I wake up to the sound of rapidly moving air and music I’ve never heard before. I open my eyes and see that I’m in the man’s car. I look over and see him driving it, tapping on the steering wheel to the rhythm of the song. I let out a yelp as I jump back, pressing myself tightly against the door to get as far from him as I can. He looks over at me. He’s covered in the zombie’s blood. It’s hardly visible, though. Apparently the story that zombies bleed black is true, so it blends in with his clothing. His body is just clearly covered in a matching fluid. Luckily, he’s got his sunglasses on again. “Come on, kid! Get off my door before you fall out!” He says as he keeps shifting his vision between me and the road.

“What do you want with me?!” I shout at him. I’m not at a point where I’m going to let fear stop me from talking. He glances at me, then looks straight again. “What’chu think I’m gonna do with you?” Why would he ask that? Does he have some sick fantasy of making his victims say what they expect to happen?! Well, it’s not like I can stop anything from happening if he was going to do something. Guess I’ll just be honest.

“Are you… going to do… perverted… stuff to me?” I say with a flushed face. He glances over at me, then bursts into hysterical laughter. “PFFFT HAHAHAHAHA! Holy shit, kid! You coulda said anything! Anything at all, and that’s what you come up with? You’re a funny one!” this is relieving, but also pretty humiliating… “Why else would you save me?!” I shout. I know my face is red with embarrassment. I suppose I really could have assumed he’d eat me or something.

He ignores my question and asks his own. “You got a name?” I sit silently as I assess if it’s safe to answer that or not. He glances over at me again. “Know what? Don’t worry about it. Names are overrated.” I think it over for a moment. This guy did save my life, so I guess it can’t hurt to say my name. “Leah.” I say quietly. He glances at me again. “See? Was that so hard? I’m Styx.” “Styx? What kind of name is that?” I ask. There’s no way that’s his real name. “It’s called an alias, kid. Only a couple of ways to identify people nowadays. A name is one of them. Can’t be letting everyone know that kinda stuff if you wanna hide.”

I ease up a little as my curiosity overtakes my fear. “Is it because… you know? You’re… kinda…” He turns to me and pulls his glasses down, showing me his horrifying black eyes once more. “A zombie? Yeah. That’s exactly why.” I adjust myself in my seat to sit normally. “So, could you tell me your real name?” He chuckles a little. “Kid, as old as I am, I couldn’t remember something like that if I wanted to.” I look at him confused. “How old are you?” He rubs his head with one hand as he thinks about it. “You ask some hard questions, don’t you?”

He holds up his hand, moving his fingers as though he’s counting with them. “Let’s see, I was born in 19-something, so… I don’t know, kid. You do the math.” I get a little chuckle out of this. “That cant be right. That would mean you’re around 200 years old.” Styx just keeps looking forward without acknowledging what I said. I start to think about it for a moment. He’s a zombie. What’s actually stopping that statement from being true…

After a long pause, we come to a split in the road. I point to the left. “You can take me that way and drop-“ “Not gonna happen.” Styx says calmly, cutting me off. He takes the right turn instead. I begin sweating and my heart starts pounding again. “A-aren’t we going to town?” …My anxiety is starting to climb… “You’re in deeper than you think, kid.” I stare at Styx. “W-what do you mean?” Styx reaching over me, opening the glove compartment over my legs, then pulling a photo from it, dropping it on my lap.

The picture shows a man with a helmet and mask. “That’s the guy who dropped off your med job papers. I sit for a moment just staring at the picture. Then it hits me. I haven’t told Styx anything about why I was in the woods. I quickly turn to him. “Hold on! How do you-!” “I’ll explain everything when we get to the house.” He says as he cuts me off again. This guy is pretty rude! While I’m still scared, I’m really curious about what’s going on. I think this is my weakness and probably why I’m in this situation in the first place. At this point, I need answers!