It was a cloudless night perfect for stargazing in the small town of Royal Woods.
Maggie and Luan lay next to each other at their favourite observation spot which happened to be in the Royal Woods Cemetery.
Maggie glared up at the quarter moon in a days time it would be full.
She felt Luan nestle up to her and then broke the silence "Hey what did Ursa Major say to Ursa Minor?" Not wasting time waiting to Maggie to respond she completed the punchline, "Want to spoon?"
Upon hearing what sounded like the crunching of branches Maggie let out a low growl and sat up at attention.
Sitting up as well Luan said, "I didn't think it was that bad a line."
Ignoring her and listening for a moment Maggie shook her head "It was but I thought I heard something."
Craning her neck to look for movement Luan's eyes struggled against the darkness; though an excellent night for observing the heavens it was still rather dark in the cemetery itself.
Watching Luan scrunch her eyes, Maggie couldn't help but think that vision was such a limited sense to rely on in the dark.
Their chosen spot was surrounded by bushes so they had little fear of being interrupted but Maggie was still curious as to who or what may be haunting the graveyard alongside them.
Already being to relax again Luan nuzzled up to Maggie when suddenly a crashing sound erupted from the thicket of trees thirty feet away that ran alongside the cemetery.
Almost jumping from her sitting position Luan was held down by Maggie's sudden firm grasp.
Luan found it oddly comforting though a year her junior Maggie possessed twice Luan's own physical strength.
Getting Luan's attention she pointed to the trailhead that they themselves had used to enter the cemetery.
Peering just over top of the bushes Luan could just barely make out a figure moving through the darkness.
Moving away from the trees the figure suddenly stopped caught in the light of moonlight, Luan gasped then silenced herself and locked eyes with Maggie and mouthed the words 'what's she doing here?'
Both girls had immediately recognized the third fore bathed in the light of the moon was Luna's significant other Sam.
She wasn't supposed to be here Luan continued the thought to herself, she was supposed to be with Luna having a 'sleepover.'
This Friday night was one of the rare occasions when the Loud House found itself nearly vacant.
Mom and Dad were on an overnight trip for one of Lola's pageants; they'd taken the four youngest siblings, Lola, Lana, Lisa and Lily with them.
Lori and Lincoln were spending the weekend in the city visiting the Santiago and Casagrande families more specifically their beaus even if Lincoln wouldn't admit his own relationship.
Finally Leni. against everyone else's better judgment had agreed to act as one of the chaperones for Lynn's end of year baseball tournament and they were scheduled to return late Sunday as well.
That left only three human residents in Casa da Loud Luna, Luan, and Lucy.
Luan and Maggie had made their plan to watch the skies before the stars had aligned on the absences, which was why Luna had agreed to stay home with Lucy.
In any event, she told Luan that she'd invited Sam over for the night; so what was the blonde blue-haired punk doing strolling through the cemetery of all places.
Waving her hand in front of Luan's face to draw her back to the present Maggie asked, "Do you think we should follow her?"
Luan nodded vigorously and then got up slowly and followed Maggie who led the way.
They trailed behind as not to attract attention to themselves, Sam for her part wasn't showing any awareness she was walking quickly and with purpose.
Suddenly Sam stopped and began to turn towards them; they dove behind separate tombstones as not to be seen.
When Maggie hesitated a glance she found Sam had disappeared, waving the all clear to Luan they both stood up.
They walked towards the last point that Sam had been between two fair sized mausoleums.
They approached cautiously Luan trying in vain to squint through the darkness while Maggie chose to close her eyes and focus her ears.
As they neared the entrance to one of the structures Maggie suddenly slapped a hand over Luan's mouth just as a figure stepped forth from the opening.
Her had muffled Luan's startled squeak; ignoring it the figure spoke "If you're looking for Sam she went that gesturing towards the far side of the mausoleums opposite from the direction they had come.
Recognising her voice Luan glared at her younger sister through the black, "What are you doing here you're not supposed to be out this late you should be home with Luna."
Lucy stared back unperturbed "I could ask you the same thing."
Before Luan could formulate a proper retort, Maggie, frowning to herself asked, "Why is this place suddenly so popular.
A smile crossing her face Luan sprang on the question like an unexploded ordinance, "What are you talking about this is a hot spot people are just dying to get in!"
Rolling her eyes Maggie chose to just start forward in the direction that Sam had gone but she stopped by Lucy grabbing her arm.
