Ashley turned the latch on the door locking herself and her new friend Sarah in the bathroom.  Her heart pounded, nearly matching the beat of the techno music shaking the floor beneath them.  Brushing her slightly sweat-moistened strawberry blonde hair off her sticky brow she drew a deep sigh of relief.

     Sarah’s heavy breathing echoed in Ashley’s ears.  If she was to think, to evaluate this situation, no matter how bizarre it was, she knew she would have to calm her friend down.

“Breathe slowly,” Ashley told her friend as their eyes locked.

     “I’m trying, but why is this happening?  Where did it come from?” Sarah’s voice shook. 

     “I don’t know.”

     In the three months they had known each other Ashley had witnessed Sarah have two bad cocaine highs that triggered small panic attacks.  Taking Sarah’s hand in her own, Ashley drew her attention up to her eyes.    

When Sarah called her cell phone that day from her job at the local tanning salon, she remembered erupting in deep laughter.  Sarah’s new boyfriend called it an “End of the World party.”  What a joke Ashley thought, but deep down did not care.  Sarah’s boyfriend was rich, and there would no doubt be an endless supply of alcohol and social drugs.  “I’m so there,” she recalled saying.

     Sarah’s breathing began to slow.  Unsure whether it was the cocaine she had been snorting off and on all night or the panic attack that made her light headed, she rested her butt on the cool tile, placing her head on her knees.

     Since locking the door Ashley had only looked at two things; that door latch and Sarah.  Suddenly, she realized the vastness of the bathroom.  Joshua’s family lived in what Sarah called a mansion.  When Ashley saw it for the first time she had to agree with her friend that her boyfriend’s home was very large, yet she also quipped that her perspective was off, since she had spent the better part of the year living in a sophomore dorm room.

     Ashley’s eyes moved around the pink and purple colored room, starting back at the door and moving towards the toilet to what she figured must be a bidet.  Next to the amenities was the largest shower stall Ashley had ever seen.  She walked past Sarah to the door, opening it up to gaze inside.  It was so spacious she imagined she could fit the whole girl’s volleyball team in it at once with plenty of room to spare.  Circling around, her eyes skipped over a large walk-in closet and right to the small cable TV that hung from the ceiling.

     “Look, a plasma TV!” Ashley pointed.

     “Yeah, Joshua’s bathroom has one too,” Sarah commented as if it was normal.  “Cool, right?”

     Before Ashley could finish her thought, she saw herself in the mirror.  A tiny droplet of blood had dripped from her lip down her chin to her new white tank top.  The smear of cheap lipstick and the blood drew her mind back a moment not twenty minutes ago.

                        ٭

Ashley lifted the glass to her soft, supple lips.  She had never been to a rave that offered its drinks in glasses, let alone one with a full bar and professional bartender.  Of course she had never been to one hosted by a rich kid in a mansion before either.  The orange juice cooled her lips before the taste of alcohol reached her tongue.  Ashley watched her friend dance with eyes cast in jealousy.   Sarah moved atop the pool table with a sensual fluidity she only had when high.   A mixture of sweat and scented oil made Sarah’s body glisten in the flashing strobe lights the DJ must have bought from a party store.  Her outfit, a smutty version of a schoolgirl’s uniform showcased her figure in a way Ashley knew was meant to drive the boys at the party crazy.  After all, Sarah was the host’s girlfriend, she had to dress to impress. 

Looking across the room at Sarah, Ashley realized that her friend had her eyes closed while she danced.  It was an odd habit of hers, one she said made her feel weightless, as if she was floating in water. 

The song changed, turning to one of Ashley’s favorites from a band called Delirium.  Her hips swayed back and forth uncontrollably, as she nearly mimicked her friend’s pool table dance.  One boy who had been staring longingly at her most the night approached Ashley from across the room.  She knew he was approaching; she had kept her eye on him.  He was big, another football player most likely and she knew alcohol and football players were a dangerous mix.

“Hey sexy!” he yelled over the lyrics of her favorite song.

“Hey.”

“How come I never seen you around school?”

“I’m in more intelligent classes than you are.”

“Oh really?”

“Yep,” Ashley tried to ignore him, sending him as many not interested signals as she could.

“Well maybe you could educate me orally.”

Snapping her hair like a blonde whip, Ashley’s head twisted to the side.  Raising her hand to the jock’s face she extended her middle finger with a carefully annunciated, “fuck off.” 

“Fucking dyke!”

“If you only knew, asshole!”

With her hand stretched out, Ashley walked away from the boy, never once looking back.  Instead her eyes stayed locked on Sarah’s sexy moves.

