#so we had just locked our bike right? and went to the crosswalk

[wellthatschaotic]

also we witnessed a rear-ending

[libraryofrewrita]

Chapter 14: The Komainu Brothers and the Construction Battle Site

“Nyaattee…wake up!”

Nate rose out of bed after Jibanyan yelled at him and after checking to make sure that his parents had fallen asleep, Nate summoned Baku to take his place in bed. After he got dressed and got out the door without waking up his parents, he sent Whisper over to get Katie.

*****

When Katie saw Whisper floating in her room, she had Whapir to take her place in bed, got dressed, and sneaked out with Whisper. She grabbed her bike and rode over to Nate’s house. She waved at Nate as he was getting his own bike.

Let’s get this over with!

After getting Jibanyan into Katie’s bicycle basket, they turned on the little light on their bikes and took off towards the shortcut that would take them towards Downtown Springdale. Jibanyan was grumbling about wanting to ride on Whisper’s back, but since he wasn’t walking, he couldn’t complain too much.

“I really, really hope Terror Time doesn’t activate right nyow.”

They stopped at the crosswalk in front of Piggleston Bank, pressed the button for crossing the street, and looked around. After not seeing any strange fog and the crosswalk light turned green, they continued to ride over to the construction site.

*****

They skidded to a stop in front of the wall in front of the construction site and after making their bikes disappear into the charms, Whisper floated up to see if there was anyone that would keep them from stepping inside the site or worse, call the police. The last thing the group wanted was to have to explain to a bunch of adults that couldn’t see Yo-kai that they were meeting a fox Yo-kai to find out why he was messing with people on Flower Road.

“There’s one guy here, but I think he fell asleep. We can probably sneak past him if we’re quiet enough.”

“Kyubi better have a good explanation for this when we find him.”

The group didn’t head into the area to the construction site just yet, staring at the large building in front of them. At this point, it was almost close to completion. On one hand, that meant the building had walls to block out the elements and no one would see them climbing on the structure. On the other hand, there would probably be some unfinished floors, blocked stairways, and many dangerous ways to get around. The group had to whisper to avoid accidently waking up the guard or drawing unwanted attention.

“I don’t know, guys. Is it really worth it?”

“Tengloom’s here, remember?”

Nate sighed softly.

That’s right. We really need that upgrade.

“Okay, let’s head in and hope that Kyubi isn’t tricking us into getting in trouble.”

The group quietly walked in, thankful that they didn’t have to worry about leaving their bikes in the area, further getting them into trouble if they were to be discovered.

“Hold on!”

Whisper stuck an arm out and the group stopped as Whisper looked around.

“I thought I sensed something.”

“Whisper, not to sound rude, but are you sure it’s not your imagination? It’s pretty late and there’s a chance that Terror Time might hit us or that we might get caught by someone.”

“Nate, when I say I sensed something, I sensed something.”

“Whisper’s right. I can sense it too.”

The group looked at Katie, who seemed to be concentrating on something.

“There’s two figures, about Jibanyan’s height. They’re hiding in the construction site for some reason.”

Whisper was amazed.

“Wow…I mean…wow. Katie, I had no clue that you could sense Yo-kai auras. Why didn’t you say something? Did you just develop this power or something?”

Katie shook her head.

“No, I’ve always been able to detect strange auras. When I was younger, I would call them ‘feelings’ because I didn’t know the proper term until recently.”

Before the others could ask her about her aura-sensing powers more, she walked into the construction site.

“Yep, there’s a lot of Yo-kai in here, but I think the Yo-kai Whisper sensed was over…here.”

The rest of the group went into the construction site as well and went over to where Katie was. She was near a pile of random construction materials where they heard two voices speaking to each other about…something. The voices were too quiet to understand, other than that the speakers might be from the countryside.

“Excuse us?”

The two voices shrieked and the group saw two pairs of glowing eyes, one pair of blue eyes and a pair of green eyes, from the pile of construction materials.

“K-kyubi! We were just-”

“Waitwaitwait. You two are looking for Kyubi too?”

The two pairs of eyes seemed to blink in confusion before they widened in shock.

“Oh my swirls! We’re so sorry! We thought you were Kyubi, zura!”

One of the Yo-kai walked out, revealing himself to be what Nate could only describe as a white lion-dog with green eyes, two red swirls on his cheeks, and a pair of blue, firey eyebrows carrying a green pouch on his back. The other Yo-kai that came out was identical to the first Yo-kai, but he was light brown, had blue eyes, darker brown firey eyebrows, which were the same color as the swirls on his cheeks, and he was carrying a blue pouch on his back.

“Eeee…komainus!”

Katie’s eyes were sparkling as she squeed about how cute they were. Jibanyan and Nate were confused at Katie’s behavior while Whisper looked up something.

“Ah! These are the Komainu Brothers or the Koma Brothers for short.”

Whisper gestured to the white komainu.

“This is Komasan, the eldest of the two. The brown komainu is Komajiro, the youngest. I have to admit, I didn’t expect to see any komainus here in the city. They usually hang around in the mountains, countryside, basically anywhere where a shrine can be located.”

Komasan shuffled his feet slightly.

“Komajiro and I had to leave our shrine in the country due to something happening in the Yo-kai Realm that could effect us. We came to this city looking for someone that could help us find a place to live until things can get sorted out. We ran into Kyubi earlier today, but he told us to meet him here. I really don’t understand why, but who are we to argue with a powerful Yo-kai like him?”

