The power had gone out a few days ago. Keith and Connor had adjusted quickly to it, but were scared regardless. Their parents had yet to come home from work, it had been days, so many in fact, that the kids forgot how long of an absence it was and assumed they were never coming home. Keith, the older of the two, suggested that they had become monsters like the ones outside. Keith went so far as to say, “maybe space slugs had taken over their brains!” Connor laughed at the idea at first and then cried. They both cried, and eventually their tears ran out and their bellies ached.
The last few days had been a crash course on what not to do. They had feasted on sugary goods, candies, snacks, and had suffered the consequences of such poor choices. They also neglected to brush their teeth and shower, at least at first, then, gradually Keith began to remember the many lessons taught to them by their parents and teachers. Health and hygiene began slowly making appearances the past two days and they were close to becoming responsible kids once again.
The young warriors worked together to push various pieces of furniture around to barricade the doors. They locked the windows and drew the blinds shut. The two kids basically turned the entire house into a fort strong enough to withstand the space-slug driven monsters that sometimes wanted to get in. There were a few instances where the monsters tried to get in, and one almost did. Keith had found flashlights and Connor knew where their mother hid the lighters so they could light candles when they needed to. The power had gone out before and that’s what they always did. Their father would get the flashlights and their mother would light candles. They always thought it was cool when it happened, but they didn’t think it was cool anymore.
They turned their bedroom and bunk bed into a headquarters where a spare sheet and blanket draped overhead to form a makeshift tent from the top of the bunk to the closet door. Connor kept a toy gun in the waistline of his camouflage pajamas and he held one of his walkie-talkie’s from their Spy-Child set that Keith had originally gotten as a present but decided he was too old to have fun with, so he handed it down to his brother. Keith now had the other half of the set clipped onto the waistline of his pants. Connor also left his stuffed animals in various parts of the home to act as guards, Munk-Munk (a bright pink creature that looked like a cross between a dinosaur and a spider), for instance stood guard at the top of the stairs.
The two of them sat in the center of their headquarters, with two flashlights positioned on the ground in an attempt to illuminate the comics they tried to read. It was much easier during the day but neither one of them could sleep. Keith gripped the pages of a well-worn issue of Green Lantern and Connor was stumbling his way through an issue of Action Comics. As Keith was hoping his hero would shine his emerald light upon him, a light came through the window. It wasn’t an emerald light, but it was a light all the same, and a blinking one at that. After a few more blinks Keith put down his comic and walked over to the window. Connor paid him no attention as he furiously followed the mayhem on the page, bouncing from word balloon to word balloon.
As his little eyes peeked through the blinds he noticed the light blink again and again. Just past the trees and beyond his neighbor’s window was Kayla thumbing the light to her flashlight. Their homes were right next to each other, a distance not more than ten feet with a row of thin trees between them. Keith pulled the blinds up and began waving like a lunatic on a sugar rush. Connor couldn’t help but toss his comic to the side and see what the big fuss was all about. When he saw what his brother had seen, he acted the same way. Kayla waved back and shook her flashlight triumphantly. Keith and Kayla had been classmates since they began schooling and occasionally they would all hang out together. Keith wondered if her parents were taken over as well. Kayla disappeared from the window for a few minutes and the two young boys clung to the windowsill waiting for her to reappear. When she did, she had a large piece of yellow construction paper with the words ‘trapped in my room, sooo hungry’ written in red marker. Keith’s eyebrows furrowed as the gravity of Kayla’s situation hit him. Though he was still too young to fully grasp the situation he knew she needed food and he had to figure out a way of getting it to her or getting her to it. Connor continued waving.
…to be continued in Stay Dead: Kings of the Castle Part 2!
Keith continued to pace back and forth tapping himself in the forehead with his flashlight. After a dozen or so taps to his head he left the room in a hurry and headed to the basement. He quickly returned with a spindle of twine and a roll of duct tape. Connor looked at him quizzically and then returned to staring out the window at Kayla who looked sad, sick, and excited all at the same time. Keith ran back out of the room and returned with a bunch of food and an old plastic shopping bag. He filled the bag with the food and threaded the rope through the handles on the bag. He moved the bag, tape and rope close to the window and reclaimed his spot at the windowsill. Connor looked at all the stuff.
“What are you gonna do with that,” he asked.
“Kayla needs it, you read the sign… and we have to help her,” Keith said as he puffed out his little chest.
“Okay,” Connor replied.
“I have to get on the roof, and you have to help me,” Keith said.
“Okay,” Connor said again.
Keith opened the window just enough to poke his head out. He looked around for the monsters and didn’t see any. He pushed the window all the way up and Connor poked his head out as well. They both looked around for a minute and decided that the coast was clear. Keith now hung out the window reaching for the gutter. His hand grasped the edge of the gutter as he wedged his foot in the corner that the drainage pipe and wall created. He then shoved off the windowsill and was able to pull himself onto the roof. He did so with relative ease though the gutter made a number of squeaks. Connor then tossed the bag up to him, followed by the tape and rest of the rope.
