Seaside Fiction Contest

A while ago I entered a contest for Seaside Short Fiction. I won an honorable mention and it was posted on the blog. If you'd like to visit, just click here. I hope you enjoy.

In The Woods

Steve leaned against a nearby tree, completely exhausted but unable to ever really rest again. He glanced down at the purple and bluish bite mark on his arm and knew that it was the reason for all of his misery. His every thought was consumed by the hunger that pulsed through him and clouded his every thought. All he wanted to do was eat, eating would satisfy him, the problem was what his brain was now telling him was food.

Images from the past week flashed through his mind. A real zombie outbreak had consumed his small little mountain town like it had in so many other places across the world. All of the pain and suffering he had seen was now replaying itself in his mind. Then it had been horrible to see people he knew killed and eaten alive. Now what troubled him was the thought that he wished he could have done some of the eating himself. He hadn’t seen his wife, Tabitha, for days and had a feeling deep in his gut that she had perished like so many others.

Far off in the distance he heard gunshots and screams. That meant that soon this little sanctuary would be swarming with people that were itching to put a bullet through his skull. Part of him wanted to stay, to just let it all be over, but a bigger part of him still wanted to survive. That is if you could call whatever he was surviving.

He turned and ran in the opposite direction of the noise and trying to be quiet but knowing he needed to get out of the area as fast as possible. On his run he encountered more of his kind trying to do the same thing or, so far gone, just standing and staring off into space. He paid little attention to them all, getting out of there was his only concern at the moment.

Just when he thought that he may be far enough away he could stop running, a new burst of gunfire sounded off to his right. Before he could change direction to avoid this new group of people, someone ran right into him and knocked him to the ground.

For a moment he was disoriented but quickly snapped out of it when he noticed who it was that had run into him. Tabby, his wife whom he had thought died in the initial onslaught. She wasn’t dead, though. Well, not in the terms that he had thought. For a moment everything seemed to stop as she realized who she had run into and their eyes met. Tears welled up around the edges of her eyes as the gunshots started to get closer.

“I don’t want to do this anymore,” she whispered to him. “I don’t want to be this anymore.”

He wiped the tears from her eyes and kissed her on each of her eye lids. “I don’t either, my love.” All the previous thoughts of survival vanished and the hunger wasn’t even anywhere to be seen. All he wanted to do was make the pain that the love of his life was feeling stop.

A group of people with guns entered the clearing and spotted them. “It’s okay, love.” He told her as panic showed on her face. He leaned down and kissed her deeply just as the hunters sighted in on them and pulled the triggers.

For Zombie Awareness Month 2010:

31 Zombie Movies In 31 Days

Since May is Zombie Awareness Month, I decided to watch 31 zombie movies throughout the month. I'm not watching one per day, so I may end up watching more than just 31 but here is a list of the 31 I plan on watching sometime during May. I'll update which ones I have watched and which ones I need to watch and I will also add any that I watch that currently aren't on the list.

1. Dawn of the Dead (2004) [Watched]

2. 28 Days Later [Watched]

3. 28 Weeks Later [Watched]

4. Shaun of the Dead [Watched]

5. Zombieland [Watched]

6. Night of the Living Dead (1968)

7. Night of The Living Dead (1990) [Watched]

8. Dawn of the Dead (1978) [Watched]

9. Day of the Dead (1985) [Watched]

10. Land of the Dead

11. Diary of the Dead [Watched]

12. Survival of the Dead

13. Day of the Dead (2008)

14. Phantasm

15. Wicked Little Things [Watched]

16. White Zombie

17. Re-Animator

18. The Return of the Living Dead [Watched]

19. Return of the Living Dead II [Watched]

20. Return of the Living Dead 3 [Watched]

21. Resident Evil

22. Die You Zombie Bastards!

23. I Sell the Dead

24. Living Dead Girl

25. Evil Dead

26. Evil Dead 2

27. Army of Darkness

28. Xombie: Dead on Arrival [Watched]

29. Zombie

30. Undead

31. Last of the Living

Awaiting the Day

(Really short vampire story)

Cortes gazed out over the nearby rooftops. It was still a while before sunrise and he had made his decision. He just wished the day would begin soon so his life could end; just a second was still too much time alone with his own thoughts. He tried to think of other things, things besides Lujuana and Kiyo. He thought of the view from the rooftops in Casares, where he had grown up. This miserable little city could not even compare but he had long ago decided that he could never go back. So much had changed since then, both good and bad; although a lot more bad than good. He decided not to linger on either too much because it always led towards the bad and today was special, today it would all end. Throughout the night he had come to a decision and that decision made him the happiest he’d ever been in…well, it had been too long. It would all start by climbing up to the roof and watching the sun rise. He felt the warmth slowly creeping through the city as dawn approached, the chill air of the night losing its crispness. He felt a pang of fear, merely instinct he told himself, and continued to watch the brightening sky to the East. As the sun finally burst over the horizon he felt pain as the first few layers of his skin turned instantly to ash and slowly started to blow away in a soft breeze. Whatever it was that made the sun destroy his kind started to work on the next few layers, burning deeper (he doubted it was simply the UV rays. He’d been under UV bulbs several times and hadn’t felt any discomfort whatsoever). The pain was excruciating but he relished it. The end was so near.

Time seemed to slow and his mind flickered through his life, all 95 years, despite his earlier decision to try and repress all thoughts. It had been troubled, that much he was sure of. He had slaughtered Lujuana, the woman he loved, when he had first been changed. Untrained and let loose by a master he would never meet. He went ravaging through Spain during the civil war and ended up in the Philippines during World War II always hiding, always hungry, and constantly alone. That was until he had met Kiyo while hiding in the United States. She had taught him how to control his hunger but he was left devastated by the memories of what he had done earlier never completely forgiving himself. Through Kiyo, he found out how few of his kind there were left (thinking, for a long time, that they were the only two). He found out how they had been hunted down and slaughtered throughout the ages because of mistakes like the ones he had made, letting his hunger take control. She had helped him move on despite being unable to forget. His memories that never faded with the passing of time. Now she was gone. He was alone again and it was his fault, now wasn't the time to dwell on that.

He felt the pain slice deeper, starting to tear into vital parts, and was back in the here and now. He wanted so badly to close his eyes and lay back to enjoy his death but the view was so beautiful. He didn’t want to miss the first sunrise he’d seen since 1936. The sun crept slowly but surely upwards, taking his life along the way. To where, he did not know, did not care. As larger pieces of his flesh began to break off and vanish in the breeze, he lost consciousness. Within a few seconds the pillar of ash that had once been a happy and loving husband turned desolate and lonely monster blew away in the increasing breeze. Nobody below in the city would ever know that he even existed. Francisco Cortes along with his anguish and all his woes was no more.

Joke: The Indian

A college student is heading home during a break and is waiting at the airport. While walking around he notices an Indian holding a sign that reads, "I never forget, ask me anything. $5."

He's curious so he walks up and randomly asks the Indian, "What did you have for breakfast on April 13, 1980?"

The Indian simply replies, "Eggs."

He decides the answer isn't worth paying for so he decides to just walk off.

About 10 years later the kid, now a cocky businessman, ends up in the same airport with some of his buddies. He sees the same Indian, without the sign, and doesn't recognize him. As a joke to all his friends, while passing, he raises his hand and says, "How."

The Indian looks at him and replies, "scrambled and now you owe me $10."