Since the zombies had ripped Jenny and Heather's clothes to shreds, Jenny took her by a big walk-in closet full of vintage clothes. They changed quickly. Jenny saw bite wounds all over Heather's body. One of Heather's eyes was swelling shut.
The three of them descended the front stairway, stepping over dead bodies the whole way down. Jenny shivered. It was so much like that Easter night, which seemed like it had happened both a million years ago and just yesterday. She vowed to herself to never use the Jenny pox again.
They walked out through the mud room to the garage, where they climbed into Seth's Audi. They had left Jenny's car in Jenny's back yard, behind the fence, in case her dad wanted to sell it or use it for parts. Seth's car was smaller, faster and less conspicuous, so it made a better getaway vehicle.
Heather sat in the passenger seat, while Jenny sat in Seth's lap. Seth opened the garage door with a remote clipped to his sun visor, then drove outside. He braked at the top of his driveway for a last look at his home. Jenny rubbed his neck with her hand.
“What are you thinking about?” Jenny asked.
“How glad my dad's going to be,” Seth said. “We're finally free of Alexander's sadistic game. The family curse. The ghost of great-grandfather.” Seth snorted. “He did all that just to amuse himself, didn't he?”
“Alexander likes to leave his mark,” Jenny said.
“He left it on us,” Seth said. “Now it's time to erase it.”
They drove down to the front gates. Seth parked just inside the gate and wolfed down some of the Power Bars. They got out of the car again. Seth took Heather's hands and held them tight. Heather closed her eyes and smiled in pleasure as her wounds closed.
“Not too much,” Heather said, pulling her hands back. “I need a little evidence on me.” She gazed at Seth, then wrapped him in a tight hug, pressing herself against him. “Thanks for everything,” she whispered. Her eyes lingered on Seth as she pulled, and Jenny got the sense that Heather wanted to kiss him. Jenny couldn't really blame her. Nothing in the world felt as good as Seth's healing touch.
Heather turned to Jenny. “I'm sorry if I made your life hell.”
“Don't worry,” Jenny said. “My life was hell long before you got involved.”
Heather reached her hands toward Jenny, then hesitated. “Is it safe to hug you, or...?”
“Just stay away from my head.” Jenny held up her gloved hands. “Everything else is covered. Believe me, I've had plenty of practice.”
Heather hugged Jenny. Jenny hugged her back, awkwardly.
Seth took one of the toy remote controls from his cargo pants. A strip of masking tape had two words in Jenny's dad's handwriting: Front Yard. “We'd better do the yard,” he said. “Don't want it blowing up in anyone's face. Are we ready?”
“Ready,” Jenny said.
Seth pushed both levers on the remote. A huge cloud of sod and decorative landscaping erupted in front of the house, followed by an earth-shuddering boom.
“No zombies were harmed in that explosion,” Seth said. He took out the other remote. “Now, let's say good-bye to Barrett House. May there be nothing left but ashes and bad memories. God, my dad's going to be happy when he sees it's finally destroyed.”
“Bye, Barrett House,” Jenny said.
Seth shoved both levers forward. This remote was labeled Gas Main.
The house seemed to shudder, and the first-floor windows blew out. Billowing flames erupted from the empty window sockets.
The fire moved quickly upstairs, helped along by some minor accelerants they'd applied to the house—sawdust in the carpets, streaks of flammable varnish along the walls, hopefully nothing that would be too obvious to investigators. A column of fire ripped out through one of the second-story windows as the remaining Molotov cocktails exploded.
Within minutes, flames and smoke poured from every door and window they could see.
Seth tucked the remotes back into his pockets, and he smiled at Heather. “So, what happened tonight?”
“You two kidnapped me from my house because you wanted to explain your side of the story, without Jenny getting taken into custody,” Heather said. “Then, everything I just saw—Alexander and the zombies, just like on the video from the Charleston morgue. All of that happened. Except...you and Jenny were both in the house when it went up in flames. I barely escaped, and only because you paranormals were too busy fighting to pay attention to me.”
“And what advice will you give your bosses?” Jenny asked.
“My professional medical opinion is that all human remains in this house should be incinerated immediately to avoid any contamination. There's no time for forensics or identifying individual remains. We don't want another outbreak of Fallen Oak Syndrome.”