"It is a truth universally acknowledged that a zombie in possession of brains must be in want of more brains." --Pride and Prejudice and Zombies--
Shasta was uneasy. Actually, he was about to wet himself, but if anyone asked he was shaking because he was freezing. It was the middle of the night, and something evil was lurking in the dark, he could feel it. Paranoid? Him? Never.
He walked along the alley in silence, moonlight illuminating his path. A piece of paper blew across the dimly lit street and he jumped, his heart nearly leaping into his throat. He tried to scream but could only manage a gasp, and he froze as he saw someone step into his line of sight, staring at him intently. At first glance the woman looked....well, of loose moral fiber, but he turned off his iPod and peered into the darkness. “Horror,” he mumbled, enunciating the last syllable carefully. “You scared me, you know.” The young woman shrugged and walked up to him, smiling. “Hey. You’re out late.”
“You should talk,”
Alona replied. She took his arm and they made their way down the alley together.
After a bit
Shasta turned his iPod back on, holding out one of the ear buds to his companion. She grinned and carefully brushed back her hair, inserting the small device before taking hold of his arm again.
“Beauty and the Beast?” she confirmed with a laugh. “You have got to be kidding me. You’ve always struck me as more of a Wicked fan.”
Shasta frowned. “Don’t you like it?”
“Meh.”
Alona shrugged, but her grin dissipated as they heard a door slam. “What was that?”
“Dunno, but I’m definitely not a fan. Come on, this way.”
They walked quicker until they reached a dead end and
Alona kicked the brick wall. “Great.”
Shasta took her hand and she shuddered; it was far too cold out and even though
Shasta was wearing gloves his fingers were still freezing. “Where are we anyway?”
“No idea,” he admitted. “I think we took a wrong turn a few blocks back.”
“Fabulous,”
Alona huffed. “What now?”
“Well the sun should be up in an hour or two. We could just stay here.”
“If the door-slamming axe murderer doesn’t kill us first,” she deadpanned.
Shasta glared at her, his expression barely visible by the glow from his iPod. “Sorry. Bad day.”
“Yeah, well, there’s nothing else we can do. Let’s just wait.”
Alona sighed but nodded and they settled themselves in the corner, avoiding a few stray bits of trash scattered on the concrete. There was a noise behind them and she jumped. “
Shasta, what was that?!”
“I....I don’t know,” he whispered.
Alona was clearly terrified and he scooted closer to her. “So,” he said, feigning carelessness, “
Sally said you’d been wanting to talk to me.”
“Erm....maybe....” She shifted uncomfortably, glancing around. “Is this the best time? Really?”
“Well if you’re right about the axe murderer....”
“Not even remotely funny.”
“Right. Sorry. But what did you want?”
“It seems a bit silly now....”
“Oh, get on with it,” he said, getting a bit nervous himself as he heard the noise behind them again. “We may as well talk. Maybe I’m brainless, but I don’t see what else we can do.”
“Fine,” she sighed. “I was wondering....well, I was going to ask you out.”
“Oh.” The noise grew closer and he could now hear a soft growling. “Did you hear that too?”
“Yup,”
Alona gulped. She frowned, clearly embarrassed. “I may or may not be terrified.”
“Ditto,”
Shasta mumbled. He wrapped an arm around her and they both closed their eyes, holding onto each other tightly as the growling grew louder. “
Alona?” he said after a moment.
“Yeah?”
“For the record....”
The growling was now clearly all around them and they could feel hot breath on their faces and exposed necks. “Maybe they were right,”
Alona said, her voice shaking.
Despite his fear
Shasta cracked an eye open and looked at her. “Right about what?”
“They said there’s no future for us,”
Alona murmured. “Well, I’d say there’s not one now.”
“Open your eyes,”
Shasta managed. He saw large claws coming toward him but ignored it as
Alona looked at him he smiled. “I don’t care,” he said quietly, and he kissed her.
Alona gasped, then leaned in and kissed him back. She shut her eyes again before she could see the creatures that were obviously surrounding them and felt
Shasta’s hold on her tighten until she could hardly breathe. Finally she pulled her lips from his. “Making every last moment last, are we?” she teased, shivering in his arms.