“You coming up?” Sarah smiled as she reached down to lend her friend a hand.

With a quick tug, and an almost effortless jump Ashley was atop the pool table too.  Screams erupted from the crowd; a kind of hooting and howling one might expect from a gentlemen’s club.  Dancing together, the two girls drew attention to themselves.  Ashley found Sarah’s perfume intoxicating and alluring, drawing her in closer to her friend’s face to inhale it deeper.  With their faces near, Sarah leaned in, stealing a quick kiss which ended in a playful love bite. 

“Joshua and I want to share you tonight Ash.  Cool right?  What do you think?”

While rubbing her lip where Sarah bit her during their brief kiss, she stared at her friend. 

“No!  No fucking way!”

Sarah smiled, then closed her eyes again.  Perhaps it was the deafening techno music that drowned out her words, Ashley thought or maybe Sarah did not hear a word of her answer.

Ù­

Ashley looked down at Sarah who seemed to be feeling better by the way she had stretched out her arms and legs and breathed at a normal pace.

“Are you ok?” she asked while turning on the water.

     “Yeah feeling good, thank you,” Sarah said warily. “Are you still mad at me?”

“Huh,” Ashley exhaled with a sarcastic smile, now knowing her friend did hear her answer.  “You asked me to sleep with you and your boyfriend Sar!”

“Well, I thought you wanted me,” Sarah attempted to defend herself.

“You Sarah!  I want you!  Not some dumb, rich jock!”

Ashley paused to wipe the speckle of blood from her top, while Sarah spoke.

 “I’m sorry.  Can I make it up to you?”

“Yes, let me borrow some of your makeup.  My lipstick smeared when you bit me,”

     Sarah jumped to her feet like the sickness she felt had miraculously disappeared. Rummaging through her tiny Prada purse, she grew quickly frustrated, dumping all her makeup products onto the counter.

     “You really should wear more makeup, Ash.”

     “With sports and all,” she said reaching for the lipstick. “At least I’m not like all weirdly pale.”

     “I do look a little pale,” Sarah quickly applied blush.  “I love Mac makeup, don’t you?”

     Ashley nodded.  She did like it a lot, and was sure Sarah knew she couldn’t afford it.  It was not so long ago, she thought, that her friend could not afford expensive makeup.  Yet now with her rich boyfriend she could afford lots of new things.

     “I have to tinkle.  Can you turn on the TV?  You know how I hate people listening to me go.”

     Still applying mascara, Ashley reached to the remote with her left hand and clicked on the TV.  It snapped on with the serious tone of a reporter’s voice.  Her words were cut in stone with a diamond’s precision.

     “The Center for Disease Control and Prevention has released the following warning.  Streptococcus Z refers to an illness which usually develops after having been bitten or scratched by a contaminated carrier.  Sometimes infection can result from handling a carrier, with no reported bite or scratch.  It is also possible to become infected by ingesting food or drink (such as milk or water) contaminated by a carrier.  Tests are still being run to determine if this new virus is airborne.”

     “Ashley, are you listening to this?”

     “Not really.  I saw a news brief last night, its nothing to worry about.”   “Ashley these people look really sick, almost like they’re dead.”

     Ashley shrugged, her brain told her it was just another stupid over cautious warning in this time when shampoo could cause a flight delay.  She had scoffed at their warnings, a vicious flesh-eating virus; as the special reporters on MTV called it when they interrupted her reality shows last night, had appeared in many major urban areas on the East coast.  She paid the reports no mind.  At worst it was another rumored plague that would disappear from the media before ever touching her world.  Killer bees, SARS, bird flu; the real news these days was hard to tell apart from the scandal sheets.

     “Doctors say to keep an eye out for the following symptoms of this newly emerging flesh eating virus; splotchy red skin that itches uncontrollably, dry irritated eyes, and a stiffening in the joints.  If you are suffering from any of these symptoms please contact your health care provider immediately,” the news reported read, then passed off the story to a colleague.

     “Reports of Streptococcus Z have come in from all our affiliates with death tolls just beginning to rise.  Dr. Christoff Von Straup of Temple University Hospital invited Channel 10 to his office for an interview during which he said the following.”  “Streptococcus Z affects both your flesh and your mind.  The virus attacks the subcutaneous soft tissue, and it becomes gangrenous.  It moves very quickly under the skin where it stays hidden.  Once tissue becomes necrotic it must be removed or it will fall free of the body.  With the stiffening of the joints, patients cannot do much more than lay in bed, but some of those stronger willed individuals in our hospital quarantine have been seen shuffling about.”

