The Curse of Infection

It was a sunny school day morning and the McGees were all up and ready except for one. And it wasn't Scratch.

"Just as I thought. You're too sick for school, Darryl." Sharon said after checking the thermometer.

"Aw man. And today is-ACHOO-pizza day." Darryl whined.

"Sorry, but you'll have to stay in bed."

"Get well soon." Molly said from the hallway.

She grabbed her backpack and left for school with Scratch by her side. Shortly after, Ollie crossed the road and joined them.

"Hey, Molly. Is your brother going by bus today?" Ollie said.

"Actually, he's sick." Molly answered. "Really bad."

"Almost makes me look alive." Scratch joked.

"Oh. June too. I hope your brother gets better soon."

"Same to your sister, only better with the medicine part. Darryl hates it."

"Who doesn't?"

Molly and Ollie laughed at how true that question was until another friend showed up.

"Hiya, Scratch!" Geoff said before giving his annoyed bestie a hug. "Hi, Molly and Ollie."

"Hi, uhhh..." Ollie pondered. "Which Jeff are you again?"

"I'm Geoff. G-E-O-F-F."

"Thank you."

"So, buddy, you wanna have fun back in the ghost world today?"

Scratch got out of the hug and said "Sorry, but I already promised Molly I'd watch one of her school projects today."

"Oh. Okay." Geoff moped, but understood.

Molly felt a little sorry for him and had an idea.

"My brother Darryl could use some company." she said. "He's very sick in bed."

*Gasp!* "Anything for the brother of the best friend of my best friend!" Geoff said before taking off to the McGee's house.

"Boy can I imagine the advantages Darryl might take of Geoff." Scratch commented.


The whole school day wasn't anything interesting enough to talk about, so after the last bell rang, Molly, Scratch, Ollie, and now Libby all agreed to head over to the latter's place.

"Wait until you see some of the new books we got." Libby said. "One in particular will blow your minds!"

"Ooh-hoo-hoo. Which one?" Molly asked.

"I'll let you find out." Libby then noticed Ollie staring at something. "Ollie, what's wrong?"

"That guy doesn't look so good." Ollie pointed to a sleeveless old man across the road. "I'm gonna see if he's alright."

The others followed him in case it took more than one to help. As they got closer, the old man looked even worse.

"Excuse me, mister. Are you alright?" Ollie asked.

Suddenly, the old man turned around and looked almost like he was dead.

"AH!" the group stepped back in shock.

"Is everything alright?" a random woman came over out of curiosity.

However, the old man swung an arm and bumped the woman The next thing anyone knew, the woman's skin started to change.

"AHHHHH!" she screamed.

The teens and Scratch were frozen by both fear and confusion. In under a minute, the woman was moaning, slowly moving, and looked similar to the old man. There was only one possibility for what was happening and they all knew it.

"Zombies!"

The group ran before either zombie could touch any of them. While running, they noticed that more people had already been infected.

"Oh why did I have to be right about this!?" Libby whined.

"We'll figure that out after we get into your place!" Molly pointed at Book Marks the Spot up ahead.

They hurried as fast as they could, Scratch naturally being the fastest and getting there first. The three teens made it shortly after, but the door was locked and the zombies were starting to approach them.

"Help!"

"Let us in!"

"Mom!"

They repeatedly banged on the door as the zombies got closer. Scratch unlocked the door and they got inside, re-locking the door behind themselves and breathing like they ran a marathon.

"Libby!" Leah ran up and hugged her daughter like never before. "I am so sorry! I was in the back room with the others when I heard you banging! I'm so glad you're not a zombieeeee!"

Luckily for the teens, they didn't have to explain how they got in, but one thing did confuse them.

"Who are the others?" Molly asked.

"The other survivors. Come on." Leah led the others to the back of the bookstore.

There they saw eight other people, two of which they recognized with ease.

"Patty! Bobby!" Molly said.

"Heya, Molly. Glad you made it." Patty said.

"How did this even happen?" Ollie asked.

