Zombies! Episode 4: The Sick and the Dead
By Ivan Turner
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About this ebook
Denise Luco's discovery of Head Shot has launched her into a crusade to have the medication removed from the shelves. Though Lance Naughton has gotten the ball rolling, it will be up to her to convince two lawyers, a bureaucrat, and a PR man that billing a useless medication as the "perfect defense against the zombie virus" is irresponsible and dangerous. And, to do it, she will have to bring them into the lower levels of Arthur Conroy Memorial Hospital and give them a tour of the Butcher Shop, the Ward, and the Zoo.
Meanwhile, Anthony Heron is still trying to hold together the pieces of his crumbling life. Upon Abby's request, he investigates the disappearance of the missing Suzanna DeForest.
Three weeks earlier, Peter Ventura acted decisively in locking down the Sisters of Charity ER when it was invaded by zombies. As a survivor of that encounter, Peter was forced to battle demons of a completely different nature. Instead of being exorcised, however, these demons took root in his soul.
Zombies! is currently under development as a tv series. Find us on facebook for the latest updates on this exciting development.
Ivan Turner
A child of the movies, I was always consumed by fantastic stories told by others and translated into adventures to be retold by me through the action figure medium. As I grew older, I put the action figures away and moved into the realm of role playing. Though I never outgrew role playing, I certainly don't have the time for it anymore. Since I was eleven years old, I've been pouring almost every ounce of creative energy I have into writing.I graduated college in 1993 with a degree in computer science. I tried my hand at programming for a couple of years and found it pretty unsatisfying. I later became a partner at a comic book store, where I spent several years. Though it wasn't a financial success, the experience I gained from running the store and the people that I met (many of whom I'm still in touch with today) was priceless. After leaving the store, I settled into a career of teaching. I still teach at a public high school in New York. Ironically, I've picked up computer programming again, which is what I mostly teach.I've been writing the whole time.I released my first book electronically in 2010. Forty Leap was a turning point for me in both style and story building. The Book of Revelations, which was written earlier but released later, was sort of a midway point between the writer I was and the writer I've become. I experimented with a very odd style and a story that employed diverse characters and controversial situations.In September 2010, I released the first installment of Zombies! Zombies! has been a tremendous success for me that came very close to being made into a television series. Since Zombies!, I have written a five part miniseries called Castes and have been working on developing tabletops games, the first of which, ApocalypZe, was published in early 2014.Now, 6 years later, a 3rd Zombies! series is due to be released in September of 2016.
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Zombies! Episode 4 - Ivan Turner
Zombies! Episode 4 - The Sick and the Dead
Smashwords Edition
Copyright 2010 by Ivan Turner
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***
What has come before.
Shawn Rudd, a high school senior in a hurry to meet up with his secret boyfriend, encounters a zombie on the streets of Brooklyn. With no hesitation, Shawn confronts the zombie, stabbing it and then bludgeoning it with a lead pipe. He then turns on the zombie's hapless bite victim, killing her with a blow to the head as well.
Investigating the crime, Detectives Johan Stemmy and Anthony Heron are confounded and chilled by the fact that the man Shawn killed had been dead for twelve hours at the time of the incident. Their investigation takes them to the apartment of the Koplowitz family where they
confront Mrs. Lucy Koplowitz, and her eight year old daughter Zoe, already zombies. Zoe bites Stemmy in the leg, thus infecting him. He dies hours later and Heron sees to it that he will never turn.
A week later, a customer, of Push Ups gym, Karl Rappaport, becomes ill while working out and drops a weight on his foot. Abby Benjamin wheels him to the Sisters of Charity ER and waits for a doctor to attend him. While waiting, Karl dies from the infection. The doctors bring him straight back and try to revive him but to no avail. Minutes later, he awakens on his own. A nurse comes to help him only to be bitten by the zombie that he has become. Her wound is severe and it only takes seconds for her to die. Shortly thereafter, there are two zombies in the ER. While the chief of emergency medicine tries to get everyone out, a young doctor named Peter Ventura recognizes the threat and locks down the ER.
The Sisters of Charity event causes a nationwide panic and people disappear from all of the major cities. But the panic is premature. The zombie infection doesn't spread like people fear. Within a couple of weeks, people begin to trickle back into their homes and their lives.
Out of the clear blue, Lance Naughton comes to see Dr. Denise Luco, finding her submerged in her work. In an effort to pull her out of her funk, Naughton takes her to dinner. Their awkward encounter blossoms into an unexpected connection.
John Arrick's date with his girlfriend, Suzanna, goes poorly. She'd sick and, when he suggests she see a doctor, she gets angry and storms out. Later she returns and stays the night. By the next night, however, she is very sick and it's clear that she's infected with the zombie plague. Arrick manages to get her to her own apartment and sits with her while the infection runs its course and steals her life.
Awakening in the dark, Arrick is confronted by the zombie that Suzanna has become. They struggle their way into the bathroom but Arrick manages to fend her off, smashing her head against the bathtub. He struggles his way out of the apartment, soaked in her blood, and finds his way home. After a bout of cleaning and a shower, Arrick discovers the bite mark and realizes that his victory over the zombie is hollow and worthless.
***
AT about four o'clock Sunday afternoon, John Arrick pulled himself out of bed so that he could go and get some water. It had been more than eight hours since the symptoms of the zombie plague had first begun to show. It had started with sneezing and coughing. Quickly, body aches had set in. He was almost forced prone by the pain in his back, which he had wrenched while fighting off his zombie girlfriend and subsequently cleansing himself and his apartment of the infection. All in vain.
On Friday night, Suzanna, his late girlfriend, had come by for their date. She was already sick by that time and his mention of it had sparked a fight. She had left, but returned later and forced herself into his apartment. With no other options, Arrick himself had left his own apartment and spent the night and following day out. He returned Saturday night only to find Suzanna deathly ill. In hindsight, he felt that he should have fled the apartment, called the police or the health department, and gotten himself tested. At this point, all of that was moot. He'd done the chivalrous, if stupid thing. At Suzanna's request, he'd struggled her back to her apartment and stayed with her while she'd slowly died. After she'd turned, they had fought. Arrick had won the battle, braining her against the lip of her bathtub, but the victory had been hollow and short lived. Suzanna had bitten him.
Every time his mind cleared enough for him to think about it, he laughed. Because, really, it was comical. Zombies. Zombie bites. Head shots. It was fiction! But the pain in his body and the pus filled, flaming red scratch on his thigh were not. His ebbing life was a reality from which he could not escape. As he stumbled out of the corridor and into the kitchen, he wiped his nose with his sleeve. A streak of red was left in its wake.
He breathed in once.
And breathed out.
And then his nostrils filled up once again.
John Arrick knew that his time was coming close. What horrors would he commit as one of the undead? Forgetting about the glass of water, he rummaged through a counter drawer and pulled out a yellow legal pad and a red marker. With weak teeth that were only hours from seeking the flesh of other humans, he ripped the cap from the marker and began to write in large shaky letters.
BEWARE! ZOMBIE INSIDE!
There was some scotch tape in the drawer (he could do with some actual scotch instead). He ripped off four uneven pieces, the last one leaving behind a jagged trail on the cutter. Halfway to the front door, he stopped. What would he be