J. Gonzalez - Back From The Dead

“Here zombie!” Steve called out in sing-song voice. “We brought you din-din!”

David pushed the homeless man closer to the zombie by shoving him with his foot. The man rolled over and moaned. His left arm flopped on the floor, landing inches away from the zombie.

The zombie made a guttural gasp of surprise and stepped back. His left eyeball was a gleaming pus-filled globe. Fluid dribbled down his cheek, pooling above his upper lip.

“Come on you sack of shit, eat !” David knelt closer and picked up the homeless man’s arm off the floor. He moved it under the zombie’s nose, waving it enticingly. “Come on, have a bite! He’s nice and fresh !”

Scott couldn’t help but laugh. Gordon stood beside him, laughing too. It really was kind of funny. The goddamn zombie was behaving as if he were afraid.

“Are you sure that thing is dead?” Scott asked Gordon.

“Yeah, he’s dead,” Gordon answered. “Can’t you smell him?”

David turned to Scott. “No shit, man. You smell that?”

Scott hadn’t noticed the smell before but now he did. It was the faint smell of roadkill. “We’re going to have to do something about that soon,” he said.

“Air fresheners,” David said, taking a step back from the zombie and the new homeless guy. “We can get a bunch of them tomorrow.”

“So what you wanna do now?” Steve asked. He looked twitchy. Excited. Scott could tell he was amped up to spring some violence.

“Aren’t zombies supposed to eat people?” Scott asked.

“Count said they don’t always eat people,” Gordon said. “In that book he loaned me he said — ”

“Count Gaines don’t know shit,” Scott said.

“He knew enough to help us make a zombie!”

Scott sighed. His energy was low tonight. He had no desire to tie this new guy up and wail on him. Least they could do was get him tied up and gagged, but he didn’t want the guy beaten this soon. He’d already gotten knocked out by Dave. Besides, he really wanted to see if it was true about zombies — did they really eat people? “I want to see if our new zombie will take a bite out of this guy,” he said. He nodded to Steve. “Lift that guy up a bit and move him closer. Maybe stick his arm up to the other one’s mouth or something, force-feed him.”

David laughed. “Hell yeah, man! Force-feed him! Pry his mouth open with this dirty fucker’s arm! Maybe that’ll trigger a feeding response!”

That idea seemed to spark interest in the boys’ minds and they gathered closer around Dave as he reached down and hoisted the bum up by his armpits. The man moaned, his eyes fluttering open briefly. He was thin, wearing ragged jeans and a button down shirt with dirty sneakers. He’d been carrying a dirty knapsack when they crossed paths off an alleyway in downtown Harrisburg and Gordon had made sure to snag it when they got the bum into the SUV. The first thing the guy had said when he saw them pull up was, “Hey, can you guys spare some change?”

It had also been the last thing he’d said before they swarmed over him.

Dave picked up the unconscious man’s arm and moved it up to the zombie’s face. As he tugged on the man’s arm, he inadvertently pulled his body closer. The zombie stepped back, grunting in surprise. David forced the man’s arm to the zombie’s face. “Come on, you dirty piece of shit! Eat ! Take a bite!”

Gordon and Steve laughed. Scott cracked a grin. It was kinda funny watching the expression on the zombie’s face. It looked confused.

“This guy looks nice and tasty!” David crooned. “Come on, dude, you can do it. Take a bite!” He shoved the man’s arm against the zombie’s lips, pushing and prodding until its mouth was forced open. The zombie made a bleating cry of protest and tried to step back again. It was clear to Scott that the zombie was afraid of something.

“Come on, its good for you!” Gordon prodded. “You’ll like it.”

“Are you sure you want to be that close to it?” Steve asked.

Dave was standing close enough to the zombie to force the man’s arm into its face, but had a good position in which to get out of the way should it lunge at him. Besides, the zombie was chained up. He couldn’t really go far. Dave pushed the homeless man’s arm into the zombie’s lips, slowly prying his jaws open. The zombie made a high-pitched bleating noise; it was obviously trying to escape now. It looked terrified. With its back against the wall, chained up on a short leash to the metal posts, it gave Scott the impression that it was backed up against a corner. It was moving its head away from the proferred arm, its one remaining good eye rolling around in the socket, seeking an exit.

“The fuck,” Dave muttered, pushing the man’s arm farther into the zombie’s mouth. “ Eat , goddamit!”

“ Eeeeeeehhhhhh !” The zombie whined. It took another stumbling step backward and almost fell.

“Fucking piece of shit!” Dave punched the zombie with the homeless man’s arm. The movement jerked the homeless man’s body forward, hitting his head against the zombie’s grubby sneaker. The homeless man’s eyelids fluttered.

“Whaaaa?” The man groaned. He was lying on the ground near the zombie’s feet.

Dave punched the zombie in the face. “ Eat , you fucking sack of shit!”

The blow rocked the zombie back and this time he did fall. He landed on his hindquarters, legs splayed out in front of him. His foot accidentally kicked the homeless man in the torso and the man’s eyes snapped open. “ Hey !”

“Uh, oh,” Gordon said.

The homeless guy was conscious now. He sprang to his feet, as if he’d been doused with a bucket of cold water. Dave reacted instinctively, hoisting the man up by the armpits and giving him a shove toward the zombie.

The homeless man landed in the zombie’s lap and he gave a strangled scream. “ Aaaaugghh !”

The zombie gave out its own strangled cry, this one carrying a tinge of fear as the homeless man fell on him. “ Aaaaaiiiieeee !” It made no attempt to eat the homeless man. It didn’t even try to grab him. The goddamn thing was afraid of him!

“Fuck!” Scott muttered. Things weren’t working the way they were supposed to and this was getting him angry.

The homeless man floundered for a moment on the zombie’s lap, trying to orient himself. Then he launched himself to his feet and made a stumbling leap away from the zombie. He ran right into Scott, who grabbed him and flung him to the floor, his anger and fury rising. “Goddamit!”

The homeless man cast his gaze up at the four boys crowding around him, his eyes showing confusion, a sense of pleading. “Don’t hurt me, man…please…”

“ Shut up !” Scott yelled. He lashed out with one well-placed kick to the man’s stomach.

The homeless man doubled over in pain. That kick seemed to awaken Dave’s own urge for violence; he kicked the homeless man in the thigh and the small of his back. The homeless man screamed and tried to hobble away. The zombie made that keening whine again, cowering against the far wall of the room.

Scott was consumed with rage. It wasn’t supposed to work this way! The zombie was supposed to eat this guy! “Gordon, what the fuck?”

“What?”

“You said the zombie was supposed to eat this guy?”

“I never said that, I only said that it might !”

“Bullshit!”

The homeless man made a scrambled attempt at escape during the exchange. He crawled between the arguing boys and began to make a mad dash toward the door.

Steve lunged for him, grabbed him by his T-shirt and hauled him back.

Scott and David joined in the fray and closed in on him.