A.N: Hey guys. Here's the next update! Enjoy!
And thanks for sticking with me and not giving up on me for so long. You guys really keep me going even in my dark times. I appreciate it so much. I love you all so much!
Chapter 22: Dead Silence…? Never Again…
They sat still and silent on the cold floor of the ruined diner.
The skies were beginning to darken; allowing the magnificent moon to rise up and shine its brilliant hue on everything that was touched by it.
It was a light that was capable of lifting spirits… but it did nothing to lift up the spirits of the three lone teens.
Three friends sat together surrounding the still frame of a girl they had come to know and believe was one of their best friends.
Was… not is… not anymore…
The stunning silvery moonlight shone on her ashen skin, her dark eyelashes caressed her pale cheeks; her golden locks swirled elegantly forming delicate ringlets on the white tiled floor.
Merida still held onto Rapunzel's cold hand; not having the heart to let go. Hiccup sat next to her with a dried up tear track on his right cheek; too doleful to rub it away. Toothless too nuzzled close to the blonde's shoulder; having given up on trying to wake her from her eternal slumber. Jack reached over and brushed a stray strand of hair from her face—remembering how Rapunzel always did that from time to time.
He solemnly picked up his gun; which lay beside him, cocked and ready to terminate the evil-dead that she was about to become. He wasn't as naïve as he wished to be. Now that Rapunzel no longer possessed a soul, she could come to life at any moment; not as herself but as a zombie.
This was their reality now and they would have to deal with it and move on…
Move on...? Yeah, right. Like that's gonna happen…
They all felt utterly desolated and miserable.
Jack took aim; ready for the girl he'd come to love to wake up at any moment and pounce at him and go straight for his jugular. Merida and Hiccup both straightened their backs; realizing what Jack intended to do. It was inevitable. Hiccup pulled a scuffling Toothless close to him and hugged his little canine companion close to his chest as it whined.
The bullet would soon discharge from the colt only to kill her—no, kill it temporarily but by then they'd be long gone from the diner. Putting everything behind them and pretend as though all this was just some kind of a hellish nightmare. It was all they could do.
At any moment now…
They were waiting with bated breath and then… It came,
The first moan…
He should've pulled the trigger right then… but no—not yet… Something was telling him to wait a bit longer… It was telling him that if he pulled the trigger now—He was going to regret it. He glanced at the other two for a split second and saw that they were just as anxious and agitated as he was; if not more.
A low moan escaped her blue-tinged lips once again as her head began rolling from side to side. The three teens stared in apprehension at their former friend.
Any second now, they were going to hear the distinct sound of Jack's gun going off.
Suddenly Rapunzel arched off the floor as she gasped for air. She was shaking as though she was having a seizure and then finally, her eyes abruptly flew open startling everyone and almost making Jack pull the trigger—but he just stopped short when he saw bright lively emerald orbs instead of milky white ones. Her lips were no longer tinted blue but a lively pink instead.
They dumbly stared at Rapunzel as she hacked her lungs out. She rolled over and shakily propped herself up by her forearm while her other hand was holding onto her neck; she was still violently coughing and struggling to breathe.
Finally, it was all over and Rapunzel looked like she had caught a better hold of herself, but she still didn't move from her position.
She was shocked… and it wasn't just her either. They all were…
Merida spoke first seeing as the two boys, and Toothless, were too dumbstruck to speak. "Rapunzel?" She whispered. She actually wanted to yell, she wanted to freak out like she was on the inside… but this wasn't the time for that. She had to hold it together.
In response the golden-haired girl turned around slowly, looking just as stunned and surprised as they were. Three sets of wide eyes stared at back green ones which were just as wide.
Hiccup began to stammer unintelligible sentences; looking at Rapunzel as if he'd seen a ghost. Maybe that's what she was now—when zombies can apparently exist, why not ghosts? Maybe she became a ghost instead of a zombie? "Wh-what the hell is going on?"
