Zombified

• Madison Mcdaniel, Grade 12
• Short Story
• 2013

I needed to get away. What was that?! I turned around. No! They’re catching up! I was losing my breath and my legs had almost stopped. I can’t do this anymore! I stopped and the rumble of feet finally caught up to me. I was perspiring, not only because I was running a marathon, but because I was scared. I turned. The discoloured bodies surrounded me, growling. One placed its mouth on me and I prepared for the worst.

Hang on a minute…. The zombies aren’t devouring me! They’re…. licking me? I looked down and noticed my arms were blood stained from the deathly bodies’ tongues. A warm sensation flowed through my body and a pleasant scream escaped my lips. When the zombies left, I collapsed into a messy heap as the feeling got stronger. About ten minutes later my eyes shut. I still don’t know whether that was when I died or whether I was just asleep.

I feel different….. Off in a way… I bolted upright. What did the zombies do to me?! Am I one of them? How? I made a sound. I-I….I just growled! I glanced at my sickly green skin and made a small incision. A thick jelly-like substance leaked from the area and as I examined it, I realised it was my blood. Then I noticed another thing; no pain! I decided to go for a walk. I felt like I was on top of the world so I started jogging. After about twenty five minutes I realised I wasn’t getting tired.

I let out a glorious growl and someone screamed. I decided to follow whoever screamed to tell them how amazing the life of a zombie is. There was a man and a woman together. Hey! I tried to call. The only thing that came out was a growl. Oh, that’s right. I can’t speak English. I wanted to get to the couple so I ran faster. I was almost there when the man pulled out a rifle and started shooting at me. It was then that I realised I couldn’t communicate with these humans by chasing after them. I had an idea.

When they looked at me I raised my hand and pointed to a stationery store. I went in and found things scattered everywhere. What I needed was a whiteboard. Bingo! I wrote ‘Hello. My name is Jeff’ and waited for the couple. I looked outside and noticed that they came back, fully alert. I hurried back to the whiteboard when they got in. They couldn’t believe their eyes, and neither could I!

‘The zombies got me. It’s okay because I’m not a brain-dead killing machine like in the movies. I growl, but that’s all. Do you want to join me? If not, I still love you. You are great parents.’ They glanced at each other cautiously then mum slowly took a step forward. Dad did too then we couldn’t fight it any longer; we went in for an embrace.