I Dream of Zombies (2 page)

Hearing a knock, Marla dropped a Tetley teabag into her dragonfly mug and another into a white one adorned with a ladybird. Closing the fridge, she hurried towards the front door. Upon opening it, she was greeted by her sister’s smiling face. “Hey,” she said, giving her a big bear hug. “Come in.”

“I parked around the corner
as I couldn’t find a spot outside,” said Ellen. “Will my car be alright there?”

“
I don’t see why not,” Marla replied, taking her sister’s rucksack. “I’ll put this in the spare bedroom for you. I was making tea, so if you want to finish them for me, that would be cool. I think the kettle boiled.”

Ellen flicked off her
green and white trainers, and hung up her long-sleeved, blue hoodie on one of the coat hooks by the door. “Thanks, but d’you mind if I have coffee instead?”

“Sure, whatever you want.”

“Ta,” mumbled Ellen. Wandering into the kitchen, she grabbed a jar of instant coffee out of the cupboard and fished the teabag out of her designated cup. By the time Marla returned, the two drinks were prepared and steaming. Ellen hugged hers to her chest, inhaling the malty aroma.

Marla picked up her mug and
gestured for her sister to head into the lounge. “So, what’s your news, little sis?”

Ellen frowned as she perched on the end of the
soft purple sofa. “Not much. Work is still pretty good. The kids are cool and, you know, they listen and work hard.”

“So they’re all teacher’s pets?”

Ellen laughed. “I don’t know about that, but yeah, some are cute. I love teaching primary school kids. I don’t know if I could handle teenagers, but these kids always behave themselves with me. I guess I love my job. How’s yours?”

“Same old,” Marla replied with a laugh. “How exciting can my job really get?”

“But security is cool. It’s kind of glamorous, you being a woman.”

“Well, I was the last time I looked,” Marla joked, taking a sip of her tea. “
Seriously though, I’ve been thinking maybe I should do something else. I need a change. I mean the army didn’t work out, so…”

Ellen tutted. “That wasn’t your fault.”

“Yeah, but… anyway, I was never sure what I wanted to do, and the army seemed interesting, you know. I loved the travelling and feeling like I was doing something important, and it was a great confidence booster… Well, I’m drifting off the point, but security is kind of limited. I feel like I need to use my brain for something. I’m just not sure what.”

“You could retrain.”

Marla glanced at the floor. “Yeah, I’m just not sure what as, specifically. I really don’t want an office job, sitting on my arse. I want to be moving around, not stuck in one place. Maybe the police, but I’m thirty now, so…”

“Could be cool, but to me it seems similar to the army,” Ellen remarked.

“Maybe,” Marla agreed, “but that could be why it seems attractive to me. I just need to do more than guard rich businessmen, however well that pays. Plus, you know, I never know when the agency will need me.”

“But
surely the flexibility is cool?” Ellen pointed out. “Like today you were free, so it has good sides.”

“I guess. I’m just bored, I suppose.”

“You always did get bored quick,” said Ellen with a laugh. “Talking of which, how is Peter?”

Marla
sighed. “That’s anyone’s guess. I’m wondering if this is what happens after two years.”

“You’re bored?!”

“Well, I guess so. I don’t feel like we’re going anywhere. It was good at the start, but we don’t seem to have anything in common now.”

Ellen raised
one of her eyebrows. “And it took you two years to find that out?”

Marla laughed. “
Fine, so I’m a lost cause. You’ll probably see him tomorrow. He’s back then.”

“H
e’s still travelling with work?”

“Yep.
..”

“And you’re still bored, even though you don’t see him that much?”

Marla giggled again and nudged her sister. “Yeah, yeah, tease me. That’s why it’s so hard. We’re living together, so I have to be sure if I want to walk away.”

“When it’s over, it’s over,” said Ellen
matter-of-factly.

“Okay, Einstein. Tell me something I don’t know.”

“Alright, I’ll cool it. Have you heard from our Jim lately?”

Marla shook her head. “No, Mum says he stayed for a few days and then went off
travelling again. He’s due to graduate soon.”

“Cool, last thing I heard he wanted to go off with his band. On the road, he called it.”

“Yeah, well, I think he wants to do that after graduation. I guess he wants time out before choosing a career.”

“Wi
se and cool. Wish I’d done that,” said Ellen.

“Me, too, but then I was in the army at sixteen, so I didn’t know freedom like that,” Marla replied thoughtfully as she sipped her tea. “I sometimes wonder what I’d have done if I hadn’t joined up. My whole life would’ve been different.”

“Yeah, maybe you would be a beauty therapist or a hairdresser?”

Marla laughed. “Can you imagine?”

“Yeah, you’d give all the dear old ladies punk hairdos, loads of piercings and pluck their eyebrows to death.”

“Nice.”

“You know!”

“Hungry?” Marla asked
, placing her empty mug on the side table.

“No,” Ellen replied. “I ate before I came out. Coffee is fine.”

