“Jessica!” Neal tried again, but it was no use. She was not going to answer anybody.
“How about you?!” Emma shouted out toward Thomas. “Can you call anybody?”
“I left my phone in my pack over there,” said Thomas pointing at Mathew’s grave, a good fifty feet away from where he was now.
“Damn it,” said Emma. “It’s up to you, Cara.”
“I sent a text for help,” said Cara.
“What?” Emma asked.
“I asked for help,” said Cara.
“Fucking call somebody!” Emma yelled at her sister. “The police!”
“Okay, okay,” said Cara.
Emma turned away from her sister. It was a stressful situation, whatever this situation was. Emma had to be patient.
“What are we going to do?” Emma asked Thomas. She had to get her mind working again. She had to talk this out with somebody, and Thomas appeared to have a cool head for the moment.
“I don’t know,” said Thomas. “We have to get off these graves. I can’t sit here all day.”
“Can you join us?” Emma asked. The mausoleum was more than big enough to have him join the group.
“If I could get to you guys then I could probably get to the street. Maybe I can go get help.”
“Ohmygod, ohmygod, you have to help us,” screamed Cara into the phone, ecstatic to hear a calm voice. “We’re stuck at the Rosemary Cemetery. No. No. This isn’t a tow. We need help. We’re under attack. I… I don’t know. Something was under the ground. No, it wasn’t a gopher! Just send help. Send guns. Please, help us. We’re at the Rosemary Cemetery.”
Then Cara stopped. Her phone was dead. She put her phone back in her pocket and screamed. “Get a better charger!”
“It’s fine. It’s fine,” Neal reassured them. “You got through. Somebody will come. That’s what the police do. They’ll come check out the situation. See us stranded, and we can figure this out.”
“I say we run for it,” said Cara. “We out ran them already. Let’s do it again. Only this time we run for the street.”
“We barely beat them,” said Emma. She rubbed her ankle and moved her hand down to feel the holes in her shoes from her close encounter.
“We all go at the same time. We’ll have the element of surprise this time. They won’t catch us,” said Cara.
“We won’t all make that,” said Thomas.
“You don’t know that,” spouted Cara. “It’s worth a try!”
“No, it’s not,” said Thomas. “We’re just sacrificing the slowest one of us, at least. We don’t know how many of those things are there.”
“Two!” Cara said. “I counted two.”
“There could be more,” said Thomas. “We don’t know shit right now. If we make a run for it we might as well be giving ourselves right to them.”
“Well, maybe if somebody would wake up and use their phone we wouldn’t be in such deep shit!” Cara yelled at Jessica.
“Don’t yell at her!” Neal stood up to defend his wife.
“Fuck you,” said Cara. “You brought those things to us. This is your fault.”
“My fault? I didn’t do crap,” said Neal. “I’m not the one who tried to cut off their friend here.”
“I didn’t do that, asshole,” said Cara. “I was just running scared. We just ran into each other.”
“My sister wouldn’t do that,” said Emma. “It was an accident. I wasn’t paying attention to where I was going.”
“See?” Cara snarled.
“Sure,” said Neal.
“Enough!” Thomas yelled out. “We need to get on the same page. Bickering is not going to help us at all.”
“Then let’s hear a brilliant suggestion, huh,” said Cara. “How do we get out of this?”
“I might be able to make a run for it,” said Thomas. “If I can make it to the street I can get my truck, pick all of you up, and we can get the hell out of here.”
“You think you can make that?” asked Emma.
“One of us has to try,” said Thomas.
“Why not this hero here?” suggested Cara, pointing at Neal.
“I can’t make another run like that right now,” said Neal, slouching on the steps of the mausoleum.
“Pussy,” mumbled Cara.
“I’m doing it,” said Thomas. “I can make it.”
Thomas rolled his neck around and loosened up his arms and legs. He looked down at the ground. The earth wasn’t moving. The coast looked clear.
He began to lower his leg. His foot would not stop shaking. His nerves were surging with energy. Every inch slowed to a crawl for Thomas until finally he stepped into the muddy ground below the gravestone.
His shoes squished into the mud. He sunk his foot into the sludge as he put more weight down on the ground. The earth did not react.
Then Thomas put down his other foot. He was standing free and clear on the ground. Thomas bobbed his head in triumph. The monsters weren’t coming after him.
Then the ground began to stir under Thomas’ feet.
“Shit!” Thomas yelled as he scrambled to get back on to the gravestone. He nearly tripped on the moving ground directly below him. He stumbled onto the gravestone stomach first. As he fell forward Thomas caught himself against the backside of the gravestone and lifted his legs high into the air.
Decrepit hands shot out of the ground where Thomas was once standing. They grasped nothing, but air. Their nails clacked against each other with nothing to grab. Then the hands quickly retreated back into the ground.
Thomas held himself balanced on the top of the gravestone for several moments. He held his breath as he looked directly down to the ground on the other side. The ground churned around him. The monsters were circling the area. Dirt and mud brushed up into a mound several inches away from Thomas’ face. Sweat was forming from the heat, stress, and physical toll his position was taking on him. Drops started to drip from Thomas’ hair to the ground of churning dirt below him.
