Deathlings

by Ellery Fenn

  “Are you going to eat me?”

  I tasted the words before speaking. “You’re ghost.”

  Her face softened. She stilled. “No.” She examined her hands, her dress, all insubstantial. “I don’t want to believe you, but I know you’re right. As soon as you said it, I just knew.” She met my gaze. “Doug killed me.”

  Fists on flesh, cracking bone. Warm blood spilling over my skin. The weight of a body on mine. Memories pummeled me, but she didn’t notice my pain.

  The thought of that disgusting man, murdering the girl before me, so small, so defenseless, sickened me. I shied away from the image.

  Tears formed in her eyes. “He killed me.”

  I was drawn toward her with a slow step. The pain on her face matched the pain in my body, all consuming. To my surprise, she didn’t run.

  “How could this happen?”

  I knelt beside her. There was nothing I could say. I placed my cold hand on her arm. She was quiet, her eyes glued to my desiccated fingers. This was it. Now she would run.

  Her touch on the back of my hand was as soft as butterfly wings. She met my gaze. I raised my arms but couldn’t remember how to embrace.

  She fell against me with a sob and wrapped herself around my chest like a child. Like we weren’t strangers that just met in a dark forest. The tears evaporated the moment they left her skin, vanishing into nothing. I lowered my arms over her back.

  We were both cold and dead, but there was some warmth between us, something that touched at the painful memories I held. It didn’t soothe or dissipate them, but it did, even if microscopically, ease the pain.

  Chapter Four

  Lisa

  The awkward embrace of a zombie was somehow the most comforting thing I could imagine. I clung to her stiff body. If I didn’t, I’d drift away, up to the stars, and never come down. I was a little embarrassed to seek reassurance from her so soon after meeting. That spark of shame was quickly silenced. Murdered.

  It was impossible to tell how long she held me. Eventually the tears stopped, leaving only a ringing in my chest. I pulled away, but her arms were stiff from holding their position and wouldn’t move. Embarrassment flashed across her face.

  “It’s okay.” I pried open one of her arms. She wiggled her fingers as I pushed at the other arm.

  “So how long have you been… you know, dead?” It didn’t hurt as much when I focused on her. She was a mystery, and a good distraction. I wrapped my arms around my chest, but the ringing didn’t stop.

  She rubbed her elbow. Her voice was like old church organs. “Tonight.”

  “Tonight? You died tonight?”

  She nodded.

  “That’s crazy. What are the odds two people would die in the same forest on the same night?”

  She looked much older than me in death-years, all discolored and creaky. She didn’t have a nose and one of her cheekbones was crushed in. A flap of skin hung disconnected from her forehead, waving over her blood-splattered face. I wanted to ask how she died, but that was probably insensitive. It looked awful.

  “I don’t know anyone named Corrie. You must not be from Lake Oswego.”

  She shook her head, but I could see from her expression that it was more than that. I’d never been any good at reading people, but with her it was easy.

  “That’s so weird. There’ll be two bodies found in the forest.”

  The loose skin wiggled as she furrowed her brow.

  “Oh. You’re right. Only one body, cause you’re your body. Mine’s probably still lying by the road…” My stomach turned at the thought. “What am I going to do?”

  I didn’t know why I was asking her. She was a stranger to me; a kind one, but a stranger none the less. So why could I read her eyes? Why did they tell me we were in this together? And more than that, why did I feel like we’d always known each other?

  I shook my head to clear the thoughts. She was the first person I’d seen since my death. She held me while I cried. But that didn’t mean she was my friend.

  “They’ll be finding my body today.” My voice was hoarse. “Lying by the road in my dress.” I traced my fingertips over the soft fabric and tucked my legs beneath me. “They’ll track it back to Doug, right?”

  Why was I asking her? She didn’t know me or my life. Why would she care?

  She stared past me, back in the direction she came from. She was already thinking about leaving.

  “What is it?” I asked.

  She stood and looked back down at me, jerking her head behind her with a grunt.

  I stared at her in confusion. “What?”

