Love Never Dies

This story was inspired by 'I will follow you into the dark' by Death Cab for Cutie....

Meet Maya

Every day was the same. The same faces, the same teachers,
the same dull grey halls. Maya kept her head down, focusing on her bright blue
shoes with rainbow laces.

She admitted it, she was Emo. But she didn’t care what other
people thought. She didn’t mind if they were disgusted at her ‘glitter-puke’
outfits, her shaggy brown hair or her bright red lipstick. Maya was simply
herself, unique and outstanding.

The bell rang, awakening her from her stupor. She pushed
through the hot sticky bodies of teens as panic rose in her throat. She slammed
straight into someone.

“Oh my god! I’m so sorry!” Her vision blurred, her face
flushed.

Her gaze immediately fixated downwards when she saw it was a
really cute guy - he had black hair that fell into bright blue eyes, pale skin like a winter moon.

“Hey, it’s no problem,”

Maya stooped down to help him pick up his books. He did the
same.

“Looks like I’ll be late to Spanish 1!” He said with a laugh.

Maya dared a glance at him. Her heart did a somersault.

“Yeah…,” She murmured, standing.

They stood there for a moment, awkwardly.

“Can I have my books? I’m going to be late,” He said,
holding out his hands for them.

Maya blushed crimson and shoved them into his arms, “Yeah.
Sorry,” She scurried away, oblivious to his cries to come back.

***

“Today we will be studying….”

Maya was absently doodling little broken hearts in the
margin of her notebook. She drew one that had an arrow through it and blood
dripping down the paper. Oops. That was her blood. She had to quit chewing her nails.

She set down her pen and glanced up at her biology teacher,
attempting for a moment to actually listen to him, for a change.

His name was Mr. Parkinson. He wasn’t much to look at �" bald
on top with graying hair in a ring around his head; small round glasses perched
on his nose and a slight belly.

He was pacing back and forth in front of the first row of
desks. Thank God she was in the far back corner.

The door opened and the entire classroom turned as one to see
who had come in so late.

It was that cute guy Maya had bumped into.

She stifled an excited squeal and buried her nose into the
only book lying open on her desk �" Inkdeath
by Cornelia Funke.

And of course he had to sit right next to her.

“Timely entry son.”

A burble of laughter rippled through the students.

“Max. Sorry, I’m new here.” He had a funny accent, Maya
noticed. Something Italian maybe? She couldn’t place it…

“Perfectly fine. We all make mistakes on our first day; I’ll
give you that…”

Mr. Parkinson slipped back into his usual lecture-drone.

Max looked slightly startled at this but he snapped out of
it, shook his head, and began to unpack his things from a brown messenger bag
that was slung over his shoulder.

Maya was sneaking peeks at him from over the top of her
book. Max was wearing a long-sleeve black and white horizontal-striped shirt
and black jeans. Osiris shoes! Maya ducked behind her book and smiled into the words inked on the paper, the smell of book filling her nose.

“Ahem,”

Maya peeked over the top of her book.

Max was looking straight at her.

Her heart thudded in her chest.

“Hi.” She whispered.

He grinned, “Hi. Why didn’t you answer me in the hall?”

Maya blinked. Answer him? What on earth was he talking
about?

“I’m sorry. I guess I didn’t hear you.”

He shrugged, “I get it…”

Maya closed her book, “No! I mean…that’s not what I meant….”

“Miss Fiasco!”

She cringed as Mr. Parkinson’s words stung her ears.

“If you and Mr. Aquarian would care to continue this
conversation, I suggest you go out to the hall,”

Max rose at once and walked over to the door.

The students began to murmur among themselves, rumors
spreading like wildfires.

Max paused at the door, looking back at Maya.

“Aren’t you coming?”

Maya stood, “Sure.”

She was used to getting kicked out of class. She had nothing
to lose.

Tough Love

Maya and Max sat slumped against the lockers in the hallway.

They both had their eyes glued to the clock jutting out on a
pole above a row of lockers to their left, willing the hands to move faster.

“So…” Maya started, in an effort to break the silence.

“Hmmph?” Max mumbled, looking over with glassy eyes. He
looked absolutely exhausted.

“Did you just move here or…?”

He shrugged, “Yeah, I moved here.”

He didn’t sound so sure of himself, Maya noted.

She nodded.

“So you haven’t seen the Mountain-Dew-bottle Christmas tree
over on Third Street,
have you?”

He raised a questioning eyebrow.

Maya laughed, “Welcome to hillbilly heck,”

Max tipped his head back and laughed quietly, his eyes
closed, the back of his head resting on the cool metal of the lockers.

Maya fiddled with one of her silly bands absently.

Max opened his eyes and found his gaze drifting towards the
girl.

To Max, Maya was quite beautiful, in her own unique way.

