Britta Needs Brains

by Nisa Ryan

  I pressed my lips into a line and nodded again, “I know, Professor. It won’t happen again,” I said with a sniff.

  “Good girl,” he said and patted me on the head, “Remember that if you’ve got any issues, any at all. Come on into my office. I’m available around the clock for all my students.”

  With that, we parted ways as the Professor stopping to greet others as he headed back out to the main building.

  Clutching my bag, I quickly made my way back to my room. I hoped Marybeth wasn’t back yet. I could do with a few minutes of quiet time.

  Of course, needing quiet time meant I wouldn’t get it. As soon as the door clicked shut behind me, Marybeth was all over me. I guessed correctly that she’d finally caught wind about what happened during the fake fire. And, of course, she’d heard a dozen different rumors that needed to be straightened out. Marybeth was loud and proud. I mean, she wasn’t bad. She was just very different from what I was used to. Where I was a little quieter and reserved, Marybeth was a chatterbox. She was from Tennessee and had one of those accents that either grated on your nerves or made you smile at the pleasant lilt in her voice. I liked it; it made her sound interesting. But it wasn’t her accent that bothered me, no, it was her constant buzzing. Marybeth was a bundle of activity and would talk your ears off if you let her and that might become an issue for me one day, I’d read that as time wore on zombies had to worry about body parts falling off, but thankfully they had special surgeons that could help with that. I won’t go into the details, let’s agree that it isn’t pleasant.

  Unlike me, Marybeth was born a monster. She had already been here for her first three years of high school; before that, she attended Monster Middle, and even before that she was home-schooled.

  The dorm rooms were set up for two occupants each. Each room had a bed on each side, a shared desk between them with a lamp for studying, and there was a wardrobe built into the wall across from a small bathroom with a shower stall. Originally this place had been an old manor with just the central building, so when the academy took over, they pretty much rebuilt everything, and the additions made were for special classrooms and laboratories.

  My bed was on the right, and Marybeth’s was on the left. My side of the room was decorated with a series of anime and manga posters along with magazine ads for traveling to exotic locations; I’d always wanted to travel.

  Sucking in a deep breath, Marybeth planted her feet in front of me, hands on hips, and declared, “What in hell did you think you were going to do out there with Zane Sanchez?”

  I rolled my eyes up and groaned, “Marybeth, seriously. Nothing happened, we just went to check out the town nearby. It’s a cute little storybook type of place,” I said as I tossed my bag onto my bed.

  Falling back onto next to my bag, I threw my arms over my head and groaned again.

  Crossing her arms and tapping her foot, she exclaimed, “No. I don’t want to hear any of that zombie groaning; I want to know. Britta, tell me!” she whined, “Did you kiss? Did he bite you? Oh, my goddess... did you bite him?” she practically glowed as she waggled her eyebrows and puckered her lips.

  I knew what she wanted to hear. She loved gossip even though she swore it was wrong to talk about people, but she wasn’t going to get anything but the truth out of me, and the truth was extremely boring.

  “I already told you, nothing happened. How many times do I have to say it? We just talked, okay. Why is everyone so hung up on this?” I said with a sigh.

  Marybeth’s eyebrows crept up her forehead, “Are you kidding me? Haven’t you heard the rumors?” she said, lowering her voice.

  Settling on my bed next to me, her large red-brown eyes almost glowed against her pale skin. She looked so serious I felt my stomach lurch as a twinge of fear wound its way up my spine. Sitting up on my elbows I asked, “No, what?”

  “The murders dummy. I heard that the reports were wrong,” she said slowly, looking left and right as if she was about to let me onto a huge secret. I was growing impatient, “Look just tell me already?” I pleaded.

  Marybeth huddled up next to me, practically whispering in my ear, “It wasn’t a werewolf that killed those people. I heard that the Professor discovered that the wounds were a cover-up. The killer was a vampire,” Marybeth said, leaping up onto the bed and arching his fingers to look like claws while sticking her tongue out at me. I couldn’t tell if she was being serious or trying to crack a very bad joke. Rolling my eyes, I popped up off the bed and grabbed a towel from the clean laundry hamper.

