Zombie Reign:

A Fake Zombie Story

Tim Miller

Copyright © 2015 by Tim Miller

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

Cover Design and artwork by Meghan Chadeayne

Table of Contents

Title Page

Copyright Page

Words have no power to impress the mind without the exquisite horror of their reality. | —Edgar Allen Poe

Introduction

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Also by Tim Miller

About the Author

Words have no power to impress the mind without the exquisite horror of their reality.

—Edgar Allen Poe

Introduction

Thank you for picking up my book. I thought before we got started, I’d give you all a little warm up as to how this book came about. This is in fact, loosely based on true events. The truth, I was along with several others cast in a film to be known as “Zombie Reign.” Over time however, I discovered there really was no film and a list of other problems. The detailed accounting of events can be found on my blog at http://timmiller.org. I won’t bore you with all of those details here.

I did want you to know that I have taken EXTREME creative license with real events for the sake of this book. This story is a work of fiction based on my own personal experiences. So I have done my best to make sure no character in the story directly reflects any persons in real life. Many of the story’s characters are a mish mash of some of the real life personalities I had witnessed.

The same goes for many of the events. Since this book is a horror comedy, I did my best to make it both horrific and funny. I’m hoping I achieved both. I simply ask when reading this book, to put any ideas of who is what in real life aside and just enjoy the story. There are some events that are true, despite how crazy they are. Even as a writer, I can’t make some of this stuff up. There are many other events however, that I have taken to the furthest degrees of crazy for the sake of the story.

So that is enough of my rambling. I thank you all again for taking the time to pick up this book and read about some crazy adventures. If you’re a fan of my usual extreme horror, I tried to include enough death and gore to satisfy everyone. If not, well I understand that too. After the stress of what I experience, this book was quite enjoyable for me to write. I hope each of you enjoys reading it.

Tim Miller

Chapter 1

Clarence Ringo stood in front of the mirror and stretched. It was just after eight in the morning. He was ready for the day. There were things to do and preparations to be made for his film. Shirtless, he stood looking at his reflection, flexing as he admired the definition in the muscles that wasn’t actually there. While others saw a pot belly and man boobs, he saw finely chiseled pecs and abs. Sucking in his gut and sticking his chest out, he growled into the mirror.

“You are the world’s greatest film director,” he said as he pointed at his reflection. “You are fucking unstoppable. You are goddamn indestructible!” He changed poses a few times, flexing and twisting around. Though he hadn’t been to the gym in months, he was extremely impressed with his physique. After a few moments of flexing, he finally walked over and got dressed.

So much to do today. His film, “Zombie Reign” was about to come true. It had to come true. Nothing could stop him now. Once he was dressed, he grabbed a soda from the fridge and a bag of cheese balls before he sat on the couch. The TV was already turned on as he flipped open his laptop, munching away on cheese balls. His cell phone went off next to him. Wiping the cheese crumbs off his fingers he grabbed the phone and answered it.

“Hello?” he said.

“Clarence? Whatcha doin’ babe?” Lisa said. They had been dating for six months and he made her his executive producer on “Zombie Reign.”

“Hey! Oh just working. You?”

“You work so hard. You need to take a break. Did you get any sleep last night?”

“Maybe an hour or two,” he said.

“Wow. Don’t do that to yourself. I worry about you.”

“It’s so sweet how you worry about me.”

“Of course I do. So what time is the casting call? I thought it was this morning.”

“No, it’s at noon. I had to move it.”

“Oh ok. Same place?”

“No, they said they had a meeting there. I found a conference room downtown they said we could use.”

“Oh great.”

“Just one favor though. Could you float me $300.00?”

“For what?”

“It’s, uh to rent the conference room. Its three hundred for the day.”

“Jesus, Clarence!”

“I know, I’m sorry. I’ll pay you back once we get our money.”

“Okay,” she sighed. “When do you need it?”

“Just bring it at noon.”

“Ok babe. Any word when we get paid?”

“Not yet. The investor was supposed to call me this week to schedule a meeting. I think she’ll give me a check then.”

“Oh, that’ll be great. You’ve waited so long.”

“Yeah, it’s been a long haul, but we’re almost there. Not much longer now. We just need to fill a few more roles and this will be a go.”

“Sometimes I just can’t believe it.”

“Oh believe it. Our lives are about to change. See you at noon,” he said as he hung up and tossed the phone onto the couch. Lisa was a great lady, when she wasn’t bugging him about money. He was happy to have her though; she took care of everything for him. That way he didn’t have to bother with all the leg work. This was his vision after all; he needed to be planning, strategizing, and realizing this dream. He had just turned the sound back on the TV when his mom came walking into the room.

“Clarence. Are you going to be able to help me with rent this month?” she asked.

“Oh yeah! Yeah, definitely.”

“That’s what you said last month. I can’t keep paying for both of us.”

“I know mom. I told you I’ll pay you back, as soon as I get the money from the movie.”

She rolled her eyes.

“God, I’m so sick of hearing about this movie. You’re forty-two years old! Where’s the movie?”

“I know, mom. Didn’t you teach me to never give up on your dreams? These things take time.”

“I did, but that doesn’t mean you can’t have a job while you chase them.”

“This is my job!”

She looked at the TV and the bag of cheeseballs and shook her head.

“Ok. Just try to at least help me out this month if you want any more cheeseballs.”

“I will. I promise,” he said as she walked out. Once she left he looked at the time. It was almost eleven. Fuck. He got up and put the cheeseballs away and headed to his car. Well it was his mom’s car, but it may as well be his since he drove it all the time. She had retired from a local insurance company after working there for thirty-five years. She had planned on moving to Florida when she retired, but he talked her into staying in Texas. He wanted her to watch his dreams come true.

As he drove, he thought about all the great things he’d do with his fame and fortune. There had been people along the way who told him he was full of shit. He had no time for such losers. Part of why he was recasting was because of having to fire so many after the last shoot.

Several were complaining about not being paid and having to do their own stunts. One flat out refused. Just who did that asshole think he was? I’m the director. You work for me! he thought. But that was part of the film business; not that he’d actually made any films. These actors all have egos and sometimes need to be put in their place. If that didn’t work, they were out. But today would be a good day. He just got a new assistant director who is excited for this project. It would be great to get some fresh faces to work with.

As he pulled up to the conference center, there was a line of people already going down the street and around the corner. A smile crossed his face as he took in the crowd. This was going to be a great day.

Chapter 2

Chloe Ryan stood in line outside the convention center taking in the other actresses standing around. This was her third audition this week. The other two had been for local car commercials. This one was for a feature film and the lead role in a zombie movie. She loved horror and zombie films, so this would be a dream come true if she landed it. There were hundreds of girls there who were much prettier than she.

Looks didn’t always mean you could act though. She tried to be realistic about her own abilities, and she truly felt she was pretty good. Finally the doors opened and people started streaming inside. Once inside they were herded into the convention hall where there was a platform in the middle with a microphone. They gathered around the platform and waited. And waited. And waited some more. They waited for almost two hours.

Some of the people left. Chloe had thought about leaving herself, but then she thought this might be a test of some sort to weed people out. Finally a door in back opened and a Latino man came walking toward the platform along with a tall blonde. The blonde climbed onto the platform, grabbed the microphone and began to speak, or more like yell.

“Attention everyone!” she shouted as feedback squealed over the speakers. She took step back and tried again, this time speaking with an inside voice.

“Sorry. Attention everyone. Thank you for coming to today’s open casting call for Zombie Reign. It’s an honor to be a part of this project. I know you all have been waiting, so without further ado, here is the film’s creator and director, Clarence Ringo!”

Everyone applauded as the Latino man walked to the mic. He was about the same height as the blonde, had a stocky build and his black hair was slicked back.

“Thank you everyone for coming by. It’s truly an honor to have you all here today. It has been a long haul with this project. Almost eight years we’ve been trying to make this happen. Eight long years of hard work, blood, and sweat. Now we are well on our way to making this film a reality. Some of you will take that journey with us!”

As he paused, they erupted with cheering. He stood back as if to take it all in before stepping back to the mic.

“So we’ll get started with auditions here. They are cold auditions, so we’ll be handing you lines when you audition. I’ll tell you now that you probably won’t hear anything today. We’ll go over all the auditions, and then start scheduling callbacks. Sound good?”

Everyone clapped as he held up a hand.

“One little thing I want to do here. When I say Zombie, you say Reign. Ok? Here we go. Zombie!”

“Reign!” everyone screamed back at him.

“All right! I like that!” he said as he jumped down and walked back into one of the rooms. Everyone began milling about as they waited their turns. Chloe wondered how long it would take to get through this many people. One by one people were called into the conference room. She chatted with a few people who were there. One girl named Liz came up and talked to her.

“Weren’t you at the Toyota place audition the other day?” Liz asked.

“Yeah! I thought you looked familiar!” she said as her and Liz hugged. Liz had gone right before she did at the last one. Part of her wanted to ask Liz if she’d heard back from them, but decided not to.

“You ever hear anything?” Liz asked. “I haven’t yet.”

Chloe laughed as she shook her head.

“Nope. Not a thing. I wonder if they cast someone.”

“Who knows? I just go to these things until I land something.”

“I try to,” Chloe said. “But it’s hard not to think about it. Especially after twenty auditions in a row with no call backs.”

“Yeah. But it only takes that one,” Liz replied.

“So you think they cast someone?”

“Probably. That would be my luck.”

“Mine too,” Chloe said.

Looking around, Chloe noticed there were even kids there to audition. She supposed there would be some kids in the zombie apocalypse. To her right, a couple of people were doing some warm up exercises. Making funny noises with their lips as well as some weird, howling sounds. She hadn’t done that since high school drama class. With so many amateurs there, maybe she stood half a chance.

The ad had said big budget, major motion picture, but she was kind of skeptical. Maybe they had already cast some big names. Maybe they got someone big like Brad Pitt or James Franco! Yes, she was a fan of James Franco, something she often caught hate for. It would still be a dream come true to shoot a film with him. She wouldn’t complain no matter who it was with. First thing’s first anyway. Get the fucking part first. Then she can find out who she’s working with and what she’ll be doing.

By her estimation, she had maybe another month’s worth of savings if she didn’t land a part soon, maybe two. She’d worked two jobs for over a year, saving everything she could so she could pursue her dream of being an actress. She’d been at it for just over two years now. In that time, she’d done a few commercials here and there, a couple of modeling gigs, and a small part in an indie film that didn’t pay.

“Chloe Ryan!” someone screamed her name. She looked and saw a young woman with a clipboard standing outside the conference room. As she walked over she tried to keep her composure. While she wanted to run over there, she didn’t want to appear too excited. She got to the door and the woman smiled.

“You’re Chloe?” she said.

“Yes!”

“Ok, all set?”

“I sure am.”

“Great! Step right in there, the production team is waiting.

Chloe took a deep breath and walked through the door to her future.

Chapter 3

Brody Collins took a seat next to Clarence, Lisa, and Mia, the casting director. Over the past several hours, they’d been watching various actors and actresses come in and read lines. This wasn’t like any audition he’d been to before. When he first arrived just before noon, he was amazed at the disorganization.

“Where’s Clarence?” he asked Lisa.

“He’s on his way.”

“It’s 12:15. He’s late for his own casting call?”

“Hey, this is his project; he can do what he wants.”

“Ok, I guess.” So they waited. Clarence did finally show up around 12:30, by then they had begun letting people in. But Clarence still wasn’t ready. He was playing Temple Run on his tablet for almost an hour. When Brody tried to get his attention, Clarence just waved him off. When he was done with that, he and Lisa said they had to talk and went into one of the other rooms. They were there for another hour before he went out to give his big welcome speech.

Once the auditions began, Brody sat next to Clarence at the large table.

“You have a copy of the script?” Brody asked.

“Huh?” Clarence replied.

“The script?”

“Oh, right. No, I don’t have the script here.”

“No script?”

“No, no one sees the script,” Clarence said.

“Why not? How will we do auditions with no script?”

“I don’t want someone trying to rip off my movie. I made up these sample lines. Everyone will read off these.” He held up some sheets of paper.

“Ok then. Send the first one in I guess.”

For the next few hours they saw some actors who did extremely well, and others who were horrible. Some were worse than horrible. The odd thing was, Clarence seemed impressed with everyone. No matter how bad they were, he told them they were amazing. A few people he offered parts right there on the spot.

“Aren’t we doing callbacks?” Brody asked.

“Yeah, but for the ones who are exceptional, I want to lock them in now.”

“They aren’t locked in until we get them contracts.”

“Yeah, I know. Those are coming. I got this, don’t worry,” Clarence said as he smiled and patted Brody’s shoulder.

Brody shrugged and sat back down. It wasn’t lost on him that every one of these “exceptional” people happened to be an extremely attractive female. After dozens more auditions, a girl named Chloe stepped in. Just one look at her and Brody suspected she’d be getting a part. She had short blonde hair and bright blue eyes. Other than Lisa, she was the only blonde he’d seen all day. The girl had a huge smile; it was like she couldn’t stop smiling.

Brody handed her the lines and told her to begin. She read them as Lisa read with her. Once she was done she looked at them nervously as Clarence began clapping.

“Wow! That was incredible,” he said. “I mean, I’ve seen some good ones today, but that was just phenomenal.”

“Oh my God! Really?” she squealed.

“Yes! Fantastic. Um...have a seat.”

She sat down at the table and looked at the three of them.

“So I’m Clarence the director, this is Lisa my casting director and Brody my assistant director.”

“Hi!” Chloe said.

“So, what I’d like to do is to offer you a part in Zombie Reign.”

The girl almost fell out of her chair. She placed her hand over her mouth, as her eyes grew wide.

“Are you serious?”

“Yes. I’m serious. The part is yours.”

“Which part is it?”

“Well, I wrote the script, but I’m in the middle of a re-write. So I had a character in mind I had just added in, and you’d be perfect.”

Brody had no idea what he was talking about since he hadn’t seen a script.

“Wow! I...I’m speechless.”

“So do you accept the part?”

“Yes! Yes absolutely!”

“Great! So just so you know, there is something. There is one scene where you’ll be kissing a male actor. Are you ok with that?”

“Um, I guess. Do you know who the actor is?”

“Yeah. It’s me. I’m cast in this as well. I’m playing the lead.”

“Oh. Um. Ok. I guess that’s ok.”

“Great. It’ll be no big deal. You’ll do great. Plus wait until you see what it pays. It’ll be worth it. Trust me.”

“Ok! Sounds awesome!”

“It is. This is going to be amazing.”

“Do you know when filming starts?” she asked.

“Next month.”

“Wow! That soon?”

“Yep. I just met with the investors last week. And they are excited about this project. So they are giving us our budget in a couple weeks. We’ll do contracts then, and begin filming.”

“Wow! That is just. Wow!”

“I know right!” he said, laughing. “Ok. Any other questions?”

“No, I don’t think so.”

“Great. I’ll give you a call soon, and we’ll be having a cast meeting coming up. So I’ll see you soon.”

“Great! Thank you so much!”

“Sure. Just one thing, since we aren’t casting everyone yet, please keep this quiet for now ok? I know you’re excited, but we need to maintain confidentiality until all the roles are filled.”

“Ok. Sure. No problem.”

The girl got up and headed out of the room. Brody looked at his phone, it was almost four.

“How long do we have the room until?”

“Six,” Clarence said.

“You think we’ll get through everyone? There are tons of people out there still.”

“Oh yeah. It’ll be fine, I got this.”

They took a few more auditions before an employee from the convention center stepped into the room.

“Hey guys,” he said. “You all about to wrap it up?”

“Not for another hour. Why?” Clarence said.

“You only had this booked until four. We gave you some extra time, but there is another meeting coming in that has it reserved.”

“Well, we still have all those people out there to audition. We can’t just pack up and leave.”

“I’m afraid you have to. I’m sorry. We gave you more time.”

“I don’t care. We need another hour. You know what this is? You know what is happening here?”

“Yes. You’re casting for some film or something.”

“Not some film. The film. This is Zombie Reign.”

“Ok. Whatever. But you all need to go.”

“I already told you...,” Clarence said, his voice getting louder.

“I know what you said, sir. But we have other clients who have paid for their time. You got half the day for free. Now we need it.”

Clarence glared at him, chewing on his bottom lip. Finally he stood, grabbing his tablet.

“You know what. Fine. Next time we’ll just do business somewhere else,” he yelled as he stormed out the side door. Lisa grabbed her things and hurried after him. Brody sat there, staring at the employee and shrugged.

“Sorry,” Brody said. “I just came to help out.”

“We need all these people to leave,” the man said.

“I’ll take care of it,” Brody said as he headed to the hall. Nothing like being left holding the bag.

Chapter 4

Three months after auditions

Clarence stood in the warehouse looking over his cast. By his last count they had about three hundred cast and crew. Lisa kept asking him if he felt like that was too many, but he didn’t think so. They’d need lots and lots of zombies for this project. All these wide eyed young people were packed in looking up at him, hanging on his every word. It just doesn’t get any better than this!

