I'm also wondering if I should have some pattern testers try it out first or not. I think I might put a shout out on Ravelry or something.
Oatmeal Update: It was pretty perfect now. I even microwaved it some to heat it up before eating. Some of the blueberries became too warm and popped opened. So the whole thing was super good and just the right amount of sweetness for me.
Pint Sized Overnight Oatmeal
Ingredients:
Directions:
I'm just going to warn you know that the rest of this post is going to be super pic heavy.
It's also true that it freaks me out a little when we do this, though not in a totally bad way. Some people have scary movies, some roller-coasters, and I have Jeeps without doors.
Write a scene where the only spoken dialogue is "Uh-huh," "Umm," "Urrrr," "Mm-mmm."
Karen rolled over and winced as her arm hurt. She knew that camping wasn't the most comfortable, but she hadn't expected to have a burning sensation in her arm. It also seemed pretty drafty in the tent, Ted might have gone out to make some coffee and forgot to close the door.
"Umm, "was all Karen could manage to say when she opened her eyes. Though bug bites were to be expected, there was a giant bite in Karen's arm. Looking around she also noticed that there was a giant hole in their tent where a wall had been the night before. Panic was starting to set in when she noticed that Ted was not in the tent with her, but that a lot of drying blood was.
Karen hurried out of the tent, though she wasn't sure she why she used the door flap instead of the giant hole. Before she could call out to Ted she saw him sitting on their red cooler. He looked a bit dazed but not hurt. She rushed over to him to make sure he was really alright and if he maybe knew what had happened.
"Mm-mmm." Ted pointed to an identical wound on his leg. It was an odd shape and size. It was too small for a bear but too rounded for a wolf.
Karen blew out a sigh of relief and went to go find the first aid kit. It didn't take long to put something on the bites. Though they normally chatted to each other over coffee and toast in the morning, it seemed like nether wanted to talk this morning. They were both wondering if the other knew what had happened but didn't want to bring it up.
They tried to go about their day as they had planned before; Ted went fishing for some dinner and Karen heated some soup and made some grilled cheese sandwiches for lunch. While Karen was grilling the sandwiches over a small fire she noticed something off about the smell. The cheese and bread had both been brand new when they left for the trip so she was sure it wasn't there, the smell also was not one of spoiled food. Taking a tentative sniff at the sandwiches she knew that the smell was not coming from them. It took a bit more sniffing around to discover that the smell was coming from her bandaged arm.
A quick peak under the bandage showed Karen that her bite was getting much worse. It hadn't been a deep bite and she had disinfected it, but for some reason the area was getting redder and more swollen. She put the lunch items on the table and was thinking of going and getting Ted when she heard a twig snap behind her.
Trying to keep every forest scene from every horror movie out of her mind she turned to see who it was. She was relieved to see that it was Ted, but his mouth was covered in blood. Before she could ask what happened he held up a few of the fish he had caught. Without even thinking about it Karen ran over and tore right into them. Even as she was biting into the fish she was wondering why anyone ever bothered to scale or gut any fish. It all tasted so nice. It also occurred to her that people have been scaling and gutting fish for as long as they have because it isn't normal for everything to taste so nicely together.
"Uh-huh." They said in unison when they unwrapped their bite marks and found they were both swelling and redder. It didn't even need to be said that they needed to get to a hospital about that and that sooner would be better than later. Since this had been a trip to 'get away from it all' they had left their cell phones at home and would have to head out of the camp grounds to find a phone.
Karen climbed into Ted's truck, but she didn't want to admit to him how hard it had been to remember how to open the door. Pulling on a handle wasn't something that was hard to remember. Ted had been too preoccupied trying to remember how to start the small truck to even have noticed Karen's difficulty with the door. His pride didn't let him ask her how to do it. He had been driving for over forty years, he shouldn't need to ask someone how to start a vehicle that he owned. His vision was also starting to get blurry so he signaled to Karen that they should probably walk. She nodded and they got back out of the truck. They could call for help once they found a phone.
Ted had been sure they had passed a small shopping area before entering the camping area. It seemed like they had been walking for so long that they should have found it already.
"Urrrr," Karen pointed at what looked like a gas station. The only problem with it was that it was also on fire. Ted hurried to see if he could see anyone inside but the place looked abandoned. He hurried back to Karen and they ran off before they could get hurt. There was a loud explosion not too long after they had cleared the area.
They continued to walk in silence. It seemed to be taking more and more effort to concentrate on walking the farther they went. They could see that the other was having problems too so they linked hands and continued on. Both of their bites were starting to burn and throb so they knew it was getting worse.
It felt like a few more hours had gone by, but they finally found the shopping center Ted had seen on the way in. He gave Karen's hand a squeeze, they would be able to get help now. All they had to do was find an open shop and ask to use their phone.
Karen tried to ignore that she couldn't quite read what was on the door. Part of her knew that she should be able to read it but for some reason it wasn't making any sense to her. Blaming the fever she must have by now she moved that worry to the back of her head. First she tried pushing on the door, but it didn't move. After a few seconds of though she was relieved to find the door opened outward. Stepping inside removed any of that relief.
The inside of the store looked like the scene from a horror movie. There was blood and meaty chunks everywhere. The door at the back of the store was opened and squeaked a little as a breeze moved it. Ted walked past everything and picked up the phone. No sound came out of the receiver. He shook his head, how were they going to get help now.
