Outbreak (The Brother's Creed Book 1) Read online

  OUTBREAK

  The Brother’s Creed

  Book 1

  JOSHUA C. CHADD

  Copyright © 2017 Joshua C. Chadd

  All rights reserved.

  Cover art by Biram Ba

  This is a work of fiction. All characters, places, and events portrayed in these stories are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is coincidental.

  No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

  Contact the author via email at: [email protected]

  Print Book ISBN-13: 978-1545062333

  ASIN: B06Y2GGH

  Contents

  Copyright

  Colors of Heroes

  Dedication

  1 First Encounter

  2 Breaking News

  3 Close Call

  4 Revelations

  5 A Killer’s Conscience

  6 Trapped

  7 Choices

  8 Death

  9 Safe-Haven

  10 Breaking

  11 Lost Sheep

  12 Drifting

  13 Sacrifice

  Epilogue

  Author’s Note

  Acknowledgements

  About the Author

  A percentage of the profits from The Brother’s Creed series will be donated to Colors of Heroes®.

  Freedom is never free!

  Colors of Heroes is a 501c3 nonprofit foundation dedicated to rebuilding confidence for combat wounded veterans and gold star families through new relationships and outdoor adventures.

  Learn more at: www.colorsofheroes.org

  Caleb,

  I’ll always have your back and I know you will mine. Brothers till we die!

  ~~~

  For all her support over the years no matter what frivolous things I was pursuing. She has always been there to guide me, help me to know what is right, and put me back on the road I was meant to wander.

  For always encouraging and nurturing my imagination, whether with movies, books, or my own writing. She has always helped me open my mind and not be ashamed of my dorky and nerdy side. I would not be, could not be, the man or the writer I am today without her.

  This one’s for you mom!

  1

  First Encounter

  A shot echoed throughout the gas station, followed shortly by another. A young man cautiously approached his targets, making sure they were indeed dead; both bodies had bullet holes in their heads. He moved through the rest of the station gathering supplies, always keeping his handgun close. When he was done, he went back outside and climbed into the passenger seat of a white truck parked next to the pumps.

  “You get anything good?” his brother asked him.

  “No, just the usual—a few canned goods and what have you. Nothing worth shouting over,” he said, throwing the grocery bags into the backseat. “Let’s roll out.”

  As they sped down the highway, he couldn’t help but smile. They were off to a great start. In the backseat were three cases of water and a pile of non-perishable food, along with two rifles and two shotguns, not to mention the beautiful blonde woman who returned his smile when he glanced back.

  He looked down at the AR-15 that rested next to his seat. It was a gorgeous firearm that had been through a lot lately. But never would he have imagined it being used to kill zombies, and yet it had done a lot more than that in the last day…

  ~~~

  The day had started off like any other summer day for James and Connor Andderson. They’d awakened early, doing a quick workout before breakfast, and then packed their things. They were going out to the ranch for the weekend to do some prairie dog and coyote hunting. Loading all their gear and guns into James’s truck, they then got on their computers for a quick update.

  A couple days earlier there had been several brutal murders in Hill City, Texas. Then, yesterday, Hill City had gone dark. Shortly after, the state troopers had been sent in and nothing had been heard from them since. When the same thing started happening in other towns in eastern Texas last night, the National Guard had been sent in. Now there were rumors and videos circulating the internet.

  The dead were coming back to life.

  Of course, all the doomsayers were claiming zombies and the end of the world, but the more rational public wasn’t buying it. Most of the media claimed some crap about state-wide power outages. However, today there was new information that other states were experiencing similar scenarios.

  “Have you read this yet?” James asked his brother, pointing to the article on his screen. James was the older brother at twenty-one with short brown hair, hazel eyes, and an athletic build.

  Connor came over and started reading. He had his brown hair in a buzz cut and was the younger brother by two years but was both taller and more muscular. The resemblance between the two, however, was striking, and they had often been asked if they were twins when they were younger.

  “This is getting serious,” Connor said as he headed over to the phone. “I’m giving Mom and Dad a quick call to let them know we’ll be gone for the weekend.”

  James read the rest of the article, which claimed that none of the incidents were in any way related and that it was just coincidence. He didn’t believe that for a second. The article was by CCN, and they never told the truth. It’s probably terrorists, he thought. Well, they won’t catch us with our pants down.

  Connor hung up the phone. “They said not to worry about them, that this will blow over soon, and to have fun hunting.”

  “Good. No use burnin’ more daylight then. Let’s hit the road and go shoot something!” James shut his laptop and slipped it back in the case. Putting their boots on, they grabbed the last box of ammo before heading out the door.

  “We get everything?” James asked as he climbed into the driver’s seat.

  “Of course we did. You already triple checked!”

  “Hey, you can never be too sure, bro.”

