The Phantom Touch

The Trouble with Zombies

Thankfully, my new job knocked whatever lingering thoughts I had about my interaction with Everett out of my head. I slipped in through the back door since the front was swarmed by the entire zombie clan. Once we all took our places around the store, Calista opened the doors and welcomed the swarm into the market. I knew at some point door prizes were called and I could hear the click of the prize wheel spinning over the rumble of nearly fifty zombies crammed into the fairly small building, at least small in comparison to the grocery stores I knew from back home in Whitmere, but I really didn't have a chance to appreciate the opening day festivities.

It was a trial by fire to say the least. At first, I stumbled with punching in orders and making change. I'd worked at a fast food joint in my teenage years, but I quit after high school. After five years away from a cash register, it took awhile for the muscle memory to return to my fingers. Eventually, though, I found my footing and worked my way through the line with a smile. Also, I was relieved to find that with the meats wrapped up in paper, it was easy to ignore the fact I was handling a human's upper arm. That and the smell wasn't nearly as bad.

After a couple hours of rush, the place died down into a ghostly silence. There just weren't that many zombies in Whisper Valley yet. Calista assured us that the clientele will grow and that during down times we'd be packaging orders for zombies outside of town.  For now, however, the majority of their revenue would be coming from the large vampire population that would be shopping at night. We spent the remainder of the afternoon cleaning up, restocking for the night shift, and handling outside orders. It was quiet, easy work, that reminded me of my days at the printing press. However, it also meant that thoughts could easily slip back into my head and the questions returned.

What was going on with Claire and Everett? What was going on between me and Everett? And what might have happened to the missing zombie?

Of those three questions, the last one was the only one that seemed manageable in that moment. It was tangible, a physical problem with a physical solution. And even better, I had several zombies around me that could fill me in on the situation and help me solve the case, which in turn might just relieve Everett of all the burdens he seemed to be carrying.

"Blizzard, do you mind if I ask you a question?"

"Please call my Liz, Del," the athletic zombie said with a cheerful smile. "And sure, though if it's about how to properly wrap one of these feet, I can't help. I really haven't figured out the best way to do it either." She sighed and undid the crumpled paper she had balled up around a flimsy human foot. I did my best not to watch how it wiggled like gelatin and instead kept my eyes on the zombie sitting across from me at our work table.

"No, no, not that," I said with a forced laugh. "I was just wondering how things are back at the commune. I heard that someone went missing recently."

"Yeah, it's a real bummer," said Liz with a sigh as she started her work again with a fresh sheet of butcher paper. "Mercedes was always so optimistic. She was our little cheerleader when we were all hurting so much from hunger. But, you know they say the cheerful ones are the ones that are hurting the most."

"Mercedes?" I asked, thinking back to the time I first went to the old warehouse out by Killian's farm where the zombies had their commune. "I've met her before, she was really excited about having bull snout."

"I know, right!" said the zombie with a laugh. "Out of all of us, she seemed to actually enjoy animal meat. But, like I said, you really can't tell. I mean, Mercedes was some Hollywood starlet back in the 40s, loved and adored by all, but yet she still ended up sitting alone in her fancy car inside her garage while the engine was on. She lived all alone in this big old mansion in the hills of California and I guess she just felt so lonely. Raid was camping out in those woods at the time. He's really, really old so he's got a great sense of smell for death when it starts to take hold and he got in just in time to infect her. They've been together ever since." She then sighed, an envious twinkle in her eye. "I can only hope I find love like that."

"What?!" I exclaimed a bit louder than I probably should have. A couple of the other zombies looked my way while Liz tried to hold back a laugh. After giving everyone an apologetic smile, I turned back to my companion and continued in a lower voice. "Raid and Mercedes are...are they together? Like dating or..."

"Neither really feel the need for something like a wedding. Raid is very detached from the traditions of the human world, but yeah they're undeniably partners. They're both so different, but also very much the same. Both felt alone in a world that didn't understand them." She sighed as a swoon overtook her and I tried not to roll my eyes as I waited. Eventually she collected herself and with a shake of her head, she continued in a somber tone. "So you can imagine how hurt Raid was when she disappeared a few weeks ago."

"A few," my voice raised to a shrill pitch again, but this time I checked my surprise and reeled it in before anyone noticed, "a few weeks ago would have been only a week or so after I first met her. How has the sheriff's office only just now found out?"

"Raid's a proud man," said Liz with a shrug, "and they've been together for over seventy years. He either didn't want to admit that she left him or that she wasn't coming back. Personally, I didn't even know he'd gone to the cops about it. He must really be hurting if he's involving them in something like this."

It took me a minute to register everything Liz had said. I couldn't fathom the cold, quiet Raid being paired with what I remembered to be an effervescent young woman.

As Liz continued to chat on about all the gossip in the zombie commune, I listened in silence, wondering if the very different zombies did have an argument and Mercedes simply left for some space. Or was it because of her hunger and her need to be free from the town's limitations in regards to human consumption? Or was it something else? Liz claimed Mercedes and Raid loved each other dearly, plus the one thing I remembered about my encounter with Mercedes was her honest enthusiasm for animal meat. Could that mean that maybe she was, instead, taken against her will?

***

Was Mercedes' departure a simple matter or was there something devious involved?  Is Del just looking for another mystery to solve just so she can forget about the other problems in her life?

And who remembers Mercedes from the first book?  She was only in it for a minute, but I enjoyed her character and wanted to bring her back.  There are more characters from the previous book that will be making a return.  We'll be seeing one in particular in a couple chapters.  And though he's a troublemaker, he's one of my favorites.  Any guesses as to who will be showing up soon?