Her eyes were sea-green, like the ocean right after a storm.

He found her staring at him.

“Sorry,” He mumbled, his line of vision focusing on a series
of watermarks on the ceiling.

She shook her head, “Its fine.”

He glanced back at her. She wasn’t acting shy anymore.

Maya smiled.

Max smiled back.

***

Over the next few weeks, Maya and Max found themselves
becoming great friends. They ate together at lunch, met each other in the
morning before the first bell, and generally had a great time.

Max found himself looking out for her. When others picked on
her, he stood up for her and got them to leave her alone.

One day, a crowd of Goth was calling her ‘rainbow-puff’,
surrounding her, pulling on her hair and tried to take her zebra-stripe bag.

“HEY!”

They paused for a moment, glancing at Max before resuming
the torture.

“Leave her �" alone,”
Max’s voice was deadly quiet.

“Whatcha gonna do, punk? Huh? Whatcha gonna do?” One member
of the gang drew up towards Max. This particular goon had a bright red mohawk,
baggy black clothes with chains, and a pierced tongue that caused him to have
slurred speech.

Max decked him right in the face. The guy staggered back
against his fellows. They caught him, holding him upright.

He uttered a particularly nasty profanity at Max and wiped
the blood from his nose.

“You’re gonna pay for that you little �"” (Insert profanity
here)

Max tilted his head to one side and considered the threat.

“No. I don’t think so.”

He withdrew a knife from his belt.

“NO!” Maya screamed but a muscular sophomore with an anchor
tattoo and a shredded white tank-top held her back.

The goon stabbed Max.

Max began to laugh.

“What the-” He drew back.

Maximus Aquarian pulled the knife from his gut and offered
it to the punk, “Here. Sorry, it’s a little dirty now,”

The bully grew pale.

In a matter of a few mere seconds, the gang had all but
vanished from sight, screaming like girls as they fled down the hallway.

They all knew - that knife should have killed Max.

But it didn’t.

“Max!” Maya ran to him and found herself caught up in his
embrace.

“It’s okay. I’m okay,” He murmured, burying his face into
her hair.

She gathered fistfuls of his grey hoodie, confused tears
streaming down her face.

“How are you alive?” Her voice cracked.

Max screwed his eyes shut, thinking to himself �"I’m not…..

The Heart of the Storm

On April Fifth, the student body of Rutherford High School
was flung into a blind panic as the sirens began to howl.

In the little town of Rutherford
in the middle of Kansas,
tornados were common, but when one threatened the high school, fear spread like
a disease throughout every person on the school grounds.

Maya found herself swept up in the crowd of students who
were racing for the exits. Teachers screamed above the ruckus to remain calm
and return to their classrooms, but had no effect on the wild animal instincts
that coursed through the stampeding herd of young adults.

The crowd pushed themselves against the high fence
surrounding the school.

“Max!” Maya cried as a hundred sweaty bodies pressed all
around her, wild fear in their eyes.

A hand grabbed hers and she was relieved to see it was Max.

“Come on,” He plowed through the crowd, pulling her
with him.

The wind whipped her hair into her eyes, slapping her face.

And then they saw it.

Someone began to scream.

The crowd departed, running hell for leather towards the
school.

A large funnel of dust and debris was twisting drunkenly
above Lederman’s field, corn stalks ripped out of the ground, swirling into the
hungry maw of the storm.

Max and Maya ran with their hands clasped together, battling
the vortex that threatened to knock them off their feet.

Max’s fingers slipped from her hand.

“NO!” She whirled around to see him running for the gates.

“What are you doing?! MAX!”

Something was happening to the tornado. It had paused
outside the main gates and began to pulse a strange shade of crimson.

Lightning was laced through its swirling layers, striking
the ground like a whip.

Max shielded his face as the gates snapped open, banging
against the fence.

The vortex began to move towards him.

To Maya’s horror, Max held up his hands in surrender and
walked towards it.

“MAX!” She ran across the tarmac, her heart stuck tight in
her throat.

Max glanced over his shoulder, eyes growing wide when he saw
her.

He put one foot in the tornado as Maya flung herself onto
his back.

They both fell forwards into the heart of the storm.

***

Maya opened her eyes. She blinked for a moment, adjusting to
the dim lighting around her. She was in some kind of basement. Scurrying sounds
came from all around as though the area was inhabited by rats.

She sat up, a chill running down her spine. Looking up, she
saw a small square hole in the ceiling covered by a few boards. Light streaked
down from the cracks between each one.

A deep sickening throaty noise echoed around the dank basement.

Maya jumped to her feet, peering into the darkness.

“Who’s there?!”

The noise occurred again.

A shape shifted in the darkness.

Maya let loose a blood curdling scream as a skeleton hand
reached out from the shadows.

Panic clouded her vision as she pressed herself against the
filthy wall.

