Sex Zombies of New Orleans

"In voodoo, the zombie is a metaphor for death – it's not truly undead. It doesn't have power over its actions. There's no magical 'zombie powder' that brings people back to life; they're slaves to the voodoo gods. They're like drones, controlled by their masters."

"This was supposed to help me stop being addicted to sex?" asked Mandy, who looked like she'd been running through dark alleys for hours. Her hair was disheveled and her face was smudged with dirt. She was clutching a plastic bag full of yellow pills in one hand, and her other hand gripped Stuart's arm firmly. The two were currently huddled behind a dumpster in an alley on the outskirts of the French Quarter, hoping that any zombies that wandered into the narrow space would be unable to spot them. "I thought this was going to be an adventure! I thought we were going to go explore New Orleans and drink absinthe and take pictures of jazz musicians and eat beignets!"

"It's a metaphor," Stuart said, trying his best to keep his voice down despite their situation. "There are no real zombies here in New Orleans besides us." He looked at Mandy sternly, but his eyes softened when he saw the look of terror on her face. "Look...look, we can get out of this okay."

"How? We don't even know why there are zombies in New Orleans or how we got here," said Mandy, frowning as she looked up at him. "All we know is that I took some Quaaludes before we left home so that I could relax on the plane ride down here, and now we're surrounded by these freaky zombie people who want to eat our brains!"

Stuart sighed as he leaned against the wall next to them with his arms crossed over his chest. He had already decided that they weren't going anywhere anytime soon - they were trapped in this alley until they figured out what was happening with these zombies, or until the sun rose in another day or two and burned them all away on its way across the sky. He glanced around nervously before looking back at Mandy. "I know you're scared...and so am I...but I'm just glad that we still have each other's backs."

Mandy laughed bitterly as she shook her head at him. "What good does it do us to still have each other if we can't leave? I mean, really, Stuart! What good does it do?" She flung herself forward against his chest and buried her face against his shoulder as she began crying softly. Stuart wrapped one arm around her shoulders gently as he rubbed her back with his free hand. After several seconds of sobbing quietly against him, she pushed herself back from him slightly and looked up at him with tears streaming down her cheeks. "We can't stay here forever," she whispered sadly as she wiped her nose on the back of her hand.

"We won't have to," said Stuart confidently as he looked down at her with a soft smile on his lips. He pulled a water bottle from one of his pockets and unscrewed the cap before handing it to her. "Drink some water - you're dehydrated."

Mandy nodded gratefully before taking a few long gulps from the bottle before handing it back to him with a sigh. She reached into her own pocket for a tissue and dabbed at her eyes lightly before sniffling softly and straightening up her blouse irritably.

"Thanks," she muttered under her breath as she crossed her arms over her chest defensively and slumped against the wall next to him again with a huff of irritation directed at herself for getting so worked up about their situation when there wasn't anything they could do about it but wait until someone rescued them or found them dead in an alley somewhere outside of town tomorrow morning when sunrise came again after nightfall tonight again, which might not be more than a day or two away if they didn't figure out what was happening first before then...or until someone else figured out what was happening first before then...or something happened first before then because it just wasn't fair that something like this could happen when all she had wanted was an adventure! Why couldn't things ever work out like they were supposed too?! Why did bad things always have to happen to good people? Why couldn't someone save them right now?