{"id":844,"date":"2011-11-16T12:24:09","date_gmt":"2011-11-16T18:24:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.illinoir.com\/wp\/?p=844"},"modified":"2011-11-16T12:25:52","modified_gmt":"2011-11-16T18:25:52","slug":"meet-westy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.illinoir.com\/wp\/?p=844","title":{"rendered":"Meet Westy"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Mirror zombie. Word count: 26436. Word 25k: guttural<\/p><\/div>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Photo of Westy courtesy of Erica<\/p><\/div>\n

So, Zach now has this voice in his head, which he has named “Westy.” Debated about translating Westy’s words (Westy only ever says “brains”) and decided that A) It would be more clear what the conversation was and B) translation = words. Always go with the word count, says I. Zach and Westy step out on the town, dressed in Zach’s Sunday best…. And we have our first interaction with zombies! Scaaaaary!<\/p>\n

\n

The streets were emptier than they usually were; in fact, there wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t another soul around. Even late at night, this part of town remained pretty busy. With several night clubs, late-night bars, and music venues all in a three block radius there was plenty to do and see and people would come to do and see it. But not tonight. The windows of the bars and restaurants were dark; the marquees of the clubs were unlit and devoid of the names of bands that usually graced them; the liquor store was closed.<\/p>\n

The liquor store never closed.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153How long was I out?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Garrrrrrrrrrrrr.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

The voice — no, it wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t a voice. It was just a guttural growl, a low moan, an angry, hungry groan. And it hadn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t come from inside my head; it came from the shadows, from a dark alley to my right. There was movement there: a slow, awkward shuffling. A figure emerged from the darkness. It was a Z, shambling out of the night. Slumping forward, arms slack at its sides, it lurched towards me.<\/p>\n

It was instinctual fear that froze me in place. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d never come face to face with a zombie before, never seen one this close (unless you count my own self examinations in the mirror) and though all the zombie preparedness videos and pamphlets had told me exactly what to do in case of a zombie encounter, the tips and tricks all left my head and I was rooted in place, unable to move.<\/p>\n

It walked right past me and on down the street.<\/p>\n

I stood there, in shock. I had just had a close encounter with a Z and it hadn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t attacked me! I watched as it walked into the distance, just shuffling along, uttering the occasional growl, not a care in the world (save for the constant, never ending acquisition of brains.) So absorbed was I in my observations that I didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t notice the group of 30 more Zs which subsequently emerged from the alley and streamed around me as they followed the lone scout before them. They passed me close enough that some even bumped me as they went by. At the contact, they would utter the occasional grunt or groan but there was little reaction to my presence beyond that. They all seemed driven and focused on something at the end of the road, something beyond my sight or knowledge.<\/p>\n

\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 I realized that while some part of my brain that was still rooted in the past had felt fear, had caused me to mentally panic at the sight of the walking dead, I hadn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t actually felt it. There was no chill up my spine. No goosebumps or hair standing on end. No physical fear response. And no emotional fear response either: my life hadn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t flashed before my eyes, I hadn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t begun bargaining with God for my life. Whether this was a product of my dead nervous system or that I had just known that the zombie wouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t harm me in any way, I do not know. What I did know was that I was the best-dressed zombie in town.
\nAnd that made me smile.
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Westy. Seriously. How long was I out?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Brains.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d You took some time. Longer than we expected.<\/em>
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u0153\u00e2\u20ac\u02dcSome time?\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcWe?\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 Can you elaborate?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Brains.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Three of your years have passed since we entered you.<\/em>
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Three years?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d I managed to muster up some righteous indignation, just out of sheer habit. But I wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t really feeling it. The thought depressed me — if I couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t work up a sweat getting angry about something, was there any point in living anymore? But then, I didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t really feel the depression anymore either.
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m like Dexter!\u00e2\u20ac\u009d
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Brains?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153He is…or was?… a character on TV.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d I sensed confusion. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Television. Little box. Moving pictures. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not important right now. What is important is… well, I couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t say this is important either, but it is the point, and that should count for something. Dexter is this guy who\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s got what he calls the \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcDark Passenger\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 riding with him, and it makes him kill people, but since Dexter has a conscience, he follows the code that his father showed him, and he only kills people who need killing, like serial killers and rapists and stuff. But his whole deal is that he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a monster and he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s pretending to be human and pretending to have feelings and whatnot. Like me!\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Brains.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Except that you have no code to follow. You will kill the next living thing you see, eat its brains, and be done with it.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Well, we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll just see about that, Westy.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Brains.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Indeed. Now, shall we see where those fellas are going?<\/em> The voice in my head somehow nodded towards the group of zombies who were just now disappearing into the night.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Fine. Yeah. Whatever.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

Catching up to the Zs wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t hard. They don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t walk all that fast unless they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re chasing food, and there wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t much in the way of food on the street. I was tempted to stop in the Taco Bell, but it looked as if it hadn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t been a functional food source for quite some time. The rest of the fast food joints on the street were all in the same state. Windows were either boarded up, or broken, doors hung loose on their hinges, lights were off, nobody was home.<\/p>\n

The Zs were headed north, which suited me fine. I didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t really care where we went, was just along for the ride, there to see what I could see.<\/p>\n

The commercial zone gave way to a residential area, but it was just as empty. Houses were boarded up, barricaded however the owners could imagine to do it. It looked like everything had come on in a hurry, like people were a bit rushed when trying to build their fortifications. This zombie thing had been going on for years and it still took these folks by surprise. It didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t look like these fortifications worked all that well — windows were broken, doors torn down, worse….<\/p>\n

Here and there, \u00c2\u00a0you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d see it. A lone Z, or maybe a couple of them, on hands and knees, tearing at entrails, feasting on a kill. What was left of my humanity caused me to wretch. What was left of my stomach was completely empty, so nothing came out.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Brains,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said Westy. C\u00e2\u20ac\u2122mon kid. The first one\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s always the hardest.<\/em> Like this was a murder scene and Westy was the grizzled veteran homicide detective and I was the young rookie looking to prove himself. Except that here, proving myself meant finding some living thing, preferably a human being, and eating it. I wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t all that eager to get that first notch on my belt.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

So, Zach now has this voice in his head, which he has named “Westy.” Debated about translating Westy’s words (Westy only ever says “brains”) and decided that A) It would be more clear what the conversation was and B) translation = words. Always go with the word count, says I. Zach and Westy step out […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[109],"tags":[16],"class_list":["post-844","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nanowrimo","tag-excerpt"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.illinoir.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/844","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.illinoir.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.illinoir.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.illinoir.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.illinoir.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=844"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.illinoir.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/844\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.illinoir.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=844"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.illinoir.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=844"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.illinoir.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=844"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}