It's Complicated: A Zombie Romance Novel

My Doll

The stairs opened onto a hallway full of zombies. The thing was, they weren't moving. Not yet, anyway. They were just standing there, waiting for me.

"Choose the right door or it's game over."

"You really loved your 'Choose Your Own Adventure' books, didn't you?" I asked Headset Guy.

"I didn't have a childhood, really. But I do love a good adventure." There he went again with the useless over sharing. It had to mean something, but I just wasn't getting it.

"Which door?" I looked down the hall. There were three doors. Two were on the right and one was on the left. The second door was the one on the left. That's what I chose. I ran full on down the hall. As I passed them the zombies reached for me, but I was at the door just in time. I closed it behind me and breathed. When I looked at the room, I choked back another scream.

There were mannequins everywhere. Most of them had cracks, and several had broken faces. Arms and legs littered the floor.

"Welcome, doll, to my doll room," said Headset Guy. "You'd make a lovely addition to my collection."

As if the dolls weren't creepy enough. Why did he have to go on making statements like that! Tears of fear escaped my eyes.

'This is just a game. A game he's playing with you to get your mind off the Game,' my brain told me. 'Keep calm. You can do this. You got through the spider room, this couldn't be harder than that.'

She was right, my brain. I could do this. I couldn't let Headset Guy win. The truth about Brian was at stake, the truth about this whole place.

"Think Maeve, think," I told myself. Bodies were beginning to thud into the door. I knew I couldn't get out that way. I tried the windows next. That required slowly walking around the giant tea table in the center of the room. It was fully equipped with tea cups, teddy bears, and a life size doll.

"Don't scream," I told myself. "Just don't scream." I tried another window.

"You can't escape me that way. Your death will be mine." Headset Guy sneered.

"All of them were either glued or nailed shut, aren't they?" I asked him.

"Can't have you jumping to your death now, can we?"

"No, you just want me eaten alive by your zombies."

"Precisely, little mouse. I have to feed my cats something."

"That leaves the door," I said, more to keep myself calm than to hear his answer. I was getting pretty tired of his constant scare tactics.

'A door housed in a wall of china dolls,' My brain reminded me.

"You can do this," I told myself.

"Can you, little mouse? The cats are coming soon." He was reminding me about the pounding. I'd let it become background noise. I couldn't let it become just background noise.

I couldn't give up now, now that I knew more than ever Brian was counting on me. I thought of Lee Ann dancing dead downstairs. She was counting on me winning now, too. And then there was Gideon. What kind of short-term girlfriend would I be if I didn't save him from being undead?

I looked around the room for the hidden key. The first room had beach sand, the treasure room had jars, the second test had three strings hanging over the door. What did this room have?

"It has something to do with the dolls," I guessed.

"Pick the right one or they'll get you," Headset Guy teased. Only it wasn't an empty threat.

Whoever was running this show seemed to love the second choice.

"And there is just one more thing," said the voice in my ear. "They might be dead, but they are mine."

At the word mine, the eyes of all the dolls in the room popped open. Oh boy was I dead now.

#

You know all those scary movies about the dolls that come to life and start killing people? Yeah, I thought that was the stupidest thing in the world too, until faced with a room full of glass eyes staring right at me.

"You are a sick bastard," I told Headset Guy. He just laughed.

"In a way I guess I am, an illegitimate child that is. I'm not sick. No bugs in me," Headset Guy said.

"No bugs in what?" I asked back. His whole statement was weird. Who talked like that, anyway? I really didn't have time in this moment to concentrate on Headset Guy. He was just a distraction from the main problem. The dolls had started to move.

I pick up one of the dolls and smashed it's head into the wall behind me. I'd never really liked porcelain dolls as a kid anyway. I intended to use it against the large human size doll that was rising up off the floor. Then I noticed the sand poring out of it's head. Interesting. Every time there was sand, there was usually a key.

"Oh, you don't like my dollies?" Headset Guy asked all innocently.

"No, I don't," I responded. I smashed another head into the wall. More sand. I was getting closer.

I picked up the two closest dolls to me, barely registering their vintage cloths before smashing their heads together. A bronze colored flash went sliding towards the table. It slid under the chair of the human size doll.

I cautiously walked over, bent down, and grasped the key only to come face to face with the living doll. This close I could see that the doll had an Adam's apple.

"What kind of china doll in a vintage dress is made with an Adam's apple?" I asked out loud. Headset Guy didn't respond. Instead the doll reached for me. I hit the hand away, knocking the chair she'd been sitting on over onto her. I needed a weapon but all I had was the key and the headless dolls. I picked up a handful of the dolls and struck out at life size doll. I hit her straight in the face, splitting it in two and exposing the human face underneath. She was a zombie.

She went for me again, but I duck to the other side of the table. I was running out of options. She tried to climb other the table to get to me, crunching tea cups in her wake.

I hit at her again, only this time I aimed for her legs. She went crashing into the table. The fall dislodged half of her broken china mask, revealing more of her rotting flesh. Recognition dawned on my face. I knew her.

The house had somehow gotten Alexis. My heart caught in my throat. Not Alexis.

She went for me again. I upended the table, showering her in the tea set. That gave me the minute I needed to get back to the door.

I fumbled with the lock, barely getting it open in time. The zombie doll threw the table at me to stop me from escaping.

I closed the door behind me just in time. A chair was propped up right next to the wall. Handy, a little too handy, but I wasn't about to complain.

I used it to jam the door. I was finally here. If Headset Guy was being quiet that meant I'd made it to the second treasure room.

'Now where is that box Michael mentioned?' I asked myself. I searched all around the room, but all I could find besides two exit doors was the prize chest. I pulled the map out of my bra. It showed the control box clearly up against the south wall of this room. Not that I could tell north from south in this house. I checked the walls over again. Nothing.