Things have gone dark 2

Joe had a very few friends, but they had power and faith in his ability and his word.  This came in handy.  Joe got word that we were being watched, of course we knew that, but it was interesting who told us.  It was the nephew of the big boss.  The boss man was always giving his nephew a hard time, no matter what he did or did not do.  His nephew Vince was a good guy and just looking to do a job, keep his head down and enjoy life.  It is not my style, but there is nothing wrong with it, it might even be a better way to live than to always be looking for new ideas and problem solving for the world.

Vince was running the club after Joe left for the security and logistics business.  I was able to help Joe with a logistics contract that made him a fortune.  I always hated working with the company suites but I did learn from them.  The problem with making money is that if you are too successful, someone wants to take it from you.  In this case take it from you, your family and leave the body parts scattered outside the wall.  Not exactly how I saw my future, and my brother felt the same way.  Well, since Vince was family and running the club, he had a little more access to the inner circle that myself or Joe ever had.  The big boss was not pissed that Joe had made money running trucks in the Zombie infested outlands.  He was WAY pissed than Joe had made so much money and was able to run so many more miles so quickly than the bean counting suites predicted could be done when the contracts were signed.

Things have gone dark:

My name is David and I used to run a Zombie restaurant and other Zombie related businesses until I was run out.  Luckily I was able to see it coming.  Sometimes I get too focused and let things go, but not anymore.  It is a new world with new rules.  The government is all but gone and the undead and spreading out of control.  It is worse than the old bad movies.  The real world has a way of making the movies seem tame.

I have to give credit to my brother for making sure I was paying attention.  He knew something was coming and had a few plans in mind, but once I was on alert I saw what was going to happen.  Why to some people just act like pricks?  My brother, Joe, had a hard time growing up but was doing great for himself these days.  He had the real internal power that people look for in a leader just no focus to use it, in his younger days.  These days he was the most powerful man in the city.  It took a while and some planning, but it was for the best.

First, do not think that this was planned or by design.  It could look that way and yes the results were architected and setup, but it was after we were going to be crossed and left as Zombie bait.  We did the right thing and treated everyone with respect and honesty, they got what they deserved.

Who am I now 3

I have met some good people in the city and I like it so much better than the home I left.  My boss at the club is a good man; he keeps the guys hands off the girls.  He even keeps his own hands to himself.  That is rare in a boss.  His name is Joe and even though he is a nice guy, he is not someone to be taken for granted or taken advantage of.  I have seen him go eye to eye with the biggest assholes in the club and back them down with a kind word and clear stare.  I think he knows that something is not right with me but he doesn’t say anything and makes sure everyone else keeps a distance as well.  Funny, figuring out that something is not right with a Zombie.  Not many people give the undead a second glance, much less notice that one of them is actually living.

Joe even took me to a nice restaurant once.  His brother ran the place and he was nice as well.  He didn’t even say anything when Joe showed up with what looked like a Zombie date.  That is pretty open minded.  Joe said his brother was named David and was a couple of years older.  I have to pretend to not be listening too much when I am out and acting like a Zombie, but I notice a lot more than people would guess.  For one thing I have noticed how the two brothers seem to be ahead of the curve on this whole Zombie situation.  If I had to trust anyone in my life it would be those guys.

Who am I now 2

There are some nice people and it really is not so bad, better than the life I left in Ohio, I would not go back, ever!  I still have the nightmares about the things my father did to me and the lies he told, but they are not so bad anymore.  I am in control and I decide my destiny.  Even my dreams know that I am not a person that will be passive, not again, those days are over.

I was not the oldest daughter, but I was the favorite of my father.  He told me he wanted to take me away and start a new family with me.  Leave my mother, sisters and brothers all alone and leave with me as his wife.  I wish I was making it up, but it is true.  I do regret that I could not do more for my family, but I left the pain and the lies and the whole family behind.  I do not feel mad at them for letting it happen and I hope they can forgive me for leaving, we all do what we have to and I had to leave.  I did send a letter to the sheriff, but I doubt he will do anything.  I am just the troubled run-away to the good old boys.  What value could I have in their eyes?  They think of me as nothing but a toy to use and through away.  The customers in the club think the same thing, but they will never get the chance to use me.

