Zombie Mummy

• Jessica Fitzpatrick, Grade 8
• Short Story
• 2008

It was a cold, stormy Halloween night. Three extreme sports fanatics: Jeff, Mark and Louise decided to do something new, so instead of going surfing, they jumped on their BMX bikes and went for a ride. They never knew that they were to spend a night in the old haunted mansion across town… or did they?
It was 9 o’clock when Jeff, Mark and Louise got settled down. The rain poured down outside. The three were watching a movie (a VHS!) in the abandoned lounge room of the mansion when a blackout interrupted the narrative. Mark grabbed his torch and headed up the hallway to see what had caused the sudden darkness…
It had been twenty minutes since Mark left to investigate the dilemma and the other two friends began to worry. Louise was startled by an evenly-paced THUD that kept getting louder as it drew closer. By the time Louise and Jeff realised it wasn’t Mark making his way back, it was too late. It went quiet. Jeff reached into his pocket and fumbled for his mobile phone. He called his older mate Dan (who was older and had a car). Before Jeff could explain his predicament the call was cut short by a loud roar and a high-pitched scream.
Louise didn’t have time to think, she just ran as fast as she could towards the weathered front door. She was so scared and as white as a ghost. She hoped that Dan would remember them saying that they were going to break into the abandoned mansion and would be racing over to see what all the fuss was about.
Sure enough, Dan arrived in his car (complete with red ‘P’ plates). Louise leapt from the shrubbery she was hiding behind and into Dan’s arms. She barely had time to start the story before IT appeared…
The zombie mummy was tall, ugly, green and reminded Louise, somewhat, of her mum early in the morning – especially after one of those nights! Dan shoved Louise into the car and ran around to the driver’s side. The car screamed away from that house and headed back across town to Louise’s house…

Mark and Jeff featured regularly on ‘Missing Persons Unit’ but were never found. Louise and Dan never went to the abandoned mansion again. The zombie mummy was never heard from again… Or perhaps no one ever made it out of that place alive to tell about it.