If anyone didn't know, I've done two zombie fics before this one: "Zombie Brother" and "I Walked With a Zombie" (the latter which is a retelling of a movie of the same name, and the former which is of "Ritual", a Tales From the Crypt movie which is an authorized remake of "I Walked With a Zombie").

Depending on the time zone for each and every one of you, night time might be best to read this, or if not, then brace yourself for greater terror unleashed!

Chapter Nine

Rise From the Grave

In all his research on voodoo and witchcraft outside Japan, he'd never known anything as vile and disgusting as this. Here in his country, the ritual which involved the hour of the Ox was considered a mild abomination for jilted women, but to raise someone from the dead for personal reasons was a violation of the laws of nature.

In Haiti, sorcerers known as bokor refused to leave the dead in peace, or at least afflicted the living into making them believe they were dead. Then they would be stripped of their identities and made into workers, commonly. If the being was truly dead, then revival often involved the use of blood or something else natural and unholy. Tetrodotoxin from the pufferfish was the simplest and most frightening way to turn a person into a zombie.

So, a cure for the living but brainwashed was possible, except if they were dead, they had to be released from the spell somehow. And when that happened, either the dead would lay to rest and the living run free again - or they would wreak vengeance against their master first.

Which was why Orochimaru was willing to believe this and Kabuto had no choice but to follow him. The evidence of two sensible human beings was all they needed.

All those young men from this village, a handful who served in Ame, and Itachi...they were all victims of voodoo sorcery. And someone brought it here from the Caribbean; there is only one person who could have done this.

Which was why he, Kabuto and the priest were going to stay at Manami's grave until daybreak. Should the voodoo priest and his followers come to attempt to desecrate her resting place, they would all be ready. Orochimaru only prayed he was wrong, when he was positive it was the opposite.

In midst of protecting the grave which was finished during the day, Orochimaru was getting tired to his bones, as was his former protégé, ending with the priest whom he suggested head on home since it was very late. The hour of the Ox approached, ironically enough. If they were lucky, perhaps Sergeant Sano and the senior officer would come by and see what was happening again. Orochimaru considered giving them his insight and the research which wasn't much proof in itself, because they needed something rock-hard...

However, not long after the priest left, both men heard shouts not too far away. The priest!

Someone had come up to the man and assaulted him, resulting in him and Kabuto leaving the cemetery to find out what had happened - and some yards later, they found him slouched against the wall in an alleyway. "My God, are you all right?!" Kabuto exclaimed, kneeling down to help the man stand up.

"I...I think so. Men in worn cloaks and demon's masks came and attacked me..."

Someone is onto us. This attack was meant to be a diversion.

Which meant that they, by now, had to be at the gravesite and digging up the spot so they could take the body away. But first, they had to hurry and get the priest back to the house, which was three more doors down. Job done and a good night to the man, he whirled to Kabuto. "We must get back. This was part of a ploy."

They were running back, taking shortcuts, and the younger man jumped over gates to make it faster - before they finally arrived at the cemetery in time to see the small group of cloaked men as described, all wearing masks to prevent identification. Orochimaru bared his teeth in a grimace at what clever bastards they were, but now there was a bigger issue to worry about: the grave was laid open, the condolences flowers strewn about without care, and the coffin revealed the body was left in place. They heard us coming and left her as she is.

It was only a small comfort which was gone as quickly as it came. Only there was a terrible feeling when Manami had been exposed here. And he and Kabuto saw it all happen in what seemed like an eternity when it was but a few moments, so unnatural that this did not happen in nature itself.

Slowly - very slowly - the face began to change: the skin darkened to ashen gray, cracking in places. The hair began to dry and stick together. Other than that, the visage was as human as it could remain - except for the eyes when the lids flew open, revealing two black holes centered with white circles.

The word slipped out of Orochimaru's mouth in a harsh whisper, but Kabuto couldn't utter a word as he watched the same thing.

"Zombie."

"Oh, God," Kabuto finally uttered in sheer horror as the thing spotted them and slowly sat up in the place where it laid. It because that walking shell was no longer Manami.

That same blank gaze remained on the face as it rose up in rigid, straight up motions. The arms bent at the elbows as it hoisted itself out of the casket and began to crawl forward, out of the ditch. The pitless eyes never left both men who backed away with each advancement. If neither of them did anything, she would remain a slave to the man who did this to her - and one of them would be dead until the other killed her himself. "Or-Orochimaru," Kabuto moaned, backing into a railing that was attached to the stairs.

