Short Stories

Death Pill - Part One

          My brother has always been obsessed with zombies. Loves the shows, the books, everything. He wasn't exactly a 'nerd', but he definitely had passion. One day after school let out, I watched him run to his car and exit the parking lot quickly. We usually ride home together but today he forgot about me. So I took the bus instead.
          "Hey, Jack," my mother said as I walked through the front door, "have you seen your brother?"
          "Uh, no, he kind of drove off without me after school."
          "Oh, I was really hoping to say goodbye to him before I left for the airport." My mom was going to a business conference in Atlanta. "Well let him know I love him and that I'll be back a week from now. Love you." She kissed me on the forehead and walked out the door.

          I ordered pizza for dinner - Aaron still wasn't home. It wasn't odd for him to act like this. He was always out late either hanging out with his friends or his girlfriend.
          I heard Aaron's car pull up in the driveway. It was late. He and his girlfriend walked through the front door, I was on the couch having a Terminator marathon. "There's pizza in the kitchen if you're hungry."
          "Jack," Bethany, Aaron's girlfriend, said frantically, "I need your help to get Aaron to his bed.
          I turned around to see Aaron stumbling around, pale and almost lifeless. I jumped up off the couch, "Whoa, what happened?"
          "We can't waste any time, please just help me!" She was struggling to keep his 180 pound body off the floor. 
          As the two of us drug Aaron up the stairs, I continued to ask her what happened. "Jack, I can't explain right now!"
          "Well I have to call 9-1-1!"
          "NO!" she yelled.
          We drug Aaron through his bedroom door and pulled him up onto his bed. "Bethany, he's dying! What happened!?"
          She grabbed my hand, ran us out of his bedroom, and shut the door behind us. "He took this pill..."
          "We have to call 9-1-1!" I yelled.
          "No! There's nothing we can do now..." She looked me in the eyes. "Jack, Aaron took this pill made by I don't know who, but see the thing is, it kills you within twelve hours..."
          "Why would he take that!?"
          "Let me finish, I begged him not to, but he insisted. After it shuts down your body... you... you reanimate..."
          I was confused and shaken to my core. "Bethany, what do you mean 'reanimate'?"
          "You come back, but dead, like a zombie. You know your brother's obsession, he thought it would be cool..."
          "So my brother is just going to be a walking corpse forever!?" I went to reach for his bedroom doorknob.
          "No," she said, pulling my hand away from the knob, "supposedly, he'll come back, after being a corpse for 24 hours. I know, this is insane, but he wouldn't say no!"
          I pushed her hand away from me and walking into Aaron's room. I turned back towards her. "So we're just supposed to watch my brother die? Are you kidding me!?"
          Bethany stayed out in the hallway. "Once it is in your system, there's no stopping it... We have to deal with it now." 
          I watched my older brother squirm around on his bed, making unnatural noises. His eyes rolled back into his head, drooling uncontrollably. His skin was as white as his pillow, gasping for air. Finally, he quit moving. His body slowly relaxed.
          "Oh my god." Bethany was crying. We just watched Aaron die. "Jack, we have to barricade him in here, he can't be loose." She was sobbing, reaching for my arm and pulling me into the hallway once more. I shut the door and we pushed the  small hallway bookcase in front of it, hoping for the best.
          "What do we do now?!" I asked frantically.
          "We wait until he reanimates, then wait for 24 hours. And hope to God he comes back." Bethany was shaking so bad. I comforted her as we listened to hear if Aaron had reanimated yet.

          Three hours went by. Every now and then, one of us would slowly crack the door open to see if Aaron was okay.
          "I thought you said he would reanimate?" My voice trembled.
          "That's what the guy said that sold-"
          At that moment, we heard a eerie groan. Bethany and I looked at each other, than the door. We could hear Aaron slowly walking around, bumping into things. Bethany started to silently cry and reached for the doorknob. She opened it no more than an inch to peak in. My brother was a zombie, a walking corpse.
          She pulled the door shut. "It worked... it actually worked."

Part Two Coming Soon . . .