  They pulled out, starting down their dirt driveway, and headed to town. Twenty minutes later they stopped for fuel in Cowtown, a small settlement in the plains of eastern Montana, where they filled up and got back on the road.

  ~~~

  They arrived at their hunting camp in the heart of the ranch at noon and unloaded the truck, putting their clothes in the bunk cabin, food in the cook shack, and guns in a green Ford Expedition aptly named the Death Wagon. A little while later they were making dust fly down the bumpy dirt road to the first prairie-dog town. Pulling up to a small rise above the dog town, James parked the Death Wagon. Getting out, they grabbed their AR-15s from beside them. Their ARs were things of beauty, with collapsible buttstocks, foregrips, bipods, and attachments on the rails for flashlights. Connor’s was a Bushmaster, with a sixteen-inch barrel and a 4x32 Trijicon ACOG optic, while James’s was an S&W with a sixteen-inch barrel and 1-4x24 Vortex illuminated scope.

  They each shoved a magazine into their rifles and jacked a round into the chamber. Lying prone, they looked down at the prairie-dog town spread before them.

  “I have two spotted,” James said, “about two hundred yards out. Go to the right of the lone tree about ten yards, then down a little.”

  “Got ‘em,” Connor said before James could finish talking. “You take the one on the left and I’ll
get the one on the right. You lead.”

  James had his crosshairs resting on the vermin the whole time Connor had been talking. When Connor finished, James slowly exhaled and squeezed the trigger. The prairie dog did a backflip as the fifty-five-grain bullet collided with its body. Before the dog could land, Connor let a round fly, blowing the head off the other one.

  “Good shot!” James said, congratulating his brother. “Okay, I got another set a little farther out, three hundred yards this time. The big black hole, straight out.”

  Connor’s confirmation came a second later. “Target acquired. I’ll take point this time, same side as always.”

  Aiming through their scopes at their prospective prairie dogs, they rested their reticles on the vermin. The shots were less than a second apart, and both dogs were dead after the dust settled. They continued for the next few hours, picking out prairie dogs and blasting them. They didn’t always hit their mark, but the next time they made sure to correct their aim and not “jerk” the trigger.

  At the end of the day, back at camp, they cooked up a hearty dinner of venison. They had shot close to two hundred rounds each and killed almost as many prairie dogs. It had been a good day of hunting, and they ate while watching Shooter on the small TV at camp before going to bed.

  The next morning, they went out early to coyote hunt, killing three. During the middle of the day they were out prairie dog hunting again, as the rodents liked it when it was hot. All in all, the brothers spent a beautiful weekend at the ranch.

  On Monday, they closed camp and loaded everything back into James’s truck. They bumped along the rugged dirt road and finally made their way onto the paved road that led into town, but when they pulled into town around eight a.m. they hadn’t passed a single vehicle.

  “This is weird,” James mumbled as he drove toward Main Street, heading for the grocery store.

  Turning the corner, they gasped. The street was littered with abandoned cars. Some had crashed into buildings and others looked like they had been left in a hurry. But that wasn’t the worst of it; there were bodies—dead bodies—lying all over the street and slouched in the vehicles.

  “What the…” James said as he took in the scene.

  “What happened here?” Connor asked.

  The first body they reached was lying face down in the middle of the street. They got out of the truck, grabbing their holstered handguns and slipping them onto their belts. Slowly, they approached the body.

  “Hey? Are you okay?” James asked.

  He was bending down to examine the body when the smell hit him. It was the stench of meat rotting in the hot sun. He’d smelled it before, but only with animals, never humans.

  Connor’s training began to kick in. As a Marine he’d been trained to survive, and even though his military career had been cut short and he’d never seen combat, his instincts were still strong. He was treating this like a warzone, except something wasn’t right. If this was an attack by another country, where were all the soldiers? Or did this have something to do with all the blackouts? He couldn’t put his finger on it, but something was terribly wrong with this situation.

  James rolled the body over while Connor stayed two steps behind, hand resting on the gun at his hip.

  “Holy…” James said, covering his mouth with his hand. The corpse was bloated, with a gaping wound at his neck and a hole in his head. “He’s been here at least a day. And bro, he’s been shot in the head.”

  “We need to get back to the truck and get out of here,” Connor said with an edge to his voice. Something was definitely not right.

  “I agree,” James said, standing to follow his brother back towards the truck.

  Something groaned behind them.

  Connor began to turn around while drawing his gun, and James followed suit. There was nothing there—only the bodies scattered on the street.

  “What was that?” James asked.

  “I don’t know but—there!” Connor said, pointing to movement ten yards away. It was one of the bodies, and judging by the long black hair and delicate physique, it looked to be a woman.

  “Someone’s alive!” James cried out, running toward the woman and holstering his gun.

