Corpse Harvest, Chapter 10:

The other two groups had agreed to wait until the first group had returned from their task before they set out. It was a bit nerve-wracking to wait without knowing how well things were going out there, but their task had seemed simple enough. Angela calmed down when she realized that Hayden's group and the people staying at the inn would have more of a time worrying for Owen's and Cain's groups to return. These searches could take most of the day, after all.

Despite this, her concern flared up again as Hayden's group returned to the inn and set their weapons down. She stomped over to Hayden and asked, "Where's my brother?"

"Don't worry... Kevin's... making sure the fire will keep," Hayden said in an assuring tone, although there was something odd about the way he said that. "He kept the hoe with him, and we'll be keeping an ear open for him if he needs help."

"That idiot..." Angela growled under her breath. "But I guess it's for the best that someone keeps an eye on the fire. I just wish he told everyone before doing it."

"One of us would have still had to stay behind. Then we'd have to get the dead back over here again," Hayden pointed out. Angela dismissively shrugged at that comment and then changed the subject.

"So, now that you have your gun, are you going to take them out?" she asked.

"I'm going to hold off on that until the two search parties are back. We're in no rush so long as they're distracted below us, because they're real easy to get past. I figure we let the people who want closure have it instead of killing them during the heat of battle and denying that closure," Hayden said.

"Angela!" Owen called out. "We're distributing the weapons!"

"Gotta go!" Angela exclaimed as she hurried over to that corner of the room, where the two search parties had convened. Cain was already holding his rifle.

"Do you really need that? There are no zombies in the Flute Fields!" Owen said with a scowl.

"If you're assuming it all started here. Just because it's not on the news doesn't mean our village was the source of this. It could have begun in one of the neighboring villages and those people could have wandered to the fields by now," Cain said. "Besides, the fields are open. If anyone's in danger, I can help them so long as the hills aren't in the way."

"Fair enough," Owen said, but he didn't sound pleased. He picked up Angela's sledgehammer and rested it over his shoulder. Angela picked up her woodcutting axe. That just left the spear and the four short polearms- enough to arm the rest of the group.

"I'm not sure how I feel about this..." Calvin said as he looked at the spear in his hands.

"Hit their eyes or jab it through the mouth in an upward angle," Jin said from the kitchen. He was calmly preparing tea, but also apparently listening in on their conversations.

"There are just two of them at the mines. You probably won't have to use it," Phoebe said to Calvin. Nobody wanted to point out that she had excluded her mother.

With the two groups ready to set out, Hayden and Kathy gathered some pots and spoons from the kitchen. The groups left the inn and began making their way out of town. The mine cart would now only be used to tote the bodies from the mines district to the bonfire, so there was no reason to head back towards the church. The zombies began to move towards the fleeing groups, but Hayden and Kathy began shouting and banging the spoons on the pots, making a clamor that drew the undead back towards them. The two groups went their separate ways at the crossroads near Angela's property. Not a single word was said between the groups- their minds were set on their mission.

Angela didn't even glance at her farm as they passed it. She had set out extra food for her animals the day before, and they were likely fine right now. Checking on them, even for a moment, would make a distraction that would trouble her for the rest of the day, just like it had when she saw them yesterday. As they approached the bridge to the Garmon Mines district, Phoebe spoke up.

"You're not planning to kill Mira and Ramsey, are you?" she asked sternly. "There's been enough bloodshed."

"Phoebe... they're not human anymore," Angela sighed.

"You don't know that!" she snapped back.

"What we do know is that they'll attack anything that's alive to try and eat it, no matter who or what that may be. I see no hesitation in their actions. I see no emotions on their face. I just see a cold and mindless drive to consume," Owen said lowly.

"Maybe their minds are warped in some way? Eating to them may be a sign of affection or something!" Phoebe suggested, her voice becoming more flustered.

