by Eirik Gumeny
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\nThe office was quiet, dark, lit only by the soft glow of a few auxiliary lights and the reflection of the moonlight off the snow outside. Most of the staff had left within minutes of the governor making his declaration of a State of Emergency \u2013 to pick up necessities, to get home to family, to try and beat traffic. Satish and Deepen, model employees that they were, remained behind with a handful of others to try and put a dent in the department\u2019s ever increasing workload.<\/p>\n
Six weeks later they were still there, hard at work, gnawing on what was left of the severed leg of their coworker James. The rest of James, and the carcass of his wife, Pamela, the receptionist, lay picked clean at their feet.<\/p>\n
Cleveland, another coworker, rushed over to them, as quickly as his bad leg would allow, visibly dismayed.<\/p>\n
\u201cOut,\u201d he growled. \u201cOut!\u201d<\/p>\n
Satish turned slowly toward Cleveland, a flap of skin hanging from his mouth, James\u2019 calf in his hands, and asked, \u201cWhuh?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cPeo-ple,\u201d replied Cleveland, pointing his scabbed and handless stump toward the window.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeo-ple?\u201d scoffed Deepen, dropping James\u2019 thigh onto his desk and turning to face his behanded colleague.<\/p>\n
\u201cYeh,\u201d said Cleveland, gravely. \u201cOut.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOut?\u201d replied Deepen even more skeptically, the brow above his one eye raised. \u201cOut sigh?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYeh! Peo-ple out fakking sigh!\u201d<\/p>\n
Cleveland was practically hopping in place, his torn, bloodied clothing fluttering as he bounced, his stump quivering with urgency and once again aimed at the window.<\/p>\n
Deepen looked at Satish. Satish shrugged. Cleveland\u2019s exposed kneecap began to slide down his shin.<\/p>\n
Deepen shook his head and trudged out of James\u2019 cubicle.<\/p>\n
\u201cUrk,\u201d said Cleveland, tapping his stump against the smudged and spattered glass. \u201cPeo-ple.\u201d<\/p>\n
Satish and Deepen stepped up to the window and looked down from their fourth floor perch, following Cleveland\u2019s rapidly decaying appendage to the source of his discontent.<\/p>\n
A man. A living, breathing, man. Knee deep in snow, bathed in blue moonlight, and carrying a baseball bat.<\/p>\n
Satish and Deepen exchanged glances.<\/p>\n
\u201cFakking peo-ple!\u201d exclaimed Cleveland. \u201cOut!\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cCahm,\u201d said Deepen. \u201cCahm. One peo-ple. Nuh portant.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBat!\u201d said Cleveland.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne peo-ple,\u201d repeated Deepen, raising a single skeletal finger in front of his face. \u201cUs three. Us more.\u201d He gestured to the far sides of the office, across piles of overturned desks and collapsed cubicles, over the bile stains and half-eaten organs and bare, broken bones, to the twitching cadavers eating old friends and the shambling corpses gathering at the windows.<\/p>\n
\u201cUs more.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cUs more,\u201d echoed Cleveland, his torn, clotted mouth forcing its way into a smile.<\/p>\n
Deepen turned toward the window once again, his good eye focusing on the young man outside, his hunger growing.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne peo-ple more peo-ple!\u201d shouted Satish suddenly. \u201cMore!\u201d<\/p>\n
Deepen turned and slapped him across the face. Satish lost his jaw in the process.<\/p>\n
\u201cCahm. Fak. Dow,\u201d said Deepen, grabbing Satish by his exposed collarbones. \u201cJuh. One. One peo-ple.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cUnff peeeperle morrr peeeeperle,\u201d repeated Satish weakly, rapidly expanding and collapsing his chest cavity, the muscle memory of a panic attack. \u201cAllwahaysth morrr.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNuh. One.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNuh one,\u201d said Cleveland quietly, disbelievingly, staring out the window.<\/p>\n
Deepen turned toward him.<\/p>\n
\u201cNuh one,\u201d repeated Cleveland. \u201cMore. More!\u201d<\/p>\n
From the window the trio of reanimated corpses could see five more living, breathing, weapon-carrying people meandering along the street below.<\/p>\n
\u201cEl, fak,\u201d said Deepen.<\/p>\n
The ding of the hallway elevator echoed into the silent office.<\/p>\n
\u201cUh?\u201d remarked Cleveland.<\/p>\n
\u201cNurring,\u201d replied Deepen weakly, \u201cjuh \u2013\u201d<\/p>\n
The lights came on, bathing the entire office in an awful fluorescence. The three deceased coworkers huddled together, looking around the bloodstained, entrail-strewn office. Their undead colleagues did the same, slowly shuffling toward them.<\/p>\n
Then they heard it.<\/p>\n
\u201cHello?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShih,\u201d sputtered Cleveland, stepping back and pressing himself against the nearest desk. Satish put himself behind Deepen, clutching at his shoulders.<\/p>\n
\u201cIs there anybody in here?\u201d<\/p>\n
Satish\u2019s remaining fingers tightened around Deepen\u2019s shoulders. One of Deepen\u2019s arms came off in the process.<\/p>\n
\u201cVraapth,\u201d said Satish. \u201cVraapth vraapth vraaapthing vraapth.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShih!\u201d shouted Cleveland, pounding a fist and a stump against the window. \u201cShih!\u201d<\/p>\n
He pressed his forehead against the glass. There were dozens of men and women now, all unmutilated and breathing oxygen and carrying axes and frying pans and shotguns.<\/p>\n
\u201cNuh,\u201d he muttered, an eye sliding forward slightly. \u201cNuuuuh…\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHello?\u201d<\/p>\n
The voice was getting closer.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can hear you. I know you\u2019re in here.\u201d<\/p>\n
Satish shrank back, leaning against the window.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou fucking monsters.\u201d<\/p>\n
The elevator dinged again.<\/p>\n
\u201cFak,\u201d said Cleveland, turning toward the sound. The rest of the reanimated office workers, gathered near now, did the same.<\/p>\n
\u201cUh uth doooo?\u201d asked Satish. \u201cUh?!\u201d<\/p>\n
Deepen simply smiled, his lips cracking and his bloodied teeth bared.<\/p>\n
\u201cUs eat peo-ple brains,\u201d snarled Deepen, narrowing his one working eye.<\/p>\n
He stepped forward, grabbing a letter opener from the nearest desk with his good arm.<\/p>\n
\u201cBrains,\u201d repeated Cleveland, stepping beside Deepen, their coworkers lumbering behind them.<\/p>\n
\u201cBraaaaaaiiiinnsssss.\u201d by Eirik Gumeny The office was quiet, dark, lit only by the soft glow of a few auxiliary lights and the reflection of the moonlight off the snow outside. Most of the staff had left within minutes of the governor … Continue reading
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\nEIRIK GUMENY<\/strong> was a boxing kangaroo who died, tragically and violently, in the ring in 1923, fighting Teddy Roosevelt and a time-traveling Muhammad Ali. Find out more at egumeny.blogspot.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"