  She pointed in the direction she’d stared. “Come.”

  “Oh. Do you want to show me something?”

  She nodded.

  I stood, smoothing my skirt. “Okay. Maybe it’ll take my mind off all this.”

  Her throat whined as she clumsily spoke. “Don’t count on it.”

  I followed her through the forest, watching her awkwardly walk with stiff limbs. It sucked to be a ghost, but it looked like being a zombie was even worse.

  Somehow knowing I was dead kept me from getting caught on anything. My skirt drifted through the underbrush. Would I be stuck wearing this dress for eternity?

  Eternity. I was dead and Doug killed me. Suffocating anger bubbled through my chest. Why did I go out with him? I knew better.

  My mind raced as we walked through the trees. I couldn’t understand why I was here. I mean, I knew he killed me and so I was dead, yeah, but I’d always been taught that when you die you go to heaven. This clearly wasn’t heaven.

  I nearly bumped into Corrie. She’d stopped. A grin spread over her face as she sniffed the air.

  “Corrie?” I asked.

  She took off in a run.

  “Hey!” I hiked my skirt up. “Wait for me!”

  She moved like a deer, bounding over bushes and between trees, even though she’d been slow and stiff a moment ago.

  I sped up to match her pace. My strides grew longer and longer until my feet didn’t touch the ground. I remembered Pat learning to skateboard. He wasn’t half bad at it, and I was jealous of the way he glided smoothly over the concrete. I positioned my legs like he did and thought about going forward. The forest sped past. I grinned. Soon I was flying alongside Corrie.

  “Look at me!” I called.

  She barreled forward intent on one thing, whatever that was. As suddenly as she began, she stopped and threw herself to the ground. I soared past into a tree.

  “Oof.” I wiggled out of the wood.

  “Did you see that? I can fly!”

  My excitement died when I looked up.

  Corrie was crouched on the ground, tearing into a dead squirrel with red-stained teeth. Her eyes were crazed. Blood dripped over her hands as she ripped its head off.

  “Ugh!” My stomach turned as I stumbled backward. I couldn’t tear my eyes from the carnage. I turned and gagged, white mist spilling from my mouth.

  The sound of her eating stopped. She walked up behind me.

  “Ghost girl?” she said. “Okay?”

  Wisps of tan fur clung to the blood on her chin. She stepped back as I gagged again, concern on her face.

  “It’s okay, it’s okay.” I pulled my hair back. “I just didn’t expect that.”

  She wiped her face with her arm and smiled. Despite the flesh in her teeth, she looked good. Better than ever. Her posture was straight, her color was brighter, and her skin looked… soft.

  “Whoa.”

  She stretched her arms to her sides and spun. Her raspy laughter echoed through the clearing as she moved, fluid as water. Starlight glistened off the fresh blood.

  “How?” I reached toward her. She was glorious, and it probably should’ve scared me. It would’ve scared any smart person.

  She laughed again and took my hand. Anxiety filled me. Why would she share this with a stranger?

  Her face was split wide in joy. The worry drained from me, dripping from my fing
ers where they touched hers. One of her eyes was covered by the underside of loose skin, but I didn’t care. I’d never seen anyone so happy and unconcerned, like a child, dancing because it felt good.

  There was a familiar tingle in my stomach. No. Not her. Not a zombie.

  The discoloration, the open flesh, the hole where a nose should be, none of it could touch the joy shining from her face. She was dark, subdued, enchanting. I felt dizzy, like standing on the edge of a cliff and feeling the stupid urge to jump. She was beautiful.

  She slowed, a faint laugh floating from her mouth. “Sorry.”

  “No!” Somehow my hand reached up and pressed her loose skin into place. I pulled it back like I’d been burned and dug my fingernails into my palm. Stupid. “Don’t be.”

  My head snapped toward the sound of a truck driving by.

  “We’re by the road.” I hadn’t realized I was floating, but my feet lowered to the ground. The night came crashing back to me. There was nothing I wanted to see there. “Did you bring me to see my body?”

