zombie-party-novel

[zombie-party-novel]

Art I commissioned of Cassiel, a main character from my original horror novel Zombie Party.

Artist: https://twitter.com/@jotarousescrocs

[zombie-party-novel]

Zombie Party Chapter 8

The zombie stared at all of them curiously, then lowered his hand. “What are you guys, zombie hunters?”    Their eyes widened and their jaws dropped. They were of course aware of zombies who could still speak and think, but they had never ran into one before, and secretly always wondered what they would do if they ever did.    Sebastian regained his composure quickly. “Yeah, something like that. And you’re a zombie... aren’t you?”    The zombie nodded casually. “Yeah, I think so. I was bitten a long time ago and I haven’t died yet.”    Archie turned to face the others and pulled them aside. She lowered her voice and said “What do we do with him?”    “He’s a zombie. We kill him,” said Sebastian, as if it were obvious.    “But he’s talking to us. And he didn’t attack us,” said Archie “Wouldn’t killing him be...”    “Rude?” Preston offered, glancing back at the zombie who seemed to be waiting patiently for them to talk things over. “He seems really nice.”    Sebastian looked annoyed. “Nice? Because he’s not trying to eat you?”

“We should take him back to the base,” Archie said.     “Why, so they can experiment on him like some sort of animal?” Sebastian asked, “Killing him would be a lot more humane.”     Jessie remained strangely silent, staring intently at the zombie. She stepped away from the others and approached him. “What do you want us to do?” she asked him. The others stopped talking and looked up.     The zombie shrugged. “I don’t know, leave me here?”     Sebastian spoke up again. “We can’t. We’ve been sent to clear out the building.”     The zombie sighed. “Oh. Well, I don’t want you to kill me, that’s for sure.”     “Then I guess you have to come with us,” Archie said, smiling at him.     He hesitated for a moment, then returned the smile. “Alright. Guess I have no choice.”     Sebastian gave an odd little grunt of annoyance. Archie held her hand out to the zombie     “I’m Archie. This is Jessie, that’s Preston, and the asshole over there is Sebastian.”     The zombie nodded, taking her hand and shaking it gently. “I’m Cassiel.”   They made their way out of the store and began searching the rest of the stores, even though Cassiel assured them there were no more zombies this side of the barricade.   “We have to make sure,” Archie told him as they walked together through the mall. She glanced at him from the corner of her eye. He was certainly a looker, if you could get past the snow-white skin and missing arm. “You’re surprisingly clean for a zombie.”     Cassiel glanced back at her. “They have showers in one of the back rooms.”     “You’re not rotting.”     “Yeah, I noticed that. Weird huh?”     “Do the other zombies attack you?”     “No,” he said, “I think they can tell I’m one of them.”     Archie stopped walking and looked back at the wall of furniture. “So why the barricade?”     “The zombies stink.”   Archie laughed then, and Cassiel stared at her as if she had sprouted a second head. When she caught his gaze, she asked “What is it?”     He smiled again, and she decided he had an incredibly beautiful smile. “I haven’t heard anyone laugh for a long time,” he told her.     Archie felt something flutter in her stomach. Oh God, he’s really hot. And he’s sweet too. And he was living in a game store, so he has to be a gamer. But oh shit, he’s a zombie. Gotta remember he’s a zombie.     She continued walking, and after a brief pause, he followed her. “So,” she said quickly, “why didn’t you leave the mall?”   “Why would I? Everything I could ever need is right here.” He gestured back toward the game store, and Archie laughed again. This time he joined her, and after a few seconds she stopped abruptly.     “We really need to finish clearing the area. You can stay in the store until we’re done if you want.”     “I can help you,” Cassiel said, “I have some experience dealing with zombies you know.”   Archie smiled at him and nodded, then the two of them went from store to store making sure they were empty. On the other side of the mall, Preston walked with Sebastian and Jessie, looking over at Archie every few seconds. “I don’t like it,” he announced. “She shouldn’t be alone with him. What if he goes berserk and attacks her?”     “Then she’ll blow his brains out,” Sebastian said, “Actually, that’s a pretty good outcome if you ask me.”   Jessie looked at him sharply and he seemed to look a little guilty as he averted her eyes. She then looked to Preston. “Would you feel better if I stayed with her?”     Preston shook his head. “No, I should go.”   Sebastian turned and touched Preston’s arm lightly. “I think Jessie should go. If you or I go, Archie might feel like we don’t have faith in her abilities.”     “Since when have you cared about Archie’s feelings?”   Sebastian looked at Jessie, and she instantly knew what he was doing. He knew, without her saying a word, that she wanted to talk to Cassiel. Because he was like him, like her beloved brother. She tapped Preston’s shoulder to draw his attention from Sebastian. “I think he cares more about my feelings,” she said, trying to sound shy, “I told him earlier that I feel like you guys don’t trust me to deal with zombies without help.”     Preston seemed satisfied with the explanation. “Oh, okay. Sorry if I made you feel that way.”   Jessie gave a meaningful look to Sebastian then ran across the mall to meet up with Archie and Cassiel, who were involved in a deep discussion on the game play mechanics of a title Jessie hadn’t heard of. They stopped talking when she reached them and Cassiel gave her a friendly smile. “You’re Jessie, right?”     She nodded. “Can I ask you something personal?”     He seemed confused for a moment, but nodded.     “Does it hurt?”   He glanced at Archie, as if to ask her if she understood the question any better than he did, but she raised her eyebrows and shook her head.     “Does it hurt to be a zombie?” Jessie asked.   Cassiel understood now. “It did in the beginning,” he said truthfully, “for around a week the pain was unbearable. It was like I could feel my insides freezing up, and my skin going cold. But after a while, it all started to go away. I don’t know if I just got used to it or if it really didn’t hurt anymore. But now I don’t feel any pain at all.”     Archie was listening carefully, and without really thinking she asked, “Can you feel pleasure?”   Cassiel’s eyes moved swiftly to her face, and the somewhat surprised amusement in his expression made her suddenly realize how perverted her question sounded.     She felt her cheeks beginning to burn. “Uh... I mean... you said you don’t feel pain but... does that mean nothing can hurt you or just that being a zombie doesn’t hurt you anymore or...”     He grinned at her, but his face seemed gentle, understanding. “Being a zombie doesn’t hurt me. Other things can still hurt me, they just can’t kill me. And yes, I can still feel pleasure.”

Jessie watched the two of them, and struggled to keep herself from giggling. She’d never seen Archie so giddy. But more importantly, Jessie felt relieved. Cassiel certainly didn’t act like he was suffering. If what Cassiel says is true, then maybe Greg...     Something grabbed one of Jessie’s braids, jerking her back until she fell on the floor. She gave a little squeal of shock, trying to pull away as Archie and Cassiel whirled to look back. Archie swore and drew one of the revolvers, but before she could fire Cassiel had lunged at the space behind Jessie, where a rotting zombie was pulling her by the hair under a shelf. No one saw exactly what happened as Cassiel crouched swiftly by the shelf and reached his arm in underneath, but when he pulled it back out he was grasping the zombie’s head.     Now dead, the zombie’s grip on Jessie’s hair loosened and she stood up, staring at Cassiel who was still holding the head. “Thank you,” she said.     “Ah, you’re welcome. I guess I missed one when I cleaned this part up.”     Archie looked him up and down. “You’re strong, aren’t you? To tear a zombie’s head off with one arm like that, you don’t have normal human strength.”     “Because I’m a zombie I guess,” he replied.   They stood there silently for a moment, blood dripping from the head in Cassiel’s hand, before he seemed to suddenly notice he was still holding it and let it drop to the floor. They continued walking, this time without conversation. Archie wondered why she didn’t feel like talking to him anymore. I almost forgot, I almost thought he was human. Why did he have to remind me that he’s not?     The east area was eventually cleared, and they made their way upstairs to begin working on the top level. There were considerably fewer zombies here, as if the creatures had been too lazy to venture up the no longer operating escalator. But there were enough to continue the plan to stick together. This time Archie and Jessie worked together while Sebastian and Preston fought back to back.     Cassiel seemed to look a little lost as they went to work. He didn’t fit into their teamwork techniques and barely remembered their names. He had no idea how each of them fought, how they maneuvered, how they announced an area was clear. So he watched them, even as he single-handedly tore apart the zombies unlucky enough to limp by him.   Within an hour they had cleared the top floor, sealed off all the store entrances, and were making a final round over the bottom level. They walked by the game store, and Cassiel stepped inside without a word to the others. Archie noticed, and trailed silently behind him until she reached the entrance. She lingered in the doorway, wondering whether or not she should follow him inside. The store had been his home for a long time, and it was no doubt personal to him. Was he saying a final farewell to the place?     He emerged from the store a few minutes later, a large duffle bag hanging on the shoulder that still connected to an arm. Archie eyed it curiously. “Personal belongings?” she asked.   Cassiel grinned, unzipping it for her to see. Dozens of video games threatened to spill out. “I can’t leave these treasures behind.”     Archie looked from the bag to Cassiel’s smiling face. “You have to be the most awesome zombie in the world.”   They shared another laugh and finished checking the bottom floor. When done, they left the building and the men in containment suits rushed inside. Cassiel gave them a glance but didn’t ask about them, and they didn’t seem to notice him at all.     “Don’t worry about them,” Archie told him as they climbed into Sebastian’s car, “They always ignore us. They think we’re infected or something.”     “Are you?”     “No,” Sebastian said from the driver’s seat, “We can’t get infected.”     “We were given a vaccine,” said Preston, turning around in the front passenger seat to look at Cassiel.     He looked astonished. “There’s a vaccine?”   “It’s experimental right now,” Preston answered, “They haven’t released it to the public yet because they’re still testing it.”     “We’re the guinea pigs,” said Sebastian, eyes still firmly on the road.   “But so far it works!” Jessie said brightly. She held out her arm to him and displayed several faint scars. “We’ve all been scratched and bitten since taking the vaccine, and none of us have been infected yet.”     “Isn’t that risky?” Cassiel asked.     Archie grinned. “In our line of work we risk getting infected every day. If we get offered some extra protection, we’re not gonna turn it away.”     “But it doesn’t completely protect us,” Preston reminded, “I mean, if a horde of zombies tears us apart, a vaccine isn’t gonna help.”   The car became quiet then, and the ride back to the base was short. Sebastian drove directly to the building that housed General Kreaver’s office and they all climbed out. A few people walking around outside gave nervous looks to Cassiel, who waved his one arm and smiled at them.     They led Cassiel into the building and down the hall to the General’s office, knocked on the door, and walked inside. At the sight of Cassiel, General Kreaver stood up quickly and reached under his desk. Archie stepped in front of Cassiel and held up her hands.     “Wait, he’s not a normal zombie!”     General Kreaver stared at Cassiel. “Do you mean...”   “He can talk,” Jessie said, and the General slowly withdrew his hand from beneath his desk. Archie was relieved that he wasn’t holding a gun. His eyes were sharply upon Cassiel, who was several inches taller than Archie and clearly visible behind her.     “How long have you been infected?” General Kreaver asked, cutting right to the point.   Archie stepped to the side and Cassiel looked a little nervous as he answered. “Over a year. I don’t remember the exact date or anything.”   The General’s eyebrows raised. “Then you were bitten near the beginning of the outbreak. And how do you feel? Any long periods of unconsciousness or signs of decomposing?”     Cassiel shook his head. “I sleep, but no more than I did before I was infected. I feel like my insides are frozen, but I don’t smell like I’m rotting. At least, I don’t think I do.” Seemingly as an afterthought, he tilted his head and sniffed himself.     General Kreaver eagerly moved on. “Do you have any other injuries aside from your arm?”     Cassiel shook his head again.     “How old are you?”     “Twenty. Well, I was nineteen when I got infected but I don’t know if I’ve aged any since then.”   General Kreaver sat back down behind his desk and picked up the phone. He punched in a few numbers with trembling fingers and told someone on the other end to come to his office immediately.     There were a few moments of awkward silence before Archie said “What’s going to happen to him?”     “We’ll keep him contained until we can confirm he’s not dangerous.”     “I’m not dangerous,” Cassiel said, looking slightly insulted.     The General looked skeptical. “Really? You have absolutely no desire for human flesh?”   The others all turned to Cassiel, and he seemed highly uncomfortable as he slowly opened his mouth to answer. “I... I’m not dangerous,” he repeated, “I won’t hurt anybody. I’m infected, but I’m still me. Even if I feel hungry, I can’t hurt people. I just can’t.”     The General narrowed his eyes. “You didn’t answer my question.”     Cassiel blinked and looked around at the others. “Well, I’m a zombie. Of course I’m hungry for... for meat,” he said, as if the word ‘flesh’ was somehow dirty, then quickly went on, “But that doesn’t mean I’ll ever act on it! I saw what zombies do to people when they eat them. I watched it for a long time. I’ll shoot myself in the head before I ever do something like that!”     Archie watched him in amazement, then stepped in front of him again. “I believe him,” she told General Kreaver, “and I don’t want him locked up! I’ll take responsibility if he attacks anyone!”     The General leaned back in his chair. “Your concern is appreciated, but we have families here who depend on us to keep them safe. We’ll run some tests and determine the extent of the infection inside him, then we’ll release him.”     Archie didn’t move. “You swear?”     “You have my word.”   She slowly stepped away again, and within seconds the door to General Kreaver’s office had flung open and the familiar men in containment suits filed in, holding rifles. Archie had never seen them armed before, but decided that it made sense, as they were indeed soldiers. They surrounded Cassiel, pushing Archie and the others out of the way, and attached restraints to his remaining arm. She watched them lead him away, and he gave her an uneasy smile as he disappeared into the hall.     The walk back to their apartments was silent until Jessie spoke up. “I wonder what kind of tests they have to run on him.”   Sebastian was lighting a cigarette. “Kreaver said they would be testing the level of his infection. They’ll probably want to do some experimentation. They have a hard time getting their hands on zombies like him, right? Carlos said something about it when we first met him.”   Jessie looked horror struck, and Sebastian took the cigarette out of his mouth, dropping it onto the pavement of the sidewalk and stomping it out with the toe of his shoe. His face seemed a little flushed. “Kreaver said he’d release him though. He’ll be fine.”     Archie wasn’t convinced. “I can’t believe we let them take him. We should’ve done something.”     Preston walked beside her, brows knitting together beneath his bangs. “But he’s a zombie. They can’t just let him wander the streets in the base. People would freak out.”   They reached the apartment building, and Archie began digging in her bag for the key once again. “I’m not saying they should let him wander around the base. But they don’t have to keep him locked up all the time either. They could set him up in an apartment like ours and watch him.”   Sebastian had his own key in his hand as he moved toward door number eight. “What’s the difference then?” he asked Archie over his shoulder, “Either way, he has no freedom. I told you killing him would be more humane.”     “But he didn’t want to die!” Jessie said suddenly, and Sebastian looked away from her as he unlocked his door and walked inside, leaving Preston in the hall.     Archie found her key and reached it to Jessie. “What’s his problem today?” she asked Preston, “He’s been on the warpath since this morning.”     Preston shrugged. “It’s just Sebastian being Sebastian. You know how he is.”   Archie sighed and looked at Jessie, who had opened the door and was disappearing behind it. “Seems like the situation has changed a little though.”     “Huh?”     She shook her head. “Never mind, Preston. See you later.”   Archie walked into her apartment and dropped her bag on the floor. Jessie’s shiny buckled shoes were sitting neatly just inside the door and Archie thought she caught a glimpse of pink hair flashing across the hall leading to their bedrooms.     She found Jessie sprawled across her bed, on her stomach, face pressed into a ruffled pink pillow. Archie tapped the open door to announce her presence, then moved across the plush mauve carpet to sit on Jessie’s bed.     “What’s wrong?”     Jessie didn’t look up, so her voice was muffled. “Sebastian.”     “What about him?”     “He said some terrible things about Cassiel, even though...”   There was a pause during which Archie wondered if Jessie had perhaps taken an interest in Cassiel, and a bizarre pang of fear ran through her.     Jessie raised up to display her red, puffy eyes. “I had a brother, before all this started. His name was Greg. He was more than just a brother to me, he was my best friend. But then the zombies came and... and...”     Archie stared at her, having no idea how to respond. She knew that Jessie had lost her family during the zombie attack, but no details had ever been shared. Still, she wondered what this had to do with the present situation.     Jessie sniffled, wiped her eyes, and went on. “Even after Greg was a zombie, he talked to me. He pushed me out of the house and told me to run away. And that’s when Sebastian came.”     Archie was surprised. Suddenly things were starting to make sense. “So your brother was like Cassiel?”   Jessie nodded. “And Sebastian knows it. I told him about Greg a long time ago, so he knows how I feel. But still he keeps saying we should’ve killed Cassiel. I hate that! Cassiel is just like Greg! I keep thinking, what if someone thought that or said that about Greg? I don’t even know what happened to him!”     She fell back onto the bed, her face mashed into the pillow again as she sobbed. Archie reached out and stroked her hair. “Did you ever try to go back and look for Greg?”   “I did,” Jessie said, her voice muffled again, “A few weeks after we started the training, Sebastian took me back to my house. I couldn’t find Greg anywhere. What if someone killed him? What if they thought he was just another zombie and shot him in the head?”     “He’s probably still out there somewhere,” Archie said softly, “Other zombies wouldn’t hurt him, so he was probably a lot safer than a normal person, right?”     Jessie raised up again. “You’re right. He could still be alive. I shouldn’t think about him being dead.”   Archie smiled. “Exactly. You have to stay positive. You’ll find Greg eventually, I’m sure. And as for Sebastian, he’s just a rude bastard. You have to look over him.”     Jessie moved to a sitting position. “I know. I know Sebastian is rude and blunt. But sometimes I look at him and I see flashes of Greg. When he’s protecting me, when he says something kind, it’s like Greg is with me again.”     “So he’s got good points and bad points, like everyone else. You can forgive him, right?”     Jessie nodded.     “So go talk to him. Tell him he hurt your feelings and give him the chance to say he’s sorry.”   Jessie stood up and went to her dresser, peered in the mirror at herself, and shook her head. “Look at me. I’m almost fifteen and I still cry like a baby.”     “I’d be worried if you never cried.”     Jessie smiled at Archie’s reflection behind her own. “Thanks, Archi. I’ll talk to him.”     “Just don’t tell anyone I actually defended that jackass.”   “No one will ever know,” Jessie said brightly as Archie stood up from the bed and the two girls left the bedroom. As they stepped into the living room they heard a knock at the door. They glanced at each other and Archie grinned as they hurried over to open it.     Sebastian stood in the hallway, hands in his pockets, looking at the two of them with what appeared to be his best impression of Preston. He looked meek, perhaps even shy. “Can I come in?”     The girls parted ways to clear a path into the living room, and Sebastian stepped inside followed by Preston, whom they hadn’t noticed until he was inside their apartment. There was a brief moment of silence before Sebastian looked at Jessie and said simply “I’m sorry.”     The words sounded strange, coming from him, as if he were speaking some bizarre new language. Jessie was speechless for a few seconds, then exploded into laughter. She held her sides and fell onto the couch, Sebastian watching her first with curiosity then with annoyance. “If this is how you’re going to act, don’t expect me to apologize ever again.”     Jessie stopped laughing and sat up, but her face was still locked in an expression of utter amusement. “I’m sorry, you just looked so... cute.”   Sebastian reddened slightly and Preston coughed loudly in his attempts to keep himself from laughing. Archie poked Sebastian roughly and said “He’s not cute at all. Not even in those stupid teddy bear pajamas he wears.”     Sebastian was truly horrified now, and looked accusingly at Preston. “How the hell does she know about my pajamas?!”   Preston backed up. “She was using our laptop and she opened the images folder and the Christmas pictures from last year were all over the place and that was the night you got drunk and I took pictures of you and... well... that pretty much explains it.”     Jessie stood up excitedly. “Let me see them!”     “No!” Sebastian cried, his voice higher than usual.   Jessie opened her mouth to protest when another knock came at the door. This one was softer than Sebastian’s. It was slow, almost hesitant. They all looked at each other questioningly before Archie made her way over and opened the door again.     She found herself face to face with Cassiel, his glowing blue zombie eyes looking at her with just a little curiosity. “Cassiel?” she asked, stepping aside and motioning him in.   “I knocked on the other door, but no one answered,” he said, standing in the middle of their living room, “They told me the girls have this apartment.”     “What are you doing here?” Sebastian asked, face still flushed from his earlier humiliation.     “They finished the tests and told me I’ll be living with Sebastian and Preston.”   Sebastian and Preston both seemed to jolt at the news, but Archie and Jessie were delighted “That’s great!”, Archie said, “So you’re a part of the team now?”     “I guess so,” Cassiel said with a smile.     Sebastian groaned. “Great. We get a one-armed zombie on a zombie hunter squad.”   “They’re making me a new arm,” Cassiel told them, “It’ll be mechanical, but they said it’ll look and function like a real arm.”     “That’s awesome!” Archie said, happily ignoring Sebastian’s snort. “But... where’s your stuff?”     “My bag is in the hallway. It’s ninety percent games but I brought some of the clothes I snagged from the mall.”     Archie looked at Preston. “Hear that? He brought a ton of games!”   Preston nodded quietly but looked no less troubled. Sebastian sighed and headed for the door. “Guess we may as well go on over and let him unpack his shit.”     Cassiel looked grateful but said nothing as he followed Sebastian into the hall and waited for him to unlock the door. Preston followed behind them and as the boys disappeared into their apartment, Archie heard him asking “But where’s he gonna sleep?”   Archie stood in the open doorway for a while before closing the door and turning to Jessie. “I wonder what kind of sleeping arrangements they’ll make.”     Jessie giggled, and Archie was struck by the sudden image of a cuddly male slumber party, complete with teddy bear pajamas. But the vision crumbled immediately when she heard Sebastian’s voice yelling something unmistakably nasty and Preston whining loudly that he was not sharing a bed with a zombie. The girls laughed and headed for their own beds, where the ongoing argument across the hall lulled them into a strangely comforting sleep.

