Plague Z: Last Hope - Vol. 3: Plague Z, #3

By Luke Shephard

Volume Three of the Plague Z series! 

Siblings Alexi and Irina are on the run from the dangers of Plague Z, a horrific new disease that seems to be terrorizing city after city, all around the world. Everywhere they think is safe one minute, becomes an infected disaster zone the next. And the infected are changing, becoming smarter, more dangerous. 

Alexi and Irina are lost, scared, and hopeless. Until they meet a mysterious stranger who claims to have some knowledge. He claims to have answers. He certainly has big ideas…but can they possibly be true?

Should the siblings trust this shady stranger, who seems to know so much…or should they try to survive alone? 

All they can hope for is that freedom and a cure waits for them... 

NOTE: This is the third volume of Plague Z, a serial novel. There will be cliffhangers, and Zombies, from one installment to the next. Read at your own risk...or delight. 
 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Roja Publishing
• Release date: Jan 19, 2016
• ISBN: 9781516337453

Luke Shephard

Luke Shephard est né et a grandi dans l’Orégon, où vous pouvez encore le trouver à imaginer des histoires ou à se perdre dans les parcs et les espaces verts. En plus de l’écriture, l’auteur a vécu à divers endroits comme l’Espagne, l’Allemagne et la Corée du Sud où il a exercé le métier de professeur. Il vit maintenant avec sa femme, son fils et un grand danois qui adore le beurre d’arachides. Inscrivez-vous à la liste d’envoi de Luke pour être informé de toute nouvelle publication et des ventes spéciales (en anglais seulement) : http://eepurl.com/AW2wX Pas de pourriels, c’est promis!

Book preview

Plague Z: Last Hope – Vol. 3

Siblings Alexi and Irina are on the run from the dangers of Plague Z, a horrific new disease that seems to be terrorizing city after city, all around the world. Everywhere they think is safe one minute, becomes an infected disaster zone the next. And the infected are changing, becoming smarter, more dangerous.

Alexi and Irina are lost, scared, and hopeless. Until they meet a mysterious stranger who claims to have some knowledge. He claims to have answers. He certainly has big ideas...but can they possibly be true?

Should the siblings trust this shady stranger...or try to survive alone?

All they can hope for is that freedom and a cure waits for them...

Chapter 1 - Alexi

It’s not possible. There is no way that those things can talk, Irina. They are dead! Most of them can barely move faster than a drunken stumble. My sister’s announcement that the infected could talk was baffling to me. She had clearly been under a lot of stress and maybe it was all starting to get to her.

No, I heard him. He spoke. She gestured out of the door beside her. Her hands were shaking so bad that if she had been trying to write it would have looked like the scribbles of a toddler.

I put my hand on her shoulder to try and calm her, but she flinched at my touch. She was wound so tightly right now that the slightest things were going to set her off. Irina, they aren’t people anymore. You remember that, right? It’s not a ‘he’ anymore. It’s just one of the infected. I tried to rationalize with her, calm her down.

How can they speak? Are there different types of the infection here? What is making these ones different? It was like she hardly heard me and just kept speaking to herself.

I snapped my fingers in front of her face and she startled. It got her to focus on me though, which was what I needed. Can you stand? We need to move.

She nodded at me and then used the wall to support her as she climbed to her feet. She was still shaking like someone detoxing from their favorite drug, but she seemed able to walk. Just scared.

I looked out through the hole in the door. There was a shadow moving around and fighting off the zombies. I couldn’t see anything about the features, but based on the stature, I assumed it was a male, somewhere close to our age. There were no more gunshots since he was using a short blade to do the job. I couldn’t help but watch him as he hacked off the heads of the walking dead outside.

Irina slowly shifted towards me so that she could see out, too. I nudged her over, not wanting her to see the violence. I wasn’t sure if it would frighten her more than she already was. It wasn’t long before the person stood up; all of the infected that were around him were... defeated. It was hard to say that they were dead, since they were already dead before. I stayed silent behind the door, still watching.

The man looked over in our direction and I dropped below the opening in the door. I wasn’t sure if he would kill us too if he found us. I knew nothing about this shadow figure, so I just had to assume that he wasn’t going to be friendly. His feet crunched in the gravelly dirt as he approached the building where we were hiding. I shooed Irina to go hide behind the bar. Maybe he would not notice her and spare her. She went and hid while I moved to the side of the door, my back to the wall.

