College Road Trip (Z-Fic Novella Honorable Mention) [COMPLETE]

CHAPTER 3: ZOMBIES?

The word that came to mind was zombie. 

He had all the signature traits. Ron van Hoor was mobile (though he didn't seem to be particularly good at perambulating). He was decomposing, what with the missing mandible, the fingers falling off of his hands, and his very-obviously-falling-off-the-body left leg. The moaning, the groaning, the lack of communication, the way that he was still trying to get to Lynette even though she was holding him at bay with a confused hand... It all added up, and the sum total was zombie. 

"At least he doesn't seem to be violent?" Lewis said, inching ever-closer to the door. 

Lynette gave him a sarcastic grin. There was some blood running down her forearms from where Ron was clawing it. "Yeah. Non-violent." 

"What the fuck is going on?" I wondered aloud. My head was spinning with all the things I couldn't understand. 

Lewis didn't answer my question. "Do you think there's Wi-Fi in here?" 

I smacked him on the shoulder. "Dude, this isn't the time to be texting your girlfriend!" 

"I know it isn't! I'm not trying to text Laila! I want to know whats going on!" He paused, then muttered, "And she's not my girlfriend." 

"Not yet." 

"Guys!" Lynette snapped. "This isn't the time!" 

"You're right, you're right." I ran a hand through my hair. It wasn't gelled, which was an odd feeling, because it normally was. "Keep holding him, we'll figure something out." 

"Is it morally acceptable to kill this guy?" 

"I don't know, Lyn." 

"We're all stressed," Lewis said, very obviously looking around on the floor for something resembling a conveniently-placed Wi-Fi password. He was on his hands and knees. "Why don't we take a breath, forget morality for a second, and try to figure out what's going on and what we can do." 

"Are you seriously looking for the goddamn Wi-Fi password?" I couldn't believe this. 

"Yeah, I am! I have no idea what's going on here, I haven't seen the news in days, and I want to know what's going!" 

Lynette rolled her eyes. "This is very obviously some sort of zombie. I mean, look at him." 

"Yeah, but is this the only time this has happened? Is this happening all over the world and we haven't heard about it because Peter refuses to drive on a highway? What's the consensus on it? Is this a disease? How is it spread? Is it illegal to kill one of these things? Will I be prosecuted? There's so much we don't know, and I... I have to look it up." 

Lynette looked pointedly at me while Lewis continued to scrounge around on the ground. She was still holding Ron van Hoor at bay, albeit more apathetically than before. (He was trying to get at her but, other than her forearms, he couldn't seem to.) "Criminal Justice majors are exhausting." 

"You're telling me." 

"Could you hold this guy off for a few seconds? My arm's getting tired." 

I gave her a half-concerned, half-sympathetic smile. It was a very dry emotion. "Yeah. Sure thing." 

You would think that holding off a mindless entity would be easy, but no. He kept coming at my arms. His head was also squishier than expected. There was a soft spot in the middle of it like a baby's unfused fontanel. I tried to keep the palmar side of my hand over it so that my fingers wouldn't dip into his skull and the slimy cavern beneath. No matter what, I didn't want to think about it.