Sunshine, A Bartholy Halloween Story

Part VII: Night of the Living Dead

I look around me, pure terror clutching at my heart and soul.  The world is in complete chaos:  bushes and trees are being uprooted as graves open up all around us; dirt, gravel and rocks fly through the air like projectiles; Lorie and I are pelted with grass, twigs and other debris.  And this is just the beginning!

"What have you done?"  Lorie shrieks, as a huge oak branch lands inches away from us.

"I don't understand," I mutter.  "I only wanted to bring Sunshine back."

"Well... it looks like you've managed to wake up all the dead in our backyard," Lorie points toward a spot near us.

My eyes widen in absolute horror as I take in the sight: a skeletal hand begins to poke out of the dirt, followed by the rest of the arm.

"Aargh!"  I let out a curdling scream as I feel something wrap around one of my ankles.

I look down and see bony fingers grabbing my leg.

"Run," Lorie yells at me, but I'm frozen in place with fear and cannot budge.

"Run, for Christ's sake," the little girl jerks me by the arm and I follow her in a total daze.

Around us, more and more cadaverous body parts are appearing as the earth continues to shake and rumble.  Some of the skeletons are still wearing partial rags and some even have patches of hair growing out of their skulls.  Their moves are awkward and disjointed as they slowly but surely encircle us:  it's the most surreal, disturbing sight I've ever witnessed in my entire life.  Unfortunately, it's truly happening, as much as I'm mentally willing it to stop.

"It's the freaking apocalypse," I whisper.  "And I made it happen."

Lorie and I stumble across the yard as the hands of the newly risen dead reach for us.  One manages to cling on to Lorie who starts kicking at the skeleton's head in an attempt to break free.  She punches a whole through the skull. It rolls away grotesquely across the lawn, but the hand remains firmly attached to Lorie's ankle.

"Yuck!" Lorie sounds more disgusted than afraid.  I, on the other hand, cringe in fear.

"What are we going to do?"  I ask the little girl.

"I think we need help," she replies.  "I don't think I can handle all of these on my own."

I can barely hear her over the infernal noise surrounding us.  The once beautiful garden has turned into a horrifying zombie land as more undead are crawling out of their graves.

"Just how many bodies did you guys bury back here?"  I ask, incredulous at the sheer number of cadavers I see.

"I don't know," Lorie shrugs.  "Considering we've lived here since the early 1900's... and that Papa owned the land before that... well... you do the math," she replies.

"Do you... recognize any of them?"  I ask, my voice trembling.

"Wow, your curiosity is pretty morbid," Lorie smirks.  "I didn't think that about you... why do you ask?"

"I just thought... maybe if you know who they are, you might be able to talk to them," I reply.

Lorie snorts.  "Yeah, right!  I somehow don't believe that I can reason with a walking zombie... even if I knew who that person was.  Plus, considering it's probably someone one of us killed, I'm not sure having a parley would be a great idea."

She's right, of course. 

"So... what then?"  I ask right before one of the zombies grabs me from behind and I scream bloody murder.