[zombie-party-novel]

Zombie Party Chapter 7

Brains exploded and splattered across the hard floor of the airport. Archie stood behind the now headless zombie with a smoking revolver in her left hand. In her right was the gun’s twin. She replaced them into the matching holsters at her thighs and called out to Preston. “East area cleared!”    Preston finished off two more zombies with his trusty meat cleaver before taking a deep breath and answering. “South area cleared!”    They both stopped and looked at Jessie, who was surrounded by five zombies, all closing in on her. Preston moved to approach her but Archie grabbed his arm. “Wait,” she said.

They watched as she dodged the grasping hands, moving with the grace of a circus performer, long pink braids dancing in the air around her. Once she was far enough away, she pulled her baton from its strap across her back. Both ends had been sharpened into deadly metal points and soft rubber grips covered the middle.     Twirling the weapon with a precision only months of practice could produce, she moved through the small group of zombies while impaling them on both ends. When finished, she did a silly little twirl and bow, giggling at the rather uncomfortable looking Preston.     “Don’t play around, Jessie. You could get hurt!”   She grinned at him. Silver jeweled barrettes fastened to her hair glinted in the sunlight beaming from the windows. “I killed more than you did.”     He looked back at his own pile of zombies. All of them sported split heads and oozing brains. “Well, anyway... is the west area cleared now?”     “Yep!” Jessie said cheerfully.   Archie flicked one of her braids. “I still can’t believe you dyed your hair pink. I don’t know if I would’ve went with you to the salon yesterday if I knew you were planning this.”     “But pink is my favorite color! Don’t you think it suits me?” She twirled again, swishing her braids.     Archie looked around. “What about the north area? Anyone seen Sebastian?”     They looked toward the north exit, where a long trail of dead zombies led toward a large window, where they spotted Sebastian sitting on a ledge looking bored. He glanced up at them when they approached.     Archie frowned. “How long have you been done?”     “About thirty minutes,” he said.     “Why didn’t you announce that the north area was cleared?”     “I did,” he told them, stepping away from the window, “but none of you heard me.”     “So why didn’t you come to the middle? We’re supposed to fight our way back to the center of the building, remember?”     Sebastian glared at Archie. “Stop trying to order me around. We agreed that we’d have no leader.”   Preston stepped between them, eager to break the tension. “Anyway, it’s another job well done, right? Let’s head home.”     Archie and Sebastian stared at each other for a moment, then looked away at the same time. Jessie took Sebastian’s hand. “Come on,” she said with a smile, “let’s go.”     They made one last comb of the building before walking outside into the suddenly bright sunlight. Archie squinted up at the sky. A black truck was waiting in the parking lot and a group of soldiers in containment suits filed out, carrying stretchers and large leather bags. Preston watched them rush toward the airport entrance. “There goes the cleanup crew.”     Archie waved to them as they passed, but they seemingly ignored her. Sebastian’s car glittered under the sun nearby. The ride back to the base was quiet, as it usually was when Archie and Sebastian had a disagreement. Jessie kept looking between them, as if she expected the silence to explode into a heated argument.     It had been a year and three months since the day they all agreed to participate in the zombie counter-measures program. Their training completed, they worked as a unit under General Kreaver. While most units had a clearly defined team leader, neither Archie nor Sebastian would agree to the other claiming that role.     Sebastian drove them into the base and parked in their usual spot, right beside the door to the small apartment complex they called home. The air was still tense as they made their way down the hall and stopped at their doors, across the hall from each other.   Archie and Jessie stood in front of apartment number seven, while Sebastian and Preston stood before apartment number eight. Preston looked at Sebastian who was silently unlocking the door with a frown on his face, then gave Jessie a pleading look.     Jessie caught it immediately. “Hey Archie,” she said brightly, “lets go play Rampage Fighter 3 with the boys!”     Archie looked up from her bag, where she’d been searching for her key. “You can. I’m not interested.”   Jessie gave a little pout and looked back to Preston, who sighed. He looked at Sebastian again. “We should have a Rampage Fighter tournament!” he said as cheerfully as he could, “I bet you could beat all of us though.”     Sebastian was halfway through the door when he turned and gave a little snort. “I’ve already beaten all of you.”     Archie, who had just unlocked her own door, whirled on him in an instant. “You didn’t beat me!”     Sebastian faced her. “It was three days ago. Surely you haven’t already forgotten.”   She pointed at him accusingly. “You know that wasn’t a fair fight! Jessie spilled juice on me right when I had you cornered!”     Sebastian gave her a nasty smirk. “A true Rampage Fighter master wouldn’t be distracted so easily.”   Archie crossed the hall suddenly, pushing her way into the boys’ apartment, grabbing a controller from the top of the television and flopping down on the couch. “Only way to settle this is a rematch!”   Sebastian strode confidently over to the television, picked up the second controller, and sat on the couch beside her. The screen flickered on, each chose their fighter, and the battle was on.     Jessie and Preston stood behind the couch watching. They glanced at each other and shared a private grin.   Archie and Sebastian were working their thumbs furiously, the buttons on the controllers nearly breaking from the pressure. For the second time, it came down to the last round and Archie had Sebastian in a corner, peppering him with combo attacks. His health depleting fast, Sebastian’s normally cool demeanor cracked just a little and he swore loudly, frantically mashing the buttons.     The phone rang in the distance, neither player even noticing. Jessie stepped into the kitchen to answer it while Preston continued to watch the epic battle unfolding on the television screen.     “Guys!”     Jessie’s voice went unheard against the cheers, taunts, and swears erupting from the couch as the battle neared its end.     “Hey, guys!”     It was almost over. Sebastian’s health bar was so small that it was barely visible. Archie’s eyes lit up. Victory was hers.   And suddenly Jessie was standing in front of the screen, holding the cordless phone. “General Kreaver wants to see us right now!”     “Huh?” Archie asked, blinking at her.   Within seconds, Archie’s chosen fighter gave a cry of pain and the battle was announced over. Jessie stepped out of the way to expose the winner. Sebastian’s fighter stood raising his arms. Archie’s mouth fell open as she looked from the screen to Jessie to Sebastian, who looked infuriatingly smug.     Jessie looked apologetic for a moment, then fixed her face into a frown. “You guys wouldn’t listen,” she said in a self-justifying tone, “I tried to get your attention.”     Archie flung the controller onto the floor and crossed her arms over her chest as she sank back against the couch. Sebastian looked as if he wanted to give her another taunt, but he contained himself long enough to look curiously at the phone in Jessie’s hand. “Did he say what it’s about?”     “Something about a very important job. He’s sending us out in a few hours.”     Preston sighed and dramatically slapped his bangs-covered forehead. “I’m still tired from the last job,” he said heavily.     Sebastian stood up. “We should go get the job details.”     Archie reluctantly stood up and the four of them headed for the general’s office.   Not much had changed in the time they’d been at the base. General Kreaver’s uniform was adorned with several more ribbons and medals, but his stern face and fancy office remained the same. He was seated, as always, behind his desk. A file laid open in front of him, and he motioned toward it after all four of them took their positions before him.     Sebastian picked it up and scanned it with his eyes, then passed it to Preston who held it so that the others could see. General Kreaver waited for them to read the basics, then cleared his throat. “As you can see, the unique architecture of this building would make for an excellent military installation.”     The four of them nodded, though none of them knew enough about architecture to be able to truthfully agree.   General Kreaver continued. “I need it cleared out by nightfall. I know you just returned from a job, and I’ll take your reports later this evening, but this building is very valuable. I need to send my best.”   They nodded in unison again. Sebastian then took the file back and looked it over again. “It’s a big building. What sort of place was it?”     “A mall,” General Kreaver answered.     Archie looked at Preston. “Zombies in a mall. Now why does that sound so familiar?”     Preston shrugged at her.   They left the general’s office and moved down the hall. Jessie walked beside Sebastian, who was flipping through the file’s pages. “When do we leave?” she asked him.     “Two hours from now. We’d better get some rest.”   For once, Archie agreed with him. “I’m gonna grab lunch from the cafeteria, then a nap. See you guys later.” She disappeared around the corner and they could hear the large metal doors of the building opening and closing.     The remaining three headed back to the apartments, where Jessie waved to them as she went inside number seven and closed the door behind her. Sebastian and Preston entered number eight.   The apartment was neat, considering two young men were the only occupants, and sported minimal decoration. They had a nice couch, a large television, every game system available, and a six foot tall shelf full of games and movies. The sound system was impressive, with speakers positioned all around the living room.     Preston kicked off his shoes and walked into his bedroom. It was simple but clean, although his bed was rarely made. He threw himself onto the mattress and kicked away the rumpled sheets. Sebastian walked by his room and glanced inside.     “Did you set the alarm?”     Preston raised up to look at him, his bangs shifting to the side and one eye slipping into view. “No, sorry. I forgot.”     Sebastian didn’t look away. “I’ll do it then.”     Preston laid his head back down. “Thanks.”   It was quiet for a moment, and Preston was sure Sebastian had went to his own room, but then he heard his voice again. “Preston,” he said quietly.     Preston raised up again. “Yeah?”     Sebastian wasn’t looking at him this time. “Thanks.”     “For what?”     Sebastian’s eyes slowly moved back to Preston. “For clearing the air, you know...”     Preston grinned. “Don’t worry about it.”   This time he distinctly heard Sebastian’s footsteps carry him into the bedroom across the hall. He heard the sound of plastic buttons being pushed on the alarm clock, and then the mattress creaking slightly as Sebastian crawled into bed.     Sleep was easy now. The first few weeks had been full of nightmares and sirens blaring in the middle of the night and Archie knocking on their door with a trembling Jessie clutching her arm, asking to play games or watch movies or do anything to pass the long nights.     But gradually they adjusted. The world quieted around them and their bodies became stronger with the training. And with that strength came the slow expulsion of fear. Their lives fell into a rhythm, albeit a unique and fast-paced one.     Preston never heard Sebastian’s alarm, but he awoke to the other boy’s hand gently shaking his shoulder. “Time to go,” Sebastian said.     Preston groaned and rolled over, then climbed out of bed and made his way into the kitchen. Archie and Jessie were standing near the table. “Sheesh, you’re not ready yet?” Archie asked, examining his wrinkled clothes and bare feet.     He smoothed out his shirt with his hands and shoved his feet into a pair of sneakers. “Okay, I’m ready.”     Jessie giggled and Archie reached him his meat cleaver. “Come on, Kreaver will gut us if we’re late.”   They loaded their supplies into Sebastian’s car and headed out, a familiar black truck full of men in containment-suits trailing behind them. The drive to their destination only took half an hour, and when they pulled into the parking lot of the vast shopping mall, the four of them were ready for action.     Archie opened the door leading into the middle of the mall, and they all walked in slowly, weapons in hand. Archie looked around, then turned to face the others. “We shouldn’t split up this time. There’s too many.”     Indeed, the place was positively crawling with zombies, their number impossible to count. Sebastian nodded. “We’ll move as a group, first covering the southern end, then the west, north, and end with the east. Then we’ll proceed to the top floor, follow the same pattern, and work our way back down for another comb of the bottom.”     Everyone agreed, and soon they were diving into the zombie crowd. They had a system, comprised of fighting back-to-back to prevent sneak attacks and all four of them remaining close together. They moved toward the southern exit, slaying zombies as they walked. They finally reached the door and turned back around, ready to begin their trek back to the center of the mall. Each of them took a deep breath and lunged forward. Archie drew the twin revolvers that once belonged to a heroic police chief and began firing into the mob. Newly headless zombies dropped like dominos, blood spraying from their necks as they hit the ground.   Preston kept his back firmly pressed against hers, the meat cleaver in his hand swinging strongly back and forth, chopping into dead meat with every stroke. Once asked by Sebastian why he continued to use such a primitive weapon, he smiled and rubbed the tarnished metal fondly, looked him in the eyes, and said “I killed my mom with this.” And thus, no one questioned his choice of weapon again.     No more than three feet away, Jessie twirled the deadly baton in a circle, knocking back most of the zombies who had approached her, then began jabbing it into their heads as they scrambled to return to their feet. One of them crawled over to her on its belly and grabbed her left ankle. She reached back and tapped Sebastian’s shoulder behind her, and without turning around he reached back, grabbed her arm, and swung her around in a circle. The two of them had effectively switched positions and Jessie’s ankle slipped out of the zombie’s grasp.     Sebastian’s gloved right hand was already covered in a thick layer of pinkish goo as zombies fell all around him. Even after witnessing his skills for more than a year, Archie’s eyes still couldn’t keep up with his movements. He was too fast, too strong. She once joked that he couldn’t be human, but he had glared at her and Preston gave her a dirty look.     Archie and Preston were nearing the first store on the right side, and gave a signal to Sebastian and Jessie, who worked their way over to the first store on the left. Archie stepped over the broken metal shutter and found herself in a blood-splattered candy store. But what immediately caught her attention was the small pile of bodies scattered across the floor with holes in their heads.     “Strange,” she said to Preston as he chopped down a woman who had followed him into the store. He looked at Archie questioningly. She pointed to the bodies. “Someone already killed a bunch of zombies.”     Preston looked around. “There was a battle here, that’s for sure. Someone must have really been desperate to survive.” His eyes fell on a girl laying peacefully on her back, a black handkerchief covering her face. She was dressed in black, lacy clothing. “I wonder if they got out.”     Archie followed his eyes to the girl then glanced at him sadly. “I doubt it.”   They cleared out the store and pulled the metal shutter out of their way. Preston pulled something that looked like a large black net from a bag strapped to his back. Together they unfolded it and tied it across the store entrance. Though flimsy in appearance, it was made of a powerful metal that couldn’t be torn even by the strongest of zombies.   They met back up with Sebastian and Jessie, who had tied the same type of net across the entrance of the store they had cleared. They continued this way through the south area of the mall, then moved to the west. It was shorter in length and they cleared it out quickly, covering each store entrance with the same black metal netting.    The north area was difficult. There was no exit, and no zombies could leave the mall in that direction so they all seemed to queue against the wall. They quickly wiped them out, their trained bodies beginning to get tired by the time they returned to the center of the mall once more. All that remained was the eastern area.     They headed toward the exit, knocking zombies out of their way, until they reached a large pile of heavy furniture blocking their path. “What is that?” Jessie asked.   “A barricade,” Sebastian answered, moving from one end of the pile to the other, trying to find an easy way around. Having no luck, he began pulling pieces of the furniture down and slinging them onto the floor.     “Do you think there are survivors behind this?” Preston asked hopefully as he began helping Sebastian.     Sebastian didn’t turn to look at him. “Their bodies, yes.”     Archie and Jessie began wiping out the zombies. There were strangely few compared to the other areas of the mall, but they remained back-to-back anyway. They were finished by the time the boys had cleared a path through the barricade.     They walked through and scanned the area. There were no zombies to be seen, but they didn’t allow themselves to relax. Experience had taught them to remain on guard at all times. Archie’s eyes were shifting around when she spotted something. “Hey look, a game store!”     She made her way toward it as Sebastian sighed. “We need to stay focused here!”   She ignored him and walked into the store, looking at the shelves with delight. She held up a game in the window for the others to see. “Oh my God, they have Walking Death 3!”     The others followed toward the store's entrance, figuring this was as good a store as any to begin their comb over. As Archie turned around to look at another shelf, she bumped into something. She stepped back quickly and looked up, one of the revolvers already drawn.     It was a zombie, that much was obvious. The ghostly white skin and glazed aquamarine eyes, well known trademarks of the undead, gave it away, reinforced by the grizzly nub where an arm had been. Jet black hair, strangely shiny, fell over the tragically handsome face.     Archie’s finger was on the trigger, and she started to pull before the zombie held up its only hand in a motion of surrender. “Hey, wait! Don’t shoot me!”     She froze as the others rushed into the store. Without looking at them, she said “This zombie just talked.”

