The ZWD Trilogy (Book 1): Zombie World Dominance [The Destruction Begins] (8 page)

His
size enabled him to get into places on a ship where a full-sized man could not.
This made him a lot of money. It was also his downfall. All these ships were
made in other countries that had more relaxed rules and laws governing what a
ship builder could and could not use in the construction of their ships. Some
of these materials were carcinogenic. It was the repeated exposure to these
various carcinogens that brought about a deadly and aggressive form of lung
cancer. He died because of his work on the ships, but before he died, he graced
his wife with three wonderful girls.

They
were bringing out last of the food they had prepared for their booth, which
mostly sold food: tacos, burritos and churros. They had cooked early in the
morning. All they would have to do was reheat it when they got to the pier.
They would need to stop and buy a few blocks of ice to make into
raspados,
or shaved ice sno-cones, made with flavored syrup and with candies on top. Gumercindo
stepped out of his pickup to talk to Rosamelia.

“Good
morning,” he said. “Everything ready to go?”

“Yes,
all we have to do is hook up the trailer,” Rosamelia answered. “How is your
family?”

“We
are all well. Did you hear the screams early this morning before the sun rose?
They were horrible. They seemed to stop at about the time the sun came up.”

“Yes, two
of my girls mentioned the screams. I heard them as well. We haven’t heard any
more since the sun came up. So far everything seems okay, so we are going to
the pier to set up. Are you ready to go?”

“Yes,
we are ready,” said Gumercindo. “It was hard to listen to the screams, not
knowing where they were coming from or if we could help.”

“Are
you sure that everything’s all right?” said Rosamelia. “We are all a little scared.
We closed our windows so we would not have to listen to the screams. They would
start then stop, and start again, all night long, and even after we got up to
start cooking. It sounded like they were some distance away, so we kept working.

“Gumercindo,
I told a friend of mine that I would ask if you could give them a ride to the docks
today. Is that all right? If not, I can call and tell them they will need to
find another ride.”

“No, it’s
fine. Who are we picking up? How much do they have to take to the pier?”

“I
think you know them,” said Rosamelia. “They are Miguel Huerta, his wife Yvonne and
their daughter Rena. They only live one block over, so it is not too far out of
the way. They keep most of their goods locked, so this should only be a one-time
thing. Their booth is at the end of the row, quite a way from ours.”

“Sure,
we know them,” said Gumercindo. “Let’s get going, then, because we also need to
pick up your ice before we go to the pier. I want everyone to keep watch to see
if there is anything that doesn’t look right.”

Both
families lived in the Santa Teresa section of Mazatlan, east of the downtown area.
Gumercindo drove around the block to pick up the Huertas. As they got close to
their house, Gumercindo was the first to notice that something did not look
right. He told the others, “Everyone stay in the truck. I will go to the door
and get them. Esperana, will you move into the driver’s seat? Keep the engine
running in case we need to get out of here quickly, please.”

Gumercindo
walked up to the front door, but it was standing wide open. He shouted for the
Huertas to come out, but there was no answer.

He
stepped into the house and immediately saw Miguel’s wife lying dead on the
floor in the front room. Their daughter was dead as well, lying in the hallway.
Their bodies had been ripped to shreds. There was blood everywhere. Gumercindo
quickly turned and ran back to the truck, shouting, “Esperana! Move over! We
need to get out of here now! Something terrible has happened!”

He leapt
into the truck, slammed it into gear, and screeched out of the driveway.

“What’s
wrong? Why are you driving so fast? What is it? Talk to me!” Esperana shouted.

“Yvonne
and the girl are lying dead in there! Their bodies have been torn to pieces!
There was blood everywhere. I didn’t see Miguel, but everything in the house
was torn up. This has to be something to do with the screams we heard last
night!”

Gumercindo
was driving as fast as he could. His hands were shaking and he had broken out
in a hard sweat. Esperana had her hand on his shoulder, trying to calm him
down. They stopped to pick up ice, but the plant was closed. There was no note explaining
why or when they would be back.

Now all
Gumercindo wanted was get to the gate at the military base at Playa Sur. The
military controlled all access to the pier. At the far end of the pier where
the cruise ships docked, the tourists either had to take a long walk into the
city or take one of the cabs that lined up outside the gate. The walk to the
gate took them right past all the families’ booths
.
That took them right
past all of the families’ booths. When they approached the guard gate, Gumercindo
noticed that there were only two guards on duty. Normally there were five or
six, especially when a cruise ship was expected.

One of
the two guards was a man Gumercindo knew, so he let them all pass without
stopping them.

It was
nearly time for the ship to arrive, yet many of the booths were still closed. Normally
any time a cruise ship was due in, the booth operators would be there, ready
for the tourists’ arrival. Today many of the booths were still locked up tight.
with no one around.

The
pier was on a large peninsula that extended into the Pacific Ocean from the
mainland. The Ortegas and Castillos had booths next to each other, two of a
long line of booths. The first few booths, including theirs, were shaded from
the morning sun by an abandoned warehouse, which gave them cool shade to sit in
during the morning.

As the
two families finished setting up their booths, they could see the cruise ship
entering the harbor. It was being guided in to the dock with the help of the
harbor’s tugboats. Once the ship was properly docked, it would take an hour or so
before the tourists would start coming down to the pier.

At the
rear of the ship, the crew was unloading garbage. The ship also took on water,
fuel, and any other supplies for which they had contracted.

As the
tourists began to disembark, the children tended the two booths. Children were
a better draw for the tourists.

By now
there were 600 to 800 tourists roaming the pier. Gumercindo and Esperana stood
back, trying to stay out of sight, watching to see if the children needed help
with anything. Rosamelia joined them.

