Zoobie Zombie

Because

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WIN

"Oh, Greg, look at how the snow sparkles in the headlights," Jenny cooed, pointing out the window in awe. "It's like being in a snow globe."  This was one of the things Greg liked most about Jenny; she didn't take things for granted, and she saw beauty in everything. He smiled as he drove, watching her out of the corner of his eye as she leaned back contentedly against the seat. "This is the happiest I've ever been."

"Me too," said Greg. Who would have thought that after only five weeks at BYU, Greg would be looking at engagement rings. He hadn't even known Jenny until that first week of church in their student ward. He couldn't imagine how he'd ever lived without her. Greg took a hand off the steering wheel and grabbed her own small hand in his.

A warm silence filled the car, and when he glanced toward her, he saw that Jenny was looking at him with her emerald eyes. A sudden passion swept over him, leaving him gasping. Greg's mouth was hanging open, and he stared at her. He knew it, suddenly, with all his heart: she was the only one for him. "Jenny," he said, for she had glanced back out the window. "Jenny, I love y-"

"GREG!" Jenny suddenly screamed. He barely had time to look forward out the window before they smashed into the flaming wreckage, and the car started to flip.

***

When Greg awoke, he was hanging from his seat belt. He blinked a dark liquid out of his eyes, confused at the scene of wreckage around him. Their car was on its side, turned so he could see the rest of the collision's victims out the front windshield. There appeared to be seven or eight cars in the pile-up, including the two they had hit before flying into the air. No one was moving in any of the other cars. Greg closed his eyes against the splitting headache he was developing. "Jenny, are you alright?" he asked.

There was no answer. Before Greg even opened his eyes, he realized with a jolt that in order for him to be dangling sideways in the air, the car must have landed on the passenger side. And that meant . . .

Greg turned in horror to see Jenny next to him, smashed against the road. Her body was twisted against the side of the car, white against the dark blood pooling around her. She had a huge gash in her forehead, and there was a tiny trail of blood trickling out of her mouth. Her gorgeous eyes were wide open, but they were completely empty. She was gone.

"No...no! JENNY!" Greg howled. He unbuckled his seat belt and carefully got down beside his girlfriend's sad, broken body. He touched her bloody cheek with an air of disbelief. This couldn't be happening! They were going to be together for time and all eternity, and now this?! It couldn't be happening. Greg leaned over Jenny's corpse, weeping softly. He couldn't let her go. He couldn't.

He wouldn't.

The thought came to him suddenly, but fiercely. He wouldn't let her go, that was all. At once his weeping was over, and the education he had sweat so much to obtain finally came to his rescue: he was a biochemistry major in his senior year of undergraduate studies. Suddenly, looking down at his departed beloved, he saw instead a chemistry problem to be solved. She had lost almost all of her blood; could he create a chemical that would perform the same function? Yes, he was sure he could. And if he could do that, then he wouldn't have to lose Jenny at all.

A siren's wail pierced the cold night air. Greg looked back out the window to see that the police had finally arrived. It looked like they'd called out the entire Provo police force. They'd come and take Jenny's body away from him, once they saw her. Greg looked at her battered face for one last moment of hesitation before all of the emotions inside Greg seemed to disappear. A single thought took over his entire being: I can fix this. I can fix this...

With steady but quick movements, Greg climbed out the broken frame of the window, carrying Jenny's corpse along with him.

***

It was good that they had been so close to campus when they'd crashed. It was also good that Greg's job as a custodian allowed him access to the buildings at all hours. He stole into the Eyring Science Center, relieved at finding the building completely empty - not unusual at this time of night, on a weekend. He hoisted Jenny up higher on his shoulders. Nothing seemed to be broken or protruding out of her body, that was a blessing. But he was getting blood everywhere. He'd have to find a mop and clean that all up before morning. He found a small laboratory on the fourth floor, laying Jenny's body on the table. He got out the equipment he would be needing, barred the door, and then set to work.

***

Hours and hours later, it seemed, Greg was leaning over Jenny's continually inanimate body, completely exhausted. He had tried everything he could think of. He'd cleaned all her wounds, stitched up what he could, and replaced her blood with a manufactured compound. He had just finished running the new serum through her body and finally unplugged the IV. He was breathing heavily, watching, waiting . . . . nothing.

Greg let his eyes close, tears of pain and exhaustion welling up behind the lids. After all he had done, could it really end like this? "Jenny," he whispered mournfully.

He felt a soft hand on his lips as she said his name, "Greg?"

His eyes blasted open and he stared down at his one true love, his eternal companion to-be. She was much paler than she had been before the accident - in fact, her skin had a blue-greyish tint to it. Her hair was matted with dried blood, and she had haphazard stitches across her forehead and left cheek, but her eyes were the same beautiful color they had always been. "Greg," she said again, her split lip lifting in a half smile. "Why are you crying? Is something wrong?"

"Oh, Jenny!" Greg said. He pulled her to a sitting position, then kissed her soft, cold lips fiercely. When he pulled away, he caressed her head stitches and said, "No, nothing is wrong. Ever again. Because we're going to be together. Forever." He wrapped his arms tightly around her.

"Forever," she said, happily. Unseen to Greg, her eyes widened slightly, and she sniffed at a delicious smell that seemed to be coming from under his hair...

The End?

(*smiles wickedly*)

In the next part, Greg and Jenny develop their odd romance as they try to figure out the strange new behaviors Jenny has picked up. She will eventually figure out that she's craving brains, and once she loses control, she will spread the disease, becoming the mother of all zombies. And thus it is a biochemistry student from BYU who sets off the Zombie Apocalypse. Tada!

I imagine there's quite a market for this stuff. There's already at least one very famous English Major from BYU who's made a lot of money with this romance-between-the-living-and-the-undead stuff. I'm just jumping on the bandwagon!

Thank you, Ms. Meyer, for the inspiration.

P.S. "Zoobie" = BYU coed