Zombie Park

by Mark Cusco Ailes

  “Why did you ask them not to come get us? They were our only chance of getting out of here.”

  “Listen, Cindy. I can’t send my friends here. I will find a way of getting us out of here.”

  They heard the sound of gunfire echoing through the moans of the zombies, and then the sound of a larger vehicle heading toward them. Gus ran to look out the window through the horde of zombies blocking his view.

  He turned to Cindy excitedly. A military deuce and a half smashed through the zombie crowd sending several of them flying in different directions. The bumper hit one of the taller zombies low and hard, rolling him over the hood and crashing him into the windshield. It smashed on impact.

  “Damn!” screamed one of the soldiers sitting inside. He took his M16 and squeezed two quick shots through the shattered glass. A headshot finished the job. He turned to stare at Gus and Cindy inside the store and waved for them to join them. Gus unlocked the door and swung it open.

  “You two hurry and get in the back with the others. My orders are to get as many people to safety as possible. Don’t worry; you’re both safe now. We’re leaving the park now and taking you to a safe place. Hurry, we don’t have much time.”

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  “I don’t know where you are putting all that food, Billy. Your stomach is like a bottomless pit,” said Mrs. Forenstein, watching ice cream run down his lips. “We need to get you cleaned up before your father sees you.”

  She was about to take his hand when Billy pointed toward something walking in front of them. She turned to have a look and fear knotted inside her. Icy tendrils robbed her of action, freezing her in place. She grabbed her son’s shoulder and drew him nearer to her.

  “Mommy, it’s an alligator,” he said, pointing toward it. “Look, it’s coming toward us.”

  She was unsure what to do. She was surrounded by screaming people, pushing past them to seek shelter. She looked around. The alligator was moving toward them at a steadied pace. Without warning, she was struck from behind by a cobra with two fangs flashing like knives. A burning wave of nausea poured over her. She clutched at her head and fell to the ground. The cobra’s head unfurled as it swayed up from the ground and struck her a second time. She became a discarded mannequin, silent and immobile. Her eyes stared blindly at her son as danger approached.

  Billy hadn’t seen his mother fall victim to the snake. Instead, he was enthralled with the alligator that was only mere inches away from him. Suddenly, the alligator’s jaws crunched down on his leg and knocked him to the ground. Its body thrashed and Billy was dragged down the street, blood spilling from the wound. His white pajamas turned a crimson color.

  Carlton had left the lab area wanting to take a break and found himself in the zoo when the chaos at the park happened. Lucky for him he never left the lab without securing his handgun. He felt naked without it concealed in its holster hidden under his black jacket. He decided to pay a visit to the gorilla house. Observing them gave him a sense of calmness he desperately needed after spending any amount of time with Professor Hollman. He reached the exhibit and his eyes bulged in fright. The gorilla freed from its enclosure was ripping the upper limb off of an elderly woman just a few inches from where he was standing. The fluids were spilling out of her so fast he nearly slipped on her blood. It then grabbed her forcibly around her neck and squeezed until her head flew from her neck, her hair fluttering like wings. The shocking horror slammed into him full force. He felt sickened by the disregard of human life and hurried from it. He tried the best he could to hurdle over the splattered bodies plastered to the street until he came upon an alligator dragging a young boy in its jaws. Remembering he was carrying a gun, he unholstered it and rattled off three shots in rapid order. He freed the boy from the creature’s jaws and saw several deep puncture wounds in his leg.

  “Can you walk?” asked Carlton, watching fountains of fatal red pulsing from his wounds. “What’s your name?”

  “My name is Billy.” He collapsed in a dead faint.

  Carlton looked around in horror. It was the scene he was afraid would eventually happen. There was a smell of rot that pierced the senses. Anguish stabbed him like a knife. He pushed the cold steel against his head and pulled the trigger ending his own life.

  Mr. Forenstein stood staring at his watch, wondering where his family was. He had a sneaky suspicion Billy was somewhere in the zoo, staring at the animals. He hoped he hadn’t worn out his mother and would bring her back to him still intact. General Poe was hobnobbing with Mayor Johnson and drinking champagne. Alcohol hadn’t touched Mr. Forenstein’s lips in several years since his mother had passed away. The doctor said her death was attributed to alcoholism and warned that he could also fall prey to the addiction if he wasn’t careful. He didn’t want to be like her and decided when it came down to drinking alcohol, he would stick to water or soda.

  The party was interrupted by the sound of screaming coming from outside of the Innovation Center. He saw the general drop his glass on the floor and stare through the window at the commotion occurring outside. Mr. Forenstein joined him and was alarmed by what he saw. An infected horror was shambling toward them. Mr. Forenstein looked at the general in a panic.

