Romancing the Afterlife

The Evil Alive

Finding Bruce was easy enough, Bruce only did a handful of things day to day. He worked, he worked out and he partied, and during the summer two of those things could be done at the beach. Any cool teenagers would be there, by day they hung out, by night they drank and partied. The beach was somewhat out of town though, most kids drove or got dropped off. This left her walking along Akelaine Dr., the long road that only really went to the beach. There weren’t many buildings out this way, and cars were infrequent, most likely just coming or going from the beach. The sun had not quite started to go down and it was still pretty hot. The heat exhausted her, and she couldn’t remember why she’d chosen pants when shorts should have been the obvious choice. She had a pair she had thrown in a shopping bag before she left, but she wasn’t willing to change at the side of the road. Then again ….Two cars honked as she kicked the jeans off and tried to pull on the little khaki shorts as fast as she could, only to discover she’d put them on backwards and had to take them off and switch them around. As she finally had them done up a very familiar silver car with the license plate ‘Starlet’ pulled over to the side of the road. She grabbed her shoes and shoved the pants into the plastic bag and ran over to the car. An awkward looking young man with braces, dressed in a pin stripe shirt sat behind the wheel. “Can I give you a ride?” he asked her trying to sound smooth.

“Yeah right, like anyone would want a ride from you,” she said getting into the car. “I know this car doesn’t belong to you Kayl,” she said to him, as he fought with the clutch to get it in gear, “you shouldn’t be driving it.” She finally realized who he was.

“It is mine. My older sister gave it to me. I’m still getting used to it. Do I know you?”

“Gave it to you? She wouldn’t give you this car if you were best friends with Ryan Reynolds!” she practically laughed at him, then composing herself backpedaled on her rudeness “I mean if this were my car that I saved up for with years of babysitting and a surprisingly successful Kickstarter campaign, I wouldn’t be so generous to just anybody with it.”

“Well Charlotte’s options were limited after she moved to L.A. in the middle of the night, and the car was in my parents’ name.”

“Awe, that’s really cool, I heard that was a dream of hers. Must seem inspiring”

“Not really, she was real a b***h, she stole $1100 off me” he said with a laugh, as he accelerated on the gas, “Wait a second, I know you.”

“No you don’t.”

“You go to my school. I’ve seen you in the halls.”

“I just moved here, so that’s not possible.”

“Oh, well you look familiar.” She turned her face away from him as he glanced over at her. “Are you feeling okay? You look a bit pale.”

“Must be the heat I guess.” She pulled down the sun visor to examine her face in the mirror on the inside of it. Her old babysitter’s younger brother wasn’t seeing things; her face was pale as a Twilight vampire. She reached into the shopping bag and pulled out a small makeup kit she still had from Jonas’ older sister’s collection and began applying blush. Kayl reached behind his chair and pulled out a bottle of water and gave it to her. She gave him a slight nod instead of a thank you. It was hard for her to have appreciation for someone who used to spit and throw Playdough at you when you were forced to spend the day at their house. He was a little jerk when he was a kid who made her feel unwanted, not like Cain who taught her how to make a great paper airplane and always tried to be her travel buddy when they went on field trips. She felt this odd sense of distant loneliness and disappointment inside, like an after thought to her own feelings. She justified it as relative to her paleness. Seeing the beach approaching she made Kayl pull over to let her out, so it looked more like she was there solo. He might reflect poorly on her reputation that she about to establish, and didn’t want to start by being seen with someone so unmemorable she had forgotten who he was for the past ten years. He didn’t seem too surprised by her request. He seemed to know the score. As she got out she decided to give him a tip, instead of a thank you. “Get a new shirt, you look stupid.”

“It’s my uniform, I work at the ice cream bar,” he replied, and as he drove off she heard him add, “Bitch.”

