Zombies are seen as brainless monsters of the dark. But their hunger for brains and other body parts doesn’t overpower their formerly human emotions. Zombies hate a lot of things, just like humans. Things like radical veganism, people who take their shoes off on airplanes, and toxic masculinity.
A young woman, Marissa, runs through the woods, cast out of her home for something she feels like she cannot control. She feels abandoned by her supposed loving family, and her supposed loving God, all of whom have seemed to turn against her. Having nowhere else to turn, she gives up and willingly presents herself to die feeling that she has no purpose left… But the zombie, whose name is D, is a bit disturbed by her willingness to die and decides to spare her instead. After a few minutes of talking, they realize Marissa is struggling with her religion and how it seems to condemn her because she is attracted to women. The zombie helps talk her through her feelings and makes her realize that her religious family is not helping her by invading her privacy and shaming her for something she feels like she is struggling with. They end up convincing her that she needs to decide for herself how she feels or believes and not to let anyone else tell her what to do. With a new purpose, Marissa heads off to start a new life, while the zombie goes to settle the score for her.
(This story has strong LGBTQ+ themes running through it and also discusses religion. The zombie goes by it and they/them pronouns, and Marissa is a Catholic-raised lesbian who struggles with her romantic desires because of her faith.)
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