Yeah, that's what I'd like to know too thought Jack and he swallowed a lump in is throat before clearing it uneasily. But still he didn't say a thing; he couldn't. Everything just kept getting stranger and stranger. Is this how the virus really worked? After all, they had only come up with theories. It's not like they actually saw someone turn into one. If this was how it worked then it's just ridiculous, not to mention it was downright bizarre.
Everything about this situation just screamed weirdness…
Rapunzel stared down at her hands first and then at the bite mark. It was still there, which meant she hadn't woken up from a dream or a nightmare. She really did get bitten by a zombie, she really did say her last goodbyes to her best friends; she really had died. But if that's true then what the heck are her friends doing in heaven? And if this was heaven why did it look like the messy diner she had died in.
"Rapunzel, is that… is that really you?" Hiccup asked again; finally finding his bearings. He couldn't help but ask that question.
"I think so… I mean, I feel like me," Rapunzel hesitantly nodded. It wasn't because she doubted that she was a zombie; no, she knew she wasn't one. It was the fact that she had just died and had come back to life that freaked her out still.
"How do you feel?" Jack asked finally speaking up as he tucked away his gun back to where it belongs as he stood up; he left the safety off this time though. Just in case. "Can you stand?" He asked offering her a hand.
"Yeah, I guess," She said unsurely taking his hand and letting him lift her up. "And I feel… fine actually,"
"Oka', can someone please explain ta meh what the heck jus' happened?" Merida exclaimed; standing up alongside Hiccup.
"I donno, but we're gonna find out," Jack said sternly.
"How?!" Merida said out loud; her tone filled with frustration, enough to make Rapunzel and Hiccup wince even. "How are weh gonna find out anything when weh know nothing."
"I donno!" Jack yelled back with equal frustration. "We'll figure it out, okay… somehow…"
"Well, if we're gonna figure anything out, we need to go back to the basics," Hiccup said, rubbing the back of his neck. "When it started, where it started, how it started and who started it…"
And why it didn't affect me… Rapunzel thought to herself.
Then, the sound of honking distracted them from their temporary musing. The horn sounds was oddly familiar… too familiar, in fact.
"No way…" Jack whispered.
"Now what?"
The four of them plus a very hyper Toothless hurriedly came out of the diner and stood next to the road on the asphalt looking down the long stretch of highway for the car that had produced the horn. And sure enough, they spotted the two blinding headlights, slowly getting bigger and bigger as it came closer towards them.
There was no mistaking it. It was definitely a Chevy… It was David's car. But why was it coming back? Had something gone wrong?
They waved to the car and as expected it came to a stop right next to the diner; all four occupants of the vehicle looked to be alright. Ariel was even giving them a timid smile.
"What're ya guys doing back here?" Merida asked with confusion as the other four teens got out of the Chevy.
"We couldn't leave town, the road's blocked," Jim said plainly. Not offering them anymore than that.
"How?" Hiccup asked. The long highway in and out of town was surely not blocked by people… Or was it? Were they being quarantined? Was the whole town being quarantined? Can they even do that? Did that mean the neighboring states knew what was going on here? A lot of questions rapidly raced through his mind.
"Some pretty big tree trunks have fallen onto the road," Astrid offered a simple explanation that would clarify their doubts altogether. A small portion of the highway passes through a forest where the roads curve before continuing back to the highway. That was where they had met with the problem. The road narrows down a lot, so if there's even a little block there, it would be next to impossible to go through it without help. No detours either. Damn nature lovers! They should've cleared the forest out years ago. The storm hadn't helped matters any. They were sure the cause for the trees falling over were due to that unexpected storm a few days ago. "There was no way we could move it or go around it; not with a car at least."
The others nodded in understanding. Burgess did have pretty thick forests surrounding it with only one road leading in and out of their little town; not to mention the lake that never ever dries up and is frozen for most of the year.
