Donna of the Not Undead (...of the Not Undead Book 1)

by Bryan Mosier

  “Dude, what took you so long?” asked Bryan.

  “Nothing. Just lost track of time talking is all.”

  “Talking? To who?” Bryan persisted but Alex just sat there in silence, thinking back on what a wonderful day it had been and for the first time in his high school career feeling excited about what the next day of school would bring.

  Looking through the hoard of stumbling, decaying forms milling about, Alex could only focus on the one rotting image of Marcus Middleton. Feeling the anger well up inside him he started togrit his teeth. “You filthy piece of shit.” Bringing the nail laden baseball bat up over his head, Alex brings the end of the weapon down hard on the first zombie closest to him, burying the nails deep into its skull. As itslimp body falls to the floor Alex couldn’t even say if he knew who the first victim of his growing rage had been when they were alive. Dislodging the bat from the first zombie’s skull he brings the bat around hard catching another in the side of the head, and again the nails of the bat tearthrough the decaying bone of the zombie’s skull. One after another the zombies that separate Alex from the target of his rage fall to the floor with hard thuds mixed with the sounds of fluids and tissue splattering on the floor until finally he finds himself face to face with his target. Completely lost in his anger, Alex is now singularly focused on this one pathetic shade of inhumanity. Looking into the eyes of this dead thing that used to be Marcus Middleton, Alex tries to find any sense of recognition, almost hoping to find some to give his rage validation. Looking into the milky blue eyes of the dead and seeing only emptiness, Alex slides back into his memories and allows his anger to be refueled. Thinking about those days, Alex can barely hold back the tears and in that instant can’t tell if they are from pure hatred filled rage or tears of sadness from the hurt that this pathetic creature in front of him had caused when it was counted among the living.

  When Alex got up to get ready for school the next day he was filled with a new sense of eagerness that had been missing up to this point. His usual reluctant self had been replaced with a new,excited, eager version that couldn’t wait to walk through those familiar front doors. The bus ride to school, a time usually reserved for either catching a few more winks after a long night of online video gaming or a chance to finish up any last minute homework that he should have done the night before, seemed to last forever. With every stop and each new passenger that was picked up along their usual route, Alex could only sit anxiously, silently encouraging each kid to“Hurry up and get on the bus already.” Finally arriving at school, Alex leapt from his seat and hurriedly pushed his way forward to the front of the bus, nearly knocking Bryan down in the process.

  “Dude, what’s the rush?” exclaimed Bryan who at this point was beginning to worry about his friend’s state of mind.

  “Sorry dude, I uh…I just gottago the bathroom really bad.”

  Throwing open the glass paned doors of the school Alex rushed into the lobby. Figuring that she probably still didn’t have a schedule yet, Alex expected to find Jeanie sitting in the office just as he had left her yesterday but sticking his head in through the door the only person he saw was secretary Vicky sitting at her desk nursing a steaming hot cup of very dark coffee.

  “Hey Vicky. How ya doin today? You seethat new girl…Jeanie?”

  Mumbling something about it being too early and needing caffeine before answering any questions Alex left Vicky to her morning sacrament to the coffee gods and went to drop his stuff off in his locker before resuming his search. Turning the corner Alex was slammed hard with an image that would shatter his world and make him question everything he knew about life and thought he knew about women. There, coming in the doors from the student parking lot was Jeanie. Jeanie, the girl he had thought about since the moment she walked into his life a whole twenty-four hours prior, the girl with the thick rimmed glasses and freckles on her cheeks, with the timid smile and quirky sense of style. There she was coming in from the student parking lot walking with the one person that Alex would never have imagined her even remotely having anything in common with. Marcus Middleton. Dumbfounded and confused, a million questions started racing through his mind.“How?” “Why?” “When?” Seeing her with him, seemingly of her own free will with no obvious evidence to suggest some type of coercion or, seemingly more probable, mind control, and smiling and laughing and apparently enjoying herself, Alex couldn’t fathom a scenario where two such seemingly different people would ever come together. Lost in his confused state Alex couldn’t hear anything, his ears filled with a buzzing that could only be the sound of all of the blood draining from his brain. So stunned was he that he didn’t notice as Jeanie gestured for him to come over to where she and Marcus were standing.

