Lesley gave a small groan, his head aching him.
" Well, glad to see you're awake, sweety."
" Mama V?" Lesley opened his eyes and looked to the source of the voice.
Mama V sat on his bed, her figure larger than life and wearing a black dress with pink stripes. She had heavy makeup and thick pink mascara and pink lipstick. Her talons were painted blacker than coal and she had a pink and blue headdress. She gazed at Lesley with curious questioning eyes and a bit of motherly affection, atleast what she termed motherly affection.
"When did you get back?" Lesley asked, his voice felt dry and hoarse.
"About three hours ago, I raced back here as fast as I could. Lost about three guards to some zombies on the way, but I just had to check on my babies." Mama V smiled sweetly and patted his cheek.
"Check on- oh! Veranda!?" Lesley got up , remembering that Veranda and him had been in danger.
" Ahhhh!" Lesley cried out as his body felt like it was about to shatter. Mama V smiled sweetly as she pushed him back down.
"That sounded mighty painful." She noted, seemingly unbothered," Veranda is fine. We got there, just in time and found you, her and a ... noticable amount of dead bodies. Care to explain?"
Lesley opened his mouth and closed it, he shook his head.
"I can't."
"Oh really?" Mama V's eyes narrowed as she got up," You mean, just like with the jacuzzi, you're not going to give me an explanation?"
"It was an accident." Lesley replied and Mama V struck, giving him a slap on the face.
"Do I look like a half baked loaf of bread to you? Don't give me that wad of lies boy, tell me the truth."
Lesley held his cheek and looked at her, his eyes wide and thoughtful.
"Well? I'm waiting, sweety." Mama V smiled sweetly as she looked at him.
For a few seconds, nobody moved, then Lesley struck her. Shooting out from his blankets, he launched a punch straight to her face.
"Bwaah!" Mama V cried out in pain but Lesley didn't stop, he raised his fist again and began to repeatedly punch her without mercy. Blow after blow, again and again and again and again and again and again!
Soon her flesh became a pummeled mess, and Lesley's knuckles were raw and bloody but he still didn't stop until her screams became gurgles, and then silence. Lesley paused, his eyes narrowed as he landed one more punch and moved away from the mangled woman.
Mama V lay flat on his bed, her headdress was blood stained, along with most of her clothing. Her lipstick and mascara were ruined, indistinguishable on the bloody mess that was now her face. Lesley breathed hard as he looked at her, his back against the bedpost.
After five minutes, he rolled his eyes and gave a look of angry disgust.
"I know you're not Mama V. So stop pretending." Lesley said and the air froze, as if a silent presence was surprised. Lesley felt a gaze on him and waited, his blood stained fists still clenched.
Mama V's body got up and looked at him, it's eyes were a violent golden orange, like fire. Slowly the body began to change and shift, it's structure altering along with the clothes it wore. Lesley did not move throughout this process, but his eyes remained vigilant and mindful of any further tricks.
Finally, the process was finished and what stood before Lesley's hard gaze was a child. A little, thin, malnourished looking boy with large blue eyes, messy dirty blonde hair and wearing a green jacket and baggy blue pants.
It was Nuis. The child of Death.
"Hello Eldest...and other one if you can hear me." Nuis said with a bright smile. Literally, his face glowed as he smiled, like a nightlight under the skin.
"Nuis? Huh...I thought it was Death." Lesley said with a frown but Nuis just smiled more,"What do you want?"
"I came to tell you Mother is calling me back. By day light, I will have to leave and the binds on 'That one's hunger' will go with me. I'm sorry, you made Mother very angry and sad."
"Oh, is that right?" Lesley gave a small smile," She made me angry first, a long time ago."
"When Lilian died?" Nuis asked and Lesley's eyes locked onto him. Lilian Woodsman was his grandmother's name.
"You know about her? Why?" Lesley asked softly.
"I know about all the souls back home. Lilian is one of them." Nuis said happily but Lesley didn't smile back." Is Eldest angry with me too?"
"I...tell me what you are first. Are you an Origin something?" Lesley asked and Nuis shook his head.
"I am not," Nuis said and smiled harder, his skin stretching," But, Mother says I can be. If I help her, then I can be just like Father."
"Who?" Lesley asked and Nuis opened his mouth but stopped.
"I can't say. Mother doesn't want me to. I have to go soon." Nuis said walking to the door.
"Wait, why do you call me Eldest? Weren't you talking about Liv or Lych?" Lesley asked and Nuis turned around and gave him a confused look.
"But...they're you now. So, you're Eldest now." Nuis said and reached the door.
"Wait! What do you mean?! Don't go yet!" Lesley got up from the bed but his body instantly felt weak and he fell back to the bed.
Nuis opened the door, and outside it was a dark cavern, with countless candles going down an unending passage. The little boy took a step but turned to look at Lesley one last time.
"When the sun rises, he'll be just like before. You are going to have to kill him if you still value mortals. Bye Eldest." Nuis vanished through the door and Lesley felt a pressure land on his body, like a mountain.
But, then a shimmer of green heat rose from his body and the pressure vanished. Lesley felt tired, more than ever and shut his eyes, his mind falling into sweet oblivion.
...
