The ZWD Trilogy (Book 1): Zombie World Dominance [The Destruction Begins] (15 page)

As they
drove, Kimberly kept pointing out the high number of cars that were abandoned,
standing in the street. Adding to the cars blocking their travel, there were
people just wandering around without any purpose or direction. Some were
standing or sitting some were walking or running. Nobody seemed to have any
apparent destination.

Back
in the studio, station manager Delbert Walker called Zoe Manderal, one of the station’s
Investigative Reporters, to come to his office. “Zoe, I’m glad you are here. With
all that has been happening with these creatures attacking and killing people
around the world. I want you to prepare a special report on what is behind
this. I want a report on what is actually happening, not only in Riverside, but
around the world. Be ready with your report first thing tomorrow for the
morning news. Can you do that? I’ve slotted your report for the local news at
the six-ten spot.”

“I’d
be happy to do a special report on this for you,” said Zoe. “I’ve been working
on something similar since yesterday afternoon. I’ll be ready for the evening
news if you want to go earlier.”

“The
morning news will be fine. Please be ready. Thanks for coming in to my office.”

Zoe
went back to her office. She continued working on what she had so far. She would
have to expand her work to include more information from the international news
outlets. She determined that even if she had to work through the night, she
would be ready for the morning news.

Upon
arriving at the convenience store, Kimberly’s crew quickly got their equipment
set up, ready for her next report. When the camera was ready, Kimberly was in
front of it, ready to go.

“This
is Kimberly Zink with NBC News, Riverside, California. We are broadcasting from
the convenience store on 14
^th
Street near Magnolia Avenue. In the
parking lot, we can see that six or eight bodies are lying on the ground. It’s
a horrible mess to look at. There’s blood everywhere. As mentioned in our last report
about these creatures, there are chunks of flesh ripped off of the victims
mixed in with the blood on the ground. I can even see a foot and an arm in the
bloody mess in the parking lot.” She gestured in the direction she was
indicating.

“There
are a few people just standing in small groups next to the convenience store, staring
at the bodies. They seem to be looking around to see if the creatures that
killed these people are coming back. At this point, I can’t see any sign of the
creatures.”

She
approached the bystanders. “Excuse me… I’m Kimberly Zink with NBC News-Riverside.
Would you be willing to talk to us about what happened here?”

The
man she had approached nodded.

“You
will? Great. Please look into the camera, tell us your name, and tell us what
you saw. Please speak up with a clear voice, and thank you.”

“My
name is Frank, and this is my wife, Julie. We were walking back from the park and
stopped in to grab a couple of bottles of water to drink on our way home. We
were about a block away when we heard the screaming. We ran as fast as we could
to see if we could help. Well, I did three tours in Afghanistan… the screams
brought back some bad memories of my time over there. By the time we got here,
the screams had stopped. The things that were here had left. All that was left
was the bodies of these six or seven people lying on the ground in a pool of their
own blood. There’s so much blood, and the bodies were so torn up, that I
couldn’t be sure whether there were six or seven bodies.” He shook his head
sadly.

“Looking
at them, they look like they’ve been gutted. Something’s just ripped chunks out
of them. There’s broken bones sticking through the wounds…. They all died a
violent death. There’s just so much blood. Look by the curb over there… the
blood’s just flowing into the gutter. Neither my wife or I actually saw the creatures
that did this. Whatever did this just walked away. If it was a pack of wild
dogs, they’d still be here, eating parts of the bodies. The things that did
this weren’t killing for food. It looks like they killed just because, like
they had a blood rage about killing. They didn’t stop until the bodies were
destroyed.”

The
man’s wife stepped up to speak.

“Hi,
as my husband said, my name is Julie. I’m an RN. While Frank was talking to
you, I was watching one of the guys that works with you, at the back of your
van. He’s been on his knees throwing up ever since you got here. He looks
miserable. His fingernails are peeling off. His skin is turning dark, like he
has gangrene. He doesn’t look well at all. Would you like me to take a closer
look at him? Like I said, I’m a nurse.”

