Undead Dilemma
Chapter 2: The Damsel in Distress

Moving my eyes from those eerily still forms I looked to the altar itself. On the altar laid what looked to be a teenage girl. She was bound by wrists and feet to the altar with four big candles laid at the head, foot and sides. The unknown leader stepped from the line of monsters. Pulling a dagger out from his sleeve, he addressed his followers as he came to the girl’s head. “My fellow Rulers of the Night.” He spoke. ” We have gathered together because I have found the key to our salvation after all these years of searching.” “I have found the child that resists the call of the walking dead.” ” To prove to you that she is the one that we have been looking for I have brought you here, in a place of peace to witness her miraculous ability.” “My dear, Hannah of the Evil Wicca would you be so kind as to pre-form the awakening spell on one of her family members so that the others may see the validity of my claims?”

At the opposite end of the leader, the witch stepped forth with a vial and proceeded to sprinkle the liquid contents on the smallest form. What she chanted I could not make out but the child stood up. Now that he was standing I could make out that he had to only be about a ten yr. old boy. I clenched my fists around the branch in front of me trying hard not to just leap down and end this horror right now. If I did so right now they still might make away with the girl. And okay to sound a little heartless I wanted to hear more and replace out what this dark stranger was talking about when he mentioned that she was their salvation. I closed my eyes for a moment to try and bring back the calm that I had come to rely on saving me since my parents died. I took two deep breaths, let them out and waited to see what would happen next.

The witch woman Hannah had walked the zombie over to the robed leader and was now chanting to wake the poor girl. As she woke her up I could hear the leader continue on with his case. “For too long my fellow monsters we have been chained and shackled to rules that would have us living hidden and in peace with the lesser beings.” ” Forbidden to do what we were created for, what is in our very natures.” “And should we break out of that constricting mold we are told to conform again or die.” “Well I say that we will conform no more and with this final ingredient death will no longer be an option either.” ” My dear fellow patriots it is now time for us to make the rules, for us to do as our natures call for us to do.” “This small lesser girl dear ones, is immune to undead poison. Her blood holds the key to making us forevermore truly immortal.” “She has the pure, innocent blood that will bond all the other ingredients of the spell for our true immortality, my dear friends.” I closed my eyes again. This couldn’t be true...this can’t be happening. If this was true, then...well that is the end of our existence and our world as we know it.

Well now I definitely had no choice but to eradicate this unholy nest of vermin. Monsters could not be allowed to run unbound by laws. They would kill off the lesser human species in a matter of months. They would turn on each other in at least a year to establish which of them was the superior monster race. We are so drastically doomed. I looked back down. The lesser girl was starting to moan and thrash against the bindings holding her to the altar. I saw quite easily the instant she knew that there was no escape for her. ” Tommy?” she groaned out. “Tommy, what is going on?” “Where are mom and dad?” “What…What are you doing?” Of course being of the walking undead he didn’t respond to her pleas and questions. Like a good little zombie boy, he stood there and awaited the orders of his master. “Boy...” called out the leader. “Bite the girl, so that my fellow patriots might see how marvelous this young girl really is.” He softly commanded.

Zombie boy began his staggering progress to the altar. Never faltering on his way to bite the lesser that was once his older sister. “Tommy, what are doing?” “Stop this!!” “Tommy...” I could hear her surprised and hurt shriek as Zombie boy bit down into her left shoulder. No more time to wait now. If I didn’t move, I wouldn’t have time to save her and heal her of the poisonous bite. I dropped quickly from my hiding place. I pulled out two silver daggers from my sleeves, throwing them at the Weres’ heads. I snaked a hand into one of my hidden pockets, pulling out the smoke bomb that would render the witch blind and the siren mute for a while. As I threw it out both of the vampires slammed me back against my hiding tree. My head slapped back on the truck and I saw nothing but stars for a second. As my vision cleared I saw that they were trying to pin my arms. Either to bite me or hold me immobile for the leader I had no idea, but I certainly wasn’t going to stand there and replace out. As the vamp to my left bent down her head to bite me, I pulled on my right arm and sent the second vamp careening into the gal. I reached behind my shoulder and pulled out my two ft. long, silver spiked stake.

