ZOMBIES nanowrimo 2010

My Story about
The Shovel of Death


There is an odd, well some say it is odd, I say they’re odd, tradition amongst certain writers about using a particular object in their story.  Part of this tradition is just fitting it into the story.  Part of the fun is when it is so out of ‘character’ with the story line.  At least that is what I believe.  I am about to go into avid detail of the many uses of The Shovel of Death, or TSOD for short.  Prepare your minds for a long and insane trip into the many wonderful and grotesque ways that a shovel can be used to cause death. 

We start our path of learning by meeting Sarah.  Sarah was a shy little girl who liked to eat sour pickles and stuff her nose in a book.  Sarah enjoyed reading romance novels and fantasized about a certain male in her fifth grade class who she thought about regularly.  Sarah pondered all the wonderful things that her “man” might decide to do for her this Valentine’s Day.  She started writing a list for him.

1. Get me flowers.
2. Smooch me on the lips.
3. Make me a card.
4. Smooch me again on the lips.
5. Tell me I am his girlfriend.
6. Tell his friends I am his girlfriend.
7. Read poetry to me.

When Sarah was done with her list she put it under her pillow because it was almost time for bed and she wanted to dream about Valentine’s Day.  Sarah went into her private bathroom to get ready.  Her mommy and daddy were both tucked in bed.  Sarah got up on her stool and reached for her pink glittery tooth brush and then grabbed her pink bubble gum flavored tooth paste.  She ran some water over the bristles of her brush then flicked the bristles at her mirror splashing water drops all over it.  Sarah giggled as she tried to make out her cute little button nose and broad toothy grin through all the mess on her mirror.  Then she started putting toothpaste on her brush.  She breathed in the fresh bubble gum scent as it came out of the tube and spread onto her ready brush.  She began scrubbing her teeth making sure not to miss anything.  Sarah brushed the tops of her teeth.  She brushed the sides of her teeth.  She even brushed the backs of her teeth.  When Sarah was finished brushing she took the brush and rinsed it clean under the cold faucet water.  Then after her pink brush was shiny like new she placed it in her pink and sparkling tooth brush holder. 

Sarah giggled after rinsing out her mouth.  She jumped up and down and watched her curly blonde hair bounce along with her.  Sarah smiled happily and ran her small fingers through her golden hair.  She thoroughly enjoyed how distorted she looked in the mirror with all the water on it still.  Sarah put on a pink nightgown and slipped on her pink bunny slippers.  She climbed over her pink bear rug and slid into her pink covers.  She giggled again from the bear fur as it tickled her toes just before she slipped into her cozy sheets.  As Sarah started closing her eyes and prepared to dreams sweet Valentine’s Day dreams there was a sound.  She shot up in her little pink bed and looked around her pink painted room. 

“Who is there?”  Sarah asked, her smile now gone.  She felt a chill as if the window was open but she saw that it was not.  Goose bumps spread all over her body and she rubbed her small arms to make them go away.  Suddenly Sarah’s bedroom door exploded into a bazillion tiny pieces of wood.  She screamed as loud as she could and kept screaming as two dark shadowy figures came into her dimly lit room.  “Mommy! Daddy!”

“Brains?!”  Was the only reply Sarah received and it came from the larger of the two figures.  “Ughhhhhhh!”

Sarah screamed again as the larger shadow grew closer with what looked like arms outstretched trying to catch her.  As it grew closer her princess nightlight illuminated the face of the creature.  It was Sarah’s father.  There was something different about him though. “Daddy?!”

Her father stopped for a moment.  There was something redish covering the left side of his face and his night robes looked wet with something dark.  “Sarah?”

“Daddy!  What are you doing?!  You’re scaring me!”  Sarah shouted jumping out of her sheets and standing next to her bed.  It looked like there was a chunk missing from her daddy’s head.  “Is that blood?!”

“Brains!”  Sarah’s father’s face contorted into a menacing fright.  He looked ferocious and enraged.  “Rah!”

As he started for what seemed like a lunge crouching ever so slightly the other figure came barreling into the light of the princess nightlight.  It was Sarah’s mommy and she looked like a piece of her head was missing too.  There was also a large chunk of the side of her neck missing and some liquid was pulsing out of her neck with strong spurts. 