Who am I now?:

First of all, please realize that I am not really a Zombie, never have been.  Just alone and afraid to lose my job.  Once you start pretending to be a Zombie you really can’t go back on something like that.  My real name is Mollie, but everyone calls me Ohio, because that is where I am from.  I don’t have a problem with being called Ohio; I just think that it is weird.  The first thing I notice is that all the locals just nod when I am introduced, like, “Oh, of course you are from Ohio.”  Is it the good teeth, clean hair, no Bronx accept?  I don’t know, but they all just nod, like it makes perfect sense to them.

I was naive, I know it now.  I came to the city to be something and all I have done is barely get by.  A few auditions and I gave up on the acting and dancing on a theater stage and now all I do is act like a Zombie all day long and dance on stage for men.  It sounds similar, but it feels totally different.  I don’t even want to cry about it anymore, a Zombie can’t be seen crying.

Those Brothers are going to be the death of me 15:

My nephew’s idea was to get into the ground floor on the research.  We had the skills to manage the Zombies and create a safe environment for them to be used in research.  I let him run with the idea.  He was motivated to get out of the Dry Cleaners and this was his chance to do something other than disappoint the family, if he could pull it off.  He was able to setup meetings and used the family lawyers to draft a contract for Zombie services.  He even added a clause so we would have access to the first human trials.  Our family would be the first people to live forever, as it should be.

Those Brothers are going to be the death of me 14:

My nephew has a good idea.  I am in shock, well not really.  He has been doing better and might actually be using his head for a change.  A few large pharmaceutical companies have been working on the Zombie virus.  Not for a cure, everyone agrees that once infected you are done for, but to isolate some of the properties of the virus.  Something about the cell division not deteriorating once the infection stabilizes.  They look funny because of the death, but the undeath the virus creates stabilizes the cells and they can reproduce without mutation or degradation.  I am not a scientist but I get the idea.  If the virus eventually gets into all the cells and prevents them from degrading, it could mean that we could create a shot to deliver just the part of the Zombie virus code that stops cell degeneration.  We could have a shot that makes you live forever, or at least for a very long time.  Accidents do happen.

Those Brothers are going to be the death of me 13:

I know how a man thinks.  It has been the key to my success in running the family business.  Simply enough, every man has a dark spot in his soul.  Some try to fill it with alcohol, drugs, women, killing or religion.  Anything they can dump into the darkness but it will never be enough.  You can work a man to his death trying to fill the endless pit with whatever flavor of the day he is into.  It will never work for him, but it will fill your family bank accounts.  Others use the darkness to make them strong.  Looking into the abyss and not finding darkness but strength.  Taking out of the darkness an understanding of nature and all of our eventual futures.  You can be afraid of the dark or you can be something that others are afraid of.  I look into a man’s eyes and I can tell how he reacts to the dark.  There is no demon or evil power making people do bad things.  It is the choices we make and how we see the darkness.  I embrace it and know how I see that power in others.  The brothers have the power if they choose to use it, maybe not as much with the one running the restaurant, but they both see the darkness as a source of strength, not fear.  If I don’t end up removing them, they might be a nice set of successors when I have had enough of the life, if that ever happens.

Those Brothers are going to be the death of me 12:

I setup some good contracts for the Zombie Security team and let the suits work out the details on the logistics.  They could deal with the tedious crap of trying to squeeze a penny a mile out of the truck.  I was making good money selling security to everyone.  It is great when you can setup a contract to get paid by the hour for Zombie labor.  I make money 24/7.  They never truly sleep, just sort of slow down.  As long as you rotate a spare to provide time to clean and feed them in a daily cycle you can make serious money per hour.  With humans I would need 12 people on each of 3 shifts for 36 people total.  With Zombies, 15 could do the same work, easily, and only need 3 humans to oversee them in shifts.  Have the staff making the same money.

