Sneeze

To make a sudden violent spasmodic audible expiration of breath through the nose and mouth especially as a reflex act

“A very common act all over the world. Sometimes it’s messy, sometimes loud. In my case, it’s...well, it’s hard to explain.” He lifted the strange yellow and blue fruit, examining it carefully. “I read somewhere one time that all terrestrial tetrapods sneeze. Of course, then I had to look up the meaning of tetrapod. A vertebrate (as an amphibian, a bird, or a mammal) with two pairs of limbs.” He carefully pulled a piece of the peel away, casting a pleasant aroma around the room. “I can’t really say how many times in my life I’ve sneezed, it’s really hard to recall such an action that everyone considers minor. But...” He took a bite of the fruit, causing the juices to run down his hand. “But, I do remember every time I’ve sneezed since that one moment.”

The woman across the table seemed a bit puzzled, her natural green hair highlighting her lush purple skin. She was intrigued by the stranger, but his ramblings were a bit boring. She’d almost trampled him on her Tarkuor, lucky for him she’d already fed the large six legged beast. Draibwua hadn’t been to many other lands, but she was sure he wasn’t from any them. There was the added strangeness that she could understand him. “Yes, but what does this have to do with where you come from?” she asked, confused.

He took another bite of the intoxicatingly delicious fruit. “Well, it happened about two years ago.” He paused as if trying to count something, “Yes, almost two years ago. The divorce had just finalized and I had come over to my ex wife’s house to pick up the rest of my things.”

“What the hell do you want Paul?!” She was undoubtedly still quite pissed at him. “I told you to have one of your boys to pick your shit up!” She threw the duster, she’d been holding, at him. He didn’t move at all, knowing he deserved all the anger. That anger suddenly crossed into tiredness of all that had happened in the last year, her eyes started to water. “Why...why won’t you just leave me alone.” He started to say something “I...ah...ah...AH CHOO!”

He placed the fruit on the table “And then I...” His eyes widened “I...ah...ah...AH CHOO!” All that was left of him was the spittle on the green haired ladies shocked face.

Paul raised his head to take a look at the new place he travelled, his face brightened. “Sarah!” He rapped on the door loudly while yelling “Sarah! I’m back! Please, answer the door!” The slanted numbers beside the door ‘214’ and the rest of the place looked the exact same, then the door opened.

The favorite yellow and white dress, the long blond hair...the beard? “Woah...sorry, buddy. I’m, uh...I’m looking for Sarah?”

The voice was deep but feminine “I’m Sarah, whatsit to you? Don’t tell me, I got drunk again last night and you remember....” Then she noticed the stubble on the strange mans face. “Woah, who the hell are you? You’re not a woman!”

Paul sighed and shook his head “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you. Do you have any pepper I can borrow?” Sarah returned with a shaker full of pepper, not sure what to make of the strange request by the even stranger guy. Paul took a large whiff of the pepper “ah...ah...AH CHOO!” and was gone again.

The alley was dark and a bit damp, and smelled of rotten left overs. Paul leaned against the stone wall feeling exhausted, repeating “Please don’t be a freaky dimension. Please don’t be a freaky dimension. Please don’t be a freaky dimension.” A cough in the darkness startled him, but he soon saw that it was just a homeless man in a cardboard box. Making his way to the nearest street, he needed to find out if it would be safe to rest before he collapsed.

It didn’t seem very late, but the streets were completely deserted. The street lamps made the quietness see too ominous throughout what looked to be a shopping district, almost like a main street. The street sign at the corner read “Broughton Street”. Every business he passed was boarded up, which was typically not a good sign. A shiver ran down Paul’s back, he didn’t normally get bad feelings about things but something about this place was giving him the heebie-jeebies.

The sudden whisper from the darkness made him squeal “Hey you, get in here! Hurry!” Without even thinking, Paul ran for the doorway the whisper came from and was quickly pulled inside. The small store was filled with people, most of them huddled in a corner. No one made a sound, most of them probably even held their breath. Paul just stood there, waiting, not really phased. Sure, this was scary or him, but he’d seen some pretty crazy things in his travels. It could have been an hour or even just ten minutes when they guy by the door stood and sounded the all clear.

Paul walked over to the guy that looked like he was in charge “What was out there?” Everyone started whispering to each other as the man in at the door sized Paul up with a very confused look on his face “Are you from another planet are something? What do you mean ‘What was out there’?”