  “That’s not even funny,” I said, “Why don’t ya’ll just leave him alone. Zane didn’t do anything wrong by being out there. He’s just checking on his family,” I said.

  Marybeth started at me, cocking her head to one side as she crossed her arms, “Wow, you put a lot of faith into a guy you only just met,” she said sarcastically,

  “Zane doesn’t have any family. They were killed over four years ago. All of them. They say he’s the one who did it after running off one night. He didn’t tell you that did he?”

  My mouth dropped open; why would he lie? It wasn’t as if I hadn’t eaten my ex-bestie. But then, I didn’t actually take the time to ask, did I? I just assumed he went out there to check on them.

  I shrugged, “That still doesn’t prove anything. I mean, we’ve all done terrible things during our first change,” I said.

  She shook her head, causing her fiery hair to shimmer like flames, she planted her palm on her forehead and laughed in exasperation,

  “Honey, that’s why he’s here. That’s why we’re all here, Britta. We’ve all done something wrong, or we’d still be out there. You know this,” she said.

  I couldn’t believe it. Why would Zane lead me on to think his family was still in the valley? I mean, he did, and he didn’t, didn’t he? I’m so confused.

  Marybeth continued, “Once you’re here, you don’t leave. Every year we have seniors who graduate, and we never hear from them again,” she said, “There are no reunion dances, or mail runs, or visits to see friends or even siblings. They are just...gone,” she finished, looking down at the rug beneath her bare feet.

  I stared at Marybeth. Shrugging, she muttered, “Get with the program, Britta. Zane isn’t safe; there’s a reason everyone avoids him and the Professor? I wouldn’t place so much trust in him either, you haven’t seen the things I have.”

  Gathering up her notebooks from the desk, she plopped down on her bed to study. She didn’t say anything else after I got out of the shower, not even a good night. I wish I knew why she was so pissed. Glancing over at her side of the desk, I frowned, I hadn’t noticed it before, but in the picture, I could clearly see Marybeth smiling with her mom and dad and, she has a sister, does her sister go here? I wondered. Did her sister disappear?

  ∞ ∞ ∞

  With a stretch and a yawn so wide it made my jaw pop, I sat up in bed. It felt way too early for me to be awake yet, and when I glanced at my cellphone, I found it was only around 5:00 pm. Way too early for most of us to be up yet. But for some reason I couldn’t sleep.

  My stomach rolled. Oh, that’d be why. I wondered if the Chef was up yet to prepare breakfast. If I could get to the cafeteria before the breakfast swarm, I could eat in relative peace. I still had a lot on my mind and really needed to find some answers to my questions. The Professor said I could drop by and talk to him anytime I wanted, so maybe I’d take him up on that offer.

  Quickly changing my clothes, I combed out my silver hair and stared at myself in the mirror, I wasn’t so bad looking for a zombie, I guess. I mean, I’d lost most of the color in my face and my lips had gone permanently purple but it wasn’t a bad look on me, grabbing my bag I shoved the books I knew I’d need for today’s classes and crept out of the room, carefully closing it behind me, so I didn’t wake Marybeth. She could be a real monster if she didn’t get her eight hours of sleep. Not even remotely kidding.

  The entire place was quiet, and the windows were still
latched firmly shut throughout the entire building to keep the evening sun from seeping into the darkness.

  As I walked across the balcony that overlooked the common area, I briefly wondered if the doors to the main hall had even been unlocked yet. If not I’d probably end up waiting for the cafeteria either way. Ugh, maybe I should have just stayed in bed. The place was creepy with all the windows closed, and the air was thick with silence. I realized briefly that I was probably the only one awake and wandering around.

  A loud banging noise echoed from below.

  I froze.

  What the hell was that? I leaned over the banister at the top of the stairwell, risking a peek when I felt a cold hand wrap around my mouth as tendrils of ink slid over my eyes.