"Even if that is the case..." Calvin said calmly as he placed a hand on Phoebe's shoulder. "...I don't think we can turn back what happened to them. They're carrying around injuries no living person could survive. I'm sure you caught a whiff of the crowd by the inn when we left... living people can't smell like that, no matter how dirty they get. Even if their minds are like how you suggest they are... that sounds like irreversible brain damage. They're not coming back."

Phoebe lowered her head and did not respond to that. The group crossed the bridge and walked towards the buildings past the carpenter's. Chloe's body was still on the ground, but it had been picked at by Mira and Ramsey overnight.

"I'll go look around for some towels or trash bags or something..." Owen said with pain and disgust.

"Wait a minute..." Angela said, pointing at the Accessory Store. Ramsey and Mira were standing in front of the door, pounding on it.

"Is someone in there?" Phoebe asked with concern.

"I don't see why else they'd be trying to get in," Calvin said.

Owen stepped forward and made a sharp whistle, catching the attention of the two zombies. While Mira looked in their direction for a bit, she soon returned to pounding at the door. Ramsey, however, shambled towards the group. Without hesitation, Owen walked forward and thrust the hammer into his grandfather's gut, knocking him over in a suitable position to follow up with a blow to the head. Angela ran forward and drove the axe into Mira's skull before she could try and attack Owen.

"I'll check in the carpenter's for something to wrap the bodies in," Calvin said as he went towards that building. The other three stared at the door of the Accessory Store with trepidation. Who could be in there? After a bit of waiting for any sound, Owen walked forward and grasped the doorknob. He slowly turned it and pulled, and the door creaked open...

Inside was a young woman wearing black leggings, a short pink skirt, and a black blouse. Her hair was long and white, the tips of her hair curling up. She was humming a tune to herself as she sifted through the various jewelry on display, being careful not to cut herself on the broken glass on the cases. The girl was Vivi... the Witch.

Vivi spun around to face the confused three standing in the doorway. She has holding exquisite earrings in each hand, one earring gold with rubies, and the other silver with sapphires. She held the earrings up her ears.

"What do you think looks better, hmm?" she asked the three. "The silver matches my hair, but the gold matches my eyes..."

"You're stealing those," Owen said as he glared at her.

"You meet another survivor and you're already taking the moral high ground?" she asked as she raised an eyebrow. "This isn't stealing. You just killed the woman that crafted them. Nobody owns this store anymore."

"I'm sorry, what?" Owen asked incredulously.

"Calm down, Owen," Angela said. She turned to face Vivi. "Where the hell did you come from?"

"The woods, obviously," Vivi said in a disinterested manner as she placed the earrings back on the counter. It was obvious she wasn't getting any help from these three.

"I know where you live already," Angela snapped at her. "Why did you come out of your hut? Surely you noticed the dead walking around?"

"I waited for the hubbub to die down. It was probably a messy day for all of you. So I waited until night. I came here because there was stuff I wanted. Those two trapped me in there, but I didn't mind. It just gave me more time to decide on what looks best on me," she said as she rubbed a pink jewel on a necklace she was wearing. The necklace definitely looked like Mira's handiwork.

"Wait, how did you know what was happening outside of the forest?" Phoebe asked.

"Because I helped make all of this happen, that's why!" Vivi exclaimed with a bright smile, but malice was easily readable from her eyes.

"You did what? Who helped you!?" Owen growled as he took an aggressive step towards her.

"There's no reason for me to divulge that information. Besides, you didn't even help me pick what earrings looked best on me," Vivi said dismissively with a mock pout.

"You... you killed Ramsey! You killed Chloe! YOU'LL PAY FOR THIS!" Owen roared as he raised the sledgehammer and swung it downward at Vivi. The witch simply held up a hand, and the hammer bounced off an invisible force, briefly visible as a blue film upon impact.

"I suggest you leave this store right now," Vivi said coldly. So her title wasn't just because of her weird hobbies. The revelation of magic would have come as a great shock if the walking dead had not already dulled their senses. One impossible thing already happened, so what was another impossible thing on top of that?

