Hell Bound

  The end is near

  Book 4

  Copyright © 2018

  All rights reserved.

  This book or parts thereof may not be reproduced in any form, stored in any retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or otherwise without prior written permission of the publisher, except as provided by the United States of America copyright law.

  The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owner of various products referenced in this work of fiction, which have been used without permission. The publication or use of those trademarks is not authorized, associated with, or sponsored by the trademark owners.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Cover Designer: Kathy Dinisi

  Editor: Voluptuous Book Editing

  Ebook format: Kathy Dinisi

  Stock Photos: Pixabay

  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

  Dedication

  Thank you everyone for the support and love.I hope you enjoy Sam’s story of survival and love.

  Chapter 1

  “Ignorance, the root and

  stem of all evil.”

  -Plato

  My eyes snap open to the sound of little voices whispering in the kitchen. Plastic cups clatter together and chairs squeak against the tile floor. I slowly move the blankets off my body and gradually swing my tired legs off of the bed. I lean my arms against my knees and stare at my pants and jacket that sits folded neatly on top of my boots by my feet. I learned a long time ago that you could never be too safe.

  I always keep a pair of clothes and boots next to my bed, underneath them is a gun. It’s fully loaded just in case we have a breach in the walls. Which we have had so many times inside the haven I lost count a long time ago. These walls are not as safe as we would like them to be. The zombie horde keeps getting bigger and stronger. Sadly, the zombies outnumber us. But that’s our life now, always fighting for our lives and still fighting for the lives of the ones we love.

  "Momma, we are hungry," Emma whines from the next room over. She is three now, and she is growing up way too fast. In a world that is full of so much death and destruction. Even the smell in the air is not the same. Instead of the peaceful smell of wild grass and sunflowers, it’s the constant smell of rot and decay.

  Every day I look at her, and it brings back the last minutes I spent with Mathew. The last words I said to him, "I love you." I miss him every second of every day. He was and still is my everything. My one true love, my world. If it wasn’t for the three little children in the next room, I don’t think I would have the strength to keep going in this horrible world. But I have to for them. They need me, and I need them. "Momma!" She screams impatiently snapping me out of my thoughts.

  Smiling, "Coming Emma." I quickly get ready for my tiring day ahead of me, mentally preparing myself for the long list of things I need to do at work and the grocery store. I work at the small hospital as a nurse which is exhausting. The small hospital, if you want to call it that is so short-staffed it’s ridiculous. We have two doctors and six nurses. Usually, the small staff is enough to fix scratches and everyday aches and pains, but when we have a breach in the walls and zombies come barging in, it’s a different story. That’s when things become too much to bear, and that’s when the death count rises, and the graves are dug.

  Once I’m finished getting ready, I go down the small hallway to the kitchen. We live in a two-bedroom, one bath house. The kids share a bedroom while I have the other room to myself. It’s a much smaller house than the one I lived in with Mathew back in California. But it has four walls, a roof and running water, I can’t complain. "Hungry?" I tease as I walk into the small kitchen. The kids all sit impatiently at the small wooden table.

  "Yes!" they all say with a slight attitude that makes me giggle.

  "Alright, alright." I put my hands up in defeat. My voice makes Athena’s head pop up from the nice cozy spot on the floor where she sleeps. “Good girl,” I praise her and pat her fluffy brown head. Happy with my tone of voice she puts her head back down on her paws but keeps her eyes on us. She is such a good dog it’s unbelievable. She is always so aware of everything and when there are any signs of zombies, she lets us know with a small growl or bark.

  I pull out a tin container of oatmeal and pour it in a black chipped bowl. I pour water inside the bowl and start mixing it with the oatmeal. After a couple of minutes, I pour the mix into three bowls and stir in brown sugar. I gently set the bowls in front of Alexander, James and Emma. "Say a prayer." I remind them before they can eat.

  Like good children, they bow their heads and say a prayer," Thank you Lord for the food before us, the family beside us, and the walls that protect us from the zombies outside." They quickly dig into their oatmeal making small talk with each other in between bites. Their small talk consists of silly faces and fart sounds with their mouths.

  James bends down and lends his spoon full of oatmeal to Athena. Athena lifts her head and starts licking the tip of the metal spoon until its clean. He raises his spoon and digs into his bowl and eats it.

  “James! Please don’t do that. You know I don’t like you feeding the dog your food, especially when you let her lick it off of your spoon.” I grimace as I watch him eat from his spoon. I grab a clean one out of the silverware drawer and hand it to him. He takes the clean spoon out of my hand and hands me his dirty spoon. “Now, don’t feed the dog.” James giggles and looks at me with his small brown eyes. I can’t help but laugh.

  I quickly poured myself a cup of coffee. Usually, I would drink my coffee with creamer, but we don’t have creamer here. Things like creamer, ice cream, and soda are all luxuries that we don’t have anymore. Now my coffee is black which I have grown to like or to live with it. Either way, I drink it. I bring my white mug to my lips and sip on the bitter flavor slowly. It slowly wakens my senses and brings me out of the morning haze.

  After the kids finish eating, I tell them to go wash up and then grab their backpacks for school. Alexander and James are in the same classroom even though they are two years apart. There aren’t many kids between these walls so one class is from 1st grade to 5th grade. Then the other class is junior high and high school. Emma is in the daycare center where my mother works at. My father works with the military unit since he is a retired General.

  "Are you guys done yet?" I call by the front door waiting for them to hurry up, Athena wags her tail by my feet impatiently waiting to go outside. Every morning on our way to school I let Athena out, so she can use the restroom and then I drop her off at the daycare with Emma and my mother.

  “Kids, please hurry up,” I say my voice getting louder. I have to go to the small store before I go to work. "Coming," they call at the same time. I look each of them over before I open the door. Satisfied with their looks we walk outside. The haven looks exactly like a small community but with no cars. Everyone walks to and from their destination except for the military. They have access to military vehicles and sometimes they drive on the dirt roads to come and go when they need to.

  Today there are more military vehicles and soldiers on the road than usual. Making me feel a little on edge. More military usually means that there are more zombies outside of our walls or other people are near. More people can mean two things, one they need somewhere to sleep and eat, and we open our doors for them or it can mean they are hostile and want to steal from or hurt the people in these walls. Either way, it’s scary and nerve-wracking.

  I lean down until I’m face level with Alexander, James and Emma. I give them an encouraging smile, "Do you guys know what to do if we have a breach in our walls?" I test them.

  With wide eyes, they stand up straight. All three of them give me their full attention. "Yes, Momma." Even Athena’s ear picks up, almost as if she understands as well.

  I lift my brows," And that is?"

  Alexander speaks up first," I quickly hide James and me in the safest place in the classroom and that is in the supply closet. I also take the other kids with me if they listen. Then once it’s safe, I grab James and run to Emma and Grandma and hide in their classroom until you and Grandpa come to get us."

  I nod my head in appreciation, "Correct. Good boy." Alexander smiles at me. I look to James, "And what do you do?"

  He looks at me with a straight face, "I listen to Alexander and follow his orders. I do not go with anyone else. Not my teacher or any of the other kids."

  "Correct James. Good boy." He smiles at me. I look to Emma, "Now what do you do Emma?" Emma is a lot younger than James and Alexander. I’ve been trying to drill it in her head that she needs to be prepared at all times and to always listen to her brothers and grandparents when I’m not around. But she is still so young and naive that she doesn’t always understand that we live in a time where we are never safe. I’m thankful my mother works in the daycare. It puts me at ease knowing someone I trust is always a