“Let’s check out the building. I want to make sure everything is according to the way the professor wants it. Right now, making him happy is our top priority.”
“Everything he required has been built. I’m positive he will be pleased with his new facility.”
“I can’t believe he wants to live here.”
General Poe opened the door to the building and walked in. “The apartment we built for him is spacious. He designed it himself. His place is almost as large as mine.”
“It’s larger than mine,” said Mr. Forenstein. “My wife would love his kitchen.”
“I guess I should tell you. I’ve been authorized to move your family into a bigger home. You will be moved to the same neighborhood as Ben Cutler.”
“Really? I had no idea I was being moved into a larger house.”
“Consider it a gift from Uncle Sam. He takes care of his own. Besides, part of this park was paid for by you. I don’t understand why, with all your money, you didn’t purchase a bigger house to begin with.”
“My wife picked out the house.”
“Will she have a problem moving into a bigger one?”
Mr. Forenstein laughed. “No, she’s been hinting she wants a bigger house. Our house is getting crowded with all her shopping trips.”
They walked inside the lab area. It was four times the size of the one Professor Hollman worked in. Mr. Forenstein was satisfied with the way it had turned out. He ventured to the back of the lab and went through a door. Beyond the door was another large area with over two hundred cages. This would be the holding area for all the newly created zombies until it was time to put them on display.
He led General Poe beyond them to another door leading outside behind plexiglass enclosures. These would serve to display the zombies to the public. For safety concerns, the enclosures were completely sealed to keep birds or insects from getting inside. He turned to look at the general.
“Nothing will be able to get in or out without us knowing about it.” He walked past the enclosures to a door leading into another building. It was the command center. The walls were covered with monitors for park techs to be able to watch everything in every section of the park at once. The entire park was going to be covered with cameras. If anybody tried anything at the park, it would be seen by the tech designated for the area.
“I want to see the zombie zoo. I think this area will bring the most interest from the tourists. I’m looking forward to the zombie dolphin exhibit. We’ll be the first ones in history to host a zombie dolphin show,” said General Poe. “We’re working on bringing a great white shark to the park at some point.”
“I wasn’t aware we were going to have a zombie shark. Aren’t you worried it might be too dangerous to have something like it here?”
“We’re going to have lions, gorillas, leopards, bears, hyenas, every animal you can name, and you’re worried about a shark. Hell, if I had it my way, we would make zombie dinosaurs.”
Mr. Forenstein stopped and glared at him. “We’re not going there. If we try something like bringing back dinosaurs, we’re going to have every protestor across the globe protesting outside our doors. I agree with the shark. Just please leave talks of dinosaurs out of the equation. We need to get to the administration building. We have several interviews within the hour. Today I’m interviewing people to work with Carlton. We need people we can trust to work with the zombies. I want you to interview the people who want to work security. I have some friends who are going to interview for all the other areas. Also, I have a couple of well-known chefs coming for an interview today.”
“It’s not going to be an easy interview for them.”
“I hope not. I only want security personnel working for us we can trust.” They continued toward the administration building and went inside.
Gus Haddon sat in a large conference area filling out an application to be a cook at the park. He had heard a rumor only thirty cooks would be hired for the various restaurants and food carts. He hoped they were wrong. He didn’t have any experience with any other type of job, and he didn’t want to do anything else but cook. This time though, he wanted to cook something besides burgers. He wanted to work in the main restaurant where he could prepare normal meals like steak and chicken. Ever since he heard the park would be hiring cooks, he had purchased several cookbooks and practiced cooking a meal every night after work until he was confident his skills were good enough to land him a good paying job.
He heard two young women sitting across from him also talking as if they were applying for a cook’s position. He looked at them. They both were Julia Roberts pretty, and they dressed as if they were millionaires. He knew their looks would most likely land them a job, even if they didn’t have any cooking skills.
He turned his attention back to his application and continued filling it out. It didn’t matter how long it took him to fill it out because the interviews were based on a number system. He was number one hundred and twelve. From the last announcement he heard, they were only on interview number forty three, so he knew he still had a long time to wait.
A little over two hours later, his number was finally called, and he made his way to the front of the room with his application. A young lady, most likely in her early thirties, held her hand out to take the application.
“Follow me,” she said, turning to head down a long hall behind her. She took him near the end of the hall to an opened door on the left. “Wait in here. Your interviewer will be here momentarily.” She left the room in a hurry.
He took a seat near the door as a tall, elderly man with silver hair walked in and made his way to a desk situated on the other side. He had his application in his hand. He sat down behind the desk and began to scan through the application. After a few minutes, he looked over at Gus.
“Come closer, Mr. Haddon. I assure you I won’t bite you.”
Gus sat in the chair in front of the desk.
