenever I start a live stream, so if they’re still online, some might be watching.”
William looks at the camera thoughtfully. “If only we could send out the link to everyone still alive so they could watch it in real time …”
“We can,” Lars says. “Nothing spreads faster than a viral video.”
“But first we need to make the video for the US military, right?” Dennis reminds them. “That has got to be our priority. We can always figure out how to get the word out to the rest of the world afterwards, but we need to focus on eliminating the threat of a nuclear attack first of all.”
“You’re right,” William says, nodding. He turns and claps his hands together. “All right, listen up folks. A dead guy will enter the room shortly. So I suggest you all go to the bedroom and close the door. We will be curing our guest, but until that happens, just as a precaution, let’s keep the clientel to a minimum. We don’t want to risk any of you getting bitten again, right?”
None of the people present seem to like that idea, and they all quickly scurry to the bedroom, leaving Dennis, William and Lars alone in the living room.
“Right,” William says, looking at them. “So, who does what? Let’s be absolutely
Dennis and Lars look at each other, then back at William.
“Here’s how I was thinking we could do it,” Dennis begins. “I go out and open the front door. I lure in one of them. Once I reach this room, I’ll run behind the camera, so the dead guy will come right at me. Then you guys come in from each side and throw water at the guy. That way, it’ll happen right in front of the camera.”
William bites his lip. “It’s not a bad plan. And you’re okay with being the one running the risk?”
Dennis shrugs. “They aren’t moving very fast. As long as I stay well ahead of the guy, I should be fine.”
“And as long as we don’t fuck up our part,” William adds, looking at Lars. “We can’t miss with the water. Dennis will be trapped in a corner if we do.”
“That’s why I prefer both of you to do it,” Dennis says. “So we have a second chance, just in case.”
“Sure, that’s—”
“Hold on,” Lars says, cutting William off. “Who will close the front door again? After we get one of them to enter the house? If both William and I are in here, waiting for Dennis to bring the infected guy, that’ll leave the front door wide open.”
“Good catch,” William says, pointing at him. “Maybe one of us will have to stay in the kitchen, and once Dennis and the dead guy are in the living room, we’ll go and close the front door.”
“Either that,” Dennis says, “or we could ask one of the others to help out.”
“They didn’t exactly look eager to help out,” William remarks. “I’ll stay in the kitchen. Let’s get rolling.”
THREE
“So,” Liv says over her shoulder. “Here we are again, huh?”
Dan smiles as he holds on to her waist with a firm grip. “I guess so.”
The ATV shoots down the empty country road at almost seventy miles an hour. The sky is covered in heavy clouds, but the rain still hasn’t come and the air is thick and hot. Liv’s golden hair flails in every direction, tickling Dan’s face. He can’t help but inhale the smell of it, and it sends a warm sensation to his groin.
“Must be our idea of a date,” Dan blurts out before he can stop himself. It’s only once the words are out he realizes what he just said.
Luckily, though, Liv just sends him a smile over her shoulder.
“So, where did your family live?” Dan asks, swiftly changing the subject.
“It’s near the park. On Ash Lane.”
“I think I know that area,” Dan says. “A girl from my class used to live there.”
“Oh. What’s her name?”
“Susanna Karlsen. You know her?”
Liv looks back at him again. “That’s our next-door neighbor.”
“Really?”
“Really! She went to private school.”
“Yeah, so did I,” Dan says.
“Huh. So your parents were rich?”
“Not particularly.”
“I went to Southern High. Funny how we lived in the same city but never met.”
“Well, it was a pretty big city.”
Liv shrugs. “Guess so.”
Dan thinks for a moment. “It’s uncanny, huh? How we talk about everything in the past tense. Our parents, the city, school, people we knew. Two weeks ago, everything was normal. And now it’s all …” He searches for the word.
“Fucked up?” Liv suggests.
“I was gonna say ‘gone,’ but yeah.”
“Amazing how fast things can change,” Liv agrees. “It’s like society was this old, rotten tree all hollow and porous. Like it was just waiting for a strong enough storm to knock it over.”
