Madison groaned as she felt like a rush has come to her. She also could have sworn that a skull was facing towards her until she slowly opened her eyes. The vision was kind of a blur but she slowly sat up and rubbed her head until she heard a growling sound. She looked at her skirt and saw Zor as he was waking up.
"Zor?" she spoke softly as she gently picked him up. "You alright, bud?"
Zor looked at his mistress nod his head. Madison looked to right side to see Trysha getting up and Victor was waking up as his eyes are opening until...
"New arrivals!" a man spoke with excitement.
Madison looked up and to shock of amazement and fear were a few skeletons and dead people but mostly... she saw the corpse bride.
"He must have fainted." the bride spoke in concern as she was focusing on Victor, "Are you all right?"
"What?" Victor finally opened his eyes and looked around in confusion, "What happened?"
"By Jove, man." a skeleton holding a pipe spoke as he got a closer look at him, "Looks like we've got ourselves a breather. Including the lasses."
Victor's eyes went wide with horror as he saw a real life skeleton in front of him until a corpse woman, who is a chef name Miss Plum, pushed the skeleton aside to have a good look at Victor.
"Does he have a dead brother?" she asked as she smiled until a small skeleton boy, dressed as a sailor, looked at him.
"He's still soft."
Victor moved back away and slowly got up as he looked terrified. Madison slowly got up and looked around until Trysha was up and stood close to her.
"Maddie... are we in..."
"It appears so." Madison whispered. "We're in the Land of the Dead."
Trysha looked around. She couldn't believe that she's in the dead world. It looked colorful other than the village from above. Hopefully, she won't pass out if anything was too freaky or gross.
"A toast, then." a voice spoke.
The girls looked up to see a general that looks Napoleon-like with a sword that is through in his chest and a colonel with a hole in his stomach. The general was taking a drink from his cup, but as the colonel took the sword out of dwarf's chest, the liquid came and went into another cup. The colonel starts drinking and the girls could see the liquid through the stomach.
"To the newlyweds!" the general cheered as he felt the sword back in his chest from the colonel.
"Newlyweds?" Victor spoke in confusion and looked at the bride who was smiling at him.
"ln the woods, you said your vows so perfectly." she explained as she showed him the ring on her finger.
"I did?"
"Yeah. You did, Victor. Maddie and I were the only ones that witness you practicing your vows and you did place the ring in her finger." said Trysha.
Victor looked at her for a moment and looked back at the bride's hand as she was wearing his ring.
"I did." he said and then starts banging his head on the counter, "Wake up! Wake up! Wake up!"
"I don't think it's a dream, Victor. We're all still here." said Madison while the corpse bride looked concern for Victor.
"Bonjour! Coming through! Coming through!" a voice spoke.
The living trio looked at the direction to the left as they heard a voice. Through the crowd, another corpse cook appeared holding a head on the platter. But to Victor's shocked, the head somehow was being moved by roaches underneath him.
"My name is Paul, l am the head waiter." the head spoke in a French accent, "l will be creating your wedding feast."
Victor moved back away while the girls couldn't stop staring at Paul until they heard a popping sound. They turned around to see the corpse bride's eye out of her head and out came a green looking worm.
"Wedding feast! I'm salivating."
Victor gasped and the girls looked disgusted while the bride covered her eye.
"Maggots." she said and nervously chuckled.
The young man couldn't take much more of this and moved back away until he accidently bumped into another corpse. The girls along with the bride looked concern for Victor as he kept backing away and freaking away.
"Keep away!" he shouted until he fell.
The living dead all looked at Victor in confusion. Even though it's hard to tell the emotion on the skeleton faces and on decayed corpses. As Victor was back up, he spotted the sword that was in the general and starts grabbing it.
"I've got a... I've got a..." Victor starts pulling the sword, but once he did, the general was still attached to it. "...dwarf. And I'm not afraid to use him. l want some questions. Now!"
"Answers." the general spoke as he was correcting him. "I think you mean answers."
