#hazel.

It wasn’t that Hazel had particularly wanted to go to a cemetery, but what she had heard about Mistwood Park and it’s beauty had been something that had drawn her in. She was always looking for new places to explore and learn about. After all, life could get pretty lonely, but what better place to spend it then surrounded by people. Granted most of those people couldn’t talk. However, there had always been that curiosity about death and the mystery that it was usually shrouded in. Just like how she had seen Emilio die and not long after, had seen him out and about, no matter how much he may have wanted to deny that it wasn’t really him. But even when she was younger, there was just something that would get the better of Hazel, and it’s probably why, after her Granny had died, she found herself visiting the woman’s grave on a regular basis until she physically couldn’t anymore. But at least she liked to think the woman was there with her in spirit now.

“Wow, this place has been open since 1907?” Her eyes quickly scanned the small placard that was hanging where she had stopped to take a break from her run. Though she hadn’t expected anyone to answer, sometimes thinking out loud, even in public just happened. “I wonder how many people are actually buried here?” Taking a swig from her water bottle, Hazel was just about to resume her run with the hopes of seeing more of the cemetery before heading back home.

—

One of the things that had pulled Jenny towards Wicked’s Rest was Mistwood Park. It was far from the first movie location she’d ever visited (she’d even been on a few sets in her youth through the lucky connections of her parents), but it was a special one. She could see herself sitting in that very cemetery often, writing in her journal the way Elena Gilbert used to in the earlier seasons and hopefully butting into a vampire or two.

Death was unfamiliar to her, though she did find it important to walk around the place with a level of respect. Even though she was taking shameless pictures of corners where some of her favorite scenes had been shot. The light was just perfect. It went onto her Instagram story without hesitation before she continued on, eyes taking in the various mausoleums. Surely one of them housed a creature of the night — though maybe this world’s vampires preferred normal, human beds with expensive sheets. Jenny wasn’t sure that, should she succeed, she’d want to sleep in a casket. She should at least get one, though, in case she did end up liking it.

A question was carried towards her through the air, and when she turned a corner, her eyes fell on a woman her age. Jenny was about to wonder if she was here to visit a family member’s grave or if she was a vampire, but the work out clothes seemed to point to neither options. Surely vampires didn’t go jogging any more. “Oh, hi,” she said, “I was wondering the same! But they didn’t mention it on their website. I guess we could headcount … the headstones.”

—

Hazel hadn’t expected anyone else to be around, so the voice that had essentially come out of nowhere had startled her, “Hey! I didn’t know anyone else was out here.” A small laugh escaped her lips as she turned to put her full attention on the other person, “I would suspect that would take a mighty long time.” Hazel’s eyes looked away from the woman standing next to her and back to the rows and rows of graves that seemed to disappear into the distance like a trick of the eye, despite her good and well knowing that they carried on.

“Do you come out here a lot?” It was a weird question to ask someone, but this town seemed to be strange enough as it was. Though it couldn’t hurt to strike up a conversation. After all, Hazel had been a social creature most of her life. That had only changed when her devil had become a problem back home, and what was the harm in trying to make a friend or two. It’s not like she couldn’t defend herself if need be. What’s the worst thing that could happen in the middle of a cemetery in broad daylight?

—

Cemeteries weren’t really meeting places, but Jenny would be down to change that norm. She figured that any person she met in a graveyard would be interesting in one way or another, even though people who jogged were not often considered interesting. If only because she had failed at implementing running in her own life. “Wasn’t trying to sneak up on you, or anything.” She shrugged, before laughing along with the other. “Yes, totally. And it is hard to say sometimes how many people are in a grave, anyway. Some of these tombstones are hard to read.”

She considered the other’s question for a moment. What would be a socially acceptable answer? Did people go to cemeteries just for fun and leisure? The other came for exercise, that was clear, but Jenny was not exercising. She was just hanging around, hoping to find some kind of clue about vampires or other spooky things. “From time to time,” she said eventually, “I don’t know, I like the atmosphere.” She wouldn’t lie about having a relative buried here. That seemed too big a lie for a white one. “You?”

—

“You do have a point. Back home they double stack ‘em. I should know. My momma and daddy’s got a double deep plot. And weird enough, a spot for all us kids. But it is a family cemetery…” Hazel had always thought that was weird. The fact that their parents were already prepared. And it had come well before she had ever exhibited any signs of being possessed by the devil. It still weirded her out though. And the conversation with her siblings about it still lingered in her mind like it was just yesterday.

Shrugging it off though, she put her focus back on the girl, “The atmosphere is peaceful here. Kinda pretty too, in a dark and twisted kinda way. But I’m noticing that this town has that same vibe no matter where you go.” It was true. The longer Hazel was here, the more she noticed just how morbid this town really was. It was probably why her devil had been drawn here. And even though it wasn’t Tennessee, it was starting to feel more like home each day.