Calvin was walking back towards the Accessory Store, some garbage bags in hand, when he saw Owen, Angela, and Phoebe fly out of the store like something had thrown them back. He dropped the bags and ran over to help them back up. He glanced towards the store to see the witch walking out of it.

"I don't know why you're getting so mad at me. I just helped a friend in need. I mean, I might as well take advantage of the opportunities this outbreak created, but that certainly wasn't the plan when I helped out," Vivi said with a shrug.

"Well, until I get a name, I'm blaming you!" Owen shouted as he stood back up and charged at Vivi. The witch simply waved her fingers about and then Owen suddenly fell backwards and began writing on the ground as he attempted to get back up but could not.

"You heartless bitch!" Phoebe hissed. "How could you do this to the people of the village? What if this spreads to other places? What if the whole world is contaminated with this?"

"Then that means I can just take whatever I want!" Vivi giggled. Her cheerful countenance suddenly became quite icy as she glared at Phoebe. "And I do not. Appreciate. Being called that."

Calvin and Angela were about to attack Vivi, but she did the same thing that she did to Owen. Angela groveled on the ground as she tried to get up and attack her, to try and get more information out of her, but it was no use. It felt as if her limbs were responding, they just weren't responding correctly. Why was Phoebe left alone? Was it because her weapon was strapped to her back, out of view?

"We're all armed here!" Phoebe exclaimed as she took the small polearm out from its placement between her belt and her shorts.

"I know. I just don't care. What I do care about it that you insulted me, so I will end your life," Vivi said as she began waving her fingers about again. Phoebe ran towards the witch to try and stop her before the spell went off, but it was too late. She suddenly stopped in place and dropped her weapon as if in a trance.

"Well, this was fun and all, but I have to go now!" Vivi exclaimed in a singsong voice as she briefly went into the Accessory Store and took the earrings she put down earlier. She strolled over to the mine cart and pressed the button to call it over to the mines district.

"Maybe one of you will get out of the bind you're in. You'll need this for all the bodies if that's the case. Don't say I didn't do anything nice for you!" she added before she took off into the forest, waving goodbye at the incapacitated survivors.

What an exhausting day, Phoebe thought to herself as she left the mines and walked back to her home. She had excavated quite a bit of ore that she was excited to get refined, but it was too late in the day to get it all done, for Mira had closed her store by now. She briefly considered stopping by the Ocarina Inn to hang out with Calvin, but the town was quite a ways away. No, it was probably better to just get home and relax.

Phoebe felt a chill run down her spine as she walked to her home. The wind was picking up, and she had the impression of faint voices carried on the wind, crying out her name. She felt incredibly disturbed at this, but surely it was just her mind playing tricks on her. All the more reason to hurry home.

The window of the General Store was open, and she could smell that her mom had made a nice home-cooked meal. Any unease she was feeling had been erased by the promise of a comfortable evening at home, getting nice and warm by the fireplace while having some stew. She opened the door to her home and paused briefly, frowning as the sensation of those ethereal voices returned. They were quite restless now.

"Welcome home, dear!" Barbara exclaimed with a warm smile. Phoebe felt all of the disquiet wash away as she ran up to her mom and embraced her...

ALIVE

Angela, Anissa, Cain, Calvin, Candace, Hanna, Hayden, Jin, Julius, Kathy, Kevin, Owen, Perry, Renee, Ruth, Selena, the Wizard (not present), Kasey (not present), Molly (not present)

DEAD

Chase, Chloe, Colleen, Gill, Irene, Jake, Maya, Mira, Paolo, Pascal, Ramsey, Samson, Simon, Taylor, Yolanda

UNDEAD

Barbara, Craig, Hamilton, Luna, Ozzie, Phoebe, Shelly, Sue

LOST

Bo, Dale, Luke, Toby, Vivi