The Story of Emily Evans

XXXI: Zombies In The Lights

The carriage pulled up to a house and everyone quickly got out only to race to the front door of said house. There was a sign by the front door, it read: 'Undertaker'. Once at the door, Charles knocked, no one immediately came and so he knocked again. This time, the door opened to reveal the girl I had seen at the back of the hearse when we lost Rose, the girl was even wearing a maid's outfit which consisted of a black dress with a white apron like design along the front and back.

"I'm sorry, sir." The girl spoke to Charles. "We're closed."

"Nonsense." Charles immediately shot back, quite formally. "Since when did an Undertaker keep office hours? The dead don't die on schedule, I demand to see your master."

"He's not in, sir." The girl spoke, a bit respectfully. I could tell the lie on her words, as could both the Doctor and Charles. She then tried to shut the door, only for Charles to place his hand out to block it as he now stood in the door's threshold.

"Don't lie to me, child, summon the master!" Charles demanded of the girl, treating her like a servant...which I suppose she was. His snapping seemed to have rattled the girl as she immediately apologized.

"I'm awfully sorry, Mr Dickens, but the master is indisposed." The girl told him as a flash of light from behind the door caught my eyes.

It was from on of the gas lanterns which lit the hall, it flared up and was blinking like a faulty lightbulb. They didn't do that unless there was wind or some kind of air current brushing past them...did they...? I asked myself. I'm in 19th century England...and I'm pretty sure they didn't have air conditioning quite yet.

"Having trouble with your gas?" The Doctor seemed to ask the girl, picking up on the same thing I had. We all then heard the sound of a panicked horse ring from the other side of the house...probably parked where we couldn't see it from the road.

"What the Shakespeare is going on?" Charles seemed to ask the girl in the house as he tried to look inside.

That seemed to be our cue as both the Doctor and I pushed past the girl to come into the house. She really wasn't good at keeping people out when not wanted. The Doctor pressed his ear against the wall and I did too. "Do you hear that...?" The Doctor asked me as he listened to the wall.

I did the same as him although...I wasn't really sure what I was looking for when I heard it. It was like a hiccup, only it seemed to be happening with the steady, now unsteady, flow of gas through the walls of the room. "I think." I told him as I listened. "What is it...?"

Just as he was gonna answer me, the girl spoke up...cutting him off. "You're not allowed inside." The girl told us, not even in an authoritative manor.

"There's something inside the walls." The Doctor told her as he faced her. As if that reason alone was enough for us to be inside. "The gas pipes."

"Like a clatter." I told her, trying my best to describe what I heard. No, clatter was too loud of a sound to describe this. "Maybe a rattle."

"Something's living inside the gas." The Doctor told her.

"Like a bug...or bugs...?" I asked him.

"Do bugs appear like phantoms?" The Doctor asked me. "No...that's not it."

Our conversation seemed to stop once we heard a banging on one of the inside doors followed by a familiar voice, Rose's. "Let me out! Open the door!" Rose's voice echoed through the house.

"That's her!" The Doctor stated as he looked at Charles. The girl in front of us closed her eyes as if she didn't want us to've heard Rose's cry's for help.

The Doctor, followed by Charles, went in the direction of the cries for help while I looked at the maid girl in front of me. More so glared at her, she seemed to shrink down beneath the presser I placed on her just by glaring at her. I took a deep breath before I spoke, I didn't want to sound as mean as Charles but I also didn't want to sound like a push-over like this girl.

"She better not be hurt." I told her, a bit threateningly. I then spun on my heels before I hurried after the Doctor and Charles.

"How dare you, sir!" I heard a voice down the hallway. They must've just met the master of the house. "This is my house!" That only just confirmed my thoughts.

I quickly came upon the master of the house myself as I followed after Charles, the maid hot on my heels. He ended up grabbing my arm, my hand, as I passed him. A sharp pain went up my arm as he grabbed hold of my hurt hand.

"Lasse, stop right there!" He demanded of me, quickly letting my hand go as he realized that a cloth was wrapped around it...probably adding that to the pained look on my face.

"And you kidnapped my sister! So, how dare you!" I shot back at him, my tone much harsher than I had been with the maid, before I headed towards the Doctor and Charles.

I heard the splintering of wood as I came to a stop, the Doctor had just kicked down the door Rose was trapped behind. They then entered the room and pulled her out. I stopped right behind the Doctor as I looked at the two others in the room. One of them was the same woman Rose had gone after at the theater. Their skin looked pale white, their eyes were glazed over. They didn't look fully there...not at all. In fact...they looked quite dead...as dead as zombies considering they were standing.

"It's a prank. Must be." I heard Charles say from behind us. "We're under some mesmeric influence."

I shook my head as I looked at them. "I don't think it's a prank, Charles." I told him, carefully...cautiously. "They're like zombies...the walking dead."

"Neither ghost's nor zombie's exist." The Doctor told me, matter of factly.

"Then what do you call those?" Rose pointed towards the zombie's.

"The walking dead." The Doctor just told us.

"A.k.a. Zombies." I stated in a low voice. "Or ghouls...that'd work as well."

"Who's your friend?" Rose asked us as she looked towards Charles.

"Charles Dickens." I told her. Before today...I thought I'd never introduce someone to one of my favorite authors...while said author was alive.

"Okay...." Rose told us, as if that was the obvious answer. Yeah...cause we just so happened to land in 1869, befriend a world famous author, and then introduced him to my sister. Totally plausible...if not a bit far fetched.

"My name's the Doctor." The Doctor begun to introduce himself to the two zombies, not that they could respond. "Who are you, then?" He looked at the two zombies. "What do you want?"

"Failing...!" The two zombies begun to speak simultaneously, spooking me and just about everyone else. Their voice was soft, and airy like a will-o'-wisp. "Open the rift, we're dying. Trapped in this form, cannot sustain. Help us." With that, a light came from their face, their mouth, before it swirled around the room and to one of the gas lanterns along the wall. The two previously inhabited bodies then fell to the floor, now with nothing to support them.

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Word Count: 1279