“Thank
you for offering, Julie. I’ll have one of my crew check on him and we might take
you up on that.”

She
called to Tony. “Tony, can you check on Thomas and see if there’s anything we
can do to help him, please?”

Tony
walked to the back of the van to check on Thomas. As he got closer, Thomas
started to rise to his feet. He began to back away from Tony. Tony shouted out
to Kimberly.

“He doesn’t
look too good. The closer I get, the more he backs away from me. Now he’s all
bent over. He looks like he’s in a lot of pain. He won’t let anyone get close
to him. Kimberly, I don’t know what to do. He just keeps moving. He’s starting
to cough up some blood. What… do you hear him
snarling
at us? I think he’s
changing into one of
them.
I really believe that we need to leave him
behind when we go. We all need to get out of here… we really need to get away
from this place,
now!”

“Floyd,
can you turn your camera on Thomas…? Follow him wherever he goes. I want to see
what’s happening with him. We need to help him if we can, if he’ll let us. Oh, my
god! Floyd, don’t take your camera off of Thomas whatever you do. Look, he’s
moving away from us. He’s going down the side street. This is the same
direction that the creatures went. He’s not walking right. He’s limping, shuffling
might be the word, rather than walking. Every once in a while, he drops down, walking
on all fours like an animal. Okay, I’m getting really scared right now.”

“Everyone
pack up everything back into the van!” said Floyd. “We’re going back to the
studio. We need to get off the street until we can figure out what’s going on.
If we can’t be safe, I don’t want to be out on the streets. If any of the
creatures come this way, dump the equipment and get the goddamn van running. We
need to move now! Right now Thomas is beyond our help.”

“All
right,” said Kimberly, “Let’s wrap this up. We need to get the hell out of
here,
now
. Floyd, get the handheld, please, and ride up here next to me.
I want to record all of this as we drive back. Make sure we’re sending the
signal back to the studio. Put me on the handheld now. I want to sign off with
a message.”

“This
has been Kimberly Zink broadcasting live from the convenience store on 14
^th
Street near Magnolia. We’re currently returning to the station. I urge everyone
who can hear my voice to quickly get to a safe place. Lock yourself in. Do
not
approach the creatures that have taken over our town.”

On the
way back Kimberly called the station manager.

“Delbert,
this is Kimberly. It isn’t safe for us out here. Thomas Miller has been lost.
We think he turned into one of those creatures right in front of us. We sent
you the footage. We also have it recorded. The rest of us are in the van,
returning to the station. It’s too dangerous for us out here.”

“Okay,
Kimberly,” said Delbert. “Bring everyone back to the station. We’ll figure
something out once you get here. Two of the other vans have already come back
already. Both of those crews lost people, too. I called the last crew, but they’re
not answering. I don’t know where they are. They may be dead, or gone, or both.
Get back here as quick as you can. Be safe. I’ll see you when you get back.”

“Floyd,
I want you to take the fastest route that you can to get us back to the station,”
said Kimberly. “We need to get out of this deathtrap now.”

“All
right,” said Floyd. “Never have I run from a news story before, but I guess if
you live long enough, everything happens to you at least once.”

Just
as Delbert hung up with Kimberly, his phone rang again. It was Zoe. “Delbert,
this is Zoe. My story is ready for broadcast.”

“Thanks,
Zoe. I’ve slotted your story at 6:10 AM, following the national news.”

“Thank
you,
Delbert. I’ll be there.”

As
Kimberly and her staff were driving back to the station, their path was blocked
by abandoned cars on every street they took. They backtracked, taking a
different route a number of different times. No matter what route they tried, every
road was blocked by abandoned vehicles or roaming creatures. They could drive
away from the station towards the center of Riverside, but they couldn’t drive
into the city towards the studio.

As
they drove, Kimberly had Jason tune the radio to stations in Greater Los
Angeles. She wanted to listen to reports of what was occurring around them.
From the reports that they received, what they were experiencing in Riverside
was even worse in the L.A. Basin.

