Plague of the Living Dead (The Z-Day Trilogy Book 3)

by Mark Cusco Ailes

  “What if those things are in the hall?” asked Emily. “They could be everywhere in the mall.”

  “We need a weapon,” said Patricia. “Like the gun lying outside of the gate on the floor.”

  Daniel looked at the floor outside of the gate. It was lying in a pool of blood. “The guard must have dropped it when he collapsed.” He looked at Brinke. “We need to get it. I just hope it has some bullets left.”

  “We can’t lift the gate,” said Brinke. “It’s too dangerous. Any of those things can get inside here if we do.”

  Daniel walked over to the gate to see if he could locate any of the zombies. To his dismay, as far as he could see, there were zombies. He turned to look at Brinke. “The mall looks to be filled with zombies, but they’re spread out. I’m sure we have time to lift the gate, grab the gun and close the gate before they have a chance to attack. For some reason, they don’t know we’re inside here.”

  “If we lift the gate, it could alert them to the fact we are. I don’t think we should risk it. It’s too dangerous.”

  “Listen, I know you’re scared, but we don’t have any choice. We’re going to need it eventually. We can’t stay locked inside here all day. We have a better fighting chance if we can get outside of the mall.”

  Brinke knew he was right. Eventually they would have to leave the shop. They would have to try to get out of the mall. She looked at him. “I’ll go get the keys.”

  “Let the virgin go first,” said the religious lady who had just awoken.

  Emily stormed over to her and punched her in the face as hard as she could. The lady blacked out once more. Emily stood there rubbing her fist. “We should make you go first!”

  Brinke brought the keys over to Luke. “Are you sure we should chance this?”

  “Let’s do it before I come to my senses.”

  Brinke placed the key inside the lock and held her breath. She said a silent prayer and turned the key. Daniel slowly lifted the gate, trying not to make any noise. He left the shop and stopped to look around. There were dead bodies and zombies everywhere he looked. He snatched the gun from the ground and went back inside the shop. He slammed the gate back down and Brinke locked it. The slamming of the gate caught the zombies’ attention.

  Brinke knew the zombies had heard the gate closing, and she snatched the keys from the lock and ran toward the counter. She didn’t want to be anywhere near the gate when they appeared. Daniel peered through the gate. He turned to look at everybody inside.

  “Here they come.” He retreated away from the gate.

  “Now what do we do?” asked Patricia. “They’re going to break down the gate.”

  “We don’t know that for sure,” said Daniel. “We don’t know how strong they are.”

  “Are there any bullets in the gun?” asked Brinke. “Was retrieving the gun worth it?”

  Daniel checked the gun. He looked up at Brinke and shook his head. “There is only one bullet left. Not enough to fight through all of them.”

  One of the women stood up and pulled a gun out of her purse. She offered it to Daniel. “Take it, it’s fully loaded. My husband makes me carry this in my purse, just in case, you know, something bad happens.”

  “What’s your name?” asked Daniel, taking the gun from her.

  “Helen,” she said. “That lady was wrong about everything.”

  “What?” asked Daniel.

  “The lady you tied up. She was quoting Revelation thirteen. That part she had right, but then she went crazy. I don’t know what she was talking about after that.”

  “Don’t worry about her. She’s not going to hurt anybody. She’s tied up really good, and thanks for the gun.”

  “Are we going to leave her here?”

  Daniel didn’t know how to respond to the question. He knew if he took the crazed woman with them, she could cause them problems they didn’t need to deal with. “I’m afraid we have no choice but to leave her here.”

  “You’re going to at least untie her. If the zombies get inside, she won’t have a fighting chance.”

  Once again Daniel didn’t want to say what he wanted to. He walked over to the front of the store by the gate and peered through it. “We have no choice. We can’t untie her. We can’t risk her causing the zombies to pay unnecessary attention to us.”

  “Then I’m staying here with her when you leave. You can have the gun, but I’m staying. If you leave her tied up, you would be…well, you would be no better than those murderers out there. Doing that to her isn’t the Christian thing to do. I’m sure you know it deep down in your heart.”

