(no subject)
Sunshine Farm
A Short Story by Amanda Landry
English ¾ M
It rained.
The cold, pouring rain drenched everything within a 5-mile radius; the old estate, the large cemetery across the street, and the long lonely road that served as the only way to escape the dismal, solitary place deemed Sunshine Farm, though there were no documents stating a farm ever having been there, nonetheless the happy feeling towards it that the name suggested. Perhaps the owners named it thusly in hope that things would brighten up - to no avail. It seemed as if the place had been this dark since the beginning of time. The place, with its forbidding atmosphere and rumors of murderers and ghosts, had attracted many people, teenaged rebels looking for a place to smoke to people looking for a place to spruce up, which is exactly what had happened. A young man, dimwitted but fairly attractive, had inherited the place from his parents in their will, after they had disappeared while fixing up the Manor. They never finished and Stuart, their son, didn’t mind as he needed a place to live. So after the search party had given up on ever finding the old couple, he moved right in. Of course, at that time there were no beds or furniture, so he invited two friends of his to come live with him; men by the names of David Hobbs and Michael Murdoch. Once the two had moved in, the house had gained new furniture; beds, a kitchen table, chairs, lamps, posters, stereo systems, a 27-inch TV and even a family... a deranged family, but a family nonetheless.
Even with his new companions, Stuart was still lonely. Michael was often at bars, working what little of a charm he was able to muster on the ladies (and often bringing one home), and David was usually either with him or alone in his room, listening to his collection of old school hip-hop. So in a final desperation, he visited an adoption agency and befriended a 13-year-old Japanese girl named… actually, he didn’t get her name. The girl knew but one English word, so he decided to call her that: Fork. The two became fast friends, and were always together playing video games, watching zombie movies, just going for a ride, anything. Stuart thought as Fork more as a friend than a daughter. She was the only one in the house that really took to liking him.
Day after day, the house grew warmer - more like a home now that it ever was before. Now that it had a femine touch due to the addition of Fork, she had made sure the floors were vaccumed (the boys weren't about to do it), everything was picked up, and she had even made curtains for the windows from fabric scraps she'd found in the cellar. Generally, everyone was happy besides the ever suspisious Michael, who was often seen strolling about the old cemetery alone, looking over the graves. He found it rather strange that all of the graves dated from before June, 1867 yet the ground looked as if it had recently been dug up. Grave robbers, perhaps? He didn’t think so. Being a very superstitious man, he quickly passed it off as vampirism, so after a week he had acquired several thorn bushes and planted them over the most suspicious-looking burial sites. After doing so he felt a bit more secure, having just done what the ancients did to ensure that their dead would not crave blood, rise from the grave and begin attacking the villages.
And still, nothing happened to break up the ‘family’. The house was never repaired, though, and smelled faintly of death and alcohol, a smell that had been there as long as Stuart could remember, even back when his parents had bought the place. The other housemates had noticed it as well, the distinct smell would drift down the staircase from the attic on very hot days and stink up the entire manor.
Stuart still feared that his parent's bodies were out there, but wasn’t about to go searching. He was fine where he was, without dead corpses.
...Meanwhile two bodies decayed silently in the attic above the dining room, bony hands still clutching butcher knives that used to fight off whatever had ultimately killed them...
It grew nearer to Halloween of that year, and everyone in the house was excited, but none as much as Stuart and Fork, who’s plan included cuddling up on the ripped sofa in front of the TV and watching as many zombie flicks as they could cram into the wee hours of one night. They’d have the entire house to themselves, which would be especially creepy. The other two residents were more excited about beer and women up at their usual bar.
Two long weeks crawled by, and the now-sunny outdoors was slowly changing back into it’s usual black-and-darkess. Another thing happened during this time... The date of Stuart Albarn’s parent’s disappearance was going to be exactly two years ago on Halloween of that year. Finally, the night came, and both Michael and David took off in the only car the roommates owned to a town nearly half an hour away, leaving Stuart and Fork to fend for themselves if anything happened. It was only 6: 00 pm and they were on the sofa, attackikng a bowl of popcorn as the previews before the zombie movie they were about to watch rolled, advertising other bad horror flicks that neither of them had heard of. Afterwards, when the movie had started and the popcorn had been devoured, one of them grabbed the candy they had bought in hopes that children would wander down the road, but none had came, and as it began to thunder outdoors, they didn’t think any would. Presently they were fighting over the last tootsie-pop, which popped out of their fighting hands and flew through the room, hitting the T.V. then resting on the shag carpet below. With a glare, Fork murmered in broken English "You get it." Stu stuck out his tongue and got off the scratchy couch, then turned back to his companion, "If I get it, then I get to eat it, right?" And growled as the small Japanese girl jumped before him, grabbed the lolipop and before ripping off the wrapper, popped it into her mouth, which was now curved into a sadistic smile.
Sadly, the victory was short-lived, due to a large crack of thunder sounded, making both jump in suprise. Everything went silent, save for the pounding of the rain against the Victorian windows and a rather curious groan from in the attic.
At the same time, their heads turned towards the back of the room and wide, terrified eyes peered up the staircase into the black abyss that hid the door to the attic, just watching and listening to see if it would happen again. It felt like an hour (but was really just a minute or so) before they decided that something had fallen upstairs and got back onto the couch to continue watching the movie.
