The Z-Day Trilogy (Book 1): Zombie Park

by Mark Cusco Ailes

  Ben Cutler sat back in his truck sipping on a cup of hot coffee watching Donnie’s every move. He opened his glove box and pulled out a handgun purchased from a friend earlier in the day. He was going to do whatever was necessary to stop Donnie. Even if it meant stalking him all day until he found the perfect opportunity to kill him. He didn’t want to resort to murder, but when it came between him and his new money, he wasn’t going to let anybody stop him or his dreams. A police car pulled into the spot next to him, and he quickly shoved the gun back into the glove box. An officer got out of the car and entered the print shop. He approached Donnie.

  Ben wondered what the officer wanted with him. All of a sudden, Donnie became outraged, and he watched as the police officer put him in handcuffs and led him out of the print shop. After securing Donnie in the back seat of his squad car, the officer drove away. Instead of following the police car, Ben went inside the print shop to see if he could find out what just happened. A small, balding man greeted him as he walked inside.

  “Hello, how may I help you?”

  Ben had to think quickly on his feet. “I was wondering if you can tell me why my brother was taken away by the police.”

  “Donnie is your brother? I wasn’t aware he had a brother.”

  “Actually, we’re half-brothers. It’s a long story I’m sure you don’t want to hear about.”

  “The mayor wants to talk to him about a protest he is leading.”

  Ben thought it was strange he had been handcuffed. “Why was he handcuffed?”

  “He told the police officer where to stick his gun. All the officer wanted was for him to go with him peacefully, but your half-brother stood his ground. He told the officer he wasn’t going to be silenced.”

  “It sounds like him. Thank you for the information. I appreciate you telling me where they took him.”

  “When you see him, tell him I’ll have his flyers done tomorrow. If he’s not in jail he can stop by and pick them up.”

  “I’ll tell him. Thanks.” He left the shop. He knew he wouldn’t be able to get at him today. Whatever the mayor wanted with him must be important if he sent the police to retrieve him. He decided he would go back home and play a video game. He would wait for him again at the print shop tomorrow.

  Donnie was forcefully led to Mayor Johnson’s office. He was pushed into a chair, still wearing the handcuffs.

  “You won’t get away with this!” he screamed.

  “Shut up,” said the police officer. “Don’t make it any worse for yourself.”

  “Am I under arrest?”

  “Not yet, but I can change that in a moment’s notice.”

  Mayor Johnson walked into the room. “You can take off his handcuffs. I don’t think he’ll give us any more trouble, will you, Donnie?”

  “What’s this all about, Mayor Johnson? I haven’t broken any laws.”

  Mayor Johnson looked at the police officer. “You can leave us. He won’t do anything stupid.” He waited until the officer left the room. Once he was gone, he looked at Donnie. “To answer your question, I had you brought here because I’m concerned about your plans to protest against the zombie park. The park is very important to me and the good citizens of Valparaiso. It’s going to bring this city more jobs and more money.”

  “And extreme danger. Are you forgetting what danger could come to your city if just one of those zombies gets free and bites somebody?”

  “I’ve been assured nothing like that will happen. They will provide tight security.”

  “Mayor Johnson, how can they promise something like that? Can they see into the future? Just think, it only takes one to get loose.”

  “I think you’ve been watching too many movies. You’re letting your imagination get the best of you. It’s the military. They don’t let bad things happen to American folk.”

  Donnie glared at him as though he had gone mad. He knew he wasn’t going to get anywhere with him. “Go ahead and keep believing what they tell you. You can’t stop me from protesting against it. There aren’t any laws prohibiting me from doing so.”

  “There aren’t any on the books, but I must warn you, the land the park is being built on is owned by the military now. It’s against the law to trespass on federal property. If you try, they will shoot you on sight. I hope you’re listening to me. If you go through with your protest and piss them off, there is nothing in this world I can do to protect you.”

  “I don’t need your protection. They can’t stop my protest. It’s my American right.”

