Here’s the meme:

The person who refuses to wear a mask
or self-quarantine is the same asshole
who hides a zombie bite. He knows
he’s fucked, infected with the apocalyptic
version of an incurable STD. The same
asshole who doesn’t disclose to partners.
His business school degree taught him:
He has the ultimate power to decide
whether or not he should self-disclose.
It’s not unnatural to fear his own death,
to enjoy a few extra puffs on a cigarette,
secretly laugh that he won’t die of cancer
like his old man. But, maybe it will be
different. He’s the unlikely survivor,
the asymptomatic patient who’s the key
to the cure. But, deep inside he knows
he’s just a gutless coward. A victim
with instinctive drowning response
that drags down his braver rescuer.
What is the price of a last breath
or a final moment with bunker buddies
he doesn’t really love but tolerates?
He’s fucked, so fuck everybody else,
Scumbag Steve at the end of the world.
Good Guy Greg knows, “Put one in
the brain. Save the last bullet for yourself.”

Dana Knott’s poems have appeared in The American Journal of Poetry, Bitter Oleander, Emrys Journal, ONE ART, and Parhelion. She definitely would not survive the zombie apocalypse. Twitter handle: @dana_a_knott