Predator and Prey by Leah Mueller

No one said “zombies”
in Night of the Living Dead,
just “ghouls” and “those things”--

undead corpses that lumbered 
with relentless purpose 
towards a human flesh barbeque.

Kill the brain 
and you kill the ghoul.
Flush it with fire, until 
it turns away, moaning.

Watch it cover its face
with half-severed hands.
Feet shuffle forward, 
fingers grope past

haphazard barricades, 
the half-open windows 
secured by flimsy boards. 

They always come back,
multiplying first into hundreds
then thousands, like mutant
bacteria.  No one is spared.
Virtue no armor. In fact,

the flesh of virtue tastes
best of all. In the end, 
the cellar is the safest place,
but it’s too late to hide.

If you survive, a random bullet
will take you out later,

but at least you will never
become one of them.

Leah Mueller is an indie writer and spoken word performer from Bisbee, Arizona.  Her most recent books, "Misguided Behavior, Tales of Poor Life Choices" (Czykmate Press), "Death and Heartbreak" (Weasel Press), and "Cocktails at Denny's" (Alien Buddha ) were released in 2019. Leah’s work appears in Midway Journal, Citron Review, The Spectacle, Miracle Monocle, Outlook Springs, Atticus Review, Your Impossible Voice, and elsewhere.