"Nobody knows." Bobby said. "Things were fine one moment and the next, people began turning from a single touch."

As the friends looked at the other survivors, it was clear that everyone was scared. Something needed to be done.

"Friends, follow me." Libby said.

Molly, Ollie, and Scratch did as she said. The first two called their families whom they knew were home. Ollie found out that his family had recently learned what was going on and were about to call him. They also told him that they were currently examining a zombie they caught to find a possible cure and couldn't do much else with too many zombies just outside their house even with their Boo Blasters (Especially since June is still sick). Molly on the other hand couldn't get an answer from her family at all and started worrying. The group then entered Libby's zombie apocalypse bunker where she closed the door behind them.

"It's a good thing I prepared for this exact apocalypse." Libby then pressed a button hidden behind a poster and the storage cabinet near the door opened like another door, revealing a large collection of Derf blasters.

"You had more than one of those the whole time?" Scratch asked.

"Did you really think I would be prepared for this kind of emergency with only one weapon?"

"Way to go, Libby." Molly grabbed a blaster and aimed it around.

"This is good and all, but I think we need to find out what caused this breakout in the first place." Ollie suggested. "It could at least help decrease the amount of infections."

"Well good luck with that." Scratch said. "It's not like the answer's gonna just arrived because you asked for it."

"Hi, Scratch." Geoff suddenly appeared, startling Scratch.

"Geoff? What are you doing here?" Molly asked. "And is my family okay?"

"There's uhm, something I have to tell you."

"What did you do?" Scratch questioned.


Flashback

Well you see, when I went to see Darryl, I was able to make him happy for a while. But then his mom came in and tried to give him some medicine. Darryl was really stubborn about it, so I offered to take over medicine duty. Sharon agreed, but she didn't look too happy. I tried everything I could think of, but he wouldn't open his mouth. So I asked myself "What would Scratch do?" and then it hit me. He would curse Darryl and that's what I did. I said to him "I CURSE YOU, DARRYL MCGEE! YOUR INFECTION WILL ONLY BECOME WORSE FROM NOW ON! THE ONLY WAY TO END IT WILL BE TO CONSUME THE MEDICINE YOU NEED!"

Darryl did get sicker, but not how I thought he would. He slowly turned into one of those zombies like in the movies and slowly left the room. The other McGees checked on him, but he made them zombies too just by touching them. I got so scared that I flew away. I would've told you sooner, but I felt so bad.


Scratch and Molly were both silent for a moment. Then they spoke.

"You... did... WHAT!?"

Then they ranted at the same time.

"Of all the stupid things you've done, this is the "How could you do something like that!? You turned
stupidest! Even I wouldn't do anything like that my family into mindless monsters and now the rest
and I've made some curses that really backfired! of Brighton is suffering from this! This is a million
Heck you could've just possessed him or tricked times worse than before we even moved here!
him or restrained him with his sheets so you Now it'll never be enhappified and I've lost my
could force feed him, you idiot!" family because of you!"

Once they both finished, Geoff felt even worse than ever which Molly saw in his face, so she decided to cut him some slack. Scratch, not so much.

*Sigh* "You said that medicine can undo the curse, right?" Molly asked.

"Yeah." Geoff said.

"Good. You and Scratch can just grab some medicine and find Darryl."

"Woah woah woah." Scratch said. "You want him to help after what he did?"

"It's gonna take everyone to stop this curse, Scratch. Besides, Geoff has been helpful before. Without him, you'd be stuck in the Flow of Failed Phantoms."

Scratch knew he couldn't argue with that.

"Fine, but we're not looking together."

"It'll be better if you split up anyway."

"I promise I won't let you down this time." Geoff vowed with a salute.

With that, Scratch and Geoff took off to get some medicine and find Darryl.

"What about the others?" Ollie asked.

"That's why we're down here." Libby grabbed some of the Derf blasters. "Take what you can and hand them out."

Molly and Ollie grabbed as many as possible and followed Libby back upstairs. They all returned to the back room and handed out the toy weapons to everyone.

