Life After Death (#1)

Life, Death, Panic! - For Amazon Prime

"As I'm sure all of you are aware, my name is Diggins and I'm your emcee on his fine and lovely summer's afternoon," he sang to a less-than-enthusiastic audience.

"Even all you slowpokes out there have probably figure out the gist of this particular challenge. It may not be our most subtle, but it more than makes up for that in... end product," he winked.

"Without further ado, I think it's about time we saw some of you landlubbers walk the plank!"

The crowd remained silent.

All that could be heard was the chorus of clicking teeth from the pen behind.

Diggins proceeded unphased, "And up first... we have... Daniel Patel."

Daniel made it across with little drama. After all, the task at hand was actually rather simple. The wooden beam may be narrow but it was ultimately just about keeping your balance for thirty metres or so to book your place in the next round. Had the pit of clickers not been there, every single person would pass with flying colours. Unfortunately, this challenge was as much mental as it was physical. The very fact that the undead were snapping their teeth away at your ankles added a shake to each step and an extra heartbeat to each second.

Sixteen people had come and gone before the competition had its first faller. Greta something... Lizzie couldn't remember her surname. She had made it halfway across the plank before flinching at an overly eager clicker. There was no recovering from that. Her left leg kicked out to the side and her arms desperately flapped in search of balance once more, but she could not prevent herself from toppling into the sea of the undead.

Greta was still screaming by the time the next contestant took his place on the plank.

By the time Lizzie's name was called, 27 people had secured their places in the next round, while a further five had added their names to the clicker pen guest list. Lizzie had no intention of joining them.

She climbed up the ladder slowly but surely, taking every spare second to steady her breathing and mentally prepare herself for the walk. The old proverb of 'don't look down' ran through her head on a loop. If she ignored the undead, the plank would be a piece of cake. Unfortunately, ignoring 200 clickers was easier said than done.

As Lizzie edged her toes onto the near edge of the plank, she gained an ever-greater appreciation of just why so many of her fellow competitors had fallen. It was as if the mere presence of the chomping mouths below added so many layers to the challenge. She had become far more aware of the wind, of every crack and crevasse in the plank, even the frayed edges of her shoelaces. This was the name of the game... Panic.

All eyes were on Lizzie as she made her first step over the precipice, now at the mercy of the hungry bodies below. The only thing she could describe it as was like playing a concert in front of a crowd that was urging you to fail. There was a certain atmosphere in the air that begged her to put a foot wrong. She couldn't give them that kind of satisfaction.

The undead could go hungry today; she wasn't sure that her grandmother had that luxury.

Lizzie needed to take her mind off the clicking teeth below and her mind instantly drifted to an old song her mum would often sing before bedtime before she passed away.

Kookaburra sits on the old gum tree

Merry merry king of the bush is he

Laugh, Kookaburra, laugh, Kookaburra

Fun your life must be

Before she knew it, Lizzie was halfway across, but her mind was instantly dragged back down to Earth as she heard the unmistakable noise of splintering wood beneath her feet. She was stood over the weakest part of the plant and could physically feel it sinking under her weight. Her knees began to shake and her feet became numb, with each step veering off centre further than the last.