Terror. A dimension mirroring the living one--but morphed to reflect the imagination of its Overseer. And the current Overseer... has refused to relinquish her power for centuries, tormenting her souls--"terrors"--into becoming... zombies.
Arielle f...
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Traversing more deserted fields of corpses and wading between bushes brushed with ice, Benny and Jade continued onward. Closer to Penelope, closer to the Being, closer to the perils Benny hadn't hoped to encounter again; at least, not so soon.
And not without alcohol.
Could terrors drink? Get drunk? Did they need liquid courage to do their jobs? He wondered if he'd ever find out. Since none of the terrors were doing said jobs, he had no clue if he'd ever learn the trade of spooking Void ghosts. And then there was that mention that he might not belong in Terror... that sat with him.
It kept his mind so occupied that when Jade stopped her trek and started talking to him, it took a few moments for him to snap out of his thoughts.
"Huh?" He blinked, and Jade's faded, grayish form came into his sight. "What's going on?"
Jade's brows scrunched. "Zoning out in this realm is stupid, man." She rolled her eyes and pointed towards a darkened corridor of trees, at the end of which Benny couldn't see much. "I remember there's a freeway up there, and we should be able to use it to scale along, buy us some time."
"A freeway?" Benny had watched all the zombie movies and knew highways and streets usually concealed monsters—many of them. "Won't it be packed with brain-eaters?"
"Not in this temperature." Jade didn't wait for his agreement and began to proceed forward. "You're right that we'd normally avoid freeways at all costs, but with this cold, I doubt any zombies will be lurking out in the open. If they're still alive, they'll be hiding in the cities, clustered together for warmth. Not roaming in big spaces where the cold can catch them unawares."
He saw the logic in her words, so Benny followed Jade down the pathway. The tree branches bent overhead, creating a ceiling of leaves that twinkled with ice and flurried in the gentle glacial breeze. He worried if any of those leaves fell they'd be so frosted that they might hurt them, but did his hardest to keep those thoughts out of his mind.
A few chunky, high hedges awaited them at the end, and Benny noticed on either side of them was a slippery slope upwards. Jade made a gesture towards the hedges—implying they needed to go through them. And as Benny was about to ask her how those would be safer than the ice-slicked paths around the bushes, a voice stilled them both. It came from behind the shrubs, and at the top of the hill.
They fell into crouches, hiding near the bushes, and Jade pressed a finger to her lips.
The voice speaking was deep, masculine, tinted with exhaustion and frustration. "North? Where the fuck is that?"
Squinting, Jade removed her finger and peered through the shrubbery. She flipped to Benny and mouthed, "humans. Normals. We're good."
Benny wanted to warn her that they weren't good. They had no idea who these 'normals' were and they should probably pick a different route. But Jade straightened up, dusted herself off, and spoke straight into the bushes. Without a hint of fear, she addressed the person on the other side, up the slope—on the freeway, Benny imagined.
