by Ailes, Derek
“Look at all the man meat out there. I guess we won’t be needing any toys tonight,” Athena joked.
“You’re bad.”
“Alina, you’re thinking it, too.”
“You’re perverted.”
“So are you.”
“Can I buy both of you girls a drink?” A tall, muscular, blond man with skull tattoos all over his arms asked.
“You can pay for our vodkas,” Athena answered. “This one’s mine, Alina.”
“You two interested in a private party?”
“What type of private party?” Alina asked.
“Booze, drugs. Only the best stuff.” As he was talking, his friend dropped a roofie in both of their vodkas.
“Sounds like our type of party,” Athena said.
Alina took a large gulp of her vodka and began to dance around in a circle while Athena cheered her on. As she was dancing, she began feeling lightheaded and passed out.
Alina opened her eyes and was back in her apartment. Athena was sitting on the chair next to the couch smiling at her. As her eyes adjusted to the light, she could see that Athena’s hands and clothes were covered in blood.
“What happened?”
“Alina, the guys thought they could knock us out and take advantage of us.” The smile on her face grew bigger. “What they didn’t realize was the drug had no effect on me.”
“Whose blood is that?”
“Why theirs.”
“What did you do?” Alina asked angrily.
“Come, I’ll show you.”
She followed her into the bathroom. She stared at the horrific sight in shock.
“Beautiful isn’t it. I was going to go for the human centipede, but decided Siamese twins were more appropriate.”
From a scene right out of “American Mary”, the two guys were sown together with black thread. Lying on the floor besides them were two of their legs and arms. She brought over a giant glass jar filled with liquid and their appendages.
“Their family jewels,” Athena laughed sinisterly.
“You’re sick.”
Alina stepped backward out of the bathroom.
“Where are you going?”
“Away from you! You’re insane!”
“Alina, you’re just as sick and demented as I am. You would have done the same thing.”
“No, Athena. I could never harm someone like that.”
As Athena moved toward her, she continued to step backward.
“Why are you so afraid of me? We are one in the same. Identical down to the last cell.”
Alina ripped the necklace away from her neck as she continued to step backward, not realizing the window was opened behind her. She tripped backward. Athena ran forward to grab her before she fell out the window. She grabbed her right hand which slowly began to slip away since her hands were still covered in the blood of the two guys she operated on. As she lost her grip, Alina fell to her death; her head splattering on the pavement below.
“Oh crap,” Athena said as she watched her own body slowly disappear.
Rozalina was heading home from the Devil’s Due to get stoned after scoring some cocaine from a client earlier. She was nearing Alina’s apartment when she saw her fall to her death. She quickly ran over to her as the blood flowed around her skull.
“Alina, suicide? Why? You had such as great life,” she cried as she kneeled over her body.
She saw the necklace with the eyes from the gargoyle medallion glowing bright red beckoning her. She put her hands around it feeling its warmth. She felt like it was meant for her and it was telling her it would fill the void in her meaningless life.
“Alina, I don’t think you’ll be needing this anymore,” she said as she grabbed it and walked away.
Marriage Zquality
Franklin watched Matilda as she slept on her queen-sized bed with satin sheets. Her greyish-blonde hair flowed down over her slightly pale grey skin. During the zombie apocalypse of 2015, she was bitten by their daughter, Nancy, who had turned into a zombie after being bitten by one of her teachers at the South Haven Elementary School. He had been forced to shoot his daughter in the head with his hunting rifle. After several days of fighting the infection, Matilda had passed away. While at the coroner’s office, she was injected with an experimental drug which, when she came back to life as a zombie, killed the zombie infection almost instantly. His girlfriend returned to being the loving, caring woman she had always been, and not some flesh hungry mindless zombie.
He felt so lucky to still have her in his life. They had been living together, unmarried, for several years before the zombie apocalypse. They always wanted to get married, but kept putting it off while both tried to establish themselves in their respective fields while also trying to raise a family. They now wanted to get married, but the States would not allow a human and a zombie to legally marry. Since zombies were now a large percentage of the population, the Undeadagains as they were named by the politicians and religious groups, there was a movement to legalize marriage between humans and zombies.
He walked out of the bedroom and sat in front of the television. Reverend Ronald Dukakis was on Fox News talking about the Undeadagains and their desire to have their right to marry case brought before the Supreme Court.
“Marriage is the union between a man and a woman. If these Undeadagains gain their right to marry, then it is blasphemy. I will set myself on fire.”
“Are you serious?” News Anchor Steve Russo asked.
“You heard me. Mark my words. I will set myself on fire.”
“And I have plenty of lighter fluid,” Franklin laughed and turned the channel to watch a repeat of iZombie.
“Franklin, I’m hungry,” Matilda said as she sat down next to him wearing her pink pajamas covered with pictures of cats playing with balls of yarn.
“Brains?”
“Stop being silly,” she said and slapped his right shoulder. “I want bacon and scrambled eggs.”
“Coming right up.”
