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Peace. Peace was good. I wasn't sure of the exact definition, but this seemed close enough. This moment, sitting on the manor's terrace and listening to the wind shaking the leaves. This was my peace.
I sat there for a while, thinking back on what had indeed been a busy day. I'd finally gotten rid of the fungus around my flowerbed and I had also ripped the hedges' leaves from them in preparation of the new project I was planning. After that, I had gone around the house, checked all the rooms. Oddly enough, neither water nor electricity had been working for a long time, so I'd been collecting rainwater. Not like I needed to bathe anyway, but the guests always took a bath when they could. Without fail, every time one of them arrived, they'd ask for flowers or something which smelled nice, as well as water. That made me wonder, when would be the next time guests showed up? The last ones were... some time ago, when I'd planted the new strawberries. I tried to remember, but honestly, right now I just wanted to enjoy the warm wind of the summer night.
Around me, you could barely see the outlines of the things I kept in this part of my garden. Most of it was consumed by the darkness, the only thing illuminating it the small lantern I'd brought out here, but I wasn't scared. In all my time in this house, nothing had ever attacked me. I think. My memory can be a bit unreliable at times, but I felt safe. I was at peace, for now.
I yawned loudly as the sun rose, not wanting to get up. As always, I debated just sleeping in but ultimately decided against it in favor of doing the tasks for the day. On my way out of the bedroom, I forgot to open the door and simply walked through it. Eh, unpleasant. I'd never quite get used to that feeling. I rubbed my eyes and stretched again. For the tasks at hand today, I'd need focus. I couldn't afford to let more pots fall to the ground, I didn't know how to make new ones. Maybe there is a book in the library for it, I thought.
But when I stepped outside through my usual side door, something was different. The air was buzzing with energy, it was... alive. That was nice. Maybe the bees were out to explore today.
"OVER HERE OVER HERE COME ON MIX," a loud scream echoed through the garden. Not the bees. Definitely not the bees. I turned around to locate where it was coming from, the main gate. Quickly, I began running towards the greenhouse. As soon as I'd arrived, I remembered that I hadn't watered the oranges so I went to do that when I heard a scream. Oh right, not the oranges. I dropped the bucket I was holding and continued sprinting to the hedge and slipped through it, ending up on the inner side of the gate. I could see a group of people who were running towards the gate as fast as they could and they looked scared. Behind them, I heard more noise, but I couldn't quite place what it was. A deep, unsettling noise which became louder and louder as they came nearer. One of the humans finally reached the gate and their expression turned from scared to horrified as they realized it was locked.
"The door's locked, we can't get in! They're like right there what do we do?" Were they scared of other humans? Maybe someone was chasing them, though I couldn’t imagine why. They seemed nice. The human at the door turned around again and pulled out a pistol. Huh, maybe they weren't so nice after all. I debated about whether I should A. make my presence known and B. let them in. They didn't seem like my typical guests. Yes, most of them also carried weapons, but they arrived in small groups and not whatever this was, judging by the sound of it. I could only see three humans, but the noise was becoming increasingly loud, too loud for three people to make. Now, I could make out different noises within the mix. Footsteps and... murmuring and groaning, and a lot of all of it. Then, a new... thing came into my sight. It was different. It's skin was a grey-green ish color, it's hair was tangled and quite frankly a mess, but the worst were it's eyes. They looked dead, like all of the color was drained out of them, but at the same time, they were focused on one of the humans in front of the gate.
I decided, whatever this thing was, I didn't want it in my manor. It looked even more dead than me, an impressive feat honestly, but even worse, it looked hungry and that wasn't comforting since it was looking directly at a human. Speaking of, even if I didn't want this thing in my house, I also didn't want to force the people to deal with it on their own. They were looking like they'd be good guests, and if I wanted to let them in, now was probably my only time to do it, so I unlocked the gate and yanked it open.
