When it’s not only Zombies eating people

While my first novel still needs to be edited I’ve already begun work on its sequel, in fact, it’s half completed. Here’s a little tidbit I’m working on. The main characters Shelby and her sister Renee travel in the snow to retrieve their weekly rations from a local grocery store. They are tired, hungry, and cold. I wrote this almost a year ago and reading back over it I cringe at some of the words knowing I can do better. This is what a rough draft looks like. When it’s done it will be creepier, more of the five senses will be added, and I’ll make them appear colder to really show you how miserable they are. Sorry, my darlings. It’s just not a good day for you but hang in there! I wrote a scene where you get to drink corn whiskey and have fun after this.

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An enticing smell hits us both as we round the corner to the grocery store. An old man with tattered clothes and fingerless gloves cooks over a metal barrel selling food. With no idea what he’s preparing my mouth waters and stomach clenches.

“Wow! It smells good. I wonder if I could trade with him,” I say.

Renee extends her arm blocking my path. “It’s human. Others at the hospital warned me. He looks for frozen carcasses and then butchers them.”

“He’s eating people?” The man looks up with gray teeth and waves me over. I shake my head in disbelief, a cannibalistic human, someone unaffected by the virus choosing to eat their own kind.

She shushes me and curls her lip. We find a place behind those waiting in line, and my feet turn to ice blocks, snot drips to my chin, the wait begins. Several guards show their guns giving the impression that nonsense won’t be tolerated. Another one survey’s the line, ensuring nothing is amiss. Their authority used to intimidate me, but several months have passed, and I’m used to their presence.

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It was a fun chapter to write. A lot of information is passed between sisters as they await their food. Renee is a doctor and Shelby has taken up work at Johns Hopkins in a lower role. I wouldn’t say their lives are easy, but they have better than most in this apocalyptic isolated city of Baltimore, Maryland.