by Gayle Katz
“2308 Pine Greene? What the heck?” said Zan.
“What’s up?” Charlie asked.
“That’s City Hall!”
“What? No way?” Charlie looked at her laptop again. “Oh, you’re right. Underneath it says to come to City Hall and wait in line on the left. They’re opening up City Hall for every weekend in October. On Halloween, there will be candy given out to trick-or-treaters of all ages wearing costumes. Weird,” said Charlie. “Is this normal? They never do anything for Christmas.”
“Hmph. We can give them a suggestion.”
“So, do you still want to do it?” Charlie asked.
“Hold on. I’m just texting Owen to see what he says. Hmm. Well, I’m not repeating what he said, except to say that he thinks that’s really strange, and that he’s in.”
“Cool,” said Charlie.
“And I’m in,” said Zan. “If anything’s going to happen in October, it’s going to be on that date.”
“Well, it could be on any of those weekends,” Charlie said.
“But we’ll be there,” said Zan. “And for some reason, I got the invitation in my email box. Though it doesn’t say it’s from City Hall.”
“Wait, so did I. You’re right. If there is anything strange happening, it’s going to be on that night,” said Charlie.
“That’s great,” replied Zan.
“So, did your dad ever find out about the break-in?” asked Charlie.
“Nope. Fortunately, Jay said he wouldn’t tell him.”
“Cool,” said Charlie. “We have an alarm system on our house too.”
“Right, remember after those zombie ghosts got into Owen’s house? His family put an alarm system in after that.”
“Yeah,” said Charlie. “Though I’m not certain how you can keep out zombie ghosts.”
“Or Dr. Arora for that matter,” said Zan, giggling.
zzz
Julian quickly dried off. Then he took a look at his toe. So, it was official, his body was slowly decaying and dying. There wasn’t even any blood, just a big dark patch where his toe had once been. He picked the toe up out of the tub. It was still slightly soft. It was also black on the end.
“Hmm, I wonder?” he thought to himself. He wrapped the towel around himself, and then opened the bathroom door. The coast was clear. He tiptoed out of the bathroom and down the hall to the basement door. He opened it and headed downstairs.
It took only moments for him to find the toolbox. Inside the toolbox, he found a long, thin, and extremely sharp nail.
He wasn’t thrilled with the idea, but on the other hand, he wanted to lead as normal a life as possible. He held his big toe in his left hand, with the nail pressed against the tip. Then he held the hammer in his right hand.
He took a deep breath, or as deep as one could take a breath when one was a zombie. The hammer flew through the air, hitting the nail, and sending it deep through his toe and deep into his foot.
He had been fully expecting to experience terrible pain, but all he felt was a small itch.
He dropped the hammer and had a look. He tentatively touched his toe. It seemed to have worked. Unless you really looked, you couldn’t tell that it had been nailed back on, with the nail right underneath the toenail.
“Well, that should last until I die,” said Julian.
He quickly checked the rest of his body parts. So far, everything seemed to be fine. He’d have to pay more attention in the future. He could use a nail before the next part fell off.
He quickly cleaned up and headed back upstairs. As he walked up, he thought about how he should leave a directive or will or something. That would make it easier on his parents.
And he didn’t want to be stuck in a hospital, strapped to a bed, in his last days. Maybe he needed to re-examine what he really wanted in life. Should he just take a trip to Europe? Or should he spend time with his family, who always seemed to be working too?
One thing was certain. He was going to quit his other part-time job. He’d give them a call right now. Then he’d be officially retired. Now he felt better about life. He had thought his zombiosis was getting better, but obviously it wasn’t. So now he was running out of time and had to plan for the weeks ahead.
He peered down at his foot. How much time did he even have left? Six months? A few weeks? He didn’t know. He held out his arms. They were turning a gray color again. He headed to the fridge. Perhaps eating some raw hamburger would help restore some pink back to them.
Chapter 19
________________________________________
“I’m so excited,” said Zan, hopping into Charlie’s car. “Hi, Owen!”
“Hi,” they both said to Zan.
“But it’s too bad we can’t wear costumes tonight,” said Owen.
Charlie shrugged. “I don’t usually dress up anyway.”
“You can say that again,” said Zan, laughing.
“I don’t usually dress up.” Charlie laughed.
“OK, folks,” said Owen, adjusting his seatbelt. “I think we should stick together tonight.”
“Right,” said Charlie, peering at the rearview mirror. “I could go in through the back, but it doesn’t seem like much of a challenge anymore. I’ve already picked that lock dozens of times. Well, it seems that way anyway.”
“Cool, so we can both go in with Owen,” said Zan.
“Right, and Sergeant Bourne is going to be part of the crowd too,” said Charlie. “Stewart told me he’ll go in about ten minutes after us.”
“Yeah, I expect this is going to be a ten-minute thing,” said Owen. “After all, how long can it take to get through all the decorations?”
Charlie parked in the large paid parking lot. She used her Parking Kitty app to pay. “There. I think an hour should be enough. If not, Stewart can pay for the towing.”