The human close to it heard and turned around, immediately stopping when they saw me. They stared at me, the whole world seemed drowned out except for me.
"WHAT THE-"
"Is the door open?" the other, a human with pink hair, asked, still focused on the grey creature. When their friend didn't respond, they also turned around and stared, but they were quick to gain their composure.
"It is, okay, everyone, back the fuck away as fast as you can," they said, already retreating through the gate and dragging the still frozen one with them. "Jay?"
"Right here," a new voice spoke from down the street. Soon, it's owner turned the corner and sprinted through the gate, kicking the creature in the face in the process and arriving right on time with the last member of their little group. They immediately shut the gate in the grey's face as more grey creatures arrived. It only groaned in response, shuffling around dumbfounded. Everyone breathed a relieved sigh, even me who had just been watching. Soon, all of their eyes turned (back) to me. The one who had stared at me was the first to speak up.
"You- You're... how are you a-" As they struggled, the pink haired human took over.
"Thanks. You saved our life back there," they said and beamed at me while the other's hand reached out and I did them the favour and let it pass straight through me.
"You... 're a ghost," they stated and I nodded.
"Indeed I am."
Silence filled the gate house.
"What's the difference between a ghost and a zombie?" the human I hadn't noticed before spoke up.
"Sorry?" They repeated the question again. "The difference between a ghost and... and a what?" I asked. What was a zombie?
"That hideous thing," they pointed outwards where the weird gray creature was still standing, grabbing at the gate. Ew, stop licking my gate horrendous creature. Hopefully there are a lot of differences. A difference in location would be good, a big one. "Whatever it is, it's not going into my manor." Some of them laughed like I'd said something funny. "So... do you want to come inside?" I asked and the pink haired one accepted the invitation for all of them.
"Are you sure the zombies won't find a way in?" one of them asked. I gave a look at the grey things outside the gate. Sure, they didn't look that well, but comparing them with ghosts was somewhat harsh. Maybe they all just needed a bath really badly, though I was pretty sure they would pounce on my guests as soon as they'd be let in. Their behavior confused me, I'd never seen anything like it before. There had been guests who had tried to attack me, yes, but they were missing the hungry glint in their eyes these creatures had.
"The bushes are pretty dense here, I think they'll stay outside."
On the way inside - with such a huge garden it took a minute, especially since the brown haired boy, Erin, was limping - we talked. I learned their names: the pink haired one was Niki, she seemed like she'd lead the group for a while, Mix had short brown hair, Jay, the one who'd come running earlier, he had black hair and eyes and lastly, the one who had stared at me as if I was a ghost was Erin.
"So... all of my other guests never brought such strange company, I must say."
"Your guests?" Erin asked.
"Yeah," I looked around the garden, remembering all of the guests I'd had sitting somewhere (well I didn't remember most of them, but I remembered the feeling of life around the house). "Most of them arrive in small groups, though some arrive alone, though once, I even had a group with nine people." For some reason, they seemed confused. "Most of them arrive without as much commotion though," I stated. "Are you alright?" They looked each other up and down quickly and nodded.
"We'll have to check properly for any bites later but we're not bleeding out." Somehow that didn't sound like they were okay, more like they were used to having wounds all over their bodies, bloodied hair and clothes. I didn't like the way their eyes darted around the garden, only waiting for something to appear from the bushes.
"So... why were they following you?" I asked as I lead them through a bush doorway.
"They... we didn't realize they had followed us out this far. Normally, they just stay in the city but those seemed particularly hungry," Niki said.
"Did they want some of your food or why would they follow you?" This time, I was met with a look of pure disbelief and maybe a bit of... pity?
