Free Undead Honeymoon by Austin Quinn

ship’s buffets when we found our path blocked. In front of us stood the bearded corpse of a man, not unlike the others, except for its stomach. It protruded like an exaggerated beer gut, so much so that the buttons on the corpse’s Hawaiian shirt had popped. 
     
    “Wait here, and watch for any kind of movement.” Finn said firmly.
     
    I nodded as he cautiously made his way toward the beer gutted creature. As he inched closer it started to twitch.
     
    It wasn’t asleep .
     
    My insides knotted as the corpse turned toward my husband.
     
    I expected it to screech, but it didn’t. The only noise escaping its putrid lips was low and inhuman. Almost like old machine gears, grinding after years of rust.  
     
    Finn raised his bloody kitchen knife, poised to strike, but suddenly halted. Something was different about this one. It was moving extremely slow . At the rate it was inching forward it would take forever to reach my husband. Its arms slowly lifted, and I could see the same brownish black substance caked on its gnarled fingers.
     
    The odor that emanated from the creature’s body was so repulsive I almost doubled over. It was like a grotesque mixture of rotting meat and expired milk, and as it inched closer the smell became so overpowering I thought I might faint. My nose burned, and I felt a headache coming on. Everything we’d encountered before suddenly seemed like fresh daisies compared to the corpse standing in front of us.
     
    Finn held his nose and launched himself forward. The corpse’s arms dropped as his blade found an eye socket. It collapsed to the floor in front of him with a sloshing sound that made my stomach turn. 
     
    Finn stepped over it and peered up the stairway. Seeming satisfied that there were no other undead close by, he signaled for me to follow. I stepped over the corpse’s bulging stomach and quickly grasped my husband’s outstretched hand.
     
    As we started to climb he dropped the putrid smelling knife and pulled a second from his waistband. We’d ditched our trash bags along the way. They were making too much noise as we moved. As much as we needed food, it wouldn’t do us any good if we were bitten. This journal was tucked snugly in my waistband against the small of my back. 
     
    Neither of us spoke as we quietly made our way up the staircase. Soon we found ourselves standing in the front of one of the ship’s many decadent eateries. We’d come in through the side door, and I could see the double doors to the main entrance were still open. There was food in the buffet lines, but most of it was in the process of turning or already spoiled. Finn and I immediately spotted a small group near the reserved seating section about thirty feet away.
     
    We counted six of them. Six rotting corpses waiting for the chance to rip us apart.  
     
    “We don’t want to risk waking them by killing one at a time,” Finn said. “This is the same buffet I went to the other day, and unless they’ve learned how to open doors, the kitchen should still be clear.”
     
    He pointed toward one of the buffet lines in front of us. On the other side of the line I could see a door with the words “Crew Staff Only” printed on it.
     
    Just as we began to make our way toward the door something grabbed my arm. I turned to find myself face to face with what used to be a tall blonde woman. It must have been standing behind the door when we came in. It wore a chef’s hat with an Imperial Cruise Line logo embroidered on its front. The creature’s grip was like iron. I tried to yank my arm from its blackened fingers, but it was like trying to bend steel. 
     
    It was in that split second that I saw its stomach bulging to the point of making it look pregnant.
     
    Then the smell hit me. 
     
    I instantly vomited all down its front. I gagged and screamed as its rotten face started to lean toward me. Its blackened teeth snapped sporadically as a pair of lifeless, dull grey eyes bore into