Kimberly
finally had Jason turn the radio off. What they had just witnessed was scary
enough; they didn’t need to hear more about it right now. She had her unborn
baby and her husband on her mind. She asked Jason to find a vacant lot or some
other safe place to pull into so they could park for a minute to talk. They
needed a plan for the next couple of days.

“Okay,
it looks like we can’t get to the station. Every route we’ve tried is blocked.
We have to find a place that’s safe. From what the radio news is saying, the
Los Angeles Basin is even worse than it is here in Riverside. It sounds like
the Basin is where everyone is dying right now. Everywhere we went, there were
dead bodies on the ground, probably killed by the creatures. The roads into the
city are completely blocked by abandoned vehicles. The only direction that isn’t
blocked is out of the city. I suggest that we move towards Palmdale. It’s in
the high desert, so there shouldn’t be as many creatures there. We have a
running vehicle that will keep us safe as long as it keeps moving. We have the
station’s gas card so we won’t run out of gas. What do you think?”

“I’m
with you, Kim. You know I’ll drive this beast anywhere you tell me to,” Jason
said.

“Thanks.
What about the rest of you?”

“Kimberly,
I think I speak for everyone here,” said Floyd. “When I say that I think we
stand just as bad a chance of dying by staying here as if we go down into the
city. If that means we need to go to Palmdale or somewhere in that direction, then
we should go.”

“Okay,
then,” said Kim. “We’re going to go to Palmdale. I’m not going to tell the
station just yet. We need to get to a safe place where we can rest and gather
our thoughts before we do anything else... Find a convenience store that sells
gas. We can stock up on food and water. I mean real food, not junk. Don’t get
anything that’s going to spoil. We need to start thinking about a safe place to
stay at night from now on.”

“Did
you know that there are two auxiliary fuel tanks on this van?” said Jason. “They
did this so we could have all of the equipment running for hours without having
to go and fill up all the time. I’ll fill all three tanks. That will give us
115 gallons of gas. We’ll be able to go farther without having to stop so
often.”

 “That’s
a great idea, Jason,” said Kimberly. “Okay, guys, let’s get some food, water
and gas. We need to get out of this piece of crap Riverside desert while we’re
still alive.”

It was
4:30 in the morning. Zoe had stayed at the studio all night, listening to the
international news. She’d made last minute changes to her special report to
coincide with the latest news. The station director called her, giving her a
fifteen-minute warning. She came down from her office, handing her recorded
report to the broadcast manager. Zoe walked to her designated spot in front of
the secondary camera. She stood, waiting for her cue. The lead cameraman
counted her down from three seconds.

“Good
morning, Riverside. I’m Zoe Manderal, Investigative Reporter for NBC News,
Riverside, California. I’m bringing you a special report covering the outbreak
of these creatures. I’ve gathered my information for this report from local,
national and international news sources from around the world. What we’ve
discovered is that the creatures that are attacking people here in Riverside
and down into the Los Angeles Basin are not unique to our area. As you can see
from the footage that we’ve acquired from around the world, which is playing on
your screen now, all of the creatures appear to be the same no matter where
they are. The next footage is graphic; sensitive viewers may want to turn away
from their screens. We’ve gathered images of the remains of the bodies from the
creature’s attacks. Nearly all of the victims have been mutilated in a similar
manner. In my research, I have found that the descriptions of the creatures
that were used differed by where in the world the report originates.
”

She
continued, “The general description of the creatures was that they were horrid,
haggard creatures. Some were missing limbs, others were missing other body
parts like an ear or an eye or a nose. Some missing half of their face. Black,
dried blood had run down their bodies. On nearly every creature, the clothing
they’re wearing is torn or shredded and does little to cover their battered,
bruised bodies. Their eyes are glazed over with a film or some sort, making the
eye almost opaque, like they’re covered with something like slime, leaving the
eyes vacant or unseeing.”