The ZWD Trilogy (Book 1): Zombie World Dominance [The Destruction Begins] (21 page)

“There’s
only three of us. The other two are Kurt and Derek. We really don’t plan on
leaving this area. We’re going to try to tough it out until help gets here. We
were gonna try to find a place for tonight. Do you mind if we camp with you
guys? We have enough food for everyone to have a good dinner.”

“I’m fine
with that. Let me go ask the others… if they’re okay with it, I’ll give you a
wave.”

Jerry
went back to talk with the other three. He gave them a quick rundown, and
explained that the other group was willing to share their food. They decided to
take the other group up on their offer, but planned to sleep between the new
group and the girls in order to try to keep them safe.

Jerry
waved the other group over. As they walked into the building, Jerry showed them
the area they had secured for sleeping. Then they all introduced themselves.

Gary explained
that they had been going up on the roofs of buildings to build a cooking fire.
He introduced Kurt as an excellent cook, and explained that they had food
enough for all.

“I
hope you enjoy my cooking,” said Kurt.

“Looking
forward to it,” said Jerry. We really want to thank you for offering to share your
food. We haven’t had a good meal in four days or more. We do have plenty of
water, so drink as much as you like. In the morning, we’ll give you enough to
get back to Queens.”

“Thanks,”
said Gary.

“Okay,
everyone knows where they are going to be tonight,” said Jerry. “We all have a
job to do. Let’s all get to work. Mike and Gary, can you help me lock this
place up for tonight?”

“Sure
thing,” said Mike. “I can’t wait for dinner. Like Jerry said, we haven’t had a
good meal in four days. We have a bite of food now and then, but that’s it.”

Mike
said, “Well, you should eat good tonight.”

A few
of the guys went around checking the windows and doors.

Mike
looked at Gary
and said, “I have a question.”

“Sure,”
Gary said.

“We walked
here all the way from Harlem, and, you know, you see a lot of graffiti
everywhere,” said Mike.

“Uh-huh?”
Gary replied.

“Most
of the tags are gang-related or they’re just rude, you know, ‘Bite Me’ or ‘For
A Good Time Call 867-5309,’ or sometimes they have something to do with the
outbreak.”

“Yeah,”
said Gary. “Typical stuff.”

“But there
was one we saw a few times that was confusing,” Mike continued. “It wasn’t like
the typical gang tags, hard to read. It seemed to be spray painted really carefully
so it was easy to make out what it said. It was on the side of a building as we
crossed the Brooklyn Bridge from Manhattan, in letters about two feet tall. It
was also on the railroad overpass we passed when we were on Atlantic Avenue.”

“Yeah?”
Gary listened closely.

“Then I
just saw it when I was checking one of the windows over there” — he poined to
the west side of the room — “on the side of a bank building just down the
street. It always said the same thing:
Survive with The Guardians.
It was always
pretty much the same each time we saw it. What do you think that’s supposed to
mean?”

“Yeah,”
said Gary. “We’ve seen that on buildings, overpasses and rooftops, here and
there all over. No idea what it means. Anyway, I think dinner’s about ready.
Are you hungry? I say we need to eat and not worry about gang tags.”

Jerry
and Kurt had gone up on the roof with the food and built a fire for Kurt to
cook with. The girls and Derek rearranged the room to make a place for everyone
to sleep, while Gary and Mike were checking the locks to make sure the building
was safe.

Before
long, dinner was ready, and everyone ate their fill. All they had was water with
which to wash it down, but this was the first decent food that they’d had in
days. The teens shared their water freely with the three that needed it. They
combined their resources to make a good meal for all of them.

With
warm food in their bellies, they lay down to sleep. It had been many days since
they had slept this well. Jerry was the last of the four to fall asleep. It had
been a long time since he felt full, and he glanced around the room, checking
one last time that everything was secure as he drifted off to sleep.

