The ZWD Trilogy (Book 1): Zombie World Dominance [The Destruction Begins] by L.D. King

stretched out its bony
arms, grabbing him around his chest and neck, dragging him out the door to the ground.
It knelt down and started to claw at Mohab’s body. His dying screams were brief.
He died on the landing, looking into the ripped-open chest of the creature.
    Mahmoud
had been looking back down the hall and was startled by Mohab’s screams. He
turned to look to see what was wrong with his friend, and as Mahmoud stepped out
the door, he stumbled over his dead friend’s foot, causing him to trip and fall
onto the landing. Another of the creatures was standing next to the door and fell
to its knees next to Mahmoud. He began to scream, kicking and squirming and
trying to wrestle his way out from beneath the creature, but it was to no
avail; he could not get out of the creature’s grip. It drew its clawed
appendages across his belly, ripping it open and allowing his intestines to
spill onto the landing.
    Another
creature joined the creature kneeling next to Mahmoud, joining in on the kill. In
just a few moments, Mahmoud lay dead next to Mohab. The contents of their
bodies flowed onto the loading dock, mixing together, their blood dripping onto
the dirt below the landing.
    In
less than sixty seconds, both men were dead from their wounds. The back door
was held open by their bodies. The six horribly deformed, mutated creatures
slowly shuffled into the building. To look at them, they were hunting for more
people, looking for anyone to attack. They were stumbling and shuffling their
way down the hallway toward the lobby of the building.
    At the
stairs, the creatures were drawn to the muffled sounds coming from the meeting
taking place upstairs. They turned, instinctually climbing the stairs as fast
as their broken bodies could go towards the sounds, shuffling, staggering,
dragging themselves up the stairs, hunting for what was making the sounds.
    Slowly
the creatures climbed each set of stairs, one floor at a time. The meeting was
on the fourth floor. The stairs between the floors had a landing that turned
the stairs to continue. The creatures made it to the second-floor, and
continued their climb.
    The
outer office door to the Head Master’s office suite stood open to the fourth floor
hallway. Mrs. Tannous’ desk was closest to the open door. She could hear the strange
sounds coming from the creatures climbing the stairs. The scraping, dragging
sounds, combined with the low guttural moaning sounds the creatures made, were just
loud enough for her to hear it from her desk.
    She
asked her assistant, Mrs. Botros, “Mrs. Botros, do you hear anything out in the
hallway? I think there might be someone on the stairs. I don’t think the
maintenance crew would be back with the food quite yet, but if so, they might
need some help. Would you mind going to see if they do?”
    “No, I
do not hear anything, but I’ll go check.”
    “It
might not be anything. You know this old building makes some odd noises at
times.”
    Mrs.
Botros left her desk, stepping out into the hall. Now she could hear the noise better.
It was coming from the stairwell. It sounded like something was being scraped
or dragged on the stairs. She walked to the stairs to see what was making all
the racket. From the top of the stairs, she couldn’t see what was making the
noise. She started to walk downstairs to find the source of the sounds. On the
first landing, she got a faint whiff of the smell. As she walked further down
to the third floor, she stopped. The noise had gotten much louder. Now the smell
had gotten worse as well. It smelled like an open sewer or rotting meat. She continued
down the stairs from the third floor to the landing. Mrs. Botros stopped,
leaning over the railing.
    She
could see the first two creatures coming up from the second floor. She jumped
back, screaming as she ran back up the stairs as fast as she could to the Head
Master’s office. She ran screaming into the office, slamming the door shut
behind her, locking it.
    “Nada,
I