Darlings of Decay

by Chrissy Peebles

  I could hear Jo screaming my name from the office and heard Wyatt and Ben running into the diner, but it was too late.

  The zombie had me cornered.

  My heart raced as it ran towards me, bacon fat hanging out of the corner of its mouth.

  Its sinister eyes locked on me.

  The look in its eyes sent shivers down my spine. I saw pure festering rage and hunger burning in its pupils. Any trace of humanity had been ripped away, its soul as black as the darkest night.

  I wouldn’t let my life end at the hands of this possessed being.

  Empowered by my desire to live and full of adrenaline, I jumped to my feet and braced for impact, when I noticed the tray of boiling french fries Wyatt and Ben were cooking earlier sitting in the fryer next to me.

  I grabbed hold of the handle with two hands, lifted it from the hot oil and swung it forward, hitting the enraged creature in the face.

  I watched in horror as it stepped backwards, shrieking in pain as the searing hot oil splashed into its eyes, causing its eyelids to bubble and melt away.

  Ben and Wyatt jumped out of the way of the creature as it fell backwards, waving its arms around wildly.

  Within seconds, it was up again, running straight towards me once more.

  I screamed and jumped backwards onto the counter, trying to slide over to the other side to reach Wyatt and Ben.

  The rancid corpse grabbed my leg and started pulling me towards it, thick drool dripping from its cracked lips as it eagerly awaited the taste of my warm flesh.

  Wyatt grabbed hold of my hand, trying to pull me towards him, but I knew the monster was too strong.

  I screamed in terror as its contagious mouth stretched open and sunk its teeth into my right leg.

  Frantically, I tried to kick it off of me, but its grip was too strong.

  Searching around for something, anything, I spotted kitchen knives sitting in a wooden holder on the counter, just out of my reach.

  Letting go of Wyatt’s hand, I slid as the zombie pulled me closer, a string of saliva dangling from its mouth onto my leg as it prepared to bite down again.

  I threw myself sideways and stretched my arm over to the knives, grabbing the handle of the biggest one. I knocked the holder over as I pulled out the knife and grabbed the handle with both hands, letting the hungry beast pull me down over the counter and onto the floor.

  It made a chilling screeching sound as it pounced straight for my throat.

  I threw my hands forward, stabbing it straight through its still searing eye with the knife.

  Its body went limp, its screech quietening into a gurgle, followed by an eerie silence.

  Catching my breath, I pushed the zombie off of me with shaking hands.

  “Eva?!” I heard Wyatt yell as he ran around the counter, unable to see me. He skidded around the counter, sliding to the ground next to me.

  “I’m ok,” I breathed as I started to pick myself up.

  “Thank god,” he sighed as helped me to my feet.

  We backed away from the corpse as Jo emerged slowly from the office, cupping her hands over her mouth in shock.

  “I saw him bite you,” said Ben.

  He stood frozen behind the counter, glaring at me suspiciously.

  “She’s fine,” replied Wyatt.

  “They said anyone bitten would be infected. I saw him bite you,” he said again, this time moving forward towards me.

  “I said she’s fine,” repeated Wyatt as he stood in front of me protectively.

  I put my hand on Wyatt’s arm and moved out from behind him to face Ben.

  “Really Ben, he’s right. I’m fine. He didn’t even pierce my boot, see?” I held my leg out to show him.

  There were teeth marks on my boot, but nothing more than that. The boots had saved my life.

  “Show me your leg,” ordered Ben, unconvinced.

  Wyatt stiffened in anger.

  “What are you gonna do, Ben? Kill her?” he yelled.

  “If she’s been infected we’ll all die!” Ben yelled back.

  I stepped in between them, removed my boot and threw it onto the ground.

  “See?” I looked up at Ben, showing him my unharmed leg. “I’m fine. It’s ok. I knew I loved these boots for a reason,” I smiled nervously as I looked over at Jo, trying to lighten the mood.

