by P. J. Night
Why have I been freaking out all day? Emily wondered. Those fears felt so distant now. Distant and impossible. Everything was going to be just fine.
The spiral appeared again. It spun slowly at first, then began to pick up speed. Emily watched passively as it spun. There was a flicker of a twitch at her temple, but she ignored it. Just like she’d ignore an annoying gnat buzzing around her face.
Everything was fine.
No.
It’s not.
Emily tried to ignore it. But that small voice inside her was insistent.
It’s not!
Something dripped onto the screen. It wasn’t a digital effect this time.
It was saliva.
Emily dropped the phone and wiped her mouth. She was drooling—it was so gross, she was just sitting there drooling onto Jake’s phone. And she’d barely even noticed.
“The spiral,” she said out loud. Her voice was flat and empty of emotion, even though her pulse was racing. That’s when Emily realized how close she’d been to losing everything. The Z Curse app was more clever than she ever could have dreamed. Slaying the virtual zombies was deceptively easy—and weirdly addicting. It lulled Emily into complacency—while the spiral twirled and twirled—
What’s happening to me? Emily wondered, her mouth suddenly dry. Was it really that easy? A few fake zombies, the hypnotic spin of the spiral—
That rhythmic twitch in her temple—was it a symptom? It had happened before once when she had looked deep into Zombie Jake’s eyes. What was that? Emily thought. Maybe the twitch—the drool—that heavy feeling of calm—maybe they’re signs that your brain is changing. And by the time you notice, it’s too late to do anything about it—if you notice at all.
Emily pulled herself off the couch and walked over to a mirror. She stared at her reflection. She looked the same—didn’t she? The whites of her eyes were perhaps a little more red than usual, streaked with vivid capillaries, but she’d slept poorly for the last few nights, so that wasn’t cause for alarm.
Or was it?
Maybe Z Curse is impossible to win, she realized. Maybe even when you’re winning, you’re losing.
That, she realized, would be the cruelest trick of all.
On the floor, Jake’s phone was still flashing. Emily didn’t know what to do. She was sure, deep inside, that she’d had a very narrow miss. Who knew how close she’d been to slipping away forever—to losing herself to the zombie stupor that had already claimed so many of her friends?
Continuing to play the zombie-slaying game was not an option.
Which left Emily with only one choice: She would have to follow the map. Whatever that meant.
By barely glancing at the screen, Emily managed to exit the zombie-slaying game section without being further affected by the spinning dial. Back on the main screen, she breathed a sigh of relief—but only for a moment. The truth was that Emily was even less enthusiastic about seeing what trickery the map section had in store.
But what choice did she have?
Emily tried to psych herself up. Twice they’ve tried to turn you into a zombie—and twice they’ve failed, she thought. You escaped from Max and Abby and Jake. You learned about the king of the zombies. You figured out the truth behind how the game turns you into a zombie.
And now it’s time for you to end the game.
The internal pep talk worked; Emily felt bolder immediately. She grabbed the phone and pressed her finger on the map.
Once again, the screen disappeared—and this time, it was replaced with an image of Emily’s own living room, with a clear path toward the front door made of flashing red arrows. Emily blinked in surprise. I didn’t realize that the map would be augmented reality, she thought as she glanced around the room.
Words, as red as blood, flashed across the screen.
You’ve heard Zyl’s call.
Don’t keep Zyl waiting.
Zyl does not like to wait.
In the lower corner of the screen, an overview of the map appeared. It only took one glance for Emily to know where it would lead her: into the heart of the nature preserve. Sure enough, a small gold crown was blinking there.
Who is Zyl? she wondered. Is he really the king of the zombies?
Is he responsible for all this?
There was only one way to find out.
Emily pulled on her sweatshirt. The sun was hanging low in the sky; soon it would be dark.
