Corpse As Body, Corpse As Meal

9

SLURP. Munch. Lick. Suck. Natalia’s noises were trapped in her bedroom’s adjacent bathroom. Its four walls served as the lone and silent witness of her hasty meal, the left over dismembered human body parts that she took from Cjay’s meat freezer.

She was sitting at the cold floor tiles beside the open cabinet below the sink. Inside the cabinet, the uncovered, empty cooler box could be seen. Natalia put down her hands that still held a small piece of meat, then looked around cautiously. She immediately wiped the stains and spits around her mouth with the back of her arm. Next, she eyed on what she was eating. ‘Why does Cjay like his meat pulsing as if it’s still alive? It tastes better when it’s cold like this! It doesn’t feel like it’s moving on its own inside your mouth!’

Natalia put out her long, red tongue. The more it stretched out of her mouth, the more it thinned down until the tip looked like a needle. With the tip of her tongue, she teased a lick along the surface of the meat she was holding. As her tongue caressed its smooth, hard fibers, she closed her eyes in pure bliss. The texture just felt like the surface of a sweet, glossy candy! How she wanted to cry so much because finally, she was able to taste the food that she really wanted to eat!

Her tongue gently wrapped around the piece of meat. She slowly rolled it back to pull the meat back into her mouth, but she dropped her food when she gasped sharply. Terrified, she rolled back her tongue inside her mouth and shook her head. She could feel her heart thumping nervously upon remembering that this is her last meat!

‘I can’t be too confident. I don’t know when I’ll have the chance again to sneak out more meat from Cjay’s freezer. I have to save this one,’ she thought while gently picking up the meat with her thumb and forefinger.

Natalia quickly tossed it back inside the cooler box and covered it so that it would not tempt her to eat it up. Then, she wiped her lips and cheeks with her palms, closed the cabinet and leaned her back against its door. Her chest heaved in shallow breaths rapidly, making her heart drum faster as a sign of life. The more she ate a dead human’s meat, the more she felt alive.

All of a sudden, the liveliness was replaced by guilt. Because instead of respecting the dead, here she was, craving for corpse meat and enjoying it everytime she gets a taste of it. Here she was, feeling more recharged.

Next, she scrunched up her nose. ‘Zombie’s right. I stink. I smell like that. It’s bearable though, but if I were to introduce myself as his assistant in front of his manager and other people, I have to smell like a human.’ She turned her head to the shower stall that stood right beside her.

***

“WHY didn’t you ask her to join us?” President Carlos asked Cjay.

It was a miracle that Cjay got to have lunch with his father. Most of the time, President Carlos would eat in a hotel or restaurant—wherever he gets hungry due to his demanding job that required him to be all over the place 24/7.

“Why should I ask Natalia to join? I didn’t even know that you’ll be having lunch here,” he replied lifelessly, no pun intended, at his father who sat at the head of the table opposite him. Then murmured to himself, “Ever since I became a zombie, you seemed to intentionally avoid having meals with me.”

A grand, delicious banquet could be seen served on the dining table—from white rice to fried chickens and a bunch of yellow bananas. On Cjay’s side of the table, there were sliced human meats, spasming like beating hearts. Their blood were cleaned off, making them look more presentable for the president’s preference of what a presentable meal should look like or else he might lose his appetite.

“Whether I get to join you for lunch or not, you should be always with your assistant,” his father preached.

He grinned and scoffed with sarcasm. “I bet, Mousey intended to not join me too, that acting tough wimp who is actually scared of a zombie that eats people.”