“Welcome everyone! Thank you for coming to our first Zombie Reign cast meeting. I’ll try to make this quick and then I’ll take any questions,” he said. “First we are still in pre-production. I just met with the investors. They originally were going to give us a $4 million budget. After seeing the promo, they have increased it to $10 million!” He pumped his fist in the air as the cast cheered. Someone actually screamed they were so excited.

Lisa nudged him as he leaned in. He mouth the word “Promo?” holding her hands up confused. He just shook his head and gave her a thumbs up. Lisa was so sweet, always worried about him. She didn’t know though, he’s got this. Once the cheering died down he continued.

“We’re now securing some locations and I just hired an excellent artist to work on the graphic novel!”

More cheering burst out as he smiled, taking I all in. It was hard for him to believe his vision was happening; this was all actually happening.

“Now, I’m ready to answer any questions you all my have.”

A girl in the front raised her hand.

“Do you know when we start filming? I remember we were supposed to start a few months ago.”

“Right. In this business, delays happen; it’s pretty common. So right now we are looking to start next month. We’ll have contracts out next week, then checks and then scripts. That sound good?”

Everyone cheered once again as more hands went up.

“How much will the pay be?”

“Pay will be at SAG rates. So you can look up a $10 million movie and see what the daily rates are, but you all will be paid up front. Does that sound good?” There were more cheers. He spent the next hour answering questions. Many of them were the same questions. Some weren’t actually questions but cast members decided to cite their resumes for some strange reason.

Once everyone was done they began to file out. Lisa walked over to Clarence.

“What promo?” she asked.

“The promo we shot.”

“When did we shoot a promo?”

“It was before I met you. I’m still putting it together.”

“I thought you said the investors liked it.”

“They did. It just needs some cleaning up.”

“Oh, ok. But they really liked it.”

“But I’m not in it,” she said hanging her head.

“You will be. We are gonna shoot more soon and I’ll add it in. It’ll be great.”

She looked up and smiled as he put his arms around her. As he held her, she squeezed him tight when someone came up behind him. It was one of his actresses.

“Hi,” he said. “Jenny right?”

“Janie.”

“Oh yeah, Janie. What’s up?”

“Well I wanted to talk to you like, about my character?” Janie asked. She was a short Hispanic girl with her hair pulled back into a ponytail.

“Ok, what about it?”

“Well, like I don’t know anything about her. Can you at least tell me her name?”

“Yeah, it’s um...Carla.”

“Carla? So what’s her backstory? What is she doing?”

“Look, I’ll tell you what. We’re going to do some acting workshops coming up. At those we can go over things like characters and backstory in more detail.”

“Oh, cool! Is my character like, you know. Like a main character?”

“Oh yeah, absolutely. You’re one of our leads.”

“Really?”

“Definitely. You get a lot of camera time. Trust me. People will know who you are. Ok?”

“Awesome! Thank you so much!” she said as she scurried off.

“You have such a way with people babe,” Lisa said.

“I know. Just one of my many gifts.”

“I can’t wait until the world sees what an amazing filmmaker you are.”

“I know. They had better watch out!”

They both laughed as they walked out of the building and to his car. She had driven separately since she had to be at work right after the meeting.

“Oh, Lisa?”

“Yeah babe?”

“Can you help me out with my car payment? I missed last month’s payment and if I don’t pay it, it’s getting repoed soon.”

Her forehead wrinkled.

“Well how much is it?”

“Four hundred.”

“Jesus.”

“I know. I know. I’m sorry. If it gets repoed I can’t drive to Vegas next month to meet with the investors. You know what that means.”

“I know. I know.”

“You know I’ll—“

“Yes, you’ll pay me back. I know you will. I trust you with all my heart babe,” she said as she took out her checkbook and wrote him a check. When she handed it to him it was for six hundred.

“Why so much?” he asked.

“For any other bills you might have, or food or something.”

“Oh ok. Thanks honey.” He leaned over and kissed her on the cheek. He put the check in his wallet and climbed into his car, smiling to himself. Part of him felt bad for not telling her this was his mom’s car. Oh well. At least now he could buy the new TV he’d been wanting.

Chapter 5

Chloe was so excited when she got home. She’d had some other recent auditions and ended up getting a job waiting tables. While being cast in “Zombie Reign” was exciting, she hadn’t been paid yet, so she had to take the job. She hadn’t done any other work for a while, but figured she’d pick up some other projects on the side until they began filming.

Just as she pulled up at her house, her phone rang. It was Clarence.

“Hello?” she said.

“Hey, Chloe?”

“Yes?”

“It’s Clarence Ringo, sorry to bug you. I know you just left the meeting but I didn’t get a chance to talk to you.”

“Oh, hi! You’re fine!”

“Ok cool. Hey, I was hoping we could meet up tomorrow. We’re filming soon and I need to go over some things with you about your character and some other stuff.”

“Um, tomorrow is pretty busy for me. I have a couple of auditions.”

“Auditions? For what?” he asked.

“A couple of commercials and a feature.”

“Oh, Chloe. No, no, no. That’s no good.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well I thought you were committed to Zombie Reign.”

“I am...”

“So why the other auditions?”

“Because I need work, and I thought this would be good experience.”

“No, I’m sorry. If you’re committed to Zombie Reign, then you can’t be doing other projects. It’s in the contract.”

“But I never got a contract.”

“I know, you will. And it’s in there. But either way, if you want to be a part of this production, you can’t work other projects. Our investors said it’s a conflict of interest and they don’t want it.”

“How is it a conflict?”

“Look. Are you dedicated or not?”

“Of course I am.”

“How much do these other roles pay?”

“Like a couple hundred I think.”

“Ok, Zombie Reign pays thousands. Literally thousands, maybe even tens of thousands. That’s why it’s taking longer. I’m doing everything I can to get as much money for every single one of you. Now isn’t that worth you holding on for a little longer? And skipping a few little gigs?”

“Well, I guess so...” Chloe said.

“Great! I’ll see you tomorrow!” he said as he hung up.

She looked at her phone while shaking her head. What the hell was that? It took her a few minutes to process the whole conversation. She’d spent weeks scheduling these auditions, and now he wanted her to cancel them? For what? A meeting about her character? It all seemed kind of weird. In other short films she’d done, it was never anything like this. But this was no little indie short. This was a major motion picture, big budgets and all.

So she figured she may as well cancel the interview and see what this meeting was about. It had to be a big deal if the director himself wanted to meet with her. Maybe he was going to give her a script so she can finally learn about her character. So far she barely knew anything. Well nothing at all really.

As she went in the house, her phone rang again. This was Liz. They’d exchanged numbers after the auditions.

“Hey! How’s it going?” Chloe said.

“Oh good! So you got the Zombie Reign part?” Liz asked.

“Oh yeah! I thought I told you.”

“No. I didn’t hear anything at first, but a few days ago they called me and offered me a part.”

“That is awesome! I hope we get to work together, that’ll be so cool.”

“I know,” Liz said. “They said mine was a primary character.”

“Really? Mine too. That’s weird.”

“They told you that? Did they say how many characters there were?”

“No. He said we’ll go over all that when we get scripts,” Chloe said.

“Interesting. So you haven’t heard anything else?”

“Not really. He said he wants to meet with me tomorrow to go over my character. So maybe I’ll get a script then.”

“That would be cool. One of my friends said she auditioned for Zombie Reign last summer and that it was some scam,” Liz explained.

“Scam how?”

“She didn’t say. Just said something seemed off about the whole thing.”

“I don’t know. Everyone has been real cool so far,” Chloe said, but then remembered Clarence just telling her not to take other parts while part of Zombie Reign. That in itself was strange.

“Yeah. I’ll give it some time. Doesn’t hurt anything. He said the pay is going to be through the roof.”

“I know. It’s hard to believe.”

“Well cool. Hey, let me know how that meeting goes tomorrow. I’m really excited to sink my teeth into this role.”

“I sure will. Bye Liz!” Chloe said as she hung up. Finally she went inside the house where her mom was in the kitchen pouring a glass of wine.

“Hey Chloe. How’d the meeting go?”

“Went good. The director wants to meet with me tomorrow to go over my character.”

“Oh yeah? That’s pretty cool. You guys get contracts or anything yet?”

“No not yet. I’m hoping he’ll tell me something tomorrow.”

“That would be nice. You’re not going to work for him for free are you?” her mom asked.

“Oh no way. This is a paying job. Big budget and everything. He said it’s up to $10 million now. They’re just waiting on the investors to come through.”

“Wow. That’s a lot.” Her mom took a sip of her wine. “It’s not a porno is it?”

Chloe rolled her eyes.

“No mom. It’s not a porn!”

“Do you have to take of your clothes or anything?”

“He said I have a kissing scene, but that’s all I know.” She left out the part it was with the director; that would set her mom off for sure.

“Ok. You’re a big girl. Just be careful.”

“I know. I always am,” Chloe said before heading to her room.

Chapter 6

Lisa sat at her desk staring at a blank computer screen. For the past few months, it was becoming increasingly more difficult to focus on her day job as it got closer to filming. Not only was she the executive producer, but also the lead actress. Her amazing man, Clarence would be her leading man as well. She couldn’t think of a more perfect way for their dreams to come true.

Filming a movie was much better than sitting at work. Her day job was as a web developer. There was once a time when doing web development and graphic design was her dream job. Now, it was just a mind numbing hellhole. A big reason was that her heart was no longer in it. Ever since she was a little girl, she had wanted to be an actress.

She had given up on that dream years ago. At thirty five and single, she had given up on most her dreams. Another dream had been to have a family, but that hadn’t worked out either. It had been years since she had resigned herself to living a life of work and the occasional fun weekend and maybe a vacation here and there. That is until she met Clarence.

It was on one of her weekends out, at a bar with some friends of hers. He was sitting at the bar alone, looking tired. Lisa had just ordered a drink and saw him sitting there looking at her. Striking up a conversation seemed like the natural thing to do.

“Hi,” she said.

“Hey there. What’s your name?”

“Lisa. Yours?”

“I’m Clarence.”

“Hi Clarence. You here alone?”

“Yeah, I’m afraid so. Been working all day. I figured I needed some time off.”

“That makes sense. What do you do?”

“I’m a filmmaker,” he’d said. That part she had figured was bullshit. Guys always said they were filmmakers or musicians or whatever, but she just went with it.

“Oh really? What kind of films have you made?”

“I’m in the middle of a big project now.”

“Oh yeah? What kind of project?”

“Can’t tell you,” he said.

“Well! Now I’m intrigued. This sounds like a big deal.”

“It is. At least, it’s getting there. Someone already tried to steal it. Not to mention I had an idea stolen from me already.”

“You serious?”

“Yeah. You watch that show, The Lurching Deceased?”

“God! I love that show!”

“Well I came up with that whole thing. I wrote the concept and some of the original scripts. And John Krugman stole the idea, made his graphic novels and got it picked up as a TV show.”

“Holy shit! Are you serious?” she asked. Honestly, Lisa wasn’t sure what to think of that story at first. He seemed convincing at least, so she kept listening.

“I’m dead serious. I have lawyers looking into some options now. But we are probably going to file suit. I mean, he blatantly stole it and I have proof.”

“How do you know him?”

“We worked together when I lived in Las Vegas on a couple projects. I made the mistake of showing him what I was working on. He must have copied it somehow. Stupid mistake. So now I’m really protective of my newest project.”

“Can you tell me a little about it?”

“Ok. Just a little though. So there is this big corporation that is doing experiments and trying to develop a cure for cancer. Well they start doing human trials without approval and as a side effect, the test subjects turn into zombies and attack the lab people. It gets out and turns into the zombie apocalypse.”

“Wow! That sounds really cool!”

“Thanks! And this takes place and will be filmed right here in San Antonio. It will be a full San Antonio cast and crew from top to bottom.”

“That is really awesome. So when are you filming? Have you already cast for it?” she asked trying not to sound opportunistic. This was the first time in years she had even considered trying to act.

“Soon, real soon. And yes, I have casting calls coming up soon as well. You should come out.”

“I just might!”

They continued to talk until the bar closed. He called her a few days later and they went out for dinner; their first real date. From there it was history. He was very sweet to her, treated her like a lady, and always listened to her. The fact he cast her as the lead and made her executive producer showed just how much trust and faith he had in her. Any relationship had to be about trust.

Although he hadn’t let her see the script yet. She didn’t blame him though, after what happened to him with The Lurching Deceased. She’d be careful too. He’d show her when the time was right. Over the months they’d been together she’d grown to love him more than she thought possible to love any man. There was no doubt in her mind she’d be spending the rest of her life with him. Once the movie was finished, he would most likely propose to her. Talk about happy endings; she couldn’t think of a better one.

The ringing phone at her desk snapped her out of her daydream. She groaned before answering. It was her boss asking her to stop by his office before she left. No doubt to write her up again. Her productivity had been way down since they’d begun casting. Every waking hour had been devoted to this film.

From the minute she got home from work, she went through audition videos, read through resumes and headshots while driving around and checking out locations. Soon they’d have more crew to help with this, but in the meantime it was all her. Clarence left most of these duties to her so he could focus on polishing the script. This would be an epic film indeed.

Chapter 7

Six months after auditions

Chloe was nervous as hell. Since the last meeting with Clarence months ago, he talked to her about how much her pay will be and some things he wanted to do with her character. None of it seemed like a big deal and she didn’t see why he needed a special meeting, but whatever.

Then two days ago, Clarence calls her and says they’re ready to start filming. When she asked about her contract and pay he just told her it was coming soon.

“Well, I can’t shoot yet. Not until I get paid and get my contract,” she explained.

“I know. Look Chloe. You’re very talented and beautiful. That’s why we need these scenes. It’s for the promo to show the investors. They are this close to giving us our budget. Ok, like so close. Think of everything you’ve dreamed of in this business, everything you’ve ever wanted. It’s all right there for you to just reach out and take it. We just need to shoot a few scenes so we can finish the promo. Once the investors see this, they will hand me a nice, big, fat check.”

She thought it over long and hard. From the start, she had said she’ll never work without a contract. But this was an opportunity she didn’t want to pass up.

“Chloe? Still there? What do you say? Are you in? Or should I just get someone else?” he asked.

“I’m in. I’ll do it I guess.”

“Great!”

He gave her the details and here they were, in someone’s house getting ready for her first scene. Clarence was in costume, which consisted of military fatigues, boots, and weapons. His character was a U.S. Marine but she thought he was rather pudgy for an active Marine, especially during the zombie apocalypse when everyone would be rationing food.

Her costume was a white tank top and jeans. As she looked around, she didn’t see any cameras, or sound equipment or much of anything to be honest. The cast and crew was Clarence, Brody, herself, and a couple others. One girl she figured was the makeup artist by the bag she was carrying. The girl had put some makeup on her, enough to make her look dirty and mussed her hair up a bit. Clarence came over smiling.

“Hey! You look great! You ready?” he asked.

“I guess. You never sent me my lines or a script.”

“Oh yeah. There really isn’t any for this scene. This will be our kissing scene.”

That took her by surprise.

“Our kissing scene?”

“Yeah. I told you during your audition and you were fine with it.”

“Oh. Right. But the contract...”

“Didn’t we already go over this? Look, we’ll just do the scene, a couple of takes and we’re done. You’ll have your money no later than next month.”

“Ok. Let’s do this. Oh, where are the cameras?”

“Brian will be shooting for us; he’s using my tablet to film,” Clarence said.

“Your tablet?”

“Yeah. I don’t have any equipment just yet. When we get our budget for pre-production then we’ll buy all the gear we need.”

Chloe had never been on a set that filmed solely with a tablet, but whatever.

“Ok I guess.”

So they walked to the couch and stood in front of it. He did give her a few lines to say for the scene before Brody shouted, “Action!”

“I need you here,” Chloe said as part of her lines. “You promised me you’d be here.”

“That was before all this. My country needs me. I can’t ignore that.”

“Not even for me? Your wife?”

“I must do this, so other wives don’t lose their husbands. We face an enemy greater than anything this nation has faced before. I’m one of the few and the proud, and duty calls.”

Chloe had to try not to crack up at the cheesy dialogue. This sounded more like something out of a bad soap opera over a zombie film, but she just went with it.

“What can I do to convince you to stay?” she asked.

“Nothing, the decision has been made.”

She stepped in as he pulled her close to him and their lips touched. As her face neared his, she got a look at him close up for the first time. His cheeks were covered in blackheads and pock marks throughout his face. Some were sprinkled along his cheeks, but others were the size of pennies. On the side of his nose was a large, yellow zit. She almost hesitated but didn’t want to blow the shot. So she closed her eyes and tried to imagine a more attractive guy she’d dated months before.

As they kissed, he shoved his tongue down her throat almost gagging her. She tried to go with it, but was able to keep it together enough in the shot. He kissed her roughly as he groped her butt. At first she thought it just may have been an accident, but then one of her hands went to her breast. She jumped back.

“What are you doing?” she said.

“Cut!” Brody called. “What’s wrong?”

“He’s grabbing my ass and tits!”