Karen ran past all of the gore to her husband. It was all too weird for her. First the hole in their tent and the weird bite, then the gas station on fire with no one around, and now a bloodied store. She also didn't want to admit that the smell of the blood was quite nice to her. There was only so much someone can handle in one morning without any coffee. She hugged him to get some relief, she knew he would always be there to help whenever she needed it.
Ted was glad that Karen was there with him. He didn't think he could stay so level headed without her. Together they left the store and he made a mental note to tell someone about it once they got help of their own.
None of the other shops were unlocked. The stores should have been opened for business but they were all dark and locked up. Heading back to the road they hoped to find someone with a working phone. Neither knew what to make of all of this so they continued their silent walk down the road.
Rounding a corner they spotted a figure standing in the middle of the road. There was something odd about the person. Their head was tilted to one side and they were slowly shuffling down the road. Karen wanted to call out to the person to ask if they had a cell phone but Ted stopped her. Without explaining himself he found a good sized rock on the side of the road and threw it into the tree line. The figure in front of them stopped shuffling and quickly snapped its head around to where the sound had come from. Without calling out or looking around the figure ran into the woods with a very stilted gait. Another strange thing to add to Karen's list for the morning.
They cautiously kept walking down the road. Karen kept trying to figure out what could be happening, but thinking was getting more and more difficult to do. She put the back of her hand on her forehead but couldn't tell if she had a fever or not. Before she took her hand off of her forehead she forgot why she had put it up there in the first place and quickly lowered her hand. This was very concerning to her because she always had such a great memory. She was sure of it.
Ted wasn't doing much better. He had even forgotten why they had started walking. He knew it had something to do with his leg, but that was all he could remember. He was hoping that if they continued that it would come back to him. He sometimes forgot little things, but nothing as bad as this. Again neither wanted to admit to the other that they were having these problems, it was only temporary until they found help anyway.
It wasn't long until they found a what looked like the center of the town. There were a few streets with a lot of shops and many cars parked on the street. There had to be a police station or a store opened where they could ask where the nearest hospital was. This sight helped them to pick-up their pace a little.
Though this area was indeed more populated, it didn't look like it would help them. Karen reasoned that the area must have been so empty because they were shooting a horror film in the area. That would make sense why the shops had all been closed except for the one with the blood. The blood must have also smelled nice because it had been fake and had some nice sent added to it. She was going to share her theory but her smile fell when she turned to Ted. His skin was turning a gray color and he looked concerned.
Ted was looking at all of the people Karen thought were movie extras in a different way. Karen had always made fun of him when he mentioned that he wanted to be ready in case a zombie apocalypse happened. He had been half joking, but it wasn't a bad idea to be ready for an emergency. Though he didn't want to admit that it might be happening, Ted knew deep down that they were indeed in the middle of a zombie apocalypse.
Karen didn't know why Ted didn't want to ask one of the people in make-up to use their phone, but every time she tried to get someone's attention he would stop her and shake his head. He was probably being paranoid. She broke free from his grasp and tapped the nearest person on the shoulder. Karen wanted to applaud the person who did their make-up, it was very convincing. Before she could say anything the person let out a moan and one of the person's teeth fell out. When Karen didn't respond the person turned back and shambled on.
It hit Karen that she hadn't seen any cameras or people not in costume. It sounded ridiculous, but this might not been a movie. She turned to Ted with her mouth hanging opened and all he could reply was, "Uh-huh."
Karen wanted to freak out and pinch herself. She was probably still asleep in her sleeping bag in the tent. Hopefully she would wake-up any second and be next to...she couldn't remember Ted's name for a second. Dream or not, they still had to be careful. She heard once that if you died in your dream something bad might happen to you when you wake-up. That also sounded silly to her, but nothing made sense right now so she went with it.
Ted lead them along allies until they found someone who wasn't moaning or shuffling around. When Karen tried to get that person's attention they screamed and ran away. As Ted was about to call out to her and let her know they were looking for a doctor some of the shambling people ran off the street and past the couple before attacking the woman. They had never seen anything so horrible before. It was all too clear now to Karen that this wasn't a movie and it also wasn't a dream. A fright like that would have definitely woken her up.
"Mm-mmm." Karen said to Ted. She had meant to ask him what they should do next.
"Urrrr." Ted replied. That wasn't at all what he had wanted to tell his wife. He had wanted to let her know that he was going to make sure they got some help.
"Umm." Karen tried to at least tell Ted that she loved him. Since words weren't working she grabbed his clammy hand and gave it a squeeze.
Ted pointed to his leg and then her arm before making biting noises. He had realized that they hadn't been attacked by the other people like the poor lady because they had been bitten. They were becoming one of them. Karen thought the same thing at the same time. She wanted to ask Ted if there was ever a cure but had seen enough movies to know that the only 'cure' they ever have is a bullet to the brain.
They gave each other a smile and walked back out of the alley. Even if they were going to be mindless shells, they were going to do it together.
(There was a writing prompt I remember seeing somewhere...but it said to write a zombie story without using the word 'zombie.' I think I almost did that! Go me!)
Today's count: 3,226
Monthly count: 36,591
Prompts used: 22
Words from titles: 110
Pattern words: 1,870
Pictures posted: 4 (counting only finished objects)
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