by Samie Sands
It was an accident really. The woman tripped while running away from me, bashing her head on a rock with an audible smack. The skull adorned in raven-black hair cracked open and I could see the hint of fresh blood inside. I pulled it open, like taking the lid off of a candy jar to reveal a sweet treat. When I took the first bite of the ruby-red-covered brain, the fog in my head cleared momentarily. I could see it all so vividly.
I was laying down and when I opened my eyes, a man was standing over me. He helped me out of the strange glass coffin I had been sleeping in and took me to his castle. There was a wedding attended by dwarves, feasts and festivals, and many years of happiness and love.
Then it all stopped too quickly, and the fog returned. From then on, I knew I had to find more brains. The flesh of the creatures I caught helped ease the hunger I felt, but the brains were what I really craved.
The next brain I ate gave me a vision of running down a long staircase, losing a shoe along the way. I had lost my own shoe long ago, so it really wasn’t that exciting. But what happened next was a rush of joy and pleasure.
A prince used the shoe to find me and we married and lived happily. The memories warmed up the empty space in my rotting chest and I cracked part of my stiff cheek when I smiled. But then it stopped.
Thankfully, there was another brain close by. The next visions showed the same scenes but from the prince’s perspective, finding the shoe and searching for the beautiful maiden who fit it. It was so strange and amazing to experience it all from behind his eyes.
After that, I had many wonderful adventures. Swimming through the ocean tides with a fishtail instead of broken legs, climbing a beanstalk with strong firm muscles, exchanging a wooden existence for a body of real skin and blood. It was so magical. It made me feel alive. And it was all because of the brains I ate.
From then on, I knew I would never stop. I would keep going, dragging my limp foot behind me as I went, always searching for the thrill of being alive.
After I finish my latest meal and the visions of pixie dust and flying through the stars fade, I walk on in search of my next adventure. My inconveniently long hair gets caught on another low hanging branch. I yank it free, a few dry, crunchy chunks of hair left behind. Someday that hair may pull my scalp clean off, but I will never stop looking for more brains.
When the Cameras Stop Rolling
C.L. Williams
“AAAAAAANNNNNDDDD CUT!” The director yells out to his actors. “Great job everyone! Let’s hope everything goes well so no one has to do this again for reshoots!”
Director Jorge Romano has been filming his newest zombie movie for the last few months. It’s also been difficult on the cast and crew given the cheapest time he could do it was during the summer, to make things worse, the studio required him to shoot the movie in Texas. Summer heat and months of shooting can make anyone irritable, but everyone remained calm and Romano feels this could be his best directorial feature to date.
Clay Morrow, the lead actor, is easily the one person most relieved that everything is wrapping up. He is the typical actor that doesn’t like to be around others, but once Jorge Romano yelled “cut”, Clay was quick to give everyone a high-five or a hug. He didn’t care this time, he was just happy to finally be able to leave Texas and make his way back to his condo in Los Angeles. After congratulating the cast and crew, he went to the zombies and congratulated them as well. For the most part, the zombies in the movies were extras and not credited actors. Clay gave his usual pep speech about this being their foot in the door and then he makes his way to his trailer to call his agent. However, something strange happens as he makes his way to his trailer.
Clay is making his way back to his trailer when he hears someone screaming. Clay turns around and sees one of the extras biting another. Clay calls for his security guard to go over and stop the biting extra from biting anyone else. He obliges and makes his way to the two extras, still in zombie makeup, and attempts to break up the incident.
Jesse, Clay’s bodyguard, manages to stop the incident from escalating, but not without some injuries. The person that was bit is missing a good chunk of his neck and the extra that did the biting is now trying to bite Jesse. Without hesitation, Jesse pulls out a can of pepper spray and sprays the extra that is doing the biting, unfortunately for him, the pepper spray is doing nothing to stop the situation. Jesse informs the extra that was bitten to receive medical attention, but this is proven to be unhelpful. The extra that was bitten is now beginning to act like the extra that bit him in the first place. These two extras, still in zombie makeup, are now surrounding Jesse and he has no place to go.
