by Tim Miller
With the money he’d found, he managed to rent some decent equipment and shoot some solid footage documentary style. Once he had enough footage, he was able to edit most of it himself with the help of some friends of his.
His mom’s health had been improving, so that was a huge weight off his shoulder. He’d made it his mission to finish this project and release it. At least that way they’d make some money off it. Unfortunately he only need to use about one third of the cast if that, but that was ok. He gave the unused cast their money back. Lisa and Sarcelles kept asking about Clarence. Brody told them he hadn’t seen him since the day of that shoot on the farm, which was technically true.
He’d burned Clarence’s body in a trash barrel and had the bones ground up and spread around the farm. Chloe and Jerry were the only two in on it. In the final cut of “Zombie Reign,” their characters were the stars of the film and helped defeat the zombies and bring normalcy back to the world.
It didn’t take him long at all to find a distributor for the film. They actually gave it a limited theatrical release. This time, they did a real red carpet at its premiere in L.A. where he and his mom arrived in their own limo. Chloe and Jerry were stars on the red carpet as well. No standing in the heat for hours and they got to watch an actual quality film instead of a bunch of crappy stock and cell phone footage strung together.
The film was a cult hit grossing far over its budget. When the paychecks started coming in, he made sure the entire cast was paid more than what they paid in their fake SAG dues and was able to take care of his mom’s medical needs. The craziest thing was he was getting offers to direct other projects with real budgets.
Lisa however wasn’t taking his success very well. In this whole process he’d cut her and Sarcelles totally out of the production. When they saw the film was out, Lisa demanded her money. She had been harassing Brody pretty regularly until the red carpet premiere. She actually showed up in a gown with Sarcelles. But when security wouldn’t let her in, she totally lost her shit. She began yelling and screaming that she was the executive producer and it was her movie and her boyfriend was the real director and Brody was nothing but a hack.
They called the police who had to restrain her, though she wasn’t going out without a fight. She kicked, punched, bit, and scratched every officer that came at her. Finally one of the officers shot her in the face with his Tazer. Both prongs hooked on each of her cheeks as she fell to the ground gyrating all over, nearly biting her own tongue off.
“Leave my mommy alone!” Sarcelles screamed as she’d jumped on another cop’s back. Brody hadn’t actually seen any of this. He did see cell phone video of it later. Everyone did because the whole thing had been uploaded to YouTube. Lisa was arrested but never charged. At her first court appearance she rambled on about being a famous movie producer. So the judge committed her to the state psychiatric hospital.
Brody went to visit her once, just to see how she was doing. He could only see her through a small window on her room door as she was in four point restraints and wearing a bite mask after assaulting several staff. Part of him wanted to feel bad for her. In many ways she was one of Clarence’s victims. Except once it became obvious how dirty Clarence was, she not only stuck by him, but helped him lead the charge. So his sympathy for her faded a long time ago.
Chloe went on to get several movie roles. Many were small speaking roles in larger films. She’d gotten to work with Wes Craven, John Carpenter, and Robert Rodriguez. Finally she got a lead role in another successful horror film that went on to have four sequels. Chloe had become a real scream queen. Brody couldn’t have been more proud of her.
Jerry gave up acting after the “Zombie Reign” mess. He’d made good money from the film, so that helped him sustain himself as he began touring comedy clubs around the country working on his act. With his Zombie Reign experience, he had more than enough material for a solid act. As stressful as things had been at the time, it all seemed funny looking back.
As far as Sarcelles, she seemed to disappear entirely. After the big fight with police at the premiere, she had spent a few weeks in jail and then was released on probation. Last thing Brody had heard was she was working as a model on a webcam site called Dirty School Girls Want Their Mommies. Somehow it all seemed so fitting.
There were many lessons to be learned from “Zombie Reign.” They were hard lessons for some of the cast, like Allen who left his job and never was part of the film. He never got the money back he loaned to Clarence, only his fake SAG dues. It was two more years before he found another job, and it wasn’t in acting. The rest of the cast all went their separate ways. Chloe, Jerry, and Brody all stayed in touch though. No matter how successful they became, they made sure to meet up once a year and talk about old times. One thing they never did discuss was the possibility of “Zombie Reign 2.”
The End
Also by Tim Miller
The Hand of God
Revenge of the Three
Dark Exorcist
Dark Exorcist 2
Blood Slayer
Family Night
Hell Texas
Night of Vengeance
Bloody Bank Heist
The Country Club
Road to Darkness
Dead to Writes (April Almighty Book 1)
Welcome to Happytown (April Almighty Book 2)
Witches of Dark Rock
About the Author
Tim began writing at a very young age. As a teenager he would write short stories of horror to entertain himself and his friends. Not knowing at the time this would one day lead to his dream of becoming a published author. Tim has studied various religions and psychology as evident in the "Hand of God" books and "Dark Exorcist."
From there, Tim began to venture into the realm of splatterpunk and extreme horror, which kicks the gore factor into overdrive. With the release of "Family Night" Tim has been off to the races. He has released several bestselling titles that are sure to turn your stomach.
You can follow Tim on his website at http://timmiller.org and on Twitter @TimMiller2011