A Wicked Zombie Short
by Angeline Kace

Ashley’s heart pounded as she ran from the flesh-eating horde trailing behind her. A four-way intersection loomed in front of her. Shadows leaked between the buildings, but there wasn’t enough time to check the zombie status of the alleys as she approached them.

She dashed forward, lifting her ax above her head, readying to slash out at any zombie sucker stupid enough to block her path.

Which he did. A man lunged out of the darkness. He mumbled something unintelligible through his torn, rotting lips. Flesh stuck between his exposed teeth.

Ashley swung the ax, aiming to chop off her attacker’s head. Her pace and the sweat on her palms weakened her angle, causing the ax to lodge in the side of the man’s neck. She pulled on the ax, jerking the man around her with the momentum, but the ax remained.

The horde behind her sped up at the sight of her delay.

She grabbed the ax’s handle and pushed, throwing the zombie sideways and to the ground, acting as an obstacle to the approaching horde.

She took off, high heels clapping against the asphalt. When the zombies found her, there was only enough time to grab the ax from the shed or change her shoes. She was a pro in her Jimmy Choos, so she opted for the ax.

She glanced behind her; undead men and women lumbered toward her, stepping on and over the fallen zombie, but it didn’t slow them down. “Are you kidding me?” She had to get away, but where? She searched the streets, the buildings.

There.

An apartment building with a drop down emergency ladder and a small metal balcony, high enough to keep her out of the zombies’ reach.

She gritted her teeth and darted toward the building, hoping the drop down ladder worked. When she was close enough, she jumped, catching hold of the ladder’s bottom rung and pulled it down. She scrambled to the top and turned around to pull the ladder up.

A small zombie, which looked more like a ten or eleven year old kid, broke away from the pack and made a mad dash for the ladder. Ashley pulled it up in a race to save her life. But the zombie kid was faster. He jumped on the ladder, yanking it out of her grasp, and climbed.

Ashley pulled off her stilettos and waited. She didn’t feel right about having to beat on this kid, but she felt less right about letting him turn her into one of them.

When the zombie kid was within reach, Ashley struck out, hitting him in his eye with the heel point of her shoe. The tissue pureed, giving way for the solid heel. “Ew.” She pulled the shoe back and hit again and again until he fell from the ladder.

She angled for the ladder when a loud clank sounded and the metal frame holding her up vibrated with the drop of a body from up above. She jumped and spun around, ready to beat the zombie with her stilettos.

“Impressive.” A young man with dark, buzzed hair stood before her with his eyebrow raised. And he looked delicious in a non-zombie way. He wore jeans that hugged his hips and a white t-shirt with tears in it, revealing a toned, tight stomach.

“Are you trying to get yourself killed?” Ashley hit his chest with her high heels. He deserved zombie eye matter on his shirt after giving her a scare like that.

He smirked, looking at her shoes before grabbing them and stepping to the side. “You might want to get that.” He pointed to the ladder the flesh eating droves aimed for.

Ashley turned around and tugged at the ladder, but a zombie reached it and hung on, climbing as she struggled to lift it. She could grab her shoe and throw it at him, but she didn’t think that would be very effective.

The guy moved up behind her, grasping the ladder’s frame—very near where her hand held it—causing heat to rise up her thighs. He pulled the ladder up much faster than she thought possible and grabbed the zombie by the shoulders, pulling it up to the balcony only to seize its head—jaws snapping and arms swinging—and tore the zombie’s head off. He threw the head over the balcony and pushed the rest of the zombie over behind it.

“Who the hell are you?”

“I’m Mirko.” He stuck his hand out for a shake in the middle of the zombie apocalypse. If she wasn’t so stunned, she’d ask for a cigarette.

Ashley glared at his palm. “Yeah, but WHAT the hell are you?”

Mirko’s lip curled in amusement. “Zao Duh, but you might be more familiar with the term vampire.”

Ashley stared at him.

“What?” Mirko asked. “You have zombies running around below you, trying to figure out a way to eat you, and you’re looking like at me like you can’t believe it?”

“Right? But it’s the zombie apocalypse. I knew this would happen. You’re a vampire. That’s a different story.”

A flutter of the curtains in the window above the balcony caught their eyes.

“Shhh,” Mirko ordered.

Ashley snatched up her heels. “You need to leave. I don’t do partners!”

Pounding sounded from the glass. The curtain moved, replaced with the face of a dirty, rotting zombie.

“You do now.” Mirko turned around. “Jump,” and he lowered himself for her to jump onto his back.

“Everybody thinks that just because I’m short, I can’t take care of myself, but I’m wicked sma—”

The window broke, and Ashley hopped onto Mirko’s back.

The zombie crawled out of the window, slashing his arm open, but continued through unphased.

Mirko jostled Ashley into place, bent down, and jumped onto the roof.

She didn’t do partners, but in his case, she was willing to make an exception.

New Guy

by Aaron Patterson

“Who is that?” Kate said with a flip of her hair. Her gaze was fastened on a tall blond guy across the cafeteria.

“Who, him?” Ang said as she shoved another spoonful of yogurt in her mouth.

