Undead Boyfriend

True love never dies

Cassie stared back, watching that twisted look of derangement fade from her beloved's face. The snarling stopped, and long pale fingers reached past her makeshift barricade to stroke the swiftly falling tears away from her face.

'Will?" How badly she wanted this to be true, tossing the stool aside, launching herself at the resurrected man." William! "

William wanted to say so much, and he wanted to apologize for leaving his sweet girlfriend all alone. He tried to tell her he loved her. But the words just couldn't be found. Everything was so cluttered in a mass of static in his head. William settled for 'wrapping his arms around his love holding her close, enjoying the sweet embrace, and taking in that natural flowery scent he'd missed.

Just as the two reunited in an embrace, Conrad and Luke broke down the door through combined brute force.

The two men came stumbling in, ready to do whatever they had to, even if it would be painful.

Thankfully Eva and the others in the observation room had watched what had unfolded.

Before either could do anything, Eva's voice piped over the speakers. '' Conrad, Luke stand down; it's alright. "

Conrad looked dumbfounded as he lowered his gun, expecting to have to peel the zombie off his sister and not walk in on this romantic scene. But he was glad; he looked over at his sister, who looked like she was about to cry.

'Hey Luke, looks like I was wrong about your brother. He loves her enough to come back to life.. remind me of that the next time I want to shoot him." Conrad said, placing a hand on the taller male's shoulder.

"yeah, I'll be sure to do that.." Luke said. Looking down at the man he thought he'd never see again.

William looked up, locking eyes with his brother in a cocky grin as if to say. ' you doubted me, Luke....for shame.'

It took quite a while for them to pry Cassie away from William, but combined exhaustion gave way. Everyone frankly needed sleep after being awake well over 24 hours for some. So the decision was made that most would return to their respective homes for a rest except a few. Conrad and Eva, who lived on the base; Felicia and Luke, who didn't want to leave his brother; finally, Cassie, nothing could have drug her away.

Sleeping arrangements were simple; the couples stayed in the apartment.

Unfortunately, Cassie's refusal to be too far from her lover led to an adjustment. Therefore, William was moved to an out-of-the-way room the lab no longer used; this was done in case any of the higher-ups dropped in on the lab.

Unauthorized human experiments are, shall we say ...frowned upon? The others were not fully accepting of the idea of letting the young woman sleep unattended in the same room with her reanimated boyfriend. Who had at first nearly chewed her face off, so yes, safety was an issue. Cassie conceded to sleeping on a cot just outside the door. It was better than nothing, she supposed.

Inside the room, William was not sleeping; mind you, it wasn't from lack of effort. The static in his head refused to go away. Will sat with his back to the door; he could feel someone on the other side. It was his Cassie; he didn't know how he knew; it was just a sense. If he tried hard enough, he could almost hear the soft breath of the sleeping girl through the door. It helped to clear away the haze in his mind.

As time crawled by, he was piecing things together slowly. He had been dead and wasn't now, but he didn't feel alive either. His movements seemed sluggish, and his mouth refused to speak about what was wrong with him. They were defiantly not at a hospital, so this wasn’t one of those ‘near-death experiences’ he had heard about. This was different and a little bit frightening.

William touched his chest, feeling how cool his skin was. Another thing struck him and frightened him. His heartbeat seemed slower than expected; he started panicking, thinking something was wrong. Was he dying again? No, that wasn't it?? He wasn't in any pain. In fact, he didn’t feel anything other than cold.

What had they done to him? Was the question lurking in his mind? Moreover, was what they had done wrong?

Unfortunately, William struggled to concentrate on intangible things like theories and analytical processes. He just kept zoning out, staring into the darkness, only realizing he'd been doing so when the drool ran down his chest. He was not his finest hour by far for someone who always prided himself in his composure. Then there was his voice, or lack thereof; the sound of hallow grotesque moans met his ears.

Those were sounds coming from him. Not the usual sassy yet articulate musings. Another question led to another string of tangled thoughts, leaving the man tired, annoyed, and hungry...he was positively starving.

The next morning.

The scent of coffee greeted Cassie, along with the smiling blue eyes of her brother Conrad seated on the side of the cot holding an American flag coffee mug.

"Mornin' there sleepy. " Con smiled, ruffling her hair.

Cassie groaned and sat up, looking like a kicked puppy at the cup. "Is that for me?"

"Of course, it's for you, and you should feel all special 'cause this is my favorite mug; I even sweetened it with caramel syrup just like you like it." The man commented, feeling pretty proud of himself.

Cassie gave a little cheer of delight, sitting up and taking the steaming mug in her hands. She took a deep whiff of the rich dark roast and the sweet tones of syrup dancing among the notes of hazel. Conrad always did make good strong coffee that was very sweet, something they both shared a liking for ."Mmm, thanks ."

Conrad smirked and sat back against the wall letting his sister lean over on his shoulder while Cassie sipped her coffee. Con threaded his fingers gently through Cassie’s hair like when they were small. He would always hold and comfort his sister. She was always the more sensitive one, not that it made her weak. Their mother always said that Cassie was the Love and he was the courage. That always made Conrad feel like he needed to be Cassie’s hero; some things had never changed.

"You feeling better, sis?"

Cassie smiled a little, looking up from her cup. " Yeah, thanks. A good night of sleep helped; I can't wait to take Will home. If I can still call that place home, I think I should find us a new apartment, honestly. I don't want him having the memory of, well..you know, in that place now. " her smile faltered slightly toward the end.