“As for me, I’m still kinda new here, and I like checkin’ out the sights. Thought this might be a nice and quiet place to come for a run. But now I’m startin’ to wonder.” She knew the woman standing across from her would probably think Hazel was referring to her, but it was the person shambling towards them in the distance that had caught her attention, “I think we got company headed our way. Guess they like the atmosphere too?” With raised eyebrows, she nodded her head at the rough looking figure drunkenly moving around in no set path.

—

Jenny wasn’t sure what to say. As the other very casually dropped the tidbit that she was an orphan, she just stood there uncomfortably. “Oh. I’m sorry, like about your parents.” The only family members of hers in graves were grandparents, which wasn’t very special. The other seemed her age, and she had already lost both her parents? That was. “I guess it is nice, to be buried together.” She didn’t really want to think about that, not in her own case or that of her parents. Not that she intended for anything to be done with her corpse — she meant to live forever.

“Oh, hey — I’m kind of new to town, too,” she said, smiling. “I like it though, that atmosphere you described. I guess that’s what pulled me towards this place.” Jenny was glad she’d settled in Wicked’s Rest, and though she would not stay here forever (vampires were supposed to move around to avoid suspicion, everyone knew this), she would like to for at least a while. She was about to ask the other how long she’d been in town when she pointed something out.

She swiveled her head over her shoulder, watching someone walk as if their limbs were only half awake. Jenny looked back at the stranger who seemed much better company. “Weird, no?” She turned her body to watch it once more, and as the shuffling person came closer, she took note of the surprising lack of skin covering his face. “Oh — what the fuck is that thing?”

—

“Huh?” Hazel paused for a moment, before realizing what the other person had meant, “No! They’re still alive.” At least, I think they are last I heard. “They just wanted to be prepared for when that day comes. Make it easier on us kids I guess. I don’t know. But as far as I know they’re good and well.” Hazel hadn’t heard from any of her family in years, but it was partly because she made it impossible for them to find her. Though she missed them, she felt it was safer this way for everybody, but mostly for her own well being.

“Really? Maybe I can give you some suggestions sometime. There’s a lot of little fun shops and things here with some weird stuff like you’d see in scary movies.” There were definitely lots of shops with lots of things Hazel had never been exposed to before coming to Wicked’s Rest. A hunting shop with things like stakes and Holy Water. Shops with herbs and plants that people who were into the occult would probably use. It was all different and fascinating, but sometimes a little scary.

But scary was an understatement for what was inching closer and closer to Hazel and her new cemetery friend, “I don’t rightly know, but I’m thinkin’ maybe it’s time we went the other way?” The question that was posed from the other woman was a legit one, but Hazel didn’t want to stick around to find out.

—

Somehow this was even worse. Dealing with the discomfort of someone’s dead parents was one thing, but offering your sympathies to someone with two alive parents … that was just awkward. “Oh.” Jenny let out a nervous sound that some might describe as a laugh. “Well that’s good! I’m glad! Sorry, that’s stupid of me.” She tried to laugh properly this time. She wasn’t sure what kind of arrangements her parents had made, though there certainly were some. 

“That’d be cool, yes. I’m Jenny, you’ll find me online easy!” It would be good to link up to discuss fun little spots in town, considering the other pressing issues inching closer to them. She was glad, though, to have come across another newbie. Exploring a new town was better done together. And maybe it was presumptuous to hope that they could do that — but a girl could hope.

Her eyes were glued to the horrible appearance of what she could only describe as a zombie from AMC The Walking Dead. “Yeah, yep, that sounds like a really good idea, because I’ve never seen anything where there was a walking thing like that where it was just a friendly neighborhood corpse!” Jenny started to walk into the opposite direction, picking up her pace as the monster also sped up. “What the fuck!”

—

“I coulda explained it a little better myself, so my apologies. And it’s mighty fine to meet you, Jenny. I’m Hazel. I would properly introduce myself with a handshake and all, but considerin’ that, whatever that is, is right on our heels, I think we best run.” It was the most rushed introduction in the history of introductions, and if they survived this thing, then Hazel was all for getting together to further explore the town. But right now they had other things to worry about.

“If we make it outta here alive today, I’ll be sure to like, follow, and subscribe to everything you own! And maybe we can pick a safer option to explore?! Like a restaurant!? I hear there’s good places to eat around here!” Her voice was breathy as she was running and dodging headstones; the decrepit looking thing right on her heels. But Hazel’s mistake came when she glanced back to see how close it was to her, and as soon as she did, her toe caught the edge of a grave marker where years of rainfall had washed out the Earth causing the corner of Big “Two Toe” Timmy Smith’s headstone to sit cattywampus sending the woman flying through the air crashing hard into the ground in front of her.