The group was now concerned. There had to be a reason for Kyubi to send the two komainus here to the construction site on the same night he told them to meet him.

“Who are y'all? Are y'all trying to find a place to live too?”

The group shook their heads.

“Oh no. We already have a place to live. I’m Katie Forester and this is Nate Adams, Jibanyan, and Whisper. We have to meet Kyubi too, for a different reason, and maybe if we all go look for him together, we can figure out why he wanted us to meet him here.”

Two bright lights shined from the komainus as a pair of Yo-kai medals flew into Katie’s hands.

“Thanks, y'all!”

The komainus each hugged one of the kid’s legs and as Katie pocketed the two Yo-kai medals, she looked around and saw an Eyepo.

“Umm…Whisper? Why is there an Eyepo over there?”

Whisper turned to where Katie was pointing with a confused expression on his face.

“Huh…I don’t remember that being there. Do you want to…use it or something?”

Katie nodded and went up the the Eyepo. She touched it and after looking over the Yo-kai medals they had on hand, she switched out Negatibuzz and Buhu and replaced them with the Komainu Brother’s medals and also decided to bring Dimmy back into the group, replacing Walkappa.

“Okay, there’s some escalators over there we can use to climb to the next floor.”

The group of six headed towards the escalators, noticing that there was a purple Watch Lock door with a large S.

“Okay, we might be coming back later. Not in the near future, but later.”

They kept walking until they found an escalator that wasn’t blocked off. They walked up the escalator, thankful that it was stable. Komasan was shaking as the group got off. Nate looked at the shaking komainu.

“What’s wrong?”

Komasan looks at the group, which has gone further ahead and asked Nate,

“Can I tell you something, Nate?”

Nate nodded and knelt down to Komasan’s height. Komasan shuffled his feet and said,

“I’m trying to be brave for Komajiro’s sake, but I can’t handle this, zura. I’m homesick, I can’t understand city life, and I was too much of a scaredy-cat to talk Kyubi out of arranging to meet us here at the construction site.”

Nate petted Komasan’s head.

“We’re all nervous about meeting up with Kyubi here. We don’t know why he wanted to meet us here, but we’re going to go find out!”

Komasan was confused by Nate as the two of them went to catch up with the rest of the group.

How can he be so calm when we’re facing danger? We’re about to meet Kyubi, one of the most powerful Yo-kai in existance, and he’s treating it like we’re taking a stroll through the countryside, even though he admitted that they’re all nervous about meeting him. How does he do it? How do they do it?

The group looked around the area as they were carefully walking around.

“Whisper?”

“Yes, Jibanyan?”

“If we ever find Kyubi, remind me to kill him.”

“You know that Kyubi is a S rank and you’re a D rank, right?”

“I’ll smack him, then.”

“Can I talk you out of doing that, Jibby?”

Jibanyan had a slight blush on his face when he heard Whisper call him that and didn’t answer right away.

“Jibanyan?”

Jibanyan shook his head to clear his mind and said,

“…Maybe.”

The group looked around and saw that any escalators that could easily take them to the top floor was either blocked off by a gate that wasn’t a Watch Lock door or they couldn’t get to them safely.

“I remember seeing an escalator downstairs that might be able to get us to that side safely, but I don’t remember if there was a clear way over there.”

Whisper looked over to see a rope and a metal girder that was the only thing connecting the area they were in to the area the rope was located.

“Good news and bad news, everyone. The good news is I found a way to get down that might get us to the escalator we need to take.”

“That’s great, Whisper! What’s the bad news?”

Whisper pointed to the rope.

“It’s over there.”

The group walked over and looked at the metal girder.

“We’ll have to go one at a time. Whisper, would you mind holding my hand?”

Katie got on the girder and after seeing it not wobble, Whisper took her hand and started to walk with her across the girder until she got there safely.

“Made it! Go get the others!”

Whisper helped Nate walk across the girder and started to help the Komainu brothers across, starting with Komasan, then Komajiro. When he came to get Jibanyan, he held a paw up and shuffled his feet in embarrassment.

“Can I…ride over on your back?”

Whisper blushed, thankful that the others couldn’t see his face at the moment, and said,

“S-sure…”

Jibanyan climbed onto Whisper’s back and held on as Whisper floated over to the rest of the group as they were climbing down the rope. Whisper just floated down with Jibanyan on his back and let Jibanyan hop off as the Koma Brothers hopped off the kid’s backs.

“I’ll go ahead and see what we have to deal with.”

Whisper floated out of the room and found not only the correct escalator, but also the Tengloom they had to fight for the upgrade. He floated over and practically dragged the group over to battle Tengloom.

*****

One battle later…

Tengloom disappeared into a puff of purple smoke and Whisper was celebrating.

“Yes! We’re a step closer to having the best watch in the world!”

Whisper was doing some sort of silly dance as Katie took his arm and dragged him along with the rest of the group.

“Sorry for not putting you two in battle, but we want to save you in case there’s a big battle with Kyubi.”

The Koma Brothers nodded in understand, Komasan being secretly relived that he didn’t have to battle yet, but was nervous about a possible battle against Kyubi. Sure, his Soultimate was pretty powerful, but would it have worked against Kyubi? Probably not, seeing as they were both Fire Attributes. As they walked up the escalator, Komasan felt the nervousness bubbling in his chest. At this point, it felt normal to him, but back home, he wasn’t always this nervous.

