Sudden Death: A Zombie Novel by James Carlson

woman uttered a low moan and he turned to regard her. Her complexion had changed dramatically, her face now a pallid yellow-grey. Her unblinking eyes , filled with hunger, looked back at him and a trail of drool began to trickle down her chin. She reached out towards Muz with grasping hands, her previous frailty now gone. Muz felt a cold shudder course down his spine.
    It looked as though she was about to start dragging herself towards him, but instead, turned her head down to regard her bloated stomach. The baby inside her was kicking and she contemplated the sensation with the almost comical uncomprehending fascination of a dog caught out by one of its own farts. Baring her teeth, she gripped the fabric of her nightdress and ripped it open, revealing her naked body. Without a second’s hesitation, she then began to claw at herself, her nails raking at her swollen belly. Testament to her newfound strength, she rapidly tore into the skin, blood coursing out of the wounds and pooling in her lap.
    “No…” was all Muz c ould say, stunned by the woman’s intense self-mutilation.
    He ran a few steps over to her, planning to pin her down, but she shot him a look so terrifying it stopped him in his tracks. She gnashed her teeth at him momentarily then returned to her effort to tear herself open. All Muz felt able to do now was stand and bear witness to this sick scene.
    The woman’s fingers were soon deep within the gouge she had managed to open up , and then with a scream of agony and the sound of ripping flesh, her stomach burst open. Even more blood and now amniotic fluid flooded around where she was seated, as she lifted from within her gaping abdominal cavity the writhing form of her baby.
    Torn from the warmth and security of its mother’s womb, the newborn squealed shrilly with the full strength of his tiny lungs. Already, he managed to open his little eyes, and squinting against his first sight of the rising sun, stared up at his mother’s face - just as she lifted him to her mouth and bit viciously into his plump round belly.
    The baby’s screeching became even more unbearably high in pitch but the mother , showing absolutely no maternal concern, continued to feast on his just ripe flesh. Although completely new to the world and already suffering unimaginable agony, the baby was grasping at his mother’s face with his stubby fat hands, as she crunched through his fragile ribs. With a rabid ferocity, the baby now attacked his mother, attempting to chew off her nose with his wet, gummy mouth.
    Muz’s backed away, the image of what he was seeing burning itself indelibly into his memory, threatening to haunt his nightmares for years to come, should he manage to survive and escape the ensuing horror.
    Well, that solved the problem of taking care of the woman, he thought with the macabre sense of humour, which served police officers as a necessary defence against the horrors they saw on a regular basis. At the same time, he doubled over and vomited over the toes of his well-polished shoes, feeling himself again shaking in shock.
    “Sam?” he called up over his radio, still tuned to the IBO channel.
    “Go on, mate,” the disembodied voice of his colleague replied.
    “What in God’s name is going on down here? ” Muz demanded to know. “I’ve just watched a woman rip her unborn baby out of her stomach and eat it.”
    There was a pause then Muz’s radio beeped, indicating he was receiving a private call.
    “Go on, Sam,” he responded.
    “Sorry, I didn’t want to talk on an open channel,” the female officer apologised. “The fact is, I’ve got top brass running around in the office around me and even they don’t seem to know what’s caused all this.”
    “Great.”
    “Were you being serious about that woman,” Sam asked.
    “Yeah. I puked,” Muz admitted.
    “Shit. Are you on your way back here then?”
    “Damn right I am. I’ll see you soon.”
    “Good luck, mate,” Sam said and Muz ended the