Shattered: Operation Z, #3

By G.D. Szepanski

Humans crave security, even during the zombie apocalypse. Something so fragile is easily shattered.

 

Big Jim Richards desires to keep everyone safe and fed. Personal relationships, Mother Nature, raiders, and flesh eating monsters all threaten to shatter the peace he has tried to maintain. Will order or chaos win during the zombie apocalypse?

 

Shattered is book three in the Operation Z series and written as a firsthand account of the zombie apocalypse. If you like fast-paced action, zombie gore, and survival thrillers, then you'll love G. D. Szepanski's third installment of this zombie apocalyptic adventure.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Greg Szepanski
• Release date: Mar 27, 2023
• ISBN: 9798215748794

Book preview

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Other Books by G. D. Szepanski

Novels

Uprising – Operation Z – Book One

Retribution – Operation Z – Book Two

Shattered – Operation Z – Book Three

Dead Summer – Operation Z Seasons – Book One

Serial Stories

Dead Summer (A Post Apocalyptic Zombie Story)

Dead Autumn (A Post Apocalyptic Zombie Story)

No Power, No Rules, No Mercy (A Post Apocalyptic EMP Story)

Novelles

Everyone Dies, A Post Apocalyptic Zombie Story in the Operation Z Series

Short Stories

Zombie Love Story and Fear

Copyright © 2023 G. D. Szepanski

All rights reserved.

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 the prior written permission of the publisher, except as permitted by U.S. copyright law. For permission requests, contact [e-mail].

The story, all names, characters, and incidents portrayed in this production are fictitious. No identification with actual persons (living, deceased, or living dead), places, buildings, and products is intended or should be inferred.

First edition 2023

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Contents

1. April

2. Dr. Elijah Eli Roberts

3. Donald Bishop

4. April

5. Big Jim Richards

6. Donald Bishop

7. Sandy Brown

8. Sean Burke

9. Sandy Brown

10. Sean Burke

11. Big Jim Richards

12. Gwen Quinn

13. Sergeant Brian Hughes

14. Daniel

15. Sergeant Brian Hughes

16. Tiffany Davis

17. Sergeant Brian Hughes

18. Tiffany Davis

19. Matthew Joseph

20. Big Jim Richards

21. April Richards

22. The Colonel

23. Natasha Ivanova

24. Matthew Joseph

Before You Go

More books by G.D. Szepanski

Chapter one

April

One Year Ago

April sensed something wasn’t right, but couldn’t figure out what. As soon as Jim left for town, the new guy, Mitch, started whispering to his buddy. She overheard something about the NUS Army, but couldn’t understand the message. A knot formed in her stomach because, they had become a bigger threat than the walking dead.

Jim asked her to stay put, but the voice inside her head screamed, get out of the bunker. She grabbed her bug out bag as she scurried toward the garage exit. Commandeering an ATV and racing down the mountain to Wheresville Valley became her sole focus. Big Jim would know what to do. As she reached the last corner before freedom, she ran straight into Mitch. Crap, not him, not now.

Where you going, sweetie?

He grabbed her arm, leaving bright red imprints of his fingers in her bare skin. April dropped the backpack, while rotating her arm in a large circle to break free from his grip.

Wow, impressive. Your bodyguard isn’t here to save you. It’s just the two of us, all alone.

The cruel smile twisting his face foreshadowed his evil intent. Mitch stepped forward, gathered her into his arms, and planted a kiss square on her lips. He pulled his head back, breaking the lip contact, and grinned.

Now, wasn’t that better than fighting? Let’s go to my room and have some fun.

April returned his smile and felt his grip slacken. She used the small amount of freedom to bend her neck back and drive her forehead square into his nose. Cartilage crunched, and the blood flowed from his now deformed appendage. He screamed, cursed, and released April. Her head spun from the force of the blow, but she blinked the darkness away. Before Mitch recovered, April delivered a knee to his groin and followed it with an elbow strike to his temple.

As Mitch collapsed into a heap, April turned and ran in the opposite direction. If she could make it to the other side of the bunker, she’d be able to use the secondary exit. This door would deposit her on the opposite side of the grounds, far away from the garage with the ATVs, but she would be free of this handsy creep. She would worry about finding a way down the mountain later. This place felt more like a prison than home after this encounter with Mitch.