Connor looked up at the edge of the roof and couldn’t see his brother any more. He became nervous but kept himself quiet. Keith quietly made his way to the edge of the roof. Between the two homes was a tree, a younger tree with thin branches, branches just thick enough to hold Keith’s weight. He slung the rope around his shoulder and stuck the tape in the bag. He took a running start and jumped into the tree. He climbed down a few branches and was now level with Kayla who hung out of her window in amazement. Her mouth watered as Keith tossed her the bag of food. He was too far out to hand it to her, so luckily she was able to catch it. She tore the bag open and began eating like no one he’d ever seen. She slugged two juice boxes in under as many minutes. A smile covered her face and crumbs decorated her chin. Keith tossed roll of tape to Kayla and she caught it.
“Tape the rope down… it’ll be easier to get you more stuff,” Keith instructed her.
“Okay, cool!” Kayla exclaimed.
Keith could hear moaning coming from inside Kayla’s home. Kayla turned to look at the door. She could hear her mother’s dead fingers clawing at it. Her fingernails¬—broken and ripped—peeled, and chipped paint off the door’s surface. Kayla cringed at the sound and immediately looked saddened.
“I don’t want to stay here,” she whispered.
“The tree is too far for you to jump,” Keith whispered back.
“Please…” she begged.
“How?” he asked.
“I don’t know,” she said as she began to cry.
The scraping at the door had gotten louder. Her mother was now gnawing at the door with her teeth. She had splinters in her gums but the grip of death was too tight for her to feel any earthly pain. Kayla continued to cry by the window and Keith could do nothing but join her.
Across the street stumbling from behind another home was another dead thing. Keith heard the creature moan and he turned to see were it was coming from. He recognized the thing as his father’s friend, Henry. Most of Henry’s face was missing. He had severe wounds across much of his upper body. His clothes were torn and frayed. He staggered across the street with a foot so badly mangled he was practically moving on his ankle.
“Monster,” he whispered, pointing his little finger at the thing.
Keith shuffled his position and lost his footing. He slipped off the branch and clung by one arm, dangling from the tree. He kicked his feet searching for another branch and found nothing. His hand slid off the branch and he fell to the ground. Kayla screamed. Henry, the dead man from next-door, staggered ever closer.
…to be continued in Stay Dead: Kings of the Castle Part 3!
Keith fought to suck air back into his lungs; the fall from the tree literally knocked the wind out of him. He only slightly twisted his ankle, grunting, he stood up. He could hear Kayla screaming something but he couldn’t make it out. His head was spinning and his eyes locked onto Henry, who was almost to the tree. Keith took off in a sprint and headed for the front door of his home. Connor hung out the window with a shocked expression.
“What are you doing down there?” Connor asked his brother.
“Fell. Get the door! Hurry,” Keith yelled up to him.
“There’s more,” Kayla screamed.
Connor ran down the stairs to the front door. He tried desperately to move the couch that he and his brother only days ago moved there. He pushed and pushed and managed to barely budge the couch an inch. Keith banged furiously at the door.
“C’mon! Open the door,” he yelled.
Connor pushed again and again. Another inch and another step closer Henry was. Keith continued to smash his small fist into the door. Connor gave up on the couch and ran to the window a few feet away. He climbed up the small bookshelf and unlocked it. He put all his strength into pulling the window up and he nearly fell back as a result.
“Keith! Over here,” Connor called out to him.
Henry stood between the boy and the window. Keith ran straight at him and dodged his slow lumbering hands as they swooped down for him. By the time Henry turned around Connor was pulling his brother’s arm inside the window as Keith kicked his feet up and eventually in. Henry’s dead fingers clawed at the window as Connor locked it. The two boys ran back to the safety of their headquarter. Munk-Munk remained vigilant in his duty of guarding the stairway.
They looked out the window and waived at Kayla. She waived back and looked as relieved as a scared little girl could. Down below on the neatly mowed lawn gathered a small contingency of the local neighborhood dead. Their moans filled the evening air.
“You have to be really quiet and they’ll go away,” Kayla yelled.
“We know that already,” replied Connor.
“When they go away I’ll shine my flashlight at your window,” said Keith.
Kayla nodded. She sat below the window staring at the door her mother still scraped at. She wept silently and pulled her knees into her chest. Keith and Connor sat under their makeshift tent silently thumb-wrestling. The creatures gathered around the home scratching and clawing at the siding, the windows, and the doors. They carried on till early morning when the chirping of birds broke their focus. Dead eyes looked into the sky as the birds created a cacophony. They littered the trees and rooftops and a select few adorned the electrical wires. The dead things stumbled in different directions, each trying to find a noisemaker to take apart.
The kids had all fallen asleep hours ago and the chirping birds served to stir them to wake. Kayla refused to fall back to sleep but the boys had no trouble shaking off the early morning intrusion and returning to their dreams. Kayla sat by the window staring out waiting for one of them to wake. She rummaged through the bag Keith was so kind to get to her and grabbed a cereal bar. She nibbled at it slowly, trying not to make any noise. Her mother had wandered off in search of noisier prey.
Now awake, the boys wiped the crust from their eyes and stumbled to the window. They didn’t see any creatures around but when they turned to Kayla’s window she was smiling and waving at them. The boys waved back.
…to be continued in Stay Dead: Kings of the Castle Part 4!
After making sure there were no monsters in sight Keith climbed back up to the roof. He crawled over to the edge closest to Kayla’s window and lay on his stomach. The tree branches didn’t allow them to make eye contact but they could vaguely see one another through the leaves. Keith searched for his rope and found most of it dangling from the tree, the end Kayla taped still hung from her window—so much for making things easier.
