by White, Amber
“Well, that would have to do with the area of your brain that controls speech temporarily shutting down. It was the serum that rebooted it.” He said.
“Right.” I said.
“You could be a little more grateful to me, you know. I did bring you back from the dead.” He said.
“You really are a self-indulgent, arrogant bastard, aren’t you?” I said.
“And ceasing to swear so much wouldn’t hurt either.” He said.
“Fine. You want me to put it nicely? You got me infected and turned into a zombie, then gave me back the ability to speak, so thank you for making me extremely angry, and making me crave human flesh. Is that grateful enough for you?” I said.
“Are you saying you craved human flesh when you were fully infected, and that you still do?” He said.
“Do I have to write it in crayon? Yes! I want to feast on your flesh. I want to pull meat from bone with my bare teeth.” I said, gritting my teeth. Saliva was steadily filling my mouth.
“Fascinating.” He said.
“I just told you I want to eat you alive, and all you have to say is ‘fascinating’?” I said.
“I note you’re not swearing anymore.” He said.
“Screw you and your mother.” I said.
He ignored me and walked over to his table to study a fresh blood sample.
“Your blood has a great deal fewer infected cells than before. The infection is at perhaps, forty percent.” He said, still scribbling in his damned notes.
He moved in front of me again and the lure of his flesh was so strong I clenched my fingers into a fist, the joints popping loudly.
“Ready to do a few more tests?” He said.
“Get it over with.” I said through clenched teeth.
He had me do the same pointless, boring tests as before.
When it was finally over, he smiled at me and said “You may now go upstairs.”
I grimaced and slid off the table. “Thanks.” I mumbled.
I was scared. I wanted desperately to see my friends, but I was barely capable of stopping myself from killing Bobby. What would I do when I saw Billie or Dean or Sully?
I trudged slowly up the stairs, one unsure foot at a time. Taking a deep breath, I opened the door, letting it swing wide. In the entryway stood the entire household, including my friends. The children peeked out from behind the adult’s legs, staring in wonder at me.
“Jo.” Sully whispered. “You’re alive.”
He ran to me and hugged me tight. The smell of his warm flesh was intoxicating. Billie skipped to me, Dean in tow, and grinned, tears in her eyes. Sully let me go, and the twins drew me into another hug. I could feel their hearts beating, and smell their freshly cleaned skin. It was like walking into a barbecue restaurant. It smelled so good I was drooling. I moaned softly to myself.
“We’re so happy to see you.” Billie said.
“We didn’t think you’d come back out alive.” Dean said.
“I can’t believe they let you come down here.” I said.
“We agreed we wouldn’t attack them if we got to see you.” Sully said, rubbing my arm.
Dean and Billie hugged me tighter.
“Ok, please let go of me.” I said.
“What’s wrong?” They said together, letting go.
“I’m just…so hungry. And you two…” I was about to say ‘smell like dinner’ “Aren’t helping my poor stomach.” I finished.
No need to freak them out just yet.
“Let’s get you something to eat then.” Amy said.
The group followed her into the kitchen.
“What would you like?” She asked.
“Meat, if you have it.” I said.
“We have one steak left from dinner, but it’s rare. Is that ok??” She said.
“It’s more than ok.” I said.
My friends stared at me.
“Rare?” Dean said.
“I thought you only ate it well done.” Sully said.
“I did, but now I want it rare.” I said, sitting down at the table.
Billie sat next to me and wrapped her arms around my waist.
While my dinner was heating up, Steven walked up to me.
“So uh, no hard feelings, right?” He said, punching my arm.
Without thinking, I reached up and snapped his fingers backward. He screamed.
“Don’t touch me.” I said.
Five guns lifted around the room, their safeties clicked off.
“Don’t shoot her!” Bobby said, rushing into the room.
“Why the hell not? She just broke my brother’s fingers!” Sparky said.
“The infection is cured, but it hasn’t completely left her body. She’s still experiencing the rage and undeniable hunger it brings as symptoms.” Bobby said.
The men lowered their guns slowly, unsure if they still wanted to shoot me. I didn’t blame them.
Amy set my plate in front of me, trying to keep her fingers out of my range. I felt like a tiger in a cage, everyone staring at me like they wanted to get closer, but too afraid to actually risk touching me. I remembered just in time to use the fork and knife she gave me.
“Is that why her eyes are a different color?” Sully asked.
“They changed when she became fully infected. I don’t know if they’ll change back.” Bobby said.
“My eyes are different?” I said around a mouthful of meat.
“Your irises are bluish-white.” Sully said.
“Huh.” I said, and turned back to my steak.
I ate slowly this time, letting the flavor roll around my tongue, forcing myself to concentrate on the food before me, instead of the food standing all around me.
Everyone was still uneasy around me after I broke Steven’s fingers, so they locked me into my former room with my friends.
“Come curl up with us.” Billie said, patting the floor beside her.
“No. I said.
“Why not?” Sully said.
“Because.” I said, pacing.
“You’re going to have to do better than that.” Dean said.
