Carl Jenkins was having a run of bad luck. Fresh out of jail, his probation tenuous, he'd lost every job he'd taken since being released. So now was his last chance, only one more job to prevent him from going back to prison. Assigned to work in a funeral home, he accidentally loses a shipment of embalming fluid. With nothing to lose, he substitutes it with a batch of chemicals from a nearby factory. The results don't go as planned, though. While his screw-up goes unnoticed, his machinations revive the cadavers in the funeral home, unleashing an evil on the world that has not been seen before. Not wanting to become a snack for the rampaging dead, he flees the city, joining up with other survivors. An old, dilapidated zoo becomes their haven, while the dead wait outside the walls, hungry and patient. But Carl is optimistic, after all, he's still alive, right? Perhaps his luck has changed and help will arrive to save them all? Unfortunately, unknown to him and the other survivors, a serial killer has fallen into their group, and is now trapped inside the zoo with them. With the undead army clamoring outside the walls and a murderer within, it'll be a miracle if any of them live to see the next sunrise. On second thought, maybe Carl would've been better off if he'd just gone back to jail.