Jack the Ripper & Fairy Fay: A Living Dead Dolls story

CHAPTER 7

Walking along the dirt path was relaxing. Despite being barren, the scenery was eerily beautiful. The group began asking questions about what it meant to be a resurrection and what series were. Alison answered most of them, being more knowledgeable of the two subjects than Graves, since she was both in a series and a resurrection set. Alison explained resurrection as: An older member of the community being revamped with another person, who often shares a name with them. Fay was a one time exception to this rule as no other Fay existed. Series, to Alison, were: A group of normally 5 unrelated people; in some, the members are related or connected by things like their deaths or where they lived. Graves referred to himself as an 'exclusive'; someone exempt from being in a series, yet still part of the community.

"I wouldn't say we're a community." Alison said.

"Why not?" Graves asked, raising a brow.

"Series don't interact with other series, much less with exclusives, it's not really allowed. I thought you knew that."

'What do you mean it's not allowed? We talk everyday and I've seen you talking to people outside your series plenty."

"We're an exception because we work together, we're the only two who can guard the gate. As for the people I talk to, our res versions are in the same series."

"So what's stopping you or anyone else from walking up to an exclusive and making a friend?" Graves folded his arms.

Alison looked nervous now, she closed her eyes and huffed. "Even though it isn't official, there are rules against intermingling outside your series. Sadie doesn't like that rule and hasn't ever enforced it, but the ghouls certainly do." She shivered, looking away fearfully.

Fay felt concern for the girl. She touched her shoulder to comfort her. Alison looked up at her and relaxed a bit, her eyes were still sad but she looked much better than before. She stopped before the edge of the woods.

The path continued forward onto a paved main street, on either side was a fenced lawn and large house. Fay could see more on the other side of the street. The path also continued on either side, between the houses and woods. Fay assumed that it continued until the houses stopped. Alison pulled away from Fay, walking outside the tree line into the land's dull equivalent of sunlight. The group moved to follow but she held up a hand. She stood there for a minute, looking from one side to the other. She motioned for them to follow her. As far as Fay could see, there were houses, all identical. Alison moved before the group again, scouting the street. She turned back, nodding for them to follow once more. They repeated this process a few more times, the group anxiously keeping their eyes peeled for danger. At last, they reached the behind the houses on the other side of the street, finding it also laden with a dirt path, possibly the same one.

Alison let out a relieved sigh, straightening herself, squaring her shoulders. "That went better than expected. Now all we have to do is-" A voice interrupted her.

"HEY ALI!" A man with a high voice and strange accent shouted a few houses down.

Alison froze. Everyone else shot down, trembling with fear. The man kept shouting for her. Everyone lie still, praying that he'd leave. For a while everything stayed that way, the man yelling, Alison frozen, everyone else on the ground, then there was a few minutes of silence. They relaxed, believing the man gone. The group stood, wiping themselves off, Alison shook her head, seeming to wake from a trance.

The shouting started up again. "AHA! YA KNOW WHAT? I'M COMIN OVER THERE!" The man shouted again.

The group looked over to the source, finding a dark haired boy jumping over his fence. Everyone froze as the boy came closer. He was much less scary up close. He was around Alison's age, his dark curls and soft, sweet, pudgy features not making him look very intimidating. His attire was formal. A neat tux with clean shiny shoes, except, a cloth gag wrapped itself around his mouth and a small ginger puppet concealed his right hand.