It’s been a while since I’ve featured the first of my “I Zombie” trilogy, I Zombie I, here on Get Jack’d for #samplesunday. So, I decided it’s time to treat my readers to a bit of zombie fun. And remember, the second book in the series, My Zombie My, hits the shelves August 4 (which is my birthday, so say “Happy Birthday” with a purchase 😉 ).
I woke from a horrific dream with sweat pouring from my body and the sheets soaked and quickly growing clammy. My breath was ragged, my throat was raw, and my heart was pounding out of my chest. That feeling, the very second of waking from a nightmare as my heart did a tango with my liver and head, flooded my system. Nervous emotion was flowing through my body. I could feel the transformation about to happen again. The overwhelming feeling was not unlike being startled out of sleep. My heart raced, and my breath was shallow as if I was getting only enough breath to live on and no more. Every sensation was heightened, but thought was dulled into a nearly-void lull.
And then, a ringing, barely audible at first, began to develop in my ears. Had it not been for the silence of my cell, I probably wouldn’t even have noticed it. After a short time, the ringing grew painful, drowning out all other noise, which then completely confused my brain’s ability to process. Every thought seemed nothing more than a jumble of words. Randomness gave way to nothingness. My mind became blank. For a moment it was pure bliss, but then that placid emptiness was spiked, once again, by that horrid sound.
This time around, something new joined the fun. My vision grew tunneled. All I could see was a small circle in front of my body. If I looked to the right or left, I was completely blind. My eyeballs felt heavy, almost solid.
The fun wasn’t over yet. Growing in my gut was an impassioned hunger that longed for something other than food. I wanted something I couldn’t have. I hungered for something I shouldn’t want.
Deep down, deep within that inner sanctum of humanity that might be considered the human soul, all I wanted to do was to keep others from suffering this same pain. It was a pain no one should ever know. And then… it all ebbed away. First the hunger, then the vision, then the pain, and then the sound. I had no idea how long it had lasted, but I could feel that it had left something behind, something corrupt, something ugly.
…
…
…
I made it. Another attack came and went, and I’m still here. Just when it seemed as if there was no end or release, I was washed back up on the shore of the cell holding me captive. After my body was finally rid of every ugly sensation, the one thing that stuck was relieving the suffering of others in the hope that someone, some other zombie, would relieve me. It seemed I finally managed to get to the core of the undead threatening to overtake the whole of humanity. It was nothing like what the zombie flicks would have you believe. There was no hunger to consume human brains. There was only the all-consuming desire to rid others of their suffering, hoping that someone would return the favor.
That bitter pimp, Irony, was happily making us all its bitch. In the process of trying to save, the zombies are only condemning us all to their same damned fate.
“Jacob!” Bethany’s voice jerked me back to reality. She came through the same door Godwin had exited only moments before.
“How did you find me?” Of course I knew the answer to that question, and the look on her face verified that answer. She was a hacker, and a pro at that. There was probably little she couldn’t do.
“I’m getting you out of here,” she said as she frantically punched a sequence on a keypad. The door to the cell hissed open.
I remained seated. “Umm…that might not be a good idea.”
Bethany just gave me that look, the one that says, If you doubt me again I’m going to punch you in the spleen.
“Seriously, Bethany, what if I attack you? Bite you…infect you?” I paused for just the briefest moment to linger on the thought of biting her. Just a nibble on the neck. Or better yet, her tasty girl-belly. Yum, yum—and not in that odd zombie yum I had become prone to. Just a sexual yum
She came into the cell, grabbed me by the arm, and pulled me to my feet. “Better that than know you’re rotting in this room as nothing more than Godwin’s little experiment.”
She had a point. At first I thought Godwin was observing me in order to cure the infection. Instead, he was watching to ensure the effects of the virus came to complete fruition. I was nothing more than a post-apocalyptic lab rat.
“Bethany, this is going to happen again.”
“I don’t care.”
“I do. I have no idea if I can keep myself from killing someone. I don’t want to hurt you.”
“I won’t let you.”
I didn’t have the heart or the nerve to tell her she might not be able to stop me. Had this not been the end of days, I could have imagined actually having a life with this beautiful woman. But, as fate would have it, it looked like I would have to dine on her succulent brain in hopes of silencing the noise that would eventually consume my sanity.
Bethany just turned and huffed. “I’m going to say this only once. There is absolutely no hope of getting a cure for you if you’re locked away. You stay in here, and you’re done. You get out, and you might have a chance. And besides…I have a plan.”
There was an evil twinkle in the eye of my beloved, as if she had a secret she couldn’t wait to reveal to me. She grabbed me by the hand, and we left the holding cell and made our way to and up a flight of stairs. The next level was laid out identically to the one below. There were holding cells with the same antechamber layout. It seemed the rooms even served the same purpose. We finally arrived in an exact replica of the room that had held me captive. The only difference was that locked inside the inner room was Susan and, handcuffed to a surgical table in the outer room, was Dr. Godwin.
“Hello again, Dr. Godwin. I told you I had a nice surprise for you.” Bethany’s voice dripped cold vengeance.
“What are you doing? Jacob is very dangerous, Bethany. You need to return him to the cell.” The doctor was near panic.
“Oh, he’ll be going back to a cell, only it won’t be the one below us. This time Jacob will be sharing a lovely honeymoon suite with none other than your darling daughter, Susan. This way you will get to see the full effects of your virus as Jacob eats his way through to Susan’s crunchy cerebral lobes. Won’t that be fun?”
When Bethany was finished speaking, she gestured for me to enter the room. How could I not? She had set this up perfectly. My only hope was that she had some other endgame for this plan. I really had no desire to rip into Susan, at least, not at the moment.
Susan’s eyes were ready to jettison out of their sockets with fear. Obviously, she knew how much danger she was in. She probably knew all along what I was to the doctor.
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