“It’s a love scene, what did you expect?” Clarence asked.

“Love scene? You said kissing scene.”

“Well there is kissing. But it’s basically a sex scene.”

“No. Uh uh. I didn’t agree to this,” she said shaking her head.

“Do you want to be paid? A scene like this for a film like this, you’re looking at double the usual pay.”

“You won’t even tell me what my pay was to start with.”

“Ok, your original pay, you were looking at around thirty thousand dollars total for a film this size. So now, you’d be getting sixty thousand.”

“Sixty thousand dollars?” she asked.

“Right. For six weeks of filming. Can you make that anywhere else?”

“No, but...”

“Yes I know, we haven’t paid you yet. It’s coming soon, I absolutely promise you. You think I’d be going through all of this if we weren’t right there?” He waved his hand around at the “set.”

“So come on. Be a professional and do what you’ve been hired to do. This is going to be killer and after this film comes out, people will forget all about shows like The Lurching Deceased.”

She thought it over. Everything inside her head was telling her to turn and run out of there as fast as she could. Yet everything he said sounded so good. What if he was right and she passed up the chance of a lifetime?

“All right,” she sighed.

“Great,” he said. “Ready when you are Brody.”

“Action!” Brody called out.

They began kissing again. She tried but couldn’t look away from the huge zit on his nose. Part of her was afraid if her cheek bumped it, it would pop and get pus all over her face. Or even worse, in her mouth. Yuck! The mere thought made her sick to her stomach, so she tried to send her brain somewhere else.

It wasn’t too hard to distract herself from it as he grabbed her breast again and squeezed. She resisted the urge to pull away as she undid his uniform shirt and pulled it off him. This is where she had to really be an actress. Not only was she not attracted to this guy, but she was flat out repulsed by him. Yet she had to act like she was in love with him and wanted to fuck his brains out. Not an easy task.

Once his shirt was off, he began tugging at her tank top, pulling it over her head. This would be her first nude scene, so she tried not to think too hard about it. He then began fumbling at her bra; she reached up and undid it herself letting it fall free. He pushed her gently onto the couch as they continued kissing. He undid her jeans and began pulling them off.

She glanced over at Brody who just nodded. They never told her just how nude she was supposed to be. This was making her extremely uncomfortable but figured she’d go with it. So she kicked off her shoes as he slid her jeans off. He then slid her panties off her as well. At first she hesitated, but let him keep going. One thing was certain, she better get her sixty fucking grand for this.

Though looking at Clarence’s face, he was either a really good actor or extremely turned on. His eyes were almost glazed over as he made animal like grunting sounds with each movement. He leaned in and they began kissing some more as he fondled her breasts, even pinching her nipples. It wasn’t enough to hurt, but it didn’t feel good either. She scooted herself back onto the couch as he pressed against her.

As he moved in, she felt something warm and fleshy on the inside of her leg. Looking down, his dick was out and fully erect. Immediately she jumped off the couch and punched him in his flabby chest.

“What the fuck?” she screamed.

“Cut!” Brody called out. “What’s your problem?”

“Look! He took his fucking dick out!” She began pulling her panties on, and then her jeans. Clarence was quickly tucking his now limp penis back into his fatigues.

“I’m sorry, I got carried away,” he said.

“Are you fucking kidding me? You think this is a porno or some shit?”

“No, Chloe, I’m sorry. It was a mistake.”

“Mistake my ass. I’m out of here. I’m done. And I’m telling the rest of the cast how you acted here today.”

“I don’t think you will,” he said.

“Pretty sure of yourself are you?”

“You signed the confidentiality agreement after auditions, remember? If you tell anyone about anything that happens on set, then you will be fired from this production and sued. Not only will you not get your sixty grand, but you’ll owe me money. Do you want that?”

“Whatever,” she said as she stormed out.

Chapter 8

Brody left the shoot trying to figure out just what the hell he’d just witnessed. Clarence had met with him an hour before filming to go over the shot. He never bothered to mention there would be nudity or him whipping his dick out at the poor girl. Clarence had emphasized to him that no matter what happens, to keep filming and they would be improving much of the scene for authenticity. Boy, he wasn’t kidding.

After Chloe left, Clarence just shrugged.

“She’ll be fine. Just nervous is all,” Clarence had said.

“Dude, seriously? Were you trying to fuck her? You whipped your dick out.”

“I didn’t whip it out. I mean, ok I got excited. But the button on my pants came undone and it just popped out.”

Brody shook his head, he wasn’t buying it. Every part of his being told him to turn around and walk away from this mess right away and never come back. Then he remembered how much this was supposed to pay.

“I should quit right now. That was completely disgusting here today,” Brody said.

“I know Brody, I know. You’re a man of principles. I respect that. But think of your family. Isn’t your mom sick?” Clarence said.

Brody bristled as soon as Clarence said it. His mother had been battling breast cancer for over a year. He made the mistake of sharing that with Clarence not long after he was hired. As much as it killed him, he didn’t want to admit he was right, but Clarence had a point. Their insurance was running out and his mom’s treatments were getting more and more expensive. The money from this film would cover some experimental treatments the insurance wouldn’t cover and maybe save her. No way could he walk away from this. He had to stick it out.

“Yes, yes. She is. I know.”

“Well ok then. I mean, if you want to walk out of here, there’s the door. But you’d be throwing away the opportunity of a lifetime.”

Brody rubbed his eyes. He was stuck and Clarence knew it.

“All right. But in the future, could you at least let me know ahead of time before any nude or sex scenes? And maybe inform the actress as well?” Brody said.

“Sure man. Sure. This was just a misunderstanding today. That’s all.” Clarence took the tablet from the camera guy.

“You want me to go over the footage?” Brody asked. “I mean, I’m not sure what we can even use.”

“No, I go it; it’s fine. I like to do my own editing. That and no offense, but just like the script, I don’t want anything leaking. You know piracy and all.”

“Right.”

“Oh, one more thing,” Clarence began. “In case you’re thinking of talking to anyone about today, remember you signed that confidentiality agreement. That is enforceable and not only will I take legal action but I have a lot of contacts in this industry. I’ll see to it you don’t produce so much as a wedding video.”

“I get it,” Brody said.

When Brody got home, his mom was sitting on the couch watching TV. She was wrapping a blanket around herself as she watched him walk in.

“Hey Brody,” she said. “How’d it go today?”

“Eh. Ok I guess. Not as I had planned, but I’ll make the best of it.” How would he even begin to explain what happened to his mother?

“By the look on your face, it looks worse than that. Did you get fired?”

“What? Oh, no no. Nothing like that. Just, wasn’t what I was expecting is all.”

“Well, if it doesn’t feel like a good fit, you should just move on,” she said.

“It’s not that simple. This isn’t bagging groceries; it’s the film business. Good opportunities don’t always come along. I can’t pass this up no matter how weird it gets.”

“I just don’t want to see you lose yourself, Brody.” She paused and started coughing. The treatments were sometimes worse than the actual disease. “You’ve always stuck to your guns.”

“I know mom. It’ll be fine.”

“I know. And whatever you do, don’t stick to something just for me. I don’t want you to be miserable.”

“I won’t,” he lied. “This is what I do, what I’ve always wanted to do.”

She squeezed his hand and he went into the other room. He turned on the TV and pulled up an episode of “The Lurching Deceased.” As he watched zombies creep across the screen as hapless survivors shot them in the head with everything from arrows, spears and guns, all he could think about was the time he spent there as an intern.

His final year in film school, he got to intern for the director for part of one season. Everything ran so smoothly. They had nicely catered meals each day, shooting schedules ran on time. They even had top of the line equipment. When he was offered this job for “Zombie Reign,” he’d been told it would be the same here. This was the first day of filming and it was nothing like that. Hell, they were filming on tablets for Christ’s sake.

He hoped Clarence was right about just getting some footage so they can get their budget. Not to mention, he hoped that would be soon. Not only did he need to cover his mom’s treatments, but he had rent and bills to pay. Maybe give it a few months and see how things go. Clarence assured them they’d be paid within the next month. Brody had nothing else going on, so no harm in waiting a month or so to see how this all panned out. Hopefully there would be no more incidents like today.

Chapter 9

Clarence snuck into his house and to his room. Thankfully his mom hadn’t heard him come in. He told her he was looking for jobs today until his film gets made. Once in his room, he pulled up the day’s footage on the tablet and pushed it to the TV. On the screen there was Chloe and himself doing their love scene.

As he watched the footage, he undid the front of his pants, and slid his hand inside. He was already hard as he pulled his dick out and began stroking to Chloe’s image on the big screen. He loved hearing her moans as they kissed and as he felt her beautiful body. There was no way she was acting, she was into it. That’s why she stopped. She was hot for him and didn’t want to admit it.

He kept replaying it over and over, even pausing it, freezing on her naked breasts as he continued stroking himself. Something else he found arousing was how good he looked on camera. His arms and chest looked massive on film. Chloe looked tiny and frail in his arms. Had he wanted, he could have just taken her right then and there. Part of him was tempted, but he thought better of it.

He knew he’d have to call her later. He couldn’t have his leading lady quitting at this point in the game. No, he’d talk her down. That was his gift. You couldn’t build a production like this without being able to lead people. He was a born leader, through and through.

He grew harder as he continued to stroke himself, watching Chloe’s full and firm breasts bounce around on screen. They’d felt so good in his hands. He’d wanted to suck them too, not sure why he hadn’t. Harder and harder he stroked, as he was getting close to climax. Chloe began yelling at him on the video as his mother began screaming from the other room.

“Clarence! Is that you? Why are you home so early?” she yelled.

Fuck! He was so close! He stroked his dick harder and faster, trying to hurry up and finish.

“Clarence! I know you’re in there! Answer me!”

“I am, mom, just hang on.”

“What are you doing in there? And what’s that noise? You watching some porno?”

“No mom! I told you hang on!”

“Answer my question! Why are you home so early?” she yelled again.

By now, his hard on had sagged into a limp piece of flesh. He tucked it back into his pants, turned off the TV, and opened the door.

“What is the problem?” he asked. “I’m really busy.”

“With what? Why are you wearing Army clothes?” she asked looking him up and down. “Are you doing paintball again? Is that where you were this morning? I thought you quit that after you got that bad rash?”

“No mom, I wasn’t doing paintball. I’m wearing this for some movie stuff I had to do earlier.”

“What about a job? You weren’t looking for jobs?”

“I was going to, but I just got busy.”

She threw her arms up in the air as she rolled her eyes.

“My God Clarence.” She looked in his room just over his shoulder. “Where did that TV come from?”

“Someone gave it to me?”

“Gave it to you? Who would just give you a forty-two inch TV? Did that girlfriend of yours buy it for you?”

“Yeah she did. As a present, ok?”

“Is there anyone you don’t mooch off of? You’re a grown man.”

“Look, this is just for now. I’m this close to getting our budget for the film.”

“From who?” she asked.

“From the investors.”

“What investors? You can’t even make a home movie. Who is going to give you millions of dollars to make some zombie movie?”

“I can’t tell you who, but soon, real soon.”

“You’ve been saying that for years now.”

“I know, but it’s true. I’m getting so close. Once I get the money, I’ll buy you your own house. Free and clear. You can stop working as a greeter and enjoy life.”

“I’ll believe it when I see it.” She turned and walked away. “You need to grow up Clarence. You’re not fifteen anymore. Time to be a man!”

“I know mom! You’ll see!” he called to her as she turned the corner. Clarence stepped back into his room and closed the door. He changed out of his fatigues and into jeans and a t-shirt. It was barely one and he’d felt like he’d put in a full day already. Once he was dressed he looked out in the hall to see if his mom was still there. She was in the other room watching TV.

Carefully he crept down the hall. His mom was in the kitchen getting something out of the refrigerator. He slipped by and quietly opened the door and tiptoed outside. He felt weird sneaking out like that, but didn’t want to answer more questions from his mother. It had been a busy day and he was headed to Juggernauts for some hot wings and to stare at some boobs. He wasn’t sure who came up with the idea of bikini clad waitresses, but he wanted to shake their hand.

As he drove, he thought of when or what they should start filming next. He still needed to call Chloe and straighten things out. Maybe he’ll have Lisa do it. Lisa wouldn’t believe her if Chloe mentioned him taking his dick out. She trusted him fully. That was a good idea. He’d call Lisa later and have her meet with Chloe and sort this out.

He had some other ideas for the next time they filmed. At some point he will have to actually write a script. He’d started one, but screenwriting is hard. Oh well, for now things were moving along. Maybe it was time to do another casting call since a few of the cast had quit already. People have no patience these days.

Chapter 10

Chloe couldn’t figure out why she was in the coffee shop. Lisa had called her, begging to meet with her. She wanted to tell her what Lisa’s so called boyfriend had been up to, but Lisa told her to wait until they were in person. So for some reason she agreed to it. Lisa said to meet there at three and it was almost four. She had texted her a half hour ago and Lisa said “Almost there.” So she had no idea what that was about.

Just as she started to get up and leave, Lisa came through the door smiling.

“Hey Chloe! I’m so sorry I’m late!” Lisa hugged her and sat down. She’d always been nice to Chloe, but after the shoot earlier, she had to know what was going on.

“So Clarence said you were upset after the shoot this morning. I understand it was your first kissing scene. So it’s natural to be a little nervous,” Lisa began.

“Kissing scene? Did he tell you what happened?”

“Yeah. He said you did a few takes kissing and you freaked out and ran off.”

Chloe put her hand on her forehead.

“Oh my God. Are you serious? That’s what he said?”

“Yes. Isn’t that what happened?”

“No! He took my clothes off! He told me it had been changed to a love scene and that my pay would double over it. So we were going at it; he made me take all of my clothes off. Then he takes his dick out.”

Lisa looked at her as if she were speaking Arabic.

“Did you hear me? He tried to put his dick inside me. That wasn’t part of the scene.”

“I don’t believe you,” Lisa said.

“What do you mean you don’t believe me?”

“Why would he take his dick out? On camera of all things? That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve heard.”

“It’s not ridiculous. It happened. It’s on the footage. Go look for yourself.”

“I don’t need to Chloe. I had no idea you were one of those kinds of women.”

Chloe crossed her arms, trying to keep from coming across the table.

“One of what kind of women?”

“Clarence is a handsome, talented, and powerful filmmaker. You’re a young and attractive actress. So it’s natural you’d be attracted to him. I’m not sure what all this is you’re talking about. It sounds to me like you got upset that you were doing the kissing scene and he was only acting while you wanted more.”

“Are you out of your fucking mind? That guy could be my dad. He’s not handsome at all.”

“Look. Clarence likes you and believes in you. He’d like you to stay on.”

“You all haven’t even paid me yet.”

“I know but we will. Since you are the lead actress, I’m going to tell you this in confidence, do not tell anyone else this on the cast,” Lisa said.

“Tell them what?”

“He spoke to the investors this morning after the shoot. A new one just jumped on board. So our budget is now $20 million. Which means your pay for the lead will be $200,000.”

Chloe looked at her for a minute to see if she was kidding.

“$200,000? Are you kidding me? This has to be bullshit.”

“It’s not Chloe. Everything about Clarence and this production is the real deal.”

“So are we still getting checks next month?” Chloe asked.

“With the new investor there is a slight delay. So we are looking at checks in about six weeks.”

Chloe shook her head as she sighed.

“God, you’re serious? I’ve been on this production four, almost four months now. Nude scenes, which you say didn’t happen and then there’s all the meetings and these workshops.”

“We just need you all to be patient ok? You’ve never been in a big production before,;these things take time.”

“I know, but you guys keep making us do this stuff with no contract or checks.”

“Yes, it’s all part of the sacrifice. Clarence has given up more than any of us. He had a good paying job for years. Instead of staying there for the money, he quit so he could focus on bringing this dream to life. Clarence has been at this for years. So you can wait a few more weeks for the payoff and opportunity of a lifetime.”

Chloe sat and thought about it. After the shoot earlier, she had gone home and cried her eyes out. She didn’t tell anyone about what had happened. Partly because of the supposed confidentiality agreement, but also out of embarrassment. If he uses any of that footage, the world will see her naked body. That part didn’t sink in until later. Either way, this was a huge decision. As wrong as things felt, $200,000 was a lot of money. It wouldn’t hurt to stay on board a few weeks longer. If nothing happened, then she’d just quit.

“All right,” Chloe said. “I’ll stay. No more kissing or nude scenes until I get paid.”

“Fair enough,” Lisa said. “Clarence will be so happy you stayed. He sees a lot of potential in you. I do too. You’re perfect for this role.”

“Have you read the script or anything about my character?”

“Well, no. But Clarence has told me all about it. This is going to be great. This movie will be epic. Oh, I’ll even tell you one more thing, but keep this quiet.”

“What’s that?”

“Robert Rodriguez saw part of the script. Clarence knows him from working with him on something before. Anyway, Robert loved it! He wanted to buy it from Clarence and make it himself. Clarence turned it down though. He also turned down a huge offer from Lionsgate. So yeah, this is a big, big deal.”

