The Z-Day Trilogy (Book 3): Plague of the Living Dead

by Mark Cusco Ailes

  “I double checked to make sure.”

  They stood silently. They heard another noise sounding closer to them. They looked around for anything they could use as a weapon. Brian picked up his sprayer and made his way to the door, closely followed by Mr. Billings.

  “Did they mention that somebody would be here during our treatment?”

  “Nobody is supposed to be here. Everybody was supposed to be out of here yesterday.”

  The sound of shuffling feet echoed in the building. Brian exited the room and looked around. He didn’t see anybody lurking around, but he saw several boxes tipped over by some of the machinery. He slowly made his way across the floor, keeping the wand of the sprayer in front of him, ready to use if something happened to attack him. He was thinking the boss might be in the building trying to spy on them as they worked.

  They heard another loud noise coming farther across the building. Brian was becoming edgy. Something was telling him they were in danger. The toxin of fear blazed through his veins. He stood frozen in place trying to decide if he should continue or not.

  Mr. Billings stood behind Brian looking around. He didn’t know why Brian had stopped. He was acting as though Jason Voorhees was lurking in the building.

  “For goodness sake, Brian, just ask out loud if anybody is inside here.”

  Brian turned to look at him as though he was crazy. “What happens if it’s a thief or a murderer? I don’t want them to know we’re inside.”

  “You’re just being melodramatic. I’m sure there isn’t a knife wielding killer inside here. If you’re too afraid, I will find out if somebody is inside with us.” He looked around. “Hello, is anybody inside the building?” He waited for a moment. He yelled out once more, this time much louder. Still, nobody answered. He looked at Brian. “See, we’re letting our imaginations get the better of us.” Another crash diverted their attention.

  “Nobody is inside with us, huh?” commented Brian. “This is how it happens in the movies.”

  “Stop it, Brian, this isn’t the movies. Come on; we have to investigate this. I don’t feel like getting sued because we let somebody inside to rob the place. The reputation of my company is on the line.”

  They continued across the building, hoping their search would lead to nothing. Mr. Billings didn’t want to mention it, but he was nervous. He couldn’t deny the fact something was making the noise in the building. He wished he had more than a flashlight in his hand for a weapon. He followed closely behind Brian as he turned to the left by some heavy machinery. They stopped to listen. Mr. Billings stared at the machinery. They were covered in a mass of roaches. He shook his head. He should be killing roaches instead of looking for a killer inside the building.

  “This is ridiculous, Brian. We really need to get back to work.”

  “Wait a minute. Somebody is inside with us. It looks like he’s picking roaches off of the machines and eating them.”

  “What? What do you mean he’s eating the roaches?”

  “That’s exactly what he’s doing. He’s eating the roaches.”

  Mr. Billings had enough of the delays. He made his way toward the man, shouting obscenities at him. The man stopped picking roaches off of one of the machines and turned to face Mr. Billings with a roach plastered to his lips. Mr. Billings stopped short seeing the roach crushed between his lips.

  “You’re not supposed to be here. If you don’t leave now, I’m going to call the police.”

  The man moaned and took a step toward him. Brian took a second look at him and realized who he was.

  “That’s the plant manager. He was supposed to be the last one out of here yesterday. What’s wrong with him? He looks like a zombie.”

  “I don’t know. Look at his eyes. They don’t have any color. They looked glazed over. I think we better get out of here and call the police.”

  “I agree,” said Brian. “I have a bad feeling about this.”

  They turned to leave and heard him growling behind them. Mr. Billings looked over his shoulder and saw him slowly following after them.

  “We need to hurry; he’s following us.”

  Brian looked over his shoulder. The plant manager’s arms were outstretched and his fingers were splayed out. He couldn’t believe what he was witnessing. All he wanted to do now was get out of the building and lock him inside.

