Britta Needs Brains

by Nisa Ryan

  Ms. Walker nodded, “Yes, Mr. Peters. They are working around the clock to try and create a cure. In fact, our own Professor of Chemistry and Bio sciences is one of the leading researchers in the field. And, as soon as we have one, all the changed children enrolled in the Undead Academies the world over will be the first to receive it,” she said with a proud but smug grin on her face. She sounded extremely proud of herself, “And as part of our student after-care we provide daily vitamins, vaccinations, and biannual health screenings to make sure everything is as well as it should be,” she said with a nod and stood.

  My mother winced as the sound of hooves on the wooden floor made my parents jump. This was probably something they’d never get used to. Ms. Walker’s tail swished against her black-furred flanks as she stepped around the desk, her iron-shod hooves clopping with a lazy cadence as she approached her office door and pulled it open, motioning for my parents to exit, “We’ll take excellent care of Ms. Peters, we’re like family here, each of us,” she said with a gentle and understanding smile.

  I waved good-bye as my parents exited and sat back in the chair, crossing my knees and clasping my hands over them like my mom had directed me to beforehand, she’d said this was a prestigious branch of the school, and we needed to act like we were the prestigious type of family you’d find in such an exclusive private academy. I could have gone to a school that was closer to home, a smaller version of the academies, but mom and dad wanted the best for me. Which was nice because originally, they had wanted to do an autopsy to find out why and how this has happened, but, well, you can’t really do an autopsy on a body that’s still up and walking around. Apparently, there were laws against doing that, it was unethical or something, and so my parents just had to make do.

  For a week I attended the rehabilitation clinic at our local DuD, that stands for Dead unDead, but after that we didn’t know what to do. I was getting hungrier every day, and I couldn’t keep munching on my friends or Aunt Linda, even if it made my dad a happier person. We had just decided it might be best to pack up and move to the next town over to attend their monster inclusive school when we received a mysterious envelope inviting me to apply to the exclusive Undead Academy. My parents had called Ms. Walker immediately, and so now, here I was.

  I continued to wave as my mom looked back and blew me a kiss, her eyes were filled with tears, and as the door clicked shut behind them, I knew in my gut that that’d probably be the last time I saw them.

  The academy was located deep in the woods of a protected wildlife park. No one knew it was even here without an invitation; it was that exclusive. It wasn’t huge, there were only about a hundred students in attendance, and the school itself was more like a large mansion than what you thought of as a typical schoolhouse. It was two stories tall with a central building covered in beautiful stained-glass windows and arches adorned with stone gargoyles, some of them were students here, and two dormitory wings jutted out from either side of the main building. One was for the boys and the other for the girls. It was a boarding school which made it extra convenient for those families that didn’t want others knowing that their kids were monsters or who didn’t want to deal with having a monstrous kid at all.

  Though Undead Academy was a high school, Ms. Walker had informed my family and I that there were also Elementary and Middle schools for the youngest of monsters and undead. Some monsters, like the vampires and werewolves, weren’t always considered ‘undead’ because they could be born that way while others such as zombies like myself, were created. We just had no idea how. The ones that were born this way were usually referred to as ‘monsters’ while people like me were considered members of the undead. Ghosts and other spooks were just dead.

  After that Ms. Walker showed me to my room and explained the rules to me, giving me a paper to sign, “This is a binding contract Ms. Peters. Remember that,” she’d said cryptically.

  ∞ ∞ ∞

  Zane interrupted my thoughts as he pressed his body down and began to army crawl beneath the fence. On the other side, he stood and brushed his jacket free of dirt, “You coming?” he asked with a grin. Looking around I shrugged, the students were still standing against the fence as the adults went through the house and searched for the source of the fire alarms. They were going to be so pissed once they realized it was nothing but a prank. And, I had gathered from the way he was talking that it probably wouldn’t take them long to figure out who it was. In a small school like this with everyone living so close together, I had gathered that there wasn’t really such thing as secrets or privacy.