“Wow. I had no idea,” Chloe said, not sure what to think. These were all heavy hitters.

“I know; it’s amazing. Once again, that stays between us. I have to run. I’m so happy you stayed though.” Lisa walked around the table and hugged Chloe again. “Talk to you soon. You made the right decision.”

“Thanks,” Chloe said. “I sure hope so.”

Chapter 11

Ten months after auditions

Clarence stood behind Brody watching the makeup artists apply zombie makeup. His water bottle long empty; he longed for a drink. Today was another shoot, the first one since the “love scene” with Chloe several months ago. Sure there had been some delays, but those happen in a production like this. The location was an empty field behind a closed down factory. The Texas heat was relentless. They said mid-nineties on the forecast, but he had no doubt it was triple digits.

Makeup had been taking much longer than he had planned. They had started makeup at 5:00 a.m. It was just past noon and they were still doing makeup. Lisa was a total perfectionist, so she’d double check everyone’s zombie makeup and touch it up as needed. The only problem was in the heat the makeup would end up melting off and have to be reapplied.

It was an endless cycle they’d been at for almost seven hours and everyone was getting frustrated, mostly the cast. The makeup artists were getting tired of reapplying shit over and over. One of them came up to Clarence after a while.

“I have to leave,” she said. “My mom has to work and she has my son.”

“Ok, that’s no problem. Thank you for coming out.”

She stood looking at him.

“Was there something else?” he asked.

“Yeah, um. Were you going to pay me today or...”

“Oh right. Yeah I don’t have the money today. I’ll send you a check.”

“Do you know when?”

“Soon.”

“Like how soon?” she asked.

“Real soon. Don’t worry. I got this.”

“I’m sure you do, but I spent a lot on gas coming out here. Then I brought my own supplies and there’s the heat for seven hours.”

“Hey, I said I got this ok? Trust me. Don’t be so selfish. You see what’s happening around you?” He pointed at the actors wearing thrown together military garb and holding airsoft weapons and the dozen or so “zombies” standing around fanning themselves or searching for more water. “We’re making history here. And you get to be a part of it.”

“Yeah. Just make sure I get my money by the end of the week,” she said as she walked off. He shook his head as she went. It would seem very few people in this world had any sense of vision. They didn’t want to be great or legendary. They just wanted their money right now. It was that kind of greed and selfishness that was killing the film industry.

“Ok!” he called out. “Let’s get started everyone! Listen to Brody here. He’ll tell you where to go and get into position.”

The zombies and Marines milled about as Brody showed everyone where to stand and explained the scene. The “camera man” stood by holding a smart phone he would use for filming. They couldn’t afford a real camera just yet. Another actor, Carl Carlisle who was playing the character Uncle Buck, roamed around. Carl looked like a Sons of Anarchy reject with his leather vest, coon skin cap, and a long, gray, beard that hung past his chest. His hair was pulled back into a ponytail making it hard to tell where the coon skin cap ended and his head began.

“What in the hell is goin’ on around here? These punks is movin’ too slow! Get a move on!” Carl hollered. He didn’t always talk like that, but he fancied himself a method actor. For the past few months leading up to filming this scene, he walked around dressed as and acting like Uncle Buck. He said that had been the secret to his successful film career. Even though his only film credits were as an old man warning kids of a cursed campground in “Nazi Biker Strippers from Hell.” That was his only speaking role. He was an extra in some action film the past summer. If you pause it about halfway through you can see the back of his head in the background.

Regardless, Carl had decided he was the most seasoned actor on the cast, which wasn’t far from the truth. So he took it upon himself to take up the mantle as Uncle Buck and use it to whip the cast into shape.

“All right everyone. Are we ready?” Brody called out. Clarence picked up his airsoft rifle and ran over to join the rest of the fake Marines. “Action!”

The Marines walked through the field as zombies approached. Uncle Buck started shooting with his pistol, though it only made a clicking sound. They were going to have to add in little things like sound effects, muzzle flashes, and blood splatters later. Some of the zombies fell as they ran through. They did several takes. On the last one, the zombies were falling much quicker. A few of them really looked good with their heads bouncing off the ground. It wasn’t the soft fall like they’d practiced.

“Cut!” Brody called. “Thank you everyone. That’s a wrap for today!”

The Marines gathered their things together as the camera guy watched the footage play back on the phone. He handed it back to Clarence as Brody pointed at the zombies lying on the ground. Five of them never got back up after the shot.

“Are they ok?” Brody asked.

“I’m sure they’re fine,” Clarence said. He had no idea, but he also had no insurance.

“They don’t look fine,” Brody said as he walked over to them and knelt down. The other actors had already cleared out. “Jesus! Clarence! They’re dead!”

“What?” Clarence ran over to them.

“They’re dead! Look!”

All of the zombie actors’ mouths were hanging open and their heads were turned to the side.

“What happened? They just fell over dead?” Clarence asked.

“Fuck. Probably heat stroke. I told you it was too hot. We ran out of water hours ago. We should have gotten more or just quit for the day,” Brody said.

“We needed to get these shots. You know, the show must go on.”

“Shit,” Brody took out his phone and began dialing.

“What are you doing?”

“Calling 9-1-1.”

“No you’re not,” Clarence said and took the phone away.”

“What the hell are you doing?”

“We have no insurance. You’re the assistant director and you were the one running the shots. So all of this will come back on you.”

“No, no, no. I told you hours ago it was too hot and we were out of water.”

“Yeah? Tell that to the cops. Or better yet, their families’ lawyers. No, we can’t call the cops.”

“So what do you suggest?”

“Well. May as well make it work for us. Go and get the Marines back here and the zombies. We’ll do a couple more shots.”

“What?”

“Just do it or you’re fired and I will call the cops on you.”

Brody turned and walked down the trail. Once he was out of sight, Clarence pulled out a pocket knife and thrust it into the stomach of a female actress. Blood oozed out as he sliced from the stomach to sternum and pulled the flesh apart. He reached inside and pulled out a handful of intestines and strung them out across the ground.

He moved to the next body and cut each open in the same way. With one of them, he cut the heart out and sat it next to the body. This would make such an amazing shot. And the beauty of it is no money was needed for special effects. It would be badass. When he got to the last body, he saw it was an older man. He thrust the knife in, but this time the man screamed and sat up. Clarence jumped back and screamed himself.

The man kept screaming as he felt the blood pouring out of his wound. Shit! He wasn’t dead. Looking around, Clarence knew Brody would be returning with the others soon. He knelt back down and began stabbing the man repeatedly but he wouldn’t stop screaming. Finally he slashed the knife across the man’s throat as the screaming was replaced with gurgling. Finally he fell limp as Clarence proceeded to disembowel him.

Brody and the Marine actors finally appeared just over the hill making their way. Brody stopped in his tracks when he saw what Clarence had done. The rest of the actors slowly walked up to see what was going on.

“Are these guys dead? What the hell happened?” one of the fake Marines asked.

“Oh no. These are props. They just arrived right after you left. I’d ordered them weeks ago. I was just getting them set up. Let’s go! This is going to be great!”

Chapter 12

Brody couldn’t believe what he was seeing. The bodies of the dead actors had all been mutilated. He’d known Clarence was a bit off, but it was obvious now he was completely insane. Brody’s stomach lurched as he took some deep breaths, trying to keep from throwing up. Between the heat and seeing these bodies cut all to pieces it was almost more than he could handle. It was too late to back out at this point.

“All right guys, get back into positions. Zombies, go kneel down next to a body,” Brody said.

“Aren’t those other actors?” one of the zombie actors asked. “Are they dead?”

“Oh no, not at all,” Clarence said. “We had molds made. Just spread out kneeling down by the bodies and when we say action, you’ll chew on their guts and organs. The Marines will walk up and shoot you all.”

“Then where’d the other guys go?”

“They left after the props got here since they can’t be in the same scene together.”

“Their cars are still here.”

“Do you want to be in this film or not?” Clarence said. “I’m the director. I say what goes on. If you don’t want to be a part of this, feel free to leave now.”

“Chew on their guts?” another actor asked.

“Yeah! It’s all fake. It just looks real. One of the investors paid for all this. It will be awesome.”

They all looked at Brody who shrugged.

“You heard the man. It’s his show,” Brody said.

They all got into position as Clarence took out his phone and nodded to Brody who shouted, “Action!”

The zombies began chewing on intestines and one bit into a heart. Brody felt some vomit shoot into his mouth, but swallowed it back down. Just as they were filming one of the zombies began gagging and looked up.

“This doesn’t taste like corn syrup! It tastes all coppery. This is real blood!”

“No! They didn’t use corn syrup. It’s commercial fake blood like they use in Hollywood. Trust me! The stuff is all legit. Keep going!”

The zombie went back to chewing as the others did as well. Flies were buzzing around the bodies and another zombie fell over as he threw up.

“Cut!” Brody called. He looked at Clarence. “This is ridiculous. We can’t do this.”

“It’s fine Brody. Quit being such a little bitch.”

“Being a bitch? You’re making actors eat dead human remains. You don’t see a problem with that?”

“The only problem I see is anyone interfering with this production. So you can continue, or I can call the cops and tell them what you did.”

Brody shook his head. This day was never going to end. All he wanted to do at this point was go home and wash this mess off himself.

“All right everyone. Get ready!” Brody shouted as the actors got back into position. “Action!”

They commenced to doing the scene. Thankfully it only took three takes before Clarence was satisfied. The bodies were already starting to smell. He wasn’t sure if the actors were buying that these were props. They all wanted to be a part of this film and hoped it was their ticket to Hollywood, so they went along.

Once the actors had left Clarence walked over to the bodies.

“All right Brody. Give me a hand burying them,” he said.

“Are you kidding? Just burying them in some field?”

“You got a better idea? We can’t just leave them here.”

“What do we tell their families? People will come looking for them.”

“Just say they left here just fine. I’ll take care of their cars.”

“Fuck man.”

“I’ll run and get a couple of shovels. I’ll be right back,” Clarence said.

They spent the next several hours digging holes. Clarence had wanted to just dig one large one. Brody talked him into separate holes for each body. He’d at least agreed to that much. Once the bodies were buried, Brody drove home. Just before he left, Clarence gave him the usual reminder.

“Remember,” Clarence warned. “Confidentiality agreement.”

“Yeah. I know.”

Once he got home, his mom was already asleep.. It was already getting dark outside. This was not at all how he wanted to spend his Saturday.

Brody got undressed and placed his clothes into a plastic bag before stepping into the shower. The water poured over him as blood, dirt, and sweat ran down the drain. Once he felt mostly clean, he stepped out and dried off. After putting on clean clothes, he felt slightly better. No part of him wanted to begin to process what he’d been a part of today. He didn’t think his mind would handle it.

There was no way he wanted to continue with this film. Yet he had no idea how to get out of it. Contracts were supposed to be coming soon, and then paychecks. Once he got his check, he’d cash it and disappear. That was one plan. The other was to see this thing out and hope it made some money and led to his big break. After today, he didn’t see how that was possible. In the past, he’d questioned Clarence’s judgment. Anything having to do with good judgment or good taste was completely out the window with him. The guy was capable of anything.

That’s what worried Brody. Clarence had no trouble working a group of actors to death and then using their bodies as props. No telling what else he would do. Plus he only shoots on fucking cell phones and tablets. Brody had been involved with several short films and some commercials. Never in his life did he see people filming with phones.

He went to the cabinet and took out a bottle of tequila. He unscrewed the top, put the bottle to his mouth and let it run down his throat. It burned as went down, but it only took a few seconds for his head to feel the tingle. He normally didn’t drink it straight but this was a special situation. After several more swallows, he went to his room and sat on the bed. By the time the bottle was half empty, he didn’t remember anything about what he’d done that day.

Chapter 13

Allen Moore sat in the meeting staring at the clock. In just two more hours he was out of there for good. He’d worked for over twelve years selling oil drilling equipment to various companies. It paid well, but not something he’d ever dreamed of doing for the rest of his life. At age fifty-two, he had pretty much resigned himself to working for the company until he could retire. That is, until “Zombie Reign.”

He’d heard about the open auditions a few months before while watching a local morning show. The director, Clarence Ringo was there talking about how this film would revolutionize the zombie genre and bring much needed acclaim to the city of San Antonio. A city often overlooked by the film industry. Allen had tried his hand at acting in his youth. Not long after high school, he’d spent a couple years in Los Angeles auditioning for everything under the sun.

It was just too tough. He was handsome enough in his twenties, but handsome young men were a dime a dozen out there. At most auditions it felt as if they had written him off the second he walked through the door. As he’d read his lines, they were writing, looking at each other, or anything else that didn’t involve watching him. It was always followed with a: “We’ll be in touch.” Which of course, they never got in touch.

So he tried out for “Zombie Reign” where he somehow got a call back. He was as stunned as anyone. It had been years since he’d tried to act or audition, so he figured it had been a disaster. Regardless, he got his callback where he did much better. They offered him a role right on the spot. Strange thing was, the lines he read weren’t for the part he’d be playing. Clarence had told him he’d be playing a Texas Ranger.

At first they said it was a small, independent film. Later on after a few shoots here and there, they said it was a TV pilot. In recent months, Clarence said the investors wanted to make it a big budget, feature film. With The Lurching Deceased doing so well, they didn’t want to start another zombie show trying to compete. So they decided on a film with a budget of around $20 million; they’d all be paid handsomely and he’d finally be able to quit his job and live his dream. Clarence told them many of their characters would be getting action figures! He remembered as a kid playing with “Star Wars” action figures with his friends. The idea of kids playing with his “Zombie Reign” action figure made him smile so wide, his face hurt.

A few weeks ago, they had finally gotten their contracts. Allen almost jumped out of his skin when he saw what his pay would be. He’d be making $30,000 over three months of filming. Most of it would be paid up front. Between that and his 401(k) he should be set for a while. Once the contract was in hand, he put in his two weeks’ notice at work. Filming was set to begin the next month, so this would give him a few weeks to relax before his days got much longer for the next few months.

Many of his co-workers were skeptical though, but they were just jealous.

“Movie star huh?” one co-worker had said. “In some zombie movie? Who is this Clarence guy? I’ve never heard of him. He ever done anything else?”

That was the question people kept asking him. This was Clarence’s first film, so people were skeptical. Not him though; Clarence was the real deal. He had no doubt of that. Making a movie takes time and patience. Clarence was working his ass off to get them the budget they needed along with locations and other cast. Clarence had even told him at their last meeting that Matthew McConaughey would even have a small role in the film. That was a huge deal. Clarence told him to keep that part quiet for now.

Others at work teased him about it, but he wouldn’t let that get to him. They’d all still be here while he’d be filming movies, attending Hollywood premieres and other parties and events. Things were heating up too. They had a panel at a local comic convention in town. Allen didn’t get to sit on the panel, but he got to work at the “Zombie Reign” table and sell t-shirts. It was a lot of fun. He’d had to buy a twenty dollar Zombie Reign t-shirt for himself as well as pay for his own admission to the convention. Other than that, it was well worth it. Got to get the word out.

Finally it was five, and he raced for the door.  Once in his car, he couldn’t stop smiling. “Zombie Reign” was about to happen and his life would change forever. Maybe this would lead to other big roles. As he drove home he pictured himself on the “Tonight Show” doing a sing along with Jimmy Fallon. This just goes to show what happens when you follow your dreams. It’s just like Clarence had told him. If you can believe it, you can achieve it.

There had been other cast who had got frustrated and quit over the last several months due to delays. It would be their loss though. They lacked faith, will, and determination. Allen had stuck it out, and would be rewarded handsomely. Clarence had even told some of them, their pay would go up since so many had quit. It meant more money for the rest of them.

Once he pulled into his driveway, his phone was buzzing. There was a group email from Clarence. He glanced at it to see Clarence was calling an emergency meeting that night at seven. Emergency meeting? He wondered what that could be about. Maybe it was good news. Even though he couldn’t help feel concerned, worrying would do no good. Had to be positive, if you think it will happen, it will happen. This was meant to be.

Chapter 14

Jerry was excited to head to his first acting workshop. It was so cool this production offered classes like this. It was his first ever acting role, so even though he managed to land the role he still didn’t want to screw anything up on set. His only performance experience had been doing stand-up comedy. Even then those had been open mic nights at a local club. This was an actual paying gig.

When he walked in, he was surprised at how many people were there. At least forty people were sitting around the large room. There were children there as young as eleven, and actors well into their sixties. Shortly after he walked in, an older bearded man came walking in with a younger woman.

“Listen up folks!” the man shouted. “I’m Carl Carlisle. Some of you may have heard o’ me.” He paused as much of the cast looked around at each other. Jerry had no idea who this guy was. “I’m the casting supervisor here as well as a fellow cast member. Any problems or questions you have, you come directly to me! You do not go to Clarence! Clarence is extremely busy making our dreams come true. He’s working with investors, making changes to the script and working to get us all paid. Who does not understand that?”

Jerry looked around, as one girl raised her hand.

“Do you know when we are getting paid?” she asked.

