This time when we walked from my house back to the pizzeria, we went straight, taking the long way. I didn’t even glance over at what I knew was on Pine Bluff Avenue. Part of me felt shitty about it, but I knew I couldn’t keep looking down that street. If I did, I was just going to keep losing my shit.

Instead I asked, “So, why is Oz a vampire?”

“I don’t really know,” Teddy said.

Really? “I mean, was he bitten? Was there a vampire that attacked him?”

Teddy shook his head. “The aliens attacked, you were dead, and then… Oz was just a vampire. He could move really fast, could jump really far and high, and then he just killed the hell out of one of the monsters. Nobody knew how. But then I looked at his stats box, and there it was—Vampire.

That was crazy.

Except, look at me. Not only was I dead for two weeks, but now I was stuck in the body of a freaking gnome. Oz suddenly becoming a vampire wasn’t all that far-fetched of an idea.

I tried to scowl, but couldn’t feel my face move any. I’d have to check that out in a mirror sometime.

“But why a vampire?” I said as we walked. “It doesn’t make any sense.”

Teddy sighed, and made an unhappy, groaning sound. “I didn’t tell you this…” he stopped walking. I could tell he was torn. Oz was his friend too. “Oz was really into Twilight.”

Huh? “No. No, he wasn’t.”

Teddy had this look on his face. He’d known this about Oz for a long time.

“But…” I was flabbergasted, “we used to make fun of Twilight. The only one in the group that liked that shit was… Ellie.” I just stood there, staring at Teddy. “Did that ginger bastard like Twilight only because Ellie liked twilight?

I suddenly wanted to smash something again, tiny fists or not.

“No,” Teddy said. “He genuinely loved the books and the movies. He just didn’t know how to tell us all.”

I laughed, a hard, bitter laugh. “Liking Harry Potter is one thing. Liking Blade, or True Blood, or motherfucking Buffy the Vampire Slayer…” I was practically seething. “But Twilight? The damn vampires sparkle!”

Teddy started walking again, shrugging as we strode down the street again.

“Teddy?” I said, and he looked at me. “Does Oz sparkle in the sunlight?”

“That I couldn’t tell you. I don’t think so, but as you can tell, we don’t get a lot of direct sunlight anymore.”

I looked up at the gloom filled sky, and I suddenly realized that I hadn’t seen the sun since I woke up as a freaking gnome. It was always super overcast.

“Do you think the aliens made the sky this way somehow?”

“I think so. It was kind of immediate.”

That made me wonder…

“Do you think they did it because sunlight is one of their weaknesses? You know, like the aliens in Signs?”

“The aliens weren’t allergic to sunlight,” Teddy said. “Not in Signs.”

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“But they were allergic to water, remember?”

I saw Teddy’s mouth make a little O. But then we heard a strangled cry out in the buildings we were walking past. We both fell silent, but we did pick up our pace walking towards the pizzeria.

***

When we got back to Longfellow Road I could see Wood on top of the pizzeria, pounding boards in place to cover the hole in the roof. Amazing how big a hole a werewolf can make when they’re trying to burrow down into your house.

Our house.

Was the pizzeria really our home now?

We’d spent enough time there all through high school. But now, having just these four walls standing between us and the rest of this fucked up, post-apocalyptic cluster fuck of a world, it was sobering.

Oz and Ellie were sitting on the front steps. They weren’t holding hands or anything, but it was beyond obvious that they were together. Together, together.

It made me feel sad, and angry, and utterly alone all at once.

But I wasn’t alone, and I knew it. And that feeling was already starting to cool down before we even made it to where they sat. Just by the look on their faces, how relieved and happy they seemed—that was because I’d come back. The guilty looks returned to their faces a second later, but that was okay. I’d seen the concern, relief and happiness on their faces. That was enough. That was going to have to be enough.

***

That night was Ellie’s turn to stay awake and stand watch. As with the first two nights, I did not sleep. I guess I didn’t need it. I didn’t need food, I didn’t need air, I didn’t need water, and I didn’t need sleep. Might as well be a robot. Of course, robots needed energy. A power supply. As far as I knew, I didn’t have one of those.

As the others slept, I unsuccessfully tried to meditate. I never really looked into meditation before. And now that I was trying to do it—because of what I remembered the aliens saying when they put me back together—I was having all kinds of problems trying to figure out how to do it.

I knew I’d seen videos about it on YouTube, back when dad was sick and I was trying to find ways to help him through the pain. I remembered wise-looking men and women sitting on the ground, cross-legged, their eyes closed, their arms out-stretched on their legs, hands up in some kind of little gesture. But that was as far as I went. I’d forwarded those videos to dad via messenger.

I really missed Google. And YouTube.

Between the two, I don’t think I’d ever had to go to the library and ask about anything. Heck, after a while, I never even asked my parents about things. I just googled them.

But I’d needed them all the time. I really missed dad. And mom. How was I going to get through this without her?

I pushed those thoughts out of my head. I needed to keep my mind on the present, and not get hung up on the past. Because I could so easily just wallow in memories, in regrets. I could drown in them.

I forced myself to get back onto the subject at hand. Cultivation: Meditation. The freaking aliens had said something about cultivation. I knew in video games, cultivation meant to change yourself, from the inside out, using meditation. Technically they were called extras. Of course, you don’t really meditate in a video game. You just pick up the abilities. Like door prizes.

I opened my eyes and gave up. It was hopeless.

I looked over at Ellie. She had something in her hand, and was turning it over and over again.

“Is that a beanie baby?” I asked.

I could see when she startled. But then she turned and looked at me, and then held up a tiny Charmander stuffed Pokémon. It was really, really small. “Remember when you bought this for me?”

I did. “Yeah, it was before we started dating.”

She smiled, and tucked the little stuffed animal into her shirt. Not into her inventory. She wanted it with her.

“That was one of the reasons I started dating you.”

Oh yeah, I had forgotten. She’d started dating me. It had been her idea. She had kissed me first.

And she’d decided to break up.

I didn’t want it to, but remembering that made me feel bad. It still hurt.

“So,” I said, “does Oz sparkle in the sunlight?”

Ellie rolled her eyes at me. “Real, mature, gnome-boy.”

I knew that had pressed a button in her, and for a second that made me happy. But when she called me gnome-boy I got defensive. “I don’t have a choice. The aliens did this to me.”

“The aliens did that to Oz, too.” she said. She shook her head. “They did all this,” she spread out her arms, “to all of us.”

I closed my eyes for a moment, and smothered the part of me that wanted to hurt her. Or the part that wanted to hurt Oz.

Oz wasn’t here. He stayed away whenever everyone was asleep. But truthfully he stayed away most of the time. So, pretty much Oz was alone. Because the fucking aliens turned him into a monster, and he was afraid he would hurt one of his friends… or worse.

That made me feel bad for Oz.

I wasn’t ready to feel bad for Oz.

I changed the subject.

“So, do you know anything about meditation?”

Ellie slowly turned her head and looked at me. “Sure. I do it all the time.”

Was she messing with me?