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skull that housed two lidless eyes.
    It was only in the window for a second, and then the…thing…was gone, its footsteps clumping audibly as it apparently walked down the porch towards the edge of the house.
    Barely wasting a second, Errol grabbed his crossbow, already cocked and loaded, and raced out onto the porch. The skeletal thing was almost at the corner of the house when he fired. The bolt took it in the upper right shoulder, sinking in deep. The momentum of the shot also spun the creature around, knocking it off-balance and causing it to fall off the porch and into the dirt.
    Errol stood still, breathing heavily, with Gale behind him.  When she made a move to step forward, he instinctively put out his arm to keep her back. All the while, he never took his eyes off the creature, which sat up and then calmly came to its feet before turning towards them. Errol could now see that the bolt hadn’t just gone in deep; the head had travelled all the way through to the other side and was actually sticking out of the monster’s chest.
    The thing reached up with a gloved hand and gripped the arrowhead. With a grunt, it yanked the bolt out, spewing an arc of green ichor from the wound.  Still gripping the arrow, it began walking towards them.
    Belatedly, Errol recalled that he hadn’t brought any more bolts outside with him (not that he would have had time to cock and load the crossbow anyway).  Reaching down, he pulled his throwing knife free of its sheath and threw it in one smooth, seamless motion.
     The knife flew true, straight at the monster’s throat. Almost absentmindedly, the creature batted the blade aside with the arrow it still held. The knife went into one of the porch’s supporting posts with a metallic twang, vibrating.
    The thing closed the distance between them in surprisingly quick fashion, so fast in fact that Errol only had time to place himself protectively between Gale and the monster before it was standing right in front of him.  It thrust the arrow out to Errol.
    “You need to be more careful with this thing, boy,” it said nonchalantly. “You could have killed somebody.”

 
    Chapter 6
     
    Warily, Errol took back his arrow.
    “Uh…thanks,” he muttered unsurely.  Now that it was closer, he saw that the thing was actually dressed like a human.  It wore boots, black pants, a white shirt with a vest, and a full-length black duster. It also wore gloves and a hat.
    “What is that thing?” Gale asked urgently, still behind him.
    “Some kind of ghoul, I guess,” Errol said over his shoulder, afraid to take his eyes off the monster.
    “Actually, I’m a zombie,” the creature interjected.
    “Aren’t they the same thing?” Gale asked.
    “A common misconception,” the zombie said, laughing. “A ghoul is a living creature that eats human flesh. A zombie is a deceased person who has been reanimated through some means - black magic, in my case.”
    “Black magic?” Errol muttered, going back on the defensive. Bringing a corpse back to life by black magic was rarely ever done for a good reason.
    “Never fear,” the zombie chuckled. “My master, the magician who brought me back, was killed by a Warden - your grandfather, in fact. With his death, I became free, and no longer subject to his evil will.”
    “You knew my grandfather?” asked Errol incredulously.
    “Forgive me,” the zombie said, extending a hand. “I’m Dorsey Carroll. I should have introduced myself at first, but I guess I was distracted - getting shot with a crossbow will do that to you.”
    “Wait,” Errol said, confused but shaking the proffered hand. “You’re Dorsey Carroll? My brother’s friend? My father’s friend?”
    “Yes, although now you can see why they never made any introductions. And why I never come into town.” He chuckled again.
    “So what are you doing here?” Gale asked.
    “Tom was supposed to come see me the other night. He never showed.”
    “Hold on,” Errol said, suddenly