“Alathia Paris Morgan brings a unique voice to the zombie genre. She has gone from a first zombie story to an established storyteller with zombies very quickly. Military Against Zombies is proof of this.” — Jay Wilburn
Teaser from MAZ: Military Against Zombies
by Alathia Paris Morgan
Patti’s group had already left two days before, and when our cargo plane landed to load up, it was in those few minutes just before dawn broke over the region that it happened.
I stood at the door of the plane as it started to lift off and realized that we had made it out by the skin of our teeth.
The ground surrounding our large compound was littered with black dots for as far as the eye could see. If we hadn’t been on the last plane out of the area, we would have been overrun.
Normally on a trip like this, I would’ve been pacing and full of nervous energy. Instead I leaned back between two guys I’d never met and passed out.
Several hours later, we stopped for a quick refuel, but they had our own guys get out and take care of the fueling.
“Nothing to worry about, everyone. They’re just taking precautions so that we don’t infect anyone here. We should be refueled and ready to roll out in less than thirty minutes, but just to be safe, some of our own will be taking a guard shift to make sure that we’re not overrun by the infected people.” The pilot’s announcement, which was highly irregular, had most of the troops awake and restless.
There weren’t any incidents as we took off, but I couldn’t get comfortable enough to go back to sleep again.
A few of the troops were starting to cough the closer we got to the States. This always happened when we made the change of atmosphere from east to west.
But the closer we got toward home, the sicker sounding those coughs became. The medics had taken all those that were showing signs of illness and moved them to the back of the plane. Our leaders hung blankets, hoping to avoid the spread of germs in the contained area.
With only about thirty minutes of flying over the water left, a growling sound started coming from the back of the plane.
Screams and grunts erupted from behind the curtain as a blood-covered hand gripped the blanket, pulling it down.
“Buckle in, we’re going to open the cargo door! I repeat, strap yourselves in…” The voice trailed off as everyone tried to grab their guns and strap in at the same time.
A blast of air was sucked out of the plane as the pilot tried to prepare everyone for the difference in air pressure.
I watched in horror as bodies flew out of the cargo door with blood dripping from their teeth. I felt bad for the ones who hadn’t been as sick but were being sucked out of the tail of the plane as well.
When the cargo door closed, I gulped in the fresh air, only to hear more gasping sounds coming from the back of the plane.
Evidently, those who hadn’t been as sick were strapped into their seats and had become the infected dead, but they couldn’t do more than bite the person next to them.
My platoon officer yanked off his restraints, gun in hand, and ran to the back of the plane. Rapid shots followed and all the growling sounds were silenced.
Everyone on the plane watched as he walked around, checking each person and making sure those who were infected were dead.
While hard to watch, I knew it was the right thing to do, though I wasn’t sure if I could have done it myself.
The pilot spoke again. “Due to the growing problem, everyone will have to be inspected before they can leave the area and find a place to shower, eat, and rest up before orders are handed down.”
I groaned on the inside but knew that after what had occurred on the plane, extra precautions were needed.
With the way that things were going, they weren’t going to let us go home to our families. This virus, or one of those things, were going to take us out one by one.
###
Check out Military Against Zombies now!
Jay's Patreon Page | Purchase Signed Books