Chronicles of the Undead | Book 1 | Urban Gridlock Read online

  Urban Gridlock

  Chronicles of the Undead: Book 1

  Jaime Hernandez

  Copyright © 2021 Jaime Hernandez

  Urban Gridlock

  Chronicles of the Undead

  This is a work of fiction by

  Jaime Hernandez

  No portion of this publication may be reproduced, copied, stored in any electronic system, or transmitted in any form without the expressed written permission from the author with the exception of brief quotations for use in reviews.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and locales are either a product of the author’s imagination or are used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, events or places is purely coincidental and used for entertainment purposes.

  Cover Art by AJ’s Covers and Trailers 2021

  For my husband Val, the greatest man I’ve ever known. I couldn’t have done this without your love and support. For my daughters Caralise and Jessie, thanks for putting up with me spending so much time at the computer. I know how much you hated it. And yes, Caralise, Mommy will buy you a new toy. My four crazy dogs Blu, Callie, Hulk and Dude, thanks for keeping me company every step of the way.

  Thanks to my beta readers: Chrys, Karina, Lyn, Charlene and Nancy. Your insightful feedback was invaluable.

  A special thank you goes to David Simpson for believing in me and including my story in your latest anthology, Zombie Road Fan Fiction. Thank you for always making the time, for your great advice and your willingness to help out a new author.

  Thank you to the indie author community. I’m truly grateful for all of the newfound friendships and appreciate each and every one of you. The ongoing mutual support for one another is an incredible thing to be a part of.

  Thanks to my editor Casey Skelton of Wasteland Book Editing Services for helping to polish off my story and bring it to life.

  Thank you to AJ Powers of AJ’s Covers and Trailers for the incredible cover design.

  Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Dedication

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  Chapter 41

  EPILOGUE

  About The Author

  Books By This Author

  Chapter 1

  Day 1

  Max Lopez looked down from the 6th floor scaffolding built for the hotel reconstruction site, opposite of what had become a very popular downtown casino after gambling was legalized in Ohio nearly ten years ago. The casino was located in the left wing of the historic Terminal Tower building, while the hotel occupied the right. City planners and property developers were continuously making rapid improvements in the area to complement the casino and corresponding vast increase in tourism. The hotel was undergoing remodeling and reconstruction to entice high rollers to the decadent and luxurious suites that Max’s crew had been working on for the past several months.

  Max liked taking his lunch break on the scaffolding so he could enjoy the view of Public Square fronting the building complex below. Some of his buddies did the same while others left the building to eat at nearby hot dog stands or food carts. With an unseasonably hot start to June, it felt good to sit six stories up and enjoy the breeze while the sun beat down on him. The layered combination of his safety gear, harness and hard hat adding an extra layer of warmth over his heavy gauge construction clothes, Max looked forward to the fresh air and relative relief from the oppressive heat. He was a few inches shy of six feet and had a rather muscular build from so many years of working construction. His eyes were so dark they were almost black and tended to reflect his smile or mood. He absentmindedly ran a hand through his black beard thinking that shaving it off might offer some small reprieve but knew he wouldn’t actually do it. His beard was a part of him, and his wife Annalise loved it as much as she loved his thick black curly hair that fell to his shoulders when it wasn’t slicked back in a rubber band. He laughed to himself thinking he’d have to get her permission first if he ever wanted to really entertain the thought of shaving it.

  Max heard footsteps approaching him from behind and looked up to see his buddy Jesse with his lunch. They’d known each other since grade school and had worked construction together for nearly twenty years. Jesse had an intimidating way about him when he wasn’t smiling, and if you didn’t know him you were likely to cringe a little when his glare was fixed upon you. He just had that kind of look. Average height, dark hair and a thick heavy beard combined with a muscular build and more than a few tattoos tended to give people that impression of him. His confidence, strength and reputation as a ball buster probably didn’t hurt either. Despite all of this, he had an easy smile and a loud belly laugh.

  “Hey brother, it’s been a long day already,” Jesse greeted him as he sat down next to Max. They’d been working hard all morning and hadn’t had much of a chance to talk.

  “Yeah, it’s also fucking hot as hell too. I’m just glad we finally have a weekend off after all this overtime,” Max said. “Annalise said you guys should come over around noon tomorrow. We’ll throw some food on the grill and the kids can hang out in the pool.”

  “Sounds good. Michelle mentioned something about it last night when she got off the phone with Anna. The kids are so excited about going swimming, she took them shopping for new swimsuits and pool floats last night. I’m just looking forward to beers by the pool,” Jesse replied.

  “You and me both. It’s been a long few weeks.”

  “Hey, did you catch the news this morning?” Jesse changed the subject.

  Max shook his head. “I slept until the last possible minute and rushed out the door.”