Everyone silently walked back into the diner.
Craaaaw!
Jack stopped and looked up at the roof of the dinner. Sitting there was that black bird again; cawing to the bright full moon. Its beady red eyes were giving off an eerie glint.
Jeez, why did he always feel like the black birds were following him? Ever since the time he moved to burgess he's always had the feeling like their beady red eyes were watching him; like they were studying his every move. Of course all towns have their fair share of birds flying around but this town? The birds from around here gave him the creeps. He involuntarily shuddered.
Everyone made it into the diner before the inevitable question arose "How much longer do you have?" Flynn threw over his shoulder to Rapunzel who still stood near the threshold of the diner. Shouldn't she have turned into a ravenous monster by now?
Rapunzel just blinked at him; opening her mouth to say something before closing it. She glanced at her friends. She was sure they could understand the silent question that was written all over her face. Should we tell them the truth?
"It's over…" Jack answered for her; stepping forward. "She's not turning into a zombie." Whether it was the truth or not—Jack prayed he wasn't lying this time.
"How come?" Astrid and Flynn asked at the same time. Astrid, out of curiously and Flynn, out of disbelief.
"We all saw her get bitten by one of those things," Jim spoke up this time. "Heck, she still has those marks to prove it." He gestured to the bite.
Rapunzel nervously covered the mark with her other hand; wishing that she'd worn a long-sleeved shirt or a sweater or something. Speaking of sweaters, she was actually feeling a little warmer now. Her head didn't even hurt anymore. She did feel a little tired though.
"Yeah… but trust us," Hiccup told them. "It's over."
"No," Jim said flatly and sternly. "Something's not right, you're all hiding something."
"I second that…" Astrid said; folding her arms over her chest and raising her eyebrow.
"What we told you was the truth-" Rapunzel started but was quickly cut off by Jim again.
"No, what you told us is the half-truth or maybe not even that…"
"Someone better start talking," Flynn said gruffly, pulling the rifle that hung over his shoulder into his hands.
Even though there was no hostility in his words or posture, they still understood the underlined threat there. The four friends exchanged glances with each other and nodded subtly. It wasn't like these guys were the enemy. There would be no harm in telling them the truth. So the group explained everything that happened to Rapunzel while they were away. After their explanation ended no one said a word except for the soft, almost inaudible whisper from Astrid. "What the hell?"
"Yah, that's what we'd like ta know too…" Merida deadpanned, leaning her back against the wall and folding her hands behind her back.
"She could still turn then!" Flynn cried.
"She won't!" Jack shot back.
"She might!" Flynn contemplated; his hands twitched unsurely while still holding onto the rifle. What if she spontaneously turned and attacked them? It could happen at any time… They wouldn't even see it coming. None of them were professors in Zombieology, how can they be sure it's over? They didn't know how this virus worked. Maybe he should end this now and save them all the trouble. He brought up his rifle to take aim but stopped abruptly when he heard the cli-click of a gun being cocked right next to his ear.
"You know, I really wouldn't regret putting a bullet through your skull right now," Jack growled with so much venom that it was enough for Flynn to drop the rifle to his side and step back a few. The silver haired teen had his gun trained perfectly on Flynn's temple. His eyes were so cold and daring that it gave Flynn the chills.
"Both of you stop it!" Rapunzel yelled; hands fisted at her sides. Why were the two of them always so damn eager to take a life? To kill someone? They were more similar than they'd be willing to admit, she realized. Is that why she liked Jack so much? Because of her former feelings for Flynn? The whole bad boy vibe?
Flynn and she had dated for a while a few months ago before Rapunzel broke up with him only less than three weeks ago because of the way he treated the other student at their school. That led her to wonder about something else. Was Flynn trying to hurt her because of his broken heart? Was he doing all this just because she had broken up with him? Now though, despite his futile attempts to kill her she still felt sorry for him.