The guy in question sat down one table over from where she and Ang were sitting. He was wearing dark sunglasses and a black suit.

“Seriously Kate, he is wearing sunglasses inside and what is with the suit? We are not in Canada.”

“I know, but he is cute… even if he is a bit odd.”

“A bit odd?” Ang gave Kate a half grin.

“Shut-up,” Kate looked at her cell and checked Twitter. The talk was already in full force as Airel and Kim went on and on about the new guy.

Matt was in fact from Canada—that explained the suit—but the word was he had been exiled, kicked out of his own country. What did you have to do to get kicked out of a country?

Kate spotted Ashley across the room wearing her usual getup, stilettos, and a mini skirt. Her small frame and thick brown hair made her look more like a doll instead of the biggest—meanest—freak in school.

“Great, here comes the Zombie Queen.” Ang rolled her eyes and polished off the last of her yogurt. “Can she be any more obnoxious?”

Ashley was walking—no strutting up to Matt with a lollipop in her mouth. Kate groaned. “Oh—My—Gawd! She is doing the lollipop thing!” Kate faked a gagging sound and at once had no desire to finish her lunch.

Kate eyed Matt and for no sane reason other than she could not sit by and let Ashley steal yet another hot hunk-of-man-meat out from under her, she stood up and marched over to Matt’s table and sat down next to him just seconds before Ashley could.

Kate could feel her face flush and but no matter how insane it sounded she was not going to let her win again. If it wasn’t for Airel, Ashley would had Michael too.

“Hi, I’m Kate, welcome to our little school.” Her voice was calm, collected and yes, smooth. Kate was so relieved that she almost missed his response.

He stuck out his hand and she saw her reflection in his dark glasses. Kate wondered if he was shy when he didn’t say anything and just give her a cockeyed grin.

Kate was waiting for Ashley to turn around and walk her perfect little body back to wherever she came from, but she sat down across from him and blinked like a fish.

“Matt, I’m Ashley, I see you met Kitty,”

Kate hated the name Kitty and hearing if from Miss Zombie Queen herself and in that tone was more then she could stand. Kate flew to her feet so fast that she smashed her knee on the underside of the table. The pain never registered, all she could see was Ashley.

Grabbing the lollipop from her mouth and threw it across the room and the cafeteria fell silent.

“You bitc—” Ashley swung her hand across Kate’s face and a loud slapping sound rang across the room.

“Chick fight!” Someone yelled and the quiet hush turned into a thunderous mass of yelling and cat calls.

Kate did not stop to think, would not stop until the Zombie Queen was down. Kate grabbed her hair and drug her across the table and Matt fell backward and when he landed his glasses fell off and his eyes showed for the first time.

They were dead and lifeless. One hung at a weird angle and before Kate could register what she was seeing, Ashley was on her back and Ang jumped in the fight screaming like a banshee.

Ashley clawed and scratched at Kate, leaving red marks on one side of her face. Kate flung her over her shoulder and Matt came to life and grabbed Ashley by the hair. He flashed his teeth and tried to bite her arm.

Kate yanked her away and with Ang pushing from behind Kate fell forward and right into Matt’s arms. He wrapped her up and she felt his iron grasp crush her lungs. Matt bit down and ripped into her neck. It did not hurt at first but Kate did not really remember what pain was anymore.

All that remained were screams and the dull pain of hunger that nagged her at all times. She could smell the brains of the humans and craved it, needed it, and would find more. How she had any memories or thoughts, she could not say for sure. Maybe it was what all zombies went through, the dead body and soul but trapped with the memories of a life once lived.

Kate wandered the streets with Ang scavenging for food, for flesh and no matter how hard Kate tried to talk or communicate with Ang it was no use. They were zombies, dead and simple things like speech were now impossible.

To hear a human talk of zombies you would think they were brain dead lumps of flesh. But Kate knew different. She may not have a heartbeat but she did have dreams, goals, and needs—was not that life?

Her one overpowering goal was to kill, to eat and to find her next meal. But above all she wanted to find one person, one miserable human—the person who started it all.

Ashley the Zombie Queen.

She died to save her and now she was dead and that wench was alive and the most feared zombie killer around. The click clack of heels struck fear into her kind, the smell of coffee and that laugh… just the thought made Kate salivate.

Then she smelled it, the human, life and fresh blood. Picking up her pace she dragged her broken left leg and turned the corner to see the Zombie Queen trying to pull an ax from a stupid zombie’s head. The man clearly had no hunting skills.

She still wore her stilettos and Kate planned to rip them from her detached legs.

It was working out as planned, all they had to do was get her into that alley. To make her run through the maze like the little rat she was.

Kate lumbered behind the horde and watched as the left side closed off her escape just like she hoped they would. It was not easy directing a horde of Zombies, but she had nothing but time.

Ashley took hold of the ladder and fought her way up. It was beautiful, just perfect and the best part was Mirko was waiting at the top for her. The vampires came up with the pact in the beginning but Kate was more than happy to join them if it meant killing Ashley.

Vampires wanted blood, Zombies wanted the brain and meat… it was a match made in hell. They rounded them up and drained them and the zombies came in to clean up the remains.
Who’s got the hot guy now—