The ZWD Trilogy (Book 1): Zombie World Dominance [The Destruction Begins]

by L. D. King

  “You are more than welcome. Wayne has been telling me so much about the three of you. I hope you enjoy what you see. I would be so pleased happy if you chose to join us.”

  “I told them that dinner will be served soon. Betty is such a good recruiter for us. I think that’s why I married her so many years ago. She must have recruited me. Donnie, Jewel and I are not on the leadership council, but Betty, Mildred and Derek are.”

  Wayne continued, “There are a total of six people on the leadership council. They serve for three months. Each person is selected from a random drawing held once a month. Each month we change out two people on the leadership council. This way we have new blood every month on the council. To be on the council, a person must be 18 or older. No one serves more than once every twelve months. If a spouse served at any time in the last twelve-month period, the other spouse cannot serve until that twelve-month period is over. Everyone in our group has a chip that has their name on it. The chips hang on a board in this room. If a person does not want to be on the council, then they move their chip to the smaller board. That is the non-qualified person board. Before each random drawing, the board is checked to ensure that every name in our group is there. It is a little clumsy but this is what we came up with as our group grew. Come on, let’s sit down so we can eat. They serve by table. One table will go at a time to the serving line. Each meal they alternate which table starts the rotation.”

  After dinner was eaten, the dining room was cleaned up and they started to get ready for the weekly meeting. The leadership council moved to the table in the front of the room. Betty Locks stood to begin the meeting. As the business part of the meeting was being handled and things like the minutes or closed requests were being discussed, Kimberly and her crew sat next to Wayne. As the council was ready for new business, Betty asked her husband to stand and introduce his new friends.

  Wayne stood and cleared his throat to speak. “As everyone knows, we’ve been monitoring the area around our camp. We came across these three people who are sitting with me. I approached them yesterday, asking them if they would consider joining us. They’re from Riverside, California and worked for the NBC news station as a mobile news team. Their names are Kimberly, Floyd, and Eddie. They are going to stay with us for a day or so. If you pass them, please introduce yourself. Thank you, Betty, for letting me have the time to introduce our new friends.”

  As Wayne sat down, Derek Beasley stood to be recognized so he could speak. Betty pointed towards him, telling him the he had the floor. Derek stood, scratched his head as he started to tell everyone what he had discovered earlier today.

  “Betty, I had a response to my broadcast on the radio that we found a month ago. With Donnie’s help cranking the power, we had another group respond to our call. They are like us because they have banded together from a number of other groups. They have something to offer us if we so choose. They’re a large group of survivors in Nebraska. They call themselves The Nebraska Survivor Camp. What they have created is a permanent camp that can hold up to 3,000 people. They’re inviting anyone who’s willing to follow their rules to join them. From what I have gathered by talking to them, they run their camp much like ours. They have a command council that is selected from a drawing to lead the camp. They are on the council for six months.”

  “If anyone wants to join their camp, they must go through a quarantine of two weeks before they are brought into the main camp. That is to ensure the people do not have the zombie virus on them. I would like to know if this could be opened for a group discussion. What do the members of the council think?”

  “Derek, I think this might be of value to us. With winter coming on hard, getting to Nebraska now would pose a real hardship on us. We’d have to cross the Rocky Mountains on foot in the middle of winter. If the cold doesn’t get us, the zombies will. If they still have room for us in the spring, I think whoever is on the council at that time would be willing to entertain the recommendation for going. I won’t stand in the way of presenting this to our group. I’d like to hold this for a later time. Please don’t hesitate to talk about it while you’re among the members of our group. With any luck, we could find a running vehicle or two to help us make the trip.”

  “Thank you for your presentation, Derek. I don’t hear any new business, so I move to close this week’s meeting of the council. Our guests will be staying with us in the dormitory tonight. Please make them feel welcome. Wayne, would you please take our friends to the dormitory to show them their room?”

  As the meeting broke up, Wayne took the three of them to the dormitory to show them their room.

  “I know it’s not much, but each room has four beds, at least until the families have had a chance to make them their own. I know with one girl and two guys it isn’t the best, but it’s all we have to offer right now for our guests.”

  “Kimberly! Look! Beds. With sheets and blankets. No, Wayne, this is just fine. We’ve all slept in the same room for this long; another day or two won’t kill us. Wayne, if we choose to join you, will this be our regular sleeping arrangements?”

  “No, Eddie. Single members sleep on one end of the building. Ladies on one floor, the guys on another. Right now we don’t want to put you into a situation that you’ll be uncomfortable with. We have a policy that when it’s dark outside, the lights go off, except for interior rooms. All our lights come from candles or lanterns. Both of those are hard to get, so if you don’t absolutely need the light, we ask that you not use them. I’ll see you tomorrow. If you have any questions, please look for me; I’m your sponsor. You can go anywhere that you want. It’s just that someone has to be responsible for new people.”

  “Wayne, if we do decide to join you, do you have a training program or something of that sort that we have to go through?”