The
sun had been up about an hour when Mike awoke. He rubbed the sleep out of his
eyes, and looked around slowly. In his half-asleep state, he looked around the
room. Suddenly it hit him. He was not ready for what he was seeing. He jumped
up, shouting at everyone.

“Damn
it! Everyone get up! Get up
now!
Oh, my god! Jerry, look! Where’d they
go? They’re gone, and the door is standing wide open. Damn it, Jerry! They took
all of our stuff, including our water! They did not leave us any
water!
If I find those guys, I’m going to kill them, damn it!”

“Mike,
shut
up!
We don’t want to attract any zombies. Go lock the door, right
now. They’re gone. We can’t do anything about it now. We need to make sure we’re
safe. That’s rule number one. Everything else follows that. I’ll get the girls
up.”

He
woke the two girls and filled them in on what had happened.

“Those
three guys took everything we had. I’m going up on the roof to see if I can see
them. I doubt that I can, but I have to try.”

“I
can’t believe they would screw us over like that!” said Jennifer.

The
four of them were alone again. If being alone wasn’t bad enough, what little
food they’d had, along with all of their water, had been taken. The three men that
they had shared their safe building with had stolen the food and water they had
needed to survive, and left the door standing wide open for the zombies.

If the
four of them could survive today, from this point forward they wouldn’t trust
anyone so quickly, ever again. As they gathered together, Jerry said, “I don’t
know about you guys, but I don’t want to walk anywhere today. I want to stay
here for right now. I might go out to look for food or water, but not right
now. What do you think?”

“If
they come back, I’m going to kill them,” Mike growled. “I’ll beat them with my damn
club until they are dead. Jerry, we
trusted
them. They didn’t have to
treat us like that. They’re nothing but thugs. All they wanted to do was take
everything they could. I’ll bet they hoped that we would be caught by the
zombies.”

“I
don’t know how to feel anymore,” said Mary. “I can’t believe anybody would do
something like that to another human being. When we left Manhattan, I was
hoping we’d left the monsters behind us. I guess we need to think about who we
let in from now on.”

“Mary,
it’s not your fault. I was the one who talked to them first. It’s
my
fault. It’s not your fault, Mary, or yours, Jen, or yours either, Mike. It’s
all my fault. I need to make it better.”

“Okay,
Jerry. Enough,” said Mike. “You’ve beat yourself up enough. It’s
both
our faults. The girls will do whatever we do. They trust us to make the right
decisions. We both let them down. It might cost us later. We don’t have any
food or water. Yesterday we did not have any food, but we had water. The best
way to look at this is that we got a good meal out of it.”

There
was a moment of silence as Jerry thought about what Mike had said. “Thanks,
Mike. I think from now on we need to have a night watch. We already
know
we need a safe place to stay every night. Now we know we also have to watch for
humans that mean us harm. If we’re forced into a corner, we need to be able to
do what it takes to be the ones that survive, even if that means we have to
kill another human being.”

The
others seemed stunned by Jerry’s words. “Do you really think you could kill
someone over food or water?” said Mary. “That’s not how you were raised. It isn’t
you.”

“Mary,
you’re my life. I would lay down my own life for you. I feel the same way about
you, Jen… sorry, Mike. I know she’s your girlfriend, but I’m responsible for
all of us. Mike, you’re my brother. If I can help it, nothing will ever come to
harm us, not ever.”

“Yeah,
I know, Jer. I feel the same about Mary as you do about Jen. Nothing like this will
ever happen again if I have an ounce of strength to stop it. You’re right. We
need to start a night watch. I think we should change every two hours. Every
other person will be one of the girls. How do you guys feel about that?”

Jennifer
answered, “You are right, both Mary and I trust both of you guys. If you guys
think we need to start having a night watch, then we’ll be right there with you,
taking our shifts. It’ll slow us down a bit but we’ll do what we need to. We
might not be able to walk as far each day after being up at night, but I think
it’s the only way that we can be sure that we’re safe at night.”

