Sunday, July 15, 2012

Surviving the Fittest by Jason White

Surviving the Fittest by Jason White


Surviving the Fittest by Jason White is an emotionally charged, action packed zombie short story that kept me on the edge of my seat.  His zombies are the classic lumbering fiends from the Romero blood line.  Not that humanity has a chance anyway, but against corpses with super speed, super strength, and reason, we’d last a few hours.  With Jason's walkers I feel like our delusion of survival is dragged on long enough to get stories other than zombies eats human.

So the situation is a zombie plague has overtaken the world.  Fifteen year old Charlie is alone caring for his thirteen year old severely mentally disabled sister, Cindy.  They must survive the living dead as well as those humans that have survived.

The affection Charlie has for his sister and his innocence in general made this story work.  Zombie tales are  metaphors for the inevitable death of all people.  You can run all you want, but they will catch you—and in the end death will be triumphant.  Charlie’s story gives us another metaphor, a reason to live despite approaching doom.  He learns what his life is worth.

I give Surviving the Fittest four severed heads. 

Heads Will Roll,
Everette Bell

   

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