Open World Spawn: ZPOCALYPTO - A World of GAMELAND Series, #14

By Saul Tanpepper

EPISODE 14

With time running out, both on the island and in the rest of New Merica, Jessie races to fix the codex. If she fails, millions will die and millions more will reanimate. But with the minutes quickly ticking away, it'll take the combined efforts of more than just one plucky young woman to bring down the most powerful company in the world and wrestle its grip from their throats. With the bodies piling up, Jessie must do what she's most loathe to do, even if it comes at a steep price.

This 14th and final episode of the ZPOCALYPTO series includes the second part of INFECTED - HACKED FILES FROM THE GAMELAND ARCHIVE:

Includes a timeline of key events, character watchlist, and glossary of key terms, as well as insights into the history of Reanimation technology and maps of post-outbreak Long Island.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Brinestone Press
• Release date: Nov 7, 2023
• ISBN: 9798223975946

Saul Tanpepper

Subscribe for new releases & exclusive deals/giveaways: tinyletter.com/SWTanpepper Saul Tanpepper is the specfic pen name of author Ken J. Howe, a PhD molecular biologist and former Army medic and trauma specialist.  Titles include: The post-apocalyptic series GAMELAND (recommended reading order): - Golgotha (prequel, optional) - Episodes 1-4 - Velveteen (standalone novella, optional) - Episodes 5-8 - Infected: Hacked Files From the Gameland Archive (insights for the avid GAMELAND fan) - Jessie's Game #1: Signs of Life - A Dark and Sure Descent - Jessie's Game #2: Dead Reckoning Post-apocalyptic series BUNKER 12 - Contain - Books 2-4 (coming soon) International medical thriller serial THE FLENSE (a BUNKER 12 companion series) - CHINA: Books 1-3 - ICELAND: Book 1-3 - AFRICA: Books 1-3 - TBA Short story collections: Shorting the Undead & Other Horrors Insomnia: Paranormal Tales, Science Fiction, and Horror Visit him at tanpepperwrites.com

Book preview

Episode 14

OPEN WORLD SPAWN

Chapter 1

FOR IMMEDIATE TRANSMISSION

FROM: Qi Jacque Ma, Chairman and Founder, Abalila HG

TO: Padraig Harrison, President, Arc Properties

DATE: September 18, 2043

SUBJECT: RE: Gameland - Long Island

Dear Mister Harrison;

Abalila HG is fully committed to bringing The Game to our market of over three billion viewers and four hundred million avid gamers. Our offer will hold for the next seventy-two hours. However, should we not receive confirmation within that time, we must assume you are no longer interested in pursuing discussions, and the Board will rescind its offer for syndication.

(signed)

Qi Jacque Ma

Chapter 2

As soon as she emerges from the creek bed, her clothes soaking wet with morning dew and her exposed skin covered in scratches from the razor-sharp raspberry brambles, Doctor White sets off down the road at a quick pace without waiting for the boys. But driven by adrenaline, Kelly and Reggie are easily able to keep up. They’re just as eager to leave the fungus- and mold-covered undead they’d just escaped from behind.

Golden-white shafts of sunlight stab through the canopy overhead, glinting off the gossamer wings of a thousand dragonflies roused by their warming rays. Swarms of gnats hover over the dripping roadside brush, lifting with the air currents. The hazy clouds roll slowly toward the trio, as if drawn to them by gravity. Reggie bats futilely at them to keep them away from his face. Tiny purple butterflies dance over delicate wildflowers that have battled for foothold at the inhospitable fringes of the road. And a seemingly endless supply of leaves rains down upon them, dislodged by the morning’s gentle breeze in the treetops high overhead. This long forsaken abandoned wasteland has become a living, breathing paradise of life. But because of the constant risk posed by the dead, the trio of invaders does not stop to enjoy the beauty of the place.

Their attention is focused instead on the menacing shadows and the whispered threats hiding behind the tattered and tangled drapes of mossy vines.

Nearly two miles from where they’d crawled out, the forest comes to an abrupt end, spitting them out onto a broad, elevated plateau overlooking gently rolling hills. It’s as if some giant had come along decades before and scraped away with its giant hoe, leaving only a few scattered stumpy trees. This was once a golf course! Kelly exclaims, stepping over an ancient paved path now all but invisible beneath a thick matt of leaves and sticks. The fairway is badly overgrown with wild grasses and in places looks to have turned marshy. The air is filled with the raucous croaks of a million tiny frogs. Off to the right is a slightly raised hillock, its top sliced flat. The white sand of a trap peeks through a decade’s worth of accumulated detritus. The putting green is now home to a city of gophers.

Doctor White points to the far end and warns them to keep an eye out.

Cart path or fairway, Reggie asks. Neither is optimal; both hold their risks.

Fairway, Kelly decides. Right down the center. Too many trees along the cart path.