The elderly man placed the application on the desk. “My name is Mr. Roswell. I’m in charge of all the restaurants, cafes, food carts, popcorn stands, and any place where you can purchase food in the park. Let me start by saying this is the first round of the hiring process. If you make it past me, you will meet with the coordinator who will decide where you will be placed in the park. This park is dedicated to customer service, so you can probably tell we are going to hire the cream of the crop. At that time the coordinator will give you the park packet of the rules and tell you what your starting wage will be. Don’t ask me any questions regarding any of that because I won’t have the answer for you. I only make sure everything is running smoothly and I’m the one who has to answer to the owners. Now let me begin with your experience. I see you have experience at the fast food level. I’m to assume it regards flipping burgers and making fries and such.”
“Yes, sir. I was the main fry cook. I also did most of the prep work.”
“So, you wouldn’t mind working with burgers. We serve three kinds in the park: beef, buffalo, and ostrich.”
“Not at all. I’ll work wherever I’m needed. I can cook just about anything you need me to.”
Mr. Roswell looked at him with a smile. “I’m glad to hear that you’re the flexible type. People like you can come in handy if a crisis occurs. I’ll tell you what. I will forward your application to the coordinator. He will have someone contact you to set up your next interview. He’s the one you have to impress. If he likes you, you will get a job.” He stood up and walked over to Gus. “Good luck, Gus. I’m sure we’ll be seeing each other again soon.”
Gus left the room with the feeling he had landed the job. All he had to do was impress the next interviewer and the next phase in his life could begin.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Professor Hollman looked nervously at the soldiers responsible for moving all of his equipment. Today his lab would be moved to the new location. Even though everything had been carefully packed, he knew if anything got dropped or damaged in transport
, it could cause him valuable time getting things replaced. He knew he had more equipment waiting for him, but he trusted the equipment he had already and insisted it all be brought to the new facility.
He could tell the soldiers were annoyed by him standing in their way, but he didn’t care. They were treating his stuff as though you could go down to the nearest Walmart and replace it.
“I must insist you slow down and take your time,” he screamed as a couple soldiers passed him with a dolly of boxes. They ignored him and kept moving toward the door leading out of the lab. He held his head low and said a few choice words under his breath.
He was pissed General Poe wasn’t here overseeing the move. He would put order in the situation. He was rudely pushed aside once again as more boxes were pushed past him. He couldn’t watch any longer. He snatched a box and his briefcase and went out to his car. He didn’t want to be there when Carlton began bringing the zombies out to the specially made trucks to transport them.
He wished Carlton would destroy his wife. He didn’t mind at first that she was a zombie and kept in a cage. He liked it that way. Now, if she was moved to the new facility, it would be a reminder of her accomplishments. She didn’t deserve any of the credit made so far in zombie research. She took too many shortcuts. It was something he wasn’t willing to do. He knew you couldn’t rush science. It was something you had to do painstakingly slow until you achieved the desired results. Destroying her would erase any memory of her achievements. He had made sure her name wasn’t attached to anything that could give her any credit.
Carlton was busy in the back trying to put a loop around the neck of one of the zombies. Special animal poles were made to help move zombies from place to place. It wasn’t an easy task since the zombies were becoming aware of what the poles were being used for. Carlton was used to the struggle from them as he moved them around in the cages from time to time. He had help from the soldiers to hold the long pole as he tried to secure the loop around the first one. It was giving him the fight of the century. It was grabbing the pole and pushing it madly side to side, causing the soldiers to lose their grips on the pole.
Carlton halted them for a moment and assessed the situation. Getting this zombie to the truck was going to take finesse. He looked around the room to see if he could see anything to help them settle down the zombie. It was banging on the door to the cage trying to reach for them. It was the most agitated Carlton had ever seen it. Suddenly the door to the cage swung open, and the zombie rushed out and went straight for one of the soldiers. It took him down to the ground and bit his neck. Blood squirted upward as it tore through his neck.
Carlton snatched the loop and quickly secured it across the zombie’s neck and pulled with everything he had. With the help from another soldier, they were able to pull it away. It tried to reach for them with blood dripping down its lips. They dragged it out of the back area and took it to the truck waiting outside. Several more soldiers helped get it onto the back of the first truck and slammed the door behind it. One of the soldiers looked at Carlton.
“How are we going to get it out of there safely?”
“We’re not. We can’t risk it getting out or biting anybody else. I’m going to open the door, and I want you to shoot it in the head.”
“Are you sure about it?”
“We have no choice. There is only one zombie we will be able to transport safely from here.”
Carlton jumped onto the back of the truck and opened the door and jumped down. The zombie rushed out and fell off the back of the truck and split its head open on the payment. Carlton looked at it lying on the ground. He took his foot and stomped on its head to make sure it was dead. He shook the brain matter off of his boots and looked at the soldier. “Follow me; we have nine more zombies to kill and one to move to the truck. She won’t give us any problems.”
Once the nine zombies had been killed in the back room, Carlton went up to Kathy’s cage. She looked at him. He knew she was expecting him to shoot her. He knew it was what she wanted him to do, but he couldn’t. She was too important to the project. He waited as she came to the front of the cage.