The poor boy wouldn't be able to do what was on his mind. But it would weigh on Orochimaru's memory for the rest of his life because this "girl" had been the daughter he never had -

- but looking upon her now and loathing the man responsible, he would have to do this. He nearly tripped on that solution just as "Manami" walked closer and closer, a sadistic smile stretching across "her" face...

He picked up the shovel that had been abandoned on the earth of this sacred place. Grasping it, Orochimaru held back a shout of anger, anguish and frustration when he swung with all his might towards the living corpse who was once his daughter, his apprentice's sister, and the best friend of his beloved's granddaughter.

The head of Manami fell to the ground while the body turned into the opposite direction. The sight made him drop the shovel and fight to swallow down the bile that was threatening to leave his body.

Kabuto had turned his head away when his own sister was beheaded, but now he looked over his shoulder to see the decapitated corpse and its severed head; with nausea and stress seen on his face, he slid down against the barred railing and passed out.

Orochimaru stared at him for a moment before he left him to retrieve the priest from his home.

~o~

His sister...his own sister beheaded...

That wasn't Manami. It looked like her, but it wasn't her.

Those horrible eyes - he was never going to sleep again after this night. Which was why he fainted and fell to the ground after Orochimaru was forced to kill her, and he cursed himself for being such a coward. Except he knew he never could have recovered from doing such a thing; taking a life on purpose was not something he was made for - unless the patient was too hopeless to pull out of their vegetable state.

Grimacing and aching in every bone within his body, Kabuto pulled himself up on the railing he had been laying against, then looked around only to see a fog forming in the air, blocking some parts of his surroundings, giving it the appeal of a traditional western Halloween scene. Orochimaru wasn't anywhere around. Could he have gone to get help and not come back yet? It didn't make sense that he would just leave him like this.

Unless he was finally apprehended by Sergeant Sano based on the promise, but then again, that couldn't be, since not even three days had expired.

Add in that seeing Manami's grave was restored to its original state, as if it hadn't been touched, only the flowers lay strewn across the ground - and the headless remains of his sister still lay out in the open. The head itself lay a couple feet or so away from its owner, the eyes wide open and white, devoid of any life. The mouth was a wordless scream.

Why would her grave be dug back into place, but her body and head left out like this?!

He would get no answers before he spotted an action that caused the hairs on the back of his neck to rise, his spine to freeze, and his heart to thump murderously. And it happened with each grave that was untouched, not counting Manami's.

From beneath one with freshly dug dirt, there was movement in every direction - and then a bare foot stuck out from the south end.

Another resting spot which was honored with fresh ivory and purple flowers broke apart by two hands that penetrated the soils - two hands which looked healthy until you looked closer and saw the gray decay. A similar thing happened with the grave which was two places further down...only the FACE followed at the head where the marker was placed.

This continued until all thirteen graves loosened to spew forth the fiends that looked human, but were not. All of them had the same charcoal, scabbed flesh and onyx-black eyes, clad in rags rather than normal burial garments. He recognized the faces of these rotting automatons - and they were all the young men of this village who died from the so-called plague.

A plague which was man-made, controlled by someone from behind the scenes.

He knew he should just run, but an unseen force was keeping him in place because of looking upon their faces as well as gazing deep into their soulless, desperate eyes. Their movements were stiff and jerky as they preyed his way, reaching out as if pleading...except their intent to kill was present, but he couldn't tell because he was so scared.

By the time you recognized these things weren't human, it was too late, and no matter if you couldn't be here anymore, something was keeping you in place.

One of the zombies stepped past his dead sister's severed head, brushed past the wreath that was left at her grave by her husband - the bailiff Hideo Hashimoto who never bothered coming to mourn his wife.

They were all coming closer and closer, forming a tight group and backing him further away...only for his back to hit something solid and a pair of hands to wrap around his throat and bring him down to his knees. Such powerful strength to trap him and make him look back and up to his captor...

...only to look into the face of ITACHI.

He heard himself screaming and jerked forward.

"KABUTO!"

His heart was roaring in his chest, going to his eardrums and deafening him before everything was clear to his senses as his vision was. He found he wasn't in the graveyard, but also in his own room. And surrounding him was not only Orochimaru, but the priest as well as - "Hanaru!"

"Yes, we're here," she said softly, holding up a cold, wet rag to his brow and dabbing it. He sighed at the pleasant feeling coursing through his skin, at both the care and the feel of her own skin. "You just had a nightmare." But then her tone hardened when she told him that he fainted, and Orochimaru and the priest brought him back.

"What happened with Manami?" Oh, Manami...