Jeff stood outside Lesley's room, with a grim scowl on his face, having to guard the sleeping teenager felt like adding insult to injury. After the incident , him and Jerome went looking for the three of them, they'd wandered around, asking wandering patrol if they had seen Miss V. None had and they'd spent more time, searching, sometimes even checking shacks but the only things inside were-
Jeff shook his head, he didn't want to think about that. There was little moral inside the shelters, and it wasn't his job to care. After nearly half an hour, they'd felt a rumble and a blast of hot air from a certain direction. Confused and curious, they started going that way and ran into The zombie.
The zombie walked up to them, looking almost human with its brunet hair and blue eyes, but the pale skin and hollow gaze broke all semblance of humanity.
"Follow me, need help." It had said and then walked ahead of them, going to where the rumbling had come from.
Jerome had insisted it was a trick, but Jeff just pointed out they were going there anyway and any lead is better than nothing. That was when Jerome brought up the 'jerkoff' conversation again. The whole time was spent with Jeff arguing about his sexuality and Jerome wandering about Jeff's lifestyle. The zombie didn't say anything, just walked infront as if it didn't hear anything.
Then they'd reached the shack... Jerome wished they hadn't.
Inside was stinking, but not like the usual smell of mold and neglect, it was the smell of...death. The stench of blood hit them like a fist before they even walked through the entrance. Inside, the blood stains and brutally killed bodies had drained the color from Jeff's face. Jerome had raced outside to vomit, his heaves a cry of horror and revulsion from what he'd seen.
Jeff and Jerome had been guards for a while, but they usually got simple work, rarely taking down any zombies. This wasn't to say they were squimish, you couldn't be and survive in old Greenhit. There were just things, of a certain level of horror, they hadn't seen.
True, they, like most survivors ate human flesh when the option was the only option. Most survivors did, and so human butchery wasn't something new. However, what was inside the shack wasn't the butchering of potential meals.
It was outright slaughter.
Jeff had stood by the entrance, his eyes just going left and right, looking at all the dead bodies. He couldn't look away, no matter how disgusting or gruesome it was. The zombie had walked past him, looked around and walked to one body, a fat man holding a little girl. It was only after The zombie lifted the little girl and presented her to Jeff, that he realised it was Miss V and snapped out of it.
He'd called Jerome back in, taking the sleeping girl and handed her over to him. Jerome had quickly ran out of there, quick to get Miss V to a healer or someone to help. Jeff had stayed, watching The zombie walk to another sleeping body of a red haired boy and pick him up. The zombie held him in his arms, as he walked out of the shack, not once did he say anything to Jeff.
When Mama V came back, and was informed of what happened...both him and Jerome were reassigned new duties. Whether as reward , or what Jeff believed, as punishment was unclear. Jerome was assigned to be Miss V's personal guard till she woke up and Jeff was placed outside the red haired boy's room. Miss V had woken up six hours later, so Jerome went back to his regular duties.
The red haired boy, on the other hand, was still asleep. For a whole day, he had not woken up yet. Jeff was feeling disgruntled and frustrated but he didn't dare questions Mama V, or she'd send him on territory patrol, outside where all the zombies were.
Speaking of zombies, Jeff raised his head as he heard the familiar steps of The zombie coming over. The zombie had come again and again, every hour, to check if the red haired was awake or not. Jeff found it weird, and despite himself, was curious how a zombie could be so...human. But it's not like The zombie ever talked to him, so he couldn't ask. He doubted it would reply either, so he just kept shut.
The zombiie walked towards him, it's steps slow but not the stagnant zombie shuffle in most common undead. Jeff gazed ahead with a disinterested look, glancing at it occasionally whilst keeping an even face.
"Goodbye."
"Huh?" Jeff fully turned his head this time, having heard the soft voice of a child.
A bright flash of various lights oozed out from The zombie's chest, and it fell down to its knees. The lights were a mixture of red, green, blue and golden mystic flashes. They twisted and formed the form of a little blonde haired boy, and Jeff's jaw dropped to the floor.
What was he seeing!?
The little boy looked at The zombie and patted it's head, gently ruffling it's hair. A green jacket and baggy blue pants were on the boys body and he looked like a child from the shelters... except that his eyes were on fire. Literal blazing balls of golden flames were in his eye sockets as he looked at the kneeling zombie.
"Mother says she is done being nice and we should not help anymore. So, when the Hollow moon rises, she will let the Gates stay open and won't show favor anymore. " The little boy said and Jeff felt a tingling in his ear that was sweet and uncomfortable," I hope you evolve, then you can help Eldest with the horrors. Goodbye."
The boy dispersed into a swirl of golden vapours that shot out into the air, vanishing like they had never been. Jeff stood transfixed, his mind struggling to grasp what had happened, less than ten metres from him. From the light, to the boy and the vanishing.
"What...was that?" Jeff asked no one in particular.
"Graah!"
Jeff stiffened, his eyes going towards the former kneeling zombie. It was standing now, and it had...changed. Gone was the human like pallor, the slow steps and it now only had one eye. In the moments that the boy disappeared, the zombie had changed to zombie. It had always been a zombie , Jeff knew that, but there was always some humane like way it acted and seemed. Yet that was gone, for in the next second, it charged to feast on his flesh.
"Ahhhh!"