There was a soft rapping on the door and a face peered through. Hello, anybody home? There was some humor in his voice. You can come out, you know. He turned his face to the side and found where I was standing.

I drew my gun level with his face and in my calmest voice told him, Step inside and close the door. I couldn’t know if he still had his gun on him and I couldn’t take any chances. Yes, my gun was empty, but he didn’t know that. Maybe I could bluff my way through the situation.

He slowly closed the door behind him, with his hands held up at eye level. They were empty, free of any weapons. I could see that the knife he had been using to slay the infected was tucked into his belt. He could grab it if he needed, but he was trying to be non-threatening. Unfortunately, there was no way I wasn’t going to feel threatened by him and cautious about his presence. It was clear that he was capable of harming and killing, so I couldn’t let my guard down.

Easy there, mate. There’s no reason to be holding a gun to my head. I’m not going to hurt you. He had a strange accent that I couldn’t place. It must have been a combination of multiple things.

I’m sorry to say that I’m not going to lower this gun unless you take all of your weapons and place them on the floor. He didn’t even hesitate to start removing the knife slowly from his belt and the gun that was strapped to his lower back. Now, kick them over here. The man continued to follow my instructions.

Feel better? His voice actually didn’t contain much sarcasm like that question would normally hold.

Well enough. Who are you?

I’m a local here. I don’t live that far away.

Do you have a name? I couldn’t hide the irritation from my voice. It was a simple question I asked him and he had found a strange way to go about evading it.

There was a brief hesitation before he responded, I don’t think I should tell you that quite yet.

And why is that?

I probably shouldn’t run around telling my name and my life’s story to people that are quick to aim a gun at my head. The look he gave me was quirky and only vaguely suspicious.

I sighed and lowered the gun to my side, still keeping my finger on a trigger that wouldn’t do me any good if it came down to it. Will it help if I tell you my name?

It might. He gave me a lopsided smile.

Alexi.

Nice to meet you, Alexi. And please, tell your traveling companion that she can come out of hiding. I have no intention of hurting any survivors. Only those infected.

Irina slowly stood up from behind the bar, both of her hands raised at eye level.

Come over here and join us, honey. Nothing’s going to happen.

The hair on the back of my neck prickled at his words. I didn’t like the way he tried to familiarize with her right off the bat. It reeked of a false sense of security. I shouldn’t have trusted him even a little.

Irina dropped her hands and came to stand beside me. Her shoulders, I could tell, were tight with tension. This is Irina. My sister.

The strange guy smiled in full. It’s lovely to meet you, Irina. He had lowered the tone of his voice, perchance in an attempt to be soothing.

Did you get them all? She didn’t waste any time asking the unimportant questions.

Yes. They are all taken care of.

What if more come? There was a flicker of fear in her eyes as she asked.

Well, then we might have a small problem since your brother has confiscated my weapons. And your gun has no bullets, he said to me.

My eyes widened a little. How did you know?

If there were any in there, I’m sure you would have come out to help me. That or you are just heartless, which I don’t think is true.

I couldn’t argue with his logic. I was also glad he didn’t see me as heartless. The gun got tucked into the back of my pants. There was no sense in keeping it out if he knew it wasn’t capable of harming him.

Irina came back again with her questions. How did you learn to fight like that?

He shrugged before he replied. I did martial arts when I was little, so I’ve always been fast. It was part of the training. My dad taught me how to shoot, too. I’ve been around guns almost my whole life. Just took everything and mixed it together.

And how did you know how to kill them? She was really not letting him off the hook easily.

Same as you, I’d figure. Trial and error. If they get back up, clearly it didn’t work. That and having basic zombie knowledge from books and movies.

Irina just nodded and didn’t press anything else. I doubted she was out of questions, however. Just biding her time and saving them for later.

We should get going soon, though. I don’t think they are going to try a sneak attack, but it would not hurt to be somewhere secure before we continue our discussion.

I huffed lightly. I would really like to know your name before we agree to go anywhere with you.

Of course, the man smiled. My name is Carlos. No last name. If I told you that, I’d have to kill you. He winked at Irina, turned and headed for the door. My car is parked around back of the hotel. Let me get that and I will come around to meet you. It’s not a long drive to my place.

Is it safe? I had to ask.

It’s kept me alive this long, he said with a vague amount of cheekiness. Go get in your car and sit tight. I’ll be around shortly. He popped out of the door before I could say anything else to him.

Chapter 2 -