  “It looks like that virus that’s been going around Europe and Asia the last couple days has hit a few places on the East Coast. They were talking about Boston, New York, Philly and D.C. They had footage of people looting and a lot of rioting in the streets,” Jesse said.

  “I’ve never understood the mindset of people rioting over stuff like that,” Max replied. “When I was watching the news last night I saw some reports of people in Europe and Asia fighting in the streets. It looked like they were trying to tear each other apart. Huge mobs of people attacking each other and the police. I mean, what are they trying to accomplish? What’s the endgame?”

  “I don’t know, but it looks like our fellow Americans on the East Coast are reacting the same way. I’m sure they’re emptying the stores too, like a stocked pantry and extra toilet paper are the answer to everything,” Jesse said.

  “You know how it is. If there’s a winter storm warning or a bad flu season everyone rushes ou
t to buy enough bread, water and toilet paper to last a month,” Max laughed. “The rioting though, if it’s anything like what I saw was going on overseas last night, shit, that makes me a little nervous.”

  “It looked pretty bad, but it was hard to see anything in detail. The footage was a little shaky and there weren’t any close-ups. It looked like hundreds of people were caught up in it.”

  “Hundreds?” That grabbed Max’s attention.

  “Hell, a lot more than that. Hundreds in all different areas. Maybe thousands. They showed riots in Manhattan, Queens, on the Brooklyn Bridge, and a couple other places in New York City. In D.C., they were rioting by the Lincoln Memorial, Capitol Hill and even Pennsylvania Avenue was full of people. It looked like the fences around the White House lawn were completely surrounded,” Jesse thought for a moment. “Not hundreds… it had to be thousands. Thousands just around the White House.”

  Both men grew quiet for a moment as they became lost in their thoughts. Thousands of people rioting in several states over some flu bug. Max generally didn’t pay rioters much attention because it seemed like people were always turning peaceful marches and protests into mini riots over whatever the latest perceived injustice happened to be at any given time. And there was always something these days, especially with the high percentage of the population that was so easily offended by anything not deemed politically correct. The ‘everyone gets a trophy for participating’ crowd. This was something else though, with so many groups of people simultaneously popping up in four different states, seemingly out of nowhere, especially considering that as of last night nothing had been going on.

  “Well, fuck. I hope whatever it is sticks to the coast,” Max said, as he felt a small twinge of worry thinking of his wife and two kids at home.

  They sat quietly for a few minutes eating their lunches and letting their minds and gazes wander. There were so many views from their vantage point that there was something interesting to see whichever way they looked. Directly below them Public Square was teeming with office workers walking to lunches or meetings. The Terminal Tower entrance doors were nearly constantly open with the number of shoppers, tourists, and businesspeople going in and out. Tourists loved to go to the fifty-second story observation tower at the top of the building for the commanding views throughout the downtown core and Lake Erie. Nearly fifty stories held the offices of law firms, accountants, investment bankers and insurance companies. The oversized lower three levels held a massive upscale shopping center complex with a mixture of high end boutiques and trendy shops, as well as restaurants, a food court and a twenty screen movie theater adjacent to the basketball and concert arena. Several stories underneath the building the rapid transit station, which was the city’s version of a subway system, was busy shuttling people back and forth to the airport, casino, hotels and various other areas extending all the way to the farthest reaches of the city and into the suburbs.

  Easily within their view was a large portion of the casino. Its mirrored windows looked enticing from the outside teasing at what was within, while the inside was brightly lit without a window in sight, which was meant to keep the people inside interested in gambling without any distractions from views of the outdoors. Fancily dressed doormen stood neatly at the entrance atop a luxurious red velvet rope and carpet lined staircase. The doors seemed to open far more often to allow entry than they did for people who were leaving.

  Something on the street below caught Max’s attention. There was a small crowd of people running from the doors of the Terminal Tower building. It wasn’t unusual to see crowds but usually they were walking out laden down with shopping bags or they had their faces glued to their cell phones. These weren’t joggers, either. These people were running in a desperate attempt to escape from something.

  Max was just about to point out the running crowd to Jesse when shrill screams grabbed both of their attention. They stood up, looked down, and tried to get a better view of what was happening.

  “What the fuck?” Jesse said, barely audible.

  The scene below wasn’t making any sense. More people came pouring out of the building adding to the already panicked crowd of people below. It looked like the entire shopping mall was emptying out all at once through the various sets of doors at the front of the building. People were screaming and running away in every direction. Mixed in with the crowd were what looked like some heavily injured people with blood seeping from arms, shoulders, necks and faces.

  “It doesn’t look like a fire; I don’t see smoke anywhere,” Max said. “You see any smoke?”

