CHAPTER TWENTY

"Where the hell is everyone?" Randy demanded, seeing no one but Melissa and the zombies nearby. His breathing was coming too quickly as a panic attack built. There were so many zombies he couldn't even count them, and now nearly all of his friends were missing.

"They grabbed a bunch of the others," Melissa said as calmly as she could manage while setting more zombies on fire. "Arnie and Evan got knocked down a hill... I saw the zombies grab Cassandra and Beth, and I'm pretty sure they got Jade, too... I lost track of Jesse, Alex, and Cierra... Dylan ran off to try to help Aideen, but I don't even see them now. I think we're in trouble, Randy."

"Trouble? I think we're screwed," Randy replied. "They're going to kill everyone... Including us."

"Randy, calm down. We can do this. The others need us to be strong."

"I hate zombies. I really, really do." Randy was normally incredibly tough, but now he felt like crying. Hysteria was overwhelming him.

Melissa looked deep into his eyes and said, "I know, Randy... Listen, it's going to be okay, but we won't last if we don't run the hell out of here, like, now. We can't win this alone. We have to go get help, or everyone else is dead. We can do this, Randy, but I need your help. I can't get out of here alone, and neither can you. There's too many of them."

Slowly, Randy calmed his breathing down and nodded. "Let's do this," he said.

The battle resumed. Melissa and Randy fought back to back, covering each other and torching their way through the army of zombies. The exit was in sight.

"One," Melissa said.

"Two," Randy replied.

"Three!" They shouted in unison, running for the exit.

Melissa and Randy slammed the gate shut once they were out of the cemetery. "It won't do much," Melissa said, "but it will slow them down."

"They're going to take over the entire town, aren't they?" Randy asked.

"We won't let them," Melissa replied. "We'll get to the Unit, and they'll help us stop this."

"It's too late for that," Susie said, racing toward them. "Zombies from one of the other cemeteries already got into town and took over the Unit. Skip got me out of there in the hopes that I could find help. Where is everyone else?"

"Oh God, oh God, we're dead, we're screwed," Randy rambled in a blind panic. His breaths were coming rapidly, but he couldn't seem to get any air into his lungs. His entire body was trembling violently.

Melissa sighed. "Sorry, Randy," she said softly before slapping him hard across his face. "Calm the hell down, Mr. Big, Tough Slayer Jock Boy!" She shouted. "Susie isn't a Slayer, and I've only had a little bit of training. You're the one with years of experience, and we need you to focus and get us out of this mess."

Randy stared at her in disbelief. "You... slapped me," he managed.

"Very good! You get a gold star for your wonderful talent for stating the obvious," Melissa replied. "If you get us out of this, I'll even give you a cookie."

"But... You... I... Ouch." He rubbed his cheek to emphasize his point.

Melissa started laughing. "And if you don't want to get hit again, I suggest you calm down. Look, I'm sorry, but you went all hysterical on me, and in the movies, when someone is hysterical, you slap them. And it worked. You're not babbling about how we're all doomed anymore."

"Thanks," Randy said. "I think I needed that. Look, I'm not a necromancer. I can't lay them to rest, but I can torch them, and I'm strong enough to pull one off of you if you get attacked. I'll do my best."

"That's all anyone can ask, Mr. Perfect," Melissa replied. "Susie, what shape is the Unit in?"

"A few people have been killed so far, but most are just trapped. The zombies have them cornered in a safe room, but they can't get in, so they're safe as long as they stay inside. Shooter and Tammy were dragged off somewhere. I have no idea what happened to them. And Skip..." She hesitated. "Skip's in bad shape," Susie said softly.

"Did they hurt him?" Randy asked.

"Not physically, but... They raised Jo."

"Oh my God," Melissa said. "He must be so freaked out."

"He won't let anyone torch her, and he won't defend himself against her. I kept trying to remind him that it's not actually Jo in there... She's just a corpse following someone else's orders, but he wasn't really listening to me. I guess that's nothing new. I am the younger one. I'm used to it, but I'm worried about him. I think she might kill him if someone doesn't stop her."

"Should we go to the Unit to help?" Randy asked.

"No, like I said, everyone who's still there is either dead or safe, and there's so many zombies, we'd get attacked for sure," Susie replied. Randy was visibly relieved. "I'm pretty sure the zombie in the Jo Suit dragged Skip off after he got me out. If he doesn't attack her, which he won't, he might have some time. He's probably wherever Shooter and Tammy are. Where's the rest of the Silver Society? We could really use Aideen and Jade's talents right now."

"They're missing. I think they all got dragged off, too," Melissa said.

"Okay, backup plan. Let's go find Clarissa and Courtney. If anyone can help, it's a couple of Reapers."

They headed toward the Phillips house, only to be greeted by more zombies who had gathered about a hundred feet away from the front door.

