The ZWD Trilogy (Book 1): Zombie World Dominance [The Destruction Begins] (14 page)

“I
think we could switch to the larger camera. We’d have a better resolution image
to send back. What do you think, MacKenzie?”

“I
don’t know, Xavier. It still looks sketchy out there, but I’m game if you are.
Jacob, will you go around to the back door to grab the production camera
please? Tyler, could you get the boom mic set up for me, please?”

“Sure,”
said Tyler. “I’ll have the sound ready for you when you need it.”

Tyler
Wark, the sound man, opened the side door with the intent of getting the sound
equipment ready for filming. As Tyler stepped out, a creature that had crept up
behind the broadcast van moved up to grab him around his neck. It dragged him
behind the van, sinking its fanged teeth into Tyler’s neck, ripping it open.
The creature had severed Tyler’s jugular vein along with his larynx with one
bite. Tyler died without a sound.

This
creature wasn’t alone. Three others were standing near the back of the van.
When Jacob came around the back of the van on the driver’s side to get the
production camera, he was met by the three creatures crouching there. As he
turned to run, one of them grabbed him around his chest, falling on top of him
as it pushed him to the ground. It sat back on its knees, sitting on Jacob’s
legs, pinning him to the ground. It started to flail his body to shreds. As Jacob’s
back was being removed bit by bit, he started screaming. Shortly his screams
stopped. Jacob was dead.

MacKenzie
and everyone else left in the van knew that Tyler was dead. MacKenzie could
hear Jacob. She stepped out of the van on the passenger side, following Jacob’s
screams. Xavier followed her out the driver’s door. MacKenzie screamed to the
men.

“Tyler!
Where are you? Hold on, I’m coming to help!”

As MacKenzie
stepped out of the van, she saw Tyler on the ground, face up, with a hole where
his throat should have been, obviously dead. Jacob was still screaming. MacKenzie
began screaming as well.

“Oh,
my god! Tyler! No! You can’t be dead! No!”

As
MacKenzie stepped around the back of the van, she could see Jacob on the ground
with a creature kneeling on his legs, ripping his back to shreds. His spine was
broken into two pieces from the creature slicing his body into chunks. She was
so focused on Jacob that she did not see another creature coming at her from
the side. It swung a claw at her face, ripping most of it open. Her left cheek,
eye, and nose were hanging by threads from her face. It knocked her backwards
to the ground, onto her back.

The
creature that had just killed Jacob shuffled over to MacKenzie and started
ripping her chest open. The creature that had torn her face open knelt down
next to her. Both of them began to shred her chest, legs, neck and her face
open. She let out one single scream before she died.

The
other two news people left in the van were Jaden Knibbs, the other sound man,
and the news van’s chief technician, Charlie Baughan. Jaden shouted to Charlie,
“Get your ass in the driver’s seat and get us the hell out of here! Now! Move
it!”

“Jaden,
what about the others?”

“They’re
all dead, or will be quickly! These things will start on us after they’ve
killed our friends! If you don’t want to join them, we need to go! Drive, damn
it, man! Drive like your fucking life depends upon it!”

“Jaden,
where should we go? We have an assignment to cover.”

“Screw
them! If they want to have footage of this, they can come get it themselves!
For us, we need to get out now! If we don’t, we will be lying dead next to
them. Dead! I’m sorry for them, but I want to live!”

Charlie
started to drive, Jaden picked up the handheld camera. Charlie shouted to Jaden,
“There are people in our way! I can’t move!”

“Charlie,
drive the hell over them! If they’re alive, they will move! If they’re dead, it
won’t matter to them anymore! So drive! Push the damn people out of our way.
Lock down this van! Get the hell out of here!”

For
twenty minutes or so Charlie drove with no particular direction. “Where should
I go, Jaden? No matter where I drive, it’s the same thing. People are running
around, bodies are on the ground, creatures are killing or they are looking for
someone to kill.”