"Listen up, everybody." Libby said. "We're currently safe from the zombies, but we only have so much food. Sooner or later, we'll have to leave and get help."

"Sweetie, I love the way you're handling this, but we all ready called 911." Leah explained. "They think it's a joke even after I showed them a video of what's happening outside."

"What about your car?" Molly suggested. "I know there are too many of us, but we could use it to find a bigger vehicle like an RV."

"Good idea. Everyone! I'm gonna need some backup! Any volunteers?"

"I'll do it!" Patty said with her cane raised like a hand.

"Patty, as capable as you probably are, we need speed when dealing with zombies. Sorry. Anyone else?"

As it turned out, the only other people brave enough to help were Molly, Libby, and Ollie who all raised their hands. Bobby would've raised his hand too, but he knew he wasn't fast enough either. Leah really didn't want to endanger any children, especially her own daughter, but it was clear that she had no choice.

"If you're going to come, then you need to do what I say. No questions. No hesitating. No arguments. Got it?"

"Got it." the kids said.

All armed with Derf blasters, Leah and the kids quietly left the store and the door was locked behind them. As quickly as they could, they got into the car without any trouble. Thankfully none of the zombified people were on the road while Leah drove to their destination.


After a while, they arrived at the local vehicle store where a large RV stood near the edge of the property.

"Perfect!" Leah said. "Now we just need to fill it with gas and get it started."

"I thought these all had gas already." Molly said.

"Only enough for a test drive. The gas cans should be in the garage somewhere. When we get out, we'll each cover one of four directions. I'll take the front. Let's go."

They all got out of the car and formed a defensive square. Leah took the front like she said, Molly had the left, Libby was on the right, and Ollie covered the rear. They moved as quickly as any tight group could and made it to the garage.

"There's the gas." Libby pointed to a corner where the cans were.

"Great. Everybody grab a can." Leah said.

With four gas cans in hand, the group made their way to the RV in the same formation. Then it happened.

"Zombies at six o clock." Ollie said.

The others looked and from multiple places several zombies were coming their way. Leah checked the rest of their surroundings and shouted "Run the rest of the way!"

They rushed the best they could with cans very full of gas slowing them down. When they reached the RV, Leah checked the inside and found it empty of people.

"Get the tank open!" she ordered.

Molly found the gas tank and did as she was told. Due to the weight of the cans, Leah had to fill the tank.

"We'll keep them at bay." Ollie said.

Leah was about to deny them until she saw how close the zombies were getting.

"Fine, but be careful." she reluctantly said.

Molly and Ollie went on the offensive while Libby stayed with Leah just in case. Once they were ten feet from the nearest of the zombies, Molly fired the first shot and caught one. Ollie followed suit and caught a couple of kids. The zombies didn't stand a chance. That is until Molly and Ollie ran out of ammo.

"Retreat and reload!" Molly said.

They ran to a spot between a couple cars and started reloading. Molly finished first and shot at the two closest zombies. However, Ollie didn't notice the zombified mechanic approaching him until he finished reloading and turned to see him less than a few feet from him. He couldn't react in time.

"Ollie!" Molly leapt over and tackled Ollie, saving him from being touched.

She then quickly fired and caught the zombie.

"Thanks, Molly." Ollie said before noticing Molly's expression. "Molly?"

Molly looked at her leg and Ollie followed her gaze. There on said leg was an infected spot that was growing. The zombie touched her. The look on Molly's face was of both fear and sorrow, filling her eyes with tears. Ollie was just as devastated and there was nothing he could do for Molly.

"NOOOOO!" Geoff came down out of nowhere, made a ghost portal, and shoved Molly through it.

Molly had become a wraith again.

"What the!?" Ollie was beyond shocked. "Did you just kill Molly!?"

"No he didn't." Molly assured. "I'm just a wraith now. I'll explain later. Thank you Geoff."

Suddenly they were surrounded by zombies. That is until all of the infected (Molly's body included) floated and got sent into the garage. The doors of the garage then closed all by themselves. It turned out to be the doing of Scratch who came down afterwards with an obvious bottle and spoon in hand.

