Dead Meat | Day 8

by Clausen, Nick

  She sits down in the middle of the circle, crosses her legs and places the bowl of water on her lap. Then, closing her eyes, she starts running her fingers across the surface of the water while mumbling to herself. It goes on like that for a few minutes. Then she starts flicking water drops at the tarp, her voice raising slightly with each flick.

  “Begone what was never born, be free what once was. Let the gros bon ange rise once more, let it cleanse itself of the curse. We ask of you, oh, Good Big Angel, reclaim your rightful place in this tormented soul. Begone what was never born …”

  At first, nothing happens. The zombie just keeps wriggling as much as the improvised straightjacket allows it, the droplets hitting the tarp and running down to the floor.

  “This is so fucking stupid,” William scoffs.

  “Shush,” Dan says, suddenly standing next to him. “Look at it …”

  “Look at what?”

  Dan points to the zombie. And then William sees it. The zombie has stopped moving.

  “It’s probably just …”

  “Begone what was never born!” Birgit shouts, taking a handful of water and splashing it at the tarp. “We ask you, oh, mighty gros bon ange, rise! Rise now! Take back what is yours!”

  Another handful of water, then another. The zombie is still not moving at all. Then Birgit takes the bowl and flings the rest of the water onto the tarp, it goes splashing everywhere. She just sits there, staring at it.

  Still nothing happens.

  William watches with bated breath, noticing absentmindedly that both Liv and Dennis have also joined them now, squeezing together in the doorway.

  Silence for several seconds.

  “Rise,” Birgit whispers, breathing fast and staring at the tarp. “Rise …”

  One of the candles is blown out. At least that’s what it looks like. Except no one blew at it. Then the one next to it goes out too.

  “Holy shit,” William breathes.

  “Rise,” Birgit whispers again, closing her eyes.

  In rapid succession, all the candles put themselves out, leaving the living room in almost complete darkness.

  Then, without warning, the zombie in the tarp jumps violently enough to almost rip the duct tape free from the floor. It writhes and thrashes like a bull, and William can hear the fabric starting to give way. Then there’s a loud, drawn-out awful sound. It’s a wailing, like someone being tormented. And it comes from inside the tarp.

  “Holy fucking hell,” William hears himself say.

  “Mom!” Dennis shouts.

  Liv gasps and backs away.

  Birgit gets to her feet, grabs a handful of the crushed chalk and tosses it at the tarp, most of it sticking to the wet surface. It’s like cutting the power. The wail dies out and the zombie stops thrashing.

  It’s still for a few moments.

  Everyone is waiting.

  Then it starts moaning and moving around inside the tarp again. But now it’s like in the beginning; like a regular zombie would move and sound.

  Birgit sighs deeply. “It didn’t work.”

  “No shit,” William says, swallowing to try and get his heart back down his throat. “But you sure as fuck made something happen. What was that?”

  Birgit goes to the table, and Dan steps into the room. William reaches out to grab him, but Dan slips past.

  “Why didn’t it work?” he asks, going to Birgit.

  She shakes her head. “Something was missing.”

  William exchanges a look with Liv, then steps into the room, Ozzy right at his heel.

  “What was missing?” Dan asks.

  “It was what I feared,” Birgit says in a low voice, leafing through her book slowly.

  William joins them, still eyeing the zombie in the tarp, expecting it to begin breakdancing and screaming again at any moment.

  “What?” Dan presses on. “What did you fear?”

  Birgit looks up at them. “It will require a sacrifice.”

  Dan nods. “Like the seven animals you used for the first ritual?”

  “Not seven,” she says, glancing down at Ozzy. “We only need one.”

  “Hey, hey,” William says. “You’re not fucking with my dog.”