All was well until yet another crash of thunder broke the peace and everything electronic in the house went out, immideatly after which, there was a sound of shuffling from above. Finally, Fork got up, trying her best to tell Stuart she was retreving some candles from her bedroom and not to move from the sofa, because he'd likely get lost in the darkness. When she believed that he understood, she left, heading downstairs.
Stu looked over the back of the couch towards the attic, where a shadow began decending. That shadow soon turned to a pair of feet in heels, the ragged end of a floral dress, green-tinted arms and finally the rotting head of his own mother.
Panicking, he got up, called nervously for his foster child, and backed up towards the television, terrified to see that his mother was shuffling towards him. When Fork got back upstairs, she dropped the candle, babbling something incoherent to the other, pointing towards the television. Getting the hint, he grabbed the television with difficulty, almost dropping it on his foot before she helped him, and they chucked it at the... monster, crushing her head and ceasing its movement from that point on. Immideatly afterwards, another monster came down from the attic, and it appeared to be Stu's father.
It took a moment to realize what they were fighting, but in a moment, Stu knew what he and his friend were up against. His parents were none other that the exact creature they had just watched on the TV screen ...
ZOMBIES.
And bonding his ultimate knowledge on seemingly fistional characters, he remembered that the only way to kill such creatures is sever the head. So abandoning Fork for a moment, he ran into the nearby kitchen, grabbed a knife and sliced off his father's head, then knelt down to his dead mother and took hers off as well.
The deed had been done. He got up, took a step back, and absorbed what he had just done... something had made his parents into these ...things... and he would find out no matter what the cost. He felt the smaller hand of his best friend take his.
Fork nervously muttered, "...Zombie?"
"Yeah, Fork... they were zombies."
With a sigh, she stood on tiptoes and kissed her companion's cheek before heading towards the window, pulling back the badly-stiched curtians to reveal a crawling mass of the same creatures that had just been slain in the same room they were. "Stu...?"
"Hm?"
When she guestered for him, he joined her at the window and almost fainted at the vision before him: the ground below was swarming with the same feinds they had just battled. grabbed her and fled down the stairs. They couldn't just stay in the house, they'd be trapped. Once reaching the outdoors, he ran for the parking lot before remembering... the car was gone. They were stuck there until the others came home. Stu bent over, grabbed a handfull of rocks, and began pelting them at the zombies that were coming ever closer to him. Running out of ammo, he grabbed Fork, lifting her onto his sholders and headed towards the old burial vault in the cemetary that had been used to store dead bodies in the winter.
But he was unaware of the single step that led into the vault and tripped over, his leg making an ear-splitting CCCRRRAAACCCKKK! Fork rolled off of him, extending a hand to help him up but it was no use - the fall had caused him to break his leg, and the bone now stuck out at a very awkward angle. She screamed in frustration and dragged him up into the vault, knowing they wouldn't be safe for long. The zombies would soon smell the blood and rush towards them.
Just then, headlights lit up the road, and the black car hit maybe five of the monsters, thusly poping a few tired. Turning off the car, Micheal got out quickly, large knife in hand, followed by David, who's weapon of choice was none other than.. a large pizza. He dropped it on the road on the way up to where he and Micheal had seen Fork, in order to lure off the zombies, but when he was about halfway there... he decided he wanted the pizza and ran back to grabe a slice.
Instead of eating a slice of the cheezy goodness he believed awaited him, he got attacked and had himself eaten, killed on the spot.
The remaining three looked down in horror as their good friend was ripped limb from limb, knowing one of them would be next.
"I got an idea..." Micheal muttered, running back to the car.
The others studyed everything the man did. He started the car, then grabbed something from inside , lobbing off zombie heads the whole time, then opened the hood of the car, pourning whatever substance he had gotten, then dropped a lit match. The car went up in a huge explosion, but along with the hundred or so zombies that were blown to peices so was Micheal, before he could run off.
So great, now Fork would have to do this herself.
Accepting the fact that it was either do or die, Fork bent over and kissed the now-unconsious Stuart on the forhead one last time before running out onto the battlefeild, not looking back once. She quickly found that there was an old shed by her home, and she took up shelter in there, soon finding that maybe there was intention of the estate becoming a farm, for there lay on the floor a sythe, dusty and untouched since it was lain there.
Finally feeling up to the task at hand, she grabbed it and headed out, once more, out into the zombie-infested land.
She stood in the middle of the road, rain falling down onto her small frame, making the bloodstains on her face and arms drip down, turning her pale skin a dirty red. In one swift movement, she swung the sythe around in a circle. She did it at just the right level, because the blade easily cut through five necks, heads rolling off at her feet, making one bloody puddle. She looked up again, and saw that the explosion Micheal had caused had killed off most of the zombies, so she headed towards the remainder of them, who were now staggering towards her, and lobbed off their heads in the same manner.
Fork saw no more. She searched the estate throughly and still had found none.
As the sun began to rise, she sank against the outside of the house, crying into her arms about everything that had happened that night. Eventually she fell into a deep sleep and stayed like that until someone shook her awake and she was brought to the hospital.
That was the last anyone heard of her.
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"This place is beautiful!" Claimed a woman excitedly to the realestate who stood beisde her, looking profesisonal. "We'll take it!"
THE END.