  Chapter 4

  “Eww, gross. Stop. It’s just me, you freak!” Alicia whispered between her sharp teeth, releasing me as I spun around, ready to claw her face open if I had too. She wiped her spit covered hand on the fabric of her skirt. Her upper lip was curled up in a sneer as she fluttered her hand through the air to dry it.

  I felt my heartbeat for the first time since I’d changed. It was just three brief thumps against my rib-cage, weird, that’s the first time that’s happened. I almost wanted it to keep beating if it did. Maybe that meant I wasn’t a zombie after all. That this had been a huge mix-up, and I could go back home and forget Zane and the Professor and Ms. Walker.

  “What the hell are you doing out here, Alicia!” I growled, feeling my anger building as my skin began to tingle, “Don’t you have people to harass with the rest of your hags?” I retorted.

  Alicia made a face, narrowing her eyes at me, “They’re busy sleeping off a raging study session. And I could ask you the same. Anyway, I heard something, so I came to check it out.” she said, pushing her hair away from her face, it flowed around her like smoke as she moved and seemed to have a life of its own. I wrapped my arms across my stomach causing her to smirk and roll her eyes, but she didn’t say anything.

  “So, what do you think’s down there?” I asked.

  “How the hell should I know, you were out here before me. Didn’t you see -”

  Movement in the shadows caught my eye.

  “Get down!” I whispered, grabbing Alicia by the shoulder I pulled her next to me, our back against the wood.

  Wriggling, she jerked her arm out of my hand and rubbed it gingerly, “You are freaky strong when you’re scared, you know that, right?” I pressed a finger to my lips, shushing her. There was something or someone walking around down stairs, and voices began to float up to our ears.

  “I thought I heard something,” the Professors’ voice said quietly.

  “Don’t be ridiculous; all the students are sound asleep. I make sure of that every night on my rounds of the campus. Plus, the vitamin mixture you’ve been providing works wonders on their sleeping habits. It knocks them right out. We’re all alone my love,” Ms. Walker argued back, her voice indignant.

  I didn’t drink my glass of blood last night. I was guessing that neither did Alicia from the sounds of things.

  Alicia and I stared at each other, our eyes wide and mouths clamped shut as we continued to listen. I had a gut feeling that we shouldn’t hear any of this. There could be a hundred reasons why they’d drug us, such as.... okay, I couldn’t think of any reasons that made sense unless it was to keep us from going all-out monster, maybe it was just a little something to keep us docile. I mean, that wasn’t a bad idea was it?

  “Did you finish running the tests?” Ms. Walker continued. Her hooves clicked across the floor as they spoke.

  Rising on our knees Alicia and I peeked over the top of the rail and watched as the Professor flipped through a thick file of papers in his hands. Adjusting his glasses, he smiled, “Yes. It’s going very well. I might have a viable product on our hands. Assuming the boy can pass the next round of control tests that is.”

  We shared a glance; the Professor’s lab coat was stained with what looked like dried blood. The hem of his jacket looked torn, and I swore I could see claw marks on one of his hands.

  Ms. Walker smiled, her eyelashes fluttering as she reached back and pulled out her hairpins. She shook her head, and the long locks tumbled around her slender human shoulders and down her back to hang over her equine withers. Striding towards the Professor, hooves clicking as her tail flicked back and forth, she wrapped her arms around his shoulders and leaned in. The Professor pressed a finger up to her lips, “Ah, my dear. But first. You must also take your own vitamins, it’s for your health after all,” he said and slipped a syringe of black ooze from out of a pocket. Ms. Walker pouted and then nodded, turning to the side she presented her flank to him and only winced a little when the needle sank into her horsey side.

  “There, all done,” he said, patting her black-furred horses back and traipsing his fingers up her back and through her hair. Ms. Walker chuckled and, sliding his glasses up his forehead, she kissed him.

  The Professor didn’t refuse her, sinking into her arms, his lips met hers over and over as she began to moan and then whinnied.

  Like a horse.

  I stifled a laugh.

  The Professor looked up and met my gaze, a smile crinkled the edges of his eyes as he continued to run his hands up Ms. Walker’s human back and between her shoulder blades.

  Oh shit! I didn’t even have to say it out loud, Alicia grabbed me by the wrist and, poof, fog enveloped us.

