Cadaverton Part II

by Bob Schmalfeldt

The pull of cemetery earth increased as he raised his arms perpendicular from his body. Those gathered outside began to hoot and scream in foreign, dead tongues. Alan's heart began to race. This time he'd do it. This time, there'd be no interruptions. This time, there'd be an answer to the mystery of this recurring dream.

Suddenly, the pull of the earth snapped like a broken rubber band. Alan's hands shot toward the sky. A screaming, buzzing cheer issued from those who had followed him here. And his heart was thudding, pounding, hammering. This would be it. This was the answer. It was finally his time!

He looked toward the gate. The inscription there glowed red. Over the iron fence, the corpses began to climb and crawl toward him. Their cheers more buzzing than shrieking now. Their arms outstretched.

"Yes!" Alan screamed. "Come to me! Come to me now!"

But the advancing mob of cadavers stopped, looking past Alan. Looking past him to the west.

Alan turned to see what they were looking at, and his heart leaped in fear as he saw the bushes to the west of the cemetery part and --

-- the corpses were buzzing again --

-- he tried to make out what was coming through the bushes, but he knew --

-- buzzzzzz --

-- whatever was coming, meant to --

"Alan!" his father yelled.

Bolting upright, ripped out of the nightmare, Alan blinked at his alarm clock. It was 6:30, and time to get up and get ready for school.

"Alan! Turn that thing off!" his father yelled.

Hands trembling, he reached over and stabbed the snooze button.

"Jesus," he whispered, staring at the ceiling. "The dream, again."

He tried to replay it in his mind. The part with him on the edge of town came back to him. And Smitty -- he was in it too, wasn't he?

The more he tried to remember, as usual, the further away the dream receded. And as he swung his feet around to get out of bed, and not for the first time, Alan filed the dream away in his subconscious mind and got up to face another day in high school.

(From the unfinished novel, "We Shall All Rise Again" by Bob Schmalfeldt)