  The men softened again, but tension filled the air.

  “We need weapons,” muttered Ben as he walked through the swinging doors into the back room.

  I sat down at the counter, trying to calm myself.

  My heart raced and my mind frantically tried to process what had just happened, but the rest of my body felt numb. I didn’t know whether to cry or throw up, but either way, I was alive.

  For now.

  Chapter Seven

  I ran over to the double doors, turned the lock and reached up to slide the bolts into place. Jo ran over holding a chain from the back room and wrapped it around the handles, locking it into place with a padlock.

  We ripped off our uniforms and hats and followed Wyatt and Ben as they dragged the corpse through the swinging doors into the back room.

  In a loud crunch, Wyatt pulled the knife out of the dead man’s face and threw the body into the walk-in freezer, with Ben slamming the door shut.

  We immediately started rummaging through all the drawers in the kitchen, gathering knives of all sizes, the diner’s fire extinguisher, even scissors – whatever we thought we could use to defend ourselves.

  “I have an idea.” Ben said as he ran out of the kitchen.

  We followed him through diner and into the office, each of us clutching to a butcher knife. Ben ran over to the lost and found box that sat under the desk and started searching through it.

  “Yes!” He smiled as he pulled out a medium sized can of hairspray and a lighter.

  I looked at him blankly, wondering what on earth he needed them for.

  He then ran back into the kitchen, with us trailing close behind.

  Opening the kitchen closet, he started pulling out brooms and mops and throwing them to each of us, then without saying a word, he ran back over to the drawer, pulled out some duct tape and ran back out into the diner, taking a seat in one of the only booths that wasn’t right next to a window.

  Jo, Wyatt and I followed him and each took a seat at the booth, wondering what he was up to.

  “Pass me your knife.” He gestured to Jo, and she handed her knife to him, curious as to what he was doing.

  We sat and watched in awe as he proceeded to tape the handle of her butcher knife to the end of one of the broomsticks.

  Holding it up to show his creation, Ben motioned to us to do the same. We grabbed the tape and started working on our own makeshift spears.

  Once we were done, Jo looked over at the hairspray and lighter sitting on the table.

  “What are they for?”

  “If it works… A flame thrower. But it probably won’t kill them, maybe it’ll slow them down. I don’t know.” Ben answered, reading the label on the hairspray can.

  I looked at him in shock, wondering how he suddenly had such expert knowledge on homemade weaponry.

  “I play a lot of post apocalyptic video games.” He smirked, reading the curiosity in my expression.

  “What else do you know about…” I paused, not knowing what to call the undead creatures that now wandered the streets.

  “Zombies?” He asked, finishing my sentence.

  “Do you really think that’s what they are?” I asked, fearful of his answer.

  “I don’t know what else they could be,” he said, shrugging his shoulders. “First, a virus spreads across half of the country. Classic cause for a zombie outbreak. Then, that guy said he was bitten, and he died. He died. Minutes later, he gets up and he’s all deranged and decaying and has an intense craving for human flesh? Sounds like a zombie to me.”

  As much as I hated to admit it, I knew he was right. I’d seen my fair share of zombie movies and
watched every episode of The Walking Dead, I knew a zombie when I saw one.

  But never in my wildest nightmares did I expect to be living it.

  “So what do we do?” Wyatt looked up at Ben, taking a break from his weapon-making,

  “Well, I don’t know how much of it applies,” replied Ben as he shifted uneasily in his seat. “But if these zombies are anything like the ones from the video games and movies, the only way to really kill them is to destroy their brain, like Eva did with the knife in the eye before. But it’s hard, really hard. The best way to survive is to stay away from them. To run and hide. We have to be quiet, we need to gather weapons and food, and whatever happens, we can’t get bitten.”

  I couldn’t believe it. My head started to spin as I tried to process everything he had said, and I felt my body start to go numb with fear. I suddenly felt light-headed at the thought of spending the rest of my life being chased by ravenous, wretched zombies.

