Page 17 of The Nightmare King

I looked around at the muddy and overgrown field. A forest swayed in the distance. “I don’t know, I always just figure it out as I go along.”

“The last thing I remember, we were on my bed, and now we’re being chased by- by?—“

“By who?”

“Them.” He pointed in fear. Spinning on my heel I saw dozens of horrific, gurgling, bloodied zombies charging toward us. They smelled like sulfur and carried various sharp objects.

“I hate zombies,” I groaned to the sky. “Mare, come on,” I whined, knowing I’d have to play his game if I wanted any hope of seeing him. And why was Brandon here? Oh, Mare was just being more and more irritating, wasn’t he?

Brandon stumbled backward, eyes wide. “Mare? This is just a dream, right? Why does it feel so real?”

I shrugged, feeling more and more like Brandon was a sentient participant in this nightmare— like somehow Mare had looped us into the same scene. Why would he do that? Didn’t he want to be alone with me? How would I explain this to Brandon when we woke up?

The incoherent moans intensified as they gained on us. I pulled on Brandon’s shirt to snap him out of his fear stare. “Come on, we have to run.”

We ran to the trees, but the zombies were just as fast as us, if not faster. Brandon found an axe. A rogue zombie lunged for him, and he cut it in half, crying as he did so. Black blood splattered his face.

We made our way deeper into the forest when Brandon shouted, “Lucy, watch out!”

But I was too late. A zombie grabbed my ponytail and pulled me backward. I fell, hitting my back against a tree stump. Lightening-sharp pain shot through my back. Brandon didn’t make a move to help me, instead giving me a small shrug. “If one of us has to die, then so be it. I mean, it’s just a dream, right?”

Asshole.

I squirmed out of the way of the zombie’s spit-dripping bite, and Brandon turned to run as more descended upon us. Suddenly, right when he took a step away from me, a hissing sound broke out, and he swished, his body flung and hanging upside down from a tree. “Fuck, I stepped in a trap— Lucy, help!” he screamed, waving his arms. Crawling through the mud I grabbed his fallen axe in time to spin onto my back, slicing through the abdomen of the pouncing zombie on my trail. Guts spilled all over me. Stinky guts.

I pressed my back to Brandon’s upside-down chest and clutched the axe as they encircled us. Frothing at the mouth, looking grotesque and horrifying. Mare was going to let us die, wasn’t he? This was my punishment for going to Brandon’s house, wasn’t it?

“Okay, Mare, you win,” I said through gritted teeth as I shut my eyes and braced for the dull teeth of a dozen zombies to gnaw through my brain.

Brandon sputtered and sobbed. “What the hell is happening, Lucy? Is this my payment for what I did?”

Just then, someone dropped in front of me. He turned and tilted his head in that familiar way, only his face was hidden behind a ski-mask. I pointed. “Look out!”

Mare pulled out a dagger and cut the head from the first zombie. Two more attacked and died in the same way. He then pulled a machine gun from off his back and leveled the forest with shots. I covered my ears at the responding sounds of screams and gunfire, watching as zombie after zombie collapsed to its gruesome death.

My ski-masked man turned to me then and grabbed my chin. “You’re in so much fucking trouble, Lilac.”

I tried to pull away from his hold, but he only gripped my chin tighter, making it hurt, proving he was real somehow. “You’re the one who’s ignored me for a week. What is this? Why is Brandon here?”

Mare scoffed behind his black ski mask and lifted his arms. “You think I’m doing this?” He pointed to Brandon and tilted his head. “But him I can control— oh yes, I brought your sick little boyfriend here.”

“He’s not my boyfriend,” I argued, crossing my arms. “And what do you mean you’re not doing this? Of course you are. You think I want to have nightmares about zombies and ghost face and Jason trying to kill me?”

“I don’t care what you want. Move,” he ordered. He pulled Brandon by the hair as he dangled helplessly. “You drugged her drink, you spineless fucking coward. You haven’t changed a bit… Now you die. Now you come live with me— forever.”

“He what?” I questioned, looking at Brandon in shock.

Brandon tried to fight but looked ridiculous. He was no match for Mare in strength or stature, even if he weren’t red-faced and hanging by his ankle. “It helps uptight girls loosen up. She wanted it, she’s always wanted me.”

With a growl, Mare took the end of his gun and hit my co-worker brutally across the face. His nose bled as he swore and cried. “Looks like I’m doing the waking world a favor by ridding it of you. You’ll never go near what’s mine again.”

Brandon was getting his ass kicked and was probably going to die, but my heart fluttered as I looked up, catching Mare’s murderous violet gaze behind his black ski mask. “Am I yours?”

“You’re mine,” he hissed, dropping the gun and grabbing me by the throat. “Don’t you ever fucking disappear on me again. We aren’t done here yet.”

Confusion seeped through me. “I—I thought it was you. Don’t you bring me to you?”

“There is only so much I can control, Lilac. The rest is… you know, Lilac. You know.”

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