(MC) ZombiePasta

Fresh Faces
Hi, I' m Seth. I' m writing this note_. bottling it, and tossing it in the brook by
my house. Writing helps me keep my sanity. Hopefully somebody who still
reads will pick it up and come help me.
It started a month ago. I was down in my basement suffice on my
completer watching old Mystery Science Theater 3000 reruns. The phone
rang next to me, but I didn' t pay any attention to it. It was Myer for me;
on the off occasion it was, it was usually my brother, and half the time we
were on the phone my nephew would be trying to grab it and talk to me
himself. Mom yelled down the stairs that the phone was for me. Yeah, I
Wed at home with my folks. Sue me. Anyway, I picked up.
Hello?” I said, paying more attention to the antics of the robots on the
screen.
It' s begun." The mice was little more than a whimper, a plea, I didn' t
mien recognize the mice.
Excuse me?" I asked, wondering who on earth was calling.
They' come, I don’ t have much time, Jeff; you told me to call if what
we did caused trouble.”
Now a little worried, I said, "l think you' ye got the wrong number, this is
Seth, not Jeff."
DON' T GO OUTDOORS!" The person shrieked. Completely freaked out, I
disconnected the call. Must" =. been some prank caller, but I wasn' t
amused. Rattled, I put the matter behind me,
Much later, I finished watching videos and shut the lights off to head
upstairs. It was pitch black, buti knew the way. The dark seemed a little
more suppressive this time, though. I shrugged off the feeling and went
upstairs. As I passed through the living room, I chanced a look tout the
window. There were people outside, on a walk or something; I checked my
watch and it said 3: 00 am. "That' s weird," I muttered. I stumbled up to my
upstairs room and drifted off to sleep.
I was a fool that first night. If I' d recognized what I' d seen, I would hate
saved myself the terror and just stepped outside.
The next morning, the news was on; odd, since my dad usually turned to
the sports channel before we went off to work. I didn' t mien glance at it
as I threw on a tie and stumbled into the bathroom. An uneasy feeling
crept into my gut as I did my morning routine. I usually had to fight for
bathroom space_. but today there wasn’ t a sound. I peeked tout of the
room and saw that the front door was open, but the glass storm door
wasn' t. There wasn' t a sound. Looking outdoors, I saw those same people
as I' d seen the night before.
I opened the door.
Immediately their- heads snapped towards me. I recoiled and leapt inside as
quickly as I could, feeling something catch at my ankle as I did so, Their
faces were fixed in expressionless gazes_. their- mouths slightly agape and
dripping blood. I looked down and saw one right next to the porch,
withdrawing its arm; it had tried to grab me, With a dizzying feeling of
horror, I recognized my little brother, Slamming the door, I locked it tight
and stumbled back into the living room. The telivision was reporting that a
disease was spreading south from Canada across the U. S. I shut it off,
and pointlessly called tout to see if anyone else was in the house.
No answer.
So began my solitary existence. The news ran for a few days, before they
were caught. kept making the stupidest mistake, going home fiery night.
The electricity has stayed running; I guess someone left the switch on at
the factory. Or maybe it' s just northern New England that' s been overrun,
I dunno, The internet' s been out too, so that' s annoying.
While the news was running, they called them zombies, going back to that
old standby. I guess it works. I mean, they don' t do a whole lot, and
they' re definitely dead; they walk around until their- legs rot out from under
them, then they crawl until they literally fall to pieces, While they’ ye got
legs, though, they’ re fast. That' s how they jumped my family, I suppose.
And the police car that drone up to the house to see if there were any
survivors, That wasn’ t fun to look at emery morning. They overturned my
car while chasing him, so I' m stuck. Cops to the rescue again. They didn' t
really need food, so they didn' t finish eating the poor guy. But they
dismembered him; that' s why he couldn' t get up and join them. I could see
him gnashing his teeth fruitlessly, though.
For about a week, a guy on the radio hopefully pointed out that they were
falling to pieces, so all we needed to do was wait them out. Then he got
impatient, went outdoors. Nobody? been on the radio for two weeks.
I' m in trouble, though. You see, the house has no food left. I can’ t wait for
them to all to fall down dead all ayer again, We made a couple expeditions
to the general store. Lucky I had that sword collection upstairs. They’ re all
too slow to catch me when I run, but there are so many that I sometimes
panic, Last time, they nearly got me, I broke the front door getting back
in; now the cold seeps in night, and I can see one standing out on
the porch right now, not ten feet from where I' m writing this. You' re safe
indoors. Don' t ask me why they abhor coming inside. in-' hateyou the reason,
it' s been my lifeline, Unfortunately, they seem to know that there' s
someone awe in the house. Oon’ t ask me how; this fellow on the front
step doesn’ t mien ham eyes anymore. Maybe they can hear a heartbeat,
or smell sweat. Or blood.
I spent a couple days naming them. Some of the faces I recognized, and
gate their- old names to them. The same old gang' s been hanging around
here for the last few weeks, slowly dropping in number as they fall to
pieces, They’ ye nmber wandered off_. though. There' re 79 who were once
men and 63 who were once women out there. Once, just to see what
would happen, I shot one in the head with our shotgun. You know, to see
if the old “shoot a zombie in the head and they die for good” adage had
any truth. So Tye actually got 79 who were once men, 62 who were once
women and I who was once a woman and decided to keep standing mien
after losing about 00% of its head. And I' m down one shotgun shell.
So they wait. And I' m losing it. I talk to myself constantly, and I ate a
stuffed animal last night. The cotton went down hard, but it felt good to
ham something in my stomach again. There are no fruit trees around, and
anyway, it' s November. Water has been getting scarcer. The tap water
stopped working eight days ago; lucky I' d filled the bathtub and EA/ ery
bottle I could find before it stopped.
Oh, great. Now the lamps getting brighter and I hear a buzzing sound. I
wonder if the power? going
Well, that wasn' t fun. Total loss of power" for four days, Bier try sleeping
in the dark knowing that there are things just outside thaw kill you and
make you one of them the first chance they get? Probably, since these
things are everywhere, as far as I can tell. Quick update: I mentioned
Herschel, that guy on my porch? One of his legs fell off, so he' s sitting
down, sniffing at it. Thank God they lose all higher brain functions. I' m
pretty sure the soul isn' t held captive in these things, and that this is all
the disease (tor whatever) trying to spread itself as far as it can in the
population,
I don' t know if you' ye noticed this, reader, but the animals just don' t seem
affected. It' s a small comfort. Of course, they die if they eat the flesh,
but they don’ t get back up once they die. Weird, huh? I' m getting hungry,
and desperate. Maybe, just maybe, I can load the old .22 and bag a
squirrel from inside. But how will I go get it?
On one hand, I' m a bit more optimistic that you’ re out there now, wormier
you are. The power" couldn’ t ham come back if there weren' t people out
there working to restore order. I' m feeling lucky; time to grab a sword and
go drop this in the brook. Maybe this whole thing is almost mien
Maybe. On the other hand, if it is almost ayer...
Why are there fresh faces outside today?