“Dr. Von Straup, how dangerous is this epidemic?” the reporter asked.

“Being a new virus it is quite dangerous.  That being said, if treatment begins early enough, patients have nothing to worry about.”

“What do you say about the reports that this is a coming sign of . . .”

The TV flashed with a newsbreak logo.  Interrupting their own programming, the head news anchor announced a News 10 exclusive.

“News 10 just received a video over the internet. I must warn you that the following footage is both graphic and shocking.

The newscaster cut to a parking lot surveillance video.  Emerging from off screen was an older man, in his late 60s.  Dressed in his bed clothes, including a dirty pair of leather slippers, the old man shuffled slowly across the camera’s field of vision with his arms stretched rigidly at 90 degree angles from his body.  The man moved with a haggard stride pronounced by a clear lack of bending in his knees.  Moving with what seemed like a purpose he drew closer and closer to a woman who unaware of his presence packed her groceries in her car.

“Oh god! Turn around lady!” Sarah screamed at the TV.

“Sarah!”

Unable to look away, both girls watched the video with terror in their hearts.  Watching the man step within two feet of the woman, the girls simultaneously gasped.  Latching his hands on the woman, the man leaned into her sinking his teeth into her shoulder.  Before the video could come to its gruesome conclusion a censorship bar magically appeared.

“Ash, that thing ate her!”

“I know!” she looked away, feeling that was the end of the video.

“Oh no, more?”

     Suddenly another man appeared from off camera.  This bear-sized man dressed in biker leather, carried a baseball bat in his right hand.  He ran to the aid of the woman, swinging the bat wildly at her attacker.  After landing a series of light blows to the attacker’s head, the big man stepped back gaining his balance long enough to prepare for a hard swing.  Winding up the man took aim and swung hard, like a modern day Babe Ruth.  Upon impact the man’s head came free, still covered by the black censor bar it slid across the parking lot.

After huffing and coughing the large man turned and moved straight towards the surveillance camera.  Even the man’s large full graying beard could not mask the dreadful seriousness on his dry, crackling face. “The only way to kill a god forsaken zombie is to the take off his <BLEEP> head.”

With the last word spoken the video paused to a vibrating frame of the man’s angry face. Still visible behind him were two lifeless bodies.  Shortly afterwards the video cut to the head anchor who sat with a look that mirrored that which Sarah and Ashley gave the television; a look of speechless shock.  When he finally spoke he did with a stammering start.

“Clearly this man is a sick murderer, right Jane?”

“Which one?  The man who attacked that poor lady, or the other man who attacked the first?”

Switching suddenly to a commercial, Ashley muted the TV.  Sarah flushed then stood up so fast it seemed she was launching herself from the toilet.  A look of panic on her face she paced back and forth from the window to the sink before finally stopping to wash her hands.

“I can not believe this!”

“Sarah maybe we should leave, go back to my place where it’s safe,” Ashley said while digging in the front pocket of her tight jeans.

     “What do you mean?  It’s safe here,” Sarah’s eyebrows lowered with a look of confusion.

After retrieving a lighter from her pocket Ashley finished her thought.

“Didn’t Joshua say his parents just came back from a vacation, and were feeling sick?”

“He said they went to bed early with jet lag,” Sarah sighed.  “They aren’t zombies!”

 “Well I’d rather be safe and leave,” Ashley said lighting a joint that spilled from Sarah’s purse when she emptied it.

A banging on the door startled them both.  Not sounding like a normal knock, neither girl answered.  Again the door rattled under the pressure of another jarring thud.  Knowing her friend was an athlete; Sarah cowered behind her, shielding herself before whispering in her ear a question of what they should do.  Ashley did not answer; instead she crept forward towards the door.  As she drew closer she heard another sound over the thumping of loud techno music downstairs.  The sound was nothing more than a low hum, but when she stepped to the door and placed her ear next to it she understood what it was, a moan.  The groaning was long, like an exhaling sigh that went on for twenty seconds at a time. 

Creeping back, nearly retracing her steps, Ashley returned to Sarah, finally delivering her an answer.

“There is something out there; something moaning.”

“Oh God, here!  I can imagine a zombie in places like Philly, Norristown and Cheltenham, maybe even near the mall in Willow Grove, but not up here, not Sellersville,” Sarah said as she sat down on the tile floor.

