Chapter Five

Marty was dumbstruck. Now, after having been faced with creatures he thought were nothing more than Biblical allegories, he was being held at gunpoint by a close friend of his. He could rationalize Marty’s prior outburst, but his was too much.

“Why, Martin?” At least tell me why.”

He laughed, a cocky smirk that covered nearly his whole face. “Why? Orders, that’s why.”

“Who?” Ninten yelled. “Who wanted to kidnap Pippi? Who are you working for?”

“You ask too many questions! You’ll be dead soon, what does it matter?” To prove his point, he aimed the gun away from Starr, to Ninten.

“Martin, you have to stop this! You were my friend, we were friends. Whatever is going on, the Lord can help!”

“Don’t give me that touchy-feely religious crap!” Marty yelled, taking a step towards Starr.

The priest readied himself for another pummeling, as Marty looked ready to pounce. He also had a gun, and was looking very intently at Starr.

“Hey, if you’re such a big man, why do you always need help?” Pippi suddenly asked. “You couldn’t even take on a little girl by yourself, you needed help, and now you’re saying you’re tougher than God?”

Marty swung around to Pippi. “Unless you want a bullet in your skull, I suggest you shut up!”

“Yeah , ‘cause Marty’s too scared to fight a little girl,” Ninten mocked.

“Scaredy-cat!” Pippi teased.

Starr couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Martin was going to kill them, he had a loaded gun, and the drive to do it, and they were making fun of him. These children had to be devoid of logic. He shot them a frustrated glare, which went promptly ignored. Unfortunately, he mostly glared at Marty’s back.

His back! Starr realized what they were doing. He would attack, since they were distracting him. But with what? Lunging at him would be too dangerous. Then, it hit him. He gasped, and lifted his eyes heaven-bound. Father, please forgive what I’m about to do.

He grabbed the Bible in his hands, slowly, as the other zombies were watching. He had one shot. He may get killed for doing this, but at least he would die honorably. In one motion, he whipped out the Bible, and hurled it at Marty’s head.

Marty spun around, and thrust the gun at Starr. “Die, you little—“

“Mr. Starr, duck!” Instinctually, Starr dropped to the ground, feeling his back protest in the form of ungodly spinal pain. But, he dodged a bullet, literally, and noticed that Ninten was on him. He hit Marty in the head with his bat, and Pippi punched him as he spun around to counter.

“Hey, you sucker-punched me, ya cheat!” Marty yelled, the gun dropping out of his hand.

“Nice aim, Mr. Starr,” Ninten said as he swung at Marty’s more sensitive area. A blood-curling scream could be heard, and even Starr felt a moment of sympathy for a man who had been hit down there. Finally, the stock mobster fell, groaning in pain. The other zombies, realizing what was going on, began to close in on them.

Starr, without thinking, bent down and grabbed the gun, ignoring the resulting pain, and pointed it at the crowd. “Not another step!” he commanded, effectively, as they all took a step back.

Pippi grabbed Marty’s necktie, and held his face inches away from her own. Starr had to admire that she didn’t seem disgusted in the slightest that he was a putrefied zombie.

“Who is the guy that told you to stuff me underground?” Her voice was surprisingly commanding for one so young and innocent-looking, but the conviction would be necessary to break Marty.

“I-I don’t know.”

“You’d better tell us, now, or else…” Ninten hovered his baseball bat above where he hit him last time.

“I swear! I don’t know his name. But he… he was an alien. Blue, kinda big, alien. Had a long tail. Told us that we’re brought back to get…”

“Pippi?” Ninten finished.

“No. You.”

Ninten’s face began to go pale. “Me? Why… me?”

Marty shook his head vigorously, probably not wanting to get hit again. “I don’t know, I swear. All the alien-guy said was that we were to eliminate _the child._ The child with the diary, whatever that meant. To do this, we kidnapped your friend.”

Starr was torn between being appalled and confused. “Er, what diary is he referring to, Ninten?”

“My great-grandpa’s…” Ninten’s voice trailed off, and he looked deep in thought.

“Listen, kid,” Marty continued, interrupting Ninten’s thoughts. “Whatever reason they want you, he’s powerful. This alien can revive dead people, and I doubt he’ll stop at this. I’d watch my back if I were you.” He then turned to Starr. “You too, Tommy. This guy would whack anybody that stood in his way, this alien fella.”

Starr nodded, realizing that he wasn’t just a distant bystander in this unfolding drama, witnessing these events afar like reading a book. No, he was an active player, and his life was in very real danger.

“Now go!” Marty ordered. “Get the hell out of here as fast as you can.”

“God bless you, Martin, even if you did try and kill us.”

Marty chuckled. “A priest right to the end. See ya’ around one day, Tommy.”

Starr felt a pang near his heart. Although his friend had tried to kill them, to see the good in Marty shine through in the end was too much to bear. Luckily, Pippi broke his concentration, and grounded him back to reality.

“They’re gone.”

“Who?” Starr asked.

“Those zombies. Look, they were standing over there before, and now they’re gone.”

Starr had a terrible feeling about this. He doubted that they quietly went away, never to return. “They’ll be back. We best get out of here.”

“Yeah, I’ll lead the way,” Ninten offered. “Come on, Pippi.”

Starr took one last look back at Mary, before beginning the trek back to the surface. But this time, it felt like walking through a hallway into a coliseum, like a gladiator about to fight lions. Starr couldn’t shake the feeling. Heaven help us, he silently prayed, as they reached ground level.