  “No, Floyd, we don’t have one per se. We do have a set of rules that we’ll give you to look at. We all follow those rules. Things such as the lights after dark thing. If you guys are all good for the night, I’ll join my wife, one floor up. If you need anything, we have a night watch that patrols the grounds. They also go through the buildings on a regular schedule. If you see them, they’ll say hi.”

  Once Wayne left, Kimberly shut the door to their room. It was just starting to get dark out, so they had a little time to get set for bed. Once they were settled in, Kimberly was first to speak in a quiet voice to the guys.

  “Wow, guys. What do you think of this so far? As far as I’m concerned, I’m good to go with this. I want to talk to some of the other people tomorrow, but if they asked me right now, I’d have to say yes. Floyd, what about you? You always have a good head on your shoulders. What do you think?”

  “No more fighting to find food. No more fighting with the zombies. A bed to sleep in. What more could we ask for? Kimberly, I’m with you on this. I’m ready to go for now. I want to see what tomorrow brings. I want to talk to other people as well. If it still looks this good tomorrow, I think they have three new people. Eddie, what about you?”

  “You know that I’ll go along with the two of you. I’m tired of walking. I’m tired of hunting for something to eat. I’m tired of being wet and cold all the time. Here we’re not wet or cold. These people look like they eat well. So as far my answer, I’m here to stay. That Nebraska Survivor Camp sounds really good too. I’d like to be part of that if and when it happens.”

  “All right, guys. Let’s sleep on this. I’m tired, and we have a warm, dry place to sleep. We had a good meal; I’d still like to have a beer, though. Good night, all.”

  Kimberly and the guys slept in warm, dry beds for the first time in many months. As they were falling off to sleep, they knew that they would accept the offer to join Wayne’s winter camp. They also knew that if they had the chance, they would be going to the Nebraska Survivor Camp as soon as weather permitted.

  In the spring, they would be running again, but for now, their running was over for a while.

  Chapter 17

  Saud
i Press Agency

  Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

  ADZ +232d

  All the remaining staff, including the remote crews, had returned to the station. Kamal had the building security staff direct everyone into the large conference room. Just before the meeting began, Waheb directed the station’s security officers to lock down the building, allowing no one in.

  As the staff assembled, they were anxious about the zombie outbreak. Everyone on the station staff had seen people slaughtered by the zombies as they killed anyone that they could catch.

  The station personnel had either filmed the killings live, worked on the production of the news reports or watched the killings from around the world that had been broadcast. So that the station would not be broadcasting dead air, Kamal had Ahmed relay the BBC news broadcast from London to the local station as they attended Kamal’s meeting. Kamal was the last person to enter the conference room.

  Everyone took their seats to hear what he had to tell them. Once everyone was present, Kamal stood to address his staff.

  “First, please let me thank all of you for doing the very best job that you could for the station during these difficult times. As you all know by now, the zombie outbreak that has been reported around the world has struck our country. In the last 24 to 48 hours, the majority of our daily activities has been reduced to simply trying to avoid the zombies. I have been speaking with station managers around Saudi Arabia, including competing stations in nearby cities. They are all experiencing the same thing that we are here in Riyadh. The zombies are loose on the streets, killing anyone that they come across. Every person that has been killed suffered death in a horrible, brutal manner. These killings are not intended to simply take a life; they are done in such a way as to inflict the most brutal ravaging of the victim’s body. The zombies go into a blood rage as they kill their victims.”

  He continued, “The people that I have spoken with believe, as I do, that the large cities are not the place to be. The zombies have or will soon have complete control of the cities by keeping the people who live in them hiding in fear behind locked doors, terrified to come out. I have met with the executive staff to come up with a plan for all of us. They agree that our cities are not safe. The largest numbers of the zombies are concentrated here.”

  He looked around at those in the room. “In order to have a chance to survive, we must leave Riyadh behind; in fact, we must leave Saudi Arabia. We have decided that we will commit all of the station’s resources to travel to Europe. Europe has been selected because it is more advanced technologically and medically than any Middle Eastern country. If you will, please let me turn this meeting over to our station owner, Mr. Waheb Shalhoub, to speak to us.”

  “Thank you, Kamal. Please, from this point forward we no longer hold any stations of authority over anyone. We are all in this together. From this meeting forward, everyone can call me Waheb. Everyone in this station will use their first name. No managers, no supervisors, no subordinates — everyone is equal to everyone else. The first thing I would like to address is I want everyone to start using first names from this point forward. This will remove the formality of who is in charge and who does what work. To make this work, we are all in this together.”

  Heads nodded around the room. He continued, “Right now there are 52 people in the station. I am offering to all of you, including your immediate families, to come with us. What I mean about your immediate family includes your wife and your children. Parents, brothers, sisters or anyone else that are related to you will not be allowed due to the limited resources that we have. With the resources that we have at this time, we can only take so many people most of the way, if not all the way. If you choose not to accompany us due to our restrictions, please accept my highest wishes for your safety.”