He’d been given this treatment a lot and found the only good solution was the amnesia approach “Sorry....I just..I don’t know what’s going on or where I am, I don’t even know who I am.” He was good at lying, or at least he thought he was up until his wife caught him in the lie.

The man offered his hand “I’m David, and those ‘things’ outside were the Night Owls. You don’t know how lucky you are right now.” He turned his attention to the group and went to go help some of the injured.

Now that there was a bit of candle light, Paul could see that they were in some kind of wig store. He turned his attention back to David “So, what exactly is a ‘Night Owl’?” The gasps from the crowd was almost too unnerving, like they were going to string him up for not knowing.

David froze in place for a moment. The blur of speed from the trained knife wielder was quite scary, but Paul had had his share of people act the same way through the last two years. He didn’t move at all, knowing he would probably get hurt more if he did. David looked furious “Who are you?! Did ‘They’ send you to capture us?”

Paul knew he was in trouble, just moments away from being killed most likely. He sighed “Fine, I’ll tell you everything, but you aren’t going to believe me.” So he told his tale as everyone sat in silence, wide-eyed. Though he did leave out a few of the stories, like the nympho assassin with the twin sister.

After about an hour of rambling about the different places he’d travelled, Paul noticed the shocked look on everyone’s faces. David rubbed the back of his neck and stood up “Wow, either you are a complete nut job or you are one of the best writers I’ve ever met. Here I thought you were going to tell us what city you were from. At first I thought you were a spy for them. Now...I’m not sure what you are.”

Paul sighed “Told you that you’d never believe me. I’d love to prove it to you and get out of this place, but I’m exhausted and I’m at least safe in here with you all...I think. What exactly are we hiding from again?”

David shook his head in disbelief “You...you seriously don’t know?” He sounded exhausted as well. “We’re hiding from..” All of the sudden the door slammed open and a group of young ladies entered the store. Everyone was too petrified to scream. Each girl had some kind of weapon pointed at the crowd, when the room was secured the woman in charge entered.

“Well, David, it has been a while hasn’t it?” The pig tailed lady wore the same uniform as all the other girls. Paul’s jaw dropped open in amazement “Seriously? We’re...we’re hiding from Girl Scouts?” He turned to look at David “Of all the places I’ve travelled, this has got to be the strangest thing I’ve ever seen.”

David smirked “You’ll have to forgive the new guy, Sarah. He’s a bit of a loon, saying he comes from some other world.” He walked up to Sarah “Oh, forgot to tell you, Danni says ‘Hello’.” Sarah’s face turned to fury just before the loud popping sound of the taser went off. David hit the ground like a brick and seconds later the women served the same to everyone except Paul.

He was led outside by Sarah and her two guards while the rest of the people were collected and put in the back of a truck. Paul was finally able to get a good look at her face. He couldn’t believe his eyes “Sarah?! Sarah Bowman?!” She looked at him like she’d seen a ghost, no one outside the Den knew her real last name.

She pulled out her taser and approached Paul “Who the hell are you and how do you know my name?!” The two girls behind her looked just as confused as she did, not that Paul was surprised. But maybe this was his chance to stay safe from what they were going to do to the others. Paul held his hands up “I can explain...my wallet.” He went to reach for his wallet which he soon regretted. The guards took his wallet and put him in the backseat of Sarah’s vehicle.

Hours later Paul picked his throbbing head up off the table. The cabin smelled of summer camp, or maybe prison camp. “Where...where am I?” He looked around dazed. It was morning, or afternoon. His gaze fell on the other side of the table where he found Sarah sitting there patiently, redoing her pigtails.

“So, who are you and why do you have a picture of me in your wallet?” Her tone was straight forward, commanding and frightening, yet it was like she was just carrying on a simple conversation. Paul choked on his own words, stumbling for the right way to say it. “Well...you see, umm...We’re married!” Sarah’s eyebrow arched, asking the question quite bluntly. Paul answered “Well, we were. We...we got divorced a few years ago.” He wiped the sweat from his brow, this was much harder than he thought. This was the most danger he felt he’ been in in his entire life, and that was counting the two wars and the assassin’s sister.

Sarah finally tied off her pigtail with a puzzled look on her face. “I’ve never seen you before in my life, and you definitely aren’t my type. Though you say we divorced so I’m sure there was a good reason for it.” Paul looked away shyly, forcing himself to remember this wasn’t ‘his’ Sarah. Before he could respond Sarah spoke again “But, I guess I could always use another donor.” She said with a smirk. That look made Paul squirm, knowing this wasn’t good.

