“Me too,” Paul said, following Bret’s example. “We wouldn’t want to get caught party planning.”
April laughed and stood as well.
“I’ll see you two out – keep me updated on everything,” she said, following them to the door.
“You too,” Bret said, and winked. “Once we get the location down we’ll be able to decide on the guest list. I’ll also have a better idea on what kind of food we might want. If we go with the cemetery idea we’ll want some kind of picnic food, won’t we?”
“Yes,” April said. “I’ll find out and let you know as soon as possible.”
She opened the front door for the two men and waved goodbye before shutting it behind them.
Chad was smart and suspicious, since she surprised him often. She knew he was expecting something to be planned for his birthday; he’d already asked her what it was ten or so times. Each time she’d denied it, saying they were going to do something quiet, just the two of them. He hadn’t argued, but he’d been keeping a close eye on her for the last couple weeks. If he’d caught Bret and Paul at their house it would have blown all their hard plotting and planning. They’d been trying to think of a great location for the party for over a month – she’d insisted on something original and special, and all of the ideas so far she’d rejected. The fact that they’d all liked the cemetery idea was an indication that it was the perfect location.
April used the time between when Bret and Paul left and Chad came home from work to get online to research the Evans City Cemetery, and was pleased to find out it was open to the public. She made a quick call the Bret to let him know that the location was set; they agreed to work together on the guest list the following day. She’d just hung up the phone when Chad came through the front door of their house.
“I’m home, beautiful,” he called out as he shut the door behind himself.
April clicked the mouse a couple of times, stood, and walked over to him, grinning; she wrapped her arms around his neck and gave him a warm “welcome home” kiss.
“How was your day?” she asked.
“Not too bad,” he said, looking at her closely. “What have you been up to? You look ornery.”
She laughed. “Me? Never!”
“I don’t believe you,” he said, wrapping his arm around her waist and pulling her closer to kiss her again. “I’ll let you have your little secrets though, because they usually benefit me in some way,” he whispered against her lips as he pulled back slightly.
She giggled and rubbed her nose against his.
“I love you,” she whispered.
“I love you, too,” he said and grinned, letting her go. “What’s for supper?”
“What would you like?” April asked, turning away from him and heading out of the room.
“Anything will be good,” he called after her. He yawned and sat down to take off his work boots; he sighed as he slid the heavy, hot footwear off.
“I’ve decided what we’re doing for your birthday,” April announced from the doorway, startling Chad.
“Really?” he asked, grinning and standing. “You’re actually going to tell me, huh?”
“Yes,” she said and bit her bottom lip, “if you want to know.”
He walked over to her, searching her face with his eyes. He was a little bit confused because she wasn’t usually so open about such things – usually she was close lipped.
“Okay,” he said, “tell me.”
“We’re going on a picnic – just you and me!”
“A picnic?” he asked.
She nodded and put her hands on his chest, looking up at him.
“A nice, quiet picnic for your birthday,” she said again. “Doesn’t that sound relaxing?”
He smiled and nodded. “Yes, that does sound relaxing. Where would we be having this picnic?”
“You’ll have to wait and see,” April said, and giggled; she turned and disappeared back into the kitchen.
“I thought that was a little too easy,” he said, following her.
She turned her head and stuck her tongue out at him as she took some vegetables out of the fridge.
“How about chicken salad for supper?” she asked. “I have those chicken breasts left over from last night.”
“Sounds good,” he said. “Do I have time to take a quick shower?”
“Sure,” she said, washing the vegetables in the sink. “I’ll let the veggies drain until you’re done, so take your time.”
“Okay,” he said, leaving the room and heading down the hall toward their bedroom.
Chad couldn’t help but wonder what April had planned. He knew that the picnic was a cover up for something bigger, but he couldn’t think of what it might be.
***
As he headed back out to the living room after his shower, he noticed that April was sitting at the computer, reading the screen intently. When she noticed he was there, she quickly closed the browser.
“Done already?” she asked, moving the mouse around and clicking a couple times. “That was fast.”
“I’m hungry,” he said as she stood and walked past him.
“Give me a couple minutes and I’ll have something ready to fill that stomach of yours,” she teased and poked him in the midsection as she went by.
“Oof!” he said, pretending to get the wind knocked out of him.
April laughed and shook her head.
Once she’d disappeared around the corner, he sat down at the computer and checked the browser history; he was disappointed to see that she’d cleared it and he couldn’t find out what she’d been looking at.
“Hey!” April called from the other room.
“What?” he hollered back, checking his email.
“Why don’t we watch a movie while we eat?” she yelled back.
“Okay!” he replied. “What do you want to watch?”
“How about Night of the Living Dead?” April asked, coming back into the room with a beer for him.
He frowned, taking the beverage from her.
“Really?” he asked before taking a drink. “You don’t want to watch some chick flick or anything?”