Grass is really tall, Reggie counters. It’s going to be hard to see.

They’re more likely to be hiding in the trees.

Kelly’s right, White says. Better line-of-sight from the fairway, and more time to respond if something comes after us. She steps off the cart path and strides down the fairway as if she’s just made a two-hundred-yard drive.

I’m starting to think she doesn’t like me, Reggie mutters.

Don’t take it so hard, man.

Who says I am?

The mansions lining the golf course stand in stoic, dignified decrepitude. More than a few have been reduced to crumbling mounds of blackened timber. Others, after little more than a good power washing and some yard care, would look as pristine as the day they were build, their white walls, black shutters, and gleaming windows defiantly resisting neglect. I bet you some of those places have all kinds of food in them, Reggie offers.

We’re not scavenging here, White announces. We shouldn’t need much food anyway, if we keep up a steady pace. Besides, I know a better place.

They encounter their first horde of undead on the eighth tee. Reggie tries to make a joke about the hazards, but no one gets it. At least no one laughs. He sinks back into a smoldering silence.

They pull up and wait. The shambling corpses number roughly fifty in all. They’re heading down a well-trodden path across the fairway, as if they’re the gallery of some infernal tournament replaying the same shot day after day.

Damn, Kelly mutters, when a part of the horde peels off and starts heading in their direction.

Reggie pulls out his machete. He flexes his fingers to work the stiffness out of them. Kelly had bandaged the hand after their climb out of the creek, but it still throbs from the injury he’d sustained stumbling along the rocky shore early that morning. He tells himself pain is just a state of mind. Adrenaline courses through his body. Colors brighten; sounds grow keener.

But Doctor White pushes his arm down to his side. She tells him to wait. Finally, when the splinter group gets to within twenty feet of them, she lifts an arm. There’s a buzz, and the dead drop without a sound.

EM gun? Reggie whispers. Really? You want to tell us what else you’ve got stashed away in that pack?

Just be grateful.

We could’ve taken them on.

And the noise would’ve drawn the rest right back to us. Doctor White shakes her head. I’d rather not waste time and energy if it can be helped.

You mean you’d rather we don’t kill them twice, Reggie chuffs. This mission of yours to find your daughter is going to get us killed. How do you even hope to find her? How do you know she hasn’t been twice—

Reggie, Kelly warns.

She turns to face him, her lips pressed angrily together. I know exactly where my daughter is, she hisses. I don’t need to go looking for her among the rest of the infected.

Reggie steps toward her, irritated. I just need to know you’ll be able to let us do what’s needed if we have to, because I ain’t sticking my neck out for you or some dead girl, if it means endangering me and Kelly and Jessie.

The two stare at each other for several seconds, until Kelly clears his throat. No one’s going to stand in anyone’s way of anything.

The second horde they encounter, just outside the clubhouse, is quite a bit larger than the first. It, too, is moving in the same general direction as the previous one. This time, Doctor White stops and frowns.

Something’s off, Kelly says, giving voice to the unsettled worries in all of their minds. It’s like they’re...

Like they’re herding or something, Reggie finishes.

Or hearing something we can’t hear.

They don’t hear.

"They hear and they see," White tells them matter-of-factly.

That’s not what we learned in school.

Yeah, well your teachers are wrong. About everything. You can thank Arc for that. They’ve been waging a carefully crafted misinformation campaign since before the war.

Seems like that’s all adults know how to do is lie and manipulate.

Now’s not the time, Kelly says, and gives his head a slight shake.

What? Like she’s always been honest with you?

She’s not Arc.

And why are you defending her? She used Jessie— your wife, remember?

Can we just drop it?

Reggie shrugs. Sure thing, brah. I’m only here for one reason, and that’s to find Jessie. Everything else is just a side quest, and I ain’t doing side quests.

The clubhouse is locked up as tight as a drum, but Doctor White manages to break in without making too much noise. Is this where she is? Reggie asks, when it becomes clear to him that this was a planned stop. But she gives him a dark look and doesn’t answer. She heads straight for the kitchen, where she raids the storeroom for bottles of water and snacks and advises them to do the same. Carry only what you need for the day. Passing a door marked MEETING ROOM, they hear scraping sounds coming from the other side. She ignores it and tells them it’s time to leave. Five minutes later, they’re back outside and heading south again.

So, she’s... somewhere else? Reggie asks.

Yes.

Okay, are you going to tell us where??

Home, is all she offers, before once more setting off at a brisk pace.

They reach the town of Woodbury late in the afternoon, just as the sun is starting to settle onto the western skyline and the shadows are stretching out long and thin like warm taffy. They know they’re close to the Gameland wall, although they can’t see it yet because of the trees. Nor can they feel it, since the Stream is still off. But they remember passing through this part of the town very soon after breaking into the arcade that day weeks ago.

