Prologue: The Abandoned Graveyard

Once, there was an ancient cemetery that have placed ancestors for about 10 generations ago to rest. Nobody visits the graveyard anymore and it was long forgotten. It became a thick undergrowth and weeds grew as tall as a five-year-old child. Snakes and other reptiles have already made themselves home.

However, one day, the silence was broken. Someone has died and the deceased had requested to be buried in the abandoned graveyard. No one had ever explored the site. The death came too suddenly.

Stricken by grieve, an entourage pulled over at the abandoned cemetery. A black and shiny Chysler came to a halt and the five cars behind followed. The deceased was a young girl who was at the prime of her life. She took her own life when everyone was preoccupied with their chores.

Now, everyone — her immediate family, her relatives, her friends — they finally came together, filled with sadness and regret that such a young life had been taken away, wondering if they were perhaps faulted.

Workers worked on the Chrysler’s boot to ease the heavy wooden coffin to a nearby tent before it was sent to its final resting place. Those who were around were wailing, calling out her name, wishing, hoping that she would answer.

The prayer session was an hour long. It was filled with so much sorrow at its finality. A face so beautiful that could not be seen again. A future so bright and suddenly, there were none. Singing of hymns and departed songs could not bring comfort to anyone. Everyone was inconsolable.

And then, it was the last sighting and everyone went around the sleek wooden coffin. How does a person, when dead, looked so skinny and dry? That is not the person they knew. She was no longer there. The strong smell of embalmment kept the body preserved long enough but can make one nauseous. She, should she be alive, would have hated that smell on her.

Everyone turned away as the coffin was closed and sealed. Loud thumping of hammers could be heard as it drove the nails into the wood. That was it. The only time she can be seen from now onwards are through pictures and memories.

The workers carried the coffin to the burial ground. They were gripped with fear as they made their way. There was something that made them uneasy at this particular burial ground. They spotted at least two snakes on the way there although they couldn’t tell what species they were. One was green and one had a common pattern on its body as they had seen on TV. It could be a python.

Not wanting their thoughts to linger further, they hurried their way to the plot. It was in the middle of the cemetery. Somebody sneezed, breaking the silence. It was supposed to be a hot afternoon and the sun was shining brightly during the prayer session. However, suddenly, the clouds hovered over the graveyard and the temperature dropped drastically. Fog began forming, making it difficult for them to see what was ahead of them.

It was so cold and the family began to shiver. The wind that blew in their face didn’t feel like a breeze. The air smelt stale. Shrill sounds could be heard from afar. It felt like night at the cemetery. That can’t be right. One of the visitors checked his watch to ensure that it was indeed afternoon. His watch’s needles started spinning manically — clockwise then anti-clockwise. He gasped in surprise then subconsciously held his breath, looking around, cautious.

The workers were thankful that they finally arrived. The journey seemed longer than it should be. The coffin was getting heavier and heavier by the minute. They couldn’t take it anymore and after much struggle, they lost their grip just as they were about to lower it down to the burial plot. It slipped from their hands and fell loudly into the hole. One of the workers almost fell in but his friend managed to pull him to safety.

Everyone who witnessed the incident started screaming. The screams echoed throughout the cemetery and back at them, as though they were living in a fishbowl and their voices were contained in an enclosed area. It took awhile for the screams to subside. The screams frightened the workers and they started screaming too. They scrambled to their feet and away from the coffin, standing just next to the family.

They looked back to see what they were screaming at. Nobody took their eyes off the coffin, gripped with fear of the unknown.

It had opened.

They couldn’t understand how it would have opened when it had already been sealed. Nobody dared to breathe.

And then, it happened.

A skinny, tattered leg made out of the coffin and slowly, a bony hand held its sides. The zombie attempted a weak landing, failed and crumpled to the ground. It rose slowly, mechanically. A bloodless, rotting face stared at them with a nasty expression on its face.

Everyone froze. They couldn’t believe their eyes. Then, they were too afraid to move for fear that the zombie might attack them.

The deceased immediate family didn’t know how to react, especially when they wanted their youngest daughter or eldest sister so badly to come back to life. They didn’t know what to think. They were just as frozen as their guests, too shocked to even scream and conflicted if they should recognise the zombie as their beloved favourite girl.

Suddenly, there were movements within the crowd. A child got closer to the zombie as everyone was thinking of taking a step back, curious over this odd looking person who just got out of a big brown box. His mother finally came to her senses when he was standing only 5 feet away from the zombie. She grabbed her child quickly and broke into a run, screaming at the top of her lungs.

Everyone seemed to wake up after going through an odd sensation as though they were being lulled into a hypnotising sleep. They started screaming and scampered from the site with sheer panic.

Her immediate family were hesitant and conflicted. Her mother half-heartedly wanted to reach out to the zombie and touch her face but her husband stopped her, took his wife’s and son’s hands and started running.

Despite the chaos, the zombie was absolutely clueless. It was unable to think. It had become like an animal. It didn’t have any understanding of its situation. It merely had one thing it wanted to do. It was hungry.

The zombie walked mechanically towards the thick undergrowth, pushing itself a path so that it could see. It started hitting something so violently then turned around, holding a long snake — the green snake that the workers had seen earlier. The snake was already dead and the zombie was draining its blood, squeezing it dry directly into its tattered mouth. Then, it wiped its bloody mouth and flung the mangled snake several metres away.

The zombie made its way slowly to the coffin, satisfied, and closed its lid. Now, it just needed sleep.