Zombie Drabble #125 “Emergency”

“I’d like you to tell me exactly what happened.”

“I already explained to the other detective that—“

“We’re not with the CPD, we’re Federal Agents. Now Doctor, I’d appreciate if you’d start at the beginning.”

“What Agency? HHS? You’re not CDC, so—“

“Doctor, please, start at the beginning. What were Mrs. Kleinmann’s symptoms when she was brought in?”

“Look, doctor-patient confidentiality is—“

“Those rules are suspended; there’s a state of emergency. Of course, Mrs. Kleinmann is dead, so they would no longer apply anyhow.”

“Dead?”

“Yes Doctor.”

“Then why is she in Exam One trying to break the door down?”

Zombie Drabble #126 “Minor Threat”

“Brad.”

He was frantically stuffing clothes into a suitcase. “What? Marj, we have to go!”

“Brad. It’s the little neighbor girl.”

“Marjorie!”

“She’s just standing there. By the car.”

“Outside? Where are her parents?”

“I don’t see them.” Marjorie strained to see into the neighbor’s driveway without opening the curtains any more. “I don’t think they’re out there.”

Brad came over and took her place at the window. He stared for a time before saying, “I can’t tell if she’s a zombie.”

“Brad, of course she’s a zombie. It’s almost midnight. What’s she doing out there if she’s still alive?”

SF Drabble #117 “Spaceman Apprentice”

There are fourteen crew. Freddie, this is his eighth circuit, so he knows his way around. I shadow him most of the time. Six of the others are Quordies. They mostly do cleaning work. Freddie says they have an I.Q. of like 75 or 80.

The rest are Polixac. At first I didn’t get why they weren’t officers, on a Polixaci ship. After a while I understood: they’re insubordinate, sleep on the job, and I’m fairly certain, steal from ship’s stores.

I suppose I‘d assumed there weren’t dregs of Polixaci society. They just always seemed so perfect on the news.

SF Drabble #116 "Hazard Pay"

“Someone’s going to have to go out there.”

There was silence in the break room. Everyone at the table concentrated on their plate.

“The comm dish has to be repaired so we can talk to the ship—”

“So you do it.” Trent muttered. Everyone stopped breathing for a moment. “What? None of us signed on for this. I’m not some fuckin’ action hero. There weren’t supposed to be monsters.”

Dr Fields said, “These local lifeforms aren’t monsters, they’re just—“

“Yeah,” Trent interrupted, “Tell that to the eighteen people that got eaten when the fuckin’ ‘not monsters’ breached your precious fence.”