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

by Mark Cusco Ailes

  Zombie Park

  By

  Mark Cusco Ailes

  Werewolves, Zombies and Deadly Women is a collection of brand new horror short stories from the Ailes Brothers of Terror.

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  Prologue

  General Wilbur Poe listened to the whup-whup-whup of helicopter blades as it lowered the cage holding the zombie hyena they were going to use for a field test. Once the cage had set down on the ground, two men, one named Manuel, and the other Madison, helped unhook it from the helicopter. As they did, the zombiefied hyena growled and padded forward, teeth bared. The men jumped back. Fear was writ large on their unshaven faces.

  General Poe looked at his two scientists. Nicolas Hollman looked at his wife, Kathy, and nodded his head. They both were confident the first field test was going to be a success.

  Carlton Ross, the lab’s zombie handler stood near his two men, waiting for the general’s cue to open the cage.

  The hyena salivated in anticipation at the thought of his feast standing inches from the cage. It circled back and forth, never taking its hungry eyes off of them.

  “You two are both going to be famous after this test. The military has been waiting for a weapon like this for a long time. Your names are going to go in the books as the ones responsible for creating the first smart zombies,” said General Poe. “Are you ready?”

  Kathy crossed her fingers and held her breath. She had been working on the project for a year with her husband. They had bickered back and forth, but they found a way to work together to develop a serum to turn dead flesh into living smart zombies. If all went well, the government had a new weapon they could use on the battlefield instead of using soldiers. Kathy thought of all the American lives that could be saved because of their technology.

  Nicholas Hollman was frustrated his wife was getting most of the credit for their research. When anybody of importance came to the lab, they went straight for her to inquire about the progress of the project. He had a growing resentment toward her.

  “I’m ready if my wife is ready,” he said, staring at the cage with the restless animal.

  General Poe waited for Kathy’s nod before giving the signal to open the door to the cage. The men released the animal and moved back several feet as the hyena sprung from the cage and stood there holding its ground. Milky-white eyes peered from its skull as it growled at the men.

  General Poe looked alarmed as he watched his experiment stalking the two men. He ran over to it and stood to the side of it, giving it the command to back down and sit. It turned its head toward him and growled once again.

  The two men’s eyes were wild with fear. Carlton made a move to help them, but General Poe held him back.

  Once again, he tried a command on the creature, and once again, it ignored him. He stole a glance back toward the professors. He had a sickening feeling their field test was going to be a failure.

  The two men stood there, frozen in place, as it crept closer. The general moved closer to it, shouting commands, but it leaped toward the men. It knocked both men hard to the ground. It ate Manuel’s face like he was the main course at a four-star restaurant while holding the other man down with its paw. Carlton kicked it in the side, hoping it would release Madison.

  It shrugged off the attack and shoved Madison’s arm into its mouth and bit down–hard. Madison’s blood was a scarlet river flowing on waves of pain.

  The horror was too much for Kathy and she shut her eyes. Carlton approached it with his gun drawn. One flick of the trigger finished it. It toppled over in the pool of the dead men’s blood.

  The general faced his scientists. “We won’t ever speak of this again. I’m disappointed in the both of you. You promised me results. Their blood is on your hands. You have one week to fix the problem with your serum.” He looked at Carlton. “They were your men, so you clean up the mess. I have a report to fake.”

  Chapter One

  Ben Cutler opened the morning newspaper and flipped to the help wanted section. He had been searching for a new job ever since he first got laid off from work. It was exactly two months from the date he last worked. He had hoped by now he would have found another job, but he had two problems. The first one being the unemployment rate was rising in Indiana, and the second one being he was at the age employers discriminated against. He found it alarming he was only thirty years old and was being told he was too old. How can you be too old to clean up vomit from school children? He had worked as a janitor for twelve years at the local high school until the school’s budget had been cut by a million dollars, forcing the school to cut their janitorial staff in half. He had applied for food stamps, but he was turned down and told they no longer awarded benefits to single applicants. How the hell are you supposed to eat with rules meant to single you out?

  He scanned through the jobs listing, but nothing stuck out as a great job opportunity. There were a couple dealing with sales (probably vacuum sales), and a couple dealing with truck driving. Beyond those, there were no listings for janitorial jobs. He closed the paper and tossed it aside. He had to find something to bring in money, or he was in danger of being evicted from his apartment. He knew he had three thousand dollars in savings, but three months of rent would drain most of it, not to mention his other monthly bills. He could use his credit card if he needed to, but he knew it would eventually reach its limit, and his monthly bill would skyrocket. No! I have to find another source of income.

  He thought about going to the bank and applying for a loan. He remembered several commercials on TV dealing with it. If only he had a job. He knew he would most likely be turned down for a loan as a result of it. He sat back and thought about his family. He wondered if there were any rich relatives in the family. Perhaps one of them could float him a loan until he secured a job.