“Pay will come shortly after you get your contracts. They have a lot of them to do, so everyone will be taken care of. Some of you have gotten yours already. Clarence and Lisa will go over pay dates at that time. Anyone else?” he asked, but no one asked anything. “Good. So let’s get started. I’ve been in some feature films myself as well as an extra on some hit TV shows. You all want to know the secret of my success?”

Once again, everyone mostly looked confused. Jerry kept wondering if he should know this guy from somewhere other than a biker rally. Whoever he was, the guy thought highly of himself.

“I’ll tell you. Practice, hard work, and dedication. You never give up, and when things get you down, you hold your head up high, dust yourself off and just keep on goin’. Do that, and one day you all can be where I am.”

From there he talked even longer about his experiences and how he got to take his picture with Quentin Tarantino after playing a dead guy in a recent film. Jerry knew this was a tough business, but he hoped by the time he was Carl’s age, that the highlight of his career would be something other than playing a dead body or taking a photo with Tarantino

Looking at the clock, Jerry noticed the workshop was half over already. Carl had managed to talk for an entire hour, though nothing useful about acting and everything about himself so far. Just as Jerry was getting ready to leave, Carl finally divided them up into pairs to start working on some exercises. He was disappointed to see the kind of stuff they did was things he’d learned in high school drama class.

It was things like, taking turns trying to make the other laugh; doing improv skits, and other things. They had little time to work on much of anything since the workshop was over before long. As Jerry was leaving he walked by a group of girls just outside the building. One of them turned and pointed at him.

“Hey, I’ve seen you before!” she said.

Jerry looked around, slightly confused.

“Me? Do I owe you money? If so I can pay you next week.”

“No! See? You’re so funny! I saw you at the Monkey’s Ass Comedy Club! You were doing open mic.”

“Oh right. Yeah, I go there a few times a month to try and brush up. I didn’t think anyone was paying attention to my act.”

“No way! I thought you were hilarious. I go every Thursday with some friends of mine. I always wanted to do stand up, but I’m too chicken. I’ve seen how the crowd can get when someone really sucks,” she said.

The girl was extremely beautiful He doubted anyone would boo her even if she just stood there.

“Oh, I’m Chloe by the way.”

“Hi, I’m Jerry. Nice to meet you. So you’re in this movie too?”

“Yep! I sure am!”

“Awesome! I just got cast not too long ago.”

“Yeah? Nice. I’ve been here almost a year.”

“A year? Are you serious?”

“Yeah. I guess they had some delays with funding or something. It happens, but seems to be taking longer in this case.”

“I wouldn’t know. This is my first movie,” he said.

“Really? Cool! Who are you playing?”

“I have no idea. For my audition he had me do some of my impressions. He loved it and said he had the perfect part for me, but wouldn’t say what. How about you?”

“I’m one of the leads. I think I’m the main character’s girlfriend or ex or something. He hasn’t given me much to go on either.”

“Is that normal?” Jerry asked.

“Not really but who knows. I stick around because I’m supposed to get paid pretty well.”

“Wow, well I’m way behind I guess. I don’t even know if I’m getting paid.”

“I’m sure you will. Hang in there.”

“Thanks. Hey, I gotta run but it was great meeting you Chloe.”

“You too. See you around!”

He headed to his car smiling. She seemed nice. That’s cool she was the lead actress in this thing. He wondered when he’d see a script since they were supposed to start filming next month. One of his friends who had been in a few independent films told him it sounded bogus if they wouldn’t even give him a script. Jerry just ignored him; the guy had a point but he was probably also  frustrated about getting nothing but small and unpaid roles. Here Jerry gets a paying role in a big movie his first try. Can’t let people like that get you down though, haters gonna hate.

Chapter 15

Fourteen months after auditions

Chloe stood in front of the mirror adjusting her dress. She wanted to be excited; this was her first ever red carpet event after all. Except they still hadn’t made the movie yet. They were screening the promo that no one had seen so far. This is what Clarence would be taking to Los Angeles to show a group of investors. Lisa had already told her that they had a budget, so she wasn’t sure what this other meeting was about.

Clarence was determined to have this event. He’d rented a local theatre, limos, and the whole nine yards. Once Chloe was ready, Liz stood at the doorway.

“Hey, you ready to go?” Liz asked.

“I think so. You look really amazing in that dress!”

Liz had on a strapless blue dress that hugged her curves, while Chloe had on a similar dress, but red.

“I feel like a cow,” Liz said with her hand on her stomach.

“Oh shut up,” Chloe said as they walked to the car.

They arrived at the staging area that was a couple of miles away from the theatre where the promo would be screening. The rest of the cast and their families were standing around. Some of the men had actually rented tuxedos. The women were all in expensive dresses and all dolled up. There were no limos in sight. Neither Clarence nor Lisa were anywhere to be found either. Carl Carlisle was walking around, still wearing his leather jacket and carrying a cane with a silver handle.

“Hey Carl, where are the limos? It’s supposed to start in a half hour,” Chloe asked.

“Hey there pretty lady! I’m not sure. Clarence called me about an hour ago and said he and the limos were on the way.”

“An hour? What could be taking so long? Lisa was so adamant to be here at exactly five thirty. Yet they were way late.

“I don’t know darlin’. You’ll just have to stick it out like the rest of us” he said as he hobbled off.

She stood around with Liz while chatting up some of the other cast. It was hot, causing her to sweat after just a few minutes. After thirty minutes, her makeup was running and her hair was no longer up and neat, but was becoming sweaty and frizzy.

“Jesus, what is taking them so long?” Liz asked.

“I don’t know. These heels are killing my feet.”

“Mine too. This is ridiculous.”

Another hour went by as the cast became increasingly irritable. People there with children were trying to keep the kids from getting bored or in some cases, throwing fits. Chloe didn’t blame them. She was about to throw a fit herself. Hearing some of the cast talking about the event was rather bizarre.

“I am so excited for this! I don’t care how long we have to wait! This is the night all our lives will change!” one girl said.

“Yeah, I told my former co-workers, eat your heart out. I finally made it,” one older guy was saying to a woman.

“This is the moment we’ve been dreaming about guys,” another person was saying. “Tonight is our big night.”

“What are these people talking about?” Chloe asked Liz. “We haven’t even done anything yet.”

“I know I was thinking that too.”

“Some of these people need to get a grip.”

“No shit. They’re new though so this is a big deal to them I guess,” Chloe said.

“We’re new too. We’ve only done little shit. I heard someone earlier talking like he’s fucking DeNiro or some shit. Another said he just bought a new Corvette after he got his contract.”

“Are you kidding me? Did he get paid? I haven’t even gotten my contract yet.”

“No, he said he knows the money is coming soon and showed the bank his contract and they signed off on the loan.”

“God. That is insane. You know who it was?”

“I don’t know his name. It’s one of the older guys.”

“God. I don’t even know if I’ll buy shit once I have the money. I might just save it for a while.”

“Good idea. I should, but I know I won’t,” Liz said.

Two more hours went by before the first limo finally pulled up. Chloe felt some relief when she saw that Clarence was in the limo.

“What the fuck?” she said. “He’s been sitting in that limo the whole time while we’re out here melting?”

A short while before the limo arrived, an older man had to be walked back to his car due to heat exhaustion.

“Chloe! There you are. Come on over here!” he said through the rolled down window. She walked over, trying not to limp as her feet, knees, and ankles were killing her. “You look great. What’s wrong with your makeup? Were you crying?”

“No. It’s sweat. We’ve been out here for three hours.”

“Oh yeah. Sorry about that. Hop on in. You’ll ride in with me.”

“I can just wait,” she said.

“No. You’re our star. Climb on in.”

She opened the door and climbed inside. The cool blast of the air conditioning felt so good. For a while she felt as if she’d never feel the inside of an air conditioned car again. Liz started to climb in behind her.

“Umm, miss? What is your name again? Sorry, I only have room for her,” Clarence said as Liz stopped.

“It’s Liz. I’m in your cast, and there’s no one else in here.” Liz said, pointing at the empty limo.

“There will be later. This is just for the main cast.

“We drove here together,” Chloe said. “Or I can just wait and go later.”

“No, you stay Chloe, but your friend has to wait for the other limos. They’ll be here shortly.”

“No, I—,’ Chloe protested.

“It’s ok, Chloe, just have fun. I’ll be fine,” Liz said.

“Are you sure?”

“I’m sure. It won’t be much longer anyway.”

She closed the door as the limo pulled away. Once away from the crowd, it parked beneath the overpass in an empty parking lot.

“What are we doing here?” Chloe asked.

“Well, we’ll be the last ones to walk the red carpet. You’ll walk it with me, so it will be the leading man and leading lady together.”

“What about Lisa?”

“She’s fine,” he said as he reached into a cabinet and pulled out a bottle of champagne and some glasses. “Now, let’s get this party started.”

Chapter 16

Brody was happy to finally be inside the theatre. He’d been less than impressed with the limo ride. The car smelled like sweat and cheap booze while the seats had various rips in them. What was worse was the little cooler inside was out of water. By the time he reached the red carpet his mouth was so dry he could hardly stand it. His sort of girlfriend, Ellen, had gone with him. He called her his sort of girlfriend because they spent what free time they could together, and had fun together. But with her schedule as an oncology nurse and his, they decided to keep things simple for now.

The chauffer opened the door to the limo as they stepped outside. People were milling about outside the theatre as they lined up to see whatever movies were playing. There was literally no one near the red carpet. No fans, no media or anyone else. Brody wasn’t sure what to expect to be honest, as they hadn’t actually made a film yet, but he had hoped at least someone would be there. Ellen looked at Brody slightly confused.

“Where is everyone?” She asked.

“I don’t know. We’re some of the first ones here. I think some of the cast are inside already.”

“I mean, there’s no media or anyone. Didn’t you say there’d be media here?”

“That’s what Clarence told me. He said local news would be here as well as several zombie and horror websites.”

“Well there is absolutely no one here,” she said as they stepped out of the car and walked toward the entrance where the red carpet began. People in flip flops and board shorts stared at them as they headed inside. Brody couldn’t help but feel a bit out of place as they walked across the red carpet. They paused at the large backdrop, but didn’t bother posing for pictures since there was no one there taking pictures. Before they walked away one guy with a camera did run up. It was Peter, the production’s photographer. He snapped a few photos as they walked into the reception area.

“Well that was disappointing,” Ellen said.

“Yeah, not what I was expecting.”

They got to the reception area where there were several empty trays along one of the counters.

“I guess that’s where the food was,” Brody said.

“I hope they bring out more.”

They walked toward the server’s counter and each ordered a water. Brody was so thirsty from standing in the heat for three hours, he slammed his as if it were a shot of whiskey. He ordered several more in a row before he finally felt like the inside of his mouth no longer wanted to crack open. The server appeared annoyed each time he’d ask for a refill. Maybe if they used regular sized glasses instead of oversized shot glasses he wouldn’t need to drink ten of them. There were more cast members filing in when Lisa began shouting.

“Hey everyone! Zombie!” she shouted.

“Reign!” everyone replied. Brody always found that a stupid thing. They weren’t a bunch of twelve year olds, but there it was. Lisa seemed to think that in order for her to appear in charge she had to yell and scream as loudly and as often as possible.

“Ok! Clarence is about to arrive! Everyone head out to the red carpet to greet him! This is our director and tonight is his night! He is the father of this vision! Once he comes in, we’ll see the trailer! Now let’s get going!”

They all filed out to the red carpet and lined up. Brody hung back as everyone else lined up. With the whole cast there, it actually looked like a huge crowd. Lisa grabbed several people with their cell phones out for photos and brought them over to the photo area. After several minutes, Clarence’s limo finally pulled up. Some of the cast were literally jumping up and down as Clarence arrived. Brody tried to keep his composure at the strange sight. Clarence had yet to actually make anything, but some of these people were acting like Steven Spielberg himself was about to walk by.

Clarence stepped out of the car with Chloe on his arm. Brody found it strange he was walking the carpet with her instead of his own girlfriend. They walked slowly as if they were walking down the aisle at a wedding. They paused in front of the backdrop as camera flashes went off all around them. Once the photos were done, they walked the length of the carpet as the rest of the cast clapped and cheered.

“Jesus,” Ellen said. “Is all this a big show so he can feel like some big shot?”

“I’m starting to think so,” Brody said. Chloe looked extremely uncomfortable. She was smiling, but it looked forced, and her face was flush. Once the spectacle was over, they headed back to the reception area. Finally they had brought more food out. Brody was now starving. He ran over and grabbed some of the small sandwiches and took a bite, only to discover they were stale, as if they’d been sitting out all day. At this point he no longer gave a shit. He scarfed them down and chased them with another glass of water.

“Ok everyone!” Lisa screamed again. He liked Lisa, but he was really getting tired of hearing her screaming and yelling constantly. “Everyone start heading into the theatre to watch the promo! This is the moment we’ve all been waiting for!”

“Will everyone fit?” someone asked.

“Yes! Every single person needs to get in there! We need to vacate this area soon for a movie they are about to show! Let’s go!”

Brody sighed as Ellen squeezed his arm while they filed into the theatre. While the rest of the cast was buzzing with excitement to see this thing, Brody prayed it didn’t look like the complete disaster it had been when they filmed.

Chapter 17

Jerry did his best to squeeze in to the packed theatre. He wasn’t sure how many people the theatre could hold, but he was pretty sure they had gone over it. He saw Chloe walking in with some other actresses. Clarence was sniffing along behind her. He thought Clarence had a girlfriend, but every time he looked, the guy was all up in Chloe’s ass. She seemed to be tolerating him, but he could tell Clarence was getting on her nerves.

He was squished against the wall with a few other cast members squeezing in from each side. One was an older guy and his wife; Allen, he’d heard the man say. He was a tall and burly guy and a bit loud. Dude apparently had no inside voice. Once everyone was finally smashed into the theatre, Clarence stood up in front of everyone and was greeted with a round of applause.

“I want to thank you all for coming tonight. It’s so exciting to finally see our dream realized,” Clarence began. “Tonight is proof that if you believe it, you can achieve it. For the last seven years, I did not give up and I did not quit. I pressed on no matter what obstacles I faced so I could keep my Zombie Reign family together! Zombie!”

“Reign!” the crowd shouted back. Allen screamed it right into his ear. Jerry found the whole cheer thing rather odd.

“That’s what I like to hear! So the time has come to see what you all have been working so hard at for so long. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the official Zombie Reign promo!”

He stepped down as the theatre erupted in applause and the lights went down. Jerry wasn’t sure what hard work they were talking about. So far he had only been to a few acting workshops. Even those consisted of Carl telling everyone how great of an actor he was.

Once the lights were off, the film began rolling. Music started to play as the San Antonio skyline appeared. What was strange was that he recognized the song. It was a musical score from another movie, “Ecstasy of Gold” from The Good, the Bad, and the UglyJerry wasn’t an expert on copyright law, but he was pretty sure you had to pay to use copyrighted music like that.

As the music played, there was some additional stock footage of fighter jets taking off from an aircraft carrier, tanks rolling through a desert, and police dispersing a riot. After a few more minutes there was more stock footage. Finally there was Clarence dressed as a Marine pointing a gun. Some zombies approached behind him as he turned and fired. CGI blood sprayed onto the screen as the zombie fell to the ground.

More zombies appeared as more CGI blood flashed onto the screen. It wasn’t even good CGI. The blood looked like they took a stock photo of blood splatter and pasted it into the shots. After a few zombies were killed, it cut to a scene of a little girl with braces crying as she hugged an older woman. A few scenes later there was the same little girl, but was taller and had no braces. Was she playing two different characters? Those scenes looked like they were filmed a year apart.

There was more military stock footage and more shots of Clarence shooting zombies and the promo ended. There was no dialogue in the promo at all. Just action shots and stock footage. If he were just a random person watching, he’d have no idea what the film was about. Hell, he was part of the cast and still wasn’t sure what it was about other than zombies were in it and apparently they reign.

The theatre erupted in applause as Allen hooted and hollered. Others joined him and a few whistled. Clarence stood at the front of the theatre again as people continued clapping, and people began standing as they cheered until the entire theatre as on its feet. Jerry wasn’t sure why everyone was so excited. He was a bit disappointed in the promo. He’d expected something better than this. They’d mentioned having several shoots in different locations, but there was maybe two minutes of original footage and some of that looked old. Not to mention the whole film looked grainy. He tried to push the concerns to the back of his mind. He was no film expert and sure as hell never tried to direct anything. It just seemed odd that such a large and big budget production would use this as their promo.

Everyone began filing out of the theatre as Jerry waited. Allen turned to Jerry and smiled.

“You see that? Was that bad ass or what?” Allen said as he slapped Jerry on the shoulder.

“Yeah. Pretty cool. Hardly any of us were in it though. Maybe three or four people.”

“Well yeah. They haven’t started filming yet. Next month though, man. Next month it all starts! Be ready!” Allen said as he headed out of the theatre.

