13 Days, 13 Shorts: Zombies

Hello! We are exactly a week away from Halloween which means 7 great shorts, including this chilling chapter by the brilliant Imran Najam, our youngest writer yet. But enough of me talking, I'll let him introduce his short.

Okay, so this is my zombie short, and as you can see, it is short. But that's becuase I split it into two parts, and the second part is continuing in my vampire block, even though I wanted to make a comedy about Twilight, I think continuing the serious story will be good. It may not be that good, but just wait and see in the continuation. (Sorry it's a little late) Here it is:

ZOMBIES by Imran Najam

I crouched down as a fragment grenade blew the ground next to me. I tried to reach my arms up, to grab the flesh that my body ravenously ached for, and only to realize I had no arms. I continued running, driven by my hunger and attacked the first man I saw. He clutched his throat as blood splattered over his hands, and fell to the concrete floor screaming in affliction. I advanced my rampage with a new comrade, striking everything we saw living. Our progression stopped when I stepped over a landmine obliterating our bodies to bits. In the last few moments of consciousness, the craving for meat and blood slowly died down, and I fell into a deep slumber. Death.

The man woke up breathing heavily and drenched in cold sweat. He rubbed his chest through the plastic bio-suit and his rubber gloves. He marked an X on the calendar next to him, dating August 6th 2012, got up off the scratchy cot he had been lying on and sluggishly walked to the computer monitor, hooked up to one of the latest “biological warfare technology.” The five screens showed the heart rate of each “experiment” though they were well into the “release” period, as their government had called it. The five monitor feeds matched each corresponding containment unit. Their new form of warfare was simply a virus, spread through human activity, set through five stages to destroy towns to entire civilizations. A new popup appeared; this one was of people outside the door requesting entrance. The man clicked yes and a squad of the government’s Tactical Defense Unit entered through cold metal sliding gate. The man looked up and sighed.

“Finally! You’re here. Good, good. As you all know this is cla-“

“Classified. Yes.” The squad leader nodded and showed the man his badge.

“We’ve already been pre-briefed on what we are about to see, but please show us in person.” He and his patrol of men walked up to the first storage tank.

“This is the first, containing a specimen called ‘drone.’ These gather in hordes and simply attack for meat. They are brain dead and can only think of the hunger they feel. The next tank…” The men walked over to the next window.

“Holds what we called ‘crawlers.’ These infected have a very high heart rate and have adapted to climbing walls. Where is it now?...” The scientist started muttering, peering into the unit.

“Ahh there!” He pointed to the top corner of the receptacle.

“Now.. Our next specimen has been affected to even more by our virus. He shows similar symptoms as the Ebola Virus and Marburg Virus. You see that slimy residue on the sides of the tank? That is his vomit. Anyone who comes in contact with this will start to show signs of the first stage of our virus. We like to call the next one our ‘body guard’ although many of us refer to them as ‘bulldozers.’ He is the toughest out of all of the infected, and is very hard to take down.”

The scientist moved to the next container, and started excitedly.

“This is my favorite specimen!” He clapped his hands together.

“We like to call him, the ‘Sage’.” A handsome looking man sat there in a metal chair strumming a guitar. He looked up and winked.

“For some reason, when you use a lot of our virus, it affects the brain area in a positive way. These infected retain their human appearance, though they still hunger for meat once in a while, but they are incredibly intellectual. As you can see, they are the perfect weapon; they blend in with humanity and can control the infected. Now-“

He made a gesture.

“You can take your leave.” The men started to shuffle out of the room, but the leader turned around.

“What are the protocols if you were to be attacked.. by these… these... Zombies?”

“What are you asking?” Replied the scientist.

“Is there an antidote?”

The scientist smiled.

“Of course, of course!”

And gestured again. As the metal gate closed, the scientist unzipped his suit and started to type in the codes to release the seal on the containers.

“But it will never be used.”