“You never used to drink it,” Marla remarked.

“Yeah, it’s the dreams. I j
ust need it to stay awake,” Ellen stated, biting her lip and putting her mug down next to her sister’s. She folded her hands in her lap.

“You’re still having them?”
Marla asked.

“Every night.”

“How long did you say..?”

Ellen calculated. “Ah, it’s gotta be about three weeks now.”

Marla frowned. “That’s a long time to have the same dream.”

“You’re telling me.”

“I didn’t think before, but you do look pretty tired…”

“Yeah, I haven’t slept properly for a few days,” Ellen said. “I’ve been trying to stay awake. I wanted to ask you if you’d let me sleep near you.”

“Erm, okay, but why?” asked Marla, surprised.

“So you can wake me. I feel like I’m screaming in my dream, but I can’t wake up. Seriously, they’re so frightening. I just don’t want to sleep anymore. Work is cool, like I said, but I can’t concentrate so well and I keep imagining strange things, like I’m seeing… well.”

“W
hat?”

“Eh, it’s nothing,” mumbled Ellen. “You’d just think I was nuts anyway.”

“Try me.”

“No, no…”

“So what are the dreams about? You didn’t say…”

Ellen took a deep breath and pushed her hair back between her ears. “Promise not to laugh.”

Marla nodded.

“Zombies, I’m dreaming about dead things walking around… every damn night.”

Marla broke into a fit of giggles, and then slapped her hand over her mouth when her sister scowled at her.

“See, that’s why I wasn’t going to
tell you.”

“You’re like the
scientist guy on TV,” Marla noted. “You know, he’s dreaming about zombies, but he’s predicting the end of the world as we know it!”

“Yeah, he is.”

“You don’t find that funny?”

“Nope,” Ellen replied, “because my dreams started on the
exact same day as his.”

“But that’s just coincidence.”

“Is it?”

“Ellen! Come on, zombies? We’ve all seen the films, the TV series, read the scary books. You can’t be serious…”

“So why am I dreaming about them?”

“Because… because… you were always scared of
horror films as a kid,” Marla reasoned. “You’re stressed about something, obviously, and then you read about this nut job in the paper and your imagination kind of hooked on to it.”

Ellen took a gulp of her coffee and wiped her mouth with the back of her right hand. “He’s not a nut job.”

“Oh, yes, he’s completely sane. Let’s invite the guy down the pub for…”

“Marla!”

“Okay, I’m sorry, but, seriously? Jesus.”

“Well, these dreams are scaring the crap out of me, and I want you to wake me up if I
’m screaming or moving around,” Ellen said firmly. “Then, if I wake up and you’re there, maybe I can go back to sleep like a normal person.”

“
Alright,” Marla agreed, trying to keep a straight face. “We can both sleep here on the sofas. Just as well I have two of the suckers. Deal?”

Ellen nodded, but she
did not smile.

The scream pierced Marla’s dream and shook her awake. Sitting up straight with a start, she gazed around the room, waiting for her eyes to adjust to the dark. A wisp of faint yellow haze from a streetlight streamed through a gap in the black curtains. It flickered across the sofa where Ellen was sleeping and lit up her face. Marla gawked sleepily at her sister. Her mouth had fallen open and she was staring upwards at a spot on the ceiling. Marla instinctively glanced up, but there was nothing on the white-painted space above.

Rising
, she stepped quietly towards Ellen whose body was motionless and her breathing shallow, but it was the expression on her face that sent a cold chill up Marla’s neck. The girl’s eyes looked frightened beyond fear and the gaping mouth yawned like a soundless chasm. Marla stepped closer and rubbed her sister’s arm, which felt cold to the touch and rigid. “Ellen, Ellen, wake up,” she said softly.

There was no response from the sleeping body, so Marla tried again. This time
her efforts were met by the same piercing scream, but Ellen’s expression did not change and her body stayed still. Marla felt another chill run up her back. There was something wrong; this did not feel right. Her sister looked as if she were having a stroke. Fearful, Marla rocked Ellen’s arm with increasing strength, but there was no reaction at all. It was as if she were under some kind of spell, like Sleeping Beauty in the storybooks. Shaking her head, she ran into the kitchen. Returning with a cup of water, she flicked some on to Ellen’s face.

The girl woke wit
h a gasp and began to splutter as her hands floundered around her cheeks, which were dripping wet. “W-what?!” she stammered. “W-what did you do?”

“I woke you up,” Marla replied, stating the obvious and still gripping the mug.

“By pouring water on me?”

“It was the first thing I thought of. Sorry.”

“Fine,” said Ellen, pushing her hair back from her face as reality gradually dawned on her. “The dream, I remember…”

Marla
perched on the edge of the sofa next to her and placed the half-full mug down. “You scared me, Ellen.”

“Why?”

“You woke me up with this crazy scream. It was scary. Then I saw your face and… it was not like you.”