With the Zombie roundups, I had to close the Strip Club.  My Nephew was pissed, I could tell, but I didn’t really care.  I put him back into the Zombie Cleaners.  The Strip Club was getting the attention of the bible thumpers in town.  Everyone was scarred and kicking Zombies out of town left and right. This gave the holier than thou nut jobs something to focus on and they chose our house of sin.  No big deal, we can launder cash through a variety of sources and can start another place as soon as things settle down.  No use fighting the idiots, just wait them out.  If they get too pushy, they could end up caught in bed with a Zombie or simply have an accident.  Plan A was to wait them out but plan B and C and D, etc would be just as easy using old fashioned methods of removing pious problems.

Those Brothers are going to be the death of me 11:

I used to handle a lot of trucking in the day.  There was good money in moving product, and if a little went missing, no one said anything as long as the amounts where low or covered by insurance.  The trucking didn’t pay but it had profitable side benefits.  These days all the trucks are tracked with GPS satellites to the second.  I guy can’t pull over for a piss break or to lose a couple of boxes out the back of the truck without someone noticing.  There is just not enough profit to make it worth anything, but that might change.  Since Security was such a big deal and we had the best security force on the planet I thought it was a good idea to really push the profits.  We had a system for securing the city in place and the brother needed another challenge.  I sent him after figuring out how to secure shipment in and out of the city.  The commerce needed to keep flowing if the money was going to stay stable.

I was keeping a close eye on the Zombie Security team.  I loved how it worked, but those Zombies pointing cameras at anything that moved looked like potential for trouble.  I was right.  The first thing the brother did in working up a team to secure shipment was to weaponize the camera systems.  He mounted the cameras on automatic Russian shotguns and could activate them as will.  A whole team of Zombies tracking and firing thousands of rounds at his will.  That could end badly for me and there would be nothing I could do about it, well as far as he would know.  My electronics guys designed the arming system and I made sure I had a master override switch and I kept it with me at all the time.  Those creatures would not be used against me.

Those Brothers are going to be the death of me 10:

They carried communication devices.  Not the normal headset with a cool clear coil hanging out of the ear but a short gun stock with a camera system in place of a barrel and receiver.  They would point the camera at the movement and pull the trigger.  That sent an alarm signal to the human controller to evaluate the threat and monitor the camera feed.  You can time an automatically sweeping camera and have a chance of sneaking past, but nothing gets by without our Zombie Security noticing.  We had used some Zombies in the past for the intimidation factor and had a rudimentary way of controlling them, but this new thing was pure professional.

Eventually the wall went up and the tunnels and bridges were secured.  It was good money and recurring.  No one else really wanted it because of the risk factors but we did.  I put my number one muscle brother as the head of all of our Zombie Security forces.  It was a good place to keep an eye on him.

Those Brothers are going to be the death of me 9:

Zombie Security was the future, according to the muscle bound brother.  He had the Strip club running like a top and making plenty of money.  He even had my nephew as second in command, stable and hard working.  It was a miracle and I let him run with the Zombie Security idea.  It did not take him long to assemble a security team and turn over the club to my nephew.  The only downside is that I had to see my nephew when he delivered the cash payments.  He always had at least one Zombie with him and looked to be in control, but I knew the dumbass inside of him.  He would screw up eventually.

Security was a big deal now that the walls were going up.  Refugees were everywhere and trying to use up all the resources of the big cities.  I had no choice but to get approval for my construction company to build the wall.  The Zombie Security force was coming along well.  We already had contracts to patrol the city and wall construction area.  I don’t know how he does it, but that brother can make a Zombie do amazing things.  75% of the security staff was Zombies.  He had them trained to watch everything and move in unison.  It was scary to watch them on the job.  Nothing moved without it being seen.  If anything moved too fast they would trip an alarm. 

Those Brothers are going to be the death of me 8:

I could tell the older brother did not like the MBA suits making a franchise out of his ideas, but he went along without a fuss.  He was a smart guy and knew how to stay out of trouble.  I liked keeping him around, it gave me leverage on his brother if I ever needed it and I was getting very sure that I would.  He was really taking off like a rocket.  I had a thought running around in my head to see if my nephew would ever be able to run the club.  It seems natural to reward success and good sense, especially in someone that has not shown much of it in their lives.  My nephew was behaving and doing well at the club.  The temptations of the club were not too much.  He was actually doing well and my reports were very positive.

