The Z-Day Trilogy (Book 2): Z-Day [Day of the Zombies]

by Mark Cusco Ailes

  The men searched the airport and found nothing new. It was quiet and they found no signs of humans or zombies. They returned to the general and made their report.

  The general took out a map of the area and looked at it for several minutes. He circled an area he wasn’t sure had been searched yet. He looked at his men.

  “I think an area was missed in our initial sweep. According to the map, it’s where the county fair is held each year. Our search area actually ends at this place. Load up; we need to get there asap. After we search it, we’ll head east and get out of the area. I don’t know about you but I would love to have a warm meal and a cold beer.”

  The men gave each other high fives and got into their jeeps. They followed the general out of the parking lot and headed for the fair grounds. It took them twenty minutes to get there and at first glance it looked free from zombies. They parked outside the entrance and made their way inside.

  They stood there paralyzed with fright. The entire area was filled with the walking dead. General Athens stood in front of them.

  “It’s time to find out what you’re made of. These zombies are our last obstacle before we can have our cold beers. Let’s make quick work of them and get the hell out of here.”

  They formed an offensive line and walked toward the horde of zombies with their weapons raised, ready to fire. There were more zombies than any of them had encountered so far. He felt nervous. Something in the back of his mind told him he might not live to see this battle to the end. He didn’t know why he felt that way; he thought of himself as being invincible, but this time everything felt different. He took his sidearm from its holster and concentrated on the nearest zombie and fired a direct hit through its eye socket. The zombie slumped to the ground. There were only a hundred or more to kill.

  The soldiers widened their line and marched forward in a straight line. They were focusing on trying to force the main group into a cluster so they could toss grenades within it to take out a large group at once, but the zombies weren’t cooperating. Instead, they continued to scatter in different directions.

  The men opened fire on the nearest group, bringing a few of them down. Most of the shots either went wide, or hit the zombies in the chest or arms.

  “We’re not going to bring them down with shots like that. We need to shoot them in the head if we’re going to kill them!” screamed General Athens.

  “They’re spilling out of the buildings!” yelled one of the soldiers. “We’re going to run out of ammunition before we kill all of them!”

  “Make every shot count, men!” ordered General Athens. “Aim for their heads!” He fired several shots and brought down four more of the creatures. Even though he was gaining some ground, he was beginning to worry. They were going to run out of ammunition and he knew it. They would eventually be forced to fight hand to hand. It was the first time he actually thought his back was up against the wall. He was going to have to try a different approach.

  “Split up in two’s, men, and lead them in different directions. Let’s try to spread the herd so they’re not all coming at us at once. Divide and conquer!” After giving the order, he decided to separate himself from his men. He didn’t want any of them slowing him down. He didn’t want to have to watch anybody else’s back except for his own.

  They did as the general ordered and split up into two’s and made their way in different directions. The plan was working. The large horde was now splitting into smaller sections and following after the different groups of soldiers. Now General Athens felt as though they would have a fighting chance of winning the battle.

  He made his way toward a building to the left where he didn’t see many zombies hanging out. He saw the door to the building was closed. He knew two things. Either the zombies were all behind him, or there were zombies locked inside the building. He fired two more shots behind him and sprinted to the building. He checked the door and it was unlocked. He looked to the side of the building and it was free of the shamblers.

  He pressed his back against the building and fired two more shots, taking two more zombies down. He knew if he stayed outside in the open his chances of survival would be slim. He looked at the door to the building. It looked inviting, but he still had his doubts. He made a rash decision and decided it would be better to get inside and try to lock the door behind him. He would just have to deal with whatever was inside.

  He opened the door and closed it behind him and locked it just as the closest zombie reached it. The light inside the building was still on revealing several zombies spread out within. Now this I can manage. He reloaded his weapon as the zombies inside were alerted to his presence and turned to slowly shamble toward him. He saw them coming toward him out of the corner of his eye. He turned and kept firing until all of them had been eliminated.

  He heard some noises coming from another part of the building. He thought about leaving the building, but he heard several zombies pounding on the door outside of the building. There wasn’t any way he would be able to leave through that door. If he wanted to leave, he would have to find another door leading outside. He heard the noise again coming from the back, followed by a low growl. He held his breath and listened. There was something inside the building with him.

  The sound of a shelf crashing to the floor echoed throughout the building. He knew something large was inside the building with him. He checked his ammunition to make sure he had enough for a long, drawn-out battle. He took a couple steps forward looking for anywhere he could hide until he could see what was making the noise. He saw an opened door down the right side of the building. He could see it was a bathroom. If he could make it there, he could hide inside with the door cracked open. It would give him the advantage over whatever was making the noise.

  Once again he heard a shelf being knocked over, followed by the growl. He knew he was dealing with an animal of some sort, but he didn’t know what it was or how it got into the building. Slowly he made his way along the side of the building toward the bathroom. He kept a watchful eye ahead of him as he went. He reached the bathroom and stopped to watch for a moment. He could have sworn he saw something very large with brown hair move behind a fallen shelf. He went inside the bathroom and closed the door, leaving a crack so he could see if the animal would come out into the open.

