Liam caught up with her and shot Rhonda a weary look. "Don't ask any more questions we don't want the answers to."
As they entered the eerie rundown graveyard, even the pixelated fog clung to their skin like dead flesh. A chill floated through the air like it was following them. Rhonda rubbed her bare arms.
Liam had the uneasy feeling that they were being watched. He glanced around but didn't see anything and decided to keep that thought to himself for the time being. The three friends continued to walk deeper into the graveyard all looking at different things.
Rhonda was careful not to step on any of the graves. "Old superstition," she said, but it was really because she didn't want a zombie hand reaching up and grabbing her leg.
And Caleb, well, he was typical Caleb. If they were trying to be quiet, he didn't know it. Caleb might as well as brought a marching band with him. His shuffling through the crunchy leaves was loud enough to raise the dead.
Liam mostly ignored his friends as he walked through the graveyard. Something about the place called out to him. He let his eyes drift over each tombstone as he walked. There were so many tombstones that they almost overlapped making it difficult to avoid stepping on some of the graves. There were big ones and elaborate ones complete with marble vases or sculptures, but the ones that Liam couldn't bare to look at were the small graves only big enough for a child.
Finally, he stopped and ran his fingers over one of the grave markers. He needed to know it was as real as it appeared. "Who do you think these people are?" Then, he corrected himself, "Or... were?"
All of the tombstones had names on them, which struck Liam as odd. He wasn't sure if the game programmers had done that intentionally, if so, it was a nice attention to detail, but he feared the names meant something else. Something more sinister.
The lure to go further into the graveyard was strong. Liam felt the answer to his question of whom these people were was awaiting him deeper inside. As much as he fought that idea, the desire to know pulled on his heart and curiosity.
Something moved in Liam's peripheral vision. He didn't want to say anything to scare the others, but when he glanced over his shoulder, he thought he saw a shadowy figure dart behind a large statue. His insides tightened. The pull he felt grew stronger with every step.
Without uttering a word, he walked through the tombstones onto the next row of gravesites and slowly crept onto a small weathered stone path. Careful not too get to close, he wandered up to the statue. It was a stone sculpture of an angel with wings spread wide, or rather he assumed it was an angel. The dark silhouette, appearing to float in the air in front of him, could also have been a more hellish winged creature waiting to zip down and take him away. Its commanding presence made a lump build in Liam's throat.
Curiosity told him to follow the figure. He was cautious to not be too obvious. Every now and then he'd stop at a tombstone and stare at it as if he were casually passing time. Then he'd continue on in the direction the figure was leading him. Zig zagging through the tombstones and overgrown paths, he finally came to stop in a clearing.
Tombstones lined the cemetery grounds as the land sloped down toward what appeared to be a little garden area and then back up the other side. The moonlight cast eerie shadows making it seem like there were more tombstones than there were in reality.
Reality being a relative term, of course.
A crow landed on a nearby tombstone and cawed. Liam jumped. The crow didn't fly away but instead continued to caw. As if it were telling him something.
Liam stared at the crow, not sure whether to defend against an all-out attack or what. The crow bobbed its head up and down as if it were trying to communicate. Looking down, Liam noticed a glimmer in the dirt. He glanced at the crow again, hoping it wouldn't try to peck the back of his head when he bent over.
He wiped away the dirt and pulled out a golden key with a small piece of paper attached to it. The key was like one of those big fancy ones with a big loop and two prongs that make up the bit that opens a lock. When he stood up again the crow flew away.
Caleb shuffled over to Liam. "Whatcha got there?"
A flock of crows fluttered into the air at the same time. Thousands of wings flapping together sounded like a high pitched screaming, and Liam and his friends shielded their heads with their arms as they ran for cover. As he caught his breath again, he watched as the crows landed in another set of trees across the hillside.
For a moment, Liam wondered if he was supposed to follow but was brought back when Caleb asked, "What's it say?"
