The Imminent Scourge: A Zombie Novel by J.D. Anderson

Author:J.D. Anderson [Anderson, J.D.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Severed Press
Published: 2016-11-21T00:00:00+00:00

THE PENULTIMATE

Nine days had passed since their father had left them. He had left them before, but he had never been gone longer than three days until now.

“He’ll be back,” Nikki said. “He always comes back.”

“But he never takes this long,” said Danny. “Something must have happened or he wouldn’t have taken this long.”

“He never told us that he wouldn’t ever be gone longer than three days. Remember, all he said was, ‘wait for me; I’ll be back.’ You know that might mean that even if he takes a long time, he might come back. We just have to wait.”

“I’m sure he meant like three or four days. That’s all he’s ever been gone before. Not nine.”

“You don’t know that’s what he meant.”

“I’m pretty sure that’s what he meant. And I’m pretty sure he’s dead by now.”

Nikki sat against an empty spot of the wall next to a long-derelict refrigeration unit with her knobby knees drawn up to her face and her skinny arms linked loosely around them. Danny faced her from the opposite wall next to an empty candy rack near the checkstand counter. He sat on a box, strumming an acoustic guitar. He was strumming the same riffs he had been strumming for months—from what seemed so long ago, back when they had been in high school together.

They had taken shelter in a gas station convenience store that lay in between towns. They had driven there on an empty tank, hoping to refuel, but there had been no gas left in the pumps, so they had stayed out of necessity. There were others who had stayed there too. Their father had reasoned that it was as good a place as any, because it was stocked well with food, and the more people who were with them, the safer they would be. However, the number meant that the food ran out fairly quickly and all but their family had eventually left in search of other food and shelter. It was then that their mother had fallen sick and died. Then she had awakened in the monstrous form of the things that attacked and devoured. Their father had not been prepared for it, and it was only after a needlessly long and brutal struggle that he finally crushed her skull and immobilized her. He hadn’t spoken for days after that. And when he finally had, a profound change had taken place. He began to speak often and at length about death. He spoke too about the spreading affliction and had deduced that it was demonic in nature.

Their father had never been a religious or spiritual man, so this change had taken both Nikki and Danny by surprise. Nikki had shown deference, listening at first out of sympathy, but finally coming to understand him and even agreeing with some of his ideas. Danny listened more out of a numb respect, neither agreeing nor disagreeing, but simply allowing the space for his father to talk.

Amidst all the talk, Danny had grown restless and worried that his father’s lack of action might lead to their undoing.

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