That’s when he felt his escape coming. Picking up his wallet, Paul looked Sarah in the eye “I’m sorry, Sarah.” She was taken aback by his change in tone. “Ah....Ah...AH CHOO!” She was even more surprised by the sudden disappearance of her prisoner.

Thankful to be away from the last dimension, Paul was beginning to feel the wear of travelling in such a way. He wasn’t even sure if he wanted to open his eyes to find out where he was. Right now all he wanted was Sarah. He wondered where it all went wrong. She had been his world at one time, but she didn’t want him in that world anymore. Somehow he knew he’d never see ‘his’ Sarah again.

New Blog for a New Year

I have decided to try and write a Thursday Tale for every week this year. For that reason I have decided to start a new blog. I hope you enjoy my tales!

The new blog is http://reavynsfailings.blogspot.com/

Thank you for reading!

The Little Shop Trapped In Time

The night air swept the trash in swirls of echoing quietness down the empty back street, passed the little shop. Rotted wood creaked hello as it went by. The front window was filthy with neglect. Not even the slightest passerby was curious enough to peek through. The door to the shop, locked long ago, couldn’t even beckon thieves. A ‘Closed’ sign hung there without moving for years. Another gust of wind gently patted the sign above the door.

The dust in the shop had settled long ago, though some still floated through the air caught in the little bit of moonlight that shown through the grimy window. The shelves still held the love of the owner’s heart, though he’d long since gone. Red headed dolls in yellow dresses, blonde headed dolls in pink gowns, little boy dolls in school uniforms and sailor outfits. All kinds of dolls huddled together covered with the layers of dust, no one around to see their beauty anymore. They just sat there staring into the darkened shop.

The wax of a candle splayed out over the work bench almost holding his hand, the poor little boy doll that couldn’t join his friends. Brown hair and two blue eyes, his little nose and half a painted smile decorated his face. A knitted little sweater and some blue jean pants were marked by the line from the paint brush. There was nothing he could do that night he watched his father never wake up again. The curses he would have yelled at letting the brush slip as he fell into an endless sleep. Instead, his newest son would forever stare at his rotting corpse as he sat there in the little shop that was trapped in time.

Viral n - Before the Hunt

The two guards stiffened when they saw the five Condors walking towards them. The Street Vultures were vicious and cruel, the guards in particular had to be really rotten to watch over the King Vultures Roost. But no one in the Cloud dared to ever provoke one of the Condors.

Condors were a small roost of the Street Vultures that consisted of the most elite. The tests included finding and marking of egg-layers, feathering younglings, and defeating a King Vulture. But their final test was the toughest of all, at least for the Street Vultures, they had to fly.

Flying consisted of making it to the top a large building chosen by the King Vultures. This task could take over a month to complete, especially if the building was still online. They sent in the top Condors to evaluate the number of a certain object and the candidate would have to acquire every single one. After showing their fearlessness to fly they were allowed into the Condor’s Roost. There was only one rule to being a Condor, the women could not be an egg layer.

The Guard on the right slammed a giant fist, covered with a bent sheet of steel, into the door. It slid up slowly, when it was high enough he slammed a metal rod into place to keep it open. The five of them were greeted in the lobby of the Squatter Apartment, known as the King Vulture Roost, by a mangled female. The lead Condor, known as Ash followed closely by her twin brother Blood, handed her signal over to the girl. She was so dead inside from the horrendous tortures that she didn’t flinch at their site. She shuffled off to hand the Kings the emblem to announce their arrival.

Moments later the girl came back, returning Ashes signal and stepping out of the way. This showed they were clear to enter. Blood took his place beside Ash and they lead the group into what use to be a meeting room. They stood side by side facing each of the five Death Kings.

Death King Vultures were in charge of the Condors. They were previous Condors that succeeded every mission during their younger days.They relayed all Condor missions and punishments, if needed.

Death King Veridan spoke “One of the Egg-layers escaped with an unfeathered. Go to the Nesting Roost and find out all the info you can to bring them back.” He looked over at Condor Shield, making it very clear “You are NOT to feather the child.” Shield had a twinge of disappointment on his face.

