SIX: TOBIAS

5:19 P.M.

"Ok. We're here," Jake said. "What's so important we had to come back to the barn?"

I wished I knew myself. I found Cassie at Marco's place some time ago and out of nowhere, she told me to get the others. Both of them actually.

When I asked why, all Marco said was "It's very important. So go get them. Pronto! What are you waiting for?! Go Bird-Boy! GO!"

I don't think I have ever seen Marco this bad. Ever.

"Ok, Marco can be borderline paranoid," Rachel said after I explained that to Jake, Rachel and Ax. "But not that paranoid."

(Where are they now?) Ax asked.

(I don't know. They just flew off without telling me where they were heading,) I replied.

Jake narrowed his eyes - his sense of being a leader was upfront as usual but with some concern present. It was very unlike those two. Especially those two. "This day couldn't get any more confusing."

(Things have gotten exceedingly unclear since that human approached us. Were you able to find the Chee?)

"Oh, that's another hurdle altogether. I went to see Erek's dad but he hasn't seen Erek all morning."

(That is a little unlike him,) I said.

Jake plopped his head against a beam with a tired look. "You know… I really was hoping today would just be a normal day. Just relax by the beach without a care in the world."

(Has there ever been a normal day for us?) I jested. I noticed Rachel was quiet. (Rachel?)

"Hm?"

(Are you okay?)

The entire time we've been waiting, Rachel sat on a bale of hay, staring at the floor. It was easy to tell something was on her mind.

"I'm ok," she replied, a bit too quickly. "...I just can't stop thinking."

(About the accident?)

(It was beyond anyone's control,) Ax reminded us. (We have gone through many losses that we couldn't stop. Lamenting will not change anything.)

"Yeah… I know. I know..." Rachel stared back to the floor. I know she was affected by the accident like the rest of us but I didn't think it'd affected her that badly.

Jake groaned out of frustration. "That's it. Tobias, can you go find them again?"

(No need. I see them outside,) I told the others. (Uh...)

It was something from a chase scene in a Nickelodeon sitcom. Marco and Cassie were still finishing up their demorphing but already, they ran to the barn.

"Jake!" Marco was the first to reach the barn. Completely out of breath. "Dude...! It's...insane!"

Cassie made one peek out before closing the doors. Why? I was here as their lookout. I didn't see anyone following them.

"You guys ok?" Jake asked. "You look like you've seen a ghost."

"Ghost," Marco droned. But not in his usual way. In fact, he looked very confused. "Oh. You have no idea."

"You won't believe what we saw," Cassie exclaimed. "I'm still in shock."

"Jake," Rachel started. "Can you do something about this? I think Marco's craziness has rubbed off on Cassie."

"What's gotten into you two?" Jake asked. "You're jumpier than usual."

The rest of us agreed. Even alarming that the ones with the most reasoning in our group were having a freakout in front of us. They were basically rambling that we couldn't digest anything they said.

"Ok. Before you all go "we were seeing things", know that we're telling the truth. Cassie saw her. I saw her too. So we're both not losing our minds."

"Who are you talking about?" Jake asked again.

Marco glanced at Cassie, who nodded at him - having a look that said it was now or never. They then burst it out together.

"Elle's alive!" and "That girl's alive!"

Those exact words didn't sit on us for a few seconds. The more we thought about it, the more we didn't believe it.

"Wait. What?" Jake exclaimed.

"The girl we saw at the construction site? She's alive," Marco said again.

(So...she survived the car crash,) I said.

Rachel was relieved hearing that. "Thank goodness. She's alright."

"Which means we can get our answers from her," Jake pointed and turned back to our two jumpy friends. "Did you find out which hospital they took her to?"

"No. No. You really, really don't understand," Marco uttered. "She didn't go to any hospital. She came straight to my place."

"What do you mean?"

"If this is a joke, I don't get the punchline," Rachel snapped.

"It's not," Cassie defended. "Right after the accident, she was doing her usual delivery."

(Delivery?) I repeated.

"Yes. She works as a delivery girl. Anyway, she went to Marco's house."

"Yeah. My house," Marco snapped, trying to bring us to the gravity of the news. "Debbie Darko came to my house to give me my takeout for dinner."

"Debbie Darko?" It was the first time Rachel and even Cassie - from the look on their faces - had heard that name. "Ok, Marco. That's kinda uncalled for. She has a name."

"I didn't make that name," Marco defended. "That's not the point here! This girl is alive. And she claims she wasn't at the site."

"She wasn't?" Jake said.

"Yeah. Doesn't help that she has this big bandage on her forehead. That's way too convenient after what happened to her."

(Wait a minute,) I started. (So, what? This is another Elle?)

(Highly improbable,) Ax counterattacked. (That would imply it's an Andalite. And I doubt this could have something to do with Visser Three.)

"Yeeeah. The Yeerks chasing him for stealing a device in a human form?" Rachel said. "That sounds like a very elaborate way. With no reason why he would have done it."

(Precisely. Also, I do not need to say this but I was with you as well. So it is not someone with morphing powers.)

"We weren't implying it was you, Ax," Jake explained.

(My apology, Prince Jake, for the 'snappy remark'. There is probably a more logical answer to this enigma.)

"Yeah. And I know what it is. She's a zombie."

"A what?" Rachel exclaimed at Marco's outburst.

"A zombie. There's no other explanation."

"Not helping yourself, Marco."

Yeah, Marco was alone on this one. Cassie didn't quite agree with what he said. Nobody agreed with him.

