Erm, I feel a little dorky taking the self-promotional route, but hey, I did post the story because I hoped people would read it, so here's the link:

Autophobia

Autophobia is the fear of being alone or fear of oneself. In the aftermath of a devastating plague, Jake and Sam will find that the greatest threat is not from the outside, but from within.

I'd love to hear your thoughts! Constructive criticism is most welcome.

Cheers,

Thornton

Wow! Feel free to self-promote all you want -- that's a great story!

I'm still not absolutely sure I understand the ending, but regardless it was extremely well written and with very well defined characters. Keep up the good work!

Excellent story, really excellent!

One caveat. I'm not convinced the ending worked. I'd lose the last line: 'Something inside of Jake snapped. And somehow, he found the strength to stand up and run.' I don't think Jake would have the will-power. Ending it with 'Maybe it's not so bad. Being like them.' Might be stronger.

Umm, so you postulate that life of unknown quality (death, perhaps) with those we love is better than life as we know it alone...?

A clever twist on the classic zombie flick, to say the least.

Idunno about that. I mean, I would certainly commit suicide if I survived a zombie plague. I would feel too powerless and meaningless, and would have no interest in scrabbling to survive. And yet, I'd be fine with being alone all my life under ordinary circumstances. Mental life and science are interesting enough to sustain me as long as there are some people to keep me company on and off.

Hi guys! Thanks very much for reading and taking the time to comment!

I've discovered that the ending of the story seems to be more ambiguous than I'd originally intended. I'm actually not too sure how I feel about that. Let's just say when I was writing the story, I intended the last line to signal Jake's transformation from Sam's lover to...well, something far less pleasant. However, depending on how you look at it, I guess you could read it with a somewhat more positive interpretation as well.

TesIII: I don't want to say I'd agree with the decisions Sam makes, but I can certainly see where he's coming from. In fact, the whole idea for the story stemmed from some discussions I'd been having with my SO about committment. I'd like to think I'd rather be alone and alive, but that fear of loneliness is something I think a lot of us struggle with.

Yes, holy crap, this is a great story, thats fo sho =]

On the contrary to what Camy said, I liked the ending, very much. You made it powerful without making it cheesy or overdone, and the last sentence was something that brought a really nice abstract flavor to the whole story.

I think there were little bits on the story that were a bit choppy transition wise, like when sam broke down on Jake, but its nothing really major.

The whole story is beautiful as it is-- and I seriously think its a must read~

Sorry to be late to getting back to you; been out of town. Thanks again for your feedback. I think you're right about the story being choppy in places. I wrote the whole thing in about a 10-hour burst of inspiration and had trouble going back and smoothing it out after the fact.

It was an interesting story, that's for sure. I also agree that it was a good ending. I'm not usually a fan of the dystopian/apocalyptic type stories, but this one was well done. Human psychology is so much more interesting in extreme situations like that.

Anyway, excellent story, I very much enjoyed it!

Thanks for reading, Menzoberranzen! Mind if I ask how you interpreted the ending?

I do mind, actually

I personally thought that he found the strength to run away from Sam, thereby protecting him from getting 'infected.' I was a bit confused by 'something inside of Jake snapped,' though.

I couldn't work out if he was running towards or away. I also thought it was away, but he knew he was already infected, so why? It was a very enigmatic ending....

I didn't think Sam was infected, so Jake was running to protect Sam. If I'm mistaken and Sam was infected, then I don't understand.

That's the way I read it, though I still hold with what I said before.

The interpretation that Jake is running away from Sam in order to protect him does seem to be the most popular alternative to what I'd originally intended. I like it. However, what I meant by the line about Jake snapping was that he'd actually lost his hold on life and transformed into a zombie, so the way I see it, he's actually running toward Sam to eat him. But, like I said, I think the more positive interpretation is really cool too, so I've decided to keep the ambiguous ending and let people take it as they will. Thanks again for reading!

If he'd snapped and become a zombie, why would it take 'strength' for him to run towards Sam?

Good question! I guess maybe I was trying to emphasize the point that it would have been impossible for him to stand up and run in his human state, so by 'strength' I meant, you know, zombie strength. Or, uh, something like that.