  Connor followed.

  The woman rolled over and began to rise on unsteady legs.

  “Don’t move! We’re coming to you!” James shouted as he closed in. He was only three steps away when he came to a sudden halt, his eyes growing wide.

  The woman was standing but shouldn’t have been. Her right leg was twisted at an impossible angle, and bone was poking through torn skin. Half of her face was so mangled he could hardly tell she was human, and the one eye James could see was pale and lifeless. She slowly started limping towards him, dragging her broken leg and groaning, reaching for him. Then the smell hit him—rotting meat. She smelled… dead.

  “What the hell!” James said, drawing his handgun and taking a few quick steps back to join his brother.

  “She isn’t what I think she is… is she?” Connor asked.

  Her groans intensified as she began picking up speed.

  “She can’t be, can she?” James asked.

  “Stop, or we’ll shoot!” Connor yelled, then turned to his brother and asked, “What do we do?”

  “Let’s drop back and figure it out. She’s not coming too fast.”

  They backed up while keeping their guns trained on her. Clearly she should be dead—they could see that—somehow she wasn’t. But she wasn’t exactly alive either.

  “She’s a… zombie,” James said. “I mean, look at her wounds. She should be dead right now.”

  “Then I guess it’s time to shoot her. I mean it. Shoot it,” Connor said.

  He’d come to terms with what she—what it—was, and he was ready to deal with it. Moving his sights from her chest to her uninjured leg, he fired. Her knee shattered and she crumpled to the ground, but she kept coming, dragging her body and useless legs behind her.

  “This is unreal,” James said.

  Connor aimed his gun at her chest and squeezed the trigger. The bullet flew out of the gun, blowing a hole in her heart. Her body shuddered with the impact but she kept coming. Finally, he aimed at her head, ready to end this. His left index finger squeezed the trigger, and her head jerked back. She fell onto her face, unmoving, blood slowly pooling on the blacktop. He lowered his gun, feeling a mix of emotions, but he pushed all those away. He would deal with them later. Right now they needed to survive.

  James shook his head. “She was a zombie! This is crazy. It’s actually happening—the zombie apocalypse.”

  “You’d better get used to it ‘cause we’re gonna be facing a lot more. And I don’t want you to freeze when I think you have my back,” Connor said a little harshly.

  His words woke James up. “Don’t worry. I would never hesitate to pull the trigger; you know that. I have your back, bro, against a person or a zombie.” He put his hand on his brother’s shoulder. “You did what you had to. Now let’s get out of here.”

  Connor sighed. His older brother knew him so well, and with just those few words he had eased most of his doubts. They quickly walked back to the truck, keeping their guns at the ready. Jumping in, James made a sharp U-turn, leaving the carnage behind. Connor reached into the backseat and pulled his AR out of the case and loaded a thirty-round magazine.

  He chambered a round and smiled at his brother, “At least we have a plan for this, right bro?”

  James couldn’t help but smile in return. “Yeah, we do.”

  It was true; they had created a farfetched plan for this, though neither thought they would actually use it one day. It had just been a joke. But now it was real, and they would put their plan into action.

  It was a simple plan, really. They would gather their remaining family, maybe a couple of close friends, and head to their remote lodge in Alaska. There, they had everything they needed to be self-sufficient, with occasional sup
ply trips into town using the bush plane Connor flew. The remoteness of the location would keep them safe from most of the zombies, and they would be able to live a somewhat normal life again, assuming everything went according to the plan, though it rarely did.

  Once on I-94 they knew for sure. This was real. Abandoned cars were scattered on both sides of the interstate, accompanied by a few bodies and, every once in a while, a walking corpse. As such, the drive home took a little longer than usual. Each absorbed in their own thoughts, they drove in silence all the way to the dirt road that led to their house.

  “So, how do you think it spreads? It has to be airborne, right? How else would it get to Cowtown?” James asked.

  “Your guess is as good as mine. We must’ve missed a lot in the last couple days. I hope the internet and cell towers still work.” Then it hit him. Their parents weren’t at home safe and sound. They were hundreds of miles away in Nebraska, visiting family. “We need to get home! Quick!”

  “On it!” James stepped on the gas, and the truck sped off down the dirt road.

  Arriving at the house, James ran inside while Connor unloaded the truck, putting everything on the porch. Inside, James took a deep breath and said a quick prayer before picking his cell phone up off the desk. He turned it on and waited while it acquired a signal. Once it found service, he quickly dialed his mom’s cell number and waited. The power worked and there was still cell coverage, but how long would that last?

  “Oh, thank God you’re okay! We’ve been so worried. We called the house earlier. We didn’t know if you boys were still at the ranch or if something had happened,” his mom, Diana, said.

  “We’re good,” James said, “We were at the ranch the whole weekend. We didn’t know anything was wrong until today. We need to be filled in, and fast.”