ZDAY

The Beginning

 "Happy Z-Day, Derek." Jeremy trotted down my cellar stairs, carrying a massive black duffel bag. He slapped me on the shoulder wearing a wide grin, and passed right by me to set his bag down. I watched as he treated it like fragile cargo.

"You too, man," I replied, pacing towards him, "What the hell is in that bag? What all could you possibly need for one night?"

Tonight was our last sleepover. In three days I was leaving for Michigan to start college and Jeremy was heading across the country to California.

"I brought something special," he laughed, "I've been working on it for awhile, it's perfect for today." Jeremy began to unzip the bag.

Today marks National Zombie Day. It's not a recognized holiday, only known between us and some other gamers. We planned on ordering pizzas and watching old zombie films. What did Jeremy have in mind now?

I squinted my eyes to get a better look as he pulled out a small, cardboard box. "What is that?"

"Come here," he whispered. "Don't be loud. He freaks out."

He? I stepped over to the cube as he set it on my worn, purple couch. I leaned over, anxious to see what was in there.

Inside the box was a tiny, red rag and laying on top of it was a mouse, curled up asleep. It wasn't anything special. Just a little, grey mouse.

"I don't get it," I furrowed my eyebrows, then looked back at Jeremy. Was this a joke?

"Watch this." He had a devilish glint in his eyes as he towered over the mouse and gave the box a slight shake.

The mouse's eyes snapped open. The pupils were so wide that almost no white was visible. It hopped up quickly and began running around in circles, ramming into the walls of the box.

"What the hell did you do to it?" My stomach dropped.

"I turned it into a zombie. The world's first zombie mouse." Jeremy said this so nonchalantly that I assumed he couldn't be serious.

"Zombie mouse?" I raised an eyebrow.

"Well, zombie is a relative term." He folded his arms, "But, it's close enough."

Zombies were fun in video games, comics and movies. In real life? Not at all. I saw what happened in every story- everyone, or almost everyone, ends up dead.

"I really hope you're kidding."

"No, dude. Why aren't you excited? This is awesome."

"What is wrong with the mouse?" My voice was firm.

"Okay, to be honest, I'm not exactly sure," Jeremy sheepishly admitted.

"How is that possible?" The mouse was now squealing. I leaned over again. It's mouth was frothing. I actually felt bad for the little thing.

"You know how my dad works at the lab? Well, he's been studying infectious viruses. I overheard him talking to Brian, my uncle, about this batch of mice they were testing on. I think for research on rabies? I really don't know. Anyways, my dad made a joke about how they acted like little zombie mice."

"Wait, wait, wait," I cut in, pacing around my coffee table. "You're saying this is from a lab? Does it have rabies? Dude, I don't want that shit."

"Okay, let me finish." Jeremy closed the top of the box. "So, I snuck one out and brought it here. I mean, it's not an actual zombie mouse. But, it does have some form of rabies mutation, so it's kinda cool."