The team leader and the young fella with a single eyelid snapped their gazes away from Billy Jean pronto, kept their heads down like scolded pups, and didn't dare so much as twitch.
“Well... we knocked and hollered for ages, but not a peep from inside,”
The team leader said.
Billy Jean's eyes darkened like a storm brewing.
Just then, Zompige flapped down and landed on her shoulder.
“Coo… Sister Jean, I can't see squat going on in that room now."
Billy Jean's brow furrowed.
What the heck was Michael Joke up to?
Why wasn't he acting like the decisive guy she knew from three years back, who'd just walk away?
This desperate act didn't ring true to his character at all.
Ah, forget it.
If he wanted to kick the bucket, so be it.
They were ancient history, anyway.
Billy Jean set her jaw and started walking off.
“Coo… Sister Jean, where you off to?"
“Roar... I'm gonna go hang with that celeb zombie from last night."
"..." Zompige was gobsmacked.
“Coo… But why'd you come into this hotel?"
Billy Jean's face tightened.
“Roar... Zip it, you nosy bird."
Zompige: …
The team leader watched Billy Jean head into the hotel and yelled, his voice cracking with nerves,
“Well... we...”
Billy Jean didn't look back, just kept on trucking into the hotel, tossing out one word like a grenade, “Scram.”
The team leader and the young fella with a single eyelid did a double-take, then whooped for joy.
Her saying that meant they were getting a free pass.
“Team leader, this is epic! We ain't gonna die!”
The young fella with a single eyelid bear-hugged the team leader, jumping up and down.
“Let's book it. Back to the camp!”
The team leader was equally stoked.
They were probably the only lucky ducks to cross paths with a high-level zombie and live to tell the tale.
This was bragging rights for life.
“Team leader, hold your horses. We can't scram yet. There ain't a single zombie for miles around. Let's use this golden opportunity to snag some supplies. Then when we get back to camp, we can shut up the naysayers.”
The young fella with a single eyelid said.
The team leader nodded like a bobble-head.
“Okay, let's load up. After all, that's what we came for.”
For the first time since the world went to pot, they could relax and fill their bags without looking over their shoulders.
The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
Billy Jean stood outside the room she'd stormed out of days ago, kicking herself for coming back.
Being human – or even a zombie – was a royal pain in the butt.
She never figured she'd still be tangled up in drama, even as the undead.
Billy Jean raked her fingers through her hair in frustration, then heaved a sigh and stepped up to knock.
“Bang bang bang...”
“Michael, you croaked yet? If you're dead, gimme a sign.”
Zompige:??
How's he gonna answer if he's six feet under?
Suddenly, the door flew open, and a big paw reached out and yanked Billy Jean inside.
“Ah...”
Billy Jean was caught off guard and hauled in.
Zompige, who got dragged along for the ride, was unceremoniously chucked out, and the door “banged” shut.
Zompige:!!
You lousy jerk. I busted my tail to help you, and this is the thanks I get? Humph! I'm outta here.
Zompige spread its wings and flew off to find its feathered friends and lick its wounds.
Inside the room.
Billy Jean saw Michael Joke was in one piece and let out a breath she didn't know she'd been holding.
“I was just passing by. If there's nothing else, I'll split.”
Billy Jean made a beeline for the door.
“Boom...”
Michael Joke slapped his palm on the door like a thunderclap, and the door Billy Jean had cracked open slammed shut.
“Aren't you gonna ask me how I've been?”
Michael Joke's voice was as low as a bass guitar.
“How you've been don't matter. When you leaving Ri-city?”
Billy Jean said, cold as ice.
Michael Joke's face went blacker than a moonless night, and he ground his teeth.
“Billy, is that why you came?”
Billy Jean shrugged like it was no biggie.
“Hehe...”
Michael Joke let out a couple of bitter laughs.
“Don't worry. I'll leave, but I got a condition.”
“What's that?”
Michael Joke locked eyes with Billy Jean and enunciated each word like a death sentence,
“Take you with me.”
Billy Jean's face twitched.
“Fat chance.”
She lashed out with a kick that sent Michael Joke flying.
She grabbed the doorknob and yanked, but her body went rigid all of a sudden.
She couldn't budge an inch.
Billy Jean gritted her teeth and summoned all her strength, trying to lift her foot, but it was like her feet were glued to the floor.
Billy Jean glanced down.
A spider web of electricity was crackling at her feet.
The juice running through it had her pinned like a bug.
She was gobsmacked.
They'd been apart just a few days, and Michael Joke's lightning mojo had leveled up big time.
As a mutant, she was powerless against him now.
A few minutes later.
Billy Jean stared at the cage trapping her like it was a bad dream.
Had he lost his marbles?
She glared at Michael Joke outside the cage.
Right now, he looked like a stranger.
His eyes were as cold as a winter's night, a glimmer of hostility in them, and his face was set like granite.
He didn't look desperate at all.
Instead, he looked like a super-villain who'd flipped his lid.
“Michael, what's your endgame?”
Billy Jean Roared.
“Billy, you think you can waltz in and out as you please? Think again.”
Michael Joke's voice was a low growl.
“Get this straight. You came to Ri-city on your own dime.”
Michael Joke: …
“Michael, let me outta here, or don't blame me for going berserk.”
Billy Jean snarled.
“Forgotten already? You went rogue on me days ago.”
Michael Joke said, cool as a cucumber.
"..." Billy Jean never knew he could drive her up the wall like this.
“Fine. Let's see if you can really keep me caged.”
Billy Jean's eyes flared red as her mutant side took over.
She grabbed the bars with both hands, dead set on busting out.
The second her skin touched metal, a jolt of electricity shot through her like a lightning bolt, and she yanked her hands back.
She eyeballed Michael Joke.
“Are you for real?”
“What do you think?”
Michael Joke sneered like a snake.
Billy Jean wasn't one to back down easy.
A bone blade materialized in her palm and whizzed out, spinning like a buzz-saw and hacking at the bars.
“Zi zi...”
Sparks flew like fireworks.
“Whoosh”
The bone blade zipped back into her hand, a notch in it now.
With Michael Joke's lightning juice supercharging the bars, they were tougher than titanium.
Billy Jean's face was a mask of rage.
“Michael , what the hell do you want?”
“I want you to come back to Sea-city with me.”
Michael Joke's voice was steady, but his eyes were on fire.
“Not in a million years. I ain't going.”
Billy Jean shot back without missing a beat.
Michael Joke's eyes darkened like a storm cloud, and he asked, his voice dripping with menace,
“Billy , you really hate me that much?”
“Yeah, I hate you with a passion. So scram.”
Billy Jean was fit to be tied and didn't hold back.
Michael Joke clenched his fist so hard his knuckles turned white, his face a chiseled mask of fury.
His stare was like a laser, burning into Billy Jean.
Billy Jean's body tensed up bit by bit, like she was being jabbed with a thousand needles.
Just when she thought he was gonna vaporize her with that glare, he spoke.
“Billy , I don't care if you hate me more.”
He whipped out a pocketknife, the blade glinting like a shark's tooth.
Billy Jean scoffed.
“Michael , you can't off me. Don't waste your time.”
Michael Joke gave her a look that could curdle milk.
“I won't kill you.”
The next second, he slashed his wrist, and crimson blood gushed out like a geyser.
Billy Jean's body shuddered, and her eyes lit up like a demon's, bloodlust oozing from every pore.
“Roar roar...”