  “No smoke. I’m seeing a lot of blood though,” Jesse said. “It looks like a lot of people are fighting each other.”

  Max watched in horrified disbelief as a blonde woman in a dark power suit clumsily grabbed a man who was attempting to run by her. It looked like she took a bite out of his cheek. Blood poured down the man’s face as he tried to fight off the woman. Undeterred she took another chunk out of his neck. The man dropped to the ground while she continued to rip pieces out of him with her teeth. An older security guard bent down as if he was going to try to pull the blonde woman off of the downed man, but instead the security guard tore into the man’s abdomen. The man suddenly went still as all life left his body. The blonde woman and the security guard seemed to lose interest as they both slowly stood up and sought others in the crowd. She reached for a teenaged boy, but he managed to escape her grasp. The security guard grabbed the arm of a brunette woman and immediately tore into her flesh. It looked like he’d ripped all of her fingers from her hand.

  Max was stunned when the man he’d just watched die began to slowly make his way to his feet. He was unsteady and off-balance, but he was back on his feet. His intestines spilling from his abdomen as he took a step forward, he clumsily reached for a young woman who had the unfortunate timing of trying to run past him at that moment. She tried to free herself from his grip, but he was able to bite her arm as she fought. The brunette woman that the security guard had attacked only a moment ago was slowly rising from the ground with a gaping hole in the side of her neck, round splotches rimmed with red running down one arm and a bloodied hand with no fingers. As she pulled herself into a sitting position, she bit into the young woman’s leg.

  People were knocking each other down, fighting brutally from the looks of it. Some were biting and ripping into any body parts they could reach, while others ran screaming through and from the crowd. A man in a dark business suit attempted to enter a door of the hotel directly below where Max stood gaping, but he was pulled down by two women. A blonde middle aged woman in a torn skirt and bloodied blouse ripped a golf ball sized piece of flesh from the man’s throat while a thirty-something brunette in heels crouched over him to tear chunks from his abdomen.

  The screams of the crowd grew louder as more people were bitten and pulled down in fights for their lives. Others were running away from the carnage as fast as they could. More people came through the building’s doors in desperate bids to escape whatever horrors lay inside. Some ran right into the arms of the undead.

  To the far left of the doors of the Terminal Tower, people began storming from the casino entrance, quickly knocking down the red velvet ropes as they scattered in all directions. An unfortunate few ran straight into the deadly fight already taking place outside. Some people went down quickly and some stumbled while others were viciously bitten on their faces, necks and arms. An elderly woman with short gray curls screamed as she held her hands up protectively in front of her face, only to lose a few fingers and a large piece of her forearm. As she fell, a man behind her was abruptly pushed down on top of her and within seconds they were both being trampled by the crowd desperately trying to escape.

  At least a dozen police cars sped onto the scene with officers quickly leaving the safety of their vehicles to rush the crowd in an attempt to restore order. Most of them were taken down nearly as quickly as they tried to intervene. Multiple gunshots were fired at a deafening pa
ce with little effect on the increasingly violent crowd. Occasionally a newly dead person would go down after being shot, but most of the gunfire had no apparent effect on the walking dead. Some of them shuddered or fell as they absorbed bullet after bullet, but they regained their feet and were undeterred as they relentlessly resumed their attack on the terrified crowd.

  Max looked on feeling helpless and horrified. He glanced to his left where a half dozen people were grabbing at and trying to pull down a policeman. He swung his nightstick with little effect, so he pulled his service revolver. Before he could fire, the crowd tore into his arms and face. As he fell to the ground with a look of shock on what remained of his face, two more people started chewing on his legs. His expression quickly faded to a look of nothingness when it was clear that he had died. The group of people that had been feeding on him rose to their feet in search of their next meal. Max was looking at the group but caught movement from the policeman out of the corner of his eye. The police officer was struggling to stand up. It took a painfully long time for him to find his feet, and he was unsteady with pieces of flesh missing from his legs, but the man was back up. The first thing he did was turn to his right to take a bite out of the shoulder of the policeman nearest him.

  On the outer peripheries of the scene, first responders arrived continuously. In a matter of minutes there were more ambulances and police cars than Max could count. People bleeding profusely from various bite wounds stumbled toward awaiting ambulances. Paramedics hurried toward the many injured on the ground that were unable to stand or help themselves. A pair of young EMTs rushed toward a middle aged, balding police officer missing half of his bloody fingers, when the officer screamed as a young woman tore off his ear before taking a chunk from the side of his neck. Before the stunned EMTs could react, the woman turned and grabbed the shorter of the two by the arm and managed to rip a large chunk of flesh from the young man’s arm leaving him spurting blood. Clutching his useless arm as he fell, the woman dropped down on top of him and tore into his chest cavity with her hands.