"Sorry I'm late." he said. "I got the medicine, but I couldn't find Darryl."

"Me neither." Geoff said.

"Let me have that." Molly suggested. "I might have a better chance at figuring out where he is. Ollie, take my Derf gun and get to the RV. Scratch and Geoff will help you."

"Good luck, Molly." Ollie grabbed the blaster and ran with Scratch and Geoff close behind.

By the time he reached the RV, Leah was hot-wiring it.

"Where's Molly!?" she asked.

"They got her." Ollie said as he closed the door.

"What!?" Libby shouted.

She looked out the windows and saw Wraith Molly waving before taking off with the medicine.

"I know you're both upset, but we need to survive right now." Leah said. "Do it for her."

Neither Libby nor Ollie said a word. Instead they went to the rear end and closed the bedroom door so Ollie could explain to Libby what happened. Leah assumed their silence was pain and started driving back home.


It took them just as long to get back as it did before and there they found more zombies trying to get into the store. The RV door opened and Leah was the first to shoot this time. Libby and Ollie joined in and they all quickly took care of the small horde.

"Everybody out the door now!" Leah shouted.

The survivors all heard her and obeyed as fast as they could. Soon enough, everybody was on the RV and Leah drove off again.

"Where's Molly?" Bobby asked with worry.

"She fell victim to somebody's cowardice." Leah coldly answered.

The six who never raised their hands got the message and felt only shame. Ahead of the RV, Scratch and Geoff were making sure no zombies or anything else got in the way.

"I hope Molly finds Darryl soon." Scratch said.


All over Brighton, Molly searched for her brother, but saw no sign of him.

"Darryl, where are you?" she said. "I've been everywhere you would go. Think, Molly, think. Maybe there's another place you forgot about."

She thought hard about it while floating in place. Then she remembered what Darryl said that morning.

"Aw man. And today is-ACHOO-pizza day."

"That's it! Pizza!" Molly flew off again with a new destination in mind.

She stopped at a restaurant called "Pizza Shack" where there were surprisingly more zombies than anywhere else yet.

"Well at least I don't have to worry about being touched anymore."

Molly flew down and searched among the zombies. After a few minutes, she knew for sure Darryl wasn't on the outside. So naturally she went into the restaurant.


At the same time, the survivors were close to getting out of town when a loud pop forced the RV to stop.

"Oh no, not a flat!" Leah said.

To make things worse, there were even more zombies in that exact area. Scratch and Geoff were doing their best, but could only handle so many at a time each.

"I think we're gonna have to run the rest of the way." Ollie said.

"We'll cover the front." one person said.

"And we'll take the rear." another person offered.

"Oh now you wanna help!?" Leah retorted.

"We are not going to make the same mistake twice!" a third person replied.

It was clear that all six people who were too scared before were now very serious about their turn around.

"Everyone be ready to fight back." Leah said.

Each of them grabbed a Derf blaster and one by one they left the RV. The former cowards practically formed a circle around the others. As hard as Scratch and Geoff tried, some of the zombies still got past them and went for the group. The outer team did a good job keeping them at bay while moving, each shot hitting it's mark. Then from around the corner of a nearby truck, a zombie took them by surprise and touched one of the people in front. The poor victim screamed and began to change. Patty and Bobby each fired a shot before things could get any worse.

"You guys go ahead!" Bobby said.

"We'll hold them off!" Patty added.

"What? No!" Ollie said.

"We're only slowing you down!" Bobby pointed out.

"Are you sure?" Leah asked.

"We've got this." Patty assured.

The group didn't like it, but they all agreed. They picked up the pace while Patty and Bobby stayed behind. After sharing possibly one last kiss, they stood their ground and fired away at the oncoming horde.


Back at the Pizza Shack, Molly was still searching the interior which was full of more zombies.

"Where are you?"

No matter where she looked, Darryl was still nowhere to be found.

"Argh! Okay, calm down. Think like Darryl. He causes trouble. He likes to make money. He has a problem with authority-" That's when it hit her. "I got it!"

