Nightmares Vs Magic

The room Leon had placed the green-eyed visitor in was different from the regular rooms with multiple cots that Dove had seen before. This room that Joon had led her to was only accessible through Leon's pharmacy office, which was filled with medicine cabinets and shelves. There was another door and while it's not like it was hidden, it nearly camouflaged with the wall if it weren't for the outline of the door and the handle. 

Inside the room was a cozier hospital-like room, actually scratch that - it was exactly like a hospital room, minus all the technological equipment. There were only a few cots in the room and instead of curtains to separate them, there were these plexiglass walls that could be rolled out. Even more peculiar about the plexiglass walls, is that they were built to be able to seal off one cot from the other, or to separate all of the cots from each other. 

Why those walls were made, and why this certain room was hidden, I had a few guesses; infections, zombies, uncontrollable patients, but my more major question for that room, was why the new visitor had to be put there. I only found out when I realized that Joon and I conveniently came at the right time, right when Liora had just finished checking the visitor for zombie bites. 

"Why zombie bites? Is there a chance that Gunpowder bit - .... - Ah, sorry but, what are your pronouns. You're like, really androgynous looking." Joon said as he went to take a closer look at the visitor. 

The green-eyed visitor didn't respond, rather, they searched a quick second for something around them, before Liora helped to hand them the notepad and pencil behind them. 

Joon and Dove watched in combined silence as the person sitting on the edge of the bed, began flipping the page and then writing down a quick summary of their identity. 

The person then turned it around for both of them to see. 

Hello, my pronouns are they/them. As for my name, I would rather not say. 

Just call me visitor like before.

As you can read, I can't talk. Why? I don't feel like explaining right now. I hardly know myself. 

I only came here because Hollow the headless horseman brought me here. 

I'm told this place is called 'Macabre House' ?

Dove frowned after reading, looking up at the visitor. 

"Are you sure you want to use those pronouns right now? You don't even know us."

Joon tossed her a confused glance. 

"Why wouldn't they give us their pronouns now? I literally just asked for them."

"Well, yeah, but what if-"

Dove looked up at Liora for a reaction, not able to find the right words, only leaving Joon more confused. Liora nodded her head and then noticed her the bag of chocolate-covered coffee beans in Dove's hands. 

"Where, did you find that?"

"Oh uh, Joon found it somewhere high up in a storage closet? On this floor." 

Joon nodded his head in confirmation. 

She hummed, contemplating something that neither of them could guess yet, before leaning towards the girl to say something. 

"Have you eaten any of it?"

"We were planning too." Joon said bluntly.

"Don't. Maybe ask Leon first, and, don't carry it outside of this floor unless he says it's okay."

They first stared at her before turning to each other in confusion.

A tap of a pen to a page was heard, and all attention shifted back to the guest.

"Oh! As for out visitor here, it's alright for them to reveal themselves, for as told before, it seems that our friend had taken them from somewhere dangerous and chose to bring them here. For what reason, it likely has to do with an issue regarding the supernatural, which is Macabre House's specialty." She answered gently, nodding towards the visitor, just as the beautiful woman opened the door for Leon to come in. It was like it was easy to sense his presence sometimes.

"You can be vulnerable, or you can be guarded, either way, we won't hurt you or judge you here. Well, unless you provoke us." She chuckled at that last part; it was oddly ominous when coming from such a light and airy voice. 

Leon gave the visitor a comforting smile as he gently asked for Dove and Joon to give some space, he also seemed surprised at the bag of coffee beans in her hands but would compose himself and ask later. The two stepped aside as he stepped toward the patient, and kneeling down to their eye level. 

He held out a warm mug of what smelled like a type of tea. 

The visitor eyed the physician warily, scooting back a little. 

"Not parched enough to drop your guard I see. Well, at least you have good instincts. I'll leave it on this table if you want to drink it later." 

He stood up placed the mug on the small table next to the visitor's bed.

