The Z-Day Trilogy (Book 5): United States of Zombie

by Mark Cusco Ailes

  He looked at the sergeant. He knew he was right. How do you stop an enemy like that? He had a tough job ahead of him trying to convince the sergeant to continue with the mission. “I wish I had the right words to convey to you how important you are. None of us are trained to fight zombies. I’ve seen what they are capable of doing. But in the end we’re still American soldiers and we have to remember that. We’re the ones who have to save the day. We’re the only ones who can accomplish that.”

  “We’re not doing a very good job of it, sir. We’ve lost most of the battalion. We don’t have enough men left to continue with the mission.” He was interrupted by growling sounds coming from outside the window of the restaurant. He peered over at it and his eyes widened. Standing outside were three of their fallen comrades who had come back to join the ranks of the undead. One of them was still clenching his M16 firmly in his grasp. The sergeant couldn’t believe what he was witnessing. “That’s exactly what you’re asking us to become, sir. That’s our future if we leave the restaurant. I don’t want to spend the rest of my life walking around as one of those things.”

  General Cochran looked at the zombie soldiers outside of the window. If he was going to get through to his men, he was going to have to deal with them. He retrieved his sidearm from its holster and hurried outside the restaurant, and before they had a chance to react, he snapped off three shots, hitting each one between the eyes. He stood his ground as each one toppled over to the ground. He reentered the restaurant and approached the sergeant. “Does that solve your problem?”

  The sergeant didn’t know how to respond. He looked at the other soldiers surrounding him. “He just shot Franks, Lopez, and Cheng right smack in the face. What kind of a man shoots his own men?”

  “Relax, Hardwick, you said it yourself. All three of them were zombies. I don’t think they wanted to roam the world like that anymore.” He stared at his face trying to read his thoughts. “Are you with me now or do I have to do all the dirty work myself? I need you, sarge, and I need you to get your head together. We have to continue on with clear minds. If we don’t…well, let’s just say we’ll all end up like them. What do you say, Hardwick? Can we get out of here and complete the mission?”

  “Remind me what our mission is again.”

  “We’re meeting General Milkwood at the airport. We’re heading to some island near Costa Rica called Isla Zomblar. It’s where Site B is located.”

  “Listen to what you’re saying. What makes him think this zombie park will be safe? Site A collapsed. This is a stupid idea.”

  The general was tired of his attitude. Who did he think he was to question the mission? General Milkwood was a close friend, and he was sure he could trust him. If he thought the new zombie park was safe, then he had to assume that it was. “Hardwick, if you want to stay, I’m not going to stop you. I trust General Milkwood. Now are you coming with us or not? I need to make a decision before we lose daylight.”

  Sergeant Hardwick knew there was safety in numbers. He knew he had a better chance of surviving if he stayed with the group of armed men. “All right, you heard him, let’s hit the road.”