Emily took a tentative step outside. On the front porch, she paused to glance around. There were still zombie kids staggering toward the nature preserve. She held up Jake’s phone and looked at them through the app. To her surprise, their faces were wiped blank on the screen. No eyes, no mouths, no noses, no expressions. Just empty faces that made them look like plastic dolls. The sight disgusted Emily—and also made her more determined to win.
Maybe that’s a sign! she thought suddenly. If someone’s face appears blank on the screen, maybe it confirms that they’re a zombie.
It was an interesting theory—but she had to test it out to be sure. Emily took a deep breath and hurried over to the car parked in her neighbor’s driveway. She glanced at her reflection in the side mirror as she held up the phone. To her immense relief, her face on the screen still showed all her features intact.
Just then Emily heard the sound of her mom’s car pulling into the driveway. Mom’s here, she thought as an immense wave of relief washed over her.
“Mom!” Emily screamed. She ran across the yard, wanting nothing more than to throw her arms around her mother’s neck. Mom would know what to do—it wouldn’t be Emily’s responsibility anymore, it wouldn’t be her fault. After all, if she had never mentioned the game on Halloween night, no one in Riverdale would have ever heard of Z Curse.
Mom got out of the car and stared at Emily. Not smiling, not moving, not even blinking.
“Mom?” Emily asked in a small voice. “Mom? I need—”
Nothing.
Emily couldn’t meet her mother’s eyes. Couldn’t bear it. With shaking hands she lifted Jake’s phone and stared at her mother’s image on the screen. Her face was empty, a blank canvas. No blue-gray eyes, the same color as Emily’s; no crinkly laugh lines around her mouth.
Just nothing.
Emily stepped backward. Her mother stood there, staring at her. And that’s when Emily knew for certain, knew beyond all shadow of a doubt, that her mother had become a zombie too. Because her mom would never have stood there so impassively while Emily was on the brink of tears. She never would’ve watched Emily suffer with that blank, uncaring expression on her face. In the last few months, Emily had been more annoyed with her mom than ever—doing everything she could to shrug away from her mother’s hovering. In a flash of insight, Emily realized that her mom’s hovering wasn’t a sign of distrust or smothering. It was a sign of her love.
“I’m sorry,” Emily said, almost choking on the words. “I’m sorry, Mom. I’ll fix it. I—I promise.”
Her mom just watched as Emily stumbled away. The only thing Emily could think to do now was follow the blinking arrows on the screen. Maybe it wasn’t her fault—at least, not entirely—but wasn’t she the one who had told Leah and the other girls about Z Curse? Would Leah have even discovered that app if not for Emily? And now all her friends were falling like dominoes, one after another, as they succumbed to the zombie curse. Not just her friends, but her family—and so much faster than Emily could have ever anticipated.
What would it be like if Emily was the last non-zombie in the world?
Emily shoved the thought from her mind as she ran to the nature preserve, dodging zombies along the way. There were zombies she recognized from school and some she didn’t. But they were all moving in the same direction. The same way she was going. She’d fight as hard as she had to—she’d fight as long as she could. Maybe today, maybe right now, she wasn’t a leader or a follower.
Maybe she was a fighter.
And maybe that would make all the di
fference.
Emily kept her head down as she stumbled through the streets, following the arrows back to the other end of the nature preserve. She remembered all too well what had happened when she had looked into Zombie Jake’s eyes—and she didn’t dare risk it happening again.
There was a rusty chain-link fence surrounding the nature preserve and Emily saw dozens of kids from school pressed up against it. It took Emily a minute to figure out what was going on. Then, with a sick feeling, she realized that none of them seemed to realize that all they had to do was climb the fence. Their zombie brains couldn’t even figure out that much.
Strike one, she thought grimly with a shake of her head. Maybe you and your zombies are not so clever after all, Zyl.
Either way, she was about to find out.
Moving stealthily so she wouldn’t attract attention, Emily followed the chain-link fence until she reached an area where the zombie kids wouldn’t be able to see her. The last thing she wanted to do was give them any ideas. Then she scaled the fence.
