Makeup
“Great as usual, Sara,” Mike said, studying the sores and wounds lining his green-tinged arms.
Sara smiled. “Thanks. Send the next victim over, please? Six more and we can start shooting when Steve is ready.”
Mike ambled over to the group huddled around the coffee cart, nodding in Sara’s direction. One actor tossed his cup and took his place in the makeup chair. Soon, he sported a dangling fake eye and ragged flaps of skin over bloody, striated muscle. His fellow extras each repeated the process until the zombie mob was assembled and appropriately macabre.
“I’ll be in my trailer if anyone needs touch-ups,” Sara called. A chorus of groans answered, and she chuckled.
Inside her tiny home away from home, she sat in front of the vanity and studied her reflection critically. She’d smiled too much; the skin around her mouth had warped a bit. And her damn ear was giving her trouble again; the Caribbean heat was murder on skin glue. But then, they didn’t call her the world’s best zombie makeup artist for nothing.
Tags: Micro fiction, Microfic
OMG, is she a zombie but they’re not right? Right? So she’s a Zombie incognito?
WOW
So cool 🙂
There we go. You didn’t rush anything and so you didn’t wind up messing w/ your pacing to ‘wrap up’ your composition. As a result it’s effective as a paragraph in isolation, vignette, or as a stand alone piece. Keeping it subtle made it more fun. I like how you used your instinct to announce the punchline to your advantage: so you are able to hide the twist in the exposition. That’s the way to go. This is the direction. Good job.
Thanks, both of you. Khak, did you see the microfic I wrote yesterday? It was a bit longer and I aimed for a more careful pacing there as well. Your thoughts would be appreciated, as always.
Very nice. It made me smile at the end when Sara’s secret was subtly revealed. I’ve read quite a few zombie themed flash fics lately and this is one of my favorites. Just a touch of zombie, not too much!
A subtle story packed into a short piece. You told a lot in a few words! Enjoyed this one.
Glad you guys liked it. I’m working on not hammering in a joke at the end, as I’ve been told I do it too much. Subtlety was the watchword of the day! And of course, I had yet to write a zombie story for Mia. 😛
Ok, I want to read this story.
Thanks Kelly! Her continuing adventures may be posted soon for the #zombieluv challenge floating around Twitter.