salty truth

I still can't believe we willingly followed her out there. But I guess we were curious to know if the rumours were true about the old haunted house on the hill.

It was midnight, a full moon. It might has well have been Friday the 13th we were that doomed. I don't even remember how we met her, but she somehow managed to convince us that the fields around the mansion weren't filled to the brim with bodies and she could prove it.

So it was witch girl, Sammy and I who tripped and stumbled through the gloomy forest to the barbed wire fence. She stopped us there, claiming there was something "off" about the night or the forest's energy or some shit. I could tell she was lying, but when Sammy and I crossed our arms, silently screaming that she wanted this in the first place, she yielded and got out a book I hadn't realised she was carrying in her jacket pocket.

Despite the moonlight, she was able to flip through the pages of what looked like runes, and stop at a page with a summoning spell. We gave her some space, and she hesitantly stepped over the wire, but soon that shivering, tentative mask shattered into a more cocky personality. Great, an overconfident, crazy, witch.

The forest seemed to shudder with anticipation of what she was going to do. I glanced at Sammy, but he was still transfixed on the landmass around us, eyes darting up to the silhouette of the mansion in the distance.

Witch girl, holding the book in one hand, reached into her coat with her other, emerging with a closed fist. Noticing my unconvinced look, she said quietly, "Salt will disturb the dead...if there are any here." I gave her a small dismissive nod, and she continued with whatever the book told her.

She planted her feet, fist still held at hip-height. Took a visibly calming breath, almost compelling us to do so with her. Then, without any kind of warning, she raised her fist above her head in a swift movement and shouted, "vi risveglio, spiriti!" letting the salt spray around her patch of grass.

A beat.

Nothing.

A moment too early, I shrugged. And then, as if on cue, a rumble erupted from below. There wasn't time to react before witch girl's eyes went wide, as a single, rotting hand shot through the dirt to latch onto her ankle.

She screamed.

The nails, I noticed as it gripped at witch girl, were long and sharp, the skin bloody and sickly and stained deep with dirt.

Sammy elbowed me as if to say we should be helping her, but something deep inside me kept me rooted where I was, as far away from the field as possible. Noticing my hesitation, he swiftly moved past me and toward witch girl who was fighting not to trip against the now expanding horde of undead hands emerging from the mass grave.

He reached her, just before the barbed fence and stopped. He scanned the ground, finding a stray branch. A weapon.

"I'm going to try and get it to grab the stick..." Sammy explained. "Then, once you're..free" he swallowed, weighing up his options, "Jump, as far as you can, over them." Her deer eyes met mine, as if searching for confirmation that this would work. I willed myself to nod, putting as much desperation into my face to show that we had no other choice.

"Okay, get ready." Sammy warned, edging quietly closer to the field of hands scratching at the cool night air. He stretched out the stick, carefully moving it near the hand still clutching at witch girl.

"One..."

I swear I saw blood dribble to stain her sock.

"Two..."

Another rumble, this come coming from the house.

"Three!"

He slapped the hand with the stick. I heard the scrape of nails on wood echo into the forest as witch girl twisted to get free. Time slowed as she jumped towards the fence, her captor preoccupied with Sammy's weapon...

A sickening crack exploded into the air. Witch girl shrieked in pain, alerting the hand that she was down. She wailed, attention focused on her leg, the branding marks of the barbed wire visible even in the moonlight.

We had missed our chance.

Sammy had his arm outstretched, but witch girl shook her head, signalling she had no way of standing. Nothing could have prepared me for the unforgettable image that followed only a heartbeat later. Her neck was too close to the ground, but there was no time as a pair of long, spider thin arms erupted from the earth and latched around witch girl's neck. She fought, I'll give her that. She twisted and turned but soon there were hands scraping for her legs, arms and chest. I wanted to shout at Sammy to use the stick but the corpses were determined and their positions made it impossible to do anything without knocking her out or injuring her further.

Amidst the struggle, when she was almost completely pinned and gradually tiring from the effort of staying above ground, witch girl choked out in a tiny, rasped voice, "the..book.."

I spied the rune-filled journal just as a final hand emerged from the ground, this one adorned with a single, blood red ring that seemed to glow in the darkness. She shuddered at the stench of blood, her tears cascading down her face like a final orchestral crescendo.

"burn..it.."

The final hand lunged for her mouth, stifling her tremendous scream before they dragged her down to their dark, rotting grave.

-

Fin.

I promise that this isn't how detailed my dream was. Basically, there was a girl, I followed her to a hill at night, she sprinkled salt on the grass under a massive tree, there was barbed wire fence and a mansion, and then zombies appeared from the ground. I think we ended up going into the house and trying to escape the zombies by locking the doors but I honestly can't remember.

I hope you enjoyed :)