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  Troy looked at Nick. “Are you all right, man? You look like you’re gonna hurl.”

  Nick was about to say he was fine, but instead ran to the nearest trashcan and threw up everything he’d just eaten.

  When he was done Nick looked up to see Grace standing beside him.

  “You okay?” she asked gently, rubbing his back.

  Nick nodded and moaned. “I think I’ll live. I don’t know what’s gotten into me. I don’t ever get sick.”

  But something was nagging at the back of his mind – the zombie, the bite. He’d seen plenty of movies about the undead and he knew how it all worked, but he thought you had to die before you turned into a zombie. He wasn’t even close to dying as far as he knew.

  He started to feel sick again and stuck his head back over the trashcan just in time. It was too dark where they were for him to realize he was now puking blood.

  “I’ll go get you something to drink,” Grace said, and rushed off.

  Nick nodded and turned, letting his back slide against the metal barrel that served as waste disposal. He sat on the ground, leaning against it with his eyes closed, waiting for Grace to come back with a drink.

  “I got you Sprite,” Grace said, kneeling down beside him.

  He weakly lifted his hand and took the cup. “Thanks.”

  “Do you want to go back to the car?” Grace asked. “I’ll go with you. I don’t think you should be alone right now, as sick as you are.”

  Nick nodded.

  “Okay, I’ll go and tell Troy and Alex. I saw them standing in line for another ride.”

  Nick watched Grace’s butt as she scampered off, thinking it would be nice to be alone with her. He just wished that he didn’t feel so bad. Pushing himself up from the ground, he wiped his mouth on the wet napkin that had been wrapped around his drink and threw it in the trash. Stumbling along, he started toward the car.

  Grace caught up with him when he was halfway there. “Why didn’t you wait for me? I would have helped you.”

  She ducked under one of his arms and wrapped her arm around his waist.

  He turned his head and smelled her hair. This was definitely a good idea, he thought.

  Before long they were at the car. Grace helped Nick into the back seat and went around the car and got in beside him.

  He laid his head on her shoulder and moaned.

  “Is that better?” she asked as she stroked his hair.

  “Yes,” he sighed.

  He was almost asleep when his stomach began to gurgle again. Hurriedly he sat up, opened the door, and threw up more blood. The dome light gave off enough of a glow for him to see that his vomit was red, but he was too weak, and his brain was too tired, to process what was happening to him.

  Closing the door, he lay down, using Grace’s leg as a pillow. Soon he fell asleep. Not long after, so did she.

  ***

  In her sleep, Grace didn’t notice when Nick stopped breathing and died. She didn’t notice when he opened his eyes again, or that they were now vacant and cloudy. But, she did notice when he started grabbing at her.

  “Hey, what are you doing?” Grace mumbled as Nick’s rough handling woke her up.

  “Maaaaaa!” Nick moaned as he took ahold of her shoulders, violently pinning her to the seat.

  “Get off me, Nick,” Grace yelled, beating on his chest. “You’re hurting me.”

  He didn’t respond to her, just held her down and lowered his head toward hers. She thought he was trying to kiss her.

  “No, damn it,” Grace said. “You’re such a creep.”

  She brought her knee up and slammed it into his crotch, but it had no effect on him. Panicking, she threw open the car door and screamed; it was cut short as Nick clamped his teeth on her throat and tore out her windpipe.

  Blood sprayed everywhere as he tossed his head back and forth, tearing off a chunk of flesh to enjoy. After chewing and swallowing, he bit off another, and another, devouring her until her blood went cold.

  No longer satisfied with his kill, Nick staggered out of the open car door and followed his nose. He smelled blood – sweet, hot, living blood. People were close-by, and a lot of them.

  His body was slow, not wanting to work like it used to. Inwardly he was frustrated at how long it was taking him to get to the food that he sensed was near.

  Finally, he arrived at the ticket stand. The man behind the counter was alone, reading a book. He set it down without looking up.

  “How many?”

