Author's note: I've added an additional scene to this chapter; which was originally going to be in Chapter 9, but I decided to move to this chapter so as not to make chapter 9 too long.

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Chapter 8

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Zeke and Julie watched as the Millers stepped through the transport door.

"And it looks like that's everyone on this street." said Julie, "Now it's our turn."

Zeke nodded in agreement. But as the two of them approached the door, it suddenly faded away before their very eyes.

"Hey, what the...?" Zeke cried out.

Julie stared at the hand computer and started pushing buttons, but nothing happened.

"I don't get it!" she said with a shrug, "For some reason, this thing... it's not working anymore!"

Zeke took his radio and called Harry.

"Houston, we have a problem." he said, "...I can not believe I just said that!"

"This is Houston. What's wrong out there?"

"Umm... you know that computer thingy that we've been using to send people to the base? Well, we got everyone through the door, but... then it just stopped working."

"I see. What's your current location?"

"We're at the Millers' house, 532 Walnut Street."

"Alright, sit tight, Dallas. I'll send for a chopper to pick you up. Houston out."

Suddenly, the sounds of howls came again. This time, several of them all at once. And they were right outside the back door.

"Those wolves again..." Zeke blustered, putting his radio back onto his belt, "Where is Animal Control when you need them?"

"Uhh... I'd hate to tell you, Zeke..." Julie replied, "but those are no ordinary wolves."

"What do you mean?"

"You know how I lost my shoes out there, to the zombies? Well... I didn't lose the first one to a zombie, I lost it fighting off a werewolf bite."

"Say WHAT?!"

All of a sudden, the back door burst open and four werewolves leapt through the open doorway. Zeke and Julie stared back, as the werewolves began to rummage through the house, seemingly not noticing the teens.

Zeke looked back at Julie and said, "You mean to tell me you almost had your foot eaten off by one of those... werewolves?"

Julie nodded. Zeke then glared back at the werewolves, raised his gun, and lowered his glasses.

"Well, let's make them pay for that!"

"No, wait!" Julie cried.

But she was too late to stop Zeke from firing a stream of holy water at one of the werewolves; who all stopped and turned to face him.

"I kinda tried that already, and holy water doesn't work on them."

"Oh..."

The werewolf brushed the water off his face, as he and his comrades growled and licked their chops at the two humans.

"Okay..." Zeke said, "Plan B: RUN!"

The teens ran for their lives from the werewolves; who were quick to pursue. But before long, the predators lost sight of their prey and stared in confusion before splitting up and sniffing through the house for their missing meals. Zeke cautiously pushed the hall closet door open and looked around.

"I think the coast is clear." he whispered, motioning for Julie to follow.

Together, they snuck out of the closet.

"I think I found the problem with Lil' Sparky here too." Julie added, showing the computer to him.

"Lil' Sparky?"

"Yeah, that's the name I came up with for this thing. Thought it was kinda cute."

"Whatever. What's 'his' problem then?"

Julie turned Lil' Sparky over and slipped a small panel off, revealing two batteries; which were obviously dead.

"Huh... I don't know how we missed THAT before."

"Well, at least they're double A's." Julie replied, removing the dead batteriees, "So they shouldn't be too hard to-..."

Julie stopped when she heard a loud snarling nearby.

"Back in that closet, quick!" Zeke hissed at her.

In a flash, they jumped back into the closet and pulled the door closed. In the closet, they could hear the sounds of a werewolf sniffing around the area and grunting in frustration before bounding off.

"If we're gonna get outta here," Zeke told Julie, "we'll have to deal with them first. We can't keep hiding from them forever."

"True, but what can we use against them? Holy water doesn't work and even if the Millers had any guns, I doubt there'd be any silver bullets in the house."

"Yeah, well... there's gotta be something that can... wait a minute..."

"What?"

"Yeah... it's so crazy, it just might work! To the kitchen!"

"...The kitchen?"

Zeke opened the closet door and took hold of Julie's forearm to hurry her along with him. As they approached the kitchen, they observed one werewolf tearing up the living room to try and find a new meal.

"Hey, you stupid mutt!" Zeke called, "Over here!"

