I sing this happy song deep down in my heart. The whole summer unfolds in my imagination. Days of sun and surf and late nights filled with bonfires and s’mores. I spin the dial on my locker one last time and stuff loose papers and thin notebooks into my backpack. As I pull the zipper over the memories, I notice hurried footsteps clicking toward me.
“Come with me. Now!” My best friend grabs my hand and pulls me toward the cafeteria. “If you don’t come now, people will die.”
I grunt in response, following in her wake as my bag bangs against my back. She doesn’t stop running until we reach the cafeteria’s double doors. I give her a questioning look as I realize the doors are closed. I have only seen them closed once—during a tornado drill.
“What’s going on?” I gasp for air.
“Just look.” She hisses and tilts her head toward the skinny window in the heavy wooden door.
I take a step forward and peer through the smudged glass. I gasp again. On the other side of the glass, two of my classmates lurch between long rows of tables, tripping over chairs. Through the large glass windows on the opposite side of the cafeteria, the remainder of the school watches anxiously.
“Really?” I mutter.
“They must not have known you were here.” My best friend pats me on the back.
“I don’t think zombies know much of anything.” I glance down the hall before pulling off my jeans and t-shirt to reveal a spandex outfit featuring a large Z in a circle bisected by lightning.
As I slip a mask out of my bag and over my face, my friend grins. “Zombinator to the rescue.”
“I never agreed to that name.” I mutter as I reach into my bag, producing two stakes.
“But I did.” She winks and opens one of the doors for me.
The zombies turn toward the squeal of poorly tended hinges. One tilts its head to the left and surveys me with milky eyes. The other lurches toward me, opening its mouth to release undefinable gibberish.
Someone in the crowd of onlookers whispers, “Zombinator.”
I clench my jaw and step forward, trying to ignore the awed echo of the ridiculous moniker as the zombies hungrily shuffle toward me, slowing raising their arms. “Arrghhh.”
“Sorry, guys,” I mutter, raising my stakes and darting forward. “No meals for you.”
I drive one stake home in the eye of the zombie to my left. The second slips lower and I shudder as it slams into an open mouth, pouring gore onto my hand. As I try to hold down my lunch, a roar of approval erupts from the other side of the glass. A door opens and the bravest of the curious step forward for a closer look at the now inert zombies at my feet. I turn and disappear through the double doors, where my best friend greets me.
“You did it again.”
“And I need to wash my hands.” I hold them up. “Again.”
We race toward the bathroom. Halfway there, I note with relief that my backpack rests on her shoulder.
“And it is time to go back to being a normal, dull girl.” She notices me eying my backpack. “Don’t worry. I know you need your change of clothes.”
“Indeed. Being a super zombie killer would be even harder if people knew who I am.”
She nods agreement as we slip into the bathroom for a quick change before joining the rest of our classmates to gape at the vanquished zombies.
“Did you see that?” One of many voices breaks through the chaos to reach my ears.
“Wow. The Zombinator took out both of them in one smooth move.”
“She is so cool. That’s how we know she doesn’t go to this school.”
I throw out a few comments of my own, but they get lost in the general chatter as I mentally prepare myself for a busy summer with more zombies than sunshine. I find myself scanning the throng around me, fighting back a chill as I wonder how many of them I will meet under unpleasant circumstances before fall arrives.
~~~
When I was a kid, the last day of school was usually at the beginning of June, so I thought this an appropriate choice to enliven the first Friday of June. Hope you are all staying well and taking care of yourselves. Feel free to leave some love...
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