Seven Un-Dead

Chapter 17

Eugenio fell to his knees. It didn't matter to him that the floor was sticky and dirty, nothing else mattered to him in that moment. He had just lost his best friend. They knew each other through most of their life, always being there for each other. Although Eugenio was in a room with six other live people, he felt extremely lonely.

"He's not dead." Nat pushed through and kneeled next to Jan. She picked up his limp arm and threw it around.

"He would be knocked out, but not dead." She exclaimed, and Eugenio lifted his head in hope. Nicole and Maya already had tears rolling down their cheeks, and Nat could feel more and more tears welling up in her eyes.

"We're all gonna die here anyways." Suzzette shrugged. She was right. The door was locked and didn't seem to budge, and with every second it locked in even harder. It would be almost impossible to open the door by now.

"Perfect place as well," Maya commented, "A morgue."

"Why would there be a morgue at the back of a liquor store?" Nicole asked. Everyone looked around and shrugged. It only now occurred to them that they were still at the back of a regular liquor store in the middle of nowhere.

"That's the least of our worries." Nat exclaimed over the sudden chatter, and everyone fell silent.

"Now could someone help me resurrect Jan?" She asked, her voice cracking in the process. She was sending nervous looks at the body of the woman. It seemed to her as if it had moved from where it was just a moment ago, and her left arm fell in the other angle as before.

"He's dead." Eugenio growled. His eyes were still streaming with tears, just like everyone's. The six were all crying, because they saw their friend die right in front of them, and could have potentially stopped it.

Once again, silence. Jan's body lay there, in the corner of the morgue, lifeless and limp. Nat was still kneeling beside him, and Eugenio couldn't stop his sobbing.

"I'm so cold-"

"Just drink the damn alcohol." Nat harshly cut Holly off. The girls exchanged looks, but Holly didn't move. Instead she stood in her place with a confused expression plastered upon her face.

"What alcohol-"

"Open my bag and you'll see." Nat commanded, pointing to her black backpack which lay burried under the pile of other belongings. Holly found the bag, opened the zipper, and carefully pulled out a bottle of glistening gold whiskey. She stared at Nat, not thinking she would even try stealing the alcohol.

"Why?" Holly asked, throwing her arms up into the air and swinging the whiskey bottle.

"He did it as well." Nat pointed down to Jan's lifeless face. Suzzette rolled her eyes and walked to Nat's backpack, pulling out a bottle of rum. Without any hesitation or questions, she opened the bottle and took three long sips. The alcohol was now rushing around her body, and she could evidently feel the sudden warmth from the inside, but she had to hold onto Holly to not fall to the ground. Holly tried taking a quick sip from her whiskey bottle, but yet again she was interrupted. This time by five little doors swinging off their hinges and slamming into the opposite wall.

Out crawled five, dead and tattered men. Their bodies fell to the floor, sending dust from their bodies everywhere. The six tried to attack, with Eugenio launching himself at the first man. This didn't go very well, because he got knocked down to the ground and had to crawl back to safety on all four's. After two attempts at attacking, the six noticed that the men weren't hostile at all. They just stood, occasionally glancing at Jan, then at each other. Everyone waited for some sort of interaction from them.

"Master made a mistake." The men spoke in perfect unison. Their voices were the same as the woman's, a horrifying hiss and occasional scratches, as if their voices were strained. It didn't seem as if the men said the message, it sounded like one singular voice commentating over the five men. Nobody payed attention to the message, because they were too stunned.

"Apologies from master." The men added. In the blink of an eye, where the five men stood was five piles of grey dust. The defeated woman also disappeared, and instead became beige and lifeless dust. The dust swept along the floor by themselves, winding around the six's feet and backpacks. They stopped at the door, waited for a moment, before the door swung open, and they floated outside. Maya quickly placed a backpack between the wall and the door, in order to prevent it from shutting again. Then a miracle happened. Jan's hand twitched and the colour in his face seemed to go back.

"Guys, he moved! Jan just moved!" Nat stared at the rest, taking quick glances at Jan. Eveyone ran and stood around the body, Suzzette knelt down and checked his pulse. But she only shook her head and stood back up.

"He's dead. He's not breathing." She confirmed, going to pick up her bag. Maya and Nicole did the same. They three picked up their bags and stood by the door. Eugenio, Holly and Nat remained beside Jan.

"Even if he's dead, we still should take him with us, you know. Don't just leave him here." Eugenio suggested, although the suggestion seemed more like a command.

"I agree. Don't let him be just another dead body. It's Jan. We can't leave him to rot here." Holly added, getting a supportive nod from Nat. They all looked at each other nervously. It was their friend, but his body would only delay their journey. Jan was dead, and his body would only be an obstacle on their course. Plenty of their friends were dead, and it was most likely that their families were as well, and Jan just became one of the dead relatives, which were soon to be forgotten. But the thought of that quickly faded away, when Jan sat up and started to gasp for air. He clutched onto Nat, who was frantically screeching in fear and shock. His whole body was shaking, and his eyes were wide open in surprise. Nicole was screeching as well, but she quickly covered her mouth and fell to the floor.

"What just happened?" Jan asked, still gasping for air. He was still clutching onto Nat, but none of them seemed to be able to speak nor move.

"You died." Eugenio answered, coming closer to Jan and giving him a quick hug before pulling him back to his feet.

"Am I in hell, then?" Jan questioned, looking around at everyone.

"You're alive."

"What a shame." Jan replied and earned a few chuckles. He tried to walk over to his bag, but tripped over his own limp feet and nearly fell to the floor, but Nicole was there to luckily hold him up. Nat stood up, but was still staring at Jan with shock.

"Let's get out of here, shall we?" Suzzette asked, picking up her bag and leading the way out of the liquor store. Soon after followed the six, all well and alive. And when they all finally gathered before the liquor store, they vowed to never go in any type of alcohol shop. They knew it was a bad idea, but their next stop was the creepy, abandoned and overgrown cinema just across the road.