"What are you doing?!"

As the werewolf turned his head and ran towards the kitchen, Zeke threw open the silverware drawer. Julie stared in confusion as Zeke grabbed a fork and knife in one hand.

"...Silverware? You're gonna fight him with-..."

Zeke threw the utensils at the werewolf; which to Julie's surprise, caused him to roar in pain upon impact. He then fell to the floor and lay motionless, before dissapating away into nothingness. Zeke and Julie looked on, then looked at each other and smiled.

"Okay then."

X X X

Another werewolf yelped in pain and fell onto the floor, as several utensils flew from Julie's hand and struck him in the chest.

"That was for my foot!" she shouted at him, as he dissapated away.

'Atta girl!' Zeke thought with a smirk, as he flung another pair of spoons at a third werewolf; who was running at him from down the hall.

"That all of 'em?" he asked.

Julie looked around, then stared past Zeke. She quickly retrieved some of the utensils she'd just thrown.

"Duck." she said, preparing to throw.

Zeke turned to face the werewolf approaching him from behind, then immediately obeyed Julie's order. After the utensils struck and killed the werewolf, Zeke slowly stood up again. That's when the teens heard the sounds of a Chinook helicopter preparing to land.

"Sounds like our ride's here." said Zeke, "Figures they'd show up just as we manage to take out those werewolves."

"Right?" Julie replied, "Oh well. Last one aboard is a rotten egg!"

As Julie ran for the front door, Zeke smiled and shook his head.

"First one aboard has to eat it!" he called, running after her.

X X X

"Werewolves, you say?" Harry asked, "And you took them out with... silverware?"

"That's right, Sir." Zeke replied with a nod, "Pretty sure silver bullets would work just as well though."

"Hmm... and any clues to the identity of our mystery friend?"

"Not a sign of him, since Julie and I first encountered him."

"Umm, actually..." Julie commented, "he did say in his last note that Father Vittorio at the church is a friend of his. Maybe he can tell us."

"Well, I don't want to risk sending you two there just yet. Not until we know for sure that the place is secure. Besides, you've been through enough for one night, and I think you've earned some rest. Sergeant Weber outside will show you to your barracks. Dismissed."

The teens saluted in response and left the office.

X X X

Meanwhile...

Dr. Weisman nervously approached Dr. Tongue; who was mixing chemicals in his lab.

"Dr. Tongue, Sir?" he said.

"What ith it now, Weithman?!" Dr. Tongue snapped back at his assistant, "Can't you thee I'm buthy?" (What is it now, Weisman?! Can't you see I'm busy?"

Barely managing to restrain his laughter at Dr. Tongue's deformed tongue and resulting speech impediment, Dr. Weisman continued.

"We uh... may be having some trouble."

"Trouble?!"

"Apparently, some neighborhood kids have taken it upon themselves to fight our monsters and rescue the people of the city. So far, they've been pretty successful."

"Oh, BAH!" Dr. Tongue replied, "Thoth pathetic thombieth, werewolveth, and toyth mean nothing to me! Mere diverthionth, before my greatest creathion is unleathed!" (Those pathetic zombies, werewolves, and toys mean nothing to me! Mere diversions, before my greatest creation is unleashed!"

Dr. Weisman cleared his throat, as Dr. Tongue began to laugh maniacally.

"Err... yes, um... about that." he said, "There seems to be a certain zombie, with an ugly tie, roaming through the city. Umm... I don't know where this one came from, but... he looks to be much more advanced than any of the others I've seen."

Dr. Tongue turned to face Dr. Weisman.

"Advanthed, you thay? How tho?" (Advanced, you say? How so?)

"Well, he appears to be able to fight in ways I've never seen a zombie fight. And apparently, he's giving the Police a hard time."

"Hmm... thoundth like the kind of thpethiman I could uthe. Find thith thombie and bring him to the lab." (sounds like the kind of speciman I could use. Find this zombie and bring him to the lab.)

"Yes, Sir."

"And bring me another paper towel, before you go."

Dr. Weisman sighed and replied, "Yes, Sir."