Condor Shield’s training showed just how dubious this Cloud was. He was a member of the Night Shield Cloud that was sent to infiltrate the Street Vultures. It wasn’t too long before he was discovered, but instead of killing him they made him go through the Condor training. His talents far exceeded their expectations. He didn’t hesitate the marking, he easily beat the King Vulture, and his flight almost beat the record time. The one test he refused was the one that turned him, feathering. At first they bound and forced the children on him for a week. It twisted his soul and he started to enjoy it. Now it was all he wanted, but he was kept on a very tight leash.

They left without another word. Waiting just outside, the guard removed the metal pole and let the door slam down. Ash and Blood led the way, followed by Shield and Sword. The newest member of their team, Record, was probably the brightest person in all the Street Vultures. But he was no less twisted.

Over an hour later they reached the Nesting Roost. As they stepped up to the guard the dying cry of a young boy snapped Shield out of his depressed shuffle. He started to turn for the Feathering House but was stopped cold by Swords stair. The guard tried his best not to look at them as he took his plated fist and smashed it against the door.

They stepped inside and were greeted by the Matron Cow. Most of the Roosts had a slave that would announce the arrival of guests to the master. The Matron Cow was known for killing her slaves and finally gave up on trying to train new ones. Without a word the Condors followed her to the conference room.

A long table with at least twenty seats decorated the center of the room. Four windows, all on one side of the room, fed them light. Almost every building that the Street Vultures had were the same. Squatter Apartments littered the lower parts of almost every state. Used mostly, in the old days, by those who could not afford apartments or those that travelled a lot.

Record stepped to the front of the group and began his questioning. “We’ve been sent to get retrieve your escaped Egg-layer. What is her name and how many marks does she have?”

The Matron knew every detail of every Egg-layer and she answered without hesitation “Her name is Amaya and she was only marked once. The unfeathered she escaped with was her own daughter.”

Record interrupted her “We’ll get to that in a minute. Who marked Amaya?”

Matron, again, did not hesitate “Vulture Raze was her mate.” She expected some twinge of surprise in his face, but it did not change. Though it did cause Ash and Blood to glance for an expression also.

Record replied “Missing left ear, clean cut?”

The Matron just nodded.

His voice held no emotion “Father never changes.” He was silent for a moment, possibly trying to remember if his father ever spoke of her. “Wasn’t she a captured about six years back during a flight?”

The Matron wasn’t shocked by his memory, he was just like his father “Yes, Condor Aethelthryth found her. I believe it was her home before.”

Record needed no more info, he remembered what building and room she was found in. There was little in his life that he didn’t recall. He turned to Ash “Ready to head to the Feathering House”

Shield perked up again at those words, Sword did not dissuade him this time. But he was smart enough to know that she wouldn’t allow him any fun.

The Feathering House was one of the only places in all of the Street Vultures territory that most of the Cloud avoided. From a young age they are taught to be cruel and vicious, but such a place can be too much, even for some of the King Vultures.

They stepped into the guarded building just as a group of unfeathered ran by, a three year old girl ran into Sword, falling backwards. Sword unsheathed her homemade dagger and stabbed the child in the foot. She promptly pulled the blade out, wiped the blood off on the child’s shirt, and sheathed the dagger. The others ignored the horrid squealing from the child as they continued following the servant to the conference room. Shield delighted in the scream the whole way, only wishing he could have been the cause.

The Master of the unfeathered was staring out the window as the Condors came through the door. He was one of the oldest in the Cloud, long gray hair and a tattered old suit. Ash could see that his attention was fixed on two small boys fighting over a ball.

The old man felt her watching too and turned. Instead of catching her eye, he looked at Blood “Your son shows promise even at this age.” His crooked smile pleased to see the smirk on Blood’s face.

Blood spoke “Don’t act too shocked, he’ll be a Condor too.” With that Record stepped to the front and began asking about the missing child.

It took less that ten minutes for them to gather the info. It took another four hours to reach the Western edge of Street Vulture territory. They would start their hunt in the morning and it would not end until they had their prey.

Happy Halloween

Mary huddled in the corner shaking, barely able to control her fear. Her husband crawled over to the window to peek through the blinds. He could see them everywhere outside, going from house to house. He tried to keep his fear in check, but it was tough. He was shaking as he crawled back to his wife and put his arms around her.