*****

Admittedly, he wasn’t the strongest komainu. That title belonged to his older brothers, Komane and Komiger, and his ancestor, Komashura. Komasan, Komajiro, and their mother, Komama, were more like pacifists, in that they didn’t fight unless it was absolutely necessary.

The two brothers spent their days lazily laying in the grass at their shrine, playing in the small river nearby, and transforming into humans to go to the nearby town to get ice cream and mingle with the humans in the small village. Life was perfect for the Komainu Brothers until one day, they got a letter saying that their shrine had been targeted by a group of Yo-kai that hated humans and any Yo-kai that supported being friends with humans. Komane and Komiger had already gotten the news and had helped Komama move to their vacation house in the Yo-kai Realm, but before Komasan and Komajiro could join the rest of their family, the portal to their vacation house closed suddenly and they were forced to find a new shrine quickly.

They hopped on the next train out of their small village and got off at what they hoped was far away enough from the war that separated them from their family. The two brothers had been wandering around Springdale for days, trying to find somewhere to live that hadn’t been taken or targeted by the human-hating Yo-kai when they met someone that promised to have Kyubi, who was the guardian of Flower Road, help the two find a place to live. The brothers were estatic that they would soon have a place to live in, but when they actually met Kyubi face-to-face, he told them to meet him at the construction site that night if they wanted a place to stay and disappeared without explaining why.

They were very terrified as they entered the construction site and they both hid the moment one of the Yo-kai that lived in the consruction site tried to attack them. Komasan had promised himself that he would be brave for Komajiro, but it was proving to be very difficult.

*****

Komasan snapped back to reality as he found himself at the top of the escalator with the rest of the group. Whisper had went over to check on him while the group tried to figure out which way to go.

“Komasan, is everything alright?”

Komasan shook his head.

“No…I was forced away from my home, I have to find a way to contact the rest of my family, and I don’t even know what I’m doing.”

Whisper placed a hand on Komasan’s shoulder.

“Kyubi probably thinks that we’re all scaredy cats, but we’re going to prove him wrong. We’re going to show him why he shouldn’t underestimate us and get what we need from him once and for all!”

The two Yo-kai went back to the group and as the group walked down the hallway, Komasan stopped and looked around.

“Hey…are any of y'all…getting the feeling that someone is watching us?”

No one noticed the giant humaniod Yo-kai staring at the group through an open window and faded away before they turned back to the window.

“There’s a lot of Yo-kai here, so it would feel natural that you believed someone was watching you, Komasan. Let’s keep going, everyone!”

*****

The group eventually found another set of ropes and went up the rope that would take them to the top floor. They saw a lot of Yo-kai in the building of course and had battled with them, but only managed to befriend a Blazion. As they walked, Katie told the Komainu Brothers about what the group had done before. To Komasan, it all made sense now that he heard it.

They’ve gone through more danger than someone in a fireworks display! No wonder they’re so calm about meeting Kyubi!

They were getting close to the area where they suspected Kyubi would be, so they stopped and healed up.

“Okay, everyone! Let’s get to the bottom of this once and for all!”

The group saw the nine-tailed fox just floating on the balcony-like area that was strangely big enough for the whole group and their Yo-kai companions.

Okay, this is getting weirder. Kyubi told Nate and Katie to meet him here, we meet the Komainu Brothers, who were also told to meet Kyubi here, and he’s floating above an area that’s just big enough to us to battle on. Just what is he planning?

Whisper had to shake the thought out of his head as the group went to confront Kyubi.

“Took you all long enough. I thought I was going to have to get you myself.”

Whisper started shaking as he was in front of Kyubi. Kyubi was still powerful enough to smack him into the next country with one of his tails if he wasn’t too careful. Even Jibanyan seemed to be regreting ever thinking about smacking Kyubi as payback for being so dodgy about giving them information.

“Kyubi! Why are we here?! Couldn’t you have told us why you cursed Flower Road without forcing us to come here so late at night?! And why are Komasan and Komajiro here too?! What are you playing at?!”

Whisper was about to put himself in front of Nate in case Kyubi attacked, but the kitsune rolled his eyes.

“None of you really know the truth about all of this, do you? Especially since I just lead you to the true culprit!”

The building started to shake as Whisper quickly grabbed Nate and Katie to keep them from falling while Jibanyan and the Komainu Brothers grabbed their legs to balance themselves.

“You want to protect Springdale, don’t you? Well, go for it!”

Kyubi flew away from the group, being more dodgy about the whole thing.

“Hey!”

The group ran out to the ‘balcony’ and Kyubi chuckled childishly as he flew farther away.

“Where do you think you’re going?!”

The building started to shake again as Kyubi bowed.

“I bid you farewell, little ones.”

A giant hand came up from behind Kyubi and he disappeared before it could make contact with him. The hand then smacked down on the area where the group was, barely just missing them.

“Maasssi-faaaccceee…”

The group soon came face-to-face with a giant humaniod Yo-kai and prepared to battle.

*****

Whisper was looking up the creature that they were about to fight.

“Massiface, weak points are eyes and forehead. It is best to blind this Yo-kai so that he’ll miss more often.”

Massiface slammed his hand onto the ground, making a bunch of stuff fall on the attacking party.

“Ow!”

“Ack!”

“Tell!”

Thankfully, there wasn’t a lot of damage done to the attacking party and Tattletell healed Cadin as Jibanyan used his tail flames to get a hit on Massiface.

“I got one of his eyes!”