“Because I want to eat you.” I said.
“Ha ha, very funny.” Billie said.
“It’s not a joke.” I said. “I crave human flesh, and you all smell so good.” I stopped and sniffed the air around them.
They exchanged worried looks.
I continued to pace the rest of the night, long after my friends fell asleep. I didn’t trust myself enough to stop moving.
In the morning, Bobby unlocked my door and marched me into the basement to run more tests. I was getting tired of him.
“The infection is at twenty percent. I would have thought it would be out of your system by now.” He said. “Perhaps another dose of serum would work.”
He added a few drops of serum to the prepared slide.
“Holey…” He said.
“What?” I said, picking at the partially healed bite wound on my hand.
“A second dose obliterates the good blood cells” He said.
“Is everything OK down here?” Todd said from the top of the stairs.
“Everything’s fine!” Bobby shouted.
“We’re coming down anyways!” Todd said.
“We?” I said.
“I’m coming down too.” Sparky said. He sounded a bit angry. He shut the door behind him and slid the lock into place.
They stood off to the side, glaring at me.
“What the hell is your problem?” I said.
“You are.” Sparky said.
“What is that supposed to mean?” I said.
“You broke my brother’s fingers.” He said.
“He shouldn’t have touched me.” I said, my anger mounting.
“Maybe we should break your fingers.” He said.
“You’re really going to try this in front of a witness?” I said. “Moron.”
“So how did you like being a zombie?” Todd said.
“Why do you want to
know?” I said.
“Because my girlfriend was a zombie, and I had to kill her, remember? You started singing that crap song.” He said.
“Look, I had told you several times I was sorry about that. Will you forget about it already?” I said.
“Bobby, get out of the way.” Sparky said.
“What are you going to do?” Bobby said.
“We’re going to teach this little girl not to mess with our families.” Sparky said.
“Touch me and I’ll rip your head off.” I said.
Sparky grabbed me and yanked me off the table, raising his fist to punch me.
“I told you not to touch me.” I said and threw him against the wall.
“Jo, don’t do anything stupid.” Bobby said.
I ignored him and rushed forward, sinking my teeth into Sparky’s arm before he could regain his footing.
Chapter twenty
My teeth slid easily through his flesh, ripping a sizeable chuck out, making him scream. Everyone in the room stood in shocked silence, horrified at what I had just done.
Sparky was hunched over, clutching his bleeding arm in agony.
“What the hell?” He said.
I grabbed his hair and forced his head back, exposing his neck. The tanned flesh gleamed with sweat, his pulse quickened. I bit down hard, feeling the flesh rip in my mouth. He tasted wonderful, a thousand times better than anything I had ever had before. I chewed quickly, craving every last bit of skin, muscle and intestine I could get my hands on.
I faintly recognized a door slamming nearby. Bobby and Todd had run for their lives.
In no time at all, I had reduced Sparky’s blood soaked body to a shredded corpse. Bits of intestines hung out of his stomach, large chunks of missing skin and muscle exposed broken bones, his jaw hung dislocated from my savage attempt at chewing off his face. It felt so good to consume him, and yet so wrong. It was like I had just eaten a whole Thanksgiving dinner by myself after weeks of having nothing but bread and water.
I gazed at what was left of him, no longer filling hungry, and saw for the first time what I had done to him. It was disgusting.
“What have I done?” I said to myself.
I covered my face with my blood-soaked hands, and cried.
“We can’t just kill her! My morals and especially my scientific curiosity would never allow me to sleep again!” Someone said.
I lifted my head. It was Bobby. Who else could it be? He had returned with every other adult in the house, all of whom where pointing rifles, shotguns, and pistols at me. A few of them saw the body at my feet and retched.
“Go ahead and shoot.” I sobbed.
“You heard the monster.” Steven said.
“Don’t shoot!” Bobby said, moving in between me and the mob.
“I didn’t want to kill him. I couldn’t help myself.” I said. “Just kill me.”
“You heard her! She didn’t want to kill him!” Bobby said.
“Look what she did to our brother!” Steven and Megan shouted.
“Jo? Sully said, elbowing his way to the front. “Why did you do it?”
“He tried to attack me.” I said.
“What were you boys doing down here?” Brennan asked, sounding annoyed and fearful at the same time.
“We…” Todd started.
“Well? Speak up boy.” Brennan ordered.
“We had come down here to rough her up a little, scare her for what she did to Steven.” Todd said.
“So it was self-defense.” Sully said.
“Self-defense?” Megan shouted. “She ate my brother!”
“The infection is still in her body, it won’t leave.” Bobby said. “She can’t help some things.”
“Then give her a second dose of your damned serum!” Billie said.
“It would kill her.” Bobby said, hanging his head. “There is nothing more I can do.”
I couldn’t take it anymore. I ducked around Bobby, grabbed my gun back from Elizabeth, and bolted upstairs with my friends right behind me.
