02-25-15 Writing Warm-up
Artwork © Lauren Souch, All Rights Reserved - http://www.blogto.com/city/2011/08/photos_of_the_2nd_annual_zombie_car_wash/
Story and Characters © Corey Blankenship, All Rights Reserved
Story and Characters © Corey Blankenship, All Rights Reserved
Brought to you by Four Fools Press: “Crazy Good Stories”
A lesson learned by a sad few.
The darkness surrounded me, filled the garage, and swallowed the truck whole. Now any flicker of light or stray sound would be a dinner bell. I tucked my sleeping bag around me, waited, and listened. Sleep would steal me at some point, but I feared the quiet shuffle of the damned. You never knew if they would find you in the night. You certainly knew when they did.
Tonight was no different.
I heard the first scrape along the hood. A slow, mind-piercing screech. Then the side of truck dimpled with what felt like a thundering boomp. I jolted. A face slid against my window, empty nose socket trailing gore as I heard a faint wheeze. The rabid sucked air into its nasal cavity, past long-dead scent receptors. At least I hoped they were dead. As if reading my thoughts, the creature stopped and huffed at the crack in my door. It raised a stump, fresh pieces of flesh dangling from its wrist. It pawed slowly at the window sill.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
A short growl came from the other side of my cabin. I looked to the right and noticed a sparsely grassy half-dome pressed against the passenger window. It rubbed its few hairs up and down the pane, slightly vibrating the filmy glass. The short rabid looked like a cat marking its territory. I regretted eating in the car. I regretted more not going to the bathroom before dark. I eyed a large Value Cup the previous occupant had left, thinking back to college days and road trips. Desperate times called for desperate measures.
It was going to a long night.
Then Mr. Paw grunted harshly at Little Boy. Little Boy barked back. The two clawed their way around the car and started tearing into each other. High-pitched shrieks and teeth-aching growls pierced the night. A hard smack! echoed in the empty air as something smacked into the bumper. A gurgly riiiip followed by soft splatters told me that one of the two had won. I could only hope he remained content with his meal and that was the only encroachment. I tried to drown the slurping noises that drifted from the back out of my mind. It was better to endure the small ruckus than try to flee into unknown danger.
A lesson learned by a sad few.
***
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