X X X

Zeke and Julie ran towards the Police roadblock, as fast as their feet would carry them, where three Police officers were firing upon a horde of zombies. Noticing the teenagers approaching them, one of the officers said, "Hey, you kids shouldn't be here!"

Another officer, a middle aged female, stared in surprise.

"Mom!" Julie cried.

"Julie!" her mother replied, "Zeke! What are you two..." she paused only to shoot an approaching zombie in the head, dispatching him. "Nevermind, just get down!"

Zeke and Julie obeyed, crouching behind her mother's squad car. But Julie couldn't help glancing out at a familiar-looking zombie.

"Oh no!" she cried, "Not Mr. Brown! He was my favorite teacher!"

"Julie, please," her mother told her, "stay down!"

Zeke had been silent thus far, not knowing what to think as he simply observed the grim situation. Soon afterwards, one of the officers shouted, "Arm incoming! Shoot that arm!"

To Zeke and Julie's amazement, a severed zombie arm crawled along the Police car towards the two officers; who frantically began shooting at it until they both ran out of bullets. They succeeded in stopping the zombie arm from attacking, but as they started to reload, a zombie's pulsing organ flew through the air towards them and landed in front of the car before suddenly exploding. The officers screamed in terror as they flew backwards, their car flying with them like a toy car thrown across a bedroom.

"Shit!" Julie's mom shouted, as Zeke and Julie looked on in horror.

Finally, Zeke said, "Come on!"

He and Julie then got on their feet and started to spray the approaching zombies. Julie's mom stared in shock as the zombies began to explode.

"How... how are you doing that?" she asked.

Zeke opened his mouth to explain, only to be cut off, as Julie pointed to a certain zombie and said, "Hey, what's that one doing?"

The zombie in question had just twisted his head off; which he then rolled towards them like a bowling ball.

"Get back!" Zeke cried, jumping back.

Julie went with him, but her mother was too late. The rolling zombie head soon got under her car and exploded, throwing her and the vehicle into the air and dropping them to a fatal crash.

"MOM!" Julie shouted.

"No..." a horrified Zeke uttered, his horror quickly switching to anger at the zombie; who somehow regrew his head and was now approaching them, "You'll pay for that, you monster!"

Zeke and Julie angrily pointed their guns at the zombie. But before they could fire, a cacophonus noise came from within his bowels, followed by a noxious gas. The teens cried out in pain and did their best to fan the gas away from their faces, as the horrible smell overwhelmed them. The next thing Zeke knew, the zombie was approaching Julie; who suddenly dropped her gun and fell onto the ground screaming, as the zombie leaped onto her.

"JULIE! NO!"

X X X

Zeke gasped in horror and panted as he sprang awake from the dream. With trepidation, he looked around for Julie. He then sighed with relief after seeing her fast asleep in the bed nearby, alive and unharmed. But just to be sure, Zeke climbed out of bed and gently placed two fingers on her neck. Sure enough, she still had a pulse.

"Good thing you're a heavy sleeper."

Zeke sat down on his bed and took a moment to marvel at how pretty Julie was, even in the darkness. Despite being clad only in his boxer shorts and a white T-shirt, he didn't feel the least bit cold looking at her. However, a cold feeling did come to him and his smile faded, when he started thinking about how neglective of her in the past. Often being too busy playing his video games or reading his comics to pay her much attention, rarely bothering to lift a finger to help her when she needed it, or forgetting to call her on the days when she was expecting it.

"My God..." he mumbled to himself, "I really have been a terrible boyfriend. If I hadn't called her when I did, I would've lost her for reals!"

Zeke knew then that he owed her a great big heart-filled apology. But now wasn't the time for it. It was late at night, she'd had a rough day, and was very tired. And that tired feeling was starting to return to him as well. So with a light yawn, he climbed back into bed and blew Julie a kiss before closing his eyes again.

'Man, I sure hope we don't have to face any zombies like that one in real life.' he thought, 'That guy was dynamite! I hope Julie's mom is okay too. And Trevor, wherever he is. I owe him big time, for...'

Zeke didn't finish that thought, before drifting back to sleep.

X X X

To be Continued