“I know,” Dan mutters. “It seemed so … solid. All the institutions, law enforcement and military. All the rules and systems that were in place. You’d think a modern society would be able to withstand challenges. But it all just crumbled when this thing got out of hand.”
“I saw this documentary on Netflix a little while back,” Liv says. “About the Roman Empire and how it slowly collapsed under its own weight. It was really fascinating. But what stuck with me was how long that society lasted. It thrived for over a thousand years! Can you believe that? Everyone back then thought it would never go away. And now look. It’s ancient history.” She glances back at him. “I think this is history repeating itself. I think in a few hundred years, whoever is still alive will look back and view our society as something that once was. Something that looked promising but ultimately ended up eating itself from within—literally.”
Dan can’t help but shiver at the thought. “Maybe it doesn’t need to go that far,” he says. “Maybe we can still pull it back from the brink.”
“Maybe,” Liv says, and Dan can hear she doesn’t really believe it. He can’t blame her. It’s a long shot for sure.
“It’s up to William now anyway,” Dan goes on. “And Dennis. I’m sure they’ll reach the Americans before it’s too late and show them there’s a better way than nuking half the world. All we can do is focus on finding our parents.”
The thought makes him pull out his phone. He activates the screen and sees the GPS map. The red dot indicating the location of his dad’s phone is still there, in the northern part of Viborg. It has moved a bit, but not much.
The sight of it makes his stomach tighten. He’s afraid of what they’ll find once they reach that tiny red dot.
Will his dad be in good shape?
Will the holy water be able to cure him?
Or will it kill him for real?
All these questions have been swirling around the back of Dan’s mind ever since they left Holger’s house. He has to prepare himself for the worst. Odds are he won’t get his dad back.
And yet he can’t help but hope.
Because his dad’s voice from the dream keeps playing in his mind, too.
“You can come find me if you like. It’s not too late.”
That had to mean something. It had to be a sign. His dad was still around. It wasn’t too late. Dan had to believe that.
“There it is,” Liv says, pointing ahead.
Dan looks over her shoulder. A few miles up the road, he can see the tallest buildings of Viborg outlined against the grey sky.
“We agree to swing by my place first, right?” Liv asks, not turning this time. “And if my parents aren’t there, we’ll go on to find your dad.”
“Sure,” Dan says. Inside, he feels an almost desperate impatience to find his dad as soon as possible. But they will pass right through the neighborhood where Liv’s parents might still be, and it shouldn’t take them any more than ten or twenty minutes top to stop and check.
Still, that’s ten or twenty minutes longer before Dan will know for sure whether he gets his father back or if he’s truly alone in this world.
FOUR
The streets of Viborg are almost empty, showing no signs of life. That is, if you don’t count reanimated dead people as “life.”
Dan sees several zombies as they drive through the city. A few of them are occupied scraping at locked doors or boarded-up windows, others stagger around aimlessly. The closest ones turn in the direction of the ATV and attempt to take up pursuit, but Liv drives fast enough that they’re soon lost from sight.
The four-wheeler proves incredibly useful for getting across the city. In several places, cars are either parked haphazardly or have crashed into buildings or other cars, effectively blocking the roads. Some places there are outright pileups of vehicles, and they have to turn back and take the next block over, but most of the roadblocks can be passed by Liv driving onto the sidewalk, crossing front lawns or even maneuvering through a busted storefront, the broken glass crunching underneath the heavy-duty tires.
Dan is impressed with her driving skills. He can’t help but imagine Liv as someone who—if the world should fall apart completely—will do well for herself. She’s determined, intelligent and brave. She’s a survivor.
“Whoa, what’s that?” Liv exclaims, breaking in the middle of the road, the ATV coming to a halt.
“What?” Dan asks in alarm, looking around.
“That!” Liv points down the street.
Dan sees it immediately. A thick pillar of smoke rises up above the rooftops. It’s coming from at least three blocks over, but it’s big enough that they can see it from here with no trouble.
