Zombie Town

Chapter 11

After studying, grabbing the journal, pouring a steaming cup of hot coffee, and changing into sweats and slippers, I sat down on the window seat in my room. I felt like I was becoming human again: sitting down drinking coffee. It was was my fourth favorite thing next to blood and gore. But human or not, a girl could never deny sitting at home with nothing to do and not wear makeup, put their hair up, and wear sweat pants and slippers. It was human nature, even thought I wasn't human. 

My dad was at work which translated to: Officer Coleman was out hunting and therefore, I had the house all to myself. It was still foggy outside the window, so I wouldn't get distracted by watching the world on the outside. 

I set down my mug on the table and propped my feet up onto a soft pillow. A sigh of relief escaped my mouth. 

The journal sat in my lap. After staring at it in consideration for about five minutes, I opened it up to the first entry. 

January 23rd, 1804

Eliza and I have moved to from Pennsylvania to Ohio. The scenery is different, but we have adjusted. We live in a town known by the name of Holdenburg, founded by Abraham Holden. I have had the honor of meeting a few months back, quite the gentlemen he is. Wise as well. I now see why the townspeople adore him. He has a certain charm but there is something odd about him. 

On the contrary, Eliza is pregnant. We are having a child of our own. He will be a strong fighter, just like myself. Other affairs have attracted the interest of my mind lately. The other day, I was talking to my neighbor, Mr. William Seton and he was speaking of some rather peculiar stories. Stories of how the undead roam the forests of Holdenburg. I told him that he was speaking rubbish but I haven't been able to get my visionaries of them out of my mind! Call me a mad man, but there's something strange about this town. Tomorrow, I plan on asking around questions, and if they refuse, I will just search for the answers on my own. 

-Owen Patel

When I finished reading the first entry, I thought back to my family's history. Owen Patel married Eliza Tanner who had my grandpa who had my dad who had my sister Margret and I. The most interesting fact was that Mr. William Seton was neighbors with my great grandfather. The next few pages were all about his life in Holdenburg, so I turned several pages ahead. 

April 1st, 1805

My instincts are never wrong. On Sunday night,  Eliza and I were invited to Abraham Holden's dinner party. Many families attended, which kept Abe fully preoccupied and therefore, gave me time to look around. I searched in his study, where I only found bunches of paper and ink. His finely wooden carved desk had many drawers. When I went to open them, all were locked but one. In it was nothing but a thick book about mythical creatures. It was bookmarked to one page. When I opened it, it said in big bold letters Homo Coprophagus Somnambulus, which translated to zombie. 

The rumors were true! They were one hundred percent accurate! Even if it may put my life in danger, I was going to find out more about these creatures and find how they may be destroyed. All the zombies in the world would die....

Many questions in my head were answered. The next hundreds of entries were about all his research on us: from are speed skills to the unknown fact that we don't get pimples. Score! 

September 12th, 1806

I'm getting closer to discovering the great secret on how they can be destroyed! I will write it down after my last entry. Zachary is three years old now! How the time passes by in the blink of an eye. Last night, I planned to confront Mr. Holden about his secret. I wanted nothing more than to expose his identity to the people of the town! When I arrived at his house, the front door was unlocked. I walked in to see Abraham feeding on his wife's flesh. He heard me come in, turned to face me, but a shot was fired into the air, and the creature had gone down. William Seton stood behind me with a pistol in one hand and comforted me with the other. He told me that he knew about Abe and has been after him for years, but never had proof. We shared our research together and are still looking for the proof, but we are very close now. Very, very close. We buried the bodies of the Holden's and acted as if we didn't know a damn thing about it when the people asked questions about their leader. It's surprising how easy it is to get away with murder. 

-Owen Patel

The last entry was the one before he died. But the questions weren't answered! What was the key to destroying all zombies? I looked through it, searching it inch by inch and still didn't find it. If someone was willing to kill me to find some important answer in this, it was worth keeping it in a secretive space. 

I walked over to my closet and picked up a piece of floor board, slipped it in there, and put a box of shoes on top of it. This would have to stay hidden at all costs. 

If there were still questions, someone was bound to have the answers to them. I couldn't do this all on my own. I would have to ask Martha and Greg to help me, even though in the end I would only leave them hurt.