Zombies! And A Backflipping Hatchet Attack
By Alice Aldred
Entry in jackheath(dot)com(dot)au fanfiction competition.
No one knew what was real and what was fiction these days. Ned Kelly, Jesus Christ, Harry Potter, James Bond, Harry Houdini—who had really been real and who had been a story was lost somewhere in the past. Kyntak knew this before Six told him, before he'd read through each of the hundreds of books his brother kept in his bookcase, dusty and crowded, a contrast to everything else in his house. If there was one thing in Six's beloved stories, though, that Kyntak would have labelled as fiction it would have been the creatures called zombies. Inferi, in the Harry Potter books (which were Kyntak's favourites). The living dead.
Yet here he was, back to back with the Queen of Hearts in an abandoned warehouse, surrounded by things that were undeniably, unforgivably, unbelievably... Zombies. He couldn't quite decide if he was terrified or excited. He was leaning towards excited, in an I'm-going-to-wet-my-pant-with-fear sort of way.
They moved slowly back towards the wall as the zombies in the semi-circle around them began to advance. The shuff-shuff of dead feet dragging over concrete was not a pleasant one, but Kyntak was just glad they weren't making noises or holding their arms out like sleepwalkers never do. Although on second thought, perhaps their silence was just as terrifying as any noises they could make. And he really wasn't comfortable being backed up against this wall... Queen's voice was as calm and steady as always when she spoke next, her fingers tightening and releasing every few seconds on the handle of the hatchet in her hand. "So, now what would you suggest we do?"
"Just because Six is a genius with a near-perfect field record doesn't mean I share his brilliant tactical abilities," Kyntak grimaced. This was a lie, of course. He was every bit as good as his brother, and if this had been any other situation then he would've been boasting 'not to worry, for I have a brilliant plan' before launching into an attack, even if he was just making it up as he went along. In this situation, though, he was surrounded by creatures that are eerily similar to the ones that plagued his nightmares for years (well, his nightmares of things other than the lab. Luckily he'd never had both zombies and the lab terrifying him at once), and his excitement was beginning to be outweighed by the pants-wetting fear, more so with every step the monstrous things took across the floor.
Queen sighed, a disappointed sound that caused the stray strands of her brown hair that have escaped from her bun flutter wildly for a moment before settling back against her skin. She thoughtfully pushed away the lock hanging over her left eye, letting it slide through her fingers. "Well then, if you have no cunning plan and our radios are out, I suppose we shall just have to concentrate on escaping. We can come back with back-up later." And with no more warning, she strode towards the zombies, stopped, turned, and ran at the wall. Kyntak watched slack-jawed as she kicked off the ground, planted her foot on the wall, and did a perfect double back-flip through the air. He was snapped from his moment of stunned awe when her hatchet went straight into the head of the closest zombie with a sort of thwack-squish sound. The zombie stopped its slow advance, lifting its arms to feel incredulously at the weapon protruding from it's skull.
"Don't just stand there," Queen called impatiently, beckoning Kyntak toward her. The rest of the zombies had also stopped now, and were looking with confusion at the one with the axe in it's head. One of them lumbered towards it and began trying to pull it out. A few wet sounds and some grunting were given, and a few more shuffled over to help. Kyntak carefully made his way through one of these gaps in their advance, breaking into a run as he reached Queen.
"I wasn't expecting that," he remarked with wide eyes as they raced for the door.
"Neither was I," Queen replied. "They certainly haven't been dead very long, so really, I'm not entirely sure that hatchet should have gone right through the skull like that."
Kyntak stopped and stared at her with his mouth open and his eyes even wider. "Wait. What? What was that?"
Queen kept running, her eyes straight ahead, a small smirk on her face. Kyntak shook his head after her. A yowl came from somewhere behind them, and with a quick and horrified look over his shoulder, he began running again. Wow, he thought. She really is something.
Oh, Six would be so sorry he didn't get to come along for this one.
Just a quick author's note here: this fic is dedicated to Jono Crane, as it was he who demanded zombies and backflipping hatchet attacks.