AAAIIIEEE!!

"Dude," said Danny, rubbing at his ears.

"Sorry," I said. "Those bats scared me. They came out of nowhere."

"The bats scared you? You're a werewolf!"

I folded my arms in a pout. "Doesn't mean I don't get scared."

Danny, Sally, Brain, and I were at the Carnaval del Horror. We've been waiting for it all year (OK, so that's a slight exaggeration...it wasn't the whole year). We've attended it every Halloween since high school. This year we decided to visit the graveyard ride first. It was pretty...'eh until the bat attack. You'd think with having a vampire as a co-worker I'd be use to bats. Actually, it wasn't the bats that got me, it was the fact they appeared out of nothing.

"Did you hear something?" asked Sally. She stepped closer to me.

A sudden moan and scratching noise filtered up from the ground. Suddenly, decaying hands reached out from the graves. Rotting faces full of bugs and worms rose from the ground as the undead humans sat up. They slowly made it to their feet and ambled towards us. Some lost limbs on the way.

One older looking one pointed a stiff, oozing finger at us. "Will you knock off that noise?" he said. "It's enough to wake the dead."

My friends and I looked at the ground. "Sorry, Mr. Peterson," I said.

"Well...we'll let it slide this time." He wagged a finger at me, which popped off and fell to the ground. One of the neighboring zombies picked it up and placed it back on Mr. Peterson's hand. "I'm letting it slide this time, Joel, because you were such an excellent paperboy when you were younger. You always were on time and never broke any of my gravestones." His head turned with a creeeek towards Danny. "Unlike some people." Danny blushed and suddenly found the clouds to be very interesting. "Now you four scoot along before you miss the rest of the carnival."

"Yes, sir," we said.

As we walked slowly away, with our heads hung low, Danny whispered, "If they don't like noise so much, why'd they let the carnival have the graveyard ride right over their home?"

"I have no idea," I whispered back. "Maybe we can ask him tomorrow."

***

Mr. Peterson and the other zombies watched as Sally, Brain, Danny, and I disappeared back into the carnival. "Kids these days," sighed Mr. Peterson.

The zombies started back to their graves, but a sudden chill stopped them.

"It's time," a bodiless voice whispered in the wind. "Time to bring freedom to this world. Time to free them from their prison. Time to join the Wyrm."

The eyes of the zombies clouded over and became as black as night. Mr. Peterson tilted his head, "Yes, Master." The zombie horde turned towards the carnival. They began their slow march forward.

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Words: 478

My entry for the WattZombie Halloween Vault prompt.

https://my.w.tt/udXmA2OmrR