IN THE BEGINNING THERE WAS BOREDOM

"Where did this all start?" you may be wondering, "This insane obsession with zombies?"
I wasn't always this way. It all happened so suddenly. I'm not even sure how it escalated to where it is today. But I remember where it started. Oh so vividly. I was at work. And I was bored.

I wrote a few paragraphs of the beginning of a story. I was vague. I emailed it to a friend, also at work and also bored. She wrote some more and sent it back. Soon it was a lengthy and terrible story about zombies. But I was in love and that was that. Now everything is zombies to me. I began to imagine I heard their feet shuffling on the carpet toward my desk and I would turn around as a blob of drool landed in my lap, my coworkers already lunch. I read zombies. I wrote zombies. Ironically, I ate zombies. Metaphorically speaking. So here we go.

Behold, the beginning. (It is long so make sure the oven is off and the dog is outside. Also, it is often grammatically incorrect. I am aware of this and will correct later. I apologize for the annoyance. I am black. My friend is red. Well, I am not black...the stuff that I wrote is black and the stuff that my friend wrote...well, you get the idea.)

He woke up. Suddenly. And couldn’t move. Or see. Or hear. It was like his body had been turned off and he’d been trapped inside his own head, surrounded only by dark emptiness. Faintly, from the darkness, a dull buzz began to find his ears. Well, he thought. At least I know they work. The buzz turned into a whisper, then a murmur, then words.

“Wake up, Tim.”

“He’s not going to. It’s been weeks!”

Weeks?  Slowly, he lifted his eyelids. But it was still dark. Suddenly, a white light shone obtrusively into his face, momentarily blinding him. He quickly closed them again, wincing from the strain they put on his already diminished pupils.

“Sorry!” The flashlight was lowered and Tim again attempted to open his eyes. It was dark, wherever he was, but not completely. Rock walls surrounded him and he could feel the earth beneath him rumble and groan by an unseen force. He felt stiff and dirty and confused. He had no recollection of where he was, how he’d gotten there, or who he was with. Tim’s eyes fell on the people in the small rock cave with him. They….

Were dirty and sweaty, their clothes ripped and bloody. Tim was repulsed by the sight,

“when was the last time these people showered?” he wondered, and then he thought, “man I hope I don’t look like that…”

he looked down to see that indeed his clothes were shredded and seemed to have a scary amount of blood on them.

“Where am I? What is going on?” he yelled in a panicky scared voice.

“Calm down Tim, do you remember anything that happened before you went into a coma?” said a girl kneeling down next to him on his left.  She was a small girl with brown hair that looked to be about twenty. She had a crazed look in her eyes like exorbitant amounts of adrenaline were pumping through her body. She was holding some plastic forks that looked like she had broken and been using as weapons. Dirt and blood caked her face, a face that was starting to look vaguely familiar…

“No,” he said, “I can’t seem to remember anything….who are you?”

“Tim it’s Kristen!” she said sounding very annoyed. “we’ve only been working together for the past several months, that is until the Zombie attack.”

Suddenly Tim remembered. The Zombies, the horror, the bloodshed, it had seemed like a normal day at work until….

they heard the quiet ding of the elevator from behind them, followed by the soft shuffling of feet on the carpet. The screams started before Tim had seen anything or had any idea of what was going on. Kate had run up to him in a panic, blood seeping into the front of her shirt. She attempted to speak, her eyes wide with fear. But before she could utter a sound, she fell to the ground and never got up. Tim heard Kristen scream from behind him and, looking up, saw them. Eyeless, soulless creatures. Their skin was falling off their bones, dried blood caked their fingers. He had never seen such a horrific sight. He grabbed Kristen’s hand and they made a dash for the stairs. A clawed hand had grabbed Kristen’s arm, scratching her badly. But Tim and had pulled her free and they escape from the building with their lives. Others were not so lucky. In a week, the only Martin's Marketing employees left alive were Tim, Kristen, and Kristin. Kristin, however, had not emerged as unscathed as Tim and Kristen had. She’d only gotten a few scratches physically, but emotionally she would be forever scarred. At the time of the attack, Kristin and a large portion of her family had been working at Martin's Marketing. Her dad, brother, uncle, cousin, all gone. The rest of her family had not made it either. In one instant, Kristin was alone in the world and she hardened herself. Once a quiet, easy-going girl, she became a tough, emotionless survivor. She no longer wanted to be called Kristin. It brought too many memories of her family calling her by that name. Now, she was simply K.

K glared down at Tim as he tried to recall his past. “Well, it’s about time you snapped out of it,” she sneered. “Any longer and we would have left you. We have our own lives to worry about.”

“No we wouldn’t have!” Kristen argued. “Don’t worry, Tim. We would have fought off the…them for as long as it took.”

Tim looked up at K. Her hair was tied back in a ponytail. Blood was streaked on her arms and clothing though he doubted much of it was her own. Her eyes were hard and she clutched her pistol tightly in her dirty hand. Tim glanced back at Kristen’s weapon, then back up at K’s.

Inwardly shrugging, he turned to K and said…

“How the heck did you get a pistol when Kristen only has some broken plastic forks?”

This unexpected question caused a smile to appear across K’s face for an instant before she quickly retracted the amused emotion.

“Because Kristen doesn’t know how to survive, she wasn’t prepared. I however always carry a 22 in case of a zombie apocalypse.”

“Hey that’s not fair!” Kristen interjected, “Sure I’m not packing heat like miss ‘I feel like the world could end at any second’ but I’m resourceful, who else could expertly sharpen plastic forks like this? And I’m not afraid to use them Timbo! I may have protected you while you were all weak and vulnerable in a coma, but now you are fair game if you keep this up!”

Tim smiled at Kristen’s energetic retaliation. The smile quickly vanished as he remembered their situation, they were stuck in a cave with thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands, of flesh eating Zombies waiting outside to crack open their skulls and slurp out their brains like a teenager would slurp an icee.

“Ok girls,” Tim said, “What’s the plan?”

“Well,” Kristen started, “I was thinking we could see if we could train the Zombies and start a traveling circus…”

“No!” interjected K, “we need to get more firepower and blow those suckers to whatever undead afterlife Zombies have!”

As the girls argued on whether it was better to be-friend the Zombies or start a massacre, Tim’s eyes shifted to what looked like a pile of rat bones in the corner. His thoughts started to wander, “of all the people in the world why did I have to get stuck in a cave with these two? What happened to them while I was out anyway? Kristen looks like she hasn’t slept in days and looks like she is just itching to stab something with those forks…she also looks like she could burst into tears at any moment…I wonder if that has anything to do with whether or not Zach made it out….and Kristin, or K now I guess, she looks like a soldier, like she has been in war for years and it has hardened her….how did I miss all this in a matter of weeks!? What is the world coming to? What have they been eating? How will we survive? What will we do? What if my ex-girlfriend is a zombie and she comes back and finds me and sucks my brain out and what if….

At this point Tim started hyperventilating, bringing Kristen and K out of their argument.

“Tim Snap out of it!” Kristen yells as she slaps him hard across the face. “We need you in this fight!”

Tim now gathering his senses looks at her as he says, “we need to get out of here, now!”

“I agree,” says K.

“While you were out there was an earthquake that closed off the entrance to the cave, we counted it as a blessing at first because the zombie’s couldn’t get to us, but now there is only one way out,” explained K. She glanced over at Kristen.

Kristen looked at the ground as she finished what K was saying…

“We figured out where we are, exactly, while you were…sleeping. It’s not a cave.”

K stepped towards the wall and picked something up off the ground, pushing it in Tim’s face.

“What is that?” he asked.

K wiped the dust off the object’s surface. “It’s a dog toy. We are in Zamzows. The building must have collapsed at some point. We are right across from Albertson’s.”

Tim’s first thought was that they now were close to a food supply, but Kristen and K’s grim expressions made him unsure. “Is that a bad thing?”

K scoffed. “Zombies eat, too Tim! We are right next to a huge hoard of zombies! Almost their base, their headquarters, the mother ship! If we try to leave through what I think is the back door, we could very well be spotted and lunch.”

Kristen spoke up next. “But we can’t stay here. We’ll starve. I’ve already looked around. Even all the pet food is gone. Unless we start eating rubber balls, there’s nothing for us here. We either stay and die—“

“Or leave and die,” K interrupted.

“We don’t have to die,” Tim suggested. “If we just remain unseen, quiet, sneaky. We could sneak past Albertson’s and make our way towards Star. I doubt there are many zombies over there. There’s nothing over there.”

K punched him hard with her blood stained fist.

Tim reeled backwards. “Hey! What was that for?!”

“I lived in Star, you jerk! My family—“ K broke off. Tim could see her eyes glisten as she scowled, turned away, and stormed off.

“She’s…a little sensitive,” Kristen said, defending her friend.

Tim rubbed his jaw. “Yeah, I see that.”

They sat in silence for a moment, the drip of a broken pipe and muffled screams seeped through the fallen rubble toward them. Kristen shuddered. “We can’t stay here. Even if we die trying to leave, we can’t stay here.”

“So what do we do?” Tim asked as he attempted to get to his feet.

“We prepare,” K replied, her back against the wall and turned away from them, “prepare for the uprising.”

Tim attempted to sleep that night, but very unsuccessfully. He could hear growls and screams all night long. He wondered how much he’d missed, who no longer roamed this earth. Was his family alive? Were his friends? He had no way of knowing. Tim looked over at Kristen. Her eyes were shut, mouth wide open as she slept soundly. He looked at K. K was staring at the ceiling, her hands folded on her chest.

“K?....K!” Tim whispered trying to get her attention. “Why are you still awake?”

“Wa—what?”

“You can’t sleep either?” he asked.

“I was asleep you, doofus!” K rolled onto her side, away from him.

“Oh.”

The next morning…

Tim awoke to Kristen shaking him, he must have finally dozed off last night.

“Tim! Tim! Wake up! We have to get out of here now!”

“Oh crap, what’s going on? What’s the rush?” he asked, trying to rub the sleep from his eyes.

“The Zombies, they found out that we are here!”

Tim looked over to the front door and saw dead, green bodies piled against it, trying to force it open. K had her gun out and was shooting anything that moved as the zombies began to pull the doors apart.

“I’m going to run out of ammo pretty soon!” K screamed

“ok, ok, what to do, what to do….” Kristen started mumbling, she looked like she was going into panic mode. Tim looked at her, frozen, hoping something would come to her mind, Kristen always seemed to think of something.

Suddenly he heard something,

“What is that noise?” he asked. That seemed to make Kristen snap out of her glazed panic mode.

“It’s my phone!” she exclaimed.

“We are going through a zombie apocalypse and your phone still works?”

“Verizon, I’m telling you, best service around!”

Kristen pulled her phone out of her pocket and looked down at it.

“Holy Crap its Zach!” tears of joy sprung to her face, “I thought for sure he was a goner! Last I saw him a zombie was dragging him to the stairwell…”

“Kristen answer the damn phone!” Tim yelled, “Never mind I’ll do it!”

He grabbed the phone from her and answered it. “Hello?” he said.

“Kristen?” Tim heard on the other end of the line, “Are you ok? You sound funny….those Zombies didn’t get to you did they?”

Tim laughed and raised his voice an octave (no matter the circumstances Tim was always in the mood for a good joke) “Zach oh my gosh I’m so glad you’re ok!” he squeaked, “I’ve been through a rough couple of weeks I don’t think you’ll recognize me when you see me.”

“Oh my gosh Tim give me the phone!” Kristen Yelled, “Zach hey, sorry Tim is being a dork, where are you?”

“Kreeestiiieen! We are coming to save you! We are at the back door of the Zamzows!” Zach responded

“How did  you know where we were?” Kristen asked

“That is a whole different story, we can talk about it later, just come outside, those Zombies may be stupid but before too long they will figure out that the garage in the back is sitting open.”

Kristen looked behind her and realized that indeed the delivery garage in the back was all the way open.

“Wonder how we missed that…” Tim Wondered as he saw Kristen looking behind her.

K yelled from the front door, “Hey it’s now or never, what’s the plan?”

“Out the back!” Kristen yelled. The three of them ran out the open garage and spotted a giant yellow school bus parked outside with the door open and waiting.

