Dead Man Running (49 page)

Even the humans with their tongues removed were making noise by tugging on the fence. 

Some human, despondent over their circumstances and immediate prospects as food, were committing suicide by swallowing their tongues.  If not found immediately, their meat would spoil,
making
an unpleasant
meal for most discriminating zombies.  To forestall this possibility Wiley's team had begun to remove tongues as the humans were interred.

"Walk with me as I choose the humans for this afternoon's hunt," Wiley said.

Wiley and Elias walked the outside of the pen.  There were zombies inside and, as Wiley selected a human for the hunt, his men inside stunned and dragged away the 'game'.   Most he selected were
young and fit
– the more challenging the better
.

As the process continued, word spread in the pen and most of the humans backed away from the fence, and quieted.

The zombie minders
quickly
changed their strategy; they began to drag the likeliest humans to the fence for Wiley's inspection.

The
y
dragged a female to the fence.  She was naked like the rest but wore a defiant expression.  She was
Latina
, her face pretty under the grime of the pen.

"You won't get away with this Wiley!"

Wiley smiled.  His eyes feasted on the woman's generous breasts, shapely legs leading to oversized hindquarters.  His eyes lingered on the
mound of dark hair between
he
r legs.

He finally looked up and met her fierce eyes.  "Do you want to fuck me, Wiley?  Is that what this is about?  If so, let me out of here and I'll fuck your brains out."

Wiley smiled – for a moment he entertained bringing her out of the pen for a quick poke.  But, he had business to take care of.

Wiley nodded at the zombies who each held an arm of the woman.
  They brought her closer.

"No, my dear, I want to eat you.  After I hunt you down like the vermin you are."

The woman spat at Wiley, the spittle reaching his face. 

Wiley
quickly
wiped his face with a handkerchief.

"Fuck you Wiley."

"Oh, definitely," he said.  He gave her body
another
wolfish onceover.  "I will give you the opportunity to 'fuck my brains out'.  If good enough I'll still kill you but you'll be reborn as the undead."

"Never," she said.

"I'm sorry dear, but you have no choice.  Here and everywhere soon enough, I am God."  He gave the signal and
his
zombies tasered the woman and she fell limp in their arms.

"I think we have enough," Wiley said.  The zombies in the pen took the woman away to be prepared with the rest – cleaned, dressed and outfitted with a hunting knife. 
What's a hunt unless the prey is somewhat dangerous?

"You want
ed
to speak to me?" Elias prompted as Wiley approached the horse stalls.

"I want to outline my plans before the board meeting.  You play a prominent role Elias."

The two leaned against the stall.  Inside were the mounts for the hunt – a half dozen Alpaca's.

"I have always felt like we were family, Elias.  Having no children of my own I saw you as the son I never had."

Elias patted Wiley's shoulder.  "We are family, Ben."

"Now that you are one of the undead
it is time to let everyone know your place in the organization.  The board will be told this morning that you are my second in command."

"Thank you Ben.  I won't let you down."

"
I
will soon travel to
China
and
I
want
you by my side.  I will
decapitate
China
's leaders, paving the way for
Asia
domination by
our undead legion
s. 
On our way back home
we
will then go to
Russia
to personally place atomic zombie bombs on the private spacecraft heading to
the International
Space Station.
"

"Are the bombs operational?"

"
That's the other reason for our chat. 
I am assigning you the lead in the zombie bomb project.  It is nearing its field test.  I need you to travel with the technical team to a series of islands off of
Fiji
."

Elias smiled.  "Does that team include
Mira
Hidar
?"

"Yes.  You haven't
seen
her since your conversion?"

"No, sir.  I've followed your orders in that regard."

"Excellent."

"She will have an adverse reaction to my current state.  What shall I do?"

"Keep her on task.  Let her know that the health of her grandfather, not to mention all the
Hidar
'
s, depends on her cooperation."

"Do we still need her?"

"She is there to assure that she has the proper mix of fluids in the bomb to convert
nearly one hundred
percent of the subjects."

"And once we achieve that, what do I do with her?"

Wiley barked out a hearty laugh.  The horses paused their breakfast of oats, looked at the
creatures
, then back at their food.

"Do with her what I will do with the feisty large breasted female we just met."

Elias smiled.  "Her death has no consequence?"

"
At this point, very little
.  Do as you
please
."

"It will be my pleasure.  I look forward to educating her on the abilities of the new Elias Turnbull."

He smiled and the two shared a laugh as they walked back toward the
farm
house.

TWENTY-
NINE

DALY CITY
CALIFORNIA
– AUGUST 2012

Tamesha Holloway rarely left the home of her foster parents.  She knew that the world was filling up with zombies and the less she ventured outside, the better.  She carefully observed her new parents and thus far there were no signs that they had been made over as the undead.

But it was summer vacation and her foster mother was interested in Tamesha getting some exercise and fresh air. So Tamesha would take off on her bike for
long ride
s
around
Daly City
.  She ventured to out of the way locations, ones where she would have a lesser chance of encountering a zombie. 