“Ooh, iZombie. I love this show.”
Russo Jones, a scientist and Republican at heart, stared in disbelief at the newscast on CNN about the possibility the Supreme Court would rule in the zombies’ favor. Four states had passed a law making the union between humans and zombies legal; ironically, the same states that made pot legal.
“This is not right in the eyes of God. First same sex marriages were legalized, now zombies. What’s next? Will men be allowed to legally marry their pets? This has to be stopped.”
Russo walked across his lab toward a large steel cage imprisoning a short brunette with long black hair with silver streaks. She was beautiful despite her greyish-brown skin. She possessed a body that even he couldn’t help drooling over.
“Please, let me go. I’m a human being,” she pleaded.
“No, you are not. You are a demon possessing this poor creature’s body. Only a parasite inhabiting a soulless body.”
“Have some compassion.”
“Compassion for what? You are no different than a lab rat and thus should be treated as such. Besides, you will serve a purpose for my cause.”
She stared at him angrily.
“Even though you didn’t ask, I’ll tell you what your purpose will be anyway. I have taken the zombie strain and mutated it. Once I inject it into you, you will become a flesh craving zombie and not the peaceful one you are now. With your help, the zombie apocalypse will return and the general population will have no choice but to round every one of you up and kill you. There will be no Supreme Court ruling in your favor. It will be as it should remain, a union between a man and a woman.”
“Your plan will fail.”
“No, my dear, it won’t.”
Olivia placed the bags of groceries in the truck for the customer of Mega-Mart. With the task finished, she walked back toward the entrance of the grocery store. She was an eighteen year old blonde teenager. Her grey-skin shined in the sunlight. Her boyfriend, Willis, had rushed her to the
hospital after she had been bitten by a zombie at Mega-Mart, and she was injected with the vaccine. She loved him with all of her heart and hoped someday she could marry him. She was so happy that people welcomed her with open arms after her ordeal. If she hadn’t been vaccinated, she surely would had eaten her boyfriend.
She always joked with him saying he was yummy, that only a dimwitted zombie would pass his flesh up. He didn’t find it as funny as she did, but she teased him about it on a daily basis anyway.
She could see dark clouds in the distance. A severe storm was brewing that would give Valparaiso a minor reprieve from the roaring heat wave they had been experiencing for the past couple weeks.
“Clean up in Aisle 3.”
“A zombie’s job is never done,” she sighed as she walked to the backroom to grab a mop.
After a hearty breakfast, Franklin and Matilda went out for a jog before the severe weather reached Portage. After trying to keep up with his marathon runner of a girlfriend, he stopped to rest in front of the South Haven Public Library.
“Getting too old to keep up? Hell, I’m half past dead and can run circles around you,” Matilda joked.
“You were always in better shape.” He tried catching his breath. “I just need a few minutes rest.”
“We can’t rest too long unless you want to get drenched.”
“The rain sounds good about now. I’m sweating up a storm.”
“That is an advantage of being zombiefied. I never sweat,” she said with a smile.
“A comedian to the better end and beyond.”
“Now that’s funny.”
“I thought you’d like it. Race you back home.”
“I think maybe a fast stroll back. I don’t think your heart will be able to handle it.”
“Thanks for the vote of confidence.”
“More like caution. Our house is a mile back that way past the highway.”
“I’ll be fine.”
“I’ll let you lead and set the pace.”
He began to jog increasing his speed.
“I knew that would motivate you.”
“When we get home, I’ll show you how motivated I am.”
“Dirty pervert. I like it.”
She jogged past him and waved.
Russo carried a syringe filled with glowing green serum over to the cage. The girl slammed her head into the back of the cage as she tried to move away from him. He reached in, grabbed her left arm, and pulled her toward him. She screamed and tried to bite him.
“Not yet. You need to be re-infected before that will be affective.”
“Screw you!”
He twisted her arm violently and injected it with the serum. She began to cry as she realized her fate.
“In a matter of minutes, the virus will re-take its hold on you. When you awake, you will go on a flesh eating rampage. You are going to be referred to as Patient Re-Zero.”
“You’re going to be my first victim.”
“Trust me; you will be no threat to me. I’ll be locked in here safe. I have plenty of provisions to see it through until the government gets the zombie apocalypse back under control.”
“You’re insane.”
“Thanks for the compliment,” she heard him say as she passed out.
When she awoke, she was standing in the middle of a park hungry for human flesh.
Franklin and Matilda hid in their underground shelter he had installed in his backyard several months back after the zombie apocalypse had ended. It cost all of his savings and the money in his IRA to build, but he wanted to be prepared if there ever was another zombie outbreak. They watched the news on the television.
“Thanks to the rapid response from the United States Government and its military, the recent outbreak from the zombie virus has been contained. The President has assured us that there remains no further threats and people can resume their every day to day lives. With us is Reverend Ronald Dukakis. Reverend are we in fact safe?”