Clay hears Jesse scream and makes his way out of his trailer to see what is going on. He sees the two extras from the biting incident attacking his security guard as he has no place to go. Clay then decides to find Jorge Romano and see if there is anything, he can do given it’s his set and it’s his movie.
“JORGE!” Clay yells out, “Two of the zombie extras had an incident and now they are attacking Jesse, my security. Can you do something about it?”
“Can I follow you to where the incident has taken place?” Jorge says as he strokes his beard.
“Follow me!” Clay says as he makes his way back to Jesse and the two extras that started the incident.
When Jorge and Clay make their way to the spot, Jesse is now a bloody mess and lying on the ground as the two extras have made their way to catering where the crew are seated, enjoying their final lunch on set. The two extras don’t make their way to the buffet line, instead, they go to the closest table and begin biting on the body parts of the people seated at the table. The crew members start screaming as everyone else panics and makes an escape from the catering tent. Before Clay and Jorge can make their way to catering to warn everyone, the ones who were not bitten had already escaped. Now there are two extras and three crew members making their way towards Clay and Jorge. In a Hail Mary attempt, Jorge ponders and idea.
“Clay, you know that spot in the movies where your character was in the prison yard?” Jorge asks.
“Yeah.”
“That’s no prop, it’s actual cement walls. Lure them there and I will see if my ballistics guy is still here and we will replace the replica guns with something real.”
“Do you think it will work?” Clay asks, afraid something will go wrong, and he won’t be able to take the red-eye back to LA.
“If he’s here, it will work,” Jorge says in an assuring tone.
Jorge makes his exit to look for the ballistics expert as Clay makes an attempt to lure everyone to the prison yard set.
“Hey, you losers wanna bite people. COME BITE ME!” Clay says to get the attention of those that have been bitten.
The five of them look at Clay and make their way to him, ready to attack. Clay tries to run fast but also sees that they are not running fast and he needs to stop them from attacking anyone else. He slows down to make sure he is the only target until he can get them to the prison yard set. His plan is slowly working, and he is making his way to the set when the door is open. Clay manages to get the five inside the boundaries of the cement walls and closes the door in hopes of Jorge Romano or the ballistics expert being ready to take fire on the actual zombies.
“JORGE! GUN GUY!” Clay yells out, “I’ve got them locked in here, are you guys ready.
Much to Clay’s surprise, a gunshot goes off, but it is not to the people Clay now realizes are actual zombies, the gunshot resulted in a bullet wound in his leg. He lets out a scream before Jorge tells Clay the real plan.
“Clay, you are an asshole. No one likes working with you and all of us thought your star fading would maybe make you a little more humble. How wrong were we? I was told to take care of the situation. You see Clay, Zombies are real! How else do you think we director hacks come up with these ideas? We’re not that creative. An agent told me he was ready to retire you and knew I had a zombie film in the works. Yes, I did have to lose two crew members, but I get
to be the one to retire you!”
“You were planning to kill me all along? Are you mad?” Clay asks Jorge.
“I’m not mad, but you, your tantrums, your antics, your holier-than-thou attitude have driven WAY too many people mad. Now, I get to be the hero to those in Hollywood and because people who were never fans of yours that decide that they are fans now that you’re dead will come in droves to see my movie. I’ll be the winner of this situation. Any last words....? JUST KIDDING! I don’t care.” Jorge Romano then shoots Clay’s other leg and the zombies make their way to Clay and begin feasting on his body. Jorge then leaves the watchtower and makes his way back to his dressing room to let those in Hollywood know that he finished the job and Clay Morrow is no more.
Teacher of the Undead
Alexander Bailey
JEFF WAS SITTING ON the edge of the second-floor balcony in the River Town High School auditorium, his feet dangling above the crowd of zombies below him. They used to be his students, his fellow teachers, and his students’ parents.