“Do you need something to eat, Kayla?” Keith asked.
“Not yet, I still have some. Not much. I want to get out of here,” she said.
“I know, but how can you?”
“I don’t know,” she replied, “maybe if my mom ever leaves, I can just run outside.”
“Yeah—hey, me and Connor can try to make her come outside,” he said excitedly.
“Alright, it sounds dangerous though,” Kayla said.
“Yup. You ready to run?” Keith asked.
“What? Not right now! Let me put some clothes in my school bag first, and then…”
“Okay, geeeeez, I was just kidding anyway,” Keith said, “yell when you’re ready, I’m going back inside.”
Once back inside Keith explained the plan to Connor. He was more than happy to take part in it. They went downstairs and pushed the couch just enough to open the door and fit through it.
Kayla quietly stepped toward her closet and pulled from it her backpack. She put a number of clothes, and a few keepsakes inside and zipped it up. She put her sneakers on and tied them tight. She sniffed at her underarms and frowned. She’d been trapped inside her bedroom for days. She smelled the worst she could ever remember smelling. She’d had to use her garbage pale as a toilet, emptying it out the window when she felt secure enough to do so and after her shame of the act dissolved. She was nervous about joining the boys—she hoped that she could shower once there and have them not notice her odor. Regardless, she couldn’t stay in her room any longer. Her mother had managed to scrape a large weak-spot on the other side of the door, her fingers surely splinter ridden, and it was only a matter of time before she bore a hole. She pushed the thoughts from her mind and went to the window.
“I’m ready,” she yelled.
Keith and Connor ran to the window and leaned out. Their faces carried excited grins.
“All right! When you hear me yell ‘run’ then you run,” Keith said.
“Okay,” Kayla replied.
The two boys ran down the stairs. Keith grabbed a baseball bat from the foyer closet.
“You stay here and make sure none of those things get in here and when you see us running back open the door,” Keith instructed Connor.
“Uh-huh,” Connor replied.
Keith crept out the front door and ran toward the tree. He looked up at Kayla who was hanging out the window watching him intensely. Keith continued to the backyard of Kayla’s home. He made his way up the back deck and toward the door. All of the excitement Keith had been feeling turned to dread and fear. He was approaching eleven years of age and his youthful carefree existence had never really known fear. Kids are born free, fear is something they learn, and Keith was only beginning to learn. He opened the door anyway and at the other end of the hall he could see Kayla’s mother. She looked grey and her hands were covered in her own dried blood. She stood facing the wall as if lost in thought. Keith banged the baseball bat on the door. She turned to face the noise as Keith banged again. Her swollen feet stepped in his direction. He banged again and she continued to creep forward. Keith stood his ground, shaking in fear. He looked around the yard to see if any other monsters had heard him—nothing. Kayla’s mother was now closer to Keith than she was to her previous position and he felt this was as good a time as any to tell Kayla to run, so he did.
“Kayla! Run to the front door,” he yelled up to her.
She didn’t respond but he heard her running down the stairs. Keith banged the doorframe again as the dead mother was nearly at the door. Keith backed up and was now standing at the far end of the deck. Kayla was now running outside the home toward Keith’s. Once Keith saw her doing so, he ran off the deck and toward her. He caught up to her and they both stopped in their tracks. Approaching them were several dead creatures, many of their faces familiar. Behind them crept Kayla’s mother.
…to be continued in Stay Dead: Kings of the Castle Part 5!
Keith grabbed Kayla by the arm and ran to the back of his house, they didn’t exactly have a back door but Keith’s home had a set of steel doors that led into the basement. Connor ran downstairs to the basement. Keith opened the steel door and he and Kayla climbed in and closed it. They sat on cement stairs in a small dark nook between the steel doors and the door that Connor now unlocked. Dead hands grasped and clawed at the steel doors.
They slowly crept upstairs being sure not to make anymore noise than what was necessary. Keith led the way as his chest still-pounded with adrenaline. Connor looked a little scared and Kayla had the expression of abject terror. Before too long they were huddled by their bedroom window and peeking out. There were dozens upon dozens of the dead things surrounding the home. It was more than they had ever seen. They saw a kid in the group, a friend of Keith’s from school. The entire side of his body was mangled. His innards hung slightly out of his stomach. They gasped and moved away from the window.
Hours passed and the creatures outside still tried to claw there way inside the house. The sun hung over head and Connor wondered where the birds had gone. He wondered if they would come back to distract the monsters once again, leaving the monsters to forget he, his brother and Kayla were inside.
Outside, far from view from the children, was a man in an old dark blue van peering through the lens of his binoculars. He licked his chapped lips and hoped the kids would look out the window again. He loved kids, always did. He loved them something fierce and enjoyed watching them every chance he could. He used to sit at the playground, reading his paper and watching the kids play. The playgrounds are empty now, but the burning itch deep inside the man’s gut needs to be scratched anyway. Now, he wonders if he can do more than watch.
…to be continued in Stay Dead: Kings of the Castle Part 6!
Nightfall came quickly for the kids but the creatures could care less. They continued to pull and pry at the siding, to scrape at the doors, and claw at the windows. Keith, Connor, and Kayla sat cross-legged in the center of their room with the window open. They hoped by being quite that maybe the things would forget, or find something else to chase after, as they often did. There were too many this time, it was as if they kept each other going.