“I trust you won’t cause me any problems moving you to the truck. I don’t want to have to loop you, but I will if I have to.”
She shook her head and Carlton slowly opened the cage after motioning for the soldiers to move back. She walked out and looked at the soldiers and then lowered her head and walked out of the back room.
Carlton led her to one of the trucks and helped her get inside. He started to close the door behind her and then stopped. “I’m sorry, Kathy. You know I would kill you if I could. You’re just too valuable right now.” He closed the door and jumped down from the truck.
He went back inside with two soldiers and went back to the back room. He still had the dead soldier to attend to. Once he reached the back area, he cautioned the soldiers and went inside. The room was empty. He looked at the floor where the soldier was last seen, and all he saw was a large pool of blood with bloody footprints leading away to the area where the goats were kept. He could hear the goats bleating beyond the zombie cages. He looked at the soldiers and motioned for them to get their weapons ready. He led them toward the back area, grabbing a shovel leaning against a table and made his way slowly toward the goats.
He felt nervous. He knew how unpredictable zombies were, and he didn’t want to get attacked and become one of them. He stopped and held his hand up. He heard the sound of ripping flesh. He knew the zombie soldier was feeding on one of the goats. He knew it wouldn’t be paying any attention to them once they reached it.
He held the shovel securely in his hands as the zombie came into his view. It was busy feasting on a goat while the others were frantically trying to free themselves from their pen. He motioned for the soldiers to follow him, and he made his way over to the zombie and lifted the shovel above his head. It looked over at him as the shovel was brought down, hitting it in the arm.
It growled and rose to its feet and tried to grab Carlton. He moved out of the way and it lunged toward him, grabbing his shirt. Carlton pushed it back, but it wasn’t letting go. The soldiers held their weapons ready to fire, but it turned Carlton around so they couldn’t get a clear shot.
Carlton struggled to free himself from it. He was having trouble keeping his grip because of the blood it was covered in. He could see pieces of goat flesh stuck between its teeth and blood was dripping from its mouth. He tried to turn it back around to expose its head to the soldiers.
Carlton managed to free himself and pushed it away from him. The soldiers fired several shots into its head until it fell to the ground. Carlton went over to it and kicked it in the head. It didn’t respond. He looked at the soldiers and shook his head. He felt fortunate to have escaped unscathed. He took an M16 from one of the soldiers and shot the ripped apart goat in the head. He handed it back to the soldier.
“Let’s get the remaining goats on the truck. Once we get it done, we’re finished here,” said Carlton, looking at the dead goat.
Once all the goats were loaded on the truck, Carlton got inside and the trucks left to make their way to Valparaiso.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Ben Cutler was amazed by how wonderful the park looked. It was exactly how he had pictured it in his mind. Everything about it screamed success, and he was fortunate to be a big part of it. The construction was almost finished, and the park was due to open in a few short weeks.
He was on his way to the zoo where they had dozens of zombified animals. He was most interested in the dolphins and beluga whales they had in the aquarium. Along the way, workers were placing garbage cans near several food carts selling popcorn, sodas, and ice cream. He entered the zoo and made his way left to where the aquatic animals were kept. He made his way over to the main building where several people dressed in white were entering. He walked inside and saw a giant fish tank in the middle with several species of zombie sharks. He walked to the tank and several sharks came t
oward him and tried to attack him through the glass. He took several steps back until he realized they couldn’t get him. He looked around to see if anybody had seen him make a fool of himself.
He felt like a kid in a candy store. They had so many different species of aquatic life for him to enjoy. He saw a sign hanging above informing him the dolphins were down the hall and to the right. They were what he wanted to see. He loved dolphins, but zombified ones were going to be a sight to see. He figured they would be one of the main attractions. He made his way down the hall, passing jellyfish and an octopus. He made a right turn at the end of the hall and saw a door leading into another building where the dolphins and beluga whales were being kept. He wanted to run into the building, but he figured it would draw too much attention.
He opened the door and walked in. He could hear splashing in the distance. Along the way were caution signs about the zombified aquatic life in the building. He thought it was strange to have warning signs since the aquatic life were in the water inside tanks. Someone would have to be out of their mind to jump in with them. He made his way down the hall until he came to an underwater viewing area where the whales were. He went up to the glass and watched as a beluga whale swam past. It was the strangest creature he had ever seen. Its face looked as though it were in a bad mood. Another whale came straight toward him and smacked hard into the glass, opening its mouth as if it were trying to eat him.
“They can be scary the way they attack the glass,” said a young woman next to him. “I’ll never get used to zombified whales. It’s unnatural.”
Ben turned to face her. She was as beautiful as her voice sounded. She had long, brunette hair and wore a white uniform, telling him she worked there. She watched as she smiled at him. He wanted to say something clever to her, but he didn’t have much experience with women, so he kept his mouth shut.
The Z-Day Trilogy (Book 1): Zombie Park Page 10