“Zach sure does know how to travel in style,” Tim laughed to herself. They jumped in and Tim quickly saw that Zach was not alone. Inside the bus sat, Sara, Stephanie, Johnny Warfel, Ryan Pickett and Johanna. As soon as they were in the bus K screamed,

“Drive!”

After they had safely driven away from the horrific scene of the zamzows (now on fire as the zombies had finally gotten in) Tim asked the question that was now on his mind, and he knew on Kristen’s as well.

“Zach how did you know where we were?”

Zach’s eyes remained glued to the road as he sped away, knocking aside zombies with the front of the bus. “When?”

“Just now! When you found us in the Zamzows cave. How did you know to come for us there?”

“Oh, through Kristen’s phone of course.” Zach glanced back at Tim. “Just because the world is under attack by the undead doesn’t mean I’ve suddenly lost all my technological skills.”

Suddenly, the bus lurched and skidded on its side. Everyone inside was screaming and clutching to the seats in front of them as Zach attempted to regain control of the speeding vehicle. The bus crashed into a few light poles and a handful of zombies that were trying to get to them, but settled and continued onward.

“Keep your eyes on the road, Zach!” K yelled, her fingers white as she clutched Ryan’s arm. Ryan winced and tried to pick them off him.

“Sorry! Sorry, everyone.”

“What happened?” Kristen asked as she came to his side.

“I don’t know. Guess I ran into a zombie the wrong way.”

“How long can we drive?” asked Johanna, her cheeks striped where tears and slide down them.

Zach glanced down at the fuel gauge. He was silent.

“Well?!” K asked.

“Maybe…two minutes?”

“Two minutes?!” yelled Stephanie.

“The gas tank is practically empty.”

“What are we going to do when it runs out?”

“…Run?”

K groaned. “Great. Perfect plan, Zach.”

“Hey! I don’t see you coming up with anything better. Besides, who’s plan got you out of that cave alive!?”

“I had a plan. I had it under control!”

“Sure you did!”

“Guys! Guys!” Tim yelled, standing in front of K so she couldn’t make her way to Zach. “We’ll think of something. We are Scentsy employees. We just need to put our heads together and think.”

“Tim’s right.” Sara piped in. “What weapons do we have?”

“I have some forks!” Kristen offered.

“Um…okay what else?”

K lifted her pistol, showed the small dagger that was strapped to her leg with a strip of cloth, and a few rocks and a slingshot were shoved in her pocket.

Johanna had a kitchen knife. John had a baseball bat. Ryan had a hunting rifle and a length of chain. Sara had a broken bottle and Zach had a sharpened tripod.

“Okay. So we all have something to protect ourselves with except for Tim,” said John. “One of you with multiple, give something to Tim.”

Everyone looked at K. Her mouth dropped. “Ryan has multiple, too!”

“But you have three!” said Ryan, holding to his chain lovingly.

K groaned and shoved her hand in her pocket, handing Tim the slingshot. “You do know how to use this don’t you?”

“Yeah, but I think I’d be a little better off with that dag—“

“No.”

Tim took the slingshot.

Everyone gasped and fell silent as the bus began to putter and spurt. It slowed. And stopped.

Tim could feel tears welling up in his eyes as the bus stopped and everyone froze. No one was really sure what to do. “What will we do now?” he wondered. He looked out the back window of the bus and watched as Zombies picked themselves up off the ground, some missing body parts as a result of Zach’s reckless driving. They had almost made it to highway 16, everything around them had been abandoned. They were completely alone.

Kristen was the first one to speak up “You know this wouldn’t be a bad time to try out my circus idea...”

“For the last time NO!” K cut her off.

Everyone was silent for a moment.

“Looks like we are going to have to fight them.” Ryan said.

Everyone started nodding slowly.

Suddenly Johanna spoke up, “good thing I’m a Jedi master!” She quickly pulled a lightsaber out from under her jacket, opened it up and expertly swung it around a few times.  Everyone stared at her not sure what to say….

“well ok then,” said Ryan, “I feel a little better now.”

“Ok, they will be here soon, everyone pick up your weapons and stay close to the bus, it looks like only about 50 followed us so we might actually stand a chance!” K instructed.

Everyone got out of the bus and spread out a bit, weapons ready.

“What is K thinking?” Tim thought, “We don’t stand a chance against these things…just look at how they keep moving even after being run over by a bus…I wonder if I can just trip Kristen or Johanna, they are small and weak and maybe if the zombies get a little taste of human flesh that will distract them long enough to…”

At that moment Kristen punched Tim in the side, as if she knew what he was thinking.

“How does she do that?” he inwardly exclaimed. The zombies were close enough now that he didn’t have enough time to grapple with his conflicted thoughts and questionable morals. He would have to fight and put these few stones to good use.

After resolving that he was going to fight, it was like turning a switch in his brain, adrenaline started pumping through his body and suddenly he was resolved to kick some zombie ass. A scream built up in his lungs and came out in a loud revenge seeking call. He took off running with his slingshot in the air (he seemed to have forgotten that a slingshot is usually utilized best from a long distance) right into the hoard of Zombies.

Kristen, K and the rest of the gang sat a little shocked over what just happened.

“what is he doing?” Kristen said to K.

“I have no idea,” K responded, “but suddenly I’m mad I wasted a slingshot on that kid.”

“should we follow suit?” Kristen asked.

“Yeah let’s just go for it….CHARGE!” K yelled at the Scentsy Troops

And with that everyone charged into the oncoming crowd of Zombies. It became a mess of fists, weapons, blood, limp flailing arms, and drooling. And then, suddenly, the zombies started to retreat. They formed a mass crowd and started walking back the way they came, like a swarm of locus that had gotten their fill. Tim stood up and looked around at the dismembered body parts and watched as his comrades picked themselves up and brushed themselves off. Johanna had fared the best with her newly revealed Jedi training, she seemed to be the only one who was able destroy the zombie’s enough to actually kill them. He didn’t do too bad himself after remembering that a slingshot doesn’t help much in hand to hand combat and just resorted to punching things. He looked around and spotted Ryan helping K off the ground, he ran over to her.

“Are you guys ok?” He asked.

“Yeah I’m fine,” K responded, “What do you think made them retreat like that?”

“I don’t know…let’s make sure everyone is ok before we try to figure out what the heck just happened.”

Everyone gathered together as K counted heads. The good thing was that everyone was alive. Zach had suffered a major bite to the arm but didn’t seem to be suffering any side effects. K had some good scratches on her face and John was limping a bit, but overall the fact they had come out so unscathed was amazing.

“Wait a second, where is Kristen?” K said

Tim looked around but couldn’t see her anywhere.

“Oh my gosh,” he said, “did they take her with them? What would they want her for?”

“What?!” Zach screamed when he heard them talking. “Kristen? Kristen!” He fell to his knees, his face lifting towards the sky as he screamed. “Nooooooooooooooooooooo!!”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Whoa, whoa. Whoa! Zach! Relax! We’ll find her. Even if it’s the last thing I do,” Tim said, trying to redeem his evil thoughts from earlier.

“It will be the last thing you do,” K growled. “What do you think you’re gonna do? Storm in there, my slingshot raised, and expect them to just, give her back?!”

“Yup.”

K rolled her eyes, leaning to John. “He’s gonna die.”

“No, I’m not! K, I’m so sick of your negative attitude! We can do this!”

K’s fingers slowly curled into a tight fist as she glared at Tim. She lunged! John and Ryan quickly reached out and grabbed her arms, restraining her. “Let me go! He needs to learn his lesson!! LET ME GO!”

“No!”

K continued to struggle as she yelled at Tim. “You think this is all a game! A…a joke! This is REAL, Tim. Zombies are really invading the world. They’re..they’re killing! And you’re just gonna be stupid and reckless and throw the life you do still have away! And for what? I want Kristen back as much as anyone else here. She’s the only one that really understands me. But getting ourselves killed won’t help her. We have to be smart about this! And you are NOT being smart! My ‘negative attitude’ is what has kept me alive!”

Tim was silent for a moment as he was afraid he could still see her homicidal anger in her eyes. But finally he spoke. “I know you’ve had a hard time of it. And I’ve just woken up. You’re right, about part of what you’ve said. We do need to be smart about this, smarter than the zombies which shouldn’t be too hard since they don’t have brains of their own.  But I don’t think it’s your negative attitude that’s kept you alive. I think it was Kristen’s positive one.”

K stared, her face softening.

“You need her.”

K gently pushed Ryan and John away from her. She looked down at her feet. “You’re right. I do need her.”

“So let’s go get her! Truce?” Tim put out his hand.

K put out hers. “Truce.”

The rest of that day, the group hid in the broken down bus, taking turns fighting off any zombies who happened upon them while the others worked on a plan to get Kristen back. They gathered weapons, drew plans, schemed and plotted a way to outsmart the zombies. And then, they were ready.

K ran down the road screaming as a hoard of zombies chased her. She jumped over half consumed bodies and swerved between car skeletons. Her speed began to decrease. The zombies started to catch up to her. She threw debris in their way, trying to slow them down, but it did not deter them. K wiped the blood mixed with sweat that was streaming down her face with the back of her hand. She tripped, falling hard to the asphalt. Quickly, she got back up and kept running, now with a slight limp. She ran between two buildings and stopped as a wall halted her flee. She spun around as the zombies closed in. Slowly, she reached behind her, clasping the metal handle.  Her fearful expression slowly turned to a smirk of triumph.

The zombies stepped into the alley. “Gotcha,” K said.

Tim, John, Ryan, Sara, Zach, Stephanie, and Johanna stepped out from the shadows, surrounding the small group of zombies. Each had some sort of weapon. K pulled out her pistol and her newly found shotgun, from behind her back.  The sound of five shots ricocheted in the alley. Five zombies fell and the other group members attacked them, making sure they would never eat another brain. One zombie still stood, frozen in front of the gun that was held at its head.

“Take us to your leader.” Tim grinned.

“uuuuuuuhhhhhhhgggnngguuuuuahah.” Was all that came out of the Zombie’s mouth.

“Oh.” Said Tim, “I guess zombies don’t really talk huh, well this is awkward. Um….K how do I know that he understands me?”

“Oh I’ll make sure that he understands!” K yelled and she grabbed the Zombie by the throat and held him against the wall with the gun still to his head.

“Tell us where she is! Where is Kristen? Take us to whoever the heck leads this group of zombie scum so we can get her back or I’ll blow your undead rotting head off! Comprende?!”

“Uuuuhgnngngggnn.” Said the Zombie.

John stepped in, “I might be able to help, I actually took a few undead language classes in college, my mom thought it was the biggest waste of time, little did she know there would be a zombie apocalypse!”  He turned to the zombie, “Uuungngnsrarrch uuuuhnuh.”

The Zombie focused on him for a second and then his eyes returned to their glazed daze as he responded.

“uhhngun.”

John turned back to K and Tim. Yep so he said he will take us to his leader if we follow him there, as long as you kindly removed the gun from his head.

“I’ll back off a little but this gun is staying pointed at him.” K snapped back, “I’m not going to let him give me the slip.”

“I have your back K,” said Ryan, “I’ll make sure he doesn’t get away, we will get Kristen back, don’t worry.”

Tears pushed at K’s eyes, threatening to come out, her tough shell was starting to crack without Kristen her to balance her out. Ryan put a comforting arm around her shoulders but made sure to not hold on too long so she wouldn’t feel like he was making her look weak, he knew how strong she was, and he liked it.

K straightened up and looked back at the zombie, “Ok let’s get going you!” The zombie started walking off toward the mountains.

Tim looked at the direction they were now walking and had a feeling that this may be a long walk.

After about five hours of walking they finally seemed to be getting somewhere.

“Look I think I see a light off in the distance!” Exclaimed Sara

“Yes I see it too!” Ryan said. Sure enough they were finally approaching a giant zombie campsite.

“we’re here.” K said.

Tim began thinking as they got closer to the light, “K what do we do about this zombie we’ve been following? We can’t just let him walk right into camp, he’ll raise an alarm.”

“I’ll take care of it.” K said, and she re-loaded her gun.

The approached the campsite after taking care of their guide and peeked over some bushes to take in the sight. In the middle was a grand chair, sitting empty. Hundreds of Zombies were gathered around the chair, their groans forming a huge chant, they were moving together in a rhythmic sway, it was all very disturbing.

