Tech: Zombie Effect Chapter 7

I've decided to try for the first time NaNoWriMo. I think it's going to help me finish this story! I've already started AND finished chapter 7.




Title: Tech: Zombie Effect Ch. 7
Characters: Logan/Carter
Series: Tech: Zombie Effect
POV: Carter


Carter pulled out a box of folders from the closet. He grunted as he lifted it onto the desk. ‘I’m going to have to get in shape if this is the apocalypse,’ he thought to himself. Opening the box, he pulled out several red folders, then blue, and finally yellow. He wasn’t sure yet how he wanted to organize the gardening instructions he was going to print out, he just knew he’d feel better having a system.


After glancing through the sites he wanted to print out, he decided he needed one more color of folders. He made the decision to put the instruction in order of the seasons, with one color holding indoor and greenhouse instructions. With winter coming soon, Carter started printing out tips and ideas for growing food inside.


Carter would highlight the instructions, put them in a word document, save the document with a relevant name, and then hit print. He’d printed out only three when he remembered Logan’s words about protecting their home.


Jumping up, Carter looked out the window. A sigh of relief escaped out his mouth when he saw nothing but the cold, grey sky. Deciding that wasn’t enough, he slipped his coat on and stepped outside.


‘I’ll just walk around the house and make sure nothing is out of place.’ He thought to himself. He knew he was being paranoid, but who the hell would’ve thought zombies would become a reality!


Nothing seemed out of the ordinary, but Carter was glad he’d walked around. He wanted to get into the habit of thinking about protection first. Something he’d never thought of before.


Inside the house again, he continued to find gardening tips. Saving them to the hard drive might be a waste of time if the power went out, but Carter found it comforting to know that each instruction was saved in two different ways-printed out on paper and electronically.


One link led to another and suddenly, “Fuck! I didn’t even think about meat!” The words echoed through the room as Carter spoke them aloud. Quickly he reached in the box of folders and chose bright orange. Those would hold instructions for how to butcher and cure different kinds of animals.


The weight of everything he didn’t know felt overwhelming to him. If this shit spread anymore, how the hell would they survive? Feeling angry. And unsure. And useless. Carter picked up the box of folders and stomped back into the closet. Dropping the box on the floor, he stomped back out. He wanted to be doing something useful, not printing out instructions. He needed to be able to protect himself. And Logan. He needed to learn how to shoot the guns Logan had bought.


Carter walked determinedly to their bedroom. He’d practice shooting while Logan was out getting whatever the hell it was he thought they needed. He stormed to the closet and pulled down the black box that held his gun.


He set the box on the bed and opened it. This shouldn’t be so hard, he thought, lifting the gun. He turned back to the closet, getting the small box of bullets they’d been using the day before. Then he walked into the kitchen. He set the gun and box of bullets on the table as he put on his heavy winter coat. The sky was still spitting snow. Carter knew it’d be cold outside. He took his gloves out of his pocket and left them laying on the table as he put the gun in one pocket and the bullets in the other.


He walked out the door, down the steps, and to where they’d practiced the day before. The target was still pinned up. Kneeling on the ground, Carter fumbled out a few bullets. He tried to remember how to release the thingy that held the bullets. Finally, he hit a button that released the case.


Feeling like he might know what he was doing, he smiled and loaded the clip. Standing back up, Carter closed one eye, brought the target into his sights, and fired. Bark flew from the tree. The tree five feet from the one holding the target.


“Well, shit. At least I hit a tree.” He lifted the gun and closed his other eye. Again bark flew from the wrong tree.


Over and over, Carter shot only to miss the target he was aiming at.


“Why are you shooting a tree?”


Carter jumped, spinning around. Right behind him stood a young boy.


“Shit! You scared the shit outta me!” Carter clutched at his chest. He could feel the frantic beating through his heavy coat. "Where the hell did you come from?"


The little boy swung his arm back. “Back there.”


Squinting to where the boy pointed, Carter asked, “Back where.”


“Back there. Across the river.”


“What did you swim across it?” Carter looked at the kid’s clothes. They were dry so he doubted the kids swam through the river.


The little boy gave him a cheeky grin. “No. There’s a tree down a ways that I crossed. You didn’t answer my question. Why are you shooting a tree.”


Carter scowled. “I’m not shooting a tree. I’m doing target practice.”


“But you ain’t hitting the target.”


And that was the problem, Carter thought. He hadn’t once hit the target he’d put up. Letting out a sigh, he replied, “I know. I can’t figure out what I’m doing wrong.”


Excited hopefulness lit the boys face. “Can I try? I bet I could hit it!”


“Have you ever shot a gun before?” Carter knew out here in the country kids learned how to hunt at a young age. But he wasn’t just going to hand over a gun to a kid.


“No. My daddy says all guns should be banned.”


The crestfallen look on the boy’s face tugged at Carter’s heart. Before he could say anything, a minivan pulled into his driveway. Carter felt his stomach tighten. He was supposed to be protecting their home, yet here he was chatting with a kid. He pushed the boy behind him and braced his feet apart. He wasn’t a big man, and he hoped the stance would make him seem bigger than he was.


“Jimmy? Jimmy!” A slender woman stepped out of the van and rushed toward them.


“Hi, mom! He’s shooting trees!”


Carter groaned.


“I’m so sorry. With school out, Jimmy got a little bored,” the woman stuttered out as she rushed forward. “Come on, Jimmy. We need to get home. Daddy’s not happy right now. We don’t want to make him angrier.”


“Daddy’s never happy,” Jimmy mumbled out but started toward the driveway.


Carter’s eyes narrowed as he took notice of fading bruises on the woman’s face. She saw him looking hard at the yellow-green skin around her eye. “Thank you for watching over him.”


He continued to watch as she got in the car and backed out of the driveway. They must be from the subdivision that was being built. Carter had seen a couple of the houses had been finished and sold. He’d keep an eye out for the kid, he thought to himself. If things were going to get as bad as Logan thought, he didn’t want a kid to be hurt.


“And that’s why I have to learn how to shoot this thing,” he spoke the words out loud, scaring off a squirrel that had just climbed down from the tree.


He gripped the gun tighter as he brought it up. Wiggling his fingers around to get a more comfortable grip, Carter accidentally squeezed the trigger. The loud noise didn’t scare him as much as the searing pain in his little finger.


“Fuck!” He stared in horror at the sight of the finger that was now missing its tip.


On to chapter 8