Field of Corpses

It was getting dark now, we were California bound, and heading for the freeway. It was going to take a little while to get to the freeway, at least to the direction we wanted to go, so we had a bit of a drive ahead of us.

We still hadn't come down from our high, so at least we weren't going to be bored. I kept looking over at Christian, though, and every time I did, he looked like he was about to fall asleep. I couldn't believe it, but was I was starting to feel tired too.

Everything I knew wasn't supposed to, and I never thought would happen were happening. It was all because of Christian. Ever since I set my eyes on him, everything I once knew had changed, or was starting to change. For the first time, I was feeling love again, and for the first time in about four years, I was starting to feel like I could sleep.

Half an hour later, Christian was asleep. I didn't understand how it could be, but I was going to have to learn not to question things. Our world already had a country that was literally populated with living-dead, so what more could really come to a shock me? Nothing should anyway, so I was going to have to let it be that way; nothing was going to make sense, like it never had, and I was going to have to get used to it. Instead of trying to rebel, or change, I was going to settle.

About an hour later, not only was Christian asleep, but his dog, Billie was too. At this point, I was growing way tired. I was still in shock, but for some reason, I really needed sleep. I couldn't drive any further without getting us into an accident.

Tiredly, I pulled over to the side of the road, turned off the car, and sat in silence. The silence was different too; it was more relaxing, and I knew why. For some reason, I found Christian's breathing to be calming, and I could hear his heartbeat. That was a noise I had forgotten, and it was putting me to sleep. Before long, I was reclined back in my seat, and I was quickly asleep.

What felt like seconds later, I woke up to screaming. I woke up quicker than the scream could come to a stop. As soon as my eyes were open, I was sitting up, facing Christian, who for some reason had just gotten done screaming at the top of his lungs. For an instant, I felt my heart beat fast.

"Christian, what the hell?!"

He just sat in place, his eyes shut tightly, and his hands over his ears. It was actually concerning me, so I grabbed each side of his head with one hand, and made him look at me.

"Christian, what's wrong? Ar-are you okay?"

I was seriously worried now, because something had obviously troubled him deeply. It made me sad, looking into his eyes, which seemed to have tears forming at the corners. For what seemed the longest time, he just stared at me, our faces so close.

"'You alright?" I asked again, after I thought he had calmed down.

He nodded, hardly, and went to speak. It came out quiet mumbles, but I heard clearly. "...I guess I had a bad dream."

It was relieving that he was alright. I sighed. "What happened?"

"I... You're going to think it's so stupid."

"Fucking tell me," I told him, "I highly doubt I could ever think you stupid."

He sighed quietly, and went to tell me. "I-I had a nightmare that I woke up, looked out the window, and...and..."

I stared at him, waiting for him to continue.

He swallowed hard, then went on. "-And zombies were surrounding our car. It scared me; the way they were staring at me... us. I really felt scared."

I felt bad for thinking this, but I couldn't believe he got so scared over that. He was a fucking zombie, so why would that bother him so badly? I mean, I understand how creepy it would be to see, but did he get scared so easily? I'm sure I was being insensitive, but I had reason to believe I was justified; I was finally asleep for the first time in about four years, and I was woken up by Christian screaming, due to a nightmare about his own kind standing outside of my car.

I couldn't help my tone I took with him. "I hate to say it, but you're in a fucking nightmare, love. Get used to it; zombies are fucking everywhere."

His face hardened, but then I think he understood. It wasn't til later that I felt bad for being so insensitive to him, but he had to understand; it had been so long since I had someone around me for so long, I had almost forgotten how to associate and socialize properly.

"'Sorry for waking you up..." He trailed off as he looked down in his lap. "I get scared easily. Ever since I was alive, even movies would give me nightmares. I could never watch them..."

I really felt bad now. "No, I'm sorry. That was really mean of me, and I feel bad. I don't know how it feels, and when I was alive, I never judged anyone, and so I really shouldn't now. Don't worry about it, hun."

He was looking up at me again, and I couldn't help but to faintly smile at something so adorable. Our faces were still pretty close, so I took the opportunity to kiss him.

In that moment, I actually felt something in the pit of my stomach, and it was a feeling I had never felt before, while kissing someone. It was almost like butterflies had somehow found their way into my gut, through an open gash or something, traveling through my body. It made me smile while our lips were touching.

Minutes later, he had fallen into my arms, and as he rested his head on my chest, I slowly stroked his hair. It seemed to calm him down more, so I continued to do it, even though I thought he was asleep again.

I was looking out the window, and I couldn't help but notice how beautiful the sky was; you could see every single star. It never used to be like that, back when the country wasn't dead. I knew in places like Idaho it was, but it was never as beautiful looking as it was in this moment. Without any sort of lights out and about through cities or towns, it was so dark, you couldn't see a thing but the stars.

I was no longer tired though. I could stare at the stars all night, but I still wanted to keep going, to get to California. Gently, I pushed Christian off of me, back into his seat, so we could do so.

