The Becoming Part III of III

His senses suddenly perked up. It was again speaking to him, but he could not tell from where. He stood up from within the closet to see if it was watching him from behind, as it had been last time, but the hallway was empty.

"I've been watching you, and now its time for you to join me,"

Again Derek glanced around to see where the voice was coming from, but he could not tell. It was almost as if it was speaking directly into his ear. The message then began repeating itself, its calm yet horrid voice ripping at his sanity. Stepping out of the closet he peered over to a light that had just flickered on in one of the hallway rooms. It was his room. He watched in astonishment as the door gently shut itself, its creaky wine grading at his nerves.

A sinking feeling then came over him. The power was out, yet there was a light on in his room. He knew what was in there. It was in there, and it was waiting for him. Buckled in his place he wondered what to do next. Deep down he started to have doubts as to whether he would be leaving the house alive. Even if he did manage to escape this situation, what was to keep it from following him?

"I've been watching you, and now its time for you to join me,"

The voice was now louder and repeating itself at a more rapid pace. Reaching up with his hands he pressed his palms against his ears, but the voice still rang just as loud inside of his head, as if it were coming from within him. Feeling more and more anxious he took his first steps towards the staircase when his door abruptly swung fully open. Light from within flooded the hall and stung his eyes.

"I've been watching you, and now its time for you to join me,"

The voice was now shouting into his ears at a volume he could hardly bear. He could not resist anymore, looking into the room he gasped in horror. The voice immediately stopped. A sense of dread swept over his entire body as grazed at the horrid scene. There was a body hanging from the ceiling fan in the center of his room. A noose had been tightly rapped around its neck and it looked as if it had been freshly hung within the last hour. Goosebumps rolled across the surface of his skin as he finally realized he was looking at his best friend Ryan Smith.

It's playing mind games with me! Everyone I love could already be dead! I have to get out of here! The thoughts pulsed through his mind as he slowly stepped away from the entrance of his room.

Panicking, he realized that the only way he would be safe would be if he were to get as far away as he could from the house. There was no more time to think, no more time to find a way to escape the murder situation. He knew if he did not leave the house soon, he would be dead himself. Taking the final few steps towards the staircase, he took hold of the handrail and dashed madly down the stairs, but before he reached the bottom, he was stopped dead in his tracks. It had been waiting for him. It stood happily next to the front door of the house, which was now wide open, allowing for the night air to welcome itself in. A crooked smile crossed its lips and it seemed almost ecstatic at the expression on his face.

"Going somewhere?" It said, with a somewhat humorous tone in its voice. The creature now sported new wire stitching in its neck, stitches for the wound Derek had made not even ten minutes ago. It looked quietly at him for a few moments and then pointed its hand to the front door, for which it had conveniently opened for him. "You're free to leave at any time, but don't think I wont follow you."

"You stay away from me," Derek said with a mixture of anger and fear. He was tried of the games. Tried of being played around with, yet he was also afraid for his life.

"You'll be joining me soon you know. It's only a matter of time. You're only making it harder on yourself. The longer you drag it out, the worse it will be."

"You stay the away from me!" Derek replied again, now shouting. He crept the remaining distance down the stairs and leaned down to pick up the hatchet he had left lying on the floor at the bottom of the staircase.

"There's nothing you can do."

"I'll kill you! I'll kill you again and again, even if I have to do it forever!" Derek shouted, threatening the creature with his weapon.

"Hey! What the hell's going on in here!" a voice cried from outside. A somewhat chunky police officer then hastily stepped inside the house. "Jesus Christ! What kind of freak show is this!?"

"There's no problem officer. Derek's just a little upset." The creature sarcastically replied.

"You guys are in big trouble." The police officer replied sharply.

"If I'm going down, I'm taking you with me!" Derek shouted at the creature as he flung his hatchet towards it. His weapon quickly flew through the air and impacted right into the head of the beast, causing it to immediately fall to the ground. There would be no time to savor a victory though, in the confusion of the event the officer had drawn his gun and fired several shots.

Two of the bullets had whisked pasted Derek's head, narrowly missing him, but of one of the bullets had impacted directly into his skull, blasting into one end of his head, and out the other. It would be quick and almost painless. Derek would only have a few more brief moments of consciousness, but in those moments he would realize everything. He would realize what the creature had been talking about. He would realize his horrifying mistakes.

A few moments before.

A cold wind blew as Officer Chuck Clayton approached the house. Dark clouds had begun to again gather overhead and sooner or later it would start to rain. As he walked up to the house he thought about how much he hated these late night disturbances. They were always trouble, and there was always a chance for danger and bloodshed.

"Hey, what's up Derek?" he heard a man say from inside the house.

"You stay the away from me," he heard the other man reply back.

"What?! Hey, you're the one who invited me over here, don't you remember?" the man replied.

"You stay away from me!" the other man again shouted. Officer Chuck Clayton could hear a growing anxiety in the man's voice.

"Whoa, put do down the hatchet man. You're starting to scare me."

"I'll kill you! I'll kill you again and again, even if I have to do it forever!" The other man shouted. Clayton knew he had to do something quick before the situation got out of hand.

"Hey! What the hell's going on in here!" he cried from outside. He quickly jogged the remaining distance of about ten feet and entered the home. He then laid eyes upon a blood soaked boy he knew as Derek. His clothes looked as if they had literally been used to mop the floor of a crime scene. "Jesus Christ! What kind of freak show is this!?"

"I have no clue. Derek invited me and a friend of mine to come hang out, and now that I'm here, he's started to freak out," the other man replied nervously.

"You guys are in big trouble." The police officer replied sharply. There was no way he was going to let this slip by. There was no doubt that something terrible had happened. He now just had to put all of the pieces together.

"If I'm going down, I'm taking you with me!" Derek shouted as he flung his weapon at the other man.

In the midst of the chaos Clayton drew his weapon and fired three times. Life was in danger, and he needed to protect it. His efforts were futile though, the hatchet hit the other man in the head, killing him instantly, and one of the bullets from his gun had pierced Derek's head, killing him instantly too.

In two hours time the news would be broken that Derek Edelman had lost his mind and killed two of his fellow schoolmates, only to then be killed himself by a police officer. One body had been found in a closet upstairs, and the other had been found by his front door, a killing the police officer had witnessed. It would only be days later that it was realized that Jessica Easily, a young and misguided teen, had also been murdered. The shocking news would rock the small town of Ellicott City.

As Derek grasped onto his last few moments, everything was reveled. He could see now that he had killed not two Jessica Easily zombies, but two of his beloved friends, Ryan Smith and Greg Easily. The guilt would echo through his body repeatedly before he lost consciousness, only to be punctuated by the evil laughter of Jessica, a laughter that seemed to resonate all around him.

The End