The man in the van had given up on watching and crawled to the back of the van where he would be out of eyesight. He snuggled up on a bench seat and wrapped himself in a child’s blanket. The blanket had little farm animals arranged in an obnoxious pattern. He closed his eyes and hoped he could catch a few winks before introducing himself to the kids.
Connor’s eyebrow moved up in curios arc. He had an idea. “Firecrackers,” he mumbled.
“What,” Keith asked his younger brother.
“Firecrackers,” he repeated.
“Oh, man! Why didn’t I think of that,” Keith said.
“Think of what,” Kayla asked sheepishly.
“We can distract them with firecrackers,” Keith said excitedly.
“Mom took them away from me… she hid them in her closet,” Keith frowned.
They hunched over and snuck over to Keith and Connor’s parent’s bedroom. They didn’t often venture into their room. The family pictures made them sad and often pulled tears from their eyes. The room smelled of perfume, clean linens, and looked just as it did before the monsters came. Keith opened the closet door and his father’s work shirts hung across the distance from wall to wall. Aside from different colors they might as well have been the same shirt. Connor pulled a step stool from the back of the closet and Keith used it to reach the top shelf where his mother had hid the firecrackers she took from him a few months ago. He had completely forgotten he had ever had them. His small hand felt around the dusty shelf and could feel only boxes. So, he pulled them down and handed them one by one to Kayla and Connor. Then Keith stepped off the stool and they all began rummaging through the boxes. They came across old photographs and keepsakes, a pack of cigarettes and a lighter, lingerie, and adult magazines. They opened the last box and found a treasure trove of all the things their parents had taken away from the over the years; a pocket knife, whoopee cushion, throwing stars, plenty of other juvenile trinkets and of course the firecrackers. Connor jumped and grabbed them. Keith grabbed the lighter and throwing stars. Kayla grabbed the pocket knife. They all hurried back to their room and tiptoed toward the window.
Keith lit the first pack of firecrackers and launched it out the window. It landed on the front lawn a few feet past the persistent creatures. It crackled and popped. The noise caused many of the dead things to turn toward the noise. Keith lit another pack and was able to throw it a foot or two further. The same noise and the same result; most of the creatures were now away from the house. The rear of the house still had a number of them biting and scraping at the walls. Keith, now in the bathroom, threw the last package of firecrackers out the window which faced the back yard. It worked. All the creatures Keith could see were now moving away from the house in search of a noise they would never be able to find. The three of them high-fived each other and then headed downstairs to the kitchen. Keith grabbed three giant bowls and spoons. Connor pulled a variety of cereal boxes from the pantry and put them on the table. He then grabbed a bottle of soda. The milk was long-gone so, the three of them ate cereal and soda till they felt as if they would pop.
…to be continued in Stay Dead: Kings of the Castle Part 7!
The children continued to sit at the kitchen table long after they filled their bellies. The cereal boxes had mazes and trivia questions on the back and they each took part in the activities. Keith had never given the back of the box more than a passing glance. The television had always been his source of entertainment, but the television wasn’t fun anymore. All the good channels went off the air and all that remained were news reports and emergency broadcasts—grown up stuff and grown up stuff wasn’t fun—so, the backs of cereal boxes would have to do for now.
The man in the van was startled when he heard the firecrackers going off earlier. He waited several minutes before looking out the window to see what was happening outside, and when he did, he noticed the creatures moving away from the house and spreading out. Perfect timing, he thought, and continued to stay away from the window till the things moved out of sight.
Kayla discreetly sniffed at herself. She looked embarrassed and stood up from the table.
“Can I use your shower,” she asked.
“Yeah, why,” Keith replied.
“I haven’t…been able to…” she squeaked out.
“Oh, ok, it’s right upstairs,” he said.
“Thanks,” she said as she ran upstairs.
Connor looked at his brother, “girls are weird,” he told him. “I hate showering,” he continued.
“Yeah, girls are weird all right,” Keith agreed.
The two of them went upstairs into their bedroom once again. They could hear the shower running and what sounded like singing, but they couldn’t make out any words; more evidence of girls being weird. Keith rummaged through his sock draw and pulled out a small blue bottle of cologne. Their father got it for him last year at Christmas. It was the really cheap kind that all kids get when they first start asking for cologne as presents. It smelled like rubbing alcohol and wilted flowers, and after Keith put it on he thought he smelled like a man.
The driver side door of the van creaked open slowly. The man put his foot firmly on the ground and stepped out quietly. He slowly and carefully closed the door behind him. He walked toward the house. His face was red and his palms sweaty. He had plans to do much more than watch tonight.
Kayla found some cotton swabs and cleaned her ears as she stepped out of the bathroom. She exuded a youthful confidence in her appearance after her much needed shower. She was about to ask Keith if he had an extra toothbrush when she heard a noise from outside the front door. She neared the top of the steps and could see the door knob twisting violently. She ran into the boys’ bedroom muttering something the boys’ couldn’t understand and practically leapt out the window. She could see a man trying to get in the front door. Keith and Connor also hung out the window in disbelief, relieved it wasn’t another monster.
“Hey,” Keith called down to him. “What are you doing,” he continued.
“Uh, can you help me? Those things are going to eat me if you don’t let me in,” the man said.
“Okay, hang on,” Keith said.
Keith left his spot at the window to run downstairs. Kayla and Connor looked at the man curiously. They had never seen him before. He smiled at them as Keith opened the door.