As the
three of them sat watching, Esperana leaned over and spoke softly into her
husband’s ear. “Gumercindo, I have something very important to tell you.”

“Oh,
really? Yes, please tell me, my love. Have you been keeping a secret from me?
You have been acting a little strange for the last several days.”

“Gumercindo,
you know we have been talking about whether we wanted another child, and how we
couldn’t make up our minds if we did or not…? Well, I want to tell you that our
choice has been made for us. I am with child, and in about seven and a half
months, we will have another Ortega to welcome into our home. What do you think
about this, my husband?”

“Esperana!
This is wonderful news. You have made me very proud. Should you be out here in
the sun, working like this?”

“My
husband, I’m
pregnant,
but I don’t need any special treatment. I’m sure you
remember that every time before when we were expecting a child, I was here, working
in our booth? From the oldest, Maurico, to the youngest, Annalicia, I was
always by your side working here, even when I was as big as a house, I was
here.” She smiled.

“You
know I will do anything and everything that you need to make you more
comfortable,” said Gumercindo. “Even the children will do anything to help you.
Esperana, have you told Rosamelia yet?”

“I am
going to tell her now, but I wanted to tell you first. You are my husband, and I
owe it to you to tell you first. You, with our children, are my life. Now I
will tell my friend.”

Esperana
turned to face Rosamelia. She leaned in to her shoulder and whispered into her
ear as well.

“Rosamelia,
I have a secret to tell you. I’m pregnant! What do you think of
that?”

“Esperana,
I am so happy for you and Gumercindo! Do your children know yet?”

“I was
going to tell them on the way home this afternoon.”

Just
then there was a noise behind them. “Wait Rosamelia, did you hear that? It
sounded like something fell in the warehouse, I think.”

“No, I
didn’t hear anything. Ask Gumercindo if he heard it?”

“Husband,
did you hear that? It sounded like something is in the warehouse knocking things
over, but it has been closed for years. No one is allowed in there.”

“Yes, I
did hear something. It sounded like something big has been knocked over. I can
hear something scraping or dragging something inside the warehouse. I want you
to stay with Rosamelia. Watch the children. I know a way to get into the
warehouse. I will go check.”

“Please
be careful, Gumercindo. Remember last night, with all the screams.”

“I
will, my beautiful wife. I can’t leave you now. Who would raise our child if
I’m not here?”

Gumercindo
went down to the line of doors in the front of the warehouse. He quickly found
the one unlocked door that he knew of. He opened the door and peered into the
dark interior of the warehouse. Suddenly, something inside grabbed him by the
neck and began to drag him into the abandoned building. He tried to scream, but
couldn’t because the creature had ripped his throat open. All he could do was stare
at the thing that was killing him. He wanted to warn everyone outside, but he couldn’t
even breathe. Gumercindo was only able to make a gurgling noise as the air left
his lungs. He was dying with his eyes wide open.

All Gumercindo
could think about was his wife and their new child. He couldn’t die here, in
the dark! He had children to raise. He had a beautiful wife to grow old with. Then
Gumercindo let out a long breath and died. He would not think of anything else as
he closed his eyes in death.

Esperana
jumped up. She was shouting at Rosamelia. “Did you see that? Something has pulled
Gumercindo into the warehouse! Oh, my god! Look at that monster! It’s coming
out of the warehouse! It’s hideous! There are more of them — they just keep
coming! I have to go try to help Gumercindo! Take the children and get away
from here! Do it now! Children! Run! Run away from the warehouse!”

Rosamelia
said, “Esperana, you go to the booths and get our children! I’ll go to
Gumercindo to help him!”

Esperana
shouted to the children to get away, while Rosamelia ran towards the warehouse
to help Gumercindo if she could. As Rosamelia approached the open door, trying
to see inside, one of the creatures that was shuffling through the door grabbed
her. It wrapped its bony arm around her body, pulling her into the warehouse.
It pushed her to the ground while it proceeded to tear her body apart. She
screamed with the last breath of air in her lungs as she died. Her stomach had
been ripped open and her intestines spilled on the floor of the warehouse, into
the pool of Gumercindo’s blood.

When
she heard Rosamelia’s scream, Esperana spun around. From where she was, all she
could hear was Rosamelia’s final scream as she died. The children hadn’t heard
anything because the band on the dock was playing to welcome the tourists, who
were busy looking at everything except the warehouse.

In
short order there were roughly a dozen or more of the hideous creatures that
had come out of the door that Gumercindo first stepped through. They were shuffling
and lurching forward. Their mutated bodies were missing huge chunks of their
flesh, while others were missing a limb or an eye. They were slowly but
determinedly moving towards the children in their booths and the tourists on
the pier.

The
children finally noticed the commotion and turned around to see what was going
on. They could see Rosamelia being dragged into the warehouse. They heard her
screams for help. They stood frozen, watching the final moments of Rosamelia’s
life, and then they saw the creatures emerging through the door.

As
Esperana ran to their booths, they snapped out of their stupor and started to
run towards her. The other creatures were moving forward past the booths, attacking
the tourists on the dock. The mutilated, disfigured creatures had reached the
first group of tourists, grabbing the first ones they came to. As soon as they
killed one tourist, they would let the dead body fall to the pier to attack yet
another.

One of
the tourists that a creature started to attack was an older man with a cane. The
elderly gentleman swung his cane up over his head, striking the creature in the
head, burying his cane deep in the creature's skull, killing it. As he stood
there looking at the horror he had just killed, another grabbed him from
behind, dragging him to the ground. It began to flail the flesh off of the gentleman’s
body, killing him quickly. He was dead in less than twenty seconds.