I slipped out the front door and ran to the back of the RV, hiding. My friends called out to me, but I didn’t answer. I checked to make sure my pistol was still loaded and held it to my head, slowly squeezing the trigger
Chapter twenty-one
Something hit my hand, knocking the gun away from me at the last moment. It went off, sending a cloud of dust up from the ground where the bullet had struck. I looked around. Sully stood next to me, out of breath and furious.
“What the hell did you do that for?” I said.
“I can’t believe you just tried to kill yourself!” He growled.
“Have you not noticed what I’ve become?” I said, crying again. “I ATE someone alive!”
“But you didn’t want to.” He said.
Dean and Billie came rushing around the corner, identical looks of terror on their faces. “You’re still alive!” Billie said, flinging her arms around me.
“We can’t stay here anymore.” Dean said, looking anxiously behind him. Any minute now, the others would be on us, brandishing guns and trying to kill me. And I wouldn’t stop them.
“Let’s go.” Sully said.
“No.” I said. “I’m staying here.”
“We agreed when we first got here that if any of us decided we wanted to leave, then we’d all leave without argument.” Billie said.
“The living leave, the dead stay behind.” I said, pushing them away.
“None of us are dead.” Sully said.
“I’m a freaking zombie!” I said.
“You’re talking and thinking.” Dean said. I wanted to smack him.
Brennan and Bobby came rushing out the front door, Andy close behind them. It was officially too late for my friends to take the RV and run without anyone noticing.
“Curses,” I said.
“We need to go, now!” Sully said, spotting Brennan and his gun.
“Then go! I’m already dead. Don’t wait for me.” I said.
Andy and Bobby saw us, and rushed over.
“You guys need to leave before the others get out.” Andy said.
“You can’t leave!” Bobby said. “There’s still so much to study!”
“If she stays, she will be killed.” Andy said.
“It’s too late.” Dean said, blocking me from the door.
The front door swung open, and Megan, Steven, Todd, Mary, and Elizabeth flooded out.
“Where is she?” Megan called.
“I don’t know.” Brennan shouted. He was only a few feet from us now.
“Get under the RV,” I whispered.
“We aren’t leaving you.” Sully whispered back.
Brennan turned the corner and raised the butt of his gun.
“Why haven’t you killed her yet?” A voice hissed nearby.
I didn’t bother opening my eyes. I didn’t really care who was talking, I just wanted them to stop.
“Because she is a living, breathing human being.” Bobby said; I knew his voice at once. “She’s a murderer.” The other voice said. It was female, full of hate and anger. It had to be Megan.
“So you would have someone else become a murderer over her?” Brennan said. He sounded tired.
“It would be justice. She ate . . .”
Bobby cut in. “I know. We all know, and were upset about it too. We’ve been through this already. You know as well as I that your brother was asking for something bad to happen.” Brennan said. A sharp hiss, like Megan was about to utter obscenities and possibly hit someone. “I’m not saying he deserved it, but he came down here to hurt her. You ask me, Sully was right. It was self-defense taken too far by someone who couldn’t control herself.”
“No one asked you old man, and for a damn good reason.” Megan growled and stormed off. I could hear each stomp of her feet as she retreated upstairs.
“What are we going to do with her?” Brennan asked after the door slammed shut. I peeked in the direction of the voices. Turns out I was
locked in the cage, sprawled out on the floor. Bobby looked exhausted; Brennan looked pale and nervous. I couldn’t smell them, but the insatiable hunger rose slightly as I watched them.
“We can’t let her roam around the house and we certainly can’t leave her anywhere the others can get to her.” Bobby said.
“Are we going to just leave her locked down here then?” Brennan asked.
Bobby thought for a moment. “No,” he said. “We may be able to use her.”
“Beg your pardon?”
“She still has part of the virus in her. I’ve been running tests, and introducing infected cells into her blood doesn’t do anything. They just die out. Her condition cannot get any worse. She’s immune to scratches and bites now.”
“Is that why she’s all marked up?”
“Yes. When we brought in that other zombie, it ignored her. Granted, she was sedated, but it never even looked at her when they were in there together. He treated her like she was another zombie until I introduced fresh, uninfected blood.”
“But how would we be using her?”
“She could be sent into infested areas to retrieve things. We wouldn’t have to risk lives to gather more supplies. If zombies attacked her, she would be unaffected.”
“What about transporting her? We won’t always have gas for the vehicles, and it wouldn’t be safe to just walk with her. She could hurt someone or run off.”
“We could use a muzzle and shackles.”
“I think she’s a might bit strong for shackles.”
“Secure them behind her back and connect them to leg shackles. She wouldn’t be able to do much then.”
“Until you have to take them off,”
“I hate to say it, but whoever took her would have to have a partner, holding a gun on her.” Bobby said, sighing.
I huffed.
“She doesn’t seem to like your idea much.”
Crap. He heard me.
“You’re awake.” Bobby said, turning to face me.
I looked up at him, trying not to swear when I said “Gee, you think? You have such wonderful powers of observation.” I rolled to my feet, taking a deep breath. From that height, I could catch little wafts of their scent, making me drool. “I’m hungry.” I said, stepping toward them. “Got anything to eat?”