"Oh Gods," Randy said. "We have to get in there. They could be hurt." Terrified or not, he wasn't going to let Courtney and Clarissa die.

"We're surrounded," Susie whispered.

"I'll take the right... Melissa, take the left, and Susie, try to get into the house and see if you can find Courtney and Clarissa."

Melissa immediately began torching more zombies, but she froze when one of them touched her back. "Melissa," it hissed.

"Oh my God..." Melissa whispered, refusing to believe what she already sensed. "No... Please no..."

"Your fault," it said. "You let him kill me. It's your fault."

"Uncle Joseph..." Melissa spun around to face the man she had feared for most of her life. She shook her head. "No. You're not real. You can't be here. You're not real!"

"All your fault... You killed me..."

"I didn't..." She whispered, shaking her head.

"He killed me for you. You let him. Your fault. Your fault. Your fault!" He had her in a tight grip now, and Melissa winced in pain. Her uncle had been strong in life, and he was even stronger as a zombie. "Bad girl. You are a bad, bad girl. You told. You told them and he killed me. Your fault!"

"No!" Melissa was screaming now, and that got Randy's attention. He saw the problem immediately and knew he would have to fight his way over to Melissa.

"Your fault!" The zombie was strangling her now, and Melissa could not bring herself to fight back. He was going to kill her, but maybe she deserved it. She had known what Alex was planning to do that night. She had let him do it. She wanted to be safe. She wanted to believe that Alex could keep her that way, but apparently, even death could not keep the monster she called an uncle away from her.

Melissa was crying and unable to breathe by the time that Randy made it to her side. He ripped the zombie off of her and tossed him against a tree, stabbing him with a silver knife and shouting, "Don't touch her!" His fear didn't matter now. This man had been a monster in life, and the one thing that Randy did not tolerate was a man who picked on women and children. The man being dead didn't change that fact. Randy lit him on fire and watched until he burned to ash. The other zombies scattered at the sight of the flames.

Randy hurried to Melissa's side and wrapped her in his arms. She screamed in a way that broke Randy's heart. "No!" She shouted, struggling against him in a blind panic. "Don't touch me! Leave me alone! Stop!"

"Melissa, it's okay!" Randy said, having no trouble holding her in place even as she struggled. "He's gone. It's Randy. It's okay now. He's gone, I promise. I torched him. He can't hurt you anymore."

Melissa seemed to come back into awareness then. She stopped struggling and simply sobbed into Randy's shoulder as he held her. She struggled to calm down before saying, "We need to get into the house."

Randy nodded. "Come on," he said, leading the way. The house was eerily quiet. "Susie?" Randy called. "Clarissa? Courtney?"

"I'm in here," Susie called. "With Clarissa."

Melissa and Randy followed the sound of her voice and found Susie sitting beside an unconscious Clarissa. She was applying pressure to a very bad wound on Clarissa's chest. "It looks like someone tried to rip her heart out," Susie said.

"Will she be okay?" Melissa asked.

"I don't know," Susie admitted.

Melissa sat on Clarissa's other side and placed her hands over the injury. Slowly, Clarissa started to heal. She opened her eyes and stared at them for a moment before seeming to recognize them.

"Courtney," she whispered. "He took Courtney."

"Who did?" Randy asked.

"Benny," Clarissa said with a sob. "I tried to stop him so he tried to kill me. Where's Deenie? I know she's alive. I feel her. She needs to be warned, and protected. He'll go for her next."

"We don't know. Everyone's missing except for us," Melissa replied.

"Oh Gods..." Clarissa took a deep breath. "I can hold off a few of them, but this is going to take more power than I've got. I lost too much blood."

"We've got to hurry," Susie said. "The zombies are drawn here, probably because they sense it's a Reaper household. We have to get you away from this house."

"Where can we go? They're everywhere," Melissa said.

"We don't have a choice," Randy replied. "We've got to go into the belly of the beast, so to speak."

"What do you mean?" Clarissa asked.

"We're going to have to find wherever they dragged everyone off to and get inside."

"Randy, that's suicide. We'd be walking into their territory," Clarissa said. "We have no idea how many of them there are or where they might be hiding."

"They've kidnapped all of the good guys. We're the only ones left. If there's any chance that everyone else is still alive, and I'm pretty sure that there is, then we have to rescue them." He struggled to keep the fear out of his voice. "Our friends and families are in danger. We can't just sit back and let them die, and we can't let this spread to the rest of the world. Once the zombies get out of Salem, it's game over."

"How do we find their hiding place?" Susie asked.

"We follow the group that's heading away from the house right now," Randy replied. "With any luck, they'll lead us right there, and if they don't, then we'll get ourselves kidnapped." He struggled to push away his terror at the idea of handing themselves off to a bunch of zombies.

"Right on, Jock Boy!" Melissa declared, giving him a high five. "Way to face the fear! Let's do this thing!"