The ZWD Trilogy (Book 1): Zombie World Dominance [The Destruction Begins] (24 page)

“Yes,
that will be fine with us. Please don’t take too long. I don’t know if there
are any zombies around here.”

“It
will be no more than five minutes. As long as we have been here, we have not
seen a zombie. That does not mean they are not here, but we have not seen any.”

Sancho
left to get his wife and his brother. Just a few minutes later they were back.
Roberto had prepared everyone to meet them upon their return. They were waiting
for them in the living room. Roberto had Maurico sit at the top of the stairs
with his gun. Roberto met them at the door and invited them into the house.

“Roberto,
please let me introduce my wife, Jimena. This is my brother Isandro. His wife
Tonia and their 10-year old son Lorencio are back at our house. This is
Roberto. Shall we sit down so we can talk?”

“Yes,
that would be fine,” said Sancho. “Please take a seat on the couch over there,
if you will. We have been waiting for you.”

They
sat, waiting. Roberto stood and introduced his group:

“This
is my sister, Amada Travieso. Her girls are Delfina, who is 21, and Domitilla, who
is ten. Her husband, Juan, was killed by a zombie. This is Esperana Ortega and her
son, Maurico. These girls are her friend’s daughters — Rosalinda, who is
twelve; Reva, who is eight, and Lucinda, who is eleven. Please tell us what you
can about this camp that you started to tell us about.”

“Thank
you. I am very glad to meet you all. First of all, this is my wife Jimena, and behind
me is my brother Isandro. Isandro has a ham radio that he has been using to try
to find information on how to kill the zombies. He came across a broadcast
about the camp. It is called the Nebraska Survivor Camp. It is a large, safe camp
for all people. As the name implies, it is in Nebraska. The camp leaders say
that it can accommodate up to 3,000 people. It has enough land to grow food to
feed everyone.”

He
continued, “They say they have a tall wall around it that is guarded 24 hours a
day. When people first get there, they are placed in quarantine for two weeks
to make sure that they are not carrying the zombie virus. After that, they are
allowed in to the camp. We have a 25-passenger bus that we are driving to
Nebraska in the morning. You are all welcome to come with us. We have enough
gas to make it all the way. You can follow us in your pickup until it runs out
of gas, if that makes you feel better. We will be leaving in the morning at
10:00. If you want to go, you are invited to join us.”

“Do
you mind if we ask you a few questions? Some of them aren’t necessarily about leaving.
What we want to know is about Tucson.”

“No,
Roberto. It’s fine. Go ahead and ask whatever you want.”

“You said
you have been here for four weeks. Do you think we could survive if we were to stay
right here? I mean, have you found enough food and water to live on?”

“Like
I said, this city is slowly dying. The food is running out. The way we find water
is if we’re lucky enough to find a house that still has water in the hot water
tanks or when it rains, which is not often in Arizona. We’re not the only people
in this city. The competition for food and water is high. We don’t want to be
around when the food is really starting to run out. We think a shooting war will
likely start over the remaining food. That’s one reason that we’re happy that
we found the survivors’ camp.”

“Well,
let me ask you this. in our travels we’ve seen a bunch of graffiti everywhere.
The way it’s written, it’s often hard to tell what it means. But there has been
one tag that we’ve seen that is always clear and easy to read. Whoever did the
tags used good quality paint and went over it a number of times so it would
last. We’ve seen it on overpasses and on the top of the border crossing building.
It says
Survive with The Guardians.
Do you know who the
Guardians are? Or what does it mean to survive with them? If they can help, how
do we find them?”

“We’ve
seen those tags in different places, too, but I’m sorry to say I don’t know who
the Guardians are or how to contact them.”

“Okay.
Well, we had to ask. As far as going with you, it sounds like a wonderful
proposition. Do you mind if we talk it over tonight? In the morning, if we have
decided to go with you, we’ll be in our pickup, ready to leave at ten. If not,
then we won’t be out on the street waiting for you. Thank you for taking your
time to come over to talk with us, and thank you for inviting us to go with
you.”

