Blogging The Zombie Uprising

[Zombie Gunn]

This is something I've been working on, and though I'd share what I have so far. Basically, the story is going to center around a man that runs a tongue-in-cheek zombie awareness website. Somebody that takes actual news events and explains them as if a zombie uprising is happening, in which the media/government are trying to cover up. He doesn't believe any of it, but he likes the idea of the site. Periodically, people will send him emails for "news updates" to include on the site from around the world. They're all people that are in on the joke, writing things like "I think my neighbor is a zombie," or "I've just finished welding the front of a bulldozer onto my SUV and I'm wondering how it will effect my gas milage" or "Do you think Obama is a zombie?"

Well, one day he gets an email from somebody that he thinks may have had an actual encounter with a zombie. From there, things get strange as more reports begin coming in that may or may not be somebody fucking with him. And as the undead become more widespread, his site becomes a haven for any and all news concerning actual zombie outbreaks and strategies for overcoming them.

The following will be a prologue to the tale, setting the scene as it were. Any and all feedback is welcome. Not only that, but if you want to create a possible character for the story let me know and I will try to add them in. I'd love to make writing this as fun as possible in hopes that I actually finish the thing.

(NOTE: If I ever publish a book and include a character or idea you have, I'll send you $20.)

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Prologue

Helen Green walked down the hallway to her Chicago apartment just like any other day. Fall was beginning to fade into winter and the warmth of the heated apartment corridor actually made her more tired. She dug through her purse, for her cellphone but realized the battery had been drained. No matter, she was almost home now anyway. She unlocked her door and Maria practically fell out at her.

"Jesus Christ, you scared the hell out of me."

"I am terribly sorry, Miss. Green," the babysitter stammered. "I have to go. Your daughter, she has gone mad."

"Again?" Helen sat her purse on the endtable and began to hear loud noises from the back of the apartment.

"This is not like before, Miss. Green. She... she bit me."

Helen turned around, shocked. Maria held out her hand, which was wrapped up in a red-stained hankerchief.

"Oh my God!" Helen's mouth dropped. "Do you need me to take you to a doctor?"

Maria shook her head. "But I need to go, now. I'm not feeling so good and Tiffany scares me. Please, be careful." With that warning, she picked up her two tote bags and scurried out the door, closing it behind her.

"Just what the fuck I need today."

She ran her hands through her hair and went to flip on the light switch, before noticing that the lamp had toppled over and the bulb was broken. She bent down to pick up the pieces of it, scooping the shards of glass into her palms and taking care not to cut herself. She dumped them into the kitchen garbage can and grabbed a fresh bulb from the drawer. She screwed it into the lamp and voila.

That's when she realized that Tiffany had grown quiet. The poor thing probably fell asleep from the fit she had worked herself into. Helen went out into the hall to check on her. She reached for the doorknob, then stopped. She shook her hand and turned around, going back into the kitchen to make herself some dinner.

"Nothing like TV Dinner Lasagna." She announced to the empty room, taking the tray out of the microwave.

Life was difficult these days. After ten years of marriage followed by three years as a widow, it was expected to be difficult. She flipped through the television channels as she ate, being careful to keep the volume low to not wake up Tiffany. Tiff had been especially difficult, and she gathered that it was because life had been especially difficult to Tiff. Still, something would have to be done so that her daughter didn't wind up ruining her life. It didn't have to happen tonight, though.

She sighed, going through the channels. The sitcoms had grown stale. The news was always bad. The cartoons just weren't funny and the dramas were overly dramatic. She checked the movie listings to see if there was anything interesting on. Top of the listing was a low-budget zombie movie from about five years ago. She made a nasty face, then selected it to play anyway.

She would have continued the night just as she had every night, if not for the fact that tonight was not like any other night. As she continued to shovel lasagna into her gut and watch a living corpse eat the the flesh of another human being, she began to lose herself. All of her troubles and worries faded away. And as she went on feasting and watching, her daughter began to stir. Tiffany was not asleep, but merely still. She had lost the scent of human flesh and was now simply waiting. If the rest of the world had died that moment, she might continue to wait there until her body began to decompose over the years, content neither to go searching for food or even try to find an escape.

There was no escape for her. There was no reason for food. She would eat, simply because her instincts told her to. And when her ears picked up on the sound of the television, faint but audible... it was her instincts that told her that her prey had arrived.

Helen nearly dropped her fork with the sound of the massive array of pounding coming from Tiffany's room. She took a deep breath and slammed her tray down on the coffee table, rising up to discipline the child that had grown far too old for these tantrums.

Helen swung open the door to Tiffany's room, already in the middle of a lecture. "What the fuck is your prob-" She stopped, not seeing her. The pounding came again, louder and from inside the closet. Helen looked on, confused. "What the hell are you doing in the closet? Did Maria put you in there?"

She swung open the door and Tiffany lunged at her. Helen stumbled backward, tripping over the foot of the bed and landing on the floor. Tiffany was on her, biting, clawing, scratching. Her teeth had a thin layer of red on the tips and her eyes looked vacant. Her hair was a mess, a thick patch of it actually missing from one side of her head.

"Tiffany, get off of me!" Helen yelled out, but to no avail.