  He heard something step over the falling shelf and walk slowly toward the bathroom. He held his breath and watched as the animal walked by the bathroom. The general’s heart sank. It was a large grizzly bear zombie. He closed the door all the way and looked around the bathroom. He was looking for a blade of some sort. He wasn’t sure his bullets would be enough to stop the bear. He didn’t see anything in the room, except a couple of flower magazines, a roll of toilet paper and a toilet brush. None of those items would be helpful.

  He opened the door a crack and peered out, looking for where the bear had gone. He saw it down from the bathroom sniffing at the air. He closed the door once again and thought for a moment. He wasn’t sure how he was going to get rid of the bear. For now, he was trapped with only a small gun to protect himself with.

  He held his breath and opened the door slightly once more and this time a large brown claw caught the door and forced it open, throwing the general hard to the ground.

  His finger curled around the trigger and he popped off several quick shots before the bear’s claw ripped through his face like butter. He fought to get the bear off of him, but it was too heavy. It pushed harder down on the top of the general and growled.

  The general put the muzzle of his weapon to his temple and was about to fire, but the bear’s claws knocked the weapon from his hand, sending it sliding across the floor. The general was fighting the urge to pass out from both pain and blood loss. He was determined to defend himself. There had to be some way he could defend himself against the bear. He never had the chance to think of a plan. The bear finished the job with one large bite to the general’s neck, ending his life.

  The rest of his soldier
s were outside losing ground against the horde that was relentless. They were exhausting their ammunition supply and nothing they tried was working against the zombies. Their bullets knocked some of the zombies down, but they kept getting back up.

  The soldiers retreated back to their jeeps, but were quickly overrun by the horde. The air was filled with cries from the condemned men as they were violently ripped apart and fed on by the undead. The ground was saturated by a large pool of free-flowing blood. Entrails were strewn about the ground as several of the zombies fought over arms and legs, stuffing them hungrily into their mouths.

  Soon the sound of the men crying for help turned into silence as the zombies continued their feeding frenzy until every viable piece of meat had been consumed.

  Chapter Thirty

  John and Clive carried Cindy’s body across the parking lot to an area where they could bury her. Donnie remained at the bus, kicking the front tire. Stopping to bury a body wasn’t what he had intended to do. He knew they were wasting valuable time. They needed to get out of the area before it was too late. He looked around the parking lot. I shouldn’t be here. He came to the city with only one purpose on his mind and he failed. He came here to kill General Poe and he wasn’t anywhere to be found. Now it was too late. He needed to get back to his bunker and get settled in before the zombie outbreak stretched beyond the city limits. He continued watching across the highway and saw an army jeep with four soldiers entering the parking lot.

  “Damn!” he shouted. He quickly scampered inside the bus and closed the door. He kneeled down behind the first seat in a pool of blood. The stench watered his eyes, but he’d rather be safely inside the gross bus than interrogated by the soldiers or worse. He wished he could jump into the driver’s seat and get the hell out of there, but he knew if he did, he would definitely be caught by the soldiers.

  John and Clive placed Cindy’s body on the grass and looked around for anything they could use for a shovel. They searched but all they could find were shopping carts, empty food cartons, and empty beer cans.

  “We’re going to have to use our hands. I know it will take us some time, but I don’t see any other choice,” said Clive. “I wish we had a shovel or something.”

  None of them were paying any attention to the jeep rapidly making its way toward them. They kept searching the area for something they could dig a hole with. Chloe remained next to Cindy’s body with tears streaming down her face. She had never in her life experienced somebody dying the way Cindy had died. She felt an anger inside that she had never felt before. She wanted to hit Ben and blame him for building the park in the first place, but deep down she knew it wasn’t his fault. It was the men who had taken advantage of his idea and corrupted it. She thought about all the innocent lives that had been lost because of General Poe. She wished they would have found him and fed him to one of his creations. Then he would know how Cindy felt being bitten by one of those things. She looked at Cindy’s body.

  “I’m so sorry this happened to you.”

  The jeep came to a screeching halt only inches away from the group and the four soldiers sprang from it, pointing their weapons at them.

  “Hands up in the air!” ordered one of them. “What are you doing here?”

  “One of our friends was killed by one of those zombies,” said Chloe. “We’re trying to bury her.”

  The soldiers looked at the body lying on the ground. They looked over at their leader and waited for him to respond to her.

  “You’re not supposed to be here. Move aside; we’ll take care of the body,” he ordered.

  “What are you going to do?” asked Chloe. “Do you have a shovel?”

  “What we have is better than a shovel.” He brought out a flamethrower and told her to move out of the way. “The body needs to be burned after bitten, not buried. All your friend is going to do is come back as one of the creatures she was bitten by.”

  “There isn’t a chance of that happening,” said John. “She has a bad head wound. She’s not going to come back as one of those things.”

  “Step aside,” said the soldier. “You don’t know what you’re talking about. I have more experience with these things. Now, step aside or I’ll have you arrested.”