“Charlie,
drive to the studio. The parking lot in the basement is secured. It takes an
opener to get in. It’ll keep everyone out, including those damned creatures. It’s
the best place for us to go for now.”

Charlie
changed his direction driving to the studio. He was able to drive into the basement
safely. Both of them took the elevator up to the studio letting themselves in.
Chloe Knetes, the station manager, was the first person to speak to them.

“Hello,
gentlemen. Why are you here? Don’t you have a job to do? Where’s MacKenzie? We
received your footage from the Fitzroy Town Hall. We have your footage of your
drive to the shopping center. After that, we have received nothing else. Now,
where’s MacKenzie or any of the rest of your crew?”

“Everyone
is dead other than the two of us. The only footage that we have is on this
handheld. Use what you can off of it. When you air it, please dedicate it to
our friends.”

“What
do you mean everyone else is dead? Where’s MacKenzie? Why didn’t she come up
with you?”

“Jaden
is trying to tell you that the rest of our crew are dead. We watch them die.
What else can we say to make you understand?”

Chloe
sat in her chair, blinking. She looked puzzled. She took the handheld camera
that Charlie was holding out to her. She got up without saying a word. She
walked out of her office, down the wall into Finn Wollstone’s office. He was
the video manager for the studio. Chloe handed Finn the handheld camera, still not
saying a word, and dropped into an open chair. Finn looked from Charlie to
Jaden then back to Chloe. He asked, “Okay, what have I got here?”

“Tell
him, Charlie. Tell him that this is all that is left of our crew. Everyone else
is dead.”

“Charlie,
is it true? Are all of MacKenzie’s crew dead except for the two of you?”

“All
dead. Play the video. It will show you what happened. We didn’t stand a
chance.”

With
that, he stood, crossed the room to the video console and put the memory stick
into the video player. Chlöe was still sitting there in shock. As Finn pressed
play, they could see the end of the news crew. They could also see what
happened at the shopping center. Without any notice, Chlöe shouted, “Finn, they’re
all dead! I want this on the air
now!
Without any edit! Play it as it
has been recorded! Do it now!”

“Chlöe,
I can’t broadcast this without editing. There are intense scenes of people
being killed. We’d be fined or shut down; maybe even both.”

“I
don’t care, Finn. Do it. Do it now. I don’t give a damn what the network has to
say. Our mobile crews died to get this. We need to tell the world what is
happening. If the network wants to shut us down, then they will have to come
down here to do it.”

“Whatever
you say, Chlöe. I’ll get it on the air right now.”

Finn
walked into the broadcast studio. He gave the memory stick to Billy Michaels,
the broadcast manager. Finn told him, “Whatever you’re broadcasting now,
interrupt it. Chlöe’s orders. Play all of it. Every last second. Don’t edit it.
Don’t cut the sound out. Play all of it, now. Charlie and Jaden are all are left
of MacKenzie’s news crew. The rest of them are dead. Get the head of security
on the phone for me, please.”

Billy
dialed the phone. He handed it to Finn as it was ringing. Billy mounted the
memory stick and prepared to cut into the program that was currently
broadcasting. Just before he played it, he told the broadcast crew to drop
everything. He told them to not touch a thing without his orders until the
footage was finished playing, then pressed play. Everyone in the studio stood
with their mouths agape, watching the footage play. They watched their fellow
employees die in front of their eyes along with everyone who was watching the
broadcast around the world.

Finn
listened to the phone ring. “William Pike here, how can I help you?”

“William,
this is Finn Wollstone. Drop whatever you’re doing. I want this building locked
down. Right now. No one is to be allowed to leave; no one is to be allowed to
enter other than our returning mobile crews. Get maintenance to switch to
backup power. Don’t let anyone into the broadcast studio for any reason other
than myself and my crew. We’re going to broadcast footage that could get us
shut down, but the world needs to see it. If you don’t have your monitor on,
turn it on now. Are you good with everything I’ve told you?”

“Yes,
Mr. Wollsone. What’s going on? Is there something that I need to know?”

