Once Upon A Miracle

Chapter 9: Just a lover's quarrel

"He started to estrange her...
And they became strangers
Who knew each other's heart,
So broken as they drifted apart."

~ Ana Claudia Antunes (Pierrot and Columbine) 

~~~~~~~~~~~~

A horrified scream ripped out of Blue's throat as Mumtaz, the zombie queen, appeared in her full rotting glory.

Blue was wrong to think that the danger ended there. Mumtaz's eyeballs stared at the kids, barely hanging on to their sockets and devoid of any emotion, as she held up one hand, the bracelets in her bony wrist tinkling.

Then, the floor shook again. Of course it did.

And, of course, an entire army of zombies started to crawl out of the hole.

"We're screwed," Warren whispered beside Blue, his jaw almost unhinged as his eyes swept through the crowd of the undead. But, the strangest part was...none of the zombies --- apart from the queen herself --- had any arms.

"Why don't they have any arms?" Blue asked, her voice weak with fright. She had half-decided that this was where she would die, completely ripped apart by freaking zombies. But....oddly enough, none of the zombies were attacking. They just stood there, still and silent, looking like decaying, stinky mannequins instead of an actual army of undead.

"I..." Miracle swallowed audibly. "I think these are the people who built the Taj Mahal. From what I know, the Mughal King, Shah Jahan, ordered to cut off each worker's arms so that they can never replicate a monument as majestic as the Taj."

Blue gasped, nausea building in her chest. "What? That's horrible!"

Miracle opened his mouth to answer when Sherry interrupted, "We can talk about history later! We need to get out of here! Before they start attacking, preferably!"

Miracle clamped his jaw and a hard determination flashed over his eyes. "No, we can't just leave. There are people outside. They can't see...this. We need to find a way to send them back to where they came from!"

Warren sighed in dismay. "He's right. And since they aren't attacking or anything...maybe this won't be so hard."

He, then, brought up his right hand, closed his eyes and flicked one of his fingers. Simultaneously, one of the zombies bounced into the air, sailed past its --- um --- brethrens and went tumbling down the hole.

Warren started to exclaim, "Huh, that wasn't so hard, was--?"

And that, my friends, is when they attacked.

"AAAAAA!" Blue screamed as the undead launched themselves towards the kids. Some tried to run towards the entrance doors but Miracle snapped his fingers and they snapped shut with a resounding thud, sealing in both the kids and the zombies inside the tomb.

Miracle then grabbed Blue and instructed her to say behind him as he brandished his poker. The look of staunch confidence and resolve in his face, almost made it seem that he wasn't just twelve-year-old with a poker for a weapon, but, instead, a brave warrior about to face down a sea of monsters.

He screamed and attacked, whacking away any zombie that dared to come close to them, their limbs and heads flying away in various directions. Blue, herself, cowered behind Miracle, helpless and shaky.

The corner of her eyes caught sight of Warren who, despite being empty-handed, was using his powers to thwart the attacks of the zombies. Blue watched, fascinated, as his brows knitted with concentration while, concurrently, a zombie fell on the floor, writhing as an invisible force hacked away its body parts until it burst into mere ash.

Blue wasn't sure to whether she wanted to cheer or creep away from him in astonishment.

From somewhere, Blue heard Sherry yell in panic. She whirled around, only to find Sherry kicking off a zombie that had lunged over her. And then, as if in sheer rage, Sherry screamed, her eyes wide and her hair a crazy, wild nest.

It took Blue a second to realise that Sherry had screamed a word --- a command, in fact. A few zombies that were near enough to hear her amidst the chaos, suddenly stopped in their tracks.

Sherry grinned wickedly. She snapped her fingers and said loudly, "DANCE!"

Blue could only gawk, her eyes popping out, as the zombies around her started to aggressively break-dance. So aggressively, in fact, that their already wobbly limbs detached from their sockets or their ribs came loose, some even got decapitated. And they still didn't stop.

But it wasn't enough. Warren was getting tired. Sherry could only hold them off for so long. Miracle was getting sloppy. And Blue was pathetically unable to help. And, as if to add to her despair, a particularly large and intimidating shadow loomed over Miracle and Blue.

Blue gasped and Miracle almost dropped his poker as the queen leered down at them, a thin smile curling her flesh --- at least, whatever remained of it.

Blue whimpered, swatting away a fly that had started to approach her from the queen's decomposing body.

Miracle, on the other hand, took a deep breath and started to charge at the queen but she just flung out her hand and he went soaring backwards. For the second time that day, Blue watched as he crashed into a wall, cracks appearing at the impact. She winced as he went sliding down on the floor, going limp, his head lolling precariously on his neck. The poker cluttered out of his grasp and went rolling away.

"Blue..." murmured the scratchy voice of the queen from above her. Blue gasped and looked above at the sneering queen.

"H-How do you know my name?" Blue spluttered in disbelief.

The queen's face stretched into a wide grin. "We...have been looking...for you..."

"Me? B-But why?"

"Our Master," she hissed. "He searches...for...you..."

Blue wanted to back away but she was already stuck and cornered. She inhaled shakily, eyes saucer-sized as they darted around vainly for help, while the queen's bony hands reached for her. Blue cried out as the queen wrapped her cold, decaying hand around Blue's wrist---

Suddenly, an old, abrasive voice floated through the air. "My love...," it whispered.

The queen stilled, her hands snapping away from Blue as if she were on fire. Blue quickly realised that every one of the zombies had paused too, turning to slowly face the source of the new voice.

Blue took that opportunity to look for Miracle but he wasn't where he had supposedly fainted. Eyebrows drawing together, Blue, instead, stood up on her tip-toes and chanced a look over the dead queen's shoulder.

She bit her lips from crying out when she saw Miracle weakly crouched beside the hole from where the zombies had appeared. It looked like he had limped over there but...what for?

She followed Miracle's gaze which was focused on a figure standing at the edge of the hole. In first glance, it seemed like another zombie with putrid flesh stretched over its bony form. But upon a closer look, Blue's eyes caught the remains of clothes that might have been elegant and expensive in days bygone. And there were the gold jewelries encircling its wrists and necks.

And a crown. Of a king.

"My King," whispered Mumtaz. She slowly walked towards him, her movements rickety. For a second, Blue thought she would caress his face but, instead, she slapped him, her lips twisting into a ferocious snarl. In fact, she slapped him so hard, that his skull came unhinged and bounced over the floor.

"My Love?" the King – well, the King's skull asked from the floor, shocked.

"You cheated on me!" the queen yelled in a shrill voice. "You think I've forgotten? Never! Not even in death!"

"And you cut off our arms!" accused another voice. A zombie walked out of its ranks, somehow managing to glare. The King started to protest but the zombies yelled back in outrage, throwing insults, allegations of brutality and demands for justice.

Then, the queen yelled, "Attack!"

And all the zombies, screaming a war cry, lunged over their King.