AN: Wooo! Lookit me! I wrote Chapter 2 after running around all day in the hot sun piling giant square bales of hay onto a Kubota, and I still typed after the strings in the hay made my hands blister! Yes, I loves you all THAT much.

"Whoops-a-daisies!" Gorla's head giggled from the floor. "Could you get that, Billy, lover?"

Billy took a halting step towards her.

Mandy felt her muscles tense up, ready to spring into action. "Billy, don't do anything she says." Her voice was terse with the amount of effort it took to keep herself under control. "Grim. Kill her. Now."

"I...can't," Grim said, first looking at Mandy, then turning and raising a bony eyebrow at Gorla. "She's already dead."

"Yes," Gorla piped up, "and I'd like to see you try!" Grinning, she picked up her head and set it back on her neck with a soft squelch.

"Get out," Mandy said curtly.

Gorla shook her removable head, her jack o'lantern grin plastered on, and replied: "Fat chance, Little Bitch. Look out the window."

Mandy found her gaze sliding towards the window. Billy, who had already dashed over to the window and back, gave a girly scream and dove under Mandy's covers, whimpering. Mandy's expression, though, did not register her surprise as the view of the outside world came into focus.

Dripping green zombies were snarling, staggering about, grabbing at passers-by. There were at least five of them. One was busy gnawing at the bloodied skull of a citizen. Another, as Mandy watched, was yanked into the bushes by what appeared to be a short girl in black. The zombie did not return, but the bushes rustled, and Mandy assumed the girl had met her doom. The other zombies simply staggered about. As Mandy surveyed the scene, she noticed a large, dark hole bashed through the garage doors. "So what?" she said coldly. "You have a few zombies, five creatures too stupid the wipe the ectoplasm from their faces, and I have the Grim Reaper."

"A stupid Grim Reaper who can't even kill me?"

Mandy shrugged. She wasn't going to lie.

"But he's ancient! He's ugly! And I'm willing to bet he's impotent, too, so what use is he to anyone?"

"Dat's a bit much!" Grim said, sounding hurt. "I may be ancient, but I ain't ugly, and I sure as heck ain't-"

"Don't talk to her," Mandy snapped. She narrowed her eyes at Grim. "Maybe if we ignore her, she'll realize what a worthless, disgusting, piggish old bag she is, and decide to leave us alone."

"I'll kill you."

It happened in a blur: Gorla dashed over to Mandy and wrapped her long-nailed fingers around her throat, squeezing as hard as she could. Dots began to swim before Mandy's eyes. She struggled and kicked vehemently.

"Don't struggle too hard!" Grim's voice called over the rushing in her ears. "Remember Lennie and Curley's wife!"

Mandy ground her teeth. "What a stupid reference," she tried to choke out.

There was another squelching sound, this one much closer to her ear- Gorla's hands slipped and slid around, and the woman cursed loudly. Mandy felt a grim sense of satisfaction; Gorla had squeezed her neck too hard, and had made leftover ectoplasm gush onto her hands, thus loosening her grip. Mandy jerked away and kicked the woman in the stomach.

The sight was almost comical. Gorla's body flew and smashed into the wall, while her head merely rolled off the bed and screamed in outrage on the floor. Mandy grabbed a fistful of Gorla's bright green dreadlocks and smashed the head into the wall as hard as she could, then slid out of bed and pressed her knee into the Undead woman's chest, crushing her slowly. Brownish gore oozed from Gorla's neck.

The smell of dead blood made Mandy even angrier. She lit into her, baring her teeth. Using her short nails, she dug into the woman's wound, blindly furious at her for all she was doing- all she had done. Pressure applied to the body's stomach or chest caused more brown blood to gush from her neck, and Mandy dug into her hatefully.

"Hm. Well, at least I'm thinner without all those troublesome organs removed," Gorla noted, grin twitching insanely.

"ZOMBIES AT THE WINDOW!" Billy blurted. "Boy, this zombie's goin' crazy as a 'nanner peeling festival." He tore his gaze from the window and noticed the sight before him. "Mandy, get Gorla out of here!" Billy screamed, apparently just noticing that the Undead fortune-teller was in the vicinity. "Please, Mandy..."