Contemplating how badly it would hurt if he just let himself fall and get torn apart by those things, Jeff let out a deep sigh.
The handgun sitting on the balcony ledge next to him would have been the easiest way out if it hadn’t been out of bullets and being trapped prevented Jeff from looking for more ammo.
It was looking like the fall was his only option.
Most of the zombies were grouped under his dangling feet.
Jeff let out a deep sigh and muttered to himself. “It's been a long couple of days.”
He scoots a little closer to the edge.
“Should I go head first, or feet first?” He asked himself out loud. “I feel like feet first would be worst. I think I would only break my legs then feel everything as they rip me apart. At least head first there’s a good chance I’ll die on impact.”
The zombies below just moaned.
THE END OF THE WORLD started when a group of zombies busted into a pep rally in the school’s gymnasium down the hall from the school’s auditorium. He was able to fight his way out of the school, but he wasn’t able to save any of his students. He hoped some of them had made it out.
The emergency exit door he escaped through came out on the opposite side of his car. With the number of creatures around him, he decided to leave it behind. With the troubles it gave him there was no guarantee of it starting, anyway. The City was a hellscape as he ran through it, cars totaled and building fires lighting his way.
As he made his way through the park downtown, he heard a voice over a loudspeaker telling people to come to city hall for shelter and safety. From the small amount of chaos, he’d already seen Jeff wasn’t sure how many humans were left alive to make it there.
Jeff spotted a police cruiser across the park. Its driver side door was open with the headlights on. He made his way over to the car. Thankfully there weren’t many zombies in the park. They all seemed to be heading toward city hall.
As he reached the cruiser Jeff jumped back when he saw the cop sitting in the driver seat. After taking a closer look Jeff noticed that they weren’t moving. He assumed it had to do with the bullet wound in the cop’s head. Without thinking about it too much Jeff pulled the corpse out of the car. Spotting the gun on the cop’s belt Jeff reached down and pulled it from the holster. Having grown up with a father who was big into hunting Jeff knew how to handle most guns. The car was still running when Jeff slid into the driver seat. He slammed on the gas and headed toward his house. He hoped his wife and kids were okay.
JEFF LET OUT ANOTHER deep sigh and scooted a bit closer to the edge. He looked around the school auditorium. Even though he was early in his teaching career he knew this building well. He had grown up here. After his father’s death he spent a lot of his time in this room. There were many late-night play rehearsals. Band concerts where only the parents of the students showed up. The memories brought tears to his eyes.
SWERVING SO HE DIDN’T hit any of the zombies in the street Jeff finally made it home. He parked the car in the street and bolted for the front door. Finding it unlocked he barged in yelling for his wife and kids. “Amy, grab the kids! We need to get the fuck out of town right now!”
He slipped in something when he ran into the kitchen and hit the ground hard. He slowly got himself up. Looking at his hands he saw they were covered in blood and a trail of it was on the kitchen floor. Following the blood with his eyes he saw it came from the back door.
“Oh God, no.” The sliding door that led out to the backyard was broken. Jeff looked around the kitchen. He saw the table toppled over with food spread all over the floor. Bloody footsteps led out of the kitchen. Jeff followed it to the top of the stairs. A corpse of one of his neighbors was laying with one of his son’s trophy lodged in its head. Quickly searching the rest of the second floor Jeff found the closets and dresser drawers thrown open. Clothes were scattered all over the place. The suitcases from the master bedroom closet were gone. The last place he checked was the garage. Amy’s car was gone. Jeff let out a deep sigh. She must have grabbed the kids and left for her parent’s place outside of town. He had to focus on that. The alternative would crush him.
JEFF SLIDES CLOSER to the edge of the balcony. One of the zombies sees his movement and shuffles underneath him. Letting out a moan it reaches up and tries to grab its next meal. Jeff watches the zombie, thinking about the last couple of days. He had never found his wife.