The hand was followed by an arm, a ragged sleeve hanging
from it. The rest of the creature followed.

Using its left hand, it pulled itself into the light, the
right hand reaching for Maya.

It was a torso of a man, sliced in the middle, bones and
flesh trailing behind it. Its head was nothing more than a bone skull,
something foul leaking from an empty eye socket.

Maya screeched, her nails skittering against the brick wall.

The thing grabbed the edge of her miniskirt, tugging it
curiously.

It cocked its head to one side, jaw opening as though
confused.

“It’s…a skirt,” She gasped.

A horrid croaking voice was emitted from the mouth, “Skiiiirrrttt….”

“Yep,” She nodded.

The thing made a purring noise and backed away slowly.

Maya felt herself begin to relax.

One of the boards fell to the sandy floor.

The creature hissed, pulling itself into the darkness.

“Wait! Come back…” She had started to warm towards the
strange zombie creature.

“Maya?!”

Maya looked up to see Max’s face peering down into the pit.

“Oh, thank God!” She cried.

“Here!” He threw down a rope, dangling it above her.

Maya clung to it like a drowning rat.

Max leaned back, using all his weight to haul her up.

He grabbed her arms and pulled her the rest of the way once
she was in reach.

She found herself wrapped up in his embrace, her head on his
chest.

“What the heck happened?” She whispered.

He shook his head, “It’s really hard to explain,”

The Nether World

Maya hugged her arms to her chest as an icy wind nipped her
nose. Below her lay the ruins of New
York City, cold and forgotten.

There was no snow but the atmosphere was so cold, frost had
gathered on the rubble at her feet.

The Statue of Liberty was lying face down in the dried up
ocean bed, her torch a cracked shell that had been drug away from it. Lights
came from inside it and throbbing music told her that someone was using it as a
club to party in.

People darted like shadows in-between the buildings. The
occasional rusty car was seen driving sluggishly down the cracked roads.

Max stood by her side, holding her hand, surveying the cold
strange world below.

“We call this world the Nether World,” He told her.

Maya just nodded, too stunned to say anything.

“It’s parallel to your own world. That’s whyNew Yorkis here.”

Maya looked up at him, her eyes filled with fear.

“Hey,” He wrapped his arms around her, “There’s nothing to
be scared of. People here are harmless. They just look a little different, that’s
all.”

Maya could only nod and sniffle a little from the cold.

“Um…there’s one more thing,”

She pulled away, wiping her nose on her sleeve, “What?”

He gave her a lopsided grin, “We’re all dead,”

Maya blinked, confused. “Sorry, didn’t catch that,”

“We’re dead. Living dead. Like zombies only….not.”

Maya recoiled in horror, scrambling away from him.

He reached out to hold her but she flinched and drew back
even farther.

“Maya…”

“No! Don’t touch me!” She shrieked, scrambling up a large
pile of rubble.

“Wait! Maya, let me explain!”

Maya’s heart thudded in her ribcage, threatening to explode.
It couldn’t be true…It just couldn’t! She made it to the top of the pile and
grabbed a long metal bar, brandishing it like a sword.

“Stay away!” She reared back, like a baseball player about
to swing.

Max held up one hand, “Don’t! Please, let me explain!!”

She wrapped her fingers tighter around the bar, her knuckles
turning white.

“What’s there to explain?! You’re a freaking zombie!”

He sighed, closing his eyes in frustration, “Not exactly,”

She lowered the metal bar, letting its end touch the ground,
“Okay. Start talking.”

He climbed the last few steps up the hill and stood next to
her.

“It’s like this �" We can’t die. We can get injured but we don’t
heal. And we can’t ‘die’,” he made quotation marks with his fingers, “Until our
bodies are completely destroyed. We don’t eat, drink or age. Happy now?”

She took a few tentative steps in his direction, “So you don’t
eat brains?”

He laughed loud and hard, “Of course not! Why would we need
to eat brains?”

Maya ran and hugged him, “Thank God.”

“You say that a lot,”

“I know.”

A long deep howl broke the moment, pulling them apart.

“Oh God. Oh God no. They found me. How could they have found
me?!”

Max’s grip on her hand grew tighter.

“Who found you? What’s going on?”

He stared into the distance towards the full moon.

“The hellhounds.”

***

Vatias smelled his prey. He smelled the boy’s fear as strong
and putrid as rotting meat. He could feel the tender beating heart of the
living. With a single howl, Vatias called his pack to his side. Tonight they
would feast on a real living human. Tonight they would capture Maximus
Aquarian.

***

Glowing red eyes appeared through the inky blackness. They
bobbed up and down, telling Maya that the beings they belonged to were running �"
fast.

“RUN!” Max screamed, pulling Maya with him down the steep
hill.

Maya couldn’t find her footing on the steep decline and her
feet slid from under her.