  General Cochran smiled. He felt he had just enough men to reach the airport. By foot it would take them at least an hour unless they could find a vehicle to commandeer. They left the restaurant single file and stood outside searching the parking lot for any zombies that could be close by. The last thing they wanted was for one of them to get the jump on them. For now, the parking lot was clear of any sign of the undead. General Cochran scoured the area searching for a large vehicle they could use to get them to the airport. In the far corner of the parking lot he saw a red church bus parked with its door open. He motioned for his men to follow him. With any luck, they would be able to use the bus. The soldiers kept their weapons raised as they followed the general across the abandoned parking lot. There wasn’t any sign of anybody lingering near any of the vehicles as if they had all vanished without warning. General Cochran slowly made his way toward the bus half expecting somebody to jump out from behind one of the vehicles. In situations like these he needed to be more cautious about traps. The absence of humans usually meant you were heading into a trap, or at least with his military experience it happened that way. He didn’t trust the silence. It made him feel on edge. He kept a sharp eye on his surroundings as he neared the bus. He could see somebody sitting in the driver’s seat slumped over the steering wheel. He couldn’t tell if the person was sleeping or if the person was dead. At this point he was assuming the worst. He didn’t think it would be possible for someone to sleep on a bus with the door open in the middle of a zombie apocalypse. He stopped momentarily to check on his men, and then focused his attention back on the person on the bus. As he got closer to it, he could see blood covering him and a pool of blood at his feet. He could see that the head was split open like a melon, exposing what was left of the brain. He knew there wasn’t any chance of him coming back as a zombie since the brain had been eaten. If it was going to happen, it would have already taken place. He lowered his weapon and slowly entered the bus and looked down the aisle to see if anybody else was on it. He didn’t immediately see anybody. He turned his attention to the driver and checked his pulse just to make sure he was dead. He motioned for two of his men to retrieve him and take him outside. He looked at the ignition and was relieved to see the key was there. After the driver had been removed, and all of his men were safely on the bus, he sat in the blood-covered seat and started the bus. It sprang to life. He looked at the gas gauge. They had just over a half a tank of gas, which was plenty for them to reach the airport if they didn’t encounter any problems along the way. He drove across the parking lot and onto the main road. Abandoned cars littered their path, but the bus was large enough he could safely move most of them aside so he could maneuver the large vehicle around them. He didn’t see any zombies in the immediate area. He figured they must have left to find humans to feast upon. He felt fortunate. All he wanted to do was get to the airport and get his men on the plane and out of the country before it was too late. He passed several wrecked cars with movement inside of them. As he passed them, he saw young zombies inside the cars trying to bite through the glass. He felt sorry for them. Not only had they died and become zombies, but they were trapped inside the cars. He knew the world was better off without them walking the streets searching for human food, but it was a cruel joke fate had played on them. He missed the simple life he had before the zombie outbreak. It had come without warning. The American people had been told it was contained in Indiana. Then the reports came across the news that the zombies had made it across Illinois, but it was believed they would be stopped before making it across the state. The news was wrong. Now the zombies had expanded their territories and threatened to spread across the nation. The military was losing ground against their advancement. The military was losing more soldiers as the days went by. Soon he feared there wouldn’t be any soldiers left to fight them. He knew if any soldiers had survived they would be trying to find a way out of the country. It was exactly what he was doing. He knew they couldn’t win a war against an enemy who was already dead. He heard a siren in the distance. He could tell it was stationary. He figured it was coming from a police car–one that most likely had been overtaken by a horde of the undead. It must have been recent because the car battery hadn’t died yet. He kept his eyes on the road in front of him. Several of the buildings he passed were ablaze, and he could see a few zombies exiting them engulfed in flames. They were spreading the flames around the area as they slowly made their way through the sea of cars. He wondered how it all came down to this. He figured man had his hand in it. He knew man had a hand in it. God didn’t create the zombies. The men who created the living dead at the zombie park in Indiana did. They must have spent a great deal of time thinking of how to create the zombies instead of thinking if they should actually do it. What bothered him the most was the world never learned from its mistakes. Technology was one thing that
seemed to have doomed the world. The world was at its tipping point. More and more babies were being born every day with no hope of a future. Rumors of food shortages, lack of jobs and lack of housing spread across the news like a plague, but people weren’t listening. Instead, they kept breeding not thinking about the future of their children. He remembered it was once reported there were so many people in China that three or four families had to live in the same house, sharing what little food they could find. America was getting dangerously close to having the same problem. Jobs were disappearing. Companies were trying to run their businesses with as few employees as possible. The end result was shabby products people couldn’t afford. The value of quality over quantity had vanished. It didn’t matter anymore. He also knew America had another problem. Businesses wouldn’t hire anybody over the age of thirty. All they wanted was young blood ̶ the very ones who wanted everything handed to them and wouldn’t work hard to earn it. He was fed up with the old world. His mind was cluttered with anger. This was the end result. America doomed herself. America deserved the zombie outbreak. He didn’t care about her, anyway. He was leaving her as soon as he could get on the plane at the airport. He knew he would be facing the same problems wherever he went, but if he was fortunate enough to find a small island, he could start over and live his life the way he wanted to. An explosion rocked the bus as he continued down the road. A gas station to his right went up in a ball of flames. Maybe God was trying to right a wrong. Maybe God was sick and tired of what man had done to the world. He knew he was being facetious. He knew God wouldn’t send a plague of zombies to destroy the world. He didn’t know a great deal about religion, and he wished he did, but he was sure God wouldn’t approve of him thinking the way he was. Coming up on his right he saw a sign informing him to take the next right to head to the airport. He knew he still had a way to go yet, but they were close, just not close enough for him to sit back and relax. He wasn’t going to relax until he was safely aboard the plane and out of American airspace.

