The ZWD Trilogy (Book 1): Zombie World Dominance [The Destruction Begins] (25 page)

“I
have been down to the engineering decks. All the bulkhead doors have been
locked down. Through the port in the door, all I could see was zombies and dead
bodies.”

“The
dead that we have dumped overboard were not prepared correctly, with a weight
to take the body to the bottom of the ocean. Right now, if you look off the
stern, you will see many floating bodies drifting behind the ship. All of the
food in the galleys has spoiled. My friend, we are on a ship of death. We are
doomed. We will then drift the oceans forever, unless we wreck against a shore or
a reef somewhere. I’m afraid that if or when help arrives, the only survivors
left on board will be the zombies.”

“Noble,
my friend, thank you for your observation. I know our future is bleak. Please
join me in draining this bottle of cognac. I have been saving it for years, for
a special occasion. And what occasion could be more special than this? The only
thing that I can think of is that I don’t want to die knowing that this bottle
is still full after I have gone.”

Dr.
Hajjar replied, “Since there is nothing in our future but death, I believe
would be the right thing to do. It has been a wonderful seven years that we
have spent together. My friend, I don’t think I can live in a world like this,
with all of the zombies or whatever they bring with them. I’d be happy to share
your cognac, my friend.”

Captain
Wasem took two glasses off of his shelf and poured some cognac into each of them,
handing one to his friend as he sat to enjoy his drink. The doctor took his
glass as well. They sat in the Captain’s cabin, talking and drinking, until the
bottle was empty. With the Captain’s final sip of cognac, he sat the empty
glass on the table next to him.

With
one fluid motion, he retrieved a .45 pistol from under his seat cushion, put it
to his head, and pulled the trigger. His body slumped to the floor.

“No!” Dr.
Hajjar cried out, but it was far too late. He choked on his words. “God
damn
you, why did you leave me here?” He knew he didn’t have the balls to do what Wasem
had just done.

With
his friend dead and the ship having become a deathtrap, Noble Hajjar was utterly
lost. He stood and walked out onto the Captain’s patio. Then a solution came to
him.

He climbed
up on a chair next to the railing and stepped up onto the top rail. Standing
there looking into the sun, Dr. Hajjar smiled as he took a final step out onto empty
air, falling feet first into the ocean, where he was quickly swallowed by the
waves.

The
Oceania
drifted on out into the Pacific Ocean under no one’s command. The
Oceania
was now truly a ship of death.

In the
four short months since this had begun, it was over for the
Oceania
.

Luxor, Egypt

ADZ +137d

Throughout
Egypt, the countrywide electrical grid had failed. There were not enough
skilled people to keep the electrical generating plants running. Simply put, there
were too many people who had gone missing added to the number of people that
have been killed by the zombies. There were not enough people to keep much of
anything operating in Egypt. The failure of the electrical grid took with it
the pumping of water, the pumping of the sewage or anything that required
electricity to function.

The
police departments, the fire departments, the military or much of any service
that ran with a crew. People have stopped showing up for work. Many were dead,
many had gone missing the rest of the living were running for their lives.
Those that were not running joined together forming groups of lawless gangs of
thugs who were trying to take any advantage they could have this outbreak. They
roamed the countryside taking what they wanted when they wanted it. The gangs
were hoping that the outbreak was a temporary event that when it was over, they
would emerge in possession of more than they had before.

Over
the last five months, so many people had just disappeared. They were either
killed by the zombies, killed by the gangs or just missing. During the last
five months, the zombies brought upon Egypt a great slaughter of their people.
No one had made the connection between the missing with the arrival of the
zombies.

Zeyad,
Sheref, and Assem had been walking for five months now. Zeyad’s car had run out
of gas two days out from Luxor. There was no more gas to be had at any price.
They abandoned Zeyad’s car and started the long walk to Cairo carrying
everything they had. In the desert, the heat was oppressive. It sapped the
energy out of everyone, especially anyone in the direct sunlight. Water was not
an issue. The water in the Nile River was drinkable. In the five months since
they left Luxor, they had only got as far as Bani Mazar. They were still a long
way from Cairo. It was early afternoon. What they had learned while walking was
that the zombies came out of their hiding to hunt late in the day.

