Ascended

My knees buckled as the zombie charged down on me.

I had heard Masters talk about what getting bit felt like. They had described it like getting caught in a steel trap. This sensation was so much more.

The teeth were sharp and strong. There was a chill on my shoulder where it was attached, and my breath felt like it was freezing in my lungs. I choked as my knees buckled. It felt like I had two grown men on my back.

I pushed against the fog that clouded my vision and reached behind me. My nails scratched the zombie's hide as I strained for a handhold. My hands were still bound and I couldn’t reach under its arms.

The cheers of the guards almost masked the snap of the rope binding Val’s hands together. Before the zombie could react, she put it in a sleeper hold. The zombie bit her left arm, but that didn’t stop her from twisting her arms. There was a satisfying crack as she twisted the zombie’s head around. The zombie’s body fell forward, spraying gore in front of her.

Val arched her arm and threw the zombie’s head at her sister. The dead monster turned its attention from me to her. I would’ve liked her to help me, but drawing Sera away was good enough. It allowed me to focus on the zombie behind me. I watched her move away from me and tried to think.

The chill was spreading up my neck and down my back. I needed to do something fast or I was going to pass out. I knew that if I lost consciousness then I wouldn’t wake up again.

Instead of trying to grab the zombie, I changed tactics. I pulled against the zombie’s neck with my hands and rolled forward. I fought the jolt of fog that clouded my vision as I landed on top of the zombie. I was on my back now with my hands behind me, pinning the zombie between me and the ground. The zombie’s mouth popped off of my shoulder when we landed and I could hear its teeth gnashing together, trying to latch back on to me.

I rolled my shoulder under its jaw and pulled tight. The zombie was strong and I wasn’t going to be able to hold it for long, but I only needed a second. I was thankful for the numbness of the zombie’s bite. It was blocking all the pain in my shoulder, which I imagined would be refusing to move otherwise.

I pushed with my legs and twisted over. The zombie was now facing me as I lay on top of it. I pulled tight on my arms to keep it in place. Its cold breath pulled a gag out of me as my stomach tried to empty, but I swallowed the bile. Now was not the time to be sick.

I didn’t weigh enough to hold the zombie pinned for long and my arms were busy trying to keep its claws pinned to its sides. I needed something to hit it with, but there was nothing around, besides, I’d have to release my hold to swing something.

I used the only blunt weapon I could.

I brought my forehead down into its face.

The first blow threatened to knock me out, but I blinked away the stars and focused on the crunching sound that the broken nose had made. I smashed it again, this time drawing a howl out of the undead monster, but its struggles were losing strength.

I hit it a third, then a fourth, and finally a fifth time.

I had zombie blood running down my face, and was pretty sure I had busted an eyebrow, but the zombie was barely moving. I pulled the monster up as I stood. My knees wobbled as I tried to keep my balance, but I didn’t fall. I could hear the cheers of the guards, but the noise sounded so distant.

I turned the zombie around so that our backs were touching and cradled its neck over my right shoulder. I braced and pulled the zombie off of its feet as I leaned forward.

The undead creature began to lash out weakly, but I was too numb to care about the few scratches I received. In a few moments, the popping noises stopped as a wet thud announced that I was only holding a head. I tossed the head across the pen, then looked over at Val, who was standing over the body of her sister. Tears ran down her cheek and blood leaked from her arms. We had beaten the zombies for now, but in a few hours, Max would turn and the magic inside Sera would heal her wounds. Not that it mattered, we would be zombies ourselves by then.