The ZWD Trilogy (Book 1): Zombie World Dominance [The Destruction Begins] (3 page)

Mary
took Rosie by her shoulder and walked her to the open door of her dad’s radio
room. As they walked, she told Rosie, “See, there they are. They haven’t run
away. Dad has them corralled in there. He even has some of them talking to
people on his radio. Guys get bored so quickly. They have to be doing something
all the time.”

Rosie
sighed as she shrugged her shoulders. She put her hands on her hips. She sighed
as she spoke. “Look at them. They are almost drooling. Our dog at home looks
like that when it’s time to feed him. When Stan looks at me like that, I know
what he wants. When he knows that I’m not giving in, he pouts. Every time we go
somewhere if I don’t keep him on a short leash close to me something will get
his attention. Then he just walks away to look at whatever it is that he is
looking at. It could be a rock or a car or something else. Stan has such a
short attention span. Are they all like him? Look, Stan is talking on the
radio. Do you ever get to talk on your Dad’s radio?”

Mary
wrinkled up her nose at Rosie. “Eww! No, not any more. He used to make me sit
next to him for hours while he was on that thing. Every weekend it was the same
thing. He worked so hard to get me to talk to people I didn’t know, and I hated
it. He’d have me talk to this guy in England or that guy in Chile. Mom kind of
gave up on trying to get him to spend more time with us. I guess it’s a guy thing.”
She smiled.

“Finally,
to get out of having to spend every weekend on the radio, I told mom that I had
homework. She told him he had to let me do homework instead. It worked. I
haven’t been on his radio since.”

“That
was smart!” Rosie said. “Hey, did Cori and Teddy go home? I haven’t seen them
in a while.”

Mary
smiled. She pointed at the far side of the radio table. She whispered so as not
to interrupt the guys. “There they are. Can you see Jennifer? Cori’s sitting on
the floor next to Ted. Come on, you can help me rescue them.”

They walked
into the dreaded radio room. Mary stood behind her father, placing her hands on
her Dad’s shoulders. Leaning over, she spoke to him quietly: “Dad, it’s getting
late. The girls want to go, and they’d like their boyfriends to walk them home.
Will you be all right without them?”

Her father
took hold of her hand and turned his chair to face her, tugging her into his
lap. He looked into his daughter’s eyes, announcing to the boys, “Okay, guys. My
little princess has spoken. I guess it’s getting late and the ladies would like
you to walk them home. Thanks for indulging me as much as you did. I kept you a
little longer than I should have. Thanks for coming to Mary’s party. You all
made her happy. Be safe on your way home.”

The
girls had all followed Mary and Rosie into the room. Each girl took her
respective boyfriend’s hand and led them out of the room. As the boys left,
they shook Matt’s hand, thanking him for showing them his radio.

Jennifer
said, “Thanks for inviting us, Mary, and Mr. and Mrs. Johnson, thank you for having
us. We had a great time.”

Rosie
agreed. “I had so much fun tonight, Mary. I didn’t have to babysit Stan all
night! Your dad was our babysitter!” They all laughed at that. “Stan has to get
home to his parents, and I need to get home too. My folks always have a big family
for dinner the night before they leave for the beach. They need to fleece the
tourists for as much as they can before summer is over. When school starts, the
gravy train is over until next year.” More laughter.

Then
it was Cori’s turn: “Mary, your party was the best. Your Mom and Dad always
give you the best birthday parties. Thank you for inviting me and letting me
bring Teddy, and Mr. Johnson, thank you for giving him something to do besides standing
around, bugging me to leave every five minutes.”

Mary
led everyone to the front door. There was an enormous smile on her face, and her
eyes were sparkling. She had both of her arms wrapped around Jerry’s left arm,
holding him tight. As she saw everyone out, she told everyone. “Thank you all for
coming. You all made my birthday so beautiful. Please be safe and call me when
you get home. We start our senior year in just a few weeks.” They all hooted
and cheered.