  ∞ ∞ ∞

  My head felt dizzy as if I’d been spinning in circles, but when I opened my eyes I was in a room. A well-decorated room with cute but mature furniture, like the kind you’d find at an Ikea with names you couldn’t pronounce and complete with absurdly bright colored curtains and photos of a picture-perfect family on every wall.

  I had no idea where I was.

  Leaning in to look at one of the picture frames on the wall closest to me, I realized I was in Alicia’s room, and she was bolting the door shut. Propping a chair up beneath the latch.

  “Oh my god, oh my god. I can’t believe what we just saw!” Alicia gasped, resting on the edge of her bed as she wrung her hands together nervously, her hair twisting like snakes around her shoulders. Looking around I realized that Alicia’s room, unlike mine, only had one bed. Lucky, she got an entire room to herself.

  “Really? How about what we just heard... I mean, they are using us as test subjects. Why would they do that, Alicia?” I asked, my chest thumped again. That couldn’t be right. I shouldn’t be able to feel that. I pressed a hand to my chest and coughed, maybe it was indigestion?

  Alicia floated over to me, hovering inches in front of my face, “We can’t breathe a word of this to anyone!” she wheezed, “We were lucky Ms. Walker didn’t see us, but you know the Professor won’t let this go. I can’t get into trouble again. What am I going to do? Fuck, I knew I should have just stayed in my room. This is your fault!”

  I threw my hands up, “Wait, how is this my fault?”

  Alicia glared at me, her face had grown ugly, and her smile was so wide I could see all her teeth. They were pointed triangles that gnashed together noisily as she growled. With hair that writhed through the air and eyes glowing hideously, she snarled. Her fingers had twisted in cruel-looking claws. She was going full hag on me, and that wasn’t something I wanted to deal with.

  Hand up in the air, I tried to calm her down, “Alicia, just calm the hell down, okay? I’m in just as much trouble as you, remember?” I said.

  “I won’t let anything happen to you, okay?” I continued, “We’re in this together. Look, I know we aren’t... friends. But I don’t hate you. And I won’t let them hurt you,” I said, pressing my lips together and dropped my hands so she could see I meant no harm. And somehow, I knew I meant that. As annoying as she was, she’d never actually hurt me. Words stung sure, but they didn’t mean anything once you moved past them.

  That seemed to calm Alicia down just a little, and her grinning visage wasn’t nearly as menacing as he
r hair ceased its lashing. Sighing, I sunk on the bed beside her as tears began to slide down her face. She stood and grabbing a tissue, began to hover nervously back and forth across the room, “You don’t understand, Britta. Your family left you here in the hopes that maybe one day you’ll get better because they love you,” she said between sniffles, “But I’m a hag, an evil spirit... my family hates me. They tried to exorcise me once; there was a priest and everything. If I get into trouble again, they said they’d bring him back. I don’t want to be exorcised!” she wailed; the pitch of the scream was enough to make the lights flicker.

  I stood and tentatively took one of Alicia’s hands, squeezing it between my own. I thought my hand would pass right through as you see in movies, but it didn’t,

  “Hey. It’s okay, you’re not going to exorcised, I promise,” I said in what I hoped was a soothing tone.

  Alicia gave a small smile and sniffed again, “Okay,” she said, “You know... I don’t hate you either. I just –”

  There was a knock on the door.

  Alicia turned with eyes wide, and her teeth gone shark again, glinting in the lamplight, “Shit, what do we do?” she said, panic rising in her voice.

  I pursed my lips and shrugged as I strode towards the door, tossing my hair, “Let him in, I guess? I mean, what’s the worst that could happen?” I said.

  Reaching out, my fingers had just wrapped around the doorknob when the door burst open, breaking one leg of the chair, it clattered to one side. The Professor stood there, looking like a mad scientist with goggles over his eyes, a file folder tucked under one arm and fist full of needles filled with green ooze.

  “Good evening ladies, early to bed early to rise, I see?” he said with a smile, even looking all spooky and covered in blood he was still cute.