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2nd Chapter
Obviously there are a few issues that need resolving.
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"Booster?"
"I mean, the hair's a little unexpected, but it's still you--"
"Booster..."
"And it could be worse; you could've come back as a kid--"
"Yeah about that..." Ted murmured, peering over Booster's shoulder at Junior with confused half-recognition.
"Or a zombie!"
Ted groaned and covered his face with one hand. "Oh tell me you didn't."
"Or something. But seriously, the mullet look? Not working for you."
"You're one to talk!" Ted snapped, waving a hand at Booster's head. "What were you thinking?"
Booster stopped abruptly, looking up at him. "Huh?"
"Your hair. Is black." Ted said slowly, frustrated. "Your eyebrows. Are blond. Now can you shut up about my hair for five minutes and explain what the hell is going on!"
If he had been expecting anything, it was not for Booster Gold to grab him in a hug that bordered on asphyxiating and mutter "I missed you, Ted."
At a loss, Ted awkwardly patted Booster on the back and sent a confused look Junior's way. The boy shrugged and ate some raisins. Ted frowned and turned his attention back to his friend; if the kid was some sort of young sidekick or something, he didn't think very highly of Booster's choice.
"Uh, Booster buddy?" Ted cleared his throat. "You're moving past awkward into sexual harassment."
Booster slowly let him go, keeping his hands on Ted's shoulders, and beamed at him. In the face of someone so obviously happy just with the simple fact of his existence, Ted sighed and stared down at his feet as he rubbed the bridge of his nose.
"Booster, I'm just...really confused right now. Anything you could do to clear that up would just...would be great."
"Um...what's the last thing you remember?" Booster asked evasively.
Ted frowned and thought back. "I was..." ...investigating a potentially massive and dangerous conspiracy and found... "Max! He--" A shot rang out in his mind and his eyes widened. "He..."
"He's in the closet." Junior piped up helpfully, pointing to the door.
Briefly glancing at him in surprise, Ted quickly whirled to face the closet, eyes narrowing and lips pulling back in a snarl as he advanced on it.
"Uh--Ted! Don't--"
The smell hit him first: rotting meat overlaid with an overabundance of air freshener. Earlier, Junior had opened the closet door, emptied an entire can with "Fresh Breeze" written on it, and then slammed the door in Zombie Max's face just as the animated corpse got himself facing the right direction to shuffle toward him. Ted didn't know that, and for that matter neither did Booster. Booster had been napping at the time and Junior had taken advantage of the opportunity to act without adult supervision by trying to improve Max's smell. His efforts were only partially successful. Zombie Max had the scent of rotting meat carried on a fresh breeze.
The second thing to grab Ted's notice was the unnatural angle of his neck. It was twisted in a manner than looked quite painful and Booster and Junior had taken it for granted that it was the reason for him being dead in the first place.
Then Zombie Max groaned at him and all the puzzle pieces came together in Ted's mind to form a picture of a decomposing corpse moving and, more importantly, moving in his direction.
The closet door slammed shut.
Ted stared at it a moment, hand still on the knob, then made an odd "hhh" sound followed by something that sounded a lot like "nyah."
Ever helpful, Junior pointed out, "He's a zombie."
Booster tentatively moved closer to Ted. "You okay, Ted?"
A strange look crossed the man's face, then he calmly turned and walked toward a pile of assorted basement detritus. "Fine," he muttered, rummaging through boxes and other items before finding what he was looking for. Holding the item so that Booster couldn't see it, though it didn't seem intentional, Ted came back to the closet and opened the door again.
Zombie Max lurched.
Ted yelled incoherently and attacked him with a metal baseball bat.
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