"Bro... they're zombies," Jay spoke up, "They don't want our food, they want us." When my expression didn't change, he clarified. "They want to bite us, to turn us into one of them." What? My expression shifted from confused to disturbed as he continued. "Once you're bit by a zombie, you'll turn into one. They're chasing after everyone who's still alive." I couldn't believe what I was hearing. No other guest had ever brought this up. Well... maybe they had and I'd just forgot but I hardly believed I could forget something that important. This time, I wouldn't forget. The hungry glint in the creature's - the zombie's - eyes as it stared down the humans, their desperate attempt to get inside the gate. It made sense now. They had been on the run. They had run from the zombies to not be turned into them. I glanced back at the gate, from here, it seemed as peaceful as always, but they were waiting outside, trying desperately to get in.
"So... these creatures... they're trying to turn you into zombies?" They all nodded. "No other guest ever told me this, as far as I can remember. They never arrived like this either."
"As Niki said," Mix spoke up, "We didn't realize they'd followed us this far until we woke up and found a horde in our campsite. We'd used up all our flowers while we traversed the city, so we fought and ran until we saw your house. Didn't realize it was still inhabited though," they grinned.
"I have flowers, I always grow some because well.. everyone always asks for them. I like plants anyway, they seem so alive, in contrast to me," I grinned. It didn't actually bother me as much as people always thought. The flowers were nice anyway, reminding me of what it felt like to live, as did the guests. I was happy. "Well," I said before we came around the final corner, "Welcome," we turned the corner, "to Whitewater Manor," I finished as the mansion itself came into sight. It was always a delight, especially now, with the hedges all neat and clean and the two paths alongside the fountain all tidied up. Niki and the others stopped, obviously suprised by the sight. Their eyes ran along the garden and the mansion, trying to take every detail in. The mansion itself was made of white bricks, overgrown with ivy I'd refused to cut off long ago. The windows were a bit old and the place wasn't properly isolated since 1900, but the curtains in light blue made up for it. The candles burning in most of the rooms gave a comforting glow, a promise of a safe space inside.
"Woah... this is all yours?" Mix asked and I nodded. I let them enjoy the sight a bit, secretly giddy that my hard work was being appreciated. Most guests were too exhausted to properly take in the sight and even though they'd just had a race with 'the horde,' their eyes sparkled as they looked around.
Meanwhile, I walked towards the door and straight through it before opening it from the inside. Don't blame me for being lazy, I just didn't see the use in having a key around. I pondered what they'd want to do first. Probably check for bites, bathe, eat something, get new flowers. I decided to start with the bath since it made me sad to see them in such a rough condition. Their clothes needed a wash too, I tried to mentally run through my wardrobe to see if anything would fit them, but I didn't remember what clothes exactly I had. After all, wearing clothes as a ghost was weird (I just wore ghost clothes, not physical items, they were easier to walk in anyway, I didn't own any practical human clothes, only dresses) and I hadn't looked at them in a long time. Okay, first bathing and in the meantime, I'll search clean clothes for them and clean theirs. Once again, I thanked my past self for installing the rainwater collection system when the water supply had stopped working. *Oh*, I thought. So *that's* why the water and electricity doesn't work anymore, with all the zombies roaming the town, that would indeed be difficult to uphold. Now, I was even more thankful for my rainwater supply. Right, baths.
"Hey," I shouted outside and they turned to me, "come inside. I'll fill the bathtubs for you, I only have two though so the others will have to wait a bit." Niki's brow furrowed and she walked over to me with quick strides.
"Please don't use up your water for us, we're doing just fine." I gave her a one-over to illustrate my point. "Yeah, yeah, listen, we still have a few bottles and we can clean up with that water. You've already saved us from the zombies, you don't need to do more for us." Somehow, this gave me a déjà-vu, like other guests had said that. Some had just grunted, but I'd helped them anyway.
"I have a cellar filled with rainwater and it's not like I need much of it. Please, just take the bath. At least do it for me, I can't look at you like this anymore." Yes, I'd never been the best at debating, but at the mention of that much water, Niki's eyes lid up and after, she reluctantly agreed.