  Her smile fell as she turned away and walked. She led me to the tree line and followed it for a moment before stopping.

  Hanging caught on a tree was my dress.

  “What?” My mind was as empty as the dress was. I touched a wide rip along the shoulders. It looked like my body was taken out. “What happened to me?”

  A branch snapped as Corrie stepped back, her eyes glued to the ground. My heart sank.

  “Did you have something to do with this?”

  She looked away like a dog caught digging in the garbage.

  I looked from her to the dress, lightheaded. It couldn’t be.

  “Did you eat my body?”

  She met my gaze with a jerk of her head, wide-eyed.

  I crumpled to the ground, clutching the sleeves of my dress. My head whirled with static.

  She ate me? I buried my head in the fabric, inhaled the whiskey, sweat, blood. The smooth cloth drifted under my cheek.

  It had been the prettiest dress in the whole store. There were dozens of peach and baby blue dresses, all covered in tulle and sequins, bows, ribbons, and beads. But in all the shops Mom took me to, there was only one white dress.

  A sob tore from my throat. It wasn’t right. My dress shouldn’t be torn, tattered, ruined. It shouldn’t be empty.

  Rage rolled through me as I faced her.

  “How could you?”

  She stared like a deer in headlights.

  “You monster.” I shook so hard I could barely speak. “How sick can someone be? A human. A dead, murdered human, and you ate it. Destroyed it. I don’t know what they do in Zombieland, but here we don’t eat people! That’s a someone. Someone that should’ve had a funeral, and now I never can cause my body was eaten by a zombie!”

  I turned away and balled my fists, taking a deep breath that satisfied nothing.

  “And that’s not even the worst part. No body means they won’t know if I’m dead or not. No body means Doug doesn’t go to jail.” She began to say something in her croaky voice, but I cut her off. “You can’t justify this.”

  I was too angry to think. All I wanted was to get away from that horrible empty dress. I didn’t want this to be real. Before I was aware of it, I was floating steadily away. I clenched my jaw and flew.

  Trees flashed past me faster and faster. I clipped through branches, silver flashes meeting green. The wind was nice. It soared through me, in me. I was the wind. My thoughts were left behind as I rose to the top of the forest.

  Stars peppered the sky. It was an hour or so before dawn. Maybe more.

  I flew up. The sky called to me and I wasn’t sure why. But I wanted to be higher. I wanted to be up there with the clouds. More than that, I wanted to fly. So, I did. As fast and as high as I could.

  I slowed to a stop and gazed at the park below me. One side was cradled by the Willamette River, and the other by Oswego Lake.

  A cloud wrapped around me from behind. If I’d still needed to breath I’d have drowned, but as it was, I was just wet. I danced my fingers through it, watching the vapor swirl around them. It was hard to see where I ended and the cloud began. We were the same color, the same consistency. Wind pulled the cloud away.

  I floated effortlessly, eyes closed. My mind cleared. No more pain or betrayal or confusing feelings. No more ghosts. No more zombies. The world shone like crystal. I’d never been so relaxed. I saw nothing, heard nothing, felt nothing. I was starlight, air, and the clouds, all wrapped up in one.

  It was my first time being so high, but I felt at ease, comfortable. Free. Like I belonged here. Like I’d crawled into bed at the end of a long day.

  I exhaled. Nothing mattered now. This was all I wanted. My thoughts drifted outward, traveling from my mind. I drifted outward, my consciousness numbing, opening like a flower in water. My whole being unraveled until I was as intangible as the clouds. I came apart and did nothing to stop it.

  Chapter Five

  Corrie

  Lisa was gone in a fraction of a second, a silver blur that disappeared behind trees. The dress at my feet was pathetic and bloody. It stared at me accusingly. What had I honestly expected?

  Trees obscured me from the car that rumbled past. Soon enough, someone would spot the dress.

  I turned back to the forest and allowed it to consume me once more. My joints cracked as I walked.

  She was right. Without the body, there wasn’t enough evidence. Doug could go free. The sting of his blows haunted me, the sickening sliding of hands on my flesh. I couldn’t let him go free. Daggers of rage sliced through me at the thought.