She looked throughout the rest of the restaurant and found the boss' office and there in the chair sat zombie Darryl eating some pizza.

"Finally." Molly opened the medicine bottle and held out the spoon.

Darryl saw what she was doing and made some kind of shrieking sound. Molly was confused until the door was forced open by several of the zombies.

"Since when can zombies make a distress call!?" Molly flew up out of their reach, knowing that while they couldn't infect her as a wraith, they could still grab and break the medicine bottle.

Some of the zombies tried to reach her and others threw things at her.

"This is bad!" Molly thought. "If only I could move things like Scratch."

Suddenly a different idea struck her. She held the spoon and medicine in one hand together, came down, and touched a zombie. Then said zombie changed back to normal with flower petals surrounding her and fainted.

"Yes! I can use my Joyful Touch on these guys!"

One by one, she quickly touched the zombies and reverted them all to sleeping people surrounded by petals until there was one left. She tried to do the same to Darryl, but he wasn't effected.

"So the curse only protects you from my power. No problem." Molly wrapped herself around Darryl and poured some medicine into the spoon. "Sorry, Darryl, but it's time to take your medicine!"

She shoved that spoon into his mouth and forced the medicine down his throat. She let him go and waited for the results. Then Darryl slowly became himself again.


The remaining survivors were unexpectedly surrounded by the zombies. Then the latter started changing back and fainting as well. Most of the survivors were baffled by what happened, but Libby and Ollie knew they were all safe.

"I have no idea why it suddenly stopped, but I'm not complaining." Leah said.

Nearby, Scratch and Geoff were celebrating.

"Molly did it!" Scratch cheered.

"And just before they could touch me!" Geoff said.

"It doesn't effect ghosts."

"Oh yeah."


"Ugh! What happened?" Darryl asked before seeing Wraith Molly for the first time. "Woah. So that's what you look like as a wraith. Cool."

"Thanks. I'll tell you all about it on the way home." Molly picked her brother up which was easy for ghosts and wraiths and flew out of the Pizza Shack and high into the sky before taking him back to their house.


Some time later, Darryl was back in his bed while Libby, Scratch, Ollie, Geoff, and Wraith Molly were all just outside his door. Molly's body was a few feet away standing still as ordered and creeping everyone out.

"So with a ghost portal, you can become a wraith?" Ollie double checked.

"Anybody can." Molly answered. "Darryl did it once too."

"It was a lot of fun." Darryl said.

"Hey, guys." Geoff said with a look of sad regret. "I'm really sorry for the mess I made. I was just trying to help."

"I'm not gonna lie. You blew it big time." Scratch replied. "But you also reminded me that you're always there when we need you. Thanks, buddy."

"I'm still your buddy!" Geoff gave Scratch a big hug he couldn't escape from.

"I'm sure glad everything's back to normal." Libby said.

"Almost." Molly flew back into her body. "Now it is. Come on. Darryl needs his rest. See you later, Darryl."

"Thanks, Molly." Darryl said.

After the door was shut and the others were all away from his room, Darryl lied down in his bed and went to some much needed sleep.


Author's Note: It took me long enough, but I kept my promise and here is the first suggestion to come true. Congratulations, WestofWartwood for your suggestion being the first. In case any of you are wondering why I chose to do this one first, I'll tell you. At first, I honestly wasn't going to since I'm not really a fan of zombies. No offense, I just can't see the hoopla about them. But then I started wondering something. How would this kind of curse story even work. The more I thought about it, the more interested in the idea I became. In other words, this idea deserves to be first for making me think like that. The best part of this is that this chapter really stands out compared to what I've written in this fic so far. And I've already written a couple of unique ones.

Anyway, here's the new plan if I can get far enough. As with my ideas, I plan to write nine more of what some of you suggested, all of which have been chosen quite some time ago. After that, I'm going to alternate back and forth. One of my ideas, one of yours, one of mine, one of yours, etc. I hope I actually do get that far.

Next time, there's going to be a fight.