His voice was softer now. Weak with fear. And the fact that anyone could make Billy of all people use that tone, it made Mandy feel...

She stopped clawing at the dead (but not lifeless) body, waiting for the familiar rage to overwhelm her once again. It didn't. In its place was a strange, empty bitterness.

"Leave, Grim, and take Gorla with you," she heard herself say.

"I'm not going anywhere I don't want to," snapped Gorla, as Grim obediently dragged her head and body away. "I'll have the zombies tearing into your flesh in seconds flat..."

The door slammed shut.

"Are you puh-sy-kicks?"

Billy hugged Mandy gently, relief seeping into his every movement. Mandy prepared to shove him away after five seconds, but stood still as she felt him shaking. A few of his tears landed on the back of her neck. "I hates that ugly woman," he spat. Mandy looked up at him, and was surprised to see him scowling in helpless misery.

"You're ugly when you're upset," Mandy replied, moving away a foot or two. "Squinty eyes, flaring nostrils- I don't know why I bother."

"Deeheehee," Billy giggled, wiping a few tears away with the back of his hand. "'Cause you loves meh?"

Mandy slapped him. It did nothing to remove the smile that had once again affixed itself to his idiotic face. Softly, he laid his hand over the mark he'd left there the night before, and grinned at Mandy, looking pleased. It earned him another smack over the head, but of course, he didn't seem to care. "Hey, wanna gets married?"

"We're sixteen years old, Billy."

"Yeah," Billy admitted, "but we kissed! And, and we could start a food fight at the wedding, and then we could get a million of beds, and I could grab a urinal- and eat it! Hmm, whaddaya say?" He elbowed her side suggestively, chortling like the fool he was.

Mandy sat on the edge of her bed and absently watched the havoc outside. "I say you're a moron," she replied, her voice sharper than her stare.

The mattress moved up and down violently- Mandy turned to see what the disturbance was, and found Billy jumping on her bed. He was much taller than when he had last done this; each time he jumped, his head hit the ceiling. "Ouchies! Deeheehee. Ooh, I know! Let's us jump together!"

Before Mandy could come up with a decent warning, she felt a pair of hands grab beneath her armpits and lift her to a standing position. She glared at him. The mattress moved up and down beneath her feet.

"Aw, c'mon! All you gots to do is jump with me! Ouch!" Billy released another bout of giggles as his head smacked the ceiling.

"No," Mandy replied icily. The mattress gave one final movement, and her glare eased up a bit in surprise as she lost her footing, her balance compromised. "Billy," she had time to snap, "you-"

Wumpf. Her head connected with something warm, and decently firm: Billy's chest. She felt him grab ahold of her as he laughed gleefully. In an effort to stop jumping, Billy lost his own footing, and, still clinging to his friend, he toppled over onto the bed. Giggling all the way, of course.

His giggles tapered off suddenly. Mandy was laying beneath him, her hair mussed up, her chest heaving as she panted in his face. For a few moments, her eyes were wide, her eyebrows raised up in- surprise? Billy's eyelids drooped, his smile becoming wobbly and unfocused. A pleasant feeling began to swim throughout his body. Unthinkingly, he bowed his head and pressed his lips above her eyebrow.

Mandy felt her face flush. "Enough," she said, a warm, agreeable feeling beginning to spread from where his lips were.

She moved away, out from under him, and wiped off the bit of saliva he'd left. "You disgust me," she said frostily. Guilt tugged at her. You were enjoying it just as much as he was. Go on, admit it.

Mandy venomously refused to admit anything, no matter how obvious it was. She'd admitted enough when she'd kissed him a few weeks ago. Show no weakness, and never, ever succumb to pleasure, she thought, pushing the dregs of her hormone rush away.

On the other hand... she knew she had a soft spot for him, but that didn't necessarily mean everyone else had to know. If affection was shown in private, would it really do harm? Maybe it would provide an outlet for the troublesome... the appetite that he'd been displaying lately.

"Let's go downstairs."

-GABM-

"Pass the salt, Little Bitch." Gorla chewed loudly on a chicken bone, grinding it to dust between her sharp teeth. Mandy ignored her. "Well, then, you give me the salt, darling," Gorla addressed Billy.

