Zombie Dreamin’
Almost every night when I was twelve, I was attacked — by zombie nightmares. I’d seen my first zombie movie that year, Return of the Living Dead, and it terrorized my dream-world; in this alternate reality, my home sat atop a hill surrounded by an endless cemetery, and I cowered in my attic as a wicked rainstorm battered the roof outside, and legions of mud-soaked, ravenous dead creatures rose from their graves and assaulted the house. They pounded the walls, calling for me. I’d hear splintering wood. They were inside. Charging up the stairs…
Some nights the dream would end there, jarring me awake as an act of mercy. Other nights weren’t so kind, and I’d feel the crunch of zombie teeth on my skull.
The nightmares continued for months, the angst steadily supplied by more and yet more zombie movies — Night of the Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead, Day of the Dead — as if George Romero had vowed that I should never sleep well again. But with repetition came familiarity… until finally one night in the midst of my nightmare, I gazed out the attic window at the corpses coming to eat me, and I blinked, oddly unperturbed, and suddenly understood.
I’m dreaming.
Psychologists call this ‘lucid dreaming.’ The sleeper knows he is asleep, recognizes that the entire world around him is a figment. Empowered, a dreamer may actually take control and manipulate the imaginary events, like the God of their own subconscious. Or maybe more like Leonardo DiCaprio in your own personal Inception, given free roam of your dreamscape.
And that’s when it gets fun.
From that point on, I developed into an epic zombie ass-kicker when I slept. No more trembling in the attic, awaiting my doom. Now, enlightened, immune from death and consequences, I tore through graveyards and took the war to the streets. If anyone was having nightmares, it wasn’t me; it was the poor dead bastards upon which I unleashed bloody decapitations with shovels, brutal kung-fu spine-breakers, broken skulls and bullets shot perfectly between the eyes. Occasionally I would rescue a pretty girl. And, like, totally make out with her.
From midnight to dawn, it was clobberin’ time. I loved every minute of it.
Thirty years later, in my novel THE RETURN MAN, I enjoyed redirecting the wild, brazen action sequences of my young imagination — casting my beleaguered hero Henry Marco into reckless battles against the dead from Arizona to California. Now it’s your turn to share.
Tell us your last zombie dream. Was it a nightmare… or action movie?
I often dream about encounters with the undead. Sometimes the dreams are adrenaline fuelled thrill rides where I am a true action hero – badass to the core, and other times I am powerless and easy prey for the undead hordes. Those are the most common zombie dreams I experience, but there is a third dream-type which occaisionaly graces my subliminal states, and these dreams are far more sad and poigniant than the first two.
In a recent dream, I was fleeing from a large mob of zombies through narrow, twisting, tunnels cluttered with refuse. It was slow going, slow enough that the dead were catching up. What I noticed in this particular permutation of the dream was that the zombies looked a little bit more… alive than usual. Their skin was mottled grey, rather than hanging off, and they were free from the grave-grime and gore which usually encrusts them.
As I rounded a bend one of them cornered me, so I was forced to fight it off (I wasn’t the gatling-gun toting Rambo that I am in some of these dreams). I swipped at his face with a screwdriver, and struck him just left of the nose. In your average dream of this calibre, that sort of wound wouldn’t have stopped the creature for a second, but in this dream it had quite a palpable effect. The zombie (resembling an old aquaintence) was rendered useless by my attack. He was left only with the ability to mill around, his injury seemed to bring him great sadness. He was resigned; knew he was useless. Strange, but sad.
just finished the THE RETURN MAN. excellent. i hope there’s a sequel – fast – for this book.
I read the the book in less than a week. My brother blew me out of the water and read it in less than 24 Hours. I put an inscription in the inside of the book before I gave it to him, telling him that ‘when’ it happens we will head for the local shopping centre, we are born survivors. We have been waiting for the Zombie apocolypse since we watched Dawn of the dead as kids, I run through scenarios sometimes of what we would do, where we would go…the shopping centre, stay at home… an island…?? Most people go to bed at night dreaming about winning the lottery, I go to bed at night planning my escape, deciding what to take and making sure that stuart is by my side. Born survivors.
i haven’t read any zombie booskso i can’t help you but i’ve watched these movies and recommend them:DAWN OF THE DEADand the ever popular SHAUN OF THE DEADSHAUN OF THE DEAD has some really funny parts in it too, so it’s a nice blend
Well I have read this book several times and also read border crossing. Waiting for the next one.
Hey Mr Zito, are going to treat us with another installments? I hope you do because you’re not bad at this edge of the seat visceral adventure stuff? If you get writers block you have an army of loyal fans who can help out?
Just read The Forever War for the tenth time so ready for some more Henry Marco adventures. Keep doing your thing because we want more?
A big thank you from your fans across the pond.
Hello and thank you! I’m glad you enjoyed the book and the story. (And I love THE FOREVER WAR, too!) I have a new Henry Marco short story to release soon on Amazon — I’m just working out the details now. If you follow THE RETURN MAN on Facebook @ http://www.Facebook.com/TheReturnMan I’ll be sure to announce when it’s available. Until then, take care and thanks again for the support!
– Vincent