by Theo Vigo
Mariam approaches the table with the pills sitting on them, and her eyes are drawn to the patterns created on the window. She thinks she sees something weird, but dismisses it as illusion and grabs the bottle of pills. Not too far from where the pills had been, sitting on the same table, is the half full glass of water Mariam had used to swallow the pills she took earlier. She looks at the little bottle of pills and shakes it. There still seems to be a good amount left, so she decides to take another couple. She pops the cap off and shakes it a bit until a couple of pills fall from the bottle into her hand. It is at this very moment that one of the shadow patterns in the window begins to distinctly move. It is now very clear that this shadow is truly not like the others. Unlike the branches, it moves independent of the wind. It moves on it's own accord and through it's own will, but Mariam doesn't seem to notice it's shape growing in the window frame.
She exhales, tired and frustrated by what life has become and pops one of the pills into her mouth. She uses her other hand to drink some water, letting the pill slide down her throat. The shadow in the window continues to grow larger as Mariam pops the second pill into her mouth, and the looming figure begins to take a recognizable shape. It looks as though a man is approaching, but Mariam still doesn't notice as she takes her second swig of water. She doesn't even notice when the menacing shadow has shrunken into the finite black figure of a man, now standing right outside the glass.
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The blonde haired, blue eyed teenage girl is knelt down beside her father. She wipes his forehead gently with the damp washcloth and speaks to him, even though his eyes are closed, and she isn't sure if he can hear her.
LongBlondeHairedGirl: (sniffs) Remember that time, last year when you and mom came back from your vacation in Maui a day earlier than I had expected? (sniffs) You guys barged into the house and were met by a bunch of us girls in our panties. Ha ha. (sniffs) Totally crashed the little lingerie party I threw for all my girlfriends. We were all so embarrassed. (sniffs) I mean, we were only sixteen, there in our delicates, talking about our lives, boys and a bunch of other sexual things our parents were never supposed to hear us talking about… complimenting each other on all of the new pieces we chose to wear for the night, and then, out of nowhere, you and mom just burst in. (sniffs) Ha ha. I swear Alexis's whole body turned bright red. She's always had a little crush on you. (sniffs) I thought I was in a nightmare. I'll never forget all the screaming… heh.. especially from mom. She was completely freaking out. She probably thought her daughter was hosting a lesbian party, or something. I've never seen her that upset. I thought she was going to kill me. I thought you both were going to kill me. Especially you,.. You can be so.. aggressive and intimidating sometimes… especially with boys… but that night when you guys came in and caught all of us.. as we were,… mom went insane.. but you… you just laughed at us and starting dancing around the living room.
She laughs through her tears at the thought of her father dancing around in their old living room amongst her friends. Gary remains still with his eyes closed.
LongBlondeHairedGirl: You were such a hard-ass… sometimes even scary… but you were also lighthearted. You knew how to be silly …and you knew we were just being silly little girls.
She inhales her sniffles deeply as she calms down from laughing, and sighs just as deeply, as she exhales.
LongBlondeHairedGirl: It was so awkward. There's no denying that, but so so funny… I couldn't believe it when you started to stri-
Before she can finish her sentence, a loud crash followed by a shrill scream sends a shock up her spine. She instinctively dives head and arm into her father's breast, the brunt from his daughter startles Gary awake.
Gary: W-.. what's wrong!?
LongBlondeHairedGirl: I don't know! I don't know!
The fright has completely taken her now as she clings to her father's sickly body. Her breaths are frantic, and her speech is hurried.
Gary: Your mother... Where is she?
LongBlondeHairedGirl: S-she went to go get you some pills.
Gary: Go… check on her…
LongBlondeHairedGirl: But what about you!?
Gary: Go to your mother.
The sternness in his voice prompts the girl to get to her feet.
LongBlondeHairedGirl: Okay…
Forgetting to take a light source, she backs away from her father. Her dirty cheeks are flush with red. She rubs her runny nose, all the while keeping her watery eyes on him right up until she reaches the room's door, at which point she turns and makes her way down the corridor toward the living room.
LongBlondeHairedGirl: Mom!? What was that?! Are you all right??
She walks swiftly but cautiously, with her arms out, peering into the darkness of the cabin space ahead of her. She thinks back to how she was trying to call her mom before and was drowned out by the storm. As it is still raging, she finds it pointless to make any more attempts at calling out to her, or maybe she is just too scared. She continues to tread carefully.
Seeing the doorway to the living room, she instinctively slows her pace. Something is a little bit off about all of this. There is a strange unmoving light, and the drizzle can be heard much too clearly. She has a change of heart, and decides to again try calling out as she gets closer, but softer this time, as she is still afraid of what she might find.
