Dead Justice by Ahmad Jalil 3rd year
When Eddie was alive he was told that a zombie
doesn’t really feel anything except for extreme hunger. But it was only when he got to
experience this whole 'coming back to life' thing first hand, did he realize that wasn’t true. Being a zombie was not a lot different than being a
human. The stupid doesn’t go away, the brain still keeps functioning in somewhat
of a rational way, a person’s likes and dislikes do change but don’t really
disappear altogether.
If you are an emotional person, you will be an emotional zombie. If you used to be angry all the time back when you were alive, you will keep seeing red when dead. And the things that do change are the ones that really don’t matter, the external beauty and fairness. And contrary to what it seems, it wasn’t cool. Not for Eddie when ,after waking up as a walking dead, one of the very first things that he had to do was prove he wasn’t a sexist.
If you are an emotional person, you will be an emotional zombie. If you used to be angry all the time back when you were alive, you will keep seeing red when dead. And the things that do change are the ones that really don’t matter, the external beauty and fairness. And contrary to what it seems, it wasn’t cool. Not for Eddie when ,after waking up as a walking dead, one of the very first things that he had to do was prove he wasn’t a sexist.
It all began when a group of really sick and old
zombies came to Eddie and told him about their fragile condition.
“We
can’t go on like this Eddie. I mean we get it that women should be respected
and protected, but look at us!” He lifted his spilled guts from the
floor to show them to Eddie even though it was pretty hard to miss them. “Women should start pulling off their weight
too. Why do we always have to make the front line of defense when we attack
human groups! We get butchered by their bullets!” The old zombie, whose
name Eddie either didn’t know or had long forgotten, said with a few tears in
his decomposing eyes.
“Yeah
Eddie, and the food distribution too, mate. Yesterday I killed a horse in the
fields and right when I was about to eat it, Sheila came and demanded
I let her begin eating first. And that damned woman nearly devoured it all!” Said another
one, holding the first one for support since he only had one leg.
Eddie being passionate about debates
agreed to take their case and went to the elders. And that is where it all
went to hell.
“For the billionth time sir, I.AM.NOT.A.SEXIST!”
Eddie yelled, frustrated at the response he was getting from the
judges. His patience was wearing thin and he was getting really hungry. But
unfortunately today was just not turning out to be a good day for him.
“But
you did say that women should not be given the chance to eat first Mr. Eddie” said an elder in a very low and monotonous voice.
“No
Sir. What I did say was that it should not matter who gets to eat first. Men
and women can eat together, can they not!?”Eddie replied
“But
do you know how badly women are treated around the world? DO YOU!?” said the only
female zombie in the judges’ panel. She was known to be a fierce protector of
the rights of women and was presently looking towards Eddie like he had told
her he wanted to eat her.
“Yes,
I do and I sympathize with those women but why should that earn women a right to eat
first and run behind men in a place where they are NOT being oppressed?”
The woman faked a gasp. And seeing her,
so did the women walking dead sitting in the audience chairs. Eddie knew what
was coming next, a pathetic belief system.
“Do
you know how many women die every day just because they are not treated well?
Do you know how many women, even after coming back as the living dead, still don’t get the
respect they deserve JUST BECAUSE THEY ARE WOMEN!!” She was really
starting to get on Eddie’s nerves now.
“Look
madame, lots of men are also treated badly around the world. A lot. But still I
believe their numbers are nowhere near to the number of oppressed women. I get
that, okay? But how is this exactly relevant here?”
“Relevant??
I’ll tell you how’s it relevant you dead rotting ***hole! We don’t get enough
rights so we demand equal rights now!” This time it was a young zombie from the
audience.
“But
you are getting equal rights here!” God they were just repeating same thing
over and over! Why the heck were they not able to understand what he was
saying! “And when you don’t do what
you’re supposed to do and have men to do it for you, HOW’S THAT NOT TAKING AWAY
OUR RIGHTS FROM US!!” Eddie was getting furious now. Why couldn’t they
understand that the injustice towards women around the globe had nothing to do
with his friends not being able to defend women anymore since their bodies were
broken and torn apart from years of defending the she-zombies of the clan!
“Typical
men. Always bring up MANNISM when we talk about feminism” muttered
another zombie in the audience.
