Regina the Zombie Slayer, Episode Six: It's a Trap!

"I better stay in these woods," Regina whispered.

She threw the bike aside and fled into the thick trees. It would do her no good out here.

The horrific moans of zombies still at her back made her skin break out in goosebumps.

She suppressed a shiver as she ran for her life. Sharp leaves cut into her skin as she ran. She gritted her teeth, so as not to scream in pain and frustration.

Regina didn't dare turn back to see how close the ghouls were. She would surely trip and be eaten. She put one leg after the other and listened to her ragged, uneven breathing.

The cold air was unforgiving on her lungs. They ached with exhaustion. She was beginning to feel sick with the effort.

A sudden tightness constricted around Regina's left leg.

"Ahhh!"

She was yanked up and left dangling in the air from a tree. She swung back and forth like a pendulum.

Her bloody skillet dropped from her hand and bounced on the damp ground and into a pile of leaves, far out of reach.

Blood rushed to her head and her hair obscured her vision. She could see nothing but a small swath of ground beneath her.

But she could hear the tortured cries of the zombies grow ever nearer.

"Help!" She flailed her arms down, up, around. It was futile. Her fingers only met empty, apathetic air.

She was now a dangling piece of zombie food.

"She's not a zombie!" An excited, male voice.

"She brought a ton of the buggers with her, though." A second voice. British accent, also a man.

"Please don't hurt me!"

These two men, whoever they were, had complete control of her.

"You're safe, baby doll," the British man said. "We're just gonna take proper care of these zombies, real quick ."

The men walked away, leaving Regina alone. She whimpered at being abandoned and helpless. The blood to her head was becoming unbearable.

Gunshots. A crescendo of moans and groans. More gunshots.

Silence.

Footsteps slowly walking back.

Hands were now on Regina's legs and ankles, and she cried with relief. The rope was untied and she landed on her shoulder with a heavy thud. She lurched up and stepped away from the two men. She could barely see them in the shadows.

"Hold on," the American one said. "You're safe."

"How am I supposed to know that?" Regina asked . "I was just caught up in your little trap!"

The two men were now coming into focus. The American was probably in his thirties and seemed nice enough - at least on the outside. But the British guy had a strange gleam in his eyes she just didn't trust. He was in his forties, and portly, with a dark shadow of a beard. He had eyes that seemed to see right through her. They looked at her expectantly, waiting to see what she would do next.

Regina weighed her options - fight, flight, or trust.

And, never had her life been more on the line than it was right now.

What should Regina do?

Fight,

Flight,

or

Trust?

Vote in the comments section to help Regina survive the next moments of her endangered life. The action continues on Monday!

Regina the Zombie Slayer, Episode Three: Be Aggressive

Regina scraped away the jagged edges of glass that remained stuck to the window pane. She was going to jump.

It was a bit high, but Regina was used to heights. She had been a cheerleader in high school. Standing atop pyramids and being basket-tossed had totally prepared her for this moment.

Regina stepped back and mentally prepared herself for the jump. Behind her, the front door buckled and crashed to the floor. Four zombies shambled into the room, their every jerk and shudder fueled by wild hunger.

You have to go now!

"Be aggressive! B-E aggressive!"

Regina leapt over the lip of the window and into the empty air. Her insides fluttered. It was a familiar feeling.

Regina pretended she was falling toward the arms of her trusted teammates. They would catch her at the bottom. She would be okay.

In reality, Regina was caressed by concrete at the end of her fall. She let gravity pull her upper body toward the ground. She folded herself inward and rolled.

Cement pebbles imbedded in her arms and legs. Her elbows and knees were scraped and bloodied in an instant. But, Regina somehow rolled to her feet, holding her skillet out in front of her.

Regina had survived her fall. And, she had done it with style.

If only her stupid boyfriend could see her now. Regina hoped that zombies were feeding on his intestines at that very moment.

"No more time for resentment." Regina backed toward the apartment building as ten zombies converged on her position. She had two choices.

She could fight: use her skillet to bash each and every one of those zombies heads in.

Or, she could run: let the zombies chase her around the apartment building until she found an escape route. The ghouls were slow - surely she could outrun them. But, what if some of them could secretly run? That wouldn't be good.

Yet, fighting wasn't the best option either. Ten zombies against a human with a skillet was definitely an unfair match up.

