Zombie Reign: A Fake Zombie Story

by Tim Miller

  Some people he didn’t know walked up to him and asked for a photo. It was a young couple. He posed with them as one of their friends snapped the picture.

  “Thank you!” the young man said. “When does the movie come out?”

  “Should be out by next summer,” Clarence said.

  “Seriously? That is awesome. We can’t wait. We love zombie movies.”

  “Well you’ll love this one then!”

  “Great! Good luck with it!” they said as they walked off.

  Clarence greeted a few more people before Lisa came up to him.

  “There you are,” she said.

  “Hey beautiful!” He kissed her on the cheek, but she wasn’t looking as jovial as others at the event. She looked exhausted. Her hair was frazzled and there were bags under her eyes. “What’s wrong?”

  “Where are the limos?” she asked.

  “The what?” he said, though he knew exactly what she’d said.

  “The limos? People are ready to leave. When do the limos start taking people back?”

  “Oh right. They don’t.”

  “What do you mean they don’t?”

  “We only paid for them to drop us off. So everyone has to find their own way back,” he explained. With what the cast had pitched in for the limos, it would have covered a few trips back and forth, but he was keeping the rest.

  “Are you kidding? It’s like a mile or so away!”

  “I know. A few who arrived late drove so they can take some people back.”

  “This would have been nice to know beforehand.”

  “Yeah, I didn’t want people to be upset though. Can you let everyone know? Maybe ask some folks if they can take a few people back?”

  She took a deep breath while rubbing her eyes.

  “Yeah. I’ll see what I can do.”

  “Thanks sweetie. You’re the best.”

  “Oh,” she said. “Are the investors here? You’d mentioned they might show up.”

  “Yeah they’re around. I talked to one of them earlier. He was really impressed. Guess who is also here?”

  “Who?”

  “M. Night Shyamalan.”

  “Are you serious?”

  “Yeah, he pulled me aside earlier and said the trailer was amazing.”

  “That is so cool! What made him come here?”

  “He talked to me back when he was writing the Sixth Sense. I gave him a few suggestions on the script.”

  “Wow! You never told me that!”

  “Oh. I thought I did,” Clarence said.

  “Is he still here?”

  “No. He had to go and didn’t want a big crowd around him.”

  “I’m so proud of you babe.”

  “Thank you. Real soon hun.”

  “I can’t believe this is really gonna happen!” she said.

  “I know; it will. All our lives are about to change.”

  An actress walked up to them, interrupting their “moment.” Clarence couldn’t recall the girl’s name.

  “Hey guys, you know what time the limos are coming? We need to get going.”

  “Oh yeah,” Lisa said. “I was just about to explain that to everyone.” She walked off with the actress following as she began shouting out the situation with the limos. There was some groaning, but Clarence turned and spotted Chloe with her friend Liz and some others. He didn’t remember casting that Liz girl, but she seemed like trouble. He’d have to find a way to get rid of her if she kept getting in his way of Chloe. Walking over to them, the smile vanished from Liz’s face as she saw Clarence coming.

  “Hey ladies,” Clarence said. “You guys having fun?”

  “Yeah, it’s pretty cool,” Chloe said.

  “I’m glad. Hope you get used to this. Tonight is just the beginning.”

  “I hope so.”

  “How’d you like the promo?”

  “Oh, it was...,” Chloe looked at Liz. “Great! It was great!”

  “Awesome. I’m glad you liked it. Sorry I didn’t get much of your footage in there. You’ll have plenty of screen time in the film though.”

  “Awesome,” she said.

  She seemed rather uncomfortable. He had hoped she’d loosen up once the event got going, but she seemed more uptight now than she had in the limo.

