The stone cover of the sarcophagus fell to the ground and broke in two, and a hand wrapped with white linen gripped the edge. Max backed away as a bandaged figure sat up from its resting place, turned its head towards him. Jerkily, the thing stepped out onto the floor of the tomb. He nearly covered his eyes as it tore the bandages from its head, as he had little desire to witness a corpse’s stare, but instead found a pale, short-haired young woman gazing at him through bright yellow eyes.
“So, let me get this straight. You were dead before.”
“Yes.”
“And...” Max twirled his pointing finger in a circle, eyes narrowed, “...now you’re alive again?”
Sigrid slapped her forehead with her palm. “No, I’m not alive.”
“But you’re not dead.”
“I’m undead.”
“So you’re alive.”
“No!” She threw her arms up in exasperation. “Christ, why did I even let you in here?”
Max’s eyes lit up. “So you must be somewhere in between. That’s so cool!” He balled his fists and shook them at chest level. “So, what are you? Zombie? Vampire? Ghost?”
“None of the above.”
“Then you’re a mummy?” he stroked his chin, his eyes narrowing again.
“Do I look like a mummy?”
Max tugged his shirt sleeve. “Well, you’ve got the bandage thing going on.”
“I’m not anything so generic,” she scratched her heavily bandaged arms.
“Then, what are you?”
Her eyes shimmered momentarily. “Let me show you.” She grabbed her head and tugged upwards, and it detached from her body with a loud pop.
Max gagged, holding his mouth.
She lifted her head upwards, black tendrils pulsating between her head and her neck until they split into two separate masses that hung from each wound. No blood, no guts. Just shadows.
Max’s face was white, and his hands trembled as he pointed weakly at her head. “Could you kindly put that back on?”
She suddenly tossed it to him and said, ”You do it.”
“Geez!” He caught it instinctively, but nearly dropped it in surprise.
She smiled at him from his hands, “Boo.”
He turned her face away from him, went quickly behind her body, and placed it back on her neck. The tendrils interlocked and reattached it flawlessly, slipping back to their place behind her skin after they were finished. “Why’d you make me do that?” Max was going green.
“Because we’re gonna have to get used to each other.”
“Whoa, whoa,” Max waved his hands out in front of him, “when did I say that I’d be hanging around you? I just came here because I was curious.”
“And in doing so, you released me from my tomb. Not only am I in your debt, but I think you’d be a decent gatherer.” Sigrid put her hands on her hips with finality.
“What do you mean?”
She stepped towards him and grabbed his arm, making him jump. “Hold still.” Her vice grip let him do little else as she examined his bicep. “What do you do to get arms like these?”