“I don’t see Kristen, do you see her?” Zach was on the edge of a panic attack looking every which way to try and spot the missing girl.

“No I don’t see her,” said K, “I’m sure she is here somewhere, just wait a little longer…”

At that moment four zombies came out carrying a cage between them and inside was Kristen. She looked drugged and weak, she looked a lot cleaner then the last time they had seen her, all the blood and dirt washed from her face.

“Oh gosh what did they do to her?” Tim whispered.

Suddenly the chanting got louder and louder and then stopped with one loud grunt.

“Oh no what’s happening now?” Tim wondered. And then he saw her.

The sheer terror froze his heart. Sweat started beading on his forehead, his mouth went dry, he forgot everything around him and was only able to focus on her. K looked over at him.

“Tim, what the heck is wrong with you, are you ok?”

No response. She shook him a little, “Tim, Tim, what’s going on?”

He watched as she walked around and sat in the chair in the center of the zombie hoard. She must be their queen. Finally he responded.

“That’s my ex….only a little more dead then the last time I saw her.”

K looked back at the female zombie sitting on the large chair. "Your ex? Wow, Tim. You have great taste."

"Hey, she looked a lot better before. She had...skin." Tim's memory flashed back to his ex, before she was an ex. He remembered her long flowing hair, her mesmerizing green eyes, her pixie giggle. Oh, he had fallen head over heels, but after the hot dog incident, he could never look at her the same way and had to end it. She had been furious. She started throwing hard objects at his head, scratching and clawing. She would follow him home from work and beg him to take her back. And then when he refused, she would kick his dog and key his car. It had gotten so bad, Tim was forced to get a restraining order. But that didn't stop her from sending those emails. They were so mean, mean emails.

"So, what do you want to do? Give up?"

"No. I'll...I'll be okay. We just have to make sure she doesn't recognize me. Then we could all be in trouble."

"We're already in trouble."

"Okay, worse trouble."

K looked down and a smile spread across her face. 

Tim didn't like it. "What?"

K pushed her hand into the mud beneath her feet and slapped it over Tim's face.

"Puh--hey!--ftttt--gah! What are you doing!?" he said as he began wiping the mud off.

"Don't take it off! It's your disguise. You said yourself, she can't recognize you. Well, now she won't."

"You got some up my nose," Tim grumbled.

K smiled. "I know."

"And in my mouth."

"Shh! Somethings happening," John said, silencing the rest of the group.

Tim's zombie ex-girlfriend had waved her rotting hand and the chanting had recommenced. One zombie opened Kristen's cage and roughly pulled her out of it, making her stumble and fall into the dirt. Two others grabbed each of her arms and held her up in front of Tim's zombie queen. The queen began grunting.

"Grahangabooraah."

"John! Translate!" Tim whispered.

"Uh...My fellow zombies."

"Bahrandradtookahr..."

"We are gathered here today..."

"Puntuckagraaansdaar..."

"To celebrate a very special occasion..."

"Tarrtarrah lecobachanerotardrah..."

"This day is the day we have discovered..."

"Tobardheed..."

"The secret..."

"Roo GRAGNAHTEBOO!"

All the zombies began cheering.

John was silent, his mouth open wide in horror.

"What?" Tim asked. "What did she say?!"

"To...total annihilation."

Everyone gasped. The queen continued.

"Goardheardshenahrahrahrah..."

"This human you see before you..."

"Kalemnarahgoaundfreepah..."

"Is the key to our success..."

"Jaoefkraghrtorstli..."

"She is the only human we've ever come across..."

"Barhrarhrararhrrharararar..."

"That was impervious to our zombifying..."

Again the group gasped.

"They tried to zombify her!" Tim exclaimed.

"And failed," K stared at the scene before her.

"Grootmahnbrazierwazoohena..."

"So all we have to do, is discover her human magic..."

"Pootrootietootie..."

"And learn to destroy it and all humans will be forever under our control. We will no longer be run over or machetteed. We will have dominion on this earth. We will have our fill of brains and companions, even pets if you wish..."

"Grabapoposheesho GRAH MARGAR GREE!"

"And now we will...tickle the magic girl."

"Tickle?" Tim asked, scratching his head.

John paused, thinking. "Oh! No! Torture! And now we will torture the magic girl!" 

“We have to get her out of there NOW!” Zach yelled, a little too loudly.

“Shhhh!!” Tim slapped a hand across Zach’s mouth, “You yelling is just going to get us caught, and that won’t help her!”

Then there was some commotion as the Zombies picked Kristen up and started tying ropes to her ankles.

“Oh my gosh,” Tim said, “they are going to hang her upside down.” They painfully watched, not sure what to do. Kristen stayed very still as they started tying the rope to her ankles, but then when one of the zombies got a little too close she gave it a good kick right in the face.

“Take that Zombie scum!” She yelled. A group of Zombies came to restrain her as she struggled. The Zombie that she kicked attempted to re-attach his jaw that was now dangling by a tendon, but to no avail.

“Grrrrrumbabadooooggg!!” The queen yelled. The Zombies quickly lifted her up and hung her upside down dangling by her ankles from a tree branch.

Kristen was screaming all sorts of profanities and insults at the rotting corpses so they finally had to gag her.

K couldn’t watch anymore, “Tim what are we going to do?”

Tim looked down, thinking. Then something came to him. “I have an idea, I don’t think I’ll need this mud anymore K. And John? I will need your help.”

After getting most of the mud off his face Tim walked slowly toward the crowd of Zombies, straight towards the queen’s chair, John following close behind. The Zombies were starting to stack wood under Kristen’s head, but stopped and turned as Tim walked toward them. Tim was nervous, and really hoped that his plan would work, that he wasn’t sending John and himself to their doom.

“Allison!” He yelled, “Allison thank goodness I found you!”

The queen zombie’s head snapped up, her eyes trained on him. A fire started to burn in her eyes.

“AHHGreeshpepp!!”

“Uh oh dude,” John whispered behind him, “Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea…”

“What did she say?” Tim hissed back.

“She said,  You!! What are you doing here?!”

“Well at least she recognizes me.” Tim whispered. He turned back to Allison. “Babe, as soon as I knew the world was ending you were the first person I thought of, I’ve been looking for you for weeks! I’m so glad I found you, I’m so sorry for everything honey. It took the end of the world for me to see that I needed you, more than anything!” Tim paused to let this sink in. The Zombies all around were staring, not sure what was going on, but waiting for instructions from their queen before attacking. Allison looked conflicted, her eyes moving between Tim and her followers, looking like she wasn’t sure what to do.

“Do you think she is buying it?” Tim whispered to John.

“I don’t know, but you better seal the deal if we are going to get through this alive.” He whispered back.

Tim thought for a second, knowing what he should do, a shiver of disgust went through him. He looked at those dead, sunken eyes. The green that he used to find so beautiful was dull and ugly now. He looked at those shriveled, colorless, lips stretched over rotten black teeth. Her once long and beautiful blonde hair was now stringy and sparse. “I really don’t want to do this…” he thought to himself. He thought of the hot dog incident, which made him even more disgusted then her now rotting body. Another shiver went through him. He looked over at Kristen, who was staring at him with wide eyes, the blood rushing to her head, the kindling ready to be lit beneath her. “But I have to.” He turned back to Allison, walked straight up to her, took her in his arms and kissed her full on the mouth. When he finally came up for air he looked at her to see if she bought it. He was trying to keep himself from gagging and resisted the urge to pull something from his mouth that felt like it was moving. “don’t lose it, don’t lose it!” He kept saying to himself.

“Galafhonfer.” She said to him. Tim turned to John,

“What does that mean?” He whispered.

“It means, ‘I knew you’d find me’,” John answered. “Looks like she approves.”

The queen turned to a zombie beside her and said, “Barbarafenhockshar.”

John gasped.

“What?! What did she say!?”

“RUN!”

“Run? Why would she tell me to—“

“No! Run!” John turned and ran.

“Oh!” Tim followed suit but he had started too slow and the zombies quickly grabbed him. They bound his wrists and ankles and knelt him down in front of their zombie queen. She smiled wickedly.

“Shartarrrggrah…”

Tim looked around for John, but he was gone. “I…I don’t know what you’re saying.”

“Shartarrrggrah!”

“Uh…Allison! Speak English! I can’t understand you!”

Allison, queen of the zombies, cleared her throat and said, “Tiiiiiim, say laaauve meeee!”

“Whoa! You kinda just spoke English, Allison!” Tim said, ignoring her command. “Nice job!”

“TIIM SAY LAUVE MEE!”

“Uh..o-okay. I..ahem..love…you.”

Allison roared in delight and clapped her hands above her head.

“Tiim say ne’er leeaavve mee!”

“I’ll…never leave you.” Tim was getting worried. Too many lies! Too many promises he wouldn’t keep. If Allison found out—

“Tiiim say beee zawmbee!”

“Whoa, what?! You want me to be a zombie!?”

Allison frowned, a low growl escaping her throat.

“I—I mean, why can’t we love each other without my becoming a zombie. I can love you as a human just the same!”

“Noo! I too argly beee weeet Tiiim. Tiiim arrrgly tooo!”

“Ugly! You’re not ugly, babe! You’re…you’re beautiful.”

Allison shook her head. “If laaurve me, beee zawmbee. If noooh laaurvve mee, bee DAWWGHEE!”

“Dawwghee?” Tim said to himself. “Dawgee…daweghhee…doggie. Doggie? Dog? A dog? She’s gonna turn me into a dog?” Tim sat on the dirt ground, trying to decipher Allison’s meaning as she looked down on him. “Dog. Dog. A dog. Puppy dog. Doggie dog. Doggie dog world. Dog eat dog world. Hot dog. Dooog. Yo dawg. Dog. Dog. Doggin’. Dog. A doggie. Doggie. Dog. Doooooooog. Dooooooog. Dog. A dog……OH! Hey, do you mean like a pet?” He asked her.

Allison smiled. “Peeeeeeeeett!”

Tim frowned, gulping.

So the choices were pet, or Zombie husband to his psycho ex. He looked over at Kristen, her face red and her eyes wide. He had to make a decision fast, Allison was looking impatient, drumming her fingers against her crossed arms. His mind was running a million miles an hour, he remembered what happened the last time he told Allison he didn’t love her, and he sure didn’t want that to happen again….he would get treated better as a zombie husband then as a pet dog….but he sure didn’t want to be one of the undead! What to do, what to do...he looked over at Kristen again. Did it seem like she was trying to tell him something or was it just his imagination? Her eyes looked like they were trying to communicate something…he fixed his eyes on hers. He felt pulled into a trance of sorts…was this her magical human powers speaking? If she is impervious to zombification then maybe she can resurrect me! That must be what she is trying to tell me!

“Brilliant!” He said out loud accidentally. He turned to the impatient Allison standing next to him. “Ok,” he said, “I agree to be your loyal zombie husband as long as you let her go.” He said pointing to Kristen. Allison sat and thought for a second, but didn’t take long for her to reach a decision.

“Ooooodaaaayyyy iiiimmeeee!!” she groaned in a surprisingly high pitched voice for a rotting psychomaniac. “UUUUUUU laaaauuuuuveee meeeee fffffvvvvvrrrr!!”

The zombie minions cut Kristen down and she fell to a crumpled mess on the ground. As soon as they cut her hands loose she ripped the gag out of her mouth and yelled, “Tim you moron! Why would you let her turn you into a Zombie!?? I was trying to tell you to get that stupid slingshot out of your pocket and take her crazy ass down!!” Tim’s insides froze. How stupid could he be to think that Kristen really had magical human powers, that she could resurrect him? “I guess I forgot about that option,” he said sheepishly. “All I could think about was getting kicked around like a dog…”

Allison grabbed his arm and yelled at her Zombie minions, “Aahhsdrdsafrrunf mumsemble!” And they dragged Kristen away kicking and screaming into the woods to dump her, leaving her to find her own way back. Allison kept a tight grip on Tim as she rushed him away.

“what have I got myself into?” he wondered….

Tim stumbled multiple times as Allison dragged him away from the crowd of zombies. She stopped deep in what was left of the little wood surrounding the Boise River and pushed his back up against a tree. She grinned wickedly.

“N-now, Allison. How does one become a zombie, e-exactly?”

“It’s not too bad actually. Just a little uncomfortable. Nothing to worry about.”

