by Nisa Ryan
I nodded, “I’m just gonna walk right up to the door and go inside,” I said, standing and bracing my nerves before I change my mind. Marybeth cocked her head to one side, “Wait. If you are really going to do this, let me help you,” she said, “Hold your arm up to the socket.”
I did as she asked. “Alicia, I need a hair,” Marybeth said. Reaching out, she plucked a single strand from Alicia’s head. The hag growled but didn’t complain otherwise. Taking the thread and holding it against my skin, Marybeth began muttering a spell as she waved her wand around the broken joint. The stitch of hair curled and began to weave itself through the flesh, around and around, in and out, until my arm was reattached.
I lifted my hand, curling and uncurling the fingers in amazement; it had worked. Marybeth stood and crossed her arms, cocking an eyebrow as Alicia. I looked over the newly sewn wound, we were both impressed, and she knew it. Nodding my thanks, I stood, “Wish me luck,” I said as I stepped into the gathering crowd surrounding the house.
∞ ∞ ∞
The reaction was immediate. A woman jumped and lurched away from me, a man and his wife held their arms out, ready to run. The entire crowd began to part as they heard screams of “Oh my god, it’s another one of those freaks from the hilltop. Move, there’s an undead out here!” she screamed. “Go back where you came from freak!” she continued. A few others joined in, razzing me and booing as I stumbled through them. They were making me hungry. I bit down on the inside of my cheek, the brief bit of pain made me forget I was hungry but only for a moment.
Others began to yell profanities or accusations, “This is about that damn academy, isn’t it?” someone muttered, “This is all their fault. I knew we should have thought better than to allow them to build up there,” another said.
I shook my head as my stomach began to churn. I was so hungry. I hadn’t had anything to eat in forever. I could feel my usual thoughts slipping away as the hunger began trying to take over.
The smells of so many people pressing in around me were almost too much, “Gaaaah outta muh way,” I slurred. My feet began to stumble, and my shoulders slumped in agitation as I walked past the first line of police. An officer hiding behind his car turned as I walked by. He reacted out of pure instinct, jumping to his feet with a scream of terror. His eyes bulged at the sight of me as his finger squeezed the trigger of his gun.
It didn’t hurt. It only made me hungrier.
Chapter 5
As the bullet passed through my arm it sunk into the side of the man hunkered down on the other side of me, he fell to the ground screaming in pain as he pressed his hands over the wound in his shoulder. The smell of blood hit my nostrils and began to swarm my thoughts. Warm and fresh, and my stomach lurched as I stood over him. No, Britta. You can beat this. You’re not a monster, find Zane and then get out of here.
The man stared up at me, his face ashen and eyes large with fear and pain. Standing over him, I raised my hands and opened my mouth, “Ambaaaahlance,” I growled throatily and then turning away from him, I shuffled on towards the house as quickly as I could.
No-one stopped me, they all seemed to be in too much shock that a zombie had nearly eaten one of their own, but didn’t. Good girl Britta, you’ve got this. I needed the mental pat on the back right now, as I was sure I looked like shit. I could feel my face going slack, and my vision was all wonky now as one eye began to roll back in the socket, I was getting an interesting view of the door and the window just above and to the left at the same time. Someone was watching me from between the curtains, their eyes flashed with a green light.
The door gave away much too easily as I clawed at it with both hands. And as I stepped into the home, I found pictures of happy looking people on the walls and a vase of flowers sitting on the stand beside the door.
It looked a lot like my old home, and I felt my heart thump in that strange way it had started to do lately. And then my stomach growled, and all thoughts of nostalgia disappeared. Sniffing, I could smell blood, both old and new. And as I listened, I could hear the sound of heavy mouth breathing coming from the door beneath the stairs. Dragging my feet in that direction I jerked the little door open and found a boy and his mother hiding beneath it, “Harry? Isss that you?” I slurred and tried to laugh at my joke, but it came out sounded wet and gross, and the people’s faces went white as a sheet. I put a finger up to my lips, “Shhhh,” I said, “Not safe. Stay.” I muttered and closed the door. The mom briefly whispered a thank you.
