The Unmasking (A Zombie Novel)

Chapter One

Sparkles and colors galore engulfed my body as I wrapped my legs tightly around the barrel of my unicorn friend, Buzznutt Muzzleface. She was transferring me to my new police precinct, where I worked in search of aliens. As I arrived, my father approached me. "Wake up, Evelyn," He said with a warm smile, putting a hand on my shoulder.

When I stood there with a baffled look on my face, he began to morph in to the Minotaur. He raised his head, threatening to moo, or roar, or whatever loud and menacing sound I could imagine a cow could make, all that I heard was a beeping sound that sounded strangely like my alarm clock. The Minotaur got on all fours, running around, the beeping sound blaring from his mouth.

Beep, beep, beep, beep!!!

"Evelyn." Buzznutt said to me with an expression of urgency.

Beep, beep, beep, beep!!!!

"Evelyn!!!" Buzznutt suddenly shouted in my face, and I closed my eyes, only to find myself in my room.

"Evelyn!"

"Shit!" I screamed, frantically trying to sit up, but only succeeding in losing my balance from teetering on the side of my bed and falling face first to the floor.

"Turn that goddamn thing off! It's been blaring forever!" I didn't have to see his face to know that it was my father shouting from the next room over. 

I scrambled to my knees, using my nightstand as support and slamming my palm down on the top of my digital clock. The beeping stopped, and I immediately relaxed at the silence. With a glance at my phone, I found that the time was 5:17 am. I frowned some, but what really caught my attention was the extreme number of messages on my lock screen. No matter how long I kept scrolling, the messages almost seemed to have no end. I glanced at words that caught my eye like "Zombies!" or "School" or "cancelled." Was school cancelled? No way. My thumb paused on a notification from Thomasville, Georgia's very own news station. 

Message: Breaking News! Schools in north shut down after virus panic left hundreds insane and aggressi...

Message: Breaking News! CDC in action! Daily life is expected to return within the next week after quaranti...

"Holy shit.." I whispered to myself, biting my lip lightly as I read. "I guess as long as the CDC is involved, it'll be alright.." I ran a hand through my hair, but cringed when my fingers caught on a knot. Sighing, I dragged myself off the ground and over to my bedroom door, turning on the ceiling light. It took me a moment to adjust to the sudden brightness, but soon I found myself in the bathroom connected to my room looking at my disheveled appearance. I was not a morning person.

After about 20 minutes of grueling prepping to make myself look decent for society, I was ready for school in jeans and a tee-shirt, my brown hair falling like a bunch of limp angel hair noodles glued to my scalp. 

I didn't bother to let my father know I was leaving the house. He was probably asleep, and after all, I was 19. Why is it his business when I leave the house anymore? I knew I'd be getting hell for it when I got back from school, but I had a whole day at school before that would come.

The bus ride was quiet and a frigid 60 degrees. I made it to school about an hour later, having to book it to my first period before the tardy bell rang.

I sat at my desk with a few minutes to spare, and as I engulfed myself in the current events going on as a I scrolled through news reports and social media, quite a few conversations around the room caught my attention.

"Yeah, I hear they all died, but..." There was a dramatic pause as the guy speaking's audience held their breaths ,"...they all came back to life. Cannibals. Nothing on their mind except eating."