Zombie Fallout 9 by Mark Tufo

she seemed to always wear a smile, he had a frown.
    â€œZombie free, is there such a thing?” BT scoffed.
    I could see the natural isolation of an island helping to keep the virus away. Was it possible? “Did they ever have zombies?”
    â€œSadly, yes. They were as bad, if not worse off, than everyone else.”
    â€œWhat changed?”
    â€œThe zombies died, from what we’ve heard.”
    â€œZombies died? How?”
    â€œThey’re just gone. No more food; they starved.”
    â€œOh, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but they’re still there.”
    Fannie’s disposition changed so fast I thought I was misinterpreting it.
    â€œI said they are not !” Her face turned a color of red usually reserved for a crayon, and not one of those multi sixty-four crayon packs, but the traditional eight, where red is damn red and not burnt sienna. “And that is where we are going!”
    â€œWhoa.” I now knew where Brad got his sour disposition, little miss polar swing was in full force. “I’m just saying we’ve never seen zombies die. They do this thing called stasis, basically hibernation until there’s more food.”
    â€œYOU LIE!” She was shouting so violently that angry spittle flew from her mouth as she screamed. “GOD HAS TOLD ME THAT CUBA IS FREE FROM THE DEMONS!”
    Religious nut. I kept that to myself. I saw no sense in antagonizing her. Her group was concerned, and was beginning to head our way. I guess I’d pulled the trigger a little too quickly on the liking part. I was back down to one, and even that was abnormally high.
    â€œWe are his twelve apostles, and we will begin our own Garden of Eden!” I guess she was done as well, because she walked away.
    BT looked over to me with the “What the fuck?” look. I shrugged. What the hell else could I add?
    â€œErin?”
    â€œThese are the people I’m with now.”
    â€œYou don’t have to be.”
    â€œIt’s where I want to be. Fannie saved me. I’d taken a half bottle of pills. Between that and the cold my heart had stopped. I’d killed myself, Michael. You don’t go to a good place when you do that.” She shuddered as if in remembrance. “She pulled me from there, I can’t imagine not going with her. She knows things. She knew where to find me, said she was looking for me. I consider that alone to be a miracle.”
    I wasn’t convinced, although what the hell Fannie and her troupe were doing there I can’t honestly say.
    â€œAre you coming!” Fannie shouted. It was not an order, though it sounded a lot like one. And it certainly was not a question.
    Erin hugged me again. “I cannot thank you enough for helping us.”
    â€œYes you can. Come back with us.” If I had seen any hint in her eyes that she was being held against her will, I would have fought for her freedom, but I wasn’t going to risk our lives then kidnap her. That made no sense, plus she seemed a happy, active participant to the group. “You know I’m not lying about the zombies, right?”
    â€œI know that, but do you know for certain that Cuba isn’t free of them?”
    â€œHow could I?”
    â€œFannie says God sends her messages.”
    â€œErin, please listen to me. Come back with us; you’ll be safe there.”
    â€œAre there zombies in Maine?”
    â€œYou know that answer.”
    â€œI’ll take my chances on the unknown and have faith.” She hugged us both again and walked away, turning once to wave. Fannie wrapped her arm around Erin’s shoulder, and they kept moving. I waited until they were out of sight, one last desperate attempt to catch a glimmer of Erin’s desire to be away from them. She never turned back around.
    â€œWhat just happened, Mike?” BT had been watching as well. Ron had joined us.
    â€œShe’s torched.”
    â€œFannie?” BT