  “Alex! Hey, Alex. C’mere” came the familiar mouse like voice that he had been hearing in his day dreams since he left her alone in the office the day before.

  Jolted back into a semiconscious state Alex did a double take and sure enough there was Jeanie motioning for him to come join her with Marcus. Reluctantly Alex made his way over to where they were standing. As he approached he could feel himself start to tense up and feel uncomfortable and anxious. He didn’t like Marcus Middleton. He was an arrogant, entitled prick who made himself feel better by making everyone else feel bad. Seeing Jeanie with such an egotistical piece of garbage, Alex started to think that maybe he had misjudged Jeanie and that she wasn’t at all the kindred spirit he thought he had found.

  “Hey, what’s up” is all he could muster as he shuffled his feet, kicking at some imaginary object on the floor.

  “Hey, how’re you doin? You okay?” asked Jeanie, catching on to Alex’s discomfort but unable to pinpoint its source, oblivious to the obvious tension that Alex had for Marcus.

  “Yeah, um.. I’m fine. Just didn’t sleep well is all.” Looking up at Marcus Alex just gave him a half nod making sure to not allow any expression, good or ill, to be visible on his face.

  “Do you guys know each other?” asked Jeanie, trying to break what was rapidly becoming an extended moment of awkward silence.

  “Not real…” started Alex but was suddenly interrupted.

  “Sure, I know Alex. We’ve known each other for years. He’s a pal” said Marcus, the cordial familiarity of his words a completely unexpected surprise that left Alex speechless.

  “Oh, great. Maybe we can all hang out together later. Maybe at lunch?” suggested Jeanie. “That is if they let me actually go to class today. I hope I don’t have to sit in that office all day again.”

  “I don’t know…” started Alex but again his thought was abruptly cut short.

  “Sounds great!” said Marcus. “Can’t wait. I’ll talk to you later, okay.” And with that Marcus strolled on down the hallway joining up with some of the other jocks, all wearing their trademark maroon and white varsity jackets.

  “So...” started Alex but not really knowing where to go from there.

  “Marcus is such a sweetheart, don’t you think?” asked Jeanie and again the shock of hearing the words“Marcus” and“sweetheart” in the same sentence left Alex’s brain reeling into a chaotic, swirling state of vertigo.

  “Um…well…I don’t know”

  “He was such a gentlemen yesterday.”

  “Yesterday?”

  “Yeah. Y’knowhow my step-mom was supposed to pick me up at three-thirty? Surprise, surprise she forgot. I sat outside waiting until almost five. That’s when Marcus offered to give me a ride home. He was coming out of basketball practice and he saw me sitting in front of the school waiting and just came up and offered to take me home.”

  “He gave you a ride home?”

  “Yep. Did you know he drives a Challenger?” she said with a little too much awe in her voice.

  “Um, yeah, it’s a…um…it’s a nice car. Um, I…I gotta go, okay. Um…I’ll talk to you later alright?” and with that Alex tried to put as much distance between himself and Jeanie, trying not to let show the disappointment he was feeling. />
  Walking down the hallway he wasn’t sure who he was most disappointed with, Jeanie for not being able to see what kind of a douche Marcus is or himself for not having had the courage to let her know right then and there when he had the chance. Feeling himself starting to spiral down into yet another seemingly endless pit of despair and self-pity, Alex just mumbled to himself,“Fuck it, who needs her?” With that he decides it best to head on to get his things before going back to the office for his first block as an office aid.

  Arriving at his locker and having masterfully manipulated the dangling combination lock he began to gather the books that he would need for his first few classes knowing that he wouldn’t have time to make it all the way back upstairs until his lunch break. Lost in thought, wrestling with trying to make sense of what he thought was an irrational impossibility and the notion that he should just forget about Jeanie and make it a point to distance himself from her because she was obviously not the type of girl that he thought she was, he didn’t notice Bryan and Justin come up from behind him. Feeling the hairs stand upon the back of his neck in an unconscious reaction to some unseen attack he started to turn but was met with a sudden, sharp pain as Bryan’s fingers pinched a chunk of short little hairs at the nape of his neck and, with a skill derived from years of practice, quickly yanked them free of their follicles.