Mandy opened her mouth to object, but Billy, squirming in his seat, had already obeyed. Gorla grabbed his hand halfway across the table. To everyone's shock, she sprinkled the idiot's hand itself with salt, then bit gently on it, causing beads of blood to appear. Mandy felt her face go livid. Billy let his hand drop limply on the tabletop after Gorla had finished.

"Don't you dare touch him. Ever." Mandy's voice was quiet, and her face was pale; however, she came across as anything but feeble. The sheer weight of malevolence in her voice fell like a shroud on the table's atmosphere. There were a few seconds of silence. Even Gorla's fanatical grin had vanished.

Billy lifted his hand from the table, seemingly just noticing that it was there, and began to shovel food into his mouth as if nothing had happened- his loud crunching, smacking noises broke the seriousness of the entire scene. Gorla's grin lit back up like a trick birthday candle. "No need to take offense, Little Bitch. I just missed the taste of his flesh. Surely you wouldn't be selfish enough to deprive him of-"

"His virginity? No, I wouldn't, even if I wanted to," Mandy snapped curtly.

"His virginity's long gone," Gorla smirked, reclining in her chair and waving a scarlet-nailed hand. "Biologically speaking. And you weren't half-bad, Billyboy! Great thing about boy virgins- boys're better the first time around."

Billy's face was bright red, and it looked rather unusual with no smile. There was no way Mandy could ever be sure of what was running through his pointless mind, but now, she guessed that he'd finally gotten a tiny inkling of what they were talking about. Gorla continued: "And I'd always wondered if nose size corresponded at all with- you know. I found-"

Mandy stood up quickly, rage burning wildly inside of her. "That's enough."

"Why? I don't see Billy protesting, and at the time, he didn't have any trouble keeping hard, so why?"

Mandy felt her heart thud. Each beat was unpredictably rapid, but loud enough to muffle everything else out. Her vision quietly darkened. A new, unfamiliar feeling swept her thoughts away, but she knew better, on instinct, than to struggle against it. Her mouth formed words all by itself, but she couldn't even tell whether it was a whisper or a scream that issued from her lips. Her limbs were weightless and alive, and Mandy forked over control to them, too, as Gorla's words left their imprint in her mind.

...And darkness overtook her.

-GABM-

"Pleeease-a! Pleasepleaseplease. Please, please, pleasepleasepleasepleasep-"

Mandy groaned. "Shut up, Billy."

"See, Grim? I tellsya, 'please' works on everything!"

Mandy blinked. She was slightly surprised to see herself coated and crispy with a brown substance. What'd she been doing? Rolling around in the mud? Her not-nose wrinkled slightly. It definitely smelled worse than mud... not that she cared about the impression she'd make on those two dolts. Realizing her hand was clutching something, she opened her fist- the "something" clanged to the floor. "A... steak knife," she said, monotone masking her confusion.

"Put two and two togedder, girl," Grim said wearily.

"She can't have died twice. Or are you dumb enough to believe even that, Grim?" Mandy replied coldly. On the inside, however, she wasn't feeling half as smooth. She had no idea how she'd gotten here, or what she'd done. But she was beginning to.

"You didn't kill her, Mandy. You destroyed her. Completely obliterated her, child! I didn't t'ink it was possible..."

"Try not to underestimate me," Mandy replied nonchalantly. "It leads to unpleasant things. For you."

"Yeah, I can see dat," Grim replied, his voice getting higher and girlier with fear. "Eh-heh, want ta go out for smoothies or somet'ing?" He put on his best smile and swallowed nervously.

"I suppose." Her eyes narrowed as she looked down at herself. "Though I may require a bath beforehand."

"Oooh, a bath!" Billy said excitedly. His spirits seemed much, much, much, much, much, much better now. Mandy suppressed possible feelings of relief. "I loves me some bathtime, even though I hate it! Takin' a bath! Can I helps?"

AN: I'd originally planned for Gorla to lurk around for much longer, before deciding that she's just too much of a bitch and that Mandy would tear her to shreds anyway. Yeah, this chapter didn't have much humor or fluff in it, which is kinda sad, because humor and fluff are what I live for. Don't worry, I'll throw a bunch of dirty sex jokes in your faces in my next update. And fluff. By JOVE, there shall be fluff!!!