When
they were done, everyone gathered in the kitchen to talk. Roberto said, “As far
as I’m concerned, this sounds like it is too good to pass up. They did tell us
that if we want to go with them we can. I know it would be nice to stop
running.”

“Roberto,
it does sound wonderful,” said Esperana. “And I guess this is as good a time as
any to tell everyone my news. My reason for going is personal. I am pregnant, and
it would be nice not to have to run while raising a baby.”

“Mother,
you’re
pregnant?
Why didn’t you tell us?” asked Lucinda.

“I
didn’t want to add to your worries. I only told Maurico a few days ago.”

“I
think we could follow them in our pickup for a while,” said Maurico. “If it turns
out that it doesn’t look good, we can always go somewhere else. If we run out
of gas, we can decide whether to go with them or start walking again. We have
to think about Mother now.”

“Maurico,
you have a good point,” said Roberto. “I say that we should be ready to go in
the morning. I still think we need to have our night watch, no matter what.
Part of our watch will be to keep an eye on their house.”

“You’re
right, Roberto. I agree that we should go with them as well. Mother, what do
you think?”

“I say
we all go. The girls will help me get everything ready to go in the morning. If
the person on the last watch wakes us at first light, it will give us plenty of
time to have everything packed up and ready to go. We will even have time for breakfast.”

They
made plans to travel to the Nebraska Survivor Camp with the other families. For
now, they were happy that their running was nearly over. They slept well for
the first time in a long while, and they were happy.

Tomorrow
their running would be almost over.

They
hoped.

S.S.
Oceania

Pacific Ocean

ADZ +105d

As the
Oceania
had done every week for the last year, at 4:00 PM it pulled out
of port in Los Angeles harbor. This was the start of another weekly cruise to
the Mexican Riviera. The
Oceania
had made this same six-day cruise every
week for the last year. Mazatlan was their first scheduled port. After
Mazatlan, they would sail to Puerto Vallarta, and then on to Catalina Island,
off the coast of California. Finally, the ship would return to its home port in
Los Angeles on Saturday; the passengers would disembark, the crew would do any
necessary maintenance on Sunday, and another trip would begin on Monday.

The
ship typically had 3,250 passengers aboard, along with 1,090 crew members, as
it left Los Angeles. It was heading for its first port of call in Mazatlan. The
voyage from Los Angeles to Mazatlan took all night. At nine o’clock the next
morning the
Oceania
docked in Mazatlan.

This particular
cruise, however, was unlike anyone could have imagined. The initial leg of the cruise
was perfectly normal, and when the passengers awoke on Tuesday morning, the
ship was docked at Mazatlan.

In
just a few hours, however, their pleasure and happiness would turn into a
nightmare for everyone aboard.

The
majority of this crew had been working together for the last two years. They
had piloted this ship on this route many times. This time, however, the cruise would
turn out deadly.

No one
could have expected what happened in Mazatlan. As the passengers were going
ashore, a pack of zombies began to attack the disembarking passengers. The head
of security was at the top of the gangway, seeing the passengers off the ship,
when he saw what was happening. He got on the intercom to the Captain.

“Captain
Wasem, this is Walter in Security.”

“Walter,
this is Captain Wasem. How may I help you?”

“Captain,
are you watching the de-boarding of the passengers to the dock?”

“I am on
the bridge, so I don’t have a direct view of the dock. What is going on?”

“Captain,
the passengers are being attacked by some sort of ferocious creatures. They’re
killing the passengers! I’ve instructed my staff to bring them back on board.
There are maybe twenty-five to thirty or more dead on the dock. I have lost
three of my security staff as well. We need to get this ship away from the
dock. We need to leave the dead where they are. I do not have enough weapons to
retrieve the bodies. Do you agree with me, Captain?”

“Yes.
I will send calls out to have the ship made ready for sea. I will sound the
emergency signal through the ship and have the harbor tugs recalled to help us move
away from the docks so we can go to sea. Please have your staff escort the
injured to the infirmary. I am cancelling the remainder of the cruise. We will return
to Los Angeles immediately.”