She reached the interior door, threw it open, and raced up two flights of stairs toward the surface. The solid exterior door blocked her view of the tree line beyond. April paused and listened for any noises before throwing it open. No sense escaping Mitch’s threat and running into the hands of a hungry zombie. Hearing no abnormal sounds, she cracked the door and peered through the opening. Nothing living or dead crossed in front of her, so she pushed through into the cover of the woods.

The quickest way to reach the waiting ATVs would be straight across the open field. Based on Jim’s training, April knew not to cross through an open area unless you wanted to die. So, she crept through the cover of the trees, around the perimeter of the camp. Within minutes, a ruckus from the far side of camp captured her attention. She froze, looking for deeper cover. A group of approximately fifty NUS soldiers stood near the door she would have exited from if Mitch hadn’t assaulted her.

One soldier worked around the doorframe. He retreated before a roar like a clap of thunder produced a dust cloud. Then soldiers entered the underground bunker, while half remained behind. Within a few minutes, the other members of the camp appeared. The soldiers forced everyone onto their knees, as they screamed at their captives. From her position, April couldn’t make out any of the words. Mitch rose to his feet and approached a soldier. But they gunned him down without warning. She felt no grief watching him die.

The men turned their weapons toward the rest of the group and murdered them in cold blood. April gasped. She knew there wasn’t anything she could do to save them.

A flash caught April’s eye from the trailhead which led to Wheresville Valley. She wondered if she imagined it, or if Big Jim witnessed the same scene she had. Did he think April had died along with everyone else?

Fear pushed her deeper into the woods. April would take the long way around, to avoid the soldiers and any zombies wandering around the camp. Either option would mean certain death, because April only carried a knife on her belt. It looked unlikely her wish for an ATV would come true. April needed to catch up to Big Jim. A strange male voice interrupted her scattered thoughts.

Well, what we got here? What’s up, sexy?

A tall, burly man with a shaggy beard stood before her. He left his buddies to piss behind a tree. Shit! Less than five minutes alone, and she made a second error. Without Jim watching her back, each mistake might be her last. She eased back from the man and noticed he left his tool hanging out of his pants. Before the apocalypse, April had a long-term boyfriend, so she wasn’t a virgin, but she didn’t want to see this stranger’s junk.

It’s ok, baby. Come here and please me. I’ll protect you if you do.

Great, her stupidity led her straight to another apocalyptic rapist. The gun April left inside her bug out bag would be really helpful right now.

Don’t be shy. Let’s party.

Doing anything freaky with this maniac was the last thing April wanted. She needed to escape without being raped.

Hey, bitch. Let’s get on with this. I don’t want sloppy seconds.

Why had she wasted time daydreaming instead of planning a way out of this mess? He drew closer to her with his tool still hanging out of his unzipped pants. April smiled and licked her lips.

Now we’re talking, baby.

Great. She needed him to focus on something other than her hands for her impromptu plan to work.

He moved closer, staring at her chest. Perfect. She winked while taking a step closer to the pervert. Her timing had to be perfect, because he stood three inches over her and outweighed her by seventy-five pounds. There would be no way to beat him in a fair fight. Thankfully, Big Jim taught her everything she knew about the one-sided sneak attack. A sucker punch would even up the odds.

April planted her feet shoulder width apart and delivered a closed back fist to the pervert’s left cheek bone. The blow was lightning quick and perfectly placed as it shattered his maxilla bone and scrambled his brain. His momentary pause proved to be his death, because it gave April enough time to unsheathe her combat knife and shove the blade through his eyeball into his brain. One moment, he dreamed of getting lucky, and the next, he laid dead in the woods. Killing the man made the bile rise in April’s throat, but she swallowed it back down, knowing she’d have to do this again. Kill them first before they killed you. The way of the world.

She spun around, looking for any other threats. Luck finally went her way since he was alone. He must have wandered away from the other soldiers when he needed to take a piss. Thank goodness for his shy bladder.

The man had a radio clipped to his belt, a shotgun with a sling over his shoulder, and a small pack on his back. At five foot seven inches, April was tall for a female, but she struggled with the man’s dead weight as she freed the loot from his body. It took several minutes to wrestle the backpack and the shotgun from his corpse, and she sweated through her shirt from a combination of nerves and physical effort.

