A rough-as-guts mixed team of street fighters and super-powered elite arrived at the tall gates of an ivy-covered granite wall. The black wrought-iron barred the entry or exit of any personnel from either side, which was a good thing, really. If any from the resource hunting team entered the gates of the medium sized base before them, chances are they'd get infected by the zombie virus and become a living undead.
"Kid, what have you got for us today?" The team leader was a stocky bloke wearing leather armour and cold weapons front and back. His hair had grown out a long way from the early years when he first began fighting for the survival of humanity.
A short teenager grunted in response and smacked a stick against a sign board beside the gates attached to the outer wall. He then rolled his eyes as if to say, "Read it, Stupid."
Warren scratched his nose, slightly embarrassed and grinned. "Don't be like that, B-Kid. I know you've got the usual goods up for trade, but I heard it through the grapevine that Zaide was releasing his speciality this week and I need a couple of thousand litres for our base doctors to replenish their stocks." Warren turned back to his group of warriors and pulled Valerie back to stand beside him, facing the young zombie named B-Kid.
"You know, last month, if we didn't have your medicated vegetable juice, my beautiful wife here wouldn't have delivered our third child successfully." His wife thumped him hard on his chest, causing him to choke and wheeze for a moment until he caught his breath back.
"Don't drag me into this. All I know is that Zaide banned you from trade here for three months because of the stunt you pulled off last time." Valerie shook her head and walked away, leaving her husband to deal with his own mess.
Apparently fobbing off chipped bark ground cover as animal kibble feed was a really stupid idea, and even she would have told him that if he'd actually bothered to tell her about his stupid plans. Yes, they are zombies, but they are self-aware and know the difference between cat kibble and wood chips.
Valerie looked back along the wall as she walked away from her stupid husband who was working on trying to buy more goods and trade items from the Zombie Haven trade store. She'd been here a number of times before and knew how the whole thing would play out. Walking along the wall she finally came to another gate, the west entrance of Zombie Haven, and found a hole in the ivy covering the wrought iron of the locked gate.
Here she could see a number of children playing on the school playground and others having a picnic and laughing as they shared their food. It was mostly cat kibble or dry old instant noodles and stuff like that. Occasionally she could see fresh food and vegetables being eaten, but she enjoyed watching the kids out and about, playing safely. They were still zombies, but the majority of them had become self-aware due to her husband's old friend Zaide and his magical space.
There had been talk of kidnapping the zombie and making him work as their "Spring Water"-infused food delivery man, but the risk of him lashing out and infecting everyone in their Eastern Base had stopped those idiotic ideas right from the start.
"What here for?" a gruff voice spoke. Valerie jumped back away from the gate, shocked at having been approached without her realising it. The zombie on the other side of the gate was very familiar to her. Zaide, the leader of the living undead himself.
"Sorry, no mean fright." He spoke in short words and muffled sentences. Valerie had learned it had taken Zaide a long time to heal his voice box on his throat before he could form words again.
"No. It's OK." Valerie waved at the two guards who stood behind her, making sure they knew she was fine and not to come forward to attack. Zaide was the last person on Earth that she'd want to become permanently dead. He was holding the lives of thousands of people in his hands and was the future hope of millions more. The true hero of the world, Zaide was a living miracle.
"I was wondering how Kirsty was doing?" Kirsty is Little Blue's real name. The self-aware zombie doesn't use it any more as she loves the name that Zaide had given her when they first met and he'd rescued her. She goes by Blue now, having dropped the 'Little' from her name, much to Zaide's amusement.
"Blue well, enduring second pregnancy. Doctors say she keep drink "Spring Water", do well, adapt well." Zaide's voice sounded very proud as he boasted about getting his beautiful wife with child again. "As long as match his older sister, be OK." He grinned a wide, happy grin, then shifted his focus to Warren as the human team leader stepped up beside his wife.
"Keep hold, that one. Might steal, make harem." Zaide pointed to Valerie but spoke to Warren, joking with him.
"The hell you will." Both Warren and Valerie spoke at the same time, but laughed the joke off. It was in poor taste really, as the only way that would happen is if Valerie had been infected with the zombie virus. It's not like it hasn't happened with living humans before.
Sometime the living human teams encounter a horde of zombies they can't deal with and someone gets hurt. They have protocol in place now for the human settlements and an agreement with Zaide's Zombie Haven, where anyone infected will be given opportunity to join the zombie base in place of self-sacrificial death. It was sad when it happens, but now death is not the only answer for living here on Earth.
"Please give this to Blue. And give her my love and congratulations on her second child." Valerie handed over a small gift box wrapped in pale blue with a white ribbon on top. It was knitted baby clothes and a wooden teething ring.
Valerie followed Warren back to their base field team, completed the trade for more medicinal goods and fresh produce, packed everything up and forcefully declined the purchase of a cheap mutant rabbit to help keep the grass short. They had been suckered into that terrible deal years earlier and now have mutant bunny rabbits all throughout their base. They were a pest of the highest order.
Zaide unlocked the side gate and stepped out, watching the protagonists head off along the tree-lined streets and back into the city. He smiled again at the luck he'd encountered in the years since he'd been transmigrated into this novel, and then threw out a hand as a packet of dried mangoes shot out of his space. He looked down at his right boot just as an itty-bitty mutant puppy landed on his boot and parked half its arse on the leather.
"Thanks, Little Bean," he said, opened the packet of dried mango and began munching on it.
"Zaide!" A voice called from inside the walled haven behind him. He quickly shut and locked the gate, threw the key inside his space and turned to the voice calling him.
"You're wife ask ginger ale." Mr Lawyer reached him as Zaide passed the kiddies playing on the playground, waving their little hands at the friendly base leader.
"Got it, thanks Law." Zaide smiled in return, slapped him on the shoulder, kicked the little fatty arse off his boot and ran to find his wife with their favourite bottle of beverage in his hand.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This is an ORIGINAL short story by author JV Findlay ♥ If you laughed your arse off, please feel free to support her work over on ko-fi.com/jvfindlay ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
YOU ARE READING
Zaide the Zombie (A Short Story)
Short Story~~~ A Zombie Short Story ~~~ No one told Zaide that the body he was in had issues when he first arrived as a cannon fodder in a novel about the zombie apocalypse. The development of the novel's story came as no surprize, as Zaide's body has memori...