“Thank
you, Captain. There are some eight or nine injured that we are taking to the
infirmary.”

As
they left Mazatlan, the Captain instructed the radio operator to contact the
ship’s home office to notify them of the conditions on board as well as their
intent to return to home port. The radio operator repeatedly radioed their home
port, but their radio calls went unanswered.

The
radio operator told the captain he was unsuccessful; the captain, subsequently,
told his radio operator to contact the United States Coast Guard. They did not
respond to the radio call. The radio operator was finally able to contact the
United States Navy.

“S.S.
Oceania
,
this is the U.S. Navy. How can we help you? Over.”

“
Oceania
here. We are operating under emergency conditions. We are reporting up to 45
dead on board. We are making directly for Port Los Angeles at our best speed.
Requesting evacuation of our wounded to mainland hospitals, over.”

“U.S.
Navy calling the S.S.
Oceania
. Regret that we do not have the personnel
or air or watercraft to assist you. We recommend making best speed directly to
San Diego for medical assistance. Over.”

“
Oceania
calling U.S. Navy. Understood, you do not have equipment or personnel available
to assist at this time. We will alter course to San Diego. Over and out.”

As
they had left Mazatlan, they discovered that some of the zombies had apparently
managed to board the ship. The head of security radioed the captain.

“Captain
Wasem, this is Roberts in Security. I’m reporting that we have received the
remainder of the ship’s passengers. Of those, nine wounded are on their way to
the infirmary. We have three crew members deceased and five wounded. I have
received reports that on one of the other decks we have up to 23 crew members
dead. Some of their bodies are on board and others left behind on the dock at
Mazatlan. It appears that there are 20 to 25 of the zombies on board. I had all
access to the service deck sealed by watertight doors that have been closed and
secured. This will keep the zombies that are on board away from the passenger
areas.”

“Thank
you for your report, Roberts. I want you to instruct your staff to inspect the
ship looking for any zombies on board.”

“Roger,
Captain. Will do. Roberts out.”

Captain
Wasem shook his head.
Zombies?
This was unbelievable.

“Captain
to engineering.”

“Engineering
here, Captain. What can we do for you?”

“We
are returning to sea. I want you to trim the ship for best speed. I need any
open watertight doors to be closed. We are steaming to San Diego to offload the
wounded. Following that port, we will return to Los Angeles. Understood?”

“Roger,
Captain. We will trim the ship for maximum speed.”

The
Oceania
was on its way under the best speed that it could make towards San Diego. The captain
had no way of knowing that the nightmare was just beginning on his ship.

The
zombies started moving from the rear of the ship forward, killing anyone they
could get hold of. Be they crew members or passengers, it didn’t matter to the
zombies who they killed.

The
killings continued 24 hours a day on board the
Oceania
. Now, four months
later, they were lost somewhere in the Pacific Ocean, adrift. They had been
riding the ocean currents for weeks.

The
deaths continued on board daily, and the ship had lost the majority of its
crew.

The
Oceania
no longer had enough crew members to keep the ship operating. On the
engineering decks, the zombies had killed every one of the ship’s crewmen that dared
to try to keep the ship going. Without personnel to keep the engines running, they
soon shut down.

No one
could enter the engineering decks to restart the engines because of the
zombies. This threw the ship into darkness as it drifted without power. Nearly
everything on board ran off of electricity. Anything that had to be pumped —
pneumatic lines, hydraulic systems — was gone. Nothing could be cooked. There
was no power to prepare any food. All the refrigeration units in the galley had
stopped working, so the food was ruined.

Dr. Noble
Hajjar was the only one of the medical staff left alive. The remaining crew was
in horrible shape. The majority had been killed. The pantry staff were all
dead. Of the thousand-plus crew that they had started with, probably 150 to 200
crew members were still alive. Most of the staff were doing the best they could
to assist the remaining passengers on board. Some crewmen took to their cabins,
staying there and hiding from the zombies.

