by Gayle Katz
He reached under the chair to find the key. It was taped to the underside of the chair. The cops hadn’t even bothered to check. He pulled the key out and used it to unlock his handcuffs. He was going to leave them there, but then decided that they may come in handy some other time, so he took them and tossed them in his pocket.
He tried the cell door. It was unlocked. He guessed that no one had thought to check. Well, that and the fact that he really hadn’t been under arrest, as they knew it had been Dr. Arora and Sebastian, even if the video footage showed him putting the rat poison into the mayor’s drink.
He left the cell and went to the stairs. At the top, he headed to reception.
“Oh, hello,” said Maia. “You let yourself out?”
“Yep. Am I free to go?”
“Yes, and your parents will be happy. But be careful, all right? Dr. Arora’s ghost is still out there, and Sebastian is on the loose. Right now, we’ve told the media that you were forced to do a gang’s bidding, otherwise, they threatened to harm your family and burn down your house.”
“Um, OK,” he said, heading for the door. He supposed it was a good thing that the cops were on his side. Anyway, he knew that scenario could have happened even if Dr. Arora hadn’t been able to possess his body. He was still a zombie who left the zombie gang, after all
Julian left the police station and headed to his car.
zzz
Sergeant Bourne felt he was wasting his time driving around. He even stopped at the school and Sebastian’s house, but he hadn’t been to either of those places for several days now. No one seemed to know where he was. He even checked the movie theater and the arcade, but none of his friends had seen or heard from him for days. Bourne decided to give up and go home for the day.
zzz
“Hey, we need to do something this weekend,” said Owen.
“Yep, it’s been pretty quiet on the zombie front,” said Charlie.
“I was going to take some pictures of my cat, but I suppose I could join in,” said Zan.
“We could go to this haunted house that they’ve been advertising in the local paper,” said Owen.
“Cool!” said Charlie. “I’m in!”
“That might be cool,” said Zan. “Can we wear costumes?”
“No, I don’t think so. Bylaws or something so the actors don’t get mixed up with the general public,” said Owen.
“OK. Saturday night it is.” Charlie tapped it into her online schedule.
“Let’s make it 8 pm. That’s when the fun will start!” Owen smiled.
zzz
Dr. Arora pranced around her house. It was good to be back. She hadn’t seen it for months, as she’d had her HQ set up at Ray’s clothing factory, at the hospital, and down in the sewers. She’d almost forgotten how quiet and tranquil it was.
She noticed that a few things were out of place. Of course, the police would have been here to search her house for evidence. She didn’t see anything missing, except…
She raced out into the hall and down the stairs to the basement. She walked to the largest window and touched the ledge. She lifted up the board. It was gone! Her experiments! They had found them and taken them. Well, no matter. She had other plans that didn’t require those old experiments from her college days. Anyway, all the microorganisms would be long dead and those vials would have been useless by now, anyway.
She peered out the window to the backyard. Someone had torched her storage shed, the one that had contained the only living zombie, other than Julian, that she was currently aware of. That was too bad. He had been more valuable than some expired tests.
She sighed. Now what? She was pretty certain that all her equipment from the sewers and the clothing factory had been destroyed.
Her mind wasn’t completely clear, but she didn’t think she had hidden anything else in her house. She’d always kept that clear of evidence.
She wondered if there would be anything at the police station. But she doubted it, as those guys loved to set things on fire, especially things that they didn’t understand, or couldn’t explain to the media. So they’d just destroy the evidence.
She wondered if any of the zlayers would have kept anything. She doubted Owen would have taken anything. He was too honest. Charlie would have probably torched anything suspicious-looking. And then there were Zan and Stewart. She knew that they both liked to experiment.
So that was it then. She’d search Zan’s house, and Stewart’s apartment. Between the two of them, they may have kept something that could be useful.
She headed to her bedroom so she could change into a new outfit. And she’d have to do something about her face and that hair.
zzz
“OK. I’m heading out, Dad,” said Zan.
“OK. Have fun,” he said.
“Nah, it’s just homework,” she said, closing the door. She headed to her car. She had to go and get some homework done at the library so that she could have all of Saturday free to spend with her friends. A normal event, such as a haunted house, sounded like a lot of fun.
As she drove to the library, she thought about the other fun things she’d done with her friends. They’d gone to Seattle one time, and another time had played miniature golf. Another time they’d attended a mall opening. And each time, there had been zombies there. Real ones. Not like the fake ones that were likely to be at the haunted house tomorrow night. But if there were real zombies there, that would be so cool too.
zzz
“Damn!” Julian said, smacking the dashboard of his car. He had parked just outside of Dr. Arora’s house. He watched her as she left the house and got into her own car. She was dressed in a pantsuit, with jacket, silk blouse, and pants. She had cut her hair to look more like a woman, rather than the young man’s body that she currently inhabited.
It was funny, but she still had all the same mannerisms of her old self, yet she had an awkward male body to do it in. He watched as she drove away.