On the
outskirts of Bani Mazar, they came across a wonderful house to rest for the
night. It must have been owned by a wealthy man of the town. They did not care
who owned this house. What they were looking for was a place to rest that was
secure from the zombies or the gangs. What they had found was that the owner
made sure that the doors, windows of the house including the courtyard were
built with security in mind.

After
Zeyad with his men had climbed over the courtyard wall. Inside the courtyard,
they discovered the front door to the house locked. They walked around the
house until Assem their chance to get in.

“Zeyad,
come look at this. That door on the balcony is open. Help me get up on that
roof. I can reach the balcony from there.”

Zeyad
boosted Assem to the roof of the shed next to the house. From there he was able
to grab the bottom rail of the balcony pulling himself up onto the balcony.
With a quick hop, he was through the door. Assem ran through the bedroom, down
the stairs to the front door throwing it open. Zeyad was at the front door
waiting for him. Sheref came running from the around the other side of the
house through the front door slamming it behind him. As they were standing in
the entry of the house he remarked.

“Wow!
This is a great home. Now that we are inside I do not think that anyone is
inside with us. We need to do a quick search if we are alone. Let’s get this
done quickly. When you are done, come back here.” If we are alone, we need to
go back around to lock this place up tight.”

They
all took different areas of the house to see if they were alone. Finding the
house empty, they met back in the entry way. Zeyad looked at each of them as he
spoke.

“Did
you find anyone in the house with us?”

“I was
upstairs. There was no one up there.”

“I
went to the back of the house. Same thing back there, no one.”

“Thank
you both. I went through the front rooms. I did not see anything either. Now
that we know we are alone this place needs to be locked up tight. While we are
securing this place, look around. We might find something that we could use.”

As
they locked down the house, they discovered something that they could have ever
dreamed of.

“Sheref,
come over here and look at this. Hurry. Bring Zeyad.”

“What
do you have Assem?”

“Come,
look in the garage.”

“Let
Allah be praised. Assem, we will not be walking for a while. If this Range
Rover runs, we will be doing much better. Do you think it will start?”

“Zeyad,
the keys are in the ignition. It has been waiting for us! Look at the storage
racks over there. If those cans are full, then there must be 50 to 60 liters of
gas. We will be driving for a long time with all of this extra gas. You have
found a treasure for us, Assem. Get in the truck. See if it will start.”

“Sheref
check the cans. See if they are full of gas.”

“I
will, Zeyad. While I was on the other side of the house, I saw a trailer that
this could pull. We could put all of the gas cans in it. We won’t be walking
for a long time with this much gas.”

Assem
grabbed the handle of the driver’s door. Surprisingly, it was unlocked. He got
in and turned the key in the ignition. The engine fired up like it had run the
day before. With the truck running Assem was all smiles. He turned it off as he
was looking out of the window at Zeyad.

“Allah
be praised! It runs Zeyad. If the owner left this here what else did they leave
in this house for us to find? This house must have belonged to a man of wealth.
There must be many hidden places with so many things for us to find.”

“You
are right, Assem. If someone had left such a vehicle behind, they did not leave
willingly. If that is the case, then I wonder what else might be in this house?
We must be diligent in our search of this house. Look everywhere; do not leave
anything untouched. Look behind or under anything that you can move. Look for
hidden places. Take Sheref with you to search the rest of this floor. I will be
upstairs looking as well. When you are finished down here, join me upstairs. We
will need to eat before it gets too dark. We cannot get soft simply because we
found a vehicle. The zombies are still out there. They will kill us if they
have a chance. We cannot let our guard down now that we have this truck. Don’t
forget the road bandits out there who would not hesitate to kill us for what we
just found.”

“All
right, Zeyad, we will check the rest of this floor. As soon as we are done, we
will join you. There has to be food in this house somewhere.”

Assem
set out to search the back of the house. Sheref went to the kitchen which was
right off of the garage. Feeling lucky after having found the Range Rover, they
hoped that their luck was still on their side as they searched the rest of the
house. Sheref was searching the kitchen when he found a camouflaged door in the
pantry. He called out to Assem.

“Assem!
Assem!
Come see what I have found.”

“Sheref?
Where are you?”

“I’m
in the kitchen. Hurry.”

As
Assem rushed into the kitchen, he stood there looking for Sheref. He called out
to him.

“Sheref.
Where are you? I don’t see you?”

“Come
into the pantry. I have found a secret room behind this shelf.”

