Outside, Poppy saw only a calm, beautiful night. Of course, she knew it was an illusion. There was no calm in Clarence.

With a loud sigh, Poppy turned away from the window, disgusted. Thinking about zombies always mad her stomach do flip-flops. She knew her family expected her to be stronger, but it was different for them. They didn’t feel like puking every time they saw a corpse. They actually fought on the front line. Ugh, thought Poppy. Gore. EW.

When she was a little girl, Poppy’s older brother Rory showed her her first zombie movie. That was before The Rise, when people still watched scary movies. Before horror flicks started to look a whole lot like real life. The movie was called Warm Bodies, and even though it was a comedy, she screamed her head off at the…well, the zombie scenes. Poppy had never had a high tolerance for fear in general, and at the time, it didn’t matter. But these days everyone was needed on the front line, even tiny Poppy. She was just glad she didn’t have to go–yet. The government couldn’t force her to do anything until congress passed the draft, and they had already vetoed it three times, thank God. However, the day was slowly drifting nearer and nearer…

Suddenly, the first in a series of high-pitched wails coming from the battlefield split the silence like a knife. Poppy, startled, screamed and flattened herself against the wall immediately, just like she had been taught in school. The wails continued, and Poppy pressed her hands tightly over her ears, her scream devolving into terrified sobs. Everyone in her village knew what the wails were. They were the sound of a human turning after having been bitten. Everyone also knew that if he was lucky, the guy’s screams would cut off very shortly, courtesy of his not-so-lucky buddy. Sure enough, they did. Poppy shakily uncovered her ears, whimpering, and slunk down to the floor.

I hate my life, she thought.