The Z-Day Trilogy (Book 2): Z-Day [Day of the Zombies]

by Mark Cusco Ailes

  Z-DAY: Day of the Zombies

  By

  Mark Cusco Ailes

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  The world changed forever in the course of one night–the night of the zombie epidemic. A countless number of people were killed only to rise again as the walking dead. The zombies have now left the park…

  Prologue

  Samantha’s mother turned up the radio trying to drown out her father’s voice. He was complaining about how he wasn’t allowed to go fishing or attend baseball games because he was always needed at home. Her mother kept calling him a liar and turned the radio up louder until Samantha’s ears hurt. She wished they could go just one day without fighting. She closed her eyes and imagined she was at the zoo looking at the lions and tigers. She loved the big cats. She especially loved the black panthers. She wished she had one as a pet that could talk to her and go on adventures with her, but she knew it couldn’t happen–not in real life, anyway. They were on their way to her grandma’s house. She loved visiting there because she knew there would be a plate of freshly baked chocolate chip cookies waiting for her. She looked out the car window and saw several people walking in their yards, crashing through their bushes, trampling their flowers and running into their parked cars. She didn’t give it a second thought. All she could focus on was the plate of chocolate cookies waiting for her.

  “Are we almost there? I can’t wait to bite into one of the cookies waiting for me.”

  Her father stared at her through the rearview mirror. “Don’t bother your grandma about those cookies right away. Besides, you had cookies last night. Why don’t you eat an apple for once? You don’t want to grow up and develop diabetes, do you?”

  “Leave her alone, Don. She’s a child for heaven’s sake. She’s supposed to eat cookies. You know it’s one of the reasons she loves visiting her grandma.”

  “Those cookies are going to cost me money. Her dentist already complained about the cavity she had at her last visit.”

  Her mother turned down the radio. “Here it comes! You just can’t let it go that she had a cavity at her last checkup. I know! I know! It’s all my fault because I let her have too many sweets.”

  “It’s about time you realized it.”

  Soon they were pulling into her grandma’s driveway, and her mother was ignoring her father. Her father rang the doorbell and looked at her mother. “Try to act civil. My mother doesn’t need to be bothered with all of our problems.” They waited for several minutes for her to answer, but she didn’t come to answer the door. “This is strange. She knew we were on our way.” He rang the bell again. Still, she didn’t answer.

  “Try the door,” said her mother agitatedly.

  He turned the knob and the door opened. He walked inside first. The house was still and smelled of freshly baked cookies. Samantha’s stomach rumbled. She pushed past her parents and ran into the kitchen to find the cookies.

  She heard her father calling out to her grandma from the living room. She didn’t hear her grandma answer. She didn’t care. She found a plastic container with a note fastened to the lid. It read ‘Samantha’s Cookies’. She picked up the container and carried it over to her mother who had entered the kitchen. “I found my cookies,” she said, showing the container to her mother.

  Her father began to worry something must have happened to his mother as he made his way down the hall to the opened bedroom door. “Mother, are you in here?” He stood frozen in terror. His mother was sitting in the middle of the bed covered in crimson. “Mother, you’re covered in blood.”

  She turned to look at him. Black fur was hanging freely from her lips. He looked at the bed and saw what was left of her pet cat. “Mother! What have you done?” He watched frightfully as she tried to stand up. He turned in a panic and ran back down the hall.

  “Get out of the house! Get out of the house!”

  Samantha followed her mother out of the kitchen. “What are you screaming about?”

  He met them in the living room. “Something has happened to my mother! We need to get out of here now!”

  “Is she all right? Shouldn’t we call somebody to get her some help?”

  “It’s too late! Listen to me for once! We need to get out of here!”

  “Can I take my cookies?” asked Samantha. “They have my name on them.”

  “Yes, Yes!” screamed her father. “Just get to the car!”

  They rushed to the car and he fumbled to get the key into the ignition. His hands were shaking violently. He slammed the car into reverse, and backed out of the driveway, nearly missing one of the neighbors limping in the middle of the street. He forced it into drive and hit the accelerator. He wanted to get out of the area as fast as he could.

  On the way home her parents were silent. It was as if they had nothing left to fight or argue about. Samantha didn’t understand what was happening. She held the bowl of cookies on her lap and watched the view outside. People were walking slowly in the parking lots of the businesses they passed, as if they didn’t know where they wanted to go. They all appeared to be sleepwalking. She knew they were getting near the miniature golf course and close to home.

  Her father suddenly brought the car to an abrupt stop and slammed his fist on the steering wheel. “It figures we would run into heavy traffic. We’re so close to home now.” They sat in traffic for another twenty-five minutes.

  “I wonder what’s happening,” said her mother. “We haven’t moved in quite a while.”

  “I don’t know,” said her father, rolling down the window to see if he could see anything.

  “It’s probably an accident. There is always an accident on this highway.”