"If it gets cold by the time you decide to drink it, I or someone else can reheat or remake it for you. But, if you decide not to drink it all, that's alright too. Then someone else can have it." He said cheerfully in a soft voice, trying not to tower over the visitor so much as he quickly stepped back. 

It seemed that Liora was with him not just as a helping hand but also as a comforting presence, for the visitor looked to her a response to Leon's words, unsure of what to do. 

"Like I said, you can be vulnerable with us, or you can be guarded with us. We won't make you choose." 

"But we will need answers unfortunately. Not very soon, but we have to figure out why our friend brought you here." 

Leon shifted his gaze to Dove and Joon, however he pointed the question towards Dove.

"Which is the only reason I allowed for you both to be here." 

Dove internally flinched. 

"O-oh, were we not actually supposed to enter earlier?"

He let out a small laugh, shaking his head as he pulled some chairs out from a place Dove hadn't noticed. He pat the seats, implying he wanted them to sit. 

"Oh, you were both allowed in, but normally in situations where we suddenly have a guest brought to us by one of our unnatural companions, there is typically a reason why, and we have to be secretive about that until we find out more. However, since you both are interns, I thought this would be a good opportunity for the both of you to learn more about what we do here. Our guest is seventeen and visibly put-off by this place, I thought you both would be perfect. in helping them feel better."

"Then, could we also ask questions too? Say like, questions regarding that headless horseman and his very-likely undead horse?" 

"Sure, but, save it for later." He quipped back at the boy. 

Joon pursed his lips as they both sat in the provided seats, now facing the guest at eye-level. 

"Make them feel comfortable but also be careful in trying to get some answers. Bence will be here soon to discuss hiring them as an internship, and more will be explained after." 

"Wait!- Why is Bence coming here too? I thought he was going to be acting as an interpreter for - um - Hollow, right?"

Instead of answering her, his eyes pointed down to the bag now sitting in her lap. 

"If you're planning to eat those, I highly recommend that you don't. However, I will happily watch and laugh as I study your reactions if you do. Just don't let Laurence see those. He was the one I had to confiscate those from." He said, before standing up and leaving along with Liora, who quietly closed the door behind them. 

Dove decided to let Joon hold the bag, feeling his eyes nearly burn a hole into the bag after what Leon said. She let his mind drift to elsewhere, possible ideas of what he'd do with them, and situations that she would deal with later, but for now, she pointed to the visitor's notebook. Her mind began to riddle with thoughts as she theorized and speculated multiple theories and ideas. 

"So, what are in the mood to tell us?" She asked, as casually as she could muster. It still came out awkward. 

The visitor began to write in their notebook again, getting in a comfortable sitting position as they crossed their legs. 

I'm seventeen. How that pale, tall doctor guy already knew without me telling him, I don't know how but I gotta learn that.

I was brought here from a shitty summer camp.

"What kind of summer camp? Was it a disciplinary one?" Dove asked as she quickly brought out her phone to record the conversation, similarly to how she would observe how Laurence and Sienna did their interrogations. 

"Better question would be how shitty was it that they felt compelled to summon the headless horseman to take them from that place." Joon added in as he opened the bag more carefully than Dove expected, and instead of sticking his nose into the bag, he first attempted to waft the scent of the beans, into his nose. 

Not much scent was disbursing from the beans, so he opted to lower his nose closer to the opening of the bag anyway. 

"Wait, you did summon him, right? Or did he like just randomly come and rescue you from that place? I don't know much about supernatural beings like him."

I have no clue what the name of the place was, it wasn't the type where the counselors just happily chanted the name at the campfire. 

We didn't even have counselors exactly, just these dicks walking around that would yell at us. 

We didn't even do the camp stuff that you'd expect, so it feels weird calling that place a camp. It was mostly like a farm without the big open fields and animals, just a big open area in the middle of trees, and we did chores that involved a lot of dirt. 