“By no means are we safe from any further zombie outbreaks. As long as there are still Undeadagains in our midst, the threat of an outbreak remains. I urge all citizens who are harboring these heathens to bring them to the nearest government facilities and have them disposed of. They are a threat to society and our well-being.”
“That’s bullshit!” Matilda screamed.
“I would never do that,” Franklin assured her.
“It’s not you I’m worried about. It’s our neighbors, our family, and our friends. This is Nazi Germany all over again.”
“They aren’t going round up all the Undeadagains and take them to some sort of concentration camp.”
“That’s what it sounds like he’s recommending. Listen to him.”
“Reverend, how do you think this incident is going to influence the Supreme Court’s decision on the Human/Zombie marriage act?”
“After the recent outbreak, I believe that is off the table. Undeadagains are the work of the devil and should be sent back to Hell where they belong. They don’t deserve any rights. They aren’t human.”
“Turn it off,” Matilda said, crying.
“Matilda, I won’t let them take you. We’ll live down here for the rest of our lives if we have to.”
“What type of life will that be?”
“As long as we’re together, it will be a great one.”
“What if they come for me?”
“Then I’ll kill anyone who tries to take you.”
Olivia stood in front of her bathroom mirror crying. She stared at her greyish face. She had just watched the interview with the Reverend and was scared. Last week, she had witnessed her neighbors on a zombie hunting streak bringing back the zombies’ heads as trophies. Willis had been with her through the ordeal making sure she wouldn’t be a target during the recent zombie purge.
“Olivia!”
“Willis, I’m in the bathroom.”
Willis walked up the stairs and stopped in front of the door staring at her. He walked in and held her in his arms.
“The Reverend is a douchebag,” he stated.
“What if people believe him? All of us could be in danger. You saw the vicious way our neighbors tortured and murdered all of those zombies.”
“They were mindless zombies. You are not.”
“I don’t think it will make much of a difference now. There is hatred toward my kind.”
“What are you talking about ─ your kind. You are human like the rest of us.”
“No, I’m not. Look at me. My skin is grey and my hair is white.”
“You are as beautiful as the day I first met you.”
“You’re an idiot.”
She began to cry, but stopped when she heard loud pounding on the front door.
“Where is she?” Travis, their next door neighbor, shouted.
The pounding got fierce.
“Lock the door. Do not unlock it no matter what.”
“Willis, don’t go.”
Travis stopped pounding as his buddy, Jay ran over to him with his shotgun.
“Are you ready?” Travis asked.
“Yep.”
Travis violently kicked the door open and Jay ran in ready to kill. Willis slowly walked down the stairs.
“Willis, we like you. Stand aside!” Travis ordered.
“No, this is not your house.”
“The devil is in this house and the devil must die,” Travis said angrily.
Jay pointed the gun toward Willis.
“I won’t let you harm her.”
Jay fired the weapon at Willis causing him to fall down the rest of the stairs and bleed out onto the living room floor. They heard the bathroom door close.
“She’s upstairs. Jay, you know what to do.”
“It’s killing time!”
Travis followed Jay up the stairs. He kicked the bathroom door open and Jay shot Olivia in the chest knocking her to the ground. She looked up at them with tears in her eyes. “May God forgive you both.”
&n
bsp; “May the devil embrace you with open arms,” Jay said and shot her in the head.
Franklin sat next to Matilda as she ate the turkey sandwich he had made for her. She hadn’t watched television in days since the news was filled with horrific stories about the Undeadagain purge that was taking place across the nation. People had gone completely insane killing them and those harboring them. To protect herself from going completely insane, she began to write in a diary about her life since becoming an Undeadagain and going into hiding. So far, they had been left alone because nobody really knew about their underground shelter since their nearest neighbor was down the road. Eventually, the government would show up looking for her since she was listed as an Undeadagain on her driver’s license.
“Maybe you should walk outside and breathe some fresh air. It’s getting dark outside. We should be safe.”
“Franklin, we can’t risk it.”
“Ok, but tomorrow I’m going to have to do some grocery shopping.”
“Just bring back plenty of chips. I get bored down here. I’ve watched every DVD we own and my eyes can’t handle reading another book in this synthetic light.”
“I can bring the PlayStation down here, and you can play some video games.”
“Bring all the games down.”
“I will.”
He sat down next to her and put his arm around her. He kissed her forehead. He thought about the times they had together before the apocalypse. She was very strong willed, one of the reasons he fell in love with her. There was nothing that could stand in her way. No matter what the obstacle had been, she overcame it.
“I love you.”
“Franklin, I know,” she said with a smile. “Do you want to make love to me?”
“It would pass the time.”
“There isn’t anything else to do down here,” she said and kissed him.
The next morning, Franklin left to do the grocery shopping. While he was away, Matilda continued to write in her diary. She heard a loud sound outside. Franklin just left. It couldn’t be him. She climbed out of bed and walked over to the wooden stairs leading to the door above. She could hear several voices outside. She stood still staring forward as the door burst inward and three police officers dressed in riot gear rushed in with their guns pointed straight at her.