[zombie-party-novel]

Any other horror or zombie related writeblrs out there? I'd love to follow some. Like or reblog and I'll follow you. It'll be under my main account, cherry-valentine.

[zombie-party-novel]

Art I commissioned of Preston, a main character from my original horror novel Zombie Party! Artist: https://www.deviantart.com/hikage11

[zombie-party-novel]

Zombie Party Chapter 6

Sticky red blood seeped into Archie’s jeans as she sat on her knees beside Barbara’s body, staring at the woman with shock. She was clenching the edges of Barbara’s leather coat in her hands, her whole body trembling. She thought Barbara was the hero of this story. Heroes aren’t supposed to die. They live until the credits roll. This didn’t make sense.    Preston was behind her, trying to knock the zombies away, but there were too many for him to handle alone. He looked over his shoulder at Archie. “Hey! Get up already!”    She didn’t respond, only continued to look blankly at Barbara’s body.    “Archie I need you!” Preston cried, edging closer to her.

She seemed to snap back to reality and looked up at him. She scanned the area with her eyes, spotting Sebastian and Jessie a few feet away, still fighting. She felt embarrassed then, that she was the only one who froze up. Her hands flew to the revolvers still clutched in Barbara’s hands. She pulled them free and examined them. What she hadn’t been able to see clearly until now was thin cursive letters etched into each barrel, spelling out the words “Let Me Live”. Archie blinked away her tears. The words obviously meant something to Barbara, but now, they meant a lot more to Archie.     She searched Barbara’s coat for ammo and, upon finding plenty, reloaded the guns and stood up. Without hesitating at all, she began firing into the zombie mob. Her aim was poor at first, but with so many zombies stalking toward them, it was hard to miss them completely. After the third try she managed to get a head shot, and smiled for the first time in the past hour. I think I can do this. I can survive, even without Barbara. I can protect Preston, and those people in the storage room.   Sebastian had only afforded a passing glance when Barbara went down. His hand still held Jessie’s, a little too tight for her comfort but she didn’t dare complain. She swung the baton frantically, doing her best to keep the zombies from attacking Sebastian from behind. Only two now laid at her feet, probably the most decayed of the whole crowd. But she did succeed in keeping them knocked away, even if she couldn’t kill them.     Sebastian was fighting one-handed, but the pile of dead he generated around him nearly doubled what Archie and Preston had accomplished. His movement was lightning fast, his free hand covered in blood as the tiny spike hidden in his glove jabbed in and out of each zombie’s temple or forehead. To any observers, it looked as if he was killing them with martial arts strikes alone. Two years ago, he never could have guessed that the classes he took on a whim would benefit him this much.     But it seemed as if every time a zombie fell, another one took its place. Jessie wondered where the horde came from, how they got here so suddenly, but by now she was getting used to being swamped with unanswered questions.     She was getting tired, her thin arm tired of swinging the baton and her other hand sore from Sebastian’s grip. At one point he jerked her around in a circle to avoid a zombie who had gotten too close, and she thought she could feel her fingers breaking. But broken bones would be a lot better than a chewed off leg and a new life as a zombie.   They were all exhausted. Archie had reloaded the revolvers three times already and was getting sick of digging around in Barbara’s coat. She felt dirty somehow, like she was desecrating a corpse. Not to mention that the revolvers were large and heavy, much heavier than the plastic guns she’d used to shoot video game zombies. Barbara made it look easy.     Preston was panting heavily. He looked as if he would pass out any moment. He stayed by Archie’s side, afraid of being accidentally hit by a bullet. Her aim wasn’t exactly perfect and it was too chaotic for her to be cautious. He turned his head to look over at Jessie, who was sweating under Sebastian’s heavy jacket and holding the baton at her side. She was too weak to continue swinging but determined to keep hold of it.     Even Sebastian, who had never displayed the slightest hint of weakness before, seemed to be breathing a lot heavier. His perfect, shiny red hair looked messy and frayed around his face. They were reaching their limits.     Preston collapsed to his knees. How long can we go on like this? We’ll be dead within a few minutes if this keeps up.     Amidst the moans and growls of the zombies around them, they suddenly heard a sound not unlike that of a horrible car crash. Shattering glass, bending metal, and screeching tires filled their ears and shocked all four of them into stopping immediately. All eyes shifted to the store entrance, where a large black truck drove through the doors and windows, smashing into the store and sliding to a halt just inside. Several shelves fell over, their contents spilling onto the floor.     Men in military uniforms began pouring out of the truck, carrying what looked to Archie and Preston like machine guns. One of them called for the four teenagers to duck and take cover, and so they all dove to the side and hit the ground.     The men from the truck opened fire, and suddenly the gunfire from earlier seemed like a pleasant concert compared to the awful noise coming from their weapons. Bullets flew out so rapidly that Archie couldn’t even see where the zombies were being hit before they dropped.   This continued for several minutes until nothing remained standing. The shooters slowly made their way toward the back of the store, shooting anything that tried to get up or even move. Archie tilted her head to get a look at them from her position on the floor.     There were seven of them, she counted, all moving rather gracefully in unison as they combed the area. When they reached Archie and the others, they commanded them to stand up slowly. The four of them crawled to their feet, Sebastian still holding Jessie’s bruised hand.   “Are you the only survivors?” the nearest soldier asked.     Archie pointed to the locked storage room. “No, there’s a bunch of people in there.”   Three of the men hurried over and Archie heard the door click loudly as it unlocked. The soldier who spoke to her before looked at her curiously. “Why are you kids out here and not in there?”     Archie pointed to Jessie. “She ran out to help someone, and we followed. Then we got trapped out here.”     The soldier nodded. “We have army buses out front. We’ve cleared the immediate area outside, so you can go on out.”   The four of them nodded wordlessly. They were too tired for words, too tired to ask questions or explain anything else. They just wanted to rest.     They returned briefly to the storage room to gather up their bags, then headed outside. Sebastian didn’t let go of Jessie’s hand until they were standing beside the army bus. When he saw that it was now red and swollen, he looked surprised. “Sorry,” he muttered, looking away from her.     “But you saved my life!” Jessie said, “You shouldn’t be sorry!”   He still avoided her eyes, and stepped over to the nearest soldier. He gestured toward his car. “Can I drive my car behind the bus?”     The soldier glanced at the car. “I guess so. But if you’re not on our bus, we’re not responsible for you.”     Sebastian nodded. “Understood.”     Jessie grabbed his shirt. “Wait, can I ride with you?”     The soldier put a hand on Jessie’s shoulder. “I’m sorry, I can’t allow that. All minors are required to ride the army bus.”     “But...”     Archie appeared behind her and threw an arm around her shoulder. “Hey, we’ll be on the bus too, right?”   Jessie smiled weakly at her. “Yeah, you’re right.” She looked at Sebastian, who was staring at her with an unreadable expression. “You’ll be right behind us?”     He nodded, then his eyes fell pointedly upon Archie and Preston. Archie grinned to him. “Don’t worry, we’ll look after her!”     Jessie blinked curiously and Sebastian looked sharply away, pulling out a cigarette and climbing into his car without another word.     All the people from the store filed onto the buses. Some of them were cheering and laughing, happy to be saved, but Archie noticed Francine and Stephen climbing on very quietly. Behind them was the other woman, whom Archie only knew as Roger’s wife, carrying her child.     Archie sat with Jessie, Preston in the seat behind them. As the buses pulled out of the store parking lot, Jessie continually stole glances behind them, as if she was afraid Sebastian would turn around and go another direction or simply disappear. But the bright red car remained behind them.     Three of the soldiers who had stormed the store rode in the bus with them, while the other four had climbed onto the other bus. One of them, the one who had spoken to Archie in the store, began asking the survivors questions about where they were from and the status of their neighborhoods. It seemed like he was giving them a survey, and Archie wondered how many times he’d done this, how many times he’d rode this bus and asked these same questions.     Someone up front pointed back toward Archie, Preston, and Jessie. “Those three, and the other one in the car behind us, really saved us.”     The soldier looked back at them. “Oh really?”   “Yeah,” the young man went on, and they recognized him as the boy who went into the store to get his sister’s inhaler, “they were amazing! They were fighting the zombies like pros.”   The soldier made his way back to them and sat down beside Preston, who flinched and scooted closer to the window. “I’m Carlos,” he said, holding out his hand to Preston first then to Archie and Jessie, who introduced themselves.     “So you guys defended the survivors? Pretty noble for teenagers.”   “We were really just defending each other,” Archie said, suddenly feeling a little embarrassed. “Jessie ran into the store and the rest of us followed. Then we got locked out. That’s all there is to it, really.”     Jessie spoke up. “But you were the one who told them to lock the door after we ran out, right?”   Archie started to speak, to perhaps explain herself, but Carlos interrupted. “It’s impressive that you survived out there with all the zombies. None of you even got bitten.”   Preston was going a little red. He wasn’t used to praise or attention, and experiencing it now from a complete stranger felt awkward. He decided to change the subject. “Where are we going?”     Carlos looked at him. “To a military base about an hour away. There’s plenty of room for everyone. We have food, water, and units taking shifts guarding the parameter.”     “How long do we stay there?” Preston asked.   Carlos stared at him, as if he had never even wondered about the question himself. He looked thoughtful for a moment then said “Until all this is over. We’ll eventually kill off the zombies and contain the virus.”     “So it’s a virus?” asked Archie.   “We’re not entirely sure yet, but it moves like a virus. We have scientists studying it around the clock at the base, as well as all around the world. Near as we can tell, the outbreak began early yesterday morning. It’s already spread through the eastern half of the country but we’ve received word that it hasn’t reached the west yet. They’ve put up so many barricades that nothing can get through.”     Archie and Preston nodded, satisfied with the information. Jessie hesitated, then spoke again. “Have you seen any zombies that talked?”     Carlos looked a little surprised. “Talked?”     Jessie seemed nervous about the topic, but went on. “You know, zombies that talk like normal people. Zombies that act like... like they’re not zombies.”     Archie looked at Preston with confusion. He shrugged at her.   “The virus affects people differently,” Carlos said, “and we’re still not sure it even is a virus. We don’t know much about it at all, so we can’t predict exactly how it will behave. We have come across zombies that seemed different from the others. In those cases, we bring them back intact if possible, so they can be studied.”     “Oh,” Jessie said, settling back into the seat.     Carlos leaned around to face her. “Have you came across a zombie that talked?”   Jessie looked down. While riding in the car with Sebastian, he had told her not to tell anyone about her brother. She wondered why at first, but now it was making a little more sense. The thought of Greg being studied like some lab rat made Jessie feel ill. “I thought... I thought I heard one talk in the store,” she lied.     Carlos frowned a little. “Well, we’ve destroyed all of them now. Guess it doesn’t matter. I’m sure we’ll have plenty of subjects to study by the time this is over.”   Jessie felt as if he was angry, but he stood up and smiled at them. “Anyway, we should reach the base pretty soon. Try to relax. You’re all safe now.”     Jessie smiled back uneasily, and Archie turned to her. “He was kinda cute, huh?”     “Oh, you think so?” Jessie asked, genuinely surprised.     “Don’t you?”     “I don’t really like guys with lots of muscles.”     Archie glanced back at Preston. “Really? So you like skinny guys?”     Jessie blushed a little. “I guess so.”   Preston was now bright red, and sank lower in the seat. He turned his eyes to the window, where the day was becoming bright and sunny. He tried to close his ears to the embarrassing chatter between the girls, suddenly realizing that he’d never seen Archie with another girl before. Is this how girls talk to each other? Archie doesn’t even sound like herself.             Half an hour later, the buses turned off the main highway and took a small narrow road leading into the woods. They drove for several more minutes before the large base came into view. It looked like it’s own neighborhood, except for the fact that there were as many official-looking buildings as there were houses. A huge chain-link fence surrounded the entire area, and the wires running along it suggested it was an electrical fence. One thing was certain, it looked secure.     The buses pulled up to a gate and two soldiers just inside opened it up and waved them in. They drove into the base and straight to the largest building they could see, positioned in the middle of the compound. It stopped and the soldiers stood up. Carlos faced the passengers.     “Alright, everyone listen carefully. I’ll brief you on what will happen once you step off the bus, so you’ll know what to expect. You’ll be led into this building, the medical center, and be divided by gender. Our doctors will examine all of you, to be sure you’re not infected or injured. You’ll then be asked to shower and change into fresh clothes, which will be provided to you. Don’t worry, your privacy will be respected. We just need to be sure you aren’t contaminated in any way. You are not prisoners and you will not be treated as such. If for some reason you wish to leave the base, you are free to do so at any time. However, we strongly advise against it. All unaccompanied minors will be required to remain within the base until we deem it safe to leave.”     He took a deep breath and continued. “After showering, you will each be asked to fill out some paperwork. We’re compiling a survivors list for the purpose of reuniting families later on, and the information you provide us will only be used for your own benefit. After that, you will each be assigned living areas within the base. We have plenty of room, but we have to save space for more survivors as we make more rounds. Therefore, you may find it a little cramped. Families and those who know each other well will be asked to share rooms. You may end up rooming with someone you don’t know very well. Once you are assigned a living area, you will be called in to meet General Kreaver, who will brief you on the rules of the base and explain how life will be here.”     Carlos finished the briefing and nodded to the other soldiers who stepped off the bus. He followed and motioned for the rest of the people to do the same. Everyone walked off the bus, looking around at their new home. The place was huge, with a school immediately visible, a grocery store, and rows of houses, small apartment buildings, and even mobile homes.     Jessie attempted to run back to Sebastian’s car, but a soldier stopped her. “Please go into the medical building,” he told her.     She looked back at Sebastian, who was talking with a soldier, no doubt hearing the same briefing. He caught her eye and gave a small wave. She smiled and waved back, then followed Archie and Preston into the medical center.     The building was much bigger inside than it looked on the outside. There was a front desk, an elevator, and a lobby. It looked like an actual hospital. The soldiers immediately began separating everyone into groups of males and females. Jessie was happy that she was with Archie, but Preston looked extremely nervous across the room. Sebastian approached him and the boys spoke to each other before Preston visibly relaxed a little.     