"If we're going to investigate Sam's odd night time proclivities without her awareness perhaps its best done from up there," pointing atop one of the crypts.
Seeing the basic sense of having the high ground Maggie silently agreed but Luan stared at the younger goth and asked, "How are we supposed to see her from up there in the dark?"
Anticipating the question Lucy was already removing her small backpack and withdrew two pairs of night vision binoculars.
Accepting a pair Luan looked through them but Maggie just looked at Lucy and asked, "Why do you even have those?"
Staring back not seeming to understand the question Lucy simply gestured for the older girls to follow her.
Leading them to the side of one of the structures she demonstrated how to take advantage of -some convenient architectural features to quickly scale the tomb.
Once the other two had made their own ways up all three girls lay upon the arched roof and using the nocs they were quickly able to locate Sam.
She wasn't that far ahead of them maybe a yard she seemed to be pacing back and forth between several recently intered graves.
Luan and Lucy watched her silently through the nocs, Luan offered them to Maggie but she waved them off indicating she was okay.
As if finally reaching a decision Sam suddenly stopped her pacing and dropped down on all fours and plunged her hands into the freshly disturbed earth and began to dig.
Luan shifted on the roof unsettled by this occurrence, Maggie raised an eyebrow, and Lucy just raised stared through her viewers her attention rapt.
Sam worked with disturbing efficiency within a mere ten-minute span she had disappeared into the ground not soon after the dirt stopped flying.
Maggie closed her eyes and listened she could hear the sound of nails clawing furiously at wood, suddenly all three girls could hear the loud crack of wood breaking.
After a few more minutes Sam reappeared; Luan retched at the sight and was forced to choke back vomit.
Pulling herself from the grave with both arms Sam was holding a freshly severed arm with her mouth.
The girls watched in muted horror as Sam began ripping into it with her teeth, once she'd cleaned the muscle and fat from the upper and lower portions she began to eat the fingers one by one.
Maggie could hear the sickening crunch of bones and winced.
Unable to fight the urge Luan broke the silence in an attempt to add levity, "I've heard of finger food but this is ridiculous!"
Lucy and Maggie both turned and stared at her incredulously Luan shrugged her shoulders apologetically, then all three girls snapped their heads back to Sam.
It was obvious Sam had heard something because she was looking around, the girls quickly slid below the top of the roofline.
When they worked up the courage to look, Sam had disposed of the arm and was filling in the grave, once finished she took careful measure to pat down the dirt in an attempt to make it look undisturbed.
Taking one last look around Sam paused to stretch suddenly she was a burst of speed not quite a blur but definitely fast enough to give Lynn or even Usain Bolt a run for their money.
When they were confident she had cleared the area the girls descended the roof and approached the defiled grave.
Returning the binoculars to Lucy, Luan pulled out her phone and shone the light on the simple marker the inscription bore.
Lisa Lipschitz
Beloved Daughter
1989-2017
Uncomfortable with the silence Luan chose once again to break it, "I don't know what just happened but it definitely wasn't kosher."
Maggie was unsure how to process that or any of this she considered herself pretty imperturbable but what she had just witnessed had pushed her boundaries and left her a bit shaken.
Ignoring her sister response Lucy looked up at the older girls through the dim of light provided by the cellphone, "Sam has joined the legion of the undead, obviously, the end times are upon us."
Absorbing this cheerful interpretation of events Luan retorted, "Sam is not a zombie, zombies are slow did you see her take off?"
"What about in 42 Days After, and I Am Hero, those had fast zombies?!" Lucy replied smartly to her sister.
Looking at her sister in disbelief Luan found herself unable to hide her shock, "Who let you watch those movies? You are way too young!"
Deciding it was time to circle back to reality Maggie cut in paraphrasing Luan, "Sam is not a zombie because zombies are fictional! Though it definitely looks like she's a cannibal."
Like a sudden shot of ice through her veins, a shuddering thought occurred to Luan just above a whisper she said, "Sam wasn't supposed to be here."
"Yeah well," Maggie replied, "She wasn't supposed to eat dead people but here we are . . ."
"No!" Luan said cutting back in much louder, "She wasn't supposed to be, here!"
It dawned on Maggie what Luan was trying to say, Sam was meant to be with Luna so where had he taken off to.
"What if this was just dinner and Luna is dessert?" Lucy said speaking aloud what the other two weren't saying.
