Science Fiction Story

The human was running.

Her blonde hair flew behind her head as she ran away from the group. Hunger propelled them forward. She sprinted past the McDonald's counter and grabbed the shotgun off of it.

Struggling to keep ahead, she whirled around and fired blindly at us. The shot embedded in the tiled floor a foot in front of me. I groaned, despite the lack of injury. She pulled the trigger again and this time, the shell found purchase in the zombie hobbling beside me. He staggered for a moment, but then kept on the chase. The human's face took on a horrified expression when she realized she was out of ammo. The injured zombie leaped forward, sinking his rotten teeth into her arm. She shrieked and tried to shake him off. I lunged too, and she was soon silent.

The group of us was soundless except for the occasional moans as we devoured. The one that was shot pulled the cell phone out of the corpse's jeans pocket. The motion brought the brown wrapper sticking also out of the pocket to my attention. I reached with a pale gray hand and grabbed the wrapper. The letters 'SNICKERS' jumped out at me in bold yellow type. The shiny surface revealed part of my face—a young man's with cuts and bruises covering his sickly skin. A memory tried to form in my mind as I held the item. Good feelings flooded me as I tried to remember what a Snickers was. And then it hit me—chocolate. Candy goodness. Caramel, peanuts, and nougat all coated in sweet chocolate.

Fingers fumbled with the wrapper, trying to quickly open it. But the wrapper was already ripped, and the bar was gone. A stirring in my stomach commenced. What was this feeling? I put a hand on his abdomen and then knew what it was—desire, and true hunger. And then I knew as my stomach rumbled what my top priority was—finding a Snickers bar.

A flat moan escaped my pale lips at this realization. I searched the deserted McDonald's I was currently in for the candy bar. It was to no avail. The only thing I found was a moldy McChicken nugget and some stale French fries.

I left the fast-food restaurant and tried to think of a place that would have candy. My thoughts were always jumbled up, so I found the task to be impossible.

Standing outside the restaurant, I took in my surroundings of the shopping plaza. Cars were lined up on the streets, empty. Litter fluttered in the breeze. An eerie silence had taken residence all over ever since zombies had come to be.

I turned to look at the first store on my left, King's Furniture. I wasn't sure what "furniture" was, but I entered through the doors anyways.

In the store, leather couches and corduroy sofas of all shades were lined up in even rows. On one of the biggest couches laid a zombie. I went over to him and nudged him on the shoulder. A gaping hole in his cheek distracted me for a moment. His short brown hair lay matted on his forehead and he sported a wrinkled suit. The lounging zombie peered at me from over his shoulder and groaned. His bloodshot eyes focused on a spot on my t-shirt.

I tried to use words. "Can—candy?" I sounded like a baby trying to speak for the first time.

The man's eyes became confused and he rolled back over on the couch. So much for his help. I felt around under the cushions of some of the sofas, but no luck. I wandered back outside.

The building across the street read 'Walmart'. I stood before the doors and they whooshed open automatically. Aisles of cheaply priced products were laid before me. I made my way through the store, taking my time. My eyes scanned the aisles, hoping for Snickers candy bars to be in abundance. My feet dragged him further into the store until I saw packages of M&Ms. Was I in the right aisle? I looked at the items and stopped when I saw a human at the end of the aisle.

Her hands shoved Snickers bars as fast as humanly possible into her mouth. I almost felt sorry for her. She was sitting on her knees in a tattered skirt and stained shirt.

She must've heard my stomach growl because she suddenly looked up and quickly got to her feet.

"Don't hurt me." She said, her mouth still full of candy.

I raised his hands in a gesture of peace. "Sn—snickers." I croaked, hoping the human would understand. I didn't want to have to fight her for what he wanted.

Perplexed, she looked at the bar in her hand. She then set it on the floor and slid it down the aisle to me. I grabbed the candy and took a huge bite of it. I closed my eyes in satisfaction of the chocolate. The human's eyes grew wider as she watched me.

"You, you're human." She whispered, pointing at me.

I looked down at my arms, and saw that my skin was no longer gray. The infected sores that had peppered my body were gone.

"I am." I breathed, no longer having trouble forming words.

I looked in awe at his new appearance. The effects of the Snickers bar were astounding.

I guessed I just must've been really hungry.