A Fistful of Zombie 15

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Miguel, Bernardo, Denver, and Taylor hurry breathlessly into the desert.

MIGUEL
Stop, stop. We don’t know where we’re going, we don’t know what to do.

DENVER
What the hell are those things? What the hell happened to Bob?

MIGUEL
You ask me like I know.

DENVER
Well you seem to know more about this than I do. You knew how to deal with those three things.

MIGUEL
Yeah, I know how to fight when something’s trying to kill me. Doesn’t mean I know what I’m fighting. I never saw anything like it before. I must’ve unloaded two pistols into each of them and they didn’t stop coming.

DENVER
I cut off Bob’s head and stabbed him and he was still alive when I left.

BERNARDO
They’re not alive. I don’t know what they are, but they’re not alive.

TAYLOR
I know what they are.

Everyone stops and looks at Taylor. Taylor is white and shaking. Clearly shock has set in.

MIGUEL
Well, talk, little boy.

Miguel slaps Taylor. Denver grabs Miguel’s wrist and holds it hard.

DENVER
Don’t you ever touch him, spick.

MIGUEL
I’m trying to help him. Trying to snap him out of it. He’s dazed, see.

Miguel snaps his fingers several times in front of Taylor’s face, eliciting no response. Denver goes up to Taylor, sits him down and throws his coat around the boy. Miguel and Bernardo gather around.

DENVER
It’s ok, James. You can talk.

Taylor swallows. Obviously it is a great effort for him to speak of this matter.

TAYLOR
I heard these stories, growing up in New Orleans, from the Haitians. They said there were these magicians back in Haiti that could do lots of things. There were good magicians that did things like cast out demons or heal the sick. But there were also bad magicians called Bokors and they…they…

Miguel is loading his gun.

MIGUEL
They raised the dead. I’ve heard this story, too.

Miguel snaps his revolver together. Taylor swallows and nods.

TAYLOR
They’re called zombies. A zombie will be the Bokor’s slave as long as he’s alive, but if the Bokor dies then they just kill. They kill and the people they kill become zombies. It’s like scarlet fever. I never believed in zombies, but…I just saw it.

DENVER
Did they ever say how to stop these zombies?

TAYLOR
Fire…salt…holy things. The Bokors hate God, they hate him with a passion. They always kill missionaries.

BERNARDO
So we’ll be safe there?

They all look up. Bernardo points to a gorgeous Catholic church.