  Birgit looks at him, her expression very cold. “We need a sacrifice if the ritual shall work, and …”

  “Well, then you’d better go out and catch a bird or something! No, wait. You know what? Be my fucking guest. Try it.” He points to Ozzy, who’s staring fixedly at Birgit, obviously sensing the tenseness in the room, the hair on his back starting to bristle, a low growl beginning from deep in his throat. “What are you waiting for?” William goes on, smiling at Birgit. “Go ahead. Try and sacrifice him. We’ll see how that works out for you, you crazy bitch!”

  Birgit just stares at him. “If you’ll let me finish, I’m not talking about your dog.” She shifts her gaze to rest it on Dan, her icy blue eyes seem to glow in the darkness of the room. “A spell like this will require a human sacrifice.”

  TWENTY-SIX

  “You’re fucking kidding me,” William says.

  Birgit obviously isn’t, because she doesn’t even flinch. She just keeps looking at Dan as though he’s the only one there. “I wasn’t sure until now. But there is no other way.”

  Dan takes a deep breath. He feels something falling into place within him. Something huge.

  “Well, that’s just great,” William says, scoffing. “We’ll just pick one of the many volunteers and we’ll get going.”

  Birgit doesn’t look away from Dan. “We will need to replace the cursed blood with clean blood. That shall be the last step of the ritual, and it will seal the spell that will drive the curse from the poor soul.”

  “Jesus fucking Christ,” William says. “This is just a waste of time. Lady, I know it might be second nature to you, but we’re not killing anyone, okay?”

  “How will it work?” Dan hears himself say. Half of his attention is still on the inside, feeling the shift that’s taking place. It’s like his entire soul is turning over. “I mean, will it only cure this one zombie?”

  Birgit shakes her head. “That’s the good news …”

  “Good news!” William repeats, laughing shrilly.

  “… it will only require one sacrifice. That will give us a way to lift the curse off everyone affected by it.”

  William stops laughing and turns to look at Birgit. “Hold on, are you saying it will cure all the zombies at once?”

  “Of course not,” Birgit says, sending him a brief glance. “I’m saying the spell will have the power to do so. It will be like opening a doorway, one that the gros bon ange can pass through. If it works, every cursed soul that receives the spell will be freed.”

  “So, in layman’s term,” William says, “what are you saying?”

  Birgit takes a deep breath. “I’m saying that if it works—and I’m more confident now that it will—then we will have a spell that can be bound to a physical thing, like a potion, and that potion can be applied to the undeads.”

  “Like you just did with the water?” Dan asks.

  “Precisely. Only there won’t be any ritual needed; the spell will be in the water.”

  “I’m sorry, but am I the only one calling bullshit on this?” William says, throwing out his arms. “Earlier you said it couldn’t be done, and now you’re telling us we can get a ready-to-go cure-all? Just apply water, and you’re good to go? And all we need is to kill one of us? This is fucking nuts …”

  “Earlier, I didn’t know what I now know,” Birgit says calmly. “We were incredibly lucky. We found the key to the curse. That was a one in a thousand shot. But I was right about Esther’s pain being the cause of it. That was obvious from how the poor soul reacted.”

  “Well, you’re right that he didn’t sound too happy,” William mutters.

  Dan is still looking at Birgit. “If we do this, are you sure it will work? Are you sure we will get a potion that can be used to cure all the zombies?”
/>
  “Dan, honestly,” William begins. “You’re not seriously considering this as an—”

  “I can’t give any guarantees,” Birgit cuts him off, addressing Dan. “It’s not like selling a car. We will be dealing with something far greater, something no one can ever really grasp or control. That being said, I think the chances are significantly better this time.”

  “Oh, so what? We’re up to one in a hundred now?” William spits. “That’s just great. I’m sure we’ll find someone willing to sacrifice themselves for those kinds of odds. I mean—”

  “I’ll do it,” Dan says, tuning out William and everything else except for Birgit’s face.

  She stares back at him, her eyes growing slightly bigger with surprise. William says something in the background. Dan can’t even hear the words.

  The shift inside Dan is complete now, and he feels more certain than he’s ever felt about anything in his life. This is how it ends. This is his purpose. This is why he came back here.

