GENRE: Fantasy Romance
LENGTH: 74,000 words
RATING:

In a world ravaged by a zombie apocalypse, humanity is under the tyrannical rule of the undead. In the year 2071, humans are forced to live in bunkers and caves while zombies, divided by class, reign supreme in human settlements. Elite "gems" dictate the rules everyone follows.

Amidst the chaos, hope emerges in the form of Bexley, a nineteen-year-old zombie girl with a heart of gold and a sharp katana. Can she bridge the gap between the two societies and protect her family and friends from the deadly Bloodletters? Though her heart may not be beating, she has plenty of love to share.

EXCERPT:

“Babe. Seriously. Calm. Down.” Hudson looked at Asher softly but sternly, and he took in a deep breath. “Stan wouldn’t let us meet his girlfriend if that was the case. Jeez. I swear!” Hudson laughs and then looks at me. He is trembling, even as he puts on a brave face.

“Uh ... nice to me-meet you?” Hudson says to me.

I decide to play it casual and lunge at his hand, growling. He lurches back, almost falling on Asher, and Stan hits his knee, cracking up. Then I stand up and smile at them. Asher starts to laugh and Hudson is pale white as he realizes I played him and he laughs too.

“Oh, she’s wonderful, dude!” Asher says in between cackles and howls. Hudson is standing stony faced now, his arms crossed over his chest.

Asher gives Hudson this look that’s pouty and big eyed, and Hudson’s serious facade cracks -- and he nods, chuckling, “Yeah, she got me pretty good. I’ll give her credit there.”

“Bexley ... is my blossom,” Stan says sweetly, and I smile again.

“Awww!” Asher sang out.

Hudson was more stoic. “Nice.” His voice had a more calm and level tone than Asher, who was all over the place. But they seemed to complement each other, anyway.

“Ain’t I your bloom or blossom too, puddin’?!” Asher said to Hudson, swooning over him, acting like he was going to faint on him.

“Ugh ... more like some kind of annoying weed I can’t get rid of!” Hudson grumbled.

All of a sudden, I hear a noise come out of my mouth that feels abnormal. It tumbles out and I cover my mouth as quickly as possible. It really is not normal for zombies to feel like this!

“Holy shit! She laughed!” Hudson said, his voice actually rising instead of being one pitch.

“I -- I thought zombies couldn’t laugh!” Asher said.

Stan looks at me and is the most shocked. His skin is red on his neck.

“Uh ... Bex ... Did you just laugh?” Stan asked me, his voice breaking, and I see tears running down his cheek. I gently wipe them off his skin.

“Y-yes, S-S-Staan, de-dear,” I said as eloquently as possible. This time, Stan looked at his friends carefully. They became completely aware of my situation and my voice. I could tell they were very shocked.

“Dude, I know, you told us…she could talk but ... holy cow man! That’s crazy,” Hudson said, grabbing Asher’s hand again after finally regaining his composure.

“She’s more than what you guys think. More than what anyone thinks,” Stan says confidently, and they both nod in affirmation. We all decided to sit under the huge apple tree and talk. The light was decent too as there was a little pond nearby. Stan had told me water reflected the sky, reflecting light. I somehow found that such a beautiful idea. I was terrified of water, but his explanation calmed me down from being there (especially since the first time we came here). It was lucky we haven’t managed to run into Bloodletters yet, they hunted us (both human and zombie) like it was for fun.

“We think we can change things,” Stan motions to me and him. “Zombies don’t need to think that humans just wanna destroy them all. Humans aren’t just like in movies or in the wars from the past ... we are good, too. And we can show them that,” Stan starts and Hudson rolls his eyes. Asher is listening intently. I am watching them all. I am especially watching my lovely Stan.

“That’s exceedingly naïve, man,” Hudson says, and looks apathetically at me. “What makes you think that just because your girl over here understands us, that all her people will?”

“With this ...” Stan says, holding up his hand, locked with mine. “We can show them that we are the same.”

“That is adorable. I kinda agree with Hudson though that having an actual plan would give us a better edge than you two holding hands in front of two angry mobs,” Asher says in a more mature tone. “The juxtaposition of two mobs, one a zombie mob and two, a human mob, mixed with one from each group entangled in a love affair sounds mildly interesting and super romantic ... but just not what we need in terms of liability and tactics here. But if I had paper and pen, I’d draw that like in a comic! Maybe a hyperbolic illustration of both sides being bulls about to strike one another in tints of increasing red hues ... but that might make too much sense!”

Hudson and Stan laughed.

“That is too accurate!” Hudson said.

Stan nodded. “Unfortunately.”