Magic Spawn Origins

Magic Spawn: Chapter 43

by Meredith Skye

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At Grandma Baggins' cottage, Haley and Anya listened to the progress of the groups. Both her father, Harlan, and Grandma Baggins were deeply engrossed in their efforts to coordinate the attack on the Old Mill. Haley's mom, Jenna, had gone with Zane's group. Dad trained a little at swords but, frankly, Mom was some kind of Xena warrior princess.

Anya and Haley exchanged glances. They had nothing to do. Haley spent a little time getting on Grandma Baggin's internet, who still had power since she had a generator. She got Anya to help her videotape and update newsflash, warning of zombie attacks in town and telling about the attack on the Old Mill.

"More news as it develops!" said Haley. "Remember, you heard it here on the Goldenrod Gazette!"

Then Haley uploaded it to her youtube channel and put out some twitter alerts as well as Facebook posts.

Anya showed up with an anxious expression. She'd been gone for a little while. "Haley, I thought I saw something outside."

Haley stared at her. She grabbed her camera bag and turned to her father. "Dad. Hey ..." but she failed to get his attention. Haley shrugged and went with Anya. Her dad really couldn't protect them anyway. Haley was probably as good a fighter as he was, which wasn't saying much. She took her dad's dagger, putting the sheath belt around her waist.

"It's boring here anyway. Let's go," said Haley.

Anya nodded solemnly. They headed outside.

Outside in the dank streets a stillness filled the air. and they stopped to listen. No one lingered in the streets. Usually there was the sound of a car or two but right now Haley heard nothing. Perhaps they were cowering in their homes after all the unusual happenings tonight. Haley and Anya exchanged glances.

"Do you think it's Westin?" asked Anya, shivering.

"I don't know," said Haley, drawing her dagger just in case. But she was no fighter and the tiny weapon might not do much against skeleton, much less Westin—or whatever he was now.

Down the street, someone yelled.

They continued down the street past the grocery store which was closed up and dark. The Mandarin Wok restaurant had some light in it, maybe some emergency power. There were figures moving around in the parking lot. She couldn't make out what they were doing.

"Let's check it out," said Haley.

"The camera," said Anya, tugging at Haley's sleeve. She held out her hand. Anya was getting to be quite the cameraperson. Haley got the camcorder out and handed it over.

"Rolling," said Anya.

"Got it," said Haley. She faced the camcorder. "We're here in the parking lot of the Mandarin Wok, on Main Street in Millersfield, Nebraska. Zombies have been spotted in town. We are approaching the Mandarin Wok restaurant now." She said it in a small voice, not wanting to be heard.

Anya nodded her readiness. Haley moved forward, trying to get close enough to see what was going on. It almost sounded like some kind of scuffle.

Five people were fighting in the parking lot. One looked like a cheerleader with bad hair. One man wore a white shirt and tie. One had on a nurse uniform. Their movements were odd, slower, mechanical.

Fighting them was a hispanic teen boy with a Jedi costume on and a fake light saber. He was tall and might have been Haley's age. The other looked like Captain America but he was a little on the short side, could have been younger than Anya. A black Captain America.

As Anya and Haley drew closer, it looked like the cheerleader, the office worker and the nurse had won and were dragging the Jedi and Captain America through the parking lot.

"Shouldn't that be the other way around?" whispered Anya.

Haley nodded. "Let's get closer," she replied.

They moved closer to intercept, still filming all the way. Captain America broke free and swung at them with his light saber but it broke in half, being plastic. "Ah, crap!" he said. When the cheerleader turned and ambled after him, Captain America began to run towards the nearest building. He looked a little like a young Obama

Haley gasped when she realized that three attackers were zombies. The clothes they had on were ragged and caked with mud. Their hair looked bedraggled and their faces colored gray, with patches of dried blood and rotting flesh.

The nurse dragging the Jedi turned to stare at Haley, with her jaw bone showing through her chin.

Anya let out a shriek and jumped back. "Zombies!" she said.

"Keep the camera still!" warned Haley, as Anya flailed her arms. She hated "shaky cam."

"Sorry," said Anya, pulling it together. Haley looked back at the group in the parking lot.

"Run!" shouted the captive Jedi.

The zombie office worker broke off from the others and came towards Haley and Anya.

"Oh," said Haley, starting to feel a panic. But a good reporter never balks. They'd chase a tornado to get a story. She turned to the camera. "So, you see," she tried to sound composed. "Here we have three zombies loose right here in town, on Halloween night." She indicated the zombies in the background. "Anya ... zoom in on them. Show their faces!"

"Right," said Anya. "Zooming." She busied herself with the camera, ignoring the zombie ambling towards them. "There," she said, as she framed the shot.

Meanwhile the office zombie was getting closer and closer. Captain America had reached a fallen scooter and was trying to start it before the cheerleader reached him. "C'mon!" he wailed.

"Okay," said Haley, "That's a wrap. Let's scram."

"Okay. Scramming," said Anya, flipping the viewscreen closed. Both girls ran for it. But one zombie lurched ahead and grabbed Anya, who was a little slower.

"Haley!" screamed Anya.

Looking back, Haley saw Anya struggling to break free from her captor. Annoyed, Haley ran back to help Anya.

"What should I do?" said Haley.

"I don't know!"

Using the dagger, Haley got behind the zombie that held Anya. She took a deep breath and slit it's throat. It glared over it's shoulder in annoyance. It didn't bleed. Nor did it fall to the ground.

"It's not working!" she yelled at Anya.

"Kill it!"

"How?"

"I'm not Buffy the Vampire Slayer. How should I know?" said Anya curtly. The zombie was dragging her down the street, towards the Old Mill.

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