Filming next month. Jerry had only been with the production maybe six months and since the day he auditioned they’d been saying, “next month.” He realized these things take time, but he couldn’t figure out why they’d set deadlines just a few weeks away and keep moving them. Why not just say you’re filming in six months and if it’s sooner, then they can move it up. Jerry hadn’t even seen a contract or paycheck yet, so he wasn’t sure how they’d film so soon without those things.

As he stepped out of the theatre, he saw there was a crowd around Clarence and people lined up to take pictures with him. It seemed it was all other cast members. He walked to the bar and ordered a rum and Coke. He decided to play a drinking game with himself and take a drink anytime someone yelled, “Reign!” Within an hour he could hardly see straight.

Chapter 18

Clarence couldn’t stop smiling. The promo kicked serious ass. He’d watched it over and over after his guys had finished editing it. The music, the action, everything just made it the best thing he’d ever seen. The cast loved it too. When they gave him a standing ovation, he almost broke into tears. Chloe was angry with him again. He tried to loosen her up in the limo before the party started, but she kept shutting him down.

At one point she threatened to get out of the car and leave all together, so he backed off. He couldn’t have the leading lady not showing up. He was glad most of the cast had made it, although he knew they would. Everyone liked to be the center of attention. After the promo screened, it became a whirlwind of madness. Everyone was coming at him to talk to him, take pictures, or whatever else.

A couple people wanted him to read their scripts. He gave them his email address and told them to send it his way, but he couldn’t make any promises. Speaking of scripts, he should probably get started on the “Zombie Reign” script. He would though, real soon. This was going to be amazing. One thing he was disappointed about was the lack of media people in attendance. Lisa had sent out press releases to the local news and several horror and zombie websites.

Some people he didn’t know walked up to him and asked for a photo. It was a young couple. He posed with them as one of their friends snapped the picture.

“Thank you!” the young man said. “When does the movie come out?”

“Should be out by next summer,” Clarence said.

“Seriously? That is awesome. We can’t wait. We love zombie movies.”

“Well you’ll love this one then!”

“Great! Good luck with it!” they said as they walked off.

Clarence greeted a few more people before Lisa came up to him.

“There you are,” she said.

“Hey beautiful!” He kissed her on the cheek, but she wasn’t looking as jovial as others at the event. She looked exhausted. Her hair was frazzled and there were bags under her eyes. “What’s wrong?”

“Where are the limos?” she asked.

“The what?” he said, though he knew exactly what she’d said.

“The limos? People are ready to leave. When do the limos start taking people back?”

“Oh right. They don’t.”

“What do you mean they don’t?”

“We only paid for them to drop us off. So everyone has to find their own way back,” he explained. With what the cast had pitched in for the limos, it would have covered a few trips back and forth, but he was keeping the rest.

“Are you kidding? It’s like a mile or so away!”

“I know. A few who arrived late drove so they can take some people back.”

“This would have been nice to know beforehand.”

“Yeah, I didn’t want people to be upset though. Can you let everyone know? Maybe ask some folks if they can take a few people back?”

She took a deep breath while rubbing her eyes.

“Yeah. I’ll see what I can do.”

“Thanks sweetie. You’re the best.”

“Oh,” she said. “Are the investors here? You’d mentioned they might show up.”

“Yeah they’re around. I talked to one of them earlier. He was really impressed. Guess who is also here?”

“Who?”

“M. Night Shyamalan.”

“Are you serious?”

“Yeah, he pulled me aside earlier and said the trailer was amazing.”

“That is so cool! What made him come here?”

“He talked to me back when he was writing the Sixth Sense. I gave him a few suggestions on the script.”

“Wow! You never told me that!”

“Oh. I thought I did,” Clarence said.

“Is he still here?”

“No. He had to go and didn’t want a big crowd around him.”

“I’m so proud of you babe.”

“Thank you. Real soon hun.”

“I can’t believe this is really gonna happen!” she said.

“I know; it will. All our lives are about to change.”

An actress walked up to them, interrupting their “moment.” Clarence couldn’t recall the girl’s name.

“Hey guys, you know what time the limos are coming? We need to get going.”

“Oh yeah,” Lisa said. “I was just about to explain that to everyone.” She walked off with the actress following as she began shouting out the situation with the limos. There was some groaning, but Clarence turned and spotted Chloe with her friend Liz and some others. He didn’t remember casting that Liz girl, but she seemed like trouble. He’d have to find a way to get rid of her if she kept getting in his way of Chloe. Walking over to them, the smile vanished from Liz’s face as she saw Clarence coming.

“Hey ladies,” Clarence said. “You guys having fun?”

“Yeah, it’s pretty cool,” Chloe said.

“I’m glad. Hope you get used to this. Tonight is just the beginning.”

“I hope so.”

“How’d you like the promo?”

“Oh, it was...,” Chloe looked at Liz. “Great! It was great!”

“Awesome. I’m glad you liked it. Sorry I didn’t get much of your footage in there. You’ll have plenty of screen time in the film though.”

“Awesome,” she said.

She seemed rather uncomfortable. He had hoped she’d loosen up once the event got going, but she seemed more uptight now than she had in the limo.

“Great, well enjoy the rest of the night,” he said as he turned away. He’d wanted to invite her to his place later, but didn’t want to push her too much. Lisa was running around helping people get rides. She was such a hard worker; he was glad to have her. He was also glad the actress had interrupted them. M. Night Shyamalan hadn’t actually been there; neither had any investors. He’d sent several major film directors and investors invites, but no one had taken him up on it. They would eventually though, but he didn’t want Lisa or the others to feel let down. If you wanted to be big, you had to think big and act big. He was doing all the right things, and they were almost there.

Chapter 19

Eighteen months after auditions

Brody was getting frustrated. Filming was supposed to begin just weeks after the red carpet. That never happened. Apparently the investors needed more time, but Clarence never explained why. At least he’d gotten his contract the week after the red carpet. It was much shorter than he’d thought. But he was promised five grand up front and five hundred per day of filming. Not bad for three months of work.

Problem was, the dates in the contract spanned three months. Two of them had passed already. He wasn’t the only one frustrated. Some other cast members had been coming to him with concerns. Several had quit their jobs once they got their contracts. One person moved clear to San Antonio from Los Angeles. Allen had bought himself a brand new Corvette and at least one family was looking to purchase a house.

Brody wasn’t sure what to tell all these people. He just referred them to Carl or Lisa. Most people came to him because Carl would just yell at everyone. Lisa would scream at people as well. When he first got on this production, Lisa was always easy going and courteous. In the past six months she’d gotten increasingly rude. Now she rarely spoke to any cast without yelling at someone or threatening to fire everyone. He’d never been part of a project where they acted like this.

Now he was sitting in on another cast meeting for some big announcement. Brody wasn’t sure how many more of these big announcements that weren’t really announcements he could take. The last one was to say they had a table at a local comic con but anyone who wished to volunteer had to buy a Zombie Reign t-shirt for twenty bucks. Plus they had to pay their own way in. Brody worked the event. It was a cluster fuck. They had way too many people trying to squeeze in behind the table.

Clarence had made the rest stand around the table so it would look like there were a lot of people there. They also had a panel. Brody was on the panel with Clarence, Chloe, and a few others. They screened the promo there also, but there were barely twenty people in attendance, and at least twelve of those were cast members and their families.

Finally Lisa came walking in as everyone got quiet.

“Ok everyone, thank you for coming!” she yelled. “So first thing I guess we’ll get right to it. We have some new investors on board and they have asked our production company to form a joint partnership with them. This is great news as they are putting a lot more money into this production, meaning better pay for everyone!”

She paused as people clapped and cheered. Once they died down she continued.

“Ok, so all that said the current contracts are null and void! I repeat; all current contracts are null and void!”

Immediately chaos erupted as people began talking amongst themselves and shouting questions at Lisa. She had to yell at everyone to calm down enough for her to continue. Brody wasn’t too thrilled himself at the announcement, but he kept quiet for now. He was no lawyer, but he was pretty sure you can’t just declare a contract null and void.

“Listen up! This is a good thing! Everyone will get new contracts! New contracts for more money! Do you guys want more money? If not, we can just keep your current ones!”

Everyone stared at her silently.

“That’s what I thought! So because of all this, production has been pushed back a bit. It was supposed to begin next month; instead it will begin in three months. This time it is definite! So if you need to put in notice at your jobs or get things ready, go ahead and do so in the next ninety days! We will be filming for fourteen to fifteen hours a day! So there will not be time for you all to be leaving the set and running errands. Do I make myself clear?”

People nodded and looked around. Brody took a deep breath. This was about the tenth date for filming that had been set since he’d been on board, and they seemed no closer now than any other time. Either way, he was in desperate need of the money. So it was tough at this point to decide if he should stick it out, or just cut his losses and move on. Clarence came walking in with a young woman hanging on his arm.

“Hey everyone,” Clarence said. “I hope you all feel better once the news sinks in. Trust me, this is a good thing. We are going to have a lot more money to work with, which means more to pass on to each of you.” He paused as everyone seemed to be calming down.

“And I’d like to introduce someone to you all. This young lady, is Sarcelles; she is my daughter,” he said. There was more mumbling among the cast. “I know; it seems strange you never saw her before. Her mother and I dated years ago. I didn’t know about her until a few months ago. She’s decided she’d like to help with the production. So she is also my assistant.”

Everyone clapped and there was a collective “Aww,” from the group. Brody couldn’t help but think this was getting more and more bizarre. The girl looked like she was at least thirty. Clarence was in his forties, so unless he fathered her when he was twelve, the math wasn’t adding up. The rest of the cast didn’t seem to mind though. They’d gathered around Sarcelles and Clarence, taking turns hugging each of them and welcoming her into the “family.”

His mind drifted back to one of his few days on set; to the day Clarence killed several actors and used their bodies as props for the zombies. It had been awhile since he’d thought about it. In a lot of ways, none of it seemed real, yet it was all far too real. An idea hit him that completely changed his mood. He wouldn’t be leaving Zombie Reign. This idea was so brilliant; he didn’t know why he hadn’t thought of it earlier. He was going to kill Clarence Ringo. He’d kill the deranged director on camera, in front of everyone, and no one would even know.

Chapter 20

Lisa had been feeling sick for a while. Between the film, providing for Clarence and her financially, and her day job, she was at the end of her rope. She felt so exhausted each day and had to force herself to keep going. Clarence had moved in with her a few months before. His mom finally kicked him out. It was really disappointing. She had always liked his mother, but she never appreciated her son’s dreams. The woman was always on his ass about getting a job or doing something with his life.

Granted, at least if he had a part time job or something that might help ease things on her. Lisa figured it would all pay off in the end once they got their budget. She just hoped there were no more delays. In the meantime she had been trying to get to know her daughter. Actually it was Clarence’s daughter, but she treated her like her own. Sarcelles was twenty-four, which was a little weird to Lisa who was thirty-five, but she couldn’t have kids due to an accident she was in as a teenager.

It had been a car wreck that had done a lot of damage to her abdomen. They had to remove her uterus due to the bleeding. So she’d always wanted a child, especially a daughter. So this was her chance. Clarence had gone to Los Angeles to visit some friends a few months ago, and comes back with Sarcelles. She was as shocked as anyone, but everyone had accepted her.

As she lay in bed, she thought about how she was too tired to get up but needed to start the day. She rolled over to look at the clock and saw it was already past nine. Her door burst open and Sarcelles came running in and jumped into bed with Lisa.

“Mommy!” she squealed as she cuddled up to Lisa.

“Good morning my beautiful daughter,” Lisa said as she squeezed Sarcelles tight. For years she had longed to give mommy cuddles. Now she got her chance. It wasn’t quite the same as cuddling with a toddler, but Lisa would take it.

Lisa looked at Sarcelles and brushed her hair back.

“I love you so much, Sarcelles,” Lisa said.

“I love you too mommy. Are you feeling better? You fell asleep early last night.”

“Yeah, though this helps. You can wake me up like this every day.”

“I just might!”

“Where is your dad? He must have gotten up early.”

“Yeah, he said he had to go check out some locations. I think it’s really gonna happen this time!”

“Me too,” Lisa said. “I sure hope so. This has really been exhausting.”

“I bet. Daddy hasn’t slowed down since I got here. Neither have you, mommy. You need to take care of yourself.”

It warmed Lisa’s heart whenever Sarcelles called her mommy. It was something she never thought she’d hear anyone say to her. She sat up and stretched. As much as she loved lying there with Sarcelles, she had things to do and needed to get moving. She kissed Sarcelles on the forehead and got herself dressed. Sarcelles lay on her stomach watching her.

“So what are you gonna do today mommy?”

“I have to run to the store and get some makeup kits. Then I’ll look into opening a business account for when we get funding.”

“Sounds exciting.”

“You want to come along? I could use some company. We could make it a girl’s day out,” Lisa said.

“Really?”

“Yes, really goofball.”

“Yay!” Sarcelles said as she jumped to her feet and hugged Lisa tight. “I love you mommy.”

“I love you too honey bun. Now go get dressed.”

Sarcelles ran off to her room as Lisa finished getting dressed. As she pulled on her jeans, her phone began to ring. It was Clarence.

“Hey babe,” Lisa said.

“Hey.”

“Everything ok?”

“I’m not sure. I just got off the phone with the investors. They said everyone needs to be signed up for the Screen Actors Guild before they can release the funds.”

“Are you serious?”

“Yeah. They just told me.”

“That’s like $3,000 per person.”

“Yeah I know. Can you send out a group email? If we need to take payments for people then we can. But it’s going to push filming back another month or so,” he explained.

Not again. Shit.

“Ok. I guess if it’s what we have to do. I’ll send out the email. People won’t be happy.”

“I know. I’m not thrilled, but if they want to be part of this project, the investors said everyone has to be SAG.”

“Wait. Don’t you have to be eligible to join SAG first?” she asked.

“I’m just telling you what they said. They said to join SAG, we all join SAG. Can you handle that?” he snapped.

“Ok. Fine. You don’t have to get shitty.”

“I’m sorry. I just didn’t get a lot of sleep last night, and then this”

“It’s ok, I understand. I’ll get on it now. Love you babe.”

“I love you too. I got some business to take care of today and sign up for our permits.”

“Awesome, this is exciting.”

“It sure is. Talk to you soon,” he said as he hung up.

Lisa went to the laptop and began working on the email to send out to the entire cast. She had no idea how she could explain to them they each need to come up with $3,000. If she explained everything first, and then explained some payment plan options, that should help everyone out. Some may quit, but they could always cast people who really were dedicated.

As she typed, she wondered which locations Clarence was checking out for permits. Maybe downtown somewhere, or even by The Alamo? As she pondered these things, she had no idea that in reality Clarence had been on the phone with her from the bathroom of The Chesty Chola strip club; the only strip joint open this early. While she was typing out the email to send to the cast about having to pay SAG dues, Clarence was sitting down for a lap dance from a stripper named Angel.

Chapter 21

Jerry stared at Lisa’s email in his phone. Three thousand dollars? Are they fucking kidding? First they “void” the contracts, which Jerry had an attorney who reviewed it. There was no clause in the contract that allowed the production to just up and void it out of convenience. It was actually a really basic contract. His lawyer even asked him if a twelve year old had written it.

So there’s the contracts, and now they want everyone in the cast to come up with three grand to join SAG. He dialed the number of an actor friend of his named Juan. Juan had been an extra in some big movies and had a few roles in some TV shows.

“Hey Juan. It’s Jerry.”

“What’s up man?”

“Not much, dude. I got a question for you though. Remember this Zombie Reign movie I was cast in?”

“Yeah. Shit, is that still a thing? They cast you like a year ago didn’t they?”

“Something like that. Well there’s this mess with the contracts,” Jerry said as he explained the contract situation.

“Man, fuck that. That’s bullshit. You can’t just void a contract ‘cause you don’t have the money. Who are these guys?”

“Well that’s one thing. Then today they sent out an email saying the investors won’t fund it until everyone has joined SAG. So they want us all to pay three grand each so we can join SAG.”

“You mean pay it to them?”

“Yeah, they said they’d sign us up.”

“Fuck no man. They are scamming. SAG isn’t a fucking book club; you don’t just go sign up. You got to be eligible first. Once you’re eligible, it’s your option to join. Shit, why would a production want to make you join SAG? They come to Texas so they don’t have to hire SAG cast and crew because it’s cheaper.”

“Shit. I thought it sounded weird. This is all new to me.”

“Yeah, this is some bullshit. You didn’t give ‘em no money did you?”

“Hell no. I don’t have three grand anyway.”

“Good. Do you got an agent?” Juan asked.

“No not yet. I just answered a casting call for this.”

“Yeah, you need to get an agent. I can send you some info for a few good ones I know.”

“Thanks man. I appreciate that. Something has been weird about this for a while. It just keeps getting more and more bizarre.”

“Yeah. I’d get away from those assholes if I were you.”

“Thanks for the info. Talk to you later,” Jerry said as he hung up. He went into the other room and flipped his laptop open. Once it came on, he did a Google search for Clarence Ringo. This was something he should have done a long time ago. First thing he found was his IMDB page. At least the guy had one. Problem was his only credit was “Zombie Reign.” It said “In pre-production” for the last two years.