  “OWW!! Mother fucker! What the hell is wrong with you?” yelled Alex a little too loudly and with more venom than the situation called for. Truthfully it was one that had been reenacted countless times before so much so that he was actually surprised that any hair still grew there but this time happened to coincide with him being in a particularly bad mood and it was Bryan who was now on the receiving end of Alex’s wrath.

  “Dude, that shit is getting a little old” he growled and with a hard slam shut his locker and stormed off down the hallway.

  “What the fuck has got into him?” asked Bryan both confused and angry about how Alex had reacted to something that had almost become a daily tradition.

  “I do notknow. He seemed pretty happy earlier” answered Justin.

  Making his way downstairs and turning the corner where the hallway intersects the lobby and the entrance to the office, Alex stopped, so abruptly that the freshmen walking behind him with his nose in his phone, fake texting to make everyone think he was cool and had friends almost ran right into him. Looking through the large glass windows of the office Alex could see the familiar petite frame of Jeanie standing at the counter talking to Vicky who, having apparently had her morning dose of caffeine was talking with her, pointing at some papers that she had displayed out on the counter in front of her. Not wanting to have to deal with another conversation that would inevitably lead to more disappointment Alex decided to hold back and wait for Jeanie to leave before going into the office. Not wanting to be fixated on the conversation, he found himself concentrating intently, trying to read Vicky’s lips to get some hint of what was being said. So absorbed was he that he didn’t feel the space around him close in to become abnormally crowded. Not until the obnoxious smell of Axe body spray became so overpowering did he realize that he was no longer alone. Turning he found himself face to face with the real object of his frustration. There, standing in front of him was Marcus and two of his basketball team cronies. Marcus, standing a good five or six inches taller than Alex just looked down at him, his familiar trademark smug grin having replaced the cordial politeness of their earlier meeting.

  “Hey….AL.” said Marcus just as he had earlier but this time with a coldness and animosity that had been missing before.

  Looking into the cold, dead eyes of Marcus Middleton, all Alex wanted to do was lash out at him but, feeling the fear start to creep up his spine Alex just looked down at his feet and said“Um, hey Marc…uh Marcus.”

  Looking past Alex into the office where Jeanie was still talking to Vicky Marcus started talking, seemingly to no one in particular. “She sure is a cute little thing isn’t she? I mean for a nerd girl. Not really my usual type yaknow. I tend to aim a little higher on the food chain if you know what I mean. Top shelf, prime choice. Cheerleaders and such.” Looking back down at Alex and locking eyes with him he continued“You got a little thing for her don’t you? I understand. She’s cute and nerdy and you probably think you and her have a lot in common and yaknow what? You’re probably right.” Looking back at Jeanie in the office who was apparently finishing up whatever business she had with Vicky, Marcus’ already thin lips slowly stretched across his pock marked face to form what could only be described as a malevolent grin. Looking back down at Alex he gave a quick chuckle, nodded to his buddies who returned the gesture before heading down the hallway in the opposite direction. Walking towards the office entrance Marcus grabbed the handle just as Jeanie was about to push the door open from the other side. “Hey girl, what’s up? You get your schedule?” asked Marcus, reprising his role as the polite, charming bizarroversion of himself from earlier. “Oh, hey.” said Jeanie, apparently surprised to see Marcus there holding the door for her. “Um, yeah, I gottaget to first period but…” she said“but I don’t know if I remember where the classroom is.”

  “Here, let me see yourschedule” said Marcus.“Oh, U.S. History with Mr. Gee. That’s up in the middle hallway upstairs. C’mon, I’ll show you.”

  “Don’t you have to go to class?” asked Jeanie, confused as to why Marcus wouldn’t be in class himself. “Are you skipping?” she asked.