  “Maaaa . . .” Nick responded, before reaching out and grabbing the man by the neck, dragging him across the counter.

  The man screamed and pawed at Nick’s face.

  Nick grabbed the man’s wrist and bit off his fingers, one by one. Blood shot out with each crunch of bone and rip of flesh.

  The man flailed and screamed, pleading for mercy, calling for help. No one heard him. The noise of the people and the carnival attractions covered the man’s torture.

  After sucking all the blood he could out of the man’s hand, Nick went for the main course. He threw the man to the ground and knelt over him. He tore open his stomach and devoured whatever he could reach, thrusting his face into the man’s chest cavity, eating like a wild animal that had been starving for weeks. The man convulsed as his body died, his eyes stared off into the distance where people played and laughed while he was consumed.

  When Nick was finished, he got up and moved further into the carnival.

  People screamed as they noticed him. His clothes were soaked with blood; it still dripped from his teeth and chin, and a small piece of intestine still clung to his bottom lip.

  Nick growled and clawed at people as he went through. In places where they were bunched into crowds, he went through biting as many people as he could. It was like a snack buffet to him. A young girl here, an old man there, a teen – there were just so many to choose from and enjoy. He had a bite of them all.

  ***

  Troy and Alex had just gotten off another ride – The Tunnel of Terror – and were trying to decide what to go on next, when Troy noticed the screaming.

  “What the heck is going on?” Troy asked, standing on his tip toes, trying to see why people were freaking out.

  “Maybe they have someone dressed up as something scary,” Alex said. “Let’s go see.”

  She grabbed Troy’s hand and dragged him into the fleeing, screaming crowd of people – stopping dead in her tracks when she spotted Nick biting everyone.

  “Oh,” she breathed, “he was telling the truth.”

  “Holy shit!” Troy exclaimed, staring in amazement as one of his best friends tackled an old woman to the ground, biting and ripping at her flesh. Blood shot out onto the people that were still trying to get away. Behind Nick was a swathing path of bodies, lying, bleeding . . . dying.

  They stood there mesmerized, watching the zombie feed on its kill. But after the bodies left in Nick’s wake began to get up and look for food of their own, they finally got moving.

  “Quick,” Troy said, tugging on Alex’s hand. “We have to get out of here or they’ll get us, too! Damn, there are at least twenty of them.”

  As Troy turned, he ran straight into the ticket man’s soggy, wide-open chest. Blood squished between them and entrails fell on Troy’s shoe.

  The man stared down at Troy and lifted his arm to grab him, but Troy was too fast.

  Darting around the zombie ticket seller, Troy and Alex escaped. He didn’t follow them, because people were still running in his direction, from Nick and the other zombies that were amassing behind him. He grabbed a screaming teen girl and soon ended her horror in a bath of blood. Grinning, he lapped up the red liquid like a thirsty dog.

  Troy and Alex left the carnival for the field surrounding it, figuring they would be safer there. They circled around to the parking lot, which was just another part of the field where the festivities had been set up.

  Alex barreled around the car to the passenger’s side, slammed the r
ear door that had been left open, and got into the front beside Troy.

  He started the engine and stomped on the gas pedal so hard that they slammed into the cars parked across the dirt road behind them.

  “Careful,” she cried out. “We don’t want to get stuck here.”

  “I know, I know,” he growled, pulling forward and then backing up again, cranking the wheel at a sharper angle. Shifting into drive, they were off, flying down the dirt road at a reckless speed.

  A clicking sound rose from the back seat. Troy and Alex looked at each other with fear in their eyes.

  Cautiously, Alex peeked into the back seat before ducking down again with a squeal.

  “What is it?” Troy asked anxiously. “What’s back there?”

  Alex swallowed hard. “Grace. But, well, she’s not Grace anymore.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “She’s one of them,” Alex said with tears in her eyes.

  “Shit,” Troy said, swerving to a stop alongside the road. “We’ve got to get her out of here.”