“How?” asked Ellen, frowning. “I have this every night…”

“Well, now I’m sorry for that,” Marla said. “Your face had this weird expression. Your mouth was wide open and your eyes were staring up at the ceiling, and you screamed twice. But each time your expression didn’t change and you didn’t move. Your eyes were empty and your body didn’t move an inch. It was like you were dead.”

Ellen stared at her sister and shivered. Drawing her knees up against her chest, she rested her chin on them. “I wondered. Wondered…”

“What?”

“Nothing,
I’m sorry I scared you.”

“It’s not your fault,” soothed Marla. “But after seeing you like this, I’m sorry I didn’t take your
fear of sleeping more seriously.”

Ellen nodded and then smiled. “Thanks for waking me.”

“Do you remember what you dreamed about?”

“Yes. It’s the same every night
.” Ellen glanced down. “Ugh, my T-shirt is soaking and the duvet. Sorry.”

“It’s okay,” said Marla. “Don’t worry about that and I’ll give you one of mine.”

“Thanks,” Ellen replied, and then paused for a while before continuing, “In the dream there is this corridor and I’m wandering down it, and I see this bed and there is someone lying on it. When I get there… and it takes a while… I notice that it is a man. He’s asleep. He looks normal.” She stopped and closed her eyes. “But then his face changes... his skin flakes off... his face begins to rot and his eyes are gone, and his hair falls out, and it seems to take forever, and then he looks at me. I can’t move. Then he gets up real slow and I really want to move, but I still can’t. I’m stuck. And he cannot talk because he has no tongue. His mouth is this big, black hole where there should be something. I scream and the screams echo, but no one comes, and I try to run, but I can’t.”

“Go on.”

“Then he stands up and…” Ellen stopped.

“I’m here, Ellen,” Marla said. “Go on.”

Ellen took a deep breath. “Then he grabs my arm and he sinks his teeth into it, and I’m yelling even louder, but I can’t run. My body is frozen. And I just stare. All I can do is watch as he rips the flesh from my arm and then he sinks his teeth in, and again and again. He’s pulling the skin and muscle, and it hurts so much. I can’t stop screaming. Then he moves even closer. He bites at my arm, higher and higher, getting nearer to my face, and I still can’t move. I’m frozen.

“
I can sense someone behind me, but they don’t come to help. So, I turn my face, but I can’t see anyone, yet I know there is someone there, watching. I don’t know who, and I scream for them to help me, but they are hiding. Then I hear someone laughing, but they are far away. I turn back and the pain is overwhelming, and I feel sick to my stomach. I try to run, but I feel each tendon in my arm snapping. Then his face is in front of mine, and I can see the skin rotting and the dead, empty sockets where his eyes used to be, and the maggots, and the smell of... of death. Then he opens his mouth and I look down into the big, black hole inside. I try to scream out, but I can’t this time, and the fear feels like a pit that surrounds me and I am falling backwards into darkness.”

Marla shook her head
and stared at her sister. “That’s horrible. You dream this every night?”

“Yes
,” Ellen answered softly. “It’s always exactly the same. But that’s not all. There is a voice. It sounds like a man’s, but I cannot tell if it is one person or many, as it seems to echo. It’s like I’m thinking things but someone else is speaking them, so I can’t tell if they are my thoughts as it’s so confused. He tells me that this is a warning and that I have to run, but I just can’t. He tells me this will be the last warning before the end. Then pain overwhelms me in the dark, but for some reason I do not die, and the thing continues to bite at my flesh until I wake.”

“Jesus.”

Ellen looked at Marla and nodded. “I know. Three weeks of it. This is why I don’t want to sleep. I read the newspaper articles about that scientist, and his dream is the same as mine – every single detail. Did you know he won the Nobel Prize? He’s not crazy; he’s an intelligent man, Marl. Maybe it is my imagination, but why would I dream this exact same thing every single night? My nightmares started on the same day as his. The date was in one of the articles. You do believe me?”

Marla nodded. “I believe you
and I think the dream sounds horrific. When I saw you sleeping it scared me, but there are no such things as zombies. I’m sorry, but I think you are stressed and I want to take you to see my doctor. Maybe he can help.”

“By giving me sleeping pills?
! My GP gave me those and then I slept even longer, and it was even harder to wake up. No way!” cried Ellen, kicking off the duvet and getting up. “I thought you would support me.”

Marla stood. “I do support you.”

“But you don’t believe me?”

“I believe that you believe it…”

“That’s not the same thing!”

Marla nodded. “I know. Maybe
lie back down. Try to get some rest.”

Ellen scowled. “Because that’s going to solve everything?” she asked. “I go back to sleep and that thing is waiting.”

“I’m going to make some tea,” said Marla, walking away. “It’s five o’clock nearly, so let’s just get up. I’ll make a drink and you have a shower. I’m sorry. You’re my sister. I do support you.”

“Coffee.”

“What?”

“Make mine a coffee,” Ellen replied. “Strong.
..”