zombies

I dream of zombies. we learn about the plague and how it fuels their hunger in a rhyming picture book, like the ones that taught us how to read. cartoon blood down cartoon walls. I check the locks and think we're safe unless we leave the house. but my brother does and I don't know what to do. the rest of the family wants to walk to the cliffs to swim. I tell them it's not safe but they won't listen. and so I watch them from the open door: an exodus of SPF and genes in common hauling hopes for summer holidays down cul de sacs to death. the zombies rear their ugly heads from potholes and flowerbeds to follow from behind. I scream too loud to be heard in the race to sunset. alone and waiting for the party to return more hungry than before.