April retrieved her knife from his skull and wiped his blood on his jeans before she returned it to her sheath. Part of her wanted to open the pack to inventory the spoils of war, but the time for that would come later once she escaped the army for good. So she strapped the pack onto her own back and slung the shotgun over her shoulder before bolting deeper into the forest and further from the camp. Her former life of safety ended, and the time came to evade and escape or die.

As she jogged along, the radio on her belt squealed before a voice came through.

Davis, what’s your twenty?

She didn’t know who Davis was, but a knot developed in her stomach as a guess flashed through her mind. The odds seemed high she had already met him and killed him.

Davis, come in. Has anyone seen Davis?

It looked like the last person Davis ever met had been April herself. April picked up the pace because she knew they’d find the body any moment now and they weren’t stupid enough to think he died of natural causes. Old age doesn’t normally result in an enormous gaping hole through your eye socket.

Captain. I found Davis. Someone killed him and took his gear, including his radio.

Shit… Listen closely. I’m speaking to the person who killed Davis. Killing a soldier of the NUS is a capital offense. We will find you, and your death won’t be pretty. You’ll beg for the release of the grave before I grant it to you. Your best move is to surrender yourself now, and I’ll make your death quick. I will stay on this channel for five minutes waiting for your reply. Everyone else, switch to channel, Charlie.

A quick death or a slow, painful one? Neither sounded like a good option to April, and she knew engaging the man in conversation would only slow her down. If she transmitted, they might discover her location, so no sense giving them the opportunity. Best to keep moving.

Too bad she didn’t know what channel Charlie was, because eavesdropping on their conversations would benefit her. Instead, she had to rely on the lessons Big Jim taught her. No telling how long it would take to catch up to him. Had the soldiers compromised their rendezvous spot? Did Jim even know she lived through the attack? Survive today and deal with one problem at a time.

I’ll take your radio silence as your answer. We won’t leave here until you’re dead. You should have given up and made it easy on yourself.

The radio went dead after these words. April assumed he switched to channel Charlie and organized their search for the killer. If she ran toward Wheresville Valley, then she’d have a major advantage over them because she wandered the town along with her brother and boyfriend long before the start of the apocalypse. Being forced in the opposite direction by the soldiers meant she knew nothing about her destination. She would appreciate some more luck.

After more than an hour of running, good fortune blessed April again. She found a small hunting cabin, hidden in the woods. There were no signs of recent activity, but someone had kept the place up before the apocalypse. April contemplated kicking in the locked door, but then she noticed the strange rock on the front porch. When she turned it over, she found a key hidden in a small compartment underneath it. Her parents had a similar rock next to the back door of her childhood home. It allowed her or her brother to enter the house after her father drank too much and passed out. There weren’t many happy memories from her childhood.

The hinges creaked as the door swung open, revealing the open floor plan. A single door at the rear corner of the cabin closed off the bathroom from the simple living space. In the center of the room a ratty sofa sat alone on top of a musty area rug, while a worn bunk bed occupied one corner, and a spartan kitchen ran along the other wall. The grand stone fireplace filling the far wall looked out of place compared to the rest of the meager furnishings.

There were no hiding places or other occupants, so April locked the door behind her. As she secured the door, she noticed the steel inner door. It looked like a bank vault entry and she found it sealed the entrance completely. Seeing no reason not to use the extra security, she closed and locked it. Then she noticed locking metal shutters hung next to the two dirty windows. She didn’t want to be locked inside in the pitch black, but April didn’t want the NUS soldiers getting inside with her, either.

When April closed the last shutter, completely sealing off the outside, a soft glow of electric light shone down from the ceiling. No one would mistake this place for the Ritz, but she had artificial lighting, shelter, six bottles of water, and seven cans of beans in the kitchen. It was the best she could have hoped for. Too bad housekeeping didn’t clear out all the dust and the musty smell before she arrived for her stay. Then she would have left them four stars on the Howl travel app.

She slept fitfully because of the noises outside of the cabin. They might have only been members of the undead, since none of them tried to breach the cabin. April needed to get moving, but she didn’t know if the coast was clear. There wouldn’t be anyway to tell without leaving the security of the building, but she had to go because the food and water wouldn’t last long. Death from dehydration or starvation wasn’t a pleasant thought.