Cadin used Cicada Cut and he hit all of Massiface’s weak points and Tattletell threw a nearby rock at the eye Jibanyan had managed to hit earlier, forcing Massiface to close his eye in order to get it to heal. The attacking party would’ve celebrated, but they had to get his other eye closed or they would get hurt by whatever attack Massiface planned next. Tattletell and Jibanyan focused their attacks on the other eye while Cadin attacked Massiface’s forehead.

“Do you think they’ll make it, Nate?”

Nate took Katie’s hand and squeezed it to comfort her.

“They will, Katie. We’ve gotten this far with them, didn’t we?”

She nodded and sighed.

“You’re right, Nate.”

Massiface tried to flick Cadin, but since Cadin was on the side where his eye was closed, Cadin was able to jump out of the way before he could be hit and attacked the other eye. However, just as he managed to land a hit on it, Massiface opened his closed eye and flicked Tattletell, inspirting her.

“Tell…”

“We have to switch out and purify Tattletell!”

Before the kids could switch out the front party, Massiface unleashed his Soultimate, Massive Swat, and managed to get the attacking party down to low health.

“Switch them out! Switch them out!”

Nate switched out the front party and placed Dimmy and the Komainu Brothers in front and Katie started working on healing and purifying the others as the same thought started to form in everyone’s mind.

I hope Komasan and Komajiro are up to this.

Komasan felt panic rising in his chest. He and his brother had to help hold off this giantic Yo-kai until the others had been helped, but the only time they had ever fought like this was during their practice battles with their older brothers.

It’s one thing to be fighting with my brothers because we can stop at anytime to take a break, but we can’t do that with this Yo-kai. We have to defeat him or get him weak enough for the others to deal the final blow.

Komajiro sent a lightning attack towards the eye that had been injured by the party currently in the back and Dimmy smacked Massiface’s forehead, only to be flicked away and taking damage.

I have to this…for Komajiro, my family, for my new friends, and to prove to Kyubi that I’m not the scaredy cat that he thinks I am!

A spark ignited in Komasan as he sent a flame towards Massiface’s recently opened eye and made it close again.

“Komajiro! Let’s prove that we’re worthy of being guardians someday!”

Both komainus closed their eyes and a strong aura started to surround them as they prepared their Soultimates.

We’ve only done a double attack once, but if we can pull it off, we can defeat Massiface once and for all!

Both komainus snapped their eyes open.

“Spirit Dance!”

“Wild Zaps!”

A barrage of flames and lightning came from both komainus as both attacks hit Massiface and made him faint.

*****

The group watched as Massiface disappeared into purple smoke and the aura surrounding the Komainu Brothers faded away. Both brothers fell to their knees and started to pant from using so much energy.

“Oh my swirls, that took a lot out of us.”

“Do any of y'all have any milk?”

Katie digged out two bottles of milk and handed them to the komainus, who quickly downed the drinks in two seconds. Nate then broke the awkward silence.

“What was that just now?! Are you guys normally this powerful?!”

Komasan shook his head.

“Nope, that was the Guardian Spirit that inhabits us komainus. It’s only to be used in extreme circumstances, but I considered this to be extreme enough. The reason Komajiro and I activated it at the same time is due to our bond as brothers.”

The group nodded as they went back into the building, just wanting to go home and not bother with Kyubi anymore.

“Huh…I didn’t think you were that powerful.”

The group stopped and turned around and saw two Kyubis. The one wearing a white lab coat and wearing glasses was giving the other Kyubi a death glare for some reason and the Kyubi on the receiving end of the death glare was becoming very sheepish as he said,

“What? I said I wouldn’t let them get hurt too badly.”

“Why didn’t you deal with this youself?”

“For the sake of Lord Enma, my reputation was being ruined by this jerk and I’m too busy with other stuff to deal with him! You know that!”

The glassing wearing Kyubi gestured to the group as a whole.

“I meant, why did you bring them into this?”

“The other komainus were either helping their families or dealing with something else and these kids have been building up a reputation, so I figured, why not test their ability against Massiface and I’ll add the komainus to the mix to see what happens.”

Kyubi turned to the group and said,

“It might be a surprise to you, but I like living in the Human Realm and I don’t plan on stopping anytime soon, but I will warn you. There are bigger things ahead for you, so be on your guard.”

Kyubi bowed and disappeared. The glassing wearing Kyubi just sighed and turned to the group.

“Sorry about him. He means well, but he has a very odd way of showing it.”

Nate tried to remember where he heard that voice before, then it hit him.

“Mr. Barton? Is that you?”

The glassing wearing Kyubi turned into their science teacher, proving Nate was right.

“Mr. Barton, if you’re a Yo-kai, why are you teaching elementary school students?”

Mr. Barton had a smile on his face as he said,

“I made a promise to a friend that I would help human children grow into wonderful people, so I took up teaching at the first school I found that had an opening for a new teacher, Springdale Elementary. Sure, teaching science wasn’t exactly what I had in mind at the time, but I managed and besides, it’s not like elementary schoolers need to know the more complicated sciences right now. That’s what junior high and high school is for.”

“Umm…Mr. Barton? Is there any chance you can help us get out of here? It took us forever to find a way up here and I’m pretty sure that it’ll take forever to get back down, not to mention that the guy sleeping outside might have woken up by now and we can’t really afford to get in trouble with our parents.”

Mr. Barton turned back into his true form and said,

“Well, considering that Kyubi didn’t think this far ahead, I might as well.”