A lacy fog has begun to form, and it settles in odd pockets and forms eerie wisps that hover just off the ground. It gives Reggie the creeps. And as the mist grows heavier and the evening deepens, he becomes more anxious. Darkness means the dead will soon be coming out of their hiding places, and the fog will only hasten their appearance. He raises the issue, but Doctor White ignores him. She shows no indication of stopping anytime soon. He does notice, however, that her pace quickens.

She’s going to get us killed, Reggie mutters to Kelly.

They’re on a maple-lined street. The leaves are already turning yellow and red. We’re good, Kelly says, but his body language suggests otherwise. He carefully watches every corner and hiding place they pass.

You know I don’t give a crap about her daughter, Reggie says. Personally, I think she’s insane for thinking about bringing her back.

That’s because you’re not a parent.

Yeah, you’re right. I’m not, so I’m able to think clearly.

It’s none of our business.

It’s my business if we get into a situation and she can’t kill any of them. It puts us all at risk.

I think she’d rather not, that’s all. I don’t think it means she can’t. Or won’t.

She acts like they’re still real people. All of them.

You can’t see one of them as still real, like her daughter, and not the rest.

They’re dead; they’re not, like, patients or something. It’s twisted to think otherwise. It’s even worse that you believe everything she says.

I don’t, I just try not to judge her.

Good old middle-of-the-road Kelly.

They carry on in silence for several minutes before Kelly asks, You really don’t?

I don’t what?

Think there’s still a chance they’re still in there somewhere? What if they are and it were possible to bring back the dead? Wouldn’t we have an obligation to—

It’s fucking loco to think that way, brah, okay? The girl’s been dead for twelve years. There’s nothing left of her.

Not so loud, Kelly hisses. But Doctor White has extended her lead. She’s now a couple hundred feet ahead of them. They watch her turn left at the next intersection and disappear down a side street. We better hurry and catch up to her, Kelly says, starting to jog.

Okay, Reggie says, matching his pace. Forget the part about whether they’re still in there somewhere. What if it doesn’t work? No, screw that. Let’s say they aren’t in there; they’re gone, no soul, no self awareness, nothing. What if it does work, and she brings her daughter back. What then? What will she have brought back?

Kelly shrugs.

Do you believe it’ll work?

I don’t know what to think. I know she’s managed to keep my brother alive all these years and now says he’s cured. So, yes, I think it’s possible she might actually know a thing or two. Is it so bad to want to believe her? Think of all those people we could save.

But we’re talking about the already-dead, brah. They’re gone. Their... Their souls, man, they’re long gone.

She says they’re still in there. As long as their bodies haven’t— He stops himself, not sure whether he understands any of it, or even truly believes. I guess we’ll find out, one way or another.

Reggie chuffs. Yeah, that’s what scares me. We’ll find out they’re soulless shells. Don’t know about you, brah, but that scares the piss out of me even more than the undead.

Okay, but aren’t you even just a little curious?

You know what I’m curious about? What it was like before Reanimation tech. What it would be like if my parents didn’t have to worry anymore about anything. I’m curious about what it’s like to live in Europe. Or Australia. I most definitely am not curious about whether we can bring the undead back to life.

They arrive at the corner. Doctor White’s about halfway down the street to the next intersection, still striding along without a backward glance.

Like I said, you’re not a parent, Kelly says.

"Okay, I get it. I feel fucking horrible that her little girl was infected. Is infected. It’d be fucking awesome if she could somehow fix that, bring her back to the way she was before she died. But I don’t see it happening that way. Do you? It was twelve years ago, man. I mean, just think about that."

Kelly stops and regards Reggie. Right now, all I’m thinking about is finding Jessie.

Are you, though?

Yes.

Then why aren’t we going after her instead? Why are we following this crazy woman?

Go then, Kelly says. I’ll follow.

Reggie frowns. You don’t have a clue where she is, do you? You’re just buying time until you can come up with a plan.

We can’t track her until the Stream comes back on.

"If it comes back on." Reggie shakes his head derisively.

It will. It has to.

Jesus, Kel. You’re still waiting for someone to tell you what to do. Well, I’m telling you now.

Kelly’s face hardens. He starts off again without answering.

Reggie watches him walk off. Sometimes he just wishes he could understand what’s going on inside his friend’s mind. But before he can follow after him, Kelly stops. He’s reached the intersection and is staring off into the distance in confusion.

What is it? Reggie asks. He runs over. The intersecting street ahead of them is empty.

Damn it, Kelly mutters.

She gave us the slip? Reggie chuffs. Now what, genius?

Chapter 3

Kelly spins around, as if hoping his eyes had deceived him earlier and Doctor White actually went in the opposite direction. But of course she’s not there. A moment later, a scream pierces the air. It rises, peaks, and then fades away.

