It's Complicated: A Zombie Romance Novel

Game Time

I flashbacked to Tommy. I recalled how his blond curls bounced in the wind as he pulled me through a crowd of bullies on the school playground. There wasn't anything special about the memory. A bunch of screaming girls and Tommy being my savior.

One nasty girl screamed, "You stole my boyfriend," before swinging a punch at my midsection. One of the others had grabbed my left arm shouting, "You wrecked my chances for class president, you stupid slut!" as she yanked it backward. Tommy had kept his grip on me, pulling me free but not without cost. The girl's manicured nails took a chunk out of my arm. She'd probably blame me. What kind of elementary student had their nails done? The last girl tried to trip me as she spewed out some choice words. I chose not to remember them, which is probably for the best. Instead, I remembered how Tommy's hair had grown long enough you could see the curl. His mom would probably have him chop it off again soon, but at the moment I enjoyed how the curls bounced and shined. He finally stopped when we were free of the crowd and turned towards me.

Only it wasn't Tommy looking at me; it was zombified Lee Ann. I felt a push from behind as I crashed into reality. Why had I recalled a weird memory of Tommy? It hadn't been anything special, so why remember it now?

I averted my eyes. The strobe lighting was intense. There must have been fifty or so strobes going. The alternating colors illuminated little. This is what I'd imagined clubbing to be like, only way more deafening and blinding. I didn't like having my senses deprived.

From my vantage point by Lee Ann, I could see the entrance doors. They were open, allowing more zombies to flood the room. Light streamed outside. Even more, people waited out there to pile in.

"I want to go home," I yelled into Lee Ann's ear.

"I love the music too," Lee Ann yelled back.

"No," I yelled again. This time straining my vocal cords to be heard. "I want to go home." I used my body to point at the door, the only way out of this hellhole I knew.

"Yeah, it's incredible Brian got us in!" she shouted back. The music came to a sudden stop. Everything went quiet. Even the lights stopped strobing and settled into place.

"Lee Ann," I started to say.

"Shh, they're making the announcement." She turned towards the stairs, so I turned too.

"I want to go home," I got out before she could shush me again.

Someone stepped into a spotlight at the top of the stairs. He was stunning in all black. He wore a cape elegantly hung off his shoulders and a large masquerade feathered hat blocked any view of his face.

"The Game's afoot. Pick your side carefully. I know you all know your hosts..."

At the word 'hosts' I thought I'd see Brian step out onto the stage, but instead, a large TV screen switched on. Two guys in headsets stared back at the crowd. One was my brother; I didn't know the other. Nothing else about them seemed remarkable. They could have been two guys playing video games in their basements. Not hosts of a massive underground zombie party in an abandoned mansion on Snob Island.

The Shadow, because he reminded me of a shadow even under all those lights, said, "Refreshments are available for all those willing to partake." He got a lot of hoots and hollers from some guys in the corner. There was no doubt as to why they'd come here. Free beer was still all the rage.

"You know the stakes and the prize," said the Shadow.

"No, I don't," I muttered under my breath. I didn't think I said it too loud, but Lee Ann punched me in the shoulder anyway, so it must have been louder than I intended.

"To the victor goes the spoils," the Shadow continued, oblivious to my comment. "Now, to meet your victor; or should I say, victim? Runner, step forth!"

The light moved off of the Shadow and onto a door at the top of the stairs. It slowly opened to reveal someone I knew only from a distance. Bite My Butt's boyfriend. Star quarterback. Nickolas Griffin. My blood ran cold. The crowd exploded. I knew why my brother suddenly sponsored a party after swearing them off. The Shadow waited for it to quiet down.

"Now, to make it all fair, you have one hour to ready yourself," said the Shadow. "And then ..." he left the words hanging. He didn't need to finish the sentence; the crowd did it for him.

"We feed, we feed, we feed!" the crowd yelled back. At least that's what I heard; it could have been 'free weed.' It was indistinguishable. This was Washington State, after all, where marijuana was legal.

"Your time starts now," the Shadow said. Nickolas, the Runner, ran to another pair of open doors at the top of the staircase and was gone. The lights went out for a second and returned to their original manic strobing. The screens that had once held pictures of my brother and the other host were now filled with Nick's running figure as he went into a pitch black room.

I watched in horror as he was swallowed up into a pool of blackness. That's when it hit me. Brian was reproducing what had happened to Tommy. This was a revenge plot. I had to find Brian. Right now.

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