  “Great, well enjoy the rest of the night,” he said as he turned away. He’d wanted to invite her to his place later, but didn’t want to push her too much. Lisa was running around helping people get rides. She was such a hard worker; he was glad to have her. He was also glad the actress had interrupted them. M. Night Shyamalan hadn’t actually been there; neither had any investors. He’d sent several major film directors and investors invites, but no one had taken him up on it. They would eventually though, but he didn’t want Lisa or the others to feel let down. If you wanted to be big, you had to think big and act big. He was doing all the right things, and they were almost there.

  Chapter 19

  Eighteen months after auditions

  Brody was getting frustrated. Filming was supposed to begin just weeks after the red carpet. That never happened. Apparently the investors needed more time, but Clarence never explained why. At least he’d gotten his contract the week after the red carpet. It was much shorter than he’d thought. But he was promised five grand up front and five hundred per day of filming. Not bad for three months of work.

  Problem was, the dates in the contract spanned three months. Two of them had passed already. He wasn’t the only one frustrated. Some other cast members had been coming to him with concerns. Several had quit their jobs once they got their contracts. One person moved clear to San Antonio from Los Angeles. Allen had bought himself a brand new Corvette and at least one family was looking to purchase a house.

  Brody wasn’t sure what to tell all these people. He just referred them to Carl or Lisa. Most people came to him because Carl would just yell at everyone. Lisa would scream at people as well. When he first got on this production, Lisa was always easy going and courteous. In the past six months she’d gotten increasingly rude. Now she rarely spoke to any cast without yelling at someone or threatening to fire everyone. He’d never been part of a project where they acted like this.

  Now he was sitting in on another cast meeting for some big announcement. Brody wasn’t sure how many more of these big announcements that weren’t really announcements he could take. The last one was to say they had a table at a local comic con but anyone who wished to volunteer had to buy a Zombie Reign t-shirt for twenty bucks. Plus they had to pay their own way in. Brody worked the event. It was a cluster fuck. They had way too many people trying to squeeze in behind the table.

  Clarence had made the rest stand around the table so it would look like there were a lot of people there. They also had a panel. Brody was on the panel with Clarence, Chloe, and a few others. They screened the promo there also, but there were barely twenty people in attendance, and at least twelve of those were cast members and their families.

  Finally Lisa came walking in as everyone got quiet.

  “Ok everyone, thank you for coming!” she yelled. “So first thing I guess we’ll get right to it. We have some new investors on board and they have asked our production company to form a joint partnership with them. This is great news as they are putting a lot more money into this production, meaning better pay for everyone!”

  She paused as people clapped and cheered. Once they died down she continued.

  “Ok, so all that said the current contracts are null and void! I repeat; all current contracts are null and void!”

  Immediately chaos erupted as people began talking amongst themselves and shouting questions at Lisa. She had to yell at everyone to calm down enough for her to continue. Brody wasn’t too thrilled himself at the announcement, but he kept quiet for now. He was no lawyer, but he was pretty sure you can’t just declare a contract null and void.

  “Listen up! This is a good thing! Everyone will get new contracts! New contracts for more money!
Do you guys want more money? If not, we can just keep your current ones!”

  Everyone stared at her silently.

  “That’s what I thought! So because of all this, production has been pushed back a bit. It was supposed to begin next month; instead it will begin in three months. This time it is definite! So if you need to put in notice at your jobs or get things ready, go ahead and do so in the next ninety days! We will be filming for fourteen to fifteen hours a day! So there will not be time for you all to be leaving the set and running errands. Do I make myself clear?”

  People nodded and looked around. Brody took a deep breath. This was about the tenth date for filming that had been set since he’d been on board, and they seemed no closer now than any other time. Either way, he was in desperate need of the money. So it was tough at this point to decide if he should stick it out, or just cut his losses and move on. Clarence came walking in with a young woman hanging on his arm.

  “Hey everyone,” Clarence said. “I hope you all feel better once the news sinks in. Trust me, this is a good thing. We are going to have a lot more money to work with, which means more to pass on to each of you.” He paused as everyone seemed to be calming down.