Tension rose high in the room. It was almost palpable until, Ariel perked up suddenly as if she'd gotten an idea and tapped Jim's shoulder to get his attention. When he turned around to face her she signed to him. After she was done, Jim gave her an odd 'maybe' expression. She nodded and gestured for him to translate what she had said and he sighed. "Ariel says it might be because the zombie virus only works on adults."
"Excuse me?" Rapunzel asked, more than a little confused.
"All the zombies we've seen so far are only adults," Astrid shrugged. She and her gang had known about it for a while now but the blank looks coming from the other four told her that they hadn't. "What? Don't tell me you guys didn't notice…"
Rapunzel and the others glanced at each other once again. They hadn't noticed it then but now that they thought about, all the zombies that they've faced so far were, in fact, adults. Jack's uncle, Rapunzel's parents and the girl on the street, the cops who attacked Hiccup, the principle and the stranger at the artery where Merida practiced, the zombies at the grocery store, heck, even the ones that attacked them in this very diner… every zombie they came across were adults.
Anybody younger seems to get killed instead of turned. The students at the school, the bullies, the dead bodies they saw on the streets and in the grocery store, the little brother of the lunatic who shot Hiccup. How the hell hadn't they noticed that before? So did that mean Rapunzel was the only one who survived after being attacked and bitten by a zombie?
And as if to answer that question Jim spoke up. "Rapunzel is the only one we know of who's survived after the zombie attacked her," All the others don't seem to live that long right after, as the zombies chew into them like they were an all-you-can-eat buffet. "Which doesn't actually mean she won't turn into a zombie… She still has a very good chance of turning into one…"
"Haha… guess we'll havta keep ya in a cooler from now on, huh Rapunzel?" chuckled Merida to make light of the situation. Well, at least it received a contrived smile from Rapunzel. Right now, she would take anything she could get. Fake smile was better than no smile at all… which was pretty much all she was getting from the others in the diner.
"Uh… That kinda reminds me," started Astrid soon after. "What's up with the whole zombies and locking them up in freezers anyway?"
Hiccup chuckled lightly. He and Merida had to hide in one and he hadn't felt more useless or liable in his life. He felt terrible and guilty for making Merida protect him like he was some sort of a baby who couldn't take care of himself. Sure, he didn't ask for it but she stayed with him anyway instead of helping the others out there. It was a damn freezer; he would've been alright by himself. Besides his shoulder felt much better now; he barely paid any attention to the pain. It was just a little sore."Oh that, it's because zombies can only sense heat signatures-"
"Don' tell meh you didn't notice that," Merida smirked at the other group who obviously didn't know about that.
"Well…" Astrid shrugged with a little embarrassment. "We didn't…"
"Wait, does that mean they can sense animals too?" Jim asked. Gazing at Toothless, who was busy chewing the hell out of a sponge. Where did it get that thing from anyway?
"Yes," Hiccup answered. Zombies can obviously sense animals. Back in Rapunzel's house when Toothless tried to attack the zombie, it sort of fought back. And it also explained how Pascal was completely unharmed when Rapunzel's parents had turned. If the zombies were just brainless hungry creatures then they wouldn't forgo even the tiniest meal. "But I don't think they're very interested in them, just us humans."
"Great," Flynn muttered. "Glad to know that we're the only ones on the zombie menu… especially a popular delicacy with the Rombies I'm sure."
"I… I'm sorry, Rombies?" Jack gave him an amused grin, with a raised eyebrow. This is going to be good… he thought as he tucked his gun away.
"Yeah, the real dead zombies," Flynn said as-a-matter-of-factly.
"The real dead zombies?" Rapunzel repeated blankly. Still not understanding what Flynn was trying to say. Weren't all zombies 'really dead zombies'? It's not like they were fighting fake zombies up till now, right?
Flynn gave out an annoyed huff. "Yes! Remember the extra fugly zombie that attacked you when you got here? We're calling them Rombies."
