Accidental Avatar 3.5: The Burn Book

Old Man Ding and the A+ Zombie Impression

"Old man Ding?" Aang called out.

"Huh?"

I grabbed the old man's hammer before he hit himself. He was trying to nail up some wooden boards over his home.

"Gimme back that hammer!" he yelled at me.

"You answer some questions," Mogui offered. "My big friend and I will put up all those boards."

"You mean, I'll put up the boards while you stand there looking busy," I raised an eyebrow at the boy.

"It gotta be done tonight," the geezer grunted. "Got a full moon out tonight. I might be a little older, but I'm not ready to get snapped up by some moon monster yet."

"That's what we are here to talk about," I said, putting the nail through with one swing.

"Did you get a good look at the spirit who took you?"
"Didn't see no spirit," Mr Ding responded. "Just felt something come over me like I was possessed. Forced me to start walking toward the mountain."

He pointed violently, nearly prodding Jin in the face. Meanwhile, I one-shot another nail into the wall.

"I tried to fight it," the old man mimed being a zombie. "But I couldn't control my own limbs. It just about had me into a cave up there. And I looked up at the moon for what I thought would be my last glimpse of light. But then, the sun started to rise."

"Then what happened?" Jin asked.

"Well, I got control of myself again!" Ding declared, and I drove more nails in. "I just hightailed it away from that mountain as quick as I could!"

"Thank you, Old Man Ding," Mogui bowed, then turned to walk away. 

"Why would a spirit want to take people to a mountain?" Sokka started stroking his imaginary beard again.

"Oh, no!" Toph shouted. "I did hear people screaming under the mountain. The missing villagers must still be there. Can you feel them, Muteki?"

I put my hand to the ground. It was very faint, but there was... something... that could have been people... But it was too faint to know for certain.