BETTER SAFE THAN ZOMBIE

Prologue | The Coconut

Better Safe Than Zombie

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Mark Williams was staring at the photo of his daughter when his co-scientist, Maverick, announced to him that the world was ending.

The photo was framed with silver and adorned with vines. In it, Hazel was posing with his wife, Lia. As usual, Lia was dressed in her perfect business suit, a professional smile on her face. Her hair was tied into a neat bun and her eyes were as stern as ever. During the years they spent together, Lia was brisk, practical and sharp. She calculated everything-from business dealings to distinguishing truth from lies.

There was this one incident where Lia's business partner had been accused of committing suicide. She knew Fred (her business partner) was a professional in grammar and spelling, so when the detectives handed her the 'suicide note' of Frederick Newbie, she immediately said that the cause of his death wasn't suicide. When they asked why, Lia simply pointed at a misspelled word in the suicide note.

There were a lot of cold cases Lia participated in, and she would have been one hell of a great detective if only she wasn't so devoted at her job as a business executive. She could also have been a great scientist if she didn't hate the subject so much. When Mark pleaded at her to at least give it a chance, she reasoned out, "Two parents as scientists aren't good for Hazel. And she's troubled enough as it is."

If Mark was asked, he would say 'troubled' is too mild a word in describing his daughter. She was only fourteen, but she already landed in jail far more than juvenile kids past her age did. She also transferred to several schools due to being 'kicked out' by her teachers, and she landed in detention every school day after dismissal.

The problem was, Hazel didn't seem to care. At all. Oh, she was smart; Mark had to give her that. She possessed a high mental acuity and is shrewd, and as calculating, as her mother. The issue was that Hazel didn't seem to use it for good-as quoted by her teachers-but instead used it to scheme.

If Hazel got caught doing something bad, she was doing it on purpose. He knew she could easily get away with things-if she didn't, she would be halfway across to the United States of Supreme Court right now, accused of committing crimes so heinous she would probably be judged as guilty.

Mark knew if his daughter decided to seriously plan for her schemes, nothing could go wrong. If she decided to rob a bank, she could visit there the next morning and nobody would suspect a thing. But Mark knew Hazel wouldn't do that-when he asked her once why she loved being caught, Hazel just shrugged and replied, "There's thrill in the chase. And I love having a reason to beat people up."

If there was one thing Mark truly didn't understand about Hazel, it would be her enjoyment of being in a fight. When she was four, she learned how to kick Mark between the legs if he ever so much as order her to go to her room early at night. When she was eight years old, Hazel learned how to kickboxing. When she was ten, she was a black belter. When she was twelve, she learned Muay Thai. And when she was fourteen, she demanded a Siberian Huskie as a pet. She named him Az, short for Azrael.

Now that may not seem so bad, except the name 'Azrael' generated the following meanings when he searched it on Wikepedia:

Azrael

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Azrael (Arabic: عزرائيل, translit.: ʿIzrāʾīl or Arabic: عزرایل, translit.: ʿIzrāīl; Hebrew: עזראל‎) is often identified with the Archangel of Death in Islam, Hebrew lore, as well as Sikhism.

Azrael is featured in the video game Darksiders.

Azrael is the name of several fictional superheroes in the DC Comics universe. They are a group of assassins who were created by The Order of St. Dumas to "enforce God's Will."