On Halloween, the children ran about pretending to shoot one another. The ghosts were devastated as they drifted back to their graves, until the littlest one spoke up.

“Why not persuade the parents to start another new tradition–bullets as Christmas stocking stuffers?”

On December 26, the ghost population tripled.

That’s when my training kicked in. I pulled my taser cannon from my belt and blasted the corpse. It only convulsed. It did loosen its grip on the doctor, allowing her to pull herself free. She and I ran out of the triage room and I pulled the emergency lock to secure the doors.

“Sound the alarm!” I yelled to the doctor. “Lock down every zone on the ship.”

I grabbed my text device and tried to reach my Security Commander but he didn’t answer. Instead, the device lit up with a message. “The cameras are down. You’re on your own till the Space Troopers arrive – HQ.”

“The cameras are turned off in the station.” I said. “Nobody’s monitoring us back on Earth.”

The doctor stared out the window into the hallway and cried.

“What’s wrong?” I said.

“They’re coming from the Cold Storage Pod that we used as a morgue. They’re victims of last month’s chemical leak.”

I ran to the window and saw headless bodies sleepwalking toward us.

“Why are they after you?” I said.

“Not me, these.” She pulled back a sheet to reveal twenty-five heads stacked on top of one another. “It sounded crazy at the time, but as a precaution we removed the heads from those who passed away. Just in case of something like this.”

I started stacking beds and computer monitors in front of the window. I’ve seen all the movies; if I can keep them from biting us we’ll be safe.

When the zombies started pounding on the glass, their heads came to life.

At first, they just opened their eyes scanning the room. I inched up closer to take a look.

“Please, don’t!” The doctor tossed me the sheet.” Just cover them up.”

As I lifted the sheet, the heads shot into the air. I was hit in the face and knocked to the ground.

As the swarm of heads flew around the room, I tried punching them in the face but they were too fast.

The doctor screamed.

Stunned, I watched as the heads viciously bit the doctor repeatedly in the face and neck.

From out of nowhere, I was head-butted unconscious.

I awoke in the shuttle sickbay on my way back to Earth. I tried to move but they had placed me in a black plastic bag next to the other twenty-six bodies. I could see I was going to have a difficult time getting out of that bag.

Across the room, at the bottom of the pile, they stacked my head.

The robbery took a week to plan and only a second to fall apart. Hank was supposed to enter the gas station to clear out the customers while I waited, but as soon as he entered I heard the blast of his shotgun. I ran inside and found the clerk erupting blood like a volcano from a hole in his chest.

“Jesus Christ, what the hell happened?” I turned to find Hank focused on a woman in the back of the store, she had black hair, tan skin, and fabulous curves. I understood why he was bewitched.

“Bitch, get over here to where I can see you,” Hank said as he locked the front door.

“What are you doing?” I demanded.

“She looks like a stripper, don’t you think she looks like a stripper?”

The woman stared at her feet as she reluctantly walked down the aisle towards Hank.

“Are you a stripper?” Hank hit her with the butt of the shotgun when she got close enough. “Look at me when I’m talking to you.”

She wiped the blood from her mouth. “Sure, whatever you want me to be”.

He pointed the muzzle of the shotgun between her eyes. “Then start stripping.”

“No.”

Boom–he fired the shotgun over her head exploding the track lighting in the ceiling. Moonlight streamed through the nearby plate glass window, highlighting the woman like a spotlight. Persuaded, she rocked her hips up and down as her abdomen moved in a circular motion. She reminded me of a belly dancer as her arms slithered outward like waves.

Hank relaxed his stance and lowered his shotgun as he bobbed his head to the invisible music. She unbuttoned her blouse exposing a black lace bra that cupped her fantastic breasts.

“Take it off, now.” He took a step back, giving her room. She put a hand between her breasts to work the clasp on her bra and paused, she seemed to be struggling. Her dancing stopped as a line of blood streaked down her stomach. She had pushed her fingernail into her chest. Hank pumped the shotgun, “what are you trying to pull?”

She dug her index finger deeper into her chest. Blood squirted Hank’s face as she pulled her ribcage. Crack–the room fell silent except for the buzz of the coolers in the back of the store. She stared directly into Hank’s eyes as she tore the broken rib from her chest and tossed it at his feet.

I couldn’t take it anymore, I bolted for the door. I pulled at Hank’s sleeve as I passed but he didn’t follow, he just stood motionless in a puddle of his own urine. My sweaty hands fumbled with the lock, I couldn’t get it open so I kicked out the lower glass panel of the door. Once outside I looked back and screamed for Hank to follow, he ignored me, his shotgun lay on the floor, too heavy for his trembling hands.

Deep within the woman’s exposed muscles and broken ribs a ball of black tar pushed its way out. A blood slicked mass unfolded and expanded revealing a snout and a pair of yellow eyes. A wolf emerged, shedding the rest of her human skin, and howled. Its shark-like mouth opened to reveal deadly jagged teeth. Then in a blur of foaming saliva, Hank was decapitated in one ferocious bite.

I fired my gun at the wolf and I regretted that decision as soon as I pulled the trigger. The wolf, unharmed, glared at me sending shivers of despair throughout my body. The smell of wet fur, blood, and urine overpowered my senses. I could have run, I could have played dead, instead I did nothing. I just waited.