  “I don’t know what is happening. I can’t see anything from here.” He shut off the car. “I’m going to go see what the holdup is. I’ll be right back. Just stay here in the car. I see several people walking up the highway.” He got out and slammed the door shut.

  Two police cars flew past them on the shoulder of the road followed by an ambulance and a fire truck.

  “I guess I was right about there being an accident,” said her mother. “I guess we’re going to be stuck here even longer.”

  Samantha peered over at the miniature golf park. There were people walking all around the park. They weren’t walking normal. Instead, they were walking slow and clumsily. Samantha counted at least ten of them just wondering around.

  She was interrupted by the sound of several cars honking their horns. She looked out the window to see if she could see her father. She was becoming worried. What’s taking him so long? What happens if the traffic starts moving again?

  A couple of young teens ran past the car. They looked scared and were tripping over one another as if they were being chased.

  She rolled down the window to try to catch a glimpse of what was happening. Someone grabbed her through the opened window, causing her to knock the bowl of cookies from her lap. It fell to the floor and the lid popped off, spilling the cookies. She screamed alerting her mother something was wrong. She bit the person’s hand as hard as she could. The person relinquished the hold on her and she immediately rolled the window back up.

  Her mother, seeing the whole ordeal, scooted to the driver’s side and rolled the window up and locked the door. She looked around the car. They were surrounded by ghoulish looking creatures. One of them pressed its face against the side window. It ha
d deformed lips pulled back from its gums revealing cracked yellow teeth. They both screamed.

  “Mommy, who are they?”

  “I don’t know, Samantha. I don’t know who they are.”

  Several slack-jawed satans pounded on their car, their hungry mouths promising damnation.

  “What’s wrong with these people? They all look dead!” screamed her mother.

  “Mommy, make them stop pounding on the car!”

  Samantha saw a young girl get dragged from the car next to them. They had broken her car window and knocked her to the ground. The ghastly horde closed in, ripped her chest cavity open, and began eating her alive. Samantha screamed.

  The pounding on their car was getting louder, and it began to shake from the force. The passenger side window shattered, showering them with particles of glass. Her mother screamed and was forcibly removed from the car and torn apart. Her flesh tore with a wet, sucking sound as the ghouls feasted on her body.

  Samantha sprung from the back of the car and into the blood-soaked street. The dead were attacking every car stuck on the highway. People were being dragged out and torn violently apart. The street was teeming with the living dead. Samantha screamed and screamed as a ghastly horde closed in on her, intent on eating her alive. The last thing she remembered was the chocolate chip cookies her grandma had given her.

  Chapter One

  Chip Guzik was racing down the road in his old beat up Chevy Nova. Once again, he was late picking up his girlfriend, Melinda Jarvis, from work at the hair salon. She had to work late because she had to take a day off during the week to see her doctor. She recently discovered she was pregnant by Chip and wanted to see her doctor about options. She was only twenty-two, so she felt she was too young and too poor to bring up a child.

  She was waiting impatiently inside the salon with the owner helping sweep the floor. She kept a watchful eye out the window, hoping he would show up at any minute. As she swept, she thought about the conversation they had about the baby. Chip appeared to be conflicted about the idea of becoming a father at such a young age. He was trying to make her mind up for her. She was stuck between two choices: abortion or adoption. Neither one of them sounded reasonable to her, but what other choice did she have? Chip was currently in between jobs, picking up a handyman job here and there, but nothing reliable. Her paycheck barely stretched to pay rent for their apartment, utilities and groceries. She often had to either work on her days off or work late just to make ends meet.

  His unwillingness to secure a steady job irked her. She often complained about it, but he always managed to change the subject or would leave and go for a drive. One that usually lasted for hours and several gallons of gas they couldn’t afford. On more than one occasion she threatened to throw him out, but he always managed to sweet talk his way back in. There wasn’t any way she was going to raise a child in these conditions.

  She heard the sound of a blaring horn outside of the salon. She saw his royal blue Nova idling loudly in front of the shop. She said farewell to the owner and left.

  “Late as always,” she said, getting into the car. “It’s not like you have a job or anything to be at. Were you at the bar again?”

  “No, I wasn’t at the bar. There was a steady line of traffic on the road. Some party is happening at the zombie park right now. I guess nobody is staying home tonight. Do you want to go check it out?”

  She looked at him in disgust. “Honestly! You do realize I’ve been working my ass off all day and night. And on top of that I’m pregnant. All I want to do is go home, have a hot cup of earl gray, and go to bed. Thank goodness I have the day off tomorrow.”

  “You never want to go anywhere.”

  “Get a job and maybe I will. We could use some of your money to do something every now and then. I don’t know what you do all day long,” she said angrily. “I wish you would at least try looking for one.”

  “I’ve been trying to find a job. There isn’t anything out there I want to do.”

  “Chip, watch out!” she screamed. “Someone is standing in the middle of the road!”

  Chip swerved wide to avoid hitting a tall man stumbling across the road. He slammed on the brakes, and his car slid to a halt along the opposite side of the road.