LongBlondeHairedGirl: Mom? Mom, what's…
Upon arriving in the doorway, she brought to a stand still. You can almost see her spirit being sucked out of her, as her body literally deflates into a traumatic sulk. In the living space, she is welcomed by the lower half of her mother's body, hanging out of the front window. Attached to and eating the top half of her is our zombie. From the looks of it, he had broken in through the window and grabbed her mother who was standing too close to it. The bottle of pills has fallen to the floor, the capsules scattered everywhere. Glass from the window is also all over the floor, and the rain showers in through the shattered frame. The source of the strange, unmoving light is the flashlight that her mother was using. It too has fallen and rolled to a random spot on the floor. Mariam had been grabbed from the back, so she leans out the window that way, her now dead eyes plainly visible to her daughter.
LongBlondeHairedGirl: Oh, no… Mom… No… No…
She watches on, paralyzed as our zombie chews into her mother's shoulder and collarbone area. In the time that it took the young girl to get to the living room, our zombie has already been able to eat a good portion of Mariam. As we know, this is the first taste of real human flesh he has eaten in a long while, and he eats with an excited vigor. He stops chewing her neck, and takes hold of Mariam's lifeless head, looking at it as if he can see right through the skull, straight to the fresh juicy brain that sits inside. The scent overwhelms him, as it did back in the city. He wants it. He needs it. He drools with desire for it, and roughly chomps down into the top of Mariam's head. It is surprising, the strength in the bite of his rotting undead teeth. It doesn't take too many attempts for him to break through.
The sight of this is too much for the teenage girl, and her knees collapse from beneath her, crashing into the rugged floor. She begins to cry uncontrollably, still unnoticed by our preoccupied zombie. He is thoroughly enjoying this rare treat, while the half broken girl continues her breakdown on the floor by the doorway.
LongBlondeHairedGirl: (through her tears) … no… stop it… you bastard… stop it…(sniffs)… STOP IT!!!
It is this exclamation that catches our zombie’s attention. He stops eating Mariam's succulent cerebral matter, and looks up at the girl that is not much deeper inside the house. Perhaps, the taste of human flesh isn't as rare as he had thought. Not only that, but this other girl looks much younger, and fresher than the woman he is currently ingesting.
Head down and seeped in her own tears, the girl doesn't realize that she has caught our zombie's attention, or maybe she does, and just doesn't care. She sits there and cries into the palms of her hands.
This is enough to get the girl back to her feet, but before she leaves the living room she turns to tell her mother she loves her, then closes the door that separates the hallway from the murder scene. She runs back into the sickroom and slams that door shut as well. Her father is still laid out across the floor, but now his eyes are open and alert, the most alive she has seen them in days. She hurries over to him, and without speaking tries to get him up.
Gary: …W..what's going on? Where's your mother?
LongBlondeHairedGirl: She's… she's gone, dad.
The shock of the news causes Gary to squirm around in his daughter's arms, making it harder for her to lift him. She stops for a moment so that he can get out what he is trying to say. Meanwhile, our zombie has been able to get himself inside. He lands awkwardly on top of Mariam and on his back, but gets up right away and walks over to the closed door that leads to the hallway. He promptly begins slamming his fists into it.
Gary: (coughs) What do you mean she's gone?!
LongBlondeHairedGirl: She's dead, dad! One of those monsters broke in through the window and killed her! I was too late to do anything about it!
Gary: Oh, God.. Mariam…
His body weight falls heavy on top of his daughter. The thumping from our zombie's fists being thrust into the door on the other side of the house can be heard faintly in the background, even over the rolling storm outside.
LongBlondeHairedGirl: Urgh, no! Dad, you have to get up! It's still in here! We have to hide!
She pulls and tugs on her father who seems to have given up, while across the way, our zombie is making good progress. The wood of the door is quite old and brittle, and the middle area in which his fist continues to make contact is starting to chip away.
LongBlondeHairedGirl: Aaaargh… Dad, please! I don't want to lose you too! Please, help me!
Hearing the desperation in his daughter's voice, Gary brings himself together and tries with everything he has to get to his feet. Working together, they are actually able to get him standing. The distraught girl quickly looks around and notices the closet in the room's corner.
LongBlondeHairedGirl: C'mon… ugh.. This way.
They move slowly as Gary is extremely weak, and his daughter's petite frame has great difficulty lifting the fully-grown man, even with all the weight he has lost. They trudge and trudge until they get inside and close the closet door behind them.
By now, the deprived flesh eater has created a large enough hole in the door that he can squeeze through. He pushes himself in, scraping bits of his side, arms and legs, and just barely manages to get into the hallway. After stumbling into it, he pauses as if to get his bearings. Where did that fresh, delicious looking young girl go to? A minor survey of the dark hallway, and his question is answered. In her hurry to hide in the closet, the girl had left the oil lamps in the room, still lit. From the hall, our zombie can see a slit of light spilling out from under the door of the room. And the sweet scent hits him like walking into a puff of humidity after stepping out from an air-conditioned home. He heads straight for it.
In that exact moment, sitting in the closet with her father, the girl notices the same light. She scrambles to get up quickly, but eases her father off of herself as gently as possible. Gary groans, confused.
LongBlondeHairedGirl: It's okay. I have to get the lights.
