Author's note: Sorry for the delay. The next chapter will be out friday, and we will kick start (The dead parade). Undead lover's rejoice. The will be tragedy, feeding, and more uundead than you can shake a stick at. Our beautiful protagonist girls, Check. Zombies, check. Ghouls, check. Poor saps being eaten, double check. and so much more...

Chapter 7: Prelude to the Dead parade

The bleak hopelessness of their situation started to press down on tif. A nightmarish creature with untold numbers of monsters outside waiting to attack. Two diseased loved ones to escort away from this place. Her healthy sister to somehow save and get to a place away from the monsters. And the worst of all, Her friend seemingly changing into something horrifying right in front of tif's eyes.

The noise from outside seemed to reach a new peek. All the infected seemed to be terrified. Tif's mother and sister were also screaming in primal fear from the bedroom they were in.

What was happening to carri? Her eyes looked like an abyss into darkness now. Carri's normally pretty teeth were staining with a dark color and sharpening. The sounds coming from carri's body sounded like a form of torture. Flesh lengthening, muscles tearing and reforming, bones breaking and growing.

Unwilling to leave her friend, Tif knew she had to think of something fast, but what. What could possibly stop this kind of change?

The only thing tif could grasp in her thoughts was to try and feed carri.

Having to leave her obviously in pain friend, Tif went into the kitchen. She raided the warm freezer and grabbed the meat left in the meat drawer of the refrigerator. Hoping the stove worked tif threw all the meat on to a pan.

As if defying the reality of this world, the sound of a burner kicked on with a weak flame. The smell of the slowly cooking meat started wafting around the house. A sudden horrifying memory leapt in tif's mind. A memory of eating...

(It seemed like such a nice day earlier. Tif and her friend came home to her house. the sounds of dogs barking, cat's yawning, and life flourishing were like a background orchestra to tif. They walked in to find her mom frantic over her little brother. Apparently he got sent home suddenly. After watching the news, tif's mom told them he got the new sickness that was going around this week.)

(Her brother was a typical 8 year old, always dirty and grinning. They called him lukey, but his name was Luke. Right now Luke seemed to be in pain coughing, and huddled over on his sides. Spasms seemed to be rocking his poor little frame. Almost ominously he stopped. Slowly Luke feel over to the floor.)

(Tif's dad rushed in to his wife's side. Sadly it was too late to do anything. Black sludge slowly poured out from under Luke's unmoving body. They started to cry, but something seemed off. Like a low moaning almost unperceivable to everyone's hearing. The room of people started to concentrate on the sound. Luke slowly started to lift his body off the ground.)

(What happened next was so fast, it was almost a jumble of images. Mom's bloody dress. Luke almost seemed to be grinning with chunks in his mouth. Evee running in through the door. Dad grabbing both his wife and youngest daughter bolting for the front room. The two girls staring in horror at the brother who started lurching towards them. )

(In shock tif pushed carri away and told her to run and lock herself in the bathroom. Suddenly moving faster, Luke lunged at tif. A small fight ensued with tif knocking him back down, but not before she got bitten and scratch on her left arm and side.)

(A fever gripped her immediately. Tif went to get her friend and run. When she got to carri, tif almost blacked out and puked on her friend. Carri grabbed her side and helped move her to the front room. Blackness.)

(The next moment, a sense of a full belly and the sounds of ripping flesh. Low growls coming from around her. Flashes of a barely recognizable male's body torn beyond recognition. Warm blood dripping in tif's mouth. Barely holding on to her thoughts she walked out of the room and fell down in the living room carpet on the floor.)

(Before blacking out the sounds of a boyish giggle came from the living room. Followed by the loud sound of shattering glass. Luke must have woke up quickly and jumped outside. Endless darkness.)

The terrifying truth confronting her inside Tif's mind was like a sudden shock. She ate her dad, along with Mom and sister feasting on him. Almost feeling like she would heave up her empty stomach, tif smelled the almost burnt meat.

Pulling the pan off the burner, tif then turned off the stove and tried to wash the meat slightly. It looked like the food was barely edible. Another certainty hit tif, it wouldn't be enough. A Faustian thought made its way in. Bring carri to her dad's remains and feed what was left to her.

Unsure of what to do, tif sat down and put her head in her hands. Save carri, or try to remain somewhat human and not feed her dad to her changing friend. For the first time, tif wanted to cry and have a heartbeat to break.

Resolution flooded her. If tif's friend was now a monster then so was she. Tif would feed her dead dad to carri, and try to save her. No matter what would happen from now on, tif and carri would be monsters together.

Going back to her still in terrible pain friend, tif tried to help carri left herself up. She guided carri into the front room and opened the door for her. "Food" tif tried to convey to her friend. Somehow picking up on it, carri seem to act like a starving animal and closed in on the corpse.

A small sigh seemed to escape from tif. "please be enough" she wanted to say. She closed the door on the sight of a frightening act.

Being strong and resolute for her friend tif stayed there, hands folded in her lap. "I am one of the monsters now." Her mouth tried to utter. only an "Nnnnggghhh." came out sadly.

The lights flickered off completely plunging the house in almost darkness. The fading light punctuated the sounds of feeding, and dead flesh being torn.