  He glanced down at the newspaper crumbled on the floor. He saw a headline claiming someone won the big lottery of fifty million dollars. The things I could do with so much money. He was always being told the odds of winning the lottery were astronomical, but somebody always seemed to win it. I bet you they are quoting the odds right now. He was tired of hearing the odds of winning. If you’re so damn negative about the lottery, don’t play it. Leave the rest of us alone so we can have a dream.

  He knew he didn’t have a hell of a chance ever getting any money the easy way. It also didn’t look as though he would be able to earn it the honest way, either. There was only one true way he could make any money. He would have to start a business somehow. Now he was down to one problem with his plan. What kind of business could he start on a very limited budget? He couldn’t spare much from his savings. His thoughts were interrupted by a knock on his door. He went over and answered it. His bald-headed, grimy-looking, foul-smelling landlord stood there with a silly smirk.

  “What can I do for you, Mr. Hopkins?”

  “I don’t want to pry in your business, but I just heard you lost your job. I heard you lost it a couple months ago. Normally, I don’t pry into people’s personal lives, but unless you’re rich, I see a problem coming over the horizon.”

  “If you’re referring to rent, you don’t have to worry about it. I have enough money saved to last for a while.”

  Mr. Hopkins stared at him for a moment, as if he was trying to decipher if he was being lied to. “Well, you better have. I’m not running a charity around here. You better have my money when I come around on the first to collect it.”

  “I’ll have your money. Now, if you please, I have some work to do.”

 
“Hopefully, it involves finding another job.” He left and headed down the hallway and knocked on another door.

  Ben closed the door and locked it. He didn’t like the fact his landlord knew about his misfortune. He realized he now had a deadline to find some business to earn him money.

  He sat down on his couch and turned on the TV and his game system. Playing video games often cleared his head from his stress. The more violent the game, the more beneficial it became. He was in the middle of playing a zombie game where you tried to capture as many as possible and put them in cages. The object was to start a park for visitors to come and spend their money and observe the zombies. It was referred to as a zombie zoo.

  It suddenly dawned on him what kind of business he could open. He could open a zombie park with the same premise as the game. But how can I start something like it? I will need somebody to develop the zombies for me. He turned off his game and thought about the idea of a park full of zombies. The more he thought about it, the more he realized nobody was going to let him open a zombie park. Also, would anybody willingly spend their money observing zombies? They were what people were afraid of. A zombie park would be most likely out of the question. He now had to find another business venture.

  He decided to go for a walk to clear his head. He opened his door and looked in the hallway to make sure his landlord wasn’t still hanging around. Right now he didn’t feel like having another uncomfortable conversation with him. He was in luck. There was no sign of him anywhere, so he left and made his way outside. He was immediately exposed to the heat of the day, but he didn’t care. He walked across the parking lot and made his way to the sidewalk paralleling the main road. He didn’t know where he intended to walk; he just needed to get away from his apartment. He decided he would head toward the park and sit under a tree. He often did when he was feeling depressed.

  The park was crowded, as usual, but nobody ever bothered him as he sat underneath his favorite tree. Once he located it, he sat against it and fell asleep.

  He found himself standing outside of a large fence staring at a ticket booth on the other side. A sign above it stated the ticket prices were twenty dollars for adults and ten dollars for children. Underneath the sign another sign read, “Welcome To Zombie Park.” He found himself walking past the ticket booth and farther into the park. He could hear carnival rides operating around him, and he could smell freshly popped popcorn. He was following a blood-stained path to the farthest part of the park. He could hear children screaming as if something was frightening them. It piqued his interest, and he moved toward the screaming. He soon saw a huge crowd standing in front of a fence with a tall plexiglass barrier separating the crowd from whatever was on the other side. He moved closer and pushed his way through the crowd. On the other side of the fence were dozens of rotting zombies trying to bite their way through the plexiglass.

  He jumped back, thinking they were going to attack him. He laughed. He was protected by the fence. He moved closer to it to have a better look at the zombies. They looked like the ones seen in the movies.

  The sound of children screaming drew his attention away from the zombies. Beyond the children, he saw several more areas like that one with large crowds. A vendor appeared in front of him carrying a tray of cold soda.

  “Would you care for a cold soda?” he asked, smiling.

  The soda sounded good, but he thought his pockets were empty. “I’m sorry. I don’t have any money.”

  “Why don’t you try looking in one of your pockets?”

  He reached inside his pocket and felt a large wad of cash. He brought it out and stared at it. He unfolded it and flipped through the bills. They were all twenty-dollar bills. He looked at the vendor. “I guess I will take one of them.”

  The vendor handed him the soda and fifteen dollars in change. He watched as the vendor walked away whistling some tune he had never heard before. He heard a loud thumping noise and turned to look at the fence. Several of the zombies were trying to push their way through it.

  He left the area and went toward the sound of carnival music. He found himself walking down the midway where several games were lined up on each side. There was a ring toss game where you tried to get a ring around a zombie head and a little farther there was a zombie shooting game with several young children trying their luck. He moved past the games and came to a zombie spook house and a house of mirrors. Beyond them were several carnival rides including a large carousel in the center of all the attractions.