  Chapter Eight

  Donnie drove the bus across the parking lot to the food storage facility near the airport. With Angelo’s help, he knew they could find the essentials they needed for the trip out of the country. There were still items he needed from his list, and he knew he would find them at the facility. He parked the bus near the front door and looked at Angelo.

  “Stay close. I don’t know if we’ll run into any trouble inside. We should be all right if you don’t wander off.” He left the bus and made his way over to the door and stood and listened for a moment. Even though he knew he wouldn’t be able to hear if there were any zombies from where he was standing, it gave him a moment to get up the nerve to go inside. He opened the door, and to his surprise, the lights were still on. It meant one of two things. Either there were people still inside or they all left in a hurry. He hoped it was the latter. He was there to steal supplies, and he didn’t want anybody to stop him. He stood silently inside the door wanting to yell out to see if anybody was inside. He decided against it. Instead, he raised his M16 and slowly made his way down the first aisle in search of any of the items on his list. He was looking for the basics, which included water and anything premade in a bag or a box. He needed to find food that didn’t need to be cooked and had a long shelf life. He didn’t want things in a can because they would be too heavy to carry. He stopped and listened. The only thing he could hear was Angelo breathing heavily behind him. He turned and lowered his weapon while handing Angelo the list he was carrying. “These are what we’re searching for. We’ll put the boxes on the floor in each aisle and find a cart or something like it to move them to the bus.”

  Angelo took the list from him and looked at it. He looked at Donnie. “It’s all junk food. This stuff will kill us.”

  Donnie shot him a strange look. “Are you kidding me? We’re in the middle of the zombie apocalypse and you’re worried about whether the food is healthy. We need to gather the type of food we don’t have to cook. We don’t know how much longer we’ll have power.” He continued down the aisle and suddenly stopped. A raspy voice echoed throughout the facility over the speaker system.

  “Welcome to my parlor said the spider to the fly.”

  Donnie motioned to Angelo to remain silent. He looked around trying to locate where the person could be hiding. Once again they heard the voice.

  “I can see you my little fly. I hope you’re not here to steal from me. Everything here belongs to me and my men.”

  Donnie was alarmed to hear there was the possibility of more than one person inside with them. He motioned for Angelo to lower himself so nobody would be able to see them.

  “That’s right, duck out of sight. I can see you clearly. There isn’t anywhere you can safely hide. There are cameras pointed at you in every direction. I’m going to give you this one opportunity to go back where you came from and leave my stuff alone.”

  Donnie stood back up and looked around once again. “I’m afraid I can’t do that. I can’t leave without what I came for.” He listened for a response but the voice they were listening to remained silent. Donnie knew it could only mean one thing. Whoever had been speaking to them was now searching for them on foot. “Stay close. I’m afraid we’re being hunted, and I don’t know by how many people. We need to leave this aisle and get to an advantage point. I don’t want to make it easy for him to find us.” They left the aisle they were standing in, and searched for an advantage point. The facility was large with several long aisles of boxes. He knew they wouldn’t provide a safe place to hide and kept walking down one of the aisles in search of a wall. If they could reach a wall, they could follow it in search of a room they could hide in. The power suddenly went out leaving them in the dark. Donnie didn’t have a flashlight on him, and he knew he was at a disadvantage if the man following them had some kind of light with him. He pushed Angelo lightly against a shelf and whispered for him to get down. They couldn’t risk being heard. Donnie’s plan was to listen for the man as he searched for them, or if they were lucky, watch for any light alerting them he had a flashlight. If he did, they would see him before he saw them. All he would have to do then was fire several shots in the direction of the light. He held his breath and listened. He could hear faint footsteps coming from somewhere in the dark. He didn’t know where they were coming from, but he knew they were close. Next to him he could hear Angelo breathing nervously. Donnie kept his eyes focused the best he could as a small beam of light appeared cutting through the darkness. It penetrated the dark two aisles ahead of their location. He raised his weapon and waited for the light to come closer. He wanted to make sure he didn’t miss his mark. He most likely would only have one chance at hitting him before they were discovered. He felt sweat streaming down his cheeks. He continued to watch as the light waved back and forth as if it were searching for its prey. Donnie knew it was almost time to put his plan into action. All he had to do was fire up and to the left of the light, and he would be able to hit the man with one or two shots. He continued to watch the light as his finger caressed the trigger, and he then fired two shots in succession. He watched the light as it vanished to the left and was extinguished. He heard a voice tear through the darkness.

