Vampocalypse (old first draft)

Chapter Thirteen

"Well..." I searched for the right words, but all that came out was, "See ya."

I took one step before I heard it. A low guttural moan that froze me in my tracks. It was so close! A burst of laughter erupted behind me.

"Shh," I hissed nervously, knowing how good deader hearing was. Hector's weird sense of humor was going to lead it right to us.

"I'm sorry," he chortled out. "It's just so cute, the way you keep trying to act like you don't want me, and then you realize you need me."

"I don't want you! And I don't need you either," I objected.

"Admit it. You want me, and you need me," he urged.

"Nope," I said in a matter-of-fact way.

The moan came again, louder and closer.

"Okay." He shrugged, a simple gesture that seemed so wrong for a superior. "I'll just hang out here until you decide you do."

Hector crossed his arms and leaned his shoulder against the trunk of a nearby tree. I spared only a second to marvel at how large the tree was - if four of me stood around it in a circle, we probably wouldn't be able to touch fingertips - before I crossed my own arms, fully prepared to out-stubborn him.

What is he playing at? Making fun of me for being afraid? I wasn't going to fall into it.

"I don't," I said defiantly.

The moan was too close then, and the rustling of the weeds around us indicated just how close. I'd never been so close to a deader before, not in real life. I edged back toward the only superior in the area. Being sheltered by them for so long had left its mark.

"Okay," I managed to say around the lump forming in my throat.

Even then I could feel the blood draining from my face. My hands were getting clammy, just like they did in my nightmares.

"Okay, what?" he said feigning ignorance.

"Okay, maybe I need you a bit." I half-admitted, reluctant to give him an ego boost, but ready to admit I couldn't face this alone.

I saw the weeds part in front of us as the thing moved along its path. The scent of decay was bordering on unbearable. My legs turned into the jelly they were so good at turning into at moments like this.

"And?" he said.

"And what? Stop playing, its almost here," I panicked.

Just as I finished saying it, the deader broke through to our clearing. Instead of running or walking, it was dragging itself on its front along the ground with one arm, useless, mangled legs trailing behind. Half of its nose was gone along with the lips, exposing a full roll of browned, snapping teeth. The eyes were the very type that I had seen in so many awful nightmares, only this time, I was looking into the real thing. The almost white, dead stare, eyelids having long since rotted away. I'd have thought, since it couldn't run at me, I'd be able to handle it.

Nope.

The crawling aspect only made it scarier. It was easily the most disgusting, terrifying sight I'd ever seen.

It seemed to sniff at the air before focusing on me, then moaned another loud, long moan as it dug it's rotting fingers into the ground to pull itself forward. If I had been able to move, I could have outran it easily. The thing was, I couldn't move when faced with my own personal nightmare.

"I-I n-n-" I tried.

Hector, sensing the sheer terror that had seized my body, seemed to think better of messing around for the moment and jumped into action. He snapped off a low-hanging branch and, in one swift movement, slammed it through the deader's skull with a sickening crunch. It twitched a few times, but then stopped and didn't move again. In hindsight it seemed so easy. Why couldn't I do it?