identification badge, and service stripes. The other was naked, resembling a walking skeleton stripped of most of its flesh. Each member of the living dead shared one simple common desire, to feed.
"The one on the right. That’s something I haven’t seen before. Look at it. How in the hell can it even walk?” Wells said, standing behind the cover of a SUV abandoned haphazardly on the street.
Rogan leaned forward for a better view. "The way I understand it, the virus builds on what it finds. If the corpse is in decent shape, it regenerates just what it needs to get the muscles working again. It then has the mobility to hunt for food. With the old and rotted ones, if the DNA is viable, it regenerates the minimum amount of hardware to get it going. That’s the case with skeletor over there. He's mostly bones, tendons, and the barest amount of muscle. It takes more energy for the virus to rebuild a rotted cadaver.
“The virus first transfers all of its energy into the host. The host replenishes that energy by converting human flesh using alien enzymes into food for the virus. The big problem for us, the damn things don’t seem to come with an off switch. These bastards are forever hungry."
"Vi-a-ble. That's a five dollar word. You a college boy, Rogan?"
"No. Just high school. Shut your trap and take out the one on the left. I'll take the one on the right. First kill gets to shoot the one in the middle."
“Wait a minute. There’s another thing I ain’t figured out yet. How is it that these zombies can break out of the wooden coffins and claw their way up from six feet of packed dirt? That's a lot like pussy to me,” Wells said.
"Pussy? How is that like pussy?"
"I don't get it ," Wells said with a grin.
Rogan rolled his eyes. “There’s some evidence that the virus working its way down to the dead body strips away nutrients from the soil and casket, using it as energy to reanimate the dead bodies, ‘conditioning’ it to be soft enough to crawl out of.”
"I might have been born at night, but not last night.”
“I don’t really know how they got out. What if the dead buried above ground reanimated first and helped dig out the others in the ground?”
“I’d say yer just pissing in my pocket. That don’t make no sense to me none neither.”
“Maybe it’s a combination of both.”
“Sounds like bullshit to me. You can’t bullshit a bullshitter, and I’m one of the best,” Wells said with a nod.
“How about this: Little men from Mars swooped down in UFOs and shot the graves with a super ray-cannon, disintegrating the dirt, and bringing the dead back to life.”
“Now that could happen. That there theory at least is based in science,” Wells said, pointing a finger at Rogan.
“Andy, they were in the ground, and now they’re out. That’s really all that matters. That and the fact that," Rogan smiled evilly, and lowered the tone in his voice, "they're coming to get you, Andy.”
"Stop that! Yer scaring me. I was just saying . . . ."
“Shut up and shoot,” Rogan said.
Wells slapped a new magazine into his M16 and chambered a round. He leaped to the side of the SUV, and peppered the chest of his undead target in full auto.
Rogan steadied his rifle on the roof of the vehicle, took careful aim, and fired. The top of his target's skull peeled back like a pull-top can. The zombie fell backward onto the asphalt, his mouth no longer chewing empty air.
Repositioning slightly, Rogan shot the one in the middle dead center of its left eye. The head exploded, sending fragments of bone and black putrid goo in all directions. Dead meat fireworks , he thought.
Wells continued to spray his target in the chest. The bullets shot straight through, ripping chunks of meat out of the zombie's backside. Despite all the gunfire it was taking, the dead walker remained standing, shaking violently as each bullet tore through it, until the rifle spit out the last cartridge.
"Wells, what are you doing? You
"The one on the right. That’s something I haven’t seen before. Look at it. How in the hell can it even walk?” Wells said, standing behind the cover of a SUV abandoned haphazardly on the street.
Rogan leaned forward for a better view. "The way I understand it, the virus builds on what it finds. If the corpse is in decent shape, it regenerates just what it needs to get the muscles working again. It then has the mobility to hunt for food. With the old and rotted ones, if the DNA is viable, it regenerates the minimum amount of hardware to get it going. That’s the case with skeletor over there. He's mostly bones, tendons, and the barest amount of muscle. It takes more energy for the virus to rebuild a rotted cadaver.
“The virus first transfers all of its energy into the host. The host replenishes that energy by converting human flesh using alien enzymes into food for the virus. The big problem for us, the damn things don’t seem to come with an off switch. These bastards are forever hungry."
"Vi-a-ble. That's a five dollar word. You a college boy, Rogan?"
"No. Just high school. Shut your trap and take out the one on the left. I'll take the one on the right. First kill gets to shoot the one in the middle."
“Wait a minute. There’s another thing I ain’t figured out yet. How is it that these zombies can break out of the wooden coffins and claw their way up from six feet of packed dirt? That's a lot like pussy to me,” Wells said.
"Pussy? How is that like pussy?"
"I don't get it ," Wells said with a grin.
Rogan rolled his eyes. “There’s some evidence that the virus working its way down to the dead body strips away nutrients from the soil and casket, using it as energy to reanimate the dead bodies, ‘conditioning’ it to be soft enough to crawl out of.”
"I might have been born at night, but not last night.”
“I don’t really know how they got out. What if the dead buried above ground reanimated first and helped dig out the others in the ground?”
“I’d say yer just pissing in my pocket. That don’t make no sense to me none neither.”
“Maybe it’s a combination of both.”
“Sounds like bullshit to me. You can’t bullshit a bullshitter, and I’m one of the best,” Wells said with a nod.
“How about this: Little men from Mars swooped down in UFOs and shot the graves with a super ray-cannon, disintegrating the dirt, and bringing the dead back to life.”
“Now that could happen. That there theory at least is based in science,” Wells said, pointing a finger at Rogan.
“Andy, they were in the ground, and now they’re out. That’s really all that matters. That and the fact that," Rogan smiled evilly, and lowered the tone in his voice, "they're coming to get you, Andy.”
"Stop that! Yer scaring me. I was just saying . . . ."
“Shut up and shoot,” Rogan said.
Wells slapped a new magazine into his M16 and chambered a round. He leaped to the side of the SUV, and peppered the chest of his undead target in full auto.
Rogan steadied his rifle on the roof of the vehicle, took careful aim, and fired. The top of his target's skull peeled back like a pull-top can. The zombie fell backward onto the asphalt, his mouth no longer chewing empty air.
Repositioning slightly, Rogan shot the one in the middle dead center of its left eye. The head exploded, sending fragments of bone and black putrid goo in all directions. Dead meat fireworks , he thought.
Wells continued to spray his target in the chest. The bullets shot straight through, ripping chunks of meat out of the zombie's backside. Despite all the gunfire it was taking, the dead walker remained standing, shaking violently as each bullet tore through it, until the rifle spit out the last cartridge.
"Wells, what are you doing? You
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