She fell, dragging Max with her down the hill littered with
ragged bits of metal and stone jutting up from the blackened soil.

When they reached the bottom, Maya was so dizzy, she could
hardly stand.

They leapt from the darkness.

Max pulled the poor disoriented girl to her feet as a dozen
hellhounds surrounded them. Their fur was black as crow feathers, red eyes
flashing in the light of the full moon. They parted to allow their leader to
step into the circle.

He was huge, his head rising above them, casting a shadow
over the land. But most odd was that his fur was white as snow, stark against
the dark world around them. Enormous wings jutted out from his shoulders,
stirring up the dust on the ground as they beat the air.

“Vatias,” Max hissed the word as though it were the foulest curse
in the world.

“Good evening Maximus. Will you come quietly?” The hellhound’s
voice was surprisingly kind and gentle, almost courteous.

“Never,” He grinned wildly �" he was acting as if this were
all just a game…that he was about to win.

“Very well. Kill her.”

Maya was taken aback at this. The hellhounds began to snarl
viciously, closing their circle tighter around them.

“YEEHAAWW!”

A motorcycle flew over Vatias’s head landing just beyond the
circle of wolves. It turned around, stirring up a cloud of dust so that neither
Maya nor Max could see anything whatsoever.

The motorcycle’s headlight pierced through the dust cloud.

A figure hopped down off it and walked towards them.

“Good to see you, Wizard,” Max said, walking towards him.

The dust finally cleared.

It was an old man with a leather motorcycle helmet, goggles
hanging around his neck.

He was missing an eye and half his jaw was exposed.

A scraggly grey beard hung from his chin, braided with two
yellow feathers dangling from the end.

Maya swallowed her bile and walked over to him.

The hellhounds snarled louder.

“Shut your traps you mangy mutts! Let a man talk will you?”
The hellhounds backed down, momentarily confused.

“No! Ignore him! Kill the girl!” Vatias snarled.

“Why don’t you do it yourself, huh?” Maya snapped at him.

Vatias blinked his bright red eyes. Obviously this hadn’t occurred
to him.

He bent down and snapped his teeth at her, dangerously
close. Maya ducked to avoid him.

“MAYA!” Max cried.

Teeth sank into her ankle.

Maya looked down to see the smallest of the black hellhounds
and grabbed a hold of her leg while she was distracted.

The rest pounced on her, tearing into her clothing �" and her
flesh.

“NO!” Max lunged for the largest one, pushing it off her and
into the dirt.

Wizard pulled a gun from his belt and cocked it, “Darned
varmints!” He fired into the throng with perfect accuracy, one after the other
pulling away from Maya, whining.

Maya’s head felt heavy and hot. She sank to the ground as
the remaining dogs tore into her back with their claws and teeth.

Max’s screams invaded her fuzzy thoughts, black spots
dancing before her eyes.

Two shots were fired and the last of the hellhounds vanished
into the night. Vatias had long since flown off.

Max slid to the ground next to Maya, turning her over and
cradling her in his arms.

“Mmmax,” She murmured, touching his face.

He pressed her hand to his cheek, “I’m right here,”

“Hurts,”

“I know sweetheart; everything’s going to be fine.”

He held her free hand tightly.

His face was the only thing Maya could focus on.

Her heart began to thud loudly in her ears.

“No! Maya no! Don’t go to sleep!”

But her eyelids were so heavy. They were sliding down, down,
down…

The thudding in her ears ceased. Her eyes closed.

“Maya! I love you!”

It was the last thing she would ever hear before she died.

To Live Again

Maya’s eyes snapped open. Her arms were folded over her
chest. It was dark. Too dark.

She could feel that she was in a dress �" the one she was
supposed to wear for prom.

She felt around above her. There was a solid object above.
She felt around on all sides.

A box. Maya was in a box. She kicked around with her feet.

Judging by the shape….

Maya began to breathe hard �" how much oxygen did she have
before she suffocated?

She was in a coffin �" buried alive.

***

Max stood with his hands clasped behind his back. He was
dressed in a suit and tie, standing at her grave. The headstone was a dull grey
engraved with silver lettering. God, her
parents must be rich, he thought to himself.

‘Maya Fiasco, Beloved daughter’, the headstone read.

Max opened his pocketknife and pressed the blade to the
stone beneath the lettering, carving into it.

‘And best friend,’

He thought for a moment, pressing the edge of his knife to
his lip till he could taste blood.

‘I will always love you,’ he carved.

Maximus felt a tear prick the corner of his eye. He wiped at
it furiously with the sleeve of his suit.

A shadow fell across the tombstone.

“Step aside, young one,” A voice like downy feathers greeted
his ears.

Max looked over his shoulder to see a dark figure in a black
cloak standing above him.

