Haven or Hell?

Chapter 1

I bolt upright in bed as I am suddenly awakened from a deep and peaceful dream by an odd sense of foreboding. Feeling that something is amiss in the room but not yet sensing any immediate threat, I silently yawn and wait for my eyes to adjust to the darkness engulfing the room. I ponder to myself why Hank's side of the bed feels strangely empty. Hank is a deep sleeper who almost never gets up in the middle of the night. Where could he be?

As my eyes slowly begin to adjust, I sense something in the darkness that is completely unfamiliar. I can just make out the vague outline of someone sitting near the foot of the bed. Although my mind insists this must be Hank, after all who else would be in my bed, my subconscious is screaming at me that it isn't him and that I need to run now!

With my mind preoccupied trying to figure why panic is swiftly overtaking my other senses, I suddenly pick up on something that I have failed to sense before now; a sound. There is an odd, wet, slurping sound coming from the foot of the bed. Coming from the shape sitting there. This sound is so disturbing I can't believe I almost missed it completely. It brings the panic that's been building inside me to a crescendo that nearly causes me to scream aloud. WHAT IS THAT HORRIBLE NOISE?

All of a sudden, the hall light flicks on. Its blinds me momentarily. My eyes immediately move to the foot of the bed. In the now partially lit room, I can finally make out the details of what is sitting down there merely inches from my naked legs. The creature was obviously once the man that I loved but is now so utterly altered from that previous being that my mind has trouble connecting the two at all, aside from it being roughly the same size and having similar facial features. The thing, for lack of a better word, has strange bottomless black eyes and a mouth that is currently dripping blood and gore.

Despite the creature's gruesome appearance, my eyes are drawn away from its face, following the entrails hanging from its lips, to the form laying across its lap. A strangely familiar form. Although it is now only a misshapen heap of golden fur, skin, and bone. As I watch transfixed, the creature scoops more innards from the mass in its lap and stuffs another handful into its mouth. I know, without a shadow of a doubt, that the mass is actually the remains of my beloved golden retriever. I bite back a sob as the realization hits me.

While I'm still paralyzed in fear and trying to come to terms with what I am seeing, my thirteen year old son suddenly bursts into the room, yelling something about zombies on the news. I don't catch what exactly he says, and he has no time to finish or react as the creature suddenly lunges for him. My paralysis is immediately terminated as motherly instincts kick in to protect my baby from this new threat lurking within what was once my husband's body.

As the creature lunges toward my frozen son, I jump out of the bed and rush toward it. The creature doesn't sense me approaching at all and continues toward my son. I frantically yell for my son to hide in his room, which spurs him into action but also causes the creature to turn its sights solely upon me. As I finally get a closer look at what was just hours before my beloved husband, I notice the awkward, jerky way it moves and its flat, blank stare. There is no recognition in its gaze, rather it doesn't seem to think at all. And it seems like the creature has limited control of its limbs. Almost like when a circuit board fries and the connection to the fuses is fried but not entirely broken. Its arms hang awkwardly by its sides and it limps slightly as it steps towards me.

Before I have time to further study the creature in hopes of figuring out how to get past it, it makes a sudden lunge at me. As it lunges forward, I dart back, but somehow the creature manages to snag my nightgown. The momentum causes me to fall to one knee, and before I can recover, the creature jumps on me, forcing me flat on my back. Panic grips me as it starts clawing and biting at my face. I barely manage to hold the creature back as it snaps at my face.

Zombie, that's what Joey had said. I finally recognize the creature for what it is. The thing that is desperately trying to feed upon my tender flesh is a ZOMBIE!