Undead Savior

Chapter One

Everyone knows not to go out after dark, not with the things that lurk in the shadows. In my town, everyone goes into their houses and barricades the entrances and windows. No one dares to look outside during the night. Sometimes if you listen close enough, you can hear them, the undead, walking around in the street or the yard. I choose not to do that very often. It freaks me out.

"Marlene, what have I told you about leaning on the windows?" my father scolded one night. He looked at me with his large, brown eyes as he pushed back some of his thinning, brown hair. "I have told you time and time again, don't go anywhere near them. What if one of the undead breaks open a window and grabs you?"

I quickly moved to sit next to him on the couch in the middle of the room. "I'm sorry, Dad. I just forget sometimes." I rolled my eyes and leaned my head on his shoulder. "Do you really think they're strong enough, though?"

"I believe it," my older brother Marc said, closing his book. He looked over at me with his fearless green eyes. "Don't ever underestimate the strength of the undead, Marlene."

"Stop it," my dad told him. "You'll scare her."

"Well maybe she needs to be scared, Dad. Maybe it will teach her a lesson." Marc glanced over at me, flipping some of his blonde hair out of his eyes. "Maybe she'll stop coming home when the sunset sirens go off."

Dad looked over at me. "Yes, Mar. That needs to stop. You know we have to put the house on lockdown at that time. We just can't wait up for you anymore." He sighed. "Starting tomorrow night, Marc and I aren't going to wait up for you. You'll have to find shelter somewhere else if you're not home on time."

I looked down in shame. It wasn't always my fault that I was late getting home. "I understand," I told him. "I'll be more careful."

Dad smiled and ruffled my fire-engine red hair. "Get some sleep, Marlene. You have school in the morning."

That night as I went to bed, I could hear the groans and moans of the undead outside of my house. Though I was on the second floor, I was still scared that they could get to me. Every night, the undead would emerge from their graves and walk the town like humans. We got the town during the day, and they got it in the night. No one left their houses after sunset. Ever.

"Did you hear about Chris Stevenson?" my best friend Brenna asked me in first hour at school the next morning. I shook my head. "He didn't make it home last night." I gasped. "They found his body in his neighbor's backyard."

"Not Chris," I sighed as tears filled my eyes. Chris was the shy and quiet kid at school who had just moved to our town the year before. He never spoke to anyone. No one really knew him. It put a knot in my stomach knowing that the undead had gotten him. He had never done anything to anyone. It just wasn't fair.

"It's really sad," Brenna agreed, nodding her head. Her auburn bangs fell into her green eyes, but I could still see the tears in them. "Why couldn't it have been someone else?"

That afternoon we had an assembly at school where they talked about Chris and how important it was to make it home before sunset. Many of the girls were crying, especially his two sisters that went to our school. The only thing I could think about was that now he would be walking the streets at night with the other undead. It made me sad to think that way. Chris didn't deserve that.

"The sirens will be going off soon," Brenna told me, looking up at the sky. I was hanging out at her house after school that day, helping her with yard work. It was a few blocks from my house. "You should probably start heading home."

I looked up into the sky and saw the sun setting. "You're right. I probably should." I began to walk toward the front gate. "I'll see you at school tomorrow."

As I walked, I watched the sun set lower and lower into the sky. It was only a matter of minutes before the sirens went off. And then I heard it. The cries of the sirens piercing the ears of all who could hear. Since I was a block away from home, I broke into a sprint.

When I reached my house, I noticed that the door was locked. I began to pound on it. "Dad! Marc! Someone! Let me in!"

"Marlene, I told you last night this would happen," Dad told me through the door. "You know that I can't unbarricade the doors and windows!" He was right. I knew that. It was against the law to unbarricade before dawn. "Try and make it to a neighbor's house. Go quickly!"

"But Dad, what if I can't make it?!" I cried through the door.

"Go Marlene! Go before it's too late!"

Tears began to stream down my face as I ran to every house on my street. They all told me the same thing. I began to panic. What was I going to do? There was nowhere for me to go! I could hear some of the undead slowly making their way down the street. I could hear their moans from three blocks away.

Thinking fast, I climbed the tree outside my house. I wasn't sure if the undead could climb trees, so it was the safest thing I could think of. And as I clung to that tree while sitting on a high limb, I began to cry. I couldn't stop. I wanted my dad. I wanted my brother. I didn't want to die!

Right as night fell, I heard some coughing, but I wouldn't dare look down at the ground. I already knew the undead were walking around. I was so scared that they could see me. There was something down at the base of the tree.

After a moment I heard a man's voice say, "What are you doing up there?" I squeezed my eyes shut. I was only imagining things. The undead couldn't talk. "If we could climb when we were living, what makes you think we can't climb when we're dead?" I refused to open my eyes. "Look, I know you're scared and all, but you need to get somewhere safe."

"I am safe," I told the voice.

"Not really," he responded. "If I can see you, then so can the rest of us. Just come down from there and let me take you somewhere safe."

"There is no way in hell I would go with you," I told him. "You're one of the undead."

"Well yea, but I was living at one point too, you know." He scoffed. I didn't know the undead could even talk. And apparently they could climb, too. What else could the undead do? "Just come down here. There's no one around but me."

"No."

"Do you have a death wish or something?" he demanded. "I'm trying to help you!"

"You just want me down there so you can eat my flesh!" I shouted at him.

"Will you keep your voice down?" he snapped. "Are you trying to draw attention to yourself? I'm trying to help you, so will you let me or not?" I kept my lips shut tight. "If you need help trusting me, just look down at me. You'll see that I'm harmless."

I slowly opened my eyes and dared to look down. At the bottom of the trunk sat a boy who looked around my age. He had long, tangled, black hair and yellow eyes. I'm not talking a golden yellow either, I'm talking bright yellow. His skin had a grayish tint to it.

"See?" he asked. "I don't want to hurt you." He stretched his hand up to me. "Just come down here and I'll make sure you live to see tomorrow. I promise."

"Strong words coming from one of the undead," I scoffed, yet I felt a weird feeling like I could trust him.

"Yes, I know my kind kills your kind, but I promise that I won't do that. And I won't let anyone else kill you either." He smiled at me. "Just trust me on this. Someone as special as you, no undead would kill. You are the answer to our prayers."

"Why is that?" I slowly asked.

"Isn't it obvious?" he asked. "You can speak the language of the dead."