AFTER CHECKING THE garage Jeff made a cold meat sandwich and washed it down with a glass of water. He didn’t have much of an appetite, but he knew he had to eat something. After his meal was finished, he set about securing the house. Gagging he dragged the corpse outside to the backyard. During the summer, with the help of his kids, Jeff built a treehouse in the big oak tree that grew in the backyard. They didn’t use all the boards Jeff bought, and now they were used as barricades on the back door and most of the first story windows. Jeff went through the house turning off any and all lights. He took some blankets and nailed them up over the second story windows. He wasn’t sure if the creature were attracted by light or not. All the noise he was making caught the attention of a few of the undead that gathered to investigate the running cop car.
They started banging on the side of the house. One of them broke a window and reached its hand through the gaps in the boards. Jeff snuck out the back door, pistol in hand, making sure the coast was clear before sneaking around to the front of the house. He didn’t recognize the zombie at the window, but the one at the front door was the old woman who complained about his kids making noise playing in their own backyard. Taking his time to aim, Jeff sent a bullet through the first zombie’s head. The sound caught the attention of the old woman. She slowly made her way toward Jeff. He put a bullet in her head and sprinted back inside. When he left the house a few days later the corpses were still there.
JEFF STANDS UP WITH his feet half off the edge of the balcony. More undead below notice his movement, and they started to crowd below him. Gazing out at the many faces he recognized, tears ran freely from his eyes. When something started pounding on the door to the balcony he jerks in surprise.
AFTER LOADING UP THE car with supplies, Jeff left. His plan was to leave town. If his family did escape, they would head to his wife’s family’s farm. He only made it a few blocks in his car, though. The streets were full of wrecked cars, and every time he slowed down the zombies would move towards his car. Jeff finally had to stop the car in front of a wreck that completely blocked the road. He grabbed his gun and made a run for it.
Not really knowing where he was going, Jeff ended up back at the high school. Using the last of his bullets he made his way to the balcony of the auditorium.
THE POUNDING GREW LOUDER. Jeff looked back over the crowd of zombies. A sob escaped his lips when he saw three zombies shuffle into view. Two of the corpses were small, child sized.
The door crashed open.
Jeff jumped.
Alexander Bai
ley
ALEXANDER LIVES AND works in Iowa. This is his first published work with more to come. When not working his two jobs Alex can be found reading or playing video games. His favorite genre for both is Horror. One day Alex hopes to be able to write full time.
Quarantine
Samie Sands
A short from the AM13 Outbreak series
Prologue
SHRILL ALARM BELLS ring, lights flash, fear and panic comes at me from every single angle. My heart thunders noisily in my chest, my mouth feels like it has a cotton ball stuffed right into it, I don’t know what to do. There’s a screaming noise coming from somewhere too, which is weird because for some reason it feels incredibly disembodied.
One moment everything was calm, the day was exactly the same as every other and the next...well, the next everything had completely fallen apart.
As the infected stagger from their beds where they were strapped down to protect us, I tumble backwards falling hard into a wall. Someone must’ve cracked, maybe someone lost it because they couldn’t stand what we’d been asked to do. I understand that I feel that way myself but not so strongly that I’d endanger everyone else. This is utter madness!
As I glance my eyes from side-to-side my lungs squeeze tight, an ice-cold hopelessness washes over me. This is it, the end. The quarantine has failed, the attempt to control the virus is done, we’re all utterly screwed.
They say when you’re about to die, your whole life flashes before you. I’ve seen enough death in my time, but it’s not until this exact moment as a strange sense of calm takes over me, I can see how true that is. I see my childhood, my loved ones, my achievements first before my brain takes a much darker turn. I close my eyes as the faces of the people I’ve killed brushes through my vision. One by one they taunt me, they remind me that I’ve not always been a good person, that maybe I don’t deserve to live.