A sigh came from Astrid. "No one's calling them Rombies, Scooby-Doo."
"Aw, come on, Astrid!" Flynn whined. "Rombies are like the perfect name for 'em."
"Um… you mean the zombie that was hard to kill?" Hiccup asked trying to clarify things once again. He, just like the others wasn't able to grasp at what the jock was saying either. And why the heck would anyone call them Rombies anyway? He wasn't all that aware about them since he was out of it for most of the fight but judging by what Jack told him—it wasn't a pretty sucker. Jack's words not his.
"Yes!" Jeez! What? Was he speaking in French or something? Which part of Rombies don't these guys understand?
"Ya mean ta tell meh we've been fighting clowns in zombie costumes up till now o what?" Merida asked. This guy better start making sense soon or she would have a knuckle sandwich waiting for him; just for being annoying.
"No…" Astrid butted in. Clearly, this conversation wasn't going anywhere and it was clearer that these guys knew nothing about the Rombies… Oh great, now she started calling it Rombies too… Just great… "We came to the conclusion that the zombies that can't be killed, even temporarily, were the 'real dead' zombies. That typically means they are the ones that crawled outta their graves."
"How do you know that they crawled out of their graves?"
"We encountered one of 'em in Burgess, before the three of us made it here," Astrid explained. It was a man named Bruno Gray; an old man who died of a heart attack a few years back. Don't let the brittle bones and liquefied tissues fool you—they had barely escaped with their lives that time. "And then the zombie you saved me from," She jerked her head in Jack's direction. "His name's Mathew McCoy. He was a criminal who got shot only a few months ago. You might've heard of him, it was all over the news."
"Oh yeah, I remember…" Hiccup said to himself; thinking back to the time when Miss Humphrey sat watching the news that night and he had snuck himself near the staircase just to get a peek at it. It was rare to watch TV so even the most boring shows became interesting.
"Bullets or arrows aren't enough to kill them," Flynn said. "I mean, it took us six head-shots and two body shots to just slow the sucker down!"
"Yeah, I noticed…" muttered Jack under his breath. "But decapitation works." He shared a knowing look with the blonde girl.
"So what do you think? These… Rombies or whatever are the ones responsible for starting this virus?"
"Could be… but if that's the case, then what made them rise from their grave in the first place is the real question…" Jim shook his head at the strangeness in all this. If it wasn't for Ariel he would've taken up his dad's offer and moved to Chicago years ago.
Ariel and he were childhood friends, he knew her very well and she hung out with him a lot. She was one of the kindest and brightest people he knew. And even though she couldn't communicate like everyone else, she was still the funniest person he'd ever met. She was also the one who made him believe in God again. She was the Reverend's daughter of St. Paul's Church. She did so much for him and helped him in so many ways that sometimes he wondered how he was going to repay her for all that she's done… And somewhere along the way he had fallen in love with her, though he has never told her about it; too afraid that it might ruin their friendship forever if he did. But maybe someday he would tell her… When the time is right and they were far far away from this hell-hole.
The gentle tapping on his shoulder made him turn to face the redhead once more. She signed a series of rapid hand gestures to him which he understood without any trouble. "You sure you wanna try it?" He asked her once she was done. She nodded with a smile, she might not be able to speak but she could still hear relatively well and she also knew how to lip-read. She had no problem understanding people.
"What's going on?" Flynn asked Jim.
"Ariel has a theory…" Jim began. "She wants to test something with Rapunzel; if it works the way she thinks it will then she'll tell us all about it."
"W-with me?" Rapunzel was caught off guard. What would Ariel want to test her for? What was the test gonna be like?
"Whoa," Jack stepped forward. "Punzie's no guinea pig for you to experiment on."
Ariel smiled softly at him and shook her head and performed another series of hand gestures to him which Jim instantly began translating out loud.
"Don't worry, Rapunzel's not an experiment. It's just a little test, it might even help her. And help us too."