Tim’s jaw dropped; his tongue started to slide out of his mouth in shock. “Al-ALISON?! YOU CAN TALK!?”

“Of course I can! I may be undead but I’m not brainless!”

“You’re—you’re not?”

“No!”

“Then why didn’t you talk before!”

“Do you know why I’m their queen, Tim?”

Tim shook his head, still dumbfounded.

“Because I can talk at all! Full-fledged zombies can do nothing but eat brains, shuffle around, and grunt. If they were to know I can talk completely normal, they’d think I was more human than zombie and turn against me.”

“What are you talking about? Full-fledged zombie? More human than zombie?”

Allison smiled. “Sit down, Tim.” She motioned towards a bloody stump.

Tim grimaced. “I’d rather not.”

Allison frowned. “SIT DOWN!”

“Okay!” Tim sat.

“Now Tim, during my experience here with the zombies, I’ve discovered a few things. There seems to be…different degrees of zombie. Like how before I was a zombie, I was half Cherokee. But only half. I was. But not completely. Some zombies have no brain left at all. Others have brains still fairly intact.”

“And yours is still fairly intact?”

“Right.”

“Are there other zombies that can talk?”

“I suppose there would be.”

“Why don’t they?”

“Probably for the same reason I don’t.”

“Why are some more intact than others?”

“I assume it has to do with the way one is zombified.”

“How is one zombified?”

Allison paused. “Your questions are starting to annoy me.”

“Could you please answer them anyway? I’d like to know a little bit about…what I’m becoming.”

“Fine. First I stick my finger in your ear. My nail grows and kabobs your brain. I pull your brain out through your ear, eat as much as I please, and if there’s any left, put it back in your head by the same means. You die for about five minutes and when you come to, you’re a zombie like me!”

“AND THAT’S NOT TOO BAD!? ALLISON, THAT’S REVOLTING! AND IT SOUNDS SUPER PAINFUL!”

“Well, it is a little messy. Blood goes everywhere.”

Tim covered his mouth with his hand, attempting to hold back the contents of his stomach. He heaved and retched, his face paling. “And…and this happened to you?” He asked weakly.

“Yes. The zombie would probably have eaten all of my brain if my brother hadn’t killed it and replaced my mind for me. But it was still too late.” Allison frowned.

“That’s terrible.”

“Yeah…but now we’ll be together! Now, let’s do this thing!” Allison stepped towards him, her rotting finger stretched towards his ear.

Suddenly, shrieks came through the wood, stopping Allison in her tracks.

“Aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye!” screamed…

K as she crashed through the woods wielding a large axe. Kristen was right behind her, they both looked wild eyed and homicidal.

“Ayee Ayee Ayee!!!” K screamed as she swung the axe right into Allison’s back. Allison fell to the ground, letting out an ear-piercing screech.

“Die you zombie scum!” Kristen yelled as she started attacking Allison’s face with her forks. K ripped the axe out of Allison’s back and raised it again,

“Kristen, MOVE!” she yelled. Kristen hoped out of the way as K took Allison’s head of in one swift motion. Allison’s eyes slowly closed as her decapitated head rolled away from her undead body. Kristen and K stood there, breathing hard, their backs turned away from Tim.

“What the heck is wrong with you guys!!??” He yelled, “You could have easily hit me with that axe the way you were swinging it, you crazy fool!”

“What is that Tim speak for, Hey thanks for saving me from my psychotic ex who was about to dig my brain out with her fingernail and turn me into a zombie?” K spat sarcastically, “Well your welcome Tim! We only risked our lives to come save you, but no big deal.”

“Sorry, sorry,” said Tim, “I am really glad you came to save me, but did you have to come in all loose cannon with the axe?”

“It made the rescue more interesting.” Kristen smiled

“Where is everyone else?” Tim asked

“They are all at this sweet new hideout that K found while you were rescuing me. Thanks by the way, and sorry for calling you an idiot, but really? Letting her turn you into a Zombie? Come on Tim.” Kristen said.

“Yeah I have made some questionable decisions today.” Tim  admitted. “But the important thing is that we are all safe and now have a new hideout to regroup and make a plan.”

“Well we aren’t 100% all safe.” K butted in.

“What do you mean?” Tim asked.

“Something happened to John when he came running back after you gave yourself up to be a zombie.”

“What?! What happened to him? He was our only Zombie translator!!”  

*       *       *

What was left of the group sat on the ground, mulling over what had just occurred. It seemed they would never be all together again. First, Kristen is separated. Then John disappears.

“What happened?” Tim asked.

“We saw him running back, but he wasn’t alone. He was being chased by some zombies. He motioned for us to run. So we did. When we looked back, he was gone.”

“He’s probably been zombified! Why didn’t you stay and fight instead of run like little babies!?”

K grabbed the front of Tim’s shirt. “Little babies, huh? We refrained from fighting because you were in the trenches! We were afraid if we fought back, you’d lose your good graces with the queen.” K pushed him away.  “Little babies. We saved your life! On multiple occasions. Ungrateful little…” K’s voice trailed off as she spoke obscenities.

“I’m sure John is fine,” Kristen said, patting Tim’s shoulder. “He’s funny. He’ll entertain the zombies. Or maybe he didn’t get caught at all. Maybe he just…was done being in such a big group. It is harder to stay…discreet.”

“Good point. Maybe we should split up a bit,” K suggested as she rubbed the blade of her new axe.

“What?!” yelled Tim, aghast.

“We’re in a group of nine people! We’ll be seen wherever we go!”

“But with that many it’s easier to fight them off.”

“With less we may not need to fight at all. Besides, there are way more zombies than there are survivors. Even with a big group, they can fight a lot longer than we can.”

There was silence. “Maybe K is right,” Kristen said. “We’d all last longer separated.”

“I can’t believe you two! You want to go out in this alone?!”

“No, we can be with someone. Nine is just too big.” Kristen stood. “We should get back to the group. We have a  lot to discuss.”

The new hideout was a diesel back that was half submerged in the ground. The door was covered by trees and branches and the group had placed dead bodies around the sides, making it seem the zombies had already been through here and there was nothing left, to move on. It was impressive and seemed to do the job. The group had had no zombie problems yet, though a few had walked by. K, Kristen, and Tim walked in and everyone jumped up and greeted Tim enthusiastically.

“We thought you were a gonner!”

“So glad you’re not a zombie, Tim!”

“Happy to have you back!”

“Everyone,” K called loudly, “We have something we need to discuss.”

Everyone quieted down and listened.

“Kristen and I were thinking. Our group is too big.”

“What?!”

“We stick out! I—we think we should split up more. Into three groups perhaps. That way we aren’t alone, but it’s easier to stay unseen.”

“What groups do you suggest?”

“…I don’t care! All I know is I’m going west.”

“Why west?”

K frowned. “I’m not your momma!” she sat down.

“I’m going with K,” said Kristen. K smiled, slightly.

The rest of the day was spend dividing the group. Sara, Stephanie, and Johanna were going to look for loved ones. Ryan didn’t want to be burdened by females, except K of course, and was going to go out alone to search for John. K was going west. Kristen was going with her. Zach was going with Kristen. Tim didn’t want to go with the girls and Ryan scared him. So he went with Kristen.

“West then?” Tim asked, turning to K as they stared out at the horizon, a crimson sunset staining the sky.

K nodded. “West.”  

It was hard saying goodbye to Sara, Stephanie and Johanna. But Tim could see that the hardest goodbye would be Ryan. K seemed to be having a hard time with it, as tough as she was. They took a short walk before Ryan hugged her, kissed her forehead and whispered, “I’ll be back.”

Kristen seemed very relieved that she and Zach wouldn’t be separated, it had taken a toll on them having Kristen missing the last few days.

K walked back to the group looking like she had aged ten years.

“He’ll find John, and then he’ll come find us.” Tim assured her.

K just nodded as she gathered some of their meager supplies.

“Well Kids, let’s get started!” Kristen announced, trying to lighten the mood. They headed off…west.

“Has anyone noticed how suddenly there are a lot more trees in Boise? And vines, and animals, and well the whole place just looks like a dang jungle!” Tim asked after they had been walking for about an hour.

“You’re right,” Zach said, “I’ve been so distracted by everything that has been going on that I didn’t even notice till you said something. It looks like we are in south America or something….”

“The climate is changing,” Kristen said, “I can feel it in my bones. Mother Nature isn’t happy with the evolution of our species.”

“I don’t care what’s happening,” K said, “everything has been so wonked the last few months, nothing will surprise me anymore, I keep hoping I’ll wake up from this nightmare.”

“Well I find it creepy.” Tim said, “How the heck did boise turn into a jungle in a matter of months?”

Just then a black ball of fur fell down from the trees onto Tim’s head.

“Holy!!!” Tim screamed as he tried to rip the mystery animal off his face. “Get it off me get it off me!” He fell to the ground writhing and ripping at the thick matted fur. Zach grabbed the animal and hit it until it let go of Tim’s face. He threw it into the trees. They heard a hiss come from the horrid beast as it took off into the woods.

“Tim!” Kristen ran over to him, “are you alright?” She took her tattered jacked and wiped some of the blood off his face.

“I’m fine,” Tim said, “That bugger had some teeth on it though. Looks like we have more to fear then Zombies in this new twisted world of ours.”

“We better find a safe place to camp tonight,” K said. “I’ll bet it will get worse once the sun goes down.”

As the sun sunk behind the tree line, the groups’ nerves became more and more on edge. Tim had begun to squeal at every sound as he nursed his wounds. K had stopped hitting him each time. The green of the out of place jungle slowly began turning to gray, then black as the absence of light increased.

“Where are we? I’m so confused!” Tim whimpered. This was not the Idaho he had grown to know and love. This was something else altogether. Were they even still on earth? What had happened to the barren nothingness! To the wildlife that only included the occasional hawk and harmless snake. He didn’t even recognize the creature sounds he heard. It was like, even animals could become zombies.

“Okay,” K started, “we have two options. We can either keep going and try to get through the worst of it tonight, or we can stop and make camp.”

“What are the pros and cons of both?” Tim asked.

“Well, if we keep going, we could tire and if we come across something, we might lose. Also, things might be…more confident at night. Therefore more ferocious. If we stop, we are easier to catch up to. Plus, if we fall asleep…we’d have to take turns, keep someone on watch.”

“Alone?”

“Yes.”

“Most of those seemed like cons.”

“There aren’t many pros in our situation.”

“Wait! Shh! Did you hear that?” Kristen whispered. Everyone froze and listened hard.

“Is that…talking?” Zach asked.

The group crept up to the bushes and peered over them.

Three men sat around a campfire, laughing and talking, drumsticks in their hands. The amazing aroma of the cooked meat drifted to the starving vagabonds and their mouths began to wander.

“They’re not zombies! Let’s talk to them,” Zach suggested.

“Wait. There has to be something we’re missing.” K stared hard at the men, searching for a reason not to trust them. “We may not be able to trust them.”

Tim stared at the meat, pining for it. “I’m so hungry. Let’s just ask if they’d be willing to share. We’re all on the same side.”

“Every man for himself.”

“I still think we should try.”

K sighed. “Alright.”

The group stepped through the bushes, their hands raised in surrender. Each man stood and pulled out long, bloody machetes, preparing to fight, but when they saw the group, they paused. All three of the men were huge. Each over six foot and covered in rippling muscles. They wore no shirts, only bloody shorts with weapons of all sorts strapped to their thighs. Tim felt very insecure and insignificant standing before them and he knew the rest of the group did too.

“Why, they’re a bunch of kids!”

K bristled. “We’re not kids!”

“You can’t be older than sixteen, darlin’.”

“I’m nineteen.”

“Oh, forgive me. Nineteen.”

Tim glanced over at K. He could see her teeth grinding. Maybe this wasn’t a good idea.

Tim stepped forward. “Excuse us, sirs. But we were wondering if you’d possibly be willing to share your food. We’ve been traveling for so long and we have nothing.”

“Well,” said a large ginger man as he stepped forward. “I do find it quite impressive that you kids have lasted this long. Especially you girls.”

Tim grabbed K’s arm as she started to take a step towards the man.

“Sure, you guys can eat a little, but it won’t be free.”

Everyone frowned. “What do you want?” Tim asked.

The men smiled.