From there, he looked up Clarence’s Facebook page. He’d been friends on there with the guy, but never really looked at his profile. As he scrolled back he began noticing a pattern. Clarence would do several casting calls, have lots of stupid meetings, do events and string cast along, do a few shoots here and there, string along some more, cast gets frustrated and quits, and do more casting calls.

Going back six years, he found that exact pattern at least three different times. All had happened in Los Angeles, Las Vegas, and now San Antonio. So this was something he’d been at for a while. He went back to Google and pulled up a background check website and signed up for the free trial. He put in Clarence’s name and found that back in 1994 he’d changed his name. His birth name was Reyes, but he’d changed it to Ringo. Looking further back, he saw why.

Clarence had a few arrests in the nineties. Mostly petty crimes and one assault charge, but no convictions. He probably changed his name due to the reputation he was making for himself. Slippery ass motherfucker. Jerry took screenshots of everything he found, and printed it all out. He’d looked up a few other things too on filmmaking, budgets and the process as a whole. The more he dug, the more depressed he became.

Jerry didn’t want to admit it, and in the face of all this, he felt incredibly stupid. But it was becoming clear there was no movie. There never was any movie; no investors and chances are no actual script since no one had seen it. This was a long running scam Clarence had been at for a while. Jerry figured if he could locate some of the old cast to see if they were also required to pay three thousand in “SAG dues” to Clarence only to have him skip town.

Now the big question was what to do with all this shit. He’d worked a job year ago where the owner’s son was stealing from the business. A few employees had been fired after the guy blamed them for the thefts. Jerry was an assistant manager at the time, so he stashed a Go Pro camera near the safe overnight and sure enough, there was the owner’s son helping himself to the deposits.

Feeling proud of himself, Jerry took the camera to the owner and showed him the footage. The owner immediately began screaming at him, accused him of doctoring the footage and fired him in the spot. So much for video evidence. Regardless, he learned an important lesson that day. The messenger always gets shot.

Chapter 22

Twenty months after auditions

Clarence was fuming. He sat on the couch reading his tablet as his cast was beginning a small mutiny right in front of him. That Jerry shithead was posting all sorts of lies about him on Facebook; screenshots of his criminal past, his name change, and other terrible things. Once Jerry started posting, a few other cast jumped on the bandwagon. They started posting shit saying Clarence had groped them, or owed them money. Now, they weren’t technically lies as they were all true. But they were still mean and hurtful. Besides, that was all in the past. He was Clarence Fucking Ringo; no one talked about him this way.

What angered him was how many of the cast were jumping on board with this clown. At least a dozen have left already. Just goes to show how little loyalty exists in the film industry. He’d treated these people like family. Let them into his home, brought them on board with his production. What do they do to repay him? They lash out with lies and hateful comments. It was time to call an emergency meeting. He wrote out an email and sent it to the rest of the cast and crew to meet up the following night. It was time to lay down the law.

When the next night arrived, many of the cast filed in and gathered round Clarence and Lisa. He’d practiced this in his head over and over, but it was time to put on the performance of his life. Once everyone was settled he stood on a chair and began to speak.

“Thank you everyone for coming here tonight. I truly appreciate your loyalty. You are the dedicated professionals in this production. Every single one of you knows the meaning of family and sacrifice! Jerry and his little pals, they know nothing of this. All they know is their own greed and selfishness. So we had to void the contracts. Well, this is the film industry! Things happen! There are delays; there are obstacles; and there are challenges. So do we act weak and quit? Or do we stick together and push through and grow as a family?” he said.

“We push through!” someone called out as the rest of the cast cheered.

“That’s right! We push through. Come hell or high water, this film will get made!”

There was more cheering as Clarence continued.

“Now, as far as Jerry and his pals go. They have attacked me, and they have attacked our Zombie Reign family. He is doing whatever he can in order to bring this production down. Because of this, I have to go to L.A. next week to meet with the investors who are looking to pull out. They want to pull out because of his lies. I will not let this happen. I will protect my family at all costs! Right now, as we speak, I have an entire team of attorneys going over the plan of attack. We are going to sue him so many ways from sideways he won’t have a penny to throw in a wishing well. Only problem is, that could get expensive. Unless...” he paused while looking at the floor. He did this intentionally to build suspense. Everyone was holding their breaths, waiting for his next words. He couldn’t ask for anything better than this.

“Unless, our family is willing to look after its own, then that is the sign of a true family and true dedication. So my question to you all is this. Who will step up and eliminate the threat to our Zombie Reign family? Are you all going to let some bitter liar destroy your future?”

One older man up front raised his hand.

“Hi Clarence, just curious. What about the stuff Jerry said? Like your assault charge. Or why did you change your name? He also made some good points on the project itself and how no one has seen a script. What are your thoughts on those things?”

Lisa stepped forward and practically got in the guy’s face. For a second, Clarence thought she might strangle the guy.

“Excuse me?” she screamed. “And who do you think you are to question your superior in such a way?”

“I just thought he’d have some explanation...,” the man began.

“He doesn’t owe you any explanation for anything! If you are in this production, what Clarence says is the law! It is not up for discussion or debate. On top of that, how dare you question his integrity! He has been working long and hard to make all of our dreams come true! And this is how you repay him?”

“Lisa, I’m sorry. I...” he stuttered.

“I’ll tell you this right now. You are fired! Get out of here now! You are no longer a part of this production!”

“Fired? Why? I just asked a few questions. You won’t answer anything.”

“Since you are no longer a part of this production, I don’t owe you any answers. Now get out! Now!” she screamed.

The man looked around and walked out slowly. Lisa scanned the rest of the group.

“Anyone else have any questions?” She paused but no one replied. “That’s what I thought. Clarence is our leader! You are to follow him without question! Anyone has a problem with that, leave now!” After another minute she looked up at Clarence and nodded. He was so proud of that girl. When this whole thing started, she was afraid of her own shadow. Now she’s barking out orders and firing people on the spot. Some of the cast looked scared, others looked angry.

“Thank you Lisa! That’s another traitor out the door. We currently have a traitor trying to destroy our family. Are you guys going to let them do that?” He paused, but they were quiet. “Well, are you?”

“No!” they called out.

“What?”

“No!”

“Zombie!” he yelled.

“Reign!”

“Zombie!”

“Reign!”

“Zombie”

“Reign!”

He stood there smiling. There was no question. He had them.

Chapter 23

Chloe stood in the back listening to Clarence and Lisa scream at the cast. She had no idea why everyone was getting so fired up. All the yelling was making her head hurt. Honestly, she had no idea why she was still a part of this side show. Well, that was the reason. It had become a side show and she wanted to watch it all unravel. Clarence’s lies were beginning to show and finally people were calling him out on it.

She’d given up on the idea of getting paid for this mess at least a month ago. After numerous production delays and all the free shoots and work she’d put in, it had become clear. Jerry emailed her the other day showing her all the evidence he’d found. Everything he said and showed her was spot on. Clarence as usual would just dodge questions and make threats. So far he’d threatened to sue just about anyone who so much as questioned the film’s financing or his past. She wasn’t sure where this team of attorneys came from, as he was broke as hell.

Now if she was hearing them correctly, he was inciting the cast to go after Jerry. She wondered if she should warn him. No telling what these crazies might do. She didn’t want to sound completely crazy. Jerry was a good guy. He’d always been nice when they talked, which wasn’t all that often. She’d sat down with a few of the cast earlier to tell them her concerns. They told her she was just over thinking things and to just have faith. Faith in what? The guy isn’t God. As this production had dragged on, more and more of the cast had treated him like a cult leader more than a director.

For his birthday a few months ago everyone arranged some big surprise party for him. She hadn’t been involved, but saw all the emails about it. People were freaking the fuck out over every little detail. There was even a huge argument over what color the streamers should be. It was crazy. Chloe had never had a surprise birthday party, let alone a bunch of people fighting over it.

She had been slowly trying to distance herself, yet stick around long enough to see what would happen. There had been a couple of other younger actresses cast as “leads” that apparently had love scenes with him as well. Chloe had begun to wonder just how many lead actresses this film had. From the sound of it, all girls were potential lead actresses for this. And all were his romantic interests. The hardest part for her to believe was how did Lisa put up with all this? Watching her boyfriend fawning all over these other girls right in front of her nose?

Someone came up behind her, startling her. It was Brody, the assistant director. She’d seen less of him at recent meetings as well. The last time she saw him, he almost looked sick.

“Hey,” he said. “You doing ok?” he asked.

“Um. Yeah. I guess so.”

“This shit is getting crazy isn’t it?”

She wasn’t sure where his loyalties still lie. Last thing she wanted to do was say something to him and have it get back to Clarence or Lisa. Then again, this was all bullshit anyway.

“Yeah, it’s weird as hell. What is happening?”

“Clarence is insane. That’s what is happening.”

“I know he’s a little off...” she began.

“No. There is no off about it. He’s fucking nuts. Trust me. He’s crazy and dangerous.”

At first she thought he might be kidding, but he looked terrified. He’d seen something, or knew something. Whatever it was it creeped her out.

“Dangerous? How?”

“I can’t tell you. Just trust me. This whole thing is getting out of hand. It’s been out of hand for a while now. Clarence is just starting to lose control. I’m scared of what he might do,” Brody said.

“Did you hear what he said about Jerry? Saying people should take care of him or some shit?”

“Yeah. I heard that. Do you have his number?”

“I think so.”

“Good. Get out of here and call him. Tell him to go somewhere safe until I say its ok.”

“Jesus Brody. You’re scaring the shit out of me.”

“Good. You need to be scared. Clarence is fucking psycho and Lisa isn’t far behind.”

“Looks like he’s dragging the cast with him,” Chloe said.

“He’s not dragging them. They are going more than willingly.”

“It’s like he has them in some weird trance or something.”

“Hey, wave big money and someone’s dreams in front of them long enough and about anyone would go for it. I mean, we sure did long enough.”

“True I guess. So I’ll give Jerry a call. I hope he’s ok. You really think they’d hurt him?”

“Honestly, I think someone could yes. I don’t put anything past Clarence at this point.”

“You really need to tell me what happened, Brody.”

“Maybe another time. Give him a call and then get out of here.”

He turned and walked away as she walked outside and to her car. Once in her car, she pulled her phone out and scrolled through her contacts until she found Jerry’s number. Just as she was about to hit “send” there was a knock on her window causing her to jump and drop her phone. It was Clarence. Holy shit. She rolled the window down part way.

“Hey there,” he said. “Who you callin’?”

“Oh, just my mom to let her know I’m on the way home.”

“Oh ok. Is that why you snuck out without saying goodbye?”

His eyes were wild, almost crazy looking.

“Um, I wasn’t trying to sneak out. I just didn’t want to disrupt the meeting.”

“Is that it? Ok then. Well better not leave your mom waiting,” he said as he stepped away. She rolled up the window, started the car and pulled out. As she drove off, in her rearview mirror, she saw Clarence watching her.

Chapter 24

Jerry sat in his apartment watching Netflix. He wasn’t even sure what movie he was watching, other than it had zombies in it and was horrible. The special effects looked cheap. The blood was all CGI and looked like something from a cartoon. The acting was even worse. Though despite those criticisms, Jerry couldn’t be too hard on the film. After all, it was a real film that had actually been made, which was more than he could say for Zombie Reign.

He’d been browsing on Facebook for a while, but had to take a break. Since his post calling out Clarence and his bullshit, his page had been a madhouse. Some people were agreeing with him. Others were sticking by Clarence and his fake production. Lisa had contacted him and yelled at him for attacking and bullying Clarence. He couldn’t help think that was funny. He hadn’t heard from Chloe. He suspected she’d be ready to pull the plug herself, but she seemed to be keeping quiet. Last few meetings, she looked extremely uncomfortable.

His phone began to go off. Problem was he couldn’t find the phone. He paused the TV and jumped off the couch, fishing around before he found it under one of the cushions. He didn’t recognize the number, but it was local.

“Hello?” he said as he answered.

“Jerry?” a girl said on the other end.

“Yeah Who’s this?”

“It’s Chloe.”

“Oh! Hey! How’s it going?”

“It’s ok. I called because I felt I should give you a heads up.”

“About what?”

“Well your Facebook post about Clarence. It’s got everyone really riled up,” she said.

“I know. It’s pretty awesome I think.”

“I like it too. I really do agree with you. You totally nailed it. I’ve stayed quiet so I can see how things play out. Honestly, it’s getting a little scary.”

“What do you mean?”

“At tonight’s meeting, he got everyone fired up screaming the usual crap about legal action against you and his lawyers and shit. But then it got weird. He started saying how you have attacked their family and a real family wouldn’t allow it. He said the cast needs to protect their family. Jerry, I think they might try to hurt you.”

“Are you serious? That’s a little crazy isn’t it?”

“This whole thing is crazy. People are acting totally out of their heads. Liz left the cast a couple months ago. She said most of the cast won’t even talk to her now and she hasn’t even said anything. They all blocked her on Facebook and Clarence tells the cast not to talk to our enemies. He is totally insane.”

“Well, his dumb ass doesn’t scare me. He’s all talk.”

“It’s not him I’m worried about. It’s his crazy followers. Just be careful Jerry. Ok? If you see anything weird call the cops.”

“I will. I doubt they’ll do anything, but I’ll keep an eye out.”

“Ok. Take care Jerry,” she said as she hung up.

Jerry looked around the apartment thinking about Chloe’s warning. It was extremely bizarre, but so was everything else about this mess. He put the movie back on and watched the remaining twenty minutes when there was a knock at the door. The knock startled him, causing him to jump. It was a loud, pounding more than a knock. He turned off the TV and walked to the door. Looking through the peephole there was no one there. What the fuck? Maybe Chloe was right. That or some of the cast were just trying to fuck with him. The pounding began again. This time he looked through the hole and there was still no one there. They were probably standing off to the side, just out of view.

He had two choices, call the cops and the pounding could go on for over an hour until they got there. Or he could open the door and look outside and tell whoever is doing this to fuck off. He figured option two would have to work for now. Reaching up, he unlatched the deadbolt and slowly turned the door knob. Just as the door cracked open, someone kicked it back, hitting him in the face with the door as it burst open, knocking Jerry to the ground, flat on his back.

Four people came running in, all wearing white plastic masks. They stood around him. One was a girl, the rest were men.

“Hey Jerry!” one of the men said. “How ya doin’?”

“What the hell is this? Did Clarence send you assholes?”

“Did Clarence send you assholes?” one of them mocked. “You think you’re really smart, huh?”

Jerry scooted himself back and began to pull himself up using the couch. The girl kicked him in the stomach, sending him back to the floor in the fetal position.

“Did we say you could move smart guy?” the girl yelled. “You’re never getting back up again!”

One of the men took out a large knife and knelt down.

“Time to shut you up for good, pal!” the guy said as he held the knife inches from Jerry’s face. Jerry grabbed the man’s wrist and pushed the knife away as he brought his leg up and wrapped it around the man’s head, rolling him to the ground in a head lock. He had no idea what he was actually doing, but he’d seen this in a movie once.

As he rolled the man down, he rotated his hips and legs and the man let out a muffled scream. There was a loud popping and snapping sound as he jerked and twitched beneath Jerry. He was able to pull the knife away from the man and jump to his feet. One of the other masked men let out a scream as the girl began sobbing.

“No!” the woman screamed. “You killed him! You fucking killed him!” She lunged at Jerry who thrust the knife at her, stabbing her in the throat. Blood sprayed all over as she grabbed her throat while gurgling sounds came from behind the mask. She went to her knees as Jerry was on her, stabbing her repeatedly in the chest and stomach. One thrust went so hard he felt his hand disappear inside her stomach, amidst the warmth of her intestines.

The other two men jumped him as they all three toppled to the ground. One was trying to get Jerry around the neck while the other was grabbing for the knife. Jerry swung the knife wildly, slashing up the man’s hands, causing him to cry out. The guy on his back got a forearm beneath Jerry’s chin. Jerry knew if the guy started choking him he’d go out in a matter of seconds, then it would be all over.

He lifted the knife and began slicing at the man’s arm around his throat. Finally his grip loosened as blood gushed all over Jerry’s face and clothing. Jerry broke free and lunged at the other man, thrusting the knife into his chest. The man let out a long gasp as the air left his lungs He spun around as the remaining assailant was running for the door. Jerry ran and hit him slamming them both into the wall. He dropped the knife on impact as they both went back to the floor. The other man’s arm was gushing blood in large clumps all over the carpet.

Jerry ripped the mask off the man and began punching him in the face. He recognized the man from some of the acting workshops, but didn’t know his name. The man tried to defend himself, but after a few blows stopped moving completely. Jerry stopped and noticed the blood around them was so thick, it was actually pooling on the carpet. The guy had bled out. Jerry stood and looked around the apartment. It looked like a slaughterhouse. Blood and dead bodies were splattered and strung all over the apartment. Looking down at himself, he saw his clothes and arms were soaked in blood.