"Listen, Cassie, I know you wanna go home, but we need to check out a few things first, ok " That was as gently as Conrad put it. He meant, 'After seeing William almost kill you, I don't trust him.' He couldn't let his sister take off with the undead and crossed his fingers that they wouldn't pick pieces of Cassie off the walls later.

"I told you he was just confused." Cassie's defenses went up immediately; she set her eyes accusingly on her brother. She went into mother bear mode; no one would take William away when she had just gotten the man back. She would go to hell and back again gladly for the love of her life, and no one would stand in her way.

Conrad sighed, resting a gentle hand on the other blonde's shoulder. " I know that; I’ 'm sure being dead can damper anyone's social skills. But seriously, we need to see where he's at mentally and physically. If all the wheels are turning, which for ordinary Will, that's like what...5 out of 10 ?" he joked a bit, hoping it was slipping Cassie into a more relaxed state.

Cassie giggled a little; there was no such thing as a 'normal' William. Not when you talk about a man whose job lets him run around the natural history museum all day. God knows how he didn't get fired when he decided to scale the T-rex to take a selfie .....that was a perfect picture, though.

Not to mention the 'cannon incident' as it came to be called since William worked in the Military history department, he had access to all the displayed antique weapons. He thought it would be hilarious to see if they could fire bologna out of a civil war artillery cannon to see if it would stick on the museum's massive vaulted ceilings.

........to put it mildly, it was an Oscar Mayer m******e.

"Yeah, thanks Con ."

Cassie got a bit choked up at that point. The gravity of what her brother had done for her was finally hitting her. Conrad, Eva, everyone they give her back her life. William was her life; he was everything that kept her going, and they returned him. "T- thank y-you s-so m-much.."

"oh, Cassie ..." Conrad reaches over, taking the mug from his sister’s trembling hands and placing it on the floor. He pulled the slim girl to his chest and into his lap, rocking Cassie, trying to soothe her tears. "You're my family; I love you, you know that, right? I can't imagine how that felt, but seeing you like that killed me. I know me and Will I haven't always gotten along, and that's been mostly my fault because I was overprotective of you. And that was very unkind, but I know what he means to you, and now I know how important he is. If he means that much to you that I can accept him so far as I'm concerned, I have a brother now. "

"You're the best, Con," Cassie said tearfully, clinging to her brother's shirt. The two sat there in silence, just holding onto one another like when they were kids.

When their parents fought, Cassie would cover her ears and cry because she couldn't take all the hateful words. Conrad was always there; somehow, she had forgotten about her brother.

After the divorce and she went to Colorado with their mother, he was subjected to her bitterness. Being young and impressionable, she believed the things that her mother said, that her dad didn't love them. That Mr.Jones picked Conrad over her and loved Con more. She felt that for a long time, and it hurt inside to the point she thought no one would ever love her. When she was older, she saw her mother was angry and broken over her failed marriage. She was projecting her feelings onto her daughter so she could have someone on her side. It was unfair, but she didn't hate her for it; she always cared for and loved her.

Reaching out to Conrad had been hard; that worry that what their mother said was actual was lingering in her mind, but as it turned out, the brother she once lost welcomed her with open arms. And after the death of their father, Con even came to Denver to visit one Christmas. That was a year before their mother passed. It didn't seem so long ago, but in the last four years since he was able to be back in contact with her brother, she still didn't remember until that moment how much love indeed was there.

Conrad wasn't surprised to see Cassie had fallen asleep, and he wouldn't wake her. So gently, he shifted the girl from his chest and pulled the blanket back over her sleeping form.

By now, Eva and Luke were at the kitchen island looking over some documents; the woman had given the rest of the crew the day, considering the fewer people, the less chance of complication, and with fewer eyes on what they were doing, the better. It meant if they were here questioned later about their involvement, their knowledge would be limited.

He walked up, placing a hand in the center of his girlfriend's back. "Cassie is sleeping; what are you up to? "

Eva turned to the touch smiling as she was prone to do. "Checking data, it seems subject response has slowed some. I do not foresee any further danger from the outburst."

Luke, however, didn't look so sure. " Oh, I need to see where he regards motor skills and communication. If yesterday is any indication, William's brain could have been damaged during the reanimation."

The woman seemed to ponder this, sitting down in one of the rolling chairs at the computer terminal and looking at the documents once again. This experiment had been her most significant achievement; her life's work finally proved. Still, Luke is right. Even in successful reanimation, if the subject was damaged, it was a failure.

She also knew Cassie only cared that her arrogant lover was alive. But Eva wanted more; this was bigger than William.

"You will administer cognitive and reactive tests, yes?" Eva smiled up at the blonde.

Luke was a bit off guard since bringing his brother back; he had spent little time with the elder. While happy, he felt strange; he and William had always had an odd relationship. Luke had become more mature than his brother in many ways; this often led to unspoken feelings between the two about how the once-idealized older brother became a nuisance by living in his basement before moving in with Cassie and embarrassing him all the time.

Even so, Luke always saw his brother as larger than life in some aspects. So the idea of seeing his brother so broken was terrifying. It brought back the chills of seeing the man dead.

Yet the blond held his composer; he had to. This was what he always did. What William taught him to do, holding his head up and never showing anything less.

"yes, I will."