The ZWD Trilogy (Book 1): Zombie World Dominance [The Destruction Begins] (6 page)

BOOK: The ZWD Trilogy (Book 1): Zombie World Dominance [The Destruction Begins]
3.14Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

“Damn,
I’m glad that we are off that bus. It stunk like a homeless guy. It was
foul.
I didn’t think that ride would ever end. There were people crammed into every
space available. From where Stan and I were sitting, I had to look at an old
man’s sweaty belly swaying in front of my face. I hope the train will be
better.”

“Come
on Rosie, you know the bus from East Norwich at this time of year is always
full of tourists. They spend every minute they can on the beach. They don’t
think twice about how bad they smell. I guess they believe that once they get
home, they will take a shower then. We think it’s worse because we just don’t
like them.”

“Okay,
you may be right. But they
do
smell. They could rinse off a little, at
least, before they get on the bus. The East Norwich buses are old, and the AC
on most of them has been broken for years. The windows don’t open right. It was
nothing but stinking, stale air and sweat.”

Jerry
was listening to Rosie prattle on about how the tourists smelled. He was nearly
at the point where he was going to bust out laughing at her. He knew that if he
did, Mary would be pissed at him, so he smiled and kept his mouth shut.

As the
train pulled into the station, Mike rose from his seat, holding his hand out to
Mary to help her stand. With a snickering smile on his lips, he commanded the
guys: “All right, boys. We’re here to pack and tote our ladies’ luggage. So
let’s get after it. The faster we get on the train, the faster we can get to
New York, Then get a cab to Harlem. Then we can dump these suitcases full of
rocks. The train is only gonna be here for a quick minute. We need to get on
that train quickly, before the doors close. We need to hurry. If you have to
push a tourist onto the tracks to get ‘em out of your way, do it.” They all
laughed.

Mike,
not wanting to be left out, bent over and picked up Jennifer’s luggage. With a
song in his voice he started the cadence.

“Okay,
men! It’s all on us! Suck it up! Pick it up! Move it on! Grab it, lift it! Tote
it down the line! Be a good boy, make it quick, make it clean. We have to be
there on time, ‘cause the train is coming down the line! Get it there, don’t be
late! On top of it all, don’t forget, to smile and make sure you tip that hat!”

Stan
was having a great time listening. As Mike sang, Stan began to laugh. Rosie was
tired after all that had happened, between Cori and Teddy’s disappearance, the
smelly tourists and all. She snapped at Stan, “Just get on the damn train! I’m
tired of being with all of these tourists. Cori and Teddy being lost is not
helping me, either. I just want to get to the city and start having fun.”

Mary
and Jennifer were steering clear of this one. They were too busy laughing at
the guys. Jerry wanted to stay out of it, too. While everyone was getting on
the train, Mike kept singing.

“Okay,
men! It’s all on us! Suck it up! Pick it up! Move it on! Grab it, lift it! Tote
it down the line! Be a good boy, make it quick, make it clean. We have to be
there on time, ‘cause the train is coming down the line! Get it there, don’t be
late! On top of it all, don’t forget, to smile and make sure you tip that hat!”

The
rest of the trip was uneventful. They made it to Grand Central Station. From
there they caught a cab to their hotel in Harlem. They climbed the stairs to
their rooms so they could drop off their luggage.

All
six of them were tired. It was a long trip for them. Several of them were lying
on the beds. Jerry spoke to the ceiling: “Damn, I’m glad that is over. Now we
can rest a minute. Right now I’m so hungry that I could literally eat a horse.
Did you see the hot dog cart on the sidewalk? Let’s all go back down so we can
get a dog. That should hold us until we can find a better place to eat.”

Mary
turned up her nose at the idea of a hot dog. She stood and looked at Jerry.
With one hand on her hip, pointing her finger at him, she said, “Jerry, your idea
of a meal really lacks something in the romance department. Girls like to be
wined and dined, you know.”

Now
Jennifer stood. She looked down at the boys. She raised her arms, bent at the
elbows, her hands turned up she just shrugged her shoulders at them. She told
them.

“You
boys would eat dirt if you were hungry. You don’t have any idea what real food
is. You don’t have any idea what real
romance
is. I’m not sure if you’ll
even get a kiss tonight before we go to bed.”