Jessie and Archie were led into a hall where they waited in line to be examined. One by one, the women in front of them came out holding a cotton ball to their arm, where blood had obviously been drawn. Francine walked out, holding Stephen’s hand. Women with young children were apparently allowed to keep them with them, even if they were boys. Jessie thought that maybe this place wasn’t so cold and scary after all.     Archie went in before her, smiling as she disappeared behind the metal door. She emerged a few minutes later with a cotton ball. “Don’t worry,” she said to Jessie, “it doesn’t really hurt.”     Jessie nodded and walked through the door. A woman in a white coat was sitting in a chair holding a clip board. She smiled at Jessie. “Come on in.”     Jessie quietly closed the door behind her and took a seat beside the woman, who was scanning the clip board. “What’s your name?”     “Jessie Coles.”     “How old are you?”     “Thirteen.”     “Are you with family or alone?”     Jessie looked at the floor. “Um, with friends.”     “I see. Were you scratched or bitten at all?”     “No.”     “Did you come into direct contact with a zombie’s blood, saliva, or any other bodily fluid?”     Jessie thought for a moment. “I think some of their blood got on me.”     The woman looked up at her. “Did any of it get in your mouth, eyes, or an open wound?”     “No,” said Jessie, “I don’t have any open wounds.”     The woman laid the clip board down. “Alright, please remove your outer clothing.”   Jessie’s face flushed, but she stood up and pulled off her top and skirt, then the stockings. The woman looked her over, checking under her arms and behind her knees. When she looked at Jessie’s right hand, she paused. “What happened here?”     Jessie’s cheeks burned then. “My friend, Sebastian, he was holding my hand so we wouldn’t get separated. He was protecting me, and he accidentally held it too hard.”   The woman smiled. “You have a good friend, but he must be awfully strong. I think your hand is fractured. I’ll schedule you for an x-ray later today.”     Jessie nodded then the woman sat back down and wrote something on the paper attached to the clip board. “You can put your clothes back on.”     Jessie was happy to do so, then sat down in the seat again. The woman wet a cotton ball with alcohol and took Jessie’s left arm gently, then cleaned an area near the bend of the arm. She reached around to a nearby desk and tore the paper wrapper from a fresh syringe. She held Jessie’s arm a little more firmly and pressed the needle into her flesh. Jessie flinched and closed her eyes.     When finished the woman led her to the door. “I’ll send someone for you when we’re ready to do that x-ray.”     Jessie thanked her and exited into the hall, where Archie was waiting for her. “So? How did it go?”     Jessie held up her now purple hand. “She thinks my hand is fractured. I have to get an x-ray.”     “Ouch, looks like that hurts. Did Sebastian do that?”     “Yeah, but he was protecting me. He didn’t mean to hurt me.”     “I know,” Archie said, “He’s a pretty good guy if you can get past that attitude.”     Jessie agreed. “What do we do now?”   “Shower time,” Archie said, pointing to another line forming around the corner. They walked over and joined it, looking at the female soldier standing outside a door up ahead. Beside her was a cart full of towels, sample-sized bottles of what looked like shampoo, conditioner, and body wash, and folded white T-shirts and sweat pants.     This line moved a lot more slowly, as showers took longer than the brief examination and none of the women wanted to shower with anyone else aside from their children. Archie and Jessie chatted while they waited, and when they eventually reached the woman with the cart, Jessie felt her knees begin to shake. She suddenly remembered what her last shower had been like, and she couldn’t forget the terror she felt. She turned to Archie. “Can we take a shower together?”     Archie looked at her curiously. “Why?”     “I just... I don’t want to take one by myself. Please? I won’t look at you.”     Archie shrugged. “Sure. We’re both girls anyway. It’s nothing we haven’t seen before.”   Jessie thanked her and they took the needed items from the cart as they walked into the shower room. It reminded Archie of the showers in the locker room at school. It was large and roomy, but had no stalls. The girls began removing their clothes and turned on the water. Jessie turned her back to Archie, pulling the barrettes out of her hair and undoing her braids. It took her a long time to wash her hair, and Archie was finished and done dressing by the time Jessie turned the water off.     Jessie wrapped her hair in a towel and pulled on the fresh clothes. They were soft and warm. She picked up the jeweled barrettes and held them in her open palms, letting the light hit them. She was struck by a vivid memory of years past, of her back yard white in winter, of snowflakes clinging to the tears on her face as Greg held her in his arms.     Her best friend had died. Jessie was devastated and fled into the cold when she heard the news, and Greg had followed.   “Don’t cry,” he had told her, rubbing her back, “Would Ashley want you to cry? If she looks down at you from heaven and see’s you like this, it’ll make her cry too!”     Jessie pulled away and looked up at him. She hiccuped and wiped her eyes. “Really?”     Greg had smiled warmly at her. “Really. So be happy, okay? For Ashley.”   The memory ended there, and Jessie wiped her eyes with her towel. She wouldn’t allow herself to be depressed. She wouldn’t cry. She placed the barrettes in the pocket of her pants and they left the room carrying their things. The soldier pointed them to the laundry room where they could wash their own clothing, but the line outside the door convinced them to wait until later.     They made their way into the lobby, where freshly showered people had filled all the seats and many were sitting on the floor. In the corner, they spotted Preston in a seat beside Sebastian, who was wearing jeans and a long-sleeved button-down shirt. Beside him was a duffel bag, and they figured he brought his own clothes. Of course, someone as style-conscious as him wouldn’t be caught dead in a t-shirt and sweat pants.     They approached and Preston looked glad to see them. He stood up. “Here, you can sit here if you want,” he said to Jessie. She thanked him and took the seat. Preston and Archie sat on the floor beside her.     “We’re waiting for them to pass out the paperwork,” Preston said.   After a very short wait, two soldiers appeared with stacks of paper. They made their way around the room, reaching forms and pens to each person. “Take these to the front desk when you’re finished,” one of them said.     Everyone sat quietly as they scribbled on the papers. Occasionally someone asked someone else a question about the form, but otherwise the room remained nearly silent until people started shuffling toward the front desk.     Archie finished hers, and waited for the others to get done before they all four walked to the front desk together. A young woman with pink-rimmed glasses and a name tag that read “Tina” took their forms with a smile, but her gaze lingered on Sebastian. When he looked at her, she turned bright red and looked away.     After they handed in their forms, they noticed Carlos standing nearby. He waved them over.     “General Kreaver wants to see you.”     Jessie looked at Sebastian questioningly. He turned to Carlos. “Why?”     “I told him what you guys did last night in the store. He wants to meet you and thank you for defending civilians.”     “When do we get assigned our living areas?” Archie asked.     “After you meet General Kreaver. Don’t worry, it won’t take long.”     The four of them looked at each other, then Sebastian stepped forward. “Alright. Let’s meet him and get it over with.”   Jessie followed after him, and Archie sighed and did the same, Preston trailing behind her. They were led out of the building and down a street to another, somewhat smaller building. They walked inside, down a corridor, and through a large ornate door. Inside the room was a middle-aged man sitting behind a desk. He wore a decorated military uniform and a serious expression.   “Come in,” he said with a smile that seemed forced.   They walked in cautiously, lining up to stand side-by-side before him. Preston looked like he would faint at any moment. Archie reached over an took his hand in hers. He turned his face toward her briefly, then looked back at the general.     “Don’t be so scared,” he told them, “You’re here to be commended, not punished.”     Archie was the first to speak. “But we didn’t do anything. We just survived.”     “Not according to the rest of the survivors. They all gave reports about your bravery and skills.”     Jessie blushed and Preston turned red, squeezing Archie’s hand slightly.   The general went on. “I intend to fix up medals for you, but as you can imagine, our resources are a bit tied up at the moment.” He pulled an open file on his desk closer to him and flipped through the pages. “I have your files here, from the medical examinations. I see that Sebastian is eighteen and Archie and Preston will be eighteen within a year.”     They were confused. What did their ages have to do with anything?     He closed the file and looked at their faces. “I’ll get to the point. The government is in the process of creating a zombie counter-measures unit. This unit would be specifically trained to deal with zombie attacks and be sent out in squads to clear out areas overrun with zombies. In the next few weeks, we’ll be beginning a year-long training program. We’re currently recruiting people to participate. As you might imagine, finding people willing to join such a program is going to be difficult. The fear of being infected by a strange virus is hard to overcome, even for seasoned soldiers.”     He paused to look at them, to gauge their reactions. All of them looked back at him with rather blank expressions. He cleared his throat. “Judging from your earlier actions, we believe you would be perfect candidates for the program. Would you be willing to join?”     Preston’s face turned to Archie immediately, desperate for a response. Jessie blinked. “Even me?”     General Kreaver shook his head. “I’m sorry, but you’re too young to join. Perhaps when you’re older.”     Sebastian narrowed his eyes. “Why should we do it? Why should we risk our lives?”   “Rest assured, we’d make it well worth your time. You’d be paid handsomely and provided with private, comfortable living areas, for as long as you remain in the program.”     “I’ll do it,” Archie said suddenly. Preston released her hand and gaped at her.   The general smiled. “That’s great. You’ll just have to fill out a few more forms and have a complete physical. In the meantime, we’ll set you up in an apartment on the base.” He looked at the others. “Take some time to think it over. Let me know your answer when you’re ready.”   They left the room and as soon as the door was shut behind them, Preston turned to Archie. “What were you thinking?! Why would you sign up for something so dangerous?!”     “Why not? I don’t have anything else to do. Mom’s dead and I don’t have any other relatives. What am I gonna do with my life?”     Preston lowered his head. He hadn’t thought of it that way. In that case, he didn’t have anything else to do either. “Then... I’ll join too.”     Archie grabbed his shoulders. “No, you can’t. You’re terrified of zombies, remember?”     He pulled away. “I don’t have anything to go back to either! And in case you forgot, I was fighting zombies right beside you! Do you think I like being the weak one who always depends on you?”     Archie froze. “What do you mean?”     “I’m tired of hiding behind you. I want to be stronger, so I can protect myself. I want to go through the training.”     Archie looked at him sadly for a moment, then smiled and hugged him. “If that’s what you want, then let’s do it together.”     They turned to look at Sebastian. “What about you?” Preston asked.     He shook his head. “I’m not doing it.” He said it with a finality that told them not to ask why.     Jessie looked down. “I wish I could.”     Archie was surprised. “Why?”     “I didn’t get to tell you earlier. Zombies killed my family. All of them. They ruined everything. They took everything away. I wish... I wish I had the strength to kill them. I wish I could fight like you guys.”     Sebastian stared at her silently, and Archie put an arm around her. “You can fight, Jessie! You did really good in the store. And you had to do some fighting to escape from your house in the first place, right?”     Jessie shook her head, tears threatening to leak from her eyes. “No... I had help,” she said, barely above a whisper.   Archie pulled her into a hug. “It’s okay. I’ll teach you how to fight. Preston and I can teach you everything we learn in the training!”     Jessie clung to Archie. “But... they’ll separate us. I wanted to share a room with you.”     Sebastian sighed. “You really want to do it?”     Jessie turned to face him. “What?”     “You really want to join the program?”     She nodded. “But it doesn’t matter. They won’t let me.”   Sebastian suddenly opened the door to the general’s office and walked inside. The others stood just outside the open door, watching curiously. He approached the general’s desk and looked down at him.     “I’ll join, but only under the condition that you let Jessie join too.”   Jessie gasped, and the general paled. “But that’s impossible. She’s only thirteen. This would be highly illegal, not to mention immoral.”     Sebastian leaned forward, placing his hands on the desk. “I’m willing to bet that little girl has fought more zombies than most of your soldiers. Her parents are dead. There’s no one to complain. She wants to do it. You say you’re desperate for people to join, so why turn away someone who’s desperate to do it?”     The general glanced at the file on his desk, then back at Sebastian. “Alright. We’ll let her do the training and see how she progresses. At the end of the program, if we feel that she’s ready to join the unit, we’ll allow it.”     Sebastian stood back up. “Alright then. Sign me up.”   The four of them left then, moving down the hall where they would be given living assignments and all the necessities they would require. Carlos stood in the general’s office, looking surprised.     “I can’t believe you agreed to that.”     “I didn’t have much choice,” General Kreaver said, “look at the file.”   Carlos picked it up from the desk. Inside it were not only forms from their medical examinations, but quotes from reports given by the other survivors. His eyes scanned them, and he looked up at the general sharply. “Sebastian killed over a hundred zombies?”     “That’s what they all say. Hard to believe, isn’t it? And he was protecting the girl the whole time.”     “In other words,” Carlos said, reaching the file back to General Kreaver, “he’s the strongest among them.”     “We need him in the program,” the general said, “even if we have to use the girl to get him.”   Carlos looked out the window, watching a couple of soldiers lead the four teenagers toward the small apartment complex. “They have potential, that’s for sure.”     General Kreaver nodded. “And with training, they could become very valuable to us.”

[zombie-party-novel]

Zombie Party Chapter 5

   Bright sudden light from a street lamp flooded into the passenger side of Sebastian’s car, waking Jessie. She jerked involuntarily, her whole body going tense. She had fallen asleep on the way to Lark City, and her dreams had been filled with screams and skinless people and her brother Greg telling her over and over to run. It was now night, and it took her a moment to remember who the disgruntled-looking boy sitting beside her was. Sebastian looked a little different in the moon-colored haze of the artificial light. His vibrant red hair seemed almost violet, and his tanned skin looked pale.    He turned to face her. “Finally awake?”   She adjusted her position, straightening her skirt and pulling up her stockings. They had slid down and pooled at her ankles. “Are we... are we there?”    He motioned to the right, and she turned to look. They were sitting in the parking lot of a supermarket. “I followed the directions exactly,” he said, “but I can’t believe the shelter is a grocery store.”    Jessie shivered slightly. “Should we go in? It’s getting cold out here.”    Sebastian eyed her with a look of annoyance. “It’s not that cold. What the hell are you wearing anyway?”   “Uh, well, I take ballet classes and I was supposed to have my recital today and this is the costume I was going to wear and I made it by my...”   “Okay so you’re a ballerina,” Sebastian cut in, “but damn, I’ve never seen a ballerina in a get-up like that.” He turned around and reached into the backseat, rummaging for a few moments in the dark until he pulled out a black leather jacket. It was folded neatly and looked impeccably clean. He reached it to her without changing his sour expression.    Jessie pulled the jacket on and wrapped it tightly around her. It was warm and soft and smelled nice. “Thanks,” she said brightly, then looked at the supermarket again. “So, should we go in?”    Sebastian opened the door. “We came all the way here. We may as well check it out.”