Captain
Tarek Wasem was the last member of the command staff still alive. As they left
Mazatlan, Captain Wasem wanted to know what had just happened. He called the
head of security, Theo, to the bridge to talk with him.

“Theo,
what can you tell me about the condition of the ship today?”

“Captain,
we know that there are many zombies on board. They’re killing people — crew or
passengers alike — wherever they find them. I’ve not been able to find a way to
stop them, or even really slow them down. I’ve closed all of the bulkhead
doors, trying to keep the zombies confined. Somehow they have managed to find a
way past the bulkhead doors. It is like they’re multiplying on our side of the
bulkhead doors. Anyone who is still behind those doors has been sentenced to death.
We’ve lost the engineering room; the engines that power the generators have
quit, so we’ve been without power for a while. All of the food aboard has gone
bad. The water, the sewage, the air handlers, everything that needs power is
gone. The ship is dead in the water, drifting. There is nothing that I can do
to stop the zombies from killing all of us.”

“Thank
you, my friend. I know you are doing is hard. I know there is nothing that we
can do to stop the zombies. I think it will only be a matter of time until the
ship will have no living humans on board. Somewhere. If the zombies run out of
people to kill will they die? I don’t know. I wanted to get to Los Angeles with
as many people alive as I could, but we are adrift. We will go where the
current takes us now. As a ship’s captain, I have failed. The only thing I
command is a ship of death.”

“Theo,
one moment before you go, please. We have many bodies in cold storage. There is
no power to keep them cool. I want you and your staff to find some canvas or
plastic sheeting to wrap the bodies. Then I what you to rail dump them. I want
you to start doing this now. As your staff comes across a body, please, wrap it
up and then dump it. Are you okay with this?”

“Tarek,
this is the hardest order that I have ever been given in my sailing career.” He
paused. “Yes, I will instruct my staff to do this. We will start with the
bodies in cold storage. After that, when we find a body, we will wrap it and dump
it over the side.”

“Thank
you, Theo. Try to keep too many of the guests from seeing it.”

On the
Oceania
, there was dried blood and body parts in various places on the
deck where a zombie had killed a person. The bodies were ripped or slashed far
beyond what took to kill them. Captain Wasem made the difficult decision to
wrap the bodies and have them buried at sea as quietly as possible so the
remaining passengers would not become any more frightened than they already were.

The
Oceania
had been drifting for three months without power. The best guess that Captain
Wasem had for their location was they were about 800 nautical miles off the
coast of Oregon. Today, Captain Wasem was sitting with Dr. Hajjar in his cabin.
They were discussing everything that had happened.

“Noble,
I cannot figure out what is happening on my ship. We have lost nearly all of
the people who were on this ship when we left Mazatlan. I have received reports
from our staff that zombies have been seen everywhere on board. There is
nothing that we can do. The only thing that we have to do is keep dumping the
bodies as we find them. We haven’t found any way to stop the zombies.”

“We no
longer have a single crew member that knows how to keep this ship under power.
The ship’s engines have been offline for nearly three months, and we are
drifting farther away from land each day. Nobel, what is happening?”

“Tarek,
we’ve lost everything. All my medical staff is dead. From what I can see, you
are correct in your belief that most of the people on board are dead. The
remaining passengers are hiding in their staterooms. Some venture out, looking
for food or water once in a while. As they come out of their staterooms, many
are killed before they can return. Dead bodies are lying all over the ship. We
do not have enough crew left to deal with the bodies. I don’t think that there
are enough crewmen left to keep up with the kills. I think that somehow the
dead may be turning into more zombies! I say this because I have seen some of
the zombies wearing clothes that I know belonged to the dead I saw a few days
ago.”

“If we
don’t do something to get this ship under power again, we will all die soon. I
believe that we have passed the point of being able to restart the ship’s
engines with the number of crew we have on board. We are dying on this ship. I
see no other outcome other than we will all be dead very soon… two weeks or
less.”