Real zombies will go after you anyway
Fact: Zombies are terrifying.
Like most things, I learned this the hard way-by running frantically through a zombie-infested field, desperately trying to avoid the grasping hands and deadened faces trying to grab me. I was coated in mud, sweat, and grime; my shoes were a wreck from being mired in one too many mud puddles; my knees were scraped and stinging from landing on rocks; and from my deep, pathetically out of breath gasps, I knew my chances of surviving weren’t good. How the heck did I get here?
Truth be told, it was all because of my crazy idea to sign up for Run for Your Lives-you guessed it, a “zombie-infested” 5K run/obstacle course. While this Youtube video probably scares off most rational folks, for some reason it drew me in-the ironic challenge of it. Except when I actually got to the course, along with my hapless friend who has since sworn to never listen to me again, it was anything but ironic. We had to climb a steep hill, then once we got to the top we confronted muddy fields full of zombies. (Actually they were human volunteers dressed in bloody costume, but from the way they moaned “Braaaaains!” you’d think they were the real deal.) Though I deliberately chose to be among the slower “runners,” like a real zombie apocalypse the zombies didn’t care what level of runner you were, and sprinted at full speed in order to get the three health flags hanging from our waists. (We had to have at least one left in order to count as “alive.”) Which is how I ended up in the situation above-barely a mile into a three mile course, wondering what the hell I was doing there.
Ashes by Ilsa Bick
My experience in the zombie race gave me a finer appreciation, if you will, of all things zombie-related. So many “supernatural” or “undead” beings are sanitized in fiction and popular culture nowadays that it’s refreshing to actually get violent portrayals, which is what I appreciated most about Ilsa Bick’s Ashes. In the story, an electromagnetic pulse wipes out most of mankind, turning most of them into bloodthirsty zombies. For reasons she can’t explain, Alex, a seventeen year old girl, is one of the survivors, and soon she bands together with other young survivors like Ellie, whose grandfather was killed, and Tom, a soldier. As an action story, Ashes is gripping: There were quite a few scenes that had me flinching or feeling squeamish, usually involving zombies. Bick is brutal with her storytelling: blood splatters everywhere; parts are bitten; heads are shot off. Even the quieter scenes are filled with tension; I found myself constantly asking what’ll pop up in the next corner, as if I were watching a real horror movie. (And I usually hate that feeling.)
However, as enjoyable and fast-paced as the story was, I felt that the narrative’s structure detracted from the impact of the book. I can’t go into further details without including spoilers, but I will just say that there are two definite halves to the book, a distinct “before” and “after,” that I’m undecided about. It just felt like I was reading two separate yet still somewhat “connected” storylines; even when I was deep into the second half, a part of me was constantly wondering when the setup and characters from the first half would come back again. And that feeling was distracting. Since this is the YA universe, and books must come with sequels, I knew by then it wouldn’t be resolved anytime soon, but it was still a peculiar choice (in my opinion) for the author to set it up the way she did. I think it made the momentum of the story awkward, and distanced me from Alex’s story, as opposed to being fully immersed in it like the beginning.