  Daniel turned to face her. “Do what you want. I’m not risking the safety of this group over one crazed woman. If we’re going to survive, we can’t have her with us yelling and drawing attention to us. We would lose the element of surprise. That will be the only factor we’re going to have on our side.” He looked at Brinke. “Don’t label me a monster. I’m only doing what I feel is right.”

  Brinke didn’t say a word. Deep down she knew Daniel was right. She didn’t agree with keeping her tied up, but under these circumstances, what else could they do. They couldn’t trust the crazed woman to keep her mouth shut. She disappeared into the back. She didn’t have anything to add to the conversation.

  Once in the back she sat down on a chair in her office. She put her head on the desk and fought back the tears welling up inside her. She couldn’t believe she was going to go along with it. Under normal circumstances she never would leave someone tied up to meet their fate. She just wasn’t that type of person. She wondered what Owen was doing. Probably playing tonsil hockey with his secretary or whoever else he’s cheating with. She laughed. With what was going on at the mall right now, his infidelity didn’t seem so important. Sobbing, she closed her eyes, trying to forget about everything happening.

  She was awoken fifteen minutes later by screaming coming from inside the front area. She jumped to her feet and rushed to the front. She stood in horror as she saw what the commotion was over. An infant was trying to break through the gate. It was reaching through the slits of the bars trying to grab Daniel. Its jaws snapped shut spasmodically, trying to gnaw through the gate. Daniel looked back at Brinke.

  “It doesn’t have any teeth. It’s acting as though it wants to rip me apart.”

  “Get away from the gate!” screamed Patricia frantically. “It’s going to break through the gate.”

  “Relax, said Daniel calmly. “We’re still all right inside here. I’m sure it’s not strong enough to get inside here. But it does prove one thing. We can’t stay inside here all day. Eventually every monster inside the mall will be alerted to our presence. Enough of them could most likely break down the gate. If we’re going to make our move, we’re going to have to make it soon.”

  “I didn’t hear anything in the back hall while I was inside my office,” said Brinke. “They must be contained mostly inside the main areas of the mall. We could follow the hall to the rear exits of the mall for the employees. Maybe they won’t be in the parking lot. If we can make it to our cars…”

  “Or maybe there are as many of them outside as there are in the mall!” screamed Patricia. “We have a good thing here. So far none of them have gotten inside here!”

  “Too late,” said Daniel, staring at the front of the gate. “That damn baby has alerted the whole mall that there is a free meal inside the coffee shop. We can’t wait any longer.”

  Brinke looked at the gate. The zombie version of Chuck was pushing on the gate. Behind him several more zombies appeared and began pushing on the gate.

  Daniel reacted swiftly. He led the group to the back door, leaving the woman who had given him the gun to fend for herself. She was standing firm and wasn’t going to leave the other woman to stay there and get murdered. He knew she would untie the woman, but right now it didn’t matter. They had to get out of the mall as quickly as possible and deal with whatever might be lingering in the parking lot.

  Daniel plac
ed his ear on the door and held his hand up. He wanted to make sure he didn’t hear any commotion coming from the other side of the door. He lowered his hand and turned to the anxious group.

  “I don’t hear anything. We should be all right for the moment.” He opened the door and entered the hall. He stopped to look in both directions. Except for the slight humming from the overhead fluorescent lights, he didn’t hear anything. He looked back at the group and motioned for them to follow him. He crept down the hall until he got to the end and stopped to peer around the corner. A lone zombie was standing there wearing a security guard uniform. His uniform was badly torn, like a pack of wild dogs had attacked him. He looked at the zombie’s face. His eyes were murky and one of his eyes was dangling from its socket. Daniel turned to face the group and informed them of the zombie around the corner.

  “What are you going to do?” asked Brinke. “You can’t shoot it. The rest of the zombies in the mall would hear the shot and come straight for us.”

  “I realize that,” he whispered. “I’m going to have to deal with it. We don’t have time to turn around and head in the other direction.” He knew he had to eliminate it before it found them. He feared some of the women might scream after seeing its face. “Stay here.”

