THE GRAVES: By Jim Bronyaur
Wednesday, January 25th, 2012When the darkness finally faded, once and for all, Asa stepped up next to the dead man again and waited.
At first, she could not pick out what exactly she was staring at, and then it all hit her at once.
Row after row, stone after stone, Asa found herself standing in a cemetery.
“A cemetery?” she asked.
Nothing else came into view but the cemetery headstones.
They were all semi-tall, rounded stones, and strange enough, they all were blank.
Not a single word written on them – no name, no dates, nothing.
“I don’t understand,” she said and looked to the dead man.
He no longer stood next to her. He was walking away.
“Hey!” Asa called out but the dead man ignored her.
Something inside her said this was where the dead man was supposed to bring her and then leave her.
She refused to be left behind and turned to follow the dead man.
From her left she heard a growl.
Asa closed her eyes for a second and took a breath.
She turned back to face the cemetery and waited again.
Another growl came.
Asa touched her waist, feeling the old world wood.
She was as ready as could be for whatever would come.
Three headstones straight ahead a figure stood up.
A vampire.
The nightseeker smiled as its greasy hair layered its face.
Asa took out the old world wood and twirled it, uncaring about the threat of a vampire.
A second vampire stood up, to the left of the first.
Then a third, behind them.
A fourth.
A fifth…
“Damn,” Asa said knowing just how much the stakes have been raised.
She stopped counting after twelve knowing that behind each stone a vampire would be waiting for her.
The first nightseeker kicked the stone and it exploded into stony pieces. It stepped forward, walking towards Asa slowly, kicking stones out of its way.
Behind that nightseeker, the others started to come too, breaking headstones, working their way towards Asa.
Asa began to move backwards wishing she could regain some of her senses to know where she was.
After a minute or so of walking, Asa felt something touch her back.
She spun around waiting for an attack but only saw a gate.
A fence?
A black fence.
A tall, black fence.
The cemetery fence.
Asa suddenly felt a little relieved knowing that she had her way out.
She would not be able to climb it, but it would be an exit.
Spinning back around, Asa swung the old world wood sensing that one of the vampires would be attacking then.
She was right.
The nightseeker flailed its arms hoping to stop itself as it came down onto the old world wood.
The penetration killed the vampire and the others took the chance to attack now.
They all rushed in like a horde of zombies. Asa turned, with the cemetery gate to her left, and dragged the nightseeker with her as best she could. At the perfect moment she pulled the old world wood from the nightseeker and pushed the dead vampire back to its comrades.
The other vampires did not want to touch it. Some stepped back and stopped. Some tripped on the dead body. Others just hopped over the vampire, continuing their mission to Asa.
Asa figured she had to make a statement, so she took the old world wood and lined it up like a dart. With the flick of her wrist, the old world wood sailed through the air and hit one of the nightseekers in the chest.
The nightseeker turned, curled, and then fell, knocking down two more.
They hurried to get up, but were last in the pack.
Asa touched her hip and found more old world wood.
The nightseekers increased their speeds, two jumping to the black fence, scaling it to walk along the pointed tops.
Anything to scare Asa.
She stayed calm and cool, knowing that there had to be a gate in the fence soon.
Two nightseekers hurried forward, pushing through the pack.
As they growled, drool ran out in thick foam, their eyes red with fury.
Asa turned and started to run.
The nightseekers launched themselves and as they came down on Asa, she crouched, halting.
The two vampires landed a foot in front of her.
Asa came across her body with the old world wood, causing the nightseeker to her right to jump away and the old world wood went into the chest of the vampire on her left. She pulled it out and stabbed the other vampire.
They dropped and she started to run again.
Behind her the other vampires ran after her and it didn’t take Asa long to realize that something was wrong.
Something else was at work here.
The vampires could have reached her if they wanted to.
They didn’t.
They were moving her.
Forcing her to continue to run.
Towards what?
Asa did not have time to ponder the thought much deeper because she found the gate in the cemetery’s fence.
She hit it with her shoulder and it opened.
Quickly, she closed it and brought a squeaky, heavy latch down, locking the nightseekers in.
In reality, the vampires could have jumped and climbed the fence.
They didn’t. Instead, they all stopped and stared at her, each one smiling, eyes burning red.
As Asa stepped back, she felt something bump her legs.
She turned and saw another headstone.
She was in another cemetery.
Not just any cemetery, but the cemetery.
As she stared down at the headstone, it had one name on it… ABBY.
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©2011 Jim Bronyaur
