The Undead That Saved Christmas

by ed. Lyle Perez-Tinics

  Then he came upon a newsreel. There were many people who looked like those things outside, but they were large humans. They went after anything that wasn’t dead. This is what we had to look forward to.

  Through the stillness of the room, there came a knocking noise, but it wasn’t at the front door. It was the secret elf door that led to Santa’s house. This was how he was always able to be there as soon as Santa needed anything. He ran to the door, but when he got to it, he was too afraid to open it. Then he heard a little voice say, “Please if you’re in there let me in. I am so frightened.” He took a deep breath and slightly opened the door.

  “Have you been touched by any of those creatures in anyway?” He asked.

  “No. We have been hiding in this tunnel since last night, just this morning I realized that it came here.” The voice was that of Mrs. Claus.

  “OK come in. But you must be as quiet as a mouse because there are creatures stirring and we do not want their attention.” Eldan stood back and opened the door with him. Mrs. Claus walked in with ten elves, Eldan counted. When he closed and locked the door again, he looked up to see that out of all the elves present the one he was hoping for was standing next to Mrs. Claus. She was Mrs. Claus’ number one elf.

  Eldan pointed upstairs and led the way. Once up there he went to the window to pull the curtains closed. Everyone began sitting where they could. Looking from face to face, it was apparent that everyone had been affected by this travesty. Eldan had the upper hand because he didn’t have any family.

  He perched himself on the desk.

  “I’ve been doing some research and learned that humans have also been taken over by this disease. The only way to take them out is by destroying the brain.” Everyone winced at his words. “Those people out there are no longer our friends or family, they are now zombies. Until this morning, I thought they were fictional characters in movies, but as you can see humans have managed to get the whole world infected. We have to take our town back, but we need a plan if we want to survive.” Everyone nodded their heads at his words.

  Eldan thought about it for a long moment. This was going to be harder for them because in the North Pole, they didn’t need guns, or weapons for that matter. Violence was not something they knew here.

  “First we have to find out if the reindeer were affected by the disease. I need one elf to come with me. Any volunteers?” Everyone blankly stared. Peppermint looked at him behind heavy lashes. If this was any other circumstance, he would have been so happy, but they were in the middle of planning a suicide mission. She gave Eldan a slight nod and got up to stand next to him.

  “I need the rest of you to start making weapons with anything that we can use, but whatever you do, you need to stay quiet. Remember we must destroy the brain.” He turned and headed to the stairs with Peppermint right behind him. When he got to the secret tunnel door, he turned to look at everyone again. He walked through the door, locking it from the other side with his key.

  Peppermint grabbed Eldan’s hand tight as they walked through the tunnel. Before they got to the end Peppermint stopped walking. Eldan looked at her. “I just wanted to tell you that if we make it through this, I want to be your one and only elf. I have wanted to tell you that but was too shy. Now is no time for shyness.” Eldan grinned and put his arms around Peppermint, then kissed her.

  “I would be honored to call you mine,” He said, then began walking again.

  When they made it to the other door, he opened it slowly. It opened into a closet at the home of Mrs. Claus. He looked around and saw nothing. He crept into the house slowly. All was quiet. He crab walked under the window and over to a door that went to the garage. Getting to his feet, he opened the garage door as quietly as possible.

  He walked in and waved to Peppermint to follow him. Once she was in, he walked over and whispered something in Comet’s ear. The reindeer nodded. She watched as Eldan organized a plan with the remaining reindeer. Peppermint was impressed.

  “Ok, they’re all on board. We’re going to need them to fly us around so we can collect things for the best possible sneak attack. The best part is they can each carry one of us because we are so small. Now we have to go around this house and make sure all the curtains are pulled. We don’t need anything seeing us as we move around.”

  “I’ll go to the other side of the house and get started there. We’ll meet in the middle,” Peppermint said.

