becoming strongly of the opinion that Gordon was about to pussy out. He’d been pleasantly surprised when Gordon joined in enthusiastically, landing a few blows to Zombie Food’s kidneys. Zombie Food had not wanted to come to the house even through all the wining and dining they’d bestowed throughout the evening. In a way it had been like a courtship dance. The chance meeting at Susan Zimmerman’s party, the attempt at small-talk, casting the initial reel. And then of course there’d been the subtle jabs of insult from both parties, made in good humor, of course, but a ritual that had to be undertaken to let down their prey’s guard. To make Zombie Food think that things were normal.
And it worked.
Zombie Food had always been somewhat adversarial with them, even before tonight. The chance meeting at Susan’s was like destiny. They’d appealed to Zombie Food’s basic instincts, said all the right things and, before they knew it, Zombie Food was hanging out with them.
Needless to say, Zombie Food was in the process of leaving the party with those that had delivered it to Susan’s house. In fact, it had almost gotten out of their collective grasp, but they’d chased it down, captured it, wined and dined it, and encouraged Zombie Food to stay. They’d brought Zombie Food back into Susan’s house and continued their courtship. They were determined to win Zombie Food over for the night.
And at some point during the evening, they’d convinced Zombie Food to come over to Scott’s house. They’d made the suggestion earlier in the evening, but Zombie Food had rebuffed them in that condescending tone they knew so well. Scott and his friends laughed at this.
And somehow, it worked. They’d convinced Zombie Food to come with them, since it now lacked adequate transportation. They would provide transportation to Zombie Food’s home at the end of the evening, they said aloud while they were standing outside in a rough semi-circle in front of Susan’s house. Zombie Food did not have a car. Scott had grinned. “No problem,” he’d said. “We’ll get you home! Come with us!”
And Zombie Food had gone with them.
Once at the house they’d hung out in the living room and plied Zombie Food with booze. It turned out that Zombie Food liked to drink. In fact, Zombie Food’s beverage of choice was Jack and Coke, which Scott had. He served up the concoction from his parent’s liquor cabinet and retrieved beers for the rest of the guys as they sprawled in the family room on sofas and comfy chairs and relaxed. Zombie Food began to get drunk and they encouraged it to let loose. Zombie Food was among friends now! Zombie Food could relax.
And Zombie Food did.
An hour later, when Zombie Food was good and plastered and mouthing off about Spring Valley High’s Principal, who they all agreed was a colossal douchebag, Scott signaled the guys into action and they attacked. They swarmed over Zombie Food, kicking and punching, sending Zombie Food to the floor amid a flurry of blows that quickly put an end to Phase One.
Scott glanced up at them, barely able to contain his enthusiasm. He grinned. “It’s feeding time!”
He grabbed Zombie Food’s arm, and Dave grabbed the other arm. Steve and Gordon helped, and as a unit they led a bloodied Zombie Food out of the house, through the darkened back yard and to the guest house.
Zombie Food was out of it. Conscious, bleeding about the face and head, Zombie Food made semi-conscious moaning sounds. Scott unlocked the door to the guest house and they got Zombie Food inside, shutting the door behind them.
Somebody turned on the light.
The two zombies stood shackled in their corner, looking towards them. The younger zombie’s eyes raised in surprise. “Eeeehhhaa!” he bleated. The older zombie regarded them with that dead look in its remaining eye. A low rumble seemed to issue from deep in its chest. It was hard to get a read on what the zombies were thinking. Their dead faces were slack, expressionless. Could zombies bear expressions like surprise? Hate? Fear? They’d seemed fearful last time. Now it was hard to tell.
“Got you some dinner, zombies!” David said, his voice a lilting sing-song.
Steve chuckled. “You’re gonna like this one, guys. This fucker deserves it.”
They let Zombie Food fall to the floor and stood over him, waiting for a reaction.
From the moment he saw John Elfman at Susan Zimmerman’s party, Scott knew he was going to be the next one. John had been a thorn in their side since eighth grade. While Scott, Dave, and Steve all played various sports in school and in general had been on pretty friendly terms with the other jocks, John Elfman was the exception. John was a jock all the way, playing varsity football, basketball, and baseball. He was also on the track team. Sports were John’s life. Academically he was a C average student and that was generous. Personally, Scott thought John had all the intelligence of a piece of driftwood.
The zombies stared at them, not even straining at their shackles to get at John.
Dave sounded panicked. “Guys, if this doesn’t work — ”
“It’s gonna work,” Scott said, his adrenalin surging. “He’s like us. Remember what I told you on the way over to Susan’s?”
Gordon nodded and the others definitely understood. On the way to Susan’s, Scott had theorized that the reason the first zombie did not eat the homeless guy (now known as zombie #2) was because it recognized him as a kindred soul. However, if they’d retained any semblence of their former selves they might react differently to a guy like John, who, Scott theorized, would spark not only fear, but might also provoke them to attack in defense or anger.
And through that attack he hoped to spark a feeding response in them. If, that is, they were anything like the zombies he knew of in horror movies.
Scott lifted John up by his armpits. “We gotta throw him into the zombies. Help me.”
As Scott lifted John, Steve stepped up to help. Together, the two of them dragged John over and then they shoved him into the zombies.
As John fell in a sprawling heap on the zombies, they moved back and made those guttural sounds again. “
And then with seemingly lightning speed, the switch was flicked.
They attacked.
John hadn’t even hit the ground yet when Zombie #1 grabbed his arm and yanked him up. As John was hauled up, Zombie #2 dove forward and clamped his jaws in the hollow of his neck.
John’s eyes flew open and he screamed.
The zombies tore into John in a frenzy.
Scott took an involuntary step backward; they all did. He couldn’t tear his gaze away from John struggling in the zombies’ grip as they tore and bit into his flesh.
Zombie #2 had torn a chunk of flesh from John’s neck and was chewing it. Zombie #1’s fingernails made deep gouges in John’s arm as he sought firm purchase, trying to get a foothold on what was offered. Zombie #1’s face dove forward and bit a chunk of John’s cheek away from his face, the flesh tearing away with a wet ripping sound. John’s scream became a gurgle as Zombie #2’s long-nailed fingers clawed into his belly, pushing their way through hard muscle. Blood flowed, and John struggled furiously as he was held firmly by the two zombies.
Scott watched, not breathing. Beside him Dave, Steve, and Gordon stood with tense expressions, their features showing a mixture of fear, excitement and awe.
“Holy shit,” Steve murmured.
“Fuck!” Dave said.
Gordon said nothing, as did Scott.
John was caught in the grip of the zombies. His eyes were wide with pain and fright, pleading in urgency to be saved. He reached out a bloodied arm and screamed again as Zombie #2 tore a chunk of flesh from it and shoved it into its mouth. A gout of blood geyesered from the wound and that seemed to be the end of the struggle for John. He collapsed, almost sagging to the ground, but the zombies kept him propped up as they tore into him and devoured him.
Rotted teeth tore into flesh. Decayed fingers with hard bone and nails pierced tender meat, tearing open muscle and gristle. Zombie #2’s fingers dug into John’s belly again, this time securing better hold, and ripped it open, exposing John’s digestive system. A horrible smell arose, a mixture of blood, and bile. Zombie #2 pulled something out, some unidentifiable organ that burst open when it fell to the ground. Another odor was released
