by Derek Ailes
past couple of hours, which would make pushing the heavy boxes harder with the dolly. He slowly pushed the boxes down the sidewalk toward the entrance to the convention center. Once he was inside, pushing the dolly was a lot easier. He headed for the cafeteria to get Keegan’s hotdogs and a pizza for himself. He entered the cafeteria. To his surprise, nobody was in there not even at the counter.
“Hello, anybody here?” Russo asked.
He heard pans being knocked to the ground.
“Hello!”
A lady slowly sauntered to the front.
“Wow, that’s some realistic zombie makeup,” Russo said as the lady slowly approached. “The way you’re walking like a zombie is uncanny.”
The lady was slouching forward almost like she was desperately trying to keep herself balanced. Blood was trickling down the side of her face.
“Lady, I need some hotdogs and a pizza.”
The lady walked up to him and stared at him for a few seconds.
“Lady, you need to do something about your breath. It’s harsh.”
The lady turned her head to the right and in one quick motion bit into his arm. Another zombie jumped onto his back and bit into his neck. He struggled with the two zombies, but they continued to rip apart his flesh until he was dead.
Jordan grabbed the photo from the only printer he was able to get to work. Jorge, his assistant, took the photo and placed it on the table outside the curtain.
“I think it’s creepy how close some of the men were getting to Dawn during the photo ops,” Tyrese said as he handed the camera’s memory card to Jordan.
“Jordan, they’re getting very impatient out there,” Jorge said. “Some of them have been waiting over an hour for their photos. I’m afraid they may riot.”
“I knew this was going to happen. We still have tons of photo ops to take,” Tyrese said as he inserted a new memory card into his camera.
“The mob of the dead,” Jordan said, trying to lighten the mood.
“I’m going to throw you toward them and run for my life,” Tyrese said laughing.
“Such a pal,” Jordan said as he handed another printed photo to Jorge.
“Look at the size of the line,” Barbara said as they walked to the back area of the convention center where the photo ops were.
“Hopefully, it goes fast,” Norman said.
“Once the photo is taken, it takes on average forty-five minutes to an hour for it to be printed,” Barbara said.
“I wouldn’t hold my breath on that. I’ve been waiting for over two hours now for my photo, and they are still printing the ones from the cast of the Archers. They were the first ones on the schedule,” a tall man with graying black hair, wearing a t-shirt of Dennis, said.
“This is ridiculous. I’ve never encountered such incompetence before, and I work for the government,” the lady with blonde curly hair standing next to the guy said.
“Where is the line for Lauren?” Norman asked.
“The line that wraps around the corner is hers,” the man answered.
“Wow, there has to be over five hundred people in the line, and she’s only on the schedule for an hour,” Norman said.
“Somebody didn’t plan this too well,” Barbara said.
“Every guy that watches the show is in love with her,” Norman said.
Keegan stood impatiently waiting for Russo to return to their booth. He had been gone for almost an hour.
He needed the Lauren merchandise desperately. He told over twenty people to stop back soon, and he would have more of her merchandise for sale. He walked over to the Moon is Full booth.
“Hey Charles, Richard, can you watch my booth for me.”
“Not a problem,” Richard said.
“Excuse me,” a very heavy guy wearing a superhero t-shirt said.
“Can I help you?” Charles asked.
“I was wondering why Tim hasn’t been in any of your movies lately,” the guy asked.
“Budgetary reasons,” Charles answered.
“Thank you Karl for that colorful panel group. And for all the parents with their children in the audience, I do apologize. He has a way with words so-to-speak. Coming up next the lovely Violin Twins will perform a couple more songs,” the panel host said.
“Mia, where are you,” Tia said as she paced back and forth. She hadn’t seen Mia in a while now, and she was getting worried. She had a horrible feeling in her gut that something was wrong. She knew she had to find her and fast. Not just because they were on next, but because she sensed she was in danger.
