Memory Shards

"Ahem!" A strange, high pitched, almost cartoony voice chimed in behind Kaori as she began to sneak out into the dimmed hallway. 

Whoever the man was on the intercom had instructed her how to open the door to leave, of course a red button next to it, but he failed to turn the lights on all the way; he said it was better if the zombies could only hear her and not see her. Better chances of getting away, though she needed to hurry since she decided to use the door like a drum set. 

Kaori froze, was she hallucinating? She truly felt like she was going insane. Was someone hiding in the room with me? She thought. Or is it a mutated zombie that has learned how to talk and was just luring me back in to yet another near-death experience? She didn't want to turn around, but the voice made another sharp 'ahem,' more forcibly. It was trying hard to get her to turn around. 

She gulped, having just made it out of the door of the cockpit, she was reluctant to turn around and face the newly created zombie incinerator, but she did so because whoever it was, was obviously getting impatient. 

Kaori quickly covered her mouth with both hands as her lungs tried to scream when her eyes caught glimpse of who, rather what, was trying to talk to her. It took her a moment to fully process what was standing in front of her, though. I've lost my mind! I'm utterly insane! Whenever I wake up from this damn coma, I'll need to up my therapy visits to every single fucking day! 

Illuminated by the burning corpses, and standing on one of the consoles, were 4 little figures standing about 6 inches tall. Her orange eyes squinted to be sure she wasn't just imagining things. Is this a side effect of binge drinking potions? 

"Pop... Popcorn!?" 4 6-inch-tall pieces of popcorn were trying to get my attention!?  

"Are you just going to stand there and leave us here to burn to death?" one of the pieces snapped at her, before they jumped to the floor in unison and began to dart towards her. 

Terrified, she only did what she thought needed to be done. When the living pieces of popcorn came within inches of her, she hastily stomped down on one, smushing it into the metal floor; the remaining 3 shrieking in fear as if she had just committed a viscous murder. 

"What have you done!?" One of the other pieces screeched, before Kaori felt a rush of guilt overcome her. 

She removed her foot from their friend's body, before they rushed over to the crushed piece full of despair; paying no mind to their own wellbeing. 

"What the fuck is going on?" She whispered, as she hastily bent down to get closer to them. She rolled her eyes, "I'm sorry, I've just...never had something like this happen to me before." 

One of the popcorn pieces glared at her, "neither have we," it said flatly, as it knelt down to scoop its friend up carefully. 

The smashed treat suddenly came back to life in the arms of its buddy, before it let out a few strained coughs. It turned to look at Kaori, "you still have time, eat me, please." 

She looked down at all of the pieces, pausing for only a moment, "eat you?" She scooped up the pieces into her hands as if she cupped up water, "tell me while I try and find help." 

When they were secured in her hands, she quickly restarted her sneaky trek to find the mysterious man from over the intercoms. The buttery smell of the mega kernels was filling her nose and making her stomach rumble like it's never rumbled before; nearly animalistic. 

Leading away from the cockpit was just a long hall that was lined with sealed rooms. As she made her way through it, she could hear the scrapping and moans of zombies behind their own blast doors, and she knew she needed to hurry before they too bumped into the buttons; similar to how the ones that entered the room she nearly died in did. 

While she made her way down the darkened hall, the dim lights flickered, intensifying the fact that the eerie corridor was covered in blood; pools and smears littering it. She wasn't running nor speed walking, but she was trying to sneak as fast as she possibly could without making a sound. 

The only noises were what the trapped zombies were making and she wanted to keep it that way if she could; though the squeaky voices of the mutant food bickering was beginning to disrupt that. 

"If you don't eat us, you'll surely become just like the rest of them." 

"Yep! It's true!" 

"Well, it's not fact, but I just have this nagging feeling that-" 

"Just fucking eat me already!" The crushed one screamed out over the rest of them. 

Kaori quickly shushed them as she heard a shuffle in the dark down the hall in front of her. She was a sitting duck again. She stopped moving, freezing like a statue as if it helped any.

There's a knife in my backpack, but I don't know what to do with these things? She began to fight herself as she eyeballed the creatures that were mostly comfy inside her palms. 

"Tell me what you guys are now, or I'll drop you and leave you here," Kaori suddenly warned them, her heart pounding as she heard whatever it was shuffle a bit before footsteps began to head towards her. 

"Memory shards! Isn't it obvious!?" She only shook her head no. 

"Persephone created us just for you! You're dead and she knows you love food! Once you eat us, Persephone can tell and she will reward you for collecting us. You only need 4!" One of the jollier popcorn pieces informed her, "I suggest you start with him," it then pointed to the dying one that was gasping in agonizing pain. 

"Won't it hurt?" Kaori called her own bluff, she didn't actually want to hurt them. They were very cute after all, looking past the oddity of them anyways. 

"Of course, but you're a zombie, and Persephone thought you needed to eat like one at least. It's okay though! We find it a quite pleasurable pain. At least, that's what we've been told.... obviously, we haven't been eaten yet." The healthy kernels were taking turns talking. 

Kaori let out a long sigh, "fine, I'll eat you." Then, as she balanced them in one of her palms, she plucked the injured one up before tossing it into her mouth. 

As she chewed, she could hear the pained groans it was letting out, but it curiously didn't bother her once she began to eat. Not only did it taste so good, but the sound of its pain made it taste even better. Once she swallowed it, she moved on to the rest, quickly gobbling them down before she became saddened when they were completely gone. 

She didn't feel any different after eating them, and she began to chalk everything up to some weird hallucination her brain made her have because she was just overly hungry. However, the sound of something approaching her from down the hall was still prevalent. 

She carefully reached back, opening her backpack, before pulling out her dagger to wield in front of her, ready to take down whatever it was. "It's either me or you, asshole, and I'm tired of dying," she hissed.