  They moved as quickly as they could toward the door, moving through some machinery. As they were about to come into the main area, an arm reached out and grabbed the sprayer out of Brian’s hands. Brian was taken completely by surprise. He looked at the person who had snatched the sprayer from his grasp. The lower-half of his jaw had been removed forcibly. He tossed the sprayer on the floor and reached toward Brian, trying to rip at his clothes.

  Mr. Billings quickly reacted and hit the man on top of his head with the flashlight he was holding. The lens of the flashlight cracked but had little effect on him. He turned around and growled at Mr. Billings and reached out to grab him.

  With his attention turned away from him, Brian snatched the sprayer off of the floor and yelled at him. He turned and Brian let a stream of insecticide saturate his face, engulfing his eyes. He moved around blindly as Brian grabbed Mr. Billings and they made their way to the door. They burst through it and closed it hard behind them. They stood trying to catch their breath. Mr. Billings was the first to speak.

  “What the hell was that?”

  Brian looked at the closed door. “It sure wasn’t Jason Voorhees. I’m sure glad to be out of there. We need to call the police.”

  “Good idea. I won’t mention the building has zombies inside. They will think I’m crazy and probably hang up on me. Who was your contact for this job?”

  “The plant manager. He’s the one who authorized us to do the job.”

  “All right, we’ll let the police handle it for now. This place now has a larger problem than just roaches.”

  A loud banging on the other side of the closed door startled them. Brian stole a glance toward Mr. Billings. “Let’s get the hell out of here.”

  “I’m right behind you.”

  Chapter Six

  Emily and Patricia were at the mall inside one of the many shoe stores trying on the latest fashions. Patricia needed a new pair to match the dress her mother had recently purchased for her. She was looking for something in a dark shade of blue. Emily was smirking about the prices of the shoes.

  “I can practically get a new car for the prices of some of these shoes. Are you sure you want to get your shoes here?”

  “Relax, Emily, my mother gave me her debit card to use. She told me to get you a pair also.”

  “It must be nice having a millionaire for a mother. She’s one of the lucky ones, you know, winning the big jackpot on the lottery.”

  Patricia laughed. “It really changed my life. It’s funny how people always say the odds of winning the lottery are against you, but somebody seems to always win. My mother laughs every time she hears somebody say that. Heck, somebody just won over a hundred million dollars the other day on the lottery. I bet you she heard the same thing from everybody.”

  “You know the only people who say that are the ones who don’t play. They have to rationalize why they don’t play so they bring everybody else down who does.”

  Patricia slipped a shoe onto her right foot. “Do you know what I call those doubters? I call them dream killers. If my mom never bought lottery tickets, I wouldn’t be here to spend a couple hundred dollars on a pair of new shoes. Now shut up and try on a pair.”

  They purchased their shoes and decided it was time to head to the coffee shop for their chocolate iced lattes. They entered the coffee shop and were immediately met by Brinke Taylor.

  “Hello, Mrs. Taylor,” said Patricia. “We’re here for our lattes.”

  “Good afternoon girls, how was your day?”

  “All right I guess considering what has happened in Indiana,” said Emily. “Things like that shouldn’t happen. It makes m
e sad to think about all the people who were killed.”

  “I know. It really makes you appreciate your own life. I can’t imagine having to live through something like that. The only thing that helped keep my mind off of it was serving my customers today.”

  They were interrupted by the sound of screams coming from inside the mall. Brooke saw Chuck run by the front of her shop in a hurry. She heard him saying something over his radio about somebody being attacked in the mall.

  Patricia and Emily looked at each other. They watched as Mrs. Taylor looked out the front of her shop. She saw several of the guards trying to pull a woman off of another guard. She couldn’t tell for sure, but she thought she saw the woman bite the guard. She saw a large pool of blood forming around his body. She went back inside her shop and looked at the girls.

  “What is it, Mrs. Taylor? What’s happening out there?” asked Emily.

  “I’m not sure what I saw. It looked like one of the guards got attacked by a woman.”

  Emily and Patricia headed for the entrance, but was stopped by Mrs. Taylor. She didn’t want them to witness the carnage.

