Unblanced: Breakdown's/Muse's Oct 2010 Vignette

[Dr Archeville]

It's a Thriller Night Tonight

Breakdown / Muse

THIS VIGNETTE ADVERTISES NO SUPPORT, OF OR BELIEF IN, THE OCCULT.

October 15, 2010 - Just outside Freedom Cemetary, 11:52PM

Two figures walked down a lonely street during the middle of October. The air was crisp and cold. It had the type of chill that sent shivers down your spine, if you let it get to you. To their left, beyond the sidewalk stretched Freedom Cemetary. About one hundred yards into the property passed the wrought iron fence, a low hanging fog spilled across the grounds.

Eddie Ozan and Elizabeth Skillman had been out for a while. Their Friday evening was beginning to come to a close. They had met earlier that night, gotten coffee, and gone to see a movie. A movie that would prove quite interesting for the upcoming events. You see dear reader, it is October; near midnight. And strange things happen during the month of October. For October is the month of witchcraft. The month of ghosts and gouls. The month of monsters!

There was also some sighting of said ghouls in the community, but tonight, these youths, unaware of their surroundings, would tempt fate. There was a silence as the two walked arm-in-arm, trying to fight off the cold. Talk of the movie was taking their minds off of the chill.

"Elizabeth, stop for a second." Eddie began hesitantly. Still holding her hand, he stopped walking and turned to face her. His back toward the fence - and the cemetary. Though Eddie wasn't the tallest person, he was still able to look down at the slightly shorter Elizabeth. "I've got something to tell you," he said.

Elizabeth smiled, nothing really could make this night better. Maybe Eddie was really something more than he was projecting to be. Boy, how little she knew, "What's up, Eddie," she said with a light nudge.

"I like you, Liz, but you should know..." Eddie hesitated, "I haven't had the best luck with women. I'm telling you so that you can make a fair judgement of who I am. I..." Eddie stopped short as he felt something pinch his arm...

Elizabeth happily listened, "oh boy he's gonna tell me about the psycho ex," she thought as he mentioned the luck and judgement. She smiled, "If you have anything you need to get off your chest I'd be glad to hear it." She hugged him, "I'm here for you, Eddie.".

Elizabeth's words and hug were nearly an afterthought, as Eddie looked down to see five hands. Two belonged to him, two belonged to Elizabeth, holding his own. A fifth had a tight hold on his upper right arm. It was grey, and mottled. With pieces of skin hanging off in places. The nails were either cracked, broken, or missing. Even in the chill October air, it reeked.

Suddenly, the hand jerked him backward, and he was torn from Elizabeth's grasp to slam into the fence. Elizabeth gasped at the sight! This was just like the film they had watched! TOO MUCH like the film they had watched!

"Ahh!" Eddie cried out, as more hands began grasping at his clothing. He was able to turn his head slightly to see the creatures behind him. They looked human, but the hollow deathly hunger in their eyes was decidedly not!

Elizabeth could only watch in abject horror. She could not move. The scene was very much more real then the movie! You know, you always say "I could totally be in a monster movie, that looks stupid" but when it happens to you, you stand dumbfounded looking at the zombies eat your date.

The rungs of the iron fence groaned against the force of the zombie's undead strength. "Elizabeth!" Eddie cried out, "Help me!" Elizabeth tried to call upon her divine power but it was useless against the dead things. The golden smite of divinity shrugged off. and yet... No sooner had the words left his mouth than the iron rungs behind Eddie's back snapped. Elizabeth finally found her voice. Though her mouth produced no words. A shrill cry of horror escaped her lips at the sight of it all. Eddie quickly disappeared into the inky black of the cemetary under the cover of the growing fog...

Elizabeth could not believe her eyes. Eddie... was alive...He had to be alive. He couldn't just have taken off to be food. She hoped in her heart that he was. Else this would have been a really stupid idea to chase after him. But stupid was what you did when you cared for others. Getting carried off by the undead was something you really don't stand for.

The graveyard was empty. Giant tombstones of people long past, but no zombies or Eddie. This whole lapse of common sense thing spurred her on, "Eddie?" she questioned the night air futilely, "Eddie?!"

Suddenly, a hand burst out of the soft earth, and grasped her ankle. The hand pulled, and soon the ground was bursting open. "Elizabeth!" Came the muffled response, as Eddie's head burst through the ground. Encrusted with dirt, he clambered out of the hole he'd been buried in. He lay panting on the ground for a long moment, finally able to say, "You've got to run! It isn't safe!"

She picked him up and cradled him, "You're coming with me." It was no use, Eddie was dead weight in her arms. The undead abominations were besetting upon them and she couldn't save him, but that didn't mean she wouldn't try. She pulled him as best as she could the monsters slowly lurching toward them...

"Elizabeth, stop." Eddie managed to scramble to his feet. "I'll hold them off. I'll give you time to run, but you've got to go now!"

Elizabeth looked to the zombies and then back to Eddie, then back to the zombies and then back to Eddie. The poor brave... HEROIC fool. She couldn't let him die, but he was right. She held him tight, "Thank you for the awesome night tonight. I'll remember you as a hero." She sprinted away. Unfortunately for her she had no idea where she was going and was running further into the graveyard.

