Zombie Rehab Read Free

bumper.
    Jennifer’s knees began to buckle.
    “LET GO, TORI!”
    Jennifer gasped as she tore her arm away. Without looking back, she jumped into her car, tore out of the parking lot, and didn’t wave good-bye. Tori did, however, waving her gnarled half-dead arm like a banner from the 4th of July.
    “Tori, put your arm down and get in the car. Now!”
    They both slammed their doors as they got in. Henry had the car in drive and had punched it to the floor before she even got her seat-belt buckled.
    “Way to go, Tori!”
    “What? You can’t be mad at me. You’re the one sucking face with some woman in the parking lot!”
    “I’m sorry—look, I’m sorry. She took me by surprise. I tried to get away, she just—”
    Tori laughed, “She just what, over powered you? Give me a break, you cheater!”
    “What? I’m not a cheater! You know better than that. Now get a hold of yourself.”
    Tori didn’t say a word; she just stared out of her side window and brushed her hair back from her face with her odd hand.
    All Henry could think about was getting back to the complex so he could bury himself back in his work, and Tori would do the same. There had been other highs and lows between them since they departed the Zombie Day Care under the most bizarre circumstances. Normal was no longer an option in his life. Embracing the abnormal to survive was his only option.
    “You’re sick of being with me, aren’t you? Now that I’m deformed and all, you are wanting something better, perfect, like I used to be until you drug me into that day care.”
    “Don’t go down this road, Tori. You said you wouldn’t bring it up anymore. I told you to stay outside, but you wouldn’t listen. Can’t you just be thankful that you’re alive?”
    “I’m a freak!” she said, slamming her gnarled hand into the dashboard.
    “Hey-Hey! Don’t do that. Quit acting like a child. You’re still beautiful; you know that.”
    It was true. Tori was every bit as sexy as she ever was. Her auburn hair was lustrous, her buxom figure not as soft as before, but firm. Still, her sweet face was drained, almost haggard some days, but nobody paid her hand any mind as they were too busy looking at the rest of her. As strange as her hand was, it wasn’t nearly as bad as she made it out to be.
    He glanced over at the appendage, but Tori tucked it under her leg and glared. From the elbow down you could see the flesh was pasty and gray. The fingers remained stiff and bent, the nails dead and black. Henry figured she could have coped with it better if it was her own arm to begin with, but it wasn’t. It was someone else’s, thicker and stronger like a man’s, but they were assured it was a woman’s. A woman lumberjack maybe. Henry always wondered about that. At least it worked, and it was better than nothing there at all.
    Tori tore open the twelve pack of beer and pulled out a bottle.
    “What are you doing now?”
    “I’m having a beer,” she said, turning the top off of one and tilting it to her lips.
    “Tori, quit that. Now you’re just being silly. You don’t even drink.”
    “Well, today I’m starting a new diet.”
    Henry reached and grabbed the bottle saying, “Gimme that.”
    “Oh Henry, don’t take my bottle. Please Henry don’t.” She said it like she was on a vaudeville stage, exasperated and silly.
    Henry tugged at the bottle that was in the vise-like grip of her replaced hand. She was giggling at his futile efforts.
    “What’s the matter, Henry, can’t the big boy take the bottle from the little girl?”
    The car almost crashed into the rail as Henry jerked the wheel over and weaved back and forth between the single lanes before getting the car back under control. He let go of the bottle.
    “Geez, Tori! You’re gonna cause a wreck. Now quit being a baby and put that beer back. It’s for the party. Stupid Rudy! And we’re on our way to work! Stupid complex! Stupid everything!” he shouted.
    The thought of going back to