I was eating dirt. Waking up to a mouth full is so gross. I wanted to scream but my lungs felt tight. I was unable to open my eyes. I was in panic mode. I was fucking buried ALIVE! It took every morsel of energy to push myself upwards, digging, clawing out of the death hole. I could hear someone screaming my name, or a name for that matter. Dirt was in many uncomfortable places, like between my toes and butt crack. Just when I was about to give up and sink back down to accept my fate, a warm hand grabbed onto mine and yanked me right up and out. I landed on the poor guy. Naked, dirty and insane, one look at me and he started yelping for help. He was only a kid, barely legal age to dress like a thug, but he was covered in tattoos and spikes. I rolled over and just tried to inhale, the grass was wet with a sticky early morning dew. I felt my lung’s seize before I could protest I was coughing up globs of dirt and well..my lungs.

“ Fuck man, you okay? What the fuck !”

I was alert enough to know something wasn’t right with me. I looked right at the boy and hissed. This sent the boy into shrieking hysterics , and he backed up into a head stone so hard he knocked himself out. Not a second passed before I was aware of the blood seeping out of a small lesion on the back of the kids head. I was sniffing him up close and personal, like a dog would a piece of meat dropped onto the floor.

My stomach twisted into a knot to strangle my vocal cords. I wanted to scream from all the burning inside me, but nothing came. I slammed my fist on the chilly ground in a rage that blinded me. What was going on? Before I could try to answer myself I was spewing again. Bits and pieces of red flesh and green mucus made a nice pile by the boy. It kept coming in waves that sent me out of my body in a seizure of unlimited pain. I was perhaps sick for an hour, like a really bad flu, it came out of both ends with such damaging force I was crying like a baby. Thank God I was nude I kept thinking, because in those kind of moments you think of the most trivial things to be glad about. My churning bowls calmed, and boy was I hungry. I noticed that the aftermath of vomiting had been a vast emptiness I wanted to fill back up. I snatched at some grass and shoved it in my mouth, but it tasted as plain as the dirt I ate. I sat against the tomb stone with the boy at my side. I was careful not to inhale deeply around him. His scent was intoxicating and sent me wanting to rub myself all over him and devour him. I was glad to be alive. Cold. Starving. Alive. I opened my left hand to examine it. Bits of black hair and mud in my grasp. My hands were stained with it. I then examined my forearm to find the cut in my attack was now diminished to a thin scar. My nails were dirty and I felt a wave of nausea and anger. Then I grazed my chest, and found the baseball size hole that once helped encase my beating heart.

Yep, it was gone. Heartless bitch literally now. I fingered at it, laughing. Not a good laugh, the kind you hear behind a padded cell. What a fucking bad dream this was. The boy was groaning now, coming back too. How long was he out for? I couldn’t be sure, time was simply lost to me.

“ Hey boy, are you okay?” I was whispering it as best I could.

His eyes were chocolate and heavy with stress. He flickered them on me, once, twice and opened his mouth wide to scream

Before he could, I was slashing at his throat. Deep gashes made him gurgle and sputter. The splash of blood hit my lips and I was prying with my fingers at his wounds with all my might. My mouth was gnawing on soft folds of flesh and muscle. I had, in my feeding frenzy ate my way through his neck, and the poor boy’s head landed on the ground with a large plop. I picked it up and threw it towards the granite tombstone and watched it shatter open like a pinata. Brains, Brains and more brains! The gooey mesh was delightful. I grabbed at the clumps growling, careful not to eat hard chunks of his skull. Sedated by all the brains and gore, I pulled myself away from the headless boy. Licking my fingers, I came to my senses just in time. Before I could ask myself and feel the pang of regret, a smooth familiar voice did it for me.

“ What in the hell have you done, Jopi?”

I tried to fight him off, embarrassed that I was caught in this horrible mess of blood and guts, afraid that I would kill another innocent creature. Trey kept his voice low but he could easily keep me under his command. His thin arms were quite strong, and I didn’t really have it in me to throw him off of me again. I felt a unique surge of energy boiling in my veins. I wanted more. I wanted to bath in a hot sea of blood, innards and fat. I was swooning to the point of orgasm. I was pressing my face into his chest, my nails clawing at his soft blue dress shirt.

“ What is going on? What have I become?” I groaned in the mist of sobbing. I was at the point of delirium. The downfall of the erotic energy was fading fast, leaving me like a junkie without a quick fix.