  He just keeps looking at Birgit as he repeats: “I’ll do it. Just tell me how.”

  TWENTY-SEVEN

  “Timeout!”

  William grabs Dan by the shoulder and yanks him away from Birgit. He drags him out into Holger’s bedroom and forces him down on the bed.

  “What the hell are you thinking?”

  Dan looks up at him with an innocent expression of mild surprise, like someone just told him off for something he didn’t do. His face just makes William madder.

  “Are you out of your fucking mind?”

  “I think I might be,” Dan says. “I mean, quite literally. I don’t feel like I’m inside my mind anymore. I feel like I’ve … expanded.”

  “Okay, I don’t know what mushrooms you’ve been getting into, but there’s just no way this is happening. You’re not letting that psycho kill you for something we have no idea will even work.”

  “It will work,” Dan says. “I know it.”

  “How do you know?”

  “I just do.”

  “That’s not good enough.”

  Dan shrugs. “You saw what happened the first time around. Something definitely affected him in there. I believe Birgit knows what she’s doing.”

  “How can you believe a word she’s saying?” William exclaims, wanting to shake Dan. “She killed Holger! Human life obviously means nothing to her. And she said it herself, there’s no guarantee! Why the fuck would you sacrifice yourself for something that’s not even sure to work? Even if it did work, you wouldn’t be alive to see it!”

  “It’s what I came back for, William.”

  Dan says it in a tone calm enough that William almost slaps him for it. It’s like he’s explaining something to a four-year-old.

  “Can’t you see it?” Dan goes on, tilting his head. “It makes perfect sense. You came back to help me the last step of the way. Now we’re here. This is where my journey ends.”

  “Don’t you say that,” William says, pointing at him. “Don’t you fucking even think that.”

  Dan holds out his hands. “I have nowhere to go from here anyway. I have no one left, William. You understand that, right? Life has taken everything from me to make me ready. It was its plan all along. I get it now.”

  William suddenly feels a wave of emotions roll up through his chest, overwhelming him and causing him to choke and gasp for breath. “You haven’t lost everything,” he hears himself say, his voice thick now. “I’m still here. We have each other. You can come with me. We’ll find someplace far away from this. Someplace safe.”

  Dan smiles overbearingly. “There’s no place safe, William.”

  William tries to say something else—he’s not sure what exactly—but the words never reach his mouth. Instead he begins sobbing.

  Dan stands up and puts his arms around him. William being half a foot taller, it’s an awkward embrace.

  “You little fucking shithead,” he cries, squeezing Dan. “I can’t believe you’re making me do this again. It’s the third time we’re saying goodbye, you know that?”

  “Third time’s the charm, I guess,” Dan says, smiling as he lets go and looks up at William. Dan’s eyes are moist, but he isn’t exactly crying.

  “I don’t get it,” William says, wiping his own eyes. “How can you be okay with it?”

  Dan takes a breath, and finally some emotion makes its way into his voice as he says: “I miss my family so bad. Wherever I’m going, that’s where they are. That can’t be such a bad thing, can it?”

  William bites down hard so as to not break into tears again. “I guess not.”

  They stand there in front of each other for another few moments. Then Dan reaches out and squeezes William’s arm. “Let’s go.”

  William just nods.

  As they come back into the living room, Ozzy is waiting for them, licking their hands.

  William notices right away that Birgit has relit the candles and filled the bowl back up with water. Dennis and Liv are both standing at the far end, looking at them, waiting for what’s to come.

  “I’ll do it,” Dan says, addressing no one in particular.

  “Good,” Birgit says, pointing to the circle. “It’s all ready. We just need you.”

  “You want me to be here?” William hears himself ask.

  Dan looks up at him. “Whatever you’re comfortable with.”

  William follows him into the circle.

  “Only he can be in the circle,” Birgit says, looking at William.

  So, he stands back, joining Dennis and Liv. Ozzy stays by Dan for a moment, whimpering.