Their smile while extraordinarily creepy and offsetting seemed normal at first, but then it slowly turned into a ghostly haunting sneer. Their faces seemed to stretch un-naturally into a Spector-like form. Their eyes lost all color and their mouths appeared to be dripping blood….

It was at this point in the transformation that Zach fainted and Kristen went white as a sheet. K stumbled back a few steps but kept her dignity. Tim felt like he was about to lose the contents of his stomach, but held strong. Then one of the men spoke.

“We want a soul.” He said in a ghoulish, deep, scratchy voice.

“Well I can tell you that my soul is worth a whole lot more than a turkey leg.” Tim responded, “Now K’s on the other hand, now that seems like a fair trade.”

“Hey!!” K interjected and gave Tim a good punch in the arm.

“Ouch!”

The Spector men laughed. “Not just any soul….” The creepy smiles returned to their faces. “Her soul.” They said pointing to Kristen.

“What the deal, can’t I ever catch a break in this twisted world? For the last time there is nothing special about me!!” Instead of looking like she was about to cry like she did about five minutes ago, Kristen looked like she might bust some heads if anyone else asked her if they could have her body for various self-preservation rituals.  Not that anyone was really asking.

“What the heck do you want her soul for?” Tim demanded. This was getting strange, and he had a feeling that Kristen wasn’t as clueless about this as she was letting on.

“She is the only one who can save us from the Zombies.” They said.

“We aren’t letting you take her, are you crazy?” K yelled, stepping in front of Kristen. “Why would we sell her soul for a lousy piece of meat?”

“Where is Zach,” Tim said looking around, “He’ll tell you what’s what.” Then Tim saw Zach passed out in the grass. Awesome.

“Ok maybe he won’t.”

“Come on guys, lets blow this freak show before something real goes down.” K said.

“Ok…” said one of the Spector men, “but good luck hunting for your own food out here, things have a way of…..sneaking up on you.” He flashed a creepy ghostlike smile. And then they were gone.

“Ok let’s get out of here.” K said scanning the trees, expecting something else to pop out at them. “I’m getting the creeps.”

“You’re getting the creeps?” Kristen asked, “People keep wanting to sacrifice me!!”

“Girls, shut it. Let’s pick up Zach and get out of here.” Tim said, not wanting to be in this part of the Jungle any longer. K and Kristen sobered and helped Tim carry Zach to a different part of the woods.

Soon, Tim and Kristen collapsed under Zach’s weight, making K fall to the ground with them.

“I can’t go any farther!” Kristen panted, her eyes closing. “We have to sleep.”

“Fine. You too sleep.” K sat up against a tree, picked up a stick, and began whittling it into a point with the dagger that was strapped to her leg.

“You sure you’re okay?”

“Yeah. You guys are more tired than I am. Don’t worry about it.”

Kristen shrugged and both her and Tim laid down next to Zach, welcoming blessed sleep, which surprisingly came fast.

K’s ears perked at each small sound. Her fingers trembled with anxiety as she attempted to control her knife hand. It was dark. So dark. She could hardly see her hands in front of her and wanted desperately to make a fire, but knew that wouldn’t be wise. Making a beacon to their exact location wasn’t exactly what they needed right now. She continued to whittle.

K’s eyes began to drift. She slapped herself hard across the face, bringing herself to consciousness a little more. Dark.

The stick was fairly sharp now. One more slice. Just as she was about to carve into the wood, a creature screamed into the night. K jumped, her knife digging into her hand. She cursed and threw her knife and spear down on the ground. She put her hand in her mouth as she felt around for a place on her shorts to rip off. K ripped a strip of cloth and wrapped it around her injured hand. She cursed again. Now was not a good time to be wounded.

The night seemed to last forever. K began to wonder if it was day, if the dense tree cover prevented any light from entering the forest. It would be night forever. Her comrades would sleep forever. And she would be forced to stay awake forever.

A growl came from the tree line just in front of K. Her eyes narrowed as she tried to see into the darkness. Her hand throbbed, the piece of fabric already soaked with her blood. K reached down and clutched the new spear she’d made, ready to use it if necessary. She waited.

K began snickering. Chuckling. Then laughing. But laughing quietly. She mustn’t wake her people.

K wiped her eyes with her bloody hand, smearing the thick liquid over her lids like a mask. She laughed.

It was dark. So dark. Morning. Sun. No. Dark. Dark.

Another growl emitted from the same location in the jungle. K did not reach for a weapon. Suddenly, a dark mass leapt from the brush. K screamed as she was knocked to the ground.

“K? K?!” Kristen scrambled to her knees and crawled over to her friend. The faint light that had broken through the branches had woken her and she’d looked over to check on K. K was laying on the ground, blood staining her face. She was not moving. But her eyes were open and a faint smile curved the corner of her lips. “K! Tim! Something’s wrong with K!”

Tim sat up groggily. “Wha—what?”

“Come here!”

Tim crawled over to where Kristen sat. K looked terrible! Her expression was wild, maniacal. There were deep dark circles under her eyes, which were bloodshot and red. “Whoa! Look at her hand!”

K’s hand was covered in blood. There was a strip of fabric that had been placed there which was now completely soaked and the blood had then seeped out, covering her whole left hand. It looked infected.

“K!” Kristen slapped her hard across the face.

Suddenly, clarity came to K’s eyes. The smile quickly left and her eyebrows furrowed, darkening her expression. A low growl emitted from her throat as her eyes slowly turned on Kristen.  “…K?” Kristen whimpered.

K jumped up off the ground and lunged for Kristen, her suddenly long, sharp fingernails reaching for Kristen’s face. Tim grabbed her and held her back. “Whoa! K! What are you doing?”

K turned on Tim, scratching his shoulder. Tim cried out and released her. K roared and then ran, on all fours, into the cover of the jungle.

Tim couldn’t believe what just happened. This place just got weirder and weirder. He looked over at Kristen, there were tears running down her face.

“Why is this happening?” She said softly as sobs threatened to wrack her body. “Tim I just want to go home.”

“I know,” he said, “I want to too. But we don’t have a choice, we have to figure this out, either that or we give up. And I’m not giving up, are you?”

“No,” she said “You’re right.” She wiped her sleeve across her face to remove the tears. “Let’s take this one step at a time.”

“Kristen?” Tim looked at her hard in the eyes.

“Yeah?”

“I know there is something you aren’t telling me. I think this would be a lot easier if you would just come out with it.”

“You are right…” she looked like she might start crying again, “I’ve been meaning to talk to you and K about it…I’ve just been having these dreams, well I’m not sure if they are dreams or repressed memories…and now with K….I- I- I just….”

“Kristen, its ok, we will regroup and find K, then you can tell us about these dreams you have been having.”

“Ok…” she said in a shaky voice, wiping more tears from her face. “It Zach up yet?”

Tim looked over at Zach, he was still on the ground in the same position that they had left him the night before.

“Um, Kristen? I think there is something wrong with Zach, he hasn’t gotten up since he fainted yesterday…”

Kristen looked over at Zach’s limp body. “Oh no, no, no, no, no…..this can’t be happening. We should have realized he wasn’t ok yesterday.”

She ran over to him and slapped his face a few times. Nothing. Tim began giving him CPR as Kristen’s tears started again, but only half-heartedly, knowing that it was too late. He was gone.

“Those, those, ghost men….they must have taken him to show us they weren’t messing around….oh gosh, poor Zach, poor, poor Zach…”

She began rocking herself back and forth, back and forth, not able to cope with death.

“And now they have gotten into K’s mind…making her crazy….how will we ever get her back, it was bad enough to loose Zach, but both of them?”

Tears streamed down her face endlessly….Tim wasn’t sure what to do, this was making him uncomfortable, girls and their emotions….it was starting to wear him out. He led her away from Zach’s body, over to a nice harmless looking tree, then he went back to bury Zach’s body. When he came back, dirty and sweaty, Kristen had stopped crying. She had big streaks going down her face where her tears had washed away the grime. She looked firm and in control.

“Are you ok?” he asked.

“It’s time to find out what I am, what these dreams mean and why they want me so bad. And then give myself up, to save the planet. It’s the only thing to do.”

Tim looked at her, wishing he had another solution, wanting to tell her she didn’t have to sacrifice herself. But he knew it would be pointless, there was a determination in her eyes that made him know she wouldn’t listen to anything he said.

“We will find out what is going on. But let’s find K first, ok?”

She nodded. Her face as hard as a rock. For now it was just the two of them, and they were on a mission to find their crazed friend. And save the world.

It was hard leaving Zach where he lie in the hard, infected ground, but it had to be done. Kristen and Tim gathered what little things they had, and attempted to find K, or what was left of her. They weren’t quite sure if her problem was caused by zombies, the ghostly men, or something else altogether. Kristen, feeling the guilt of making K stay up all night long, was determined to find K and save her, to help her no matter what the cost. No one else was going to be taken away from her.

The jungle land wasn’t nearly as intimidating during the day as it was at night. It looked almost normal, like a calm, peaceful jungle in the middle of the Treasure Valley. They did not encounter any creatures, any demons, not even any zombies. Almost like the zombies were too afraid to enter this jungle, for they could die too, and the creatures who resided in it refused to come out while the sun was up. It would have been the perfect hideout if not for the night creatures. They could have lived in there.

Tim and Kristen walked in silence. Every now and then, Tim would look over at Kristen and find her face and determination to be just as hard as it was. Her resolve was not faltering.

“This isn’t working,” Tim said after hours of silent searching. “We should call for her or something. Maybe if we make her angry she’ll come. Shouldn’t be too hard.”

Kristen punched him.

“Man!” Tim said, rubbing his shoulder. “I thought I’d be free of that.”

“Nope. But that’s not a bad idea, Tim. How are we supposed to find her if she doesn’t want to be found. We have to make her reveal herself. K!!!”

“K!!! K!!!” They yelled. Nothing.

Tim thought for a moment. “KRISTIN!! KRISTIN!!”

“What are you doing!? She doesn’t like….to be called by that. Brilliant, Tim!”

Tim shrugged and kept calling K’s real name.

“Kristin!! Your entire family is dead!! You’re all alone in the world and you’re ugly!!”

“Tim! That’s so mean!”

“I farted on your gun!!”

“TIM! She’s going to kill you!”

A low growl emitted from the brush behind them. Slowly, they turned. K crawled out of the bushes. Her hands were more like paws, teeth more like fangs. She had transformed into something truly terrible. One could still tell she had once been human, but she no longer was. She was not covered in hair, but Tim was pretty sure he knew what she’d become by her state. “A—a werewolf?”

K roared!

“K! It’s us! Fight this!” Kristen yelled.

“What do you think happened?” Tim asked as they backed away slowly.

“I think it has something to do with the gash on her hand. Look, it’s black! Maybe the blood attracted whatever did this to her.”

“Note to self: don’t bleed in jungle.” Tim stumbled on a vine as they stepped back, but caught himself.

K’s red eyes flared and her fangs protruded from her lips. “K! You’re stronger than this! You’re the strongest person I know! Fight it! This isn’t you!”

K blinked.

“You can do it! We need you! There’s no way we can survive without you!”

“Especially if she kills us.”

“Shut up, Tim! Please, K. Fight it! Come back to us!”

K had not moved toward them, so it must have been doing something. She started shaking. Her eyes closed. She retched, vomiting all over the ground.

“Sick!” Tim yelled jumping back.

K kept vomiting, a never ending stream surging from her mouth, a deluge of black sludge. Finally, it stopped and Tim and Kristen saw the black sludge slide away into the trees, while K fell on her side on the ground, motionless.

“The wicked witch is dead!" Tim screamed. Kristen punched him hard in the stomach and ran over to K. 

"K, K! Are you alright?" K coughed a little bit, she spit on the ground, her saliva black. 

"Wha...what happened?" K asked, her eyes struggling to focus on Kristen. 

"We aren't sure." Kristen replied.  "A lot of strange things have been happening, I've given up on trying to figure them out."

K sat up and wiped some slime off her face. They all sat in silence for a while, wondering what they should do next. 

"Well we saved  K, time to spill about those nightmares Kristen!" Tim cut through silence. 

Tim looked over at her, she seemed to be more nervous then before when she had first told him about her dreams, like now she might not spill what happened...

K looked at Kristen questioningly, "What nightmares?"