…to be continued in Stay Dead: Kings of the Castle Part 8!
The man’s smile only widened as he stepped inside the house. Connor and Kayla looked at him from the top of the stairs. The man looked at them. He nodded and smiled. Keith closed the door behind him and the man helped to push the couch back in front of the door.
“Thanks, big fellow,” the creepy man said.
“No problem, wouldn’t want the space-slug heads to eat you,” Keith said.
“Space-slug heads?” The man laughed.
“Yeah, they’re nasty,” Keith told him.
“Well, they aren’t space-slugs. Hell’s full to the brim, and God don’t want the rest of us,” the man said.
Connor and Kayla were now at the bottom of the steps. They may not of liked the man, but he had something to say and seemed to know more about what was going on outside than they did. They listened.
“What do you mean,” Kayla asked.
“In the bible it says something about the dead rising from their graves so God can judge the living and the dead. The way it looks out there now, I’d say he took all the good people to heaven and left us sinners here to do whatever we want,” the man smiled.
“Well, we’re not sinners. We’re just kids, and I don’t believe in God,” said Kayla.
The man was clearly flabbergasted by Kayla’s remark. He’d never heard such a powerful statement come from a little girl. He sat on the couch with a grin as big as a truck, and slapped his knee.
“Well, that makes two of us kiddo,” the man said, “God isn’t real. Sure, I went to church--even got a cross in house--but that don’t make him real does it? No, it doesn’t,” he said.
“Me and Connor believe in God and we aren’t sinners,” Keith piped up.
“Sure you are, ever do something you weren’t supposed to do?” the man said.
They all fell silent for a moment. The two boys felt guilt creeping up on their spines. They thought the man might know what he was talking about. Kayla remained unimpressed.
“Oh, come on now, I’m just kidding with you kids. You did a good thing by letting me in here, I could’ve been killed but you chose to save me. God likes it when you do good things like that, but enough serious talk. What do you kids like to do?” the man asked.
“We like to play games,” Connor said.
“Heh, me too, kid. I love games.”
Connor got excited and ran to the closet. He pulled out a few games; Checkers, Trouble, and Clue. Connor didn’t quite grasp Clue all-that well, but he liked the pieces it came with.
They sat at the kitchen table once more. The man had pulled a warm beer from the fridge and opened it with a ring he had on his finger. The kids thought it was a cool trick. As the night progressed they would jump from game to game. They talked and the man answered many questions. He told a lot of tall tales and Kayla remained unimpressed. She could see some of the holes in his stories. The more he drank, the more holes became visible. After a while he began to make expressions that reminded Kayla of some of the older boys that had crushes on her at school. She felt weird around the man now. She felt inside her pocket to make sure her pocket knife hadn’t magically disappeared—it hadn’t.
…to be continued in Stay Dead: Kings of the Castle Part 9!
The man nearly finished all of the warm beer, and the kids grew tired of playing games. They wanted to go to sleep and made no qualms of making it known. They yawned and stretched, and the man just watched. He had a buzz, but it was a sobering one. It dulled his desire, and made him second-guess his next course of action. He’d always been a patient man. Waiting was in his nature. He saw no reason to rush; their parents were most likely dead and certainly not coming home any time soon. There were no authorities coming to the rescue. He had all the time in the world. The kids left the table and went upstairs to put on their pajamas. The man stayed at the table trying to get another warm sip of beer past his lips.
“Do you kids mind if I stay for the night,” he asked as they climbed the steps.
“Maybe,” Keith said.
The man didn’t like ‘maybe,’ the world was run on yes and no, and nothing else.
Once upstairs in the safety of their makeshift headquarters, Keith locked the door and turned to Kayla. They both had worry in their eyes, and though Connor didn’t, he knew they did.
“This guy is giving me the creeps,” Keith said.
“Big time!” Kayla exclaimed, “he keeps looking at me funny, I’m scared.”
“Yeah, me too,” Keith said quietly.
“We should tell him to leave,” Kayla suggested.
“I don’t think he’ll listen,” he replied.
“What are you talking about,” Connor asked.
“We think this guy might be a bad guy,” Kayla told him.
“Why? He’s not trying to eat us,” Connor said.
“He’s creepy,” she said.
“Yeah…but all grown-ups are,” Connor smiled.
Connor was always full of little bits of wisdom. Grown-ups were creepy, and the more they aged the creepier they became. Hair starts showing up in odd places, skin wrinkles and becomes spotted. Their ears get big, and wobbly, and eventually they die. Even in death they are creepy. Now, after death, they are creepier still.
The man snooped around downstairs. He moved from the kitchen cabinets to the pantry, the window to the base of the stairs. He went from feeling exhilarated to depressed and back and forth between the two. He was a yo-yo ready to snap. The kids had not come downstairs. He started to worry and began pacing back and forth.
Connor, Kayla, and Keith began pushing one of their dressers in front of the door. The one thing they could think of; was to lock themselves inside, and stay far away from the man who now paced around their inherited home. In the course of pushing and shoving, a toy tank fell to the ground and cracked. It made a loud enough noise to be heard in such a quiet house. The man heard it, and walked toward the steps.
“You kids okay?” He called.
They did not respond.
“What are you guys doing?” He asked.
They did not respond.
