Free The Zed Files Trilogy (Book 1): The Hanging Tree by David Andrew Wright

is what caused all of... this.”  His hands wave around the room.
    “Alright,” Kevin says leaning back in his chair.  “We got a buncha people dead, everything wiped out, no communications… how the hell did the zombie thing start?”
    “No one knows,” Tyler shrugs.  “Of course, there are theories.”  He smiles crazily around the room.
    “Is this the fungus thing?” Betty snaps at him.
    Daisy is playing with a strand of Tyler’s hair just above his ear.  “We’d have smart babies,” she says dreamily.  “What did you used to be again?”
    “Electrical Engineer,”Tyler blushes bright red and the third grader smile returns.  “We could go start on the smart babies now if you like,” he says and shrugs.
    “Wait a minute,” Kevin says and puts his big paw of a hand on Tyler’s shoulder.  “Just finish explain’n this here deal.”  He looks at me and smiles.  “See what I mean, man?  Smart as a whip but ain’t gotta lick of sense.”
    To prove Kevin’s point, Tyler attempts to swing a leg over the bench he is sharing with Kevin only to smack his knee solidly into the underside of the table.  Kevin laughs.  “Easy man, easy.”  He hands Tyler the pipe.  “Take a hit off this, finish your story.  Then go make spastic super genius stripper babies with Daisy.”
    Tyler hits the pipe long and holds it in for a moment.  He exhales a large plume of smoke and says, “ Fungus.” 
    “Nah man, it’s weed.  I done told ya I took the last of the shrooms a week ago,” Kevin says.
    Tyler shakes his head no.  “The most reasonable theory I heard was that the zombie thing was originally born of a fungal infection.”
    “You mean like… mushrooms?  Or athlete’s foot?” Betty asks.
    “ Mmmm… neither really.” Tyler says.  He is looking up and talking to the ceiling.  “They had an airborne fungus killing healthy people up in the northwest part of the country for the last several years.  Then after the big tornado outbreak of 2011, other people died from fungal infections… murcomycosis… in subcutaneous form… meaning it got in under the skin through wounds.  It wasn’t wide spread but it was largely fatal.  After the big tsunami on the east coast, some of the people I was communicating with in chat rooms thought that the wave had washed in or stirred up some sort of fungal infection that turns the human body into a host for the new organism.  I mean hell… we’re mostly bacteria anyway and…”
    Kevin stops Tyler at the crossroad of his tangent by holding up his hand again.  “You mean those are all mushroom zombies out there?”
    “Nnnnnnnnnnnnn… yes.” Tyler finally says.  “That is one theory.”
    “Chocolate kisses, chocolate and peanut butter,” Daisy says while fiddling with her joint.  “I’m gonna start spray’n down with some… fast act’n Tinactin or somethin.”
    “It’s kind of like the parasitic wasps out there that lay their eggs in ants,” Tyler starts.
    Through the window of the small house, I can see a beam of light on the ground in front of the gate at the front of the compound.  “You expecting company?” I ask as I blow out the candles in the middle of the table.  A candle burning in the corner of the room allows me enough light to find my rifle.  The others scramble for their guns as well. 
    “What is it?” Betty whispers from behind a tattered and broken sofa.
    “I dunno,” I say in a normal speaking voice.  “But it would appear we have company.”
    “Well, hell,” Kevin says from the window.
    I pull out my .45 and check the chamber. I reach in my pocket and get the bullets from Karen’s pistol out and hand them to her.  I don’t say anything to her.  Telling someone not to shoot you is kind of like telling somebody not to drop something.  I watch as she tries to quickly shove them into the clip of the tiny pistol.  She racks the slide and looks up at me in the light of the single candle. 
    “Don’t