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  This Book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, duplicated, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior written consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

  Eve Brenner – Zombie Hunter

  Copyright © 2016 by Alessia Giacomi

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are

  either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

  Cover Artist and Book Design Dreams2media

  Edited by:

  EAL Editing Services

  Published by:

  CHBB Publishing LLC.

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by

  any means without written permission of the author.

  This book is dedicated to my son & daughter. You are the future, and the future looks brighter than ever. May life bring you as much joy as you bring me with a single smile.

  “To live is to suffer; to survive is to find some meaning in the suffering.”

  ― Friedrich Nietzsche

  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  CHAPTER ONE

  CHAPTER TWO

  CHAPTER THREE

  CHAPTER FOUR

  CHAPTER FIVE

  CHAPTER SIX

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  CHAPTER NINE

  CHAPTER TEN

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

  The devil reached down my throat. It felt like fire coursing through me, searing my insides as each finger dove deeper toward the object of desire.

  My heart.

  My still, unbeating, blackened, useless heart. What would he want with such a thing? He gave no answer, instead, his fiery fist clenched around the coal in my chest, yanking it out through my mouth and holding it above me like a prize.

  He stares at it with sheer delight, until he gets a better look at it. The devil examines the heart as parts of it flake away in his hands. This sacrifice would not be enough. I had known that, but I hoped that all hearts were equal when it came down to his collection.

  Apparently not.

  His black eyes grow violent as he lets out a roar and crushes the remnants of the heart in his vicious hands. It turns to dust and flutters through the air, never reaching the ground. It was gone. A very human part of myself was lost forever, I would mourn it, but this was not the time. There were consequences to my actions, and they had to be paid in full.

  PART 1: OUTBREAK

  CHAPTER ONE

  CAM

  I wake to find myself in a large room with beige walls and a fluffy carpet beneath me. The room is gorgeous, but empty. I am clearly in someone’s home.

  The last thing I remember is being smacked across the head with some cold hard metal. My hands race to my forehead where a rather large scab can be felt. I guess I had been out for some time now since the gash seems to have had some time to heal.

  Crawling to my feet I stumble toward the only doorway, of course it’s locked, why had I thought differently? I was a prisoner here, now I just had to figure out if it was for their safety, or if they had other plans for me. I shudder as my mind runs to cannibalism. Horror movies sure had a way of helping you anticipate the worst.

  My next mission is to the one window in the room. It’s large, giving off enough light to make the room seem pleasant and welcoming. The nearly sheer white curtains blow in the slight breeze. A breeze meant it was open. My hands race to the window and I attempt to pry it open, but the window won’t budge. Hitting my head softly on the window pane in defeat I realize I am up too high up to jump down from here anyway. I would have broken my legs and been worse off than when I started. At lease I could stand and fight in this condition.

  After running out of things to explore in the room, all two of them, I decide it’s time to sit. Whatever, or whoever put me in here would be back at some point. Why else stick a guy in a locked empty room if you didn’t at least want to talk to him about something?

  I run my hands through my hair, or lack thereof. Marcus had insisted on shaving my head about a week before I escaped the glass box that had been my prison. The assigned barbers weren’t gentle about it either; I guess it was just another form of torture that Marcus thought would be fun. I still remember the dull blade grazing my head and warm fluid racing to my shoulders from time to time, staining my white prison garb red. In his eyes I had committed two crimes, loving Eve, and being human.

  Thinking of Eve made me shudder, more so with anger. She had betrayed us, left us for dead. I wanted to believe Marcus had brainwashed her, my denial was so powerful that I allowed her to toy with me, allowed her to let me believe all would be fine, but how could I believe anything now? The old me would have thought, Eve will find me, Eve will save me, but the new me just hoped she was dead, like Alex.

  It’s amazing how time can change you. I had been through so much in my life, you think losing my mother, or my drunk father or even facing my own demons would have destroyed me, but no. Eve had finished me off. I’m not sure there was anything loyal or loving left in me anymore and perhaps that was a good thing. This new world I walked into didn’t seem pleasant.

  From what I had understood, the outbreak had finally happened, all Eve had done to contain it was for nothing, or perhaps her mission had never been to contain it at all. I didn’t know what to believe anymore. All I knew was that zombies were now running rampantly through many cities, with folks living on the outskirts teaming up to stay safe. To stay alive.

  Perhaps that’s where I was now? In one of those communities looking to build a safe place for survivors?

  Guess I wouldn’t need to wonder about it for much longer, voices started to fill the house. The floor below me was thin enough to allow me to hear that four, maybe five voices had entered the house. They would soon be up to see me and I could ask them some questions, that or they’d blow my head off, either way I’m not sure I cared anymore.