The creepy man knocked on the door and the kids didn’t answer. He tried the doorknob; it didn’t have a lock. He twisted the knob and pushed forward but the door wouldn’t move—it was blocked.
“What are you guys doing?” He asked again.
“Stay away!” Kayla yelled
“Get out of our house,” Keith followed up.
Connor sat on the edge of his bed. He was as pale as wet paper and trembling. The man laughed. He laughed deep and hard. He seemed to find genuine humor in the situation.
He began shouldering the door. The kids screamed at first, but their fears quickly turned to anger. The man rammed the door again, and the dresser began to budge. The door was now open enough to fit his arm through. He reached his arm in and felt around. Keith grabbed his arm as Kayla and Connor pushed the dresser against the door again. They weren’t strong enough to push it with sufficient force to injure the man, but it did put the man at a disadvantage.
Kayla, having been trapped in her own bedroom before, knew that something had to be done. She pulled the pocketknife from her pants and opened it. The blade was sharp but small. She held it tightly in her fist, the blade pointing downward. Keith was struggling to keep the man’s arm from disappearing behind the door. Kayla raised the knife to shoulder-length, and plunged it down into the man’s wrist. He screamed. The man was able to pull his arm back as Kayla pulled the knife out. She was surprised to see how much blood the small wound left behind. Connor was crying. Keith looked dumbfounded. Kayla looked satisfied. The man continued to scream, and as he did so, he shouldered the door once more.
“Little b***h, little b***h,” he screamed, “let me in!”
…to be continued in Stay Dead: Kings of the Castle Part 10!
Despite the man’s angered pleas and curses, he could not convince them to let him in or to simply come out. He punched and kicked and the door began to splinter—he’d be in sooner rather than later. Kayla searched for a way to stab him again, but to her disappointment she could not find one that involved moving the dresser or venturing beyond the door. Fear froze the kids. They did not know what to do or where to go. They had only two options: open the door, or go out the window.
“Come on, we have to go,” Keith said.
Keith moved to the window before either of them could ask where. He climbed onto the windowsill and began making his way to the roof once more. The door continued to splinter as the man behind it howled in wild rage. He managed to budge the dresser with each blow to the door. Keith hung from the roof with his hand outstretched downward to help Connor shimmy himself up to roof. Kayla swung her head from Connor to the door and back again—the man was almost in, and Connor was almost up. Kayla gripped her knife tightly, her lip quivered. She stepped closer to the door which now had a fist-sized hole in it. She could see the man panting but still shouldering the door. He was slowing down, tired, and in pain. She quietly climbed onto the dresser and as the man shoulder the door again she stuck him once more with the pocketknife. He howled and clutched at his shoulder. The blade was buried deep and as the man moved away from the door the knife went with him. He pulled the knife from his shoulder and put his face up to the hole in door. His eyes were huge with hate and when he saw the young girl who stabbed him he screamed a number of obscenities at her.
He screamed out all the things he wanted to do to her once he got through the door—things no child should ever hear. Things no child should ever have to face. He stuck his head through the hole and flicked his tongue up and down in quick succession. She spat at the man and ran for the window. His words stuck with her and made her feel dirtier than she had been while locked away in her bedroom.
As Kayla began climbing to the roof the man burst through the door with the small pocketknife in his hairy-knuckled hand. His shirt was torn and covered in blood and his teeth looked like dirty yellow knives. Keith pulled her up by her arm as she kicked herself up. The man hung out the window slashing the little knife upwards in a desperate attempt to slice her.
He pocketed the knife and pulled himself up to the roof. His shoulder throbbed in pain as he did so, but his adrenaline dulled the pain. Before the kids knew it—he was up there with them. Had they thought he would make it to the roof they would have kicked him down, or tried to stop him. He now stood on the roof, knife in hand, panting like a mad man. The kids backed up toward the edge of the roof near Kayla’s home. Once again they were left with two choices: stay on the roof, or jump into the tree that separated the two homes. To the man’s surprise, they jumped.
…to be continued in Stay Dead: Kings of the Castle Part 11!
Luckily the three landed safely, with the exception of a few scrapes and scratches, in the brush of the tree. They moved like monkeys, climbing quickly along the branches till they had to jump to the ground. The man, still in disbelief, followed their cue and jumped after them. He broke through the brush and snapped many branches before he fell to the ground. He landed in such a way that his tibia cracked and protruded through his flesh. He lay there writhing in pain, screaming. His breaths were labored and angry. The kids looked at him triumphantly. The kids didn’t look long however because the noise they made warranted the attention of the roaming dead things—and they crept toward them.
The kids ran back to the house but the front door was locked. They attempted to go around to the back of the house but the creatures were too close for comfort. The windows were locked as well. The kids had done a good job of fortifying the home, too well in fact, because they could no longer get inside. Left with no other options they ran.
The man, still-writhing in pain, squirmed toward the house. Had he been paying attention to the children as intently as he had for the last few days he would’ve known there was no easy way inside. The creatures stumbled closer to him as he pushed himself along the lawn. With each push came agonizing pain from the bone-pierced-flesh of his leg. The creatures descended upon the man. Whether they were drawn by the noise, his scent, the growing puddle of blood that surrounded him, or from something unseen by human eyes, they fell upon him. They clawed, and grabbed at his wounds. They grasped at his mouth and eyes. They bit him over and over again, devouring his flesh. The man’s shrieks of agony turned into the sounds of gurgling as his own blood pooled in the back of his throat.