"A forest, so, was Hollow, the horseman who brought you here, did he come to you all of a sudden? How did you even go about meeting the headless horseman?" She reiterated her previous question. 

About that,,,

They had paused in their writing, either hesitating or unable to correctly articulate how to describe the next set of events. 

I think... 

The visitor paused in their writing, a distance becoming apparent in their eyes as they thought, before their hand finally moved again. 

I think I summoned him, I'm not sure how, but all of a sudden, at the edge of the farm where I was, just trying to get away from it all, and he was there, like he'd been waiting for me, and that I was also expecting him.

Dove also took a pause in thought as she read the words, even Joon seemed to have a thought bubbling in his head, not as distracted as he seemed when he had his phone out to look up the brand name of the bag. 

"Summoned him, like he'd been waiting - ... What were you doing at the edge of the place? From the way you described it, you were likely on a farm that was very strict with their campers and wouldn't just let them roam freely." Dove asked, leaning more into the conversation with her phone.

The visitor sat still, staring off into a blank space again as their hand holding the pen twitched, at a loss of words. They attempted to refocus by writing something else but paused, not even finishing what they were writing, so Dove and Joon had lean closer, tilting their heads to read the lines. 

They were everywhere. 

It was almost the last day of camp for everyone.

We couldn't stay there any longer, but we also didn't want to go home

the line ended there, and the pen stopped moving, the visitor frozen pensively once more.

The door suddenly made a sound behind Joon and Dove, causing Joon to drop and close the bag, and setting it down onto his lap just before the door knocker announced himself. they turned and looked up just in time to see the said person open the door, and they saw Bence at the doorway. He had a studious look in his eyes as he looked at the only person in the room who wasn't alerted to his presence. The one sitting in the hospital bed, still with a distant look. 

He looked to the two interns. Dove was unnerved and staring wide-eyed but silent, patient and tensing. Joon simply raised an eyebrow at the man, expecting the man to explain himself. 

"It's as if they've got that thousand-yard-stare, don't they?"

"Why would they?"

"I just had a very informative conversation with Hollow before I came here." He said as he walked in, hands behind his back in a proper manner. 

"How? I thought the guy couldn't talk. You know, with being headless?" Joon asked as he watched the necromancer enter the room, carefully closing the door behind him.

"No need, there's always sign language and writing."

He made his way further into the room, stood right next to Joon, and after lightly smacking his hand to make him drop the coffee bean he was about to sneak into his mouth, he seemed to give the visitor a bow as his way of looking less intimidating. 

"Kid, can I call you that?"

The visitor nodded, although not completely looking him in the eye as they folded their knees up to their chest and sat further in the middle of the bed.  

"Alright, kid, exactly how many zombies did you summon?"

"Hah?!??!" Joon unconsciously belted out. 

Dove raised an eyebrow in curiosity and disbelief, her first time hearing of this. 

Yes, she has seen werewolves, dealt with ghosts, and seen a living doll, all in broad daylight, but zombies are still oddly profound.

The visitor looked up at him, alarmed, like he had just spilled a secret they were trying to withhold, and it was where one could easily pinpoint that Bence had just revealed what the visitor was hesitating on writing about. 

They looked away sheepishly.

"Look, I know you didn't do it on purpose, I know you must be seriously confused, but in order to help you, you have to tell us everything. If not, well, there's going to be a huge issue. Now, how many zombies, and exactly where?" He said in a firm tone but a quiet volume, kneeling down to the visitor. 

The said person seemed to want to withdraw further, but after mulling it over for a minute, they picked up the notebook and pen, and scribbled something before sheepishly giving it to him.

I really don't know the name of the place, or the location. Honest. Ask Hollow.

As for the number of zombies, idk. I think 10 or something? I didn't see when they started appearing. I ws hiding.

"How many people were at the location where the undead were summoned?"

They shrugged and wrote 'A lot. But relax, there's a huge fence and gate that surrounds the place. Hollow had to jump it since I couldn't find the keys to escape.'