  “Let’s go find out what’s happening, Mrs. Taylor,” said Patricia. “We’ll come back and let you know as soon as we find out something.”

  As they were about to leave, Chuck stopped in front of the shop and looked at them.

  “Stay inside! Tell Brinke to lock the place up. One of the guards was just murdered. Hurry up! Lock this place up!”

  “Get inside girls,” ordered Mrs. Taylor, bringing down the gate behind them. She locked it and turned to them. “We should be safe inside here.”

  They made their way behind the counter as several of the customers inside the shop tried to lift the gate back to get out. None of them wanted to be trapped inside the coffee shop.

  “You have to let them go,” said Patricia. “You can’t keep them hostage inside here.”

  “You heard what Chuck said. He said to lock up. There is a murderer loose in the mall.”

  They heard several shots being fired and saw several police officers running past the front of the shop, and then they heard more shots being fired.

  They stood there too scared to move. Brinke huddled with the girls behind the counter next to Christina. She watched as her customers inside the shop tried to knock down the front gate, but with little success. They were screaming at her to unlock it and let them get out before it was too late. A hush suddenly overcame them and they moved away from the gate. A stream of blood was slowly flowing across the front of the shop. One of the women screamed and passed out. She was helped to a chair by her husband. He looked at Brinke.

  “She needs medical attention.”

  She shook her head. “I’m sorry. I can’t open the gate. Something awful is happening in the mall. We’re all safer locked inside here.”

  “But she’s my wife. Something is wrong with her.”

  “Sir, she just passed out. Give her a minute and she will be fine.”

  He sat next to his wife caressing her hair. He looked angrily at Brinke as if she was holding them hostage. Brinke wanted to help them, but she didn’t want to take any unnecessary chances. It would be her luck the minute she opened the gate, the murderer would run inside and start killing all of her customers. She looked at Christina.

  “Make some more coffee. I’m afraid we’re probably going to be locked inside here for a while.” She turned her attention back to the gate. Her customers had given up trying to escape and sat back at the tables. She stared at the blood that had pooled in front of her store. She knew somebody was hurt bad. It was a lot of blood, too much blood having come from just one person. More shots echoed outside of the shop, followed by more screaming.

  “Stay right there!” she heard Chuck scream, followed by several more shots. He suddenly appeared in front of the coffee shop. He peered through the locked gate. “Don’t come out of the shop. I don’t know how to tell you this, but the dead are coming back to life and attacking people. They’re eating the shoppers in the mall!”

  “What did he just say?” asked Patricia, looking alarmed.

  “I think he said the mall is full of zombies,” said Emily. “But how can that be?”

  Brinke watched as Chuck disappeared from her sight. She wasn’t sure she heard him right. She could believe a murderer was loose in the mall killing people, but zombies, it didn’t make any sense. She wanted to go over to the gate and take a look for herself, but her feet were frozen in place.

  Outside the coffee shop they heard screaming and more gunfire. More blood flowed past the gate and some of it was entering the shop. Several women inside screamed. Brinke looked around, wondering what she could do to calm the situation. She retrieved her cell phone and was about to call her husband when Chuck returned to the front of the coffee shop. He was holding a gushing wound on his neck. He slumped to the floor and hit the closed gate. His eyes were fixed upon Brinke while blood sprayed from him like a geyser. More blood flowed inside the coffee shop.

  She dropped her phone and stared at Chuck’s dead body. It was the first time she had ever seen a dead body. She felt nauseous. She continued to watch his body, too scared to look away. As she watched, something pulled him away from the gate and out of view. She heard the sound of flesh being ripped apart. A hush cascaded through the shop. The man whose wife had passed out looked at Brinke.

  “How strong is that gate? Nothing can get inside here, can it?”

  Brinke stared at him for a moment before speaking. “I don’t know. I don’t even know what’s happening.”

  “I’ll tell you what’s happening. People are getting murdered out there. I don’t want anything getting inside here with us.”

