I was woken up by a fairly loud explosion. If the zombies weren't out to eat me, I know they were out to create an environment that was impossible to get a normal sleep in. I walked downstairs and looked to see what had happened. Sharon and the baker were down there too. Apparently, the explosion had come from some weird looking wizard boy trying to fend off a zombie. He looked like he was trying to cast another spell, but got his wand bitten off by the zombie. The wizard boy tried running towards us, but his knocks against the glass door did nothing but annoy us. "You fools! Help me! I'm the Chosen One! I'm Harry Potter!" He wasn't able to complain much longer after that since the zombie had grabbed his spine by its teeth and ripped it out.
We all got a kick out of that. I think Sharon used some old cliché along the lines of "kids these days" while the eating was taking place. Since we were up anyways, the baker got us a few donuts and went in the back to make some more. Sharon and I sat down at our usual table. "So, it looks like things went pretty well yesterday."
"Yeah. I didn't get much, but you have to expect those kinds of days."
"I wouldn't know what that's like. We had boring days back at the pizza place, but I'm sure that was nothing."
"Yesterday was basically nothing. Mostly baking, racing and observation. I may have to check back at the house again today to see which unfortunate fool gets it this time."
"Nothing at all? All that came out of your new guy's mouth was just trash?"
There was a slight pause as something came back into my mind. "Oh, there was one thing. I completely forgot about it until now. The guy was talking about that band, the Runaway Five. I guess they helped him get where he was and would know something. I'll have to go to them today, but time really is running out pretty quickly. I must have less time than most people spend watching TV nowadays."
"You always seem to find something, Strong. Don't expect anything, but I'll see if I can do anything too."
"That would help, but I wouldn't want you to do too much. Especially with all the early sunset business now."
"I know. With all these slow days around here, I've probably watched that more closely than you have."
Later that morning, I was lucky enough to see a cab going by. I was already outside, so I got it to stop and got in. Thankfully, the chain of luck didn't stop and the cab was empty.
Later that morning, I was lucky enough to see a cab going by. I was already outside, so I got it to stop and got in. Thankfully, the chain of luck didn't stop and the cab was empty. "Hey, how you doin," the cabbie asked. It was the same one I had last time.
"Pretty good. You?"
"Same old. Driving the cab, almost got drunk by the undead."
"True. True." Not wanting to get off-track, I quickly changed the subject. "So, some guy I was talking to last night told me to go to these people."
"What kind of people? Mafia people? Religious people?"
"No, these people that should know stuff on the zombie crap. You ever heard of the Runaway Five?"
"Heard of them? I grew up on their stuff."
"Yeah, apparently they got a bit. You know where they are?"
"Sure. Let me take you there."
We were there within a few minutes. I handed the cabbie the cash then knocked on the plain-looking door that I never would have guessed belonged to them. "Hey, what do you want?", some guy sang in response to my knock. I tried to introduce myself, but wasn't able to say anything before he went on with his song. "What do you want, wa-ant. Come in and sit on the couch, oh on the couch." There was a bit of a do-wop, which I love, in there but I had to do something. I smacked him in the face, kneed him in the gut for a while and threw him into a bush.
I saw someone familiar staring from the hall inside. "Sorry, he was off-key."
"Oh, it's fine. That's just our butler. We call him Mr. Cheese." The guy looked at the bush and threw a mop at the lifeless body of the butler. "He'll know what to do with that later. I'm Lucky, come in."
I went in and sat on that couch the butler was singing about. "Hi Lucky, I'm Captain Strong of the Onett police force. I heard you had a bit to say about the zombie situation here."
"Sure. I knew it wasn't the same thing we had been through before. The band was doing a show out in Fourside and we got a weird-looking crowd that night. After the show, a few of them came in. One of them went straight to out our temporary drummer that night and looked him straight in the eyes. No conversation at all and he just froze. It's like they looked him right in the soul and flipped the switch down. Then the same thing happened to me and I'm not sure what happened after that."
"That's all? I should just avoid eye contact?"
"Yeah, that's it. You're the one who came to me, so don't complain."
"Well, the guy I went to made it sound like you knew it all. Oh well, he was a bit of a nut job."
"If you want more, there are these guys next door that should know something."
"Thanks. I can't waste this extra time," I said, checking my watch. It was 11:30. I went next door and read the sheet of paper on the door. It told me the door was unlocked and to come in, so I did that. There was no floor. It was all dirt with nothing else in there but a giant hole. I climbed down the ladder with my flashlight in my left hand. When I got down, I saw that the tunnel I was in was surprisingly well-lit so I put the flashlight away. I slowly went through the series of tunnels, ready to shoot anything in there. When I got to the end of the set I was in, there were two more tunnels I could have gone through. For some reason, both were blocked by monkeys. One of them came up to me and must have been trying to tell me something, but I had no idea what he was trying to say. I needed to get a bit more information, so I pushed him out of the way. Apparently, he didn't like this and he started running at me. I kicked him in the head and ran down the hall.