“Thank
you for trusting me, Jen. It means a lot to me. I think we only have about six
or seven more days of walking before we get home. Tonight we’ll start standing
our watches. Today we need to go out and see if we can find something to eat or
drink out there.”

They
decided to remain in the same building for one more night. When the other three
men took all of their goods, they felt like they were kicked in the stomach.
They did not have the heart or desire to walk today. They would go out looking
for food or water, but walking towards home was not going to happen today.

Tonight
would be the first night that they would stand watch. It was more for the gangs
of thugs than the zombies. The zombies didn’t break into a closed, locked door
like the gangs did. They’d really hoped that they had left that crap behind
them in New York City. It made sense to them that as the sources for food dried
up, everyone would have to venture further out for food. Tomorrow would be the
start of another day. They would be more aware of others around them from now
on. They would question other people’s motives before they dropped their guard
as quickly as they had before.

Puerto Vallarta, Mexico

ADZ +97d

The
Ortegas and the Castillos had just arrived in Puerto Vallarta. Conditions here
were no better than in Mazatlan, where they had just come from. As they drove
through the streets, there were a large number of abandoned vehicles. Bloodied
bodies from the zombie kills were lying everywhere they looked, yet as they
drove through the streets, they did not see a single zombie.

They
drove on to their relatives’ house and simply sat in the pickup, parked on the
street in front of the house. The front windows had been shattered, and the
front door was lying in the yard smashed into pieces. On the grass next to the
driveway were two bodies lying where they were killed in a pool of blood. Parts
of the bodies were scattered around them. There was no way that they could even
identify who they had once been.

The
garage was empty. Their truck was missing. Esperana carefully walked into the
house, with Maurico following her. Cautiously they stepped inside; the interior
was as torn up as the outside. In their short walkthrough, Esperana decided
that their relatives — whoever was left, that is — had departed. There did not
seem to be any additional bodies inside; only the two outside.

Their
relatives that they hoped would be there had evidently left the city. There was
no note on the counter, nothing to tell them where the family would have gone;
they were just…
gone.

Esperana
had to make a difficult decision concerning where she would take the six
children that she was now responsible for. She thought that the zombie outbreak
might be something that was planned by The Unified Drug Cartel of Mexico.

Back
in 2025, when many of the nations of the world had adopted an isolationist
stance, Mexico did the same. After just a year or so, Mexico was struggling economically.
The foreign aid they had received for many decades in order to survive had
stopped. The various drug cartels believed that if they gathered under a united
front, they could overthrow the Mexican government. They had the strength, and
they surely had the money. Thus, the Unified Drug Cartel was created.

They
quickly overpowered the military supporting the Mexican government, putting
themselves in control of Mexico. The Unified Drug Cartel also managed to take
over Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and the northern portion
of Costa Rica.

They
ruled the citizens harshly. In areas that the Unified Drug Cartel could not
control, they sent their death squads in to enforce their will on the people.
If this did not work, they committed random acts of violence, and killed many people.
Esperana believed that the Unified Drug Cartel had come up with a new method of
killing by creating the zombie epidemic.

She did
not want to go any farther south. There was a great deal of unrest in the
southern regions of The Unified Drug Cartel. She believed that America would be
sympathetic to their needs, and that they would be allowed to cross into
America.

With
Maurico at her side, they quickly walked back to their pickup. Esperana got in
the driver’s side, and Maurico in the passengers’ side. They backed into the
neighbor’s driveway and turned north towards the American border.

Three
months later, they had been traveling north through the United States. During
that time, the electrical grid throughout Mexico had failed. With the
electrical power went everything that was powered by electricity, as well as
the water, sewer, food processing, fuel delivery and most everything else that the
people relied upon. Mexico without electricity was like going back a century or
more. All of the conveniences that people had grown accustomed to were gone.