“Share brains!”  Mommy yelled and slammed into the mad daddy.  As she did so Daddy fell onto the floor and something squishy and grey fell out of the new hole that Sarah saw in his head.  She couldn’t be sure but she could swear it looked like a piece of brain.  Mommy dived at it snapping her teeth over the chunk of dying brain.  Sarah screamed again.  She ran to her window and shoved it open intending to jump but then she froze.  She was staring at the ground from the second floor.  Thoughts of breaking her pretty legs and having her brains eaten filled Sarah’s shattered child mind.  She closed her eyes and thought of the one thing that always seemed to bring her happyness.  Her man.  With a clear picture of him in her mind she leapt out of the window just as Daddy swiped hungrily at her.
Sarah plummeted with her eyes closed feeling the cool night air against her skin and hearing the wind tear past her ears.  It stopped ever so suddenly.  She expected something to hurt.  She opened one eye when she felt nothing.  As a matter of fact she felt like she was floating  then her legs started to sting. She saw through her one eye that she was caught in one of the yard hedges.  She opened both eyes and started to wriggle free from the hedge.  She moon lit up the area nicely as it was a clear sky and the moon was full.  Sarah struggled to get free and could hear crashing in the house up stairs.  Mommy and Daddy were snarling and shouting, “Brains!”

Sarah pulled herself from the hedge and fell on her face on the cold grass.  Her head spun and everything was wiggling in her vision.  She heard a loud shout from above that got louder and louder until it ended with an even louder thud right in front of her.  “Brains?”  Sarah’s world grew stable once more and her blue eyes grew wide as her head snapped up and she took in the creature that used to be Daddy laying on its back.  Daddy’s head slowly turned to face her and his left hand reached out to her His face was calm now.  He looked sad.  In the moonlight his skin was pale and his lips dark purple.  He opened his mouth and said,  “Sarah has spicy brains.”

Sarah leapt back onto her little feet full of fear.  At this move Daddy looked angry again.  Instantly he looked enraged.  He grimaced and his eyes bulged out of his head.  He flailed all his limbs like a mad baby and started to get up.  Sarah stepped back and felt her foot hit something solid.  She reached behind herself instinctively grabbing as Daddy rose and roared and towered over her.  He clawed at the moon for a second before descending upon her thirsty for his daughter’s brains.  Just before his drooling mouth met her tender skull Sarah darted to his left.  She swung the object she had grabbed in both hands and smashed Daddy in the rear of the skull with a well used shovel.  There was a loud pop noise as the back of Daddy’s skull split and his body was thrown to the earth from the force.  Daddy’s body twitched a few times.  First the fingers, then the hands, then the arms.  A moment later Daddy started getting on his knees.  He was postured on all fours still staring at the ground.  He turned his head to face Sarah once more.  “Brains?” 

“NOOOOOO!”  Sarah screamed her hair frizzy and full of leaves and dirt from her fall.  She raised the shovel above her head and with all of her little girl strength she smashed Daddy on the side of the head.  This time when he fell to the ground she continued to bash his skull.  There was a sickening crunch each time the shovel made contact with the exposed skull.  Next the jawbone was shattered and bloody teeth fell from what was left of the gaping maw that Daddy now had for a head.  Every time Sarah raised the shovel for another blow a splatter of blood hit her and lined up her pink night gown.  She could taste the blood in her mouth as she breathed it in through ragged gasps.  Sarah finally paused.  She held the shovel in both hands partially above her head ready for action.  She could feel the cooling blood running down the handle over her fingers then down her arm.  When it made contact with her night gown it started to absorb into the fabric slowly feeding a growing blood stain on her gown.  Her whole body shook as the adrenaline coursed through her veins.  Her eyes were dilated taking in every detail of the horrific gory mess that was left of Daddy.  Daddy who had just kissed her goog night moments earlier.  Daddy who promised to be at every ballet recital and hadn’t missed one yet.  Daddy who let her ride up front in the family car.  Daddy who built her the two story treehouse last summer.  Her daddy was now a mangled mutilated carcass on her front lawn.  All because of her. 

The front door opened suddenly and Mommy came lurching out.  “Brains!” 

Without missing a beat Sarah ran up to her and stabbed the shovel into Mommy’s face.  Blood sprayed out from where the shovel pierced the face separating the lower jaw completely away.  Naturally all of the blood spray hit Sarah right on the face.  And naturally her mouth was still open from all the hard breathing she had to do to keep in the fight.  Mommy stumbled from the blow and fell backwards on the front steps.  Not pausing for a moment Sarah already had the shovel raised above her head and started smashing Mommy’s face into the granite steps as viciously as she was able. 