I couldn’t recall Trey picking me up like a child and carrying me, but in a blink of an eye it seemed I was laying in a nice warm bed that smelled like popcorn and clean skin. My entire insides felt rotten, and I wanted honestly to dig myself another hole to finish decay in. Trey was quiet on the end of the extremely large bed. He was deep in thought, or perhaps he was just trying to figure out how to get rid of me. I tried to pull myself up, to coax him into cutting my head off and burning the rest. I cursed at myself, my deeds, my chaos. With a surge of rage, I bolted as rapidly towards the heavy wooden door. My goal was shortsighted by a jeweled fist.

Gasping for air, I jerked awake.

“YOU SON OF A BITCH!” I screamed.

And I screamed again.

And once more for good measure.

“ Is your zombie bitch done with the ranting?” A tiny bell of a voice ringed out.

If I wasn’t roped down to the bed I would have chewed off her limbs one by one. She was bird like, thin, graceful, with long locks of amber hair. Perky tits came closer to me, faced twisted in horror.

I tried to spit at the nearest face. Failed.

“ Trey-Trey be a dear and explain to this monster why we are here before I tear off her head.”

I wanted to vomit my first murder all over her perky tits.

“ I’m not a zombie! Why the fuck am I here? Just let me go. I have to find Abby. I have to get back.” I was done being upset, fear was now shaking my voice.

Trey rubbed his eyes with annoyance, before walking over to me. He paused looking down at me with his lovely iridescent coals burning in his skull. Only if I could read his mind, his face was masked completely.

“ You’re a Zombie, Jopi.”

“ Shut the fuck up.” I retorted.

“ You’re a Zombie and you’re a danger to every single human.”

“ I’m going to kick IN your balls and give you a vagina.” I screamed until I got dizzy.

“ Like it or not, you must remain here. I’ll explain more, I promise. Trust me.”

“ I don’t even know you. This is stupid. I’m smart enough to pick up the pieces alone.” I was exhausted from every sharp feeling I was enduring.

“ Sasha is here because I trust them enough to keep you a secret. Sasha use to be a very skilled nurse, has acquired an enormous amount of knowledge on various occult rituals,” He paused looking away for a moment, “ We patched up your wound, and it will heal in time.”

“ Did you find my heart?” I asked slowly.

“ It was stolen from your chest.” Sasha piped in delightfully.

“ Why?” I was glaring at them both.

“ The last installment of the ritual. The one who owns your heart owns your will. You were chosen to be a zombie for reasons completely unknown. But whom ever did this to you was very stu-,” Trey cleared his throat “ powerful in this ritual. And wanted you as a slave.”

I was silent in shock. My mind swirled to possible villains. Could Abby put me through this just for shits and giggles? I knew she dabbled with all that occult nonsense, but I really couldn’t see her being so evil.

“ If that was the case, then why am I not a mindless slave right now?” I asked.

“Quite sure she is mindless..” Sasha mumbled as she rolled her eyes.

I ignored her sarcasm. I wanted a serious answer.

Trey smiled at me, a pity smile I’m sure. He rubbed his long thighs and then answered slowly like I was an idiot.

“ We believe the ritual must take a certain amount of time. Possibly three days as a way to mirror the resurrection of Christ. Or just because it’s a nice number to follow. You were pulled out early, tonight is All Hallows Eve. This messed up the process, and you are lucky I found you in time.”

“ Thinking it’s dark magic.” Sasha muttered, looking at Trey harshly.

“ Not voodoo?” I asked slowly.

“ The Dark Craft is done by witches, not by a Voodoo Priestess. Completely different. They mirror some of the same rituals, and some of the same results.” Sasha was rambling while using Google on her phone.

“ Oh.” I exclaimed, still trying to work this all out in my head. I looked down to see the zillion stitches shaped in a circle on my chest. A flap of skin now covered the hole and it was a tad darker than the rest of my skin. Disgusting.

“ So, I’m still in danger since my heart is still being held captive. I’m a danger to humans because I might chew on them uncontrollably. I’ve left my friend to fend on her own. I’ve also killed an innocent man who saved my life..er..something. I’m stuck here in this place with people I don’t know telling me I’m a fucking She-Zombie.” I summed it up out loud, and it still was so depressing.

A realization hit me sideways, and I made the O shit face while it registered in my mind. I gulped. Inhaled.

“ Why can’t I smell you all? I can smell the dog shit on the lawn outside, I can smell the traces of blood from down the hall but I smell nothing when I inhale. I’m not hungry. Why?” I screamed this, I might add.

“ We are vampires you dumpy flesh eating turd.” Fire crotch was too intense when she said this.

That’s when I felt the world spin and the curtains closed without a round of applause.