Chapter 5 Closer Encounter!

Emily was petrified. Exasperated, Melissa looked like she was ready to scream, but Emily was quick enough to cup her mouth in her left palm. With her right hand on Melissa's right shoulder, Emily guided her backward as they both slowly tiptoed out of the room and back into the hallway. Melissa stopped midway abruptly, yanking Emily's hands off her mouth and shoulder.

"What is this zompire doing here?" Melissa grumbled in a whisper. "Just when I thought we could eat, rest and catch some sleep," she continued.

Emily shrugged.

"You mean to tell me that the zompire just came in here, the very same place we decided to hide for the night?" Melissa whisper-shouted.

Emily could tell that Melissa did not have it all pieced together in her emotions. The strength she had exhibited in the previous couple of hours since this whole zompire nightmare began was beginning to wane.

"Why aren't you saying anything?" Melissa ranted.

"Because we are not supposed to stand in the same building with a zompire! Let's get out here!"

Emily raised her voice more than she intended to. The fact that they were standing in the hallway of a house that looked like a haunted building in a horror movie was nerve-racking. Melissa's stubbornness and refusal to let them leave the house were even more frustrating. Emily was quite restless, moving from foot to foot as she glanced in several directions, hoping that there weren't more zompires in the house than the one napping in the room. She couldn't wrap her head around Melissa's adamant behaviour.

"Mel, please let's get out of here. The longer we stay, the more dangerous it might become. There's at least one zompire in this house. We need to leave before it wakes up," Emily said persuasively.

Melissa leaned against the wall and slid to a sitting position on the floor.

"Why is that zompire here?" Melissa asked tiredly, almost sobbing.

"I'm not sure I can respond to that. Maybe he wandered here, maybe someone brought him here. Maybe he used to live here as a human. Maybe..." The sound of footsteps stopped Emily mid-sentence. The zompire they had seen in the room was now at the doorway. Before the girls could take in its sight, the zompire started to scream as it ran towards them. Emily and Melissa dashed into the living room and they crept under a table. The zompire came into the room, searching frantically for the girls. He seemed really wild. The girls held their breath, their hearts pounding like they would pop out of their chests.

The zompire looked puzzled. There didn't seem to be any hideout in the room, why then couldn't he find the girls?

As he walked out of the living room, his eyes caught the sole of Melissa's sneakers sticking out from under the table.

"Well, well, what have we got here?" he smirked. His words were slurred like someone who was heavily intoxicated. Before the girls could make a move, the zompire grabbed Melissa by her hair and started pulling her out of her hiding place. She kicked and screamed, but the zompire didn't bulge. Emily held Melissa by the leg and pulled her, trying to seize her from the zompire's grip, but the zompire's pull was done with a really strong effort which got both girls hauled towards him. As she was being pulled along, Emily sighted a bizarre, spiked, metal helmet. She quickly stretched her right hand to get it as she was still being pulled together with a screaming Melissa who was hoisted to her feet in an instant.

Letting go of Melissa's hair, and now gripping her by the wrist, the zompire bent to look at Emily who lay still on the floor. As he moved his grinning face closer to hers, Emily swiftly raised her hand and hit the zompire hard on his face with the helmet. He passed out as he landed on his side with a thud on the wooden floor, blood dripping from his head. The zompire's grip off Melissa's wrists, she took to her heels in the direction they came in from. Glancing backward, she saw Emily still trying to maneuver her way up on her feet.

"Quick, Emily! Let's get out of this crazy house!" They dashed out of the building and sprinted without looking back. They continued to run until they were finally sure that they were far away from the building.

After about a few minutes, they slowed down. They staggered wearily to a lone log, panting heavily. They sat on the dry leaves in the forest and rested their backs and heads against the log. Neither of them said a word as they ruminated on the events of the past hours. Soon, they both fell fast asleep, neither girl stirring till the next morning.