Nate and Katire each took one of the Komainu Brothers and Jibanyan had hopped onto Whisper’s back, claiming that it was so there wasn’t any added weight to either child, but they all had their suspicions about Jibanyan’s actual reason for riding on Whisper’s back. Mr. Barton wrapped an arm around both Nate and Katie and lifted them up with no difficulty as he flew over Downtown Springdale with Whisper and Jibanyan following him. The group was amazed by how small the town looked from where they were and Mr. Barton dropped them off on the roof of the elementary school.

“There we go. Hopefully, no one should notice us up here. I’ll walk you through the school so that the Yo-kai living here won’t attack you.”

“Couldn’t you have dropped them off closer to their houses?”

“Yeah, but then someone would freak out about a Yo-kai potentially kidnapping a pair of kids.”

“Point taken.”

Mr. Barton took out a set of keys and unlocked the door to the roof and lead the group through the school before taking them out the side door.

“Get home safely now, okay?”

He pocketed the keys and petted Nate and Katie’s heads.

“Oh! Just so you know, if you need any help with anything, you can find me here all summer or somewhere in the area if I’m not here.”

The group waved goodbye to Mr. Barton as they all walked back home, quickly hiding from anyone that might recognize them and tell their parents.

“Hey, Whisper? Why didn’t Terror Time activate this time?”

Whisper shrugged, just as confused as Nate.

“Happens randomly, I guess. I could’ve sworn it was an every night thing, but maybe things have changed since my imprisionment.”

“Oh, right! About that, Whisper…how are you on catching up with everything you missed out on?”

“I can’t tell you exactly how much I have learned or need to learn, but it’s more than what I knew before.”

Nate accepted that and realized something.

“Oh, right! We need to find a place for the Koma Brothers to stay!”

“They can stay with me. I have room and I wouldn’t mind having them hang out with me.”

“Really, Katie? You’d let us stay?”

Katie nodded.

“Of course! We’re friends, after all!”

As they parted ways, sneaked back inside, filled out what they had learned and done that night into their books, and went to sleep.

Previous Chapter: https://libraryofrewrita.tumblr.com/post/163577845314/chapter-13-preparing-for-the-confrontation Next Chapter: https://libraryofrewrita.tumblr.com/post/165847511224/chapter-15-ghostly-rumors

[theoccultarchives]

Zombie Novel in the Works

Working on something a little different as of late. Just a little snippet of this upcoming story...