  “What the…” he said, getting out of the car. The man didn’t flinch. He continued to stumble slowly across the street. His face was all shredded, and his clothes were soaked red with blood. He suddenly stopped and turned to face Chip. His eyes were murky, the life bleached out. Chip stared at him. His chest was a raw wound that should have made it impossible for him to live.

  Melinda got out of the car and stared at the strange man. “Is he all right, Chip? He looks as though he’s been in a serious accident.”

  “I don’t know. Something is definitely wrong with him.” He took a step toward him. “Sir, do you need medical assistance?”

  The man growled at him, exposing his big bloody teeth. Melinda screamed.

  “Chip, we need to get out of here! I think that man is a zombie!” She was completely freaked out.

  They both quickly retreated to their car and shut and locked the door. Chip hit the accelerator, causing the car to spinout on the loose dirt. He spun around, knocking the man to the ground. He put the car in reverse and moved away from him. He stood back up and faced the car and staggered forward several steps.

  “No freakin way!” screamed Chip. “That’s not possible. How is he still standing?”

  “I told you he’s a zombie. One of them must have gotten loose from the park.”

  They heard an explosion and the car shook. They saw the nighttime sky light up with a big orange fireball.

  “Chip, get out of here now!”

  Chip hit the accelerator once again and made a mad dash around the zombie until he lost sight of it in the rear view mirror. They made it to their apartment and parked. People were standing around staring at a group of gore-guzzling ghouls staggering toward them. One lady was on her cell phone talking with somebody. Some idiot was showing off and went up to them and mooned them. The swarm attacked like angry bees and viciously brought him to the ground. Blood showered them like rain as they ripped him apart, gorging on his warm flesh.

  Melinda puked her guts out all over Chip’s clothes. He stared at her in disbelief. He couldn’t believe everything that he was witnessing. The crowd that had gathered had now scattered back into the apartment buildings and closed the doors behind them. The ghouls ignored them and continued with their feasting.

  Once safely inside their apartment, Chip locked and chained the door. Neither of them uttered a word as Melinda collapsed on the couch. Chip listened at the door to make sure they hadn’t been followed.

  He went over to the TV and played with the remote, hoping something was being broadcast about the incidents. There was nothing on. No news, no special report, just the regularly scheduled programming.

  “This is strange,” he said, switching through the channels. “It’s as though they’re not aware of what’s happening.”

  He went over to the window and glanced outside from behind the curtain. More zombies, shadows in the moonlight, had spilled out into the parking lot. They continued feasting upon their fallen victims in a bloodbath. He closed the curtain and turned his attention toward Melinda.

  They heard a lot of commotion in the hallway like moaning and the staggering of feet. Melinda sat up, her eyes frozen in terror. He looked at her and back at the door.

  “They can’t key in,” he offered. ‘It’s locked and chained. I’m sure they’re not strong enough to break down the door. He heard laughing coming from the TV. He stared at it. “I wish they would report something–anything.”

  They heard pounding at their door. Melinda placed a yellow decorative pillow over her mouth and tried not to scream.

  Chip ran over to the window and glanced out. The zombies in the parking lot were slowly making their way toward their building.

  “Get away from the window.
They must have seen you the first time. Now you’ve brought them all to us.”

  He looked around. We need to secure the door just in case.”

  “I thought you said they’re not strong enough to get inside.”

  “If there are enough of them, they might. I have sheets of plywood in the back room. I can use then to reinforce the door. We’re up high enough; they shouldn’t be able to reach the windows.”

  He went into the back room and brought two large sheets of plywood and sat them by the door. He went to the hallway closet and grabbed a hammer and a box of nails. He fumbled around with the plywood until he was able to nail both of them so the door was covered. Melinda was too scared to move, so she wasn’t able to help him. He looked at her agitatedly.

  “I could have used your help.”

  She stared at him with tears streaming down her face. “Why is this happening?”

  “I don’t know. It must have something to do with the zombie park. I…” He was interrupted by a special report coming from the TV.

  “Are we on the air? Okay…Reports are flooding in that something happened at the zombie park in Valparaiso. Hordes of the living dead, both human and animal, have escaped and are attacking the city. I repeat…zombies from the park are now attacking Valparaiso.” As she spoke, a zombiefied lion pounced on somebody in the background and ripped his throat wide open, showering the reporter in warm blood. She vomited live on TV. The image disappeared and was replaced by a man sitting behind a desk. “I hope she’s going to be all right. Get out of there, Lucy.” He looked at the camera. “What we know right now is several zombies have left the park and are attacking people in the streets. The victims are getting back up and are attacking more people. It’s like a scene out of a George Romero movie. We’re told from a news correspondent that the victims of the attacks are becoming zombies themselves within five to ten minutes of being attacked. By this rate, the city could essentially become a city of zombies by daybreak. The National Guard has been deployed to the area in hopes of containing the situation before the epidemic reaches beyond Valparaiso. We now go live with Herman Harper who is with Captain Bifford Tyson.” The image switched to the reporter and captain.