AN: Not much to say here, unlike the other chapters. Sorry for the procrastination, guys. Anyway, here's chapter 9. Hope you guys enjoy it.
Dipper woke up with a scream and shudder the following morning. He periodically woke up that night due to nightmares he had been receiving. The dream starts out at the karaoke party, where everything seemed normal in the long run. The party-goers conversing with each other on the latest news; Stan fanning money in his face in the warm, summer night; and Mabel singing and rocking out on the stage. Things started to change, however, when Soos emerged from the Mystery Shack. The transformation began then, the zombification of the handyman. The guests, staring petrified at the newly formed undead being, were unable to move as Soos advanced towards Dipper. The eyes of the once naive manchild turned into soulless globes of swirling clouds. The heart warming smile on the prior mystery shack admirer transformed into the most depressing frown the world would have ever seen. The pitiful moaning, the scraping of Soos' undead feet against the dirt path, the feeling of loss of control in Soos' body. That's when Dipper woke up.
The guilt of not curing Soos or trying to stop him from entering the zombie-infested wagon flooded Dipper with the cold sensation of guilt. He could have tried harder, he could've shouted louder, he could've stopped Soos in his tracks faster. But it didn't help him save Soos that night. Unfortunately for Dipper, the nightmares didn't stop there. Once Dipper went back to sleep, his mind was plagued again by the same scenario. Except it got worse. Soos, instead of going after Dipper first, began to target the guests. One at a time. The energetic crowd transitioned to a horde of brain hungry zombies. Soulless, relentless, and controlled. Soos even managed to bite Stan, as well as Mabel. Crazy Dave, who appeared out of nowhere, began to cackle softly to himself, turning away from the party and Dipper. Dipper was confused about his behavior. He already knew about Dave's craziness, but this was beyond crazy. It was insanity. When Dipper approached him, Dipper's heart dropped as Dave turned to face him. It wasn't Crazy Dave's face, nor was it even his head. It was Dr. Zomboss. Dipper woke up after that, and as a quick reflex, shouts "AHHHHHHHHHHH"
"Are you okay, Broseph?" Mabel sleepily asks as she rubs her eyes from across the room. Unsurprisingly, Stan didn't manage to wake up from that outburst, nor did Dave. Stan was too busy dreaming about a luxury yacht filled to the brink with gold, while Dave trained himself to wake up only to blood curdling screams of his neighbors and the sound of zombies. Dipper doesn't know how to respond to the question. If he tells her about Soos appearing in his dream, she might feel guilty, too. Lying, on the other hand, could be hard, yet possible. Dipper settles with instead talking about another nightmare he had in the past and "coincidentally" is having now. Mabel buys into his explanation, and goes back to bed, with Dipper wiping unexpected sweat from his forehead as he heard Mabel begin to softly snore again. Dipper sighs. Feeling too afraid of falling asleep for a while after reliving a new variation of a traumatic experience, he'd have to skip his sleep schedule yet again.
An hour passed… soon two… then three. Dipper began to feel droopy, but kept pinching himself and walking around to stay awake. However, at four o'clock, Dipper finally collapses back onto his bed. The dream, instead of happening at the party, happens in a dark room this time. It was quiet. It was pitch dark. It was scary. The floor felt cold and hard. Dipper can't see until an overhead light turns on. Now with dim light filling the room, Dipper finds himself to be in a prison cell. A locked door, no windows, a toilet, and a smelly, dusty mattress. The small room was made of 3 solid plain white walls and bars and the cell door being the other wall. There seemed to be tally marks on the wall as well, made of what Dipper can assume to be chlorophyll. A zombie was also in the cell, as well as some sort of plant shackled to one of the walls. Without any weapon of some kind, Dipper backed into a corner of the cell, desperately pinching himself in order to wake up outside of the dream, but to no avail as the zombie noticed him and began his approach. The zombie slowly crawled towards Dipper, an arm reaching out to grasp Dipper's leg in order to bite him, all the while Dipper hopelessly pinching himself. The foul stench of flesh entered Dipper's nostrils as he pinched. The moans entered Dipper's ears as he pinched. The lost, bloodied and pale face of the zombie striking into Dipper's pupils as he pinched. As the zombie finally reached Dipper, opening its mouth and nearing Dipper's leg, the zombie's head fell off. Sorry, got knocked off.
Behind the dissected zombie seems to be the plant from before, except not chained to the wall anymore. The plant, with shackles still covering its leaves, begins to motion with with its head towards the shackles themselves. Dipper approached the plant, crouching down to see the shackles better, and as Dipper got closer, Dipper was shocked to find a poem on it. It was in perfect English, written in chlorophyll, and it read out to be:
Once a slave stowed away
Never again to see the light of day
Taken away from its family and enge (aka surname)
Is now out to seek revenge.
These weights before weighed me down
Been locked in them since I entered town
But today is the the day this plant is set free
Wake up, Dipper, and you shall see.
Dipper wakes up to find not only the plant in the dream, but a new seed packet under his arm, and a glowing light from the almanac. The time is 10:00 am. Dipper wanders towards the almanac…, with day two of the new zombie apocalypse about to begin.
AN: I am completely against slavery, just so you guys know. Considering I picked the year setting of 1860, one of the years of the Gold Rush period, it also seemed necessary to include a plant like the one I introduced in this chapter. Next chapter will either be a short almanac entry that will be posted soon, or a long chapter with an almanac entry in it, but have it released a later date. I gotta think of the plant's name now... I'm also sorry that the last chapter had nothing to do with the storyline, just a few almanac entries, if you were expecting an actual chapter instead.
Other than that, please review! I'll try to respond to any new reviews that I receive starting from here on out. I also deeply appreciate constructive criticism. For example, I feel like I did ok on this chapter, but I'm not sure because I'm not the best at telling stories, so your opinions on this chapter and any other chapter are welcomed.