        You could call us a few things: Revenant, Ghoul, Undead, Lych…Zombie. Pick your poison, but they were all the same on some level.           Soulless, mindless, stark-raving mad, flesh hungry creatures with not a drop of supposed morality or self-control and only one uncontrollable urge—to consume.            Whether it be brains, or blood, or fleshy muscle and sinew, we had the need to consume everything in our paths.           We were cannibals, only wanting to taste the sweet, succulent flavor of human tissue as we gnashed and sucked meat from bone and brain from skull.            We were pariahs, devils, evils from the darkest corners of human thought, but we were human too…or we were at some point.            Everyone acted like it was our fault that we wanted to hunt them down, rip limb from body, and feast upon the meat that coated their bones, but that wasn’t a fair assumption.           We never asked to be this way. We never asked to lose our humanity and be forced to only eat that which was once ourselves. But we had no choice. Something made us this way and we had no ability to control it.           I didn’t know how it worked. I didn’t know what it was that had infected us and dumbed us down to the point that the only thought in what was left of our minds was to eat—and to eat our own kind.           I used to love meat as much as the next zombie—er, person, but that was when I craved a nice rare hamburger or a piece of fried chicken…not my next door neighbors brain meat.            When it first happened, when the virus or whatever it was hit me, I didn’t understand. I wasn’t attacked and bitten to be turned like some of the others, I was unfortunately chosen by the virus and most likely one of the first ones to turn.            I was minding my own business, waiting for the bus so I could hopefully get to work on time when the lady sitting next to me puked on my shoes. I thought it was just my luck that this would happen on a Monday after I had already lost my keys, discovered I had a flat tire, ended up with gum in my hair thanks to my shitty roommate and her habit of falling asleep drunkenly on the couch while she chawed away on Juicy Fruit. I spilled coffee on my laptop as I woke up late, frantically trying to finish my presentation before I had to go and stand up in front of my colleagues to pitch my latest idea for the magazine.            It wasn’t an ideal job, I wanted to be a writer, but not a columnist for a fashion magazine. It just wasn’t my thing, but it was money, and in that world, you needed money to survive, to eat.            I didn’t need that now. Everything that walked on two legs was food. I wasn’t proud of what I had become, but like I said—I didn’t have a damn choice.            But I digress. Back to the woman that retched all over my new boots…            “Hey!” I jumped up off the bench as putrid chunks of that morning’s breakfast hit my shoes.            “I’m—I’m so sorry.” The middle-aged woman apologized, rifling around in her purse for a handkerchief.            “It’s ok.” I softened, trying to shake the vomit from my boots.           “I haven’t been feeling well. I should’ve stayed at home, but you know how it is.” She tried to mop the slop from my feet.            “Yeah, Mondays.” I shrugged, helping her clean up my feet with a napkin I found inside my own bag.           “I hope your day goes better than I assume mine will.” The woman cast me a half-smile that I returned as the bus pulled up and we both climbed on board.            The ride to work was uneventful, even quiet, as everyone sat silently in their seats reading books or listening to music with their headphones on. I spent my time looking out the window at the buildings and city trees that passed by me in a blur.           This isn’t what I wanted for my life, this isn’t what I had planned that I would be doing by now, but it was all I had and something was better than nothing.            The bus made its stop a few blocks from my job and I hopped off and power-walked it down the sidewalk before jaywalking over to my office building and rudely shoved past someone who was more focused on their phone than they were on actually getting to their destination.            I scrambled into the elevator and made it up to the thirteenth floor before bolting to my cubicle to prepare my presentation which was in less than fifteen minutes at that point.            “You’re late.” Mariah hovered over me as I tried to get my laptop to boot up and do what it was supposed to do.           “Yeah, I know. It’s been a bitch of a morning,” I replied as I mashed buttons angrily, trying to get the computer to fucking work.           “Mr. Markle was asking where you were. They changed the meeting to 8:30.” Mariah looked over my shoulder as my computer crashed and I tried not to scream.            “But it’s—” I checked my watch, “Fuck! Almost nine!” I slammed my laptop shit, working or not, and hoofed it to the conference room where Mr. Markle and the rest of the advertising and writing team was waiting for me.            “Miss North. You’re late.” Mr. Markle spoke flatly as I took my seat and attempted to get my computer to boot up again.            “I’m so sorry; I didn’t know that the meeting time had been changed.” I apologized, repeatedly punching keys on my keyboard.            “Maybe if you checked your e-mails like you’re supposed to.” He scolded me and I cringed.            “I’m so sorry.” I apologized again.            “Is your presentation ready? You’re up first.” He pointed at me.           “Um, it was—is. I’m just having some technical difficulties.” I continued to try and get the laptop working and I could feel myself sweating as I panicked.            “Any day now, Miss North.” Mr. Markle stood at the head of the table as all eyes fell on me.           “Ok. I may just have to start without my Powerpoint. My computer seems to be having issues.” I could see where the sugar from my coffee had crystalized in my keys. I got up from the chair and rounded the table to where Mr. Markle was standing as he took his seat to my right and I pulled a rolling white board from the corner to start sketching out my ideas.            “So, I was thinking that with this new issue and Fashion Week coming up, maybe we could focus on some local designers and artists and maybe do a section where we can interview them on their inspiration and their process, maybe showcase a few of their favorites pieces and—”            “Mm, I don’t think so. No one is interested in local designers. They want to know what is going on in the world of High Fashion, not what Sally Dress-Maker is doing in the Bronx.” Mr. Markle shook his head.            “Uh, well…maybe if we talked to them about what High Fashion designers influenced their work—” I started down a different track, while still keeping my idea alive.           “Nope. No. You don’t have anything else, do you?” Mr. Markle had his pen to his mouth as I stood in front of him and a room of at least twenty of my colleagues with a dry erase marker in my hand.           I wasn’t a person who cried at the drop of a hat, but with the stress that the morning had put me under, I was swallowing hard so as not to blubber in front of everyone.            I opened my mouth and closed it a few times like a fish out of water looking for a response, but something outside the office saved me.            “What’s that sound?” My colleague Brenda stood up from her seat and craned her neck to see past Mr. Markle and out through the window that faced the street.            He turned and glanced behind him, did a double take, and got up from his chair.            “Jesus Christ. Someone call 911.” He waved his hand behind him as he stood plastered to the window.            Everyone got up from their expensive ergonomic chairs to see what he was looking at, myself included.           There had been a car wreck—no, a pile-up, right outside the office. There was a mangled bike and a cluster of people on the sidewalk screaming.            I thought that maybe someone had gotten struck at the crosswalk and others swooped in to help, but that wasn’t the case.            