  “And I’d like to introduce someone to you all. This young lady, is Sarcelles; she is my daughter,” he said. There was more mumbling among the cast. “I know; it seems strange you never saw her before. Her mother and I dated years ago. I didn’t know about her until a few months ago. She’s decided she’d like to help with the production. So she is also my assistant.”

  Everyone clapped and there was a collective “Aww,” from the group. Brody couldn’t help but think this was getting more and more bizarre. The girl looked like she was at least thirty. Clarence was in his forties, so unless he fathered her when he was twelve, the math wasn’t adding up. The rest of the cast didn’t seem to mind though. They’d gathered around Sarcelles and Clarence, taking turns hugging each of them and welcoming her into the “family.”

  His mind drifted back to one of his few days on set; to the day Clarence killed several actors and used their bodies as props for the zombies. It had been awhile since he’d thought about it. In a lot of ways, none of it seemed real, yet it was all far too real. An idea hit him that completely changed his mood. He wouldn’t be leaving Zombie Reign. This idea was so brilliant; he didn’t know why he hadn’t thought of it earlier. He was going to kill Clarence Ringo. He’d kill the deranged director on camera, in front of everyone, and no one would even know.

  Chapter 20

  Lisa had been feeling sick for a while. Between the film, providing for Clarence and her financially, and her day job, she was at the end of her rope. She felt so exhausted each day and had to force herself to keep going. Clarence had moved in with her a few months before. His mom finally kicked him out. It was really disappointing. She had always liked his mother, but she never appreciated her son’s dreams. The woman was always on his ass about getting a job or doing something with his life.

  Granted, at least if he had a part time job or something that might help ease things on her. Lisa figured it would all pay off in the end once they got their budget. She just hoped there were no more delays. In the meantime she had been trying to get to know her daughter. Actually it was Clarence’s daughter, but she treated her like her own. Sarcelles was twenty-four, which was a little weird to Lisa who was thirty-five, but she couldn’t have kids due to an accident she was in as a teenager.

  It had been a car wreck that had done a lot of damage to her abdomen. They had to remove her uterus due to the bleeding. So she’d always wanted a child, especially a daughter. So this was her chance. Clarence had gone to Los Angeles to visit some friends a few months ago, and comes back with Sarcelles. She was as shocked as anyone, but everyone had accepted her.

  As she lay in bed, she thought about how she was too tired to get up but needed to start the day. She rolled over to look at the clock and saw it was already past nine. Her door burst open and Sarcelles came running in and jumped into bed with Lisa.

  “Mommy!” she squealed as she cuddled up to Lisa.

  “Good morning my beautiful daughter,” Lisa said as she squeezed Sarcelles tight. For years she had longed to give mommy cuddles. Now she got her chance. It wasn’t quite the same as cuddling with a toddler, but Lisa would take it.

  Lisa looked at Sarcelles and brushed her hair back.

  “I love you so much, Sarcelles,” Lisa said.

  “I love you too mommy. Are you feeling better? You fell asleep early last night.”

  “Yeah, though this helps. You can wake me up like this every day.”

  “I just might!”

  “Where is your dad? He must have gotten up early.”

  “Yeah, he said he had to go check out some locations. I think it’s really gonna happen this time!”

  “Me too,” Lisa said. “I sure hope so. This has really been exhausting.”

  “I bet. Daddy hasn’t slowed down since I got here. Neither have you, mommy. You need to take care of yourself.”

  It warmed Lisa’s heart whenever Sarcelles called her mommy. It was something she never thought she’d hear anyone say to her. She sat up and stretched. As much as she loved lying there with Sarcelles, she had things to do and needed to get moving. She kissed Sarcelles on the forehead and got herself dressed. Sarcelles lay on her stomach watching her.

  “So what are you gonna do today mommy?”

  “I have to run to the store and get some makeup kits. Then I’ll look into opening a business account for when we get funding.”

