Chapter 14

Another Friday night. Another night filled with the claustrophobic crush of the dance floor, clammy hands trying their luck and desperate to grasp flesh, any flesh, sticky heat rising between the bodies of strangers as the mass of revellers moved together in a rhythmic display of public foreplay, the monotonous beat of the club music raising heartbeats and fusing them all in a tight hypnotic bind. Having successfully fended off two attempts to tug me down into the melee, I had taken refuge near the central bar, hugging myself tight into one corner, away from the crowd baying for more drinks, more cocktails, more double shots and more anything that would leave them almost comatose by midnight. The zombies were already in full-force. Sweat-covered faces once perfectly painted were now drained of colour. Hair once coiffured and teased to defy gravity, now plastered to skulls and hanging limp. The zombie hoard swayed and staggered, salivated and groaned, clutching onto any uns