Jessie hesitantly opened her own door. She grabbed her baton and clutched it tightly. She imagined hordes of zombies running out from the shadows, toward her. She imagined them surrounding her, pulling her to the ground, tearing her apart. Her hands felt sweaty inside the satin gloves. Sebastian walked up beside her, lighting a cigarette. “Don’t worry,” he said, “as long as we don’t make a lot of noise, we shouldn’t draw any unwanted attention.”     “Hey,” a loud voice suddenly called, piercing the silence, “is this it?! It’s just a store!”   Jessie and Sebastian turned quickly to see Archie and Preston making their way toward them. Sebastian muttered something around the cigarette and waved to them. “Keep it down, will you?”     Preston nodded, though he hadn’t said a word. Archie ignored the request. “So let’s go on in,” she said not as loudly as before but obviously making no attempt to be quiet.     With the four of them together, Jessie almost felt safe as they walked toward the door of the supermarket. The front wall was made of glass, but it looked completely black inside, as if the lights were out. Upon closer inspection, they could see that black plastic had been taped to the glass from top to bottom all the way across. Archie stepped forward and pulled on the door handle. “It’s locked,” she said, looking back at them.     Preston pointed above the door. “Look, a button. Doesn’t that look like a door bell?”   As he had said, a small white plastic button was positioned above the door, taped to the glass. Sebastian, being the tallest among them, reached up toward the button, but it was too high for him. He sighed and looked at Jessie. “I’ll hold you up. You push the button.”     “Pretty inconvenient,” Archie said.     “Makes sense though,” Preston told her, “a zombie probably wouldn’t think to look for a doorbell, much less lift another one up to reach it.”     Jessie looked sharply at Sebastian. She remembered Greg, who had talked to her and saved her, even though he was a zombie by that point. Sebastian quickly looked away. “Come on, stand in front of me and I’ll lift you.”   Jessie did as she was told, positioning herself facing the door, her back to Sebastian. He bent down and wrapped his arms around her thighs, just above the knees. With a small grunt he hoisted her up so quickly that she swayed forward and slammed against the glass. She was not hurt, though the impact sent a tremor through her body. She took a deep breath, then snaked an arm up along the glass and pressed the button.   Sebastian loosened his grip and she slid down him, landing rather gracefully on her feet. “I didn’t hear anything,” she said.     Archie had her ear pressed against the door. “I thought I heard a faint dinging sound. Wait... now I hear footsteps.”   The door flew open in an instant and Archie stumbled back. She glanced up, finding herself face to face with the barrel of a shiny Magnum revolver. Holding it frighteningly steady in a single hand was a tall woman with very long, dark hair and matching dark eyes. She stared at Archie for a moment, then turned her eyes to Sebastian, Jessie, and Preston. “Are there only four of you?” she asked, though it sounded more like a demand than a question.     Archie nodded wordlessly. She was almost afraid to speak. Who is she?   The woman grabbed her arm and jerked her inside then motioned for the others to do the same. When all were inside, she reached for the door and pulled it quickly shut. She took great care to lock it up tightly before turning around. “I’m Barbara, from the Lark City police department. You’re safe now.”     Obviously, she meant for this to be a comforting statement, but her harsh tone and finger still placed securely on the trigger of the revolver made it hard for them to relax. They glanced around, surprised that the supermarket looked so normal. Aside from the black plastic taped to the windows, it looked no different than it probably did while it was open for business.     Sebastian was the first to speak. “This is the shelter? It’s not what I expected.”     “Where are all the people?” Jessie asked.   Barbara placed the gun in a holster at her side, under her black leather trench coat. “Most of them are in the café. Go on in and get some food. Rest. Read some magazines. Do whatever you want. Just don’t open this door and don’t mess with the plastic on the windows. Understand?”     All four of them nodded, then quietly made their way down aisle seven, which lead straight through to the back of the store. A neon sign was visible in the distance that read “Good Eatin’ Café”. As they got closer, the small dining area came into view, and so did the people. Though no one counted, Archie figured there were around fifty people, no more. Everyone looked tired and frightened. A few children were sitting in a circle on the floor playing with cheap plastic toys, though none of them seemed overly interested in the activity.     Sebastian sat down at the nearest table with an ash tray and lit another cigarette. Jessie hurried to occupy the only other chair at the table. Archie and Preston took seats at a table several feet away, prompting Jessie to turn in her chair and look at them sadly. “Why didn’t they sit near us?”     Sebastian was looking at a flimsy paper menu. “Why should they?”     Jessie turned back around. “Because we’re traveling partners.”     “We’re done traveling.”     “But... we’re friends.”     “No we’re not. Do you even know their last names? Do you know how old they are? Where they go to school?”     Jessie became silent and picked up her own menu. After a few moments she looked toward the counter. “Is the grill open?”   “I don’t know. Go ask.”     “... Will you come with me?”   Sebastian looked up, tossing his menu aside and tapping his cigarette on the edge of the ash tray. “Can’t you do anything by yourself? You know, actually, there’s no reason for us to even be sitting together. I brought you to a shelter. You’re safe. Now leave me alone.”     Jessie stared at him, eyes widened in shock. “But... I... I don’t know what to do! How long do we stay here? Where do I go when this is over? I’m scared!”     “That woman was a cop, right? I’m sure she’ll help you.”   Sebastian’s voice was cold, distant. Even more so than before. Jessie hated that. She watched him smoke his cigarette and thumb through a magazine someone had laid on the table beside them. It was as if he could care less if she was there or not. Please, please don’t do this. Please don’t make me go away.     The awkwardness of the situation became too much for her, so she stood up and went to the counter. She looked back over her shoulder at Sebastian, only to find that he hadn’t even glanced up when she left the table. He really doesn’t care. He doesn’t care if we separate.     She turned back toward the counter, but suddenly heard a chair scooting loudly and quickly back. “Hey,” Sebastian called, and Jessie turned around with a bright smile. He pointed at her and said “Give me back my jacket.”     Jessie’s smile vanished. She could feel her eyes becoming wet. Don’t cry. You can’t cry now. But tears began to fall down her face, and she began to pull off the jacket.     Sebastian held up his hand in a motion that told her to stop. “Just forget about it. You can keep it.”     Jessie froze. “R-really? You mean it?”   Sebastian turned around to sit back down, and she thought she saw a touch of red in his face. She smiled and continued to the counter.     Across the room, Preston watched her curiously. “Those two, they have their problems, huh?”     Archie looked at Jessie and Sebastian and then back to Preston. “I guess so, but I think Sebastian really cares about her.”     “Really? I didn’t get that impression at all. He’s so rude to her.”     “He’s rude to me too.”     “But you’re obnoxious. Jessie is a sweetheart.”   Archie frowned first, then grinned. “Don’t worry, I don’t think Jessie has a crush on Sebastian. I think she see’s him as a big brother type.”     What was visible of Preston’s face became red. “Why would I worry?!”   Archie laughed and started to reply before something caught her eye. Barbara was walking back from the front of the store with two men walking beside her. “Who are they?”     A little boy playing with a plastic truck suddenly pointed to the man on the left. “That’s my daddy! He’s a police man!”     Archie looked at the boy. “Oh, I see. Is the other guy a police man too?”     “Yep! He’s my daddy’s friend!”     Archie looked at Preston. “This is great. Three police officers in the building. We should be pretty safe.”     Preston looked toward the officers. “Yeah but what happens now? We can’t stay here forever.”   A woman sitting at a nearby table stood up and approached them. She held out her hand to them. “I’m Francine, Stephen’s mother,” she said, pointing to the little boy who had spoken to Archie.     Preston and Archie shook her hand and introduced themselves. She pulled a chair up to their table and sat down. “When this started, when those things started attacking, my husband Peter took us to the police station. But it was already being overrun. Barbara took us, and Roger’s family” she pointed to the other police officer, “to this store and locked it up tight. Barbara made some calls and found out that the army is making rounds, picking up survivors wherever they’re gathered. She let them know where we are, and they’re supposed to be making their way toward us right now. Then she called all the radio stations until she found one still broadcasting, and told them to make the announcement about the shelter.”     Archie looked at Barbara, who was talking with the two men. Her face was serious and stern. “Wow, she’s really on top of this, isn’t she?”     Francine smiled. “She’s the chief of police. Peter and I trust her with our lives.”     Archie was still staring. “She’s awesome.”   Preston stared at her too. “She’s pretty scary though. I thought I was gonna piss myself when she opened the door so fast and pointed that gun at us.”     Francine gently stood up from the table. “She can be harsh, but she’s very kind. She’ll protect us.” And with a smile, she returned to her table, where another woman sat holding an infant.     Preston picked up a menu and scanned it. “Let’s get something good. It’s free, right? I never get to eat stuff like this!”   Archie looked at him, trying hard to keep pity from being written boldly across her face. You never get to eat stuff like this? What kind of person doesn’t get to eat food from a restaurant until there’s a zombie outbreak? She picked up her own menu. “Let’s get pizza. Even I hardly ever get pizza.”     Preston grinned happily. “Yeah, and nachos! And those big soft pretzels!”     Archie laughed and stood up. “I’ll go order.”   She reached the counter as Jessie was heading for her table, carrying a plastic tray with two cheeseburgers and some fries on it. “Wow, big appetite for a little girl.”     Jessie blushed slightly. “Uh, it’s for me and Sebastian.”     “Oh. You two make up?”     Jessie looked at Sebastian, who was smoking yet another cigarette. “I think so. He gave me this jacket!”   Archie smiled. “So I heard. That’s cool of him. Come over to our table after you eat and chat with us.”   Jessie looked over at Preston, who went red again and quickly turned to look in another direction. “I don’t think Preston likes me. He keeps turning around when I look at him.”     Archie resisted the urge to laugh out loud. “He’s shy. If you talk to him, he’ll loosen up.”     Jessie looked at him again. “Hey, let’s all sit at a bigger table and eat together!”     “Okay. Let me just order our stuff. Go pick out a table!”     Jessie cheerfully agreed, going back to Sebastian to tell him the plan.     “Absolutely not,” he said after Jessie asked him to come to a bigger table with her.     “Why?”   “Because I can’t stand that blonde chick. She’s loud and obnoxious.”     “What about Preston? He’s nice...”     Sebastian leaned back slightly to get a view of the other boy. “He’s okay I guess. He has no sense of style though.”   Jessie was still holding the tray, and her arms were getting a little tired. “So let’s eat with them. We can get to know them a little better!”     Sebastian sighed and stood up, slowly following Jessie to a large table near the middle of the dining area. He sat down beside her and pulled the ashtray closer to himself.     Jessie frowned at him. “You shouldn’t smoke so much.”     “You’re not my mother.”     “But I’m your friend.”   Sebastian glared at her for a moment before putting out the cigarette he was smoking and taking one of the cheeseburgers from the tray. Jessie motioned for Preston to come to her, and he walked sheepishly over to the table. “I was talking to Archie and we decided to eat together, all four of us.”     Preston eased into the chair across from Sebastian. “Okay... thanks.”     Jessie held out her cup of fries. “Here, eat some while you’re waiting for your stuff.”   Preston quickly reached out and took a few, then felt immediately embarrassed that he had hurried to do so. “Thanks,” he said again.     Sebastian took some fries too. “So how old are you?” he asked Preston.     “Seventeen. So is Archie.”     “You guys twins or something?” Sebastian asked between bites.   “No, we’re...”     “Boyfriend and girlfriend?” Jessie asked brightly.     Preston turned slightly pink. “Oh, no... nothing like that. We’re best friends. We grew up together.”     Jessie was nibbling at her cheeseburger. “That’s so sweet!”     Preston looked down at the table. “I guess so.”     Archie appeared suddenly and sat a large pizza on the table. “Eat up!” she said, sitting down next to Preston.   All four of them took a slice, even though Jessie and Sebastian were already eating. They laughed and talked, sharing funny stories from school or Jessie’s ballet class. Only Sebastian remained quiet, only speaking when he was asked something specific.     “So where were you when the zombies attacked?” Archie asked him after she and Preston had recounted their daring escape from their neighborhood.   Sebastian pulled out a cigarette, earning him a glare from Jessie, and leaned onto the now empty table. “I was watering my melon patch.”   The others looked at him for a moment, silent and curious. Then Archie laughed. “Haha, I didn’t know you had a sense of humor!”     Jessie laughed too. “It’s okay, Sebastian. You don’t have to tell us if you don’t want to.”     “I know. I don’t intend to.”     Jessie looked a little hurt, but nodded. “Okay, it sounds really stupid, but I was in the bathroom when...”   Glass shattered and Jessie stopped. The whole dining area became deadly silent, everyone looking at each other. They heard more glass breaking, and Jessie was reminded of what she heard from inside the bathroom that very morning. Her hands began trembling again, and she reflexively placed one of them on Sebastian’s arm, gripping him.     Barbara appeared from one of the aisles, a gun in each hand, twin Magnum revolvers. “Everyone listen to me! Go into the back storage room and lock up the doors. Stay there until I say it’s safe to come out!”     The people in the dining area seemed to be frozen. They stared at Barbara, motionless, until someone from the back yelled, “What’s going on?!”     Barbara’s voice rang out again across the room. “We think one of the creatures has broken into the store, so we’re going to take care of it. Now do as I said!”     Francine stood up and took Stephen’s hand, pulling him to a standing position. “Let’s go, everyone.” Archie was amazed that the woman managed to convey authority with that gentle voice.     The others began to stand up and gather their children as they followed Francine through double metal doors and into the dark, musky storage area. Jessie’s hand was still latched onto Sebastian’s arm as they walked, and in the back of her mind she was surprised that he hadn’t asked her to remove it.   Archie and Preston were the last into the room, so they watched as two store employees locked the double doors. There were two small glass panels, barely big enough to see through, and Archie stood close to one, staring out in the hopes of witnessing some of the action.     Time passed, and they saw nothing. They heard nothing. It was as if the world had stopped. Then a gun fired far away, the sound seemingly coming from the front of the store. A little girl screamed and her mother held her tightly, whispering for her to try to be quiet. A couple of young boys tried to press forward to get a look through the glass panels, but some of the adults pulled them back. Archie’s face was pressed against the glass, turning back and forth to try and view as much of the area as possible.     A gun fired again, then three more times, and suddenly the sound of several guns being fired at once came pouring toward the back of the store. It reminded Archie of a violent gun fight in a mobster movie, even though there couldn’t have been more than six guns being fired between the three police officers. She looked at Preston. “They’re gonna run out of ammo for sure if they keep firing like that,” she whispered, not wanting to alarm the rest of the people.   Francine and the woman she had been sitting with earlier made their way toward the doors. “Please let me take a look. Our husbands are out there.”     Archie immediately backed away, giving the two women plenty of room.   They looked for only a moment before pulling away. “If anyone comes into view, please let us know,” Francine said before retreating into the back, where Stephen was waiting with another woman.     Someone in the room coughed, then gasped, then collapsed. Archie and Preston turned around to see everyone gathering around a small girl who was holding her chest and wheezing. “What’s going on?” Archie asked.     A teenaged boy wearing a baseball cap was holding the little girl in a sitting position on the floor. “She’s having an asthma attack!” he yelled, reaching into the pockets of her denim shorts and then his own. Pulling out nothing, he dumped the contents of her small pink purse onto the floor and rummaged through the items. “Sherry, listen to me! Where’s your inhaler?!”     Sherry seemingly tried to speak, but a horrible gasping sound was all that came out. She lifted her tiny arm and pointed toward the door leading into the store.     The boy’s eyes widened. “Out there?! In the café?!”   Sherry nodded and the boy stood up, heading for the door. Francine rushed forward and cut him off. “You can’t go outside. It’s too dangerous!”     “Sherry can’t breathe!” he screamed.     Francine looked at the little girl, then back to the boy. “I’m sorry, but those things could make their way to the back at any moment, and what if a stray bullet hits you?”     The boy clenched his fists. “I don’t care! I’m not letting my sister die!”   Francine stared at him for a moment, then walked over to Sherry, dropping to her knees and holding the girl in her arms. “Go on, but be as quick as you can. Please understand that if the creatures reach this area, we’ll have to lock the doors back up. We have children in here.”   The boy nodded and waited for one of the employees to unlock the door. He then rushed outside and toward the direction of the dining area. Archie watched through the glass but when he veered to the left, he was no longer visible. Several minutes of constant, distant gunfire passed before the boy came back into view, holding something tightly in his hand.     He was almost at the door before something fast and dark appeared in view, tackling the boy to the ground. Archie immediately realized it was a zombie, and a particularly fast one at that. Everyone in the room heard him scream, and Francine hugged Sherry, placing her hands on the girl’s ears. “Lock the doors!” she cried.     An employee rushed forward, but Jessie ran toward the door so fast that she nearly knocked him down. She peered out through the glass and saw the boy on the ground, scrambling to escape the zombie who had latched onto his legs. Two more zombies were running toward him, and the employee pulled at Jessie’s arm, yelling for her to move. In her mind, she could hear Greg screaming. She could see him standing in front of her, skinless and bloody. She could feel him shoving her out the door and hear his voice commanding her to run. She looked back at Sherry, knowing that in a few short minutes, the little girl would know exactly how Jessie felt.     Jessie tore the door open and ran into the store, baton in hand. She swung at the zombie who had grabbed the boy, knocking it back and allowing the boy to get to his feet and run back toward the storage room. She turned to follow him, but two more zombies grabbed her hair and jerked her backward. They were dirty and fast and strong and they reeked of blood and dead flesh.     Jessie screamed, swinging her baton in a circular motion and managing to hit both the zombies, though the hits were not strong enough to knock them away or even cause them to loosen their grip.   The boy was already on the other side of the door, panting and reaching the inhaler to Sherry. Archie stood watching the scene outside, trying to decide whether to rush out herself or allow the panicking employee lock the doors. But before anyone could make another move, Sebastian and Preston dashed into the store.     Archie was stunned as she watched Preston swing at one of the zombies with his trusty meat cleaver. Where did he... She looked down and saw her messenger bag open on the floor. She looked back through the glass and saw one of the zombies on the floor at Preston’s feet, its head split in two.     Sebastian had pulled Jessie free of the other zombie, and it was also on the floor, bleeding. Archie wondered how he had accomplished this without a weapon, and then remembered the zombie that laid at his feet in the convenience store. He’s doing something awesome, but I keep missing it.     The zombie that Jessie had knocked out sat up, grabbing Preston’s ankle. He screamed and swung the meat cleaver toward its head, but it was such an odd angle for him that he couldn’t get a good swipe in. Archie flew to her bag and pulled out the crow bar, then turned to Francine and said “Make sure these doors get locked!” before running out to Preston. With one swift hit from the crow bar, the zombie’s entire head seemed to rupture, spraying blood all over the immediate area.   With the excitement over for the moment, they all realized that the gunfire was getting rapidly closer, until Barbara and the two policemen appeared, backing toward them. A large horde of zombies were closing in on the three of them. Archie, Jessie, Preston, and Sebastian ran back toward the door and jerked on the handle, but it wouldn’t budge.     “What the hell?!” Sebastian yelled, trying to force the door open as the zombie horde caught sight of them and began making their way around the police officers.     “Uh, I kinda told them to lock the doors,” Archie said nervously.     Sebastian grabbed her shoulders roughly. “Why the hell did you do that?!”     “Well, I wanted to be more like Barbara, you know? She’s so cool, the way she protects everyone...”     Sebastian’s face was nearly matching his hair. “Don’t drag us into your stupid hero-worship fantasies, you dumb bitch!”   At this point Preston shoved himself in between Archie and Sebastian. “Hey, don’t call her that! You can’t blame her for not being that smart!”   “I’m not stupid!” Archie said loudly.     “Yes you are!” Sebastian screamed.     Jessie suddenly began tapping them furiously on the shoulders. “Guys... guys, listen! The zombies, they...”     The three arguing teenagers looked up at the same time. A large group of zombies had them surrounded. There were at least thirty zombies, all looking at them with pale, soulless eyes. Their bodies were white and bloody and bones protruded from the joints, as if their limbs had been snapped in two. But the growling sound they emitted was the most horrifying of all.     Sebastian let go of Archie, dropping his hands to his sides. “Shit.”     Preston immediately began pounding wildly on the doors. “Open up! Please! Let us in!”     One zombie tore free from the group and lunged at them, but a bullet suddenly pierced its head, leaving it motionless on the floor. Barbara stood several feet away with a smoking revolver. Archie stared at her with amazement. In the midst of all this chaos, she’s still protecting us.   “Guys, they’re not gonna open this door,” Archie said, “Their kids are in there. We gotta work our way over to the cops. They can protect us!”     The others seemed to agree. Sebastian took Jessie’s hand tightly in his and ran straight toward the cops, knocking over zombies left and right and effectively clearing a path that Archie and Preston could follow. The zombies were grabbing at their arms and legs, trying to get a grip on them. Archie knocked at them with the crowbar, splattering the heads of the most decayed and rotted of the group. Preston stayed as close to her as possible, swinging the meat cleaver whenever a zombie got too close.   By the time they reached the police officers, the one Francine had identified as Roger was sprawled out on the floor, blood pooling around him and zombies digging into his legs. He wasn’t moving or making a sound. Barbara was shooting repeatedly, stopping only for a moment to shove fresh bullets into each gun while the other cop, Peter, covered her.     “What should we do?” Archie yelled to her, knocking at the zombies with the crow bar and keeping an eye on Preston, who seemed to be doing well considering the circumstances.   “Stay close to me,” Barbara called, “and don’t stop for even a second! Just keep fighting! The army should be here any minute now!”     Zombies came from all angles, diving and lunging at them. Archie had never seen so many in one place, not even in a video game or movie. They were so fast and strong. It seemed hopeless. But Barbara was still fighting, still shooting and calling out orders to Peter.     Archie couldn’t tell how many she’d killed. Bodies lay strewn all around her, but she didn’t know if she’d killed them all or if someone else had. Preston was close to her, swinging his meat cleaver and screaming, obviously terrified and verging on pure panic. She called out to him, “It’s okay, Preston! We’ll make it!”     Sebastian was still clutching Jessie’s hand, keeping her firmly at his side. Jessie’s free hand swung her baton, knocking several zombies back but never seeming to take them out. She just didn’t have the strength required. Sebastian himself moved so quickly that Archie never got a good look at what he was doing. She was trying to focus on the zombies around her while watching out for Preston.     She heard a scream, and turned to see Peter being pulled down, blood spraying as he disappeared into a mob of zombies. Barbara yelled out his name and rushed over to him, but was too late to be of any help. Archie thought briefly of Francine and Stephen, but returned her thoughts to the task at hand.     She got closer and closer to Barabara until they were back to back, shooting and hitting, fighting with everything they had. Archie suddenly felt strong, powerful. Fighting alongside someone like Barbara, it was like she really was in a video game. We can survive this! We can win! With Barbara, we can do it!     But only a moment passed before she heard Barbara scream and turned to see four zombies dragging the woman to the floor and digging their hands and teeth into her flesh. Archie cried out Barbara’s name and drove the crowbar into one of Barbara’s attackers, piercing its brain. She knocked it away and bashed in the heads of the remaining three, knocking their bodies back and clearing them away from barbara.     When her body came into view, Archie dropped to her knees beside her. “Barbara! Barbara! Wake up!”     Barbara looked up at her weakly. “The army... they’re coming. You’ll be... safe. I promise.”   Archie realized then that tears were streaming down her face. This isn’t possible. She’s the hero. She has to protect us! We can’t make it without her! She held Barbara’s head up. “Please don’t die! We need you!”     Preston had come closer to keep the zombies knocked away from the two women, and looked at his crying friend sadly. It was certainly a rare sight to see Archie in tears. “Archie, I think... I think she’s already dead. She can’t help us anymore.”   Archie looked down at Barbara through her wet, blurry eyes. Indeed, the woman’s eyes had slid shut and her body had gone limp.     Barbara, their protector, was dead.

