Twenty-eight

I don't know why I felt the need to go search for her, the first most likely place would be her room. maybe she went there for some privacy, but my gut instinct or werewolf instinct or wherever that thing is that makes your hair stand on end and your adrenaline start pumping around your body when you feel it in your bones that shit is about to get real. So I didn't check in her room, instead I went to the laundry room, to see if I could hear her maybe she was having a cosy little chat with a ghost in the basement and she had made an excuse to Tori to be alone. I just wanted to be sure, because my skin was starting to prickle with awareness. I could hear things, eerie things.

She had to be in there, otherwise she had awoken the undead and left them there which seemed overly irresponsible for anyone to do. How do you kill the undead, Derek? How do you propose you're going to fix this? I prayed Chloe was there, though I know this sounds weird but I could smell her, she smelt scared. The wolf, in me I guess, could detect the fear, I crept in, I could see a match and hear a muffled scream that set my fists clenching so hard I could feel my almost non-existent nails making dents in my palms.

I could see them, actual corpses slithering along the ground reaching for something. Her. I could see the gleaming kernel white of their bones flashing indecently through ragged clothing, the tiniest bit of hair still hanging on to their glaringly bright skulls. Fuck me, she was powerful. I swallowed as I heard her scream again, she was clearly petrified, I could smell urine and I didn't blame her. I heard her kick with all her strength, I could almost feel the force and might she put behind it as she snapped the skeletal being right in the head giving me a clear-ish view of her. I was proud for a second, didn't think she had it in her. She was small but big. And then she took off and taking a deep breath I scuttled after her like a little beetle because though the kick had helped I could still hear them gathering their strength to take off after her again and they needed to be gone. As in dead again, now preferably.

"Chloe. Stop!" I called, though that just made her go faster. "It's- fuck!" Jesus! She kicked me hard as she could in the ribs, I gasped in pain, that hurt. I wrapped my hand around her arm and as she aimed her other one I gripped that too preventing any further assault, she squirmed as I yanked her off balance. "Chloe, it's me, Derek." And she collapsed into me, while I found her gag and ripped it off, I tried to be gentle. And I wanted to comfort her, I really did, she's so little and surprisingly brave and she didn't deserve this but there were dead people literally coming to get us and we needed to fix this pronto.

"Th-there's-"

"Dead people, I know. They must have been buried down here. You accidentally raised them." This was not the time to beat around the bush.

"R-raised?" She looked up at me, fear and disbeelief at war in her round blue eyes. I wish we had time for me to reassure her, even to give her more time to come to terms with what she had done but. . .

"Later. Right now, you need to. . . " Chloe left, not walked out but her ind was occupied with something else, them I guess, the corpses, as I could hear them approaching, it took all my willpower not to shake her out of it. "Chloe, focus!" I pulled her closer trying to think of the words that would make her understand how critical this situation was and to give her back some perspective. I wasn't that much of a dick that I couldn't see that this would make anyone almost lose their mind, "They won't hurt you. They aren't brain-eating movie zombies, okay? They're just dead bodies with their spirits returned to them."

If possible she looked even more terrified, "I-I need to send them back." She gulped loudly, evidently horrified about what she had done, I wanted to tell her it wasn't her fault, that she didn't know but the words got stuck in my throat. We had more important things to deal with.

"Yeah, that'd be the general idea." Keep it lighthearted, I tried for my trademark sarcasm and failed miserably, my ability to keep calm in most situations was starting to fail me.

"O-okay, so how do I send them back?"

"Derek?"

"I ... I don't know." I shook it off, rolling my shoulders, i hate saying those words and it only ever happens around her. "You summoned them, Chloe. Whatever you did, undo it. Reverse it."

"I didn't do -"

"Just try."

She closed her pretty eyes, they were honestly even prettier in the dark, bluer, bigger. "Go back. Back to your afterlife. I release you." She repeated the words like a mantra, her pink lips forming them carefully and cleary, she meant them, she put all her energy into them like she was making the most important birthday wish in her life, I could see it, tiny sweat beads formed on her forehead, glistening as they slid down her face and I. . . I wanted to kiss her. I don't know why. She's pretty and nice, but she was clearly having a crisis, was possibly mentally unstable (I know I was), she had dirt streaks on her pale skin and had just wet herself and I wanted to kiss her. More than I had ever wanted to kiss anyone in my life. Maybe it was because she was scared, and I have apparently developed some foolish fetish for damsel in distresses, is what Simon has contagious? Is this another thing I am going to have to Google? I miss being smart and sarcastic. Things used to be so simple, there was definitely a lack of alert corpses.

"Help. Help."

My throat went dry. The voice was right behind her. "Shit," I tightened my hands around her forearms, I could feel her whole body stiffen at the sound of the voice or my hold, but all trivial thoughts of wanting to kiss her flew right out of my mind.

"Keep your eyes closed, Chloe. Just remember, they won't hurt you," I said, trying to convinvce myself as well as her, I was too afraid to shut my eyes though I desperately wanted to, a bony finger reached out gingerly to touch her and she jumped, I gripped her even tighter pulling her closer to me."It's okay, Chloe. I'm right here. Keep going."

I could see the fingers slither on her arm and poke, prod her shirt, her back. I breathed deeply, struggling to keep my composure, reassuring myself in my mind. It's ok, she's ok, it'll be gone soon, it's ok, she's ok. She's ok. Deep breaths. Deep breaths. I could feel her focusing, her breathing matched mine,and I found myself thinking these were the kind of experiences that bonded people for life. Though I was sure Chloe would run a mile from any bond we might share, breathe in, out. Again. I could feel she was making progress, so I offered up generic words of encouragement unsure if she even heard then finally . . . "They're gone, Chloe," I whispered.

She stopped and then twisted sideways, the corpse fell, an empty shell,

collapsing at her feet.

I let out a long, deep breath, running my hands through my hair, resisting the urge to pull it clean out, trying to find some semblance of sanity. I looked at her and she was just Chloe, it was strange I didn't want to kiss her anymore perhaps it was just stress. No, her and Simon were made for each other. "Are you okay?" I asked, ashamed slightly of how long it took me to ask, though the question, given the ordeal we had so recently endured, felt incredibly inadequate but Simon would have enquired instantly.

"I'll live."

I looked at the body."Guess we've got some work to do."