  Footsteps creep closer and closer as heavy soles hit the stairs outside my prison door, and then they stop. Moments of silence follow, which makes my heart nearly stop.

  What could they be doing out there?

  When I can’t take the silence any longer I call out to them, “Hey! Is someone out there?”

  I rise and wait for a reply, but none comes.

  The heavy soles retreat back down the stairs, and without a word, they exit the home. I couldn’t be sure that all of them had left, but perhaps that was their intention, they wanted to scare me, make me wonder if I was being watched. Perhaps they had even hoped I was still unconscious and would be back with plan B.

  It didn’t matter. I was too tired to think. I lay back down on the soft carpet and close my eyes. If they wanted to kill me, I’d be waiting, ready for whatever ca
me at me.

  ***

  The next day the voices return, I decide silence would be my tactic today. Making them wonder if I was alive or dead might make them open that damn door, heck it was worth a shot.

  I listen as the shoes wander back up the stairs, but I only hear two sets this time. I guess they didn’t need back up today, perhaps they had guns and that would be enough.

  There is a knock on my door, but I remain silent. Why would they bother knocking? I’m locked in here and I couldn’t exactly just let them in and be all hospitable. The knocking continues and when they don’t hear an answer they begin to discuss things with one another.

  “For shit sake’s, Jim, he’s probably dead, why couldn’t we have just checked on him yesterday? He was talking and maybe he got a concussion and needed help!”

  Whoever this Jim fellow was, he sure wasn’t sweet, I hear a huge slap and the other guy hollering. “Jesus, Jim! That hurt! I was just talking out loud, no need to be so violent.”

  “Well maybe you shouldn’t talk back to your boss then, little brother,” the other man snorts back at him.

  “Boss? Little brother? Yeah I’m only about five minutes younger, you douche-bag!” the other man fires back.

  Clearly I was dealing with a couple of idiots, but idiots could still be dangerous, perhaps even more so. Especially idiots with guns. I decide to remain quiet and let their little feud play out. At least it was entertaining.

  “James, just shut up, I’m going to open this door now, be ready for whatever happens. Maybe he became one of those things and is ready to eat us, so he’s playing it smart. We need to be smarter than that smart dead guy. Okay?”

  “Whatever you say, Jim,” his brother replies, I can only imagine an eye roll followed.

  Next, I heart a hand shuffling with a lock on the door, I don’t bother to rise. Sitting might make me seem less threatening and then they might not bother shooting me. I wanted to find out what these guys were all about before working up an urge to kill them.

  When the door opens, two men appear. They’re not exactly what I expected. I was half expecting some bearded hicks in overalls. More like a hillbilly comedy duo, instead, what I got was a couple of clean shaven brothers in preppy clothing. They didn’t really look alike, but you could tell they were brothers in their mannerisms. They both sort of walked the same, grinned the same, and had the same dull eyes that had you wondering what they were thinking, and perhaps it was nothing at all, I wouldn’t be surprised by that, not in the least. They seemed to have a couple of brain cells loose.

  The first man to speak is Jim, the man claiming to be the “boss” in this situation.

  “Hi there, sir. I’m sure you’re wondering why you’re here and all that, but before I can answer any questions I just need to know one thing, are you a zombie?”

  I want to slap my forehead right there and then, if I was a zombie, I wouldn’t be answering any questions and probably would have attacked him as soon as he had walked in the door. What a moron.

  “Uh, nope. Just some guy waiting to understand why my head got bashed in by a couple of strangers. Did you two do that?”

  They look at each other nervously, searching each other’s eyes for how to answer back.

  Jim stutters a few times before James asks him to “shut up” again.

  “What my brother Jim here is trying to say is…”

  Jim cuts in, “Sorry.”

  James immediately punches him for interrupting and he looks furiously at Jim for making them look weak. It was a pretty solid punch which led me to believe Jim might just have a temper.

  “No, that’s not what I meant, Jimmy boy. Now shut the fuck up before I throw you out the god damn window.”

  James recovers from his punch to the face, but I can clearly see his lip is split and he’s barely able to hang onto his own rage. This was quite a show indeed, although I was quite ready to change the channel already.

  “What I meant to say is…we were just being cautious, didn’t know if you’d turn into one of those zombie things. So we locked you in here to make sure you were…you know…still human, and if you were, we were going to let you be a part of our little community here.”

  I decide that since they weren’t going to kill me, I should stand up now. “Hey, I’m Cam,” I say shaking both their hands. They seem to appreciate the gesture and show me to the door and down the stairs.

  Downstairs there is a pretty cozy looking living room, Jim asks me to take a seat and he sits right across from me. James attempts to have a seat as well, but Jim corrects him with a look and points him toward the kitchen. “I think our friend could use something to eat.”

