ArtsAutosBooksBusinessEducationEntertainmentFamilyFashionFoodGamesGenderHealthHolidaysHomeHubPagesPersonal FinancePetsPoliticsReligionSportsTechnologyTravel

The New Endangered Species, A Horror Short Story

Updated on October 12, 2019
tamarawilhite profile image

Tamara Wilhite is a technical writer, an industrial engineer, a mother of two, and a published sci-fi and horror author.

Story by Tamara Wilhite

"It's blocking your path to the kitchen." Carla whispered. The ceiling rafters creaked as she peered through the drywall hole from attic down into the living room. The zombie that had been Mr. Ramirez ambled about slowly.

Its slack face turned the glazed gray eyes to look at every shifting of the dishes that banged against its search for the house’s occupants. Just their luck the guys had finally decided to do dishes when the population control squad was unleashed in their sector.

"How long until clean up?" Carlos whispered. The military cordon around their neighborhood would prevent zombies from getting out, and then kill all but a few “seeders” at the “clean up” phase, the newly dead who turned and were in better shape than the zombies let loose for this neighborhood's killing spree.

Then they’d move on for the next strike. Population control and survival of the fittest, it was called. Kill the slow, the lazy, the stupid, the literally too stoned to live. Maybe a few kids or old people. No animals harmed in the process, no massive wars, hardly any property damage except broken windows and doors and a few bullet holes in walls – far less than most football riots, win or lose.

Matthew shifted his weight across the rafters slowly, seeking a better view of the clock while desperately trying not to fall through the exposed dry wall to the floor below. God, he wished he’d finished the reinforced attic floor up here. "Fourteen hours until the military comes in. Plus whatever time spent cleaning up converted neighbors."

“Damn, I wish we could kill it,” Carla muttered. “But my gun’s in the dresser by the bed.” The zombie heard her and looked up. It couldn’t see her, or the peephole, but it had a fix on their location. It began moaning louder, as if that would bring Carla to it. To their dismay, answering moans joined it outside.

“Well, we’re not going to get past it to the kitchen for more supplies,” Matthew snorted. “Or knives for self defense. We might have killed Ramirez – what was Ramirez, had been him once – and gotten more food and water before others saw us and came in. But now, with more of them coming –“. Matthew shut up as broken glass crinkled and fell to the floor, with a dragging crash in the living room. When the military arrived for the clean up, they’d be concentrating fire on his house. “Taking on a horde, even if we had the weapons, wouldn’t be allowed – even if we survived it. We can act in self defense but not attack.”

“So we just lay down and die?” Carla asked.

Carlos shuddered and checked the crowbars that kept anything from pulling down the attic access hatch. “No, we lay low UP here and live. It’s just a day or so without food or water.”

Carla shook her head. “God I wish we could eat them instead of the other way around. But they’re an endangered species, the law says, so limits on when we can kill it.”

“They’re an endangered species, because that’s the law that protects them and our rights and everything else. And we’re not allowed to kill them except self defense. It’s the law. It’s like killing a panda bear. You get a death penalty for it, these days, when killing a person is just a few years hard labor or giving up a kidney.”

A short story by author Tamara Wilhite
A short story by author Tamara Wilhite | Source

"The idiots who passed those laws are mostly those things now, anyway, like the family members they sought to protect in the hopes of recovering … and now the voluntary extinction movement keeps the laws in place, converting anybody who tries to side with humans into the new protected “endangered” class. Christ, wouldn’t a war to kill a couple billion people be more humane than living like this? And that’s hoping that the government’s control doesn’t get out of control and lead to everybody being a zombie."

At least a dozen zombies were now milling around the living room. They were all looking up and around at the ceiling, clustered around the vicinity below where Carlos and Carla were hiding. Then they began to reach up toward the ceiling, a few now climbing over others to get to their prey.

“Just 13 more hours,” Carlos tried to reassure her.

Carla took his hand across a dark space of insulation. “Take the crowbar, if they get up here. Kill me if they get too close. You’ll have less jail time than if you kill a bunch of them.”

Matthew nodded grimly. “I’ll do you both in. It’s the least a friend can do.”

If you enjoyed this short story, buy my science fiction novel "Sirat: Through the Fires of Hell".
If you enjoyed this short story, buy my science fiction novel "Sirat: Through the Fires of Hell". | Source
working

This website uses cookies

As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.

For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy

Show Details
Necessary
HubPages Device IDThis is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons.
LoginThis is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service.
Google RecaptchaThis is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy)
AkismetThis is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Traffic PixelThis is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized.
Amazon Web ServicesThis is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy)
CloudflareThis is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy)
Google Hosted LibrariesJavascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy)
Features
Google Custom SearchThis is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy)
Google MapsSome articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
Google ChartsThis is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy)
Google AdSense Host APIThis service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Google YouTubeSome articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
VimeoSome articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
PaypalThis is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook LoginYou can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
MavenThis supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy)
Marketing
Google AdSenseThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Google DoubleClickGoogle provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Index ExchangeThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
SovrnThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook AdsThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Unified Ad MarketplaceThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
AppNexusThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
OpenxThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Rubicon ProjectThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
TripleLiftThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Say MediaWe partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy)
Remarketing PixelsWe may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites.
Conversion Tracking PixelsWe may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service.
Statistics
Author Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy)
ComscoreComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Tracking PixelSome articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy)
ClickscoThis is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy)