An Undead Problem

As he wrote in his last post, Claude had found us, what seemed like a great place to set up shop while trying to find the Carnival. The trouble was there was a major drawback. No, not government operatives or anything looking like Company type. We were haunted but not by ghosts. Ghosts I could have dealt with, even worked with. This was much worse. It was Zombies!

Every night they came out and you couldn’t go outside. The locals were totally in denial about it. Claude had tried spying on the locals to find out more and I’d even openly asked a few about the Zombies but no one would admit to anything, and Claude couldn’t find a reason either, though he did find some decent beer. On the plus side, during the day, at least, we were doing a good business and making a lot of money. Sadly, there was also no sign of anyone from Sullivan Brothers Carnival. I’m wondering if they had avoided this town completely due to the Zombies. The trouble is, the only time we could move out was at night both due to our lease and the fact that Claude prefers to travel at night. Granted he can cloak us both but he also believes in hedging our bets.

Then we had a lucky break, but it didn’t seem like one at first (though not the one we were hoping for) . We were having a slow day, and I was dreading nightfall. It wasn’t easy to sleep knowing there were zombies outside, not to mention the racket they made. It was late afternoon. We had a visitor but I knew, even before he began looking outside anxiously, he had not come in for a reading. Claude was invisible and, as usual, not far from me, so I heard him curse under his breath when our guest came in. I gave Claude a questioning look in his direction (where I figured he was standing) and he whispered “Puppet Master.”

Being as the man whom Claude called the “Puppet Master” hadn’t tried to do anything to me and my gift wasn’t giving me a bad vibe I decided to talk to him. I got the feeling he could use some help. He realized I was another Special and he was really nice. He told me his name was Jason and that he was going to be meeting Lauren, a lady friend,the next day, in the next town over, but he needed a place to stay at least until nightfall as there were some really nasty people following him. He also explained about what he could do and that he was trying to make a new life for himself. I explained about the Zombies and after I convinced him that I wasn’t crazy he said, “Great. I can’t travel but at least I don’t have to worry about the jerks who are following me come nightfall.” Jason looked sad.

I thought for a moment. I wanted out of this town as did Claude and Jason as well, and we all needed the cover of night. “Jason, does your gift work on Zombies?” I asked.

“I suppose it would. They’re less intelligent and therefore less likely to fight control. How many are we talking here?” He looked hopeful.

“About 50 to 100.” I said.

“Crap.” He said, looking worried. “For that many I’d need to make them all do something carefully planned out ahead of time.”

“Maybe you could make them all Thriller dance until they fell apart?” I offered.

Jason looked disgusted and said, “That’s sick!” Then he gave me a wide eyed grin and said, “I like it!”

When night fell, the Zombies came out, and Jason used his power. Next thing you knew, it was like the classic video, Thriller, only gorier.

Once he’d trashed the Zombies, Jason said good bye and headed off to where he was meeting Lauren. I told him thanks for taking care of the Zombies and wished him luck.

Claude decloaked once Jason had left and said, “Nice work. He really has changed from the files I’d read. I also could have sworn his name was listed as Eric Doyle. No matter.” Claude shrugged, “I’ve already packed us up. Let’s get the ‘ell out of ‘ere.” And so we left.

I’m not sure where Claude and I are headed, now, but I really hope there are no more Zombies. And if you’re reading this Jason (or Eric), You totally rock man!