  It took longer than they had thought because there were so many just roaming around. They began finding things that could be turned into weapons. Pans, kitchen knifes, and toilet covers where the only items they found. Once they secured everything, they decided to go back and let the others know they were ok and what the plan was. They carried the loot back with them.

  When they got to the door, Eldan put his things down so he could unlock it. A thud came from inside his house. The first thought out of his head was that his home had been overrun. He locked the door again and picked up his stuff. The elves ran back to where he had come from.

  Once there he told Peppermint that she needed to find a place to hide. The reindeers and Eldan needed to fly over to the house and see if there was anyone left alive. He went and told the reindeers the plan and they followed him up to the roof. Hopping on Dashers back, they went straight up as high as they could so that the creatures couldn’t see them and flew to his house. Looking in the window he saw that five elves plus Mrs. Claus had barricaded themselves in the upstairs room. When they saw Eldan and the reindeer they ran to the window. Each of the reindeers went to the window and took an elf on their back. The last two went together so that Mrs. Claus could be carried. Once again they went straight up out of sight and then came straight down on the roof. He hadn’t seen anyone look up so he was pretty sure that they were safe.

  He led the way into the house and out of nowhere they were overrun by unseen creatures. The last thing Eldan saw was Peppermints face running toward him with teeth bared and Santa going after Mrs. Claus.

  Mrs. Claus ran to the bedroom and locked the door. Terrified, she tried to calm down to think more clearly. She heard banging on the door followed by a moaning, gurgling sound.

  “How could this have happened?” she asked herself. Through the tears in her eyes, she went to the window, throwing it open. Looking around at what was left of her world she called out, “Now Dasher and Dancer, Prancer, and Vixen, Comet and Cupid, Donner and Blitzen.” From the corner of the house she saw them fly to her window. “Come on boys we have to get out of here. Everyone has been infected by whatever this is. We have to find shelter from these people because they are no longer who they used to be. Comet and Dasher come close to the window so that she could climb on their back.

  Just as she saddled the reindeer, the bedroom door broke open. The room was flooded with mangled faces that were once people she loved. “Goodbye my darlings,” she said through sobs. “Come on guys we have to get out of here.” They flew through the sky headed for...

  Story Art Cover

  By Byron Rempel

  www.idrawzombies.com

  Dedication

  To my mom, who always made all our Christmases merry and for always believing in me. I love you mom

  Author Bio

  Joe Filippone was born and raised in Denver Colorado where he first fell in love with zombies after seeing Night of the Living Dead on TV one late night. Since then he has been obsessed with all things Romero and undead. While living in Denver, Joe had a long and successful career as a stage and film actor before moving to Hollywood California where he currently lives and works as a fulltime actor and writer. He has appeared in numerous theatrical productions as well as films, television, commercials and music videos. He has also worked as a casting director and director. Joe is also an accomplished breakdancer. As a writer, Joe has had the honor of seeing his work appear in over a dozen anthologies including Letters From The Dead from Library of the Living Dead Press. He also has short stories scheduled to appear in The Moron
's Guide to the Inevitable Zombocalypse and Baconology; both from Library of the Living Dead Press. Joe is also working on several novels as well as writing a paranormal TV series. In his spare time Joe enjoys watching horror movies, playing video games, hiking in the Hollywood Hills, going to the beach and doing stand up comedy. Joe also plans to go back to school where he hopes to earn a doctorate in cultural anthropology.

  The Legend of Zombie Claus

  By Joe Filippone

  The only glow came from the multicolored twinkling Christmas tree lights we had strung around the room with diligent care. Outside, the wind howled like a banshee, beating mercilessly against the door. The sky was an ominous grey and despite the fact that it was only five o’clock darkness already covered the land. Pure virginal white snow swirled and fell to the ground. The world was completely covered by the cold, frozen liquid.

  Inside, all the kids stared at Chaz with wide eyes. The youngsters gave the fun loving sixteen year old their full attention. Myself and the other teen volunteers stood in the back and watched as Chaz, (clad in a Santa hat and jacket that was about five sizes too big for him) told the kids one last story before they left for their two week Christmas break.

