Zombie Life

Chapter 9

It was now morning. Sunrise came and the birds sang tunes. The sky shined a bright blue, and the clouds were faint and straight as a stratus. Other than the movements from creatures of the forest and the rustling leaves in the trees, no sound was made.

Even the tigers slept soundly outside, meanwhile, the others were still sleeping soundly.

One of the first to wake up was Zakariyya. The last time he remembered, he was holding onto Carmilla's hand until they both fell asleep, with one of them sleeping eternally. As he blinked awake, he slowly looked where Carmilla was sitting.

She wasn't there.

This woke up Zakariyya quickly. He jumped up, slightly panicking as he searched around the innards of the cabin to see where Carmilla's body was. It didn't matter where he looked or how he looked, he couldn't find a single scrap of her... except for her shoes.

When Zakariyya was about to give up on looking for her, he saw the pair of shoes Carmilla had on when they first got there lying on the front doormat. And right above that, the door was open by an appropriate centimeter.

Zakariyya exited the cabin and looked around outside. The tiger family was no longer sleeping right in front of the building. Instead, they had gathered in the forest for something in the shorter distance.

Feeling particularly attracted to the phenomena, Zakariyya kept walking towards silhouettes of the opposing striped felines. Once he got close enough, he not only saw Zolt being held in the air by human hands, but the person who held him was none other than Carmilla herself, without the blindfold.

Zakariyya was at a loss for words. Carmilla sat on her knees, slowly putting down the cub for him to return to his parents, and she was smiling at Zakariyya. Yet after all of this, he was almost sure that Carmilla was bitten. He saw it happen himself.

"C-Carmilla... are you alright?" Zakariyya asked, with both fear and disbelief in his voice. He stepped forward, hoping to get closer to her amidst his processed feelings. "I'm fine, Zak. Look, wanna see what I can do now?" Carmilla asked.

Zakariyya tilted his head slightly in confusion but nodded for his friend. Carmilla struck her fingers into the forest dirt and closed her eyes. She slowed her breathing, concentrating on something in her head.

Then with a thought, a tomato plant sprouted in front of her, growing red and freshly plumped tomatoes. She opened her eyes and smiled at what had grown in front of her. She looked back at Zakariyya. "What do you think? I just found out about this as soon as I woke up!" Carmilla exclaimed excitedly.

Zakariyya was dumbfounded. He truly had no words for what he had just witnessed. He saw Carmilla accelerate the growth of a tomato plant... and he wasn't even sure if it was planted to begin with. Was this always a superpower of hers? Is Carmilla still a zombie? Is he dreaming?

All of those questions rang in Zakariyya's head on repeat, interrupted by the sound of footprints coming from behind him. It was Ianessa, wiping the crud out of her eyes as she entered the forest without shoes on. "Zakariyya? What're you doing out here? Also, where's-..." She stopped herself after seeing Carmilla.

She too was dumbfounded, but not for the same reasons as Zakariyya. No. Right then and there, she was almost convinced to put a bullet in her head. However, she didn't have a gun on her. Thankfully; Carmilla waved at her with a kind smile, unaware of what she was thinking.

"Hello, Nessie!" Carmilla greeted without a second thought. Ianessa slowly waved back at her, unsure of what to think. The fact that she even had the conscience to think or speak at the moment was something new to both her and Zakariyya.

"Okay... we have a lot to talk about," Ianessa uttered. "And a lot to think about." Zakariyya added. "And a lot to eat because I'm fucking starving." Serenity finalized out of nowhere right beside Vanessa who had jumped from being startled. "Don't. Fucking. DO THAT." Ianessa stressed.