Kristen began talking quietly without making eye contact, "Well I've been having these dreams....and I can't tell if they are memories or just dreams, I don't know, I think that maybe its all starting to come together. I think I know why the zombies need me, why those ghost men want my soul...the dream starts out like this:

“Everything’s normal. Well, apart from being on the moon, but it feels normal. I’m on the moon and a man and a woman are smiling down on me. Their faces turn green and it looks like they’re going to be sick but it quickly fades and they are smiling again. We are just staring into each other’s eyes, when they again frown.  Suddenly, I am falling backwards through space and the man and woman are getting smaller and smaller. They look sad but they are not reaching for me. I land hard on the ground and I am on earth. My parents are looking down on me smiling. But then their faces turn green and they look sick like the man and the woman on the moon. Only they don’t go back to normal. They’re faces stay sick until they start to decay and turn to ash, blowing in the wind. I see people all around me go from smiling to green and decaying. Zombies. Soon I’m surrounded by zombies and I’m the only one left that isn’t infected. They surround me, groaning but not moving towards me. Suddenly, I start bleeding from everywhere! Blood pours out of my eyes, ears, mouth, even my fingernails. It starts to rain my blood as I’m left just a mass of bloody skin on the ground. All the zombies are suddenly human again. And yet they’re not. This part is very confusing. It’s like…it could go either way. I wish I knew what it all meant.” Kristen grabbed her hair and leaned her elbows on her knees.

Tim only stared. That had to be the most disturbing dream he’d ever heard about. He could picture the whole thing in his mind and wondered at how Kristen could live with that in her head. “How long have you had this dream?”

“Every night since the first zombie spotting.”

“And you have no idea what it means?” K asked.

“None.”

“Let’s try to figure it out together,” Tim suggested. “Let’s see…the zombies want you so they can zombify everyone right?”

“Yeah.”

“And you can’t be zombified.”

“Right.”

“People got sick in your dream before they became zombies right?”

“Yes.”

“Maybe this zombie thing is a…I dunno like a disease or something. The moon people got sick but got over it. And you were on the moon. The earth people did not get over it…” Tim was silent for a moment.

“What are you thinking, Tim?” K asked, still trying to recover her strength.

“It’s almost like you’re…immune Kristen. Like it’s an illness that your body is accustomed to. Like the moon people are accustomed to.”

“Moon people? There aren’t moon people!” K scoffed.

“What are you saying?” Kristen stared up at Tim, worried about his answer.

“How sure are you that your parents are your parents?”

“What?!”

“What if this zombie thing is a moon disease? What if you’re originally from the moon? What if you brought it here? What if…all of this is your fault?”

"Tim do you realize what you are saying?" Kristen spurted. "I don't believe in aliens, do you? Are you sure you are feeling ok? Maybe you are a little dehydrated or something..."

"Kristen!" Tim almost started to laugh, "There are Zombies roaming the earth, Boise turned into a jungle overnight, K here turned in to a slime spitting werewolf...the fact that there could be life on the moon seems like a plausible theory right now."

Kristen looked a little blank for a second as she processed the gravity and reality of what Tim just said. Then she burst out laughing. Her laugh grew until it was a hysterical, boisterous, howl. Tears came out of her eyes and she had to hold her sides as she rolled back and forth. Tim felt very disturbed by this...he thought to himself, 

"Holy crap, this girl is crazy, I just told her she probably came from the moon and all she can do is laugh until tears come out of her face...this jungle is really starting to get to all of us..." 

K looked kind of disgusted at this un-natural reaction coming from Kristen. Finally Kristen calmed her self down, wiped the tears from her face, smiled and said, "You are absolutely right Tim. I very well could be from the moon. Better yet I could be a moon princess, I bet they worship me up there! Man so many things have happened, why not this? Why not have the people who raised me not be my actual parents?...heck, I bet they are even robots! Maybe I was raised by robots!"

"Actually I did have this theory that your mom could have been some sort of animatronic..." K started saying, before Tim punched her in the gut.

"Shut-up K," Tim whispered to her. Kristen was off in her own little world, laughing to herself. "This is serious, I really think Kristen could be part of another moon race and that her parents found her and raised her, we need to help her through her denial."

"Ok," K whispered back, "but don't ever hit me again, or I'll really give Kristen something to laugh about." She said, smiling slyly.  

"Kristen, this is really happening...don't go into denial now...are you listening?"

Kristen looked at Tim and tried to focus. Tim knew they were going to have to get to the bottom of this. List out the facts. So Kristen is probably from the moon. Awesome. She might be the reason that the world is being plagued by Zombies. Not so awesome. But, she holds the cure, she is immune. The question is, how to we extract that immunity from her? Obviously the Zombies and the Ghost men had an idea, but their plans didn't seem to include keeping Kristen alive. He looked over at K, he could tell that she was thinking the same thing he was. They needed answers, and they needed to keep Kristen safe, and alive. And preferably sane, which by the looks of her spaced out eyes and the fact that she was starting to have a giggly conversation with herself, might be a challenge. Tim turned to K, 

"We need answers," he said. 

"I know." She looked at him, "and I think I might know where to start."

"Where?" 

"With the wisest person I know, my father. I've always had this strange inclination that he might be some sort of wizard, and that doesn't seem so far fetched now."

"What is wrong with you? You just go around thinking people are animatronic and wizards?"

"Maybe I was just more prepared for this world then you were. There is a reason I've been able to keep you guys alive for so long."

"Wait, wait a second, I thought your father was…dead?”

“He is in every way considered human. Desperate times call for desperate measures. It is time to talk to the undead.”

“Oookaaaayyyy…”

“Tim, I’ve been meaning to tell you something since meeting Allison. My father was turned into a Zombie, but he is more like Allison. He has most of his brain intact.”

“And why would he help us?”

“He is on our side, and now he is a wizard zombie. He still has a good side to him, he is able to reason. The only problem is that he has a hunger for human brains that is hard to control…comes with the gig.”

“How do you know all these things? I mean you have been with me ever since this happened, with the exception of when I was in a coma, and we have not run into your dad.”

“That’s the other thing, I’ve been meaning to tell you guys…maybe we should wait until Kristen is…”

“I’m ok, I’m ok…” Kristen interjected as she finished the frantic pacing she had started as Tim and K talked. “I’m ready to be in the conversation now. Sorry guys, just got thrown for a bit of a loop, had to freak out a bit.”

“Ok, do you know what is going on?” Tim asked

“Yeah something about K’s dad being an undead wizard, continue K.”

“Ok,” she said. “My dad has been speaking to me…telepathically.” She paused to let this sink in.

“Whoa, he’s talking to you in your head? That’s not creepy! He must have kept a HUGE portion of his brain in order to do that!” Tim said, still unsure about K’s claim. It was a strange world they lived in but was it really THAT strange?

“At least, I’m pretty sure it’s him. He keeps telling me to trip you. And telling bad jokes like ‘Baby birds eat their parents’ barf. Isn’t that fowl?’”  

“Yeah that does sound like your dad. He said that to you?”

“Yeah.”

“That’s random.”

“Maybe. But it makes me happier. It gives me hope. Especially if Kristen can cure everyone.”

“Do we need to find your dad, then?” Tim said, sitting down next to K.

“We need his insight. I’m just worried about ME going to see him. I can tell he wants me in his zombie clan. He’s looking for me. Drawing me to him with his luring words. I’m worried I won’t be able to resist him. He is my father.”

“We could tie you to a tree or something like in the Odyssey so the siren can’t get to you.” Tim smiled.

K cocked her eyebrow. “Yeah except they were on water in the Odyssey. They had to go to the sirens. If you tie me to a tree I will be free bait.”

“Oh,” Tim frowned. “I didn’t think about that.”

“I think the best choice would just be keeping me far, far away from there.”

“But there are only three of us. Someone would have to be alone,” Kristen chimed in.

“I can be alone,” K offered.

“We all know what happened the last time you were alone. You went crazy and tried to eat us,” said Tim.

“Yeah but…fine.”

Kristen looked at Tim. “I’ll go to her dad alone.”

“You can’t go!” said K. “The zombies want you as much as my father wants me. If not more.”

Slowly, K and Kristen both looked at Tim.

Tim swallowed loudly, his brow began to perspire. “Is there a way to communicate with him mentally, K?”

She shook her head. “I’ve tried.”

He nodded. “I’ll go…alone.”

K did her best to direct Tim where to go by what her zombie father was telling her, but Tim could still have gotten lost very easily. She drew a smudged map on a napkin with a piece of bark. It was very hard to read. The jungle was dark and foreboding but thankfully the map led him out of the jungle. There were no zombies in there. He didn’t know how long he walked, but he quickly missed the girls he was traveling with, even K. The silent solitude was so encompassing it was almost hard to breathe. Tim walked down Linder Rd. It was abandoned. He didn’t see anyone, not even zombies. Tim began to wonder if the war was over, if something had happened that wiped out everyone. No, K’s father was still around. They must just be hiding. His step quickened. He clutched the pistol K had let him take tightly in his hand. He was so glad she had relented. Besides, she still had the shotgun, the spear, and the knife. Not to mention Kristen’s forks. They would be fine. But all the same, Tim found himself worrying about their well-being as well as his own.

Finally, he came to the spot K described. Squaring his shoulders, he yelled, “John! John Curtis! I know you’re in there! I want to talk to you!”

A low moan came from the abandoned house.

“Who’s there?!”

“It’s T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-Tim. From S-S-S-S-S-S-S-S-S-S-S-Scentsy.”

John chuckled. “Are you afraid, Tim from Scentsy?”

“No.”

“Then leave.”

“I need to talk to you! It concerns your daughter.”

Silence. John shuffled from the darkness of the house and into the light. He amazingly looked very much the same as he had. His skin was gray, not green. His eyes were red but still in his head. He still had his hair, though it was a duller color. His face was sunken. In the normal world he would have been a horrific sight, but compared to what Tim had seen John looked great!

“Kristin?”

“Who?”

John glared. “I thought you said this concerned my daughter!”

“Oh it does! I forgot. She goes by K now.”

“Why? Why would she change her name?”

“Kristin brings too many memories of her family.”

John frowned. “She’s the only one left. Not even her sister and her family in Texas are still human.”

“Must be hard.”

“I know it’s hard! I’m in her head 24/7. I know what pain she’s going through. That’s why I want to change her. Then she wouldn’t be alone.”

“She doesn’t want to be a zombie.”

“No one does. But at least she’d be with her family.”

“What if there was another way?”

John looked up. His eyes sad. Tim was amazed at how much of him was still fairly human. “What other way could there be?”

“What if we could turn her family back into humans?”

“Impossible.”

“I’m not so sure.” Tim relayed everything about their experiences, about Kristen and her abilities, her dreams. When he was finished, he asked “We were hoping you would know what to do to make the cure work.”

John thought for a moment, stroking his boney gray chin. “It seems it could go either way. It seems Kristen was the cause of zombies being created, so this ‘cure’ could be a zombie curer or a zombie maker.”

“But how do we cure!?”

“In her dream, when she bled out, everyone was changed.”

“So she has to die?” Tim was worried about John’s answer.

“Perhaps. But perhaps not. She bled. One can bleed without dying.”

“So it’s her blood?”

“I believe so.”

Tim nodded. “Her blood.”

"So now we have to find a way to distribute Kristen's blood without her dying..." Tim said. 

"The sacrifice of one is sometimes for the good of many." John said. 

"No way!" Said Tim, "I'm not letting Kristen die unless we have no other choice and we know that it will save the world."

"Suit yourself." John said, "Good luck keeping her alive. You will need it. If you will excuse me I'm going to go back to my hideout now...to be alone with my thoughts..."

"Ok creepo.." was what went through Tim's mind, but what he really said was, "Ok John, thank you for your help. I'm going to do everything I can to make sure you and your family are human again. Oh wait John, one more thing! I need to know something.....are you...a...wizard?"

John gave Tim a wan smile and backed into the house.

"Ok, not the answer I was looking for..." Tim said. 

"Time to get back to the girls." Tim said, he was nervous to tell them what he learned but was going to be glad not to be traveling in solitude again. 

Tim got back to the girls in good time, it was night when he approached their camp. After everything that has been going on he half expected to come back and find that they had started human sacrifice, trained monkeys to find gold, married some leprechauns or something along those lines. But even more surprisingly, he came back to find them exactly the way he left them. Sitting around the fire, in silence, the jungle making sounds around them. They looked up as he approached. 

