Lord of the Flies: A Zombie Story Read online

“Clemens spits, winds up . . . it’s a fastball!” Jeremiah threw a mock pitch toward Ezra.

  Ezra closed his eyes and reared back with the bat, then swung it across slamming into the zombie’s head just above its left ear.

  The bat smashed into its head with such an impact the top of the skull dislodged completely and now hung down on the right side of the head, attached only by the scalp.

  The brain was exposed and squished like gray Play-Doh to the right side. The zombie’s body shook violently, but the gruesome creature was undeterred from its insatiable hunger for living flesh.

  “Strike one,” Jeremiah called.

  Ezra shot Jeremiah an expression of disapproval, and brought the bat down with both hands on top of the zombie’s open skull. The putrid gray mass exploded in small bits mixed with blood and vile body fluids. It showered an area ten feet wide.

  Ezra smiled as the zombie’s knees gave up its animation and fell limp. The body stayed upright by the bite of the barbed wire. He turned and gave Jeremiah a smirk of victory.

  “You got zombie goo all over you,” Jeremiah said.

  Ezra looked down at the splatter that had painted his chest and arms. He couldn’t see his face peppered with the gore, but the smell worked its way into his nostrils. He heaved twice, and finally give back his breakfast.

  * * *

  Jeremiah sensed an unusual tension during lunch, though the other children seemed to be oblivious to it. Zeke was up to something, he just didn’t know what. Rebecca had been quiet during the meal, rarely looking up from her plate.

  Lunch was over. Rebecca cleared the dishes from the table and was busy washing them. Zeke had all the other children outside on the porch, assigning them chores for the afternoon.

  Zeke stood before the crowd of his siblings and waved his finger in the air. “Paw said that it’s time to get the seed potatoes in the ground. I want all of you but, Jeremiah, to get out there in the field and work together. Ezra, you and, Solomon, start busting up the ground.

  “Beth, and, Sarah, remember when you wash the seed potatoes to scrape off the extra eyes. Just make sure you leave three of them. You girls, you too, Esther, start planting as fast as the boys get the dirt ready.”

  The children stood looking down at the peeling paint on the porch floor or staring off in the distance. The weight of lunch made them all a little sleepy.

  “What are you waiting fer? Get!” Zeke said, pointing toward the field.

  “What about me,” Jeremiah asked, again sensing Zeke was up to something.

  “Well, before you get on to the field I want you to walk the fence again.”

  “We just did that. Why not wait till this afternoon?”

  “Two reasons. One, that stranger may have had someone following him. I don’t want anyone to surprise us. Two, you said you and Ezra left that deadwalker tangled in the fence. I want you to get it off before the dead weight hanging on it pulls that section of fence down. Three—”

  “You said two reasons.”

  Zeke frowned. His face flushed red. “Three, Paw said to do it.”

  Their stares met. Zeke waited for Jeremiah to make one move toward him. He was going to make sure Jeremiah would never challenge him again.

  Jeremiah’s vision clouded with anger. His breathing became more intense. He ground his back teeth together. His knuckles turned white as he clenched his fist.

  Zeke taunted, “Well?”

  Jeremiah let all the bad air he was holding out, turned around, and stood with shoulders slumped looking at the floor.

  “That’s better. Now get,” Zeke said, as he turned and opened the front door into the house.

  Jeremiah heard the door close, but before he took a step to leave, he heard the lock on the door click. Whatever Zeke was up to, he knew that it was no good.

  Jeremiah stepped lightly on the porch back to the door. He tried the knob and confirmed that it was indeed locked.

  As he ran to the side of the house by his room, he tried to open the window. It wouldn’t budge, and then he remembered Paw told Zeke to nail the windows shut now that the dead walked.

  He ran to the other side of the house and looked through a window. Zeke and Rebecca were in the pantry. Zeke had her pinned against the wall, puckering his lips as she struggled in his grasp.

  Jeremiah’s insides shook with fear. He thought he was going to poo in his pants. He didn’t want Zeke to hurt his sister.

  Jeremiah ran as fast as he could to the back door of the house. He grabbed the knob and twisted, but that door was locked too. His heart sank to his knees.

  “Zeke, stop it! Get off me!” Rebecca pushed against him with all her might, to no avail. She turned her head away. His hot stinking breath assaulted her.

  “Paw said we’s to be married. You better do as Paw says.”

  Tears rolled down Rebecca’s face.

  “Paw said if you gave me any trouble to bring you down to the cellar. How would you like that? How would you like me to lock you up with Paw for a spell?”

  A noise came from the cellar, up the stairs, and into the pantry. It was a voice, faint, but it made the hairs stand up on the back of Zeke’s head.

  Zeke froze and loosened his grip on Rebecca. She jerked away, not knowing why he had let her go.

  “Zeke . . . .” the voice was clear now. Stronger.

  Rebecca spoke first. “Paw?”

  “You heard it too?”

  Rebecca nodded her head.

  “Zeke, come here boy,” the voice said.

  “You better go down there and see him.”

  Zeke looked puzzled. “Paw talks to me. He talks to me in my head. He ain’t never talked to me this way before.”

  “You better go down and see him,” Rebecca repeated.

  “Zeke. Come down here boy, now,” the voice said.

  Zeke grabbed Rebecca by her wrist and pulled her reluctantly along with him down the stairs, and to the cellar door.

  The black flies buzzed around Rebecca’s head. She waved her hand in the air to brush them away. Zeke didn’t seem to mind them.

  The voice continued from behind the door. “Zeke. What are you doing to Rebecca? I heard her scream.”

  “She won’t listen to you, Paw. She don’t want to marry me. I told her what you said. She still won’t do it. You want me to send her in there with you?”

  “Come on in here by yourself, boy. Come get your Maw’s wedding ring from around my neck. Give it to Rebecca, and she will do anything you ask,” the voice said.

  “I’m coming, Paw.” Zeke let go of Rebecca and unlocked the door. He opened it and turned on the light.

  The emaciated figure of his Paw stood in the middle of the room. Flies covered more than half his body. The leather necklace around his neck still had the wedding ring his wife wore for the twenty five years they were married.

  “Come get the ring. It’s what your Maw would have wanted.”

  Rebecca froze in horror at the shock of seeing her wasted Paw as a member of the living dead. Bones lined the floor and human skulls crawling with maggots looked up as if crying for mercy. She gagged at the sight and smell of the waste and decay concentrated in the cellar.

  Zeke took three steps toward his Paw before he heard the door slam closed behind him. Rebecca quickly put the latch on the door and snapped the lock shut, sealing Zeke in.

  Jeremiah watched through the window at the top of the cellar, relieved that his deception had worked, and his sister was safe.

  This time, he didn’t disguise his voice. “All hail, King Zeke.”

  Zeke turned his head and saw Jeremiah waving at him from the opened ventilation window above. His eyes went wide in surprise.

  An evil grin crossed Jeremiah’s face as he watched his Paw tear hungrily into his panic stricken brother.

  He wouldn’t have to worry about Zeke ever again.

  But he did have a decision to make.

  Would this be the last time his Paw spoke? Or would he now continue to bring P
aw’s orders to the family in Zeke’s stead?

  His newfound power brought with it carnal lusts that he had never felt before.

  The End

  From Severed PRESS

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