"It's okay, Jack," Rapunzel said to him before turning to face the redhead. "I'll do it… uh… what am I going to be doing?"
Ariel wordlessly walked past them and went to the kitchen, within a few minutes she returned with a bowl of water in her hand. She placed it on the table near Rapunzel. Everybody looked on with curiously as Ariel removed her necklace and then placed it in the water in such a way that only the cross was submerged. They saw her chant silently for a while; her lips moving as she voicelessly repeated the mantra to the winds. After a while, she opened her eyes, lifted the soaked cross out of the bowl and once again wore the necklace around her neck. She then lifted the bowl and turned to Rapunzel and motioned her to hold out her hand.
"Like this?" Rapunzel asked as she stretched out both of her arms out in front of her. Exposing the zombie bite marks in the process.
Ariel nodded then began pouring the water onto the mark and to everyone's astonishment; especially Rapunzel's, the wound began to sizzle and pop.
Everyone's eyes were glued to the white steamy smoke that arose from the wound. Even though it sizzled and looked like it hurt Rapunzel didn't feel the pain at all. The sizzling soon stopped, Ariel poured the water onto the wound till the very last drop then placed the empty bowl back on the table beside her.
"Am I ta only one who has no clue what that was?" Merida asked; still not taking her eyes off of the bite mark.
"No… you're not the only one," Astrid said; mimicking Merida's expression as everyone else was. "We're all with you… Ariel, what exactly did you do?"
Ariel's looked at them with a straight face. She breathed in and began signing with Jim translation spontaneously so everyone could understand her.
"I thought this might be the cause. We are not dealing with a virus here but a curse."
"A curse?"
The word bounced off the walls and floated around the diner for a while.
"The moment I saw that the undead creatures could not pass through the walls of my father's church I knew that they were unholy."
"What are you saying?" Asked one of the teens grimly. Knowing the answer would not be a favorable one.
"I'm saying that this wasn't a scientific experiment gone wrong. Someone used black magic to awaken the dead. The water I used on Rapunzel was holy water; if it was an infection then it wouldn't have had any reactions to it."
Audible gasps could be heard from some of the teens. "So someone did this on purpose? But why? How?" asked Rapunzel.
Hiccup shook his head in dread. "I knew something was going on here… Something not normal… Something-"
"-Supernatural" Jack finished. It still didn't explain a lot though. But it was a start. Now all that was left to do was follow Hiccup's basic analysis process; When, where, how and who… "Okay, does anyone know when all this started?"
"Well, as far as we know, people started falling sick right after that freaky storm," Astrid glanced at her friends for confirmation and then continued ."Now that I think about it, the signs have been around for days. People beginning to vanish of out thin air n' all but I guess the actual attacks started happening only yesterday."
"And people said it started in Black Oak's St," Flynn added. The place where everything bad always starts. That area itself was like a curse to their beloved town… especially since the incident.
And that's when it hit Jack like a freight train. Suddenly it became all too clear. Shit! How hadn't he seen this coming? How had he not guessed it the minute this whole thing began? The answer to who was behind this was so crystal clear for him now.
"I know who started all this…" He whispered distractedly.
Everyone's attention was instantly on him; eagerly waiting for him to tell them the person's name. "Who is it, Jack?"
Suddenly he felt like he was under a spotlight, his chest contracted and he swallowed a lump in his throat before he gave them the name to which they all gasped in shock.
There you go... I know... not one of my best updates. But I'm trying guys. I haven't been in the best of places recently (mentally i mean) Which is why I will be doing the Shout-Outs when I get better (I dont wanna give you some half-assed replies just for the sake of it... I wanna be able to give you my time and share my thoughts with each of you separately) I'm really sorry for the late updates. Leave me a review though cause it really helps show me that people out there are still reading the stuff I write. Again, thank you all for being here. I love you!
Unril next time!
Yuki