by A. Giacomi
All these thoughts swirl through my head like daggers. My painful thoughts haunt me, preventing me from being myself. Alex can see that I am crumbling; she makes every effort to spend time with me and comfort me, but I only want to be left alone. I am alone after all. I love Alex and her family, but they are not “my” family.
I continue staring out the window. It is another perfectly gray day, and the rain has begun. Last night, the weather report said that we will get some record-breaking rain over the next few days. There has already been some major flooding in the city center, but it hasn’t affected our area yet.
As I look out the window, there seems to be a figure lurking in Alex’s front yard. I stand and press my face against the window to get a closer look. There is a dark figure standing in the middle of the lawn staring up at me. I can’t make out who it is through all the rain. Although it is raining hard outside, I force the window open to get a closer look, and standing there on Alex’s rain-soaked lawn is my father. He stares back at me with fiery eyes.
I stumble backward.
I must be dreaming. I rub my eyes frantically and return to the window. There is no one there now. I really need to get more sleep or they might put me away for hallucinating. Next, I might start hearing voices. That thought really scares me, so I climb into bed and throw the sheets over me like a shield.
Please sleep. Please sleep.
***
About an hour later, there is a knock at my door. It is Alex. She looks a little pale. Great, I think. What now? What can we possibly have to deal with now? I don’t display my annoyance. I just ask, “What is it, Al?”
She comes closer and is about to speak but stops when she hears something behind her. Someone is in the hallway.
Janna, Alex’s little sister, pops into view. “Whatcha guys doing?” she says with a slight grin on her face.
“Janna, go away. Cam and I need to talk.” But Janna doesn’t leave.
“Talk about what? Can I talk too?”
Alex rolls her eyes. “No, Janna, it’s personal.”
Janna pouts and turns to leave. Once she’s out of view, Alex turned to face me again.
Without looking behind her, Alex yells, “Janna, get lost!”
I hear Janna shuffle in the hallway. “Fine! God! I’m going!”
I grin a little. “How’d you know she was still there?”
Alex smiles back. “I’ve lived with her for thirteen years, and I know exactly how that brain of hers works.”
We both have a little laugh. Even though most people seem annoyed by their siblings, I envy the dynamic between them. I wish I had someone to annoy.
Alex puts on her serious face again. “Look, Cam, I know you have a lot on your plate right now, and I’m so sorry to add to it, but this is really freakin’ important.”
I wish she’d just spill it already. I’m not into suspense these days.
“Al, can you just tell me, please? You’re killin’ me here.”
She bites her lip and hesitates a bit, then sighs and continues. “Okay… I went to the cemetery this morning to place some flowers on your parents’ graves, and when I got there, the graves looked like they had been dug up. Both graves were empty, Cam. I could see the caskets, and there was nothing in them.”
Hearing this makes me feel as though I am about to faint. This can’t be.
“Alex, take me there now! I need to see this for myself.”
“Should we call Eve?”
I shudder hearing her name. “No! I don’t want to see her right now.”
I can see the hurt in Alex’s eyes. She wants me to forgive Eve, but I don’t have time for this shit right now.
***
When we arrive at the cemetery, I bolt out of the car and start running towards the grave site. I’m not even sure the car was fully stopped when I got out.
As I stand in front of my parents’ final resting places, I can see that what Alex said is true. My father’s grave has a hole in the dirt big enough for a body to slide through. When I look through the hole, down below I can see that the coffin under the soil has also been opened. It looks as though someone blasted through the wood, but how can that be? That takes an insane amount of strength. Last time I checked, the guy inside was dead.
I walk over to my mother’s grave next. The marks look a bit different. It looks like someone dug down with their bare hands and then opened the casket, which is still fully intact.
I drop to the ground. I don’t care that I’m sitting in mud. I don’t even feel the coolness of the rain on my skin. I am totally and utterly lost. What do I do now?
“Al, did you tell anyone?”
She shakes her head. “No…I didn’t know what to tell anyone. Hey, some bodies are missing? Or it seems like we have grave robbers? Or one possible zombie just stole a corpse? None of those make me seem very sane. Especially here in Little Lake, nothing interesting ever happens here. They would think it was some prank.”
We have to tell someone. I have to find out what happened, but I won’t be able to do that on my own. Once we’re back in Alex’s car, I pull my cell phone out of my pocket and place an anonymous call to the police.
“Hi, Little Lake’s Cemetery seems to have been vandalized. There are two disturbed graves on site that you should look into.”
After transferring that brief piece of information, I hang up.
“Come on, Alex. Let’s get out of here before the cops show up.”
She nods, and we speed off in her car.
As we drive away, I ask Alex to stop by and grab Eve. She’s a little surprised by my request.
“Look, Al, we’re going to need Eve’s help, bottom line!”
This is true. Eve is the strongest thing I know. She will be useful in our search. I keep my other motive hidden from Alex. I really just have to know if she did it. Did Eve take them? Maybe she did her crazy sleepwalking thing and dug up my parents thinking it would please me? I suppose anything is possible these days.