It all started to sink in. These people came here to kill him. Somehow, he fought back and killed all four of them. They must not have expected him to fight back. It’s not like these guys are trained assassins. They were a bunch of actors, and not even good ones. Either way, Chloe was right. Not that he hadn’t believed her, but he hadn’t expected this. Maybe something to try and scare him at most. Maybe leaving a horse’s head in his bed or something.

He looked around on the floor and located his phone. Doing his best to wipe his hands on his jeans, he called Chloe’s number.

“Hey Chloe,” he said. “You were right. A bunch of them were just here and umm...I think I need some help.”

Chapter 25

Brody stood in Jerry’s apartment looking at the carnage. Chloe was in the bathroom throwing up while Jerry was sitting on the couch staring off into space. Chloe had called him and told him about the attack.

“We’ll have to clean this up,” Brody said.

“Shouldn’t we call the police?” Jerry asked.

“We could. I don’t think it will go well for you. Plus it will bring too much focus on Clarence and his pals. It might even shut down production.”

“Isn’t that a good thing? Clarence is a fucking crook.”

“I know. But I have a plan.”

“What plan?” Chloe said from the doorway.

“I’ll explain after a bit. But we don’t want Clarence in jail just yet. There’s still a way to make this work for us. We just have to play it right,” Brody explained.

“I’m still not following,” Jerry said.

“Clarence isn’t going to pay anyone. Like you already figured out, there is no script and no movie. With my plan, we can make money with this. It’s rather crazy, but this has all been crazy so far. There may as well be a payoff.”

“Well this sounds interesting,” Chloe said.

Brody proceeded to explain his plan to them both. He also told them about the shoot where Clarence killed the actors and used them as props. They were both horrified at that story. As he explained his plan they both nodded and even smiled at times. He could tell they were both all in.

Once they agreed, they began the cleanup. It took several hours and three separate trips to the hardware store for cleaning products and other tools. They got some large Rubbermaid garbage cans for the bodies and a steam cleaner for the carpet. It was well into the next day before they were finished. They were exhausted, but at least the place was spotless.

“What do we do with these?” Jerry asked, pointing at the trash cans.

“We’ll put them in my pickup truck and I’ll take them to my dad’s ranch and bury them there. No one will ever find them,” Brody said.

“I still can’t believe I killed four people,” Jerry said.

“You had no choice. They came here to kill you, but didn’t expect you to put up a fight. That’s the problem sending actors to do something like this. None of them had ever been in a fight. They figured this would go like in the movies. You showed them different and you won.”

“I guess so.”

They carried the trash cans out of the apartment and loaded them into Brody’s truck. It took several trips, but they got it done. Jerry looked like he was about to keel over. At least he’d showered once the apartment was clean and threw his clothes into one of the trash cans.

“I’ll take care of these,” Brody said. “You should get some rest.”

“Not here though,” Jerry said. “I don’t think I can sleep here. I don’t even know if it’s safe.”

“Right. I’ll drop you off at my place, you can crash there.”

“I want to come help you Brody,” Chloe said.

“All right. Hop in.”

They squeezed into the pickup truck as Brody drove away. Jerry was sound asleep the instant they started moving. Once they got to Brody’s house, Chloe helped Brody walk Jerry inside. From there Chloe and Brody drove to the ranch.

“You think your plan will work?” Chloe asked.

“I have no idea. I hope so. I think it’s a solid plan.”

“It sounds like it.”

“I can’t believe he did that to those other actors. And no one did anything?”

“I’m telling you, it’s like everyone is in some trance around him. Haven’t you noticed?”

“Yeah, I have. Especially at that last meeting. I’m amazed a whole lynch mob didn’t come after Jerry,” Chloe said.

“Me too. I can’t believe how out of control this shit has gotten. And these folks still believe him.”

They arrived at the ranch where Brody drove out past the house near an old barn.

“How are we gonna do this? The ground can be pretty tough.”

“There’s a sinkhole back here. We just roll them in and away they go,” Brody said.

They got out and unloaded the trash cans. One by one Brody rolled them into the sinkhole. Once the last one disappeared his phone began to ring. He took it out of his pocket and answered.

“Hey Brody! It’s Clarence!” Oh Christ.

“What’s up Clarence?” Brody said as Chloe’s forehead wrinkled.

“Hey, we are going to start shooting in a couple days. I was thinking Saturday. Got a big scene I want to get done.”

Brody wanted to ask him when they were going to get paid, but this would work perfectly for his plan.

“Oh ok,” Brody said. “It’s about time we get to do some filming.”

“I know, right!” Clarence said. “This is exciting. Once this scene is done, we should get our funding and can get this thing done soon.”

“Yeah, that sounds great. Definitely.”

“Thanks Brody. I knew I could count on you. I’ll text you the details,” Clarence said as he hung up.

Brody looked up at Chloe.

“So what was that?” she asked.

“We’re filming Saturday. Some big scene he wants done. I told him I’d do it. I want you there too. We’ll put it all in motion then.”

“Are you sure? That’s awful soon?”

“We don’t know when he’ll want to film again. It could be six months from now.”

“Good point. I’m scared.”

“Me too,” Brody said. “I think this will work. I’ll fill Jerry in when he wakes up.”

They got back into the truck and Brody dropped Chloe off. Once he was home, he found that Jerry was still sound asleep on his couch. The guy didn’t look like he could fight much. He was a little pudgy and even slightly nerdy looking with his Dr. Who t-shirt. But they had underestimated Jerry. That’s how he would beat Clarence. This whole thing had gone to his head. He thought he was smarter than everyone else. Brody would show him who the smart one was.

Chapter 26

When Saturday arrived, Chloe was nervous as hell. She hadn’t heard from Brody or Jerry in several days. Jerry really had her worried. Last time she saw him he was so tired he couldn’t even stand up straight. Hopefully they’d be putting Brody’s plan into action today and it would work. If it didn’t work, well she didn’t even want to think about that.

“Ok everyone! Are we ready?” Clarence called out as he walked up to the set. As usual for Zombie Reign, “set” was a strong word. They were on an abandoned farm. Chloe figured it belonged to someone and just wasn’t being used at the moment. So Clarence in typical Clarence fashion just decided to film there. This was supposed to be some big, epic scene for this film that didn’t actually exist.

Ever since he’d asked for $3,000 for SAG dues, several people left the cast. Problem was several still paid the money. Some took out payday loans to cover it. Others made payment plans the size of car payments in order to fulfill their “dreams.” Brody fronted her the money to keep her around. As far as the cast that left he just cast more people who were willing to pay. It was so crazy.

“Ah, there they are!” Clarence said. “My beautiful family!”

Chloe looked to see Lisa and Sarcelles were walking up. Actually they were skipping, hand in hand. It was weird as hell.

“Hey daddy!” Sarcelles squealed as she ran up and hugged Clarence.

“Hey sugarbear. You guys excited?” he asked.

“Oh yeah. She just wanted some mommy time,” Lisa said as she looked at Sarcelles, brushing her hair away from her face.

“How sweet. My little girl has always wanted a mom like you.”

Chloe thought she was going to throw up right there. Thankfully Clarence turned and started giving directions. There were more actors dressed as Marines there with fake guns. Clarence was in his Marine outfit while there were dozens of actors with zombie makeup on. For a couple of the zombies they had run out of makeup, so they were wearing rubber zombie masks. The masks looked completely ridiculous, but Clarence insisted this is what the big, Hollywood productions use.

Lisa came up and began shouting as usual. Chloe wished Lisa had a bigger role in Brody’s plan.

“Ok! Listen up everyone! This is a huge scene in the film! So it is very important we be spot on when we shoot this! We have a big budget for this movie!” Lisa yelled. It was funny she was saying they had a big budget as none of them had seen a nickel yet.

“So remember! This is a big budget major motion picture! It is not some pathetic little indie film! So when we get started, you give it your all so our investors will be proud!” Lisa stepped back as Brody and the “cameraman” who was still using a tablet came walking up.

The Marines walked to the end of the dirt lane while the zombies went behind the house. Chloe was with the Marines as they came walking up.

“Ready! Action!” Brody called out.

They began walking and Clarence was in front of the group. Chloe was behind him as they approached the house. The zombies came lurching from the back of the house making their way to the front. Clarence remained in character as he shouted his lines.

“Contact front! Contact front!” he shouted as they all pretended to fire their guns. One of the Marines however was shouting “Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew!”

“Cut!” Brody yelled. “What the hell was that?”

“Was what?” the actor asked.

“That Pew! Pew! shit. What the hell?”

“Sorry, since the guns don’t fire, I figured I’d make my own sounds.”

“We edit the sound in later,” Brody explained. “So don’t do that.”

The actor nodded as they got back into place.

“Ok, from where we left off. Action!”

They continued clicking their guns as the zombies ran up on them. Some were lurching slowly while others ran. One ran up to Chloe and grabbed her as she toppled into Clarence. He took out a pistol and pretended to shoot the zombie who fell to the ground. After a few more zombies fell, they continued rolling. Clarence looked around at the “survivors.”

“Is everyone ok?” he asked. They all looked around and checked each other. Chloe took Clarence’s hand and slid his sleeve back.

“Oh my God!” she exclaimed. “You’re bit!”

“What?” Clarence said, looking confused.

“He’s been bit!” she yelled backing away. Once she was a few steps away, she began pointing at him. “Look! He’s about to turn!”

Clarence looked totally bewildered as he glanced at Brody and back at Chloe.

“Get away from me!” she screamed as the door to the house burst open. Jerry came running out carrying a hatchet doing some kind of battle cry as he slammed the hatchet into the side of Clarence’s head. Clarence looked around, blood running down his face which had an even more bewildered look as Jerry swung again. This time he collapsed to the ground as Jerry repeatedly hacked away at Clarence’s face. Blood, flesh, and pieces of skull splattered onto Jerry’s face until Clarence’s head was nothing more than a lump of pulpy mush.

As Jerry was hacking away, Chloe had grabbed the other Marines and had them run to the end of the lane with her.

***

“Ok! Cut!” Brody called out. “That was beautiful! Thank you!”

“Clarence?” Lisa said. “Clarence? What did you guys do? What is he doing here?” She pointed at Jerry.

“It’s ok,” Brody explained. It’s all part of the special effects.”

“Why is my daddy not getting up then?” Sarcelles asked. They both tried to run around Brody to reach Clarence, but he held out his arms, holding them back.

“He’s method acting. We’re going to do the next shots and he needs to say there like that. We can’t reapply the makeup.”

Lisa looked around at the camera guy who shrugged.

“Trust me. This is what he told me to do.”

“Why would he kill off his own character?” Lisa asked.

“It’s all part of some big reveal he has at the end. He’ll tell me more later when he’s ready to reveal the script.”

Lisa and Sarcelles looked at each other and back at Brody suspiciously.

“Look. We have a lot more to film here. Why don’t you two go and have some mommy and daughter time. Wouldn’t you like that? Clarence will be busy here for a while.”

“Can’t we just talk to him real quick if he’s really ok?”

“Trust me, he’s fine! Jerry is here because he came to us the other night and apologized. He really wants to be a part of this, and as you saw, he did great. Go get some ice cream together. Have a girl’s day out and we’ll be done here in a few hours.”

“I would love to have ice cream with my mommy,” Sarcelles said.

“Awe, you’re such a sweetie,.” Lisa said as she put her hands on Sarcelles face and kissed her on the mouth. Sarcelles hugged Lisa around the waist and squeezed.

“I love my mommy!” Sarcelles said.

“I love my daughter,” Lisa said.

Brody didn’t even try to process the weirdness between the two women. He wasn’t sure if this was some kinky lesbian role play they were doing, or if they were both just totally fucked up. He was guessing the latter. Finally the women joined hands and skipped away. This plan just might work after all.

Chapter 27

Over the next several weeks, Brody took over the production and even wrote his own script around the footage they already had. Brody had managed to figure out where Clarence kept the money for the “SAG dues.” Since almost everyone had paid in cash, it was stuffed inside a duffel bag in Clarence and Lisa’s apartment. He’d managed to sneak in and find it when Lisa and Sarcelles were out having “mommy and daughter” time.

With the money he’d found, he managed to rent some decent equipment and shoot some solid footage documentary style. Once he had enough footage, he was able to edit most of it himself with the help of some friends of his.

His mom’s health had been improving, so that was a huge weight off his shoulder. He’d made it his mission to finish this project and release it. At least that way they’d make some money off it. Unfortunately he only need to use about one third of the cast if that, but that was ok. He gave the unused cast their money back. Lisa and Sarcelles kept asking about Clarence. Brody told them he hadn’t seen him since the day of that shoot on the farm, which was technically true.

He’d burned Clarence’s body in a trash barrel and had the bones ground up and spread around the farm. Chloe and Jerry were the only two in on it. In the final cut of “Zombie Reign,” their characters were the stars of the film and helped defeat the zombies and bring normalcy back to the world.

It didn’t take him long at all to find a distributor for the film. They actually gave it a limited theatrical release. This time, they did a real red carpet at its premiere in L.A. where he and his mom arrived in their own limo. Chloe and Jerry were stars on the red carpet as well. No standing in the heat for hours and they got to watch an actual quality film instead of a bunch of crappy stock and cell phone footage strung together.

The film was a cult hit grossing far over its budget. When the paychecks started coming in, he made sure the entire cast was paid more than what they paid in their fake SAG dues and was able to take care of his mom’s medical needs. The craziest thing was he was getting offers to direct other projects with real budgets.

Lisa however wasn’t taking his success very well. In this whole process he’d cut her and Sarcelles totally out of the production. When they saw the film was out, Lisa demanded her money. She had been harassing Brody pretty regularly until the red carpet premiere. She actually showed up in a gown with Sarcelles. But when security wouldn’t let her in, she totally lost her shit. She began yelling and screaming that she was the executive producer and it was her movie and her boyfriend was the real director and Brody was nothing but a hack.

They called the police who had to restrain her, though she wasn’t going out without a fight. She kicked, punched, bit, and scratched every officer that came at her. Finally one of the officers shot her in the face with his Tazer. Both prongs hooked on each of her cheeks as she fell to the ground gyrating all over, nearly biting her own tongue off.

“Leave my mommy alone!” Sarcelles screamed as she’d jumped on another cop’s back. Brody hadn’t actually seen any of this. He did see cell phone video of it later. Everyone did because the whole thing had been uploaded to YouTube. Lisa was arrested but never charged. At her first court appearance she rambled on about being a famous movie producer. So the judge committed her to the state psychiatric hospital.

Brody went to visit her once, just to see how she was doing. He could only see her through a small window on her room door as she was in four point restraints and wearing a bite mask after assaulting several staff. Part of him wanted to feel bad for her. In many ways she was one of Clarence’s victims. Except once it became obvious how dirty Clarence was, she not only stuck by him, but helped him lead the charge. So his sympathy for her faded a long time ago.

Chloe went on to get several movie roles. Many were small speaking roles in larger films. She’d gotten to work with Wes Craven, John Carpenter, and Robert Rodriguez. Finally she got a lead role in another successful horror film that went on to have four sequels. Chloe had become a real scream queen. Brody couldn’t have been more proud of her.

Jerry gave up acting after the “Zombie Reign” mess. He’d made good money from the film, so that helped him sustain himself as he began touring comedy clubs around the country working on his act. With his Zombie Reign experience, he had more than enough material for a solid act. As stressful as things had been at the time, it all seemed funny looking back.

As far as Sarcelles, she seemed to disappear entirely. After the big fight with police at the premiere, she had spent a few weeks in jail and then was released on probation. Last thing Brody had heard was she was working as a model on a webcam site called Dirty School Girls Want Their Mommies. Somehow it all seemed so fitting.

There were many lessons to be learned from “Zombie Reign.” They were hard lessons for some of the cast, like Allen who left his job and never was part of the film. He never got the money back he loaned to Clarence, only his fake SAG dues. It was two more years before he found another job, and it wasn’t in acting. The rest of the cast all went their separate ways. Chloe, Jerry, and Brody all stayed in touch though. No matter how successful they became, they made sure to meet up once a year and talk about old times. One thing they never did discuss was the possibility of “Zombie Reign 2.”

The End

Also by Tim Miller

The Hand of God

Revenge of the Three

Dark Exorcist

Dark Exorcist 2

Blood Slayer

Family Night

Hell Texas

Night of Vengeance

Bloody Bank Heist

The Country Club

Road to Darkness

Dead to Writes (April Almighty Book 1)

Welcome to Happytown (April Almighty Book 2)

Witches of Dark Rock

About the Author

Tim began writing at a very young age. As a teenager he would write short stories of horror to entertain himself and his friends. Not knowing at the time this would one day lead to his dream of becoming a published author. Tim has studied various religions and psychology as evident in the "Hand of God" books and "Dark Exorcist."

From there, Tim began to venture into the realm of splatterpunk and extreme horror, which kicks the gore factor into overdrive. With the release of "Family Night" Tim has been off to the races. He has released several bestselling titles that are sure to turn your stomach.

You can follow Tim on his website at http://timmiller.org and on Twitter @TimMiller2011