The man in the bike helmet had a woman pinned on the ground and was howling as he swiped at other people who tried to pry him away.            One man finally did and I could see that the woman had her throat torn out, her eyes wide and glassy as she stared up at the blue sky.            “The police are on their way.” Mr. Markle’s assistant came to inform him as the deranged cyclist leapt on another man and began tearing into the meat of his face.            Everyone in the room gasped and Brenda screamed as I took a step back from the window.           What the hell was this guy on? Steroids? A new performance enhancing drug? High on a new blend of kale and wheatgrass juice?            Then the most impossible thing happened…           The woman who had previously had her throat torn out and was very clearly deceased, began to pull herself up from the sidewalk and surprised another bystander with an ungodly strong bear hug.            “Holy—did anyone else see that?” Brian, my cubicle mate, asked.            I didn’t say anything. I couldn’t tear my eyes away from what was happening.           “Call down to security and have them lock the building down. I don’t know what’s going on, but this is too close for comfort.” Mr. Markle stepped away from the window and instructed whoever was listening to make a call.            Everyone was talking all at once, mumbling to one another about what was going on and my first thought was to run…so I did.            I left the conference room amidst the hub-bub and went back to my cubicle, packed my laptop, and made my way to the emergency exit just as I could hear the sirens of an ambulance and police vehicles pulling up out front.            I came out through the side entrance that was usually used for emergencies only to see the rotating blue and red lights as I turned the corner of the building.            “Hands up where I can see them! Get on the ground! Get on the motherfucking ground!” An officer yelled as I peered out into the street.            He was yelling at the throatless woman, but was paying no attention to the cyclist, the soccer mom with her coifed pixie, and the sign guy that usually stood on the corner doing tricks with his advertisements for the Deli around the corner. All of them were behaving in the same manner and began to charge towards the officers, grunting and spitting as they tackled one after the other and took them down to the pavement screaming.            What the fuck was happening?           I could feel myself begin to sweat and I assumed it had something to do with the panic that was bubbling inside me as I witnessed what was going down.            “Keep it together, Calli.” I whispered to myself as I pulled my bag in close and booked it in the opposite direction.            I was probably going to be fired, or at the very least penalized for leaving work without telling anyone, but I had this sense of urgency; something was telling me to get away from everybody…and fast.            I made it to the closest bus stop and waited impatiently with shaking knees for the first bus to pull up and take me home.            But the bus didn’t come. There was supposed to be a ten AM bus, but there wasn’t one. I was now hearing multiple wails from ambulances, fire trucks, and cop cars, but no sound of the diesel that usually accompanied the bus.            “Fuck.” I cursed, picking my feet up to keep moving down the street.            I was at least twelve blocks away from my apartment, but I had this need to get home and to get home now.           I wasn’t feeling so well as I hobbled down the sidewalk clutching my messenger bag. I was sweating more now, almost drenched from head to toe even though it wasn’t more than sixty degrees out and I felt my head pounding as I began to cough like I had smoked two packs a day for my whole life.            My gut was churning, my knees were weak, and my throat was raw as I came to a crosswalk and just missed getting hit by a damn bus as it ran the red light and crashed into two taxis and an SUV.            I jumped back on the sidewalk and lost my balance as I landed hard on the pavement, my laptop crunching beneath me as I fell.            I felt sick, like I had the flu, but worse…            My hand flew to my face as I tried to pick myself up and wipe the sweat from my cheeks…but it wasn’t sweat.           There was blood covering my hand and I began to panic as people got out of their cars to check on the victims of the wreck and I pulled my compact from my purse.            I almost screamed as I saw my own reflection.           My eyes were bloodshot, but somehow jaundiced at the same time and the irises were dark like they had been injected with black ink. Blood was running from the corners and dripping down my face like tears as I began to cough violently, more blood staining my other hand as I covered my mouth.            “Ma’am, have you been hurt?” There was a man standing next to me on the corner who had obviously seen the bad wreck.           “No, I’m—ugh uuuuuck—I’m fine.” I coughed and wheezed, holding my stomach as I felt it churn like it did that one time I had eaten bad shrimp.            “You don’t look fine.” He replied, laying his hand on my shoulder.           I could smell him, and despite the fact that I was feeling sick to my stomach…he smelled like a wonderful, delectable meal.             “No, I’m ok.” I jerked myself away from him and ran in the opposite direction, away from my apartment and the people gathering on the streets.            I could now hear helicopters overhead as I jogged down the street, leaving my busted laptop behind. I passed people running in a completely different direction as they screamed, crazed individuals hobbling closely behind them with constricted limbs and gnashing mouths.            I wanted to stop, but I was too scared to help as I sprinted across the street and holed myself up in an alley.           “What the hell is happening?” I fumbled for my phone in my bag as I attempted to find a livestream for the city that would give me some sort of information.            “Bedlam has broken out in New York City as citizens are being violently attacked by crazed individuals that are assumed to be under the influence of some sort of super street drug. Multiple deaths have been reported totaling close to the hundreds as police respond to the scenes. Many officers have either been killed or injured and aren’t sure the exact cause of the violence.” I watched as the news anchor debriefed the populace, “In other news, cases of a highly contagious flu strain are being admitted to Bellevue and Lennox hospitals. Doctors are working around the clock to come up with a working treatment, but so far any sort of solution seems resistant. Individuals with the following symptoms are urged to make a trip to the emergency room as soon as possible: high fever, intense body sweats, nausea and vomiting, uncontrollable coughing, migraines, and bleeding from any orifices. More information to come as it is reported.”            I felt my breathing quicken.           I was sick. I had almost all of those symptoms. Now was not the time to be making a trip to the ER. Something crazy was going on in the city and I didn’t want to be stuck in the hospital.            More screaming was heard outside the alley as I emerged and continued to make my way home.            The sound of crashing cars, people shouting, and now gunshots were ringing out around me.           My knees were becoming weak as I coughed harder and wiped the blood from my eyes…then the nausea got the better of me.            I stopped dead in my tracks on the sidewalk and evacuated everything that was in my stomach and then some. A soupy red mess came pouring from my throat as I purged the contents of my stomach, my hands to my knees as I gasped for air.            Everything was happening so quickly. I had felt fine this morning, albeit a bit pissed off, but not ill.           Though, here I was, vomiting on the corner of Carmine and Bleecker, drenching the sidewalk in what looked like bloody coffee grounds.           My insides felt like they were melting as I tried to move forward, but my stride was slowed as my body weakened and I sucked in air to inflate my lungs that were sore and feeble.            