My Life As a Teenage Zombie

The Barely-Alive Epilogue

It's been a year since the last battle with John. The whole thing - his master plan - was pretty anticlimactic. He just came at me, we fought, and then he died. He's probably in hell right now, back with the demons he was so eager to ally himself with. Tough shit. He might've been a good man once, but nothing a person goes through gives them the right to do the things he did. He wasn't as bad as Lyra - I'm not sure anyone was - but he still crosses many lines he never should have even glanced at. His fate is the direct result of the choices he made. I refuse to ever become similar to him, no matter how old I get.

"Yeah, I'm here," I speak over the phone. "It's fine, Si. I've got a long time to search, right? Yeah, you too. See ya." As I hang up, I turn to look at Sam. "Anything?"

She's changed so much that I can barely recognize her sometimes. No longer is she the brooding emo kid who couldn't control herself. Right now, she's all about sundresses. It's a shame I'm not straight, 'cause I'd be all about that otherwise.

She sniffs the air a bit, then smiles at me. "Yeah, he's in there."

"For sure?"

"No doubt."

"Thanks for that."

"Thank Savannah, too. She came up with the spell to let me control it better." Being the leader of the coven will do that, I hear. Savannah's put her position to good use. She and Mason are forcing the witches and werewolves to work together, rather than always being at odds with each other. It's all still tense and uneasy, but at least they're not under the threat of war. Personally, I think knowing I'd be there to stop it is making them more than a bit fearful of starting another mess. No one wants to go through the losses caused by John's dabbling in our lives again.

Speaking of Mason; He's not in my life anymore. You're probably thinking that's the lamest ending ever, right? I'd have to agree. I expected more from him. Some people just can't get over their insecurities. Took me a bit to accept that it's not my fault he can't stand looking at me anymore. I don't know if it's just the alpha genes, or if it's just what he is as a person, but he's having a harder time accepting the fact that I was raped than I am. Haven't even heard from him in over eight months. Guess that's life. Romance isn't meant for everyone.

I push open the hotel door, and casually walk inside. When I'm this close, it's easy to sense him.

Let's see; What other things have I failed to tell you about? Oh, yeah; My brother and I are speaking again. He finally stopped being a jackass about the whole, "my brother is a zombie," thing. Took him long enough. Dad still doesn't know, but he's starting to treat me like an actual human being. I don't know what changed about him. Was it the spell the fairies cast fading away? Is it the lack of the toxic influence that my so-called mother was? Who can tell?

Daniel is probably having the hardest time of the bunch. His brother and girl are dead, and he's now the only vampire in the whole town. Savannah promised to look after him, but I'm not sure how much she can do. I offered to take him with me, but he decided to stay. Said the town has too many memories he holds dear. Between you and me, I think he's got a thing for Savannah. Nothing's come of it yet, though. He, Simon and I are not having an easy time with romance in our lives.

I follow the power I detect, leading me toward one of the hotel rooms on the third floor.

The last person I'm gonna tell you about is Chris. No one's sure how much of what she did was of her own volition, and how much was John's influence. We'll be taking Henry to her to figure it all out. The whole betrayal thing didn't seem natural. Chris is definitely not smart enough to fool the entire damn town.

I knock on the door.

"It's open."

As I walk in, I see Henry sitting on the bed, eyes glued to the TV.

"Season one again?" It's the Golden Girls, of course.

He shrugs. "I've got forever to look forward to. Can't afford to be bored by anything."

"Mind if I join you?"

He doesn't reply, but I sit next to him all the same. I've been worried about the idiot ever since he vanished. Took me this long to track him down. No way in hell am I letting him escape again.

"I guess I've got forever, too."

"Guess so."

"What do we do now?"

He finally turns toward me, hesitantly looking me up and down. "You seem better."

I smile, and reply with the truth. "I am."

"John?"

"Gone. Permanently."

He nods briefly, then turns toward the TV again. We watch until the episode ends. This is how we'll be spending our lives now. We're the only two fully immortal things on the planet. We'll outlive everyone else. In time, Simon, Sam and my brother are going to die, whether from old age or something less natural. I'll still be this age when that happens. I'm not perfectly fine with it, but I'm not about to give Henry any more grief on the topic.

"Another one?" I ask, and Henry finally smiles.

"Sure."

Yep. We've got eternity ahead of us. Might as well get used to it. You know, I don't think it's gonna be that bad if we're together. The loneliness of it all is what's been tearing me apart all the while, and I think I've gotten over it. There are quite a few more people in my life I care about than there were back when I was a regular human kid. I don't think I'll ever be lonely again. When the episode ends, Henry leans his head on my shoulder, and I play the next one.