Holy fuck, where’d that come from? Reggie cries, scanning the houses in the direction they’d seen Doctor White go.

Kelly grabs Reggie’s arm, silencing him. There’s movement in the shadows, telling him the scream has already alert the dead. He can’t even call Doctor White without drawing their attention.

We gotta move, brah, Reggie whispers. He starts to turn and sees more of them lurching in their direction. Too late. He pulls the machete out of his belt.

A figure flies out through the door of the house they’re standing in front of and stumbles down the porch steps toward them. The sound of the door slamming against the wall ricochets off the silent houses across the street and makes both boys jump. She’s gone! Doctor White wails. Her face is streaked with tears. Cassie! My daughter’s gone!

Jesus Christ! Reggie hisses. She’s going to—

Look out! Kelly shouts at her. She doesn’t see the infected undead emerging from the overgrown bushes beside the porch. She cries out her daughter’s name again and stumbles out to the street. She sees the boys and heads in their direction, still yelling.

Crap, Reggie says. He runs straight for her. Then, right as she reaches out for him, he swerves at the last moment, flying past her, and swings at the dead man. The top of its skull lifts away, spins across the yard like a Frisbee, and clatters onto the neighbor’s driveway. A grayish green powder puffs out of the opened skull, right into Reggie’s face. He backs away, coughing and sputtering.

The walking corpse takes another step before dropping.

I fucking hate the dried up ones, Reggie says, retching. They taste like Brussels sprouts.

Kelly grabs his arm. He’s already got Doctor White with his other hand and is trying to pull her back toward the house she’d just left. But she just collapses where she stands and buries her face in her hands. He tries to lift her up, and she’s dead weight. We need to get inside. Now! There are too many here!

Reggie beheads the next undead, then reaches down and tucks her under his arm. She doesn’t even seem aware of the boys or the dead now zeroing in on them.

Front door’s blocked!

This way, Reggie grunts, and heads for the side of the house, where he’d noticed a second door. It’s locked, but all it takes is a stiff tug and he’s got it open. They’re in the garage. He sets Doctor White down on the floor and leans her against a car. Check inside, he snaps, after Kelly’s secured the door they just used. He points toward the back corner of the darkened garage. Beyond the inner door is a hallway leading into the house.

All right, stay here with her, Kelly says. I’ll be right back.

He’s gone for a couple minutes. It feels like an eternity to Reggie, but he can hear Kelly opening and shutting doors and, more importantly, no worrying shouts, so he knows Kelly’s okay. Meanwhile, Doctor White is still incoherent. She’s fallen onto her side and is weeping. Reggie’s grateful that she’s not making so much noise now.

Reg?

He looks up over the trunk of the car. Kelly’s standing in the doorway. He gestures grimly for Reggie to follow him inside. Just you, he murmurs.

Stay here, Reggie tells Doctor White. I’m just going to check on something. I’ll be right back.

Have you found my daughter? she asks, sitting up.

Reggie glances over, and Kelly shakes his head.

This is where you left her? Reggie asks. Inside this house? Are you sure?

Y-yes, she says. But she got out, and now she’s gone. I don’t know where she is now!"

We’ll find her, okay? Just stay here for a second. I promise I’ll be right back.

No, I’m coming with you, she hiccups. She grabs his shirt and pulls. Reggie figures it’s not worth arguing with her, so he grabs her arm and helps her to her feet.

Kelly scowls, but leads them back into the darkened house without a word. The hallway feels oppressively narrow to Reggie, sending shivers up his spine and giving him that same claustrophobic feeling he’d had back in the tunnel under the wall. They enter a small living room illuminated only by the failing daylight coming in through a dusty sliding glass door. There are dark stains on the couch and floor. Reggie doesn’t need a forensic expert to tell him it’s blood. And he can tell it’s somewhat fresh, because he can still smell it. What used to be a coffee table now sits in pieces scattered all over the floor. He wonders what happened here and whether it has anything to do with White’s missing daughter.

Kelly steps over to the sliding door and waits.

What is that? Reggie asks. He steps closer and his eyes widen when he looks down. Is that—? Wait, that can’t be—

It is, Kelly says, nodding. At least I’m pretty sure it is. Head’s missing. Animals might’ve gotten it. But the clothes... They look the same. Same jersey we picked up in that sports store.

"Pretty big coincidence that we’d find him here, in this house."

Tell me about it.

Doctor White pulls Reggie away. Who is that? she demands. You know this person?

Stephen, Reggie says. Worked for the Coalition. He’s the one who brought us here from LaGuardia.

Well... Kelly begins. He knows it was he, himself, who had really led the group to the wall knowing full well they had to get inside the arcade. Maybe it had been Stephen’s intention, too, for his own nefarious reasons, but Kelly knows in his heart he’s really the one to blame for everything that happened