  “Once a year, HE, gets to come out and feed,” Chaz said slowly pacing back and forth. His normal lyrical tenor had taken on a macabre baritone vibrato. No doubt he had stayed up all night perfecting that voice.

  “After you turn out the lights and your mommies and daddies have tucked you in, all nice and tight and snuggly warm, HE, comes. Once you’ve drifted off to dream land, with visions of sugar plums dancing in your head, HE, comes.”

  I rolled my eyes. I couldn’t believe I was going out with such a geek. But he was my geek. And I wouldn’t trade him for any other geek in the world. Plus he was great with kids.

  “Down your chimneys. Through your windows. There is no escaping …Zombie Claus!”

  Another eye roll from me. Of course. Chaz loved zombies. His big dream was to one day work for Romero.

  Chaz let out a deranged laugh. Grabbing an unsuspecting little girl, he pulled her to his body and pretended to eat her with exaggerated nom nom nom noises. The little girl giggled and squealed with glee. She, like all the rest of the girls, had a crush on Chaz, and all the boys thought of him as their best buddy.

  Kicking her feet, she tried to get away, but Chaz only held on tighter. “There’s no escaping Zombie Claus!” he cried, as the children dog piled him. “He’s going to eat you!” Another deranged laugh escaped the dork’s mouth as he disappeared under a sea of tiny bodies.

  Myself and the other teen volunteers laughed as Chaz screamed in a girlish high falsetto. The kids were chanting Zombie Claus! Zombie Claus! Zombie Claus! Over and over. Watching them roll around on the floor, I

  wondered who was having more fun; the kids or the teen who acted like a kid. My money was on the teen.

  Chaz and I had started volunteering at the local elementary school about four months ago. It was part of required community service the high school made all the students do. It was supposed to teach us about responsibility and giving back to our community. When Chaz had suggested we volunteer at the after school program I was more than a little hesitant. I had never been around that many kids, and the thought of being responsible for all of them made me very nervous. But Chaz was insistent. He thought it would be fun and a good thing to put on his resume when he started looking for a summer job at the local summer camps and youth centers. Chaz loved kids and wanted to work with them in some capacity. He had good reason to. He was great with them. Everywhere we went, kids just naturally flocked to him and our kids at the after school program were no different. Maybe it was because Chaz was still a kid at heart himself. He didn’t care about looking cool. He’d play Legos with them or dolls. All the kids loved him and thought he was their best buddy. I knew he was sad that he wouldn’t see them for two weeks, but he was trying not to show it.

  After the last one had left, Chaz’s shoulders and energy slumped as he removed the jacket and hat and looked out the window at the blistering blizzard.

  “It’s not like you’re not gonna see them again,” I tried to comfort him. “Christmas break will be over before you know it.”

  Chaz laughed. “I know. It’s just gonna be weird not seeing them every day.” His shoulders rose and fell as he sighed and looked out the window. “Wonder what I’m gonna do all break?”

  “You could spend it with your girlfriend,” I suggested, resting my chin on his shoulder.

  “I suppose.” He replied, as if the thought bored him before slowly looking at me with a goofy grin plastered on his face.

  “You’re such a geek,” I laughed. “Come on,” I said, gathering up the Christmas cards the kids had made for us and stuffing them in my backpack. “Let’s go. This blizzard’s getting worse by the minute and even with your truck’s four-wheel drive it’ll be tough getting home.”

  “Yeah,” he agreed, picking up the Santa jacket and hat.

  Our boots echoed off the school’s hard tile. I hated to admit it but being alone in the darkened school; surrounded by rows of dark classrooms that reminded me of caves, made me shudder.

  Easy Chrissy, I told myself. Don’t let your overactive imagination run away with you. This is Christmas, not Halloween. You’re not supposed to be scared at Christmas.