Her intense eyes pierced his very soul.

Swallowing nervously, he scrambled out of the way.

The Reaper raised her pale hand towards the freshly
overturned soil.

The earth began to shudder, the stray pebbles atop the mound
vibrating like furious insects.

A gleaming ebony outline began to surface, the dreaded shape
of a coffin arising.

Someone was screaming inside, thumps and bangs echoing out.

Max felt a forlorn tear slide down his face.

He hadn’t been able to wipe that one away in time.

The Reaper gently lifted the lid.

Maya was pushing up with her hands and feet, a wild crazed
look on her face.

He saw ragged marks in the wooden underside of the lid where
she had scratched it �" her nails were bloody.

When Maya caught sight of the Reaper, she began to shriek
hysterically, grasping the lid with both hands as though to shut it, closing
her inside.

“No child,” The Reaper lodged the curved blade of her sickle
between the lid and the coffin, opening it.

Maya looked up at her, her eyes wide and frightened.

“Come,” She offered her moon-white hand, a smile playing on
her blood red lips.

Behind her, Max nodded, reassuringly.

This woman was dressed like the grim reaper! He expected her
to go with her?

Tentatively, Maya allowed the Reaper to slide her frail hand
around hers, lifting her from the confines of the tight ebony box.

In a trance, she stepped out of it and staggered on her
black ballet slippers.

“Careful, my dear,” The Reaper murmured, flashing her a
peculiar smile.

Maya held the woman’s hand as they walked, stealing cautious
glances up at her, like a nervous toddler on her first day out.

The Reaper stroked her brown hair, making comforting noises.

“You must be so confused,” She whispered, her blank white
eyes staring off into the distance.

“Am I dead?”

The Reaper looked down at her. A single crystalline tear
rolled down her ivory cheek.

“Yes,”

Maya wrenched her gaze away from the pearlescent eyes of the
being that was leading her.

Confusion flickered through her head as she attempted to
sort out her muddled memories.

The hellhounds �" One had bitten her.

She remembered the gleam in its ruby red eyes, the yellowish
liquid dripping down her ankle….

“Poison,” She murmured. Maya Fiasco may be scattered
brained, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t intelligent.

Max was following close behind, his head down. Maya stole a
glance at him. He looked terrible �" absolutely exhausted.

The Reaper stopped, grabbed both of her hands and took a
deep breath,

“This is where I leave you, my dear. You are forbidden to
return to the land of the living.”

The tall woman dressed in black let go and exploded into a
cloud of ash tinged with red flame.

Maya stared at her slightly blackened hands, dumbstruck.

Max came up beside her and opened his hand before her, palm
up.

His hand, like hers, was slightly darker than normal.

“A mark. A reminder that she is always watching our every
move,” He explained.

She laid her hand upon his open palm, clasping it tight.

“Why did this happen to us?” Maya asked, looking up into his
bright sapphire eyes.

He shrugged, “Because we don’t want to go,”

Maya gazed out across the lonely graveyard behind them.

Her walk with the Reaper had brought them to the front gate.

Something looked….wrong.

“Max?”

He nodded, “She brought us to the Nether World again.”

The buildings just beyond the gates were crumbled and
decaying.

Gleaming eyes peered out from the darkened windows, watching
them.

This was not her world.

The Bounty

Far beyond the bittersweet of the graveyard, in the darkest
depths of the Nether World, a crowd of the most bizarre individuals you will
ever meet was gathering in an old chapel.

The chapel’s stained glass was the color of blood, red light
streaming down, illuminating the pale white statues of various saints.

A horrid stench of rotting flesh made bile rise in the
throats of the gathered undead.

The Councilor, an old man in a tattered red robe, was known
as one of the most powerful men in the York District.

He governed over almost all ofNew York Cityand all of the outskirts.

The double doors to the chapel flew open, banging against
the walls.

In the light of the dying sun stood Adelvina Veicht.

She was rumored to have once been the Gauleiter of Bavaria,
promoted to that position the day before Hitler died.

She was a Nazi �" her short blonde hair hung in a bob around
her chiseled jaw, ice blue eyes scanned the room of terrified faces.

Adelvina did know how to make an entrance.

She always wore the tattered, bloodstained remains of her
uniform that she had been wearing when she was assassinated.

“Hullo,” She grinned wickedly.

A woman let out an odd squeak and promptly passed out, her
head falling into the lap of the gentleman beside her.

“Miss Veicht! What a….pleasure it is to see you,” The
Councilor gasped for breath, his lungs rattling.

“Yes. I would say the same but unfortunately,” She walked
down the aisle, pausing where the woman had passed out, “It’s not true,” The gentleman
looked up at her in horror as her eyes met his.

The Councilor smoothed what was left of his brittle grey
hair and swallowed nervously.

