I sighed. "Okay, okay, okay... Moon Moon?"
He looked away from following a squirrel with his head. "Yeah?"
"Do you know where we can find a shovel?"
He cocked his head. "Hmm... there's one at the other end of the cemetery."

"Okay, come on then."
He let out a whine like a dog. "No. There's zombies there."
I slowly turned to look at him. "What?"
"Zombies. We also have Bigfoot around the town. Why do you think our population is dwindling? Why May let you stay so easily? Our town is a magnet for weird stuff."

I stared at him like he'd grown a second head. "First of all, that argument sounds intelligent except for the part where it sounds completely insane. You have... what? This is a werewolf story. There should be like... vampires, or something. Not Sasquatches. Not zombies."
Moon Moon raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, but we're Lycans, not Neos. We get all the unpopular monsters. You can't have a serious romantic story about Bigfoot and a human girl, it's just never going to work. We should be glad we even have zombies."

I sighed. "Okay, okay. So, I'm going alone across the cemetery?"
He nodded,his tongue lolling out of his mouth. "Yup!"
"And what if I get attacked by a zombie?"
He shrugged. "I guess Ollypop will convince me to come save you."

I frowned a little, before opening the cemetery gate and stepping inside. Mist was everywhere, along with ominous sounds off of a Halloween track. I reached the shed without incident, and grabbed a shovel.

But on my way back, I felt something grab my ankle, and I shrieked.
"Braaaaiinnnss..." Someone murmured, pulling me down to the ground.
"Moon Moon, help!" I screamed. I looked back to see him whining, and clearly thinking about it, before running towards me.
But by the time he reached me, I had somehow been pulled underground.

The dim light of a phone screen illuminated the small room. "Wiiifiii?" The zombie groaned.
I narrowed my eyes at him. "Why did you bring me down here?"
He held up his phone. "Noooooo wiiiiifiiiiii."
He seemed to have died as a teenager, with a hoodie on him, as well as jeans and beat-up sneakers. Why wasn't he buried in a suit?

"I don't have any wifi."
His shoulders slumped. "Hoooouuuuse 3eeeeeCeeeeeeeAaaayyyyy?"
"Yeah. I'm going to move into it." I agreed.
He looked somewhat hopeful. "Wiiiiiiifiiiiiii?"
I nodded, before sighing. "I'll set up the router near that end of the house. Now, can I go?"

He nodded, and waved me off. Unfortunately, his hand fell off. I reattached it, sighing, as we could hear Moon Moon above. "I'm Sophia. What's your name?"
"Naaaaate."
"Nice to meet you, Nate. I'll come by soon with the wifi password." He nodded slowly as Moon Moon broke through the dirt above us.

Nate growled unhappily at the light.
"Hi, Moon Moon." I said as he helped me out of Nate's hole and hugged me.
"Sophia." He breathed happily. "You're alive! Did the zombie hurt you? Did he? Did he?"
I shrugged him off. "I'm fine. Sorry about your home, Nate."
"S'ooookaaaay."

Moon Moon led me over to the thankfully zombie-free grave of Old Man Bartlett, who still had the key in his back pocket. However, since neither of us wanted to dig through his pockets, we rock-paper-scissored over it, and Moon Moon lost.
"Sorry, Moon Moon, but I have to go refill Nate's hole." I sighed.
"Switch?" He pleaded. "It'll be faster. Zombie boy is good. Old Man Bartlett smells like mailmen."

I frowned, but nodded. "For the record, I don't particularly like the smell of corpses either." Moon Moon nodded, then ran off on all fours.
"You're bipedal!" I called after him, before sighing and doing my part of the bargain.
I ran my hands through his backpockets, trying not to throw up all over his corpse. What was that I just touched?!

"Urrrrrgh..." Old Man Bartlett groaned.
I yelped, and jumped back, effectively getting dirt all over me. When he didn't move, I drifted closer. He definitely smelled dead. And not like Nate, either. Properly dead.
I poked him with my index finger. "Hey. Hey. Are you alive?"
He didn't make a sound.
"Was that... just air, escaping?"

Again, no answer.
"Stay silent if you want me to have the key that you were buried with for some reason."
I slid my hand back into his pocket. "By the way, your house is fully furnished, right? 'Cause, you don't need that now. And I kind of do."
Moon Moon bounded back over with a very disgruntled and dirty Nate following him. "Baaaad dooog."

"He wouldn't stay still." Moon Moon whined. "And my only experience is burying bones."
"Dammit, Moon Moon." I growled. "How much damage did you do?"
Nate looked upset. "Nooooo graaaave."
"Right, until your grave is fixed, you can stay with me, Nate. There's better wifi, anyway."