He had no choice but to follow her, as he was curious to see what she was up to next. This should be Sergeant Bourne’s job, but Julian was fed up and tired of how many people Dr. Arora had harmed, including himself.
Julian had only limited time left. Even though he had vastly improved, zombiosis had quickly killed many other people, if the zlayers hadn’t reached them first.
As he drove away, he looked back in his rearview mirror. He doubted that there would be anything in her house to help his case, so he decided to not worry about it for now.
Her first stop was a house. He watched as she got out of her car, and then walked up to the front door. When there was no answer, she walked down the steps and went around to the back of the house. Julian followed behind her.
When she peered around the yard, he ducked behind a bush. He could still see through some of the foliage.
He watched as she walked up to the back door of the house. She picked up a small planter and used it to smash the glass in the long window beside the door. She reached through and flipped the deadbolt lot.
Dr. Arora turned the knob and pushed the door open. That’s when the alarm sounded.
zzz
“It’s good to be back at City Hall again,” said Jane.
“I know,” said Marta. “I’ve unpacked everything, so we are good to go.”
Jane looked up at her. “Should we look for another assistant?”
Marta smiled. “Nah, the budget is almost done. I can come back here next Saturday, if I’m needed. I could use the extra pay. My fridge died.”
“Hey, great, but that probably won’t be necessary. And I did put you in for a salary increase next year.”
“Super,” said Marta. “But probably nothing like the extra $100,000 that you’re adding to yours.”
Jane frowned and was about to say something snippy.
“But hey, who am I to judge?” Marta said, laughing.
“OK, fine,” said Jane. “I’ll add another ten grand to yours.”
“Works
for me,” said Marta. She left her office.
“Oh, and get rid of that creepy thing in the hallway, will you? I hate how it stares at me every time I enter the building!”
“Sure thing,” said Marta. However, by the time she made it to her desk, she had already forgotten all about it.
zzz
Julian decided to leave. If Zan’s house alarm was going off, it was likely monitored. He didn’t want to be there when the police showed up, and it was unlikely that Dr. Arora would have much time to do a search of the house.
He watched a bit longer as she carefully stepped foot in the house. Then, he heard the most terrible screeching sound. Something with teeth and claws launched itself at her. She screamed and cried and fought it off.
She managed to drag herself out of the house and fell down. The cat left her and went racing back inside the house.
In the distance, there was the sound of sirens.
Sebastian partially lifted himself up off the ground. “What the eff? Where am I?”
“Sebastian! Over here!” called out Julian. “We need to get out of here before the cops arrive!” He ran over to Sebastian and helped him up. Sebastian seemed to be OK, so he followed Julian to the car parked in front of the house. They slammed their doors shut and Julian drove away.
“What on earth happened?” asked Sebastian. “And why the hell am I wearing girls’ clothes? And seriously, lipstick?”
“I’m going to explain it to you, but you may think I’m crazy,” said Julian.
“OK, man. What’s up?” Sebastian asked.
“Well, it’s like this. I think you must have schizophrenia or a split personality.”
“Hey! What the eff!”
Julian smiled at his joke. “Just kidding. It appears that Dr. Arora is up to no good again.”
“Who is Dr. Arora?” asked Sebastian.
“Oh, she is the one who stole your hair and animated some zombies. It’s a really long story. Did the zlayers ever explain anything to you?”
Sebastian had flipped the mirror down and was trying to wipe the makeup off. “Huh? What? Give me a second to get my brain in gear,” he said.
“Hey, your secret is safe with me, but actually, I think we need to tell Stewart about this,” said Julian. “Dr. Arora seems to be coming back and impersonating people, including you and me. And I’m not certain why it’s us, but not the others.”
Chapter 18
________________________________________
“Something happened at Zan’s house,” said Stewart over the phone to Charlie.
“Keep me posted.”
“I’m on my way.”
Charlie and Owen met in front of Zan’s house.
“Hey! Julian called me. He’s found Sebastian. Dr. Arora was inhabiting his body.”
“Damn,” said Charlie. “Let’s head inside and find out what happened.”
“OK,” said Owen. “But I’m thinking that Sebastian had nothing to do with the potential poisoning of the mayor or of himself. In other words, he’s not a zinion at all, and he doesn’t even know who Dr. Arora is.”
“Already knew that,” she said. “Dr. Arora has few supporters left and is just floundering around hopelessly.” She rang Zan’s doorbell.
The door whipped open. “Oh good, you’re here!” she said to her friends. She stepped back to let them inside. “Oh, Owen!” She gave him a hug.
“What happened?” asked Charlie. “We got a call from Stewart. And Owen got a call from Julian and Sebastian.”
“Someone tried to break in here. It looks like that guy from school, Sebastian, all dressed up in drag. I checked the videos. My dad is going to be so mad if he finds out. He didn’t like me being involved in zombie hunting, but he’s tolerated it since Mom died.”