Liam held up the parchment paper. It was a note written in a fancy font. Reading aloud, he said, "Sharp and steady, strong and heavy, into the hallow you go of stone and Levy. Huh?"
"It's a riddle," said Rhonda as she took the note. "Into the hallow. It means we need to search for something."
"What?"
Rhonda shrugged and handed the paper back to Liam.
"Sharp and steady... What's Levy? I mean, I know what a levy is, but this is capitalized." He pointed to the word. "See?"
"What's that?" Caleb pointed to the initials M.P. in the bottom right corner.
"I guess whomever wrote the note." Then he folded the paper and stuck it in his pocket. Liam jumped as the flock of crows situated themselves into their new nest. "This place gives me the creeps." He still didn't want to say anything about the mysterious figure and he really wasn't comfortable hanging around to find out what it wanted.
"Where'd you find that?" asked Rhonda.
Liam pointed to the grave where the note was laying. "Right ther-." He stopped as the lump that was forming in his throat grew to the size of a baseball. His chest felt heavy. It heaved as he took deep breaths. He stared straight ahead. He didn't even blink.
Caleb snapped his fingers. "Dude, are you okay?"
Unsure of what to do, Rhonda placed her hands on his shoulders to steady him. That was when she saw it, too.
The name on the tombstone in front of Liam read: KATHERINE BALDWIN.
Katie's grave.
8
Liam didn't hear his friends snapping their fingers or calling his name. It was like he had become a zombie. Even though he was standing, he was totally zoned out.
He nearly jumped out of his skin when Caleb clapped his hands together in front of his face. "You look like you've seen a ghost, man."
He may not have meant anything by that comment, but it sent shivers down Liam's spine. "Don't say that."
Rhonda slapped Caleb's arm. "Good going, idiot."
"What? He does. He's as pale as one."
That was true. Liam's skin had lost all color and felt clammy. "I'm okay. I'm fine, really." He stepped closer to the grave and touched the tombstone. "It just took me by surprise."
"That jerk Thomas is behind this. I know it. Who else would've known, right?"
Liam nodded. He couldn't explain it. All he knew is that he couldn't wait to get his hands on Thomas. He had been a thorn in Liam's side for so long. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out the note and reread it.
Rhonda asked, "Maybe someone's trying to tell us something. Let's look around for more clues." She took a few steps, careful not to disturb any burial sites. Caleb moved around the other side of the row. Suddenly a hand shot out from behind a tombstone. Rhonda screamed and ran toward the stone path away from the burial sites.
Caleb bust out into a fit of laughter as he stood up and waved his dirt covered hand at her. Once she realized he was playing a prank on her, she yelled, "You jerk!"
That only made Caleb laugh more. "Don't go stepping on any graves now!"
Liam passed by him on the way to Rhonda. "So not cool."
"Oh come on! We're in a graveyard. Can't we have a little fun?" As he stood there, a hand shot up from the grave and grabbed his ankle! Caleb screamed and danced around like a monkey trying to free his leg. Finally, he did and whacked the zombie in the head as it tried to climb out of its grave. "Hey, it's like Whack-A-Zombie!"
&
nbsp; Watching Caleb hop around trying to escape the grasp of a zombie hand would've been hilarious any other time but it wasn't just one hand coming out of a grave. Sounds of tearing grass echoed throughout the cemetery. Liam and Rhonda did a full three-sixty as they spun around to survey the area.
Everywhere, hands shot up from the graves!
Zombies clawed their way out of the ground, tearing at the grass and pushing aside the dirt that once held their bodies captive. Some moved easier than others and were able to climb from their earthly tombs with little effort, as if somehow maintaining muscle tone even after death. Others were slower and more decayed. Since they didn't have the ability to pull themselves upright, they crawled along the ground, clawing at the ground for leverage.
Liam winced as he reached behind his neck and pulled his bat from his backpack. "Of course it would have to be a graveyard. It couldn't be a serene pond with flowers and fairies flying around refilling our health and healing our injuries."
Caleb replied, "Dude, you play too many games."