Nate brightened considerably.
"But you have to take a bath every week." I ordered, finally grabbing the key. "And your stuff goes into the laundry at the same time as mine. That's Thursday, by the way."
Nate scowled as best he could as I climbed out of Old Man Bartlett's grave. "Zooommmbieeeee."
"Yeah, but you are covered in dirt." I snapped back. "I don't want to get that stuff everywhere."

Nate made a face, but nodded as Moon Moon and I started re-burying Old Man Bartlett.
"Chaaarrgeerrrr?" He asked sullenly. I nodded. "Yeah, I have a few chargers in my bags. We'll see if one fits. But right now, we are burying a freaking corpse, Nate. That takes priority over your phone!" I snapped.
"Fiiiinne. Beeeee thaaaat waaaaay."

Moon Moon snickered, and we finished up. Just in time too. We returned our shovel to the shed, as Oliver pulled up in my car.
Nate leaned on the fence separating the graveyard and the town, and stared at Oliver passively.
"That's a zombie." Oliver said, as he stepped out of the car, using the door as a shield.

"And here I thought Nate was a mermaid." I replied sarcastically, unlocking the door.
"You don't have to jump down my throat."
"I just dug up a corpse, Oliver. It was gross. I am dirty and kind of annoyed that no one bothered to tell me." I retorted, grabbing a few of my bags. Luckily, it was furnished.

"You're going to need to get a job." Oliver noted, as the three of them followed me in. Moon Moon was carrying the rest of my bags.
"If you keep stating the obvious, I'm going to keep being sarcastic. Electricity isn't magic, Oliver. I realize that I need a job."
"Well, did you even graduate from college?" He asked.

I set my bags down in the living room, before turning to face him. "I did a few years. Consequence of being one of the Athena packs."
"Hmm. Should be enough to get you a good job. What do you need?"
"Moooonneeeey." Nate told him.

"Well, yes, I know that. I mean, what are your special skills?"
I waved him off. "Jobs can wait until tomorrow, Oliver. This place still has electricity and running water, right?"
Oliver nodded slowly. I sighed, relieved. "Excellent. Now, everyone, shoes off. Nate, shower."
"You're not my mom." Oliver snapped.
I glared at him. "Yeah, well I don't like mud all over my house."

"Dooooon't liikeee waaaateeerrrrr." Nate growled.
"Shower. Now. Before I get really mad." I snapped.
"You shower first, and we unpack!" Moon Moon proposed.
"Um... okay, here's the plan, you two go out and get food, I go take a shower, and Nate... don't touch anything until you take a shower."

He gave me a thumbs up, as the other two left.
I headed upstairs, finding the bathroom quickly, and took a short, hot shower. This place wasn't so bad. A little weird, but that was okay. It was way more interesting than where I'd grown up.
I headed downstairs, wrapped in a towel, since I hadn't brought any clothes up.
Nate shot me a look, but turned his attention back to his screen, as if this was all normal.

I grabbed a bag, then changed upstairs. I finished just as Oliver and Moon Moon arrived, carrying bags of McDonald's.
"Eat up. It's a... Sophia." Oliver glanced at the window quickly. "You know what time it is."
I stopped shoveling food in my mouth. "It's... oh, God. Already?"
"Goddess, though?" Moon Moon commented, eating a French fry.

"Nate, when I leave, I'm going to need you to lock the door."
He stared at me passively, just as he had with Oliver earlier. "Hoooooowwwww doooooo yoooooooouuuuuu thiiiiiiinkkk IIIIIII diiiiieeeed?"
Oliver buried his head in his hands. "Oh, God. You're that kid. The one who died a month ago."

"Muuuuuuurrrrrrrdeeeeeerrrrrreeeeeddddd." Nate correcting, drawing it out.
"What happened?" I asked.
"Zombie here was shut in when the fence went up. Someone found him, and by dawn... well, let's just say he looks a lot better now."
Nate pulled up his shirt, revealing that his chest was covered in gashes that went to the bone at least. Then he let it drop before returning to his phone.

"How do you make a zombie?" Moon Moon asked obliviously.
"Voooooodoooooo." Nate replied without looking up. "Moooooom liiiiiikeeeed iiiiiiit."
"Why'd you stay here, then? If your mom was the one calling you back home, and she was human?" I asked.
Nate shrugged. "Beeeetttteerrrrr. Peeeeeeaaaaaceeeeeefulllll."
"We're a bunch of murderous werewolves. How is that peaceful!?" Oliver yelled, slamming his hands down on the table.

Nate shrugged.
"Ollypop, Ollypop!" Moon Moon said excitedly. "It's starting!"
"Sophia, Moon Moon, we have to go. Now." Oliver stressed, I grabbed an extra French fry, before turning to Nate. "Remember. Lock the door."

He nodded slowly, and we left.