I reached another set of monkey tunnels and shot one in the head and ran down his hall. This repeated a few times until I reached an unguarded door with an enormous group of monkeys going after me. I opened the door, went in and put a nearby chair against it. Inside the room, there were two men. One was a younger looking Dalaamese kid. The other was an older looking aged man, both levitating. The older looking one came up to me and said, "I am Talah Rama. This is Prince Poo of Dalaam. I know what you seek, Captain Strong."
"Is my badge really that easy to read? I always thought the other towns had better badges."
"Yes, it is easy to read. Now, sit with us. In order to get the information you desire, you must contact the Mu."
I had heard about this Mu stuff before but never was very fond of it. I sat down anyways and got in the position they were in. "Now, how do I get to this Mu?"
"Your body must be at total peace. The Mu will find you. You do not find the Mu." I quickly hid the weird look of confusion and disapproval on my face. I tried getting into the state of mind described, but wasn't able to do it. After a while when my mind had gone onto other typical daydream thoughts, Talah Rama opened his Muriffic mouth. "I knew what you came in for the instant you opened the door. I now know what you must do. You must go to the hotel. But I feel that the Mu may have more to say."
I opened my eyes because I knew if I had waited much longer with my eyes closed, I would have fallen asleep. But I probably would have been woken up by something that happened shortly before the Talah Rama's advice. Prince Poo let out a brief scream and I looked over to him to see what it was. Two zombies had entered the room and the first had no problem taking down Poo. The second one went after Talah Rama while the first was munching on some brain. Talah Rama went out of his meditation after Poo was attacked. I ran out of the room without any attempts by the zombies to get to me.
I worked my way through the hallway leading to the Talah Rama's room, which was full of bloodied monkey bodies now and parts of those monkey bodies. I ran through the rest of the tunnels navigating mainly by instinct. I shot down a zombie in the first hall with the ladder and climbed that faster than anything else I've ever climbed. I looked at the front door, which I was confident I had shut. I had shut it. It had been broken down. It was only one O'clock. I ran out and it was pitch black outside. I saw a group of zombies breaking through the side of a house about a block down. I saw a blonde, geeky kid on some big mechanical device near that house. It looked like one of those huge lasers the bad guys use in the movies. The kid wasn't able to do anything with it. He was knocked off the machine and got eaten. He must have been Andouts's kid. Every other local inventor had gotten eaten.
A familiar black van pulled up. "Yo foo, get in."
I obeyed the T's command and jumped into the van. "What's going on?"
"It's started. From now until sunrise November 1st, we ain't seein no sun. It looks like this gives those undead suckas a bit more. It's October 30th."
We all got a kick out of that. I think Sharon used some old cliché along the lines of "kids these days" while the eating was taking place. Since we were up anyways, the baker got us a few donuts and went in the back to make some more. Sharon and I sat down at our usual table. "So, it looks like things went pretty well yesterday."
"Yeah. I didn't get much, but you have to expect those kinds of days."
"I wouldn't know what that's like. We had boring days back at the pizza place, but I'm sure that was nothing."
"Yesterday was basically nothing. Mostly baking, racing and observation. I may have to check back at the house again today to see which unfortunate fool gets it this time."
"Nothing at all? All that came out of your new guy's mouth was just trash?"
There was a slight pause as something came back into my mind. "Oh, there was one thing. I completely forgot about it until now. The guy was talking about that band, the Runaway Five. I guess they helped him get where he was and would know something. I'll have to go to them today, but time really is running out pretty quickly. I must have less time than most people spend watching TV nowadays."
"You always seem to find something, Strong. Don't expect anything, but I'll see if I can do anything too."
"That would help, but I wouldn't want you to do too much. Especially with all the early sunset business now."
"I know. With all these slow days around here, I've probably watched that more closely than you have."
Later that morning, I was lucky enough to see a cab going by. I was already outside, so I got it to stop and got in. Thankfully, the chain of luck didn't stop and the cab was empty.
Later that morning, I was lucky enough to see a cab going by. I was already outside, so I got it to stop and got in. Thankfully, the chain of luck didn't stop and the cab was empty. "Hey, how you doin," the cabbie asked. It was the same one I had last time.
"Pretty good. You?"
"Same old. Driving the cab, almost got drunk by the undead."
"True. True." Not wanting to get off-track, I quickly changed the subject. "So, some guy I was talking to last night told me to go to these people."
"What kind of people? Mafia people? Religious people?"
"No, these people that should know stuff on the zombie crap. You ever heard of the Runaway Five?"
"Heard of them? I grew up on their stuff."
"Yeah, apparently they got a bit. You know where they are?"
"Sure. Let me take you there."
