Mari Juniper came up with a scathingly brilliant idea for a zombie/romance flash fiction contest. I was honored to be among Mari’s hand-picked group of judges (which includes Jim Bronyaur and Jodi MacArthur).
So without anything further, here is the winning entry by Nishida C. :
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The Tell-tale Beat
By Nishida C.
0200 Hours:
Bioresearch Institute
Department of Federal Defence
She swung her legs clumsily over the edge of the table. She was alone. Soft electronic beeps punctuated the eerie silence. She could not even hear her breath. She stared at her hands. Her skin was greenish grey and peeled off in places. Her limbs were swollen. Slowly but systematically, she ripped the tubes off her arms and the wires from her chest. The voices began, floating in and out of her consciousness.
”Dead,” came the hushed voices. “Crazy of her to volunteer,” they said. “It failed, the transplant was rejected.”
“Me? Dead? It cannot be…” she whispered and ambled to the door. Her limbs felt like lead, she dragged them behind her as though they belonged to another body. Her eyes, hazed, adjusted to the darkness of the empty corridors. She knew the facility inside out; she had worked there for years.
Then it began. The steady pounding that grew louder and louder. Every unguarded moment, every conscious minute, the unrelenting beat plagued her. She collapsed onto one knee, trying to control her movements. She jerked as a sudden pain seized her. It emanated from her chest, a frantic compulsion that she could not ignore. She struggled back to her feet using the walls for support. The feeling inside her grew more insistent, more frantic. She clutched at her gown, feeling the bandages underneath. Her agitated heart raced against her trembling fingers.
“Must find him,” she said to herself. It was beyond midnight. She staggered ahead, blindly, allowing the alien instinct to propel her. With every step, the urge grew stronger, forcing her forward with a life of its own.
Another wrench and she tripped, crashing into a door. She hauled herself up and looked around. “Must find him,” she thought as she closed the door shut behind her. The room was dark and freezing cold. Light flickered in through a high window, lighting up the silhouette of man. He was inside a glass cubicle.
“Him…”
Her heart gave another heave and she dragged herself, wearily, towards him. He sat deathly still with his back to her. Wires and tubes criss-crossed his body. He was waiting.
“Waiting for me,” she thought. She pushed open the glass door and stepped towards him. The monitors surrounding him emitted a dull green light, flickering across his motionless face. The cold air in the room cut at her skin. Her heart began pounding relentlessly. She felt that it would jump out of her chest at any moment. She had to see him, be with him, touch him…she reached out her hand.
“You,” he said. His voice was hollow and slurred. He turned around gently to look at her; and as he did, a few of the wires gave way. “You have my heart,” he said. His eyes were blank and glazed over with a yellowish film.
“Yes. Your heart.” She touched his chest, softly. His skin was grey, like hers, and frosted over with flecks of hard ice. He flinched as her fingers traced the edges of the scar on his sternum. “I cannot live without you,” she said.
“My heart,” he said. He placed his palm on the bandages over her breastbone. At his gentle touch, the restless beating stopped.
“You died. They gave it to me,” she said. “Now I’ve come to be with you.”
She drew him close to her. He held her tight as his heart lay quiet inside her.
***
0400 Hours: Staff Quarters Department of Federal Defence
Groggy with sleep, Dr. Stein answered the phone.
”Dr. Stein,” a hysterical voice spoke up on the other end. “Sir, we’re calling from the cadaveric transplant facility. Two of the bodies are missing–”
“-Calm down, man. What do you mean?”
“Dr. Lara, the heart transplant recipient and the donor soldier. They are both are gone. Sir, I don’t know how to explain…”
“Spit it out!”
“They walked out, sir! from the mortuary…. “
“Impossible. They’re dead!”
“The guard is dead too, sir! They killed him and ripped out his heart and took it with them. We have the footage on camera…sir… sir? Dr. Stein, sir! Hello?”
[The End - for now...]
*****
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©2010 Nishida C.
Tags: Nishida C., ZOMBIE LUV CONTEST
July 22nd, 2010 at 2:33 am
Congratulations Nishida C! A fantastic and harrowing story. A great contest with a whole cadre of amazing writers.
July 22nd, 2010 at 7:38 am
Congrats on winning the contest!
July 22nd, 2010 at 8:09 am
Congrats Nishi! Well done on winning the contest. Loved your entry.
July 22nd, 2010 at 8:30 am
Truly wonderful story, Nishi! Congratulations on winning the contest. This story proves it’s well deserved.
Poe would be so proud of you!
July 22nd, 2010 at 8:55 am
Congratulations! Great post.
~2
July 22nd, 2010 at 8:57 am
Congratulations, Nishida. You can’t beat an ending like that!
Well done.
July 22nd, 2010 at 11:29 am
Your story is fantastic; it grabbed us all from the beginning to end. Congratulations Nishi!
July 22nd, 2010 at 12:15 pm
Nishida,
I loved this from the first line, but at this I knew this was my favorite
““Yes. Your heart.” She touched his chest, softly. His skin was grey, like hers, and frosted over with flecks of hard ice. He flinched as her fingers traced the edges of the scar on his sternum. “I cannot live without you,” she said.”
Omg- tottally ripped at my heart strings, and yet its so horribly morbid. And the ending, wow- what a cliff hanger. Awesome work, girl! WRITE MORE.
July 22nd, 2010 at 12:58 pm
Congrats! A deserving win for the Zombie Luv contest. Greaty piece of flash.
July 22nd, 2010 at 1:33 pm
Congratulations!!! What an amazing story. So sweet, yet so creepy at the same time. Great Job.
July 22nd, 2010 at 4:34 pm
Great piece Nishida - well-paced and neatly developed.
July 22nd, 2010 at 9:48 pm
Congratulations!! A well-deserved win.
July 22nd, 2010 at 10:10 pm
Nishida, welcome to Flashes in the Dark!
July 22nd, 2010 at 11:02 pm
Wow, great! Well done!!! I thoroughly enjoyed it and would like to know what happens next
July 23rd, 2010 at 8:24 am
Wow, there are some awesome comments here! I am absolutely blown away by the response from everyone, especially since this is my first attempt at the horror genre! Thank you for choosing my story as the winning entry, (Jodi, Mari, Lori, and Jim) and I am honoured to be pubbed on Flashes in the Dark! I am truly gratified by the readers’/commenters’ reactions and good wishes!
Jodi: I forgot you were a judge and I was stumped at the smiley you left as a comment on my blog. Now I know what the smile meant! Thank you
Lots of people want to know what will happen next. Honestly, I was so freaked out while writing this that I actually did not think of a further plot-line. I will venture this much. What would happen if a zombie scientist with knowledge of making more zombies is let loose on the streets with a zombie ex-soldier? A pretty good start to a zombie apocalypse, I think.
- Nishi
July 23rd, 2010 at 11:19 pm
Yeah, I can see why the smiley face freaked you out then. I wonder how many people think I’m a complete freak now? Heee. The more the better. And I like what you have in store for Tale Tell Beat. Can’t wait to read more. Congrats!