Photography © Shannon O’Connor

 

Zombie Prison, or How I Became One of Them

My job is to watch the zombies. A prison guard of sorts. But if they get out, they would turn everyone around the area, and it’s my place to see that doesn’t happen.

I knew it was only a matter of time. Before they got me. They were vicious, those creatures, and they didn’t care about what they did or how they hurt people.

The thing about zombies, they have no memory. They don’t know right from wrong, or up from down. They don’t know East from West, or chocolate from vanilla. They only care about turning every last one of us into one of them.

Before they came, it was peaceful here. This was a nice town. Quiet, nothing bad ever happened. At least not that anyone knew of. There might have been corruption in the town council, and maybe some people beat their kids, but that stuff was quiet, and we all pretended it didn’t happen.

One of them bit me, and I am turning. I know it’s happening, because all I can think about is blood, and how thirsty I am. I want to drink blood, and kill everyone around.

But my job is to keep them in. I have to make sure they don’t escape and do more harm. But now I have a flaming desire to hurt people.

I could kill them all to save the town. But I don’t think I have the energy.

I have a gun, but I am forgetting how to use it. My finger makes trigger motions, but I don’t know where to put it.

“Help me,” I yell to nobody. I don’t think anyone can hear me.

The zombies in the pit below look at me, and howl.

“We’re coming,” one of them screams. “We’re coming to get you.”

I lie down on the floor of the tower. I don’t want them to see me.

I writhe on the floor. My arms and legs twitch and shake.

The guard becomes one of the prisoners.

I think of my life, and the mistakes I have made. One of them was becoming a prison guard of the zombies.
My wife left me because I didn’t have a job. I thought if I had a decent paycheck, she would come back. I was wrong.

The zombie prison paid well, better than other jobs after the zombies took over. Everyone was too afraid to go out, so economy crashed. Nobody went out for ice cream, or to the local bar. The zombies scared everyone, and the residents stayed shuttered in their houses.

I hate what I have become, but it was inevitable. It was my destiny to become one of them.

Maybe that’s why this job paid so well.

Because it was well known that the prison guards would eventually become the prisoners.

I crave blood and brains. I know I can’t let the prisoners out, but I can look at them from above, in the tower.

Yesterday, before the zombie bit me, I showed compassion. I gave it a cough drop because it looked like it was coughing. That was my big mistake. Giving a zombie a cough drop. I should have known better. People need to know they can’t show these animals sympathy. We should treat them like the beasts that they are.

Now, I am one of them. I hope nobody gives me a cough drop, because I will turn them the way I was turned.
Brains and blood. That’s all I think about now.

I jump into the pit. I have become a prisoner where I was once in charge.

Don’t trust the zombies because they will only attack you. We should all know that by now. It’s a hard lesson to learn.

Brains and blood. Brains and blood. Brains and blood.

Argh! I’m coming to get you. You better watch out.

 

Shannon O’Connor has an MFA in Writing and Literature from Bennington College. She has been published previously in Oddball Magazine, as well as 365 Tomorrows, Sci-Fi Shorts, Ginsoko LIterary Journal, and others. She lives in the Boston area, and works at a hospital.