Zombies! #AtoZChallenge

“Package for you!” Penny called out as she walked into the room. 

“Kat!” She raised her voice to penetrate the guttural screeches pouring out of the TV. Her and her zombie shows. By now, Penny might have expected zombie noises to have become like white noise to her. But no. The soundtrack was as annoying now as it was when Kat first moved in. 

Katrina paused her show. “What?” she shouted in return.

Penny dropped the flat Priority Mail package on her roommate’s lap and sat on the arm of the sofa, cringing at the image on the TV. “Why are zombies always so loud? It’s like the entertainment industry had a collective gathering and determined ‘THIS’ is the noise they make. Every show, every game, every movie you watch - they all sound alike. And it’s awful. I can’t believe you actually enjoy this crap.” 

“Yeeha!” Kat wasn’t listening. As Penny spoke, she had pulled open the tear-tab to access the contents of the package. She knew exactly what this was. “My personalized plates! Woot-woot!” She gave a little dance as she sat, brandishing the pair of license plates that had just arrived. 

“What? Let me see.” Kat gave a toothy grin as she handed one over to Penny, who rolled her eyes and dropped it back on the sofa. “Ugh. No! Just, no,” Penny said through laughter. 

“Is there anything that is more ‘Me’?” Kat asked, holding up her new tag under her chin as if for a mug shot. 

ZOM BKA7 

As Penny rose to leave the room, she just shook her head. “’Zombie-Kat.’ Yeah, you’re right. That’s definitely very you.” 

“You should watch with me sometime,” Kat sang out as she leaned across the back of the sofa, trying to tempt Penny to stay. “I could teach you the folklore of my kind!” 

“No thank you. I can’t handle the noise.” She stopped, staring at the growling monster on screen, and grimaced. “Although, if you can answer my question about their noise, I’m interested.” The blank look she got in response told her Kat hadn’t heard the speech she gave as she delivered the mail. “You know, who decided they make that terrible noise? They all do, in everything you watch.” 

Kat’s eyes got wide as her jaw dropped. Her head tilted in a variety of postures as she considered the various zombie-esque things she’d seen. “I – don’t – know.” 

A wry smile settled onto Penny’s face as she taunted Kat. “You should write your next fan-fic about ‘silent’ zombies.” 

Turning back to the TV, Kat said, “Maybe I will.” And un-paused the show. 
 
  Thank you for visiting my #AtoZChallenge! My theme was "Audience Participation" (read about it, here). Each day was a new story based on suggestions from your comments. I WILL continue this on Fridays henceforward. I had a blast! I hope you did, too. Suggest anything: a word, scenario, character, location, mood/genre... I will be keeping a list of suggestions, and write a new story every Friday.

Today's post was inspired by the prompt "license plate", suggested by Donna Smith (of Mainely Write), given in comments on my "M" post (here.).