“William,
MacKenzie’s mobile crew was just killed on location. The only survivors are
Charlie and Jaden. The world is going to hell. We need to protect ourselves in
case
this gets any worse. I think it will get a
lot
worse before
it gets better.”

“All
right, nobody in or out without your approval. The genny will be online in five
minutes. We’ll cut from street power to generator once it’s up and running.”

The
Australian Associated Press from Melbourne played the handheld footage for all
the world to see. By doing this, Chlöe had initiated Australia Day Zero. The
footage was broadcast for the entire world to see. It would be played and
replayed by nearly every news station on the planet, many times over, without
editing, for the world to see what had happened this evening in Australia.
Network rules would no longer apply from this day forward.

August
18, 2036 would forever referred to as Australia Day Zero or ADZ. Every day from
this date forward would now be known as ADZ plus or minus the days, weeks or
years from that date.

Today it
began.

The
world was on notice that nothing would be the same from this day forward.

NBC
News

Riverside, California

ADZ
+8:00

By now
everyone at the NBC affiliate in Riverside, California had had a chance to see the
grisly eight-hour old news report out of Australia. As ghastly as it was, no
one in the studio in Riverside, California, had any time to ponder the news from
down under. They were too busy reporting about the creatures in their own city.

Riverside
was coming to a standstill with its own tragedies, brought on by creatures similar
to those that had been reported in Australia. If the killings had stayed in
Australia, or any other country, that would have been one thing, but they were in
America. The outbreak was starting to take on a global reach.

Kimberly
Zink was one of “those” girls. She knew, or at least she
thought
she
knew, that she could go anywhere she wanted and do anything she wanted when she
got there. In her mind, her looks were her golden ticket to success. Her looks
had worked in the past, so she thought that they would work in the future. What
she did not come by with exercise, she got with money. She had an exercise
routine that she tried to adhere to, but she did not keep up her routine as
much as she should have. She’d spent a lot of money to have bigger and better
breasts; her nose had been surgically altered to a perfect shape for her face,
and her butt had been worked on by adding “pads” in all the right places. She
had her hair line rebuilt by adding plugs from the back of her neck to the
front of her scalp. Her fingers had been surgically adjusted to give her the
long, slender fingers that were all the rage. She had her legs sculpted to be
long, tall and sexy as well. All in all, she or one of the several “special”
men in her life had spent over $150,000 for her signature look.

So
what was wrong?

In
some people’s eyes Kimberly had gone overboard trying to achieve the “perfect”
look. If anyone took more than a minute or two looking at her features, they
could see where her “perfect” looks had failed her. Her cheekbones were a
little too perfect. Her jaw line was just a wee bit lopsided. Her breasts were
unnatural looking. One nipple pointed slightly up, while the other was pointing
ever so slightly down, when they should have both been pointed straight ahead.
One breast was slightly larger than the other as well. Unequally sized breasts
were not the problem. It was where they were different that was the problem.
Her right breast had a bulge or lump protruding from the bottom towards her
arm. Her left breast had a narrow line of excess flesh running down the outside
of her breast. One calf was lower and smaller than the other. One of the pads
that gave her butt its shape had come free on her left buttock, gradually creeping
towards the center. This was only apparent when she wore what was called a
pencil skirt. If you stood directly behind her, it was quite noticeable. She
had started working on straightening her teeth as well, but had run out of
money before they were finished. This caused her to keep a hand with paperwork
just below her mouth to cover her unfinished teeth.

Now,
one would think that for a person who was in TV reporting, this would make it
difficult for her to find work, b
ut this was not the case. For
all her subtle flaws, she was memorable. This was something that a station
wanted; something that would keep the public tuning in to their station rather
than the competition. Her flaws were her trademark, in a way. She did not
acknowledge them. She acted like they didn’t exist. With all her flaws, she was
a great reporter. She had no equal in that department. She approached her job
like the Marines taking a hill in the time of battle. Marines did not back down
from anything, and neither did Kimberly. She was a charge-forward-take-no-prisoners
kind of reporter. When she had a story, she didn’t let up until it was
finished. The people that she interviewed opened up to her and told her the facts
that she asked about, because she was just that good at her job.