A knock came at the front door making both of them jump. Adam put his hand over her mouth to keep her from screaming, she didn’t resist. The knocking got louder and louder, and soon there was scratching. He cursed himself for not smuggling a gun into town. He hugged his wife tighter ready to die with her.

He’d seen all the movies thinking that he’d be able to stand against them. He’d take down hundreds or thousands of them. Sadly, reality is a lot different. The banging was louder now. He knew they only had moments left to live.

A loud crash came from the foyer. Adam was thankful that he had his hand over her mouth because Mary’s “RRRMMMPH” would have been a full scream giving them away. They sat there and prayed as they heard the shuffling getting closer and closer. “This is it” though Adam. Hysteria was getting closer to snapping him in his final moments, but he held strong.

The pounding was now at their bedroom door and he could barely contain his own screams. He should have never taken this promotion. He thought all the screenings and tests were just jokes cooked up by management. Who would have thought some place like this really existed? Him and his wife joked about them until they moved here. It had only been two weeks, the worst two weeks of their lives.

The bedroom door splintered and this time his wife let out a scream that was ear piercing. They both now needed a change of pants, not that they thought that would matter shortly. The three figures lumbered into the bedroom, coming straight for the couple with out stretched arms. Almost in unison they said “braaaiiiinsss” and just stood there. Adam, finally getting up a little nerve for a last ditch attempt that teetered more on hysteria “it’s...it’s against our religion to celebrate Ha...halloweeen...” he said as he hugged his wife closer. The tallest of the three tilted his head and said “braaiins?” Adam exclaimed one more time “We...we don’t haa..have any...sor..sorry”, he was on the verge of tears.

The three zombie children, dressed as living children, lowered their bags disappointed. They shuffled out of the house and on to the next in hopes of getting their bags filled before the night was over.

Viral n - The End of Another Life

He awoke to a distant moaning, pain and the stench of bile. After a few minutes of trying to ignore it all and go back to the dream he decided to open his eyes. Sight gave way to sound as he found that it was he was moaning. He noticed the lantern off to his side. It had landed upright and was still burning. He tried to lift himself off the wet floor. A wave of pain dizzied him as he found he couldn’t move his arm. He plopped his head back down with a splash, that’s when he remembered the headache.

Moments later he was being prodded in the back with something really hard. It didn’t help the pain at all. The prodding apparently came with a voice “Will you stop moaning, I’m trying to sleep. And you’re being loud enough to wake the Street Vultures.” said the annoyed female voice.

“Sure...just knock me out again.” He responded, instantly regretting his poor choice of words. One thing to remember, get to know a person before you make snide remarks. She granted his request with a hard thump to the back of the head.

If there was a dream this time, he didn’t remember. There was no way he could remember a dream through that kind of pain. It felt like being yanked awake by a tiger mauling his shoulder. He could barely hear his scream over his battered and hungover headache. He began opening his eyes slowly, fearing that any light would cause his head to explode.

His eyes began to focus on the opened doorway to the bedroom. There was a small head poking around the corner, watching him. As soon as it noticed him staring it disappeared.

While he was trying to figure out if it was just his imagination the female from earlier spoke “What Cloud are you with? You’re too high up for the Street Vultures, not the Wired either….”

He paused before answering. Clouds, or factions, were all over the place. They claimed territory from the underground to tops of the highest buildings. Some, like the Street Vultures, were to be feared. Others, like the Wired, were just a nuisance that were too far gone to do matter. Then there were others, like the Night Shields, that helped protect smaller Clouds from the more dangerous ones.

He glanced toward the voice. The butchered jet black hair would have been all he needed to see to bolt for the door. But it was the missing ear that caught his eye long enough for him to speak.

Surprised, he asked “How’d you get out alive?” Then a realization hit him. “SHIT! Are they still chasing you?” He winced at the pain as he jerked forward ready to run.

“How do you know about that? Who the fuck are you?” Before he could act she was upon him, knife out, holding him roughly by the hair. Regardless, it didn’t take much strength to keep him in place.

He hesitated a moment, then answered “I’m with the IAP.” She eased up a little, but kept her knife drawn, demanding “Show me your signal”.

The Independent Antique Providers weren’t large enough to be a Cloud. They were a small group of individuals that worked for all the other Clouds, collecting odd items that were hard to find. The items that were sought weren’t allowed to be taken from other factions. That trust kept them from the dangers of any group. There were known IAP officers that broke the rules, but everyone finds out. That would usually end badly.

