Surviving Population X: The Early Days

By Richard Tamm

Surviving Population X is a easy to read series about survivors of a zombie apocalypse. The Early Days is the first book in the SPX Series and features the stories of two groups surviving the first few days of the zombie attacks in Indiana.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Richard Tamm
• Release date: Dec 9, 2014
• ISBN: 9781311441041

Richard Tamm

I was born December of 1979. I currently live in a hole in the wall city in Indiana. I have a wonderful family and children that I adore.

Book preview

Surviving Population X:

The Early Days

By Richard Tamm

Copyright 2014 Richard Tamm

Smashwords Edition

This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This eBook may not be re-sold. If you would like to share this book with another person, please do so. However, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you are reading this book and didn’t purchase it, then please return to your favorite eBook retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting and supporting the hard work of this author.

This is a work of fiction. References to real people, events, establishments, organizations, or locales are intended only to provide a sense of authenticity, and are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events, locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental and isn’t to be construed as real.

Table of Contents

Title Page

Excerpts

Authors Notes

Chapter 1 ~ Chapter 2 ~ Chapter 3

Chapter 4 ~ Chapter 5 ~ Chapter 6

Chapter 7 ~ Chapter 8 ~ Chapter 9

Chapter 10 ~ Chapter 11 ~ Chapter 12

Chapter 13 ~ Chapter 14 ~ Chapter 15

Chapter 16 ~ Chapter 17

About the Author

More Books by Author

Contact the Author

Excerpts

Authors Notes

I have spent a great deal of my life wanting to be an author. I started writing for personal entertainment when I was in high school and have always wanted to do something more.

I made it a new year’s resolution to finish at least one book before they year 2014 ended. This is that book.

I decided on a zombie novel which in turn decided itself to be a series. I am a big fan of the zombie genre. I hope this and the following books are a valued contribution to that genre.

I hope you enjoy The Early Days

Richard Tamm

Chapter One

Flynn was sitting high above the ground on the porch of a small shack built on the limbs of a large tree. He kept his eyes focused on the land below him, constantly scanning the woods for movement. His ears alert, listening to the sounds all around him.

He leaned back in the small wooden chair against the front wall of the shack. A cigarette was hanging from his lips. To his left on the porch was a ladder attached to the platform to allow access to and from the tree shack. To his right was a scoped rifle leaning against the wall and a small blue cooler with a pair of binoculars lying on top.

A cool early morning breeze found its way through the branches surrounding him. The fresh smell of pine needles relaxed him as his eyes combed the fields. He continued the same pattern as he looked from the right to the left.

He started at the tree line to his far right. Multicolored trees lined the ends of the fields. The reds and oranges mixed with the dark green of the pine trees covered the edges. He moved his head to the left watching over the recently cut cornfields. His eyes were always watching the far end of the fields. He was watching the trees for movement.

Flynn started to turn his head back to the right when his eyes landed on the house and barns almost in the center of the property. The property that his father passed down to him. The land that has been in his family for over 200 hundred years.

The sun began to rise over the treetops. The light began to heat up the moist dew covered ground. The heat of the rising sun caused a steam to rise. He watched as a thin layer of fog began to form. His thoughts drifted in the moment. The relaxing view, the sweet smell of pine, the birds waking up and chirping throughout the woods. The moment he was in, calm and relaxing, made all his worries fade away.

He looked again at the woods to his right. The trees were thin and all close together. There were several paths leading through the woods. Some paths made by him and his relatives, some by animals coming to find food in the fields. The ground sloped downwards into a ravine with several clearings. Deeper into the woods there is a medium sized lake surrounded by small trees and bushes.

Flynn sat the chair back on all four legs. He leaned forward, crossed his arms, and relaxed them on the railing of the porch. The shack up in the tree wasn’t very big. At most, it was eight foot by five foot. There was a small slanted roof made of sheet metal to keep the rain from coming in. There were three small holes cut out as windows, one on each wall. The windows were about a foot wide and a foot tall.

He reached down without looking and fumbled around for his binoculars on the cooler. Flynn placed them to his face and looked far across the field. He fixed his eyes on an almost identical setup in a tree opposite of him.

