Baiting

“C’mon! Don’t be such a baby!”

Nate stood biting his lip. The camp was out of sight now and the woods loomed large over him.

Todd stood, hands on hips.

“You’re coming!”

Nate’s shoulders drooped. He took small steps towards Todd and the other boys.

Todd smirked before turning on his heel and leading the way.

They pushed through the brush, Todd using his baseball bat to knock back thorny branches and poke loose rocks away from their path. The boys whispered excitedly to one another as they followed.

Todd stopped suddenly in front of them and crouched, waving to them to follow suit.

Nate crouched low with the other boys, digging grooves into his lip with his front teeth. Their was a hush over them all now. A tension. The game was about to begin.

Todd glanced back at the other boys, his freckled face stretching into a half moon grin.

Todd pushed forward.

The boys followed.

Nate couldn’t see it at first. The woodland clearing was bright. Wildflowers swaying on a gentle breeze. Sunlight pouring in from above. A small, jewel toned bird hopping along the ground, chirping gently.

It was a normal piece of the woods. A place where he may have spent an afternoon playing with friends or reading one of his favorite books.

Then it moved.

There had been nothing in the clearing, absolutely nothing. Then the dead was just. There. Tree. Then zombie.

It was thin. Skin hung from its arms in long, thin scraps and it took shambling, jerky steps.

The bird they had seen as they entered the clearing pecked at the ground, taking little dancing steps this way and that.

The zombie fixed its puss laden eyes on the bird, watching.

Trembling, it lunged forward, dropping first to knees before fully extending out until chin rested in the dirt, and hand reached forward.

The bird disappeared into a sepsis powered fist. The only trace to show that the brightly coloured bird had ever lived was a feather, and a smothered squawk.

The zombie gargled as it crunched feather and bone.

Nate bit back a gasp, bubbling tears searing his eyeballs.

One of the boys let out an audible groan of disgust.

Todd thumped him. Too late.

A head turn. Yellow teeth. Feathers and blood.

Nate’s skin prickled.

On brittle arms, the zombie pushed itself to it’s feet. It took three attempts, rocking forward and backwards.

Todd sprang up and ran forwards.

“C’mon!”

The other boys sprinted after him, cheering.

Nate paused. He pulled at the grass on the ground next to him. Pulling out several strands before getting up and following his friends.

They formed a circle around the zombie, a good six feet away from it each, and jeered, each trying to draw its attention more.

“C’mon you undead freak! Come get me!” Todd yelled, baring his teeth in a grin at the walking corpse.

The zombie hobbled towards Todd on broken feet, before another boys taunt drew his yellow gaze.

Hairs stood to attention up his forearms, Nate crouched, ready to spring when the zombie lurched his way. His eyes were wide and despite his previous fear a smile broke across his face.

“Come here you, you big loser! Come try and get me!”

Clacking its jaw, the decrepit freak turned on him, taking shaky steps forward.

Nate stooped, grabbing a sharp rock from the ground as the zombie neared.

The other boys cheered and pointed. So far they had all been jumping back whenever the zombie had gotten within five feet of them, letting another boy draw it.

Four feet. Three.

Nate waited.

Two.

He jumped back.

The zombie, having lunged forward to grab at Nate, was knocked off balance. It’s milk puss eyes seemed to Nate to widen in comical surprise.

“Go on, Nate!” Todd called.

A grin spreading across his face now, Nate gripped the rock in his hand tight, before launching it at the zombies temple.

“Loser!” he cried.

The zombie staggered back from the impact, falling back into the center of the circle.

Todd grabbed a rock too.

“Get him!”

Jeering and crowing, the boys pelted the zombie with rocks.

The zombie, knocked to its knees, garbled and groaned, each hit pushing it further and further to the ground.

“Yeah we own you, you zombie freak!” Todd crowed.

He grabbed his baseball bat firm in hand and strutted forward.

“Watch this!” He called back to the other boys.

Todd pulled the bat back over his shoulder before cracking down square on the zombies skull.

It cracked like a melon on the third swing.

The boys all whooped and cheered, dancing around the tattered remains of the formerly walking corpse.

“Look brains!” Todd cawed, showing the bloody end of his bat proudly.

The boys gathered around, staring at the fleshy lumps in awe.

Nate wanted a baseball bat so bad.

Sammy grabbed a stick and started poking around inside the zombies skull.

Nate clamped his hands tight over his nose and mouth.

“Eww it stinks!”

“Course it stinks! He’s been dead for months!” Todd mocked. Seemingly unaffected by the stench that was released by Sammy’s prodding.

“There’s maggots in here!” Sammy pointed.

Nate crept forward for a peek.

Sammy reached his hand in fast, like a lightening strike, grabbing a handful of rotting giblets and launching them at Nate.

Nate screamed, jumping back too late. He had his T-shirt over his head while the boys fell about laughing at him and Todd called him a baby again. His previous efforts with the rock forgotten.

Boiling hot tears bubbled in the corners of Nate’s eyes, his skinny chest heaving. He gouged his bottom lip with his teeth in an effort to stop the tears. They would only make fun of him more.

“Look he’s crying!” Todd through his head back laughing.

Nate’s ears burned. “No I’m not!”

“He is! He is! Cry baby, Cry!” Todd mocked loudly, dancing around.

Nate stared at his bloody T-Shirt on the ground, eyes burning.

Then, Todd screamed.

Nate looked up to see a zombie on Todd. A rabid woman with eyes on fire. Her teeth sunk into his neck.

Nate’s mouth gaped. The other boys screamed, acting in blind panic.

Sammy grabbed a stone, launching it at the zombie woman's head. It bounced off and her eyes blazed brighter and her teeth sunk further.

Nate stooped and grabbed a stone too. He sent it in a long arc which missed, soaring over the undeads head while she ate his friend in front of his eyes.

Blood ran down Todd’s neck and his body jerked slowly. His freckles stark white on his skin.

The zombie they thought they had brained, but hadn’t brained well enough dragged itself to Nate’s feet.

With slow creeping fingers it curled into palms around the curve of Todd’s calf before sinking its teeth into his leg. The juice of the boy’s flesh ran around the curve of the open skulled zombie’s mouth.

Todd locked eyes with Nate. He mouthed a word Nate couldn’t understand before his eyes flickered shut. His body stopped trembling.

“Run!” A boy called. Nate wasn’t sure who.

His feet acted of their own accord.

Tears poured openly down his face as he gasped out each breath in a sharp heave. They scalded his cheeks.

Nate would spend the rest of his life trying to make sense of the very last word his friend had mouthed to him.