Every time April woke from her light sleep, the crooked deer rack above the massive stone fireplace bothered her. Before she left the cabin forever, she felt driven to straighten them out. April stood on the stone hearth and gave the antlers a small twist. A groan came from behind her and she watched a hatch open in the building's floor. Electric lights switched on, illuminating a set of stairs descending into the bowels of the Earth. All the years of watching horror movies screamed at her to not go down the steps, but curiosity got the best of April. A classic horror movie mistake.

The room at the bottom of the stairs was approximately twice the size of the cabin above. April’s father had both a drinking problem and an addiction to pornography, so she immediately recognized the purpose of this dungeon room. There were lights, cameras, bonds, and other items her mind wished to forget seeing. When she noticed the small size of the bonds in this concrete hell, a shiver went down her spine. April hoped the pervert who previously owned this place died a slow and painful death. She was about to turn and head back up the stairs, but then she noticed the door in the far wall.

This door opened into a three-car garage with two empty parking stalls. April knew little about cars, so she didn’t recognize the vehicle parked in the third stall. It looked like something a middle schooler might draw on the cover of their notebook when bored in class. A square front, a triangular top, and a pickup bed on the back. Nothing like any truck she ever saw.

When she climbed into the driver’s seat, the dash came to life. The display in front of the odd shaped steering wheel showed eighty-three percent charge, so she figured it ran on battery power. This complex received power from some unknown source and April was grateful for whoever designed it, even if they intended the place for evil purposes. She climbed out and found the umbilical cord attaching it to the wall of the garage, and disconnected the cable. April found her ticket to freedom as she punched the opener button on the wall near the roll-up door.

The trail led from the garage and down the side of the mountain to a deserted country road below. This wasn’t Wheresville Valley, so she didn’t know which way to turn. She made her best guess about where the soldiers were and turned in the opposite direction. A soft whine from under the hood and the low rumble of the big tires rolling over the pavement were the only sounds. After forty-five minutes of driving, April came to a sign which read, Welcome to Townsland, TN. With her poor upbringing and a drunk and abusive father, April hadn’t traveled to Townsland before. But she knew it had been an extremely small town. It would be a good place to stop and hide out in for a few days until the NUS Army moved on.

A town this small had little in the way of amenities. The center of town held a grocery store, hardware store, a BBQ restaurant, the town hall, and two churches. Even in a place this tiny, people couldn’t agree on religion. Everything appeared deserted except for an older Ford pickup truck parked haphazardly in the center of the road. Not wanting any company, April took the next side street and looked for a secure house to hold up in. Give the soldiers a few days, or maybe a week, and they would give up looking for her. Then she could go to the safe house and hopefully find Big Jim waiting for her. Things were looking up.

Suddenly the truck screeched to a stop on its own, because a man jumped in front of it. He stood there waving his arms frantically above his head like a madman.

Chapter two

Dr. Elijah Eli Roberts

One Year Ago

Eli wished he was a man of action instead of a man of science. He knew his way around any medical laboratory or hospital emergency room, but he knew nothing about surviving the apocalypse. Like most modern commuters, Eli relied on GPS and never learned how to read a paper map. They might as well print these maps in Greek because there’s no way to decipher them. To complicate matters, he had to dodge undead monsters while he drove. Would he ever find a safe place to stop?

They traveled for a week and Eli wished Lily would regain consciousness and take this burden from him. She led them away from the CDC and planned their escape with the precision of a Navy seal. Lily secured this musty old Ford F150 pickup, along with extra fuel and supplies, to get them to the University of Virginia Medical Research Laboratory. If she hadn’t gotten herself bitten, they would have made it to the lab by now. Eli cleaned and patched up the deep wound on her side as best he could. He kept her infection at bay with daily injections of antibiotics he stole from the CDC labs. The good news was, she hadn’t turned into a zombie yet. But she hadn’t regained consciousness for more than a minute at a time. Each time Lily opened her eyes, she showed no recognition of their situation.

Wait, hadn’t he seen that same road sign before? Exhaustion overwhelmed Eli because he feared stopping. Last time they stopped, Lily almost lost her life and he couldn’t face the world without her. He took catnaps in the truck while parked along the side of the road. They would need to stop soon before the lack of sleep drove him mad. Man needed regular rest to function and Eli approached the breaking point. Where could they rest and be safe? If only Lily would come to and tell him what to do.

The landscape turned from suburban sprawl, to farmland, and then to mountains. He realized he didn’t know where they were. Eli noticed the fuel gauge reached a quarter tank, and the area appeared