I searched the bottom floor as quickly as I could. It wasn’t a large home, and there wasn’t much space. From the photo’s in the home it looked like a small family lived here. After searching the kitchen and the living room, I looked up the stairs. It was dark up there. The only light was from the flashing emergency vehicles parked outside.
“Zane, Zaaaane,” I half called, half growled. I hated the way I sounded. But there was no one else down here. I clambered up the stairs, one foot dragging up the wooden steps, I was way louder than I intended. A pair of glowing red eyes greeted me at the top, a mouth full of fangs hissed.
I reacted without thinking and slashed at the red-eyed monster; only it caught my arm in its teeth and yanked, causing the stitching to come undone. The vampire, half-transformed into a bat, leered at me with my arm firmly clamped between its teeth, “You bat-sard,” I snickered, okay, it was a lame joke, “I just fixed thaaat,” I said slowly, concentrating on each word.
I glared at him hard with my right eye, but from my left eye, I saw a shadow pass between two rooms followed by the sound of a door being slammed shut. It was Zane. I’d recognize that tuft of blonde hair anywhere.
With a growl, I lunched at the annoying vampire in front of me, scratching across his face and gnashing my teeth into the side of his eye socket. It was hard going with one eye cocked to the side, I could see his terrified face in one eye, and the ceiling with the other, sirens and flashing lights told me that more police had arrived. I could hear tires squealing as they came to an abrupt stop and the gasps of parents and children alike as they watched the drama unfold.
A megaphone began announcing something about releasing hostages, they must mean the lady and her kiddo, and that we should surrender peacefully.
The vampire let out a wail as clawed at me, hissing and beating his fists into my side, “I’ll kill them all,” he growled, “I’ll kill every last human, they deserve to be punished. Monsters and undead will rule the world!” he spat and lurched backward, trying to shake me off as his nails left long gashes on my arms, but I hung on,
“The Professor is right; we should be out here. Taking what we want!” he hissed. The Professor again. He really was the cause of all of this! Falling backward the vampire was trapped beneath me, and finally, I was rewarded with a satisfying crunch. A gush of warm blood swelled out my cheeks and ran down my throat. Oh, god, it’s so good. I thought as I began to chew, the vampire went still.
My stomach quivered with joy as the fresh vampire brain filled the space in my middle, and my senses began to return slowly. I really, really needed those brains. But it’s strange. I thought that only human brains could keep a zombie well fed. The taste wasn’t bad, either. I’d bring it up with the Professor but, it looks like that wasn’t going to happen anytime soon. Honestly, might be better if I never bring this up at all. I hadn’t exactly heard of a monster feeding off other monsters.
Wiping my mouth off with the back of one hand, I looked down at the vampire and winced. Blood had smeared all down my cardigan, and as I stood, it dripped down onto my shoes.
I should feel guilty. I didn’t think I knew him, but still, what if he had been a student at Undead Academy? It’s okay. He was going to hurt those people, and he attacked you first, I told myself.
Picking up my arm, I slung over my shoulder and paced towards the rooms in the back, my sneakers leaving behind bloody footprints as they squeaked across the floorboards. What was it with squeaky floorboards? Did no one fix their floors anym
ore?
As I moved on down the short hallway, I passed a bathroom and shivered at the image I saw reflected there. The door had one of those long body mirrors, and as I stared at myself, it suddenly hit me how horrific I must have looked to all those people. Having not eaten in so long my skin had gone from pale olive green to a disgusting grey with mottled patches of bruised purple and blue. My arm hung limply over my shoulder and the open stump where it had been attached hung to one side, making me stand crooked. My eyes were the worse, the sockets had sunken in, and where my eyes had once been considered beautiful, there were now only points of glowing green light. My lips were a sickly black, and the blood smeared across my face and down into my cardigan wasn’t helping my case.
With a shrug, I ignored it, I mean. I’m a zombie, might as well learn to accept that I’m not always going to be red-carpet ready.
