It was a zombie jamboree took place in a New York cemetary....

[tezcatl_ipoca]

Tuesday, September 1st
Just after midnight
The graveyardSurprises me how steady she is walking out there. Picked up something from her just before we left the Tavern; not what the Doc does, burning off alcohol like steam, but maybe something like. Hope she's not sober enough to change her mind, because hell, this promises to be at the very least

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[kaeli_whyte]

We don't talk much as we go to the cemetery and all of the stuff he said about the man in the tower keeps buzzing around in my head. And with it, all of the stuff everyone else said too. It doesn't matter, its not like I'm going to go there just to say hello.

Tez pauses at a grave and I catch the name and dates on it and feel the blood drain from my face. That's the child..baby that was killed in the park, the one I was going to tell Mab about and the reason I was even in the cafe as late as I was that night.."This the one?" he calls. I walk over and look, the name doesn't ring a bell.

"How'd you want to go about this, then? C'mon, Pelan. Up and at 'em, boy." He says knocking on the headstone and sounding like a kid on his birthday. Smiling I shrug, "Not sure exactly, haven't really done this before either." I can vaguely feel the body beneath us, not really the body but where it is, mostly like a hole filled with nothing, no life, nothing

[tezcatl_ipoca]

"You know, if you'd looked like this the other night you might've had a chance at winning."

You're fucking useful, aren't you? Lounging about while everyone else does the work.... Give him a sideways look. "Oh, there'd have been no contest."

And then Kaeli's not fucking staying where she was but marching up to the rails like a kid bugging the monkeys at the zoo, and of course it follows its mama again, and any time now it's through that fence, you stupid, stupid girl -

But Glass...oh, I know this pattern. Shovel to the head, and it's turning on Gaueko's little banderillera even as its head's rolling back unseated. Shiny-slick bone ends and a long strip of skin and muscle lengthening further as the head sags down, and it's still going, both of them step for step as she fends it off.

"Trip him."

Right.

Circle round warily. That thing's too close to her, but at least it means it's not paying attention to me. Do it now and the damn thing's going down on top of her, but a couple more steps, and -

Now.

[gaueko_erebus]

Okay, Yohuali Eecatl's grown tits, he's poking the zombie with a stick, the idiot cow's playing bait, and my Glass is beating it over the head with a shovel. And I am laughing so hard I can't see straight.

And they're tripping him now. And he falls over onto his back like a flipped turtle and starts thrashing around. And the strength goes out of my knees and the gravestone goes over and I'm spilled out on the ground still laughing like a madman. Oh, dear fucking Christ, this is more fun than ripping Tez's throat out.

"What next, a lasso?" I manage to gasp, tears streaming down my face. Glass is smart enough not to get herself hurt, but I rather hope that idiot healer gets chewed on.

[glass_beddau]

--oh wonderful there's a gravestone gone over. Well, at least the Shuck's in a better mood now. Dead man falls and lands on his back and his own head, and kind of twists off it, scrabbling over the ground like a half-crushed beetle. Not so good at getting up, not yet, good--

Drop the spade across him and go down on my knees by his shoulders as I'm twisting the lid off the salt shaker. Pin one of his arms under one knee and catch his other hand as it comes for my throat, fingers scraped to claws by the dig up through dirt, and pour the salt across his face.

"Kaeli, anything you can do, do it now!" and I'm bending back to keep his grip from my throat and his mouth and eyes are full of salt, glittering bruise-dark in sockets and spilling between his teeth in small drifts, and he's starting to twitch instead of struggle, and the scream is spreading into a howl like wind in catacombs and I'm sorry, I'm so so sorry, you poor man, I'm trying to end this--

[kaeli_whyte]

I have its attention now giving Glass enough time to come up behind it before it turns her way. She swings the shovel there's a snap and a sound like duct tape being peeled from leather as the head falls back exposing bone and muscle and oh dear goddess, the smell of putrid meat.

Dammit but that doesn't stop it from still flailing and reaching for Glass anyway. Tez trips it and knocks it on its back as I climb back over the fence, scrambling over next to them. "Kaeli, anything you can do, do it now!"

I want to yell that I don't know what to do, I didn't even know I could do this! The energy from Tez and I is still spinning inside it and I focus on it and pull, trying to pull it back into me. It begins to unravel like a ball of yarn flowing back into me, sick and angry and dead.

Gods I can even taste that smell now as it all pours back into me. Then with a snap, whats left of the energy inside him releases and I fall to my knees as it slams back into me. Bile and booze rise up in my throat and I turn my head choking and spitting it

[tezcatl_ipoca]

Now there's a neat trick. Glass gets the thing pinned, and then there's something - salt? - pouring out from her hand over the head lolling from its strip of flesh, and it makes some kind of noise -

"Kaeli, anything you can do, do it now!"

I can feel it when Kaeli does...whatever she does, pulling power out of the writhing thing like she's pinching fleece for spinning, rough mass becoming long smooth strands that she coils up in herself, and - hey, now, I think you'll find that's mine....

She doubles up and pukes as the thing goes limp. I think I'll let her keep that bit of my energy twisted in with hers, if she's so keen to keep it; it might do something interesting to her.

Something's still making a curious noise, though. Look past the two women and the dead things. Well, at least someone else finds all this funny.... I go across and nudge Gaueko with a toe. "You can get up now. Scary monster's all gone." Not a damn chance I'm going to keep a straight face.

[gaueko_erebus]

Somebody's poking me in the side. "You can get up now. Scary monster's all gone."

Oh, fucking hell. Didn't think I'd ever stop laughing. And predictably, my Glass has the zombie down and taken care of, that terrible itching gone from behind my eyes.

Wiping my eyes, I heave myself off the ground. "Are you planning on playing with any more dead things tonight, or are we done here?" I ask, shaking my head. Glance at the healer and grimace, "I thought I told Lugh to keep you on a damned leash. He put you up to this?"