Day 70 - Zombie Story

Zombie Story

Matthew Ryan Fischer

Judy woke to the sound of a loud bang.  It was 3am and it was very very dark.  It was pitch black outside.  Strange that there was no light from the moon or stars or a nearby streetlight.  It was an unnatural darkness, as if something or someone had blotted out the light or painted darkness all around.  Judy didn’t notice it at first, but subconsciously she could just tell that something was off inside her room.

The hallway was full of smoke.  She couldn’t tell if there was a fire or not.  She didn’t see any flames or feel any heat.  She wondered what was wrong with the smoke detectors.  At the end of the hall, a nightlight flickered on and off, creating an eerie sporadic glow within the smoke.  A lighthouse in the fog suddenly popped into her mind, but she wasn’t sure what that had to do with anything.

“Beth?!  Anna?!”

She called out for her roommates, but there was no answer.  She quickly made her way along the hall and stopped to open their doors.  Both seemed empty.  Where were they, she wondered.  Had they gone out on dates after she had gone to bed early?  Why weren’t they answering if they were here somewhere?  Maybe they were spending the night at their boyfriends’ places.  Did they have boyfriends right now?  She didn’t know.  She needed to talk to her friends more.

The hallway seemed narrower than normal.  There were boxes and chairs and she kept bumping into things.  Was one of her roommates moving and she didn’t realize it?  Was she really that unaware?

She kicked a bookshelf and for a moment worried she broke her toe.  Had that bookshelf been moved?  She didn’t remember it there.  Her toe hurt badly.  She felt around in the dark but could feel no blood.  It seemed like she would be okay.

She reached for the light switch, but paused.  If there was a fire, was she supposed to leave lights on or off?  She couldn’t remember.  Could the electricity cause a bigger explosion?  She really had never thought about this sort of thing before.  This was her first time living off campus and not at home.  There were probably a million things like this she had never thought about.

She flipped the switch – she’d risk a bigger fire.  Tripping and falling down the stairs seemed more dangerous than an extra flame or two.

Nothing happened.  Nothing at all.  The lights weren’t working.

She made her way to the stairs and carefully descended.  She didn’t want to trip and die in the dark.  Then she stepped on something – it was furry and warm and made a terrible screech and pulled away as soon as she did it.  What is a rat?  Suddenly something slimy slithered over her toes.  What was going on!?  She tried to hurry up, but something reached out and grabbed at her ankles.  This almost tripped her and sent her tumbling down.

The living room was a cloud of darkness and smoke, worse than the hallways upstairs.  And there was heat coming from somewhere.  But she couldn’t find the flames. This was bad, she thought.  Really really bad.

Then the chaos broke out.  Out of the darkness came the bodies.  The slow moving drones that moaned and shuffled and threw their arms about.  They were all around her – touching, grabbing, and pushing.  She felt bones and blood and ooze.  It was disgusting.  It was frightening. 

Judy screamed out and tried to push her way through the crowd.  They swarmed in and wouldn’t let her pass.  There were too many and she couldn’t fight them all.  She turned and ran the other way.

The kitchen door wouldn’t open and those things were following her.  Judy ran to the basement and locked the door behind her. 

For a brief moment Judy felt safe.  That allowed her to realize just how unsafe she really was.  If the house was on fire, she would die.  If that lynch mob of decay got into the basement she was dead.  Maybe the fire would take them out and allow her a chance to escape.  Maybe, but not likely. 

Smoke was beginning to come in under the basement door.  She could also hear the sounds of those things pounding again and again against the door.  She began to check the windows to try and find one that was big enough for her to crawl out of.

Judy tried to squeeze her way to safety.  She was met with a slimy ghoulish hand on her legs and another pair that grabbed her arms.  For a brief second she thought she was going to be pulled apart.  Then she noticed it was Beth grabbing her arms, and turned to see it was Anna behind her.

Judy was not amused.

“You guys suck.  You know that?”

 “Yeah, but it was fun, right?”

“I think I stepped on a rat.  I might have killed it.”

“Probably.  Come back upstairs and have a drink.”

“With the walking dead lynch mob?”

“With my friends from theater class.”

“Fine.”

Judy smiled.  Her friends were nuts alright.  She instantly began dreaming up her revenge.