  “Okay,” I said and lowered myself to the ground; it was still early morning, so the sun hadn’t come up yet. Which was a good thing, Zane would need to be back before that time otherwise he’d be lathering on the heavy-duty sun-screen all the vampires had to carry around for just in case. But here at the academy, that was a rare issue, during the day all the windows were boarded up, and most of the classes were held at night.

  We crept away from the school as quietly as possible, running from tree to tree until we entered the thick woods and followed our noses towards the town. It was kind of uncanny that I could smell my way through the woods. As we walked, Zane explained that it was the blood. Most undead could smell it through the humans’ skin, and it drew us like a moth to the flame. Vampires, he bragged, could track nearly as good as a werewolf.

  “So, what do I smell like?” I asked, screwing my lips to one side. I glanced away as I twirled my fingers together, clasped behind my back.

  Zane looked at me, and his eyes met mine, “I don’t smell anything,” he said.

  I didn’t know if that was a good thing or a bad thing. Shrugging, I made a face, “Alright then, so where’s this town? I hope it isn’t too far away,” I said, changing the conversation. Zane continued to watch me, and I felt my stomach shiver so hard it made the hair on the back of my neck stand on end. I could get used to that feeling, as unnerving as it was. Grasping my hand and sliding his fingers between mine, he passed between the trees, towing me along. Occasionally he reached out and lifted me by the waist over the logs hidden beneath the foliage. It was early spring, and though it was still cold, the undergrowth had begun to grow back, and the ground was thick with budding kudzu vines that would quickly climb the trees as the spring melted into summer. It was a rough climb. I was starting to feel like my hips might break free of their sockets when I moaned, “Forget it, we should go back. It’s going to be daytime soon, and I’m sure they’ve already noticed were gone.”

  Zane turned to me and grinned, “Yeah. They have,” he said without another word and kept pushing forward. Then, just as I was ready to turn around on my own, the trees began to thin, and the glittering lights of the town broke through the darkness.

  Chapter 2

  It was a small and quaint-looking little town, the kind of town you might wish to retire in when you got old and wanted to spend your weekends fishing at the lake. The few roads crisscrossing between homes and buildings were dotted with lamp posts that flickered as moths swarmed around them. A layer of fog covered the streets and flowed between the houses. It was quaint but spooky looking.

  Many of the houses were dark with sleep, but a few of them had lights on, and I could see shadows of movement even from up here. The valley itself was also small, and the wooded mountains hugged right up against the town, leaving it with no room to grow. There was only one road to enter and exit by, making it seem like a literal death trap if an avalanche or a fire were to happen. The barking of dogs and what was probably raccoons digging through trash cans reached our ears. Their nighttime noises echoed through the cool still night air. But most of all, I could hear the combined heartbeats of all the humans living below. It made my muscled twitch and my stomach ache to think of so many fresh brains waiting just below, ripe for the bludgeoning. It’d be so easy to sneak down and – get your shit together, Britta.

  I turned to find Zane watching me, “So, what do you think?” he asked
slowly, waving a hand over the valley.

  I made a face; I didn’t know what he meant. What was I supposed to think? It was a town like pretty much every other town I saw on the way here. “I don’t know? Why are we here exactly?”

  “This is Hex Hallow. It’s a pretty special place, they know about the academy, but we have a sort of truce between us. So long as we don’t bother them, they don’t bother us,” he said, “Most of the academy’s supplies come through here. A delivery truck brings things about twice a month or so. Gives the town an additional source of business, pretty sure the funding is the only reason they tolerate the entire operation.”

  I looked out over the town, the small homes with their picket-fenced yards and manicured trees. Halloween decorations were strung up, and here and there a pumpkin grinned. It was exactly the type of town I knew my parents would dream of living in back when they had a normal daughter who went to a normal school and did normal, non-zombie, things.

  “Okay, so why are we here? You still haven’t answered the question,” I said a little more forcefully, what is he up to? I wondered.

  “This is where I used to live,” he said quietly, looking distant as he let out a sigh and knelt on one knee, watching the sleepy town, “You know, before I was changed,” he said as he reached up and pulled back the collar of his jacket.