As
each girl walked out, Mary gave them a big hug. Jerry was the last to leave. He
gave Mary a big hug and a kiss on the cheek. As Jerry walked out, she closed
the door. Her party was officially over.

Early
the next morning, before Mary got up, her parents left to go to work. There
were rows and rows of booths lined up near the beach, most of them owned by people
living in East Norwich. More than half of the owners and their children worked
their booths for the last few weeks before school began.

Mary
wouldn’t see her parents again until after school started. As in prior years,
this was the final push for everyone who owned a booth to make as much as they
could before the season ended. This year was no different than other years, but
no one knew that this was the year that everything would change. This was the
beginning of the end. No one imagined what was coming.

There
was nothing special about Saturday; it was the same old boring summer doldrums.
When Mary got up, she went over to Jerry’s house. They were a perfect couple. He
was a member of the ROTC and the first string quarterback on the football team,
and Mary’s cheerleading squad was there cheering for every game.

Both
of them had been born and had grown up in East Norwich. It was a small town.
They’d been in classes together ever since the first grade. They had started to
notice each other as far back as the fifth grade and had started dating when
they were freshmen.

Today,
they’d been making out on the couch since midmorning. Jerry had successfully
unbuttoned the top two buttons of Mary’s blouse as they were kissing. He was
trying to not be too obvious as he worked to get the other two undone. Jerry
hoped that once he had accomplished that, he could get her blouse off. Mary had
different thoughts about that. She was not going to allow Jerry to get any
further. She remembered what had happened earlier this summer when she let him
get her blouse off.

That
time, she hadn’t stopped him from going further. What they had already done felt
so good that she didn’t
want
to stop him. They’d had sex for the first
time. Both of them had been virgins. Jerry didn’t force her; she didn’t stop
him. They were both at fault for what had happened. It did feel good.

Mary
knew that neither of them were really ready for this new phase of their
relationship; at least not for now. Mary was determined that she wasn’t going
to let it happen again, at least not until they were a little more mature and
ready for the consequences that would come with it. Now wasn’t the right time
for that, no matter how good it felt. Coming up for air, she gently pushed him
back. She wanted — no, she
needed
a break. She stood and took Jerry’s
hand, leading him into the kitchen. She knew that having something to eat would
give them something to do besides going down that same road. While he watched
Mary make them some sandwiches, Jerry said, “I’m bored. Our parents go to the
beach every year, leaving us here alone for two or three weeks. If we say
anything to them about it, they tell us to come with them. If we go, we get put
to work. Not a great way to end our summer vacation. So we stay in town with
nothing to do. This year we’re gonna be seniors! We’ve done nothing all summer except
hanging out in this little town, bored out of our minds!” He shook his head in
disgust.

“We
should
do
something. Something
big,
before school starts. I’ve never
really had a summer vacation with my parents. I want to get out of this town. I
want to go somewhere. Before my brother started his senior year, he went to
Harlem in Upper Manhattan. He told me that he had a great time. I read that
it’s changed from a low-rent slum to a high-rent place. It’s one of the
greatest places to go in the city.

“You
know, Harlem used to be a rough place to be. Before the changes, people got
robbed or killed for the clothes on their backs or the shoes they were wearing,
but that was a long time ago. When my brother went a few years ago, the city
had been working in Harlem to clean it up, and arrest the criminals. It took a
while, but they finally drove the crime out of Harlem. Now it’s the place to be
to have fun. The slums have been cleaned up, the city’s forced the sleazy hotel
owners to clean up their property. They spent the money they needed to remake
Harlem into a destination to be rather than a place to avoid.”

Mary
was spreading jelly on their sandwiches. Holding the butter knife in her hand,
she stopped and turned to face Jerry. She pulled him close to her, hugging him.
She laid her head on his shoulder, letting out a sigh and whispered into his
ear.