Own it, girl. I thought with a shake of my hair.
The door across from the bathroom was locked, I yanked on the knob, ripping it from the door. Swinging it open, I chucked the knob aside in frustration. Damn those super-strong zombie muscles. It was empty. I couldn’t see or smell anything here. Tilting my head back I followed my nose, but as my zom-body began to fully digest the serving of brains I’d devoured my zombie senses were getting duller, and it was getting harder to be an actual zombie. I moved on to the next room, but when I yanked at the door, it didn’t budge. It was locked tight; I released the knob.
Cocking my head to one side, I rapped my knuckles on the door, “Zane? Are you in there? It’s me, Britta. I’m here to help!” I called out to him. But I didn’t know if he could hear me or if it was even Zane in there after all. I was about to start banging harder when I voice made my skin prickly.
“He can’t hear you.”
I snapped around to face the Professor as his voice slid through the darkness, “He’s lost himself to his vampire half,” the Professor said as he approached me slowly. His white lab coat was almost glowing in the darkness, hovering like a ghost, and so when he continued to float towards me, I was shocked to find that he was. My eyebrows shot up, “Y-you’re a ghost?”
He grinned, his smile still charming, “Well, not really, is that what you thought I was?” he mocked, “Please, I’m far more powerful than your average spook,” he mocked.
Narrowing my eyes, I frowned at him. I knew he wasn’t entirely human, but I wouldn’t have expected him to be a ghost of some sort, “I don’t know what you are, but I’d like you to stay the hell away from my friends,” I growled, feeling my body begin to rage against the threat in front of me. Clutching my broken arm, I waved it at him angrily.
The Professor laughed, “Oh, dear child, that’s laughable. I’m a poltergeist, well actually, I’m only half poltergeist – I’m still learning to use all my newfound ghostly powers, the result of another experiment I tested on myself. I specialize in living off of the fear of others. I enjoy making people scream in surprise when they realize, whoops, the dear doctor wasn’t the goody two shoes we thought he was, I manipulate that fear to increase my own spectral powers” he continued, his eyes were beginning to glow as green flames flickered behind the black frames of his glasses. His lab coat melted away into a foggy mist, and as he began to laugh, the sound of his voice grew to a shrieking crescendo.
I dropped to one knee, trying to cover my ears but being largely unsuccessful at it because, you know, only one hand working, “But why? Why are you doing this?” I asked between gritted teeth. The Professor shook his head, “Because I don’t want humans and monsters to cohabitate! I want death, I was destruction, I want an all-out war,” he roared.
This is insane! I burst into action, rushing the Professor, but his screech grew even higher, and my head felt like it might explode. I dropped to one knee, grimacing.
“Hey, asshole. That’s my zombie,” I heard Alicia growl. I turned my head painfully towards the sound of her voice. Alicia hovered at the end of the hall, her body half inside the house and half out, as a ghost walls weren’t a barrier for her. She could pass through solid objects at will, but it was still uncanny.
The Professor turned and glared at her; his entire body burst into blue fog and flames as his illusion melted away, leaving a ghost-like none I’d ever seen before. His body was gnarled and twisted with arms and neck too long; his grin spread across his face so wide I thought it might split in half. Tentacles of smoke burst from his back and began to beat against the walls as they wrapped around anything they could find, pictures, vases, toys, and began throwing them at me and breaking through the windows, smashing against the walls and ceiling, the sound was deafening.
From outside of the house, I could hear the voices of people gasping as the entire place shook on its foundation. The sirens continued to wail as blue, and red lights flashed through the windows.
“Alicia, please. Go check on Zane, he’s in there, and I can’t get in,” I begged, pointing at the locked door. Alicia looked from me to the Professor, setting her jaw she shook her head, “I’m not leaving you with him,” she hissed.
“Please?” I asked, pleading with my eyes as I rose back up to my feet. My knees rattled, and my ankles shook as I forced myself to stand once again, summoning on all my zombie strength. I let myself get pissed.
Nodding, Alicia disappeared in a poof of smoke, reappearing behind the Professor flew through the door, her ghostly body passing through it easily with only a curl of fog to show she was ever there.
