Mystic Moon and the Dead
Chapter 1 – A New Lifestyle
(DISCLAIMER: I OWN NOTHING!)
"Oh-oh, Van!" Hitomi gasped joyously as Van de Fanel took his final thrust into her.
"Hitomi…" Van moaned contently as he nuzzled into her bare shoulder; delightfully shuddering under Hitomi's soft touches that danced along his bare back. She was beneath him… after all this time, he was a top of this golden-haired beauty; giving their first to each other.
They were surrounded by the forest's trees… alone and united at last.
The Mystic Moon, along with the full moon, hung in the clear night sky; shining its glow upon the two. The breeze was cool and welcoming against their hot skin.
"Van," Hitomi started as she looked her love with dazed eyes. "I love you."
He smiled gently as he welcomed those sincere words.
"Hitomi," he started to reply. "I l-"
THUMP!
"Hitomi! Wake up!" a teen boy's voice, with Irish accent, pleaded.
"W-wha?" Hitomi stirred.
"Hitomi! Please, we have to run! There are so many of them!"
Hitomi sat up immediately; her stomach turned from the sudden movement. She opened her eyes to see her 15 year old friend. It took a moment for her sight to focus and see his blue, fear-filled eyes. His fiery, red hair was matted to his forehead with sweat and blood. The crimson splatters across his face matched his outrageous amount of freckles.
She felt her bed swish back and forth while constant thuds pounded around her. That's when she remembered she wasn't in her warm bed… she was in an old, run down mini-van. Her breath hitches in her throat as she notices people surrounding their only shelter… not just people, zombies.
Every window she saw their rotted out faces biting at the glass… the sight of their decaying mouths and black saliva made her choke on her own bile. Their dried out, boney hands flopped hard against the breakable surface. She counted 13 zombies.
Even though she and her companion made their windows and windshields tinted, these mindless monsters were well aware they were in here. Her mind spun out of control, figuring out how these creatures know where they are… the tinted windows have worked wonderfully for the past month!
"What happened, Josh?" Hitomi asked frantically as her head snapped in the direction of everything sound. "How can they see us all of a sudden?"
"They don't," Josh replied with shame as Hitomi looked at him with confusion. "I-I thought I saw someone! A survivor! I made sure no one else was around when I stepped outside to get him… but he was one of them."
"Fuck," she hissed to herself as she tried to figure out a plan.
"I'm so sorry, Hitomi," he started.
"No time for that!" she snapped. "Just drive!"
He held his breath as tears build into his eyes.
"Josh," Hitomi asked carefully as panic laced her voice. "Why haven't you just driven us away?"
"I-I," he stuttered as salty tears ran down his cheeks. "I dropped the keys… they're outside."
"FUCK!" she cursed loudly. "Damn!"
"I'm sorry!"
"Where did you drop them?" she tossed his apology to the side. Her heart felt it was going to pop out her chest as the undead began to try to tip over the van. She heard their long, dead nails scratching off the already worn-down paint. It sounded like nails on a chalkboard… it sent shivers down her spine.
"Next to the fire hydrant," he pointed at the back window. She looked in the direction he was pointing… where she could see 10 more zombies running from afar… toward them.
Shit! The Sprinters! She screamed in her head.
"What are we going to do, Hitomi?" Josh whimpered. To anyone else, they would call this teenager cowardly and unmanly for letting a 16 year old girl become the rock of their friendship… but to her, he was only human.
Suddenly, she felt eerily calm. She buried her nerves and worry to the pit of her stomach. Her heart rate became steady, but still pounded through her ears. The invading noises surrounding them became faint as she cleared her mind.
Without saying anything, she crawled into the back of the van and pulled out a gigantic duffel bag. She harshly unzipped it to reveal a mass supply of weapons… guns, ammo, swords, daggers, anything they came across on their two-month travel. She first pulled out a handgun and then loaded it with a very full clip; with a straight face, she passes it to teen boy. Just in case, she gave him another clip in case he ran out.
She pulled out her favored 45 and made sure it was loaded to the max. Setting it aside, she pulled out her katana that she obtained a while back. There was a strap on the sheath so she could strap it to her back. She pushes the duffel bag away and readies herself for the outside world.
"This is the plan," she started plainly while ignoring the violent rocking of their automobile home. "I'm going to go out there through our emergency exit." She nods upward at their hand-made door on the roof of the van.
"What do I do?" his voice quivered.
"You stay here. When I get on the roof, I'll shoot of much of them as I can. When the coast is clear, I'll run and grab the keys. I want you to have that driver door ready and unlocked when I get back. But keep it locked until then! I will do the shooting and make sure the van stays clear."
"Why do I have a gun then?" he asked frantically.
"Don't you rather have a gun and not need it, than need it and not have it?" She shot back.
"Y-y-yeah, you're right," he jumped at the sudden jolt from the zombies. He watches Hitomi climb toward their emergency exit… he wished he could be just as brave and have her fighting skills.
"Oh, and Josh," Hitomi paused as she held onto the handle of the little door.
"Yeah?" his voice scratched.
"Whatever you do, do NOT shoot the windows until they break completely through themselves. And shut the door behind me."
"R-right."
Hitomi inhaled as she quickly opened the door and climbed out. She stood on top of the van and listened to Josh close and locked the door behind her.
We get a better look at our heroine as she stood amongst the hungry dead. Her hair was much shorter than we last remembered her… her once golden, pixie locks were now just barely longer than spikes. Her once bright, emerald eyes were now dark and disturbed. Her flesh was more pale now and seemingly cold than her once warm, welcoming complexion. She no longer wore her dorky uniform that stood out on Gaea. She now adorned low-rise blue jeans with knee-high combat boots. She had a variety of weapon nic-nacs along her two garters that hugged her thighs. Her brown vest, that hid more weapons, swayed in the stale breeze while covering her fitted white t-shirt… which wasn't so white anymore.