Soon after, I dropped off Mix and Erin at their respective bathrooms. Of course, this manor had more than two bathrooms, but only two had bathtubs. I still had a shower in an en suite bathroom, but it wasn't working properly since it wasn't connected to the water pipes. I opened both of the sinks and told the guests I'd pump water up soon enough, though sadly it would be cold. Neither of them complained. I walked down into the kitchen and followed a narrow staircase towards the cellar, an old habit from when I was still alive. I also didn't like the feeling of going through something, if I'm honest. It's unpleasant. Some time ago, there were a lot of wines stored here but after the... apocalypse? Are we in an apocalyse? After... whatever, after the pipes had stopped delivering water, I'd stored the wines in the pantry instead and built large tanks and connected them to the rainwater pipes. I walked to the pump to the right and started pumping water up. The way I'd designed it, the water would go into the house's normal pipe system and be let out into all of the open sinks, in this case, the both bathtubs. I was proud of making this system myself since it worked quite well. Oh, maybe I should tell them not to drink the water before filtering it. Yeah, good idea.
After knocking at both bathrooms briefly and asking if everything was alright, even remembering to tell them not to drink it or let it get near their wounds, we'd take care of those later (today really was a good memory day, maybe because there were people around), I returned to the entrance hall where Niki and Jay were still sitting on one of the sofas, whispering.
"Okay," I went through the guest to do list in my head, "Baths in progress, clothes, oh yeah clothes, bandages, food, flowers," I raised my voice, "You can bathe next, I'll pump new water after they're done. I can prepare lunch after all of you have bathed and you're all bandaged up, if I can find the bandages." Niki tried to protest again, but I simply pulled the 'I'm a ghost it's not often there are people here so I want to spoil them' card and she went quiet.
After what felt like forever, all of them were done bathing and looked a lot better, though their hair was still a mess. At least not a bloody mess anymore. I'd given them new clothes after a short discussion I'd ended with 'it's not like I need them anymore,' I'd even found clothes with pants in them which everyone immediately prefered over the dresses. Maybe dresses could be used to start a fire? Seemingly not useful for anything else anymore. Now, all of them were sitting on these tiny stools situated on the far side of the kitchen counter, checking for bites and bandaging up their wounds while I was preparing food. Since it was early september, I'd already harvested quite a bunch of vegetables. Today, the meal consisted mainly of cauliflower. I'd expected them to make a face at it, but they just seemed grateful to have a complete meal so as an afterthought, I included an appetizer.
"OW," Jay exclaimed as Niki applied some sanitizer to a wound in his upper arm. They'd brought sanitizer with them, though I imagined it was quite old by now, it still seemed to serve it's purpose.
"Chill, this one's done okay," she went to the next one and cleaned it with water we'd filtered through a water cleaning... thing (I wasn't sure how it worked) one of my guests had gifted me as a thanks for letting them stay a few days. Luckily, none of them had been bit so now they only had to tend to any other wounds they had gotten. By now, they looked completely done even though it was only noon. I'd send them to bed soon anyway, if only to actually get some gardening done today, but I wanted to make sure they were okay, weren't gonna turn into zombies when they woke up, had eaten and hydrated and that they wouldn't catch an infection of the non-zombie variety. Standart procedure for when a group of guests arrives.
"So," I decided to find out more about them to pass the time, "how did you all meet?"