Esperanza's
small group had driven past Mazatlan several months ago. They had used up all
of the gas that they had in their pickup, including the gas they carried in
spare cans. They had been able to make it 350 miles north of Mazatlan, to a
point just south of Guaymas. Now they had been on foot for many weeks. They ran
from the zombies whenever they encountered them and hid wherever they could
find.

During
their journey, Esperana’s daughter Annalicia was killed by the zombies. As if
this was not enough, they also had to hide from the United Drug Cartel death
squads and road banditos.

Finally
they arrived at the small town of Agua Zarca. This town, like others they
entered, was devoid of any people. There were dried puddles of blood and body
parts lying around but no bodies of the dead.

The
majority of the buildings had been burned, many to the ground. They found a
building that they could secure. They were tired and decided that they would
stay there for a few days to rest. For the next three days, they remained in
the town. They did not see a single zombie, nor did they see a single person
other than themselves.

Esperana
was confused and brought the subject up to the children. “Maurico, we haven’t
seen a single zombie anywhere in this town, or a single human either. I don’t
know what’s going on. I’m afraid that if we let our guard down, something will
pop out to kill us.”

“I know,
Mother,” replied Maurico.

“It’s the
same with all of the burned down buildings. Did we miss something when we got
here? What do you think, my son?”

“I
don’t know, Mother. It’s nice to have a short break where we can rest. We did
find some food, so our bellies are full for now. Every one of us needed new
shoes, since we had worn holes in the shoes we had been wearing ever since we
left home, but yesterday we found a small shoemaker’s shop, and now we all have
new shoes. It was most fortunate that the building had not burned. We have been
here for two days, and this town is like a ghost town. I would like to leave
tomorrow if that is all right with you.”

“My
son, I would like one more day to rest before we begin walking again,” said Esperana.
“This building is safe, and we have found enough food to last us several days.
The other children could use the rest. As I look at you, I see an exhausted
young man with the weight of the world on his shoulders. We will stay for one
more day. We can leave after that. We need to get some sleep. We will talk more
in the morning.”

With
that having been said everyone laid down to try to get some sleep. The next
morning, they awoke as the sun shone in their eyes. They stayed in Agua Zarca
for one more day.

On
this day, Maurico was out with Reva and Rosari foraging for food. Much to their
surprise, they found a small market that had not burned down, nor had it been
ransacked. It was off the main street behind a taller building. Inside, they
found so much food that they could not carry it all. Maurico was standing in
the middle of the market with his mouth agape, shocked at how much food was still
there. He told the two girls that he was going to run back and get help to carry
as much food back as they could. He told them to look for some canvas bags or
other containers to carry the food. He ran back to the safety of the building
where his mother was waiting for them. He burst inside, so excited that he
started shouting.

“Mother!
We found so much food this time. The girls have started sorting through it all.
They will be packing it up, and we need help to carry it all. I would like to
have you, Lucinda, and Rosalinda come to help us carry it all.”

Esperana
jumped to her feet. “Oh, my son, that is so wonderful! I honestly think I could
send you out to find anything. Please take both of the girls to help. I will
wait here for you to come back. She slowly settled back into the chair she had
been sitting in. “I am not feeling myself today. I’m going to stay here and
rest. Maurico, please only bring what we can carry tomorrow, and make sure it’s
not spoiled. We don’t want to take anything that we can’t use.”

“I’ll
make sure we don’t take anything that will spoil, and we won’t bring anything
that we won’t be able to use. Come with me, girls. We need to go quickly.”

Maurico
led the two girls back to the market where the others were sorting and packing
the food. As they arrived at the abandoned market, Maurico told them what his
mother had said.

“Be
sure to only select food that we can use. We don’t want to take anything that
will spoil. Be sure the cans are in good shape. We don’t want cans that have
gone bad.”

“Maurico,
there is too much food in this place for us to carry. What do you want us to
take?”