[zombie-party-novel]

Art I commissioned of Archie, a main character from my original horror novel, Zombie Party! Come to the blog to read the novel! New chapters are posted every Friday.

Artist: https://www.deviantart.com/neko-niki

[zombie-party-novel]

Art I commissioned of Jessie, a main character from my original horror novel, Zombie Party!

Artist: https://www.deviantart.com/sangcoon

[zombie-party-novel]

Hey guys I’m looking for new people to follow so please reblog if you’re a writeblr or booklr :)

[zombie-party-novel]

Zombie Party Chapter 4

Archie leaned forward, resting her chin on the steering wheel. "Wow, it's empty."     Preston stared out the windshield of his mother's car. They had made it to a fairly large city, and yet the streets were completely desolate, save for two zombies who were wandering aimlessly by the door of a corner restaurant several yards away. "Wonder how that happened?"     Archie shrugged. "No idea. But I doubt we'll find any help here."     She turned the key in the ignition and pulled back onto the street. They had driven for a couple of hours before arriving in the city, hoping to find people who could help them.     Preston pointed out his window. "Look, a gas station. We should stock up on fuel. Plus we can get food."     "Good idea," Archie said, pulling into the small parking lot and stopping the car beside the pump closest to the door of the convenience store. She opened the door and stepped out. "You pump, and I'll go get some food."     She was only a couple of steps from the door when a red sports car zipped into the parking lot, right next to the second pump over from Preston. The driver was obviously human, judging by the precision of the parking job, so Archie walked back over to the pump to see who climbed out.

It was a boy with dark red hair and a pretty girl in the strangest outfit Archie had ever seen. It looked like something a trapeze artist in the circus would wear, with all the beads and glitter. Preston was standing beside the car, pumping in gas. He and Archie glanced at each other, then back to the couple who had just appeared.     The boy with red hair noticed Archie and Preston immediately. He glared at them, to the point that Preston felt rather uncomfortable. The girl in the funny outfit walked around to the boy's side of the car and smiled brightly. "Look, Sebastian! People!"     Preston relaxed slightly, and Archie walked toward the sports car. "Hey, I'm Archie and this is Preston. We drove up from Gatesville. Where are you guys heading?"     The girl stepped forward until she was right in front of Archie. "I'm Jessie and that's Sebastian," she pointed to the red-head. "Hey, Sebastian, where are we heading?"     Sebastian still had an utterly unfriendly look on his face. "Far away from here."     Jessie blinked at him, but Archie was staring at his car. "Wow, I bet this thing is fast. What is it?"     Sebastian sighed. "It's a Maserati."     "Cool," Archie said, "I bet it's expensive."     Sebastian said nothing in response, but began pumping gas. He turned to Jessie and said, "There are two jugs in the backseat. Fill them up."     Jessie did as she was told, while Archie continued to eye the car. "You know... the four of us could travel together. If one of our cars mess up, we'd still have the other to rely on. Plus we'd have more people. Safety in numbers, you know?"     Sebastian's stern face finally broke into a small, unpleasant smile. "Oh really? I suppose that would be a good deal for you two, right? No thanks. My car is brand new, and as far as I'm concerned, more people would just be a liability."     The vaguely friendly smile Archie had been wearing faded. "Even new cars break down sometimes."     Sebastian chuckled. "Not mine. But I can see how you're worried, driving around in that clunker," he motioned toward Preston's mother's car. It was indeed several years old, and though spotlessly clean, was not a very impressive vehicle.     "Where are you two going anyway?" Archie asked.     He looked to the side for a moment, as if mentally debating something, then spoke again. "On our way in, we heard a radio broadcast. All kinds of organizations are setting up shelters and safety-zones. The nearest one is a three-hour drive away, in Lark City. That's where we're heading."     Archie looked back at Preston as if to say "Did you get all that?" to which he nodded. "I guess that's where we'll head too. So since we're all going in the same direction, why not go together?"     Sebastian had finished pumping. "Look, I already told you. I'm not interested. And besides, there's no guarantee that the shelter will still be there. I figure it'd be easy for zombies to follow people there and overrun it. The next shelter is at least a two-day drive from here."     Archie said nothing else, but turned to walk into the store. Preston took a cue from Jessie and began digging around in the trunk of the car, searching for something to put extra gas in. Finding nothing, he headed around the back of the store to search for a jug or gas can.     Jessie and Sebastian went into the store soon after Archie, and the three of them wordlessly gathered up as much food as possible and stuffed it into plastic bags they found at the counter. Before heading out, Archie took hold of Jessie's hand and pulled her to the side. Sebastian raised an eyebrow, but walked on toward the car anyway. "I'll be right back to get water," he said to Jessie, a hint of a warning in his tone as he glanced at Archie.     "Hey, you should come with us," Archie told Jessie as soon as Sebastian was out of earshot.     Jessie looked at her with wide eyes. "Why?"     "Because that guy doesn't treat you right. How can you stand him? He's a jerk. What kind of boyfriend barks out orders like that?"     Jessie shook her head. "Sebastian isn't my boyfriend."     "Oh... your brother then?"     Jessie looked down, and it seemed as if a shadow passed over her face. "No... my brother is... well... not Sebastian. I just met Sebastian today."     Archie nodded. This was too perfect. "Listen, Jessie. That guy is bad news. He’ll abandon you the first time you get on his nerves. You should stick with us. You lead Sebastian over to a corner and distract him with something. I'll sneak up behind him and knock him out. You and I can ride in his car and Preston can drive his mom's car."     Jessie looked horrified. "But Sebastian saved me. Zombies were chasing me, and he let me into his car. He's rude but he could've just left me there."     Archie's brows knitted together very slowly. This might be harder than she thought. "Well then, maybe you can convince him to travel with us. We can watch each other's backs and share supplies. Don't you think it'd be a good idea?"     Jessie gave her an uneasy smile. “That does sound like a good idea. I'll ask him about it."     Sebastian returned to the store and gave the two girls a glance before heading to the aisle filled with shelves of bottled beverages. He grabbed as many bottles of water as he could hold and headed back toward the door. "Jessie, put the food in the car and come back in to get some water."     Jessie nodded at Archie then walked with Sebastian to the car. From the glass door of the store, Archie could see the two of them talking. Jessie seemed to be talking quickly. Sebastian didn't even look at her for several seconds, then turned his head sharply toward her and said something that was probably nasty, as Jessie flinched then lowered her head.     Archie sighed and carried her own sacks of food out to Preston's car. She flung them into the backseat. "We need to get them to travel with us."     Preston was filling up a gas can that he found out back. "Why?"     "Your mom's car is a piece of junk. We could probably make it to Lark City, but I don't want to chance going farther if something's wrong with the shelter there."     Preston looked over at Sebastian and Jessie, who were loading bottled water into the trunk. "The girl seems nice, but there's no way the guy will help us out."     "I know," said Archie, "and going through Jessie won't work either. Her opinion doesn't matter to Sebastian and she won't agree to leaving him behind."     Preston twisted the lid onto the gas can and placed it in the trunk. "What should we do then? Follow them?"     "That wouldn't work. If our car broke down, Sebastian would just keep driving. I guess we'll have to knock them both out and take their car."     Preston looked at Archie incredulously. "Hey, we can't do that. Jessie seems like a sweet girl, right? She wouldn't think of doing something like that to us."     "We don't know that. We don't know anything about her. We should focus on saving ourselves."     Preston slammed the trunk lid down. "Archie, you know I'm your best friend, but I'm not going to go along with something like that."     Archie frowned at him, thinking, That attitude will get you killed. I can't let that happen.     As Preston opened the car door to climb inside, the piercing sound of glass breaking drifted out. They stopped and listened. They heard a female scream, and then some thumps and bangs. They rushed into the store to find Jessie dashing out of the restroom and toward Sebastian, who had his hands full with the bottled water. He looked surprised as Jessie positioned herself behind him and clutched at his shirt. "I... I was in the bathroom... and it... it came in through the window and..."     At that moment the restroom door slammed back open and what was possibly the most disgusting zombie they had encountered yet emerged from the room. Shreds of slimy flesh dangled from all over its body, and a full set of teeth were clearly visible along the skinless jaw line. It walked with a terrible limp, but lunged toward Sebastian and Jessie with shocking speed.     Sebastian jerked himself out of the way, pulling Jessie along with him. The zombie crashed to the ground, and Sebastian headed for the door. As the glass door slid to the side automatically, two more zombies were waiting right outside and rushed in. Sebastian stepped back, and found himself cornered as the slimy zombie from before made its way to its feet.     Archie and Preston were just inside the door, and they side-stepped the zombies to get outside, rushing to their car. Preston reached into the backseat and pulled out the meat cleaver he had used to slay his mother. "Come on," he yelled to Archie, turning to face the store.     Archie stood next to the car door on the driver's side. "Come on and what?"     Preston looked at her as if she'd asked how many feet he had. "Come on and let's help them."     "Why? Sebastian didn't want to help us."     "I don't care about him either, but what about Jessie?"     Archie looked to the side to avoid Preston's face. "I don't care about her. She had her chance to come with us."     "I can't just leave like this, Archie."     Archie flung her arm toward the store in a frustrated motion. "Then you go help them!"     Preston's hand was gripping the handle of the meat cleaver tightly. "I... I don't think I can do it by myself."     Archie looked at Preston's face, took a deep breath, and pulled a crow bar out of the backseat. She'd found it in the car's trunk.     Without a word, the two of them ran back into the store. One zombie was on the ground, motionless. There was a deep hole in the side of its head. Archie wondered how that happened, since Sebastian and Jessie were unarmed, unless you counted the huge bottle of water that Jessie was swatting at the slimy zombie with. She was making very little progress as Sebastian dodged lunges from the third creature.     Preston ran toward Jessie and, with one quick motion of the meat cleaver, severed the badly decayed head from the rotting zombie's body. It must have been barely attached, as it took very little strength and Preston nearly flung himself around in a circle. Archie glanced at him before swinging the crow bar at the third zombie's head, barely missing Sebastian. The head didn't disconnect, and the blow apparently didn't provide sufficient damage to the brain. The zombie dove toward Archie and she placed her free hand up, grabbing its neck and holding it at bay as she lifted the crow bar high enough to shove it through the zombie's head.     Archie looked at Sebastian, who was still holding six bottles of water, wondering what was up with him. He could've fought back if he'd dropped the water. "You okay?" she asked him.     Sebastian looked at Jessie, and though his expression didn't really change, Archie got the impression he was making sure she was okay. "I'm fine," he said dryly, walking toward the door.     Jessie thanked Preston profusely, and Archie thought she saw a hint of a blush in his cheeks. Sebastian shifted the bottles into one arm and took hold of Jessie's hand. "Let's go."     Jessie looked up at Sebastian, then back to Preston. "Wait, Sebastian, let's take them with us. Please?"     He stopped and looked at her. "I already told you! We don't need a whole party to get to Lark City! Those two will just slow us down!"     Jessie's hand was squeezing Sebastian's tightly. "They helped us. What if their car breaks down?"     Sebastian looked at Preston, then Archie. He appeared to be avoiding Jessie's eyes. "Who cares? We don't know them."     Jessie remained still. "They don't know us either. But they helped us anyway. I want to travel with them."     Sebastian was quiet, looking at the floor. Archie looked at Preston, wondering if he noticed the power exchange playing out in front of them. She had assumed that Sebastian was completely in charge, and Jessie was just a tag-along. But here Sebastian looked almost embarrassed as Jessie stared up at him, speaking gently but her body language making her decision clear.     Finally Sebastian looked at Jessie. "Alright. We'll go together, at least until Lark City." Jessie squealed and wrapped her arms around him. He made a distinctively annoyed sound and pushed her back.       Jessie looked slightly defeated, but picked back up the bags she had dropped and smiled at Archie and Preston. She glanced at Sebastian, making sure he wasn't looking, then gave them a thumbs up..     Archie repeated the gesture back to her, and Preston smiled weakly. The two of them grabbed some water and a few more items before heading out to their car. Sebastian and Jessie were already seated in the sports car with the engine running. Jessie rolled down the window and waved to them.     Archie climbed in first, and gave an accusing look to Preston. "Did you plan this?"     "Plan what?"     "To help them out so they'd let us go with them."     Preston folded his arms across his chest. "I'm not like you. I actually wanted to help Jessie."     Archie grinned at him. "I noticed."     Preston faced her quickly. "What does that mean?"     She started the car and followed Sebastian's path out. "Don't be shy. I think it's cute."     Preston reached forward and turned the radio on. "I don't know what you're talking about," he said flatly, turning up the music as a signal that he no longer wanted to discuss it.     Archie was still grinning as she drove, but her thoughts began to drift to the shelter in Lark City. What if it did turn out to be overrun by zombies? What if zombies showed up there after they arrived? She shrugged, supposing that they would just have to deal with those problems if they arose. For now, they had a little bit of hope, and that was enough.