"Her grave was disturbed, my dear," the priest told her gently, but she didn't buy it in the slightest.

"Oh, that's obvious enough. But why were you both out there in the first place, without going far to bring up witchcraft in the mix?"

Orochimaru sighed heavily. "My dear, you know it is true, because you also specialize if not the same as I. Even your crystal can feel it," he insisted. They've been talking since before I woke up.

She exhaled and shook her head. She was tired from everything. "Okay, fine, let's pretend for real that voodoo brought back my dead husband, all these men as well as Toshio Matsuda's brother - and now Manami." Kabuto frowned at her; it wasn't like her to be so agitated, because he always knew her to be clear-headed and reasonable...until he saw it. He saw the dark circles under her eyes, then looked down at the bandage around her finger.

Don't tell me...

The priest cleared his throat, getting them both back to attention and to the subject of Manami. "She's been buried, son. She'll be at peace now, and I gave her absolution."

But the idea of "rest in peace" didn't seem so appealing now, not with what he saw that he never thought he'd believe, as well as the vivid dream he'd had, leaving him sweating from every pore he had that Hanaru noticed and continued to wipe away.

"What happened in your dream, Kabuto?" Orochimaru asked as soon as the priest was gone, announcing he had to return to his shrine. Sighing, he laid back and felt the words effortlessly leave his lips.

"I dreamt I saw...the dead rise. All those faces I failed to save, from this village - and Itachi's. All the graves opened, releasing them, and the coffins were empty..."

Hanaru dropped the rag back into the bowl, splattering water on her soft dress, while Orochimaru was stricken.

~o~

All the graves opened...coffins empty...

The dead have risen.

Here he was now, this morning and back with the sergeant and his senior officer. They had exhumed every grave - all thirteen of them - and found every single one vacant as Jurou Matsuda's. Samon Sano was furious and looked up at Orochimaru, but not targeting him like the first time. "For heaven's sake, where are they?!"

His anger had risen not only because of the missing corpses, but also because his son's was among them, not that he blamed the man. If he had seen what I have...

Once again, Orochimaru had no answer, but he had to lie at least this once. And for now, it was imperative none of them say a word as to what happened here, and that they fill the graves in before anyone else was disturbed. Once the task was completed, he informed both men they were going back to the station so he could finally fill them in on theories based on "careful research" - and to bring it to the attention of the prisoner who was still in custody.

But when they arrived, the prison cell was busted and the prisoner himself missing. "He's gone, Sergeant!" Chiba exclaimed as if it wasn't obvious enough, much to his superior's annoyance.

"Of course, anyone can see that. The question is how he got out." Without so much as the use of anything in the cell, and to jump to the conclusion that he got help from the outside would be unwise.

"The question is," Orochimaru stated grimly, "where has he gone? Has he joined...the others?"

He felt it wise to drop the hint, subtle and discernible, that Toshio Matsuda was next in line to join the undead ranks. But Sano mistook the clue for another meaning. "The others, sir? I doubt he'd be dead -"

"Not dead yet, Sergeant," Orochimaru answered, "but he soon will be."

Prior to now, it had to be likely that Matsuda had visitors before today, and that there would be no exceptions. But Officer Chiba said that the imprisoned had no visitors - except the bailiff himself. "And what happened?" Orochimaru demanded, getting somewhere now.

"Well, all they did was talk. I didn't stay to listen, though."

"And they just talked? Nothing else?" He was going to press even if it aggravated one or both men - and his persistence paid off, as always.

Hashimoto and Matsuda did just talk, until the bailiff himself requested a glass of water for the prisoner who said he was thirsty...except the glass was now gone, having been broken. "Did you break it?" the sergeant asked, narrowing his eyes.

Chiba shook his head. "No, sir. The bailiff did."

Now Orochimaru had all the pieces: Hashimoto came by to "recruit" Toshio Matsuda, but what use did he have for all the once dead men...no, wait. The answer is simple: it lies in the supposedly abandoned silver mines. And when young Matsuda cut himself on a broken glass, Manami's widower had a blood sample, which explained how Manami ended up the way she did, and likely Toshio's brother before him.

"Sergeant, Senior Officer...there isn't much time, but we should sit down and talk."

So they did, and all the while, Orochimaru's mind and heart were weighing heavily with a great new fear for the one he was sure would be next on this devilish list on the whim of one man.

Hanaru is in grave danger.

If anyone didn't understand, Kabuto did faint after seeing his zombie sister beheaded, and the dead rising from their graves was a dream before he catapulted back to reality. Ugh, cold shivers. And I'd written this at night.

Review please! :D