  “You missed, little fly.”

  Donnie felt anger stab at his heart. His voice cracked with hate like a whip as he replied. “Why don’t you give me a second chance? I won’t miss twice.”

  “It’s a shame.”

  Donnie sat there motionless trying to figure out what he should do next. “It’s a shame I missed you.”

  “It’s a shame you thought you could steal my food.”

  Donnie listened as the raspy voice in the darkness became erratic. Perhaps he hadn’t missed hitting him at all. “I didn’t miss, did I? I can hear it in your voice.”

  “This place is mine. It was here for the taking and I took it. I deserve it. I am the one who rid the place of the undead. I won the right to keep this place for myself. You did nothing to deserve
this place. You were trying to steal from me ̶ take from me what was rightfully mine. I hope I come back as one of those things and sink my teeth into your flesh.” He coughed for several seconds. “I hope you choke on the stolen food and die. I hope you die a horrible death.” The raspy voice went silent. Donnie sat there for several minutes trying to decide if he was being baited or if the man had died.

  “What’s happening?” whispered Angelo.

  “I don’t know yet. He’s either dead or he’s waiting for me to go over there to check it out. We need to retrieve that flashlight. I have no choice but to go check it out.”

  “Be careful. I have a bad feeling about this.”

  “I do, too. Stay here. If something happens to me, you need to get back to the bus and get back to the airport.” Donnie hoped he was making the right decision, but what other choice did he have? He couldn’t sit there all day. He had an idea where the man was, and he decided he wasn’t going to waste unnecessary time. He left Angelo and slowly crawled toward where he thought the man was located. If the man was dead, he needed to fetch the flashlight. Even though they were in complete darkness, he still needed to gather the food he came for. It would prove somewhat of a challenge, but he knew with the flashlight they could accomplish it. He kept crawling until his hand met with something wet. He didn’t have to imagine what it was, because he already knew. The ground was covered with the man’s blood. He crawled a few more inches and found his body sitting propped up against a shelf. It was what he was hoping for. Now all he had to do was locate the flashlight and shine it in the direction of Angelo. He reached over the body and slid his hand across the ground trying to find the flashlight. He found another small pool of blood and kept going. He couldn’t find the flashlight. He knew it had to be somewhere close to the man’s body. He felt something move. He brought his hand back but something caught it and held it tightly. He heard a low growl and felt his hand being pulled. He knew exactly what was taking place. He quickly fought to free his hand, but the harder he pulled, the tighter the grasp was on it. He didn’t know what he was going to do, but he knew he had to do it quickly. If he got bit, he knew it was going to be the end of the line. He wasn’t about to let that happen. He had survived this long without being bit by one of the creatures. He knew it would serve him right. After all, he was responsible for the spread of the zombies. He was responsible for them escaping the zombie park in Indiana. He felt his hand being pulled into the creature’s mouth. He panicked and pulled his hand with all the effort he could muster. He felt his hand slipping from its grip and he finally gained control over his hand. He raised his weapon and fired a single shot trusting he was aiming at its head. The growling stopped. Donnie stood up, tripping over the flashlight. He quickly reached down to grab it, turned it on, and shone the light on the zombie. He had hit it in the head. He heard Angelo asking if he was all right. He shone the light in his direction and told him to stay put for a moment.