  James nods, but I can hear him grumbling under his breath all the way into the kitchen.

  I try not to take notice, instead, I decide on getting more information out of Jim.

  “So Jim, how many people do you have in this community? How bad has it gotten out there?” I ask trying to seem genuinely interested, but really I couldn’t wait to escape this place and be on my way.

  “Well, we’ve been out here for about a month now trying to survive, we’ve built a pretty nice community and we all have jobs to do to keep us safe and fed. There are about two hundred survivors here, so nearly the whole town. They have us to thank for their survival, because while they were laughing at the strange news reports, James and I were preparing. Sure, they all thought we were crazy. Preparing for some apocalypse that was never going to happen, well whose laughing now? Huh? Eh Jamesy?” he calls out into the kitchen with a chuckle.

  James returns with a similar grin and some bread and butter. “That’s right, brother, no one’s laughing now. In fact, they made Jim and me their leaders. Seems we’re the only ones they trust now.”

  “I don’t know why they ever doubted you,” I say with a grin before attacking the plate of food Jim places before me.

  James continues to grin at me. “So where did you come from?”

  I nearly choke on my food, I was either going to tell the truth or a complete lie, and something told me that the truth might not go down so well in this particular town.

  “I’m from New York State actually. Drove here with my folks, we were just passing through when we were attacked. Both my parents were killed, leaving me to fend for myself.”

  That wasn’t completely removed from the truth, my parents were dead, and I was all alone now. I didn’t find it necessary to share that I was being hunted.

  “You poor thing,” James says while eating some bread and butter as well. “But why don’t you have an accent then? I don’t hear a New York accent.”

  My hands sweat a little, I didn’t think they’d be smart enough to put two and two together, but here I was trapped in my own lie. Think Cam, think!

  “Well I mean, I don’t live in New York City, just the surrounding area. They don’t have much of an accent in the surrounding area.”

  “Ahhhhhh,” says Jim slapping the table and startling James. “See that’s something I didn’t know, interesting, so no accent unless you live right in the city. I will have to remember that,” Jim said while chuckling to himself.

  I was just so glad he bought it that I started chuckling too. I had never been a good liar, but hopefully I would succeed at it for at least a little longer. Just until I could leave this place without anyone noticing.

  There was this very uneasy feeling in my stomach, just being here made it turn. Something wasn’t right, I could smell it, but what the hell was off, I couldn’t quite pin point yet. Hopefully, I wouldn’t be hanging around long enough to find out.

  CHAPTER TWO

  EVE

  Traveling with Vincent made it hard to be discreet. He was a monster alright, and he was out of control with his feedings. Any living thing we found had been ripped to shreds in mere seconds. I was half furious that he kept killing al
l our leads, but even more mad that he never saved any grub for me.

  Originally, I had thought that working with Vincent to find Agent Williams and Cam was a miracle. Slowly I began to realize it had become more like babysitting, and I was in no shape to be watching over anyone. These days the decay had begun setting in faster and faster. I was still quite strong, but not too quick and not too clear headed. At times I would hear voices and see things that weren’t really there.

  “All a part of the process,” Vincent would say with a twinge of a German accent. “You slowly lose your body, then your mind, then you’re gone.”

  Living with this reality day to day left me feeling quite hopeless. I wasn’t sure I’d make it to save anyone, let alone Cam.

  As we continued our journey along deserted roads, it became very difficult not to feel despair. I dragged my feet as Vincent sniffed the air ahead of me. His senses and strength were better than mine. He had told me that this was because he was barely human anymore, and had made me promise to dispose of him when he wasn’t able to speak anymore, in that moment, I would know that he was truly gone. He reminded me of my promise every day, but it only left me wondering, who would be there to do this for me? I didn’t want to be a monster either.

  I call up ahead to him, “Hey Vincent, can we stop a moment? I’m tired and haven’t eaten in a while, it’s getting hard to keep up.”

  He stops and turns to look back at me. “It’s going to be very difficult to find your friend alive if we have to keep stopping like this, Eve.”

  Yes, of course, I understood that, but my legs wouldn’t take me any further at the moment. “Please Vincent, just a moment.”

  He sighs and obliges.

  “While we’re waiting here, Vince my man, tell me why you’re getting stronger each day and I’m getting the shit kicked out of me with just a little walking? What’s the deal?”

  Vincent shrugs. “I don’t know, it’s just the way the virus acts. It seems to have a mind of its own, which is why we won’t need ours eventually. When the virus takes over, our brain belongs to it. We won’t have memories, we won’t have feelings, we’ll only have our hunger left to us.”