"Here." Jess handed Gred a small copper spoon.
Gred took it, noticed Jess had one too, and frowned. "What the hell's this for?"
"Scraping off Grave Moss."
Jess started scraping the leg bones with his spoon, putting each little bit into a small pouch.
Now it was Gred's turn to feel sick. He rushed to the wall and threw up, but since he hadn't eaten anything that morning, only stomach fluid came out.
"Seven silver coins a pound, Gred," Jess said through tight lips, then went back to scraping.
"Seven silver coins!" Gred roared. Then he remembered something. "Screw you! Didn't you say you weren't going to sell the Grave Moss? What good would it do even if it were seven gold coins?"
He complained, but he still wiped his mouth, came back to the coffin, pushed the lid a little farther aside, and started scraping.
There was only a thin layer covering the corpse, but by the time they'd scraped most of it off, they'd gathered a surprising amount of Grave Moss. It probably wasn't a full pound, but judging by the weight, it was about as much as a bottle of soda. There had to be roughly half a pound.
The longer they worked, the less disgusting it felt. They scraped, pushed the lid farther back, and kept scraping.
When the lid was finally all the way off, Gred saw the corpse's face.
"Jess. Hey."
He nudged Jess with an elbow. Jess was still scraping away, completely absorbed in his work.
"Take a look. Is this guy staring at me? I'm afraid I'm seeing things."
"Hmm?"
Jess glanced over. The dead man's face was surprisingly intact. It lay in dirty water with its eyes open, looking almost alive.
Just then, the corpse's eyes moved and turned toward Jess.
"He's not looking at you. He's looking at me," Jess said, and went right back to scraping.
Gred slapped the back of Jess's head and roared, "He's alive, you idiot!"
"Huh?!"
The slap jolted Jess back to his senses. He'd been concentrating so hard on the Grave Moss that his brain had started blocking out anything frightening.
The corpse suddenly grabbed Gred's arm. The dwarf howled. Jess reacted quickly and chopped the walking corpse's arm off with his axe. Gred jumped back, shook the severed arm loose, snatched up their bag and tools, and ran.
Jess grabbed his axe and followed, almost slipping and falling. The corpse sat up sharply in its coffin, let out a weak breath, then climbed out and staggered after them.
Neither man dared look back. They ran uphill as fast as they could. Just as they reached the tomb entrance, a walking corpse appeared right in the doorway.
"Move!"
Gred charged forward with his sword, cut off its head in one clean stroke, and kicked the headless body to the ground.
Jess ran outside after him—and found the cemetery full of standing zombies.
They headed toward the hole they'd crawled through, but strange moaning and howling came from that direction.
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Several hunched, rotting humanoid creatures were pushing through the bushes and weaving between the gravestones. Some ran on all fours, then switched to two legs to move faster. They looked less like people than crazed beasts.
"Ghouls! Quick, run the other way!" Gred shouted, pushing Jess ahead of him.
Jess turned and ran, but he knew they only had one way out: the hole behind those ghouls.
Everywhere else, the cemetery was surrounded by a tall fence, with sharp points at the top to keep intruders out. They couldn't possibly climb over it.
The ghouls were incredibly fast, darting between the mindless zombies like a pack of wild dogs as they raced toward the two men. Jess barely had time to think of a solution.
At the fence, Gred immediately threw the bag of herbs and all their luggage over it. Then he took one look at Jess and said, "Come here."
"What are you doing?"
The dwarf didn't answer. He grabbed Jess and threw him over too before Jess could say another word.
Jess's mind went blank. He felt himself launched through the air by an enormous force, passing over the iron spikes. They tore several holes in his clothes, and his back hurt terribly.
He hit the ground in a daze. Wincing, he felt his back. Luckily, there was no blood. The skin was probably only scraped.
Then he realized Gred was still inside. Jess grabbed the bars.
"Are you out of your fucking mind? How are you getting out?"
"You run! Back to Raven Hill. If I can't beat these ghouls..."
The dwarf gave his sword a swing and left the rest unsaid.
"Shut up... Let me think."
Jess looked around, then toward the zombies and ghouls approaching from the other side. Suddenly he remembered a scene from a TV show.
The Walking Dead, huh?
He picked up his logging axe and slammed it against the iron fence. The deafening clang startled Gred. Even the zombies and ghouls hesitated for a moment at the noise.
"Now run, Gred. Find a way to reach that hole on the other side."
"Got it! Be careful!"
While the ghouls and zombies were trying to figure out the sound, Gred rolled into the nearby bushes.
After the dwarf disappeared, Jess stood alone before the fence, gripping his rusty logging axe. Beyond it, shapes swayed upright among the gravestones, half-hidden by mist. A sudden, overwhelming loneliness seemed to grip his heart.
He swung again and struck the fence. The zombies seemed to wake up and began shuffling toward him.
Before he could swing a third time, a ghoul suddenly leaped right in front of him. Its unnaturally long arm shot through the bars and almost caught his neck!
Jess's heart seemed to stop for a beat. He stumbled back two steps and swallowed as he stared at the monster's swollen eyes, rotting face, and teeth as sharp as a wolf's.
Then a second, third, and fourth ghoul crowded against the fence. They growled and stretched their arms through the gaps. One spat a mouthful of green pus that barely missed Jess.
The ghouls looked like a pack of starving, crazed baboons. To them, Jess was a piece of juicy fruit.
For a long while, he didn't dare get close. Then one ghoul seemed to hear something. It paused and glanced behind it.
"Fuck you," Jess muttered in his native language.
He rushed forward and slammed the axe against the bars again. That caught every ghoul's attention. They reached wildly for his arms and collar. Jess retreated several steps, tripped over a stone, and fell. He checked his arms and body. Only when he found no wounds did he breathe easier.
"Come on, you brainless bastards!" he shouted.
His voice felt three or four times weaker than the noise of the axe hitting metal. So he waited for a chance to change positions and struck the fence again, dodging the ghouls' claws and bites once more.
This time, he felt as though he was getting the hang of it.
More and more zombies gathered at the fence. Every one of them stared straight at Jess. But he was getting used to it, and each strike was safer than the last.
Until one ghoul raised its head and looked at the very top of the fence.
Jess froze. His throat felt drier and drier.
He gave a little cough to clear it. The ghoul suddenly leaped up and almost caught the pointed top of the fence.
"I..."
He muttered in panic, grabbed the cloth bag, and prepared to run. Just then, someone caught his collar.
"Get off!"
Jess tore himself free and turned to find Gred standing behind him.
"It's me! It's me!"
Seeing Jess covered in sweat, Gred shook him hard by the neck and said, "Now, move!"
"Move... Right."
They gathered all their belongings and sprinted into the forest. Only when they could no longer hear the zombies roaring did they slow down.
Jess threw his filthy, yellowed shirt into some bushes, put on a new brown linen shirt, and sat down on the ground. He stared ahead, breathing hard.
"You know, Jess," Gred said, swallowing, "even the bravest Wildhammer warrior couldn't have kept his cool in a situation like that. I promise you. You're the bravest damn human I've ever met. If you don't end up a knight or in the royal guard someday, it'll be because that Wrynn boy is blind, or because everyone in the kingdom has something wrong with their heads."
A long time passed before Jess finally murmured, "I'm never coming back here."
Gred couldn't help laughing. Jess looked at him, then started laughing too.
They laughed for quite a while before Jess asked, "What time is it?"
The smile slowly disappeared from Gred's face. He said coldly, "If I could afford a pocket watch, would I be out here risking my life with you?"