Authors: Amy Cross
Chapter Eight
"So you're not going to go and find him?" Anna asks, as she gets her arms sewn back on by Sam. "Don't you want to see him? Don't you want to find out what happened to him? Aren't you curious?"
"It's not a matter of curiosity," Sam mutters, passing the needle through slowly-graying Anna's flesh. "I don't have a choice."
It's a bright summer's day, and despite everything that happened during the previous night, the cemetery isn't looking too bad. Once Fenroc's unholy water wore off, the walking dead dropped in their tracks, and Sam has spent the morning hauling them back to their graves one by one. She's not convinced that she's got them all back in the
correct
graves, but she's decided not to worry about it too much. Instead, she's focusing on the fact that she needs to sow some more grass seeds as quickly as possible, since right now the cemetery is still showing the scars of the previous night's mass resurrection, and she's struggling to come up with an excuse.
"If I had a kid out there somewhere," Anna continues, "I'd totally want to go and find him. I'd want to, like, see what he was doing and -" Suddenly she lets out a yelp of pain as the needle goes a little too far into her flesh.
"Sorry," Sam says with a faint smile.
"I was just saying," Anna replies grumpily.
"He's better off without me," Sam continues. "I can't dip in and out of his life. I already made one mistake by letting him go, and I'm not gonna make another by trying to get him back. Anyway, do you really think I could give him a good life? Look where I live. Look at my friends. Look at my head!"
"You're his mother," Anna says, staring at the knife that's still firmly wedged in Sam's head.
"No," Sam replies, flinching at the simple honesty of those three words. "I'm not his mother, and I never will be. I'm just the woman who carried him to term." Lost in thought for a moment, she continues to sew Anna's arm back into place. "There's only one thing I can do for Henry now,” she adds eventually. “I can stay here and keep an eye on this place. Sure, he'll never know anything about me, and he'll probably spend his whole life thinking I abandoned him and never gave him a second thought, but at least
I'll
know that I'm doing something useful. I'll be saving the world he lives in."
"But how do you -"
"Can you stop asking?" Sam continues, with a hint of irritation in her voice. Sitting back, she stares at Anna's restored arm. "There. That's the best I can do. Can you move it?"
Slowly, Anna raises her arm and flexes her fingers. "That's pretty cool," she mutters. "I'm not sure I understand how it works, but it's definitely cool. I feel like a rag doll."
"Sparky says the state of grace means you'll stay alive for as long as you're within the town," Sam continues. "Like me, basically. He's not quite sure why you're affected this way when the other bodies aren't, but he's working on a few theories. He thinks there must be something special about you."
"There's nothing special about me," Anna replies quickly, almost defensively. "Are you sure you don't want me to try to pull that knife out?" she asks, clearly trying to change the subject. "I can do it really fast, so you won't feel a thing."
"No," Sam says, glancing over at her shadow. "I guess it has to stay there. I might go into town later and find a hat, though. You won't mind watching the place for a few hours, right?"
"It's not like I've got anything else to do," Anna replies with a sigh. "I always thought I'd get out of Rippon one day. Now look at me. Dead and stuck here." She pauses. "When you're in town, could you pick up some concealer for me? And maybe some blush?"
"You want make-up?" Sam asks, unable to hide the incredulity in her voice. Staring at Anna, she can't help but notice the distinct lack of flesh on parts of her face, or the fact that maggots are still making a home in her right cheek and eyeball. Still, there's a look of sheer desperation in the girl's eyes, and Sam feels an uncharacteristic pang of pity.
"Sure," she continues after a moment, realizing that it's not her place to make fun of Anna's desire to still look as good as possible. "I'll see what I can find."
Looking out across the cemetery, Sam sees Sparky standing on his plinth, looking like a normal stone angel once again. Having been injured while fighting the dark creatures the previous night, Sparky has declared that he needs time to recover and think, so he's planning to just stand in the sun for a few weeks while his stone body slowly heals itself. Death, meanwhile, has resumed his usual spot on top of the mausoleum, and although he offered a few more words of wisdom, he's since fallen silent. Still, Sam figures she hopefully won't need him any time soon. The past few weeks have been intense and crazy, but with Fenroc gone, she figures things might be a little calmer, at least for now. Then again, there's still the small matter of the Devil's grave, hidden deep beneath the cemetery, and Sam can't help but wonder whether anyone else might get the same idea as Gabriel Fenroc and seek access to the beast.
"Tea?" Anna asks.
Sam nods. "Tea's always good."
"And then can we paint the cottage?"
"Why?"
"Because it's dreary!" Anna replies, as if it's the most obvious thing in the world. "Seriously, don't you want to liven it up a bit? I was thinking, while you rebuild the part that was damaged, I'll start adding some touches of color. Sparky said he'd help when he's fully recovered. What do you think of pink?"
"I hate it."
“
Then you'll have to learn to like it.”
Sam stares at her for a moment, wondering how she's going to be able to live with a zombie cheerleader. She's not entirely sure if it's the zombie part that worries her more, or the cheerleader part. "Didn't you say something about making tea?" she asks eventually.
"You'll see it my way eventually," Sam says excitedly, getting to her feet and hurrying back toward the cottage.
After pausing to stare out across the cemetery for a moment, Sam finally starts limping across the grass. Checking her watch, she sees that it's almost 8am, which means that it's time to open the gate in case anyone wants to come and visit. Taking the key from her pocket, she unlocks the padlock and pulls the rusty gate open, while making a mental note to oil the hinges. She knows it's unlikely that anyone'll show up to visit a grave today, but rules are rules, and the gate has to be open. Figuring she needs to get on with fixing the damage from last night, she turns and starts limping back toward the cottage.
Up on top of the gate, a small mouse sits unnoticed and watches Sam's progress. After a moment, the mouse turns and scurries along the top of the wall. He takes one final glance back at the cottage, before hurrying into a patch of sunlight and disappearing into thin air. Nearby, a startled crow lets out a loud caw as it takes flight and soars high into the bright blue sky.
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