“Yeah
you heard about our zombie sister that was burnt to death in India because she
couldn’t hunt properly anymore because of her age?”
“All
men are alike…”
“Just
like my ex husband, he was a real ass****….”
“Just
can’t take women having some respect…”
“STOP
IT! JUST FREAKING STOP IT! Eddie stood up from his chair and yelled towards the
crowd that instantly went quiet, looking wide eyed towards Eddie at his sudden
outburst. “Why are you so effing dumb! On
one hand you talk about EQUAL rights, on the other demand more than men! You
stupid creatures! What difference does the gender of the one getting biased
treatment make? Why can’t we just help those who need help regardless of their
gender! Like my friend Bob here” Eddie pointed towards Bob sitting a few
yards away, “Have you ever looked at him? He
has almost almost lost all of his body taking hits for YOU!” On cue, Bob
stood up proudly and showed his body to everybody which had HUGE holes in in
it, bullet holes.
“Let’s
come together and play our part in the betterment of the zombie community. I am
giving you all equality, men and women should do everything together, be it
eating, fighting or defending. Men and women should hunt and kill on
their own if they want to keep living with us. Look at Abe” This time Eddie
pointed towards a very thin and weak zombie, who on hearing his name stood up
and waved his fragile hand towards the panel. His hand fell off. Everyone made
disgusted faces and he embarrassingly picked the bony thing up and
unsuccessfully tried fitting it back. A couple of zombies sitting around Abe gave him awkward pats on the back. “Abe
has been with you since the beginning. He has killed more people than anyone of
us, but just look at him. Does he look like a champion killing machine?
Abe shifted uncomfortably in his seat as everyone once again started looking at
him. “It’s because whenever he brings
food here, all the women snatch it from him because somehow over the years we
have confused ‘giving women equal rights’ with ‘women are too fragile and cute
to do ANY FREAKING THING! And now we are in less numbers because we are the
ones to conduct raids and dying for all of you!” He finished while pointing
towards the women in the crowd who were pretending to look anywhere but
at him.
Thirty minutes later, the elders called
Eddie in their chambers. They had found his behavior towards women unacceptable
and charged him with being anti-feminist.
And in zombie laws, every crime was punishable by death since anything less
than that would be pointless for the ones who had already died once. Eddie was
to walk into a huge human colony all by himself and there he would be killed by
the living- a death fitting for a zombie by dead human rights.
He was told which camp was going to
die in. Eddie wasn’t afraid or sad. He was angry at how pathetic and unjust
people were.
“I’m
sorry Edd. You are truly our hero” said Abe when Eddie was about to leave.
He gave Eddie a very awkward one-arm hug.
“Yeah
mate, I wish there was something we could do, you know.”said another
one. They had all gathered around Eddie to say their goodbyes.
But it was okay. Everything was okay.
Being a zombie you don’t really see death as you do when alive. Or maybe that
was just how Eddie was. Besides he had a plan in his mind to make his death
memorable. He’d go down as a rebel and make his point.
He crept into the designated human camp. It
was a huge community and by the way things were, it seemed like they hadn't
been attacked in a long time by unwelcome intruders, dead or alive. Their security was very poor, the few
guards they had were either asleep or drunk. It was the sort of community which
promised a better future, safety and survival in the apocalypse which was all ,of course,
a hoax. You can’t be too careful now-a-days. But these folks had settled rather
too comfortably into their new lives, something that was proving very useful
for Eddie. He looked around, finding his targets. And he did find them. The three women had no idea of the brutal end that was upon them.
Eddie didn’t just kill them. No. Instead
he ripped their heads apart, making sure they wouldn't ever come back. He was
taking all of his frustration and anger out on them. Their screams got
everyone’s attention and people rushed to where they were. Within seconds the
firing started but Eddie didn’t care. He lunged at them repeatedly until there
wasn’t much left despite the metal piercing his body. He let all of his rage
out. If they wanted a sexist, he thought, he’d give them one. A very nasty
one too. And finally when he could no longer go on, he turned back and gave a
big goofy grin towards his camp. He knew they were watching him, he wanted to make
sure they got a good show. At last he fell down, satisfied with his work and
ready to leave the unjust world for good.
A couple of dead women stared in horror
from his zombie camp. The overkill was insane even by their standards.
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