Shasta was about to reply but they were out of time. As the creatures started to rip at their flesh
Shasta made one last effort to protect
Alona, grabbing his iPod and turning it on, hoping to blind or at least startle one of the creatures.
“See how bright they shine,” one of them commented. It looked confused for a moment then smiled. “Help me make the music of the night?”
The others chuckled and
Shasta heard the bright and happy tones of a cheesy Disney film as the creatures ripped out his and
Alona’s hearts and devoured them in one bite each.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sally and
Phantom stumbled out of the poorly lit street, cackling to each other as they walked along. “Come on, let’s go get some breakfast.”
“No way. I’m dead on my feet,”
Sally complained, and she slid down the brick wall, flopping into an exhausted pile. Suddenly she looked up at
Phantom and grinned. “Pollo madre,” she said.
Phantom just stared at her as if she’d grown a second head. She pointed to her covered face in response. “Pollo madre. You like it?”
“It means mother chicken,” he said flatly. “It’s clearly a turkey. Didn’t you pay attention to the label?”
Sally huffed indignantly and he laughed, sitting down beside her. “What about mine?”
Sally stared at him intently and finally smiled. “How do you say ‘big mouth’ again?” She stood up, offering
Phantom a hand. He shook his head and pulled himself to his feet, gesturing to a small restaurant across the street. “Really? There? You’ve got to be joking.”
“Not the best, but better than nothing.”
“Yeah, if the alternative is eating on Mars. I’ll pass, thanks.” A few drunken boys walked by and
Sally noticed that while she had been stumbling, their swagger was clearly induced by alcohol, not lack of sleep. “Morons. They’ll have a shock in the morning though.”
“Why?”
Phantom asked hesitantly. “
Sally, what did you do now?”
“Two of them were passed out in the hallway. I glued those devil masks to their faces.”
“
Sally!”
Phantom said harshly. “I can’t believe you.” He glared at her, crossing his arms. “Why didn’t you call me to help?”
“Pfffft. I could take them. Out to dinner,” she added with a chuckle. “But believe me, I did them a favor. They look better like that.”
She jumped suddenly and
Phantom stared at her strangely. “Phone,” she muttered. “I forgot to turn it off vibrate. Must be....” She pulled her phone out of her pocket and grinned. “Duck!”
“Only with rice,”
Phantom said flatly, and
Sally rolled her eyes. “All right, where are we going?”
Sally frowned. “That’s really weird....”
“What is it?”
“Never mind,” she stuttered, “just one of those stupid forwarded texts. Whatever.”
“Lemme see,”
Phantom demanded, and
Sally tried to protest but he grabbed the phone from her hand. “What the heck? ‘Breakfast with
Phantom, eh? I’m jealous. Well, I’d be jealous, but you won’t be having pancakes so it doesn’t matter. Haha.’ What is it?”
“Inside joke,”
Sally mumbled, snatching the phone and shoving it into her pocket again. “Don’t worry about it. No more weird texts, I promise. Now let’s go.”
“
Sally, why would she care about us having pancakes?”
“It doesn’t matter,”
Sally insisted.
Phantom was about to press her further but they were suddenly approached by four figures in white sheets. “Worst. Costumes. Ever,” he said with a smirk. He tried to get around them but they spread themselves to fill the entire alley and he frowned. “Come on,
Sally. We’ll go another way if these idiots won’t move.”
“It’s quicker this way,”
Sally said, looking hesitantly from one cloaked figure to another. “Trust me,
Phantom. I’ve been around enough drunks. They’ll move if we just kind of-”
The fourth figure grabbed her arm, squeezing it so tightly she winced. “What the-”
“You will curse the day you did not do all that the
Phantom asked of you,” it said.
“I’ve been telling her that for months,”
Phantom deadpanned, then he saw the expression on
Sally’s face and stepped toward them. “Hey, let her go.”
The creature started to obey but one of its allies -the first in line- stepped out and placed a hand on its arm. “Easy now,” it said quietly, and the first figure tightened its grip on
Sally’s arm. She whimpered and the figures smiled. “Hush, love, hush. Don’t distress yourself.”