At the top of the fence, Emily took a deep breath and jumped. She landed on the ground with a solid thud that made her bones rattle, but apart from a scrape on her palm, no harm was done. Emily wiped her hand on her jeans and was almost grateful for the stinging abrasion. It reminded her that she was still human.
It reminded her that she was still alive.
Her heart reminded her of that too, as it hammered in her chest. Blood pounded through her veins and throbbed at her temples.
Emily checked her phone. The map seemed to lead her deeper into the woods. The nature preserve was off-limits to almost everyone. She wondered how long it had been since another human had stepped into its heart.
She wondered how long it would take the zombies to find a way in.
Warily, Emily paused to scan the area around her. There were no signs of other people, or other zombies, or even the wild animals that the nature preserve was meant to protect. She had never in her whole life felt so utterly and completely alone—not even on the very first day at Riverdale Middle School, when she didn’t know a single person. Emily swallowed hard and tried not to imagine what life would be like if she wasn’t able to stop Zyl.
How long would she be able to resist?
Forever, she vowed, even though Emily knew that might not be possible.
But to resist against Zyl for an hour, even for a minute, meant that she would need a plan. Emily rubbed her temples, which still felt kind of twitchy. Was it possible that Zombie Jake’s stare—or the app—was still affecting her? I’m fine, she told herself firmly. It’s just the stress.
She was definitely stressed.
But she couldn’t afford to get distracted. She glanced at the screen again and saw that golden crown, flashing steadily. If her theory was right, and Z Curse was leading her directly to the zombie king, then she had to figure out a way to beat him—once and for all. Because Emily already knew, deep inside, that she wouldn’t get a do-over.
Think, she told herself. Think.
How could she defeat the zombie king?
Brute force was the first thought that came to mind—but Emily knew in her heart that she didn’t have the stomach for it. Besides, it was a silly thought. What was she supposed to do, whack Zyl with a fallen branch? Pelt him with rocks?
No—her only option would be to outsmart him. She’d managed to find a way to trick Zombie Abby into the basement and lock her there. Surely there would be something Emily could do to outsmart Zyl.
If that article on the Internet was right, she mused, he’s stronger than all the other zombies, though. Smarter. There’s that part of his brain that still works—the cognitive process, I think it was called. So that might make him even harder to outsmart.
Then again—that might be the way to destroy him.
Emily stopped suddenly. If she was able to destroy Zyl’s ability to think—if she was able to zombify the king of the zombies—
Would all the damage he’d done fall apart too?
Z Curse is rigged, she reminded herself. No matter how you play, you’re doomed to lose. But what if Zyl played? What if he lost at his own game?
That’s when Emily realized that she would have to play the other game mode again. She’d have to risk it. But if he got close enough—and if she could give him a taste of his own medicine—
It didn’t seem like a great plan. There were about a hundred things that could go wrong, and Emily wasn’t even sure if her premise was right.
But it was the best she could come up with.
And she was determined to try.
Emily started walking again, following the path on the map. Her footsteps seemed deafening in the overwhelming silence of the woods. Why was the nature preserve so quiet? Not a single bird chirped; not a single squirrel chattered.
Did they know something that Emily didn’t?
With her eyes glued to the screen, Emily crept forward. The trees grew thickly here. Emily had to push through their branches to move past them. If only she’d thought to bring a flashlight. Between the dense tangle of foliage and the fast-setting sun, it would be dark soon.
A message flashed onto the screen:
You’re getting close.
Zyl is pleased.
Zyl is ready to welcome you.
Oh, I bet he is, Emily thought as a flash of anger overcame her. She suddenly felt ready to confront him, ready to come face-to-face with the zombie king—and do whatever it took to destroy him.