  He paused a moment. “Our objective is to reach Europe. From listening to the current newscasts, we feel strongly that if we go to Europe, we will have a much better chance to survive this outbreak. It would be my desire to take an aircraft, but the current state of affairs prevents us from using that method of transportation. We are now reduced to over-the-road means of travel. Through the rest of today into tomorrow, we will be gathering the vehicles we will need. All of the remaining vehicles will have the gasoline drained from them to extend the range of the vehicles we are taking. We will strip the vehicles of everything that is not necessary for our journey. We will stock them with supplies such as extra gas, oil, food, water, clothing, toiletries, medical supplies, bedding and anything else we may need.”

  “It is now nearly 2:00 PM. We will be leaving in just over forty-two hours, on the day after tomorrow at 10 AM. If you desire to go with us, you must remain here at the station. If you would like to invite your immediate family to accompany us, please contact them; they will have to get here somehow. Anyone who leaves the building will not be permitted to reenter. By tomorrow at noon, we will need an accurate count so we can prepare for the number of people we will have. If you do not wish to go with us, it will be your choice. We will not attempt to change your mind.” The staff members looked at each other. Most of them were nodding in agreement.

  “Once we leave the station, any of you that have decided to stay here will have the full use of any of the remaining resources in this building. If this sounds harsh, it is, and I am sorry that it does. These are dangerous times. To survive, difficult decisions must be made, and right now, no one knows how this outbreak will end, or if there will be a human race left on Earth. All we can do is the best we can. We will leave everything else up to Allah. Kamal, I turn the meeting back over to you. Thank you for letting me speak with everyone.”

  “Thank you, Waheb. These decisions concerning your families were not easily made. We have only a limited amount of supplies. At issue here is that we do not want to begin our journey only to run out of supplies. That would put everyone at risk of dying in the harsh elements of the desert, or being killed by zombies. Both Waheb and I will be available if you wish to talk privately with us after this meeting concludes. Please understand that the decision about your immediate family will stand. Thank you all for your time and your dedication to the success of this station.”

  During the rest of the day and into the night, staff members were frantically attempting to call their families to let them know what was happening. It all came down to whether each family could agree to the rules that had been set out by Waheb, or whether they would decide to stay behind with their families. A few of the staff chose not to call their families at all. Not everyone could make that choice. They decided to stay on their own.

  In the end, the number of staff and family members that decided to go dropped from 52 to only 21.

  In most Middle Eastern countries, the extended family was the family. It was the tradition of their culture. It might include a husband and his wife, their children, the parents on both sides, uncles, aunts, and cousins with their children. Those with large families such as this knew that there were not enough supplies to go around. They decided to remain in Riyadh.

  Those who chose to attempt the journey to Europe were mostly single men or women with the station management.

  They decided to take three vehicles. The studio had two 16-passenger buses and one remote broadcast van. They would strip out two rows of seats, removing eight total seats from each bus. That would leave room for nine people in each of the buses. The extra room would be used for supplies. The broadcast van was stripped of everything that was not needed, including all of the station’s equipment. This would allow for three people to ride as well as allowing the van to carry a large amount of supplies. This was how the 21 people would travel. Each vehicle had enough supplies on board in case they had to split up. When the time came, 42 hours later, the convoy headed out of Riyadh, driving towards Al-Hadithah on the Jordanian border.

  *****

  It had been nearly eight months since the group had left Saudi Arabia. During that time, they had driven as far as Maan, Jordan before the fuel i
n their last vehicle ran out. They walked through Jordan into Lebanon until they arrived at Buraq.

  It was late in the day before they found a small two-story building that they could secure. They were going about their usual activities to set up their nightly routine. Along their journey, they lost some of their group to the zombies. Those who had been killed included Waheb, Arwa, Alohnim, Moiz, and Hamza. The remaining sixteen were sitting at a makeshift table, eating a meager meal.

  The night watch would begin shortly after the meal. In Buraq, what they needed most was food and water. Buraq was a new city for them. They planned to spend a couple of days there to search for supplies.

  At sunrise, after breakfast was done, they sent out a five-member search team to forage for supplies for their group. Ahmed was the team leader. Accompanying him were Tetsuo, Husayn, Badr and Maana.

  As they waited for the door to be opened, Ahmed turned to look at them and said, “This is a small town. We should not need more than a day, maybe two, to cover all of the buildings. We desperately need food, but finding a source of water is important as well. If we could find a larger building, that would be nice as well. It is rather crowded here. The only requirement is that the building is secure.”

  He looked each member of the search team in the eye. “All right, let’s go. Be sure to keep your eyes open. The zombies have been more aggressive these last few weeks.”

  “That sounds like a good idea, Ahmed,” said Husayn. “I think whatever we do, we need to be both quick and accurate. If Allah is with us, we will find our supplies quickly.”

  “You’re right, Husayn. Come on, now, we need to get started. Good hunting to us all, as well as a safe return.”

  They had been out searching for two hours, looking into every building, house and small shed that they passed. They had found some canned water, in survival containers, that they packed up. They also found some canned food.