The ZWD Trilogy (Book 1): Zombie World Dominance [The Destruction Begins] (2 page)

It
Begins

Manhattan, New York

It was
a Friday afternoon, August 15, 2036 in East Norwich, New York, out on Long
Island. A light breeze was blowing. It cooled the summer heat off a bit. In
nearly all small towns across America, people out walking greet each other as
they pass; the town of East Norwich was no different. It was much like all
small towns across the country. Living in East Norwich was nice. Nothing of any
importance ever happened there.

Adults
generally found East Norwich a great place to live. Teenagers, however, tended
to find it boring. Matt Johnson with his wife Mildred had lived in East Norwich
their entire lives. They had been married for 36 years. Their only child, Mary,
was turning seventeen today.

Mary
had been waiting for her birthday the entire summer, and planning the day for
weeks. Her parents were happy to open their home to their daughter’s friends in
order for Mary to celebrate her birthday. She simply wanted to have a small,
intimate party this year, with a few of her best girlfriends. Of course, if she
invited her girlfriends, she would have to invite their boyfriends, so Mary had
planned the event as a couples’ party. She had invited Jennifer Ellison along
with Jennifer’s boyfriend, Mike Smith; Rosie Hernandez and her boyfriend, Stan
Samuelson; Cori Baldwin with her boyfriend Teddy Hibbs; Kathy Koten with her
boyfriend Raymond Morgan; Valerie Lynn and her boyfriend Chris Abell, and Karla
Bailey with her boyfriend, Romeo Tudorache. Of course, Mary had invited her own
boyfriend, Jerry Timmel.

Her
parents loved throwing Mary great birthday parties. Since her birthday fell
near the end of summer, school would be starting in just a couple of weeks. It
was also the time when Mary’s parents left to work their booth at nearby
Beekman Beach. They sold souvenirs, tee shirts, shorts, sunscreen, candy and
dozens of other items to the tourists who visited the beach. Throughout the
summer, business at the beach was steady, and they had employees to run their
booth. However, the last several weeks of the summer was when they made most of
their money. During the last couple of weeks of the season, Matt and Mildred
worked alongside their employees at their booth. The tourist season ended when
school began, and that was when they closed down their booth for the year,
going back to town to run the small hardware store that they owned.

Mary
would be a senior when school started; this would be her final year at home,
since she planned to go to college out of state after she graduated.

Mary
was a stunning teenager. She stood at five feet, seven inches and was in great
shape. Mary loved to run and would do several miles a day if the weather was
good. She took pride in her body; she watched what she ate, ran every chance
she could, and worked out if the weather kept her inside.

Her
hair was a golden blonde color. Her body was tanned to a wonderful shade of
bronze, which was no small feat on Long Island, thanks to judicious use of a
tanning bed.

Mary
walked with a grace of a jaguar stalking its prey. The girls in her high school
either loved her or hated her. Both groups had the same reason to love or hate
her — she was, simply said, gorgeous.

She
was the captain of the cheerleading squad for her high school’s football team.
She had tried out for the squad her freshman year and was one of the few
freshmen accepted on the team. Her motive had been that she was sweet on a certain
football player named Jerry Timmel. Mary had had her eye on him since they had
been in the seventh grade. They had dated a number of times over those four
years. Mary had become a cheerleader to make sure that no other girl would be
able to put their hands on her guy.

Jerry
Timmel had gone out for football in his freshman year of high school, and it
was never a question that the Adonis of the freshman class would make the team.
He stood six foot one, with a muscled, chiseled body. He worked out with his
father, a retired Marine Corps Drill Instructor, in their basement weight room
on a daily basis. He worked hard to keep his body in tip-top shape. He had been
joining his father in the workout room since he was three years old.

He and
his girl were a stunning couple wherever they went. It was natural for them to
be together.

Both
Jerry and Mary were oblivious to the looks they got as they walked around town
or school together. They never gave their good looks a second thought. They did
wonder, at times, why others didn’t work harder at being healthy. The lack of
exercise and a proper diet wasn’t that hard, but most kids their age were happy
to sit in front of the TV, eating one sugar- or salt-filled snack after another.

Everyone
that Mary invited came to her party except for four of her friends. Those four simply
didn’t show up. They didn’t call. Nothing. It was as if they had just
disappeared.

