by Cody Hyde
It wasn’t long before Will was nearing the cemetery on the way to Charlie’s with Lauren’s car. Lauren was in the passenger seat puking into a paper bag she picked up from the floor of her dirty vehicle.
“We’re almost there, can you at least wait a few more minutes, it smells horrible,” whined Will.
“I’m sorry,” replied Lauren.
The streets were quiet in the area of town they were in. A few lamp posts were the only form of light other than the car’s headlights... wait... there was a familiar car parked along the side of the cemetery. The lights suddenly turned on and a somewhat recognizable man stepped out, something in his hand.
Will continued to slowly drive forward. “Is that Greg’s car?” he questioned. “Who is that?”
Will just slowly kept on driving forward, getting closer to what appeared to be Greg’s Camaro. He slowed down almost to a stop when he reached the man. It was Joe James.
“Is that...no, it can’t be,” responded Will.
Joe looked over to see Will driving Lauren’s car, and made the creepiest face. His eyes were bloodshot, and his face was pale and full of veins. His mouth dropped open the same way he did before sucking Greg’s soul.
“Woah, did you see that?!” responded Will as he then stepped on the gas pedal, and drove off down the road away from the evil Joe James.
“Oh my god, what happened?” cried Lauren, her face in the paper bag, not realizing what Will saw.
“You didn’t see that?”
“See what?! Okay Will, you need to slow down.”
Will was driving fast. “I can’t.”
“Yes, you can! Pull over now!” ordered Lauren, reaching for the wheel.
Will just about lost control of the car for a second, then figured he’d better stop.
“Okay, okay! I’m pulling over!” He pulled over to the side of the road. As soon as he did, Lauren opened her door and threw up outside the vehicle.
After Lauren got back in the car she took a deep breath. “Okay, now what happened? What did you see?”
Will stopped to think for a second. “Okay, if I tell you what I saw, you’ll believe me, right?”
“Of course, I mean, I don’t know, what was it? Just say it!”
“Alright, I think I just saw Charlie’s father,” he replied. “He’s supposed to be dead.”
“What? That’s it?”
“No. There’s more. He stepped out of Greg Thomsen’s car, I think.”
“Oh, I’m sure it was his car,” she responded sarcastically.
“I recognized the license plate.”
Lauren just stared at him blankly, the same look Will gave Charlie when he told him about the book. “Anything else?”
Will paused to think. Then he thought about the book. “The book,” he replied.
Lauren laughed. “Oh please, not this again.”
“Look, I’m turning around right now, we need to go back to the cemetery.”
“What?! No, please, don’t go back to the cemetery!”
Will ignored her. He turned the car around and drove off back towards the cemetery.
“Will! You turn my car around, now!”
Will parked Lauren’s car alongside the trees of the cemetery, a good distance away from Greg’s car.
“Will, I’m not going in there!” whined Lauren.
“Look, how about this…you can stay here and I’ll go and check it out.” He then got out of the car and began walking.
“Okay, I’m coming with you!” responded Lauren, getting out of the car, still half-drunk.
“Keep your voice down!”
Lauren shut up. “Okay.”
Will continued to walk around the tree line surrounding the cemetery. Greg’s car was quite a distance away from them now. “Come on, through here,” he said to Lauren, cutting through the tree line but staying hidden.
Lauren made a look of fright on her face, and then followed Will into the trees.
Will continued to walk through the trees, Lauren half-tripping on a twig. He looked around but couldn’t see Joe over the tall gravestones. “Let’s go,” he ordered quietly.
They walked up behind the tallest gravestone closest to them, and stayed hidden.
Carefully, Will poked his head around the grave to witness Joe walking through the cemetery, but going in the opposite direction. He had the Book of the Underground with him.
“There he is,” whispered Will. “I have to get that book.”
“Oh my god,” whined Lauren. “Can we go now?”
Will just ignored her and continued to watch Joe. He seemed to have stopped walking.
“What is he doing?”
Joe had no idea that he was being watched. He opened the Book of the Underground to the page titled “Master of the Undead”. “Now is my time to rise,” he said to himself. He grew a look of satisfaction on his face.
At the bottom of the page was a chant similar to the Awakening chant but a little longer.
Joe began to recite the words. They didn’t make any sense, but they were loud and clear. “Miro nilo so de nocho de remo,” he chanted.
“This isn’t good,” responded Will quietly.
Joe continued to recite the words.
“Will, please, I don’t want to be here,” whined Lauren.
“Shhh!”
On and on Joe recited the chant but nothing was happening yet. He then slowly started to pace around, still reading.
“We have to move,” whispered Will.
“What?” questioned Lauren.
“Come on.”
They swiftly made their way across the cemetery to another gravestone in order to stay hidden.
Joe had shortly reached a part of the chant where he had begun to repeat himself. “Miro nilo so de nocho de remo,” he chanted. Then he chanted three more times... four times... five times... six times. Nothing was happening. Seven times.
He stopped reciting the chant. There was about three to four seconds of silence and then Joe started to gasp for air, and he fell to his knees.
What’s happening to him? thought Will.
But there was no time to question. He stepped out behind the gravestone. “Now’s the time!” he responded.
Will ran at Joe and snatched the book from his hands, who was still on his knees gasping for air, and took off towards the other end of the cemetery, leaving Lauren behind.
“NOO!!” screamed Joe in anger, still weak and on his knees.
“Will!” cried Lauren.
All of a sudden the strangest thing happened. The cemetery started to tremble.
Will, a good distance away from Joe now, realized what was going on. “Oh crap,” he responded.
The ground above every grave began to crumble, and one by one, dozens of skeletons began to rise up out of their graves. Lauren screamed.
But something else was happening...
Each skeleton stopped to hover about a foot from their grave, and what appeared to be a black smoky substance rose up and blanketed each one. Strange shrieks were heard, unlike a human sound, and soon the black substance disappeared from each body, leaving them with what appeared to be a new layer of skin, but a greyish color, unlike human skin.
Black veins then began to somewhat bulge out from their skin. Short, pointy horns then grew out of every head, and finally their eyes opened wide to reveal blood-red eyes and slit-like pupils, and they all grinned to show razor sharp teeth.
Will swallowed his breath. “I really hate zombies.”
Lauren continued to scream, and drunk, she ran off towards the trees, tripping on a log.
Joe then began to stand up again. But he was different. His skin had completely changed color and he grew horns
as well. And he was still wearing the black dress clothes. It gave him a sort of style in a way.
He grew a grin on his face. “Greetings, Undead Army. I am Sinister, your master.”
Chapter 20