The children ran into a cluster of bushes and watched as the savagery continued. The creatures eviscerated the man. He ceased to make any noises. The dead things chewed on his flesh and innards. They plucked out his eyes, his tongue, and began clawing at his head. The kids could no longer watch. They were near vomiting, but the noise would surely give them away. Fear forced their stomachs to subside.
Keith looked for a way to get back inside his home, but he found none. The dead things grew in numbers and surrounded the corpse of the man whose intentions were cruel. Though the scene was disturbing and would undoubtedly leave an indelible mark on each of the kids, Keith could not feel sorry for the man. As far as he was concerned—he got what he deserved. With no idea of where to go, the kids ran off into the night, surrounded by darkness, the only light was that of the moon and the stars.
…to be continued in Stay Dead: Kings of the Castle Part 12!
Keith, Connor, and Kayla walked for over an hour. They kept mostly to the shadows and moved slowly. Their run-ins with the dead creatures of the night were few and far between but terrifying nonetheless. They passed a number of homes that were boarded up, and tried, on one occasion, to gain access to one. The people inside either couldn’t hear their knocking and pleading, or chose to ignore it.
Being the vigilant trio they were, they carried on. They came across a number of streets that still had its streetlights on. They preferred walking down those—but still clung to the safety of shadows. At the end of the street they spotted a police cruiser parked in the middle of the street with its door ajar. They ran towards it.
Sitting slumped on the pavement was the remains of a police officer. His head was a pile of swollen mush sitting on his shoulder. Flies and maggots crawled and burrowed atop the corpse. There was a pool of blood with chunks of human meat scattered around the dead man in blue. Connor vomited on site of the man. Keith stepped closer, and Kayla stood her ground between him and his brother. The man was clearly dead, he had multiple wounds; tears, bites, bullet holes, and there was what was left of his head—which wasn’t much.
Keith reached forward, his fingers snatching the dead man’s badge. He pulled it from his frayed and blood-caked shirt—wiping the blood on the hardened blue fabric. He attached the badge to his pants pocket. Kayla watched not really understanding why he was taking it from corpse. Connor sat on the curb spitting the sour taste of puke from his mouth. Keith then unbuckled the man’s belt, his hands trembling badly. He struggled removing his belt—but he eventually removed it—and slung it over his shoulder. Keith now had a badge and the gun to go with it, as well as an extra clip, a baton, a set of handcuffs and its keys—all thanks to the belt.
The trio continued down the street, the next block’s streetlights were out, but there was a light in the distance. Not knowing what else to do, they headed in its direction.
As they walked passed the last lit streetlight before turning down the next street a dead thing (with only half its body left) crawled from underneath a truck. It looked burnt and p***y. Its forearms were reduced to barely-skinned bone crutches. The creature’s innards dragged behind it, though not much was left inside, save that of dried blood and maggots. It startled the trio—and, unable to prevent the natural reaction, they screamed—letting all within earshot know where they were. The creature crept closer, what it lacked in speed it made up tenfold in its ghastly and grotesque appearance. Keith fumbled for the gun as they backpedaled away from the crawling remains of the dead man. He finally had the gun, holding it in both hands, as he’d seen in many movies and television shows and pointed it at the creepy crawly. He pulled the trigger, but nothing happened. He shook the gun in his hands and tried again but still nothing. Despite all the knowledge he gained from movies, the safety feature on any given firearm was never acknowledged. He frantically tried one more time to shoot the creature but still the gun did not fire. The creature was now on his leg and Keith had no choice but to smash the gun down on the dead things head. He did so again and again, the gun and his hands were cover in pulpy bits of flesh, sinew, and thick coagulated blood. He still held the gun as if he intended to shoot it but used it like a hammer. In the melee the safety became unlocked. A shot rang out from the gun and Connor screamed. The dead thing lied at Keith’s feet as his brother squirmed in the street, “you shot me,” he cried.
…to be continued in Stay Dead: Kings of the Castle Part 13!
Connor squirmed on the ground clutching at his bleeding leg. He lay in a pool of blood as he cried. Kayla tried to help but had no idea what to do. Keith dropped the gun and ran to his brother’s side.
“Oh my God, I’m sorry…sorry…don’t die…please God, I’m so sorry, Connor! Please be okay, please!” Keith begged.
Connor refused to move, he was stricken with fear and pain. Creatures crept forth from the shadows, lurching towards the sounds of Connor’s pain. Kayla was the first to notice, she pointed into the darkness at pale limbs and faces that swept through the cover of night. Keith ran back for his gun, wiping the gore from it on the grass. He pointed it into the darkness ahead as he urged his brother to get up.
“C’mon, Connor, get up man. We have to go, they’re coming!” Keith pleaded.
Connor continued to squirm in the street, and the dead things continued to creep forward. Keith aimed his gun at the closest creature, and fired. The blowback made him stagger, but Keith kept his footing. He couldn’t tell if he hit his mark, and if he did, it didn’t matter cause the dead thing moved forward still, unaffected. Trying to aim for the head, Keith fired again, nothing. The noise from his gun seemed only to pull more creatures from the darkness. Kayla had managed to get Connor to his feet. He was covered in his own blood and kept both hands on his leg. He was sobbing, and his chest heaved. Kayla supported the side of his body where his wound was and helped him begin to move. His steps were slower than those of the dead, and every one agonizing.