There was a husky man sitting in a wicker chair. His feet were propped on the railing. His hat pulled over his eyes. The only visible part of his face was a neatly shaven beard. He was asleep. Flynn shakes his head and places a finger to his ear, pressing a small button on his hear piece. Kurt, he said, You see anything yet?

The sudden sound of his cousin’s voice in his ear startled Kurt, and he jumped. He was quick to sit up and fix his hat properly on his head. What’s that you say? he asked. Flynn could see him scramble around trying to wake up from his nap.

Nothing, he started to reply, still watching his cousin scramble, trying not to laugh. You feel better now that you got a nap in? He watched as Kurt reached for his binoculars and looked over the field back at him. Flynn lifted his left arm and sent a friendly wave to his cousin, now watching him from his tree shack.

Have you seen anything yet cousin? Kurt asked after he got his head together. Both were still watching each other over the large open fields between them.

The land in this area was primarily corn. The cousins would leave some of the corn in the field when they harvested each fall. The corn left behind was scattered to attract the many animals scavenging for food.

Nothing yet. Flynn replied, his attention had left his cousin and moved towards the direction of the house.

There was a large white two-story house surrounded by freshly cut grass. The back of the house had a large porch that wrapped around the side and lead to the front of the house. There were three barns of different sizes behind the house. One was smaller and the other two were much larger size. There was a tall windmill with dark black glass hanging from the sides.

The front of the house had a long driveway leading to the dirt and gravel mixed road. The road was thin, hardly big enough for a single truck to drive down. There wasn’t much traffic in the area so the road didn’t get very much use.

On the left side of the house sat a building made of aluminum and glass. There was a slight green tint to the sheets of glass. There was a set of doors on both sides of the glass building. Outside there was a well pump that sat diagonal from the door about ten feet.

Flynn continued to scan the grounds. His eyes were back focusing on the woods to his right. He glanced down and looked at his pocket watch, an heirloom, passed through the generation of men in his family. It was 8:00. If his father were still alive, they would be placing dishes in the sink, putting on their Sunday’s best, and heading to church.

His father died nearly eight years ago in an accident. They were on their way to church.

Since the accident, Flynn and his cousin spent Sundays up in the trees hunting. He had discussed going back to church with his cousin, listening to the preacher discuss the Bible. Life felt so much easier without the feeling of guilt. They had agreed it was better to be out here, in the woods, than stuffed into the little building with the people who only turn their noses up at them.

The wind began to pick up again bringing in a cool and refreshing breeze that calmed him. Flynn drew in a deep breath through his nose. Letting the chilled air fill his lungs and the sweet aroma of the woods fill his soul. He released the breath and all his worries and cares left with it as he blew the air from his mouth.

Flynn lowered his head and looked at his boots. The mud caked to the sides had dried and was flaking off onto the platform. He closed his eyes thinking of his father, remembering the stories he would tell him of his grandfather. How the two of them would sit out in the woods. How they would ask God to bring a deer to cross their path.

Flynn closed his eyes and began to pray.

Flynn, the familiar voice came in his ear. Flynn, to you’re right.

Flynn lifted his head from between his knees and turned to look at the tree line. Walking out of the woods was a small doe, her light brown fur still speckled with small white spots. Her bright white neck and chest shined in the light. She walked out, pushing at the empty husks scattered around on the ground with her nose. She was searching for something to eat. The deer in the area knew there was food here.

Several apple trees grew just past the tree line. The corn left behind by the cousins. There was plenty of food to go around. So much food that it lured animals in through the entire winter.

She is too young, Flynn said back. Let’s just watch her and see if her parents decide to join her. The woods were thick. The doe’s family could have been just two or three feet inside the woods. The trees and brush were too thick to tell.

Flynn moved his hunting rifle closer to the railing. He leaned it against the vine-covered wood. Looking down at his cooler, he opened it slowly and grabbed a bottle of iced tea. The morning sun had brought a feeling of warmth. The swig of tea rolled over his tongue and quenched his growing thirst.