  “It’s your funeral. They won’t give you a proper burial.”

  “You can stop right now. It’s not me you’re worried about. The only thing you’re worried about is the money. All I have to say to you is try to stop me from protesting.”

  “Don’t worry; I’m not going to stop you. I will leave it all up to General Poe. I know what he’s going to do to you if you try to stop him from building his park. I wouldn’t want to be the one who gets on his bad side. You’re free to go now. It was nice knowing you.”

  Donnie glared angrily at the mayor. He knew he had been threatened, and he didn’t like it. He knew his American rights were being tread upon. He wasn’t going to give up that easily. This meeting with Mayor Johnson only made him want to protest even harder. He wasn’t going to let him manipulate him. He stormed out of the office and past the police officer. He knew he needed to call a cab to get back to the print shop. After that, he was going to place a call to Luke Anderson. Nobody was going to stop him now from protesting against the park.

  Mayor Johnson waited until the officer came back into the office. “I have an important job for you. I need you to follow him and find out what he’s planning on doing.”

  “What if he causes more problems?”

  “Do I need to tell you your job? I think you understand what I’m asking of you.”

  He nodded and turned away from the mayor. “I understand perfectly.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  Officer Finley watched Donnie as though his life depended on it. He followed him to the news station and watched as he entered the building. He parked his squad car on the other side of the building and pulled out a pair of binoculars and watched the main door. Mayor Johnson wasn’t going to be happy to hear where Donnie was. It was obvious he was going to use the media to cause more trouble. He needed another way to silence him without having to kill him. It wasn’t the type of police officer he wanted to become. Instead, he knew there was another way. He could let Donnie begin the protest on the site of the park and he could arrest him there. He could also put enough drugs in his car to get an intent to sell charge against him. Something like that would put him away for at least five years. That way he would still be alive and he wouldn’t have a murder on his hands. He put the binoculars down and left the parking lot. With his plan, he didn’t have to watch him any more. He made his way back toward Valparaiso to inform the mayor of his plan. He knew he would back him. Once Donnie was locked up behind bars, he would no longer be a problem for them.

  Donnie was still enraged once he entered the building. He didn’t realize he was being followed, so he wasn’t trying to be inconspicuous. He stormed down a long hall until he came to Luke Anderson’s office, but he wasn’t inside. He looked down the hall, but he didn’t see anybody. He continued down the hall until he heard voices. He followed the voices until he came to an area where several people were standing around eating cake. Luke saw him enter the area and made his way over to him.

  “What’s the matter, Donnie? You look furious.”

  “Can we go to your office? I have something important to tell you.”

  “Sure. Follow me.” He led Donnie to his office and walked in, closing the door after him. “So, what’s on your mind?”

  Donnie waited until he sat behind his desk. “I got picked up by the police and taken to Mayor Johnson’s office. He threatened me not to protest against the park.”

  Luke looked at Donnie as though he had los
t his mind. “Come on, Donnie, do you really expect me to believe the mayor would do that?”

  “He did! I swear it to you! Mayor Johnson only cares about the money the park will make for him.”

  “Well, that I do believe. Money is the main thing that drives people to do crazy things. What did he say would happen to you if you did protest?”

  “He said the military would deal with me.”

  Luke brought out a pad of paper and a pen. He jotted down what Donnie had told him. “Are you sure about everything you just told me? You’re not stretching the truth to get a story from me. If you are, it could cause us both a great deal of trouble.”

  “I wouldn’t be wasting your time with this if it wasn’t true. I know they’re going to try to stop me.”

  Luke thought for a moment. “I believe your life is now in danger. You can’t go back home. You’re going to stay with me tonight until I can figure something out. I wonder if they are watching you. Damn! That would put us both in danger.”

  “Luke, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to put your life in danger.”

  “Relax. My life has been in danger before. Did you already forget what I do for a living? We have to come up with a plan.”