Kimberly’s
personal cell rang as she sat in one of the editing bays, having a final look
at the story that would air on the noon news. She saw that it was her husband,
Henry Decatur.

“Hi, Kim.
It’s me. Honey, I need you to be careful in the field today. The news reports
from around the world about these creatures attacking and killing people are
starting to come in. Please be careful. I don’t want to lose you.”

“Sweetheart,
I learned about those monsters early this morning from the Australian News. I
don’t know what to make of it. The one thing that I do know is that I’m scared,
but I have a job to do. I’ll be careful when we go out. We both know the news is
going to get reported, one way or another. If I don’t do it, the station will
get someone else to do it, and I want my name on the stories that go out from
this station. This might be the boost that my career needs to push me over the
top.” She thought for a moment, then continued.  

“With
one more promotion, we’ll be able to tell everyone that we’re married. I was
going to tell you later, but it’s as good a time as any... Henry, I’m pregnant.
I took a home test this morning before I left for work, and it was positive.
You’re going to be a daddy.”

“Wow! That’s
amazing. Kimberly. Are you sure? Stupid question. I know you’re sure. Wow. I’m
going to be a
father.
Do you know what else should be announced?”

“No. What
else is going on? Tell me, please.”

“Kimberly...
in six days we’ll have been married for three years. With your schedule, I
understand you might have forgotten; I don’t know how you keep everything under
control with your schedule. This hiding our marriage is so frustrating.
Sometimes it makes me angry. I really wish that we didn’t need to keep our
marriage a secret. I know that if our being married gets out at the wrong time
it would bring our careers to a stop where they are. From that point forward,
we wouldn’t have any chance of ever being promoted again. But damn it, this is
America! We should be able to marry anyone we want to without it affecting the
careers of the people involved. I’m better now that I’ve said it. All I want is
that you when you are done for the day I want you safely back at the studio. I
love you, Kimberly. Be safe. I have to go.”

“I
love you too. Today might be a long day. I’ll see you when I get home. You’re
gonna be a father! Bye for now.”

As
Kimberly hung up the call, her mobile broadcast van pulled up in front of where
she had been standing on the sidewalk waiting, and she got into the front
passenger seat and then drove off to the location of their first assignment.

They
suspected that she was married to Henry, but never let on that they knew.

Kimberly
took her wireless mic and stood on her mark in front of the camera. Her
cameraman counted her down — three, two one…

“This
is Kimberly Zink live with NBC News in Riverside, California. We’re breaking in
to bring you this breaking news: A short time ago, at around 2:00 PM Pacific
time, our news desk began getting calls from a large number of students at UC
Riverside — that’s the University of California, Riverside campus. News of an
attack, of the deaths of a number of individuals, believed to be students, was
circulating all over the campus.” She looked up as if checking her
surroundings.

“Our
news desk has been able to track down a student who witnessed the actual attack
from her second-floor apartment at the Pentland Residence Hall complex on
campus. We had the student on the phone talking about what she saw. She said that
she witnessed two students being killed by these things. By the time we arrived
with our news van, the creatures had left, but what remained were two bodies
lying on the ground in a pool of their own blood, with body parts lying next to
them that the creatures had torn off during the ambush.” She grimaced a bit.
This was a little much, even for this professional reporter.

“We now
have a witness to the attacks with us; she’s asked that we not use her name or
show her face. We’re going to honor her request by blurring her face and altering
her voice.” She turned to the witness. “Thank you for being willing to meet
with us. Can you describe to our viewers what you observed below your room this
afternoon, please?”

