Zombified

Mmmmh Roadkill

My head hurt.

I cracked open an eye and even the dull grey light that had made it through the cloud seared my brain. I grimaced and tried to sit up, which quickly turned into a full blown groan as my stiff muscles resisted. I leant back against the wall and tried to work out what had happened. Everything was a tad blurry and I couldn’t remember all of last night, but I did remember that guy- I had a moment of panic as I wondered if maybe he’d date raped me, but that soon subsided as I realised I had all my clothes on and remembered our particularly aggressive make out session. No rape there.

My shoulder twinged. Almost teasingly, as if to say don’t think you got off that easily. I hesitated, but slowly turned to examine my shoulder anyway. Crap. It looked like I’d been gnawed on by a pit-bull, a bruised, purple crusty mess that seriously needed to be doused in TCP. Well that was an advertisement against getting trashed if I ever saw one; I was going to have a seriously viscous scar.

I looked at my watch and swore under my breath, 11.15. My lecture was in an hour and Professor Spergin was vigilant about 20% of my grade being attendance- savaged shoulder or not. I used the wall to help myself up and fought not to throw up as the world span. I slipped off my heels as I prepared for the fifteen minute walk to my flat, tottering around was not going to help with the spinning. My stomach growled, and I pushed myself to start walking. If I wanted time for a shower I needed to get on with it and Jesus did I need a shower.

People stared as I walked, I probably looked a right state. I ignored them, concentrating on putting one foot in front of another and continuing in a straight line. My stomach rumbled again, this time causing my stomach to contract in protest. I put a hand on my tummy as it spasmed, I really needed to get back. I cut through an alley to try and take a short cut, avoiding the dirt and rubbish which had piled up. I could smell food, meat. Maybe there was a fast food place near here? Whatever it was, it was causing my stomach to have a little party and I tried to suppress the idea that actually a banana peel probably wouldn’t taste that bad. I continued down the alley and the smell got stronger, I swallowed the saliva that was filling my mouth and licked my dry lips. Definitely meat- burger maybe, or kebab. I couldn’t help but follow my nose to that scent, my whole body was crying out for it, sending my brain nice little advertisements. Me biting in to a juicy burger, the ketchup dripping down my chin as I moaned around the bite. My body was cruel.

The smell reached its climax by a cardboard box near the end of the alley and I couldn’t believe my luck! Someone must of chucked away half a burger or something- that voice in my head popped up. Seriously! Your going to eat someone’s leftovers?! Do you even know how long it’s been there? But I didn’t care if the cheese on this burger was growing a colony. I needed to eat. Now. I reached under the cardboard box, expected to find something squishy. I let out a surprised squeak as my hand touched fur- surely it can’t be that mouldy and smell this good? I pulled my hand back and was only mildly surprised to see it covered in blood, my surprise had been completely overridden by something entirely unexpected- desire. I moved my hand closer to my face to get a better look, inhaling deeply as that delicious smell only got stronger, I rubbed my fingers together. It was tacky and cold. Old blood. I could feel that now familiar voice screaming, pounding at the insides of my head. What are you doing! Back away now and go and wash that crap off your hands! I swallowed, a flood of saliva overtaking my mouth, I tentatively brought my fingers up to my mouth. Then touched them with my tongue.

It was like a firework in my mouth, spice and flavour exploding, the backlash being the multiplication of the need I felt for it. I sucked wildly at my fingers, savouring every taste.

 Only realising how crazy I was being when I bit myself and my own blood filled my mouth, the warm of the fresh blood against the coldness of the elder flavour. I had never moved so fast. Pulling my fingers from my mouth and throwing up to the side simultaneously as I realised what I had done. Disgust filled me. What the hell was wrong with me? I’d practically just orgasmed over cold road kill - I was a fucking vegetarian for Christ’s sake!

I back away from the box. Stumbling and scrambling through the park as I made it to my building, I frantically pressed the buzzer. Praying for someone to let me in, I shoved past Mrs Pearce as she opened the door, tutting at me, ‘The youth of today, absolutely no shame! I mean your not even wearing shoes Tara!’

I ignored her as I ran up the four flights of stairs and along the corridor to get to my flat, the stale edge of fear keeping me going. I fumbled as I tried to get my key out from the potted plant outside my door, my hands shaking further as I noticed the blood on them. I nearly fell on the floor as I suddenly managed to open the door and slammed the door behind me. I took a deep breath, I really needed to calm down. Clearly I had been drugged and this was just an extreme case of the munchies, no need to panic… just licked a little bit of blood. I shook my head, this was ridiculous. I shuffled into the bathroom and turned the shower on, turning to look in the mirror as the water heated up. I looked like shit.

My eyes were sunken hazel pits in the dark bags which were now my eyes, standing out against the pale of my normally tanned and freckly face. My dark hair looked stringy and greasy, in a tangled mess to my chest. My entire right side was covered in blood from my shoulder and my mouth had the remainders of clotted road kill around it.

I tore of my clothes and got in the shower, not daring to wait for hot water before I got this gunk off me. I scrubbed until I was raw, brushing my teeth multiple times and making my shoulder start to freshly bleed. I wrapped myself in a towel as I moved towards the medicine cabinet, opening the bottle of TCP in record time and pouring the contents straight onto my shoulder in an attempt and the ‘just do it’ tactic. I shouldn’t of just done it. It felt like I’d lit my shoulder on fire, I bit my lip and groaned, imagining the pain as the deaths of millions of tiny germs. Yipeekayay Motherfuckers! No way am I going septic.

Tears of relief leaked out as the burning subsided, and I shuffled to my room and lay on my bed. Well that had to be the weirdest morning after ever, at least I’d have something to tell my grandkids about my ‘wild uni days’. My alarm went off, telling me I had twenty minutes to get to my lecture. I picked some jeans off the floor and found two socks and some underwear in my draw. I quickly shoved them on, pulling a hoodie from chair as I went. I jogged to the kitchen and grabbed some fruit shoving them in my bag as I retrieved it from the counter, fumbling with my hair as I slipped on my shoes in the hall. I was halfway down the stairs when I realised I’d left my notes on endosymbiosis back in the flat- too late now, if I went back I’d be late. At least it was something I was interested and so I knew the pre-lecture reading anyway. My stomach growled. I grabbed the apple from my bag and bit into it, it tasted really off, so I swallowed that piece but donated the rest to the pigeons. I hurried along- at least the bio building had a kitchen I could sort something out there.

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