By and copyright of Owen Quinn author of the Time Warriors and Zombie Blues
“I got outside and realised I only had my hospital gown on which promptly fell off because it wasn’t tied at the back. I was naked…almost. When they do an operation like this, you’re fitted with a catheter. So there I am, naked as the day I was born with a big frigging catheter hanging between my legs. I am scundered, I thought to myself. I tried to remove it but my zombie fingers wouldn’t work.”For far too long zombies have been seen as the monsters they are not so it’s time for a few changes! Welcome to Zombie Blues where you will discover what really goes on behind those dead eyes and shuffling walk. You will meet ten different zombies each with a story to tell. From Vegetarian Zombie to Kidney Trans[plant Zombie to The Zombie who would be King, you will reevaluate everything you thought you knew about the undead. You will finally get to hear their side of the story. What lies behind their tears and how did the apocalypse really begin? Enter if you dare because everything you knew about zombies is about to change.
About half a mile out, the streets were littered with bodies and wreckage to the point I had to abandon the car and go the rest of the way on foot. There was an overturned fire engine blocking the road. I could see an arm moving from beneath it but knew from the guttural sounds it was no longer human. I found a hatchet beside the flailing arm and scooped it up. A woman lurched from a side street. She was no older than Helena but her hair was streaked with silver. She reminded me of a badger despite her pretty aquiline face. She was slobbering like a komodo dragon so I swung at her head. It made a sickening crack as the blade cracked her skull. Her flesh split open and her blood splattered me. I blinked blood spatter from my left eye resisting the urge to throw up. She wasn’t the first person I had killed. I had been in the military and fought for my country but this was different. It was a mercy killing done in self defence but it felt like murder to me. Who was she? What was her name? Did she have a family? Were her children alone in this carnage crying and afraid? I stood chest heaving with the effort just staring down ar her. I could see her brain peeking from the wound on her head and my thoughts flew to all the other people like her. They were my people and I had let them down. But maybe it wasn’t too late to do something about it. I still had a chance to redeem myself. For some reason I heard my mother shouting at me for getting my royal clothes soiled. But I heard Helena equally as loud telling me to fight.
I stormed determinedly down the street.
Another zombie attacked me and another but I managed to fell them all. Without even thinking I smashed their skulls in. The sound of their skulls cracking made me cold but I ignored it knowing the consequences if I didn’t kill them. These were my subjects I was killing. It would stay with me forever but if I got out of it things would be different.
Keeping to the shadows and using the burning vehicles as cover I managed to get to the square.
It was the shambles everywhere else was. Shops and homes were burning or sealed tight, presumably there were some people hiding indoors hoping this would pass. Bodies lay in the flower arrangements blood stained and chewed. The stench of blood filled the air mixed with smoke and fire.
I could hear cries and gunshots in the distance so at least I knew there was still resistance. The city had not yet fallen to these creatures. I desperately looked around. I scanned the bodies, hoping my family were not among them. Surprisingly, I kept my poker face just as my father had instilled in me. But even I could not hold my emotions now. My stomach heaved as I saw people of all ages dead and half eaten. I threw up in revulsion.
They were no longer faceless citizens bathing in my glory. They were the glue that held this country together. They had fought to keep the good name of our nationality alive even in the bad times. They were fighting still.
I called out to Helena and Elise to no response. I could see great plumes of smoke rise above the rooftops like wraith witnesses to this disaster.
If they could speak I would ask them if they could see my family from their viewpoint. Were Helena and Elise seeing what I was seeing? Or were they trying to get back to the palace and we missed each other amid all this chaos? I didn’t want them to get back and find Frederique at the gates. It was bad enough I had watched my own son die. For a mother to see that….I quelled the thought.
I was about to head down one of the side streets leading to Gactica Street when I noticed a shoe. In that second my whole world funnelled into that sight. There could have a horde bearing down on me and I wouldn’t have noticed. My voice stuck in my throat and I managed a squeak.
“Helena?” I pulled the body of a middle aged woman from the pile so I could see who was underneath. My worst fears were confirmed. I had bought her those shoes on a trip to Paris. It was raining but she thought they were the most beautiful shoes in the world. They weren’t expensive. They were practical and suited my Helena. We had all the wealth in the world but it didn’t matter to her. Practical and elegant, she said when she put them on. Just like you I replied. That was my Helena; so generous with no airs or graces. Happiness was all she craved for her people and that’s why they loved her. She was one of the people just as I should have been. I should have strived to be half as good as her but my pompous side never let me admit it or even try. I fell to my knees as I lay eyes on her broken body.
The Time Warriors and Beyond 