Assem
stepped into the pantry. Sheref had lit a candle to see what was in the room.

“Oh,
for the praise of Allah! Sheref, with all of this food, we will eat for a long
time before we have to look for more. Look at all of the food you have found! Everything
has been canned — the meat, the produce, fruit, bottles of water, bottles of wine
and liquor and even more behind the cans. You have found the best room of all. What
else must this house be hiding from us? How did you know to look here?”

“I had
a short candle in my pocket. I lit it so I could see a little better. I got on
my hands and knees. From that angle, I saw these drag marks on the floor where the
hidden door scraped the floor when it was opened. I stood up, then I started to
look for a hidden lever or handle. When I pressed the side of the shelf, the
door popped open a bit. I pushed it the rest of the way, and this is what I
found. Now that it is getting dark out, we won’t be able to find very much more
without lighting candles. If we do that, it may attract the zombies or the road
bandits.”

Sheref
nodded. “I will use some of this food to make our dinner. Go find Zeyad. Bring
him down to the kitchen so we can eat.”

“Very
good, Sheref. I will be right back with Zeyad.”

Assem
returned shortly with Zeyad. Sheref had set out some food for them. They talked
as they ate; Zeyad even spoke with his mouth full of food. “Sheref, the food…
what you found will feed us for a long, long time. We might be able to get all
the way to Cairo with the truck and all the gas in the garage, along with all
of this food. I want to stay here for a couple more days. Something tells me
that there must be more hidden spaces with treasures that we have not yet found.”

“Zeyad,
what do you think happened to the people who lived in this house?”

“I
don’t know, Assem. They might have been some of the people who have gone
missing, or they may have been killed by the zombies. I do not have the answer.
If they were killed in the house, we should have found blood somewhere. The
missing, on the other hand, did not leave any trail or sign that they left.
They were simply gone.”

“So
what do you think we should do now, Zeyad?”

“In
the morning, we will go through this house from the roof to the basement. We
will look for any traces or signs of hidden rooms or panels. We will only leave
if someone or something forces us out before we have searched this entire
house. Only after we have looked everywhere in this house will we leave. Cairo
will be there waiting for us.”

“Tonight
we will sleep in the beds that are upstairs. It will be nice to sleep in a bed
instead of on the ground. Come on, let’s go. I want to get a good night’s sleep
for once.”

“As
secure as this house is, do you think we need a night watch, Zeyad?”

“I
don’t think we do. This house is locked up tight. Whoever is awake when the sun
is up will need to wake the others up. We will take tomorrow to search this
house for everything it may conceal. If we cannot get it all done in one day,
we will take two or three. Whatever time we need to find everything that is
hidden in this house, we will take it. We need to take advantage of what this
house has to offer. We may never have a chance like this again.”

“I
think that whatever we find should be moved to the garage as it is found. That
way it will be ready to load before we go. We will not have to spend a lot of time
carrying everything out all at once. If we have to get out in a hurry, what we
have ready can be loaded quickly before we go.”

“You
have good ideas, Assem. We will do it that way. We won’t be so tired if we
carry things to the garage as we find them. Thank you.”

The
three of them went up to the bedrooms. There were five bedrooms upstairs. Each man
selected a separate bedroom for himself.

When morning
came, Sheref was the first to awaken. He went around to the other rooms and
woke Assem and Zeyad. Then he went down to the kitchen to prepare breakfast for
the three of them.

As
they were eating, Assem asked, “With what we found yesterday, where do you think
we should start looking today, Zeyad?”

“I was
thinking that it would be best if we all worked together in this house. We
should begin our search here in this kitchen, looking for any telltale signs of
other hidden doors; drag marks on the floor, such as Sheref noticed yesterday,
or where a hidden door does not fit right. By tapping on the walls, we could
listen for hollow spots. If it sounds hollow behind a wall, but we can’t find
the door or passage, then we will simply smash open the wall, moving from room
to room. I think that will be the best way to progress so that we don’t miss
anything. With three sets of eyes, one of us should see if there is something
out of place. Look for overly thick walls between rooms, rooms that are not as
deep or ceilings that are lower than in adjacent rooms. Hiding spots take up
extra space that will give itself away if we look hard enough. We don’t want to
forget the attic. We are engineers; we should know about buildings.” His
companions nodded.