Once Mommy’s head was a goopy splatter on the granite steps Sarah stumbled back.  She was shaking uncontrollably.  The air outside was cold.  The grass was frosty.  The taste of the blood in her mouth was oddly sweet.  Sarah felt a sudden lurching pain in her stomach.  She fell onto her knees and started to vomit.  Her head was spinning and her whole body was sore.  Her legs still felt like they were burning from all the cuts when she fell into the hedge.  Sarah turned away from the fresh pile of steaming vomit.  She spit a few times and wiped her mouth.  She pulled her knees to her chest and started to cry.  She remained in that position for some time.  She looked up at one point and in her shocked state of mind managed to ponder why no one was around.  She thought it was really loud but nobody came out to see what was going on.  As a matter of fact there was not a single light on.  She looked at her knees and something caught her eyes.  There was a whisp of low fog moving over the lawn.  It was just high enough to cover her feet.  It was cold.  In the distance she heard something.  Several low growls came from down the street. 

Sarah got up and wiping the tears from her eyes she ran into her home bounding up the granite steps.  One of her feet landed in the mess that was recently her mother’s face.  She bolted into her home leaving a bloody footprint along the carpet and up the stairs.  She rain down the second floor hallway past all the family photos and came to a stop just outside her parents bedroom.  She took a deep breath and pushed the door open.  The first thing she noticed was the odor that overcome her.  The room smelled like her hamster that died last summer that she couldn’t find for two days.  The next thing was all the blood.  The sheets were soaked and dark red.  Her parents rear porch door was open and a cold breeze came in and took away some of the stench.  Sarah put a hand on her mouth and another on her stomach.  She threw up in her mouth and spit it all on the floor.  She choked on her vomit.  She spit again and focused on what she came for.  She ran over to her father’s nightstand and opened the top drawer.  She reached inside and pulled out a semi automatic handgun.  She braced herself to pull back the slide, remembering when her father taught her how it works that she could barely move it herself.  It took almost no effort though.  She easily pulled the slide back.  As she let it slam forward loading the first .45 caliber hollow point she observed something different about herself.  Her arms looked more muscular than the sticks she had for arms when she was brushing her teeth in the mirror.  Her daddy had told her about adrenaline before but she didn’t think this is what he meant.  She clenched and relaxed her right hand and noticed she felt stronger all over.  The time to admire herself was over.  There was a shuffle on the porch and Sarah’s head snapped to look over and see a new smelly corpse head into the bedroom.  It let out a loud wail and something dark poured from its mouth.  Sarah turned and ran over to the closet, grabbed the handle, and tore it from the mounts.  She looked at the large wooden door in her hand with wide eyes.  The zombie lurched towards her shouting “RAH!”

Sarah threw the door across the room and it flew like a Frisbee catching the zombie in its stomach and launching it onto the porch and over the railing.  A moment later there was a crash below as the ground a floor away greeted the zombie and the closet door.  Sarah shivered.  She felt even stronger then a minute ago.  She half expected to see her body rippling with muscles but it didn’t change much at all.  She just looked in good shape.  Sarah decided to ignore it for now and reached into the closet for the things she had meant to use.  She reached for her father’s old safari equipment.  The first thing she pulled out was an adjustable nylon belt with a holster for the pistol.  She put it on and holstered the weapon.  She grabbed an additional magazine that was attached to the other side of the holster and checked to make sure it was full.  Seeing that it was she put it back in its holder.  She reached in for her second item, a sheathed machete.  That is what she wanted a moment ago.  It had a nylon cross strap that she put on with the machete resting across her back.  She grabbed an orange fanny pack and strapped it around her waist just under the gun belt.  She grabbed the few remaining bullets she had for the handgun and went to put them in the fanny pack.  She unzipped the pack and something shiny inside caught her eye.  She opened the bag with the hand that was not full of bullets.  She saw her father’s lucky traveling coin. 

It was an old half dollar coin that he had fought for and won.  He had told her that every day he used to be picked on by bully’s and they would take his lunch money.  One morning his father had given him a half dollar to use for his milk and a sandwich.  He had never had a half dollar before so when the bully’s came to take it away from him he decided it was time to stand his ground.  He punched the biggest bully in the face.  The kid had fallen back with a broken nose.  He was punished by the school staff but only with a detention because they knew about the kids bullying.  Sarah’s father declared after that day that it was his lucky coin and it went with him whenever he went on a trip or to an important meeting.  Sarah was so used to seeing him grab it before he went off for a long time.  She stared at the coin and felt a pain in her stomach.  Daddy had gone away for good it seemed.  She kept the coin in the pouch and buried it under her handful of bullets.  She zipped up the pack  and reached for one other item.  Her father always told her to have a small emergency kit with basic first aid and a fire tinder kit.  She grabbed the orange box and used the clip it had to attach it to her right side on the gun belt. 