     Ashley turned her back on the door and moved quickly to the window.  A loud bang on the door made her look over her shoulder as she rushed to the other side of the room.  Not watching where she was going kicked over a small plastic trash can which slammed against the wall with a rattling crash loud enough, she thought, to wake the dead.  Ashley held her breath while snatching the noisy waste dispenser from the ground.  Whatever was out there, had to know the room was occupied now; a thought that nearly made her heart seize.  Trying to remain strong in the eyes of her friend Ashley gazed out the small window, and attempted to plan a safe escape, but the landing below was steep and intimidating.

     “Looks like there is a ledge or something we can climb down to,” Ashley pointed out the window.

     “Really?”

Sarah moved quickly and when she did a severe case of nausea overcame her.  She retched loudly, coughing up a small amount of beer and saliva into her cupped hands.  The noise alerted whoever/whatever was in the hall, as the handle shook with growing intensity, leading to pounding upon the door itself.

“Sarah, we better try the window because I don’t think the door is gonna hold,” Ashley said as she turned back to her friend.

“I think something is wrong,” Sarah said as she lifted up her dress shirt to reveal a rash on her rib cage.  “Oh my God, is this what I have been itching at all night?”

The rash was bright red, decorated with speckles of purple and a blue so deep it was almost black.  Upon realizing its severity Sarah pulled down her shirt to hide it from her friend.

“Sarah, what was that?”

“I don’t know,” she straightened her blouse while standing up straight.

“Are you hurt?” Ashley said stepping towards her. “Show me your chest.”

“I am not feeling good but, I think it’s just the coke.”

The pounding on the door returned, this time frustrating Ashley more than scaring her.  Feeling trapped with few options for escape brought out a side of her she did not know she had.

“Fuck this!” 

Ashley paced the room, looking around for something.  When she reached the closest, she shuffled around the different shampoos and conditioners until she found what she wanted.  Withdrawing her arms from the closet Sarah could see what Ashley was so excited to find.  Held tightly in her left hand was an old aerosol bottle of hair spray.

“What are you doing?”

“Sarah, I want you to open the door really quick, and when it’s open I am going to use my lighter and this hairspray to set that zombie punk on fire.”

“Sure that will work?”

Pointing the can towards one of the three porcelain sinks, Ashley flicked her lighter while depressing the hair spray’s push button.  A small ball of flame shot out with a whooshing sound that while scaring Sarah, made Ashley giggle. 

“See?  Now get ready to open the door.”

Sarah gripped the door’s handle with her sweaty hand.  Staring at her friend she saw a look in her eye she only saw when Ashley played sports.  Breathing in deeply through her nose, Sarah held her breath trying to control her nausea.

“On three; one, two, three, go!”

Sarah flipped the latch on the door then pulled it open as fast as she could with a scream of terror emanating from her mouth like a fire alarm.  Before the door was even fully open Ashley had lit her homemade flamethrower.  A ball of flame the size of a watermelon struck the being directly on the chest. As Ashley lifted the improvised torch up toward its face she swore she could almost see a look of fear in its eyes.  Its face, which was puffy and distorted, flashed in her mind’s eye, a most horrific and inhuman sight.

Within a matter of seconds the hairspray bottle sputtered, and its spray began to rapidly dissipate.

“Close it quick!” Ashley screamed, her yell mixing with that of Sarah and the zombies own howling.

When the door slammed shut, Ashley locked it and then jumped back, her whole body brimming with adrenaline.  Sarah also shook, yet it was not just the excitement that made her body quake.

“Was that thing screaming?  It almost sounded like cries for help,” Sarah said.

“I don’t know.  I don’t know. Christ, I don’t know!” Ashley stomped her foot.

“Well did you get a good look at it?”

It was all a blur, Ashley thought; a swirling myriad of colors; red, orange, yellow and blue.  Her mind locked on the color blue, why was this color so prominent in her mind’s eye, she wondered until she realized why. 

“Whatever it was,” she said thinking aloud.  “It was wearing a fucking PMU sweater.”

“Oh no!  You know what this means, Ashley?  The whole team is down there, and we are undefeated this season!”

“Sarah, if one of the team contracted the Z, then the whole team could have it by now.  Christ, Sarah, you’re fucking the wide receiver!”

“I don’t have it!” Sarah said crossing her arms in disapproval of her friend’s comment.

“Look at you, you’re pale and sick!” Ashley stepped back.

“Ash, no!  I’m fine.”

Ashley backed up across the room until her foot brushed against the corner of a small wooden stool that was under the sink.  Looking down at it, the stool took on a whole new purpose from uncomfortable seat to useful weapon.  Ashley snatched it up, holding it to the side like her softball bat.

At first Sarah did not react, her attention drawn to the TV above Ashley.  When she gazed down at her friend, a tear formed in her eye.  She pointed at the TV making a button pressing motion with her hand.