Adelvina crossed the length of the chapel in three swift
strides and mounted the box he was standing on.

“I heard,” She hissed in his ear, “That there was a bounty
on a particular boy’s head,”

Adelvina stared at the pulse of the Councilor’s jugular vein
hungrily.

“Yes. Quite right. The young Maximus,”

The Nazi couldn’t help but smile �" as an experienced bounty
hunter, she reveled in the hunt. And even more in the kill.

“So…where will the little brat be then, hmm?” She stepped
off the box and pulled a dagger from a hostler at her side, examining herself
in its reflection.

“He was spotted an hour ago in the Land of the Living in a
graveyard �" the outskirts of a small town, Rutherford, Kansas.
We believe he is in that same location now �" only in our world,”

Adelvina jabbed the knife into her holster, glancing at the
Councilor over her shoulder, “Excellent. By sunrise tomorrow, you will have a
dead heir to the throne of Atlantis,”

An Unlikely Angel

Maya began to notice the eyes in the abandon buildings. There were shifting shadows in the broken windows that announced the presence of someone inhabiting the house.

And they were watching them.

“Max,” She tugged on his sleeve.

Max’s eyes focused on those that belonged the watchers within the nearest building. The eyes vanished as quickly as they had come.

He realized that the eyes were glassy, dead, and reflected light quite easily in the odd reddish glow of the sun.

But they had not disappeared due to Max’s curious gaze.

The roar of an ancient engine attracted their attention.

A white headlight pierced the dusty haze in the air, blinding Maya.

“Hello kiddies! Yee-haw!”

Atop the ancient rusty red motorcycle was Wizard, the old (and quite dead) man that had attempted to help them from the Hellhounds.

Maya grinned in spite of herself.

“Wizard!” Max cried as the motorcycle slid to a stop beside them.

“What’s yer pretty little girlfriend doing here? Aint she alive?” He squinted at Maya curiously with his one good eye.

“Not any more,” Max murmured.

Wizard swiped at a tear in his eye, threatening to roll down his half decayed cheek.

“They go too young!” He sniffled, pulling a dirty handkerchief from his leather jacket pocket, blowing into it loudly.

Maya pressed her lips together to prevent her laughter from escaping. Despite her fate, she felt strangely calm. Perhaps it had something to do with the strange woman known as the Reaper…

“Wizard, we don’t have time for this,” Max warned him, his grip tightening on Maya’s hand.

Maya could tell that Max was afraid. Very afraid.

“Quite right my lad! Back to the old hut �" need to get fixed up eh?” He waggled his eyebrows, scuttling back to his motorcycle.

Max nodded.

“We can’t all fit on your bike can we?” Maya asked, staring at the ancient machine.

Wizard chuckled, “I normally only take one passenger, but we can sure as hell try.”

Max swung himself on behind Wizard, offering her his hand.

“Will I ever see my home again?” Maya whispered, staring up at him.

He shook his head slowly, “No,”

Maya took his hand, “At least I have you,”

Max smiled, pulling her up behind him onto the bike.

The ancient crumbling machine gave out a heavy gasp as Wizard started the engine. Roaring to life, it rattled precariously under the weight of its passengers.

“Guten tag, Maximus,” A boot was pressed firmly onto the front wheel of the bike, holding it in place.

Wizard frowned at the German woman standing in his way, “Get out of my way, lady. Can’t you see I’m trying to drive this rattletrap?”

“You must be the one they call Wizard. A zauberer of undead medicine, hmm?” The woman had blonde hair that hung around her chiseled jaw, piercing blue eyes boring into Maya’s.

“Adelvina Veicht. Wizard is not involved in this,” Max growled, through gritted teeth.

The woman, Adelvina, muttered, “Kleine hündin sohn,” under her breathe.

But Max caught what she had said. Jumping off the motorcycle, he advanced on her,

“Sie sind einer zu redden serviert ihnen eine solche hündinnen sohn!” He spat the German words quick as lightning, hatred stirring in his heart that would never beat again �" undead to the core.

Maya leaned forward to whisper in Wizard’s ear, “What are they saying?”

The old man swallowed, his one good eye blinking rapidly, “She called him a son-of-a, and he called her a servant of a son-of-a,”

She leaned back, still somewhat confused at this.

Meanwhile, Adelvina drew a knife from a holster at her side, threatening Max by laying the sharp edge against his throat.

“There’s no coming back if I cut off your head,” She hissed, her eyes narrow slits.

“Wanna bet?” Max grinned suddenly, catching the Nazi off guard.

He grabbed the hilt, shoving it into her shoulder. Adelvina cried out in pain as it stuck there, dark, old, red blood oozing slowly down her uniform.

She wrenched it out of her flesh, swinging it precariously near Max’s arm.

It sideswiped him, slicing open a deep red wound.

“MAX!” Maya screamed.