When we arrive at Eve’s house, I knock on the door. Eve is shocked to see me, but there is no time for apologies or forgiveness. I just need her to come with me.
“Eve, we have a problem. I can’t talk here. We’ll talk in Alex’s car. Come on.”
She nods, noticing my desperation, and yells back into the house to inform her parents of her departure.
When we get in the car Alex starts driving, and after a few awkward moments, Eve asks to be brought up to speed. I tell her about the empty graves, and before I can tell her my theories on what happened, she begins crying. She is sobbing so hard that I can’t continue.
Alex pulls over so we can coax Eve to tell us what is wrong. I feel she knows something that can help us. In that moment, I don’t care if she did it. I just want to know what happened so badly.
Through the sobs, Eve starts to form slurred sentences. “I did it…I have my memories back…I…I…attacked Henry. I killed him. I remember now. I’m horrible.”
I don’t know what to say to Eve’s confession. I already sort of knew she did it. Now I just want to know if she took my parents’ bodies as well.
“Eve, did you go the cemetery last night?”
She shakes her head. “No, I didn’t take the bodies, Cam. I didn’t do that, but I have this feeling that your dad might be back. He might be infected. I don’t know what he’ll be like now. He could be more dangerous than before. He has nothing to lose now. He’s already dead.”
She has a point. My father the zombie could destroy this whole town with one little bite. The Azreal Virus would spread like wildfire!
“But why would zombie Henry take Cam’s mom? What would he do with her?”
Alex makes another good point: what does he want a dead body for? He won’t eat her, and he won’t be able to bring her back. Or can he? The thought terrifies me
.
“Eve, do you think my father would even remember his life before being a zombie? I know you’re infected, but all your memories are intact.”
Eve’s eyes are swollen with sadness. This is the first time I have looked her in the eye in days. I feel a stinging in my chest; I do feel bad for her. I never looked at this from her angle. It must be terrifying, and all I’ve done is forsaken her. I will fix this later, but right now, we need to make sure my father stayed dead.
“I’m sorry, Cam. I don’t know what your father will be like. That couple I infected seemed like movie zombies. You know the dragging feet, brain eating, monster type? They didn’t seem like their former selves.”
Okay, that didn’t help me much.
“Alex, let’s go to my father’s house. Maybe he’s hiding out there if he remembers his old life.”
Alex speeds off; she knows we have no time to waste.
***
Alex stops in front of the old house. I hate visiting it now. We all get out of the car, and I’m sure we’re all thinking the same thing. We are hoping that we don’t find anything terrifying inside.
I head around back and find that the door is open. Someone has definitely been here. I step into the house first, and Alex and Eve follow. There is a foul, rotting smell in the house. I instinctually pinch my nose. Eve must smell it too because she starts growling like a dog. Alex and I stand back and let Eve lead the way. She’s trying to sniff out the source. She stops when she reaches the basement door.
I reluctantly open it. We all get a whiff of stench that almost knocks us down. The smell is stronger down there. I don’t really want to find its source; fear is getting the best of me.
Eve doesn’t hesitate; she is almost drawn to the stench.
The basement is dark and unwelcoming. I try to turn on the light, but it only flickers, creating a very eerie glow. I see a pile of something near the base of the stairs. I keep walking towards it.
With each step, the stench becomes more and more unbearable. I get close to the pile, and the flickering light only allows me to see pieces. I can distinguish teeth, hands, legs, and a single eye. I dash backward, repulsed and unsteady.
“There are pieces, pieces of people in a pile over here,” I say, much quieter than anticipated. I must be going into shock.
There is no need to warn them. When Alex starts screaming at the top of her lungs, I know they are seeing it too. Eve just stares at the pile, looking hungry.
We hear a noise, and Alex goes silent. There is a shifting sound behind us. It makes us simultaneously turn. I don’t see anything, which makes it all the more terrifying.
Eve starts heading towards the sound. It is easy for her to be fearless when she can’t die. I follow her closely. I want to protect her, even though I am positive she doesn’t need anyone’s protection.
When Eve arrives at the source of the sound, she turns towards me and hugs me with such a force that she almost takes me down.
“Eve, what is it? What do you see?”
She looks me in the eye. “Cam, don’t look. Please let’s just go.”
She tries to hold me back, but that only makes me more determined. I push her out of the way and am horrified at what lay in front of me.
“Mom?”
I look closer at the figure lying on a metal table. There are stitches all over her. Her arms are sewn on, but they don’t match. Her torso is covered in her favourite dress. My eyes flood with tears, and I hold the corpse’s hand. It obviously does not belong to her, but my sorrow craves her touch.
I scan lower to see her bones exposed from the torso down. I glance back at her face. It looks like her, except for the eyes. One is blue, and the other is green.
Someone is rebuilding her.
I scream, feeling like a million daggers are piercing my heart. I never heard myself scream before. I sound wounded. I suppose I am.