[zombie-party-novel]

New chapter coming tonight sometime after midnight! In the meantime, here’s another picture of Sebastian, a main character in my original horror novel Zombie Party!

Artist: https://twitter.com/@jotarousescrocs

[zombie-party-novel]

Art I had commissioned of Cassiel, a main character from my original horror novel, Zombie Party.

Artist: FlipFlow (she’s no longer online but gave me permission to use the art however I want)

[zombie-party-novel]

Zombie Party Chapter 3

Cassiel sifted through the clothes hanging limply on the metal rack. A well-known brand name was emblazoned across the front, or back, of every piece. He grimaced and turned away, coming face to face with Brittany, his short, brunette girlfriend. “Where are you going?” she asked him.

He cut sideways between two more racks and walked around her, finally escaping into the mall from the awful store. She followed out behind him, her face flushed with fury. “You promised, Cas! You said you’d let me pick out one outfit for you if I wore this!” She pointed accusingly at herself, clothed in a black leather corset-style top and a black leather skirt. She wore black lace gloves and stockings, topped off with large, clunky black boots.

Cassiel admired her for a moment before speaking. “I specifically said ‘I’ll wear something you like’. I didn’t say I’d buy a new outfit.”

“But I bought a new outfit!” she exclaimed.

“I bought a new outfit. For you. And it looks great on you.”

“I look ridiculous! People are staring! I’m willing to suffer through this humiliation for you, but you won’t even look at the clothes I like!”

Cassiel sighed and took her hand, walking with her back into the store. It was a painful process for him, trying on trendy plaid pants and sweater vests, but Brittany finally decided on something and paid for it at the counter. Happy to be safely back in his black jeans and elaborately designed black lace-up shirt, Cassiel smiled faintly as the two of them made their way across the mall, bags in hand.

“Let’s go in here,” Brittany said, pointing to yet another store specializing in fruity-smelling beauty products.

Cassiel didn’t complain as she dragged him inside. It was a full hour of smelling the various fragrances before Brittany decided on a scent and they left the store.

They continued through the mall until a glowing neon sign caught Cassiel’s eye. “Hey, look, a game store,” he said, walking into “Leon’s Game Shop”. Brittany followed silently, not sharing his enthusiasm but doing nothing to stop him.

Cassiel had no sooner picked up a new copy of “Walking Death 3" before a teenage boy came running into the store, looking incredibly frightened. He panted for a full minute before he looked up at the man behind the counter. “Dude, there’s a zombie in the mall!”

Cassiel walked closer to the counter to get a better view of what was going on, and the man behind the counter leaned forward, a look of amusement on his face. “A zombie? Really?”

The boy nodded vigorously. “I swear! This dude came limping in, right? And he grabbed some chick and bit a chunk out of her arm! And his eyes, man… oh my God, his eyes!”

Brittany looked quickly at Cassiel. “What’s going on?”

Cassiel shrugged. “A practical joke?”

At that moment silence fell over the store as the distant sound of screaming rang out through the mall. For several moments, no one spoke or even looked at each other, as the screaming began to get louder and closer. Then the man behind the counter, a large, gruff man with gray hair and beard, reached into his jeans pocket and pulled out a cell phone, the look of amusement entirely gone. His fingers were visibly shaking as he punched in a number and held the phone to his ear.

“Uh, yeah,. this is Leon at the West Center Mall. There’s something going on here but I’m not sure what. I’m on the first floor, near the eastern entrance. People are screaming in the mall and a customer reported witnessing an attack. Uh huh. Alright. Yes, thank you.”

Leon sat his phone down on the counter and exhaled. “The police are on the way.”

Brittany was looking toward the doorway to the store. “Don’t you have a metal gate you can pull down or something?” Cassiel noticed immediately that her voice was cracking, and he put his arm around her.

“Yeah, I do,” Leon said, rushing to the doorway and grabbing a slender metal rod. He latched it to a hook near the ceiling and pulled quickly but calmly until a metal shutter that resembled a large chain-link fence had dropped down to completely block off the entrance to the store. Outside, a few people were still wandering around, looking somewhat confused as they began to notice the screams. And in an instant, it appeared as if everyone realized something bad was happening at the same time, and the people scattered in all directions. Most of them flocked into nearby stores but a few of them seemed to be heading for the eastern mall entrance, which was still several shops away.

And all the while, the screams grew louder. Suddenly, a veritable herd of people could be seen dashing through the mall from the direction of the south entrance, the obvious source of all the noise. They collided with each other, even trampled each other, as they ran like animals toward the eastern entrance. But one by one they tripped, stumbled, or fell over each other until every last person was on the floor, scrambling to get back up. It was like a massive train wreck, one huge tangled mess. If not for the look of horror on their faces, it would almost be funny.

Cassiel and Brittany watched from their side of the metal shutter, Cassiel’s arms tightly wrapped around her shoulders. Leon stepped out from behind the counter to stand near the shutter and the boy who had ran into the store only minutes before backed up against the wall, panting. “I’m telling you guys, it was a zombie!”

Cassiel looked at the boy and then back to the mall, as a very peculiar sound began to rise up above the screams and curses coming from the people on the floor. It seemed to be happening in slow-motion, as if several minutes were passing by. But in reality, it couldn’t have been more than a few seconds. Around the corner came another group of people, this one distinctly different from the first. They were limping, their feet dragging the floor and their limbs hanging loosely from their bodies, or not there at all. Several of them were missing arms, a few even missing legs. But still they walked, slowly at first and then more quickly when they saw the pile of trampled, panicking people before them.

Soon they were running, so quickly that Cassiel’s eyes could barely keep up with their speed. They lunged at the screaming people, like wild beasts in the jungle pouncing on a small animal. A couple of people managed to pull themselves free of the pile and tried to run away, but they were quickly knocked down by the inhumanly fast attackers.

Cassiel looked to Leon, who was completely frozen in shock. “Hey, isn’t there a back door in this store?”

Leon was still in a daze as he turned to look blankly at Cassiel. “What?”

“A back door! Look how strong and fast they are! Do you really think a few thin pieces of metal are gonna keep those things out?!”

Leon shook his head. “I just leads out to the northern section of the mall, and it’s a lot farther from an exit than we are now.”

“But it’s farther from them too,” Cassiel said, motioning toward the small army of creatures that were slowly beginning to stand up after having torn the people on the floor apart, “How long do you think it’ll be before they notice us?”

Brittany pulled away from Cassiel. “He’s right! If we stay here we die for sure, but if we run, we have a chance!”

Cassiel blinked. Brittany usually didn’t respond to fear in a very calm or rational way. He recalled a time when he had taken her to a haunted house on Halloween, and she had shrieked like a child as she clung to his arm. Were you faking, Brittany? Maybe you just wanted to hold onto me.

Leon looked at the couple, then to the boy who was now shaking uncontrollably and crouched in the corner. “You’re right. Let’s go for it.”

He ran around behind the counter and pulled something from a shelf that wasn’t visible to them. It was a baseball bat. “It might be useless, but it’s all I’ve got.”

Cassiel walked over and grabbed the metal rod Leon had used to pull down the shutter. He smiled faintly. “Well, I’m ready.”

Brittany nodded, then glanced over at the cowering boy. “What about him?”

Leon kneeled down in front of the boy and looked him in the eyes. “Hey, little man, you ever played a survival horror game?”

The boy stared at him for a moment before nodding.

Leon smiled. “Then pretend you’re in the game. You’re out of ammo and you have to make it out of the building without losing any health. Think you’re up to it?”

The boy shook his head, but stood up anyway. “Guess I have to,” he said shakily.

The four of them walked through the small door behind the counter, closing and locking it behind them. It led to a narrow, dimly lit hallway with many glass doors. Must be offices, Cassiel figured.

“Even if they saw us in the store,” Cassiel said encouragingly, “it’ll take them a while to get past the shutter, and then at least a few minutes to get through the door. We should be alright.”

“Should be?” the boy asked.

“We will be,” said Cassiel. Brittany held his hand and followed close behind, bringing up the rear.

Sure enough, after only a few minutes and a couple of turned corners, they emerged on the northern side of the mall, which was completely empty. The people who were once shopping there must have hidden in the stores or made it to the exit. In the distance, they could still hear some faint screaming. Cassiel almost winced. Block it out. Don’t think about it. We can’t help those people.

Leon pointed to the left. “The exit is this way.”

“But that’s the south direction!” Brittany cried.

Leon nodded. “I know. If we go right, we go to a dead end.”

“What about an emergency exit?” Cassiel asked.

Leon shook his head. “That end of the mall is under construction. The doors are sealed off.“

Cassiel sighed and began heading south. “Alright, let’s just hurry. With any luck, we’ll get there before the zombies do.”

The others followed after him, and the young boy spoke up. “What if they cut us off?”

Cassiel didn’t answer the boy, as he was busy running as fast as he could while dragging Brittany along side him. We’ll fight if they cut us off. I’ll fight.

They ran for several minutes, not bothering to stop and catch their breath. They didn’t have a choice. Cassiel’s legs were throbbing. He had always viewed himself as relatively healthy, but now he painfully realized that he was perhaps too skinny, and maybe he should’ve put more effort into physical education in high school. He chanced a glance back at Brittany, wondering if she was suffering as he was, but was surprised to see her face fixed with determination, and not the slightest hint of fatigue. That’s right, she was a cheerleader, wasn’t she? She probably ran laps and stuff for practice.

Leon called to them from behind, “We’re getting close to the exit!”

“And closer to the zombies,” Brittany said.

Suddenly Cassiel came to a complete stop, and Brittany ran into his back. Leon and the boy stopped too. “What is it?” Leon asked, stepping around Cassiel.

His jaw dropped. The zombies had not only successfully came between them and the exit, but had seemingly multiplied a hundred times over. “Oh… no…”

Cassiel took a deep breath, tightened his grip on both Brittany’s hand and the metal rod he was carrying, and took off into the crowd of zombies. He knocked down at least a dozen as he made his way through them, swinging in wild but powerful strokes. Behind him, he could hear the sound of skulls cracking and Leon cursing loudly. Go, Leon! That baseball bat isn’t useless after all!

The boy who had been running with them screamed, and both Cassiel and Brittany stopped long enough to look back. A group of four zombies had pulled him to the ground and more were diving in. The boy’s screams only became louder as red liquid began to spray from the center of the pile, though Cassiel couldn’t make out exactly what was happening to him. God, he couldn’t have been older than fourteen. I didn’t even know his name.

“Cas, look!” Brittany yelled, pointing at Leon who was punching at zombies with his bear hands as they closed in around him. The baseball bat was on the floor, several feet away from him. “We should…”

Cassiel whirled around to face the exit and jerked Brittany on. I’m sorry, Leon. I’m really sorry. But I have to at least save Brittany. At least her.

He knocked down a few more zombies with the metal rod before one particularly large zombie stepped into his path. It growled at him, and lunged forward. Cassiel jerked to the left by reflex, ducking out of the zombie’s grasp. He ran around behind it, released Brittany’s hand for a moment, and used both hands to swing the metal rod with enough force slice through the zombie’s rapidly decaying torso, leaving half of him squirming on the floor and the other half stumbling aimlessly away.

Cassiel almost allowed himself to smirk, being surprised by his own strength. But he reached out for Brittany’s hand and began pulling her toward the exit again. It took a few seconds to realize that she wasn’t moving on her own at all and he was literally dragging her. She was on her knees, shaking. She looked up at him, and though his immediate reaction was to let go of her hand and run away, he clung to it even more tightly. On the left side of her face was a hideous gash that ran the length of her jaw. It was so deep and wide that he could see her teeth and even her tongue through the opening. “Oh, God, Brittany!”

“Cas…” she said, though her speech was slurred and clumsy, like that of someone who had just had major dental work and one side of their face was completely numb, “I… I think… they got me…”

Cassiel looked behind her, where over a hundred zombies were approaching with increasing speed. Without really thinking, he jerked her to her feet. “Come on! I’ll get you out! We’ll go to a hospital, they can fix you!”

Brittany followed after him this time, though she was no where near as fast as she had been before. Blood was pouring from her face and down the front of her top. It was dripping down between her breasts, into the black leather corset.

Up ahead was the exit, but to Cassiel’s dismay, there was also a large group of zombies. There’s no way I can make it through. No way in hell.

Brittany tugged at his arm. “Hide!” she screamed, and blood squirted from her mouth. It was clearly taking great effort to speak. “In… a store!”

Cassiel looked back at her. “No, Brittany, I have to get you to a hospital right now! If I don’t, you’ll bleed to death!”

Brittany said nothing, but veered off to the left so suddenly that Cassiel found himself being pulled by her. There was a small candy shop right next to them, and Brittany shoved him inside. Before he could even say a word in protest, she tore the metal rod from his hands and latched it to the metal shutter, jerking it down between them so swiftly that Cassiel had to jump back to avoid having his feet crushed under its weight. Before he could get back to his feet, Brittany had secured the padlock around the latch on the floor, just as she had watched Leon do it in the game store. She slid the metal rod back into the store through the shutter and collapsed to her knees outside the store.

“Brittany! What the hell are you doing?! You locked it from the outside! I can’t get it open!”

Brittany held her head low, as if ashamed of how terrible her face looked. “Might… hold a little… while,” she said, or rather tried to say. She then looked up at him, “I’m… dead… anyway.”

“No, Brittany… wait!”

But before another word could be said, Brittany’s hand slipped from the shutter and her body fell ungracefully to the floor. “Brittany!” Cassiel screamed, hot tears burning his eyes, “Brittany, please! Get up! PLEASE!”

A million thoughts raced through his brain. Things like You died in an outfit you hate. You’ll never forgive me for that! and You didn’t even get to wear your new fruity body spray! Pointless and useless things popped into his head. Regrets about giving her such a hard time over their differing wardrobes. Regrets about suggesting going to the new mall in the first place. How gross her face looked, and how horrified her parents would be that they’d have to have a closed-casket funeral.

Finally it hit him, that he wasn’t much safer in the store than he was out there. He watched as the zombies began tearing through the metal shutters leading into some of the other stores. It only took them a few minutes, if enough of them were working on it. He could hear more people screaming, people who had probably hid behind shelves and counters. Hiding is useless I guess.

He clutched the metal rod in his hands, waiting for the time when they would begin tearing down the shutter that separated him from them. At least ten minutes passed as he watched them move from store to store, sometimes dragging people out and sometimes just killing them inside. Then something caught his eye. Movement on the other side of the shutter. He moved forward and looked down. Brittany’s corpse was twitching, and Cassiel dropped immediately to his knees. She’s still alive! She just passed out!

“Brittany! Oh, thank God! Hurry and open the shutter!” He looked toward the exit, where a large number of zombies appeared to guarding it. “We still can’t get out, but we could hide together! The police were on their way, remember? Maybe they’ll get here in time!”

Brittany slowly stood up, and looked down at Cassiel. Her eyes were wide and pale blue, a stark difference from the brown eyes she had before. But there was something else wrong. They were completely empty, without the faintest evidence of life or thought. She suddenly began clawing at the shutter, trying to tear it apart.

Cassiel backed away from the store entrance until he hit a shelf. That’s right, you turn into a zombie when you get bitten. I’m so stupid.

Gradually the other zombies began to take notice of the commotion Brittany was causing, and started wandering over. Soon there were more than a dozen, all clawing at the shutter. Cassiel had seen this before, had watched them do it several times. He walked over to the shutter and jabbed the metal rod through it, piercing the head of the closest zombie. He repeated this action on three more, until the only zombie left in close enough range to kill was Brittany. He stared at her for a moment, watching her desperation in her struggle to get through the shutter. “I’m sorry, Brittany. I… I really loved you.” He lifted the rod to be level with her head, readying himself to impale her on it. But at that moment several more zombies rushed forward and the shutter finally gave way, knocking Cassiel back.

Brittany was the first through the entrance, stepping over the crumpled remains of the shutter. She lunged at him, and he dodged her, positioned himself behind her, and shoved the rod through the back of her head. It must be painful, to walk around like that. Maybe now it won’t hurt anymore.

Before he could pull the rod out of her skull, five zombies had cornered him. He looked at her corpse, then looked at the zombies. I guess that’s it. This is as far as I go. And I thought I was good at survival horror games.

His back was against the wall, and zombies were coming from every direction. There was no escape. He sighed and looked down. “Game over.”

[zombie-party-novel]

This is art I had commissioned of Jessie, a main character from my original horror novel, Zombie Party! Come to the blog to read the novel!

Artist: https://www.deviantart.com/neko-niki

(Wow, tracking down all these artists who did art for me eleven years ago has been crazy.)