Keegan walked out of the convention room and headed for the cafeteria area. If he was lucky, Russo would be there stuffing his face with whatever food he could find. Russo loved to eat and when going to buffets two or three plates filled with food was just a warm up. He could see the stacks of boxes with their dolly outside the cafeteria. He couldn’t believe that Russo had left them there unattended. Anybody could have taken off with them. He thought it was odd that the area was empty. Normally at a convention, you couldn’t get near the food areas without tripping over people. He did see a long line by the photo area. Maybe everybody was over there waiting to get a picture taken with Lauren instead of stuffing their face with hotdogs and hamburgers.
He walked into the cafeteria and quickly walked backward out of it. Inside there were people lying all over the floor with their guts hanging out with what looked like zombies eating away at their intestines. Was somebody staging a scene from a zombie movie? It looked real. He turned around and crashed into Russo’s chest.
“There you are buddy. I was wondering where you were,” Keegan said.
Russo pushed Keegan to the ground. Russo stumbled forward and landed on top of him. Keegan tried to push him off, but Russo, who was now a zombie, started to tear away at his flesh. Keegan tried to scream, but his throat was being ripped apart by his hungry friend.
Tia entered the hotel that they had been staying at the past couple of days, which was attached to the right side of the convention center.
“Mia, are you in here?”
As she walked into the hotel room, she could smell an almost putrid smell which reminded her of the time they found a dead raccoon in the shed in their back yard. Mia was lying on the bed.
“Did you fall asleep?” Tia asked.
Mia turned her head toward her. She had blood trickling down her cheek. Tia rushed over to her. She put her left hand on her forehead.
“You are ice cold. What happened?”
Mia forcibly pushed her backward. She hit her head against the corner of the table behind her knocking her unconscious. Mia slowly climbed out of bed and crawled over to her twin sister to feast upon her flesh and organs.
Several zombies, walking in a perfect line, slowly entered the convention room.
“Is that a zombie flash mob?” Brook asked.
“If it is, then this is going to be the best zombie convention ever,” Max said.
The zombies branched off into every direction and attacked everybody. Max and Brook stood in horror as they witness a zombie ripping apart a blonde woman’s chest.
“This is real! Run for it!” Max screamed.
Several zombies surrounded the guy on stilts and pushed him backward. He fell backward crashing into the Moon is Full’s table, sending DVDs in every direction. The zombies bit into him while the other zombies attacked Charles and Richard.
Max and Brook continued to run, but were stopped by a group of zombies ahead of them. To the right of them, several of The Walkers cast members were being ripped apart by zombies.
“I love you,” Max said.
Before Brook could respond, she was attacked by a zombie.
“Brook!” Max screamed and was attacked.
Max and Brook watched in horror as each were ripped apart by several zombies.
“I wonder what’s happening on the other side. I’m hearing a lot of screams,” Norman said.
“They must be having some type of audience participation. Scream like you’re in a zombie apocalypse,” Barbara said.
“They’re doing an excellent job then. It sounds very authentic,” Norman said.
“Yes, indeed.”
“You can send in the first group for Lauren’s photo op,” Tyrese said.
Danielle, the short woman with long raven black hair, led five people through the curtain entrance. Tyrese motioned to the first person to come to the line.
“Don’t be nervous. Here she comes,” Tyrese said.
Lauren slowly walked forward. As she walked past the table where Tyrese kept his extra cameras, she knocked down the tall lamp that he had set up for lightning for the photos.
“Cute and clumsy,” Tyrese joked.
Lauren walked over to Tyrese and quickly bit into his neck, ripping a huge chunk of flesh. He dropped his camera and grabbed his neck as he fell to the ground. Lauren continued to tear away at his flesh, as everybody ran to safety. Jordan stood in fear as he watched his friend being eaten by Lauren. From behind the curtain wall, all the people waiting in line ran forward in a stampede of fear. They crashed through the curtain wall knocking over the printers. Jordan was knocked to the ground and was trampled to death by the panicking crowd.
“This way,” Norman said as he led Barbara away from the approaching zombies and in the opposite direction of the stampeding crowd. They went through the curtain wall to the left. On the other side, Kurt was pulling an arrow out of a zombie’s head.
“Real crossbow, real arrows,” Kurt said.
“We need to find an exit,” Norman said.
“This way,” Kurt