  “My family is out there!”

  General Poe watched a half dozen ghouls run forward and yank an elderly woman to the ground. Blood-red rain drooled from their lips as they fed on her flesh, ripping the meat from her bones. Blood showered upward like a geyser, raining down on the ground, forming a small pool around her body.

  “Dammit, General Poe. We have to go find my family! They’re going to need my help. We need to secure weapons!”

  “We need to get to the armory at the security building. We have an ample supply of weapons stored there.”

  “That doesn’t help us now. How are we going to get to that side of the park without any weapons?”

  General Poe ran over to the nearby wall and snatched two swords that were hanging there. He handed one to Mr. Forenstein. “They’re medieval, but they’ll do the trick for now.”

  He took the sword from him and held it firmly in his grasp. “It’s been a while since I’ve used one of these.” He looked at the general. “Shall we?” He led the general outside and immediately hacked off the head of one of the zombies into a gory garbage. “We need a truck.”

  “I have a jeep parked at the side of the building. Follow me.”

  Mr. Forenstein followed him, lopping off another zombie’s head. A crimson fountain rained from where the head had been. “I’m beginning to feel like one of the three Musketeers.”

  “Don’t get cocky. We don’t know how many zombies there are.”

  “How can there be so many? We only made around four dozen.”

  General switched the ignition on. “This strain of the zombie virus must incubate at a faster rate. We must be talking about ten to fifteen minutes. It’s the only explanation why so many people are affected right now.”

  “It doesn’t explain why we have a zombie outbreak right now. I thought security had been tightened.”

  “Let’s not discuss it right now. Hold on, we have a horde of zombies to plow through.”

  He drove over the zombie’s head that Mr. Forenstein had lopped off. Black rubber left a bloody trail behind them. Zombies were blocking the way, but the general didn’t honk; he just hit them and kept going.

  Along the way, Mr. Forenstein lopped off as many zombie heads as he could. He watched as one of his victims gargled on gore, spitting froth and phlegm. It took them nearly twenty minutes to arrive at the security building. They stopped momentarily to look behind them. The dead were pouring out of every building. They looked at each other.

  “How do you like our chances?” asked Mr. Forenstein.

  General Poe stormed through the door leading into the security building and was met by a decaying ghoul. It wanted to stuff his face into its putrid, slobbering mouth.
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  “Duck, general; I have it!” He swung his sword around. The bloody blade made short work of it. “Let’s get the weapons before more come. I’d rather use a M16 than a sword.”

  He locked the front door as the general opened the arms room and snatched a couple of M16s and two duffle bags loaded with full magazines. He handed one of each to Mr. Forenstein. “Do you remember everything I taught you at the range?”

  “Yes.”

  “Good. We won’t have time for a crash course.”

  They prepared their M16s for battle and peered through the glass to see what they were up against. More zombies were filling the street.

  “Damn! They just keep on coming. Wait. I see something else moving behind the zombies. I don’t believe this!”

  “What?” asked the general, trying to locate what he was seeing behind the zombies.

  “It’s a pack of wolves. The animals are also free!” He had a sudden realization. “My family is at the zoo! If the animals are free, we might be already too late.”

  “We don’t know that yet. They could have found somewhere to hide.”

  They watched as the wolves quickly took down the zombies and disappeared as quickly as they appeared.

  “The zombies must not have tasted good,” said Mr. Forenstein, watching as the zombies were rising back to their feet. He couldn’t believe what he was witnessing. “It’s a sad thing.”

  “What?”

  “Some of them could have been my neighbors, my family or my friends. Look at them now. There is nothing left but empty shells with appetites for human flesh.”

  “As long as it isn’t my flesh they’re eating. Come on; let’s get out of here while we have a chance. We’ll make our way to the zoo. I just hope none of the larger animals got loose. I would hate to come across one of our bears or even the lion.”

  “The jeep isn’t going to give us much protection from them. Let’s hope our weapons will give us an edge.”

  The general skillfully drove the jeep through the swarms of hungry flesh eaters grabbing at them as they drove by. Once they got to the front gate of the zoo, Mr. Forenstein jumped out of the jeep and ran through the entrance. It was eerily silent. Not one zombie was spotted lurking in the darkness. He looked at General Poe who was pointing at a shape crawling across the pavement. Mr. Forenstein squinted in the light until he recognized who was crawling in front of him.

  “Linda!” He ran over to her, hoping she hadn’t turned into one of the monstrosities. He bent over her with tears stinging his eyes.

  “Don’t get too close. She’s one of them now.”

  He stole at glance toward the general. “We have to save her. We can’t let her remain a zombie.”

