by Tessa Leon
“What's happening to me?” she whispered.
Megan came running back.
“There's a whole bus load of them! They're over the hill, down in the valley, standing next to what must have been a tourist bus. Dozens of them, wandering around with freaking guidebooks and maps like they're trying to find out where they are. They're monsters, they're making that horrible groaning noise, all dressed up in friggin' shorts and t-shirts like they're some kind of freaked out weird bunch of psychos shuffling around. What do we do? There's too many of them.”
Jenny's eyes fluttered shut.
“Megan-”
Megan ran over to her friend. “Jenny, No!” She shook Jenny to try and awake her.
Then she heard the groaning noises.
The zombies were coming closer.
“Jenny,” Megan held Jenny up in her arms. “Come back to me.”
Jenny remained unconscious. He breathing became more faint.
“Jenny-” Megan began to cry.
Then Jenny's eyes flickered open.
“Megan,” Jenny whispered. “Get to the house. Go for help. Save yourself.”
Her breathing became more shallow.
“Jenny, don't go-don't leave me,” Megan pleaded.
Jenny's breathing faded and stopped.
Megan looked around herself. The groans were getting louder and louder. Still, no zombies in sight.
Yet.
“Jenny, no!” Megan grabbed both backpacks and stood up. Her hands now covered with Jenny's blood.
Then she felt the zombie's chapped hands across her back.
Megan spun around and whacked him across the head with the rucksack.
“Get away from me!”
Megan sprinted down the hill, fell and screamed. She looked around at all of the dead birds in the dirt and staggered to her feet.
She saw both zombies following her now. The tourist zombie had blood dripping down from his mouth. The nude surfer zombie groaned and moaned, as if it were trying to say something but couldn't formulate the words.
Megan entered the home, falling inside as she opened the door. She looked over her shoulder and saw no zombies in sight.
Slamming the door shut, she sat down at the table, burying her head in her hands.
“What are they? What are they?”
With a firm resolve, she tipped up the rucksacks and emptied the contents of both on the kitchen table. A photograph fell out.
A picture of Jenny with her parents on a holiday.
“Oh Jen, at least you're with them now. Rest in peace with your Mom and Dad.”
Megan looked around and tried to think. The radio started to crackle. Sprinting over to it, she turned the knob until coming to a voice.
“We repeat, there has been a deadly viral outbreak in rural areas, affecting birds and wildlife and spreading to humans. This virus is lethal in humans. If you are affected stay indoors and lock all windows until help arrives-”
“No,” Megan stared open-mouthed at the radio. “No, I can't stay here-those things will be back, they'll come and get me.”
Megan rushed out of the kitchen up the stairs and through to a bedroom where she started to throw clothes into a rucksack.
“What am I thinking of-I need weapons....”
Megan sprinted back downstairs and went through all of the drawers.
She wanted a knife.
But all she found were plastic kitchen utensils.
“Why did I come here?” she said, feeling helpless.
A loud bang shook the kitchen rear door.
Megan jumped and screamed.
The surfer zombie had arrived.
“Where did you come from, you mutant freak?”
The zombie lunged toward Megan. She reached over and grabbed the sun cream she had discarded earlier and squirted it into the zombie's eyes.
He groaned then Megan smacked him across the head with a chair.
The zombie reeled backward.
“Never go out in the sun without cream, you freakin' weirdo!”
Megan sprinted out of the house. “The road-the road-which way?” She ran and stopped for a moment, bent over, breathless as she tried to find her bearings.
Nothing but silence.
Until she looked to her right.
“It can't be,” Megan said.
Megan's face flooded with relief. Jenny, standing with her back to her, swaying as if trying to stay upright. Her head tilted oddly to one side.
“Jenny,” Megan cried. “I thought you were dead. Thank God! Jenny!”
Megan ran over to her friend as fast as she could.
“Jen, oh thank God, I'm sorry I didn't mean to leave you, I thought you were dead. I'll help you. We can make it to the road and then get help.”
Megan put her arms out to give her friend a hug. Until Jenny slowly turned around.
Her head tilted to one side, Jenny came at Megan like something out of deepest pit of hell, her mouth gaped open, uttering an incoherent growl. Megan scrambled back but her back foot tripped over a rock.
She fell and her head bounced off the ground.
Looking up, she saw flies buzzing around the head of Jenny. Painfully, Megan pushed herself up to her feet. Needles of pain shot up her elbow where she had landed during her fall. She put out her hands in a defensive posture.
“Jenny, what's happened to you-Jenny-No!!”
Jenny walked unsteadily toward her friend, the front of her pants and shirt were wet with blood.
“Jenny! Its me, Megan!”
In some recesses of Jenny's possessed mind, Megan's voice registered.
Jenny stopped moving toward her friend. Then she clasped both of her hands to her head and screamed.
“Jenny?” Megan said. “Jenny, what's wrong?”
Jenny's nails dug into her cheeks and she tore skin away in bloody strips. Her cry was a guttural wail that didn't sound like it could come from a woman's throat.
Still screaming, she lunged at the Megan, who stumbled backward.
They hit the ground with a meaty thud. Their arms flailing about, they toppled down the hill.
Jenny landed on top of Megan.
Megan could see bloody boils erupting on the face of her friend.
“Jenny!” Megan screamed as her friend grabbed her arm and bit into it. “Yaaaaarrrgh!”
Megan pushed Jenny off herself and skirted away. Jenny grabbed onto her ankle and pulled her back, biting into her heel.
Megan screamed again, arrows of pain shooting up her body. She scrambled back to her feet, and wobbled away as fast as she could. Running, running, running....
Until she ran smack dab into the surfer zombie, bouncing off him, his naked balls jiggling in the sun.
He scratched his nuts and a growl spilled out of his mouth. He began moving toward Megan with evil intent.
“Jenny!”
Jenny moved in front of Megan and pushed the surfer zombie away with both hands. The force of her blow backed him up but did not knock him off balance.
Without warning, Jenny turned around and grabbed onto Megan with both arms, her hands were like steel clamps.
“Jenny!” Megan screamed. “Snap out of it!”
For a moment, Megan thought her screams had registered again in the mind of her friend. She looked into Jenny's yellow eyes. She saw recognition. And fear of what was happening to her.
Megan tried to break away from Jenny's grip. The surfer zombie moved toward both of them.
But Jenny beat him to it. She bit down into Megan's throat.
White hot pain seared into Megan's consciousness as she fell forward into darkness.
Jenny walked away from Megan's dead body with the two other zombies. The tourist zombie had their digital camera in his hand. He looked at the still photo in the camera which he seemed to recognize as himself.
He waved to his fellow zombies and pointed, the map and guidebook were in shreds in his hands now.
The surfer zombie and Jenny turned a
round. The tourist zombie pressed the button on the camera and took a photo of Jenny.
They marched in lock step down the the trail, their groans echoing through the valley.