  “Ozzy,” William says. “Come here, buddy.”

  The dog slinks over to him, tail between his legs, as though he knows what’s going down.

  “This is crazy,” Liv whispers to William. “I can’t believe he’s doing it.”

  “Me neither,” William mutters. “I just hope it fucking works.”

  He notices Dennis leaving the room to slip out into the kitchen. William can’t blame him for not wanting to watch this.

  “Lie down,” Birgit instructs Dan, and Dan complies, placing himself flat on his back. The circle is just wide enough.

  Birgit steps in besides him, placing the bowl of water carefully by his right hand. She takes his hand and puts it into the water.

  William feels his stomach turn over as Birgit takes out the dagger.

  She’s gonna slit his wrist and let him bleed out …

  “Dan?” William says.

  Dan—who’s just lying there, staring up into the ceiling, looking as relaxed as someone about to get a massage—turns his head to look at him. “Yes, William?”

  “Say hi to your dad from me.”

  Dan smiles. “I will.”

  “No more talking from this point forward,” Birgit says. “I’m starting now.”

  Just as she puts the blade to Dan’s wrist, Dennis comes running into the room again: “Wait! Mom!”

  Birgit snaps her head around. “What is it?”

  Dennis looks befuddled. He points to the kitchen. “Outside! Listen …” He shakes his head. “They’re gone.”

  “Who is gone?” Liv asks. “The zombies?”

  Dennis nods his head wildly.

  They all listen for a moment.

  “He’s right,” Liv says. “I can’t hear any of them.”

  William strides to the nearest window, pulling down the board to reveal Holger’s back garden. No zombies in sight.

  “What the fuck?” he says, looking at Birgit. “What did you do?”

  Birgit eyes him. “I didn’t do anything. I’ve been here the whole time.”

  “I mean with the ritual.”

  “I haven’t begun the ritual yet.”

  “No, the first time around. You must have done something! Why else would they all just leave?”

  Birgit doesn’t seem to have an answer. She stands up and puts the dagger away.

  Dan sits up too, looking puzzled.

  William goes to check
the kitchen windows. No zombies here, either.

  “I can’t figure out if this is good or bad news,” he mutters, turning to look at Dan who’s joined him.

  “No,” he says, shaking his head slowly. “Me neither.”

  “What do we do now?” Liv asks, looking around at them.

  “Well,” William says, shrugging and feeling a glimmer of hope. “I guess we go outside to see where they went.”

  TWENTY-EIGHT

  “You ready?” Liv asks, looking back at William.

  He nods and puts the rifle to his shoulder. “Go ahead and open it.”

  Liv pulls aside the lock and turns the handle. She then opens the front door. The cool night air seeps in immediately, dispelling some of the stuffy atmosphere in the hall.

  She peeks outside, waiting for a few seconds for something to happen. Nothing does.

  She looks back at William. “I think we’re good.”

  “All right. Let me go first.”

  He walks past her, still holding the rifle ready. He steps out into the courtyard and pans around in every direction. “It’s fine,” he calls, lowering the gun. “They really are gone. You can come out here.”

  Liv steps outside, breathing in the fresh air. She looks up at the stars. Only about half of them are showing, since the sky is partly covered by clouds. Still no rain, though.

  Dan and Birgit and Dennis all join them. They stand in the courtyard, looking around, no one sure what to say.

  “This is such a weird feeling,” Liv says, breaking the silence. “Just being out here. I almost forgot how that felt.”

  “Let’s not get used to it just yet,” William says, turning towards Birgit. “We don’t know what caused it yet.”

  Birgit looks back at him. “I told you, it wasn’t the ritual.”

  “So it was just a coincidence? All the zombies deciding to up and leave at the same time you did some crazy voodoo shit? I bet they heard that poor guy screaming in pain and thought better of it.”

  “That’s not it,” Dan says, looking out into the darkness.

  “I know, I know, they can’t think like that,” William says. “My point is, it must have something to do with what she—”