Life After Death

Chapter 12

A knock comes from the door, and I stare at Vlad. I'm not sure whether to get it or not. It could be Adam, or it could be Hythe... hell, it could even be Clarity. I don't even know anymore. Vlad stares at the door too and then opens the other one at the far end where we sit. He gestures for me to follow, putting a finger over his lips.

We enter the room within the room, and it's pitch black. Vlad says nothing, and I don't dare break the silence. I gag a little as a smell enters my nose. What is in this room? I'm not even sure if I want to know. After a minute or two, my eyes adjust and I can begin making out shapes, though I still can't see enough to know the purpose of the room. All I know is that it's small and only has one escape--the door we just came from.

Vlad stands near the door and near what looks like the light switch. He doesn't flick it on, rather staring at the door, waiting for something. Or someone. Another knock comes from the door. If it is Hythe, he's being very polite for a zombie. The doorknob jiggles, and I hold my breath as the door opens slowly and carefully. It opens towards us, obscuring us.

"Erina? Vlad?" Asks the voice of Hythe, and my eyes widen. Were we wrong? He sounds normal. He's talking. Zombies don't talk. I go to take a step forward, but Vlad grabs my arm, shaking his head. Hythe walks fully into the room, though I still don't get a good look at him. From what my eyes can make out, he looks normal.

Vlad flicks on the switch, but no lights turn on. Nothing seems to happen at all, actually. Vlad grabs my arm and pulls me out the door, slamming the door behind us. He keeps pulling me until we're outside the cabin entire. Still, he keeps pulling me away from the house and towards the house, we're running now.

"Vlad, what're we doing?" I ask as we enter the town. He looks at me, not bothering to hide his worry.

"Cinthia told me about the zombie royal that he knew. They looked far more human than even recently turned zombies, and they were intelligent. They could speak. That thing may have looked and sounded like him, but it wasn't. Cinthia is gone." Vlad says, catching his breath. This is the most stressed I've ever seen him.

"Could you cure him?"

"Not without the advanced cure, and even that might not work."

"...Are we going to have to kill him?" I ask, the words catching in my throat.

"Definitely not. If he dies, we'll need to make a new royal, or I can't make the cure anymore. We need to either cure or contain him." He says, pulling something from his pocket. It's a folded piece of paper of some sort.

"So what was that with the switch and the fleeing? And what's that paper?"

"That room we were in serves a few purposes--one of them is a trick room. I've set up a zombie pheromone that combines every single existing one and pours it into that room. From my test, it keeps zombies busy for a bit. And this paper is what will help me get that cure working. It's just notes and formulas." Vlad explains, and I notice something else poking from his pocket. It looks... familiar.

"We left Adam behind. Is he going to be alright? I ask, continuing to look at his pocket. I think I remember where I've seen it before.

"I can only hope he wakes up and escapes before Hythe gets out. He can try escaping through the tunnels, though that's not a great option either. Honestly, I don't know." Vlad admits. I hang my head. This really is a disaster. I take a deep breath.

"Alright. Then I think we need a plan. We need to get people who understand how royals work, and we need more scientists working on that cure. Not everyone needs to know, but we need help. No matter how great you think you are, you can't do this alone. At least not before things go south. So where are we going next?" I ask, making my voice stern.