  This can’t be happening, I thought as I stood up from the table.

  “We should eat. It’s well passed lunch time and none of us have eaten yet. We’ll need our strength.” I said, even though I wasn’t feeling very hungry. I needed to distract myself from my terror, even just for a few minutes.

  I walked unsteadily into the kitchen, with the others following close behind.

  We spent the next hour in silence, making ourselves salad sandwiches and quietly eating them on the floor behind the counter, out of sight from any deadly passers by.

  We decided it would be best to not have burgers – Pop Rock’s signature meal – because the smell of cooking meat sizzling on the stove might lure more zombies our way.

  Even though the doors were locked and bolted, it would only require a hand-full of zombies to break through the windows.

  Besides, after seeing that monster try to tear into my leg earlier, drool dripping from its mouth as it craved my flesh, meat had lost its appeal.

  As I sat on the cold tiles eating my sandwich, I thought about what Ben had said, about weapons, destroying brains, running and hiding, all the things we now needed to do to survive.

  It made everything that had happened last night seem so unimportant. So trivial.

  Yesterday I was complaining about having to wake up early for work, now I don’t know if I’ll even wake up at all tomorrow. If I’ll even be alive that long to experience such a blessing.

  All the little problems of yesterday had been completely washed away and replaced by one sole focus: survival.

  Finishing my sandwich, I brushed the crumbs off of my lap and stood up, watching the windows intently as I walked towards the office.

  “Eva, where are you going?” Jo asked as I walked passed her.

  “To watch the news. If we’re going to get through this, we need as much information as we can.”

  Chapter Eight

  Through the windows we could see more and more of the infected starting to fill the streets. Quietly, we huddled together in the office, glued to the television, waiting desperately for signs of this nightmare coming to an end.

  “It’s getting worse.” Ben murmured, almost as though he was talking to himself.

  I listened closely as the reporter came back onto the screen, noticing her eyes were red and puffy, as though she had been crying.

  We’ve just had word that all phone lines along the east coast are completely jammed from the record number of calls for help. Thousands are trapped all over the city as the virus takes hold of more and more people. Countless reports confirm that those who are infected can turn violent within minutes and decay at a rapid rate. We here at Channel Three News have barricaded ourselves into this studio, and I suggest anyone watching this do the same. Lock your doors, stay quiet and don’t let anyone inside... no matter who they are.

  She began to choke up during that last sentence.

  Just stay inside, and wait it out. With any hope we’ll…

  She was interrupted by a loud crash coming from behind the camera.

  The reporter screamed as she disappeared behind her desk, hiding from whatever had just broken in.

  The picture turned sideways, and I realised the camera had been knocked over.

  The last thing I saw before the picture went static was a hoard of infected zombies swarming over the news desk, the blood curdling screams of the reporter and the crew suddenly falling silent.

  I turned to Jo to see her wiping a tear off of her cheek with her sleeve.

  “We gotta get out of here, now.” Said Wyatt, standing up from his chair.

  “She just said to stay inside!” Jo had started to panic.

  “And look what happened to her.” I said, with the news station only blocks away from us, I knew we weren’t safe at the diner.

  “I say we go to Melbourne Central Plaza. There’s a Bob’s Camping store there; we can grab some camping gear and more weapons. Whatever we’ll need to survive. Then, I really need to see if my parents are okay.” Ben replied as he stood up next to Wyatt.

  “Survive?!” Jo shrieked, her voice trembling. “How can we survive in Melbourne Central? That place will be crawling with those… those… zombies! Then you want to go to your parents? We can’t be driving all over Melbourne!”

  “He’s right though, Jo.” Wyatt put a hand on her shoulder to try and calm her down.

  “We’ll need more than just some homemade spears to survive. We need to find supplies, and that’s the best chance we’ve got. But are you sure you want to risk going to see your parents?” He asked, turning to Ben.