  On his neck, there were two small scars, right next to each other, they were puncture wounds. Zane wasn’t born a vampire; he was turned into one. Much like how I was somehow turned into a zombie.

  I looked away, shaking my head, “I’m sorry, Zane. I had no idea. So, when did it happen?” I asked, dropping down next to him. He must come here to check on his family.

  “It was about four years ago; I was out with my girlfriend. And - oh shit, it’s Ms. Walker,” Zane whispered harshly as he grabbed my arm. Jerking me to my feet he forced me into a run as the sounds of branches snapping came from close behind us. She sounded large and angry. A horse’s low neighing reached my ears, followed by the sound trees being torn from the ground, roots cracking.

  Zane was terrified, his eyes were wide and dark, and as we ran, his fangs grew sharp and curled over his lower lip, flashing in the moonlight.

  “Z-Zane,” I whispered, my voice thick with fear, as he tugged me along. He was acting strange, and I didn’t like it. I also didn’t appreciate him dragging me through the woods without any real explanation.

  We leaped over logs and dashed around trees, zig-zagging through the woods and back towards the school, “Zane, what’s wrong?” I finally managed to ask.

  He shook his head and continued to dash through the forest, but it was much harder going back up to the academy than it had been heading down towards the town.

  “It’s Ms. Walker. It’s like she’s possessed. Sometimes I think she’d do anything for the Professor,” he breathed, “I’ve seen them together. And, doing stuff to our food,” he said, pausing he looked around and tilted his head back, breathing in deeply as his nostrils flared. He was sniffing the air. What did he mean by all of that? I didn’t get the chance to ask before we were moving again.

  “This way. We can’t go back that way,” he said and pulled me in another direction, but this would take us even further from the school, and I could already see the first tinges of orange and pink splashing on the clouds above us.

  “Zane! We have to go back; the sun is rising, and you can’t – I mean, why can’t we just go with them?”

  “It’s okay; I have a safe place to fall back on,” he said.

  I narrowed my eyes; this clearly wasn’t the first time he’d come out here long enough to need to hide from the sun.

  He shook his head, “Yeah. We’ll go back but not with Ms. Walker,” he said, “She’ll hand us over to the Professor and... I don’t want to see him ever again.”

  I pulled back on his hand, jerking my wrist away, “I don’t get it. What’s wrong with Ms. Walker? With the Professor? They’ll just take us back to the school, right?”

  He shook his head slowly and frowned, his eyes growing darker and more bat-like as fur began to sprout across his face and down his neck.

  “She might take you back; you’re new. But for me, it’d be bad, they’ll have me staked and boxed up,” he muttered, cursing beneath his breath.

  I threw a hand over my mouth, “She’d have you murdered?” I gasped.

  Zane grinned and chuckled, “No. Sorry, I was just trying to throw in some vampire sarcasm...and that’s just a myth, we can’t die, but a stake through the heart is no bueno. Makes it so you can’t transform. But we’ll be in a lot of trouble either way.”

  I narrowed my eyes, clenching my fists so tightly I could feel my nails begin to dig into my palms,

  “Then why the hell did you bring me out here with you?” I growled.

  Zane cocked his head to one side, and his bangs fell over the other eye, with a sharp-toothed grin he said, “I dunno. I thought maybe we could make out? Everyone is in everyone else’s business in there; it’d be nice to have someone I could confide in, you know?” he shrugged, and his scent rolled off him like the most wonderful ham dinner I’d ever smelled.

  I wanted to hug him and give him a little nibble, just a small taste. I bet he tastes like bacon.

  I stared at him as my stomach grumbled. If I had enough blood in my veins, I knew I’d be bright pink right now or at least a shade of rust, given my complexion. Maybe if I took just a little bite of him, I’d be okay. He was looking tastier by the moment, and my tongue was growing thick with spit as I watched him.

  I was just about to say something when the sound of a horse neighing echoed through the woods, turning I looked up to find Ms. Walker, a riding whip in one hand, dressed all in black. Her robes were flowing as if they had a life of their own with a hood drawn over her head. She glared at us, her eyes glowing a dim crimson as she glanced between the two of us.