  The cold stabbed us like a knife when we opened the door. The sky was a dismal grey and the orange glow from the streetlamps did little to break through the blackness. Everything was completely covered in white snow. I couldn’t even see the neighboring houses or the street. No cars were out. It was like Chaz and I were the last people on Earth.

  The sub-zero wind whipped my face causing hot salty tears to sting my eyes. Even bundled up the chill went right through me. The wind pushed us around as if we were nothing more than rag dolls; I don’t know how we were able to keep our balance. The snow seemed to come down, ravaging the Earth, with greater force every second.

  I was disoriented. I lost all sense of direction. This scared me. I hated not being in control.

  “Where’s your truck?” I asked Chaz, voice getting swallowed up by the wind.

  We looked around the parking lot, or what we thought was the parking lot, with everything blanketed in white it was hard to tell where we were. We tried to look for anything that might give us clues, but we couldn’t tell what was a snow bank and what was a snow covered truck.

  “Let’s go back inside,” I called, teeth chattering.

  Our tracks had long ago been covered up and I was scared that we would freeze, trapped between the warm sanctuary of the truck and the school. Talk about an ironic way to go.

  Somehow -must have been a Christmas miracle- we were able to find our way back to the school.

  “Trapped in a school during Christmas break,” Chaz pouted looking out at the storm. “Major suckage.”

  “Guess we should have left with the others and not bothered to clean up,” I said.

  “At least there’s plenty of food in the cafeteria,” he offered brightly. “We won’t starve. Plus there’s TVs and, oh dude!, we still have some hot chocolate in the room! Come on! Let’s make some!”

  I couldn’t help but chuckle as the overgrown dork grabbed hold of my hand and practically drug me back to the classroom. And seriously, what other guy calls their girlfriend dude as a term of affection? Man, I love him!

  “I’ve tried five different classrooms. All of the phones are dead,” I answered defeated. It worried me that we were, literally, cut off from civilization. What if something happened? An accident or emergency and we needed help? Rubbing my arms I couldn’t get rid of the goose bumps that had suddenly sprouted up like weeds. What was wrong with me? Why was I spooked? Why did I have a feeling something bad was going to happen?

  “At least the TV still works,” Chaz said, drawing me out of my thoughts. “Come on, dude, watch this with me.”

  Settling down on the floor we watched How The Grinc
h Stole Christmas. Chaz was singing along to You’re A Mean One, Mr. Grinch, doing his best to imitate the baritone that was much too low for his high tenor.

  “See this isn’t so bad,” Chaz said after a while.

  “I guess not,” I smiled at him and ruffled his shaggy burnt cinnamon colored hair. “And if I have to be trapped here I’m glad I’m with someone cute.”

  Chaz looked at me for a couple beats. “Hey. Wait a minute. That’s me you’re talking about,” he said, happily making me laugh. Ever since we had been little he had always been able to make me laugh.

  We kissed. As the freezing blizzard raped the outside world, inside, our make out session got more and more heated. We probably could have melted the snow.

  “Wait a minute,” I finally said.

  “What?” He asked lazily, lips buried in my neck.

  “I feel weird doing this with A Charlie Brown Christmas on.”

  Laughing, Chaz blindly punched in a channel on the remote control. Silent Night Deadly Night was on.

  “Oh that’s much more romantic,” I laughed.

  Smirking we kissed again. I had already planned to give Chaz my virginity as a Christmas gift. I just hadn’t planned on giving it to him in an elementary school while Linnea Quigley got speared on moose antlers.

  “I love you, dude,” Chase said stroking my hair and kissing me after we had gotten dressed. “You’re my best friend.”

  “Ditto,” I promised.

  We kissed again and smiled at each other. Chaz had swiped a couple blankets from the nurse’s office. Huddled underneath them we watched Frosty The Snowman, Rudolph and Santa Claus Conquers The Martians.

  Several uneventful hours passed by. I didn’t think it was possible but the storm had gotten worse. I couldn’t help but have visions of being buried alive. Trapped in the school until the spring thaw.