Zombies Sold Separately by Cheyenne McCray

hands in various stages of deterioration.
    Confusion clouded my mind. I forced it away.
    I drew one of my Dragon-claw daggers.
    Grasped my buckler in my other hand.
    Took a step forward, about to throw my buckler.
    And froze.
    A rush of memories assaulted me.
    Immobilized me.
    Memories I’d repressed from a distant past.
    Zombies.
    The beings were Zombies.
    And six of them were coming straight for me.

 
     
    TEN
     
    Zombies.
    My entire body started to shake as the six Zombies walked, stumbled, and shuffled toward me. What I’d smelled earlier was stronger now. Much stronger.
    At that moment I realized the flashes of the little girl, the young man, and the creature weren’t random images.
    They were memories … memories I had repressed as a child.
    That little girl had been me.
    That young man had been my brother.
    That creature had been a Zombie.
    My body shook so hard I almost dropped my dagger. Nothing had ever affected me the way these Zombies were now.
    I couldn’t move. As if the Zombies had me enthralled. Gripped me with some kind of horrible magic.
    The shaking grew so bad my teeth chattered. The Zombies were feet away from me now.
    Blood rushed in my ears, the sound so loud that I barely heard the Zombies’ whimpering moans or the screams of the captured women. My vision blurred so that the Zombies’ decaying faces were not more than blobs, like opaque skulls.
    A whooshing sound overhead. A roar that caused the ground to tremble. A strange, shrieking battle cry.
    The smell of burned flesh.
    “Nyx!” My name came to me from somewhere nearby. A powerful roar jarred me. Threw me out of my stupor.
    I sucked in my breath and realized I had stopped breathing. My head swam and I struggled to regain myself.
    The Zombies were so close I couldn’t see beyond them.
    A Zombie reached for me.
    My reaction was automatic. I brought my dagger down. Bone snapped as my blade severed the Zombie’s forearm.
    Its moan was a wounded cry.
    I didn’t pause and I ran the dagger through the chest of the Zombie. It stumbled away as I jerked the blade out.
    Other Zombies grabbed for me. They were so close my buckler was useless to me. I dropped it and drew my second Dragon-claw dagger.
    I went after my attackers. I felt the heat of the dangerous flash in my eyes. Danger for them.
    With one dagger I severed a Zombie’s head from its body. Using the other dagger I stabbed another Zombie in the heart.
    I planted my boot in the midsection of a third Zombie and thrust it away from me with a side kick.
    I twisted the dagger, then jerked it out by the hilt.
    The Zombie kept coming.
    More hands reached for me.
    I dropped to the ground and rolled out of reach.
    A blast of heat. Close.
    Cries. Shrieks. Tortured moans.
    Stronger smell of burned flesh.
    I pushed myself to my feet. Came to a stop.
    My heart leapt to my throat and I took a step back.
    Before me were the smoking remains of the Zombies that had been attacking me.
    Towering behind the charred pile of bones was a scaled creature. A burst of fear tore through my gut.
    Turn. Run. Get away.
    A Dragon.
    Huge. Towering above me.
    Gold and orange-yellow scales glittered in the light coming from the park’s lampposts. The Dragon was the size of a garbage truck. Each of its claws was as long as my arm, the point of each claw appearing as sharp as the blade of a sword.
    A long, spiked tail swung back and forth, brushing the snow away in a slow even rhythm. A ridge ran from the back of its head to the end of its tail.
    Behind the Dragon and to either side of it, trees had been uprooted and gouged by the creature’s tail. And many had probably been knocked down by the scaled wings it held close to its body.
    Smoke curled out of its nostrils, and the curved horns on its head and the short horn on the end of its snout were soft gold. Its large burnished gold eyes didn’t reflect our surroundings. Instead, flames danced within them.
    It spread out its enormous golden wings, tipped its