She opens the door and rushes out to grab them. First, she flicks off the shaded lamp, and then takes up the first oil lamp. Then, she grabs the second one, but the moment she does, a loud crash erupts on the bedroom door. It's too late. They've been found out. The booming from the door startles the already shaken girl, and she let's out a scream while falling hard on to her buttocks. One of the oil lamps goes out as a result. She leaves it where it lies and hurries back into the closet.
When she gets in and closes the door, she sees that her father is standing and holding a lead pipe tightly with both hands. His trembling has started up again, half from the fever and half from being so weak. They can hear the zombie outside as it continues to bang on the frail door of their haven.
LongBlondeHairedGirl: Dad, what are you doing?!
Gary: I'm not going to let him, ugh… get you.
A loud snapping crackle followed by a triumphant growl, lets the hiding pair know that their aggressor has broken through the door and is now inside the room. It quiets them. The girl rushes over to her father, notices the light of the lamp and quickly blows it out. They wait in silence. For a moment, the only sound they can hear is that of the raindrops tapping on the roof above, although, the growling thunder and spikes of lightning are still in a steady rage. And then... *BANG*
The zombie takes his first shot at the closet door, and the two inside shudder in its total darkness. The beaten down girl inhales obvious sniffles as the two try, without succeeding, to quiet their breathing.
**BANG**
**BAANG**
They shudder again.
**BAAANG**
The zombie's strength seems to heighten as- **BBAAANG** … his attempts to- **BBAAANG** … break down the door-**BAAAAANG** … become louder and more violent. **BBAAAANGGG**
His hits are slow and few in between, as if he knows that his prey is trapped. He takes his time and makes sure to give the door proper strikes. And it pays off…
***SNNAAAAPP!!!***
With that attempt, a small crack appears in the weak closet door. The lightning from the room's window flickers through the tiny opening created by the blow, it strobes into the closet space with each crack of sky born electricity.
***BBAAAANNNGGG!!!!***
The crack gets bigger and more light is allowed to flicker through. Something can be seen on the other side of the door. It occasionally blocks the view of lightning through the hole; their swaying executioner.
***BBBBAAANNNGGG!!!!***
***BBBAAANNNGGG!!!!***
As if he knows that the door is about to collapse at any moment, he ups the frequency of his pounding.
***BBBAAANNGG!!***
***BBBAAANNNGG!!***
The hole is now big enough for the intruder to fit his entire arm and head through. This is evident when he tries to get inside prematurely. He growls, frustrated, and withdraws back out of the hole. Inside, his preys continue to shudder in fear.
***BAAANNGG!!!***
***BAAANNNGG!!!***
*****BBAAAAAAAAANNG!!!!!!!!!!!*****
With that, the majority of the door falls through. The terrified girl clutches on to her father as our zombie lets out yet another roar of triumph. His hard times seem to be behind him.
LongBlondeHairedGirl: GET AWAY FROM US!!!
He responds with another roar, this one much more irate, and then begins making his way through the space he created to claim his prize. The girl watches his haunting silhouette maneuver through the cavity in the door, paralyzed with fear. All her brain can think to do is hold on tightly to her father and never let go; if she holds on to him forever, there's no way she'll lose him. Gary can do nothing but wait, ready to defend his daughter.
When he gets completely through the space, our zombie is met with a flying extinguished oil lamp, thrown by the frantic teenager. It bounces off the walker's left shoulder and shatters on the closet floor. It goes pretty much unnoticed by the hungry zombie, and he continues toward the quivering pair, moving slowly as if relishing the moment, savoring the fearful ex
pressions of his feast that can do nothing to escape him. Then, without warning, the view of her approaching end is blocked by something large. Her father. He has left her side, and now stands tall in front of her. He stands so tall it reminds the girl of the old days when Gary was in good health.
LongBlondeHairedGirl: Dad!…
Gary: Stay back!
Our zombie gets closer to the weak defending father, and his daughter grabs on to him from the back.
LongBlondeHairedGirl: Let's just run!
As she says this, she puts herself within reach of the monster, who takes his chance and extends his arm to grab on to her fresh supple flesh. Reacting instinctively, Gary grabs his daughter by the arm and pushes her past the groping beast. Her body crashes into the broken closet door.
Gary: RUN!!!
Gary's command is stern and is not that of a weak man.
LongBlondeHairedGirl: But...!
Even with the free meal of this man right in front of him, our zombie couldn't care less about Gary's sick stale body. He turns away from the screaming man to go after the fresher prey that still hasn't left the closet as her father told her to. There is a great hesitation inside of her, for she doesn't want to just leave him where he is most likely to be killed.
Gary: I SAID, GO!!!
Gary yells one more time at his disobedient daughter, and the burly man takes a swing at the back of our zombie's head. The true extent of the sick man's power is revealed. The blow to the back of the undead beasts skull does nothing but annoy it and gain its attention. It turns back and purrs a low growl of frustration, leering at Gary in anger.