Keith fired again, and again, to no avail. He squeezed the trigger once more, and the gun refused to fire. Keith tried again, but the gun was empty. A shot rang out through night air, followed another. Two of the creatures fell to the ground. They didn’t get back up. A man emerged from the darkness carrying a rifle. He wore dark clothes, and a black hat. A dog trotted along behind him, remaining silent but with such a powerful presence she didn’t need to bark.
“Stay where you are,” the man called.
The trio didn’t move. They didn’t so much as whimper. The man raised his rifle and took down a few more of the lurking dead. He whistled and his dog trotted toward the kids. They stood as if made of ice, or cement. The dog sniffed each one of them, giving a sad whine once she sniffed Connor. The man jogged over to the kids, slinging his rifle over his shoulder.
“Are you kids okay?” he asked.
“I shot my brother, he’s gonna die,” Keith cried.
The man looked at Connor’s wound, and patted him on the shoulder. The kids were afraid of the man and his dog, but they tried not to show it.
“You’re brother will be fine, but we have to get him to my house. I can stitch him up there. You kids can meet my son, and the rest of us. Come on, before these things get any closer. I’m Reggie by the way, and this is Peanut,” Reggie pointed at his dog.
He grabbed Connor and threw him over his shoulder. Reggie jogged back in the direction he came, Kayla, Keith, and Peanut followed behind.
…to be continued in Stay Dead: Kings of the Castle Part 14!
After evading a number of rotting creatures, Reggie arrived at his home. It sat on the top of a hill with woodlands to the back of it and a tall iron and brick fence all around the lot. It was one of the bigger homes in the neighborhood, also in one of the less clustered sections. The windows on the lower level were boarded up, but Keith could see a warm light coming from behind one of them.
“We’re home,” Reggie said, clearly happy about it.
He was out of breath, as were the kids, and Peanut panted heavily at their feet. Reggie was quick to unlock the gate and usher everyone in. Dead things had followed them, though they were much too slow to keep up with their pace.
Once inside, Reggie rushed Connor to the kitchen. He cleared off the kitchen table and lie Connor on it. Connor was pale, and very weak. He had lost a lot of blood, and Reggie needed to close up the wound before he lost anymore. He grabbed a bunch of rags and dish-towels, then ran out of the room and quickly came back with a bottle of rubbing alcohol, gauze, tape, a pack of needles and thread. He grabbed a pair of meat scissors and cut Connor’s pant leg up to the wound. He cleaned it quickly with the rubbing alcohol, and examined it only quick enough to make sure the bullet went through, which it did.
A young woman, in her late teens, came into the kitchen. She was dressed all in black and looked like a vampire. She wore a ton of make up around her eyes, and black lipstick. Her nails were painted black as well and she had layers of jewelry around her neck.
“Oh my God, is he okay? Do you need help?” she gasped.
“Yeah, can you grab the Neosporin from the medicine cabinet?” he asked. “I forgot it,” he continued.
“Sure, yeah,” she ran off.
Keith and Kayla looked at each other mimicking each other’s raised eyebrows. Then two more people entered the room, an older man with gray hair, and a young boy. They looked at each other but kept silent and watched as Reggie worked his magic. Reggie quickly sowed the seams of Connor’s wound together, by the time he was ready to bandage it the girl in black came back with the Neosporin. He put a thick wad of it on each side and wrapped him up. He brought him into the living room and placed him onto a couch. He was barely conscious. Keith and Kayla looked at him with mixed feelings of guilt, fear, and hope.
“Don’t worry, he just needs a lot of rest. He’ll be fine. Now, do either of you have any cuts, or bites, anything like that?” Reggie asked.
They both shook their heads from side to side.
“Okay. Are either of you hungry?”
They shook their heads up and down. Reggie laughed.
“Well, all right, back to the kitchen then. Wash your hands, and we’ll see what we can make for you,” Reggie led the way.
During their meal, Reggie introduced the kids to everybody. They exchanged stories of how they came to be at Reggie’s home, and the stories of how they managed to stay alive thus far. Their stories were equally horrible. Reggie went on to give the kids, with the exception of Connor, a tour of the home. He showed them the generator, which he used sparingly, and a makeshift garden in the garage. He showed them the items he’d been gathering from other homes; tools, food, weapons, etc. Once a day, he’d venture out and bring back whatever supplies he could gather, also looking for other survivors, of which the kids were the only ones he had yet come across. He showed them his son’s room, and a spare room where they could sleep that was close by.
After Reggie finished the tour they returned to the living room. Keith and Kayla sat by Connor’s side as he slept. They looked around at their new home, at the faces of their new friends, and back at each other. They didn’t need to use words to convey that they felt safe. As Keith had with Connor, Keith now developed with Kayla the ability to read each other’s thoughts solely on each other’s subtle expressions. They would stay here until they had to leave, the Kings and Queens of a castle in the middle of a dead kingdom.
END.
I just want to say thank you for reading Stay Dead: Kings of the Castle! It has been a very fun thing for me, and forced me to write on a weekly schedule (14 weeks), which was no easy task. If you’ve enjoyed this little trip into the world of Stay Dead please let me know, I’d like to do another weekly story soon, but if there’s no interest I’ll just keep it to myself, but I’ll probably post it anyway. I’m not sure when or how I will collect this story, but I’ll let you know when I do.
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