[zombie-party-novel]

Zombie Party Chapter 2

Chapter Two: Jessie slid out of bed, shoved her feet into pink fuzzy slippers, and walked out of her bedroom. Her mother was in the kitchen, standing by the stove. Eggs were frying and the scent of bacon was in the air. Jessie looked at the digital clock on the microwave oven. Eleven-thirty. It was a typical Wednesday morning for her.

Jessie’s older brother Greg was sitting at the table. She took a seat across from him as her mother sat two plates of hot, delicious food in front of them. “Eat up!” she said cheerily, fixing another plate and sitting it in front of an empty chair.                     Jessie’s father walked in, wiping his hands on a towel. “Good morning, Jessie,” he said as he took his seat at the table.     Jessie smiled brightly. “Good morning, daddy!”   “I hear you have a new girlfriend, Greg,” Jessie’s mother said as she placed a bowl of gravy on the table.   Greg grinned. “Yeah. Her name is Sarah. I met her at the mall.” He then looked over at Jessie. “Can’t keep a secret, huh?”   Jessie grinned.“Why not tell mom and dad? Sarah’s great.”   Greg leaned back in his chair, letting his hand rest on the table, still holding a fork. He looked dreamy. “Yeah, she is, isn’t she?”   Their father laughed. He was a joyful man who always had a joke and a smile ready for any occasion. “Looks like my boy’s in love.”   Jessie piped up. “Looks like? You should’ve seen them at the mall! Couldn’t go five seconds without gazing into each other’s eyes!”   Greg blushed and laughed, playfully kicking Jessie’s feet under the table. “Come on, stop it!”   Jessie finished her breakfast and excused herself from the table. “I better be getting ready.”   Her family looked up at her curiously, then her mother said, “Oh, that’s right! Your ballet recital is today! Your costume is ready, right? You didn’t need any help on it?”   “It’s totally finished!” Jessie said, beaming. She had made her costume all by herself. She chose a shimmering silver material for the top and skirt, and pink beads for the straps and trim. It was difficult work, but she was proud of herself, and couldn’t wait to wear it.   She went into her bedroom to retrieve the prized costume, which was hanging on a padded hanger under a layer of clear plastic. She walked down the carpeted hall toward the bathroom, humming to herself and replaying the dance steps in her head until Greg stepped from the kitchen and faced her with his hands behind his back.   “I have a surprise for you,” he said, a broad grin on his face.   Jessie stopped beside him. “What is it?”   He held out his hands, revealing a small box wrapped in shiny pink foil. “It’s not much, just something I thought you could wear at the recital.”   She folded her costume over one arm and took the box. She smiled as she opened it, careful not to tear the pretty packaging. Inside was a pair of silver jeweled barrettes with pink accents. Jessie squealed in delight and threw her arms around Greg. “They’re beautiful! Thank you so so so much!”   Greg laughed. “Careful, you might wrinkle your costume!”   She pulled back quickly. “Oh, right!” She examined the barrettes again. “They match my costume just right. But… I didn’t show it to anyone. How did you know?”   Greg grinned again. “You always use pink and silver. It’s no mystery.”   Jessie hugged him again briefly and continued to the large bathroom, which doubled as a dressing room, and laid down her things. She locked the door and turned on the shower.   She stepped into the tub gingerly, wincing slightly at sudden touch of steaming hot water. She reached down and turned the cold water slightly up, then sighed as it reached the perfect temperature. She washed her long, light brown hair with her favorite bubble gum shampoo. She was just rinsing the conditioner from the tips when she heard a scream.   Raised voices were unheard of in Jessie’s home. The only time she’d ever heard her mother yell was when a snake somehow ended up on the front porch. But the scream she just heard had been male. She couldn’t imagine Greg or their dad screaming over a snake.   She finished her shower and turned off the water, stepping out onto a plush rug and reaching for a towel. It was then that she heard another sound, which sounded like glass breaking. Did someone knock over a vase?   There was another scream, this time from her mother, and words became distinguishable. “No… Oh no!” Jessie flinched. In thirteen years of living with the woman, she’d never heard her mother use that tone of voice. It was a loud, frightened, desperate tone. And then there were more crashes, then thumps and bangs. Then her mother’s voice again: “Greg! No, don’t come down stairs! Go out your window! Run! Get out of the…”   Jessie clutched the yellow bath towel tighter and tighter in her hands, and she suddenly realized she was shaking. What happened to your voice? Why did you cut off? What’s going on?!   She heard a series of thumps, and imagined it was Greg coming down the stairs. She heard him yell, “Mom!” and then he screamed, without words or meaning, just a long, loud scream of what sounded like pure terror.   Greg, you always listened to mom before. Why didn’t you listen this time?! She told you to get out! Jessie sank onto the floor beside the shower, holding the towel to her face. Tears were pouring out of her eyes. She tried to imagine what had happened in her house. Had burglars broken in? They were a rich family, and well-known. But to attack in the middle of the day, while the whole family was home? It seemed impossible.     Suddenly Jessie looked up. They forgot about me. Mom told Greg to get out, but she forgot about me. Or maybe… she didn’t want the burglars to know I’m here?   She heard another crash, and it scared her into rising from the floor and tip-toeing to the door to make certain that it was locked. If the burglars were still in the house, she was still in danger. If they checked the bathroom door and realized it was locked, they would know someone was on the other side. And then it wouldn’t take much to bust the door down. That could be any second now.   She hurried over to the dresser and pulled on her underwear and costume. It was the only clean clothing she had in the room, and she couldn’t bear the thought of burglars coming in on her naked. Dressed in the shiny costume, she somehow felt more ready for them. The costume was beautiful, and strangely, empowering. She felt like a superhero in that costume, like a beautiful heroine in a Saturday morning cartoon. Like Magical Warrior Cindy, a beautiful, long-haired princess on tv who wore a silver uniform and battled evil. Though at thirteen years old, Jessie felt silly for watching a cartoon faithfully every week and being so drawn to a childish character, Cindy had always been Jessie’s secret role model. It was because of her that Jessie let her hair grow long. Jessie snapped the two silver barrettes Greg had given her into her hair.       She looked around the bathroom. She needed a weapon, in case the burglars broke the door down. Her eyes fell upon her pink shiny baton, an object that would be used at one point during the recital, when the group would do a dance that involved twirling and throwing the baton while moving across the stage. She had practiced the moves so hard and so long that she had become a baton twirling expert. Okay, it’s not a magic wand, but I can hit them with it!   Dressed for battle and weapon clutched tightly in hand, all Jessie could do was wait. She was too terrified to leave the room, but she knew that sooner or later, the burglars would discover her presence and break into the room, or they would leave. She prayed that they would simply take what they wanted and get out, but that seemed illogical to her. Surely they wouldn’t leave without checking every room. But why were they crashing around so much downstairs? She hadn’t heard anyone going up the stairs, or the sounds of doors being opened. What in the world was going on?   She waited, and waited, and then waited some more. She sat down on the toilet seat and put her face in her hands. What’s happening? It’s been so long, and they’re still banging around out there! She looked up at the clock hanging on the wall. An hour had passed. The adrenaline and excitement she had built up for herself after putting on her costume had now worn off, and the fear and dread of what had probably happened right outside the bathroom door was sinking in. She imagined her pristine home demolished, delicate paintings and vases smashed into pieces, windows broken, carpets stained with muddy footprints. Then images of her family, those smiling happy people who made her life a fairytale, lying on those stained carpets with bloody wounds all over their bodies, appeared in her mind.   She stood up suddenly. No! They’re not dead! They’re just knocked out! They can’t be dead. Greg just found himself a girlfriend, and mom and dad are so kind. They’re too good. Good people like them don’t just die!   She looked at the door, then at herself in the mirror. She wondered how long she could stand to sit in the bathroom and wonder what was happening. There were no windows in the room, no way of leaving except through the door. She couldn’t take it anymore. She had to get out of there. She had to know what had happened to her family, to her home. No one would be proud of her if she simply hid out in the bathroom until the burglars left. She wouldn’t be the hero, she’d just be a scared little girl. The burglars could leave without anyone seeing them, and they’d never be caught. They’d never be punished. And besides, her family might be hurt and needing her help. They could die, waiting for her to bust out of the bathroom and save them! They were depending on her!   She picked up her baton, gathered her courage, and walked over to the door. She took a deep breath. Please God, let my family be okay! She slowly, carefully unlocked the door. She slid it open without a sound, and tip-toed out of the room. She looked up and down the hall, and saw nothing but the light from the living room flooding into the darkened corridor. She took a step toward it, her heart pounding furiously in her chest, the baton clenched so tightly in her fists that she was sure the imprint of it would be left in her palms for a week.   Suddenly a shadow darted past the living room doorway as the light flickered. She froze and held her breath. She heard another crash, loud and sharp. Her first instinct was to run back to the bathroom and lock the door up tight. But she couldn’t go back now, not before she found out what was going on. She kept walking toward the living room, cautious as to avoid making noise.   When she finally reached the doorway, she paused and rested her back against the wall. She took a few more deep breaths, said another silent prayer, and leapt into sight. Her eyes flashed across the room, trying to take in the whole scene at once. Three figures stood in her living room, all of them turning and staring at her with vacant, blue eyes and distorted faces. Red goo and other gross-looking stuff was dangling from their mouths, which were hanging open. Another figure was crouched near a corner, making odd animal sounds.   “W-Who are you?! What are you doing in my house?!” she screamed, not even noticing that the baton in her hands was shaking with her own shudders.   The three standing figures flinched slightly, but each took a step toward her. The crouching figure turned to face her, then stood up. When it moved, she saw a fifth figure lying on the floor, bloody and broken. It took some time for her to recognize the figure as her father. “Daddy!” she yelled, desiring to run to his side yet too terrified to move. “Daddy, it’s Jessie! I’m alive! Get up, daddy!”   Her father didn’t move. She knew he couldn’t move, that he couldn’t possibly be alive with his body torn apart so badly, but the realization was very hard to swallow. She turned to the nearing four figures and pointed her baton at them. “What did you do to daddy?!”   One of them lunged forward and she leapt out of the way. The figure crashed against the wall but recovered quickly. She ran toward the front door, which was standing open, but another of the figures grabbed her from behind. She whirled around, trying to shake him off of her, but it was no good. She couldn’t match his strength. At this angle, she could see yet another figure on the ground, also torn to shreds. It was her mother. Her dear, sweet mother who made the best fried eggs and bacon in the world. Jessie felt nauseated and weak, the strange man’s grip around her shoulders tightened to the point of almost crushing her.   The other figures closed in, and with her free arm she swung her baton around wildly, connecting a few hits with bodies and seeming to keep them at bay. Her other arm worked at the arms around her shoulders, digging her nails into what flesh she could find.   Suddenly she heard another large crash, but it sounded like it came from behind her. The arms around her suddenly dropped, and she jumped back, away from the man who had held her. The man fell to the ground, and another figure stood behind him, positioned between Jessie and the front door. “Greg!”   Her brother said nothing, only looked at her with frantic eyes. One of his legs looked as if it were broken and he was clearly struggling to stand at all. At his neck was a large wound dripping blood. But most confusing to Jessie was the fact that Greg’s brown eyes were now a color of blue so bright that they seemed to be glowing and his tanned skin had turned pale white. She ran forward, with every intention to embrace him despite how horrible he looked, but he stepped aside at the last minute and she stumbled toward the open door. As she regained her balance and attempted to turn around, he shoved her hard and she fell onto the ground outside. As the door to her house closed, she heard her brother’s strained voice calling “Run! Run far away!”   Jessie blinked at the door a few times, her eyes now stinging with tears. She had so many questions and no idea how to answer them. Who were those people in her house? What did they want? What happened to Greg’s eyes? Why did he push her outside and not come with her?   She got up and ran to the door, but it was locked. She banged on it with all her strength. “Greg! What’s going on?! Please help me! I’m so scared!” Tears were streaming down her face, and she finally collapsed onto the doorstep. She looked down beside her, where her baton was laying. She grabbed it and stood up. She was so confused and frightened, but Greg told her to run far away. Greg was smart. He had always protected her and told her the right thing to do. The only thing she could do now was follow his directions.   She ran out of her yard and down her street. She considered stopping by a neighbor’s house, but Greg has specifically told her to go far away, and something told her that the neighborhood was not far enough. She noticed that many of her neighbor’s doors were open, and wondered if anything similar was happening to them. If that was the case, it would explain Greg’s instructions, so she continued to run. She didn’t know where she would go, all she could hope for was to run into someone else and get help.   Finally she spotted someone out in their yard a few feet ahead. She sped up until she reached them. “Hey!” she yelled, waving her baton in the air. “I need help! People broke into my house and killed my parents! Please, you have to call the police!” She stopped abruptly when the person turned around to face her. It was a man with those same vacant blue eyes and distorted face. The horror was multiplied by the fact that the whole bottom half of his jaw was missing and his tongue dangled helplessly from his head.   Jessie screamed and took off running away from the man. He gave chase, moaning his own form of a scream, the only sound she supposed he could make in his state. How can he be running around like this?! He’s so badly injured!   Finally he caught up with her and grabbed hold of her left arm. With her right she swung the baton around with such fury that his entire head was knocked completely off. Jessie took many steps back as the man’s body collapsed onto the pavement. “Oh my God! I… I killed him!”   The sudden, sharp sound of a car horn blowing shook her out of her shock. She looked around wildly for the source of the noise. In all the commotion she hadn’t even noticed that a small sports car was driving along the street she had been running on. It pulled up right beside her and the passenger side window went down. “Get in!” the driver yelled, then leaned across the seat and opened the door.   Jessie blinked at the boy and hesitated. She looked back up the street, toward her home. Two more figures were making their way toward her. The boy looked impatiently at her. “I’m counting to three. If you’re not in this car by then I’m leaving you here with the zombies.”   He didn’t even get to one before Jessie jumped into the car and slammed the door shut. She panted heavily as he floored the gas pedal and sped out of the neighborhood. She looked over at him, trying to remember if he was someone her brother knew. She didn’t recognize him. His dark red hair was glossy and well-styled, and he was dressed like he’d just stepped out of a fashion magazine. He glanced over at her, and she noticed that his eyes were ice blue, so pale that the black pupils seemed small and out of place. Something about his entire look made her feel intimidated. He frowned at her and said, “You could at least thank me.”   Jessie flushed. “Oh, I’m sorry! Thank you!”   The boy glanced sideways at her. “I don’t recognize you. What school do you go to?”   Jessie responded quickly. “I don’t go to school. My mom home-schools me. I mean, she did home-school me. Now she’s… she’s…”   He cut in. “Dead or a zombie.”     Jessie looked at her feet. She wished he hadn’t said that. She was trying really hard not to think about it. She felt the tears coming on again and wiped at her eyes with the backs of both hands. Then she remembered Greg. “Wait, mister! We have to go back!”   The boy looked vaguely insulted. “Mister? My name is Sebastian.”   “Sorry, Sebastian,” Jessie quickly corrected, “but my brother is still alive! Let’s go get him, please?”   Sebastian shook his head. “Absolutely not. If he’s still back there, he’s a zombie.”   “But he talked to me! He got me out of the house and told me to run! He was hurt really bad, and his eyes looked funny, but he was alive!”   “What do you mean, his eyes looked funny?”   “They were bright blue, even though he has brown eyes, and his skin was real pale.”   Sebastian’s icy eyes widened. “You mean to tell me that your brother helped you and spoke to you even though he was a zombie?”   “Zombie? You said that earlier. Is that what they are? Zombies, like in the movies?”   “Yes, zombies,” Sebastian said. “Living dead. That guy who attacked you was missing half his face. How do you think he was able to run after you like that?”   “I don’t know. I was so confused,” Jessie answered, “Everything happened so suddenly.”   “But your brother, he talked to you, right? After he had the zombie eyes? How is that possible?”   Jessie looked out the window, then back to Sebastian. “I don’t know.” She tried to choose her words carefully, fearful of saying something stupid or something that would make him angry. Sebastian had rescued her but his sharp tone and cold eyes made her nervous. She had never been so uncomfortable in her entire life.   Sebastian gave an annoyed sigh. “You don’t know anything, do you?”   Jessie looked down again. “Please,” she said, her eyes beginning to burn again as tears welled up inside them. “Please don’t make me get out.”   “What?”   She looked up at him. “Please don’t leave me behind!”   Sebastian looked back to the road, his face becoming slightly red. Jessie was sure he was angry now, and couldn’t understand why. To her surprise, he didn’t yell or even look at her as he said, “You can ride with me until we find help, but I’m not going back. If your brother is a zombie now, they probably won’t attack him.”   She quickly dried her eyes. “Thank you! I promise I’ll try to be useful!”   Sebastian didn’t say anything more, but looked forward and watched the road. Jessie laid her head against the window and closed her eyes, feeling emotionally and physically exhausted. She didn’t want to think about what had happened to her family. She didn’t want to think about anything. Her life had been torn apart over the course of a twenty minute shower. She reached up one hand to feel the barrettes in her hair, suddenly thinking that they were the most precious things in the world. And despite her best efforts to stop them, tears continued to drip down her face.

[zombie-party-novel]

New chapter will be up tonight sometime after midnight! In the meantime, here’s art I commissioned of Sebastian, a character introduced in the next chapter.

Artist: https://www.deviantart.com/ikr