“Hello,
Kimberly… yes, I was getting ready for my class today when I heard someone
screaming down on the sidewalk. I looked out of the window and saw this
horrible attack happening right below my room. It looked like there were a
total of four students on the sidewalk. Two of the students were just standing,
staring at the other two being torn apart by these things… I saw the news from
Australia early this morning. The creatures I saw on the walkway below looked
like the same ones from Australia. I counted three or four of them. They’d
knocked two students to the ground. They were squatting or kneeling next to the
students — it was hard to tell, slashing them apart, ripping them to shreds.
There was so much blood… it was everywhere. They were screaming for someone to
help them. I’ll never forget what it sounded like. I never heard screams like
that in my life, and I hope I never hear it again. The other two — the students,
I mean — were able to run away down the sidewalk, away from the creatures. It
was all over in less than, probably, twenty to thirty seconds… There was so
much blood. When it was over, they just went on down the path, and they were
gone. I’m so scared right now. I don’t want to stay out here any longer than I
have to. If you don’t need anything else, I’m gonna go back up to my room and lock
my door.”

“Thank
you for talking to us.” Kimberly watched for a moment as the young woman
quickly walked away.

“Our
producer has called the campus police along with the Riverside Police
department. Neither of them had any additional information to add, other than
that the campus police did say that this isn’t the only attack that occurred on
campus today. The Riverside Police told us that they have responded to several reports
of killings this afternoon in different parts of the city. They said that due
to the number of calls of this nature, they’re extremely backed up, and they don’t
have enough officers on duty to follow up on all the calls. They’re very short
staffed. They also said that many of their officers did not report to work
yesterday or today. We’ve been asked to pass this warning along to our viewers:
Please be on the lookout for these creatures. They emphasized that if you are
approached by one of these things, run the other way. Go to a secure place and lock
yourself inside. Once you are in a safe, secure location, remain there until
tomorrow. Don’t come out at night. We’ve been told that the number of attacks
increases at night. Additional information will be released via TV or radio.
This is Kimberly Zink with NBC News, broadcasting live from the campus of the University
California, Riverside, at the Pentland Residence Hall complex.”

Before
Kimberly had started her report, she’d asked her driver, Jason, to call the
school’s administration office to see if they would be willing to talk to her
about this incident. As Kimberly was walking back to the broadcast van, Jason caught
up with her, giving her the information that he had gotten from the
administration.

“Kimberly.
I just got off the phone with the Director of Administration. He told me that
so many students, faculty and other staff hadn’t come in that it was easier to
use percentages rather than the actual numbers. He was told that today a little
over 18 percent of the school’s staff and faculty was absent today with no
notice. He also said that about 22 percent of the student body weren’t in class
either. He said that this started a few months ago with students, faculty and
staff not showing up, and it’s gotten worse in the last 24 to 48 hours.

“His
office made as many calls as they could to the absent staff members. Not a
single one answered their phones, nor did they call in. He sounded extremely frustrated.
With so many people absent, it’s kind of concerning. I don’t know what to make
of it. What do you think, Kimberly?”

“If I
knew the answer to that, I wouldn’t have to be working this hard for a story,”
she replied. “Earlier today I talked to a number of people around the city from
small business owners to public officials about the missing people. They all
told me pretty much the same thing — that all of them had people just not show
up for work for the last several days. Even our studio has some workers not
showing up. If you know anything about this job, it’s that no matter how sick
you are, you come in, or you get replaced.”

As
Kimberly was talking to Jason, her crew broke down their broadcast equipment.
It was packed up in the van, ready to go to the next assignment. Just then, Floyd
received a call about that assignment. With the van loaded up, Floyd told Jason
where their next location would be. Jason fired up their van, headed out of the
parking lot, and went on down the road.

The
next location was a convenience store on 14
^th
Street near Magnolia
Avenue. Kimberly’s crew consisted of primary cameraman Floyd Brooks, second cameraman
Thomas Miller, driver/engineer Jason Erickson, broadcast signalman Tony Cooper,
and crew assistant Eddie Ness. The trip should normally have taken just fifteen
minutes. With the heavy traffic on this day, it took them nearly 70 minutes.