She saw a small beach party down at the far end of the beach near the curved part of the shore. That was where people she had associated with usually were, because it was far from personal property owners prying eyes that sometimes lead to concerned or angry citizen phone calls. There was a small fire in the middle of several beach umbrellas and picnic tables amongst a group of fun loving attractive teens with fit bodies, listening to DJ remixed Taylor Swift music. This was definitely the place she was looking for. She recognized a lot of faces as she approached the gathering. There were three cheerleaders, most of the junior football/lacrosseugby team, a bunch of spoiled princesses lead by a queen, and the queen’s slutty mentor Amber. The two guys from the mall earlier were nowhere to be seen, but given the one guy’s injuries that made sense. She saw the shirtless king demonstrating some dance moves for his flunky friends and receiving their rave reviews. All it took was a few talented sexy moves of her own to gain their attention, jumping in their circle she showed them what three years of jazz/hip-hop dances lessons, and a little seductive creativity could do. You’re not a stranger if no one considers you strange. A minute later she was being introduced to Spoons High’s graduating class of 2017 and they all took great interest in the new girl, especially Bruce who was still hanging around with high school students, despite Lucy’s absence. The change in her look was working, none of them appeared to recognize her not even her old best friend Jane, who didn’t used to be overly fond of the beach. Jane helped a few other girls start a fire in a fire pit, while Jacks sat behind her playing random stuff on his guitar. They were a short distance away from the bigger group she was with, who drowned out Jacks guitar playing with their old school boom box. She considered checking in on Jane, but chose to stay with the majority that included Bruce. Jane seemed content enough without her, and she was glad to see her friend was happy. Within an hour she was captured in seven pictures, had consumed two drinks alcoholic drinks, had cried out “this is my song!” was semi-groped by two guys and a girl, and had been given Bruce Holden’s phone number (because she didn’t have one to give him).

Things seemed to be going well in terms of her plan to have Bruce’s attention, but otherwise everything was less satisfying to her than it used to be. She wasn’t looking to get that drunk, while most of the people around her had made it their mission to consume as much alcohol as possible. Also though she had Bruce repeatedly eyeing her up, he kept glancing over at Amber as well. Amber had a small team of girls sending dirty looks in her direction, she had obviously told them about their encounter earlier that day. She wouldn’t get anywhere with Bruce while Amber and her posse were around throwing her shade. She took a chance and approached Bruce, “Just wondering if you wanted to take a walk with me.”

He gave a quick look in Amber’s direction, “Uh yeah, few too many distractions, I get you.” They walked away from the little beach party and towards the centre more public area where the playground was. Passing by Amber Lucy made a puckering sound at her demonstrating her reconstructed lip. Amber cringed a little. Lucy noticed her lips were actually a bit dry and applied watermelon lip balm to them. “So you said your name was Julie?”

“Uh, yeah that’s my name. You’re Bruce they talk about you a lot around here.” She knew he liked comments that boosted his ego.

“Well I leave a lasting impression,” he replied with a cocky smile.

“So, I noticed you looking at that short girl with the wavy hair and big earrings are you with her?”

This question seemed to amuse him, as he chuckled and replied, “No, we’re just friends, not that she doesn’t want it to be that way. I just can’t commit right now because I’m still getting over my last girlfriend.”

She sat on a bench with Bruce far from the others, consoling him on a girl he claimed to have loved until she was strangled by a cartoon cotton thong and drowned. She empathized with his loss, claiming she had once lost a twin. Many hugs were involved as he expressed repressed but controlled emotions, and they bonded over his sensitivity. The sun started to set, and the two of them discussed their favourite things. It was easier for Lucy because she already knew a lot of Bruce’s favourite things. He mentioned football, his truck and a beautiful woman at his side, and when she threw in the open road he lit up because it was exactly what he was going to say next. “You are perfect for me. I am so into your dark spooky eyes, it makes you stand out from others.” Then he went to kiss her and she was going to let him, but became distracted when they heard a few teenagers heckling a boy selling ice cream from a small booth.

She turned away from Bruce to see some boys calling Kayl names, mostly homophobic names. He had given them their ice cream, but they were refusing to pay. Instead mocking and jeering him about his dorky striped shirt. She felt kind of guilty for Kayl, he was just trying to do his job. It wasn’t really his fault his shirt was dumb, but then again who sells ice cream in the evening anyway? “Just pay the kid,” she called at them. They paid her no mind.

“Don’t worry about that kid, he should just quit, they harp on him all the time.” Before she could consider his ignorant comment he wrapped his arm around her and pulled her in, giving her a big kiss. For a moment it felt like she was Lucy Little the well known and liked high school senior again, until he ruined a bit of the magic by pulling away and remarking “Your lips are horribly dry, maybe you should use more of that balm.”

