Free Best New Zombie Tales Trilogy by James Roy Daley

holly, with the Christmas music playing and the lights blinking, in the company of his two best friends, holding the hand of Natalie’s walking corpse, it somehow felt like Christmas.
    Kirk turned around and said they should head back to the food court. They were almost there when Liz said, “Oh, let’s go into Hot Topic!”
    Hot Topic was a popular store, but it was very small and cramped with merchandise. It was crowded with teenagers, as always, and Randy, Liz, Kirk, and Natalie had to shoulder their way through the store. They were browsing the t-shirt selection when they began to hear the comments.
    “What the fuck is that smell?” someone said.
    “Jesus Christ, what is that?” someone else said.
    They heard someone gag.
    Kirk realized Natalie was stinking the place up fast. He met Randy’s eyes and Kirk jerked his head toward the front of the store. He turned to Natalie. She was staring at her right hand. He tugged on her left and said, “Come on.”
    “Hungry,” she said, and Kirk felt panic blossom in his chest.
    On their way out of the store, moving as quickly as they could, they heard other remarks mixed with laughter.
    “Shit, did you see that chick?”
    “She looked dead!”
    “What was I thinking?” Kirk said once they were out. “We never should’ve gone in there.”
    “That was close,” Randy said.
    They went across to the food court. It was a cathedral of fast food in which voices echoed off the cavernously high ceiling. It was a clash of aromas: Chinese food, Italian food, Mexican food, Greek food, hamburgers, hotdogs, donuts, Coco, and rotting flesh, all in one place.
    “I want an apple fritter,” Liz said.
    “Okay,” Randy said. He turned to Kirk. “You want a donut?”
    Kirk shook his head.
    “Uh… does she?” He nodded toward Natalie, who was staring at the ceiling.
    Kirk rolled his eyes. “That’s not what she eats.”
    Randy’s eyes widened and his cheeks paled. “Oh, yeah. I almost forgot. Fuck. I was gonna have a donut, but now I’m not so sure.”
    “Well, go get mine and we’ll find a table,” Liz said.
    All the tables in the food court were occupied. Liz spotted two women and three kids leaving one of the tables near the front, by the tall windows, and they quickly claimed it.
    Once they were seated, Liz said, “Jesus, I can really smell her, Kirk. The Vicks worked pretty well for awhile, but I think mine’s worn out, because she’s really getting to me.”
    “Don’t worry, we’ll go as soon as Randy comes back.”
    “Where’d he go?”
    “To get your apple fritter.”
    “I can’t eat an apple fritter now. She’s making me sick to my stomach.”
    “But,” Kirk said, “thanks to the Vicodin, you don’t really care, do you?”
    Liz grinned. “No shit.”
    Natalie was staring out the window looking more stoned than the three of them combined when Randy came to the table with a white bag. Kirk stood and nodded at Liz, who got to her feet. Together, they walked away from the table and left Natalie alone in the food court.
     
     
    - SIX -
     
    1.
     
    It’s not Natalie. It’s only her body . Kirk had to keep telling himself that as he walked away from Natalie. He looked over his shoulder. She was looking around slowly now. She looked confused, but she did not look confused in the way Natalie used to when she looked confused––there was no resemblance. This Natalie looked confused the way a mentally handicapped child might.
    Outside the food court, Kirk led them to one of the banks of plastic molded chairs. Kirk and Randy sat down with Liz between them and they both sat forward with forearms on thighs.
    “She’s nothing like Natalie, is she?” Kirk said.
    Randy shook his head and Liz said, “No, she’s not. But there were times… I don’t know, like, for a split second, there were a couple times when it was Natalie. But it happened so fast, it could’ve been my imagination.”
    “Why are we still here?” Randy said.
    Kirk shrugged. “I