“Hah!” said Owen. “Do you get towed a lot?” He stepped out of the car.
“No, never,” said Charlie.
“Great. Just great. There’s already a line,” said Zan, pointing to the line forming in front of the building.
“I just had a thought,” said Owen.
The two girls stared at him.
“Is the mayor here? Because if she is, we can count on zombies.”
The teens all laughed.
“That’s what I’m counting on,” said Charlie. “We’d better get in line, as there are more cars parking.”
The group headed to the back of the line. Charlie pulled out her phone and scrolled to the ticket app. “I think I have all of our tickets here, so you don’t need to find yours.”
“Good,” said Owen, “because I think I left my phone somewhere.”
Charlie inspected all of the people in line. She saw Sergeant Bourne at the front of the line dressed in civilian clothes. He was trying to fit in with the crowd, but his tall and imposing shape didn’t quite work. “I see Bourne.”
“Jay?” Zan looked and waved at him.
The teens kept busy while they waited. The line moved quickly.
Finally, they were at the door.
“Is the mayor working today?” Owen asked the attendant at the front.
Marta was dressed as a ghost, with white makeup on her face. “No, she isn’t. She’ll be here on Halloween though. Let me check your tickets and you can enter.” She had a look and beckoned them through.
The front of City Hall was decorated ominously. There was a gigantic black and orange wreath hanging above the door, with creepy gargoyle statuettes on either side. Both doors of the building were open. A fluorescent arrow guided people inside.
“Stick to the arrows,” said Marta. “Otherwise, we’re not responsible for what happens to you.”
Owen laughed. “So far, so good.”
The three teens entered the building.
zzz
Dr. Arora was in the ladies’ bathroom. She pranced back and forth in front of the mirror. This body was so much better. She should just stick to women from now on instead of
trying to turn a man into a woman. She’d also like to stay this way, so she’d have to be extra careful that no one recognized her, including that truthsayer known as Owen.
She put her witch’s hat on and grabbed her magic wand. She was ready to go. She patted the black bag hanging over her arm. She was so happy that she had found more injectables.
zzz
“I’m so annoyed,” said Stewart over the telephone to Sergeant Bourne.
“Take it easy,” he said. “I’ll be there right after this spook show.”
“There’s no point. We both know it was Dr. Arora.”
Bourne sighed. “Yep. How did she get in?”
“I only went out to the grocery store for half an hour to get something for brunch.”
“Well, that’s usually how they do it. And why don’t you have an alarm system? Isn’t this like the third time you’ve been broken into?”
“Yeah, if we include that home invasion last time around. But my landlord won’t let me have one.”
“That’s stupid,” said Bourne. “OK, I have an idea. There are these alarm systems you can get that don’t have to be wired through the wall. Your landlord shouldn’t complain too much about them. I can check and make sure the kids all have alarm systems too.”
“That might work,” said Stewart. “Just thought you’d like to know.”
“Yeah, great. Thanks. Injectables on the loose.”
“Well, it was a bunch of dead microorganisms. Even if she could revive them somehow, there wouldn’t be any time.”
“Good,” said Bourne. “I’ll drop by later with a brochure on that system I mentioned.”
“OK, thanks.” Stewart hung up.
Bourne frowned at the phone. Stolen injectables. That didn’t sound good. Why would she steal them if they were no longer any good?
zzz
The teens laughed as they walked past a vampire and a demon.
“That’s great,” said Owen. “Good makeup.”
“Oh, we can go in the boardroom,” said Zan, peeking in.
“Wow. This is where they had that big zombie outbreak, remember?” said Charlie.
“How can I forget?” said Owen.
Seated around the boardroom tables were a variety of creatures, but no zombies. Charlie breathed a sigh of relief.
“Well, zombies would have been disrespectful to those who lost their lives,” said Owen, reading her mind.
She looked at him and nodded. “Nice table display though.” She admired the gray and rotting food and the skulls.
Zan snapped some photos. “Oh, look! Cobwebs on the paintings of past mayors. Huh. Funny.”
The three teens walked around the room.
A woman darted into the room, saw them, and then quickly walked back out.
“Did you see that?” said Owen. “That was her!”
“That was who?” asked Zan. “That woman was blonde and looked nothing like Dr. Arora.”
“Hah!” said Charlie. “She doesn’t care which body she inhabits.”
“Right,” said Zan. “Duh!”
“OK, let’s go,” said Charlie, running from the room.
Out in the hallway, the chaos had already started.
“Oh crap,” said Marta, running back and forth, uncertain what to do. “It figures that Jane would stick me with this mess!”
At the end of the hallway appeared to be several zombies coming out of the ladies’ bathroom. But Marta knew that there had been no zombies in her crew.
“I’m on it,” said Sergeant Bourne, coming out of the room at the end of the hallway where he’d been checking out the refreshments. He quickly gobbled down his cupcake.
He carefully scanned the area and saw the four zombies. He could spot them a mile away. Unfortunately, these were recently turned zombies. They already had green glowing eyes and gray skin, but hadn’t yet reached that decayed phase.
