Flesh Ravenous (Book 1) by James M. Gabagat Page A

hands on his hips and posed like a superhero for Kasey. “First of all, Kasey, this isn’t from Lord of the Rings . You obviously don’t know anything about Lord of the Rings . And second, yes, this is armor. Real armor, protection from teeth and nails. Kyle, Tristan, and I made them out of those foam mat board thingies, the one used for floors.”
    Charlene came out of the downstairs bedroom. “Ally and Sonya are also dressed in those ridiculous cosplay outfits. It’s from the anime Titan Storm Brigade , Kasey . We all got dressed last year at this convention in Sacramento. I think it was called Virgincon or something.”
    Tristan was on his way down the stairs. He was dressed in a similar fashion as Lawrence, with the colorful cosplay armor and the utility vest and cargo pants, except he had on a pair of goggles and his swordbelt around his waist. “It was called the Guild of Nerds Convention, Charlene, or Goncon for short.”
    “Yeah, whatever it’s called. I don’t care.” Charlene looked to Kasey. “I didn’t take part in that overhyped Storm Brigade bullshit. I dressed as a sexy elf queen that day.”
    “Wow,” said Kasey, nodding her head. “How interesting.” I don’t know what the hell’s going on right now.
    “You mean a slutty elf queen,” said Tristan.
    “Yeah, a slutty elf queen is what I meant.” Charlene looked at Tristan’s face with a smirk. “Hey, why you wearing goggles, asshole?”
    “Haven’t you seen the movie where a guy turned after getting diseased blood in his eyes? No, never mind, Charlene, you don’t know any zombie movies.”
    “Um, yeah I do. I’ve seen, um… Zombies of the Dead and The Walking Zombies a few times.”
    “There aren’t any movies called, Zombies of the Dead or The Walking Zombies . You made those up.”
    “Whoa, now.” Charlene’s palms went up, mimicking surrender. “Look, Tristan, there’s no need for an intense nerd debate. You’ve watched way too many zombie movies.”
    “Zombies are real,” said Lawrence, “in case you haven’t noticed. There’s a reason why we choose to wear all this today. It’s for functionality, as ridiculous as it looks.”
    “I know zombies are real, dodo-head,” said Charlene. “It’s a real life Zombies of the Dead out there, and that armor is gonna be useless against bullets. Aside from zombies, there’ll be people running around with guns.”
    “Well, if you see any bulletproof vests lying around this house, you let me know.”
    “It’s up your butt, Lawrence.” Charlene flashed an impish grin. “You like to put things in your butt.”
    “How would you know that, Charlene?”
    “Tristan told me.” She giggled, as she stepped away to the girls’ room.
    “Tristan should keep his mouth shut.”
    Kasey laughed. These kids be cracking me up sometimes. “I got all the things you’ll need on top of the dining table,” she said. “The packs have food and water in case y’all are out for more than a day. There’s also a bag with first aid.”
    “Oh,” said Lawrence, “I forgot about packing all that.”
    “I forgot, too,” said Tristan. “Thanks for doing all that, Kasey.”
    “Y’all too busy suiting up in your Storm Titan nonsense,” said Kasey. “It wasn’t trouble. It only took me half an hour. I didn’t want my babies to go out there and starve or have no bandages for their boo-boos.”
    “Dat’s mah mama!” Lawrence said, in the worst stereotypical black man impersonation ever heard.
    “Oh, dear Lord.” Kasey laughed hard.
    The downstairs bedroom door opened. Sonya and Ally came out dressed in their own cosplay armor. Sonya wore black leather beneath her paddings, a leather vest, leather pants, and leather gloves. It made sense to wear leather, as it was a protective material against bites from those things. Ally had on a red, buttoned-up raincoat beneath her armor, which was formfitting and extended to mid-thigh, and would also serve as protection.
    “Glad you two took