Undead Dilemma
Chapter 4: The Dull Part of Business

“I know, but we will have to play catch up some other time.” ” I have a girl here that needs to be caught up to speed in the next 24 hours. Major info man, because we got some major action going on here.” I explained. “You going to need me down there?” He asked immediately. I could always count on him that way. “I probably will but I need the speedy training first.” “K, man you got it, where is this girl I need to give the down and dirty to?” I got out of the seat and motioned her to sit. She sat down and James immediately gave one of his typical reactions around the beautiful opposite sex. ” Ooohh, I get to stare at you for the next 24 hours. You have been holding out on me my friend.” “Hello darling, for the next little bit I will need you to keep an open mind and a ready ear.” He stated. “Okay explain away Sensei.” she quipped right back at him. ” I like her already Wit, leave us to it my friend, you can come back when we are done with it all.” He said to me. ” Okay my friend.” I laughed. I looked at Cake. “If you get thirsty or hungry there is a little fridge located on your right and don’t be afraid to tell him when you need a break to go to the bathroom or stretch your legs. Once he gets going he could go until the end of time.” I said to her. Then I walked out of the room and trusted my friend to equip our new friend with the knowledge that would protect her life.

The next morning, I made up a stack of pancakes and waited for her to come out of the comp room. When she did, her eyes looked a little blurry and her shoulders were slumped down. “Here, come sit down and get some real food in.” I said. She sat down and immediately started devouring the stack. It was a better sign then yesterday when I had to stare her down to get her to start eating. When she had finished them off, she leaned back and closed her eyes. “It is a little intense and a lot to take in huh.” I stated. She shook her head yes. “I can’t believe I never knew or even guessed about all this.” She sighed out. “James wanted me to let you know that he would be here sometime tomorrow morning.” “Alright then I will have to make a trip to the store and stock up some, he could finish off all the food that I have in one afternoon.” She looked up at me shyly. “Is there any way I could go with you and get some other clothes? I have been wearing these since the monsters took me.” She bowed her head down. “Yeah we can get you outfitted, as well as getting you anything you need for the guest room. “I replied to her. “Get a couple hours down and then we will make the trip into town.” I told her.

Several hours later we made our way back into the house laden down with all our purchases. I made my way into the kitchen to put away the food while Cake took all of her bags into the guest room. Well I guess it wasn’t the guest room any more, it would be her room for the time being. I had bought new sheets for the bed, some girly type with paisley little flowers all over them. I had noticed her love of flowers when she had been picking out her shirts. Every single one of them was brightly colored and each one had a different type of flower on them. I couldn’t say anything because I loved the crap out of my gamer tees. Anyway once I had put away the last of the groceries I went to the hall closet and pulled a box down from the top shelf. I took the box and walked towards Cake’s room with my heart in my throat. I knocked on the door and entered when she said I could come in. She was sitting on the bed reading one of the monster books I had mentioned while we were at the store. I walked over and sat on the bed with her, putting the box between us. “You will need some equipment and protective gear if you are to go out in the field with me.” I began slowly. I opened the lid and took the first object out. I handed it to her and watched her unfold the smooth black leather jacket. ” I think it should fit you pretty good....it was my mom’s.” I ended quietly, staring at the floor. I could tell she knew the sacrifice I was making for her. She rubbed her hands over the jacket and then swung it on. It fit her perfectly, falling just shy of her jean pockets.

“The rest of the stuff in the box is all the weapons, odds and ends that my mom liked to use while we went out on clean-ups.” I told her. “My only request of you, is that you use them with pride like my mom used to do.” I stated. She looked down at the box, walked over and put her arms around me. I started to blush as she said, “I promise that I will be proud to use them in our work and that I will take care of them, the best that I can.” I hugged her back for a moment and then stepped back. Clearing my throat awkwardly I said, ” Okay I will give you time to go through the box while I make us up a couple of sandwiches. Then we will need to start doing some research on our mysterious foe and why they seem to want you.” I then backed up and walked quickly out of her room. I would need a moment before I made our meal. It took more than I thought it would to entrust my mom’s things to her. It stirred up the pain that I had felt when I had first carefully packed them away, the echo of it when I had shoved it in the top of the closet. I knew though that my mom would have been proud of my gesture and happy to have them be used in the work yet again.

As we ate our simple meal I outlined the search that we would need to do. I figured the first thing that we would need to do was replace out what exactly made Cake so special, the spell she was apparently the key to and then of course who our robed nemesis was. I was going to have Cake take on the book search of replaceing out about the spell, while I of course got on my electronic baby and tried to replace the answers that she might reveal to me. I tried to narrow down the search by keeping it zombie related for the moment. I of course got the usual movie and book references with a couple of tall tales thrown in. So to weed out the BS content I turned my focus to several of the websites known by only the monster protection families. I ran several of them simultaneously on auto search on my second comp. Then checked out another on my main. I glanced sideways out the door and could just see Cake with her feet curled under her on the couch in the living room. She had a couple books open around her and several piles on the coffee table waiting to be gone through. It struck me again how well she was adjusting to the death of her family and the sudden revelation of the hidden monster world. I caught myself staring so I turned back around and delved back into the wealth of electronic information. I was just getting into the groove when my second comp signaled that it might have hit upon what we needed.

