Now that I finally finished my FOP fic, I can have more time to finish this! WAHOO YAY!!! Yeah…whatever…DISCLAIMER: but, if I DID own them, I wouldn't make all my readers wait until MAY 1!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

'Ok, ok, ok,' I repeated in my head. 'I'm a Necromancer; about to enter a graveyard…I have to stay calm.' But I knew that was a lie. I can't help it when I raise the dead! And worse, I've got three kids.

I can't freak them out. Because if I did, they would tell their mom. Mom would tell the police. The Edison group is probably snooping around here still, so they would most likely find out about a report on zombies.

Not to mention explaining everything to Mrs. Thomas…

Now how can you miss the fun in that?

Because the kids were so young, I couldn't just leave them home alone. Thus, I had to bring them along. Grabbing a flashlight and my cell, I closed the door and started to walk across the street.

Damn it, why hadn't I noticed that stinkin' graveyard when I came here? It was too far away, I realized, to trigger that little feeling in the back of my head whenever I get near a body.

"Kids running off into a graveyard," I murmured to myself. "Yeah that would have been nice to know ahead of time."

I never noticed how odd Heidi looked without her hand up in the air. She just kept looking down and pouting. Poor kid. As for Haden…well, he was just being Haden.

"I promise we'll get Bobby back," I reassured her. How hard was it to find an imaginary friend in a graveyard? Oh very hard…But since she could see him and I couldn't, she could do the finding.

Heidi looked up at me with shiny eyes. She sniffled, then mumbled an "Ok" and looked down again.

I felt just fine, walking along the dark lawn, when all of a sudden it hit me. I staggered back – it was like that little muscle tweak was going crazy. I could feel them all, just lying in the dirt…rotting…

"Chloe? Are you OK?" asked Heidi, suddenly more concerned for me then Bobby. What was my answer? I certainly wasn't fine.

"Um…I'll be…ok," I managed to get out. It was hard to talk. It was like an invisible force, like too much gravity, pulling down on me, willing me to stay put. But I ignored it.

I treaded forward, my legs aching; begging me to stop. But I couldn't. I wanted to jump slightly when we got near the first headstone.

Calm Chloe. Just gotta stay calm.

Yeah, that sure is easy, when two kids are staring at you and you can barely move.

Just get in, get Alex, and GET OUT.

Easier said then done.

"Bobby!" gasped Heidi, running off.

"Heidi! Get back here!" I cried, setting down Haden on one of those benches that you can find in the middle of an area. What I always wanted to know was why on Earth people would place benches in a graveyard? Even before I knew I was a Necromancer, I always hated graveyards.

She had disappeared into the darkness, and I couldn't see her anymore. I jumped when a twig cracked behind me. I whirled around, desperately trying to find the source.

Calm, calm, gotta stay calm.

"A-Alex?" I asked, trying to hear a voice…a non-dead, still-human voice.

Calm, calm…stay calm…

I walked forward a couple steps. Oh God, please, please let this be Alex.

"Alex," I said, firmer this time. I sounded more confident then I really was. Something was scraping against what sounded like…stone.

I froze. That little feeling in my head was going bezerk. A smell too…God I knew that smell. Like, something was rotting…I shut me eyes.

Calm, calm…stay calm Chloe! Stay calm! Don't raise the dead!

Too late…

Somewhere in the opposite direction, Heidi screamed.

Calm, calm, calm, calm-

Then it sounded like there were more. That awful scraping and dragging sound…that limp moaning…

CALM, CALM, CALM, CALM, CALM!

I didn't know the meaning of the work 'calm' anymore. I wanted to shout in my head for that little voice to shut up. I knew I had to open my eyes sooner or later…so I did.

Ten.

At least ten. I raised ten. All of them crawling towards me…

I lost it. And I screamed.