He pulled out the small metal chip chiseled with his with his code and colors. The signal was etched, grayish and purple, it read ‘io9’.

“Independent Officer 9, I’ve heard that number before. You’ve done work with the Street Vultures, right?” She clenched the knife a bit harder.

“I’ve worked for many Clouds. But it’s kind of a moot point, isn’t it? You know I couldn’t take the job collecting you, I’d be going against the Shields.” She started to pull the knife away. “Besides, you know how much they enjoy hunting, even if it does involve flying.” He saw the fear overwhelm that ‘I’m in charge’ look in her eye as his words threw the truth, she refused to face, right at her.

She got up, putting the blade away, knowing her problems didn’t lie with him. “Since you can’t tell them where we are I’d like you to get the hell out now.” The shock of her own words rang through her head and she looked away.

He didn’t miss it “Who is we? Shit! You mean that’s why they marked you?” He shook his head “Fuck Science! I thought I was just imagining the kid...” He was going to leave her to figure out her own problems, but kids were the easiest way to corner his conscience. Sure, none of the other Clouds liked the Street Vultures, but if an IAP crossed anyone then what was to stop them from crossing everyone? He was going to become a Zombid. His only chance was the Night Shields.

“Thanks for ruining my life, you got a name?” He was pissed but he knew there wasn’t a way for him to walk away now. He couldn’t leave a child to those creatures.

She looked at him as if trying to apologize. She realized what he was talking about and was truly sorry he was getting involved. “My name’s Amaya, and you?”

He offered his hand “I’m Reavyn, thanks for the help.” He winced as he rolled his shoulder. Not knowing if it was too soon to ask “Is it yours?”

Her smile was gentle and thankful “Hina, come here.” As if the child had been waiting just outside the doorway, she blasted into the room jumping into Amaya’s lap.

She couldn’t have been more than four years old. Her hair was brown and curled everywhere. She looked too happy to be in a world like this. Staring at him, she backed farther into her the woman’s arms. The small whimper that came broke Reavyn’s heart. It was the sound of a child that knew to be scared of certain things.

He looked from the child to Amaya “She hasn’t....”

The woman shook her head fast. Thinking it a game, the child shook her head and looked to Amaya for approval. She patted the child on the head and nodded. Amaya looked up at him, “No, she hasn’t been feathered. And, yes, she is my daughter.” With a look of ‘Please don’t ask it’, she turned away. He seemed to take the hint.

Looking from mother to daughter, he offered the little girl his hand “Hello, I’m Reavyn. What’s your name?”

The little girl looked up as if asking for approval from her mother. Amaya smiled causing the girl to turn and take two of his fingers in her hand, shaking them “I’m Hina, nice to meet you mister.”

Time for Zombie Killing!

“Reporting live from downtown Savannah, our own Sarah Treble has the newest update on the Zombie scene, Sarah?”

The TV cut to the young lady holding a microphone. “Thank you Fred. As you can see here are a few zombies. Many of the local residents have shown up to make sure this menace is taken care of fast.”

The camera panned to the gun happy crowd, firing shots everywhere, zombies just moving slowly in circles. Bullets ripped through the zombies hitting the living. They’d drop to the ground, dying and the zombies fell on them eating. All of the sudden blood splattered the camera and we heard the camera man “SHIT! Sarah! Sarah, are you okay?” as the camera fell to the ground pointing at the small hoard of zombie shambling towards the downed reporter.

I looked over to the others watching “Why am I not surprised.” They shrugged almost in unison as I got up to turn on the 360 “Who wants to play some Left 4 Dead 2?”

Sure, between a Gamestop and a Target in the mall, we had plenty of games to choose from, but why not play a zombie game during the zombie apocalypse? Yes, we are pretty screwed up in the head.

Two of us joined a group in the lobby and began killing the undead when one of the people of there headphones had said he’d be right back.

We heard a loud gunshot in the background just before he rejoined the game “Sorry guys, neighbor shot her husband while trying to kill a zombie. He wandered into my yard.”

Steven and I looked at each other and shrugged. I chimed in “So, what do you think the death toll from shooting is up to?”

One of the others replied through his mic “Why can’t those fucking idiots see the zombies are just scavengers?”

Steven looked at me “I say let them kill each other, gives us more zombies to shoot at and less people shooting at us.” I toasted my bottle of wine to him with a “hear hear!” as we left the safe room and started shooting pixelated zombies.