  Zane was right, she didn’t appear normal, and she smelled wrong, like a rotten egg. She didn’t have that horsey hay smell she carried about her when I’d met her.

  No, she smelled like sulfur and rage.

  The Principle frowned and pointed a long finger at me, “You have violated academy code two-twenty-two. You both are to come with me immediately and report to the Professor,” she commanded. Her voice echoed as if we were in a long hallway.

  My throat went dry, and my tongue felt thick and heavy as my stomach lurched again. I was so hungry. All of this running had really built up an appetite, and when I spoke, all I could get out was “Uuhhh-gahh,” it sounded like I speaking with a mouth full of wet rag.

  Great, I sound like a total ghoul.

  But I couldn’t help it, I was really hungry, and if a zombie went too long without food, we really would revert to just being another crazed blood-thirsty movie-monster.

  Clamping my mouth shut, I felt my skin prickle with embarrassment, I feel like an idiot, I shouldn’t have left with Zane but, he’s so damn cute, I thought as I raised my hands in surrender as the centaur approached. Turning her flank to me she motioned for me to get on. I turned to look at Zane, but he wasn’t there.

  That asshole.

  ∞ ∞ ∞

  The ride back to the school was swift as Ms. Walkers’ equine legs carried us easily over hills and crags and between the trees. Not long ago, the little girl in me would have squealed in delight that I was riding a centaur, but I took no joy in this rough and rushed trip up the hillside.

  In no time I was back at the school and sitting in the main office. Not a good place to be when it was nearly 7:00 pm and the rest of the students would be waking up.

  Ms. Walker glared at me from over the rims of her black-rimmed glasses. She held a packet of papers in one hand and was reading a page from it in the other,

  “Ms. Peters, you were given a copy of the rules correct?” I nodded in the affirmative.

  “And you did sign said rules? This is your signature here, correct?” I nodded again. Ms. Walker continued, “Use
your words child, you’re a zombie, not a ghoul, or was my assessment mistaken?”

  “No, Ms. Walker. I - I’m sorry,” I stuttered out as tears began to gather at the corner of my eyes. I had no real excuse other than being attracted to the first cute boy to ever invite me to go anywhere with him and who then promptly and ironically ditched me.

  “What were you doing out there?” she asked, dropping the papers and steeling her fingers, she stared at me so intensely I thought I might catch on fire. From beneath her desk, I could hear one of her hooves tapping impatiently.

  “Nothing, Zane took me to see the town that was all. We weren’t going to do anything, I swear. He just wanted to hang out, I guess,” I finished lamely with a roll of my shoulders and looked down at my knees. My legs were covered in lacerations from the brush, but I hadn’t noticed the cuts until after I’d been whisked me away on his horse, galloping through the woods we were back at the school gates in less than a heartbeat...or at least I thought it was less than a heartbeat, I’d practically forgotten what that sounded like.

  “Britta,” I jerked my head up to gaze at Ms. Walker, her voice was soft, and for a moment she even looked kind.

  “Y-yes?” I replied.

  “I know it’s hard. Everything is different now. All your human friends are gone, your family has more or less abandoned you here. But... we are your family now, and we don’t endanger our families, do we?” she asked.

  My jaw dropped, and I felt moisture begin to run down my face. I already knew my family wasn’t going to come back; they just couldn’t handle the changes or the murder. I just didn’t want to admit it. Having it, all laid out like that was kind of shocking.

  I nodded slowly, clasping my hands in my lap, and twiddling my thumbs together. Ms. Walker continued, “I’m going to forgive you this transgression because I know you’re going through a lot right now. I was a new monster once, a long time ago, and I remember how hard it was. Back then we didn’t have the Undead Academies we have today, I had nowhere to go,” she said, “Being a monster in this human world is difficult, and we have to be careful and protect ourselves. I’m one of the last few of my kind,” she continued, “The rest of the centaurs are dead because humans couldn’t handle our existence,” she said and paced around her desk, hooves clopping. I nodded my head; she was right. It was much easier to be a monster today than it was not even ten years ago or more.