He clenched the wound, eyes screwing shut for a moment. Resuming the fight, he punched Adelvina in the face �" hard.

With a sickening crack, she fell to the ground.

“I hate to punch a woman…..” Max stared down at her as she massaged her now broken jaw.

“And I hate to end a child’s life. Oh wait, that’s right, you’re not a child. And you’re not alive!” She dived for his legs, throwing him to the ground.

The foul woman pinned his arms down with her knees, straddling him.

Wrapping her slender fingers around his neck, she began to choke him.

Wizard finally hopped off his bike, letting the engine go kaput.

“Now you listen here lady!”

Adelvina released one hand and drew a gun from inside her jacket. In one swift move the shot had been fired and Wizard lay shivering on the hard dead earth.

Maya kicked punched and beat Adelvina’s back until the woman slapped her sharply with the flat of her knife.

A terrific roar filled the air as Vatias, the white winged, gigantic wolf, bounded into view.

Miss Veicht stood, turning around in horror just as his huge jaws clamped down around her top half.

The Nazi screamed violently as Vatias tipped his head back, allowing her to slide down his huge throat.

In seconds her screaming ceased �" forever.

“What?” Max gasped hoarsely, staring up at his enemy.

The white wolf stared at him, blinking his huge red eyes, “You really think I’d let some bounty hunter kill my greatest rival?”

Max began to laugh hysterically, tears of joy rolling down his pale cheeks.

Vatias grinned with his large sharp teeth.

“Tonight, I let you live son of Atlantis. But next time we meet, you won’t be so lucky,”

Maya helped Max up, worry pecking at her mind when she how injured he looked.

“Don’t worry. I’m not alive so you can’t let me live,”

Vatias’s laugh was so loud it shook the buildings around them.

“Goodbye King of the Water,” He shook his big white head, still laughing as he flapped his almighty wings, taking off into the dark sky.

Maximus watched, grinning, as the enormous misunderstood wolf disappeared into the black horizon.

Maya grabbed his hand, “Are you okay?”

He shrugged, “A little banged up, but nothing that can’t be fixed,”

“This reminds me! Are we going to the hut or what?” Wizard was seated on the motorcycle, kicking its engine in an attempt to start it up again.

“Of course. Let’s go work some magic,” Max told him, patting his back.

Maya, though dead, felt more content with Max than she had with any boy she had ever dated.

Was this love?

The Wizard

The motorcycle sped through the night, throwing its passengers up and down on every bump in the pavement.

Occasionally a hellhound could be seen scrounging for food near trash heaps but the unearthly creatures made no move to attack them.

Maya sat behind Max, clinging to his back, her arms wrapped around his waist. She couldn’t help but notice that his body shivered slightly with every breath he took, something rattling inside his chest as though his lungs could barely take the effort.

Maya let the rumble of the motorcycle drown her worries in its horrendous noise.

She didn’t realize she had fallen asleep �" if you could call it sleeping �" until the engine shuddered to a halt, the eerie silence of New York, which is where they had arrived, chilling her to the bone.

“How did we get here so fast?” She murmured, glancing back at the tall skyscrapers not too far behind them. They were on the outskirts of the city.

Max looked over his shoulder at her, his blue eyes gleaming in the night.

He was about to speak when Wizard interrupted, chuckling,

“They don’t call me Wizard for nothing sweetheart,”

Magic?

Maya furrowed her brow. What was this strange world where demon dogs lurked in the shadows led by a giant wolf with wings. Where magic was real and people rose from the dead….

She thought back to Adelvina, who had been swallowed whole by Vatias.

Swallowed whole…we can’t die…. She suppressed a gasp as she realized that the Nazi was most likely still alive, her skin burning away in the acids of the wolf’s stomach.

Nausea crept into her throat.

Wizard hopped off the bike, heading off into the murky darkness.

Max offered Maya his arm and she took it, gladly, using it to steady herself as she stepped off the ancient machine.

A small shack materialized as a blood red moon rose over the post-apocalyptic world. Its windows were smashed; the jagged edges of broken glass still clinging to the frame glinted like rubies in the light of the full moon.

“Welcome to my shack,” Wizard announced proudly, spitting a glob of bloody saliva onto the ground.

Max reached out and took Maya’s hand, squeezing it reassuringly.

She nodded to his silent gesture, and together they followed Wizard into the shack.

The boards of the porch creaked beneath her shoes. Her good Sunday flats. She remembered that she was still wearing her prom dress, now tattered and dirty. There was even some blood on it. Her blood? She didn’t know.

Glancing at Max, she saw he had a suit on.

Maya began to laugh hysterically, leaning against him.

“What?” He smiled bemusedly down at her.

She wiped a tear of joy from her eye, “We look like we should be at prom. Prom zombies!” She giggled, looking up at him.