Charlie rushed forward and plunged her dagger into the skull of the first one. It went down. “There, if you can’t do it,” she called out to him.
A gunshot rang through the air. The second zombie dropped to the ground just inches from her.
“Sorry,” he called out, not really sorry.
“I know you have good aim,” said Charlie, unfazed.
As soon as Zan heard the gunshot, she raced off in the opposite direction. She didn’t like guns at all. She’d check the other rooms for zombies first.
Owen dispatched the third zombie. The fourth one ran toward Bourne.
“Dammit! Stupid bullets,” said Bourne, hastily trying to reload his gun. He was getting sloppy and should have checked that the chamber was empty yesterday, and full today.
He kicked out with his foot and the zombie went down. “Hey, kids! Check and see if any more zombies are in the bathroom!”
Charlie held the door while Owen went in. “There’s no one in here. We need to find Dr. Arora.”
“Crap!” called out Bourne, quickly shooting the fourth zombie in the head. “Dr. Arora is here?”
“Yeah,” called out Charlie, trying to make herself heard above the noise. By now, everyone not involved in zombie slaying was quickly racing out of the building. “She has long blonde hair and is wearing a witch’s outfit with a black hat, and glowing green eyes.”
“Got it,” said Bourne. “I’ll check left. You check right.”
Charlie and Owen ran down the hallway, checking the rooms.
“You can leave now. It’s safe,” Charlie said to the two kids in there. They got up and raced out of the room.
“I don’t understand. Did she find more injectables?” asked Owen.
“You tell me,” said Charlie. “You’re the truthsayer.”
“Hey, I don’t have all the answers.” He followed her into the next room.
“Damn it. I’ll bet she left,” said Charlie.
“You could be right. But why would she waste her injectables here, if that’s all she had?”
Charlie stomped her foot down on the old wooden floorboards. The thud made them creak and groan. “Right! She’s probably long gone by now.”
“Crap,” said Owen, glancing anxiously around the room.
“Hey, kids! More out here!” Jay shouted.
Owen and Charlie raced back out into the hallway. There were six more zombies there.
“It’s because she wanted to test them,” said Owen.
Charlie raced forward and took out one of the zombies. Zan was behind Bourne, wincing each time he shot his gun, but she’d managed to kill two more.
“She’s testing the injectables to see if they work,” he clarified. “Because she’ll be using the others somewhere else.”
“Shit!” said Charlie, trying to absorb what he was saying and zombie slay at the same time. Three of the zombies rushed her and pushed her to the ground.
zzz
Dr. Arora had quickly ditched the blonde woman wearing the black witch’s outfit. The woman had a seizure, but recovered. She picked herself off the ground and raced down the hallway, past the zombie melee, and out the front door.
“Quick,” Marta instructed. “Anyone not out by now is getting locked inside.” Marta closed and locked both doors. She turned and watched as their visitors ran down the street or to the parking lot. There was a lot of honking of horns as people tried to quickly drive away.
zzz
“Dr. Arora,” called out Julian to the old man.
“Is that Julian?” she asked. “My traitor? After all I did for you.”
“For what you did for me? I’m a zombie now! Did you know that my body is now falling apart?”
The body of the old man sighed. “Julian, Julian. You’d be dead now, but for the vaccine I gave you.”
“Yeah, some life,” he said. “At this point, I’d rather be dead. Oh, it was great for a few months. I could wear contact lenses to hide my green glowing eyes, and wear makeup to hide my gray skin. And then, suddenly, my body started healing. For three months, I really believed I was cured. A
nd then, this.” He held out his hand. One finger abruptly fell off.
She took a step closer to him. “Julian, I told you before when I injected you with the vaccine that it was only a temporary measure. That you would eventually die. And I did ask you.”
“I know,” he said sadly.
“Wait a minute,” she said. “You said that you got better, for a while?”
He nodded.
“But that’s not supposed to happen! Why did it happen?” She walked up to the wall, and then back to the other wall where Julian was standing.
“Hey, you tell me. You’re the scientist.”
“Oh no!” she said, racing to the door.
“What is it?” he asked.
“I injected all the people,” she said.
He chuckled. Why? His brain was getting foggy and he wasn’t thinking straight. He was here to get rid of Dr. Arora.
“I mean, I used up all those injectables,” she explained.
He shrugged, looking at her.
“Those contained the same microorganisms that I used to turn you!”
“So? Make more.”
“I could, but I’m running out of time. In case you hadn’t noticed, there is a team of zlayers out to get me.” She ran out into the hallway.
Then she poked her head back in. “Julian, we have to save one of the zombies so I can get the virus from them and do more testing.”
He shrugged. “Why should I help you? You have harmed so many people.”
“Not all,” she explained. “I have truly been trying to find a cure for this zombie plague.”
He didn’t know whether to believe her or not.
Chapter 20
________________________________________
Charlie managed to kill one of the zombies as it was lying over her. She kicked the second one in the head.
