Tim McLafferty

THE ALL-CONSUMING

It's nothing like they portray it in movies
and comic books. Sure, I'm a zombie now,

which means, sure, I'm dead. I can't stop
these chemical changes. I can't digest.

I can't breathe. There's no way to animate
this body for more than a few days, and

even that's a long time. We don't eat the
living; how could we? The fact is that the

living have eaten us. It's the living
that eat everything. My kidney, for

example, when I was still one of them;
it was good, healthy, and I was able

to trade it for some technology.
Ironically, zombies can't type for long—

my fingers are unbending now, as are
my wrists, and I'm pretty sure this is the

last message I'll ever type. I hope I
can click send before it’s too late...

Sent from my iPad


Tim reads "The All-Consuming":



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Tim confesses: "The speaker of 'The All-Consuming' was inspired by a teenager in China who traded his kidney for an iPad and iPhone."

TIM MCLAFFERTY lives in New York City and works as a drummer. He has played on Broadway in Urinetown, Grey Gardens, and many other interesting places. His work currently appears in many fine journals, including Forge, Painted Bride Quarterly, Pearl, and Portland Review. timmclafferty.com