  “Oh no, I would never…” exclaimed Marcus in an exaggerated tone of feigned insult.“I got permission to be out” he said, continuing with his mocking tone of being offended.

  Picking up on his tone Jeanie said“Oh, I didn’t mean to suggest…”

  Taking her hand in his Marcus smiled and said“Its okay, I know you didn’t mean anything by it. C’mon lets go”. As he lead her down the hallway Marcus, being the narcissistic sociopath that he was, couldn’t help himself. He turned to look over his shoulder at Alex, still standing around the corner away from Jeanie’s view. His evil grin coming back over his face Marcus looked at Alex and gave hima wink as if to say,“You lose, again”. Feeling his face getting hot as the blood rushed to his cheeks and hearing the swooshing sound returning to his ears as his blood pressure began to rise Alex gritted his teeth, trying to hold back tears. With a whirlwind of emotions screamingthrough his head he wasn’t sure if they were tears of anger or tears of disappointment but regardless, he knew one thing in that moment, he hated Marcus Middleton more than any other person on the planet.

  Staring into the emptiness of those undead eyes, the once cold blue now replaced with the foggy milky white of decay Alex could hear the blood pounding in his ears as the memories continued to flood his brain with every heartbeat. With each memory, each moment that flashed before his eyes the pain and heartache that this one person caused so many people fueled a raging inferno of hate that would soon erupt into a firestorm of fury and wrath.

  “Did you even care? Did you ever once stop to think about how she would feel?” came the questions but Alex already new the answers. Marcus was as incapable of empathy and compassion then as he is now. He was the center of his own self-indulgent, narcissistic universe and everyone else were just play things for his amusement. “She was a good person. She didn’t deserve….” starts Alex but the words get caught in his throat. Thinking back to those days, the pain and heartache became once again became all too real.

  The following weeks seemed to be filled with nothing but dreary gray skies and a general feelingof melancholy as each day seemed to melt into the next. Alex did what he could to avoid Jeanie which wasn’t all that difficult as she had been spending most of her time hanging out with Marcus and his friends. He had been lucky for the most part. She and he only had one class together, Art, during third period so for most of the day he didn’t have to see her and deal with the painful emotions that being near her caused. But every day when third period rolled around she would come in the room and sit nex
t to him and for an hour he would have to sit and listen to her talk about what she and Marcus had done the evening before and how sweet and considerate a gentleman he was.

  As she sat and heaped praised uponMarcus it was everything Alex could do to not yell out what he knew to be the truth, that Marcus Middleton was a heartless, sadistic sociopath with no redeeming qualities whatsoever. He wanted to tell her about all the times that Marcus and his friends had picked on him and his friends but how could he do that and not seem like a total douche who was just trying to shove a wedge in between her and Marcus for his own personal gain. And that wouldn’t be entirely untrue would it. He did want to break up Marcus and Jeanie. Not just for her own protection but in the hope that she would see how much he cared for her. So he just sat there, day after day, smiling and nodding and saying“That’s nice” and“Oh, really!” feigning interest and playing the role of the agreeable friend.

  This went on week after week until one day Jeanie came into class and took her usual seat next to Alex but this time she didn’t want to talk. Rather than her usual debriefing of the previous day’s escapades riding in Marcus’ Challenger or watching him play basketball she just sat there, painting her watercolor landscape, her favorite subject, in silence. Noticing the change in her behavior Alex was relieved to not have to listen to her talk about Marcus but, out of concern for her he finally broke the silence and asked“Um, hey. Are you okay?”

  “What, oh…um…. yeah, I was just…I was just thinking about something” came the stuttered reply that only reinforced that something wasn’t alright.

  “You sure? You seem like you’re worried or something?”

  “Well…I…I…don’t know if I should talk about it. I mean…it’s kind of personal.”

  “Oh, okay…I get it. None of my business” replied Alex, the hurt in his voice evident from the notion that their relationship wasn’t close enough to share intimate thoughts or concerns. Picking up on his change in tone, Jeanie looked at him, her watery eyes magnified in her glasses, and said“If I tell you something will you promise not to tell anyone?”