“Rosalinda,
what we are looking for are cans that are not damaged, bent or cracked. We need
to try to find an assortment of food: fruit, meat, produce or anything else we
think we could eat. Nothing that has to be cooked. There are too many times when
we can’t build a fire to heat our food. We don’t want to give ourselves away,
whether to the zombies, the
banditos
or the cartel, so we only want to
take food that can be eaten cold.” Rosalinda nodded.

“It
will take us a while to get this done, but we have to be back at the building
before it gets too late in the day for us to be outside safely. Just because we
haven’t seen any zombies in town, does not mean that there aren’t any around.
Okay, let’s get to work.”

After
an hour or so of sorting cans of food, they had the food that they had selected
ready to go. Maurico led them back to the building where they were staying.
They got back just as it began to get dark. The next morning, after breakfast,
they would get back on the road. Tonight they planned to eat well for the first
time in quite a while. Their plan for the next day was to try to get to Nogales,
which was on the border between Mexico and the United States. There was a
border crossing from Nogales into Texas. They hoped their little group would be
allowed to cross into the U.S.

The
next morning, they were up, ready to go. Esperana and Rosalinda made breakfast.
Once they finished eating, they packed up their bags. They walked to the edge
of Agua Zarca, walking past the town sign. They did not look back as they
walked side by side towards Nogales.

They
had been walking all morning and were getting closer to Nogales. Esperana was
walking at the back of their group, next to Maurico. As the girls walked a
little further ahead, she asked Maurico to slow down a bit. She wanted to talk
to him without the others hearing what she had to say. She moved a little
closer to him taking his arm as she spoke softly to him.

“Maurico,
I have something to tell you. Let the girls go ahead of us for a while.
Maurico, the last time that we were on the pier, I told your father the news
that I am going to tell you. It made him happy. Now it is time for you to know
as well. I’m pregnant. I had just found out the day the zombies attacked the
cruise ship. I ask that you do not tell the girls until I am ready for them to
know. Is that all right with you?”

“Mother,
that’s wonderful news! I wish it was in better circumstances, but I will do
what I must to help you. If you need anything — anything at all, just ask me.
Are you okay, Mother? Is this why you have been getting more tired lately?”

“I’m
doing fine. I just needed you to know. I will tell the others later, when the
time is right. I don’t want to tell the girls right now. With everything that
we all have gone through up to now, telling them would only give them something
else to worry about. Come on, son, let’s go to Nogales.”

It was
a little after 12 noon when they reached Nogales. They could see the city as
they looked down from a small hill that the road crossed. As in Agua Zarca,
many of the buildings that they could see had burned to the ground. This was
the second city they had come across that had so many burned buildings.

From
the small hill they were on, they could see the border wall with the crossing
complex off in the distance. The crossing complex, along with the gates
themselves, had been demolished and burned. Now there was nothing to stop
people from crossing into America. It was too far away them to see if any
people — or even zombies — were crossing.

For
right now, they needed to find a secure place for the night. They needed to be
off the streets before the zombies came out for their nightly hunt.

Near
the hill they were standing on, they could see some homes that were less than a
30-minute walk away. As they walked to the homes, they selected a two-story
house. They entered the home, checking the interior for zombies or other
people.

Finding
no one inside, they locked the front door. Maurico checked all of other doors,
locking them tight as he found them. They had candles for light. If they kept
the curtains closed with the candles in the back, no one would even know they
were there.

Suddenly
Rosalinda came out from one of the rooms in the back. She looked shocked.
Esperana held her hands as she trembled. She started to speak in a quiet voice.

“Mother,
in the room in the back, I found four sleeping bags and four backpacks. They
all had food, clothing and other stuff in them. They must belong to someone.
What should we do now? Should we run?”

“Whoever
owns the bags might be coming back soon,” said Esperana. “Maurico, please go
unlock the front door. Don’t open it, just unlock it. Right now we all need to
go upstairs. Make sure that we don’t leave anything down here. We don’t want
them to know we are here until we are ready to tell them, when they come back,
if they are coming back at all. This may have been the last place that they
stayed.”