Japanese ZOMBIE

Here's a translation I did of a short story called "Zombie" by award-winning author Murakami Haruki (perhaps known in the West for a translated
version of "Norwegian Wood"). This short story is found in his "TV People" collection. "TV People" is a rather interesting story as well, so maybe I'll get around to that as well.

It has swearwords and grossness in case your religion forbids them.

I was a little disappointed to read it and not find any zombies, but it was interesting enough. And it was short enough to translate while I was waiting at the Minato-ku city ward to get some documents. If you're going to copy this, please include that it was translated by ruinatokyo and give me a comment or something.

"Zombie" by Murakami Haruki. Translation by ruinatokyo.

A man and woman were walking along a road. It was a road next to a graveyard, and it was the middle of the night and fog had risen. They didn't want to walk in that kind of place but various circumstances made it such that they had to. Their hands wrapped tightly in each others', they walked at a hurried pace.

The woman says, "This seems like something out of Michael Jackson's Thriller.."
The man replies, "Yeah, the gravestones are gonna start moving."

At that moment a "GIIIII" sound came from somewhere, like some gigantic object screeching to a halt. The two immediately stopped walking and without thinking looked to each other.

The guy laughed, "It's alright, no reason to feel nervous. Some tree branches scraped together, that's all... from the wind or..."

But the wind wasn't blowing. The girl swallowed her breath and looked around. She felt something really bad. A feeling like something terrible was going to happen. Zombies.

But she couldn't see anything - no sign of any dead come back to life - not anything. They started walking again. Then, the guy's face suddenly changed - he was making a strange face - as if he was "putting on" a face.

He suddenly let out, "Why are you walking in such a shameful way?"
Her, surprised, "Me?"
He replied, "It's disgusting."
Her: "Really?"
Him: "Bowlegged!"

The girl pursed her lips. She thought 'yeah, maybe I am a little... the soles of my shoes do wear out only on one side... but for someone to go outta their way to bother to say it so directly to my face..." She felt it was just plain mean.

But she didn't say anything. That is, she loved him and he loved her. They were planning to get married next month. She didn't want to have a stupid fight. 'Yeah, I'm a little bowlegged, fine," she thought.

He continued, "Being with a bowlegged girl, this is a first for me."
A stiff smile floated on her face, "Really?" and she thought 'Is this guy drunk?... No, we didn't drink at all today..."

Him: "And on top of that, you have three ugly moles on your ear."
Her: "Huh? seriously? which ear?"
Him: "The right one. Just on the inside, there's three of em. Three rough dirty-looking ugly moles."
Her: "Do you hate moles?"
Him: "I hate rough dirty-looking ugly ones."

She closed her mouth more and more tightly.

Him: "And there are times where you just smell absolutely awful. I noticed it a long while ago. Hell, if we'd first met in the summer, I wouldn't have even dated you with that stench."

The girl let out a sigh and took her hand from his. She said, "Hey! Wait a second! Why are you talking like that? What's wrong.. you're being so cruel! Up until now... "

He interrupted, "Your blouse collar is filthy. The shit you're wearing now, why are you wearing such dirty trash? Why can't you do a single thing right?"

She remained silent. She didn't want to let her anger show.

He continued, "Fine. I've got a mountain of things I wanna say to you.

"Body odor, filthy collars, ugly moles, that's really just the start!"

"... Oh yeah, those ridiculous earrings? You look like a whore, don't you! Nah, a whore wears better than that! Might as well hang one on your nose. Your fake jewelry would be just right. "

"Oh yeah, thinking of knockoffs, your mother.. She's really a fat fucking pig!
OINK OINK! A pig! Eating like a pig with her mouth open..."

"And your father! He can't even write Japanese properly! A while back I got a letter from your family that he wrote. Everyone laughed! That asshole didn't even make it outta elementary school. Disgusting family... It's a fucking cultural slum!"

"Douse that shit in oil and light it up... that's what should be done!"

"Sizzle that blubber!"

She spoke up, "So if you feel that way, why on earth are we getting married?"

He didn't even hear her, "Fucking pig!"

"And then.. your pussy... That thing is really fucking disgusting. It's like a stretched out piece of rubber. Having something like that on your body, man, I would've preferred dying! If I were a woman and had that shit, I'd die of shame. Any way that I could find, I'd make it quick! It'd be too shameful to live."

She stopped walking, and stood there completely stunned, "I can't believe you..."

And at that moment, the guy grabbed his head with both of his hands, stopping right where he was with a pained face, and fell into a squat. His hands started tearing at his temples.

He screamed, "Ahhh! my head!... feels like it's going to split in two! I can't stand the pain!"

She spoke up, "Are you okay??"
Him: "No! I can't stand it! My skin feels like it's cracking on a grill."

She felt his face with her hand, it felt as hot as if it were being grilled. She tried rubbing it. With that his skin draggedly came unstuck like a thin surface. And with that, glistening red meat was uncovered. She swallowed her breath again, jumping back away from him.

He stood up with a broad grin on his face. He started feverishly peeling the rest of his face off with his own hands. His eyeballs slopped out of their sockets like mud.
His nose was nothing but two dark holes.
His lips were gone, his mouth nothing but naked teeth.
And those teeth made a sick grin.

He spoke, "You.. the reason I got with you.. to eat your pig-like meat. You think there's some other reason? Just no idea. Aren't you a fool. Aren't you a fool. heh... heh... heh..."

And that naked pile of flesh took off chasing after her. She ran for her life, but there was no way for her to
get away from that lump of meat at her back. From the edge of the graveyard, a slimy hand grabbed hold of her blouse. She screamed with all of her power.

He grabbed her and embraced her. Her throat went completely dry. He looked at her with a smile, "What's wrong? You have a nightmare?"

She brought the blood back flowing in her body and looked around. They had been sleeping together in a hotel by a lake. She shook her head. "I screamed?"

"Terribly!" he said with a laugh. "It was an incredible shriek! I think everyone in the hotel heard it. I wouldn't doubt that they think there was a murderer here."

Her: "Sorry!"
Him: "No big deal. Bad dream?"
Her: "Worse than anyone could think. "
Him: "Wanna tell me?"
Her: "I don't want to talk."
Him: "Talking about it is best. If you tell someone, the bad vibrations disappear."
Her: "Yeah, I just don't want to talk now."

They were both silent for a bit. She wrapped herself around his arm. The croaking of a frog could be heard from far away. She could hear his heart relaxedly, steadily beating.

"Hey.. there's something I want to ask you..." she said.
Him: "What is it?"
Her: "Do I have moles on my ear?"
Him: "Moles? You mean the three in your right ear?"

She closed her eyes. It's going to continue.