The zombie apocalypse can take many many forms, some of which are more or less terrifying than others depending on your perspective…
Kayenne had never seen so many of them in one place at one time. She had heard tale of whole cities being overrun in a matter of days, but not here in Cape Girardeau. Surely they were too far on the outskirts. She’d only caught a glimpse of her first sighting less than a day prior, and that was from a lone straggler way off in the distance. But the rumors were true; it did spread quickly, and now she was surrounded.
One shuffled along to her right, sporting the standard greased-back black hair and sideburns, wearing dark sunglasses and a Hawaiian shirt. To her left were two more, dressed to the hilt in their studded white jumpsuits, their red rimmed, weary looking eyes scanning their surroundings. And behind her was yet another, lavishly attired in velvet finery with smoky eyes and full, pouty lips drawn in a smirk of a smile. There were several more off in the distance, awash in their bold-printed shirts and black coifs. And they were closing in.
No one had realized they were zombies at first. They didn’t seem to bother anyone; they weren’t frothing at the mouth or ripping people’s heads open on the hunt for brains. Mostly they just shuffled around, mumbling, “It’s now or never” at pretty much everyone and everything. Every once in awhile, one would wander along strumming a guitar or a ukulele, but most of them just sang and danced.
In fact, when they initially appeared, they hadn’t seemed particularly unusual. Especially since the phenomenon had started on January 8 in Memphis. That was his birthday after all, and the whole town still celebrated. So for all that anyone could tell, it was just another convention that went a little wild. Thus, no one concerned themselves with the growing mobs until it was too late and the zombie apocalypse was well underway.
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But after the party crashed and everyone went home, they were still everywhere. Their numbers rapidly increased and, before long, they had spread beyond the Tennessee city. It had taken over the state of origin in no time and had quickly engulfed much of the Southern United States. And now it was spreading north into Kayenne’s hometown, all the way into Missouri and beyond.
Kayenne knew not to get too close. These zombies weren’t inherently deadly like in all of the horror stories – they didn’t openly attack people. Mostly they just flash mobbed unaware bystanders, gesticulating and wildly dancing in the streets with gyrating pelvises swaying to and fro. But they were nonetheless very dangerous, for they were laden with an airborne pathogen that would turn even the most defiant hater of Rock ‘n Roll music into yet another impersonator in their midst in a matter of seconds.
It was an impulsive illness for which there was no cure, and it was spreading across the country at an alarming rate. After the stores selling wigs and Hawaiian shirts were overrun and had long run out of stock, newbies continued to craft creative ways to fashion themselves in his image. They used whatever they could find, even smoothing dark colored mud into their hair to complete the look.
Kayenne pulled her hoodie in tighter around her face and raised her bandana so that her eyes scarcely peeked out over the top. She began to hustle and was readying to break into an all out run, but the group around her edged in closer. They were within arm’s reach now. One of them began to sway and chant “I’m all shook up” and another chimed in. Before long, the growing entourage had all followed suit.
Back in the day, Kayenne might have enjoyed such a show and found the antics of the scene to be entertaining, but no longer. Now it was terrifying. And she was completely boxed in. She knew she needed to get away, to flee to a safer distance, but she couldn’t break free. As the panic set in, her mind kept reeling, returning to Spider Murphy on the tenor saxophone and Little Joe on the slide trombone.
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Suddenly, Kayenne burst out, “I sure would be delighted with your company… Come on and do the Jailhouse Rock with me.” The myriad of Elvis impersonators surrounding her joined in to seal the deal, welcoming a new member of the zombie apocalypse into their midst. Kayenne stripped off her hoodie and tied her bandana loosely around her neck like an ascot as she waved to her comrades chanting “Thank you… Thank you very much.”
And if you want to complete the look as I have, you can order your very own wig on Amazon. Just remember, if you buy anything from the link provided we get some $ so as always, the Dark Lord says shop away…
Jennifer Weigel is a multi-disciplinary mixed media conceptual artist residing in Kansas USA. Weigel utilizes a wide range of media to convey her ideas, including assemblage, drawing, fibers, installation, jewelry, painting, performance, photography, sculpture, video and writing. You can find more of her work at:
https://www.jenniferweigelart.com/
https://www.jenniferweigelprojects.com/
https://jenniferweigelwords.wordpress.com/
So here is our last installment of our AI journey exploring the idea of Little Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad wolf being one and the same. All of these are based upon the AI generated art and prompts using NightCafe and then created as posters in Canva. Feel free to check out Part 1 and Part 2 of this exploration if you missed them.
A non sequitur I know, but I couldn’t resist. If you picked up where we left off you’ll get it.
Seriously?! Again with the cropped off head cop out…
Finally! That was a journey. And not even worth the result, in my opinion.
Anyway, here is a bonus montage I made out of a bunch of additional Red Riding Hood prompts for an article that never happened…
Prompts for Montage:
1.) What if Little Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf were one and the same being? 2.) Her wolf face peering out of her red cloak, fangs dripping with the blood of another victim, lost in the forest and never found. 3.) Little Red Riding Hood closes in for the kill, lunging from her red cloak, her wolf fangs dripping with blood. 4.) I am Little Red Riding Hood. I am the Big Bad Wolf. I am coming for you. 5.) Howling within, the rage sears forth from the red cloak, discarded in the deep woods. Red Riding Hood succumbs to the lycanthropy. 6.) Heaving breaths. Dripping blood. Red Riding Hood is not what she appears. She is a wolf in sheep’s clothing. 7.) Her red cloak masks the fangs hidden below the surface. 8.) It starts with a long sighing breath. Waiting. The wolf within stirs. 9.) Red Riding Hood trembles. She succumbs to the lycanthropy. 10.) The wolf bursts forth from within. It takes over Little Red Riding Hood’s mind, her body, her being. 11.) Red Riding Hood howls. She is ravenous with hunger for blood. The wolf within has taken over. Mind, spirit, body. She feasts on the blood of the moon. 12.) Big Bad Wolf Red Riding Hood ravenous blood moon feast 13.) Blood moon beckons. I. Little Red Big Bad Riding Hood Wolf. Freedom howling night curse. 14.) Beware. Bewolf. BeRedRidingHood. Betwixt. Beyond. 15.) I pad quietly as the forest dissolves around me. Red Riding Hood and Wolf, one and the same. 16.) Wolf within howling dark recesses of the mind, Red Riding Hood lost 17.) Red Riding Hood HOWL wolf bane true existence polymorph within-and-without. 18.) Red howl Riding Wolf dark existence brooding within
Continuing our AI journey from last time exploring Little Red Riding Hood herself as the Big Bad Wolf… All of these are based upon the AI generated art and prompts using NightCafe and then created as posters in Canva.
How very… Phantom of the Opera predatory… this is definitely not what I had in mind. Maybe something more cutesy?
Ugh. Maybe not.
Wow, that seems like such a cop out, cropping off the head so you don’t have to depict it. And I don’t want to lose the Little Red Riding Hood reference completely.
So no surprise there, I knew that was too many references to work.
And as promised in Big Bad Poetry, we shall embark on our next AI journey, this time looking at Little Red Riding Hood. I had wanted to depict her as the Big Bad Wolf one and the same, although maybe not so big nor bad. But it just wasn’t happening quite as planned. All of these are based upon the AI generated art and prompts using NightCafe and then created as posters in Canva.
So I actually like this even better than my original vision, it is playful and even a bit serene (especially given the Sinister style). The wolf is just being a wolf. It’s quite lovely, really. But it wasn’t what I had in mind, so I revisited the idea later to see if I could get that result…