Post by KitClairvoyance on Jan 6, 2008 11:43:09 GMT -5
kittengriffin said:
kitclairvoyance said:
Zombie romance. ^__^
Can I dare you to write about that? xD Because that'd be really funny.
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The trio of friends sat huddled around a bonfire fueled by the limbs left behind by the latest mob of zombies. It stank horribly of the salty-rancid smell of decay, but at least it gave them warmth and kept away the marauding zombies that still lingered around. Above them towered an abandoned apartment, its occupants either dead or turned into the single minded creatures that had eaten their neighbours. They tried to ignore the knowledge that the zombies were people they knew as they added more limbs to the fire, keeping it alive. A wedding ring clinked on the ground as it slipped off a rotting finger, only to drop into a storm drain.
Thunder rumbled overhead, the clouds splitting with lightning as a wave of rain whipped down on them, dampening their hopes as the fire flickered down to a small smoulder before going out with a hiss.
“That ain’t good mates,” the largest of the trio said, lifting his battered wood-axe as the faint sound of scuffling feet emerged from the skeleton city. Soaked blond hair brushed aside, he squinted through the darkness and gritted his teeth.
“It certainly isn’t Travis my good man, it certainly isn’t,” came the reply from a thin man who was still hunched over the remnants of the fire, stubbornly trying to light a cigarette from the embers that still glowed. The way he saw it, if he was going to die from this mob, he might as well enjoy what little he had left. Once he got a small light going, he stood up beside Travis and blew a long stream of smoke at the direction of the scuffling. “Sounds like they have quite a number coming too.”
“This mob, bigger than last.. much bigger,” the last of the trio said, the rain slipping off his clean bald head as he sat cross-legged in front of the heap of burnt zombie limbs in meditation.
“I reckon we ought to run for it,” Travis said as the zombie mob came into sight, literally pouring out of the buildings to form a writhing mass of limbs as they shuffled their way onwards. “Fei, Lance, grab the rest of our tucker and let’s split. Those fruit loops ‘ll take a good minute to choose who to follow.”
“Very good, but where do we run to?” Lance asked as he blew another stream of smoke.
“’s an old chapel about a click away. Dead north. Ought to be safer than the streets.”
“Well then gentlemen. I’ll see you on the other side,” Lance said and picked up his backpack of scavenged supplies before giving a bow and taking off swiftly.
“See ya mate,” Travis said to Fei who was still sitting in meditation. He gave the silent man a pat on the back before heaving his own backpack up onto his shoulders and jogged down the nearest alley. With luck, the ally would bypass the zombie mob and give him a clean run towards the chapel. As he left, he turned back to see that Fei too had gone his own way.
A scraping scream tore through the alley as the mob found a victim. Travis shut the sound out and kept running, stumbling past garbage bags and debris left by the last zombie to pass through the alley. The rain continued its crashing assault, pelting him with sharp pebbles of water as he made his way further and further away from the mob. Once the scuffling sound faded into the static of rain, Travis stopped by an old dumpster to catch his breath. The chapel was close, but he’d rather make the final dash out of the alleys and into the chapel as quickly as he could.
Travis took a deep breath when the lid of the dumpster crashed open, its rotten occupant sending a solid arm hammering right into his chest. He staggered backwards, dazed by the blow as he watched the zombie clamber out of its resting place, eyes filled with hunger as it lunged towards him. Wood-axe raised high, he stood poised to chop the zombie’s head off when a glint of reflected light caught his eye. A silver-blue necklace hung loosely from the zombie’s neck. Travis hesitated as he saw himself reflected in the diamond-pendant of the necklace. “Kate?” he called to the zombie, his blood running cold. Unlike Travis, the zombie didn’t hesitate to plant a rotting hand deep into his chest, gouging flesh and blood out.
When he awoke, he found himself staring up at wisps of smoke rising towards a stone ceiling. His chest burned with pain, and the room smelled of charred flesh. He watched as the lines of smoke twisted and curled to make out a face – “Kate!” he shouted the name that came into his mind and sat upright, sending a searing pain flaring from his chest.
“Glad you could join us, old boy. You were about to become zombie tea when Fei found you. We had to cauterize your wound though; a shame really, that was some good brandy we used.”
Travis turned to see Lance sitting loftily on an old pew, smoking away at another cigarette. Tilting his head downwards, he saw the blackened flesh of his chest which still smelled of burnt flesh. The nasty green tinge of an infection outlined the burn mark. “Holy dooley mate.. smells like you had a barbie in ‘ere,” he said, the words forced through a pained smile.
“Easy now, it has been a rough day for all of us,” Lance said as he rubbed the butt of his cigarette onto the pew, “I wouldn’t be surprised if zombies were crawling all around us. There’s a graveyard just out the back. I must say, you couldn’t have chosen a better place to run to.”
“Y’ have any better ideas, mate?” Travis snapped, irritated both by the crackled pain that tore across his chest and Lance’s not-so-subtle attempt at sarcasm. What worried him even more was the signs of infection that was already spreading out from the burned flesh. Lance knew as well as he did that it was only a matter of time before he turned into one of them; he was surprised that Lance hadn’t already killed him, perhaps friendship sometimes did mean more than survival.
Lance drew another cigarette from his pocket and set it alight. Travis hadn’t seen him chain smoke in a long while, cigarettes were hard enough to find now, and Lance wasn’t one to waste the little luxuries he had. Either Lance had given up hope of surviving, or his nerves were totally wrecked. Still, his face betrayed neither, the Englishman’s thin lips holding the cigarette in place, tilted down at an angle to allow the ash to drop off by itself.
The slow moaning of zombies steadily grew louder as the night plunged deeper into darkness. Travis couldn’t sleep, the image of Kate as a zombie taunting him each time he closed his eyes. He had always hoped that she had survived, but not like this. A throb of pain from his chest reminded him that it wasn’t long before he would share the same fate as her. But hey, at least they’d be together again.
By the time Lance had fallen asleep on the pew, his cigarette dangling stubbornly from his lips, Travis could feel a good measure of strength returning to his limbs. He watched the sleeping Englishman, eyes tired and hands folded neatly on his lap. He watched as Lance’s chest rose and sank with each breath, his body continuing to breathe subconsciously as he slumbered. Softly, he got up for the first time from the cold stone floor of the chapel and walked to the great wooden doors. The zombie moans grew louder in his ears, and amongst them he knew Kate was there.
As he opened the doors, he remembered proposing to Kate just a month before the plague had hit their city.
She said she would think about it.
The sharp crack of a revolver being shot echoed off the chapel’s stone walls. Travis staggered and clutched his chest, a dark patch of blood staining his hands. Another crack. He fell to his knees. When he lifted his head, he could see a zombie making its way up the chapel’s walkway, a glint of silver strung around its neck.
As the third gunshot pierced his body, he found himself reaching out to her. He wondered if in death, zombies could still love. He wondered if her spirit was in heaven, or if it would be trapped forever in the prison of her body.
And after that, he thought no longer.
Lance stepped over Travis’s dead body, discarding the empty revolver. “Sorry old friend, but you know I couldn’t let you do that.”
He looked up at the zombie who was now standing in the doorway and reached out to touch it. The zombie made no move as Lance ran a hand across the cheek that he had caressed in secret so many times before. And as he leaned down to place a kiss on her lips; he knew that even in death, zombies could still love.
