Panic: Horror

"Dead Inside: Do Not Enter" read the sign on the door. She flinched away from it as soon as she read the word "Dead," her hands scrabbling against the walls, whimpering in unthinking panic. The attack took a while to pass. She knew she would have been dead herself, if the dead had been able to escape, if they'd clawed through the door, if they'd--best not to think of that. The door shuddered under their weight. They'd heard her, oh, yes they had. But the stout oak held, and the thick padlock chain could keep the dead inside until judgment day. She tried not to think of what would happen if she encountered a pocket of untrapped zombies. She had all the weapons a girl could want, and all the protective gear, and all the knowledge. If a pack of feral survivors came at her with the intent of rape or cannibalism or old-fashioned beating to death, she could hold off an infinite number. But if she saw one zombie.... She paused for a second, considering that. Maybe that was the key. If she could only think of the zombies as feral humans!


Inspiration: Book cover for "Dead Inside: Do Not Enter."
Story Potential: High!
Notes: Because yeah, there would totally be people who had this kind of shell-shock. And what happens when she *can* think of zombies as feral humans? Could be great for a head-twist, post-horror sorta thing. Could be novel. Could be short story.