“I
know Jerry, I’m bored too. I hate the tourists, but we both know that’s how our
parents earn extra money for the rest of the year. They take vacations from
their jobs so they can work the booths. Every year it’s the same thing. That’s
not what vacations are for. I’d do anything not to be around the tourists. They’re
rude, pushy, and demanding. They’re just plain difficult to be around. When
they get here, they take over the town. I’m so tired of them. But if they’re all
here, maybe New York City is empty.”

Jerry
smiled as he hugged his girl with a smile on his face. He looked deeply into
her face.

“What
if we take our own vacation? All we have to do is be back before they come
home. They won’t even know that we have been gone. Mom gave me her credit card
in case I need something. What do you think? Do you want to get out of this
burg? Go on our own little vacation, just the two of us. While all of the city
people are here, we could go to the Big Apple! What do you think?”

Mary
took both of his hands in hers. As she looked into his blue eyes, with her
crooked smile, she told him, “Jerry, that’s an excellent idea. I think it’d be
fun to have our own little vacation. It’d be an extended birthday present for
me. My parents call me every night, but they always call my cell; I can be
anywhere when I answer. They’ll never know where I am. They’ll think I’m at
home, but we’ll be having the most fun ever.”

She
hesitated for a moment. Mary put her hands on his chest and looked as if she
was pouting. Jerry had spoiled her so much. He’d do anything for her if she
pouted.

“If we
go, I want my friends to come with us. If they can’t come, I don’t want to go.
I want to ask Jennifer, Cori, and Rosie. And of course, if they come, their
boyfriends will want to come with them. It’ll be a lot more fun with a group.”

She
went on, “We all have our government IDs; we’re all over 16. We have our travel
visas. We can go anywhere we want all by ourselves. Before, our parents had to
hold our hands. Come on, Jerry, what do you think? Can we all go?”

Mary
knew that it would be much safer if their friends came. There was safety in
numbers. She couldn’t trust herself to be alone with Jerry in another city. She
had let her guard down once; she wasn’t going to do that again until the time
was right. If it was just the two of them, all he would want to do was stay in
the hotel room, in bed the whole time, and she wasn’t ready for that. Not quite
yet.

Jerry
thought that once they all got to the city, he would try to get some alone time
for the two of them. He thought it could work. He hoped it would. Still smiling,
he looked into her eyes.

“I
really wanted you all to myself, you know, so we could have time just for
ourselves; no one else. But if you want your friends to come with us, that
works for me. Give them a call and see if they want to go. If they say yes,
tell them to be here in an hour and we’ll make it happen. If their boyfriends
are coming with them, it’ll be one big party. Make sure everyone brings their
travel cards. I’ll need them to book our room and reserve our travel tickets.
No travel visa, no ID, they can’t go.”

With a
smile on her face, Mary pulled him into a hug. They placed their foreheads
together, staring directly into each other’s eyes. Mary told him, “If we all go,
I want two rooms; one for the girls and one for the guys. Can we do that? It
would really make me happy.”

Jerry
looked exasperated. He had a look of frustration on his face for a moment. Then
a smile crept back onto his face. He knew she was right, though he didn’t want
to accept it.

“I’ll
get two rooms. If I’m lucky, we can get some with a door in between. That way
we won’t be running up and down the hallway.”

Jerry
was starting to think that if he played his cards right, he still might get
lucky in New York. Mary tried to get all of the girls on a conference call, but
Cori didn’t answer her phone. With Jennifer and Rosie on the line, Mary broke
the news.

“Oh,
my god! Have I got some news for you! Jerry and I have been talking, and he came
up with this great idea for all of us. School starts in two weeks, right? We
want to celebrate the end of summer before school starts. We want to go on a
vacation to New York City, our last big blowout before senior year, and we want
you guys and your boyfriends to all come with us! Just the eight of us!” The
girls were excited at the idea.

“If
you want to go with us, be at Jerry’s house in an hour. Bring your boyfriends
if they want to go. Everyone needs to bring their travel cards. Jerry needs
them to get the tickets and to book our rooms. We want to leave tomorrow.
Remember, if you don’t have your IDs and travel visas, you can’t go.”