Navis Salubris – Chapter Three – Wei

Navis Salubris – Chapter Three – Wei

by Mel Dawn

Wei survived the zombie apocalypse by hiding in tiny crawl spaces that an adult could never reach. Or a zombie for that matter. 

Currently her tiny figure hid under some shrubbery, hiding from the swooshing, squishing noises that were coming her way. She pushed back against the bushes, trying to make herself as small as possible. She stopped when the fence blocked her from moving further. 

She jumped a bit when the fence creaked. But the zombies stomping by didn’t take notice, as they were making their own sounds. The zombies comprised a large  population in Shanghai, China. There had been a gazillion humans, so it stood to reason that there were now a gazillion zombies.

Wei hadn’t seen a human being for over three months now. She wasn’t concerned that there was such a huge crowd of zombies, as she was used to staying motionless for hours at a time. She had a few supplies in her backpack, in case she got hungry or thirsty. Many times she would just fall into a slumber and wait for the zombies to pass. 

One time two zombies did see her hidden, and headed her way. They tried to reach into her space, but she was too far back for them to get in. Eventually, they heard other sounds behind them, and soon turned to investigate.

She lived off mostly packaged food from the local markets and braved the overwhelming stench of animal carcasses that hung from the rafters. She would toss aside soy flour, not knowing what to do with it. Fortunately, there were plenty of nuts and dried fruit to be found. She missed the taste of rice but setting up a fire to cook it would draw the zombies to her. She hadn’t had a hot cooked meal for months now.

Wei decided to leave her crawl space after the zombies had passed. She headed down an alley as she saw the sign of another fruit and vegetable market, that may have something different that she could eat. She was tired of eating the same old things. She noticed as she stepped foot in the market that she heard groaning noises coming from behind her. 

She was going to duck further into the market, when she realized that the zombie sounds were actually coming from inside. The zombies soon caught up with her. She had nowhere to run. She looked around while looking for a weapon but all she saw were rotting bananas and bags of rice. 

Just as the zombies were circling her, she felt something touch her head. She brushed it away, thinking it was cobwebs from the ceiling. A red envelope slowly floated into her arms. She grabbed it and looked at it, taking a break from the zombies that were almost within her reach. 

“What the hell,” she said in Mandarin and tore open the envelope. Inside was a cruise ticket. 

Next... Chapter Four – Ritta.

Navis Salubris – The Start of a Serialized Short Story – The Healing Ship

My blog has been sadly neglected for the past year. Paid writing work has taken priority over unpaid fiction. From dealing with a sick cat with hepatitis/liver disease, to a small cyst in my hand that hurts, I've decided to take a few weeks off. This has given me the chance to get my home in order, finish off a few projects, and get back into crafting and fictional writing.

Earlier this year I eagerly followed the serialized adventures of Jason P. Crawford. A blog is yet another avenue for reaching new readers. What a great idea! I decided to give it a try, and now I have time to do so. Hopefully 500 words each day won't slow down my daily chores, and as Isabel the Cat gets better, more time is freed up to do what I want.

Here's a brief summary of what I'm trying to accomplish. Of course it's a zombie short story, as zombies are what I do best. Just what does Navis Salubris mean? I enjoy dabbling in Latin and hope I have my translation correct. Navis means Navy, and I'm sure most people will recognize Salubris for the Good Health toast. Thus we have "The Healing Ship". Check out the futuristic ship photo I found online.

As the zombie threat lessens, remnants of human society have degenerated into in-fighting. Five people from around the world find themselves with an unexpected ticket to the Navis Salubris. Our five main characters wake up on the ship, disoriented, and wondering how they got so far from home. Nell has missed much of the zombie apocalypse, being confined to her Vancouver home. Wei has survived by hiding in tiny crawl spaces that an adult could never fit. Abdul is a terrorist in Iraq. Riitta is a zombie, former politician in Sweden–aren't they all? Sam is a suicidal doctor in Nigeria. Are they in heaven, hell, or something much worse? As our candidates traverse strange waters, they may just find they've ended up with more than they had ever bargained for during their battle for human survival.

Dear Mel Dawn of the Dead

Thank you for sending us your short story, “Zombie Cats of the Apocalypse”.

While we do enjoy a good zombie story, this wasn’t it.

We also take exception to the phrase, “90% of the adult human population is already infected with the Toxoplasma gondii cat parasite, and hence are already zombies due to the fact that placing a mustache on a cat will result in the human’s voices descending into a monotone of “who is a cute liddle widdle kitty cat now?”

We also suggest that you go back to school and take a grammatical course as I’m fairly certain that a zombie cat would not say “you look meowalushus today hoomin,” but rather, “You look meowalicious today human”.

The editors at the Zombie Cat Anthology do not wish you the best in your writing endeavors and suggest that you give up writing altogether and find a job at Walmart.

Best regards,

Edwina the Editor