Late in 2012 I decided I was going to make a Zombie Easter Bunny. I’d already had visions of said bunny, which means I needed to get him made, so new monsters could appear, that’s how it works, if it gets too full in there, things go…awry…

Most of the work I do is custom work, someone messages me asking, “Can you make ______?”, the answer is most always yes. Then we start talking specifics, or I get a picture to work from, and that is how it usually works. Only recently have I been making a few spawn that ha been making a bunch of noise in my head…if I make them, there’s more room for more ideas. But no one had asked me for one, so I needed to have a reason to make one…yea, I know, weird, but anyway, I decided on a contest. I’d had a bunch of new folks like the page since the beginning of the year, and I hit 1000 and then surpassed it, so a contest seemed in order. The contest that I had done for New Year 2012 went really well: I asked folks to give me a suggestion of what creature/monster/character they’d like to see me make. I used a random generator to pick winners, but I wanted to see what characters folks would maybe be interested in , wanted to see what kinds of things folks would say, and most of all, I wanted to have conversations with the people who stopped by to say they liked my work. I wanted to talk to some people who see my posts on their facebook newsfeeds every day. The response was awesome! And I wanted that kind of interaction again.

I had employed my friend T’s brain to help me come up with a contest and started a bunny head, but hadn’t come up with anything until the morning I was going to announce a winner. Somehow, as I’m looking at my Zombie Easter Bunny, I realized I hadn’t heard/read enough stories in my lifetime about them, and, well, that could change. I asked for folks to write me a story about a Zombie Easter Bunny, it could be how he came about, what he does now that he’s a zombie, what he likes to eat… just write me a story, and I’ll pick the winner…… Which might have been easy, had there only been a couple, or if they weren’t so FANTASTIC!!! Once he was done, I realized I might just have to create a second prize, I’d had nearly 20 submissions by then. So then I made a wee Zombunny, and wrote my own story.

How There Came To Be Another Zombunny…

” One day while I was making the Zombunny, the weather started to get really nice, and I thought I’d take my dogs to the park and work on Zombunny. I got leashes, a small bag of yarn and things I needed, and set out for the park–there are 3 within a few minutes walking distance from the house, and the dogs love to run around and smell stuff.

We got to the park, and I found a nice shady spot to set up, so I let the dogs off leash and sat down with Zombunny. I had JUST finished his legs and foot, and was starting to work on his arms, I was so nearly done with him, and getting very excited. I’d just started his left arm, when Buster, my chihuahua, barked a couple times. It’s not unheard of for him to bark, he barks when he’s playing or when he wants something…or when he’s on alert… But we’d just gotten to the park, so I ignored it. I just finished Zombunny’s left paw, when I realized that I DIDN’T hear my dogs…and THAT could be a problem. I set Zombunny and his yarn down, and went to find the dogs…

“Buster, Penny Crane! Penny Crane COME!” We’ve had Penny longer, and she is usually more obedient. I yelled for them one more time before spotting them…they’d found someone’s tossed container of fries on the ground and were gorging themselves…I ran over and picked it up and threw the last bitlets in the trash, grumbling about naughty dogs who were going to get less food for dinner… Dogs, heads down, tails betwixt their legs, followed behind me all the way back, and sat down patiently, waiting for me to be in a better mood, maybe they’d get to play ball.

I sat down next to my stuff, and put my hand where I’d left Zombunny, but he wasn’t there. I looked down, thinking I’d tossed him farther than I thought when I went to find the dogs, but he wasn’t in my stuff… where was he? “Shit,” I thought, “maybe the yarn was wrapped round my ankle or foot when I went after the dogs,” and I started looking for the ball of yarn he was attached to. I found it! A couple feet from my bag, the ball of yarn was sitting near a bunch of bushes. I picked it up, hoping that he wasn’t too dirty, but found only a very frayed end…ZOMBUNNY WAS NOT ATTACHED TO THE YARN!!!

Not sure exactly what to do, but not wanting to start over, I called Penny Crane…she has a good nose. I put the yarn under her nose, rubbed it all over her face, and gave the command, “Find it!” We usually use that for her ball, but it might work here… She put her nose on the ground, picked up her head and sniffed the air, AND TOOK OFF! She ran a lot faster than usual…like when she’s running after something “alive.” She stopped and pointed, when I got to where she was still standing, whining, I gave her big love, and told her “Leave it.” She whined, but I threw her favorite rubber ball, so she was happy to go get it…Buster hung out with me, but I wasn’t too worried about him. He WAS barking at the bushes, so I leaned in to investigate. Right in the middle of some ivy was Zombunny, with bits of twig and leaves in his yarn. I picked him up, looking at the short end of yarn that was frayed at the end, still attached to his body where I’d already sewed it, but a few of his stitches had come out. I looked around, and decided that a squirrel had probably come down when I went after the dogs, and thought him neat. Upon closer inspection, there was a bit more red in his yarn than there had been, and some on his teeth…weird. The ivy where Zombunny moved, and I wondered if the squirrel who took him maybe got tied up in some yarn, or hurt itself on the exposed wire armature. I carefully, and quietly, moved some of the ivy leaves around, reached in, and pulled out a wee baby bunny. It was VERY TINY, probably a couple days old only, and shaking. I sat down on the ground, holding the bunny carefully, inspecting it to make sure it was ok, but all I could find was a small wound on it shoulder, probably from being so new in the world… I decided to take it home, clean it up, and let it go in the morning. I gathered up the dogs and my stuff and the bunny, and walked home. I gave the dogs a treat, and put the bunny in my cat carrier, in the garage, away from noise and craziness. It would be safe and warm in there while I straightened a bit and started dinner.

After dinner I went out to the garage to get the carrier. I put it on my work table, which happened to be where Zombunny was, and opened the carrier. Ever so slowly, out walked a wee zombunny, I KNOW those eyes, and it sidled up to big Zombunny and nuzzled him… It was all my fault, I knew the dangers of taking out one of my creations before we’d had “the talk,” and now there were TWO zombunnies… NOW, I tell you this story, so that you know that usually, I do what I can to keep things from going awry. But also so that you know that sometimes, things get out of control, I DO make monsters… so, just to be on the safe side, if you’re going outside, maybe, JUST MAYBE, you might want to leave the spawn inside…for safety (of the world’s) sake.”

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And now, as I said I would, because I am so thrilled that somehow 29 folks were inspired to write me a story, I’m putting them on my blog, so maybe a few extra people get to read them. I love each and every one of them!

BE AWARE, SOME OF THESE STORIES HAVE VERY ADULT CONTENT, INCLUDING GRAPHIC VIOLENCE, BLOOD AND GORE, AND PROFANITY! NOT WORKPLACE OR CHILD APPROVED!!!