2. Catching Firefox, Chapter 2

Shortly thereafter the group gathered at the edge of the forest. This group consisted of Cassandra, the Firefox, the butler, their newfound baseball-loving friend called Cody (who hasn’t been formally introduced so far, I deeply apologize for that) and of course the young master. The butler was carrying an umbrella to shield the young master from the rain this time, as it was pouring quite hard. Nightfall wasn’t long, and the fear of the coming occurrences could be seen on their faces. Fear of the unspeakable horror they might encounter. How did they get out of the house, you ask? Well, some things are better left unexplained. Let’s just say the wisdom of the butler and the father’s armory was of great help.

“Alright, so this is a werewolf-hunt you say?” Cody was the first one to speak. The sight of this dark evil forest, shrouded by mist and rain as night was falling left everyone speechless except him.

“I am good at hunting,” he added with a smile.

“It’s not that kind of hunt,” Cassandra answered. Cody raised his left eyebrow. “I mean it’s a hunt sure, but the werewolves are hunting us.” There it was again. I couldn’t tell if she was sarcastic or not. The thought scared me a little. No one knew anyway and so we started marching. The rain had turned the ground to mud, which was very uncomfortable. I had never walked on mud before. My shiny sneakers weren’t accustomed to that sort of soil.

“Be prepared to wash my sneakers after this,” I told my butler.

“Very well, sir. I am afraid however your sneakers would provide the smallest challenge after this,” he replied. Whatever that could mean, I wasn’t sure. It did look like we were in for a challenge though. It was dark and wet, and we walked seemingly aimless through the forest. I just hoped that fox-spirit knew where we were going.

“It’s already dark. How far is it to the Hut?” I asked, trying to sound gentle rather than annoyed. Because I was extremely annoyed. The fox-spirit stood still for a while.

“I don’t really know,” he then said. “I only follow my feeling. It must lead us to our destination soon.” I really didn’t know what to say at that moment. It felt like it was all some kind of joke.

“You are the weakest spirit I have ever met,” Cassandra said angered.

“Well, have you ever met a spirit?” the fox asked.

“Let’s better get moving. It ain’t gonna get any better if we start fighting now,” Cody said and so we decided to move on. I never actually had felt any real anger in my life. Probably because I always got what I wanted. That little feeling I used to call anger was nothing compared to what I was feeling now. My parents were dead and I was the target of some vicious supernatural creatures. And my only guide was a complete idiot. This wasn’t what I wanted at all. But for some strange reason Cassandra and Cody were trying to help me. I wasn’t even ordering them to. They just did it anyway. I couldn’t figure out their motivations behind it. Maybe there weren’t any. Maybe there really was no rhyme or reason anymore.

And thus the group moved deeper into the forest. But what they found there wasn’t the Hut of the Fox at all. They came to a mysterious forest clearing. The enchantingly unusual thing about it wasn’t the absence of trees however. It was the graves on the ground. Graves just like on a cemetery. The atmosphere was considerably spooky.

“Who would build a cemetery in the middle of a forest?” Cassandra said surprised by the sight of the graves.

“This is no ordinary cemetery,” the fox said with a terrified look on his face.

“Yes, because it’s in a forest. That’s not so ordinary,” Cassandra said.

“No, that’s not it. Those tombs are living. The dead are moving,” he said with a trembling voice. Cassandra laughed after hearing this statement. Because it wasn’t terrifying, it was just getting silly. But of course those tombs were moving and of course the dead buried in them, rose from their graves. Fighting their way out of the dirt that was poured on them. I don’t know if it was hilarious or horrifying. Sometimes it’s hard to tell the two apart. Also I found it rather odd that dirt was poured on dead people after they died and I couldn’t help but wondering why it was that way at that moment. How could dead people even walk? Awkwardly they stumbled towards us, stretching out their hands.

It appears there is a need to explain the folkloristic idea of a zombie at this point. Usually raised by witchcraft, these mindless bodies feel only hunger for human brains. Perhaps initially intended to be used as slaves by the Voodoo sorcerers who raised them, their need to feed on human brains would eventually turn out to be quite a menace. Hence, the Voodoo sorcerers saw themselves forced to find something else to play with. The idea however was reused and recycled so many times by now any sane person has lost count. Thus the idea transformed. Sometimes these creatures are raised by scientific means or by other means entirely and not necessarily by magic. I suppose the idea lives on in our brains forever. One fact however remains, it is that a zombie can ironically only be returned to his or her grave by destroying the brain.

“This is definitely not what I was expecting on a werewolf-hunt!” Cody shouted. To me the difference didn’t seem all that big. He was very skilled with his baseball bat however. Hitting those bony heads with worms in their eye sockets was like hitting home runs for him. There wasn’t really much I could defend myself with. The fact that I lost my bodyguard didn’t help improve this situation either. I was lucky that the butler knew how to misuse the umbrella as a weapon. He was using it like a spear for most of the time but sometimes like a club as well. It was like an all-new multi functional weapon. In addition to this lucky circumstance the fox spirit was capable of using an actual sword. Their limbs were chopped off easily. Almost too easy, it seemed. It looked like they were made of clay. Like piñatas made of clay. I wouldn’t have been surprised if candy came pouring out of their eye sockets and bashed-in heads instead of blood and eyeballs. As one of their skulls was indeed busted open by Cody’s baseball bat, lots of colorful candy came flowing out of it. As ridiculous as it may seem, those zombies were indeed piñatas. And the ridiculous thing wasn’t just because I considered the possibility that it turned out to be true, it was the fact that something as silly as piñata zombies actually existed.

“Their heads are filled with candied products,” I exclaimed, not knowing why I felt the need to.

“It appears so,” Cassandra answered. No one seemed to care much about the sweets though. They all just kept destroying the bodies. I however picked up a few treats. It was like experiencing Halloween all over again. I felt like a little kid again. “You still are a little kid,” I could hear my father say in my thoughts. “You will never change.” It seemed like he was disappointed in me all his life. If only I could have proven him wrong before he died. “I am going to prove you wrong dad,” I whispered to myself.