  “What if they’re listening to us right now?”

  “Donnie, now you’re being paranoid. They don’t have listening devices in our building. We would know about it.”

  “Are you sure?”

  Luke sighed. “Stop it. If anything is going to happen to us, it will happen outside of this building. It’s the main thing that bothers me. Once we leave the building, we’ll be sitting ducks. Now you got me paranoid.”

  “So, what are we going to do? We can’t stay in this building forever.”

  “We can sneak out the back where the news trucks are. We can hide in the back of one while someone drives us to my mansion. I have a safe room inside it in case something happens.”

  Donnie liked the idea of hiding in a safe room. He knew nobody could get to him inside one of them. “Then let’s go. The longer we wait, the more time we give them to find us.”

  “Follow me to the back. I’ll have one of my men drive us to my house.” He led Donnie to the back area where he found a driver for the news truck. They both got inside and closed the door behind them.

  The driver drove them to Luke’s house and followed the driveway to the rear of the house. It extended around the entire house. He parked by the back door. Luke and Donnie cautiously climbed out and entered the house. The driver drove away as Luke closed the back door. He led Donnie to a room with several computer screens mounted on the wall.

  “This is my security system. I have a camera pointed at several areas outside. If anybody comes onto my property, I’ll know about it.”

  “What happens if we’re out of the room and don’t see the screens? Someone could get by the cameras without us knowing about it.”

  Luke shook his head. “You really are paranoid. An alarm will go off on my cell phone. I keep it with me at all times.”

  “Where is the safe room?”

  “It’s in my master bedroom. And before you ask me, my bedroom is large and we’ll have plenty of time to get to it if we need to.”

  “What do we do for now? Do you have anything exciting to keep us occupied?”

  Luke led him to the kitchen and grabbed two beers from the fridge and brought them to the kitchen table. “We should sit here and plan the protest. You’re not going to let Mayor Johnson stop you from doing it, are you?”

  Donnie took a drink from his beer and looked at Luke. “Tomorrow I have to stop by the print shop to pick up my flyers. Then I’ll contact everybody on our list and we’ll meet at the construction site on Monday to do whatever is necessary to stop them. We’ll have one of your reporters there so they can capture everything on film. I don’t think the military will try anything if they know they’re going to be on the news.”

  “Don’t count on it. We have seen police do unethical things while they were being filmed on many occasions. People often forget they’re being filmed, and then we see their true selves come out. Sometimes I think criminals join the police force so they can get away with committing crimes.”

  “I hope it doesn’t stand true with the military.”

  Luke laughed. “That’s the best one I’ve heard all day. I would expect a lot of resistance and possibly a lot of arrests. When it comes to the people versus the military, it’s usually the military who wins. And if Mayor Johnson is present at the protest, I’m afraid the protest could turn violent.”

  Luke’s cell phone made a beeping noise. He glanced at it and hit a button. An image of a truck sitting in front of his house appeared.

  “What’s happening?” asked Donnie, looking alarmed.

  “Someone is watching the house from the street.” After a few long minutes, the truck continued down the road. “It’s nothing. I think it was a false alarm.”

  “This is going to drive me crazy. Let’s prepare our plans for Monday. I need to do something to get my mind off of things.”

  Luke peered down at his cell phone once more. He agreed with Donnie. They both needed to get their minds off of things. He took a drink and reached for a pad of paper on the table and grabbed a pen. “All right, let’s make a list of everything we still need to accomplish.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  Carlton stood in front of Kathy’s cage. He could tell she was sad, which was one emotion he hadn’t been expecting from a zombie. He wanted to reach out to her and console her, but she wasn’t human any longer. Her demeanor was confusing him. He watched as she looked at him with emotionless eyes. He couldn’t stand it anymore. He moved closer to the cage.

  “You’re not like the other zombies. You can feel things. You can feel emotions.” He watched as she remained silent. “I wish you could talk and tell me what you’re feeling. I need to know if you’re experiencing any pain.”

