A Belated Halloween Story

Lewis checked over his shoulder again, for no real reason, because they were still there, they were always still there. Whether it was his smell, or the desperate sounds of his flight through the scrub mesquite and juniper trees, something kept them right on top of him, even on a moonless night like this one.

He had long ago run out of shotgun shells, and had battered the old piece of lumber from behind his house into splinters. It was only habit that led him forward at this point, habit and the constant amping of adrenaline, forward over yet another cedar privacy fence and RIGHT INTO THE MIDDLE OF THREE OR FOUR OF THEM, JESUS CHRIST, THERE’S TOO MANY, there’s too many…

He could feel his cheeks being savaged as the zombies pinned him to the ground and began their clumsy brain-ectomy, then suddenly everything was bright light and silence. His hand flew to his face and found it the dead cold numb of zombie flesh; he tried to cry out as he rose from the dissection table and his senseless tongue turned his speech into the familiar garbled moan of the undead. He staggered free of the table, actually it was a chair, it seemed, and wheeled to face the door, where he was confronted by a strangely familiar female face, almost comforting behind the surgical mask.

“Now, Lewis, just give the novocaine another minute or two to work, and we’ll get started.” His eyes followed her blankly across the room. “I’ve seen some pretty relaxed people about dental procedures, but I think you’re the first to ever fall asleep in the chair on me. I wondered if you were even going to wake up during the shots in your mouth!”

Lewis palmed the dental hook he had instinctively grabbed from the instrument tray and nodded calmly. He’d play along with her little game…for now. But a time would come when her guard would slip, if only slightly; and then her sweet, sweet brain would be his, at last.