I've read horror books about the undead before. Pet Sematary by Stephen King is one good example. But the idea that someone is a zombie was already ridiculous. We have an invasion of parasitic slugs taking over the world, for goodness's sake.

But I did think it was a little scary. I could imagine that Asian-American girl with glassy eyes and limbs contorted in horrible angles. She drags herself away from the accident, searching for human brains to feast on. And that was ours.

Yikes. Gave my feathers a ruffle.

"Really, man?" Jake said. "That's like in games and movies. You can't honestly think she's a real-life zombie."

"Alright. How do you explain her walking from the accident and delivering takeout to my house like it was nothing?" Marco exclaimed.

"Well…" Jake tried to think of something. But he looked defeated and grumbled, "I really don't want a second invasion on top of the first."

"Look. It's simple," Rachel stepped in. "We thought she died but she didn't."

"Seriously?" Marco uttered. "I saw exactly what I saw."

"What you thought you saw. We were in the middle of a Yeerk chase. We had our priorities all over the place. Elle probably came out with just a bump. That's it."

"But...we saw the accident," Cassie pushed.

I agreed with Rachel on that one detail but I couldn't deny what I saw. Cassie had seen her fair shares of injuries - from the animals she tended in the barn to those on ours whenever we were in battle. She knew just how physical trauma should be and what the cause was.

The impact that girl had on the car and the road… We've barely gotten out of danger by the hair of our teeth with broken bones and hanging intestines. But could a human really just walk off from a car crash like that?

"A bump. That wasn't a bump," Marco exclaimed. "Or are you saying the Yeerks somehow patched her up and let her off on her merry way?"

"I mean..." Rachel tried to think of something. An elaborate cover-up like that? It was clear she found that hard to believe. "I dunno! I got nothing."

"Wait… You don't think a Yeerk can control a dead body, do you?"

"Marco. There's no such thing as zombies. Elle didn't die in that accident," she continued irately.

(Rachel is correct,) Ax said. (A Yeerk needs a functioning and active brain for them to have complete control. It cannot control the dead, or a vegetable host for that matter.)

"We don't know if she was-" Cassie stopped herself. "Is a Controller."

(Or maybe she's a freed Controller?) I suggested. (She somehow escaped but now she's back with a Yeerk in her head.)

"Are we sure she has anything to do with The Sharing?" she continued. "The Yeerks didn't care about her at the accident. They wanted that device."

"Of course they wouldn't care about her. They got one problem solved without having to lift a finger." Marco got a glance from Cassie for the insensitive remark. "It's the Yeerks. They're the bad guys," he defended himself.

"I think what Cassie's saying is why make her a Controller again after everything?" Jake added. "They could have just left her for dead. But they're making an effort to keep her around?"

(It's meaningless. There are too many holes in that line of logic,) Ax said.

"Makes you want to get the answers straight from the horse's mouth," Marco grumbled. "But we all know that's not possible."

"Ok, ok…" Jake tried to focus, taking in and out one deep breath. "We might as well investigate the root of the problem. Where's Elle right now?"

"She's at her family restaurant. Yan Fú Wok."

"Yan Fú Wok?" Jake had a grim look on his face. "My family orders from there."

"Same with my family," Rachel added. "It's actually how Cassie and I know Elle from. She does the deliveries herself."

"So she delivers to mine, yours, Cassie's and Marco's… I don't like the sound of that," he offered.

"Why?" Cassie asked. "We've all ordered from the same restaurant. That's not something strange."

"Maybe not. But it might explain something else. She came to us at the site today. All six of us."

"And you think she figured our secret out just because she's our delivery girl?" Marco asked. "That's…" He started off as if he found that idea more outrageous than his zombie theory. Until it slowly hit him. "Actually possible."

"You said she claims she wasn't at the site. Could she be acting? Did she say something out of the ordinary?" Jake then asked.

Marco thought about it more. "I asked her questions. Nothing about us... She told me she passed it this morning and that she doesn't use the route there for her deliveries."

"Doesn't mean she couldn't have gone there this afternoon. She might still be pretending."

(In other words, this Yeerk survived the accident and is waiting for the right moment to catch us when we least expect it,) Ax stated.

"Ax-man. I think that moment left my doorstep like thirty minutes ago. More importantly, would a Yeerk still come after us after all that?"

"I know. There's a lot of unanswered questions here. But it's something we can't rule out," Jake explained.

"I don't like the sound of Elle being a Controller, though. She's always this bubbly person but," Rachel said. "You could be right about that being a possibility."

(Well. One thing is for sure,) I said to them. (Looks like we're heading to Yan Fú Wok then.)

A/N: Would it be interesting to have like say a Walking Dead/Animorphs crossover? Or a crossover with any zombie-related story that would just sell Marco's line of "She's a zombie!"? XD I don't think I can write such a crossover myself because of how much thought, research and brainstorm has to go but if anyone tries, greatest kudos and big brain to you, writer.

Anyhow, here we are, at the edge of the rabbit's hole. It's gonna be one dozy drop once these kids take the plunge.

I wanna drop a thank you to the readers who are giving this fic a chance and I'm also grateful to hear how engrossed the start is. Makes me happy because I was afraid that even after a massive change in the plot, it might still confuse the readers like previous versions and make them lose interest completely. With how simplified the plot's being handled, I am more confident that I'm on the right track with the direction. Granted, there may be one or two confusing things but I assure you, there's a purpose behind them and it will be explained 'in another time'. ;)

15/10/20 - Initial upload. Fixed lines.