“Over here!” interrupted Emma. She threw a candle from the mausoleum onto the ground near the stone steps.
“What are you doing?” Cara asked, concerned.
The glass encased candle landed in the mud with a soft thud. Then Emma waited.
Thomas squirmed as he continued to hold his entire body perpendicular to the top of the gravestone with just the strength of his core. Suddenly, the mound of swirling dirt died down. It leveled off with the ground as the death trail made a beeline for the sacrificial candle.
Emma, Cara, and Neal watched as the two death trails zoned in on the area where the candle landed. The hands broke through the surface. Quickly, they found the candle and claimed it underneath the surface.
The group watched the entire incident in horror.
“Holy shit,” said Emma. “What are we going to do?”
The monsters were fast. The one death trail made it from Thomas to the candle in just a few moments.
They would not be running for the street any time soon.
Chapter 4
With no decisive call to action the five stranded visitors of the cemetery were fated to wait for any sight of rescue. Repeatedly they screamed and shouted for help, but nobody was close enough to hear their pleas.
There was a large gap between the burial plots and the road. For nearly fifty yards there was nothing but open grass. After watching the speed of the undead underneath the ground the group unanimously decided there was little chance they could make a run for the road.
Thomas shifted again on his headstone. His spot was getting more uncomfortable by the minute. The unforgiving rough texture of the stone dug into his bottom while his balance was weakening trying to remain on the short six inch surface. Every now and then he took to standing on the top of the gravestone for the opportunity to stretch his limbs. It was never a permanent solution. Thomas was worried he would trip and fall straight to the ground where the creatures wo
uld grab him easily.
No new mounds of dirt had formed along the cemetery ground since the attack on the candle Emma threw earlier. They were now in a waiting game against the predators under the earth.
“Do you think they are still down there?” Cara asked absentmindedly. She just wanted the silence to end.
“Probably,” said Emma. She grabbed another candle from the stairs of the mausoleum. She tossed it to the ground. The candle hit the grass and water splashed out due to the impact. Water was starting to come up from out of the ground. Immediately, the decomposed hands reached out of the ground and pulled the candle down into their muddy hell.
The surprise from shock and terror had worn off. The only feeling that was left was inevitable doom.
“What do you think they are?” Cara asked.
“The dead,” said Neal, matter-of-factly.
“How is that possible?” asked Cara.
“Fuck if I know,” said Neal. “Probably some dipshits over at the oil rig over there. Who knows what they’re working on in that thing.”
“It’s a fracking sight,” said Emma.
“So they say,” said Neal. “Probably doing some secret government experiments. Tampering with our water supply. Contaminating the environment. That’s what’s fucking with our animals. They’re putting shit in our water to brainwash us, and killing off livestock by turning them gay, just to drive up the prices through short supply.”
“What the fuck are you talking about?” Cara asked, cutting off Neal’s rant.
“You saw that guy running past us,” continued Neal. “He was from the fracking sight. They attacked them first. Why? Because they came from there. Those assholes created these things.”
“Maybe he’s not wrong,” said Emma.
“Oh, my God,” said Cara, rolling her eyes.
“Mom always said the fracking sight would wake the dead,” said Emma. “Several of the churches in the area fought the building of the field when they first announced it. They still protest every Saturday. They didn’t want the drilling fields to disturb the dead. It would be disrespectful. They would feel God’s fury. Bring about the end of the world.”
“I’m going to go with the gay livestock,” said Cara, dismissing the entire conversation as pointless.
Emma shrugged. Despite the subject matter it was a nice break from the tension that was still in the air. They had to find a way to get out of the cemetery.
She looked out to the street again. The street was fifty yards away. It was parallel to their fenced in section of the entire graveyard. The other fences were even farther away than the street. There was little good in trying to make it to any of those ends of the property.
As Emma stared out at the street she examined the entire ground. Once again something was off. The sounds of the fracking field were ever present. She continued to stare at the street. The problem was over there. Her gut was telling her that something wasn’t right, and it wasn’t just the creatures under the ground. Emma looked down at the ground by the mausoleum again. She stared at the grass and the muddy water that was puddling around the area.
Then Emma looked back up at the street again. Her head danced between the two spots, confirming and reconfirming what Emma discovered.
The street was a few inches above the ground. It was subtle. She had hardly noticed it at first, but now that she was paying attention she could easily tell the difference. The street was always level with the grass, but now she could see dirt and erosion from below the street. It was just a small little line of earthy brown breaking between the lush green grass and the asphalt.
“Guys!” Emma shouted out to get everybody’s attention. “Guys! We’re sinking.”
“What?” Cara asked. She jumped to her feet and looked all around her. She didn’t see any water around her and looked back up at her sister with confusion.
“Look out to the street,” Emma pointed. “You can see the dirt underneath the road.”
“I don’t see anything,” said Neal. “You’re just scared.”
“No,” said Emma. “It’s there.”
“I see it,” said Thomas from his gravestone.
“So what does that mean?” Cara asked.