Where had I gotten sick? I was usually so good about not getting the crud and it was past flu season…            The puking lady at the bus stop.            That bitch.            I tried to keep going, but my vision was getting blurry and my feet were heavier than normal.            Even though my stomach was churning and the bile was sloshing around in it like a tumultuous ocean, I was hungry.           And not for bagels or a Reuben sandwich slathered in sauerkraut—I wanted something a little more fresh and enlightened.            I hungered for thoughts, urges, dreams, ideas, emotions…            I wanted the gray matter.           “No.” I shook my head hard and trudged forward down the street like I was walking through a snow storm, but the thought of fresh brain meat, all pink and squiggly with knowledge and ideas made my stomach twitch with hunger pangs.            I vomited again, so hard I thought my eyeballs were going to eject from their sockets and roll down the street.           Then I felt my body seize, the locking of joints and that rigid sensation your muscles feel when you start to get a charlie horse. I collapsed in the street, slipping off the lip of the sidewalk and right into the gutter as my body locked up. I started to lose consciousness as I began to vomit thick dark blood once again.            This wasn’t the flu, it was fucking death and I couldn’t stop it.           The last thing I remembered as I flailed on the asphalt was that intense craving for human flesh and sticky sweet brain meat.            That was just the beginning of it, though.           I’m pretty sure I died, or my body did at the very least, and when I “woke up” I was still lying face first in the gutter with sirens wailing all around me and blood curdling screams of people in the distance.     ��      Something was really wrong.           My body felt like it was vibrating at such an accelerated level. I couldn’t control my body movements, my arms jerking about at my sides as I tried to use them to push myself up off the asphalt. My knees were shaking and my legs wobbled like a baby calf fresh from its mother.            An explosion to my left that would have normally caused me to duck and cover my head, didn’t even make me flinch.           The air was hot now. Hot and thick with a scent I had never had the pleasure of inhaling before. It was raw and sweet like burning cloves and scorched cedar.            I needed it. Whatever it was, I needed it.            No, I wanted to eat it.           Like the smell of burgers on the grill or bacon in a skillet permeated my surroundings and I felt myself hobbling towards it at a slow speed.           Eventually I became accustomed to the vibrating within me and began to sprint down the vacant street to the nearest intersection where I was sure the smell was coming from.            And I was right. That’s where the smell originated from…but it wasn’t coming from a hot dog cart or falafel stand.           It was wafting from a group of people who were stuck in a multi-car pileup, panicking as they tried to lock their doors and roll up their windows as other people frantically tried to break into those cars while gnashing their teeth.            They looked—weird. Not like uniquely dressed or with rainbow spiked hair…I mean, weird.            Like, oddly similar to the way I looked before I face-planted in the gutter.            And then it hit me.           I was hungry and the woman in the soccer mom van was frantically trying to get her car started despite the fact that the front end was smashed all to hell, smelled like fresh steak.            Then, there I went.           Rushing forward as I slammed my full body up against the driver's side door, banging my fists into the window as I let out incoherent groans, clicking my teeth furiously.            I was starving and she looked like a fucking snack.           None of the other weirdos were paying her attention so I didn’t have to fight for my food as I finally cracked the window and punched my fist through the glass.            The woman was screeching, clawing at me with her perfectly manicured nails as I yanked her through the busted glass, the sharp edges tearing at the flesh on her face and arms. The smell of the blood was just an appetizer to the meal that I was about to enjoy.            She was screaming bloody murder as I finally pulled her portly body completely from the vehicle and cracked her head against the door a few good times so she would stop with the goddamn screaming. Whimpers and feeble protests still came from her as I opened my mouth as wide as it would go and bit down on the side of her face.            Who knew that my teeth were strong enough to tear right through the top of her cheekbone? I felt the eye socket crumble, ejecting the eyeball from her skull as she began to scream again.            Oh my God, if she wasn’t the most scrumptious thing I had ever tasted!           I slurped her optical nerve into my mouth like a piece of spaghetti before crunching down on the eyeball itself, the insides squishing between my teeth.            But that wasn’t enough, that was just a hor d'oeuvre compared to the meal I was about to have.           I gripped the wound I had just created in her face with both hands and yanked, cleaving her skull in two like you would tear a tail from a lobster.            Theeere was that smell that had beckoned to me from down the street.           Her brain was still pulsating in her skull as the blood continued to course through her body and I began to feast on the grey matter.            It tasted like chocolate cake, rare steak, fried potatoes—a slimy pink, cranial Everlasting Gobbstopper.           She finally stopped making noise at this point and I ate my fill before tossing her body into the side of her vehicle and wandering off to find the next meal because…            I was still hungry.            No—I was starving, and I needed to fill the void in the pit of my stomach lest it drove me insane.            But nothing would stop that hunger, that blood lust, that need for food that would satiate nothing.            I was a monster, but at that moment nothing mattered more than finding the next brain that I would devour.                                And that leads us to now, or sort of to now.           I wasn’t sentient enough at the time to get the full effect of what happened, but apparently it was straight out of a Romero film.           People who were infected ate people who weren’t and if they survived then they became infected too and the cycle perpetuated on down the line till there weren’t many people left that weren’t infected.           And when I say many, it seemed that over 85% of the population in any given place had become either infected or dead, leaving the living a minority in a quickly crumbling world.            Those left alive fought for their lives at first and then eventually fought each other to preserve their lives, or so they said, and everything went to shit.           I survived all of this. I mean, I survived not getting a bullet to the brain or a knife through the skull, but I would hardly call what I did for the last nine years living.            I mean, I’m a zombie for Christ’s sake. I’m no one’s favorite person and generally considered to be a threat or, at this point, a social pariah.            And yes, I know that sounds ridiculous to call myself a social pariah because zombies don’t exactly have social structures or even people skills for that matter, but I was different.            There was no one like me that I knew of. I was the only one. The only zombie in existence who evolved from a devolved life form that had one been the highest evolved being on the food chain. Sound confusing? Yeah, I’m still confused about it. Why was I still infected, still craving brains, still clearly dead-ish—but I was walking, talking, and thinking like a normal human being? Where had things changed? From terrifying brain eating monster to somewhat normal human-like monster with the mental faculties and cognitive functions like the regular humans. I didn’t know where things went wrong…or went right.            But life goes on.