Free Zombies! Episode 3 - Love Bites by Ivan Turner

the
dark, he peered around the room. All he could see was shadows.
     
    "Suzanna?" he whispered, looking over at the
lump of blanket and sheet on the bed. He reached over to her, put
his hand where he thought her leg should be, and wound up with a
handful of empty blanket. Startled, he leaned forward and probed
for her but the bed was empty.
     
    "Suzanna?" he called out a little louder. He
looked around the room but couldn't see anything. He listened but
he couldn't hear anything.
     
    Standing up, Arrick called out her name once
more and received the same response. He was frightened. Carefully,
he made his way into the hallway. Desperately, he wanted to run
from that apartment. He wanted nothing more than to be safe in his
own home. But still something held him back. Perhaps it was the
same misguided loyalty that had prevented him from leaving her in
the first place.
     
    "Suzanna?"
     
    Then he heard it. The sound of air moving
through a tunnel, a horrible macabre moaning. Until that moment, he
had doubted. Any sane person would doubt the existence of zombies.
Suzanna had doubted also. She had just been sick. But all disbelief
disappeared entirely in that moment. He couldn't see her. She was
in front of him but it was too dark to see. She was just a
silhouette in the hallway. For a moment, a brief moment in which he
hated himself, he was attracted to her all the more. The shape of
her shadow and the helplessness of her condition appealed to him in
a way that he would hopefully forever bury from that moment on. For
then he switched on the light in the hallway and saw her face. Her
dead face with empty eyes.
     
    Almost all of the color had fled from her
cheeks. The eyes, though undamaged, stared at nothing. They had
this glazed look that wasn't even lucid enough to mistake for
hypnosis. They were windows into the world of death. John Arrick
screamed and sobbed all at once. He didn't know what the thing in front of him was. But he knew that he was terrified
by it.
     
    That was his last thought before it launched
itself at him. They collided in a tangle of awkward limbs and
gnashing teeth. The teeth! Stay away from the teeth! Arrick
brought his forearm up under her chin and felt her lips and tongue
split from the impact. Blood and spit splashed on his arms and
face. Trying to keep his balance, he gave ground, staving off snap
after snap of teeth and neck. They tumbled into the tiny bathroom,
light from the hallway spilling in on top of them. Awful sounds
struggled out of her throat, or maybe his. He wasn't sure. They
slipped on the bath matt and went down. Arrick banged his head on
the toilet bowl and went dizzy for a moment. Suzanna's head was in
his lap and he felt her mouth grab hold of his inner thigh. Without
a thought, he reached with both hands, gripping her hair and
pulling her head up. She clawed at him with her fingers. Thank
God Suzanna hates long fingernails! With her head under his
control, Arrick propped his feet against the wall for leverage.
Whipping her backward, he slammed the back of her skull against the
tub. He must have pulled the blow because there was nothing but a
dull thud and she kept struggling. If anything, she was stronger
now than she had ever been. Having the advantage, though, and
having got the feel for it, he repeated the blow, this time with
much more force. The sound was louder and there was a noticeable
effect. Suzanna's strength ebbed. Her limbs flailed wildly now
instead of under any sort of control. Arrick was beginning to feel
confident.
     
    He slammed her head down again.
     
    This time there was noticeable yield. Blood
dribbled from her ears and her flailing limbs fell to
twitching.
     
    So he did it again.
     
    And again.
     
    And again.
     
    With each blow, the impact was softer. Blood
and spittle from her ruined mouth splattered everywhere. When he
felt wetness behind her head, he let go and struggled his way out
from under her. He didn't look down, didn't want to see what