Eddie set his jaw, and turned to face the growing crowd of abominations behind him. He'd said all he could. Now it was time to dance. (oh god. such a bad line. I'll come back to this). All of the molecules in Eddie's body began vibrating. A song began wafting over the graveyard. This song was very familiar to the things that spent their time in darkness. One by one, the zombie's lurching gait slowed, and came to a stop only feet from where Eddie was standing. They stared at him with dead, unintelligent eyes. They were his, now. The music demanded their obedience.

[groove]22864567[/groove]

Eddie began walking. Step by step. One by one, the zombies fell into synch behind him. Their synchronized footfalls were in time with the music, creating a loud stomping sound whenever they moved.

Elizabeth did not know where she was, the rows and rows of graves were winding. She had gotten herself lost. Though... was that music? Where was it coming from? She stopped for a moment to slowly look back...

What she saw could only be described as an army. The undead were assembled behind Eddie, following him, hanging on his every movement, his every gesture.

The terror, it was back. They had gotten him. She didn't know how they did it but they did She froze in terror before the sight. She was paralyzed! "Eddie," she thought, "no." Well that's not all she was thinking, but beyond the fear was regret that she could do nothing for her fallen hero.

The army drew closer, and closer to the girl who was paralyzed with fear. They came within ten feet of her, and stopped. Suddenly, Elizabeth could see something in Eddie's eyes. There was a clever determination there, much unlike the cold dead hunger the zombies behind him held in their eyes.

Suddenly, Eddie began walking sideways a few paces, and the zombies followed. He reversed direction, and still the Zombies followed. He halted in place, and drew his arms up into the air forming a mockery of the zombie's cold dead claw like hands. The army of undead behind him mimicked his every movement, all in time with the music.

Elizabeth was in shock. She was happy that Eddie was... fighting it, but still did not know what to think of the matter. There was a pause in the strange dance, all of a sudden. Eddie's head snapped toward her, and so did the heads of the rest of the walking corpses some of which lost theirs in the process. His eyes were wide, "Elizabeth, run!" he called out, "'Cuz it's a Thriller night, tonight!" She was still driven by the fear. She was driven by a desperate instinct. And run she did. the momentary lapse in fear resulted in more fear for her safety. She hoped Eddie was OK. This couldn't end well for him. She ran This graveyard seemed endless! There was a building up ahead. maybe she could lose them in there. Because that always works, right? hiding from the monster. She didn't know what to think at the moment.

The building was actually a crypt. It was full of coffins! "Great," she thought. "they'll never think to look in here." Unfortunately for her the things knew exactly where she was. And Eddie was the one unknowingly leading them straight towards their... midnight snack.

As Elizabeth ran, Eddie gave her the head start he'd promised. He snapped his neck back, and lurched forward. A few of the zombies following along lost their heads in the process, and collapsed to the ground where they stood. The others were completely oblivious. "It's working!" Eddie thought. He took a few more steps, and the zombies followed along. Then he stopped, and spun in a circle. A few of the zombies that had little fine control over their limbs ended up knocking into other nearby zombies. Even more damage was done to the horde as these victims were sent sprawling.

The following dance routine was a series of agile moves that the zombies could not follow. Many tried, and many failed. More zombies ended up with snapped bones and unusable limbs for trying to follow the dance moves of their leader to which they were bound by the enchanting music. By the time the song came to a close, Eddie was the only one left standing in what was a previously large crowd of undead. Many were left lying on the ground, legs unusable. Others had lost arms legs and heads entirely. Without a word, Eddie ran off after Elizabeth.

Elizabeth remembered an older film Though it probably wouldn't help her now, her sanity needed it. When dealing with zombies you gotta think of something or you'll be left a shreiking wreck. "That's it! Hide in here until morning. They'll even find me and i can just walk home." she mumbled to herself, "I just hope that they're all gone. All gone." She sighed, "Eddie."

"Elizabeth!" Eddie burst through the doors of moseleum.

Elizabeth heard his voice, was it real? She had to see! She stood up.

He ran to her side and and held her. "It's okay, they're gone!"

She hugged him, her voice was teary, "You're alive too. That's what matters. I thought you were dead."

"Not dead," He told her. Behind them the doors burst open and a surge of zombies entered the room. "Undead!" Eddie's eyes flashed and Elizabeth screamed!

But wait! She was in her bed. She remembered the night clearly, but her dreams had appended on a... an eighties zombie music video? Really? It was all so realistic She would have picked up the phone and called Eddie, but what would he say? No, she would wait until the morning and call him She scrunched under the cover. "Silly nightmares."

Eddie gasped, and sat bolt upright in his bed. He was sweating, and the sheets had been thrown everywhere. It looked like he had been running in his sleep. He held his head with his hand. "I think I had a little too much to drink on that date..." Eddie rubbed his temple, and laid back down. He pulled the ruffled covers back over himself, "And too much pumpkin pie..." Before long, he was asleep once more.

Deep inside every one of us lurks... The Thriller! Muahahah HAhaha HAHAhahaaaaa.