  “There is nothing we can do for her but put her out of her misery.”

  “No!” he screamed as she grabbed his arm and sank her teeth into the living meat, ripping off a hairy chunk of arm. General Poe witnessed the whole bloody ordeal and pointed his M16 at her. His weapon never wavered as her head hit the pavement. A shroud of crimson gore wrapped her in death. Mr. Forenstein sat there in shock, crying from both pain and loss. He glared at the general.

  “Why did you kill her?”

  “She was a zombie. Besides, look at your arm. She took a hunk out of it.”

  “But she was my wife.”

  “Behind you, we have company.”

  Mr. Forenstein turned and saw the zombie version of his son staring him down with hungry eyes. “Billy, what have they done to you?”

  General Poe readied his weapon once again. “Move Robert, I have the shot.”

  “No! You’re not shooting my son!” He moved in front of his son to hide him from the general’s view. Without hesitation, Billy sank his bloodstained teeth into his father’s living meat. He struggled against him. “Billy, No! No! No…”

  General Poe fired two shots in succession. Both Billy and his father slumped to the ground. His heart sank. A pool of blood formed around his feet. He heard something flapping in the still night overhead. He looked up and saw a parrot flying upward and spouting “Death comes tonight.”

  The End

  The exciting sequel to Zombie Park is here!

  Z-DAY: DAY OF THE ZOMBIES

  BOOK TWO: THE Z-DAY TRILOGY

  Z-DAY takes place in Valparaiso, Indiana after the zombies escape the park and make their way to the city. How will the city be able to protect themselves from the onslaught of hordes of the living dead?

  Also we find out what happens to the survivors of the Zombie Park’s carnage.

  Download now if you dare: http://bit.ly/20qOCeL

  Author Mark Cusco Ailes’ inspiration is zombie master John Russo who he met in 2015 and discussed Zombie Park with him. Mark is currently writing Z-Day Book Three: Plague Of The Living Dead.

  Thank you for reading Zombie Park. Whether you liked it or not, I hope you’ll take a moment to leave a review on Amazon. Reviews are vitally important to me as an author both to help me market my book and to improve my writing in the future. Thank you!

  Mark Cusco Ailes

  Leave your review here: http://bit.ly/1FH5qrA

  Werewolves, Zombies and Deadly Women is a collection of brand new horror short stories from the Ailes Brothers of Terror.

  Sign up for the authors’ New Releases mailing list and get a FREE copy on Kindle.

  Click here to get started: http://eepurl.com/bh_qH9

  I would like to dedicate this book to all my fans that have enjoyed all of my books. I appreciate all the kind words about my stories and for believing in the characters I developed for them. I would like to thank my brother, author Derek Ailes for spreading the word, being a beta reader, helping me find errors, and designing my covers. I would like to thank my mother for her work on editing and giving advice when it was needed. I would like to thank the South Haven Library, Barnes & Noble, Hammond Library, Radisson Hotel, Woodland Park, Lake County Library, and the IWC for your support and hosting my autograph signings. A special thank you goes to author John Russo for his encouragement.

  About The Author

  Mark Cusco Ailes is the author of several novels, including The Day The Earth Cried, which is popular in England. He currently resides in Valparaiso, Indiana and often mentions his hometown in his books. His hobbies include meeting celebrities at conventions, reading, writing, and acting. He was the drummer for the 80s heavy metal band Latem. He was an extra in the movie Moon 44, and he has been in several stage plays. In the eighties he designed haunted houses in Stuttgart, West Germany three years in a row and won two awards for best design. He also has done several radio and television commercials.

  Mark Cusco Ailes is currently working on the third book in the Z-Day Trilogy.

  Http://markcuscoailes.com

  Facebook @Mark Ailes

  Twitter @Mark Ailes

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination, or used factiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  Copyright @ 2015 Mark Cusco Ailes

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

  For information and permission request contact:

  markailes2008@comcast.net.

  Published by Weekland Press

  Website: http://markcuscoailes.com.

  Facebook @Mark Ailes

  Twitter @Mark Ailes

  Other books by Mark Cusco Ailes

  Bunga, Book One: A Ray Cycle Adventure

  Tashla, Book Two: A Ray Cycle Adventure

  Rhysnor, B
ook Three: A Ray Cycle Adventure

  The Day The Earth Cried

  Journey Into The Unknown

  One Magic Christmas

  The Creator’s Game

  The Storm Inside My Head

  Catfurnado, Zombies and One Killer Doll

  A Handful Of Raindrops

  Heir To The Throne

  Rich Man’s War Poor Man’s Blood

  Coming soon: Z-DAY: Day Of The Zombies