I was inside a Zombie.

On a scale of one to ten, I was at Apocalyptic.

“Don’t kill me! Don’t kill me! Don’t kill me!” I tried to shake my hands. My arms felt heavier, but I was able to make the motion.

“Byler?” Val looked from me down to, well, the real me.

“I don’t know how I did it, but I’m in here, so please don’t kill me!”

“This is so weird…” She picked up her catching pole and poked me with it.

“Ow!” Okay, now I knew that Zombies could still feel pain. Or maybe it was just because I was inside it. “Don’t do that!”

“It’s not like I could kill you…” She looked at my neck, “I mean, I guess…”

“You are not decapitating this thing while I'm in here!” I tried to think. I’d heard that the Touched could control Zombies, but I thought it had just been that they could give them orders, not that they could possess them.

“How do we get you out of there?” Val sat down in front of me, “Because I don’t think you want to be in there when it goes into the solution.”

“No, I do not.” I tried to think. This was bad. Really bad. “We need to get away from here.” I tried to motion at the other Zombies. “Unless you want to fight all of them while protecting my body.”

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“You’d just stand there Zombyler?” Her eyes twinkled at the nickname.

“We are not using that.” I tried to glare at her, but I was pretty sure nothing moved, “And it’s not like I can hold a weapon.”

“Okay.” Val walked over and picked up my real body. “Can this you walk?”

I tried moving. It felt like I was wearing ankle weights, but I could move.

“Good.” Val slipped the noose over my neck, “Now to complete the look.”

I felt the noose tighten against my neck and prepared to have trouble breathing, then realized I wasn’t. I did when I spoke, but I wasn’t breathing otherwise. It was a very weird sensation.

“Try to find a way out of there before we reach Gher.” Val was having to walk slower to accommodate my speed.

“It’s kind of hard to move and focus at the same time.” I was trying to focus like I had, but it wasn’t working, because I’d stop moving the moment I did.

Val stopped walking. “What if you stop?”

“What?” I was standing still. I couldn’t stop any more than I was.

“Stop focusing on that…” She gestured at me, “Thing.”

I tried to go back into that ethereal feeling. It took me a moment, but once I did, I looked down at the little black speck in my hand. I opened my hand, but it didn’t fly away. I opened my eyes and was still looking at Val.

“That didn’t work, give me a moment.”

I went back and this time I tossed the black light into the air.

I snapped back into my own body and the sense of vertigo plus the sensation of being facedown over Val’s shoulder twisted in my stomach. I was able to keep from making a mess as I slid off her onto the ground.

“I see you’re back.” Val was trying to control the Zombie that was fighting her. “Maybe we should have waited until we got closer to have you check out.”

That would have been easier. “Sorry, but I’m not going back into that thing.”