Here is my first published story: Happy Anniversary

Happy Anniversary
By: Steven McGuire
Copy Right 2010, All Rights Reserved.

Months passed since the infection. Thousands are lost in Oregon and millions worldwide. Yet, as fast as they came, the zombies have been eradicated.
The events were heavily publicized. One horrific image was the Pope, who had turned into a slow moving corpse, attacking a news reporter that got a little too close.
Roy Neilson is a survivor. He lives in the small town of Sandy, Oregon with his wife Helen. He survived by being paranoid for years. Having made his basement into a bunker and filling it with ammo and goods. Roy didn’t leave the bunker until word that a local Safeway had re-opened.
They don’t spend much time out of the bunker. People are still afraid a roamer might be walking around. Though none have been spotted one in over a month. The last was a homeless man seen biting into the neck of Alan Henderson.
Today is a special day. Today is the thirty-fifth anniversary with his wife. Roy heads into town, living near where Roselyn Lake once was. He travels five miles in to downtown Sandy. The area still looks like a demilitarized zone. Heavy fencing and a couple tanks still line the streets. The National Guard has been a presence since the outbreak.
Roy pulls his Ford F-350 into the make shift Safeway, his dream truck he purchased just before hell broke loose. A far cry from the original store, and lacking luxury items, it still has many necessary goods. He walks through the aisles selecting ingredients to make his wife a cake and more supplies for his now depleted bunker.
He pays the cashier in cash that he had buried underneath his house. Roy never believed in banks. The bills smell like wet earth. The cashier accepts the money after checking to make sure it wasn’t counterfeit. With so many people out of work, bogus money is all over. Looting is an everyday occurrence.
The sweet smell of cake fills the kitchen. A television is blaring a re-run of Helen’s favorite show “Perry Mason”.
Roy smears frosting on the cake, making it just right. He mixes a little left over frosting with some food dye. Roy scribbles Happy Anniversary on the cake. The hot pan doesn’t hurt his rugged hands. His heavy weight makes the wooden stairs creak as he walks down into the basement.
Helen, sitting in a chair, turns and acknowledges Roy. He smiles and places the cake before her. She whines and hisses. Her shackled hands clank as she reaches for Roy, revealing bone.
Her teeth and finger nails have been removed. Her rotting flesh peels and oozes. Her decomposing body fills the basement with the smell of death. Roy leans in and kisses her forehead. He wipes some yellow liquid from his upper lip, the smell makes him queasy. She snaps at him like a turtle.
“I love you, Happy Anniversary.” He sits down and eats his cake, admiring Helen and smiling at her.