  Getting out, he walked around to the passenger side of the car, yanked open the back door, and instantly turned to the side to vomit. The back seat of his car was covered in blood and guts, and Grace (if you could even still call her Grace) was nothing more than a mangled mess of limbs.

  Her arms hung by strained tendons. Her legs had been completely ripped off, and her head hung at an odd angle, held on by nothing more than an inch thick piece of skin. She looked as if she’d been hacked and stretched by a berserk psychopath.

  But, what really freaked Troy out, was her face. It was eaten away to the point of not even being a face any longer. Stringy bits of red muscle hung down, making her look like a shaggy faced, red dog.

  She was opening and closing her mouth rapidly, which was the source of the clicking noise.

  “What should I do with her?” Troy asked, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand, gagging again as he looked into the car.

  “I don’t know,” Alex said, peeking over the seat again. “I guess just drag her out and leave her. I mean, it’s not like she’s Grace anymore.”

  He nodded and tentatively took ahold of one severed leg, tossing it into the ditch that ran alongside the dirt road with a shudder of revulsion. He quickly did the same with the other. When he went to pull her out by her arm it tore the rest of the way off and sent him sprawling to the ground. The limb landed on his chest, the hand convulsing and gripping his shirt.

  Troy screamed, grabbed the arm, and threw it over his head into the ditch with the legs. Lying back, he closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

  “You okay?” Alex asked with concern.

  Troy lifted his head. “Yeah, I think.”

  Standing, Troy took ahold of Grace’s other arm, twisting it and pulling steadily, cringing at the squishing, tearing, snapping noise it made. It broke loose with a loud pop, jarring Troy, but he didn’t fall.

  “That’s gross,” Alex said, and gagged.

  Troy gave her a “No shit!” look and tossed the arm over his shoulder; it landed in the ditch with the other limbs.

  He stood there, looking down at the creature that used to be one of his best friends, blown away by what she’d become.

  “Why did we do this?” he whispered. “Why did we have to bring someone back from the dead? Two of our friends are now freaks! It’s so wrong.”

  Tears slid down Alex’s cheeks. She felt responsible for all the bad things that were happening. Nothing anyone did could stop it now.

  “I’m sorry,” Alex whimpered.

  Troy shrugged, not looking at his girlfriend. Without showing any more emotion or revulsion, he gripped what used to be Grace’s waist and dragged her out of the car. Her head thumped off the seat, onto the floor, and then out onto the ground.

  The zombie kept snapping her teeth together, hoping to get a bite of one of them.

  Troy ignored the sound and left her body with her limbs. But as he turned to walk back to the car, he got a little too close to her mouth. She barely pinched his skin with her teeth, and made him jump away. He ran to the car, not thinking that he’d really been bitten. He didn’t look at his ankle, and he didn’t see the single drop of blood that leaked out of his broken skin.

  ***

  Troy took Alex to a cabin in the woods that his parents owned and only used for vacation.

  “We should be safe here for a little while,” he said, getting the key from a key box that looked like a rock. “I know there’s a good bit of water and food stored in the pantry. My parents always keep it fully stocked.”

  “Sounds good,” Alex said quietly. She knew Troy was upset and she still blamed herself. If she hadn’t pushed everyone to try and raise the dead, none of this would have happened.

  “I’m going to go take a shower,” Troy said. “The bedroom is that way, if you want to go lay down. I’ll be there in a few minutes.”

  Alex nodded and went through the doorway he’d indicated and just stood looking at the bed. She was frightened and wanted to crawl into a deep hole and die for what she’d done. Shrugging, she decided that the bed and sleep were the closest she would get.

  She took off her shoes and pants, leaving her shirt, bra, underwear, and socks on. After climbing into the queen size bed, she pulled the quilt up to her neck and closed her eyes, but she didn’t fall asleep. As thoughts of Grace and Nick clouded her mind, tears slid out of her closed eyes and onto the smooth, cotton pillowcase.

  Eventually, she fell asleep. She didn’t hear Troy enter the room, or feel him crawl across the bed. She didn’t feel him slide the blanket down her body.