While Jay and Niki were busy arguing about how much sanitizer was necessary, Mix explained that they and Niki were siblings. Their parents had disappeared (they didn't clarify how) early on when the first zombies appeared and they'd lived with their aunt for a while until she got turned and since then, they had been on the run. They'd found Erin in a broken down shopping mall a year ago and taken him in and from there, Erin continued. "I didn't remember much, I didn't even know why I was there or that there was an apocalypse-" that felt oddly relatable, "but they took care of me until I learned to fight properly." He smiled at Mix, a clear display of gratitude, "Then, sometime ago, we picked up this idiot," he gestured towards Jay, but the insult was missing actual aggression and Jay just flipped him off before hissing again when Niki used the opportunity to apply more sanitizer, "though I suppose he saved us from the horde so we're equal now. That particular horde is also the reason for this," he gestured to his leg and Mix' left arm which was wrapped in a brand new bandage now. Sadly, I didn't have a proper splint so in the end, Erin had just implemented a few metal rods into the bandage. It wasn't yet clear to me what the group dynamic was here, but it was clear they trusted each other. The two siblings were close, obviously, but I also felt that Erin was somewhat protective of Mix, though I couldn't be sure why.
"Interesting, you've had quite the adventure no?" I stirred in the pot a little bit. To some, cauliflower soup may seem weird but with the right ingredients, it tasted okay. Not that I could taste it, but I remembered my grandma always used to make it and that was a good memory.
"Pretty much," Erin answered, "What's up with you anyway? Are you haunting this house? But if so, why are you helping us?"
"Uhhhhh..." I tried to think back to why I was here in the first place, "Well, I lived here when I was alive but that was a long time ago, 1890." Both Erin and Mix drew a sharp breath in. "I know I know, I don't look my age," I cackled a bit," I probably died when I was very young and... came back for some reason-"
"*Probably?* And you don't know why you came back?" Mix interrupted.
"Uh... no, well, yeah I died, obviously, but for some reason, I came back as a ghost. It's all a big blur in my head, I think that's just what happens as a ghost. Well, I stayed here and took care of my nieces and nephews and their children who lived here still. Then, they disappeared and groups like you, equipped with weapons and bruises started coming here and I decided to help them. All of them asked for flowers, which was convenient since I had a big garden and... yeah, that's about it."
"What's it like being a ghost?" Mix asked.
"Complicated," I simply stated. "You have to learn everything again. I had to learn how I could be seen. Luckily, we have a book in the library with instructions for ghosts, please don't ask why, I don't even know."
By the time the appetizer (bruscetta) was eaten and we were sitting around the kitchen table eating soup, Niki had finished attacking Jay with bandages and now, all of them were properly taken care of. We ate mostly in silence, except for a bit of light conversation until I got too curious and couldn't hold myself anymore.
"How is it out there? Are these... grey things, these zombies, are they everywhere? Can't you do anything about it?"
"Well..." Niki started, but stopped to think.
"It's bad," Jay said. "Depends on where, but in some cities, there are zombies everywhere. Luckily, you can make them less aggressive with good scents like flowers, but if you run out," he shrugged, "You end up like us." *Oh.* That was my second time realizing something today.
"So... the zombies don't come here because I have such a big garden?" Then this time, they probably followed because I just cut a lot of flowers to let them dry, "And THAT's why everyone asks for flowers."
"Well, that and your manor is just far away from literally every city, the perfect camp actually." I asked Jay what he meant. "Well, the camps are zombie-free zones. Often, there are a lot of people there and they're protected by huge flower walls. Some take in travelers and protect them, but others... they don't want anyone in and shoot at everything in sight, undead or not."
"Well, then," Mix interrupted, "this has been an interesting day, but I think we'll call it quits now," they said, pushing their empty bowl aside and resting their head on the table.
"Mix! That's not polite!" Niki exclaimed. I laughed as the two argued about whether or not you had to be polite in the apocalypse.
"It's okay, you're probably all very exhausted. How about I show you to your rooms?"
Needless to say, they were very suprised to hear they'd all get their own room and went crazy when they saw actual beds in every room. I showed them around and told them I'd be out doing gardening until sundown and after, I'd be in my room, the master bedroom down the hall, in case they needed anything. They bid their goodbyes and when I checked their rooms later, I found them empty. I panicked until I arrived in Niki's room where all of them were sleeping, huddled together on the big double bed. I smiled and silently closed the door behind me. The following days would for sure be interesting, that much I knew.