Forgetting to be quiet, forgetting all about her plans for stealthy approaches and sneak attacks, Emily crashed through the underbrush and found herself, quite unexpectedly, in the center of a large clearing. Wisps of mist rose from the forest floor, as if from an underground hot spring; they snaked into the air, making it harder to see in the deepening gloom.
Something in the middle of the clearing glinted, a brief flash of light that startled Emily. She squinted as she tried to figure out what it was. It looked almost familiar—
My tiara, she suddenly realized. From Halloween. What is it doing here?
She stood in the center of the clearing, momentarily unsure, and then it clicked. That long, terrifying Halloween night—she’d left it on the table in Abby’s basement—but it had disappeared by morning. Emily had spent the entire night in a state of frozen fear, unable to shake the feeling that someone who didn’t belong was in the basement. Now, though she didn’t want to believe it, Emily couldn’t deny the truth: The king of the zombies himself must have snuck in . . . and stolen her crown.
But why?
Emily didn’t know, and she didn’t want to find out. She glanced again at Jake’s phone.
The gold crown was still blinking.
And then it started to move.
Emily’s breath caught in her throat. If the app was to be trusted, Zyl was coming closer.
Coming for her.
Be brave, she told herself. Be strong. Be ready.
She tapped at the screen, adjusting the app’s settings so that she could simultaneously keep an eye on the map—and Zyl’s movements—while slaying virtual zombies. The split screen made it harder to concentrate; her eyes darted back and forth, back and forth, as she watched the crown approach while trying to destroy the false zombies that appeared on screen. But it doesn’t matter if I destroy them, Emily suddenly realized. Zyl would always win some way or another unless she could face him directly. It was time to stop destroying the virtual zombies. Let Zyl think he’d won—and come to her.
Emily steeled herself. The next virtual zombie, she vowed, would survive. Even if the fear killed her.
Then she saw it. It was sauntering toward her on the screen, relaxed almost, like it somehow knew that Emily wasn’t planning to fight back. She stole a brief, desperate glance upward to reassure herself that the zombie wasn’t real; wasn’t about to attack.
The clearing, mercifully, was still empty.
It will be over soon, Emily thought sickly as the virtual zombie inc
hed closer toward her. It was almost right on top of her when, to her shock, Jake’s phone vibrated loudly. The zombie grinned evilly as it vanished.
Did the spinning spiral last longer this time, or was it just Emily’s imagination? It was hard to tell, especially since she had to keep her eyes closed to avoid its hypnotic effects. Emily had been afraid a lot during the last few days, but she’d never known fear so intense as she did in that forest with her eyes closed. Those seconds were agony for Emily. How could she monitor that golden crown with her eyes closed? What if, in those precious seconds, Zyl crept up—and transformed her before she even knew he was there?
Before the next virtual zombie appeared, Emily dared to glance behind her. She saw . . . no one.
Yet the golden crown was flashing on the screen. From the map, it appeared that Zyl was just a few feet away. Where is he? Emily wondered anxiously. It’s not that she wanted to come face-to-face with a superzombie . . . but the anticipation, the waiting and wondering, was brutal.
How much longer can this go on? Emily asked herself.
There was a rustle in the brush behind her.
On the screen, the crown was very close. Emily watched it for several long minutes, but nothing happened. No movement. No noise.
It’s like a game of chicken, she realized. Which one of us will give in first?
Then the crown started to move. It crept closer . . . closer . . . closer . . . until it was nearly touching Emily on the map. She swallowed hard. If the app was correct, Zyl was right behind her, standing close enough that she could practically feel his breath on her neck.
No.
Wait.
She could.
A wave of terror washed over Emily. It was so strong that for a moment her knees started to buckle. A frantic worry ricocheted through her brain—will I fall, will I fall here, at his feet, on the ground, will this be the end of it, the end of everything—
She locked her knees. Her legs stood firm. Even her fingers were steady as she swiped them across the screen.
Was she ready to come face-to-face with Zyl? No, not really. But would she ever really feel ready?