"TIMMYY!!" They both screamed. They ran up and hugged him. 

"Oh my gosh I am so glad that you are safe!" Kristen exclaimed. 

"Took you long enough to get back," K added. 

Tim hugged them back half-heartedly, not wanting to share the news he had gathered. They could sense that he was holding back.

"How bad is it?" Kristen asked. "Just tell me Timmy, I can handle it."

Tim finally raised his eyes to make eye contact with her, well....John does think that you are the cure." He paused.

"Ok...and how do we get that cure out to the zombies? There are a lot of loved ones out there that I want to make human again, this is all my fault!"

"The cure is in your blood." He said.

"Oh." Kristen looked down. "Ok then, now we just have to decide the most effective way to get my blood out to people. And if I have to die for the cause, then so be it, all this zombie business is my fault anyway." 

"Kristen, you don't have to die, tell her she doesn't have to die Tim!" K yelled.

"I don't know, but we are going to do everything that we can to save the world without you having to die." Tim said.

"Ok then Timmy, whats the plan?" Kristen asked. 

"I was thinking about it all the way back," Tim said. "and, I think that we are just going to have to use you as bait. You are impervious to zombification, so I figure if they bite you and taste your blood....then that blood gets passed to the other zombies they feed with...eventually it will start a wide spread transformation. At least I hope so. So now we just have to figure out the best way to do this...draw up some plans..." 

Kristen and K nodded as they listened to his plan. 

"Sounds like a good plan Timmy," Kristen said. "let's get started."  

 “Wait!” K blurted. “She may not be zombifiable but she can still die. And feel pain! Putting her out there and just letting zombies nibble her will be torture! I won’t allow it!”

“K, there may not be another way. Don’t you want your family back?” Kristen asked.

“Of course I do! But we don’t even know for sure it will work! What if my father was wrong? What if we let the zombies drink your blood, killing you and nothing happens? Then it will just be another wasted life.”

“What do you suggest then?” Tim asked, crossing his arms, offended K didn’t agree with his brilliant plan.

“Her body can continue making blood. If we kill her using all of it at once, it will run out. Plus, what if it only requires a single drop and we give each zombie a pint! I say we find a zombie and give him a drop of Kristen’s blood and see what happens. If it doesn’t take much we can just extract and give, extract and give. Then no one would have to be eaten alive, Tim! Geesh.”

“Are you suggesting we capture a zombie?” Tim asked.

“We’ve done it before.”

“Yeah, with nine people! Now we only have three! How are we supposed to with three?”

“I imagine the same way. We’ll just have to be stronger, smarter.” K pulled the shotgun off her back and smiled. “Who’s with me?”

Kristen raised her hand, grateful she didn’t have to let zombies eat her skin off her bones. Tim was hesitant. This girl was going to get them all zombified. Well, except Kristen of course. Still, her courage and concern for her friend was…nice. Tim shrugged and raised his hand.

“Good! Then let’s go.”

The group crept out of the jungle, their weapons loaded and ready. They laid down on their stomachs in the tall grass, scanning the valley for any sign of the undead. It was quiet and still. Everything around them seemed to hold its breath as they waited, watching. The stuffy wind pushed the grasses down to the dirt along with K and Kristen’s loose hair across their faces. It was a beautiful day, but the group did not see the beauty. They only saw the potential for prey, for battle. And while they stared at the open field, they did not see it creeping up behind them.

“I’m hungry,” Tim complained.

“Shush! This is more important.” K hunkered lower in the dirt.

“Than food? I doubt that.”

“Shhh!”

“There’s nothing around. I don’t think whispering is really necessary.”

“Tim, if you don’t shut up, I’m going to—“ K screamed as she suddenly slid backwards on her stomach.

“K!” Kristen yelled. Both Kristen and Tim pushed themselves up and whipped around.

“Ryan!” He stood above them. His eyes were wide and bloodshot, dark circles beneath them. He was covered in dirt and blood and had stubble growing on his scarred chin. K’s back was against him, a knife pressed to her neck.

“Get up!” he roared.

“Ryan! What are you doing, man?” Tim asked as they slowly stood.

“Shut up! Do what I ask and you won’t get hurt.”

“What about K?” Kristen asked as K’s neck began to bleed where Ryan held the knife. K glared, refusing to show pain.

Ryan grinned. “I can’t make any promises.”

“What’s wrong with you? Why are you doing this?”

“What’s wrong with me? Look at you three! You look fine! There’s hardly a new scratch on you since we separated. Look at me! LOOK AT ME! And do you know why you’ve lasted so long? Because of her!” Ryan shook K, making the knife press harder into her skin. This time, K winced.

“So why are you trying to kill her!?” Kristen screamed.

Ryan chuckled. “I’m not trying to kill her, you stupid girl! I’m trying to keep her from killing me! I am taking her with me whether any of you like it or not. I WILL survive this and I need her to do so.”

“You can’t just take her!” Tim yelled. “You think we’ve had it fine and dandy this whole time? Well, we haven’t! We almost got our souls stolen by ghost bodybuilders, Zach died, K turned into a creature and tried to slice off our faces, I had to go talk to a wizard zombie by myself, and now we have to figure out how to kill Kristen without killing her! You thing we’ve had it easy. Taking K will not make things easier for you, but it will make things harder for us!”

“And you think I’ll stay with you?” K muttered.

“Shut up! I don’t believe a word of that, Tim. You were always smart-alecky and I’m not going to let you trick me.” Ryan began backing up slowly, K in tow.  “Now if any of you follow me, or try to escape, I swear I will not rest until I see you all dead, whether zombie or human.”

 “Ryan, stop! Why don’t you just stay with us? You don’t have to separate!” Kristen pleaded. Ryan stopped.

“Kristen! What are you doing? We don’t want him with us NOW! He’s completely mental!” Tim muttered under his breath.

Kristen ignored him. Ryan seemed to be thinking, mulling over his options. Finally, he smiled and said, “Okay. I’ll stick around.” He pushed K forward and she fell into Tim and Kristen’s arms then quickly spun and lunged for Ryan. The two held her back. Ryan chuckled then suddenly, frowning, grabbed her neck and pushed on the bleeding gash with his thumbs. K cried out and tried to get out of his grasp.

“Stop! You’re hurting her! Let her go!” Kristen yelled.

Finally, he released her. K fell to the ground panting and gingerly touched the cut on her neck, looking down at her blood stained fingers.

“That was to show you that you aren’t the leader around here anymore. I am stronger than you and can and will have my way.” Ryan got right into K’s face. “I’m in charge now. So get used to it.”

K spit in his face.

Ryan growled and moved to hit her hard, but K leaned back slightly, dodging his fist.

“You may be stronger,” K sneered,  “But you will not win. You will not beat me. I will always find a way to spite you. And you will lose.”

Ryan glared then, turning to Tim, growled. “Find some food.”

“But—“

“Do it! Do what I say, or die.”

That night they made camp. As always they were sleeping under the twinkling stars that seemed to look down at them and laugh at how absurd and painful the world had become. Kristen and Tim huddled next to each other on one side of the fire and K sat a few feet away from them, tending to her neck, trying not to let the pain and frustration show. Ryan was asleep and snoring loudly on the other side of the fire, a large gun lying across his chest. 

"Ok am I the only one that is wondering what the heck happened to Ryan?" Kristen whispered to Tim.

"Nope. I'm kind of freaking out right now...what happened to him after he separated from us that turned him into this?" Tim whispered back.

"Yeah and why the sudden hatred for K? Didn't they kind of share a moment when he left? It was the only time I've seen K show any softness since all this Zombie business, I mean they used to be really good friends. What happened?" 

"Yeah I don't know, but I know she is probably trying to figure that out too. She won't show it, but I know that he has hurt her, coming back like this. I guess it's safe to assume that he didn't find John...poor John. I really hope that he was turned into a zombie and isn't dead somewhere like Zach so that we have a chance to turn him back human."

The mention of Zach's name brought tears to Kristen's eyes and she had to turn away. 

"Oh gosh I'm sorry!" Tim said quickly, realizing his mistake, "Kristen I'm such a jerk, I wasn't thinking, its just with all this zombie business...well its desensitized me a bit." 

"It's ok," Kristen said quietly as she wiped some tears from her face, "I know you weren't thinking. I just miss him so much!" another round of quiet sobs started. Tim sat and tried to comfort her as he thought about about K and Ryan and what had happened to their friendship. He wished he could comfort K too, but she was too proud to accept it.

The next morning they woke up with Ryan's gun in their face. 

"Rise and shine little Zombie killer troops!" he yelled in their faces. Tim started at the sudden noise, looked up at Ryan with disgust and then stretched a little. Kristen quickly turned away, not wanting Ryan to see her tear streaked face from the night before. Tim looked over and saw that K was already up, a bandage covering her throat. 

"I swear if Ryan ever touches her again..." he thought to himself, "I'll rip him limb from limb." He looked at Ryan with contempt. Then he spoke to him in an angry voice,

"So Ryan, when are you going to tell us what happened after you left? I remember you being the good guy, you volunteered to go find John on your own, tired of all that hero nonsense? Decided you weren't really cut out for it?"

Ryan grabbed Tim's face in his large hand and spoke in a harsh quiet whisper next to his face. 

"You don't know what I've seen, little boy. I've seen things that you can't even imagine, so excuse me if I'm a little more hardened then the last time you saw me. I've learned the hard way that I don't know who I can trust anymore."

Tim shuddered a bit and then ripped Ryan's hand off his face. 

"Don't touch me again." He said evenly.

"Fair enough," Ryan replied. "So we need to go capture a Zombie and feed Kristen to it to see if she is the cure right?"  he smiled a bit. "Let's get started!"

Kristen gave Ryan a hard, piercing look and got up off the ground. "You lead the way, oh fearless leader." She said, "Go find us a zombie." And with that the group headed off into the woods with Ryan in the lead, K shortly behind him, still strangely quiet, off to capture a Zombie. 

 None of them knew how long they’d traveled. They seemed to just walk forever. Tim thought back on when he went to visit John. He had not run into a single zombie apart from K’s father. Hadn’t seen one. Hadn’t heard one. And now as they walked they couldn’t find a zombie anywhere.

“Where are they?” Kristen whispered. “Not having zombies is almost scarier than having zombies.”

Tim shrugged. Kristen was right. The silence was worse, more foreboding than the moans and slurps of the munching zombies. They slipped back into silence.

Neither Ryan nor K had made a sound since they’d left. And Tim and Kristen were afraid to say too much as both of the strongest people in the group were also the most unstable. The sun beat down on them as they walked. It was late September now, but the sun still burned with a fiery passion, like it was angry at Earth. The entire group was panting and sweating as they trudged through the heat. K stripped the bandage off her neck and threw it on the ground.

Kristen shot her a questioning look.

“It’s too hot for that. Slowing me down.”

“It doesn’t look like it’s still bleeding,” Kristen responded.

“Good.”

Just as the sun reached its peak, Ryan stopped. “Let’s…let’s rest here.”

“What? You too weak to carry on?” K prodded.

“K! Shut up! We want to stop!” Tim elbowed her.

Ryan turned slowly, glaring at K. “No, but this walking is getting us nowhere. There are no zombies!”

“And how are you going to fix that, oh leader.” K folded her arms across her chest.

He leaned in closer. “Maybe the smell of human blood will lure them in.”

K reached behind her back. “Maybe it will.”

Suddenly, both pulled out small daggers and began lunging at each other, swinging and striking. Both were trying their hardest to cut the other but neither could wound the other. They were both too good. They would swipe and dodge, swing and block. Tim couldn’t help but be reminded of an old 50’s gang movie. It looked like a choreographed knife fight. Finally, K’s blade swiped over Ryan’s arm, leaving a gash about the size and length of the one at the base of her neck.

Ryan roared and ran at her, pulling them both to the ground. They rolled around in the dirt, but Ryan had the better hand on the ground. He pinned her beneath him. K struggled to get out from under him but he was too heavy. Ryan grabbed her throat.

“Don’t you EVER have a go at me again or I WILL kill you.”

K gasped for air.

“Do you understand me? I am your MASTER! I will BREAK you!”

