Nightmare

When she runs away from home

in her sleep

the zombies

walk along the railroad tracks

she ducks

into the darkened trees

her plastic sword

at the ready

the world has come to this

she whispers out loud

her clothes

a shadow of their former selves

her father and mother

torn apart by the hordes

her little sister

buried and risen from the dead

does the real world exist

face the facts she tells herself

as she dashes through the woods

on a moonless night

and when she wakes up

in her own warm bed

she longs

for the nightmare instead