  Alex awoke with a start as cold hands gripped her thighs and teeth penetrated her flesh. She screamed and tried to pull away, but it was no use.

  Troy’s cold hands were too strong, his hunger too great, and her will to live too weak.

  He feasted on her flesh, and after she died and turned, they went out into the world together, looking for food, because what was stored in the pantry wouldn’t satisfy their hunger.

  About the story from Rebecca Besser:

  “ADMIT ONE, UNDEAD first appeared in the Zombies Gone Wild! anthology in 2012, from Collaboration of the Dead Press. The idea behind the anthology was wild and extreme stories about zombies. This led me to think about where a zombie could get loose and wreck a lot of havoc in a short amount of time, hence the carnival. Carnivals are loud, usually have tight aisle spaces for people to walk through that get crowded, and people are usually screaming for one reason or another (rides, thrills, etc.). To me, that sounded like a perfect place for a zombie to go a little wild, since it probably wouldn’t get noticed right away.

  I also thought that a group of partying teens who were into some occult shenanigans where the perfect crew of characters to bring things together. It’s at that young, naïve age that most tend to flirt with the dangers of life in a light and playful manner, not thinking about the real life applications and consequences.

  I hope you agreed and enjoyed the story!”

  THE WORLD OF ZOMBIES

  By Rebecca Besser

  “Oh, I know!” Paul exclaimed, sitting forward on the couch. “We can have Chad’s party at that cemetery . . .” He paused to snap his fingers while he thought. “You know – the one from that zombie movie!”

  Bret raised an eyebrow and looked at Chad’s younger brother in a quizzical manner.

  “What cemetery?” he asked.

  “The cemetery with that chapel in it, right?” April asked as she walked back into the room with drinks for her guests.

  “Yeah,” Paul said excitedly, “the one from that black and white movie!”

  “He would love that,” April said, handing her brother-in-law and her husband’s best friend each a beer.

  She’d decided that since Chad’s thirtieth birthday was coming soon, she’d get together with them to plan a surprise party; the cemetery idea was the best they’d come up with yet, since Chad loved anythin
g zombie related.

  “I’m still not sure what you guys are talking about,” Bret said. “If you could at least name the place, it might help.”

  “Evans something, isn’t it?” April asked, pulling out her cell phone to do an internet search.

  “I think so,” Paul said, taking a swing of beer; he looked at Bret and frowned. “I can’t believe you don’t know what we’re talking about. Haven’t you ever seen Night of the Living Dead?”

  Bret’s face lit up as he realized where they were talking about.

  “Oh, that cemetery,” he said. “Chad would love that.”

  Paul grinned. “Yeah, I know!”

  “Found it,” April said, sitting down on the couch next to Paul. “Evans City Cemetery, located in Evans, Pennsylvania! We could be there in less than an hour!”

  “Wow!” Paul exclaimed, leaning over to look at her phone. “I didn’t realize it was that close.”

  “Me neither,” she said, holding the phone at a slight angle so he could see it better.

  “Can we do it, though?” Bret asked. “Is it private property or anything?”

  April frowned. “I didn’t think of that – I have no idea.”

  “I guess we’ll have to find out,” Paul said with a shrug, taking another drink of his beer. “I don’t see why they would care if we were there during the day and didn’t hurt anything – it’s a cemetery after all.”

  “Good point,” Bret said. “If we do it . . . how are we going to get him there without telling him where we’re going?”

  “Leave that to me,” April said, winked, and giggled.

  “Okay,” Bret said and grinned, drinking his beer.

  April played with her phone for a couple moments.

  “I’ll look into everything and let you know if it’s doable,” she said. “While I’m doing that, why don’t you two handle the food and drink.”

  Paul grinned. “I’ll handle the drinks.”

  “I guess that leaves me the food,” Bret said, drinking the rest of his beer, sitting the empty bottle on the coffee table, and standing. “I better get going before Chad comes home and wonders what we’re all doing here together.”