Change makes money.  It is a simple rule I follow and even cause if I have too.  Sure you can make a lot of money by having a good system, but if you do not respond to changes, you will be left behind and your business will trickle away.  Change is good for business if you stay on top of it.  The first person to get in with an idea has a natural monopoly.  Either I have the ideas or quickly muscle into the business and get rid of the competition.  I am not shy to say it; it is good business and good for the family.  I know how the game is played and no one is going to muscle in on me.

Those Brothers are going to be the death of me 7:

A strip club is not the place for the troubled sort, like my nephew.  I know this but I needed him to learn from a master and the brother at the club was the master of handling the Zombie girls.  No one was better and he knew it.  I would have to keep a close eye on him and move him along to something else to occupy his thoughts, very soon.  He is not the kind of guy you let get bored.  Too much thinking about his future could be a bad thing and cause too much ambition.  It was best if I kept him busy, at least too busy to think about anything but making me money.  I gave my nephew a good speech before sending him to the club.  I told him the true nature of the brother he was going to be working for and to not push him.  I also told him that if he got out of line in any way, I was going to let the brother take care of the problem in any way he saw fit and I would not stop him or even question his decision.  Of course I was bluffing; I am not going to let some smart muscle take care of a problem with my blood.  That is reserved for me.  Maybe I’ll make is painless and quick for both of them.  It would fulfill my sense of irony.

BTW: I am tired of seeing that freakin’ Zombie dressed like a 7 foot tall pink bunny.  It gets too my soul.  I can’t let my guys know, but that think is the creepiest thing I have ever seen and I do not even know why.  If I ever find out who dressed that thing up I will take them to the pig farm myself.

Those Brothers are going to be the death of me 6:

I have seen and done some weird stuff in my days as part of my particular line of business.  A few years ago I would have even been tempted to think that I had seen it all.  These days I would not think that, and would never be tempted again.  I have seen the weirdest shit since the Zombie infection.  Not just that the undead are walking the earth, but the way the Zombies act are not what I expected.  Of course I have seen the Zombie movies and had the stereotypes that same as anyone else, but it is the little things that I notice now.  There can be a mob on undead in the street and they will respond to a Horn and move aside, but you can scream at one and it not even notice in any way.  They ignore most everything, but some people can get them to respond.  The brothers have that gift.  They seem to understand the undead like some freaking Zombie Whisperers.  The brother at the strip club handles the Zombie dancers like a Shepard.  I need to have more people with these skills.

I moved my Nephew to the strip club.  I know it sounds like a bad idea, but he has picked up all be can from the Dry Cleaners and Restaurant and impressed me, as much as he can impress me, the dumbass.  It was time to move him to a new location.  He was able to move the Zombies along the assembly line setup the older brother had designed and even was able to show me some of the tricks to controlling them.   I don’t need to use them, but it is good to know it is not some magic and even a dumbass can learn them with a little time and a good instructor.  You might think I am harsh, but this kid is going to be trouble.  I can tell.  There are some people that you know you will eventually have to put down, like a rabid dog.   My nephew is one of them.  I do not know when, but someday he will screw up to the point that he will have to be taken care of.  I just wait, so when it does happen my sister will understand and be able to get over it.

Those Brothers are going to be the death of me 5:

The restaurant brother was working on other ideas and opening Zombie Cleaners and hotels.  Crazy stuff but it did not cost hardly anything to give it a try.  I even got my dumbass nephew on board at the cleaners and he was staying out of trouble and learning a trade.  Good thing too because I was about done with him.  My sister would be disappointed if he got hurt at the pig farm, but she would get over it.

I can’t manager everything myself and I know it.  I have quite a few upstanding MBA types on the payroll for making things happen when I want them to move under their own power.  This Zombie business was ready to go corporate so I put the suits in the mix and had them run with it.  They started a franchise operation to squeeze every dime out of the idea.  I let them run with the idea and I put a couple of good guys to keep an eye on them, never trust the suits.  They learn too many tricks in school and they need to know someone is always watching so they do not get any unprofessional ideas, a little muscle goes a long way in keeping business running smoothly.