The Zombie Called Brayns

     "I'm hoooome!" she shouted as soon as she came in, dragging behind her an Aisha and a sack of books. She was pleased with her load: seven books and a zombie. Not what she'd expected- she was hoping she'd get three books!

     Her pets trudged down the stairs. Lulu was the oldest, a brown Ixi. Then there was Seth, a darigan Lupe, and Bea, a pink Cybunny. They were coming down fast, as they'd all been promised a book, and their owner was an hour late.

     "Sarah, why are you- AHHHHHH!" Lulu screamed when she saw the Aisha, who was dribbling and moaning.

     "Brainnnnsssssss..."

     "Now, Lulu," Sarah said disapprovingly, "that's no way to treat your sister!"

     "Sister?!" Seth yelped. "You went out shopping and brought back a ZOMBIE? Sarah, I know you make snap decisions, but what-?"

     "Quiet!" snapped Sarah, cuddling the Aisha, who had now made a large wet patch of drool on the floor. "Poor Brayns here was all alone in the pound, and I adopted her, and am NOT taking her back! She'll share Lulu's room, and I assure you she's perfectly harmless! Now Seth, you and Bea sort out the books while Lulu takes Brayns to her room. You'll all get out very well!"

     All of her pets looked at Brayns, who was now perched on Sarah's back and was feebly trying to eat her head.

     "Yeah, Sarah," Lulu said faintly. "We'll get along alright..."

     xxx

     In three days, Lulu, Seth and Bea were convinced Brayns was evil.

     Her name, for a start- it was pronounced just like 'Brains', which was all the pet said! One of the siblings would be alone in their room, and when they looked up, she would be there with her eyes unfocused, dribbling and moaning, which was very disturbing. This happened to all of them at least five times a day.

     But that wasn't all. She also tried to eat Bea's pink Ona Marie. Bea had walked into her room, planning to have a tea party with her usukis, when the household heard a bloodcurdling scream coming from her room. When her siblings (Sarah was at a friend's) had reached her room, they found her sobbing in a corner holding Marie, whose head was covered in spit. Brayns was in the centre of the room, chewing Bea's princess Usuki. But when they told Sarah about this, she took Brayns's side.

     "Why would Brayns do such a thing like that?" she asked angrily, cuddling the zombie. "You're all being so horrible to her! Give her a chance, and you'll find out she's really sweet and cute!"

     Brayns was definitely not sweet and cute. Her skin was tones of rotted yellow and green, her eyes were evil looking and unfocused, and she constantly drooled. It wasn't a pretty sight. Seth's friend Marty had actually fainted when he'd first seen the Aisha.

     After this, Sarah was constantly putting Brayns into situations with her other pets in an effort for them all to make friends. She was wrong when she thought they'd soon warm to each other: When Lulu and Brayns (mostly Lulu) had baked a cake, Brayns took one look at the finished piece and was sick over the whole thing. She'd eaten Seth's tennis balls, and what she'd done to Bea's dolls was too horrible to mention.

     Sarah, who was incredibly stupid over the whole thing, thought Brayns was just trying, in her own way, to make friends with them. Even when she woke up and found Brayns on her head, trying to eat her, she found it funny.

     She was amazingly unobservant of how evil her new pet was.

     So her pets came up with a solution: get rid of Brayns.

     First it was small attempts, like dragging her to the pound or posting up messages on the boards saying 'UFA ZOMBIE!' But it didn't work, as everyone in the pound ran away screaming when they saw her, and no-one wanted her on the boards.

     "Hmmm..." one owner said when she had responded to the pet's board, "zombie is rare, and she's got quite a good name...but she's a little, um, freaky for me."

     So then it got serious. They left her in shops and even in Maraqua when they were on a visit there. But she always found her way back, which led to the siblings getting into big trouble with their owner.

     And Brayns fought back in her evil way.

     She ate all of Bea's coveted Usukis. She broke Seth's skateboard. And she drew on all the walls of Lulu's bedroom with lipstick, the messages reading 'BRAYNS WOZ ERE' which was remarkable, considering the fact that she never talked, excluding 'Braiiiiiiiiiiiinnnnnnnnnnsssss' and groaning.

     Then Sarah announced she was going to Mystery Island for a few days to shop.

     This was a death sentence for her (normal) pets. They begged and pleaded with her to stay, but she couldn't see what all the fuss was about.

     "My sister Anna will check in on you every day," she assured them as she climbed into an Eyrie Taxi. "Be good, don't fight and be nice to Brayns, and I might bring you all back a present!" Then she waved and shut the door of the taxi as it started to rise. Lulu, Seth and Bea watched, and all gulped as they looked back at the house, where Brayns was eating the flowers by the front door.

     xxx

     They were doomed. The pets knew it to be certain.

     They all walked in hand in hand and shut the door behind them before turning to face Brayns. The Aisha started to walk, no, drag herself towards them, moaning evilly.

     "Leave us ALONE!" Lulu shouted, pointing a hoof at Brayns. "I'm warning you, don't come-"

     She was interrupted by the hasty knocking of the door. All three breathed out the scared breath they'd been holding and threw the door open.

     A frantic looking teenage girl was standing there, tugging at her hair. "Is this number 27?" she asked, sounding scared.

     "Yes, what do you-" Seth started to ask the girl what she wanted, when she cut over him with a scream of "BRAYNS!"

     She threw herself at the Aisha who had been trying to eat Bea's leg, and pulled her into a tight hug. "I thought I'd never see you again, Braynsy-Waynsy!" she exclaimed in a gooey voice. Then she turned back to the silent pets behind her. "I'm sorry, I should have introduced myself. I'm Kelly- Brayns's original owner."

     She continued over Seth's gasp, "My friend was supposed to be taking care of her while I was on holiday, but when I came back, Braynsy was adopted by someone else! I've been looking for her for ages, and I've only just found her... but your owner adopted her, didn't they?"

     "No!" Lulu said loudly, to the surprise of Seth and Bea. "No, no, no! She was just looking after her! The pound workers told her that you would come find her, so Sarah just was taking care of her. You'll want to take her home now, won't you?"

     "I can really?" Kelly asked, amazed. "Thank you so much! You don't know what this means to me! Please thank your owner- I'm so happy to get her back!" Then she picked up Brayns and walked out, talking gleefully to the zombie.

     The pets left inside the house started jumping up and down and screaming joyfully. Brayns was gone, and wasn't going to come back- ever!

     That's what they thought before Brayns looked over Kelly's shoulder and hissed nastily:

     "I'll be back..."

The End