Her daughter swung violently, using her nails and fingers to grab hold of her mother in any way she could. Her thumb actually dug into Helen's nose, and all the while her teeth opened and closed on the air, striving with each bite to come closer and closer. She nearly bit one of her mom's hands as Helen struggled to push her off. Helen slapped her on the cheek but it had no effect. It was then that she realized just how cold her daughters skin was. She grabbed Tiff by the arms and flung her off with all of her might. Tiffany landed on her back and Helen scurried up. The girl didn't stop, crawling back at her mom. She kicked the girl in the face, immediately apologizing as Tiffany went sprawling on her back.

"Oh my God, I'm so sorry, Tiffany." Tiffany didn't seem to care and began crawling at her again. "Tiffany, please stop! Please!" She didn't stop. She lunged at her, finally biting into her leg, straight through her stockings. Helen screamed, then wrapped her hands around Tiffany's throat. She squeezed and pushed her backwards and to her feet. Even as the girl's throat was being strangled by her mother she still raged forwards, still tried to bite! Helen began to cry, then threw her daughter back into the closet and slammed the door shut.

She hadn't even locked the door, but it didn't matter. Tiffany threw herself at the door, pounding and scratching but didn't even attempt to turn the doorknob. Helen locked it anyway and sat on the bed crying. From the other room, she could faintly hear the sound of the television mimicing the same sounds she heard from her daughter. The moans and screams of the undead.

[Red]

This is good. I'm sorta into Zombie/Vampire books at the moment, so this was a good read.

This scene reminds me of the "book of the Dead". Its a collection of short Zombie stoies, usually only 20-40 pages long each. Well worth a look if this is what you're writing. And some interesting takes on what the Zombies actually are/feed/move and all that is really interesting.

But this was pretty good. I wanna read more 

[Smash INC]

If you're going on a "conspiracy" basis, then give your blog an unassuming name like "Taste The Rainbow - Cooking Recipes of All Colours"

[Zombie Gunn]

Part 1

Stream 1

Beep... Beep... Beep... Beep...

The monotonous sound of the scanner as he slid each item across the red beam.  It bothered me at first, but soon I began to treasure that beep.  It meant that the item scanned right and I didn't have to mess around with trying to get the fucker to scan.  Sometimes it just didn't work.  That's when I had to call a manager for an override.  It's when I had to stand there like an idiot with my thumb up my ass while everyone else looked at me like I was standing there with my thumb up my ass.

Beep... Beep... Beep...

I looked at the total and read it aloud to the customer, just in case he can't identify numbers or he's blind.  The customer came in different sizes, colors and flavors.  Sometimes the customer was fat.  Sometimes they were skinny.  Sometimes black, sometimes white.  Sometimes sweet, sometimes bitter.  Either way, it was still the customer.  From the urine soaked man buying a pack of condoms and a giant jar of jalapenos to the hot college chick who's probably banging somebody more attractive than me to the mid-40s bitch who will be damned if she has to pay an extra twenty cents for that tub of margarine when she clearly saw that it was $2.79.

The current customer was a tall black man with stubble.  He reached into his pocket and pulled out a neat stack of small bills.  He handed $45 to me and I gave him his change.  With that, he left and it was on to the next customer.  Actually, it wasn't.  John tapped me on the shoulder and told me I could go home.  I wasn't going to protest.  My shift ended an hour ago.  I grabbed my bottle of coke and newspaper before making my exit to the back.  I punched out, then went out the back door to my car.

Damn rain was pouring down harder than I've seen in a while.  By the time I reached my Bronco my newspaper was soaked.  To add insult to injury, as I climbed in a fat drop of rain rolled off the top of the car and landed on the back of my neck.

"Eugh."  I announced to the empty car and shut the door.  I tossed my ruined newspaper onto the seat and had the last swig of my coke before driving off.

I pulled up to the coffee shop and parked.  My laptop was in the back, so I had to open the rear hatch to get it.  Luckily, the rain had gone into a lull so I didn't have to worry about getting my computer wet.

I went inside and threw out the paper.  I picked up a new paper and went up to the counter.

"How can I help you?"  A pleasant young face asked me.  She was good at the whole customer service thing.

"Small black coffee, please."

She obliged and rang me up for the newspaper as well.  $6 was highway robbery for a paper, but whatever.

I got my drink and had a seat, setting up my workstation.  Before I could even begin reading, I could see the lady out of the corner of my eye, studying me.  I glanced over, politely and she smiled.

"Back again, I see."

I smiled back.  "Yeah, just got off work."

"Oh.  Work and school?  Busy schedule, I guess."

"Busy, yes.  But school, no.  I got my degree a few years ago."

"Oh, I see you all the time with the laptop and thought you were in school."  She noticed the newspaper.  "Are you a reporter or something?"

Damn it.  I shrugged.  "Something like that.  It's for a website."

"A news website!"  She looked excited now.  "Which one?"

"Uh..." I thought about it for a moment, then gave in.  "It's called The Hollow Men.  It's basically a take on T.S. Elliot's poem."

"Oh," she nodded.  "Is it a political website?  One of those anti-Bush or anti-gay sites?"

I smiled.  "No, not like that.  I..."  I thought about it some more, then bit the bullet.  "I report news on the upcoming zombie uprising."

She remained silent for a while, then smiled.  "That's nice."  She said.  And that was all she said.