Zoe Eats Brains

Zoe

The shortage of toilet paper during the apocalypse was really inconvenient. I stood there in the unlit store staring at the empty shelves. I slowly blinked my eyes. My eyelids drooped as I blankly stared at the price tags. 

$30 ! It read. Making money off the apocalypse. How human. I blinked once more before shuffling along down the aisle and through the destroyed supermarket. Trash was covering the ground as well as broken glass. Entire selves were knocked over, boxes smashed open on the floor. What a waste. My feet pushed along broken glass and dirt, not lifting from the ground. I wish I moved faster. Or had the motivation to lift my feet. Side effect #1 of being undead. 

I stopped in front of a small stand filled with different postcards. I picked one up in my cold hand, accidentally knocking over the whole stand. I stared down emotionless at the papers now strewn across the ground. I looked back up at the one gripped in my hand. My lifeless eyes scanned the paper.

GREETINGS FROM NEW YORK 

The swirly words were written over a blue background and had a large picture of a green woman. Strange. I folded the postcard and slipped it into the bag the slung over my shoulder. 

My feet dragged me to the door. Or what was left of it. The glass had been smashed out, as well as the glass in the windows. It most likely happened during the Great Loot. That I can remember. I don't know why I remember. It's when most of us died. After the virus started wiping out large populations and it became officially the zombie apocalypse, humans lost it. They began murdering, drinking, stealing, escaping high security prisons, and doing generally illegal things. I wonder if I ever did anything. I hope not. This only resulted in the population droping more. No one lives in Canada anymore. Canadians went extinct 20 years ago. 

I don't remember how old I am. If I was alive and reacting when Canada was lost. Did I cry? I don't remember what tears feel like. I think I'm 17 or 18, but I don't remember how long I've been a zombie. It could be 3 years or 30. I don't know the date. I remember that the virus first broke out in 2016 as just the flu. Maybe someone knows the  year. Not me. Side effect #3, little to no memories. 

I pushed open the destroyed door, sweeping all the broken glass away. I was wearing thin shoes. They had a large star on the side. I wonder sometimes what that means. I could feel all the rocks and glass pushing into my feet. I didn't feel pain. Side effect #4. Sometimes I hold a match over my palm and try but nothing happens. Even when the flame licks my fingertips all I feel is cold. Even when I ragged the razors across my skin, still no pain.

The sky was a light grey and there were no leaves on the trees and I shuffled down the cracked sidewalk. A few corpses passed me not bothering to show a reaction. I don't know why I'm different from them. Their skin is grey and peeling away while mine is a pale white, and intact. Their eyes are always black while mine are a colorless grey. I walk straighter, opposed to their hunched shoulders and limp necks. I enjoyed reading, and they enjoyed grunting and eating brains. It wasn't a side effect of being dead, it was a side effect of being me. 

Every couple of feet I crouched down and picked up a stray flyer. They all read close to the same thing.

JUDGEMENT DAY IS HERE! REPENT!

JOIN YOUR LOCAL CULT

CONTACT WITH ZORP!

I liked collecting these. They reminded me of life. I shuffled back in the direction of the city. Large decaying buildings towered above me. Most windows were broken, other boarded up. I don't know if anyone lives here anymore. I don't know where all the humans went.  I hope their safe. I wonder if the other zombies hope. Or feel. I'm alone. 

The city is empty, just the sound of the wind and my feet crunching the dirt and glass. 

My slow body weaves through rusty yellow cars that are stopped in the road. They look the same. Some have graffiti, and empty spray cans roll in the wind under them. I stop in between two. I reach up now standing on my toes, grasping for the roof. There is a sign on the top.