Episode 8

Barefoot Icicle

I gasped as I watched the zombie come closer. “I thought that those blueberries were contained!” I yelled to no one in particular. Then a splat of purple came out of nowhere and hit the zombie in the chest. As we watched, it shrank back to it’s original state. He facepalmed himself. “I’m so sorry, man, it happens sometimes,” he apologized. Without explaining, he ran off. A girl did a flip off of the cinema and landed in front of us. “Not completely,” she said to me. “That’s why I’ve been appointed zombie hunter of this town. I shoot them with this baby-” She blew some steam off the top of her gun-”and then they’re regular again.” She stuck out a hand. “Spotted Dragon, zombie hunter. Call me SD.” I just stared. She noticed. As she popped a piece of gum into her mouth, she said “Not gonna happen, rookie. No way.” I broke my stare a little bit and blushed. We all introduced ourselves, and of course Slip had to tell the story about me getting my butt stuck in a flowerpot. [Slip, don’t think I haven’t forgotten. I’ll get you for that.] After we were done, she nudged her head towards the plane. “That yours?” she asked. I nodded and pointed to Bard, who we had forgotten to introduce. “Bard built it.” Her eyes turned as wide as if she had just eaten five-alarm chili. She jumped Bard, pinned his hands behind his back, and started kicking him…uh…you know where. “Lousy…dirty…stinkin’…” she muttered as she kicked him still. He cried out in pain. “Stop! Please, stop!” She finally did. “You destroyed my home,” she snarled. I looked at her. “Your home?” I asked. She  nodded. “I lived on Astro-Knights Island,” she explained. “On Arturus. I…I was a maid for the princess. I did whatever she wanted. When she was taken, my home was destroyed, and I fled to this island. Cuddly Lion had already contained the problem-” Her eyes flashed in a way that said, ‘DANGER!’- “but it was coming back. So, they made me zombie hunter. I guess, in a way, I should thank you.” Bard stood up and grunted. “You’re welcome,” he muttered. She stuck her gun into his eye. The normal one. “Nevermind,” she said. “I think I’ll kill you instead.” She replaced her zombie gun with something that looked suspiciously deadly and started to pull back the trigger. I, the biggest idiot in the world, jumped in front of Bard just as she pulled it all the way. The bang almost destroyed my eardrums. And everything went dark.

**********

I dreamed I was tied to a deer, and a nut job zombie hunter kept on trying to shoot me, but I already had a huge hole in my chest. “If I’m dead,” I muttered. “Why does it hurt so much?” I saw another figure slink out of the shadows. “You ain’t done, craphead. Not yet,” he said. He grabbed me by the ankle and pulled me to a huge seat. “My friend’s got other ways of doing this.” Sparks flew out of his hand. “But I prefer…the fun way.” He raised his hands high in the air and began to chant. “Et draconi qui est in te, Et draconi qui est in te, ET DRACONI QUI EST IN TE!” The hole in my chest disappeared. He grinned. “You might have a few…very nasty side effects,” he said. And he disappeared into the shadows once again.

**********

I slowly opened my eyelids. I saw Speedy and Bard digging a pit. My grave. SD and Slip were sobbing together as SD repeatedly apologized. “Please…I didn’t mean to…I’ll do anything. ANYTHING!” she wailed. Slip started to say something and she noticed that my eyes were opening. She audibly gasped. “B.F!” she said. I sat up and attempted a grin, but I knew it was feeble. “Did I miss anything?” I asked. Speedy and Bard crushed me in a bear hug, Slip kissed me on the cheek, and SD gave me a quick hug then turned away, face red. Then Slip’s expression turned scared again. “How did you survive that shot?” she asked shakily. “I mean, you were dead for an hour. You got shot in the heart. No heartbeat at all.” I explained my dream to everyone. “I forget the spell,” I said. SD shook her head. “This is a little out of my range,” she said. “But…I’m coming with you.” My heart flew up into my mouth as she blushed and brushed her hair behind her ear, almost self-consciously. “But, um, there’s not enough seats.” I stood up. “Have mine,” I offered. “That’s alright, I’ll make her another one,” Bard said cheerfully. SD looked crushed, and I glared at Bard. Idiot. Then SD piped up. “I forgot to mention…Bard and I are friends now. I-I told him who my parents were,” she said. “Who were they?” asked Speedy. “The king and queen of Arturus. I would’ve been a princess. But nooo, I had to be a maid for their precious, older daughter.” I put my arm around her shoulders. “It’s alright,” I said. “We don’t care. We like you for who you are.” She smiled at me. Slip smirked. “And you’re trying to keep me away from Speedy. Look, are we going or not?” she asked. SD pushed me away, a little playfully. “We’re going,” she said. She got up and slipped into the extra seat Bard had built. I, grinning like an idiot, followed her in. Speedy, Slip, and then Bard trailed behind me. Once we got in, Speedy asked, “Should I drive?” Bard shook his head. “It’s got an autopilot,” he explained. “Where do you want to go?” I started to say Monster Carnival, but SD asked if we could go to Astro-Knights. “I want to see what’s become of my home,” she explained. I had to respect that. So SD typed it into the computer and soon, we were flying steadily to Astro-Knights Island.

And then…it flew out of the sky.