Part 32

"Hey kid! KID!"

The shape disappearing around the next corner didn't respond, but Frank trotted after it anyway. He had no intention of chasing some kid through a maze, but he at least wanted to TRY and keep an eye on him. Unfortunately, Kyle had remained "just around the next corner" for several minutes, despite Frank's shouting.

"KID!" he called as he rounded the corner where he'd last seen Kyle.

Kyle was waiting on him, standing in the middle of the corridor with arms folded. Frank almost ran the kid down.

Then he almost punched him.

"DAMMIT, kid-"

"You know what I think?" said Kyle. "I think if I kept shouting 'kid' at somebody who's really only a few years younger than me... and they kept ignoring me... I'd probably try shouting something else. Like their name, maybe?"

Frank just stared at him.

"What?" said Kyle.

"It's been my experience that the only people who get pissed at being called kids... are kids. And I'm more than a FEW years older."

"Why are you following me? Owen send you?"

"No, but since sticking together isn't working out too well, I figured not wandering around alone is the next best thing."

"Fine," Kyle started walking again.. "See if you can keep up. Old man." Frank fell in beside him.

"Guy in the robe said he checked this part out already. No sign of your boyfriend this way."

"NOT my boyfriend."

"Whatever. I don't judge."

"We were out looking for GIRLS before we ended up here. GIRLS. FEMALES."

"Likely story."

"And a true one. But I don't recall hearing yours."

"Same as everybody else's. Some bitch got the jump on me."

"With a necklace?"

"Yeah."

"Wife? Girlfriend?"

"I guess you could say...employee."

"So what kind of-?"

"You're too young to know that, kid," Frank said with a smile. Kyle looked confused, which caused Frank's smile to widen even further.

"Whatever," Kyle said, turning down the next corridor.

Only it wasn't a corridor... it was a courtyard. Huge... with a massive fountain in the center.

And a naked body on the ground.

"Who-" Kyle started forward, eyes fixed on the corpse by the fountain.

"Hang back a second, kid." Frank entered the courtyard slowly, looking not at the body but at everything else. The fountain, the walls, the other corridors leading away. Nothing moved. And only after nothing CONTINUED to move for several seconds did he turn to the body.

"Who is it?" said Kyle as he walked up beside him.

"I... dunno."

They stared at the shriveled thing laying on its stomach beside the fountain. It was a human body, that much was certain. Or it had been. All the fat and muscle that had once given it shape.. and life... was gone, leaving only bones draped with creased, wrinkled skin. It looked like the body of an old man that had starved to death, but the hair covering the scalp was full and brown...

...and familiar.

Frank reached down.

"You sure you wanna do that?"

"I do a lot of things I don't wanna, kid. This is just another one on the list. I wanna see his face."

"Why, we didn't bring any ninety-year-olds with us."

Frank grabbed the corpse by the shoulder and... with disgustingly little effort... rolled the body over onto its back.

Kyle gulped and took a few steps back.

"No," said Frank. "But we did bring him."

Even shriveled and nearly fleshless, Kevin's face was recognizable. So was the expression. The eyes were shut, but the jaw was locked wide open in a scream that persisted even beyond death.

Kyle gulped again, but the sound became a dry heave.

Frank just stared, pausing only to make the sign of the cross on his chest and whisper something that sounded like a prayer.

"What... what happened to him?" Kyle stammered as he crept closer. "He's... he's... he's OLD."

" Something sucked him dry. Dried him out like a raisin."

Frank crouched down beside Kevin and took a closer look at the corpse.

"He's got marks on him. There. See..." Frank pointed.

"Dude, I'm not gonna check out some dead guy's package-"

Kevin's skeletal hand closed around Frank's outstretched wrist.

"OH FUCK! ZOMBIE! ZOMBIE!"

Kyle was five feet away almost instantly. Frank was simultaneously snatching his arm away while drawing back his free hand in a fist- but he stopped.

Kevin's eyes were open, and his jaw was shut. His ribs... clearly visible through the thin sheet of skin... expanded and contracted weakly.

"Zombie, my ass.... He's still alive!"