Free Pulse by Eloise J. Knapp Page A

baseball bat they'd painted the words Zombie Killer on and said, "Go get Brock."
    Taylor got up but only took a few steps towards the car. "I don't want to," she whined. "Not when they're all over each other." They had the windows rolled down. She could hear them going at it.
    "I just heard it again. Taylor you—"
    Two people came running up the slope. She couldn't believe how fast they moved. Their bodies and eyes glinted in the campfire as they closed the distance between them, like they were wet. She thought they were pregnant women until she noticed the close cropped hair and realized they were men with huge bellies.
    "Run! Run to the car!"
    A spike of adrenaline coursed through Taylor’s veins. They spun and made a dash towards the car. Taylor took one glance behind her and saw another handful of people— zombies —run into the firelight. These ones didn't have the big stomachs.
    Kyle tripped behind her. She heard him go down but didn't turn back.
    "Wait, help me!" he yelled.
    She made it to the car and jerked the passenger door open. Brock was frantically trying to start the car, but it wouldn't go.
    "I can't drive a clutch!" he said over and over. "I don't know what to do!"
    The car made a series of clunking noises as he turned the key.
    Taylor looked out the window. Some of the regular zombies were on Kyle, beating him and biting him. The rest were almost on the car.
    Katie was in the backseat, half naked and sobbing as she groped around for her clothes. Brock abandoned trying to start the car and was halfway out the door. Taylor wished things had gone differently.
    The rest of the zombies were finally at the car. The normal ones went straight for Brock, but the two pregnant looking ones shoved their stomachs through the windows.
    One of them was laughing, singing the words to Ring Around the Rosies, his voice gleeful.
    She closed her eyes as their stomachs exploded, launching t housands of worms into the car.
     
    ***
     
    When Taylor went home, it wasn't to give her mom a hug and tell her she was okay. It wasn't to report the deaths of Katie or Kyle or Brock.
    It was to kill her family.
    The second she woke up in the front seat of Kyle's car, covered in blood and ooze, holes all over her body where the worms burrowed into her, she wanted to kill her family. Really, she always had. They cramped her style, never let her do what she wanted. It's just that now she could see clearly. Now there weren't any feelings stopping her from doing what she really wanted.
    Her legs were stiff. She found her hands convulsing, head twitching to the right every time her left foot hit the ground. It was hard to walk. She wondered what was wrong with her, but the sensation was fleeting.
    Kill mom. Kill dad. Kill Libby. Killmomkilldadkilllibby.
    Her mantra was at full blast in her mind. Soon it blocked any rational thoughts she might've had left after waking up.
    The hardwood of her porch slapped against her bare feet. Taylor heard her parents yelling her name as they came to let her in.
    Killmomkilldadkilllibby .
    They couldn't stop her. When she ripped mom's throat out with her teeth, some of her skin got caught in her braces. Daddy carried a gun but he couldn't shoot his little girl. He dropped to his knees and sobbed as Taylor pounced on him, pressing her thumbs into his eyes until she felt them burst like smashed grapes. She bent down and sucked up the mush from his eye sockets.
    Her little sister escaped through the open front door, but Taylor caught her. "Where you go ing, little girl?" she screamed. She put her foot on her sister’s chest for leverage as she tore her arm off. "Where you going?"
    Once the blood stopped squirting from Libby's shoulder where her arm used to be, Taylor stood. Down the street the Biver's lights were on.
    Kill everyone , Taylor thought, taking Libby’s arm with her. Killthemkillthem.

1 6   Dom
     
    Dom lived in a quiet neighborhood. There were many elderly couples in the senior citizen complex