We arrived at the cemetery and I could feel the dead as soon as I parked beside it. I stepped out of the jeep and fought the urge to immediately go into the graveyard to feel their energy up close. I grabbed my wooden chest and stepped onto the ground just inside the gate. My power reverberated at the touch of the soil and it was like the bodies contained within the ground were already alive. They were just laying there waiting for me to call them.

I wasn't scared by that thought, either. I was in control, so I flung my power out as far as it could go. Since I wasn't trying to repeat what I had done before, or used my anger as a catalyst, I only managed to briefly touch everything that was in the graveyard. Even though it was a newer graveyard, A lot of the occupants had been involved in the zombie outbreak and I had laid them to rest.

I tried to ignore the familiar feeling that was nagging at the back of my mind as I walked with a purpose towards the spot in which Natalie's body rested. As I approached, I could tell that something wasn't right. There was a problem and I started to jog. My power flowed out ahead of me as I concentrated on the newest plot in the cemetery where Natalie was supposed to be, and I discovered the problem that I felt.

The grave was empty.

“No!” I dropped my wooden chest and shoved the two were-cat guards out of the way, then I fell to my knees on the freshly packed earth.

“David, what's wrong?” Jillian asked and held a hand up to stop the guards from attacking me.

I couldn't stop the tears from streaming down my face. “It's... the grave, it...”

“What is it?” Jillian asked, concerned.

“She's gone!”

“What do you mean she's gone?”

“I don't know! I saw them put her into the ground! You saw her! Everyone saw her!” I exclaimed and looked at the two guards. “Why isn't she here?”

“What are you talking about?” One of the guards asked. “We were here all day and no one has been here except...”

_______________

You have another crucial choice to make. I can't even give you hints to try and help. So, here are your choices. Good luck, buddy.

A) Call him a liar. B) Shoot him. C) Kill him. D) Cry. E) Accept his excuses. F) Kill both guards.

I really want to do A and B! I thought angrily.

Hey, that's a good idea. It'll prove your point, anyway. Just a second. Okay, here we go. New choices!

A) Shoot him and call him a liar. B) Kill him. C) Cry. D) Accept his excuses. E) Kill them all.

Definitely A! I choose A! I thought with satisfaction.

_______________

I drew my gun instantly and shot the guard in the thigh. It wasn't a lethal wound. “LIAR!” I yelled and the other guard lunged towards me. I shot him twice, once in the shoulder and once in the thigh, and made sure that they were also non-lethal wounds.

“DAVID!” Jillian yelled and surprisingly, didn't point her gun at me.

“You know he lied!” I said loudly as I glared at her. “They stood there and let whoever it was dig her up and put the dirt back!” I put my gun back into the holster and stared at the ground. “I don't care if they did it knowingly or not. They let it happen.” I pulled my fist back and slammed it into the ground. “She's not here, Jillian!” I said and punched the ground with my other fist and my power flowed out as my anger rose.

I punched the ground harder and harder. It started to give way under my fierce pounding and I thought that was a telling sign than it had been recently dug. The ground around us shook and trembled.

“David!” Jillian shouted again, only this time it was full of fear and not misunderstanding.

I stopped punching the ground that had turned into a soft muddy mess under my fists and I looked up. We were completely surrounded by the dead. I looked down at my hands that trembled slightly, then I saw that beneath the dirt and mud, my hands were covered in blood. I didn't realize that while I was punching the earth so hard that I had cut myself up. I didn't feel it even now that I could see the cuts and abrasions that let my blood flow, while my power had been flowing out of me and into the ground.

I stood up and their eyes followed me as if I was the only thing that existed for them. I looked around and they looked around with me as well. I could see that the whole graveyard stood there around us and the two guards stared at the zombies. I turned my head and looked at Jillian and the dead all turned their heads and focused their eyes on her, too.

Jillian shivered a little before she spoke to me in an overly calm voice. “David? Are... are you...”

I smiled at her and she visibly relaxed. “I'm sorry. I guess I got a bit carried away.”

Jillian gave me a disbelieving look for several moments, then she shook her head with a smile. I smiled as well, then all of the zombies smiled with me and she stopped smiling.

“How are you doing that?” Jillian asked and her gaze drifted over the fairly alive faces on the zombies.

I looked at her and decided to tell her the truth. I only hoped that she could forgive me. “They're mine.” I said. “I can't really explain it better than that. They are as much a part of me now as my legs.”