  He disappeared around the corner and slowly made his way toward the zombie who was standing there oblivious to his presence. He didn’t have an explanation for why the zombie wasn’t reacting to him, but he felt fortunate. He approached it and saw its brain had been bitten into. He figured this kind of injury was probably keeping the zombie calm. It was the only explanation he could think of. Without giving the zombie a chance to react, he grabbed it on both sides of the head and twisted as hard as he could. He heard something snap and the zombie went limp in his grasp. He helped the zombie to the ground, trying not to make any loud noises. He watched it for several seconds to make sure it didn’t miraculously spring back to life. Satisfied the zombie wasn’t going to cause the group any problems, he went back to get them so they could continue on their quest for the exit.

  “Did you kill it?” asked Brinke as he appeared around the corner.

  “It’s been dealt with.” He looked at the group. “I must caution you now. Once you get around the corner, you’re going to witness a gruesome sight. You must fight the urge to scream. If you do, you’re going to alert every zombie in the mall to our presence. Close your eyes and let someone guide you around if you must, but under no circumstance do you start screaming. Do I make myself perfectly clear?”

  Everyone nodded, helping him feel at ease. He motioned for them to follow him. As he expected, the group saw the dead zombie lying on the floor.

  “Don’t slip in the blood covering the floor,” said Daniel. “And whatever you do, don’t mess with it while we’re passing around it.”

  Patricia thought that was a stupid thing to say. She couldn’t understand why anybody in their right mind would want to mess with the zombie.

  Eventually they came to the end of the hall and made a right hand turn. Brinke tapped him on the shoulder.

  “The exit leading to the trash compacters are at the end of that hall. You can see the exit sign from here. Once you exit the door, you can see some of the employee parking areas beyond the compacters.”

  “That’s good to know,” said Daniel. “That means we’re close to getting out of here and out of danger.”

  “Unless…” began Patricia.

  “Shut up, Patricia, pleaded Emily. “You’re going to jinx us.”

  Daniel slowly peered around the corner and immediately withdrew. He looked at Brinke alarmingly.

  “What is it?” she asked, wide-eyed.

  “There are four zombies hanging around the door. I don’t know what they’re doing, but they are blocking our way out of the mall.”

  “What are you going to do?”

  He looked at the others. “Here’s the situation. The door is being blocked by several zombies. We should be all right if I use the gun to kill them. By the time the other zombies in the mall make their way back here, we should be out the door. It’s a risk worth taking.” He looked at Patricia. He could tell she wasn’t thrilled by his plan. “Listen, Patricia, I won’t let anything happen to you. Stay close to me; I’ll kill every single one of them if I have to.” He took a step away from them, but was immediately halted by the sound of an infant crying and then growling. The group turned around. Frightened beyond measure, they stood frozen in place.

  The infant from the coffee shop somehow found them and was set on stopping them from escaping the mall. It stared at them with emotionless eyes. Daniel pushed through them and stood with the gun pointed at it. He knew if he fired at it, the others zombies by the door would be alerted to their location, but deep down he knew he had to do it. Even though the infant didn’t have any teeth, he knew it could still cause great bodily harm. He moved closer to the infant, still pointing his weapon at it. It moaned and moved closer to him as if it were daring him to make his move. He drew a bead on his target and fired as the infant made its move. A chunk of bone the size of the infant’s fist exited the back of its skull. It lay motionless in a small pool of crimson blood. Patricia screamed on reflex.

  “Damn!” shouted Daniel, glaring at her. He immediately peered around the corner. As he feared, the four zombies were heading down the hall in their direction. He didn’t know if it was her scream, or the sound of his gun that drew their attention, but all he knew was they knew where they were all hiding. “We’re going to have company!”

  He made his way around the corner into plain view, daring them to approach. He raised his weapon, ready for action. He knew he had enough ammunition to take the four zombies out of commission. He waited until they drew nearer to him. He didn’t want to waste any ammunition. He took careful aim, knowing every shot had to count. His gun tracked his first target. He squeezed off the first shot, followed by three more. He watched as three of the zombies crashed to the floor. The fourth one continued to shamble down the hall toward him.