As she headed out of the room she thought of something she probably should have tried a long time ago.  She ran over to the phone in her parents room and picked it up.  She heard a tone and dialed 911.  The phone rang.  It continued to ring.  “911 emergency…” Click.  Sarah shouted, “Hello?!  Hey can you hear me?!  What is going on?”  There was a shower of sparks lighting up the foggy yard outside the porch.  She ran over to the porch dropping the phone on the floor.  She ran onto the deck and leaned over the railing.  She saw the zombie she knocked out earlier struggling underneath the closet door.  It looked like it was pinned to the ground.  Sarah scanned her eyes over to a new shower of sparks.  She saw what looked like a badly burned body hanging from the power lines next to her home.  It looked like a zombie had climbed the electric pole that led to her home.  From the porch she saw movement out in the street.  She saw something running down the road.  Then she heard the screaming.

She saw a woman running down the road almost dragging a small child behind her.  She looked like she was wearing a nightgown.  The woman’s dark hair was wildly flowing in the night air and the fog on the street was swirling around her feet.  There was more movement.  In the distance behind the running couple several figures were approaching.  They were running as well.  Sarah could here grumbling and snarls.  She almost ran down the stairs to help, then she remembered something her father sued to tell her regarding mass disaster situations.  You cannot be a hero when disaster strikes.  Heroes are for comic books.  In real life you have to protect yourself and your family.  That is what you can count on when things get really bad.  I hope you don’t have to experience it but it is important to remember.

“Yeah and you became a zombie dad so now I am alone.  I need someone.”  Sarah grabbed the machete off her back and pulled the .45 out of its holster.  She ran at a shockingly fast speed down the stairs and towards the woman.  So was extremely fast, but not fast enough.  The child, a little black haired boy in star pajamas, tripped and his mother was running so fast that when he let go of her hand she fell forward and tumbled away from him.  The little boy was as white as a ghost as he turned around to face the first zombie that caught up to them.  This zombie had a fluffy white bathrobe on and Sarah recognized it as one of her neighbors, a crusty old woman who always hated when the children played in front of her yard.  It seemed that this hatred carried over to her zombie existence as she grabbed either side of the little boys head and sank her teeth into the top of his skull.  The boy shrieked and disappeared as the rest of the zombie hoard overran the area and pounced onto his screaming mother.  Sarah leaped over the pile of zombies eating the mother and fired a .45 caliber round into a zombie face.  It fell over and twitched violently zombie blood spewing into the air.  Some of the blood landed on Sarah’s face and that sweet taste in her mouth returned.  She started swinging the machete at the one zombie in between her and the little boy.  She could see the boys arms flailing underneath the old woman zombie.  With a renewed vigor Sarah swung the machete and caught the zombie in the face.  It fell back clawing at itself.  Sarah squared off with the old zombie woman that was chomping at the little boys head still.  It looked up at Sarah and grinned.  There were pieces of fresh brains in its teeth.  The boys arms had stopped flailing and there was a large chunk of his skull missing.  Sarah pointed the handgun at the zombies face and pulled the trigger.  The back of the head exploded spraying blood onto the street.  Sarah turned around and screamed at the top of her lungs.  She started firing into the pile of zombies and making precise slashes with her machete.  Several twitching limbs hit the street as well as parts of zombie faces.  Blood was everywhere.  The zombies didn’t really fight back much as they were so busy mindlessly fighting over the fresh brains of the dark haired woman. 

Once the last zombie was dispatched, his head sliced in two halves that dangled from flaps of skin, Sarah collapsed on the street.  She was breathing heavy and confused.  She didn’t feel scared anymore.  She just felt like she didn’t get it.  What was going on?  Why is this happening?  Is this real?  Questions flooded her mind as she climbed back to her feet and reloaded her pistol and held the machete in front of her.  Her mind went blank as she stared at the blood on the blade.  There was blood everywhere but for some reason the blood on her machete was far more intriguing.  As a matter of fact it was more then intriguing.  It was sweet.  It was delicious.  Sarah started to lick the side of the blade.  She noticed that not only was it sweet but now that she wasn’t fighting while the blood was in her mouth it also made her feel refreshed.  She felt stronger again.  She knew it was wrong to be doing it, but it felt so good.  Why wasn’t she feeling ill or disgusted with herself.  This was her neighbors blood that she was drinking.  She looked at the pile of zombie parts.  Seeing all the blood made her happy.  She felt at peace.  Somehow this carnage and a nightmare of mass proportions was calming her.  She wasn’t just Sarah anymore, something was different. 