The
four that didn’t come were Karla Bailey, Kathy Koten, Romeo Tudorache and Chris
Abell. Mary was a little concerned that they didn’t come to her party, but she
wasn’t that surprised. The girls were kind of her friends and kind of not. It
was one of those situations. Mary was on speaking terms with the girls, but a week
before, Mary had an argument with Karla. They hadn’t made up by the time Mary’s
birthday had come. Karla was best friends with Kathy. If Karla was friends with
someone, then Kathy was too. If Karla was mad at someone, then Kathy was mad at
them also.

Kathy’s
boyfriend Raymond showed up, however, and Valerie arrived without her boyfriend
Chris. Raymond was sitting in one of the chairs on the front porch. Valerie sat
next to him. He
was holding his head in his hands, looking as if he was about
to cry. He looked up at Valerie, and spoke in a trembling voice:

“You
know, Valerie, I stopped at Kathy’s house to pick her up. We were going to walk
over here together. I walked up to their door, and as I knocked, the door just
swung open. It wasn’t closed all the way. Everything was all busted up in their
house. I went in to look for her, thinking maybe she was hurt or something, but
no one was there. I ran out of the house and called the cops from the sidewalk.
I was told that because no one was in the house, it would be a couple of hours
before they would have an officer there, because as of early this morning they’d
been working a large number of calls like mine. They said quite a few officers
hadn’t come in, and they were really short staffed. After that, I came on over
here, hoping Kathy would be here. On my way over, I called her cell again and
again, but it just kept ringing. She never answered. What do you think should I
do?”

“Raymond,
I know how you feel,” said Valerie. “It was getting late. I called Chris to let
him know that I was ready, but he never answered his phone either. I can’t
remember whether we said I’d meet him here or wait for him at my house. I
called his dad, too, but he didn’t answer either. I wanted to come to the party
tonight because it’ll be my last night in town for a while. My parents said that
most of their employees didn’t show up at their booth, so I have to go with
them in the morning.” She shook her head sadly. “I asked Chris if he wanted to
come with me to the beach for the next couple of weeks. He told me that he
would if my folks said it was okay.”

“Maybe
we should go back inside. The others might think we broke up with them so we
could see each other.”

“You’re
right. We should go back inside before they start talking about us.”

Mary
was next to the front door as they came in. Raymond’s eyes were filled with
tears. Valerie was crying as well, and her lower lip was quivering. Mary
stopped them as they came through the door and placed her arms around their
shoulders, drawing them close to her. She whispered to them, “You guys are
going to be all right. Kathy and Chris probably just forgot about the party.
Things will look better tomorrow. You can talk to them then.”

“Mary,
I don’t think it’s going to be that easy. I was at Kathy’s before I came here.
No one was home, and everything was trashed in the house. It looked like
someone had gone through their house with a baseball bat. I called the cops,
but they told me it was gonna be hours before they could get there, because
they were being overwhelmed by the number of calls they were getting. I think
something really bad’s happened.”

“Oh, god…
that’s horrible. I hadn’t heard that anything like that was going on. Valerie,
what about Chris? Have you heard from him?”

“I
called to tell him I was ready, ‘cause it was getting late, but there was never
any answer. Tomorrow I have to go with my parents to work in their booth. Half
their employees didn’t show up today. I guess I get to spend the last couple
weeks of my summer working at the beach again.”

“Oh,
that doesn’t sound like much fun,” said Mary.

“I
even talked to Chris about coming to the beach with us. My folks were okay with
it. He said working with all of the tourists didn’t sound like much fun, but he
was good with it so that we could be together. Now I don’t even know if he’s
around, and after hearing Raymond’s story, I’m starting to get scared.”

“It’ll
all work out for the best. This is East Norwich. What happens in this town
anyway?”

With
everything that has happened today, I’m just going to go home,” Raymond said.
“My dad wasn’t home when I left. I called my mom. Dad is not home yet. She’s
worried. I should be with her. My dad isn’t home, and we can’t find our
friends. Something just isn’t right.”

“Okay,
Ray. Thanks for coming. I hope your dad’s all right. Tell your parents hi for
me.”