***
I don’t remember how I left the basement, but I somehow make it outside, where I throw up all the contents in my stomach. Eve is beside me, rubbing my back.
“Cam, I think your father remembers who he is. What we saw down there is proof. He thinks he can bring your mother back by giving her a new body, but he is hunting others and taking parts he needs. He needs to be stopped. There were three bodies down there. Who knows how many others there will be?”
I nod, still not feeling well enough to stand.
“Cam, there’s something else I need to tell you about the night your father died.”
Oh no, please, no more bad news.
I wipe my mouth. “Okay, Eve. It really can’t get much worse—it’s already unbearable—so just say it.”
She doesn’t look at me as she speaks. “Cam, as I attacked your father, he knew it was me. He had a message for you. He asked me to tell you that he loved you and that he was sorry.”
The words feel like a ton of bricks falling on my chest.
“He said that?”
Eve nods.
“He loved me?” I am shocked.
I always thought he hated me and that’s why he drank so much. I often thought if he had the option of trading me for my mother, he would.
Eve helps me off the ground. “Cam, I’m not leaving your side until we find him. If he remembers everything, he will come for you. I’m absolutely terrified that he might try and use you for parts as well.”
I look at Eve and ask, “Is there even a chance he could bring her back?”
Eve shakes her head. “Dr. August said you have to die from being exposed to the Azrael Virus in order to come back from the dead. Your mother died in a car accident, so there is no way she will rise. Your father doesn’t know that, and I’m sure he’ll do whatever it takes to finish building her. We need to keep our eyes open.”
I give Eve a bone-crushing hug. I catch her off guard. I have been so horrible to her; I even attacked her. She can’t control the virus any more than we can.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
EVE
After driving around town for three hours, we decide to call off our zombie hunt. There are no signs of Henry Jackson anywhere.
I know Henry will come looking for us eventually, but I don’t want it to come to that. If I am hungry, I’m sure Henry is ten times hungrier. Every minute that passes is a missed opportunity to save someone. I don’t want anyone to go through what I’m going through.
Here I am acting so self-righteous when I am the one that caused this mess. I don’t think it’s fair that I get to play the hero and the villain in this crazy saga. But what is fair anyway? Is it fair that I was bitten? Is it fair that I now need to eat others to survive? Is it fair to Cam and Alex that they have to guard my secret? None of this is fair.
I keep thinking it will be better if I just disappear, but not today. Today, we have a zombie to catch.
We end up at Alex’s house after our car ride, and I decide it will be safer if I stay with Cam and Alex tonight. I may be a bit of a cannibal, kind of an understatement, but there is no question that I am strong enough to protect them. This whole Azrael Virus comes with a few perks, which I haven’t thought about until now. You can’t hurt what you can’t kill.
As we sit in Alex’s kitchen trying to think about our next move, we hear the door burst open, and we all jump.
“Damn this doormat. I swear I trip over it every time, Dina. Can’t we just get rid of it? It’s hideous anyway. It’s a damn cat that says ‘home is where the cat is,’ and we don’t even have a freakin’ cat!”
Thank goodness it is only Alex’s parents.
“Well, the cat on the mat is so cute! If you can find me something cuter, then I will consider getting rid of it.”
Ah, Mr. and Mrs. Dashkov, they are always so entertaining with their petty arguments. Most arguments are so laughable I have to excuse myself from the r
oom or burst out laughing in their faces.
Back in high school, the Dashkov’s were considering getting a divorce; they fought so much they thought they should try therapy to save their marriage. Therapy ended up being another thing to argue about, and it led to a brief separation. I know Alex was so worried they would get divorced, but I knew they would stay together; they were much too similar. How would they ever find another person who liked arguing just as much? Turns out that’s just how they show they love each other. I roll my eyes at the thought.
I don’t really understand their relationship. They constantly seem like they hate each other but insist that their fighting is “normal” for couples. I agree that most couples argue; I just don’t think it is “normal” when it is 24/7. They don’t really leave any room for romance, or respect, or happiness really.
I bite my tongue and never mention my true feelings about Alex’s parents. I just hope Alex won’t be tainted by their strange relationship. I want her to have so much more. A lover, a friend, a partner in crime. Someone who will make her feel special instead of pointing out her every flaw. I don’t think that is too much to ask for in a relationship.
When Mrs. Dashkov snaps out of her silly squabble, she notices the three of us standing there awkwardly and tries to break the ice.
“Oh, hi guys! It’s nice to see the three of you together. It’s like old times. Eve, you should stay for dinner. We’re having pork roast and baked potatoes.”
Behind her, I can see Mr. Dashkov rolling his eyes. He mumbles something sarcastic about the meal being his favourite.
“I heard that, dear. You can have some air for dinner if you prefer.”
Mr. Dashkov gives her a fake smile and leaves the room.
Why do they have to make everyone feel so uncomfortable? I want to crawl under the table.
I speak first. “Sounds delicious, Mrs. Dashkov. I can help set the table…”