The woods were silent. The sounds of birds had vanished. They sat in near silence. The only sounds were the shuffling of the husks on the ground that the doe was pushing along. Flynn sat and watched the doe, paying attention to her every movement. The sight of such a beautiful creature amazed him, even though he had seen it hundreds of times.

The doe lifted her head, her ears turned forward, and she was still. Flynn popped in his seat not making a sound. Trying to hear whatever it was she just heard. He sat patiently, listening to the sounds of the woods. There was nothing but the rustling sound of leaves from the trees. He leaned forward with both elbows resting on the rail. What did she hear? he whispered to himself.

The does head popped straight up. Her clean white neck and chest was in a perfect line. Her ears were shooting back and forth listening. Then she was gone. She turned abruptly and darted back off into the trees. The sounds of her crashing through the branches echoed back through the field.

What the hell happened? Kurt asked through the earpiece. He was standing with his binoculars scanning the tree line, trying to get a sight on anything that may have spooked her.

Flynn didn’t answer he only sat in silence. He was listening to the sounds of the woods. Trying to see if the panicked doe was the only thing making noise. Was there something out here? He sat wondering. What scared that delicate little animal? I don’t know, he finally said, his eyes were firmly closed, trying to focus on every sound around him. I wish I knew.

The sun was at its highest point in the sky. The fog had lifted hours ago and the heat began to radiate in the air. The sky was mostly clear, there were just a few puffy white clouds floating above, moving ever so slow.  The breezes turned from chilled to warm as they blew freely through the treetops.

Flynn leaned back again resting his folded arms over his chest. His eyes were still focused on where the doe darted back into the woods. He was still thinking of possible reasons for the doe to jolt back into the woods as she did. He was still trying to figure out why he hadn’t heard anything loud enough to spook her.

There may have been an unfamiliar scent in the air. Something he himself couldn’t smell, something that she picked up and it scared her. Whatever the case may have been, she didn’t like it at all.

From the corner of his eye, he caught movement. Fast movement. There were loud cracks of branches, leaves rustling on the ground. He quickly looked towards to tree line. A large buck came sprinting through the trees, jumping over the branches tangled together at the tree line. Kurt, he said quickly into the mic.

Kurt who was alerted and was now standing on the edge of his porch holding his rifle, looked down his scope. Just as the buck landed and started to pick up speed again, another leaped out from the woods. He too was running fast, never missing a step.

Flynn reached for his rifle. He pressed the butt tight into the meat just above his armpit and left of his shoulder. He looked down the scope and watched the second buck as it sprinted across the open field. I got number one. Said the voice coming through his earpiece.

Crack! The sound of Kurt’s rifle echoed through the open span of farmland. The buck he was watching jumped startled from the loud sound billowing through the air. He took a deep breath, holding in the warm air. He could taste the pine needles as if his mouth was full of them. The buck jumped again. In the scope, Flynn could see that Kurt’s buck was lying in its path and before its hooves hit the ground, a single round from the 30-30 Flynn was holding in his hand hit it.

The buck dropped, landing just under a foot away from the one Kurt took down moments before the shot rang out from Flynn’s rifle. He still looked down his scope. If the buck decided to get up, he wanted to make sure it wouldn’t make it further than another foot or two.

That was a nice shot. Flynn heard his cousin’s voice in his ear again. A smile crept its way onto his face. It was a nice shot he thought, a nice clean kill.

Thanks, he replied. I have to say you took down a beauty too.

*** ***

Don’t you find it strange how they just sprinted out into the open like that?

Yeah, Kurt replied. Normally they just sneak out and sniff around.

I was thinking the same. They never run out into the open unless something spooked them.

The cousins began to load the deer onto their quads. Using rope to tie them down, to make sure they are secure. The ride to the house wasn’t far, but they wanted to ensure they wouldn’t have to pick these heavy animals from the ground again.

While they loaded them, they discussed the strangeness of it all. Why the doe ran off into the woods and why the others ran out from them.

It didn’t take long for them to arrive at the barn where there was thick rope already hanging from the rafters. This part of the barn is