Free Zomb-Pocalypse by Megan Berry

hands and face. I take one of the flashlights with me and stare at myself in the mirror. I look the same, but also completely different.
    I wash my hands first and then my face, staring longingly at the large jet tub. I pull my toothbrush out of my bag and give my teeth a good, hard scrubbing. They were starting to feel fuzzy, and I am a little disgusted with myself. Next, I rub on half a tube of deodorant and comb the tangles and gore out of my hair. I find a small bone chip and cringe; the old Jane would have thrown up. I decide that cold water be damned, I am washing my hair.
    There is shampoo sitting on the edge of the tub. I run some ice cold water, just enough to dip my head in. I nearly get brain freeze, but grit my teeth to get through it. I go to drain the water and I see that it’s stained pink, which makes me doubly glad that I forced myself to tough it out. I towel my hair semi-dry before throwing it up in a ponytail.
    When I leave the bathroom, bag in hand, everyone glances up at me for a minute before going back to what they’d been doing. Abby bounces off the bed and claims the bathroom next, Ryan looks back down at the book he had been reading, and Megan goes back to rummaging through the closet.
    I walk over to see what Megan’s up to.
    “Find anything good?” I ask her.
    She nods. “A few things, they aren’t really my style, but they’re clean and dry.” She’s surrounded by piles of stuff.
    I pull a pair of jeans from a hanger. They are mom jeans, but they aren’t covered in guts like my own stylish designer pair.
    “Mind if I take these?” I ask.
    She nods her permission. “Sure. Take some of these socks too,” She instructs and hands me five clean pairs.
    I smile as I tuck them into my backpack before ducking into the closet to shimmy out of my old jeans and put the new ones on. They are a little big, but they stay up alright. I stand for a minute, debating what to do with my old jeans before throwing them down on the ground and leaving them. There isn’t any electricity, and I doubt I would be able to get the zombie guts out of them anyway. I decide to wear these mom jeans until we get to the safety of the cabin, then I will risk wearing the last two pairs of good jeans in my backpack.
    I lie down on the bed and stare at Ryan beneath my lashes until I pass out a few minutes later.
    I am exhausted despite the trauma of the last three days, but mostly because of it. There were times when I thought I would never be able to sleep again, obviously, that would be physically impossible though. I’m asleep as soon as my head hits the pillow, and I send off a quick prayer that I will still be alive when I wake up in the morning.
    I am running through a field filled with green grass. Suddenly, my Mom and Dad are running beside me. “Come on Janey.” My Dad calls out as he grabs my hand and pulls me along faster. I look behind us and see that there are zombies closing in. One putrid, rotting hand reaches out and snags in my hair. I collapse on the ground, screaming. I turn to my Dad to tell him to keep running, but then I’m not holding my Daddy’s hand anymore. The leering face of Billy Bob from the gas station hovers over top of me. I let out a scream of terror and try to back away from him, but I can feel his arms around me like twin steel bands. Panic takes over and I begin fighting.
    “Jane…Jane!”
    I open my eyes. I’m sweating bullets and sitting upright in bed, panting. I look over and see Ryan sitting beside me with his arm wrapped protectively around me, and I wonder if it wasn’t his arms I was feeling in my dream.
    “I saw them,” I mutter, probably sounding like a crazy person.
    Ryan grabs hold of my hand and his touch is comforting.
    “Who did you see?” He asks, his thumb stroking over my palm.
    “My parents,” I manage to get out before I burst into tears.
    Ryan pulls me back into his arms and lays back down, holding me gently while I sob into his neck.
    “It was a