  “Sounds exciting.”

  “You want to come along? I could use some company. We could make it a girl’s day out,” Lisa said.

  “Really?”

  “Yes, really goofball.”

  “Yay!” Sarcelles said as she jumped to her feet and hugged Lisa tight. “I love you mommy.”

  “I love you too honey bun. Now go get dressed.”

  Sarcelles ran off to her room as Lisa finished getting dressed. As she pulled on her jeans, her phone began to ring. It was Clarence.

  “Hey babe,” Lisa said.

  “Hey.”

  “Everything ok?”

  “I’m not sure. I just got off the phone with the investors. They said everyone needs to be signed up for the Screen Actors Guild before they can release the funds.”

  “Are you serious?”

  “Yeah. They just told me.”

  “That’s like $3,000 per person.”

  “Yeah I know. Can you send out a group email? If we need to take payments for people then we can. But it’s going to push filming back another month or so,” he explained.

  Not again. Shit.

  “Ok. I guess if it’s what we have to do. I’ll send out the email. People won’t be happy.”

  “I know. I’m not thrilled, but if they want to be part of this project, the investors said everyone has to be SAG.”

  “Wait. Don’t you have to be eligible to join SAG first?” she asked.

  “I’m just telling you what they said. They said to join SAG, we all join SAG. Can you handle that?” he snapped.

  “Ok. Fine. You don’t have to get shitty.”

  “I’m sorry. I just didn’t get a lot of sleep last night, and then this”

  “It’s ok, I understand. I’ll get on it now. Love you babe.”

  “I love you too. I got some business to take care of today and sign up for our permits.”

  “Awesome, this is exciting.”

  “It sure is. Talk to you soon,” he said as he hung up.

  Lisa went to the laptop and began working on the email to send out to the entire cast. She had no idea how she could explain to them they each need to come up with $3,000. If she explained everything first, and then explained some payment plan options, that should help everyone out. Some may quit, but they could always cast people who really were dedicated.

  As she typed, she wondered which locations Clarence was checking out for permits.
Maybe downtown somewhere, or even by The Alamo? As she pondered these things, she had no idea that in reality Clarence had been on the phone with her from the bathroom of The Chesty Chola strip club; the only strip joint open this early. While she was typing out the email to send to the cast about having to pay SAG dues, Clarence was sitting down for a lap dance from a stripper named Angel.

  Chapter 21

  Jerry stared at Lisa’s email in his phone. Three thousand dollars? Are they fucking kidding? First they “void” the contracts, which Jerry had an attorney who reviewed it. There was no clause in the contract that allowed the production to just up and void it out of convenience. It was actually a really basic contract. His lawyer even asked him if a twelve year old had written it.

  So there’s the contracts, and now they want everyone in the cast to come up with three grand to join SAG. He dialed the number of an actor friend of his named Juan. Juan had been an extra in some big movies and had a few roles in some TV shows.

  “Hey Juan. It’s Jerry.”

  “What’s up man?”

  “Not much, dude. I got a question for you though. Remember this Zombie Reign movie I was cast in?”

  “Yeah. Shit, is that still a thing? They cast you like a year ago didn’t they?”

  “Something like that. Well there’s this mess with the contracts,” Jerry said as he explained the contract situation.

  “Man, fuck that. That’s bullshit. You can’t just void a contract ‘cause you don’t have the money. Who are these guys?”

  “Well that’s one thing. Then today they sent out an email saying the investors won’t fund it until everyone has joined SAG. So they want us all to pay three grand each so we can join SAG.”

  “You mean pay it to them?”

  “Yeah, they said they’d sign us up.”

  “Fuck no man. They are scamming. SAG isn’t a fucking book club; you don’t just go sign up. You got to be eligible first. Once you’re eligible, it’s your option to join. Shit, why would a production want to make you join SAG? They come to Texas so they don’t have to hire SAG cast and crew because it’s cheaper.”