Zombie Queen

3 Years Later

3 years later

‘Holy shit, Carl, it’s me!’ Jess shrieked, ‘can’t you see that it’s me?!’ But the man who used to be her neighbour only gave a pained grunt and staggered towards her with his arms out-stretched. He had broken through her locked door with his bare fists and clambered through, taking little notice as his head smashed against the floor upon landing. She backed away from him in slow horror. She had heard of this on the news, of course- rare cases and conspiracy theorists she had laughed off as crazy- but it had never been a reality to her until the moment she was forced to confront it.

It- he- was nothing like the sweet boy she had grown up with. There was not a trace of that laughing, joking boy who had visited her so often and charmed her with his wit. Where is jaunty, slightly crooked smile used to be, the was only a gaping wound where skin peeled from his lips. Where his eyes used to sparkle with happiness, they now only looked at her with a cold, dead hunger.

‘Carl...’ Jess whispered as her back hit a wall. His only response was a deep, guttural groan. She wanted to believe it was a completely animal sound, but the truth was, it wasn’t. It was a disturbing mix of pain and longing, fear and hunger. Somewhere in that sound, her best friend was still there. It made her heart race even faster, to imagine that Carl might still be inhabiting this monster’s body, helpless, forced to watch as he attacked her.

Her breath came in cold, sharp bursts, and her feet burned to run, but there was nowhere to go. Her self-preservation instincts were screaming at her to flee, but Carl was blocking the only doorway. The only other exit was a small window, followed by a fifty-foot drop. So many times, she had been in this very room with this very man, smoking and laughing and chatting about life. Never before had she imagined she would be trapped in here with him, struggling to stay calm as her mind raced for an escape. Never before had she thought she would look at Carl with terror for her own life.

There was nothing she could do. Jess was frozen, hands going white her fists clenched, her nails digging into her palm so harshly that she could vaguely sense blood. This was it. She was going to die in this room, and her best friend was going to kill her. He staggered closer, closer... But he didn’t pounce. Instead, he seemed to momentarily struggle with himself. There was still some resistance in his movements, some strong reluctance that gave her a faint hope.

‘Carl...’ Jess was surprised to hear the words coming out of her mouth. Especially surprised by how calm she sounded, given that this was her final plea for life. ‘Carl, I know you’re still in there. If you can hear me... You don’t have to do this.’ For a glimmering moment, it seemed like her words were getting through. Carl tilted his head quizzically, and expression that brought a pang of longing as, all at once, he looked so much like the boy she had known. He seemed to consider her words, just like he always did, and Jess smiled warmly as she took a cautious step towards him. He was still in there. ‘We can... I don’t know, get you to a hospital? See if they can-‘ Without warning, Carl lunged.

Jess screamed and she tried to dart away, but it was too late. The full weight of Carl’s body came crashing down on her and she was forced to the floor, head spinning as it was smashed painfully against the tiles. The collision caused her to bite down, hard, and she was distantly aware of the taste of blood in her mouth. A loose tooth, maybe, a bleeding nose. Her immediate senses, however, had become entirely consumed by one new goal- Escape. Survive.

With her limbs fuelled by adrenaline, she thrashed her body around as hard as she could. She had never been so full of energy before. She screamed with all the breath in her lungs, her panicked screeches drowning out that awful, pained grunting of Carl’s. She writhed and kicked beneath him with all her might, but nothing was working. Each of her struggles only seemed a faint inconvenience to the monster, he brushed off her wriggling legs as if they were nothing. Carl’s face was directly above hers now, his rotten breath spilling over her face. She felt something warm and wet drip onto her cheek- Saliva? Blood? She couldn’t tell.

She heaved with all her strength- more strength than she had ever felt in her lifetime- but it wasn’t enough. Her arms remained firmly planted to the floor, and Carl’s force was irresistible. Throughout the whole wrestle, she never stopped screaming or struggling. She squeezed her eyes closed in powerless panic as his face descended towards her, and breathed heavily what she knew would be her last breaths. She felt his mouth against her neck, his sharp teeth begin to bite down and pierce her flesh. She gave one last, pitiful scream. Her last words would be a mindless gurgle of ‘please’ and ‘why’, thoughtlessly begged, a truly pathetic death. In some distant part of her mind, she found herself strangely glad that Carl would be the zombie that killed her. It seemed somehow better than if it were a stranger. At least, in a way, she would die in the arms of her best friend.

Jess ran out of breath, and she was about to inhale for another scream when she realised, very belatedly, that the fact she was still breathing meant she was still alive. She opened her eyes, baffled. Had it not been only moments ago that she had felt Carl’s razor sharp teeth sink into her neck, a bite that promised to end her? It had stung where she had felt his teeth descend into her flesh, a shocking amount of blood spilled from her wound, sure to kill her... Yet, as she sat up now, she was puzzled to find that Carl was no longer even on top of her. He was sat across from her, leaning against a wall and awkwardly wiping a streak of blood from the corner of his ruined mouth.

‘You-‘ Jess croaked. Her throat was still sore from all the desperate screaming. Her mind was still struggling to comprehend this sudden turn of events, ‘you attacked me!’

Carl nodded slowly, and Jess suddenly realised that he looked just like his old self again. Well, perhaps not physically- he was still bloated in strange places, bits of skin dangling off in a way that skin should not do- but mentally. He had a normal look in his eyes again, none of the blood-thirsty monster from before. He was human again, and he looked sort of uncomfortable.

Jess pressed a finger to her neck, and when she brought it away it was stained bright red. ‘You bit me!’

‘Yeah,’ Carl shrugged, and gave her a sheepish grin, ‘sorry about that.’ His voice was raspy, strained, but it was him. Inexplicably, Carl was back, and she was alive. Jess scrambled to her feet, paced around her room in distress, all the while keeping her wide eyes fixed on him. ‘Why would you do that?’ She shouted.

‘I don’t know!’ Carl insisted. He looked apologetic, regretful, even. ‘It’s like, this hunger! It overtakes you. I had to bite someone, and the only other person around was my sister-‘

‘So you thought you’d just fucking go for me instead?!’ Jess wailed. Her bloody hand was trembling. Her head throbbed and tears threatened to spill from her eyes. She didn’t believe that this was happening. Couldn’t believe it.

‘Well, she’s only five years old...’ He mumbled, awkwardly rubbing at his neck. That little nervous tick she always used to find so endearing. ‘Look, Jess, I really am sorry,’ Carl lamented. He got up on his knees to take her shaking hands, but backed off when she jerked away. He looked hurt by that, and slumped mournfully back to the ground. ‘The bite doesn’t kill you or anything,’ he tried to reason with her, ‘it just makes you... like us.’

Jess finally stopped pacing. The initial shock and panic were beginning to subside, and all she was left with was an overwhelming exhaustion. Seemed like she had spent her lifetime’s supply of energy fighting against Carl, and now all she was left with was an empty, defeated tiredness. She slumped to the floor opposite Carl, her legs practically giving out beneath her. She met his eyes and saw that he was just as confused, just as scared as she was. ‘Like you...’ She whispered, shaking her head slowly in disbelief. She wasn’t completely sure what that meant, and she doubted he was either.

For a long while, they sat there in silence. The faint blowing of the wind was a stark contrast that to the chaos that had been only a minute ago, an eerie reminder that, outside, life was still going on as usual. She tried to process this new reality, but found that she couldn’t. She noticed her heart was no longer pounding in her chest.

She gave Carl a desperate look. ‘What now?’ She asked him. He had no answer.