Hazel moaned in pain and tried to gather her bearings, but before she could scramble back to her feet, she found that the walking dead had latched its boney fingers around her ankle and started dragging her. And the moans soon turned into blood curdling screams as she thrashed around trying to get it to let go of her, but couldn’t.

—

It seemed Hazel had her head screwed on right whereas Jenny's was as wobbly as a bobblehead most of the time. She followed suit, starting to run as Hazel did too. It was a confirmation that this was real: if they were running from the seemingly walking corpse, then the walking corpse was actually real. It made her head wobble more, which was unfortunate, as she was already quite out of shape and running like this was not up her alley. 

“Yes, we can totally connect and link up when this is not happening!” Her voice sounded desperate, like that of a stranger in distress. Did that mean she was in distress? Considering zombies seemed to be real and one was chasing her, she had all the right. Jenny wasn't very fond of zombie media in general: there was nothing very narratively interesting to her about creatures mindlessly driven by hunger made of decaying flesh. Of course, apocalypse settings were interesting as they were often explorations of society after disaster (and zombies were just there to be a cause of it), but this wasn't like that. Hell, this wasn't even a narrative: this was really fucking happening. 

It seemed Hazel was more cursed with clumsiness than her when she crashed onto the ground Jenny halted, having no time to assess what kind of person she was. If this was a narrative, then she would probably personify selfishness and keep running — but it was real life, and when Hazel was grabbed and started screaming, she couldn't commit to her part. 

She turned around, reached for Hazel's hands and tried to pull her away from the skeletal hands. Her voice joined the other's chorus in a scream and when pulling seemed futile, she shrugged her bag off her shoulder and threw it towards the zombie: “Get off!” It fell off its head, making it even more determined to pull Hazel somewhere.

—

Hazel had appreciated Jenny’s attempt at rescuing her as she continued to kick and scream trying to get away from the thing that was going to make her lunch if her devil didn’t come out soon. Speaking of? Where was her devil? Normally it was – The scream of fear quickly turned into one of pain as she felt the familiar first break of the shift as bone grinded against bone. There it was. There was her devil.

The squirming and moving around to free herself soon shifted in nature to that of a violent thrashing while her body began to morph into a ginormous wolf with black fur and red eyes. And when the screams became howls, the transformation was complete leaving the walking dead trying to tug something much larger than it was with no success. Not like before, when Hazel was merely a girl being dragged by a corpse.

And when it did finally notice, it was met with a snarling grimace and soon a loud chomp that took its head clean off its shoulders leaving the rest of its body to move around with no direction still trying to tug the large wolf along with it, before Hazel latched onto the rest of its body yanking it from her furry leg along with a patch of hair that only further angered the wolf as it ripped from her skin.

With legs and arms flopping around, Hazel began to shake the corpse like a chew toy thrashing her head back and forth and growling along with each throw, before tossing it forward only to land at Jenny’s feet, before the giant puppy came bounding in the woman’s direction to get her new rotted toy to shake around again.

—

Jenny did not know what to do in this situation. She felt unequipped in plenty of situations, but this was on a whole different level. She’d thrown all her weapons at the creature and watched as Hazel screamed and kicked — and then something snapped. Another thing snapped. A sound slipped from her lips, something between a moan and a groan as she witnessed Hazel begin trashing in a much different way then before.

She had seen this before, of course. On the screen, from the comfort of a cinema chair or her own bedroom. This was a transformation. When Hazel turned more and more wolflike, Jenny felt herself stumbling away from the situation she had been trying to help the jogger from. Soft whines escaped her throat, fear for herself growing in tenfold as her concern for Hazel dissipated.

She gasped when their attacker was beheaded through an aggressive chomp. True horror took hold of her as she witnessed the fall out, the sheer violence with which it destroyed the corpse that had aimed to kill the young woman she’d been before. This was unlike anything she’d seen before. This was vicious and animalistic. This was pure instinct.

Jenny did not hesitate for a moment when the corpse landed at her feet. She turned around and screamed, running in the opposite direction from the wolf and hoping – no, praying – that the half-destroyed corpse would be distraction enough for the beast not to follow her. She ran, fumbling for her keys and screaming still.

—

Pouncing down hard just a few feet before the corpse, the berserker playfully growled at the dead thing in front of her. And soon a swift swipe from her huge paw sent the body careening through the air all dangly like.

What turned out to be not a good time had easily become something of entertainment when her devil had finally come out to play. And without paying any mind to Jenny, she continued to rip the thing apart until random body parts were scattered around the cemetery pitifully crawling around with no set direction or place to go anymore.