CHAPTER 21: Guests?
I was woken up by Annika, Peater, Ash and some other plants having a conversation. I opened my eyes and found that I had woken up, not in an infirmary, but on my bunk in the room that Peater and I shared.
"What happened?" I mumbled I tried to sit up, but Crazy Dave only pushed me back down.
"Rest. That's all I ask of you." he said before joining the conversation with the other plants.
As my vision cleared, and a little strength returned to my body, I turned around and saw Mareya, Carol, Albert and Brian.
"What the heck are you doing over here?!" I yelled, louder than intended.
"The north side's gone, Elyssia. These . . . er . . . four need a place to stay." Peater answered.
"Bad for us . . ." Mareya murmured.
"Mareya can stay here, but the rest of them can stay at Fairmont or something!" I replied angrily as I managed to push myself up into a sitting position.
"Why do you hate the rest of them?" Crazy Dave asked.
"Are you racist?" Annika echoed.
"They . . . They were the ones that made my life at school as miserable as possible! I don't want anything to do with them!" I screamed.
"Elyssia, think about it: do you really think that that's the right attitude to carry when we're at war with the zombies?" Ash asked.
I sighed, and I tried to remember the last time that this was mentioned.
It was Wednesday. But it wasn't any old Wednesday. No. I got a chance to escape the torment of my class ― from 8:30 to 3:30. My idea of a perfect day, with a cool Garlic as a teacher.
"Class, it's about time that we've talked about the issue of revenge." Mr. Lou announced.
"Can anybody define it for me?"
I raised my leaf high in the air.
"What is the definition of revenge, Elsi?" Mr. Lou asked.
"Getting back at somebody who did something bad to you." I answered.
"Right! Now, if you've gotten revenge on anyone, it probably feels good ― right?" Mr. Lou asked.
"Yeah!" the rest of the class chorused.
"Well, that's just the thing! We get so addicted to revenge that we end up getting ourselves into trouble. Good feelings are gone, and they're replaced by guilt!" Mr. Lou explained.
"Now, this should be a familiar situation: your enemy is in need of a safe haven, and he or she has just humiliated you in front of the whole class. Now, you'd probably want to just say, "Nah, you don't deserve anything good!" But one thing that you must realize is that safety trumps out everything full of hate and bitterness. Lend a helping leaf! You just might feel good about it! Better than feeling regretful later!"
Peater was stubbornly waving his leaf in front of my face.
"Earth to Elyssia!" he exclaimed.
"Has the space girl made her decision yet?"
I shook myself out of my brief flashback and sighed.
"Well, to start off, what made you choose this base, and not some other place in Toronto?" I asked.
"We need to stay at a plant base because chances are, we can find a good role in the resistance!" Carol answered.
"Well, there's another base down by Leslie! Is it so difficult to go there?" I spat.
"That base is abandoned, Elyssia." Annika replied.
"Ugghh, fine! But put them in the back room, please, because I don't want any more drama in my life." I growled.
I decided to eavesdrop on the zombies at City Hall, because I had nothing better to do, and I wanted nothing more than to prove myself as something other than an insignificant piece of crap. Slowly making my way to Nathan Phillips Square, I recalled the time when Mme Hibiscus told us about Charles DeGaull's famous adventure in World War One.
"DeGaull was something of an outcast as a soldier in the First World War. He wanted France to win. Desperately. So he decided to slither his way through thousands and thousands of soldiers."
Not like I have to deal with armies of zombies right now . . .
"He did this to find his way to the Germany's trenches in order to listen in to the plans of the opposition."
Kind of like what I'm doing, come to think of it.
"He picked up such valuable information, and he came back to France with plans to turn the tides of the war. And that's precisely what happened."
Maybe I might be able to drive the zombies out of Toronto. Or Ontario, if not all 4 of zombie infested the provinces and territories in Canada. I snuck up to the windows of City Hall. Before I could even begin to listen to the conversation that Dr. Zomboss was having with his army of dimwitted, rotting corpses, I sneezed. Catching the attention of a zombie with a harpoon gun in his rotting hand, I could see him taking aim. Then I knew I had only one option: run.
And that's exactly what I did.
I ran, the clipping of my roots against the ground creating echoing cracks, while the zombie behind me was catching up in heavy strides.
"Elyssia, what happened?" Annika asked as she saw me running.
"It's a long ―" Before I could finish, a harpoon was shot at my head.
Feeling it pierce my flesh, I turned around and fired a parting shot: an icy jet of anger and spite. That knocked the zombie down, but unfortunately it knocked me down as well. Annika was screaming, "Stay awake! Stay awake!"
Then I had finally blacked out.