Mortified she touched her lip and realized he was right, her lips were like leather. It gave her a bad feeling that was confirmed when she ran one hand through her hair and felt strands turning to straw. She panicked, “Look I need to go, you have a rocking body but I have to go figure some stuff out.”

“What do you mean?” He grabbed her hand as she rose from the bench. “We can still do stuff without your mouth, I know a spot.” She knew the spot too, she had foolishly thought it was their spot, but he clearly brought just any bimbo there.

“Hey Bruce, where are you?” Amber called out, disrupting this decaying moment.

“Great, now I have to deal with her too.” Bruce said annoyed.

“Deal with her? She’s your regular now, isn’t she?” She felt stupid, she always knew somewhere in the back of her mind, but the illusion of him was shattering now.

“What’s it to you? We can still see eachother sometime.” Amber’s voice still called out to him and was getting closer.

“I’m kind of changing my mind on that. Have a nice life Bruce.” She brushed his hand off hers and went to walk away, maybe go sit with Jane if she was still there. Bruce grabbed her wrist though.

“Come on, wait a second.” Lucy was not going to wait at all, she angrily pulled her arm away, and then he screamed, “Holy s**t!” She knew something was wrong, she sort of felt a looseness and a weird breeze in parts you shouldn’t feel air. She didn’t want to look back, but she knew she had to. She glanced back and saw her hand had become unattached. Not all the way though, it hung from her forearm by tendons and muscle sinews. Bruce was frozen in shock, he had let her go but he looked like he was stuck in the middle of vomiting.

“See, I told you she was a monster!” Amber said to two other girls beside her. Lucy’s heart skipped a beat, if it was actually beating at all. Amber did not look scared this time, she looked pissed off. Her two friends looked very frightened though, so frightened one of them let out a top of her lungs scream. She could hear others coming. She needed to put a lid on this somehow before the situation got out of hand.

“I’m not a monster don’t be ridiculous, you’re just jealous because Bruce was looking to get into my pants instead of yours. Bruce moved down the bench away from her and her hanging but not bloody hand. A few others had now found them, and were staring and commenting about her. It was only going to be seconds before someone started recording.

“She’s not human,” Amber shouted pointing at her.

“I was just pulling a joke on you Amber, relax,” she answered trying to blow it off. She grabbed her hand and shoved it grossly back into place, “You see it was a prank.”

Everyone was silent, still gawking and looking amazed and horrified. She watched one phone get held up. Looking at herself she saw why no one was buying it, the skin on her arms and legs were grayish and cracking. It was getting worse fast, and all she could do was feel terrified herself. ‘Why was this happening to her? Why now?’ she asked in her head. Though she couldn’t see them, her eyes had gone back to being cold black voids. The crowd was increasing by the second, all of them standing frozen in shock, unmoving, unsure what to do. A few people shouted religious or anti-Semitic testament. A few black tears trickled down Lucy’s face as she saw their mortified and hateful stares, though she was more afraid of them than they were of her. The long silence was broken by a single word, one that would be unanimously understood and cause the startled crowd to transform into an angry mob.

“Zombie!!” someone in the crowd yelled out. She didn’t hesitate, she just ran. In an insanely small amount of time everyone in the mob had managed to arm themselves with makeshift weapons. Current trends and stylized media had taught them what to do in such an occurrence. Some had folded beach umbrellas, others grabbed wood from the fire to hold as torches, a few had skateboards, many people made wolverine claws out of their keys, one guy even happened to have a shovel, but Amber Ackles had a gun. Lucy had a flashback of a debate on gun violence she had participated in a year ago, now realizing that though she had won the debate she was wrong, it was a serious problem.

She was doing her best to use her head start to her advantage, but due to looking behind her tripped over one of the teen bullies she had scolded a few minutes ago. He broke her fall as she landed on top of him, quickly getting up she heard the boy whining and crying, “karma’s a b***h, sissy,” she shouted at him as she started running again. She knew it was immature, but so was he. Her mob was catching up with her, but it had also dwindled a bit from people who were too lazy to chase down potential evil creatures and let it go. In full sprint she noticed that she had lost her hand completely, likely when she had fallen on that guy. She tried losing them through people’s yards along Akelaine Dr., jumping fences (which was a feat with only one hand) and cutting through hedges. This lost some of her haters, but it also gained some new concerned citizens who lived on Akelaine Dr. and did not appreciate costumed weirdos running around on their property and scaring their kids. She turned around the corner of a house and was struck with a bat knocking her jaw out of place, which stretched out the left side of her face. “Get off my property freak!” the middle aged man weilding a baseball bat yelled at her.