She felt she had a purpose.  The exact purpose a mystery but that feeling of being compelled to go somewhere overcame her.  She felt herself harden with a deep seated resolve.  She looked at the dead boy and the dead mother.  She just knew that it was only a matter of moments until they became zombies.  She had not really read much zombie information or watched zombie movies, she was just certain that they would become zombies.  As she thought about it the two began to stir.  With a swing of the machete she lopped of the little boys head.  She raised the machete to dispatch his mother as well but was surprised as the zombie lunged from the ground and knocked her over.  Sarah was not afraid she was mad.  She put a hand on the zombies throat and squeezed as hard as she could.  She heard the trachea crunch under the pressure and the zombies eyes seemed to bulge out of her head.  The zombie tried to back away but Sarah just got up off the ground with it and taking the machete sliced its left leg off at the knee.  Then she hacked off its left arm.  With its remaining arm the zombie was trying to pry her hand away from its throat.  Sarah punches the machete into the zombie’s stomach and the blade passed all the way through.  Sarah turned to face away from the zombie letting go of its throat and with one swift movement tore the machete up its chest and through its head.  Blood arced in the air above Sarah.  She faced up with her eyes closed and let the blood fall down on top of her.  She felt the still hot blood splatter on her face.  It sprinkles all over her staining her blond hair and soaking her pink night gown.


In the distance a man in watched the events unfolding in the street.  He observed as Sarah bathed in the blood of zombies.  He saw her licking her machete and destroying the creatures with ease.  He took a deep drag off his cigarette.  Holding the breath for a moment he adjusted his suit coat before exhaling a thick cloud of smoke.  He turned to face some other people in a dark room behind him.  “She’ll do for sure. Keep an eye on her and update me on any progress.”

Sarah felt so alive that she couldn’t heop herself and started running down the street.  She passed her neighbors homes at a blinding speed and just kept running feeling the wind whip her hair behind her the fog on the ground swirling around her legs.  She kept running until she started approaching the local mall.  Most  people might not call it a mall.  There were only about 6 or seven stores in it, but there was a market, electronics place, health store, bookstore, clothing, and even a small movie theater with a cuple kiosks.  Sarah stopped short of the main parking lot and started feeling less of a buzz.  Her euphoria seemed to be going away and her legs were feeling tired.  She could feel congealed blood all over her and it wasn’t as pleasurable as it had been.  She decided to head into the mall and see if she could find some help and maybe get cleaned up. 

As she headed towards the main doors she noticed dark piles in the fog.  As she got closer she saw decaying bodies in a variety of clothing.  She recognized them as dispatched zombies.  To her left a distance away at the side of the mall she heard some screaming.  She could just make out what looked like a janitor standing in the outside garden center.  He what wielding what looked like a shovel at several zombies that where clawing at him.  One of the zombies moved differently than the others.  It didn’t move slow or jerkily like most of the ones she had seen so far.  This zombie dodge a swing of the shovel and quickly snatched it from the mans hands.  As the others chomped on their victim’s arms the shovel zombie clobbered the man over the head.  Sarah hear a cracking noise.  Immediately the shovel zombie stuck a hand in the mans skull and removed a chunk of brain.  Sarah noticed she didn’t feel as brave as before.  As a matter of fact she felt scared at the moment.  It didn’t make her feel any better when the lead zombie turned its head to stare at her.  “More brains!”  It pointed at her but the other zombies seemed too interested in eating the dead janitor.  The lead zombie snarled at them and charged over at Sarah.  She freezed her eyes wide.  Sarah felt a warmth spread through her panties as she soiled herself.  Her trembling hand reached for her pistol which she pulled half way out before dropping it.  Sarah shrieked and curled up into a ball as the fast zombie bolted toward her.  She managed to make out a security officer’s uniform on the zombie as it outstretched its hands for her. “Got you!”

Sarah felt something wet and cold hit her body then the shot rang out.  Sarah then felt something grab her.  She snapped inside at the touch.  Sarah started screaming and kicking and trying to claw and bite.  “Ow! Stop it you crazy little bitch!”  Something hard hit her in the stomach and Sarah’s world went dark.  She briefly felt herself being lifted into the air and heard several pops and snarls.  The world drifted away and she lost consiousness.