“What?”

“Turn on the volume Ash.”

     Ashley did not do as her friend requested, instead she raised the stool in an offensive manner.  She did not want to hurt her friend; she just did not know what to do.  She did not know who to trust, were the news reports the truth.  Was this all only a virus, or was there something more sinister. 

     “What are you thinking?  I’m not a zombie!” Sarah took two steps closer to her friend as she spoke.

     “You have a rash!  I saw it and you were itching it!” Ashley yelled as her friend moved closer.  “God, to make matters worse, you bit me earlier!”

     “I wasn’t trying to eat you, Ash, it was a love bite,” Sarah opened her arms for a hug.  “I love you, Ashley.”

     “You could have infected me, you dumb zombie bitch!”

Ashley swung the wooden stool hard into Sarah’s side, knocking her into the counter where she slid off and down to the ground.  The impact knocked the wind out of her, breaking several of her ribs, one of which pierced her lung.  Moaning in pain, she reached up to Ashley in an effort to stop her attack, yet all Ashley saw was the rash on Sarah chest, peeking out from under her pushed up shirt.  All she heard was moaning, just like what was on the other side of the door.

Taking aim, Ashley positioned herself next to Sarah’s head and swung hard.  After making contact Ashley dropped the wood stool to the side.   The stool fell on the TV remote which had fallen off the counter when Sarah collided with it.  Upon being un-muted the TV instantly emitted a series of sirens and beeps.   Turning her head to the side Ashley looked at the broadcast emergency symbol.  Seeing it turned her stomach.  Whatever news was about to be delivered had must have been grave.

The newscaster appeared with a solemn look upon his face, a graphic with the words “Zombie Scare” behind him.  As he spoke Ashley’s hearts sunk.  The anchorman explained how the reports of zombies were false, that people were being mistaken for zombies who were only citizens infected with a virus.  The newscaster cut to the same doctor they interviewed earlier.  The doctor, this time standing alongside two armed guards seemed just as rattled as the reporter.

“Let me repeat my earlier statement.  Although its origins are unknown, this is a natural virus.  Patients with advanced conditions have been know to suffer from hallucinations, and have been witnessed to be completely delusional.  They are not becoming zombies, that notion is both scientifically impossible and ridiculous.”

The news anchor went on to state that over twenty murders had been reported in the last hour.  Although each suspect claimed their victim was already dead; a zombie, they would be prosecuted to the fullest. 

“No, this can’t be true,” Ashley felt sick to her stomach.  “That thing outside its face was all rubbery and grotesque.”

     Returning her gaze down to Sarah’s broken body, she erupted in tears.

     “No Sarah! No, no no!  What have I done to you?” she sobbed deeply.

     Not knowing what else to do and feeling a great sense of remorse for what she had done, Ashley opened the window of the small bathroom as wide as it would go, and climbed out onto the tiny ledge.  At least two and a half stories up, she looked down into the darkness at the corner of the driveway as a solution; the only way to end her pain.  She knew she could easily reach the hard stone, all she would have to do is dive in its direction. 

     Ashley looked out over the treetops, saying a quick prayer that consisted mostly of apologies. As her mind accepted her fate, her muscles began to tense up and prepare for the leap.

     Suddenly an arm reached out from the bathroom, wrapping itself around Ashley’s chest like a boa constrictor.  The arm pulled her backwards, slamming her head into the windows frame behind her.  A split second later, her body crashed hard against the cold tile floor of the bathroom floor.  Dazed Ashley went limp, defenseless against the unknown aggressor.  When her eyes focused she saw someone standing over her, straddling her body.  She tried to speak, but even that little motion almost caused her to black out.  Slowly the person leaned in from above, and the closer they came the clearer Ashley’s vision became.

     Just before the skin of her cheek touched that of the stranger’s, Ashley could see who it was.  Sarah’s head was bashed in on the one side, bleeding and seeping viscous fluids.  Ashley could see that Sarah’s neck was broken, as it was tilting at an unnatural angle.  Sarah’s hot breath gently caressed her neck before her teeth sunk in.  The pain was unlike any Ashley had ever endured, yet she did not scream.  Her heart seized, feeling as if someone had dropped a grand piano on her chest.  Pain peaked with such intensity that her body went numb.  While her world faded around her, her mind held on to one sentence spoken on the TV.  She knew she had made many mistakes on this, her last night, but she prayed whoever she may encounter in her un-death would have heeded the man’s words better than she did.

“The only way to kill a god forsaken zombie is to take off his fucking head!”