She tried to shout sorry as she ran away from his house and back to the street, but her unhinged jaw made it sound more like, “Uragshdhdistheas”. Her breathing sounded more like panting now as she continued up the road, praying she would be free if she made it to the next cross street that led toward town, but that had to be more than a mile away. She couldn’t think of anywhere she could actually go since her body was falling apart, not even Cain would want her anymore. She kept running worried she’d run out of energy, but somehow not being affected. A familiar black truck pulled over to the other side of the road up ahead. Bruce and Amber climbed out of the cab and a few others jumped out from the back.

“Freeze zombie b***h!” Amber shouted, already pointing her gun at her.

“Uragh Nouc Ifnde” the zombie b***h groaned back at her.

She was not given enough time to surrender, Amber opened fire on her missing on the first attempt, but catching her right shoulder with the second one leaving a hole. She was aiming for the head of course. Lucy had already started running at her after the first shot. She tackled Amber, and bit her above her right collarbone using the right side of her mouth. “Oh my god the zombie is biting her!” one of the guys from the truck bed shouted, not attempting to even help. Lucy got up from on top of Amber and hissed at the guys, then started running again. She only made it a few steps when an orange Ford Focus came zooming toward her and made a screeching handbrake left turn stop.

“Get in Lucy!” Cain shouted from the backseat of the car. A brick flew by her head as she dodged it but accidentally snapped her ankle at the same time. Lucy felt her ankle snap just enough to know why she was suddenly hobbling slowly toward the car, while her attackers were tending to the crying and bleeding Amber. Meanwhile she could hear the occupants of her rescue car arguing.

“What the f**k is wrong with her?!” Janice screamed.

“She’s falling apart without me,” Cain shouted.

“People don’t literally fall apart!”

“They do if they came back to life by ancient artifact” Jonas told her, thinking it might ease her tension. It didn’t.

“She can’t come in here. Let’s go, drive Jonas. Drive!” Jonas waited, as Cain opened the door and Lucy climbed in. “No, she’ll kill us all” Janice was losing her mind, as Jonas started speeding away.

“Uma Kuck Teiry Jisnrhrkoooh” A gun shot rang off, from far behind them. Bruce had picked up Amber’s gun and fired at them but they were already speeding away.

“She says she won’t hurt you, she only bit Amber because she’s a crazy backstabbing ho.” Cain translated.

“She said all that?” Jonas asked

“Well I was paraphrasing,” Cain told him still sounding distressed. Lucy lay across the back seat looking up at Cain who looked almost as scared as she felt. Her broken face had two black burns down each side of her face from the tears she had shed during her flight. Cain leaned over, looking her directly in the eyes and said “I got you,” just loud enough for only her to hear.

“Well it’s still-“ Janice started to argue when another shot was fired and went through the back window of the car and the front seat head rest and came to a stop a quarter of the way into Janice’s head, immediately striking her brain dead.

“What the hell was that?!” Cain asked rhetorically panicking. Janice slumped forward revealing the bloody spot in the back of her head.

“How is that even possible?” Jonas asked in shock, “that shouldn’t have been possible.

That’s the jackpot lottery winning of gun shot wounds.”

“Uhnjo arhhe”

“I know you are” Cain assured her, accepting her apology. Those were the last words anyone said in the car. They dropped Janice off at the hospital giving nurses her parents’ number and Jonas promised her he would come back for her, though she was incapable of processing anything. He wanted to stay with her but had to take Cain and Lucy home instead, there was no allowing medical professionals to diagnose the walking dead. He helped Cain carry her to The Box wrapped in a blanket he had in his trunk, this way if anyone noticed them they’d think they were just transporting a regular dead body, and not a reanimated one. Once she was laid safe on the futon Jonas left, he did not say goodbye.