  I fantasized as I pushed through the foliage of killing him myself. I could find his scent on the dress and track him, sticking to the trees to conceal myself until I found his house. It would be easy enough to sneak in through a window and find his room. I’d kill him swiftly, perhaps snapping his neck or strangling him. Once he was dead, I’d drag him into the woods with me, hide his body, and wait for it to rot. At least then some good would come from his existence.

  But I was unfamiliar with the mechanics of death. There was the possibility of him reviving as I had, and then his strength would easily overcome mine. Worse was the thought of him becoming a ghost. How would I ever be free of him?

  I wouldn’t kill him. He must face his punishment with heart beating.

  Without a body, he’d go free. Lisa would never believe I was innocent. How could I explain it to her when I didn’t understand it myself? How could one person become two when she dies?

  My musings didn’t matter now. She was gone, and I couldn’t blame her any more than I could tell her the truth.

  I stumbled as I walked a game trail, my muscles stiff. I was ravenous, my hunger barely touched by the squirrel.

  A root tripped me and threw me to the ground. My head bounced from a rock, irritating the memories into a frenzy.

  The pulse of pain from my head and face ignited each wound in turn. Phantom hands pummeled my flesh and raked across my skin. I choked on cold air.

  Agony froze me like a statue. As I lay, it faded to a dull ache. My muscles released and I softened to the ground like spilled water. Relief coursed through me.

  The pain was replaced by a gentle warmth, a quiet in every cell. This was how I was meant to be, at rest.

  Starlight streamed through the canopy overhead. Dense green boughs waved with the breeze that played over my skin and smoothed the silk of my slip. Insects scurried on the forest floor. The rolling hills were covered in trees and boulders, blanketed by thick moss. Each fern, each tree, each leaf worked together in a harmony of green. All around me was life, busy and relentless. Within me was death.

  Perhaps this strange night was a momentary lapse in the judgement of the universe. It was a mistake that I woke by the road, that I was granted motion and feeling into these dead limbs. How could both I and Lisa exist? Surely only an accident could cause such a thing.

  Numbness crept from the warm forest floo
r into my lax flesh. My lips curved into a smile, and I found that it was the only motion I could make. I closed my eyes and listened to a woodpecker. It wouldn’t take long for decomposition to take me. My skin would slide from my flesh, my flesh would slide from my bones, my joints would dissolve, my bones fall away from one another. Ants, maggots, and microbes would eat every part. I’d fall into soil and the roots of trees, into the leaves. Into the bloodstreams of all who partook of me.

  What bliss! To become one with all the wonders of nature, to contribute in the most significant way to the beauty and workings of the earth. To at once soar as a bird and swim as a fish and fight as bear.

  I hadn’t expected this so soon. I desired nothing more than to decay, but if I was wrong, if this wasn’t an accident, then how could I sacrifice it for anything?

  Lisa’s face appeared behind my eyes, heartbroken and accusatory. It was understandable that I would want to be with her, that I would enjoy her company. We were once the same.

  All that was over now.

  Flies hummed around me as warm fluid poured from my mouth and nostrils. The chemical processes inside me hurried on their inevitable task to break me down into my most useful parts.

  My heart sang. This is how I was meant to be! It was my purpose to decompose and become one with everything.

  The sensations that overwhelmed me faded one by one until the earth was so soft, I couldn’t feel it. The edges of my mind grew fuzzy. Warm. I was enveloped in peace and rest.

  Chapter Six

  Lisa

  Everything that made me who I was unraveled into nothing, like the edge of falling asleep. There was only one thought my mind clung to. Corrie. Why? Why, why? Even though she ate my body, even though she ruined the only chance at justice I had, I still wanted to be with her. How could a backstabbing zombie make me feel that way?

  I opened my eyes. My body coalesced, wisps of mist surging back into me.

  Everything was as I left it. The sky was a little lighter with fewer stars, but the land below looked the same. I almost expected everything to be different. And somehow, everything was.