I wheeled my chair over to my second unit and called up the information that had caused my comp to signal me. What I had was from one of the secret websites. It was a small passage taken from a book. I printed it off before I started to read it on screen. It read that back around the time my ancestors were gifted to become the protectors of the monster world. The Wiccan woman that had helped create the spell to give us our abilities, was then said to have received a vision of the world plunged into death and darkness. To help protect the world and the new friends she had just gifted she sought out a girl child whose line, the vision showed, would help to beat back the darkness and save the world. To this child she gifted the ability to be immune to the poisonous bite of the undead. She then told a fellow wiccan about the vision she had seen, that she had made the change in the child to grow stronger and stronger through each generation. The only part of the change that she could not control was that the gift would only be carried on through the female line. I shook my head at that, we had learned over time that some spells were funny that way, I guess back then though they hadn’t yet figured that out. So... I had found what made Cake so special. Her family had been gifted with a special ability just like mine. Now all we had to do was replace out the spell and hopefully some way to stop it all.

Since I had found out the reason Cake was so special, I adjusted the search parameters to start looking for the spell that the bad guys wanted her for. I set this search on auto as well, while I went to update Cake on the progress that I had made so far. I made my way into the living room. She was still on the couch, searching through the books she had piled around herself. “Hey I found out how you are so special if you want to take a break and hear it.” I asked her. She shut the book really quick and shook her head yes at me. So I told her really quick about what I had found out. She sat there quietly for a minute and I started to wonder if I was in store for another crying jag. But instead I saw her latch onto the resolve that she had found in herself earlier that morning. “So I can’t be affected by any zombies, that is good to know.” she said. “Have you found out anything about the spell yet?” I asked. “Not so far.” she replied. “But I haven’t even made it halfway through the spell books that you had in your library. “Well since it isn’t quite dinnertime yet I say we keep at it for a little bit longer then. The more that we can discover the better equipped we can be for the big showdown.” ” I see no problem with that. Is there any way you have some tunes around though, the silence is starting to get to me just a little?” she asked. “Yeah, you should have said something earlier. I have quite a few different genres, just pick whatever suits your mood. The sound system is here against this wall.” I told her. Then I walked back into the comp room to continue the search for answers.

I have to admit I was taken completely by surprise and definitely happy to hear some Fall Out Boy pumping out of the speakers a couple minutes later. I rocked out for the next hour on my system, unfortunately having no such luck as I did on the first search. Not to be daunted by the failure though I kept going awhile. Finally, though I could feel the tension of replaceing nothing settle as a headache right behind my eyes. So setting the search back on auto I stood up, stretched and rolled my muscles, then walked out to the living room. I had apparently chosen a good moment because Cake was also standing up and stretching out the kinks. ” I’m thinking I need a break for some fuel, starting to run a little low, anything special you want?” I asked her. ” I am really feeling like a humongous burger and fries would hit the spot right now.” ” That sounds like heaven on earth at the moment.” I agreed. “The only stipulation I ask is that you let me help out with the meal this time, you have made all of them so far and if I am going to be staying here, I feel that I should be pulling my weight around the house as well.” “Okay.” I replied. So for the next couple of hours we listened to tunes and devoured our premo meal. Not talking about the uncertain future, mostly just trivial news and some half attempts of joking towards each other. It was great to really see her break out in a smile after one of my rather bad ones. After we were done, she also insisted that this would be her turn for dishes so I walked yet again into my comp room to see if anything had been pulled up.

Later on that night I still had come up with bup-kiss when I decided to call it a night and give my beauty a chance to cool down. I walked into the living room and then drew up short in surprise. Cake was still on the couch but I guess all the searching had finally gotten to her system because she was currently passed out. I would say that at one point she had decided to lay down as she read. She was curled up on one side with one hand squished between the pages of a book. I could leave her there, except I knew how lousy it was waking up after a night spent on that couch. So I gently removed the book and placed it on the table I tried to move my arms under her knees and head as softly as I could. She started to shift just a little so I quickly pulled her up and against my chest. She curled into me and I walked back to her room. I had an awkward moment of trying to turn the handle and not jostle her around too much. Once the door was open though I walked into the room and gently laid her on the bed. I noticed and was grateful that she was one of those people that always made the bed with all the sheets down near the foot. I pulled the covers up over her and turned around. As I did though I noticed a little flowery nightlight located next to the bed. My heart clutched a moment for her as I realized that the monster attack that had

taken her family, had also left her now afraid of the dark. I leaned down and flipped it on for her, walked out and made sure to leave her door opened it just a crack. I looked around the house then and made a silent promise to her that I would get more flowery nightlights to place around the house. That way if she got up in the middle of the night she wouldn’t have to worry about the fear clutching at her here. I made my way to my room, flopped down on top of my covers and was out in no time.