The zombies had Regina almost completely cornered now. She had to act now or be eaten.

What should Regina do?

Run from the zombies

OR

Fight them?

Vote in the comments section to help Regina make her decision. Check back this Friday to see what happens next!

Regina the Zombie Slayer, Episode Two: A Skillet on the Skullet

Regina grabbed the skillet in a frenzy. She raised it above her head with both hands and swung as hard as she could.

She forced herself to keep her eyes open. If this didn't hit, she was dead.

The heavy skillet arced down and clipped the zombie on the jaw, knocking it onto the floor. It's jaw hung open, held up only by sallow skin. With a groan, it slithered toward Regina, unfeeling of pain.

Regina swung again, pummeling it on the head. Her hands rang from the impact, but she could not stop now. She hit it again and again, the dull thud of metal and splattering of blood meeting her ears.

At last, a disturbing snap of bone signified the skull had cracked. Blood and brains oozed from the crevice and onto the once pristine linoleum. The zombie's groans ceased as it moved its arms feebly.

Regina continued clobbering it. She panted from exertion as blood sprinkled her T-shirt and jeans.

Finally, the zombie ceased its twitching and grew still. A rotten smell that made her want to heave permeated the air.

The blood now on her face was a sobering reminder not to go too crazy. If that so much as entered her eye...

She dropped the skillet with a clang and ran to the sink. She turned on the faucet and washed her face. She then went to her bedroom and changed into a clean shirt and jeans before returning to the living room.

The zombie was still inert on the floor. Blood continued to pool under its misshapen head. Regina was afraid it would spring back to life. But how could it? Its skull was flattened as if an eighteen wheeler had run it over.

"I...actually did that...."

Regina wanted to fall down and cry, but she did not have that luxury. The zombies outside continued to beat against her door, desperate to make their entrance. The top hinge appeared to be loosening.

It could fall any second.

Regina had to think of something. But nothing came to mind. She was stuck here. There was nothing she could do.

She ran to the window and looked outside. Well, jumping was something. But a dozen zombies now wandered the parking lot, searching for their next meal.

But what else could she do? Wait in here until they broke in? Even if she were to die out there, she was as good as dead in here.

Regina walked to the kitchen and picked up the skillet, her arm shaking from its earlier effort. Unfortunately, the skillet was the best weapon she had. There was nothing else in the apartment with its skull-crushing capabilities.

Regina once more walked to the window. If she could just jump and run very fast, she might be able to break free of the zombies outside. But if she landed wrong, or got surrounded, or was just plain unlucky, she would be dead for sure.

Behind her, she heard the top hinge fall and clink to the floor.

She closed her eyes, trying to gain her focus.

It was time to make a decision.

What should Regina do:

Jump out the window,

OR

Try to think of a better option?

Cast your vote and return next Tuesday to see if you made the right call.

Regina the Zombie Slayer, Episode One: The Undead Siege

The moans of the undead outside Regina's apartment were getting uncomfortably loud.

Not that any sound the undead make is comfortable. Not by any stretch of the imagination.

But they were out there in the parking lot now. Regina did not dare stand by the window. She did not want to be seen by those...things. Instead, she sat huddled in a corner, shivering, waiting, phone to her ear.

This phone call was her only hope.

An insurmountable dread had formed in her stomach, chilling her like a block of ice. Her stomach churned, and a whimper escaped her throat.

God, please let him answer...

Outside, screams sounded in the night. She fought with every fiber of her being not to join them, however much she wanted to give in. Her boyfriend needed to answer.

He would never leave me here.

Beastly snarls and the ripping and tearing of flesh from outside met her ears, followed by more bloodcurdling screams. She was thankfully on the second floor, and her door was locked tight.

But would it be enough?

At last, the rings went to voicemail - and Regina felt an all new coldness. She was being ingnored. She had been abandoned, betrayed; numbed to the point that she could not think or even feel angry.

"Oh God," Regina said, the tears starting to come. "Oh God..."

She looked toward the front door. It was locked, chained. She thought that maybe she should also move something in front of it.

But she couldn't even move herself.

I'm dead. I'm going to die...

She curled into the corner, paralyzed. She didn't move for a few minutes - not even daring to lift a finger.

Outside, it had quieted. There was nothing but the wind and the crackling of a fire outside.

