His first night he lost his arm, but was able to pick up a replacement when attacked some girl for her brain. Yum! Now he was after hers. A month ago, Leona had been dreaming of saying “I do” with her boyfriend Kenny, now she just looked forward to sending him back to the grave.
They were going to have the perfect life, so she thought. Kenny had just landed a job, at the chemical plant after graduation and then proposed. They were going to save up and get married next summer. That was before the accident. Leona didn’t know what happened. She had an ‘episode’ and blacked out. Next thing she remembered was waking up to the car wrapped around a tree and the two of them lying in a ditch.
The friction of shuffling feet approaching could be heard from a mile away, time to get out of town or become lunch. On her way out-of-town, Leona heard an explosion.
“The zombie mob charged into chemical plant!” a weary nurse shouted over the continuing explosions when she met up with Leona at the edge of town. “They must have wiped out that whole side of town.”
“What were they doing at the chemical plant?” Leona asked.
“Looking for brains to eat! They had some young-looking guy leading them.”
“Come on this way!” Leona encouraged the nurse to join her, wonder if it was Kenny leading the attack on the chemical plant.
“I’m Nell. I’m your nurse.”
That was not the way to go. Nell and Leona ran straight into a handful of hungry zombies. Nell was fantastic at zombie combat, she must have taken Krav Maga on her days off. Leona was still struggling with her first zombie as Nell was finishing off her fourth. At the last-minute Leona took off the zombie‘s head narrowly avoiding becoming his dinner. She made a break for it, landing in his arms.
“It’s time we real about this, Kenny. You can’t keep telling me you love me and then try to eat my brain.”
“You have no idea what you did to me.”
“What are you talking about?”
“You did this to me, Leona.”
“No…I…” she started, as Nell finished with a well placed kick.
“Run!” Nell urged her. They ran for what seemed like forever. “It is possible some other survivors are hiding out at the old army fort. We should head there, Leona.” Nell urged her on. “Here, take your pill.”
Leona came to in a cabin surrounded by trees, they had never made it to the fort, but she could hear Nell’s humming outside the cabin door as she chopped firewood. Leona’s head was fuzzy, she felt like puking as she wandered outside to find Nell. What was going on?! The last time she saw her boyfriend he was leading a zombie mob, “Where was Nell!? What happened to the zombies?” Leona mused in the eerie silence of the woods. “What happened to her boyfriend?”
“We must be close to Berryhill. I’ve been camping around here on vacation before.” Nell said interrupting Leona’s thoughts and startling the already fragile girl.
“I’ll go out looking for some food tomorrow morning.” said as she stroke Leona’s arm trying to comfort Leona. Nell led Leona back to the bed in the cabin. “Here, take your pill.” Leona was quick to succumb to Nell’s medicine.
Nell went out searching for food the next morning, but didn’t return that night, nor the next morning, or the morning after that. On the third day, Leona, still fuzzy, but fearing the worse set out on her own to find Nell.
She made her way into Berryhill. It was deserted. The zombies must have been here. She prayed they had moved on to the next town. No such luck. Murmuring and shuffling feet startled Leona into action. Unfamiliar with the town, she just ran and ran, left , left, right , left again. Leona was totally lost now. A silent, sterile building stood before her with a sign reading ‘Berryhill Mental Hospital.’ She entered hoping to find a place to hide once more. The zombies followed silently. Leona had successfully hid from the zombie mob led by her boyfriend for nearly a week now, only to now find herself surrounded and trapped.
“I’ll have your brain for what you did to me, Leona!” the long hallway echoed.
She tried to open the doors as she ran looking for a place to hide, but they were all locked. Exhausted and out of breath, she reached the end of the hall. Only one more door to try as the zombies closed in.
It opened.
–
“The patient is awake, doctor.”
“Good, let’s see if she’ll cooperate.”
—–788 words—–
And our final haunting is inspired by the tried and true zombies. This is a longer piece for you today, something that I’ve been working on and editing for awhile-a work in progress. I hope you’ve enjoyed these A to Z haunting as much as I have.
nightmare of daytime 