Jillian looked at me like I had two heads growing out of my neck and I sighed.

“That night, when I put all of these zombies back, I had to touch them all with my blood. I forcibly made a connection to them to try and complete the ritual. When I laid them all to rest, it felt like... like I was losing a part of myself.” I said. “Apparently, they must have felt that way, too.”

“But... how did you...?”

“ I didn't call them, Jillian. I'm so full of anguish that Natalie isn't here that I asked for help. They answered me and here they are.”

Jillian looked at me with shock on her face, because she knew that you couldn't raise a dead body as a zombie without a ritual. I was going to comfort her by telling her that since the ritual wasn't completed properly, I could put them back into the earth whenever I wanted. I wasn't going to tell her that I couldn't lay them to rest. My phone rang and Jillian jumped, as did the two guards.

I grabbed a cloth from my bag to wipe the blood and dirt from my hands. I answered the phone on the fifth ring. “Hello?”

“David, it's Carl.”

Mikki's father? I asked in my head. “Is something wrong with Mikki?” I almost barked.

“No, no. Everything is fine with her.” Carl said. “I won't ask you how you are, since I know only too well what you are going through.” He said and his voice was full of sorrow and regret.

Oh, no you don't. I thought and didn't say anything for several moments.

Carl didn't wait for me to speak. “Mikki has spread around a picture of someone you are looking for. I believe we have found him.”

I stood up straight and gripped the cell phone so hard that I thought I heard it crack. “Where?”

“In a warehouse down by the docks.” Carl said.

My shoulders slumped and I sighed. “The police raided it earlier today.” I responded wearily.

“I don't believe so. The warehouse that was raided was down the street from this one.”

I straightened up so quickly that every zombie did it, too. The sound of the bones cracking made Jillian look like she wanted to get as far away from being mauled again as she could. I reached out for her and touched her arm to calm her and all of the zombies did the same thing.

“STOP THAT!” Jillian yelled and closed her eyes.

“I'm sorry.” I said and moved my hand while concentrating on not having the zombies do it, too. I caressed the cheek of her face and she looked at me. “I'm letting this go to my head a little.” I admitted. “I'm fine, though.”

“Really?” Jillian asked.

“Really.” I nodded and only I did, so she relaxed. “Look, I have to try and get them all back into their graves and you know how time consuming that can be.”

Jillian nodded. “You were out all night the last time.”

“I'm going to be out for a while tonight, too.” I said. “So, go on home. I'll either meet you at the house later or I'll call Mikki to come and get me.”

Jillian looked at the zombies around us and nodded. “I better take the guards with me.”

I thought about refusing, then sighed and waved at them. Two zombies each grabbed them by the arms and picked them up like they were rag dolls. “Try and see how they missed someone digging for hours to get Natalie's body.”

“We both know it was vampires.” Jillian said.

“Yeah, and I thought your people... well, our people... had immunity to that.” I said and she didn't say anything. “Perhaps you can ask them where they were all goddamn day.”

Jillian saw the two guards wince at being caught in a lie. “Don't worry, David.” She said, her voice hard as she grabbed both men by their collars and started to drag them across the ground. “I'll find out what happened. You have my word.”

“Thanks, Jillian.” I said.

“I will help with that, too.” Carl said from my phone that I had completely forgotten about.

“I'm sure Jillian might let you play with them when she's done.” I said into the phone and then covered it for a moment. “Don't worry, the zombies won't do anything to you like what happened the last time.” I reassured her. “Unlike then, I know what I'm doing.”

“That's reassuring.” Jillian said a little sarcastically as the zombies parted to let her pass.

“What was the address of the warehouse?” I asked Carl and he didn't make me promise to be careful and gave it to me. I thanked him and hung up, then I tried to call Steve. I had to leave a message again when there was no answer. I waited for a few minutes and he didn't call back, which meant he was still busy with something important.

_______________

Okay, buddy. You made it through that. Nice going. All right, now you've got a story altering choice to make. Once again, I can't give you any hints or even warn you what might happen.

A) Stay and wait for Steve. B) Go on a rampage. C) Put the dead to rest. D) Do something stupid.

Well, damn. I thought and looked at the situation I was in. Steve could be hours, depending on what he's doing or not doing. I don't want to rampage, even though that would be really nice, it wouldn't help me. I skipped over the C option, since I just raised the dead by accident and they hadn't done anything yet to help me, which left only one option. I have to go with D. I choose D.