Slowly, Regina stood and looked through the window. A fire engulfed a car across the parking lot - she had heard it explode earlier, had seen its fierce light paint the walls in the hues of the sun for a moment. Behind the fence, the trees were dark, indifferent to the chaos that had unfolded.

There were none of the horrible creatures, however. At least, none in sight.

Perhaps they moved on. Perhaps this wasn't real - just a dream.

She pinched herself, even though she already knew the pointlessness of such an act. Somehow, someway, zombies were attacking her apartment complex, and she was going to die.

Don't think like that. It's not over yet. They don't know you're in here. They haven't seen you.

She suddenly went cold when she realized she had just stood in front of the window. It was a stupid, careless thing to do. She might even die for it.

Then, realizing nothing could be done about it, she forced herself to move. She stood and began pacing the room. She paused a moment, thinking of who else might help her.

She shook her head. If her boyfriend would not come for her, who would?

She only had herself.

The room darkened a bit, and Regina frowned. There was a heavy stillness.

Then behind her, the window shattered. She screamed as shards rained down on her neck, causing sharp, stinging pain. Adrenaline and fear coursed through her veins as she stumbled onto the floor.

A bloodthirsty snarl sounded from behind her, and she gave another futile scream.

She crawled away madly, screaming and whimpering, oblivious to the broken bits of glass cutting into her hands and knees. She crawled toward the door, not daring to look back at the zombie behind her.

She put a hand on the knob and started to turn it, but then she heard the scuffling. The sound of another zombie - right outside her apartment door.

She was cornered.

She could hear the zombie crawling toward her on all fours, grunting, groaning, bent on its goal. Regina sobbed as she leaned into the door.

She could not get out.

Regina finally looked at the zombie. It wore a tattered black suit. Red clumps of dirt fell from its shoulders, its skin gray and peeling. Long, gray hair descended in a skullet, green with slime. The large, baleful eyes stared at Regina: ghostlike, vacant, hungry.

It groaned louder as it neared, and the zombies outside her door echoed its call. Regina pressed her back against the front door. She could hear fingernails scraping down the wood.

Then, as if of its own volition, the panic subsided. She knew she had to do something - anything - because doing nothing would get her killed.

She looked around the ktichen for something to defend herself with. It was hard to see through the tears in her eyes. The zombie on the floor was pulling its way toward her, like a slug.

At last, she saw an iron skillet sitting on the stove. That could work. She could use that, right on the head, and knock the zombie out.

But maybe I'll miss...and then I'm good as dead. And I'll have to swing it really hard.

Or I could go outside, but there is at least one zombie out there, maybe even more waiting for me. If I could just take this one out now...

These thoughts raced through her mind as the zombie crawled toward her, as slow and inevitable as a glacier.

Regina knew she could not move from her place. It was too close now. It could snap at her. One bite, and it was all over.

She only had two options - use the skillet, or try to force her way out the front door and into the horror-filled night.

The zombie was now only mere feet away...

If I'm going to leave the apartment now, this is my only chance.

Regina looked once more at the skillet. The zombie reached for her...

What should Regina do:

Fight the zombie with the skillet,

OR

Get out her apartment?

Place your vote in the comments section, and come back Friday to discover Regina's fate.

Night of the Necromancer is Live!

At last, Night of the Necromancer, an 80,000 word behemoth of a choose your own adventure, is live and ready to sell for $3.99 on both Amazon.com and Barnesandnoble.com.

Taken from the back cover:

"Just hours ago, you were a student trying to survive college. Now, as zombies attempt to knock down your apartment door and eat you alive, you must ask yourself if you will survive the night. And, in order to get through this nightmare, you will have to make all the right decisions.

"Will you save your overbearing girlfriend, who just broke up with you hours before the zombies arrived? Will you trust the survivors you meet along the way? Will you retreat to the forest in an attempt to escape the undead hordes, or will you face your fear head-on and fight your way through the city?

If you are quick on your feet, you just might see another day. One wrong decision, and you'll end up as zombie food, or worse, a member of the undead."

It was a lot of hard work, but worth it in the end. The book has been live for about a week and already has two positive, unsolicited reviews on Amazon.

If you've ever wondered if you have what it takes to survive the zombie apocalypse (and it will come), then why not test your skills before the inevitable arrives?

Click here or here to check the book out!