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First there was me, Ricky. I grew up in the countryside where I lived in a modest home with my family. I was the only child, though I yearned for a brother, I never had one since my daddy died in a car accident when I was seven. From then on it was only my mom and I where we moved to the city and where she struggled to pay the rent as a waitress in a local restaurant. Most of the time, my mother will also work in the night just to make ends meet. So everyday I walked home to an empty apartment. I never had friends in school. Bigger boys bullied me everyday and there wasn’t a day I went home without a fat lip. I need someone to talk to. To express my grief, my fear and most of all…

My anger!

This is where Reggie manifested in full fury. Ever since I was a child, I have an imaginary friend, whom I called Reggie. I call out to him when I’m afraid, though I never really saw him, I felt his presence beside me and I felt secured. Reggie was like an older brother to me, the brother that I would’ve wanted, the brother that would protect me from those who would hurt me. One day a bully punched me in the nose, laughing while blood flowed from my nose like a flood. Reggie manifested himself. I felt my adrenaline pumping up, my fists hardened up like steel, and my eyes flamed with anger! Reggie Rage took control of my body where he dealt this bully with a blow to the groin. The bully went down in pain, and then Reggie kicked him in the head and body, head and body again until the bully passed out in extreme pain. Reggie and I have beaten him and there were more to follow.

However that incident did not escape the attention of the principal who happened to be passing by. I was put in detention for the whole day and the matter was spoken to my mom. But that is not the last, Reggie began beating other bullies in school and it was not long before I became the most feared student in school. But my mother, fearing something was wrong with me took me to a psychiatrist where they made me take some tests to determine if I was really losing it. Unfortunately, they discovered I have a split personality. From then on they worked on curing me. Everyday, I would have to listen to soft music and I have to endure their trainings and tests. Somehow, the procedure worked! I became convinced that I am in control of myself, that there is no other personality that exists in my body but that of Ricky. Reggie sunk to oblivion after that. I have never felt him through my entire adolescent age and I thought I never would again.

That is until the dead came back from the grave.

I am now a medical student doing attending work in a local hospital. The first news about a dead body seen walking the highway threw us all in fits. For a medical student, nothing is more hilarious than reporting a dead man walking. We ignored the news and went on to study. We had a big test the next day and it wouldn’t do good to let the mind wander away to a ridiculous concept of walking dead people.

We didn’t realize how wrong we were.

I was assisting a doctor to deliver a baby when I heard screams outside. The doctor who was about to deliver the baby was stunned when a group of five decaying zombies barged in the delivery room unannounced. The zombies didn’t take the time for pleasantries as they rushed with arms outstretched to the doctor who did not have the time to scream. The flesh from his neck was ripped apart. The nurses tried to run but the zombies grabbed them before they could get away. They sunk their teeth in their necks. Blood spurted out from the wound and the zombies drank it like wine.

Two zombies turned their attention to the young woman in labor. The woman turned her eyes towards me begging for my help. Before I could move, the zombies bit her in the neck and the abdomen. She screamed in pain as the zombie who bit her below, ripped open the abdomen and began digging in. The zombies reached inside her and pulled out her unborn child who did not even have the time to cry as the zombie who grabbed hold of him sunk his teeth in his little body. The little child must have smelled delicious to these beasts as they struggled and fought for the biggest part. I stood there frozen while it’s happening. I was so much in shock that my mind stopped thinking. My body just stood there while the zombies feast like there’s no tomorrow, ripping away the flesh from the little cherubim, they broke his bones and munched with delight while the others fed on the doctors and nurses. My mind was fixed on the woman’s expression. The face of fear, not just for herself, but also for her unborn child. I remember how she tried to protect her child by covering her abdomen with her hands while the zombies were eating her. I remember how she looked at me, her eyes pleading for me to help her. But all I could do is stand there. So much was happening so fast, the dead shouldn’t be walking, and the dead shouldn’t be eating the living. So many questions. Too many.

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