I knew once the car started, it was going to wake him up, probably, but I still didn't really care. If I didn't get to sleep, due to loud noises, then the same would go for Christian.

I started the car, and thankfully it started on the first try. Still, I really wish it wouldn't have. It only woke Christian up, and as soon as my headlights turned on, he was screaming again.

"I knew it wasn't a fucking dream! I fucking knew it!" He was covering his head again, and I couldn't help but stare ahead.

Ahead of us, maybe a little over twenty feet away, was a bunch of zombies. They seemed to be circling my car, but they all stayed about twenty feet away from my car. Seeing that is what helped me not get creeped out by how they just stood there, staring at us. I was just so confused...

"Christian," I finally said. "It's okay. Really, they're just standing there still. They're not coming at us."

"That's not what I am concerned about," he mumbled, "I just don't wanna see the way they're staring at us."

I guess I understood, so I let him sit there, keeping his head low, so he wouldn't have to see them looking at us.

It still kept me curious though, so I continued to stare at every last one of them. I even turned around to look out towards the back. They were all back there too; they were seriously surrounding my car. I didn't know what to think about this, and sadly I didn't know where to start.

My mind went completely blank when I saw one of the zombies urging closer though. My eyes only widened, and I could only tell Christian, "Don't look up, baby. Don't look up."

He assured me he wouldn't, but as for myself, I couldn't peel my eyes away from the zombie approaching the window next to Christian's. He was heading for the back window, and that's when I noticed Billie was staring out the same window.

"Billie!" I called, trying to call him away, because I could see that was what the zombie was going for, but he wouldn't look away. I didn't know what to do at this point, because it was Christian's dog, which he really was attached to. I wanted to protect Billie for Christian, so I got into the backseat, and went to grab him. I stopped when I really looked at Billie though. He was wagging his tail at this zombie slowly working his way towards my car.

Just when I thought the zombie was going to come closer, he stopped a foot away from my car. He stared into the window, and that's exactly when I recognized him.

"Are you shitting me?!" I asked loudly, to no one in particular.

Christian mistook it as me saying something was wrong, so he instantly got worried. "What?! What's wrong?"

"You wouldn't believe it. There's... this zombie, standing at one of the windows now... and... I don't think you'd believe me if I told you who he was."

"I don't wanna look."

"Don't. But you're not going to believe me..."

"Who?" Christian asked loudly.

"You, uh, know who Ville Valo is right?"

"...Yea." Christian said quietly, and he seemed to have calmed down a little. "Why?"

"Well, um, he's standing outside of the fucking car as we speak."

I could tell Christian so badly wanted to look, and I'm sure he was about to give in. Especially as I opened my door and got out of the car. He automatically shot up, and started yelling at me.

"What are you doing?!"

Before I could answer, I shut the door and walked over to the zombie. There was no way he was going to hurt me, and I could see it in his eyes as I got closer.

He had turned away from the dog, and he stared at me. We stared at each other, for about a minute, until I finally spoke up.

"Ville, is that you?"

In his zombie language, which were the grunts, moans, and mumbles I could understand, he told me I was right. As weird as it was, he still sounded the same in a way. Then, even though it was still very dark, I could see him quite well. He definitely wasn't as gorgeous as he used to be, and his long black hair had chunks missing now. It was so sad to see, but it all made sense. Ville was the biggest icon for the broken hearted. It didn't surprise me to see him as a zombie, but I was still wondering why he was outside my window.

"What are you doing?" I finally asked.

He told me he saw the dog, and it looked an awful lot like one he had before. He said that 'not even the most horrid smell could keep me away from a fondest of memories'.

His wording didn't make sense to me, but there was no doubt the man was still smart. I still adored him, even though he was dead like me. In fact, him being a zombie made me admire him more. Still, I couldn't believe he was at the side of my car.

"Ville, I want you to know I am so sorry about what happened to you. I wish it didn't have to happen to someone like you, and I wish I could help... but I fear I'm stuck like you are. As for the dog, it's my... boyfriend's, and as tasty as the mutt looks to me, I can't give him up."

He seemed to understand, and we talked a bit longer. I let him know about how I knew how his heart had broken, and he apologized for startling Christian. After a few more words, he said he'd leave us alone, and he backed off.

I got into the car again, and Christian was staring at me wide-eyed.

"Ville said he's going to tell the others to get out of the way, or else I'm running them over." I told him. He just continued to stare at me, even as I drove off.

"That- that was actually Ville Valo?"

"Yea. Why?"

Christian was the one in disbelief now, yet he seemed a little bit excited now. He didn't even seem bothered by the creepy zombies anymore; he was all too interested about my visit with the dead.

I gladly told him about it, and he soon was let on in the world of Ville, back when he was alive. For minutes, we were both in deep conversation about the man, who was now dead, preying on flesh like the rest of us.

After we had talked, and Christian's questions were answered, he was asleep again, and we were back on the road for California.

I could only imagine what could happen once we got there...