Rosie
held her hand out, pointing her finger at the three boys. “I’m letting the
three of you know right now that
for now,
I’m good with a hot dog, but we’d
better have a guarantee of a better meal later tonight. That means cloth tablecloths
and cloth napkins, not those paper ones from the hot dog cart. I want my dinner
served on fine china, not the cardboard trays they serve hot dogs in. If I
don’t get what I want, I will be very unpleasant when we get back here.”

Stan
was the first to speak. “Okay, guys. Let’s get a hot dog before the cart
leaves. I’ll tell you all about my plan for dinner tonight while we eat our
dogs.”

They
left the rooms, going down the stairs. Ten minutes later, with hot dogs in
hand, the girls waited to hear what Stan’s master plan was for dinner.

Between
bites of her hot dog, Rosie asked Stan, “All right, big man. What’s your plan
to get us a better meal than these coneys?”

“All
right, here’s my plan. We’ll have to walk a little way to get there, but it’ll
be worth it. Not far from here is one of the best Italian restaurants in
Harlem. The food is so good that they don’t open until seven in the evening.
That gives us about an hour and a half to get there. While we’re waiting, we
can play laser tag for half an hour or so while we’re waiting for the
restaurant to open. What do you think?”

“Stan,
that sounds just like guy stuff,” said Rosie. “What’s in it for us if we go
along with this?”

“Rosie,
the restaurant is right across the street from the laser tag place. I don’t
want to just stand on the corner like a fireplug waiting for it to open. Come
on, let’s go. You girls will have fun.”

Jerry
was the first to speak up. There was mustard on his lips and a grease stain on
his shirt. He looked at the girls. “Whatever we do, we only have about five
hours before it gets too late to do anything. I really don’t want to be out
here late at night. Stan says the laser tag store is about three miles from
here, if we go by the street, but that he knows about a shortcut cutting it
down to only a mile. That should only take us 30 to 45 minutes to walk.”

Rosie
was puzzled about this. She’d been dating Stan for a few years, but he’d never
said anything to her about an Italian restaurant in Harlem, let alone about a
shortcut. Pushing her hair back out of her eyes, she looked at him.

“Stan,
how do you know so much about all of these places? You never mentioned it to me.”

“Well,
I had just graduated the seventh grade. My parents heard of a way to get rich
quick. To make their plan work, we had to move here to New York. They sold our
house in order to get as much money as they could, and moved us to Harlem. We
lived about three blocks from here. I was in the eighth grade while we lived
here. My parents worked all the time, and left me to fend for myself when I
wasn’t in school. They fed me, I had a place to live, and they bought me
clothes. They did everything but spend time with me. They were going to get
rich. When I wasn’t in school, I ran all over Harlem. My parents’ plan lasted
about a year before they went broke. It was all a big scam. They got played. We
moved back to East Norwich less than a year after we left. When we got back to
town, they were broke. We’ve lived in a rental house since then. They moved
back in time for me to start the ninth grade. That’s how I know so much about
this part of the city. It was my playground.”

Mary
looked at Stan, then at Rosie. None of them had ever heard this story before.
She walked over to Stan, placed her arm around him and hugged him. Turning to
everyone, she said, “I guess Stan knows all about Harlem, including the
shortcuts. So let’s get moving! I’m still hungry. I want
real
food.”

“Okay,
everybody, the shortcut is over here,” said Stan. “Follow me!”

Each of
the guys held his girl’s hand as they walked towards a subway station entrance.
The sign over the stairs said that it was abandoned, no entry allowed. Stan, of
course, ducked under the ropes, past the sign, and down the stairs to the
platform.

It was
about two o’clock when they went down the stairs. The sun was shining brightly
as they descended. Inside the subway, it was like being in a cave. There were very
few lights. Because this station was abandoned, some the lights were broken or
burned out. To have more light they all opened the flashlight app on their cell
phones. Each girl tightly held her guy’s hand. It was so dark that the girls
were getting worried that this might not be a good idea after all. Rosie was
the first to voice her opinion.

“Stan,
are you sure this is a good idea? This place doesn’t even have all its lights
on. Are we safe down here?”