  One of the women stood up from her seat reciting something from the Bible. “And now, in my vision, I saw a strange creature rising up out of the sea. It had seven heads and ten horns, and ten crowns upon its horns.”

  “Sit back down and shut up!” ordered one of the men. “We don’t want to hear your Biblical mumbo jumbo.”

  She stared at the man and continued. “And written on each head were blasphemous names, each one defying and insulting God!”

  “You’re insulting God!” screamed the man. “Now shut up and sit back down. You’re making matters worse!”

  She moved toward the man. “Judgement day is upon us. We’re being punished for our sins. Our blood will flow like rivers and our flesh will be condemned.” She took another step toward him. “What’s the matter with you? Don’t you believe in God?”

  “Of course, I do. But what you’re spouting is gibberish. There are zombies in the mall, not some creature from the Bible. You should open your Bible and read it again.”

  She laughed and snatched a knife for cutting lemons off of the counter and pointed it at him. “I should have you thrown out of here to suffer for your sins. I should let them feast upon your flesh.” She looked around the shop, pointing the knife at everybody. “It’s all of you that have brought this on us. It’s all of you sinners who have damned us. Wake up people. God has sent this plague to make you all pay for all of your sinful ways.”

  The man stood up and took a step toward her. She grabbed Christina and brought the knife to her throat. The man retreated several steps.

  “What is your name?” she asked the man. “What is the name of the man who defies God?”

  “My name is Daniel.”

  She laughed sinisterly. “How fitting is it for the man who defies God to be named after a book in the Bible. It’s ironic, don’t you think?” She moved toward the gate. “The murdered outside there are the ones who have continuously mocked God. They are the ones who have been judged.”

  “So you’re saying God has spared us? We’re not sinners.”

  She looked at Daniel with a smug look. “Are you mocking me? That isn’t what I’ve been saying at all. I’m saying God has spared us because he has another plan for us. But first, he wants a sacrifice. He wants a sacrifice from a young virgin.�
�� She whispered into Christina’s ear “Are you a virgin?” She waited for several minutes and pushed her away. Christina hit the side of the counter and fell to her knees in pain. “Of course you’re not a virgin; you’re too pretty.” She looked at Emily and pointed the knife at her. “I’ve found my virgin.” She grabbed Emily and put the knife to her throat.

  “Leave her alone!” ordered Daniel. “Listen, I’m Baptist, and I’m positively sure God wouldn’t want us sacrificing her. If you do that, it’s considered murder. Have you forgotten that murder is a sin?”

  “Are you twisting the Bible against me? I know the Bible by heart. I know this is what God wants.” She pushed the knife harder into Emily’s neck until she cried out in pain. “It must be done if we’re going to survive.”

  Glass shattered around the woman’s head and she fell to the ground, dropping the knife. Patricia quickly snatched it from the ground.

  Daniel looked at Brinke who was standing there shaking. She looked at him frightfully. “I had to hit her with the coffee pot. She was going to kill her.”

  Daniel ran over to her. “Don’t worry; you did what you had to do. Do you have something we can tie her up with?”

  “There’s a rope in the back storage room. I don’t know how strong it is; it’s been there a long time.”

  “Good, I’ll be right back.” He looked at Patricia. “Watch her in case she comes to.” He went into the back area to retrieve the rope.

  Brinke looked at her customers. “I’m sorry I had to do that. I don’t know what Bible she’s been reading, but none of this has to do with God getting revenge on us or anything like that. None of what she spouted makes any sense.”

  Daniel returned with the rope. “Help me get her to one of the chairs. We’ll tie her down so she can’t hurt anybody.”

  Brinke helped him get her to a chair, and he tied her tightly so she couldn’t move. He looked at Brinke.

  “She really had a way of twisting God’s word. I don’t think God is responsible for a zombie outbreak.” He looked at everybody in the shop. “There is a back way out of here. If things get hairy, we can leave out the back door.”