Liam swung his bat with his left arm and the first zombie went down easy. "Funny, my mom says the same thing."
Zombies rushed the trio one after another. "There's too many. We've gotta get the upper hand somehow."
Rhonda was right. There were hundreds, thousands of graves, each with zombies clawing their way out and eager to feast on fresh flesh. However, going back the way they came was out of the question. They needed to advance to the next exit, or portal, if they hoped to find Katie. And they were standing right in the middle of the cemetery, surrounded by zombies.
"Do you think we could just walk through them like last time?" Caleb referred to the time when the four of them, Katie included, were trapped by zombies in the abandoned amusement park. That was during their adventure after playing the original Zombie Game.
Liam replied, "I don't think so. These things know we're here."
"Then we'll stand and fight," Rhonda said as her bladed bat made contact with a crawling zombie. "It will be like last time. We can use this as a way to level up."
Rhonda had a point again. Whatever they were destined to face, they would need all the experience they could get.
After clearing away the zombies within immediate range, Liam turned to his friends. He held out his bat and said, "It's grind time!"
Caleb lowered his goggles over his eyes. He was ready for war. Next, they each tapped their bats together and repeated their new mantra. "Grind time!"
"Stay close but fan out! We'll cut through the horde leading down this hill and up the other side. Hopefully there's an exit." Liam took point with his friends on either side. Zombie gunk and goo splattered into the air as they cut their way through the undead army. Together, they were an unstoppable zombie weed-whacker.
No zombie went untouched. The crawling zombies could be easily stomped. One time, Liam swung his bat like a golf club. When the zombie's severed head went soaring, he yelled, "Fore!"
Another time, he swung his bat at a zombie's head and it splattered against a nearby tombstone. If they needed to know how Bloodriver Cemetery got its name, they need only look around. If the cemetery looked run down before, it certainly looked more desecrated and blood-washed now.
By the time they reached the bottom of the first hill, they were huffing and ready for a break. Liam's left arm was aching. It wasn't used to that much strenuous activity. He would have two bum shoulders if he didn't let it rest, but the zombies kept coming.
Rhonda saw him slowing down. "Just a little farther!"
Going downhill was the easy part. Not only did they need to conserve enough energy to climb the up the other side, but they were lower than the zombies. Once they started uphill, it would take even more effort to first hit a zombie's knees to bring it down low enough to reach its head.
"This isn't working!"
"Yeah, we can't keep up. We're gonna get swarmed!"
"Keep fighting!" Liam yelled. "Keep fighting for Katie! She is depending on us!"
That little pep talk was enough to make each one of them pick up the pace, but the horde was slowly winning. They were just simply outnumbered. A zombie lunged at Liam, but he swung wildly at it and luckily tagged it underneath the chin. He was tiring fast.
Caleb knocked a zombie to its knees and then slammed his nail bat into its head splitting the bat on a tombstone. "Uh-oh." The end of the bat with the nails remained stuck in the zombie's head as it fell to the ground. Caleb's eyes grew wide in horror when he pulled up a broken bat. "Uh, guys! We need better weapons!"
A low rumble sounded from the other side of the cemetery behind them. Liam didn't think much of it at first, assuming it was the soil moving as zombies climbed from their earthly tombs. Then it did it again. The ground shook and Liam lost his balance. He fell against a tombstone and held onto his aching shoulders.
Caleb snatched up the bat Liam dropped. "Shield him!" Caleb ordered, and he and Rhonda guarded their friend from the impending attack.
"We can't stay here forever!"
The rumble rolled through the earth once more this time shaking everything in its path. Zombies lost their footing and tumbled over, tombstones cracked and split, and then they saw it.
A huge shadow moved through the rows of graves, the moonlight catching only a glimpse of its ivory frame. It wasn't just tall, it was also BIG. An enormous skeleton wielding a sword and shield danced in and out of the shadows.
"Oh no," uttered Rhonda. "We're sitting ducks if we stay here."