“Rosie,
this subway tunnel is as safe as it’s gonna get. If the subway were running on
this line, it would be different. They’d have all the lights working. We’d be
dodging subway cars. They haven’t kept up with the maintenance on this line
because the city abandoned it. There are still some lights working. With our
cells, we’ll be able to see fine. We’ll only be in this tunnel for about a half
a mile. It’s not that far, really. Come on, let’s get going; we’re wasting time
just standing here. I’ll lead the way. Rosie, hold on to my hand. I’ll keep you
safe. The rest of you guys can follow us.”

“Stan,
I love you,” said Rosie, “But not on your life am I going to be first. I’ll be
back here with my girls, in the back. You and Mike can hold hands if you need
to. I’ll be back here with Jennifer and Mary.”

“Fine,
Rosie, as long as we can get going. We’re running out of time to play laser tag
before we eat.”

Mary
was getting tired of all waiting around. She looked at Stan. She put one hand
on her hip, and pointed directly to Stan with the other.

“Stan,
I’m getting sick of all the talking. If we’re going, then let’s get on with it.
If not, then I’m going back to my room. How about it?”

“Okay,
you’re right. We’re pissing around not doing anything. Come on, let’s go. Don’t
get close to the third rail. It’s that one over on the other side of the track.
It might still be charged. If it is, and you touch it, you’ll be dead, just
like that. So keep away from it. With all the time we’ve wasted, we might not even
have time for laser tag. All we might get to do is eat.”

“Oh,
my, Stan, that will just
crush
me — not!” said Rosie. “I think us girls
are only going for the food. If you can’t play laser tag, oh well, too bad, so
sad. You guys have been talking long enough. Let’s go eat. And I don’t want to
walk back after our dinner. I want to take a cab. I’m not walking back through
this tunnel again. It gives me the creeps.”

Jerry
was standing there waiting to see if anyone was going to take charge and get
everyone going. He was getting a tired of waiting around as well. Rubbing his
fingers through his stubbly crew cut, he spoke up with authority: “All right,
you girls win. You can follow whoever you want. We’ve wasted too much time
standing around. No more. I’m tired of this. We start moving now. Stan, you
have the lead.”

“Jerry,
I don’t have a full charge so my phone,” said Mike. “If we don’t get going now,
my phone is gonna be dead before we get out of this tunnel. I doubt if your
phones have too much of a charge either. When our phones die, we’ll be walking
in the dark. I for one do
not
wanna be here in the dark. I’m with Mary.
This place is creepy.”

“Good
idea, Mike. Let’s move.”

They
had walked about 200 feet into the subway tunnel when Mike came to a quick stop,
with Jennifer next to him. Jerry was following so close behind that he nearly
ran into Mike. Stan was in the front, and had walked another few steps before
he stopped as well.

Mike was
standing still, cupping his hands over his ears as he listened. What he had heard
was not an ordinary sound. He whispered to the others in case whatever was making
that sound could hear them as well.

“Stan,
do you hear anything? It sounds like something’s scraping or grunting or
growling or something out there in front of us.”

Stan stopped.
He turned to face the others. “Mike, you know my hearing isn’t the best. Do any
of the rest of you hear anything?”

Rosie
was holding her nose. She said, “I don’t know about the sound, but whatever it
is it stinks like a sewer. Does anyone else notice that this place smells? The
further we walk the worse it smells. It smells worse than the tourists. Do all
subway tunnels smell like this?”

Everyone
was quiet, trying to hear the faint sounds that Mike was talking about. They
could also smell the nauseating stink in the tunnel. As Stan was standing
facing back toward the group, he whispered, “Guys, I don’t like the smell. I’ve
been in a lot of subway tunnels, but I’ve never smelled anything like this. I
don’t know what the sounds are. I’ve never heard those before, either. Either
way, we need to get moving so we don’t miss laser tag before we eat.”

BOOK: The ZWD Trilogy (Book 1): Zombie World Dominance [The Destruction Begins]
3.14Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

Other books

Grey Wolves by Robert Muchamore
Desires Unleashed by D N Simmons
The Emerald Flame by Frewin Jones
The Merchant's Mark by Pat McIntosh
Man Who Was Late by Louis Begley
Eighth-Grade Superzero by Olugbemisola Rhuday Perkovich
An April Bride by Lenora Worth
Arabian Sands by Wilfred Thesiger