  “I have to. I can’t just leave them there. It’s fine if you guys don’t want to come, but I need to see them. Maybe they’re locked inside like we are.”

  For the first time in my life, I felt grateful my parents weren’t alive. I couldn’t bare going through this knowing they were out there, in danger or infected.

  With my parents gone, Jo’s Mum and Dad overseas and Wyatt’s living in Cairns, Ben was the only one who could make it to see his.

  “I’ll go with you, Ben. We can find your parents after we leave Melbourne Central.

  We’ll definitely need to get supplies from there first.” I said as I stood up next to Ben, placing my hand on his shoulder.

  “And if we’re lucky enough to make it out of there alive and find Ben’s parents?! Then what the hell are we gonna do?” Jo wasn’t calming down.

  Ben walked over to Jo and held her as she fell to pieces in his arms.

  I could see Wyatt was thinking something over in his head, and he sighed as he finally came out with it.

  “We can go to my brother’s.”

  “What?!” gasped Jo, staring at him blankly.

  Wyatt had only mentioned his brother a few times before, but he never once had anything nice to say about him. From what he had told me, his brother was a conspiracy theorist who lived somewhere deep in the woods in a cabin, trying to stay ‘off the grid.’

  “You mean the brother who’s constantly rambling on about the next Top Secret Government mind-control plan? Or predicting a zombie apocalypse? Or…” Ben paused.

  “Oh.”

  “Yeah,” said Wyatt. “Looks like he’s not so crazy after all. Besides, he lives in the middle of nowhere on a huge block of land, he’s got a ton of canned food and supplies – enough to last at least a few months. He’s even got guns. It’s our only choice if we want to get through this.”

  I always strongly agreed with Australia’s no guns policy. I saw it as one of the reasons this country is so safe. Now, it could be our end. If Wyatt’s brother had guns, food and security, that’s where we needed to be.

  “Where does your brother live?” I asked, looking up at Wyatt while holding Jo’s hand as she whimpered onto Ben’s shoulder.

  “Just a bit further than Cairns.” He mumbled, preparing for our reaction.

  “Cairns?!” We yelled, flustered.

  “Yes. But it’s ok. I know the way, it shouldn’t take more than forty hours if we all take turns dri
ving… and don’t stop.”

  I started to feel light-headed again.

  Not only do we have to get out of the diner and to Melbourne Central, but then we have to find Ben’s parents, and get from Melbourne to Cairns, with zombies crawling all over the place.

  A huge task lay ahead of us, but we had very few options.

  “Wyatt’s right,” I decided. “We can either stay here at the diner and wait for what happened to the news reporter to happen to us, or we can take our chances on the outside. If… No, when we make it Cairns, we’ll be safe.”

  “There’s only one problem.” Wyatt uttered, scratching his head.

  “Just one?” Ben asked sarcastically.

  “What is it?” I asked, not sure I wanted to know the answer.

  “Ben’s car is too small for all of us to fit, and Jo and Eva, you walked here today, right?”

  We both nodded.

  “Well, that only leaves my car. And it’s parked two blocks away. We’ll have to run for it.”

  I slid the door open a little to see at least three zombies walking passed the diner windows.

  Jo groaned. “How are we going to get to it? We can’t just walk out the front door!”

  I reached for my satchel.

  “I have an idea.”

  Chapter Nine

  At first, Wyatt was the only one open to my idea, but once Ben and Jo realised we had no other choice, they soon came around.

  Within half an hour, I had already transformed Jo and Ben into half-decent zombies.

  Using my Bruise Wheel – a small tub containing a four-colour wheel of concealer (red, grey, purple and brown) – as well as some tomato sauce from the diner as blood, they looked undead enough to be able to blend in to the growing parade of zombies outside.

  This just might work, I thought as I put the finishing touches on my own zombie makeup.

  Wyatt walked into the office and slid the door closed behind him, leaving us alone again for the first time since this morning, which already seemed like so long ago after everything we had been through.