She slapped him on the shoulder and giggled. “You know better than that. We haven’t watched it in a long time and I thought it would be nice to watch it together.”
“I can handle that,” he said, taking another drink of beer. “You get those salads done and I’ll see if we can stream it.”
She winked and went back to the kitchen to put the finishing touches on the salads.
Chad again thought something was odd – rarely did she want to watch TV while they were eating. Usually she insisted they sit at the table and talk about their day. With a shrug, he got the movie ready for them to watch and then helped her carry the food and beverages into the living room so they could sit down together and watch the movie.
***
The next morning, as soon as Chad left for work, April was on the phone calling Bret and Paul, coordinating the solid plans for the party. They only had a day and a half to get things done and she wanted to make sure it all happened the way it should. Luckily the guest list was short – only ten people – and since the location of the cemetery wasn’t too far away, everyone said they would be coming and were planning to be in costume for the occasion. Paul had suggested that all the guests dress up as zombies, hide behind the chapel, and come shambling out after April and Chad arrived. Everyone loved the idea.
After she’d gotten everything set in motion, April focused on packing a picnic like she and Chad were indeed going by themselves for a quiet lunch the next day. The fact that his birthday fell on a weekend this year had worked out great. They would be able to do what she had planned and she wouldn’t have to figure out the details around his job for once.
She had the picnic food in the fridge and was mapping out their drive using the GPS in her cell phone when Chad came home that evening.
He walked through the door and spotted her sitting on the c
ouch.
“What are you up to?” he asked her with a half-grin.
“Just planning our drive tomorrow,” she said. “I don’t want to get lost and waste half of your birthday trying to find the place.”
“So . . .” he said, sitting down to take his boots off, “. . . we’ve never been to this picnic place before?”
April smirked, but didn’t look up from her phone.
“Something like that,” she said.
Chad untied his boots, slid them off his feet, set them beside the chair where he normally kept them, and then stood. He didn’t know what to say or do to get the information out of her. With a sigh, he decided he didn’t want to know and that he would let her surprise him; he’d always loved the things she’d planned for him in the past and he anticipated the same for this time.
“I give up,” he said, laughed, and headed down the hall to take a shower.
“What?” April asked, sitting forward and turning her head to watch him walk away.
“I said . . .” he called loudly down the hall to her, “. . . I give up! You can just plan your surprise for my birthday – I don’t want to know anything about it.”
She stood and walked over to where she could see down the hall; she saw him turning into their bedroom.
“I’m not planning anything special!” she hollered so she would be heard. “We’re just having a picnic!”
“Whatever!” he yelled, sticking his head out of the bedroom, grinning and winking at her.
She stuck her tongue out at him and went back to the couch, shaking her head.
The evening progressed smoothly – with them staying in and watching a movie – and they went to bed early in anticipation of the trip the next day.
***
“Wake up, birthday boy,” April whispered in Chad’s ear before kissing his cheek.
He groaned, smiled, wrapped an arm around her, pulled her close, and kissed her without opening his eyes.
“Let’s just stay in bed,” he muttered. “We can eat the picnic here.” He kissed her again, with more passion.
She giggled, kissed him back, and shook her head.
“No, I have a lovely day planned for you,” she said.
“But I wanted to stay in bed, with my wife,” he said, and started to kiss her neck.
“We can stay in bed for a little while longer,” she sighed, giving in, “but we’re still going on the picnic.”
He paused, pulled back slightly, and looked down at her.
“Are you still gonna tell me you don’t have anything planned?” he asked. “Because normally you’d be all for staying in bed with me all day.”
“Is it wrong for me to want to make your birthday special?” she asked, smiling innocently.
“Oh, we can stay right here and you can make my birthday special,” he said, and winked.
April laughed.
***
Two hours later they were on the road, with April driving and Chad staring out the window at the passing scenery.
“I still have no idea where we’re going,” Chad said, frowning.
April smiled and nodded. “Good.”
He glanced over at her, bemused.
“You were hoping to guess, weren’t you?” she teased.
“Yeah,” he grumbled, crossing his arms and turning his attention back to the landscape beyond the windows.
“Don’t worry, hun,” she said, reaching over to rub and pat his leg, “you’ll love where we’re going.”
He grunted and shrugged, still trying to figure everything out. He went over the last couple of weeks in his mind, knowing there were probably clues in the things she’d said and done that should have given him hints as to what was going on. But, after a few minutes, he gave up with a heavy sigh; he knew if he hadn’t figured it out yet, he wouldn’t.
“What did you pack for us to eat?” he asked, uncrossing his arms and turning to eye the picnic basket riding on the backseat.
“Food,” she said, and laughed when he gave her a dirty look. “Just relax, would you? We’ll be there in a few minutes and then you can raid the picnic basket.”
“Okay,” he said, facing forward and looking around. “We’re almost there? How much longer?”
April picked up her cell phone and held it up beside the steering wheel so she could look at it and watch the road at the same time.