_______________

That's when I decided to do something really stupid.

The connection I had with these zombies was forged in both pain and loss, which seemed to match their own predicaments upon their deaths, so I used that connection now. I pumped a bit of power into their bodies and whispered to them.

“Live.” I breathed into them more of my power and added my grief and anger. I could feel the tattered rags they wore reform themselves and knit together. I picked up my container of crystallized blood and walked around the group of dead. I put a single crystal of my blood in their mouths and added more power each time, then drew several runes on their foreheads to symbolize ownership.

“Live.” I said as the flesh and bones of the corpses started to regenerate. I added more of my power and used them like batteries to create another circuit of energy. I continued my trek around the graveyard and made sure I gave each and every one of them my blood and my power. By the time I was done and had fed nearly two hundred zombies, they were almost back to what they must have looked like when they were alive.

“LIVE!” I yelled and in my head completed the runic circle by using the dead and not the ground they walked on. I flung out a final bit of power along with the last trickle of blood on my hands. The circle snapped into place and I caught my breath at the power it contained and what I felt from them. What stood before me was not a bunch of mindless zombies.

It was now a crowd of people.

They all came to themselves, like a hand slipping into a glove, and I saw the light return to their faces. My blood was one of the most powerful magical cocktails that I knew of, which was why I always took the time to crystallize as much of it as I could when I had the time. When I used it to make a zombie, it always made them more life-like and more personable.

“I'm David Drake.” I said and the crowd looked at me like I just appeared in front of them, instead of the other way around.

Questions seemed to flow out from the mass of people in fits and starts. It was difficult to make out what anyone was saying, so I put a stop to that.

“Quiet, please.” I said and they all fell silent immediately. “I'm sorry for disturbing your rest. It was completely by accident that I raised you all from your graves. I actually came here to... find a friend of mine... but, she isn't here and she was supposed to be.”

The crowd of people looked at me for a moment and considered my words carefully. Some of them looked like they were trying to respond and couldn't.

“Go ahead. You can speak.” I said and then I heard several of them ask the same thing.

“What do you want from us?”

“I need your help, just like I asked when I woke you up by accident. I want to get the beings who killed my friend. Since you're here already, I was hoping you would help me find her and bring her the justice she deserves. Now, this is strictly voluntary. If there's anyone that wants to go back, I'll put them to rest right away.”

There were a few murmurs of dissent and those that chose to go back raised their hands. Only about six of them in the whole graveyard had declined to help. I wondered why they answered the call in the first place, shrugged, then put them back in the spots that they came from.

I felt along the connection that I had forged with all of the others and pushed a bit of power along that link. “Follow me.” I said into the darkness and picked up my wooden chest. “I think I know where they are.”

I walked out of the graveyard and the small army of the dead that I had inadvertently raised, walked along behind me. Fortunately, Jillian had driven to the graveyard in my jeep, which meant that when she left, she had taken it home and I wouldn't have to come all the way back here to get it.

I had been in that damn wheelchair for so long that I had almost forgotten what it felt like to just get out and walk. Yeah, I know it's strange that I'm walking along the road with about two hundred zombies behind me; but, it didn't feel strange to me. It actually felt... right. Like it was meant to be.

I have always had an affinity with the dead, but this... this was something deeper. I could feel the pavement under two hundred pairs of feet inside different shoes. I could feel the air pass by all those faces and through their hair. I was sure that if I concentrated like I had that night, I could easily see out of all those eyes if I wanted to.

It felt wonderful.

Before I let all of those sensations go to my head, I remembered that we had a mission... that I had a mission. By God, I was going to complete it tonight if it was at all possible. I needed to find my lost little kitten.

We headed down the road with not a car in sight. It was strange, since it wasn't that late at night. I guess it didn't matter much, since I wasn't sure how I was supposed to explain my late night parade anyway. I just hoped that when we passed the houses on the next street, that they didn't start freaking out that the dead were walking again. I had completely forgotten that the zombies now looked like normal people.

We passed the houses on the next street without even a light coming on or someone peeking out to look at us. I was about to say something about that when I turned around and looked at the mass of dead people behind me. I almost laughed when I remembered that these zombies didn't look like zombies at all. My small army of the dead just looked like a large gathering of people and I didn't have to have such silly worries.

I smiled and could feel that same smile on everyone's faces as we all walked down the next street with confidence.