A Shady Terror

Zombies

The next morning, as soon as Greg was up and out the door for church (he chalked up seeing Jerry out to a dream), Jerry was by Lollipop's window watching the new neighbors. The oldest male zombie was outside trimming the hedges, decked out in his usual protective clothing.

"It's not polite to stare you know." Isabella chided from her favorite spot on the couch.

"Says the girl who hides behind the pictures on the wall and watches the teenagers whenever they come over." Jerry snipped back.

"That's different." Isabella yawned lazily. "Humans expect to be watched by ghosts."

Jerry opened his mouth to argue but was interrupted as Lollipop began barking. "Young humans! Young humans!"

Sure enough, a group of Greg's teenagers arrived. It wasn't unusual for them to show up and hang around on Greg's porch until he got home, but one of the more outgoing ones, seeing the new neighbor, struck up a conversation with the male zombie instead.

"Oh boy! This should be interesting!" Jerry pressed his face against the window.

"Shut up! I want to hear what they're saying!" Isabella zipped over so she could see through the window too. Jerry shot her a look but didn't comment.

The male zombie nervously adjusted his hat as the boy approached and then hesitated before shaking the teen's hand. They exchanged pleasantries for a few moments and then the teen turned to join his friends. The zombie let out a sigh of relief and turned back to trimming the hedges. However, as he did, his jacket caught on a stray branch and tore, revealing a green, shredded shoulder with exposed rotting muscle. The zombie grabbed at his shoulder in an attempt to hide it, but in his panic, knocked his hat off entirely revealing giant bulbous eyes; green, rotting skin and sparse, greasy hair.

The teen boy didn't notice at first as his back was turned, but then one of the girls screamed and pointed.

"ZOMBIE!"

The boy turned to look and immediately began screaming too. This caught the attention of the rest of the teens on the porch who, upon seeing the zombie's revealed face also began screaming.

The zombie, clearly flustered, snatched his hat off the ground and scampered into the house, slamming the door behind him.

The teens continued screaming, and began leaping off of the porch and fleeing down the street.

"WOOF! WOOF!" Lollipop wagged her tail, clearly enjoying the show. "WOOF!"

Jerry chuckled. "Oh boy, just wait until Greg heard about this!"

"Oh, he won't believe them." Isabella said airily. She floated up the steps. "I'm going to go pay a visit to the neighbors. Mr. Potter looked a bit shaken."

Jerry rolled his eyes and climbed back over to his cabinet.

By the next day, everyone at Campus Life knew about the zombie neighbors. At first Greg laughed it off as a prank.

"Very funny guys. I know you know I hate zombies. We get it. Super original."

But by the end of the day he found himself reassuring terrified students. "Guys, it just so happens that I've met the neighbors briefly." Greg felt a bit like a broken record. "They are not zombies. Zombies aren't real."

"You didn't see what I saw, man." One of his students, Jacob, insisted. "His skin was literally falling off his face."

"I was so traumatized!" Another girl added. "I've had actual nightmares!"