With that out of the way, I hunkered down and growled, “I’m ready for my vaccinations, Professor,” I said lamely. The Professor snickered, and then lashed his tentacles at me.
Four long tentacles wrapped around my body, one slithered around my waist while the others restrained each leg and my remaining arm. I still had a hold of my broken arm, so I began to beat against one of the tentacles, slapping it over and over so hard I thought I might lose a finger or two. The nails were sharp and left scratches against the ghostly pale skin of the tentacle, but it wasn’t enough,
“Ugh, let go of me! If I wanted to deal with tentacles, I’d go watch an anime!” I hissed between my teeth. The Professor laughed as if I was tickling him. Gross.
I stopped slapping at him with my arm and instead beat him hard as I could right in his face. Thankfully I still had some charm bracelets on, and when they smashed into his nose, the Professor jerked his hands up to protect his face, dropping the syringes. The tentacles released me, waving through the air behind him as he pulled off his broken glasses.
“Shit, you have no idea how much these frames cost!” he growled, “I’ve just about had enough of this. With the Academy, with you spoiled brats, you’ve no idea what I’m trying to do here. How my well-orchestrated plan is being ruined,” he hissed, trying to piece his glasses back together.
“Are you effing kidding me? I’m trying to save this town from your insanity, and you’re worried about how to fix your glasses?”
The Professor went stiff and stared at me, the fog that filled the hallway and swirled around his body began to rematerialize and within seconds he was standing in his lab coat, “I’ve had enough of this, goodbye Ms. Peters,” the Professor said and, withdrawing another syringe from his pocket with a tentacle he flung it at me. I dodged it, slapping it aside with my loose arm like it was a baseball as I stepped towards him.
“You’ve been using students to test on. Do you have any idea how many laws you’ve broken?” I growled.
The Professor cocked his head to one side, “I’m a doctor, not an idiot, of course, I know,” he laughed.
Another syringe was launched through the air at me, again I dodged it. And then another. Each one that missed, I gained another step towards him.
A loud thump on the door behind him served to remind us that Zane and Alicia were still trapped in the room. The Professor sighed and shook his head, “Do you have any idea how many of those laws protect non-humans?” the Professor retorted, “Almost none of them, because things like this keep happ
ening, right?” he said with growing exasperation. “Every time you get one step forward, we take two steps back thanks to monsters like me. As it should be!”
I shook my head; he was beginning to sound a little unstable. I didn’t know what to do. I was just some zombie who wanted to eat some brains and make good grades. Ironically eating brains didn’t help my grades.
“Now then,” the Professor grinned, he’d gone from charming to deadly and as his tentacles flowed out in a burst of smoke to lash at me again.
I ducked down, throwing an arm up to block his attack. No attack came. I peeked between my fingers to see a hand latched onto one of the Professors’ tentacles before he was roughly wrenched to the side.
“That’s enough! I’d have never expected it was you all along Professor, how could you betray me like this? You said it was vitamins. That it was supposed to tame our monstrous side, not encourage it!” Ms. Walker snorted, her hooves stomping fiercely.
Bending over him, she twisted the tentacle so that he began to writhe painfully, “My dear, you don’t understand. Just let me explain, these students were trying to attack these poor – ouch, ouch!” the Professor tried to protest by Ms. Walker was having none of it. Pressing one hoof onto his chest, the Professor was pressed painfully down onto the floor amongst the glass and splintered wood.
“Ugh, this place is a complete mess,” a voice echoed as someone climbed the stairs. Marybeth came waltzing in behind Ms. Walker. She was tapping her wand in the air as she picked up the broken shards and picture frames with small globes of magic, piecing them back together and placing the items where they belonged throughout the home,
“Each thing has a place, and each place has a thing,” she sang as she went, flicking her wand or waving a hand with her nose up in the air, she moved from room to room before stopping near the door that Zane and Alicia was trapped behind, an enraged moan told us they were still in there and that Zane was giving Alicia problems of her own.