"Thank you, yes, answers. l need answers." Victor starts questioning. "What's going on here? Where am l? Who are you?" he asked as he looked at the corpse bride.
"Pretty sure we know our answers." Trysha whispered to her friend and Madison nod her head.
"Well... that's kind of a long story." the bride answered.
"What a story it is." a voice spoke.
Everyone including the living trio turned their heads to see a familiar, skeleton character wearing a bowler hat and has only one eye that can switch to different sides. The girls knew who that skeleton was. Bojangles himself.
"A tragic tale of romance, passion and murder most foul." he said.
"This is going to be good." the general spoke to Victor.
Victor exclaimed as realized that he was still holding the general and quickly dropped him.
"Your favorite song, Maddie." Trysha whispered.
Madison looked at her friend as she smiled with excitement and looked back at Bojangles.
"Hit it, boys."
A couple of skeletons starts rattling their bones in a tune as they started the music. Bonejangles bop their skulls and ribs like the sound of a xylophone until another skeleton starts playing a piano. Bonejangles starts snapping his boney fingers to the beat of the music and he starts singing.
Bonejangles: Hey, give me a listen
You corpses of cheer
At least those of you
Who still got an ear
I'll tell you a story
Make a skeleton cry
Of our own jubiliciously
Lovely Corpse Bride
Skeletons and Corpses: Die, die, we all pass away
But don't wear a frown
Because it's really okay
You might try and hide
And you might try and pray
But we all end up
The remains of the day
Skeletons: Die, die, die, die, die
Die, die, die, die, die
The girls watched their performance until the corpse bride appeared on stage and Bonejangles continued singing as shadows appear behind them, showing the story about the bride.
Bonejangles: Well, our girl was a beauty
Known for miles around
When a mysterious stranger
Came into town
He was plenty good-looking
But down on his cash
And our poor little baby
She fell hard and fast
When her daddy said no
She just couldn't cope
So our lovers came up
With a plan to elope
Skeletons and Corpses: Die, die, we all pass away
But don't wear a frown
Because it's really okay
You might try and hide
And you might try and pray
But we all end up
The remains of the day
The living dead continued singing and dancing as they feel like they were having the time of their dead lives. Victor was still freaking out as the corpses and skeletons were dancing around him. Madison felt her foot being tapped to the rhythm of the beat until she felt a boney hand touching hers. She felt herself being dragged but also dancing as she was with a corpse. Zor was still on her shoulder as he was holding on to his dear life and not falling down. Trysha watched her friend dance until a skeleton appeared and twirled her around. As the music kept going, Bonejangles continued singing as more shadows appear to the story.
Bonejangles: So, they conjured up a plan
To meet late at night
They told not a soul
Kept the whole thing tight
Now, her mother's wedding dress
Fit like a glove
You don't need much
When you're really in love
Except for a few things
Or so I'm told
Like the family jewels
And a satchel of gold
Then next to the graveyard
By the old oak tree
On a dark foggy night
At a quarter to three
She was ready to go
But where was he?
Corpse Cook: And then?
Bonejangles: She waited
Miss Plum: And then?
Bonejangles: There in the shadows, was it her man?
Corpse Cook 2: And then?
Bonejangles: Her little heartbeat so loud
Paul: And then?
Bonejangles: And then, baby, everything went black
Now, when she opened her eyes
She was dead as dust
Her jewels were missing
And her heart was bust
So she made a vow
Lying under that tree
That she'd wait for her true love
To come set her free
Always waiting for someone
To ask for her hand
Then out of the blue
Comes this groovy young man
Who vows forever
To be by her side
And that's the story
Of our Corpse Bride
Corpses: Die, die, we all pass away
But don't wear a frown,
Because it's really okay
You might try and hide
And you might try and pray
But we all end up
The remains of the day
Madison and Trysha dance to the song until the two felt like they were being dragged by someone. The two looked and saw that it was Victor who dragged them out. He moved his head a little as signature for all three to leave. The girls looked at each other as they nod in agreement and quickly flee out of the pub to escape but the question is, how will they get back to the surface?
To Be Continued...