 “I’m
going to ask Raymond to walk me back to my house,” said Valerie. “It’s on his
way home. I’ll feel safer if I have someone to walk with me.”

“I
hope everything’s okay, Val. Let me know, all right?” Mary said. “Ray, will you
call me when you get to her house, just to let me know that everything’s all
right? And then call me again when you get home, please?”

 “Sure
I will,” said Raymond. “Valerie, if you’re ready, let’s get going. I really
want to be home with my mom.”

As
Raymond walked Valerie down the steps, Mary knew that her party was starting to
wind down. The snacks had been devoured. The candles on the cake had been blown
out and the cake half eaten. Mary had opened her gifts. The girls who were still
there were helping clean up the house.

Mary’s
birthday gifts weren’t extravagant. As with previous birthdays, her parents had
bought her new school clothes for her senior year. They were practical like
that. But they always splurged for a couple of gifts for Mary as well. This
birthday was no exception. They gave her a gold necklace with a charm that
matched her earrings.

Mary
wanted to take the time to visit with each of her friends before the party was
over. The first person that Mary caught up with was Rosie. They were on the
high school’s flag cheerleading squad together, which kept them in good
physical shape.

Mary
was always flamboyant with her movements. Mary flipped her long auburn hair
away from her face to show off her new necklace to Rosie. She held out her
right arm, hand bent at her wrist, to display the new bracelet she had received
from Jerry. Smiling at Rosie, she said in her best Victorian accent, “Dahling,
have you ever
seen
such a beautiful set of earrings, or a more extravagant
necklace? They were
lah-vish
gifts from my parents. This bracelet was
from my adoring beloved. My dear, I believe that they simply are the
loveliest
gifts that anyone would ever see. Don’t you agree, Rosie?”

With a
flair, Rosie took Mary’s hand, bending at her waist to examine her bracelet.
Still holding her hand, she looked closely at her necklace as well. When Rosie
was done, while still holding Mary’s hand she bowed before Mary, smiling.

“Oh,
my
goodness,
my dear Mary,” she said in the same posh Victorian accent.
“They are so startlingly,
incredibly
awesome. You know that your beloved
must have paid a rawther large sum for this? And you know, of course, that he
will later be seeking an equally large compensation for his gift.”

Mary
took her hand back. With a frown on her face, she spoke to Rosie in her normal
tone of voice. “I know. I hate it when a boy does something for you, then
expects you to feel obligated to repay him for it. Don’t get me wrong, I really
like Jerry, but I’m not ready to take that next big step with him. Not just
yet. You know what I mean, don’t you?”

“Yeah,
I know. Stan has been pushing me to go there too. I want to, but I don’t want
to just yet. With Stan, you have to take him one day at a time. Your parents
always throw you the best birthday parties. I’m having a blast. Thank you for
letting me invite him.”

“Oh,
you’re welcome. It wouldn’t have been a party without you!” Mary said.

“I’m
gonna have to go soon. Have you seen the guys lately?”

While
the girls were cleaning and visiting, their boyfriends had needed something to
keep them occupied, so Matt had taken advantage of the opportunity to herd them
into his radio room.

Mary
stood like a model with one hand on her hip and the other bracelet-adorned arm
pointing to her father’s radio room. Putting on the Victorian accent once again,
she told Rosie,
“Dahling,
look there. Father has trapped them in his
radio room.” She was giggling as she continued putting on the accent. “He has a
bunch of old radio equipment in there. He calls it a ‘ham radio.’ He told me
that spies and spotters used to use them back in World War II. He can talk to
anyone around the world that has one of those. Mom says that when she married
him, she married his radio too. When I was little, he would be on his radio all
weekend. He’d stay up all night long, talking to people all over the world. It
bores me stupid. I guess it’s a guy thing. He’s so into his radio he even has a
generator out back in case the power goes out. You can see the radio antenna from
blocks away. I tell everyone, ‘Just look for the house with antenna. That’s
where I live.” She smiled good-naturedly. “Right now he has a captive audience.
He’s showing off for the guys. They look more interested in his radio than they
are in us. This happens every time we have a party in our house. Dad ends up in
his radio room with most of the men. Mom’s left to entertain her friends alone.
I guess it works for them. It won’t work for me. When we throw a party, my man
had better be with me.”