“Two hearts,” the third creature said, glancing from
Sally to
Phantom, “mark it up.”
Phantom started toward them but the second figure held out a hand to stop him. “There will be blood,” it warned, and snarled at him as he kept walking. “It might be yours,” it added quickly.
“
Phantom,”
Sally hissed, “either help me or get the heck out of here.”
“Definitely the first one,” he said, although he didn’t sound entirely convinced as he realized the hand was covered with fur and ended in sharp claws. “Who are you?” he asked defiantly.
At that moment
Sally’s phone rang and they both glanced down at her jacket pocket.
This is thriller, thriller night
'Cause I can thrill you more than any ghost would ever dare try
Thriller, thriller night
So let me hold you tight and share a killer, diller, chiller, thriller here tonight
'Cause this is thriller, thriller night
Girl, I can thrill you more than any ghost would ever dare try
Thriller, thriller night
So let me hold you tight and share a killer, thriller, ow!
“Society is slipping,” the second creature said flatly, pointing to
Sally’s ringing phone.
Phantom took his opportunity to lunge at the creature, pinning it to the ground. “Let her go,” he said sharply, pushing the creature’s head roughly against the ground, “or else.”
“Oh, I’m in pain,” the creature whined. “I think this is what pain feels like.”
“Sometimes I wonder why I ever got in,” the third creature said with a roll of its glowing eyes. It flung its claws into the air, first one way, then the other, and shifted its weight as it prepared to pounce on
Phantom.
Sally screamed and she saw the creature turn away from
Phantom, instead digging its claws into her stomach. The wind was knocked out of her as she collapsed to the ground, bleeding and nauseous. “Hurts,” she managed.
“I can’t feel nothing at all,” it replied with a cheeky grin.
“It hurts,”
Sally repeated.
“Ah, but there is worse yet to come, poor thing,” the first villain added, glancing down at
Sally’s injuries.
“Shut up!”
Phantom shouted. “Leave her alone!” He released the other creature and shoved two of them out of the way as he made his way to where
Sally lay on the ground. “You all right?”
“Dumbest. Question. Ever,”
Sally grunted, then her eyes widened. “
Phantom, watch out!”
All four of their attackers dropped their sheets to reveal what looked like furry bodies. They were covered, however, in rhinestone jumpsuits from their necks to their pointy toes, and
Sally and
Phantom could only watch as they all repeated the movement they had seen before.
Sally’s phone rang again but she ignored it, clutching her stomach as the creatures neared them.
....killer, diller, chiller, thriller here tonight....
The creatures arms continued to wave from one side to the other as they approached them one step at a time, the second grinning madly and giggling to itself.
“Underthings tumbling?” it asked hopefully, and its companions nodded. It licked its lips and approached
Sally, smiling. “Want to say,” it mumbled, “love your hair.” Then it pounced.
“
Phantom, no!”
Sally screamed, but it was too late.
Phantom had jumped in front of her, and what was left of him was now laying in a growing puddle of blood. His party mask slid off his now detached skull, clattering to the ground. She stared at the dark hair and then her eyes flitted to
Phantom’s blonde just as the creatures took his head too. She finally passed out from the loss of blood, her eyes closing just as the creatures were ripping
Phantom’s eyes from his sockets and using them as finger puppets. Needless to say, she didn’t wake up again.
The Dead
Co-Mod
Shastanis Althreduin, his last moment made last on Night 0
Vote Count Girl/Co-Co-Mod
Alonariel, died of a broken (well, eaten) heart on Night 0
Heckler
the Phantom, went out of his British mind (and then his regular one) on Night 0
Moddess
satansaloser2005, didn’t dance and died (or was thrilled) on Night 0
The Living
Brinn
Dun
Fea
Form
Glirdan
Gwath
Izzy
Lottie
Mira
Nerwen
Nienna
Nog
Pitch
Rune
Steve
Wilwa
It is now Day One. Discuss and vote and such nonsense. I’ll check the Downs periodically so PM or go to the admin thread with any questions! Game on!
