Scenes from SparkNA

"The Zombie Run-pocalypse" from Love on the Run by Angel Constantino Aquino

Message from the author: This scene is an excerpt from my #SparkNA novella, Love on the Run. The story revolves around Diana Gomez, who is a hardworking and driven young woman. She decides to join a running club because she feels stressed at work and wants to spend more time outdoors. As if the training wasn't hard enough, she meets two guys who capture her interest. There's Paul, the cute trainee who befriends her instantly, and then there's Joshua, the handsome club veteran who always seems to show up when she needs him the most. Diana's first race is the Zombie Run-pocalypse—a challenging, 6-kilometer road-to-trail race where runners dressed as zombies will be chasing after her. Will she reach the finish line with her life (and her heart) intact?

IT was still dark when Diana and Paul arrived in Nuvali, which was about an hour's drive from Manila. The numbers on the digital clock on Paul's dashboard glowed bright red and Diana saw that it was now 4:00 a.m.

"Where is everybody?" Paul asked as he slowly drove along Nuvali's main road. The streets were deserted and the restaurants and shops, which were normally filled with people during the day, were now closed and quiet.

"Oh my God, look out!" Diana screeched.

Paul slammed on the brakes when he saw a ghostly figure appear before them. It was a lady in white, her eyes bloodshot and her hair a tangled mess. She was holding up a sign that said "This way to the Zombie Run-pocalypse" with an arrow pointing to the right.

"Geez, you scared the shit out of me!" Paul exhaled. "Relax, it's only a woman in costume." But the beads of sweat that formed on his forehead revealed he was more scared than he let on.

As they turned the corner and drove further down the road, the buildings gave way to empty lots with tall weeds all around them. "There's the starting line." Diana tried her best to keep her voice at a lower decibel.

After Paul parked his car, they jogged toward the area where a couple hundred people were gathered. They spotted their fellow trainees and a few of the Finishers.

"Hey! So glad you guys made it!" Joy emerged from the crowd and walked toward Paul and Diana. "Here are your race bibs and life flags. Joshua distributed them earlier."

Diana's ears perked up at the sound of Joshua's name. "Oh, is he here?"

Paul spoke up before Joy could answer. "I can't believe it's so quiet. Normally there's a lot of music playing at these races."

"Well, I guess loud music won't exactly go with the zombie theme," Diana said, trying to look around nonchalantly. Just then, a deep, eerie voice bellowed through the speakers.

"Ladies and gentlemen, the Zombie Apocalypse is here. The zombies will try to take your flags—do not let them. If you cross the finish line with no flags left, you are considered dead and zombified. Bwahahahaha!!!"

As the spine-tingling sound of laughter echoed through the air, Diana struggled to pin her race bib to her shirt and tie the string with three triangular red flags around her waist.

"Please be mindful of the rules," the voice continued. "You are not allowed to push, punch, shove, or hurt the zombies in any way. Stay on the path and follow the race signs. There will be three waves composed of fast, medium, and slow runners. Each wave will start two minutes apart so make sure you are in the right wave. Anyone found breaking the rules will automatically be disqualified."

Diana was in wave 3, where the slowest runners were, and she waited anxiously as the first two waves—along with Paul and Joy who were in wave 2—went ahead of her. It was almost 5:00 a.m. now but the only light came from a solitary lamppost on the corner. She licked her lips and retied her ponytail. They had done interval training—alternating sprinting and walking—to prepare for this race but she didn't feel confident that she would finish.