We were there within a few minutes. I handed the cabbie the cash then knocked on the plain-looking door that I never would have guessed belonged to them. "Hey, what do you want?", some guy sang in response to my knock. I tried to introduce myself, but wasn't able to say anything before he went on with his song. "What do you want, wa-ant. Come in and sit on the couch, oh on the couch." There was a bit of a do-wop, which I love, in there but I had to do something. I smacked him in the face, kneed him in the gut for a while and threw him into a bush.
I saw someone familiar staring from the hall inside. "Sorry, he was off-key."
"Oh, it's fine. That's just our butler. We call him Mr. Cheese." The guy looked at the bush and threw a mop at the lifeless body of the butler. "He'll know what to do with that later. I'm Lucky, come in."
I went in and sat on that couch the butler was singing about. "Hi Lucky, I'm Captain Strong of the Onett police force. I heard you had a bit to say about the zombie situation here."
"Sure. I knew it wasn't the same thing we had been through before. The band was doing a show out in Fourside and we got a weird-looking crowd that night. After the show, a few of them came in. One of them went straight to out our temporary drummer that night and looked him straight in the eyes. No conversation at all and he just froze. It's like they looked him right in the soul and flipped the switch down. Then the same thing happened to me and I'm not sure what happened after that."
"That's all? I should just avoid eye contact?"
"Yeah, that's it. You're the one who came to me, so don't complain."
"Well, the guy I went to made it sound like you knew it all. Oh well, he was a bit of a nut job."
"If you want more, there are these guys next door that should know something."
"Thanks. I can't waste this extra time," I said, checking my watch. It was 11:30. I went next door and read the sheet of paper on the door. It told me the door was unlocked and to come in, so I did that. There was no floor. It was all dirt with nothing else in there but a giant hole. I climbed down the ladder with my flashlight in my left hand. When I got down, I saw that the tunnel I was in was surprisingly well-lit so I put the flashlight away. I slowly went through the series of tunnels, ready to shoot anything in there. When I got to the end of the set I was in, there were two more tunnels I could have gone through. For some reason, both were blocked by monkeys. One of them came up to me and must have been trying to tell me something, but I had no idea what he was trying to say. I needed to get a bit more information, so I pushed him out of the way. Apparently, he didn't like this and he started running at me. I kicked him in the head and ran down the hall.
I reached another set of monkey tunnels and shot one in the head and ran down his hall. This repeated a few times until I reached an unguarded door with an enormous group of monkeys going after me. I opened the door, went in and put a nearby chair against it. Inside the room, there were two men. One was a younger looking Dalaamese kid. The other was an older looking aged man, both levitating. The older looking one came up to me and said, "I am Talah Rama. This is Prince Poo of Dalaam. I know what you seek, Captain Strong."
"Is my badge really that easy to read? I always thought the other towns had better badges."
"Yes, it is easy to read. Now, sit with us. In order to get the information you desire, you must contact the Mu."
I had heard about this Mu stuff before but never was very fond of it. I sat down anyways and got in the position they were in. "Now, how do I get to this Mu?"
"Your body must be at total peace. The Mu will find you. You do not find the Mu." I quickly hid the weird look of confusion and disapproval on my face. I tried getting into the state of mind described, but wasn't able to do it. After a while when my mind had gone onto other typical daydream thoughts, Talah Rama opened his Muriffic mouth. "I knew what you came in for the instant you opened the door. I now know what you must do. You must go to the hotel. But I feel that the Mu may have more to say."
I opened my eyes because I knew if I had waited much longer with my eyes closed, I would have fallen asleep. But I probably would have been woken up by something that happened shortly before the Talah Rama's advice. Prince Poo let out a brief scream and I looked over to him to see what it was. Two zombies had entered the room and the first had no problem taking down Poo. The second one went after Talah Rama while the first was munching on some brain. Talah Rama went out of his meditation after Poo was attacked. I ran out of the room without any attempts by the zombies to get to me.
I worked my way through the hallway leading to the Talah Rama's room, which was full of bloodied monkey bodies now and parts of those monkey bodies. I ran through the rest of the tunnels navigating mainly by instinct. I shot down a zombie in the first hall with the ladder and climbed that faster than anything else I've ever climbed. I looked at the front door, which I was confident I had shut. I had shut it. It had been broken down. It was only one O'clock. I ran out and it was pitch black outside. I saw a group of zombies breaking through the side of a house about a block down. I saw a blonde, geeky kid on some big mechanical device near that house. It looked like one of those huge lasers the bad guys use in the movies. The kid wasn't able to do anything with it. He was knocked off the machine and got eaten. He must have been Andouts's kid. Every other local inventor had gotten eaten.
A familiar black van pulled up. "Yo foo, get in."
I obeyed the T's command and jumped into the van. "What's going on?"
"It's started. From now until sunrise November 1st, we ain't seein no sun. It looks like this gives those undead suckas a bit more. It's October 30th."