Palindrome

“I feel like we`ve been here before, preparing a plan. That didn’t go so well.” Belinda frowned my way but smiled a little to soften the blow. I knew the dead had to walk in order for the prophecy to be fulfilled, but I still felt bad for the whole thing. What a natural witch I was, messing up an invocation spell like that. That was water under the bridge, and old water, especially for them. I grabbed William`s hand as he sat down beside me, cherishing what time we had left. “Tell us more about what`s been happening?”

Samuel sat down while Oscar started to make coffee, it was weird seeing him so relaxed in my home. The others sat down as well, Belinda beside Natan, then Samuel, me and William and Benjamin took the end with a vacant seat beside him. I spared a thought for Bridget, and hoped she was well wherever she was. This was it; this was the squad who would save the village. We would save the village; it was my job. I had to keep my focus on the important part, I couldn’t let my own happiness come in the way of the lives of hundreds.

“As far as we can tell, it`s only this town that`s affected, but the weird thing is that people around us doesn’t seem to know. I`ve been in contact with Sarah, and she says there`s nothing on the news. We haven’t gotten any signals since that first night, no cell phones working. There have been killings, but not the last month. The town seems to have just resigned to its fate, and it`s disturbing.” Samuel shuddered, he had to feel terrible, being distanced from Sarah like this. I grabbed the mug Oscar gave me, comforted by the warmth. “But what about people coming to town?” Belinda shook her head. “It isn’t possible, no one can enter, and no one can leave. We`ve tried in our other form, but there is some kind of invisible border.” I looked at William, we`d managed somehow. But then again, we hadn`t been outside the borders. “What about food?” I asked concerned. Oscar was done serving the coffee and huffed as he got seated. “Beginning to run out. Luckily there haven’t been any looting like you see in movies, they just locked themselves in and went with it. It was so weird, like they`ve done it before. If someone did risk going outside, they didn’t last long. The zombies attack when they hear noise or see light in the dark. At day they seem to slumber, but they will still attack. There aren’t many rats left in town, to put it that way. We`ve picked up some tricks along the way, but the first weeks was… horrifying.”

And all this time I`d been in Paradise. William seemed to sense my blues and squeezed my hand hard. “We will fix this. We have the grapes. We just need to know how to proceed from here.” I stood abruptly, suddenly nauseous, this was too much. I ran out of the kitchen and up the stairs to my bedroom and got to the toilet just in time. The retching noises echoed in the room, I could hear someone coming in, but I yelled at them to leave. It was too much; I couldn’t sit and plan their deaths right in front of them. “hey, thank you for surviving four months among the zombies, now I have to kill you.” No, there had to be another way. I refused to kill them. I watched the water swirl in the toilet and felt dragged in. I stood and splashed some cold water in my warm face, my eyes red after the vomiting. I calmed down as soon as I had formed the words in my head. The Beasts deserved to live, they were also worthy to fight for.

“Are you ok?” William`s soft voice sounded from the other side of the door. I didn’t answer, instead I met my own eyes in the mirror, the golden haze overshadowing my own colour. My heart seemed to slow down, and I could feel every atom in my body, working together seamlessly. I could do this, I had to. The alternative was not an option anymore. It was almost like I felt my bones changing as I drowned in my own stare, the cells vibrated and danced. I saw my hair float around my head, the energy in my body seeping out and creating electricity. Why wasn’t I scared? Because this was me, me like I was supposed to be. Me like I needed to be. I saw small particles floating around, glowing green and golden. I stared at them in wonder, I had never seen anything like it. They twirled around my body but moved faster and faster until they seemed to concentrate together before imploding into me. My body shook violently, it was like being hit by lightning but in a good way. Slowly, the cells slowed down, getting to know the body they were in. I was me, yet I was different. Like they had repositioned themselves into a better version. The buzzing made my skin tingle, my fingertips made golden waves when I let them glide over the soft skin of my arm. Intrigued, I examined my eyes. They didn’t glow golden anymore, they were golden.

The door banged open, and Will rushed in, positioning himself in a fighting stance. I turned slowly to him and raised an eyebrow. He straightened, a bit awkward, when he saw there was no danger. He dragged his fingers through his hair. “Your bones, they were screaming. I… I`ve never heard them do that.” He came closer, examining my face. “What have you done? Why are your eyes like that?” He let one finger travel down my cheek, drawn to me like a moth to flame. But I wasn’t about to let him be swallowed by the flame.

“I took a decision, and it seemed to have changed me in some way.” My voice was calm, I sounded like the Goddess when she talked to me. “And what was the decision?” William kissed me greedily and pulled away to let me answer, leaving me breathless. “Life. Love.” My mouth hardened. “And I`m doing it my way.”

William swallowed harshly, “I know some men say they like their women weak and obedient, but Hannah…” He kissed me again, biting my lip so he could taste my blood once again. “I have never been more turned on than now. Do it your way always.” Things could have gotten very interesting after that, but Benjamin`s voice boomed through the bedroom-door. “Hey, mind doing that after we have defeated the dead things?” I smiled and leaned my forehead against William, feeling his growl rather than hearing it. He kissed me one last time, and whispered “Laters, Baby.” In my ear. I was left stunned and had to run to reach him, “What was that? Have you seen Fifty Shades?” He smiled over his shoulder, happy he`d cheered me up. We both ignored Benjamin as we left the bedroom, William took my hand and kissed it. “Got your attention now, haven’t I?” We could hear Ben sulking behind us, “Please, don’t put those images in my head, then it`s my turn to throw up.”

I had made my decision, now I just had to find a way to fuck up the prophecy and change fate. How hard could it be?

¤¤¤