“It means we’re sinking lower into the ground,” said Emma. She looked down at the ground where the undead creatures were waiting for them. “It means we have to figure out how to get out of here before we are completely submerged in mud and water.”
“Shit!” Cara yelled.
“You don’t know that,” said Neal. “It could be nothing. We just need to wait here, and help will come. Cara got through to the police. They’re coming for us.”
“Then where are they?” Cara yelled back. “I’m not waiting for them. We need to get off this shit and get the hell out of here.”
“Jessica! Jessica!” called out Emma. “Jessica, we really need you right now. Please, talk to us.”
Jessica did not respond. She remained curdled up in her ball on the gravestone bench.
“Answer us, Jessica!” Cara yelled out louder. “You are the only one with a phone now. Get on it and call for help! We are all going to die!”
Jessica shook her head.
“Oh, you heard that!” Cara yelled out. Her expression was wide eyed mixed with surprise and anger. “Now, get your phone, and save us!”
“Get my phone!” said Neal. “Do what I say.”
Jessica looked up with red teary eyes.
“You… you think it’s the dead?” Jessica asked through sobs of crying.
“What?” Emma asked in a more calm voice than her sister or Neal.
“The dead,” said Jessica again. “Do you think it’s the dead attacking us?”
“I don’t know,” said Emma. “Maybe. I don’t know what else it could be.”
“Then maybe they’re all alive,” said Jessica.
“Who are all alive?” asked Emma.
“All of them,” said Jessica. “All of them below us.”
“I really hope not,” said Cara.
“But what if they are?” asked Jessica. “I can hear them screaming.”
“That’s nothing, Jessica,” said Neal. “That’s just the fracking field.”
“No,” said Jessica. “I can hear him. He’s screaming. He’s calling for me.”
“Jessica,” said Neal. “There is nothing there.”
“I prayed for God to bring him back, Neal,” said Jessica. “I prayed and God answered.”
“That is not right,” said Neal. “God would not do this to us.”
“I can hear him crying,” said Jessica. “He’s awake. All this noise. He can’t sleep. He needs his mommy.”
“Jessica, no,” said Neal. “Josh is dead. He’s gone, and that’s it.”
“Then what are those things?” Jessica asked.
Neal shook his head. He was losing his grasp on the argument.
“They are not Josh,” said Neal.
“They’re all waking up,” said Jessica. “I have to be there for him.”
Then Jessica took a step off of the gravestone bench.
“No!” shouted all four of the other survivors.
“I’m coming, sweetie!” Jessica shouted as she ran straight for Josh’s grave.
“Jessica, get back to higher ground!” Neal shouted. But Jessica was no longer listening to anybody. She paid no attention to the thick mud grabbing at her every step. She didn’t bother to look behind her as two trails of mud and death began their approach.
Emma quickly grabbed another candle and threw it to the ground. One of the death trails stopped and went after the closer prey.
Cara, Neal, and Thomas all joined in. They threw whatever was in range onto the ground to distract the undead creatures from attacking Jessica. The trails tapered off and traveled across the cemetery attacking its newest targets, but the distraction did not last long. Soon, the candles, flower holders, and picture frames were a
ll taken into the muddy ground never to be seen again. Then all attention was back on Jessica.
“Get off the ground!” Emma yelled.
Jessica arrived at Josh’s gravesite. “I’m coming, Joshy. I’m coming! Just wait. Mommy’s here.” She began to dig into the ground as fast and as hard as she could. The mud flew into the air with every swipe of her hands. Dirt embedded into her nails and caked all over her arms.
The earth was soft. Jessica was a foot deep in a matter of seconds. She huddled close to the ground, never once stopping to take a breath. The ground around her began to churn. To her delight it only made the ground more malleable. She was able to dig easier.
Muddy water began to fill up the hole that Jessica was digging. She was even starting to sink into the mud the more she dug.
“I’m coming, baby,” cried Jessica over and over again. “I’m coming, baby.”
Then Jessica’s hand brushed up against something in the murky water surrounding her. She slowed down for the first time since she started digging. Whatever was in the water wrapped around her index finger.
Jessica raised her hand out of the water. A tiny rotten hand held a weak grasp around her finger. Jessica cried one last tear.
Then several undead hands reached out of the mud and water and grabbed Jessica from all sides. There were eight hands in all. Each one grabbed a piece of Jessica and began to pull her down into the muddy water.
Jessica screamed for help, but her cries were lost as water flooded into her mouth and began to fill her lungs. The creatures clawed at her skin with their three inch long nails and tore her flesh and limbs apart as they dragged her down below in multiple directions.
Above the surface the four remaining survivors watched in horror as the pool of muddy water splashed violently then returned to a tranquil surface.
Emma took a seat on the mausoleum steps. She swallowed back vomit trying to rise up in her throat. Several deep breaths later and she was able to think a little clearly again.
The last remaining phone was out of reach, in a purse resting several yards away on another gravestone. There were more undead creatures than before. Then Emma looked over at the street. The graveyard was several more inches below the street level.
We Woke The Dead Page 3