  “I wasted a shot!” he screamed. He held his breath and fired. The trigger clicked on empty. He peered down at his gun angrily. He was positive he had at least one round left to fire. He glanced up just in time to keep from being grabbed by the menacing creature. He moved to the right and pushed the zombie against the wall. It groaned in frustration and turned to face him. Blood was trickling down its lips. It opened its mouth exposing nicotine and blood stained teeth. Daniel tried to fire the gun once more at it, but still nothing happened.

  It tried to grab him once more, nearly succeeding, its mouth gaped wide, eager to devour him. Daniel knew he was in trouble. He took a step backward and the zombie followed. He knew he couldn’t take a step toward the group; it would put all of them at risk. The zombie lunged at him, crashing into the wall as he swiftly stepped out of the way. Taking the opportunity to attack, he brought the butt of the gun up and brought it down squarely on top of the zombie’s head. Blood sprayed upward like a geyser. Its severed head stared at him until it toppled over, hitting the wall, and sliding to the ground.

  Daniel sighed heavily and looked at the group who were all staring down the hall. He turned to look and the crazed lady from the coffee shop was storming down the hall with a large butcher knife in her hand.

  “How dare you murder God’s innocent creations!”

  Daniel couldn’t believe she had gotten free. He knew he shouldn’t have left anybody behind with her. “Where is the woman who stayed behind with you?”

  “I tricked her into freeing me, and then I killed her. She committed a whopper of a sin by giving you the gun. I knew you would use it to murder God’s creatures. Now it’s time for judgment. I sentence you to death!”

  She quickened her pace toward him with the knife raised above her head. Two shots rang out behind him. She stopped dead in her tracks as two gushing holes were stitched across her forehead. Daniel watched as she tumbled to the ground. He turned to see who had fired the fatal sh
ots. A security guard, covered in blood, pushed through the group.

  “They don’t pay me enough for all of this. That woman was out of her mind. I witnessed her stabbing a woman to death at the coffee shop. I tried to stop her, but she sliced me open and took off like a bat out of hell.”

  “I’m glad to see you, Terrance,” said Brinke. “I’d hate to think what she would have done if you hadn’t.”

  “We have to get out of the mall. I’m the last guard alive. The place is overrun by zombies.”

  “Let’s get to the exit before we encounter any more unwanted guests,” said Daniel. “I will feel much better once I know I’m miles from this place. Come on before it’s too late.”

  They rushed to the door, and Daniel pushed it open with such force, it caused a zombie standing in front of it to topple over. It slowly returned to its feet and growled hungrily at the group. Terrance pushed the cold steel of his weapon against its temple and fired. The group was showered with a mist of crimson. Daniel looked at them and shook his head.

  “I’m sorry about that. I didn’t realize that was going to happen.”

  Daniel pushed past him and stood there with his mouth gaped opened. The entire back area of the mall was teeming with the walking dead.

  “What the…” began Terrance.

  “We have to get back inside,” interrupted Daniel. “We’re safer inside the mall.”

  He pushed the group back inside and slammed the door shut behind him. He looked at Terrance. “We need a safe place to hide that has the supplies we’re going to need.”

  “Follow me; I know the perfect place we can hide that has plenty of supplies,” said Terrance. “And lucky for me I have the keys to the kingdom.”

  Chapter Seven

  Willie was huddled behind a fire at the local junkyard where he stayed during after-hours. He took a swig from his whiskey bottle and wiped the access from his lips with the sleeve of his tattered green jacket. This was the life he had chosen for himself. He was living off of the grid and out of the mind of the corrupt government he was hiding from. He had been homeless ever since graduating from high school, which was nearly thirty years ago. He left home and headed out into the world hoping to achieve the American dream. He worked several part time jobs, waiting for his big break, but it never happened. Instead, he continued being a dishwasher at a truck stop, barely making enough money to rent a room at a rundown motel on a weekly basis. Now, he was unemployed and homeless. The dishwasher job had lasted for several years, but he grew tired of it. One night he walked into the truck stop and quit on the spot. He didn’t care that he couldn’t afford to live at the motel any longer. Washing dishes wasn’t in his plans for striking it rich. He tried to get several more jobs, but all the doors shut on him until the day he finally accepted defeat. He blamed the government for everything that had happened to him.