Liam used the tombstone as a crutch to get to his feet. "Over there!" He pointed at a tall mausoleum across the cemetery on top of a small hill. If they used the terrain to their advantage, they could make it to the door without being seen by the overgrown bag of bones.
Caleb wasn't about to let him or his friends get smashed by Bag o' Bones. He helped Liam steady himself. "Stay close to him and follow my lead." Caleb took off in the direction of the mausoleum bobbing and weaving through the zombie horde and using trees and statues to help hide their advance.
The last stretch would blow their cover and expose them, but there was no other choice. "Gotta make a run for it," Caleb said.
The three of them took off running across the rows of graves. The giant skeleton changed course and ran towards them. They ran faster. Then the skeleton flung huge bones across the landscape. One barely missed Liam's head.
Caleb chanted, "Please be unlocked. Please be unlocked."
When they reached the door, there would only be enough time to quickly try it. If it was locked, they were doomed. The skeleton picked up its pace and leapt over several tombstones. As they neared the door, Caleb stretched out his hand. He grabbed hold of the door handle and by a miracle granted by the gaming gods, it opened!
The three of them barged inside. Liam and Rhonda skidded on the cold stone floor. Caleb turned and fell against the door, securing it closed just in time for the skeleton to slam into it. The impact forced Caleb back to his feet. "Come on. We need to move further inside."
The mausoleum was huge. Its ceiling alone was a good two stories high and their movements and voices echoed against the concrete walls. The three of them turned left down a long hallway. Walking past the various nameplates made Liam realize what they were. Behind the walls were the final resting places of several people.
The hair on the back of his neck stood on end. "Uh, guys. How well do you think that concrete will hold 'em?" The walls were divided up into multiple sections stacked from floor to ceiling. Behind each section was a dead body. Interestingly, the grave sites were undisturbed. Liam wondered why zombies had not awoken inside the walls, and he hoped they wouldn't stick around long enough for that to happen.
Liam leaned in closer to the right side as they made their way down the hall. The nameplate read: LEVY. "This is it! Look! Levy! From the note!" He pulled the paper from his pocket and read it again.
"Sharp and steady, strong and heavy, into the hallow you go of stone and Levy. This is it!" Despi
te being exhausted, the excitement of the revelation pumped renewed life back into him.
"So, what are we supposed to do here? asked Caleb.
"Not do. I think we're supposed to find something here."
Rhonda ran her fingers over nameplate after nameplate. "They're all the same. They all say Levy. There must be several generations buried here."
Caleb said, "I wonder who they were."
Liam took a step back and stood in the middle of the hall. His eyes moved from crypt to crypt. Having a mausoleum is neat and all, but none of the individual crypts stood out. "Which one is it?"
"Let me see the note." She read it aloud once again, but when she said 'hallow', something clicked. "This is hallow, with an A. It means like hallowed ground. Maybe it's all of them." Rhonda handed Liam the note. "Maybe this whole place is it."
Liam's shoulders fell. The thought of having to break into who knew how many crypts was not ideal when there was a giant skeleton beast about to blast through the door at any second. Not to mention, the idea of disturbing such a sacred place gave him the heebie-jeebies. The last thing he needed was some bad mojo voodoo curse reigning down on them. A graveyard full of zombies was bad enough.
BAM!
Bag o' Bones burst through the door! They had to act fast before it made worm food out of them.
9
They could hear the giant skeleton's heavy breathing from around the corner. It would be in the hallway with them any second. There was no time to spare!
Liam jumped into action. Farther down the hall was a small room. Liam opened the door to a small sanctuary. It contained only a few rows of pews and a small altar at the front of the room. Off to the side of the altar was another door with a stained-glass image of a sword.
His eyes narrowed. 'Sharp and steady.' He burst through the door to find a wooden chest sitting on the ground, its golden lock shining in the beam of his flashlight.
Liam fumbled for the key in his pocket as the skeleton stomped down the hallway towards them.
Zombie Boy 2: Level Up (Adventures of Zombie Boy) Page 5