K widened her mouth as she attempted to get any amount of air into her lungs.

“You WILL do as I say.”

Tim ran up and kicked Ryan hard in the face, causing him to fly backwards off of K. K gasped and coughed. Tim helped her to her feet. “Run!”

Ryan felt his bleeding nose. “Why you little—“ he got up and began chasing them.

“RUN!”

The three companions tore through the woods as they struggled to get away from Ryan. They ran faster as they heard his large body tearing through the trees, a little too close for comfort. As soon as Tim felt like Ryan was far enough away from them, he ducked behind a group of trees and pulled Kristen and K next to him. They watched as Ryan tore past them, but then he stopped.

“Oh no, why is he stopping?” Kristen whispered.

They looked over to where Ryan was and saw what had stopped him. Two zombies that looked like they were traveling together were standing in front of him, smelling the blood coming from his nose and arm.

“Guess the blood worked.” K whispered.

The Zombies grabbed Ryan and started pulling him to the ground as he screamed.

“Come on, we should probably save the poor fellow.” Tim said tiredly.

K threw a knife directly into the fore head of one of the zombies knocking him of Ryan. Kristen managed to stab the second one of Ryan with her forks. Tim and K tied the two zombies to a tree and examined their captures. Ryan stayed on the ground, silent. The trio ignored him.

“Ok,” Tim said. “Kristen, are you ready? We will just try it with one and see what happens ok?”

“Ok,” Kristen said, “I’m ready.” She pricked her finger and squeezed until a few drops of blood pooled on her finger. “What do you think is the best way to do this?” She asked out loud. “Do I just stick my finger in the sucker’s mouth?”

“Seems a good a way as any.” Tim said, shrugging.

“Alright, you guys open his mouth for me I guess.” Kristen said.

K and Tim struggled to open the mouth of the resisting zombie so that Kristen could stick her blood covered finger in the putrid mess of saliva and tongue that waited her inside.

“Ewwww.!” Kristen said as she closed her eyes and turned her head away, slowly extending her finger toward the Zombie’s mouth. She stuck it in quickly, made sure the blood had been licked off and pulled her finger back before the monster was able to bite her finger.

“SICK!!” She screamed. I have nasty zombie spit all over me!! She quickly wiped it on Tim’s shirt.

“Hey!” he protested, but then they got distracted by what happened next. Almost instantaneously the zombie transformed.

The eyes moved back into their head, hair grew back, skin grew back, nose grew back, and suddenly a kid of about 16 stood before them, seemingly completely normal. The kid groaned and lifted his head from his chest.

“Where am I?” he asked. “What happened?”

Kristen stepped forward. “You’re in a zombie apocalyptic Idaho and—“

He cut her off. “Zombie. I remember zombies. So scared! I…I was one. I remember. I remember wanting brains soo badly!” He shivered. “I knew what I was doing but I couldn’t control myself. I…I ate brains!” The boy began getting frantic, pulling on the ropes that bound him. “I ate brains! I ate brains!”

K stepped forward, grabbing his face and forcing him to look at her. “Calm down! It’s over now! You’re human again.”

He heaved and threw up on K’s feet. She sighed. “Great.”

Tim roared with laughter. “He barfed on you! Hahahaha! You got barfed on! Hahaha! Good zombie kid! Hahaha!”

K punched Tim in the face. He fell hard to the ground, dizzy. The rest turned back to the kid.

“Who are you guys?” he asked.

“We are the survivors,” Kristen answered.

“The protectors of the innocent,” K chimed in.

“The curers of zombies.”

“The killers of zombies.”

“The world’s one hope.”

“Your one doom! MUAHAHAHAH!”

Kristen frowned at the kid’s sudden fear. “Ignore her. What’s your name?”

“Uh…I’m…Austin...yeah that’s it, Austin.”

Kristen offered her hand. “Nice to meet you Austin.”

Austin looked down at his arms, which were still tied to the tree. “Uh…I can’t really—“

“OH! Geez sorry! Let’s get you untied.” Kristen cut the ropes.

“GRAHAHA!” the whole group jumped.

“Oh! We forgot about the other zombie!” said K. “Well, we know it works. Want to try a little less blood this time, Kristen?”

“Blood?” Austin questioned.

“Yeah. It’s how we cure zombies. Give them a taste of my blood.”

“Sick!”

“Yeah.”

“Does it work with anyone’s blood?”

“I don’t think so.”

“Just yours?”

“Yup.”

“Cool.”

K cocked her eyebrow. “Cool? Hardly.”

Kristen poked her finger again, this time squeezing out a little less blood than the first time. “Hold ‘em.”

K held the zombie’s mouth open and Kristen quickly stuck her finger in and pulled it out.

The zombie shook, rattled, and soon was a young girl of about fifteen.

She shook her head and looked up. “Austin!”

“Beck!”

“What happened? Where are we?”

“We were zombies and these folks just changed us back to humans.”

“We…we stayed together even as zombies?”

“I guess so.”

“Untie me!”

Austin rushed forward and loosed the ropes around her. Becky burst from her bonds and threw her arms around Austin’s neck.

“Ugh!” K yelled, turning away as the young lovers started making out. “Sick!”

Tim slowly sat up from his place on the ground. “That’s so beautiful!”

“Stop! Please!” K yelled. “I don’t get much to eat and what I do get I’d like to keep inside me!”

They stopped.

“I’m confused,” Kristen said as the couple kept their arms around each other.

Austin spoke up. “Becky and I are high school sweethearts. We were changed into zombies together and I guess we stayed together the whole time.”

“Oh. Well, that’s sweet.”

“Great!” Ryan yelled from behind them. He had been quiet and still the whole time. “Now we’re babysitters!”

Austin frowned. “We can take care of ourselves. You don’t need to babysit us.”

“You can take care of yourself? You were zombified! Nice job taking care of yourself.”

“Ryan,” K growled. “Shut up.”

“No! I will not shut up! You guys are doing a terrible job doing what I say! I am your leader!” Ryan continued to rant and rave as K quickly scooped some of Kristen’s blood on her on finger, then ran over and plopped her finger in Ryan’s mouth.

Ryan stopped. “What the h—“

He began to shave, convulse.

“K! What did you do?!” Tim yelled.

“Trust me!” She slowly reached for her gun.

“You’re not going to kill him are you?!”

“TRUST ME!”

Ryan the zombie roared and lunged for K. She whipped out her gun and, as she moved to dodge his advance, shot him. He fell limp on the ground. The whole group gasped and stared.

“K. You…killed him,” Kristen whispered, aghast.

“No. I’m teaching him a lesson.”

“By killing him!? You’ve gone completely bonkers, K!” Tim yelled. “Give me your weapons NOW!”  Tim stepped forward, his hand reaching for her gun.

“No!” K put it behind her back and backed away.

“Give it!”

“No! Trust me!”

“How can we trust you now? Now we know you’re a killer! An emotionless, merciless killer!”

“Tim!” Kristen yelled from behind them. “Look!”

Zombie Ryan began to move.

He got up and lunged toward K, a wild look in his eyes.

“I’M GOING TO GET YOU KKKKKKK!” He growled.  As he threw himself towards K, his newly rotting, zombified left leg snapped in half, causing him to fall to the ground.

“ARAAARRRHGGG!” He yelled, frustrated at the sudden handicap. As he tried to re-attach his leg his fingers became so swollen and rotten that he wasn’t able to move them. The skin on his face began to sag much too far from his bones.

“What is happening to him?” Tim asked

“I think that the transformation is happening much too fast,” Kristen said, “This is the first person that has come into direct contact with my blood, its probably more concentrated and causes them to transform much faster then the traditional way.”

“What do we do?” Tim began to panic, “We can’t just let him fall apart!”

“Yes we can.” Said K.

Kristen gave K a tired look.

“I’m getting a little tired of you being so stubborn about everything.” She said, and then she stuck her still bloody finger in Ryan’s mouth.

He slowly transformed back into a human being, groaning through the whole process. When it was over, he looked down sadly at his leg that was now a bloody stump ending at his knee.

“Ok that is super gross.” Tim said, looking at the rest of Ryan’s leg that was sitting next to him.

Tears welled up in Ryan’s eyes. “My leg…” he moaned.

“Get over it,” K said, “You needed an attitude adjustment, so I helped you out. You were being a real pain in the butt.”

“Yeah great thinking K,” Tim said sarcastically, “only how are we going to get him around now?”

Kristen bent down to examine Ryan’s bloody stump and began wrapping it with a strip of her tattered shirt.

“I guess we will have to make him a crutch.” She said. “There is no way any of us can carry him.”

“You’re right.” Tim said. “Lets make camp here tonight and tomorrow morning we will figure out a plan for curing the rest of the zombies now that we know your blood works Kristen.”

Kristen nodded solemnly, worried about what she might have to sacrifice.

“Do you mind if we make camp with you?” Asked the love-struck teenager, who had been watching in the background during the whole dramatic scene.

Tim had completely forgotten that the lovers were there.

“Oh um, sure.” He said.

“We will go off on our own as soon as morning comes.” The teenager said, “We are just a little afraid to be on our own tonight.”

“Yeah no problem.” Tim said. He looked over at K and Kristen to see if they would object, K looked like she might puke if she had to spend anymore time watching them make out. Kristen looked a little put out too, but he wasn’t about to force them to face the jungle alone, he knew what was out there…much better for them to stay in a group.

“Ok then.” Tim said.

“Uh Tim?” Kristen said

“Yeah?”

“Should we bury Ryan’s leg?”

“Hmm, well I hate to waste a perfectly good Zombie leg…you never know when you might need one of those.”

“Good point. Let’s keep it. But…who’s going to carry it?” Kristen asked.

Tim thought for a moment. “Ryan?”

“Tim! We can’t make Ryan carry his own severed leg! That’s just cruel.”

“He was more than cruel to us.”

“Tis not an eye for an eye, Tim. Repent.” Kristen wagged her dirty finger at him.

“I’ll carry it,” said K. “It’s my fault it came off. Besides, carrying a zombie leg will only increase my intimidating appearance.”

“True!” said Tim. “Okay, it’s decided then. K will carry it.”

“K! If I ever get my leg back I’m gonna—“

“What?” K interrupted Ryan. “You’re not going to get it back so what are you gonna do? Bleed on me?”

Ryan frowned. “…Yessss…”

K huffed (new meaning for this word: like an airy huh noise that is kinda a one syllabled mocking laugh). “Cool. You do that.” She smiled.

Tim frowned. She was much too happy about Ryan’s predicament. He wondered if she really did know that her turning him into a zombie and shooting him wouldn’t harm him greatly. There was something off with that chick.

Tim shook his head slowly and asked, “What now?”

K shrugged. Kristen shook her head. Ryan stared at his stump of a leg. The couple stared at each other.

“Okay then. I guess we…sleep?”

“I’ll keep watch,” said K.

“No!” Tim and Kristen yelled.

“Okay, okay! I won’t!”

“I will,” said Tim.

It got dark.

Tim leaned up against a tree as the others fell asleep on the ground. He watched the two love struck teenagers as they cuddled in their sleep, both smiling. He marveled at how they could be happy, especially in a time like this, a time when there wasn’t a lick of beauty in the world. Austin pulled Becky tighter to him. Tim frowned. They really looked happy! How could it be possible? What did they have that the rest of them didn’t? They had each other. But Tim had Kristen and K. What was the difference? He wasn’t alone either. Why did they get to be happy?

“Mmm.”

Tim looked up and saw nothing. “Hello?” he whispered, trying not to disturb the others.

“Ahh.”

“Who’s there?” Tim climbed to his feet, clutching K’s dagger in his hand as he searched the surrounding area. “H-hello?”

“Woo.”

Tim followed the sound and crept up to a bush. The sound was coming from behind it. He was sure of it.  Slowly, he peeked through the branches. Tim screamed and reeled backwards, crab crawling until he hit a tree behind him. He lifted his dagger, pointing the tip at the bush. The leaves shivered and she crawled out of the bush.

“St-stay away from me!” Tim stretched his arm out farther towards the zombie girl. “I’ve got a pointy…object that I can stab you with!”

The zombie reeled back as well. “Please! Please don’t hurt me!”

“Huh?” Tim scratched his head. “You—you’re afraid of me?”

Obviously, it is yet unfinished. Stay tuned.