He laughed, pulling her close, “After all this, you still have a sense of humor,”

“HEY! You two gonna keep flirtin’ out there or are ya gonna get fixed up?”

Maya pulled away, answering for Max, “Yeah, yeah, we’re coming!”

They walked inside. Wizard stood among a circle of candles, their flames casting dancing shadows on the rotting walls of the shack.

“Now don’t question, it gets me in the mood,” He told them, shaking a finger at them.

Max grinned lopsidedly, “Come on, you know I’d never question your methods Wizard,”

The old man laughed, his laughter turning quickly to a rasping cough.

“Yeah well, your purty girl might,”

Maya put her hands on her hips, raising an eyebrow, “Oh yeah?”

Wizard glanced over his shoulder with his one good eye, “Yeah,”

She laughed, shaking her head.

“Alright kiddies, one at a time �" who’s first?”

Max raised his hand, “I’ll go. Maya can watch and see what to do before her turn,”

Wizard said nothing, simply smiled and beckoned for Max to step into the ring of candles.

Max did so, carefully lying down on his back.

Maya leaned against a wall, watching curiously as Wizard undressed him to his boxers. On a normal occasion, she would have laughed, but Maya knew that whatever Wizard was doing, he couldn’t be distracted.

Wizard picked up a vial filled with a dark blue liquid, pulling the cork out with his teeth. He poured it over Max’s wounds, the long gash in his arm, and several other nicks and scrapes.

The liquid sizzled and bubbled, the wounded flesh appearing to melt. Maya stared in amazement as his skin bound itself together, the blue liquid evaporating.

Max grinned, sitting up, “Your turn Maya!”

Maya’s mouth fell open, “But how did it-”

Wizard threw up his hands, “I told ya! I knew she’d question!”

Max stood, stepping out of the circle of flickering candles.

She found her gaze trailing over his bare chest.

He caught her looking at him and flexed his arm, laughing. She hid her smile behind her hand, her face flushing hot.

Maya walked past him, her eyes staring at his chest till she couldn’t any longer.

Wizard smiled, his one eye gleaming eerily in the light of the flames.

“Lay down, girly,”

She stepped cautiously over the shortest candle and into the ring.

A curved design was scratched into the floor beneath her, its twisting lines strangely mesmerizing. Maya lay down, her dark hair pooling around her head.

Wizard pulled her dress over her head. She was almost naked save for her underwear.

Maya would have been embarrassed, but it was something about the candles �" or perhaps Wizard’s looming form - that made her feel calm and relaxed.

He poured the liquid over the many scratches and wounds on her body from the attack of the hellhounds. It felt warm and cold all at the same time, working its way into her veins so that pouring it on one affected all the rest �" Wizard did not have to turn her over for the wounds in her back.

Her exposed spine disappeared beneath new mended flesh.

A contented sigh escaped her lips as the process completed itself.

Wizard smiled, his exposed jaw bone white against the dark, “Better?”

She nodded, fighting to keep her eyes open �" she was so tired.

The night closed in around her and Maya Fiasco fell asleep in the light of the flames.

Return of the Nazi

Vatias circled New York, his huge wings beating the clouds away. The wind rippled his fur as he lifted his nose to the sky.

Deep within, Adelvina slid her knife from its holster, plunging it into the wolf’s gut. Vatias’s wings halted, his body becoming paralyzed as Adelvina raked the blade along the underside of his spine. The winged white wolf plummeted to the ground, his carcass falling upon the shell of the Statue of Liberty’s torch.

The music inside abruptly ceased. A few screamed when they found the entrance was blocked by a mass of bloody white fur.

Adelvina plunged through the gory mess into the club.

The inside of the torch was decorated with lightbulbs, hanging from the ceiling.

A makeshift stage crafted from half of a semi's trailer sat at one end, and a bar at the other.

The gathered dead froze, all eyes turning to the Nazi.

Adelvina's face was half melted away by the acidic contents of Vatias’s stomach, her uniform hung in tatters from her almost naked body.

“Anyone got telephone?” She rasped before falling face first into the sandy mud.

Epilogue

Epilogue:

Far away in the Arctic Circle, encased in ice and snow, lay two lovers entwined in a dying embrace.

An ice pick cracked this shell, shattering it into millions of shards.

A human face peered in, shouting to his colleagues that he had found something.

The man stepped inside the snowy cave, walking cautiously towards the two lovers.

In the dark, in the ice, Maya Fiasco’s eyes opened.

Author's Note

My Protagonize account:
http://www.protagonize.com/author/VictoriaGlass

Reviews

[Jasmine Thousand]

Loved the ending. Once I read a short story called The Dog of Pompeii, the end was kind of like that. It leaves a big impression!
~Jasmine Thousand~

[Sylvia E. Lioness]

WOW. That was an amazing short story.