Page 89 of The Mayor and the Mystery Man

“What happens if one of them gets me?”

“You keep moving forward. They won’t chase. They have lots of people to scare. For most people, it’s a way to participate without having to actually run.”

We cleared the brush into an expansive field with green grass, surrounded by mostly-bare trees. Dark branches twisted into the gloomy gray sky, a perfect setting for a Halloween-themed run. We followed the crowd of runners.

“Watch out! Behind you!” Leo grabbed my arm and pulled me away from a pair of zombies emerging from the trees.

“There’s no way I’d ever survive a real zombie apocalypse,” I said, huffing and puffing. The scares pulled at my energy. “Even though I wouldn’t have the ability to think, I’d try not to bite you if I saw you.”

“You can bite me.” Leo threaded his fingers through mine. “I’m in it for the long haul.”

Leave it to Leo to turn a zombie scenario into a quasi-marriage proposal.

One of the zombies lunged for my singlet and caught it in his fingers as he did the zombie moan, the stench of his breath getting too close for comfort.

I shrugged out of his grasp, and he flashed me a quaint smile of enjoyment. I snuck him a thumbs up.

A woman behind us gasped as a zombie jumped up from behind a bush. Two teenagers strolled across the path with arms outstretched, gleefully blocking traffic. We darted around them.

“Why couldn’t we do a normal, leisurely race? Something where I could listen to a podcast while I ran.” I gestured around us. “Instead, you make us survive an undead uprising.”

A pack of zombies ran down from the hill above. We’d have to outrun them to not be cut off.

An inflated archway with FINISH scrawled across was in sight. I grabbed Leo’s hand, and we ran toward it together, avoiding a battalion of zombies pretending to push through the barriers that flanked the path. But eventually, they cleared, and it was all people cheering and waving signs for runners as we barreled through the finish line. Ari and Lucy screamed and shouted from the sidelines, along with the rest of the Single Dad’s Club. The announcer called out each racer’s name.

“And here comes our fearless mayor, Leo McCaslin, and his boyfriend, Dusty Michaelson.”

As we barreled to the finish line, the cheers died down. I thought it’d be the opposite. An eerie quiet descended on the scene, and I clocked a few scowls. But before I could second-guess myself, Leo grabbed my hand, and we finished together. For the second time today…

My breath came back to me, and the pain of running returned to my legs. The post-finish line was a whirr of different people handing us medals, water, bananas, and a bag of potato chips. Holding the banana in my hand, of all things, it hit me that I ran a race.

“We just did that,” I said to Leo, to myself, to the world around us. I had no idea where I was going in the sea of people. Music played from a DJ stand, the familiar strands of “Thriller” reminding me that we came full circle. Leo directed us to a tree for a post-run stretch.

“How do you feel?” he asked while pulling his leg into a quad stretch.

“Euphoric. And a little sore. Kinda like sex.”

My joke fell on distracted ears. Leo scanned the area, something changing in his expression.

The twins and Single Dads Club met up with us, but their ecstatic reactions were replaced with the same concerned look creasing Leo’s face.

And I finally saw what he saw. People looking at us. Staring.

My throat went dry. Not even the celebratory water could quench it.

“What’s going on?” I asked.

“Yeah, what’s going on?” Leo asked, much more pressing.

The nice old lady who fired off the gun to start the race narrowed her eyes at me, going from sweet to scary. What did I do?

Was this part of the Zombie 5k? Was the twist that we were the zombies?

“Who has my phone?” Leo held out hand. He decided not to run with his phone lest it get damaged during the race.

Mitch and Cal traded a concerned expression.

“Can we go somewhere and talk for a second, buddy?” Cal asked, his face pinched. A crushing sight considering his face was always so buoyant and happy.

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