✓ ❘ 𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐘𝐁𝐎𝐃𝐘 𝐒𝐂𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐌 ─ 𝐇𝐀𝐋𝐋𝐎𝐖𝐄𝐄𝐍 𝐀𝐍𝐓𝐇𝐎𝐋𝐎𝐆𝐘

Run.

*WINNING STORY*

"I had a thought."

"Oh no."

"I swear it's a good one this time!"

Patrick rolled his eyes and gave a snort in response, which Pete took as a cue to continue.

"A zombie relay race!" Pete beamed widely and threw his arms out to show his enthusiasm.

Patrick raised an eyebrow as he stuffed a few pieces of candy into his mouth. "You wanna make people run on Halloween?"

The disdain was evident in Patrick's tone and Pete frowned. "Not run – stagger. That's the whole point; it's not a regular relay race, it's a zombie one. Everyone has to stagger or else they're out."

The younger man remained silent as he pondered over his friend's idea for the special event at the upcoming community Halloween festival. The two of them had been appointed co-heads of the annual affair, but they had been struggling to come up with a suitable idea for the infamous special event.

That is, until now.

"Ya know what, Pete," Patrick clamped a hand down on his friend's shoulder, envisioning the community participating in the sporting event, "Zombie relay race it is."

~

Patrick stood back with his arms folded and a proud smirk on his face, admiring the view in front of him; the turnout for this year's festival was astonishing, and a hoard of civilians were currently dressed up as members of the living dead, staggering towards their relay partners in an attempt to win the race.

There was a sudden burst of energy erupting throughout the crowd in the form of excited yells and Patrick turned his head to observe why. A smile crept onto his face as he noticed that one zombie was mere seconds away from crossing the finish line.

Grabbing Pete – who was standing a few feet away, cheering along – Patrick started for the end point of the race. He grabbed the miniature trophy from the prize table and hollered with the rest of the crowd as the champion crossed the line.

"Congrats, dude!" Pete exclaimed, smiling as he addressed the winner.

"You're the first ever winner of the Halloween Zombie Relay Race!" Patrick held out the trophy for the individual to accept. It was then that he noticed how exceptionally realistic their costume was, and he squinted and leaned forward to get a better look. "Woah, your costume is crazy good."

"Yeah," Pete agreed, reaching out to lightly punch their right shoulder, "You even have the decaying-OH MY GOD."

Both men recoiled in horror as the arm that Pete had touched fell right off of the body it was attached to. The zombie looked at its detached limb, grunted, and turned back to the pair, opening its mouth wide and exposing its rotting jaw.

"Pete?"

"Yeah?"

"You know how I've always said we should take up running?"

"Mm hmm."

"I think now would be a good time to start."

The males turned and sprinted off, leaving only the echo of their terrified screams to fill their empty spaces.