  She took a step toward the cage door and stopped. She nodded her head as if she was answering him.

  “So you can feel pain.”

  She nodded once again and took another step toward the cage. She lifted her hand as if she was asking for something. He didn’t understand what she wanted.

  “Are you hungry?” he asked, wondering if food was what she wanted.

  She shook her head. She lifted her hand to her head and pointed her finger toward it as if she was trying to tell him to shoot her in the head. His eyes widened once he realized what was being communicated to him. The other zombies in the room were becoming restless and banged their heads against their cage doors. He kept his attention focused on Kathy. He wanted to go tell her husband what she wanted, but he knew he wouldn’t care. To him, she was just a zombie and no longer human. He looked over at the gun on his work table and thought about her request. He could easily put her out of her misery. He knew it was the right thing to do, but he knew he couldn’t. He needed this job, and if he put Kathy out of her misery, he knew he would lose his job. He looked at her and shook his head. “I can’t. I wish I could, but you have to understand. If I shoot you, I’ll lose everything I hold dear.”

  She stared at him as if she understood everything he was saying. She walked to the back of the cage and sat down. He called out to her, but she acted as though she didn’t hear him. He turned as Professor Hollman walked in.

  “Carlton, what are you doing? Why are you socializing with her? Have you forgotten she’s no longer human? She’s a zombie. You should treat her like one.”

  Carlton glared at him angrily. He was getting tired of how he was treating her. He wanted to lash out at him, perhaps slice his throat open, or even worse, make him become a zombie and see what it was like to become one. He wanted to say something pompous, but with the professor, he knew it wouldn’t have the desired effect. Instead, he pushed past him and went into another nearby room and slammed the door.

  Professor Hollman turned his attention toward Kathy’s cage. To his surprise, she was standing near the d
oor, trying to grab him. She was snarling at him loudly as if she meant to rip him to shreds.

  “Even in death you’re a thorn in my side. Go ahead and try to harm me; I will never give you the chance to do so.” He walked closer to her. “I’m glad you became a zombie. I want you to feel the isolation you made me feel all these years. I should have divorced you when I had a chance, but for some reason I couldn’t. Deep down I thought things would get better with time. I thought you would get better with time. Hell, what was I thinking? The only things that get better with time is cheese and wine. At least those items provide you with enjoyment. All you provided me with was resentment. In the end, I’m going to have my revenge. I get to watch you suffer for the rest of your life…death, of course you’re already dead.” He turned to walk away from her and then stopped to face her again. “You do realize your fate, don’t you? You’re going to be put on public display. People are going to mock you and make fun of you. To them, you’re nothing but a mindless and useless zombie. Nobody is going to care what your name is or what you’ve accomplished in your life. I will make sure of it. The world is never going to remember you.” He laughed sinisterly. “You didn’t think I had it in me, did you? That’s what happens after you spend years of being tormented by the one who’s supposed to love you! I hate you! Did you hear me! I hate you! I hope you never find peace!” He stormed out of the room.

  Kathy stood there helpless to do anything against the man who promised to soil her good name.

  Carlton entered the room as the professor was leaving. He stared at Kathy for a minute and then made his way back to the goat pen. He stopped to think. Who was the worst monster; Kathy, the professor, or him?

  Chapter Seventeen

  Jerry Lee never showed up back to work and his producer was worried. Jerry had never stayed out of contact with her before. As a matter of fact, he made it his business to sexually harass her just about every hour on the hour. When his harassment came to an abrupt end, she knew something was wrong. She tried reaching him on his cell phone again, but it only went straight to voice mail. She sighed. He had left her with a predicament. She had a show to put on and her star was AWOL. If he didn’t arrive in the next ten minutes, she was going to be forced to put on Simon Higgins in his spot. Jerry wouldn’t like that his competition had replaced him, but he wasn’t giving her any choice. With or without him, the show had to proceed.