"While that seems reassuring at first," Bence said as he stood up, he now appeared more tense.

"The shocking thing about zombies is that they can climb, maybe not in the way normal humans can but well, so long as an undead body still has the bones of their hands well attached to them, anything is possible. Now then, you stay here and recuperate, I'm sure you've had a long trip."

He then turned to Dove and Joon, his face was as neutral as he could muster but some could tell that he was beginning to panic and was hiding it well. Joon was already standing up from his seat, looking excited before Bence shot his hand up.

"You two stay here with them, keep them company, and be their voice just in case."

Joon obviously frowned at this, tossing the bag of coffee beans into Dove's lap as he looked up at Bence, ready to argue. 

"What? Don't we have an emergency right now? Like, the kind where you need everyone to help handle the situation?"

"Yes, this is an emergency, yes we do need help, but not from our interns." He said as he gently patted Joon's head before walking past them.

He even held his hand out straight to block the boy as he quickly tried to follow the necromancer, about to negotiate.

"I and some others will be going on a trip with Hollow to take care of the camp situation, be prepared for me to call either of you for information. This job is just as important but best of all, it's the safest." 

"But this could be the only time we get to see actual zombies! Are one of you gonna at least tell us more-"

The man didn't let the curious boy finish as he exited the room now in a hurry, likely having switched to a different mode to deal with the new case. Dove stood of from her seat, reaching out to grab Joon's shoulder but she didn't need to luckily. The boy had already gotten the message that they weren't to follow him, or he'd simply bring them back to the room with the visitor. Bence certainly looked strong enough to do so.

Joon clicked his tongue as they heard the door click shut, and then his footsteps past the door became quieter and quieter. 

"Bèn dàn." The boy muttered underneath his breath as he crossed his arms. "He can't bother to explain anything?"

"I'm sure he's just in a hurry. Why would you even want to see zombies? Don't you know what typically happens to people in zombie movies who are enamored with them?" Dove asked him, trying to get him to sit back down. 

'Yeah, they aren't as fun as the movies make em out to b.' The visitor quickly wrote and showed to the boy as things quieted down.

"Yeah sure, but one, we're smarter than the people in the movies, and two! I just want to look. I mean other supernatural guys are cool and all, but zombies are a different kind of monster! Think about it, they are neither dead or alive, they can infect others, and are basically a moving plague!"

"Vampires can also do all those things, you're not that interested in them."

"Yeah, but Vampires are sentient. Zombies, they don't think, they just do, they rely on their instincts more than animals do and are considered the most dangerous once they exist! Plus, Leon's a vampire, I can ask him whatever questions I want about vampires, so they aren't that interesting, just romanticized monsters."

The visitor snickered at his comment, causing the rest of them to laugh. Joon sat back in his chair, bummed and obviously upset. Dove couldn't help but continue standing as she pondered, arms crossed over her chest as she paced the floor.

"Hmm, zombies eh? Well, and along with Hollow and Gunpowder, this will certainly be a long night... !!" 

Dove turned her head to the visitor, a sudden urgent realization.

"Bence wanted us to keep our phones on hand so that he can call us for information, but what information could he need? Like, how to revert any possible infected people back to normal, or where the source of the zombies is coming from?"

"How should we know? He gave us minimal info before he left. Clearly, he doesn't want us to know."

"I know, but I just want to be prepared, and..." She turned her head to the visitor, who tilted their head up at her in equal curiosity, inviting the girl to ask her questions. 

"You haven't told us everything."

The visitor looked away again, confirming her statement. 

"It's fine, I get it. You're like recently traumatized, right?"

They nodded. 

Joon looked to the cup Leon had given them and decided to inspect it. He wafted the scent of the tea up into his nose, before gently dabbing the surface with the tip of his finger and bringing a droplet to his mouth. It didn't taste peculiar from how he didn't have any reaction, but his eyes did widen from how pleasant it tasted, and he held it in front of the visitor, inviting them to try it since it was given to them. 