She glanced down at the undead who were attempting to claw their way too her. She looked in the direction of the fire hydrant and spotted the keys… and also spotted the Sprinters headed their way. She has 1 minute.
With a final blink, she fired expertly at the surrounding undead; she tried to spare as many bullets as she can. After deposing the intruders she runs and jumps off the van and dashes for the stranded keys. She runs with no problem thanks to her old track training.
Not so surprising, more zombies come stumbling out of the allies.
That's right… they are in small city in Germany.
To save ammo, she puts away her gun and unsheathes her precious katana.
Two left, one right.
Swish, slice and slash!
She spots a zombie standing unsteadily over the keys that she and her friend desperately need. Her eyes narrow as she quickened her pace...
Like a baseball player, she slides onto the ground and between the undead's legs, grabbing the keys in process. Before the monster can turn around and devour her, she stands up and slashes him up and vertically. His halves split apart and fall to the ground with a thump… this one was older; its blood was more gooey than splatter-like.
BANG!
Where did that gunshot come from? She looks over at the van and sees nothing suspicious.
Strange, it sounded like it came from Josh….
She shook her head to toss her questions aside. She looked up and spotted the Sprinters and figured they were 30 seconds away. It was smarter to runaway than fight them. She dashes back and notices six zombies crowding around the vehicle. She pulls out her gun again and fires until she runs out of ammo.
Since they were crowding around the driver door, she decides to jump back on top and go back in that way. While being 10 feet away, she leaped abnormally high above the monsters' head and landed roughly on the van.
"Josh!"Hitomi yelled. "Change of plans! Open the top!"
She tries to keep her balance as more zombies come and push the van.
"Josh!" she yells again she tries to open the top door. "Josh! Open the top door!"
The Sprinters made it to the van and collided against the vehicle. The impact made Hitomi fall forward; her upper torso was sprawled on top of the windshield. Her face was up against the glass and to her horror, she sees Josh in the driver seat… leaning on the wheel, a gigantic bullet hole in the back of his head. She vaguely sees pieces of his brain all over.
"Josh…" she gasps.
"Raaawr!" growls from the front of the van were heard clearly.
Hitomi rolled her back before the undead could grab at her. With one swipe, she decapitates three heads.
Ew, those were more fresh. She watched their blood spray up into the air.
She snaps out of it as the van begins to finally tip over. She looks in the direction of where she was going and finds out she was going to hit limestone wall. Without thinking, she jumps and grabs onto the big chucks of rocks and holds for dear life. She didn't look down as she began to rock-climb the wall; her goal was to reach the roof.
She felt fingers bleed and her nails break as her heart continued to pound. She wasn't calm anymore! She lost her nerves when she saw her travel buddy's brains flaked across the front seat and ceiling like confetti.
She was thankful that this building wasn't too high… just two stories. It wasn't long until she heaved herself over the flimsy gutter and to lay back on steep roof to catch her breath.
After a moment of slowing down her heart, she peered over the edge to unfortunately see the zombies tear apart the van and rip Josh's corpse apart. They seemed to forget about her as they devoured the boy's body like Thanksgiving turkey.
She remembered meeting Josh… she saved him at a small grocery store in Transylvania two months ago. They've been traveling together ever since. Of course, him being a hormonal teenager, he would hit on her in hopes of relieving some tension. But Hitomi always ignored his hints… she had absolutely no feelings for him and reproducing is a horrible idea… yes, let's get accidently pregnant during a zombie apocalypse. Don't get her wrong… he wasn't a bad guy. He never forced anything onto her. He was just horny and he knew she would kill him in a second.
She sighed sadly as she leaned back and looked up at the afternoon sky. She also saw a giant wooden cross in her view… that's when she figured out she was on top of church.
"Now, I have figure out a Plan B," she sighed as she talked openly to a object of religion. "Any ideas?"
Merle roamed around Fanelia's castle in the middle of the night. The dark, luxurious woods illuminated from the moons' light that were casting through the tall windows.
She woke up a few minutes ago, realizing that she needed water. So now, as she tiredly stumbles through the castle's halls, she quickly realizes she is not the only one awake.
"Van," she paused and she stops in her tracks. "What are you doing awake?"
Van was standing in front of the window, looking up at the bright Mystic Moon while fiddling with the amethyst pendent in his gloved hand. Merle had to admit… seeing the love of her life basking in those dark, blue rays made her heart skip a beat.
He grew so much in the past year… his jaw-line was more sharp and strong. His once lanky arms were more sculpted and defined in his usual red shirt. He grew a couple inches along with his raven hair that was now tied back. Merle still very much loved him… he would be perfect for her… for anyone, really. But there was one problem: he loved someone else. He was still in love with Hitomi Kanzanki from the Mystic Moon.
Merle had admitted to herself that she was jealous of the non-present girl. But she was more furious at the fact she left this amazing man behind.
"Merle," Van's voice snapped her out of the neko's thoughts. "Something is wrong."
"What do you mean?" Merle asks as she walked to Van's side, looking up to see what he was seeing.
"The Mystic Moon… it's changing," he stated with mild confusion.
Merle looked harder at "Earth," Hitomi would call it… she didn't see anything different.
"I don't see anything… what do you see?"
"I don't know… I just know it's changing," he replied darkly.
"Well," Merle looked down unsure. "Why don't you call Hitomi and find out?"
"I can't…" He voice cracked.
Merle's head snapped to look at him with worry.
"She," he started as he looked down at the ground. "She cut off our connection months ago."