It's Complicated: A Zombie Romance Novel

Just Breathe

I swam. It was the only thing I could think of. There was little around me to tell me which way was up, but I knew if I just let my fat body pull me towards the surface I'd be fine. Being fat had to be good for something, right?

"Don't drown, little mouse, or my cats will have nothing left to play with." The voice in my ear startled me. This head set worked under water? They had to have equipped me with some pretty expensive stuff. Not only did it survive the fall, it was transmitting under water.

I really wanted to respond. This equipment might be working, but I couldn't speak under water yet.

Just as I was about to give up hope, I broke through the dark surface of the water. The black above didn't seem as dark after the murkiness of the water below.

I took a deep breath. At the same time water slipped in. I got a mouthful of the stuff. It tasted of salt; not the greatest flavor, but I'd heard from the girls on the field it could be worse.

I knew the pool was coming, I just hadn't expected it so soon. The dripping water had been a dead giveaway. Still, there were other things that it could have been. The plan's Michael had given me had the pool at the end of the first level, not the beginning.

"Dumb," I said to myself.

"Oh, I wouldn't be so hard on yourself," the voice chided. "I drown all my mice. It gets rid of the rats." Oops. Did I say 'dumb' out loud? My mistake. At least he thought I was talking about being half drowned and not about the fact the map was backwards. I'd worry about what else I had wrong later. Now I just needed to get out of this pool.

Being in the pool and not above it, I could tell that there was light. It was faint, but I went for the bait anyway. It would be just my luck to have two zombie body guards waiting at that light.

Worse. The light was coming from a key hole. I tried the door. Locked. I heard a splash. There was definitely another something and it was swimming directly towards me.

"What to do, what to do?" I asked myself.

"Try my riddle and I'll give you a clue," said the voice.

"What's your riddle?" I said it in my regular voice this time. 'Your riddle, riddle, riddle...' echoed off the walls. I realized my mistake too late. The echo served to draw the thing in the pool's attention.

"The answer you seek will be hidden by me. I can be sticky and crunchy and hard to beat, but mostly I just love feet."

"If you are trying to be helpful, you're failing," I whispered this time. Being a pool room, even whispering my voice echoed off the walls. 'Failing, failing, failing...'

The sound from the water stopped. Whatever it was, I'd confused it. I could use the echo to my advantage.

I felt around in the dark at my feet. It was sandy like a beach. Was the answer sand? Maybe. I hurriedly started running my fingers through the sand searching while singing This Little Light of Mine. Let the zombie choke on that one. It was suppose to be sung in rounds, and my echo were doing a lovely job of just that!

My fingers felt something hard in the soft sand.

"Bingo." I fitted the key to the lock. The door opened with ease.

I got a quick glance at the zombie swimming straight towards me before I slammed the door shut. One room down. Four more to go.