I waited, crouched low so that when they got up to attack me again, it would be harder for them to tackle me back into the tree. The two vamps rose up and of course proceeded to try and circle one on each side. The bigger male vamp dodged to me first this time. As he lunged at me I lunged for his female companion. Luck must have been with me though, because I guess the move was so unexpected that I had the stake plunged to kill her even before the big guy lumbered to the ground from his missed tackle. I pivoted around to the big one, pulling the stake out as I did. I felt the flash of heat against my neck that signaled the end of missy vamp, as I turned my attention to the lone vamp getting up from his bad lunge. We eyed and circled each other for a bit hoping to replace a weak point and catch the other unaware. As we circled each other I made sure that I was getting closer to one of the trees. I faked a lunge toward the vamp, jumped up and caught the nearest limb. I pulled myself up to get a better look at the rest of the gang and figure out how I was going to take out the vamp hissing below me. As I looked around I noticed that the witch and siren were currently passed out from the potent smoke bomb that I had thrown out. The two Weres were now shriveled up corpses with silver daggers sticking out of their necks. The vamp man was still hovering at the bottom of the tree, waiting for me. And the leader just stood there watching. Even though I couldn’t make out his face I could feel his evil smile deep in the pit of my stomach. I reached into one of my other hidden pockets and pulled out a glass globe filled with what looked like blue light. I threw this directly below me at the circling vamp. He howled as the UV light that was trapped inside, burnt him to a crisp in 5 seconds flat. I jumped from my perch and walked toward the leader.

“Well, I have to say boy that you have surprised me.” He sneered at me. “You threw me off when you didn’t join the fray with your fellow monsters.” I told him. “Yes, well I can always accumulate more, can’t I.” “Besides I wanted to see what a young one like you would do.” “Yea it was all fun and games. Now about the girl, I am afraid I can’t let you keep her.” I said. ” Oh I will let her go for now, it seems I am in need of more help and I have plenty of time to come back for her when I am ready.” “And when I am ready she will come to me willingly.” He boasted. He leaned down to the zombie boy, whispered something in his ear and pointed at me. I quickly picked up my silver tipped stake from where I had dropped it when I jumped for the limb. As he began his staggering gait towards me, I saw the mysterious leader sink into the shadows and vanish. I closed my eyes and waited for the boy who used to be Tommy make his way towards me. Once you have been killed and turned there is no cure, the only thing I could do for the poor boy was end it as quickly as I could. When he was close enough I whispered an apology and plunged the stake through his brain. Gods, sometimes I hated this life. I grabbed up one of my daggers and finished off the witch and siren. If I didn’t they would just make their way back to the unknown leader.

With all the monsters in the area dispatched. I walked over to inspect the girl. She lay passed out on the altar. Her curly, blonde hair somewhat tangled and dirty. Her wrists and ankles were red from the cords binding her but I dared not untie her yet. Moving aside her shirt as gently as possible I inspected where she had been bitten. I choked back a gasp as I looked at her shoulder. There should have been an ugly red bite slowly spreading its poison to the rest of her body. Yet instead I found smooth skin with not a single mark to blemish its perfection. I don’t know how this was possible but I would worry about it later. I gently lifted her up into my arms and carried her to the edge of the cemetery. I laid her down in some long grass, she could rest here while I went to clean up the scene.

Having cleaned up the old cemetery of the nasty monsters and their ritual objects. I took the time to replace a small place in the wood to bury the poor family, laying them all out in one grave so that even in their death they could be together. I went back over to where I had laid down the girl. She was still passed out from the trauma of having her undead younger brother attacking her. Completely don’t blame her there. So I took a minute to look her over and evaluate whether it was safe to take her back to my base. So starting at the top, she had shoulder length curly blonde hair. She had one of those faces that I guess you could term cute, button nose, rounded cheeks, cupids bow lips and a little chin to top it all off. Going down, and feeling almost pervert, I could see a neon yellow shirt with a clutch of purple forget-me-nots centered over her chest. It is not unmanly to know flowers by the way, good way to attract girls got me. Her legs were covered in a pair of dark blue jeans and looked long enough for her to be a good runner, or at least be able to play a great game of hoops. And to finish it all off her feet were shod in a pair of electric pink tennies. With all the color the girl would definitely stick out in the dark.