  “Please, you can’t burn her body like that. It’s not right!” pleaded Chloe. “She would want to be buried!”

  “I’ll give you to the count of three and then I’m firing, whether you’re out of the way or not. I really don’t care.”

  They moved out of the way as the soldier prepared to fire. A whoosh of deadly fire streaked from the gun. Her body rapidly became one big blister, angry from the heat.

  “You monster!” screamed Chloe. “She didn’t deserve that!”

  “Now put them all in handcuffs,” ordered the soldier in charge. “I’m placing you all under arrest for obstruction.”

  “What!” screamed Clive. “We didn’t stop you from doing anything,”

  “I’m following my orders, sir. We have to remove all survivors from the area.”

  “Then why are you putting us in handcuffs?”

  “It’s for your safety and ours, sir.”

  “Wait a minute!” screamed Chloe. “There is no room in your jeep for us. You’re not taking us anywhere, are you?”

  “It’s protocol,” said Ned. “This is how the government works. They don’t leave any witnesses behind.”

  “Your friend here is smart. He knows the real deal. I’m sorry it has to be this way. I’m just following my orders.”

  Several rapid shots rang out behind the soldiers and they all fell to the ground. Complete surprise was etched on their faces. A man carrying an M50 machine gun appeared from behind the falling soldiers. He moved past the soldiers and approached the group.

  “I come in peace,” he joked. “You’re safe now. I’m glad I showed up when I did. They were going to kill you. You can’t trust any of the soldiers. Their orders are to kill everybody on sight.”

  “Who are you?” asked Chloe. “Are you Rambo or somebody like that?”

  “No, I’m just a reporter trying to get a story. My name is Roger Shavers. I actually have the biggest story of my career. I just have to get out of the area so I can tell it. Lucky for me I found this baby. She was sitting in the back of a jeep after the soldiers were killed by a bunch of zombies.” He looked at the body burning next to Chloe. “Did they do that?”

  “They wouldn’t let us bury her. If we would have had a shovel, we could have buried her before they showed up. This isn’t right.”

  “That’s too bad. I have a shovel in my truck. I had to take a couple of zombies out with it today.” He looked at the burning body. “I’m sorry about your friend.”

  Donnie brought the bus to the group and stopped and opened the door. “Can we leave now?”

  “I have an idea,” said Roger. He went into the bus and brought out a fire extinguisher. He handed it to Chloe. “Douse the fire and I’ll run to my truck and get the shovel. Let’s go ahead and bury your friend.”

  Chloe took the fire extinguisher from him. “Thanks, that’s really nice of you.”

  “Remember, reporters are the nice guys.” He left to retrieve the shovel from his truck.

  Ben took the extinguisher from her. “Let me do it.” He put the fire out and tossed the extinguisher on the ground about the time Roger returned with the shovel. He handed it to Ben.

  Donnie got off of the bus and watched as Ben began to dig the hole. He looked around the parking lot. It was free from zombies at the moment, but he knew that could change at any minute. If any of them had caught wind of the fire, it could attract them, and then they would have another problem on their hands.

  “Dig faster, Ben, we’re going to attract unwanted attention,” said Donnie anxiously. “We need to get out of the city.”

  “Would you like to dig? If you don’t, please shut up. I’m digging as fast as I can.”

  While Ben continued to dig, Roger reached into the back of his tr
uck and secured two sets of gardening gloves. He knew they would be needed because Cindy’s body was going to be hot. John took a pair from him and handed it to Clive and took another pair for himself.

  “We’ll take care of her,” said John. “I owe that much to her. She was a remarkable young lady.”

  Ben finished digging the hole and handed the shovel back to Roger. He looked at John and Clive.

  “Go ahead and move her.”

  They carefully lifted her body high enough to move her into the hole. Once they were done, Chloe took the shovel from Roger and covered her body. She looked at John. “We should say something.”

  Donnie became outraged. “Seriously!”

  “Shut up, Donnie!” yelled John. “You would want someone to say something about you if it was you in that hole.”

  Donnie retreated back inside the bus and sat in the driver’s seat. He hoped if he got on the bus it would hurry them up. He glanced around the parking lot. His eyes transfixed on four zombies shambling slowly across the parking lot. He shook his head. “These idiots are going to get me killed.”

  “I guess we should bow our heads,” said John. “I’m not a religious man, nor did I really believe in God. Then I met Cindy. I don’t know what it was about her, but she had me doubting my doubts. I know it sounds crazy, but because of her, I might start attending church when this is all over.” He was interrupted by Donnie.

  “Wrap it up! We have company!”

  The group turned to look. They immediately saw the zombies making their way slowly toward them.

  “These things are relentless,” said Roger, snatching the machine gun and opening fire on them. He kept firing until he was out of ammo and targets to shoot at. He looked at Donnie on the bus. “Can he finish now?”

  Donnie sighed heavily. “Whatever.”

  John cleared his throat. “As I was saying, I want to thank Cindy for giving me a new perspective on things. I know God is going to welcome her with open arms. Cindy, may your soul rest peacefully forever.” He looked around at the rest of the group. “I’m going to miss her.”