Fragmented Zombie

Ayden, Zombies, and Mixed Feelings

I was awoken in the middle of the night by something pulling on my shirt. I wasn't sure what time it was but if I had to guess, it had to be between 1:00 and 3:00 in the morning. I looked in the direction of where the tugging was coming from and saw what looked like Alexia looming over me. In my half asleep and slightly drunken state I asked, "Alexia? Is everything okay?" I was starting to worry that something might've happened to Sean. After all, I let the two stay the night since it was late and the two were too drunk to drive. Though, that's what I had coming after throwing a party for a mutual friend's 32nd birthday.

I had known Alexia and her brother, Sean, since we were in third grade. In fact, we met through a mutual friend. I wasn't super close to Sean and Alexia, but I was close enough to the two to consider them friends. It was hard not to since our mutual friend made sure to include all of us when they made plans.

Alexia didn't respond to my question. I thought that maybe she didn't hear me. When my eyes adjusted to the dark, I noticed that Alexia didn't look human. In fact, she looked like some kind of zombie. That explained why she didn't answer me. Once the hunger in her eye processed in my head, I freaked out shouting, "HOLY SHIT!" I stumbled out of bed, hitting the floor and almost bumping into my prosthetic leg in the process.

Sean came rushing in to see if I was okay. Sean's first instinct was to look at, and approach me. I was doing the best I could to get up off the floor with one fully functional leg. As Sean was helping me up, he looked at his sister, and in a soft, almost whisper, said, "Oh no." In the process of Sean helping me up, he grabbed my prosthetic leg and helped me out of the room.

With my free hand, I closed my bedroom door so Alexia couldn't get out. Sean helped me over to the couch so I could put my leg back on. I was still panting from freaking out over Alexia looming over me like she was going to eat me. Once I had my prosthetic leg on, I went with Sean to see if Alexia was still in my bedroom. Things were quiet at first. But then, Alexia started banging on the door. Sean and I jumped back in surprise. We looked at each other, baffled by what happened.

"You know what? I'm going to see if I can deal with her," Sean said, reaching into his pocket.

I didn't like how Sean said 'deal' or the fact that he was reaching into his pocket like he was pulling out a pocket knife. But I went with it. It was either preventing her from infecting anyone else, or losing our own lives. We settled on the former.

When things quieted down, Sean turned the door knob and pushed the door open. As the door opened, it pushed Alexia out of the way. This is where I realized that things only quieted down. She didn't actually move away from the door. Sean moved forward and tried to drive the blade of his pocket knife into Alexia's head. Before Sean could get the knife in her head, Alexia moved forward, and grabbed Sean, causing him to stumble back. The two fell to the floor, struggling to over power each other.

Sean tried to wrestle Alexia off of him, but she wouldn't stop clawing at him to let him up. I grabbed Alexia and threw her back to help Sean up off the floor. I rushed Sean out of the room and closed the door. There was no way we were dealing with her. Something was obviously wrong with her, we just didn't know what. Though, we were able to rule out drugs and alcohol. Yes, Alexia was drunk when she went to sleep. But she was never violent. And as far as Sean and I were aware, Alexia never once touched a hard drug in her entire life.

I headed into the kitchen to fill boxes with food and water. Sean came in a little later to help. "If you think about it," Sean began. "This is the closest we'll get to a zombie apocalypse. I mean, I know that's not what's happening. But that's the best explanation we have. Right?"

It was an odd thing to say to break the uncomfortable silence. But he had a point. I thought about it for a second, then lifted my head. "That actually makes sense. I mean, what else would this be?" I said, turning to Sean. Once I got a look at Sean's face, I noticed he was bleeding. Was it always bleeding? Or was it from Alexia scratching him? "Uh, Sean? Your face is bleeding."