  A basketball rolling against his leg brought him out of his sleep. He looked up, and a guy was screaming “A little help, please!” He rolled it back toward him and looked around. He was surprised to see he was no longer in the zombie park. He checked his pockets and discovered he no longer had the wad of cash.

  He stood up. He felt letdown. In his dream the park was thriving. It looked as though he was making a lot of money, and people were really enjoying themselves. He decided he would go back to his apartment and write down everything he could remember right down to the cold soda. Having the dream had to mean something. He just hoped he didn’t forget any of the important details.

  Once inside his apartment, he went to his bedroom to get a pen and paper. He sat back on the couch and tried to remember all the details starting with the ticket booth. He roughly drew a sketch of the park including all the people who were standing in front of the zombies. Once he was done, he stared at what he had drawn. He wondered if such a place could actually keep the public safe from the zombies. As he stared at it, he picked up his pen and drew several warning signs throughout the park. It’s better to be safe than sorry.

  He put down the pen and decided to watch TV. There was nothing further he could do with his drawings. He realistically knew the park would never come into existence. He put his feet up on the coffee table as a man wearing a dark blue business suit filled the screen.

  “My name is Robert Forenstein, and I want to know if you ever had a great business idea, but you didn’t know how to get it launched. I used to be like you. I often wondered how I could launch the many business ideas that were floating around in my head. Then one day somebody took a chance on one of my ideas, and overnight I became a multi-millionaire. Now I would like to do the same for one of you watching this program. I want to see your idea. If you want to be the next millionaire, all you have to do is send me your idea, and if I like your idea, I will finance the whole project, train you how to run it, and sit back and watch you become a millionaire. Does this sound too good to be true? It did when it happened to me. So why are you still sitting there staring at me on your TV screen. Grab a pen and write down this valuable information. There are no fees associated with this opportunity of a life time. I will finance the whole thing. How do I make any money out of all this? It’s simple. If I agree to finance your idea, I become a silent partner in your business, and all I will take in return is 20% of your profits after operating costs. Imagine a business you operate with no upfront costs and you make 80% of the profit after operating costs. Where can I sign up? It’s time to use your pen and write down the website name scrolling across your screen. All the crucial information is there waiting for you. What are you waiting for? Write it down now and I’ll see you at the millionaire’s club.”

  Ben quickly jotted down the website and looked it up on his laptop. An image of Robert Forenstein was pointing at him on the homepage. The words, “What took you so long?” flashed under his image. Underneath those words was “All ideas will be considered, no matter how inconceivable they may be.” He read through the entire website and glanced at his zombie park he had drawn. No matter how inconceivable it may be.

  He shook his head. There is no way he will finance an idea like this one. It could cost him millions to bring to life. It’s simply not worth the risk.

  He picked up his drawing and peered over at his laptop. The only way he was going to find out was to send in his proposal and wait to see what happens. Maybe his proposal would be inconcei
vable enough to be financed. He went to his room to get an envelope. He also grabbed another pad of paper. He needed to outline his idea better. If he wanted his idea to be taken seriously, he needed to make sure what he was trying to convey was clearly understood. After he was satisfied everything was outlined in detailed, he walked to the post office to mail it to the address he got from the website. He knew it wouldn’t take long to get to Mr. Forenstein because it was addressed to a business located in the same town. He smiled. Imagine a zombie park being built in Valparaiso, Indiana.

  Chapter Two

  It took two days for Ben’s proposal to reach the desk of Robert Forenstein. It took another five days before the proposal was opened and read.

  Ben had given up hope of hearing back about his zombie park. He was sure he would have heard something by now. He hadn’t kept his hopes up. While he had been waiting to hear about his idea, he continued to search for a job, without any luck. Fast-food restaurants were telling him he was over qualified, and big retailers were telling him they weren’t hiring at the moment. This morning he was heading to a new factory that was going to hire two hundred people. He heard the starting wage was ten dollars an hour. Ten bucks an hour would definitely help pay his rent. If he could land this job, he could go tell his landlord where he could go. He was sick and tired of hiding from Mr. Hopkins. He felt like a prisoner in his own apartment.

  He left his apartment without running into his landlord and made his way to his car. He hadn’t driven it for a while because he was trying to conserve gas. The soaring gas prices were hurting his wallet. The new factory was fifteen minutes away, so he figured it wouldn’t take much gas to get there.

  Fifteen minutes later he reached the factory and his eyes widened. There must have been over five hundred people there. He knew they were only planning on hiring two hundred. His heart sank. This was going to be like playing the lottery. He wanted to just turn around and go back home. He knew the odds were against him, but deep down, he knew he had to at least try. He parked his car and got in the back of the growing line. He heard his name being called. He looked and saw a man he spent many days standing in employment lines with.