Cast
A young man or woman.

Scene
I can’t find the milk. I’ve been up and down each aisle five times but there’s no milk anywhere. There’s no one in here which I should probably find strange but I don’t. I go back to aisle three and check behind the Oreos. Oh hey, it’s the milk. Who put it there? I reach in and grab two litres.

Something smashes behind me. I turn. My heart almost turns to lead when I see the man. His clothing is torn, his hair looks like it’s been ripped half out, his arms are bloody. He staggers towards me, eyes glazed and unblinking. Then he says, “Brains!” I drop the milk and back away, and he starts stumbling faster. I turn to run and another bloodied man grabs me and tries to bite my neck.

Screams. Confused for a moment before finding bearings.

That’s the fourth time this week. I don’t normally have dreams of any kind but this last week has been nightmare after nightmare. Mum comes in. “Honey, you okay?”

“Yes mum.”

“That’s the fourth time this week.”

This is already established. I send her away and step into the shower to rinse off the sweat and maybe a little pee. A bit later I call my girlfriend. “Hey Jules, how you?” (pause) “Yeah, I’m alright.” (pause) “Nah, I’m alright. It’s… yeah, another one of those dreams.” (pause) “Jesus, yes it’s the fourth time this week. Did I make that my Facebook status or something?” (pause) “I’m so damned tired but I have to stay awake through uni.”

This all started because of movies. Every second Sunday Jules and me do a themed movie marathon. First one ever was Pixar movies, then obvious stuff like Star Wars and Lord of the Rings. We’ve done heaps and heaps of TV series and we even did the entire Fast And Furious franchise. Most recent one zombies. World War Z, 28 Days Later, I Am Legend and Shaun of the Dead. Now, I am totally not scared of zombies. What am I? A five year old? Zombies are stupid and impossible. But ever since we did this I’ve been having these really vivid dreams and it’s starting to get out of control.

I head to university and put the undead out of my mind for a while. I sit up the back of Global Economics and watch the room fill up. This old guy Benson who has this creepy crush on me sits beside me and stares discreetly at me for a long creepy minute. He totally waited until there were no other seats before sitting down so I’m stuck.

The professor is talking about how China is communist politically but fiscally capitalistic… exporter of cheap goods thanks to low cost of labour… low regulation something government something.

The key thing I learn today in Global Economics is that Global Economics is an effective cure for insomnia. I wake up when my spidey sense senses that Benson is about to zero in on my inner thigh so I jump up and run to the loo. I can’t wilfully go back to that creep so I go to the library and try to study what I’m missing. I read a book called Twentieth Century Economic Policy in China, but all I’m thinking is “What would I do if a zombie came around the corner?” I’d… run through natural sciences and kick that wooden table in. The leg would be good for both whacking and stabbing. Or I could make a break for the window past the self-help aisle.

What am I doing? I need to study...

END OF EXCERPT​​​​​​​