This day she rode to
Bancroft
Park
and its series of gentl
e
walking
paths leading to a beautiful overlook of
San Francisco
Bay
.  She had packed a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and sat next to her bike, eating and watching the life on the bay – seagulls and seals were the most visible although she could see schools of dolphins frolicking just below the surface. 
Would they become zombies too?
 

Tamesha imagined herself jumping off the overlook into the Bay – there was only a
n
easily
scaled
waist high fence preventing someone from jumping the several hundred feet into the cold Pacific waters.

She thought about this hard.  If she died, she would see Granny T again.  If she
survived
, maybe the dolphins and seals would let her join them and she would be safe.

She thought hard on this, so hard she did not hear the approach of another.

Hank Bartholomew stood over Tamesha, yanking her thoughts away from the sea life, centering her back in her real life nightmare.  "Hello, Tammy," he said.

Tamesha gave one more
,
long look at the fence.  She could probably make it over before he grabbed her.

She looked up to his face.  The sun was at his back and his
head
had an unlikely halo. 

"Hello Hank and don't call me Tammy.  My name is Tamesha."  He may kill her but at least she would die as Tamesha, not "Tammy".

Hank sat on the grass next to her.  He eyed her half eaten PB
&
J sandwich.  "Peanut butter?  How can you eat that stuff?  It's totally unhealthy.  I know all about
the
be
st
food – food that will make you strong, smart and healthy, like me."

"I have to go," she said and she stood. 

Hank place
d
a hand seemingly made of steel on her arm and easily pulled her back to the grass.  "Please stay with me.  I have something to talk to you about.  I promise to call you Tamesha."

Tamesha rubbed her arm where he had hurt her.  She watched the seagulls for a moment then gave him her
full
attention.

"Talk then," she said.  She stopped rubbing her arm.

The juvenile zombie smiled.  "I have made all the arrangements.  My parents are gone and I have the house to myself.  I
a
m ready to marry you."

"I'm just a kid.  I don't want to marry you or anyone else."

"You will marry me.  We'll live in my house and we'll have sex and make kids just like us.  We'll be happy, you'll see."

Tamesha thought of Granny T and the parents who had abandoned her for drugs years before.  She prayed that Granny T was in Heaven and would be waiting for her when this was all over.

"What happened to your parents Hank?"

He smiled and rubbed his belly.  "Gone," he said.

"Really?  I think I see them coming up the path."

When the creature turned
its
head, Tamesha was on her feet.  Two steps later she was at the fence and she had one leg on the other side when she was grabbed by the neck

"Do you want to die…..Tamesha?"

The zombie's strength shocked Tamesha – how easily he was able to dangle her by the neck above the cliff. 
He easily climbed over the fence while holding her. 

They were now both on the wrong side of the fence, Hank Bartholomew with one hand on the steel fence, the other around her neck.  Tamesha was having difficulty breathing – pretty soon it would
n't
matter if he dropped her or not.

"I asked you a question.  Do you want to die?"

Tamesha no longer had to think about it – face to face with the Devil, the answer was clear.

"Yes," she said.

Hank Bartholomew smiled.  With his prodigious strength he whipped her body over the fence and Tamesha was unconscious as her body slammed into the soil, hard packed from
the
thousands of feet
that
sought this majestic view.

"Well, I won't let you.  You are my destiny and I won't let you die until I'm ready."

Wiley and Elias stood offstage as Canadian heartthrob Justin Bieber sang to help raise funds to re-elect the American president. 

They were in the
Prudential
Center
in
Newark
New Jersey
.  The combo pep rally and fundraiser was nearly over.  Wiley had been selected to close the event - to fire up the twenty thousand Obama supporters to give as much as they could in terms of their energy and personal finances in the coming months.

Wiley would make sure that they would give, especially the swells in the luxury boxes.  His undead minions had unleashed hundreds of zombie bombs, converting most of the high rollers in attendance.  The hoi polloi were being converted by the dozens
in their suites,
in the rest rooms and in hastily roped off sections of the concourse. 

By this time, with Bieber winding up his so called performance, there were nearly a thousand new zombies in existence, all prepared to do whatever it takes to elect Obama and their true leader, Benjamin Wiley.

Wiley and Elias watched as Bieber strut
ted
about
the faux candy factory stage
with his 'let's pretend I have talent' talent. 

"
We've made zombies out of a lot of stars but it doesn't work because we lose their heart and soul, what makes them great artists
," said Wiley

"What about this guy?" asked
Elias
. 
He thumbed pointed to the pop star.

"Bi
eber?  Are you listening to him?
  Of course we made him a zombie. 
But d
o you think anyone could tell the difference?  Dude was as heartless and soulless as they come, even before his conversion.  Now we use him to bring in the young girls."  Wiley smacked his lips.  "They make such lovely appetizers at our meetings."