“Let’s have a seat.” Charlie led her over to the couch.
“We’re going to have to erase the videos,” said Owen. “Because it wasn’t Sebastian, it was Dr. Arora inhabiting his body.”
“I figured,” she said. “If Dad knows I’m being targeted by a witch, he’ll want me to have nothing to do with you folks anymore.”
“OK, take it easy. Where is he now?”
“He’s at work at the clinic. He won’t be home until after nine o’clock. That’s when the clinic closes.”
“OK, we’ve got time. Were the police here?”
“Yeah, but it was just Sergeant Bourne. He told me to erase the video.”
Charlie sighed. “How on earth can you arrest someone who is dead?”
Owen shrugged. “Beats me, and I have parents who are lawyers.”
“Oh, there you are,” Zan said to her cat. “I was so freaked out when I came home and the alarm was going off. Bourne’s car had the siren going on top. He just parked on the lawn. It was crazy. And I freaked out over my cat, but he seems fine.”
“What a relief,” said Charlie. “Wait a sec, where did Dr. Arora go?”
“Huh? What?” asked Owen.
“I mean, does she jump from person to person?”
“Um, I never thought about that before,” said Owen. “But I don’t think so.” He tentatively reached out a hand to pet Major Fluff. The cat hissed at him. “Nothing new there, same old cat.”
Zan held her cat tighter. “Oh no,” she said. “You’re my cat.”
“That’s crazy,” said Charlie. “Could she have inhabited the cat?”
“No, because she’d have access to its intelligence,” explained Owen. “If she had jumped into the cat, then likely all she would have been able to think about was eating, sleeping, and pooping.”
Zan laughed. “That’s my kitty!”
Charlie sighed with relief. “Good, then I don’t have to kill a cat.”
Zan held her cat even tighter “You wouldn’t do that!”
“Well no, especially if she was dumb after she became a cat.”
Zan whispered to her cat. “You didn’t hear that. You are a smart kitty.”
Charlie sat up. “But that’s a thought. I wonder if we actually killed the body that she inhabited, would she be permanently gone too?”
“Well, yeah,” said Owen. “But we can’t do that! That’s murder!”
“I know. I couldn’t do it either,” said Charlie. “Just trying to work through this.”
“I long for the days when we just worried about zombies,” said Zan.
zzz
“OK, I just spoke to Sergeant Bourne,” said Julian. “You are good to go home. He said they wiped the video of you breaking into the house.”
“Um, great,” said Sebastian, still not happy that someone had once again done something inappropriately to his body. “Great, and so, this Dr. Arora ghost, she gets away with it again?”
Julian stopped the car in front of his house, which was next door to his. “For now. But we’re working on stopping her. This can’t keep going on.”
“Great, thanks for the lift. Let’s see if I can get inside before my parents see me like this.” He motioned down to his outfit.
“Just tell them it was dress up day at school.”
Sebastian groaned. “I hope the school didn’t call them because I skipped class.”
“Hey, take it easy. Don’t worry too much. Get some rest over the weekend. Give me a call if you need anything.”
“OK, thanks.” Sebastian headed up to the front door.
zzz
Dr. Arora was back in the ether again. She paced back and forth on its fake floor, a figment of her imagination. She couldn’t catch a break. She always seemed to get caught, then they’d hurt her and she’d lose her attention and control of the body she inhabited.
It was difficult for her to fake being normal. For one thing, her brain was officially a zombie brain. Back when she was human, she’d gotten cancer. She’d decided to inject herself and turn herself into a zombie. That had taken care of the cancer, as well as helping many patients who had little time left. But it didn’t stop her mind from feeling like mush at times, or feeling
unstable or crazy.
But right now, she felt clarity. In fact, in the ether was where she did most of her thinking. Should she give up the fight and just stay here until the Shredders came along and rendered her dead, or should she figure out how she could pass to the next dimension?
But yet, she still felt anger at people. She was angry with the Professor who had attacked her when she was in school. She was angry with her mother for hitting her, and most of all she was angry at those stupid teens who had burned her alive in the sewers.
No, she wasn’t done just yet. She still had some fight left in her.
zzz
Julian headed home. He was glad that Sebastian had been found, and that the police had eased up on them. They truly believed that the teens had nothing to do with the poisoning of the mayor. In the news, it was being played up as “coercion.”
But he still lost his job. He was starting to think that perhaps he could go to college. According to his parents, it was either work full-time or go to school full-time.
He headed to the bathroom to take a quick shower. He was using the washcloth to clean his foot when his big toe fell off.
zzz
“Apparently, if we go to the haunted house this coming weekend, then it’s free,” said Charlie to Zan over the telephone.
“OK, get tickets then,” she replied. “Where is it anyway?”
“Um, I don’t know. Let me look at the website.” There was a pause as Charlie had a look. “OK, found it. 2308 Pine Greene Place.”