Page 16 of Dark Obsession

He fished one out of the bag and picked at the top, nibbling as she continued to work on the other side of the island.

“We found another zombie a couple of nights ago.”

That made her pause. “Dammit, again?”

“Again,” Demetrius said. “A client hired us to check out a house out in Stone Hill. She said some pets on the block had gone missing and something big was ransacking the trash cans up and down the block.”

“Stone Hill, where’s that?”

Demetrius looked around as he tried to get his bearings, then pointed. “Out that way. Not too far.”

She nodded then resumed loading the dishwasher.

“Any online chatter?” he asked.

“A couple of things in that Parson’s Hollow Discord group but nothing specific.”

“What kinds of things?”

Clarabell loaded the final dish, added a detergent pod, and started the dishwasher before facing him. “People hearing things at night. Seeing figures in the woods, that kind of thing.”

“Figures? Like witches or something?”

“Didn’t sound like it. Come on, I’ll show you.”

They sat on the sofa, and as she logged into her laptop and navigated to the site, Demetrius told her about their encounter with the zombie.

Clarabell sat upright, eyes wide. “I can’t believe it’s been out there this whole time.”

“Believe it. He looked and smelled like it.” Demetrius shuddered at the memory and wiped his hands on the legs of his shorts.

They checked out Discord and Reddit groups but found nothing more than mentions of figures in the woods and more pets going missing.

“Those missing pets could be due to wildlife,” Demetrius said.

With the groups reviewed, Clarabell brought up a complicated spreadsheet. Demetrius was familiar with it, they all were since Cody’s brother, Dave, had begun compiling the information Clarabell collected across multiple websites into a shared database.

“I forgot to add our zombie to the list,” Demetrius said.

“I’ll do it.” She moved the cursor to a blank line and he gave her the information for each cell.

“Did you tell Lucia about the zombie?” Clarabell asked.

Demetrius slumped back against the cushion. “No. I really didn’t want to.”

“She’ll see this update,” she said. “You know whenever this thing is updated, we all get notified.”

“I’m quite aware.”

“Okay.” She switched from the spreadsheet to a browser window, leaned in to read a post, then, shaking her head, typed a response. Closing the laptop, she turned on the sofa to face him more fully. Demetrius took a moment to appreciate today’s outfit: an oversized t-shirt with a print of Godzilla lounging in the rubble of a city, holding a skyscraper like a cigar in one clawed hand and blowing smoke rings. She also wore black leggings, and slippers shaped like Steven Spielberg’s E.T.

“I’ll keep a closer watch on the groups,” Clarabell said, “and let you know if I see anything new.”

“Thanks.” He gestured to the laptop. “How are you affording all of this stuff?”

She grinned. “I’m really good at writing up grant applications. How are Cody and Jugs doing?”

“Cody had a follow-up yesterday. He’s healing well. Jugs has an appointment tomorrow, I think. Hopefully, the cervical collar comes off and his mood will improve.”