"I'm not trying to make you drink it or anything, but I'd be real pissed if you let something this good go to waste." 

Joon had some good Confucius manners in him, despite how he may act at times.

"I'm going to head out for a minute, just to check out something." Dove said as she stepped toward the door. 

"Okay, have fun and thanks for spying on Bence for me!"

"That's not- never mind." She stuttered with her words before leaving out the door as Joon let out a cackle. 

I made my way out of the hidden room and walked through the floor to get to the stairs, at first, I just wanted to see if there was anyone I could find to answer some questions I had. Anyone not busy. It appeared that the apothecary floor was empty, understandable as it was late, but I was expecting to see Leon at least. Then, when I got to the stairs, my instincts told me not to open it, and instead to just lean against it and listen.

Someone ran past the door to head down the flight of stairs, it sounded like Ursa, and her footsteps were followed by other pairs of footsteps. One of them paused as the voice eagerly begged Ursa to let them come along, a male voice it sounded like. Ursa's voice I heard firmly telling them no and I guess she pointed for them to go back. Some more shuffling of footsteps was heard as the person begging begrudgingly climbed back up the stairs before Ursa then descended down, and then I heard her voice sigh as another pair of footsteps followed her, and this time she didn't say anything. The footsteps sounded like a different person, silence followed after. 

My phone started buzzing in my pocket, and Annabelle was sending me message after message. Some had photos attached. I had to guess that the footsteps successfully following Ursa down were hers. While I checked my messages, I could hear the clicking of horse hooves on the steps, and really had to resist opening the door to look, lest I risk startling Gunpowder. I don't know how skittish he is.

Dove! I'm going with Ursa on an emergency case!

Do you know about it???

Ursa has so many guns!

Look! Vernon brought the horse from downstairs! Did you know this horse could climb stairs??!?!

Ursa and I are joining others on this emergency case!

That last text was followed by a photo Annabelle took out in the parking lot. 

There was the headless horseman and Ursa who appeared to be having a tense discussion over something, Lucia leaning against a car behind them, the most relaxed of the group even with Liora next to her who appeared to be trying to tell the calm wendigo something. Vernon was with the horse, feeding him an apple from his garden most likely. I realized Leon wasn't in the apothecary floor because he was down there with them.

Ursa was holding a long case swung over her shoulder, and looking at the other side of her shoulder, I could see the tip of what I had to guess was a rifle. 

Annabelle sent another photo. It was the inside of one of the cars I understood they'd be taking. Ursa had a very large truck, and the backseat was filled with firearm cases. It looked like Annabelle opened some to show me the pistols inside. There were also net guns, some carefully packed capsules of some sort of medicine or drug, tasers, and bear traps. Ursa still reminds me of my mother and that is neither an insult nor a compliment.

She sent a following text message soon after.

It looks like everyone who's coming with us is already down. I don't think anyone else is joining.

Too bad it seems you, Joon, and the twins aren't coming. Even Vernon is joining us. 

Dove stared at the text messages as she listened through the door again, there was only silence. As she began making her way back to Joon and the visitor they were to stay with, she had at first an innocent idea, simply for sincere reasons. And her thumb swiped across the screen to pull up the keyboard and type a message back to the excited half-fae at last. 

We can't go with you guys, but maybe you can keep us posted? Just so that I can know you guys are doing okay, zombies are scary no matter how fast you are. Maybe just let us know where you are every now and then? Just in case.

I could easily imagine Annabelle's grin as I noticed her typing back.

; ) Oh I'll make sure to let you know of everything. 

I had a feeling at that moment, that I was starting to get too comfortable with these eccentrics. And, I couldn't deny that their mischievous antics were starting to rub off on me. But I wasn't planning to do anything rebellious at first, I was just going to have Joon and our guest come with me so we can find more information on our own. Because Joon and the guest would be bored, and I, just really liked knowing things! We weren't planning to cause trouble later on.