“Ah . . . about ten minutes,” she said, and shrugged. “Give or take a couple of minutes.”
“Want me to hold your phone for you?” he asked with a grin, reaching for the device.
“No,” she said, shifting it to her other hand and then slipping it into a little compartment in her door. “I’ll be okay. I have a general idea where I’m going.”
“I just bet you do,” he mumbled, but smiled.
“Getting excited?” she asked.
“Yeah,” he admitted grudgingly.
She grinned and kept driving, and couldn’t help but notice the light in Chad’s eyes while he continued to try to figure out where they were going.
***
“They’re coming!” Paul shouted, lowering the binoculars from his eyes. “I see the car!”
“Great!” Bret said with a sigh. “My makeup is starting to run in this heat. I was afraid I’d be me again before they got here.”
Paul grinned, showing off his blacked teeth and fake paint smeared lips.
“Places everyone!” he hollered to the “zombies” loitering around the cemetery.
They all rushed around to the chapel to hide behind it.
None of them noticed the two extra bodies in the group, or that they weren’t in costume . . .
***
“We’re almost there!” April said. “Close your eyes.”
Chad frowned and opened his mouth to protest, but quickly closed it and did as he was told at her stern look.
“Fine,” he sighed. “Tell me when I can open them again.”
She drove for another thirty seconds and then he felt the car come to a halt.
“Okay,” April said. “Open!”
Chad opened his eyes and took a moment to look around before he focused on the sign that was easily within his view – he read it aloud.
“Evans City Cemetery INC. January 7, 1891 . . .” he looked over at April. “Is this? This is . . . Really?!”
She laughed. “Yes, this is the cemetery where the Night of the Living Dead was filmed.”
“It all makes sense now!” he said, and laughed. “You wanting to watch the movie the other night, and all.”
She grinned. He was happy and that’s what she’d wanted.
“Want to go in?” she asked, shifting the car into drive.
“Hell yeah!” he said, as excited as a five-year-old with a new toy. “Let’s get in there and explore before we eat. Did you bring the camera?”
“Of course I brought the camera!” she exclaimed, grinning broadly at his rambling enthusiasm.
She drove the car into the cemetery and parked. No sooner had the vehicle come to a halt than Chad was out of the car investigating the headstones. Words were pouring out of his mouth in his excitement, but she couldn’t understand anything he was saying because he was talking so fast.
April pulled their camcorder out of its protective case, turned it on, and got out of the car.
“Why don’t you go and check out the chapel?” she asked, nodding toward the small brick building.
He grinned and took off toward it, glancing at random headstones he passed; he looked up, startled, and stumbled backwards a couple steps when loud moans permeated the air.
April giggled as she recorded the “zombies” – guests dressed as undead ghouls – come shambling out from behind the chapel to surround him.
Chad held his arms up in defense at first and she thought for sure he was going to lash out at them, but he realized they were his friends when some of them started to laugh.
He wrapped his arms around Paul and squeezed him in a giant bear hug
.
“This is the best birthday ever!” he yelled as he set his brother down and hugged his best friend Bret.
“We thought you’d like it,” Bret said, clapping his best friend on the back. “You can thank your wicked woman for most of it.”
“Yeah, you can!” Paul added. “But us bastards helped too.” He winked at Bret.
“I just bet you did!” Chad exclaimed, grinning. “She’s really good at selecting her cohorts.”
They all laughed and Chad made his way through the crowd, greeting each person by name as he figured out who they were. But when he came to the end there were a couple people he didn’t recognize.
“Damn, you guys did good,” Chad said. “Do you have road kill in your shorts or something? You actually smell dead!” He stuck his hand out to shake theirs, hoping he’d know who they were once he heard their voices.
The one closest to him – a man – gripped his hand so tightly that his long, sharp nails cut into Chad’s flesh; he screamed in pain and tried to pull his hand back. The man lunged forward and sank his cracked, broken teeth into Chad’s forearm.
“Holy fuck?!” Paul yelled as his brother was brutally attacked. “Who invited that asshole?”
Paul shot forward and grabbed the man by the hair and jerked; the man’s scalp came off in his hand.
“It’s a real zombie!” he whispered as everyone looked on in awed shock as Chad continued to scream in pain.
The other zombie – a small woman – lunged for, and sank her claws into Paul before she tore into his throat with her teeth.
April, who was still filming, dropped the camera to the ground and charged over to try and help Chad get free of the real zombie that had come from somewhere and hidden in amongst the group of dressed up guests.
“What the fuck are you all standing around for?” she screamed as she darted through the crowd. “Do something!”
Her angry, scared words spurred them into action and they attached the two zombies and dispatched them by smashing in their skulls.
Someone – during the fray – had pulled out their cell phone and called 9-1-1, because as soon as the zombies were taken down, sirens could be heard blaring in the distance, heading their way fast.
Zombies Inside Page 3
