Grave Robbery

Tom screamed as the silent zombie now began to lift himself out of the box. His white wispy hair blew in the wind from the still moving cart as he stood up. Then without a word he lifted his thin arms in their funeral-black sleeves high above his head- and dove upon the terrified youth. The body was surprisingly heavy, as it knocked Tom to the ground. He now lay on his back on the wet cobblestones, with the weight of the animated corpse on his chest. As he gasped for breath he smelled a musty odour that instantly turned his empty stomach. Percival flailed on to of him, his toothless mouth spreading saliva and other indescribable fluids all over Tom’s coat as he made sucking noises. It seemed as though the ghoul was trying to eat him! He could stand no more. With all of his strength he pushed the body off of himself and jumped to his feet. The grasping hands clawed at his ankles. Desperately he kicked at the thing, hitting it square in the face with his boot. Undaunted, it continued to grab for him. The boy turned and ran.

Snidley was now many paces ahead, seemingly unaware of his load being recently lightened. Tom ran wildly, making big circular motions with his arms, as his knees threatened to come up and hit him in his own chin. He screamed for Snidley. "Wait, wait!" He turned and looked back over his shoulder. Uncle Percy’s corpse had now risen to its feet and was giving chase. Screaming again, Tom quickened his own pace even more.

Finally Snidley thought, what is the idiot doing back there? He was in a rush, but still he turned to see what was causing all the commotion. He had little time to register, as he craned his neck around, the crazed boy ran straight at him. The lad literally jumped into his arms wailing like a baby. The force of the collision knocked them both over as well as the cart and the coffin. The resulting clatter was tremendous in the still night air.

Tom landed on top of Snidley, knocking the wind out of him. The pine box came down on its side, again the lid came off; and out rolled the lifeless body of Percival Brown, still dressed in its black burial suit.

As they all lay still for a moment, several sets of shutters banged open in the houses around them. There were shouts of, "What’s going on down there?" and "Has there been an accident?" Soon lanterns were being lit, and townsfolk were stepping out into the night air to investigate.

Snidley tried valiantly to regain breath in his squashed lungs, but the fool boy wouldn’t let up. He just kept thrashing around and sobbing on top of him. The trapped man looked over toward the new noises that were rising up in the street; and with great distress, saw the running footsteps of the approaching constable.

The End.