Once upon an eternity, in the shadowed corners of a crumbling Upper Chicago, there lived a young zompyre named Grimfro. With glowing eyes like propane and a tender soul weighed down by sorrow, Grimfro wandered the desolate streets, haunted by the cruel twist of fate that had turned him into a monster.
The teenager hadn’t always been known as Grimfro. In the previous, he had been called Colin Marshall. He was a regular kid, played soccer and hologames, had friends, loved mac and cheese, and was a pretty good son, other than occasionally skipping Math class with his friends.
But that was before the curse of the black rage had spread across the world, and had taken his old life and family, all except his brother, away from him.
Grimfro's curse was not only his undead state but also the powers that came with it. He could fly, gliding silently through the smog and moonlit sky, his tattered clothes fluttering like spectral wings. His mere presence sent shivers down the spines of unturned children, who whispered tales of the flying ghoul that haunted their nightmares.
Despite his fearsome abilities, Grimfro’s heart ached with a yearning for the humanity he had lost. He never wished to harm anyone, yet an insidious force drove him to do terrible, horrific things.
The source of his torment was his older brother. Once known as Calvin, a former high school football running back and occasional pot smoker, he had since become the self-proclaimed Grimtsar of the entire local knot, a fiendish leader who reveled in the terror of his power and the chaos of their zompyre existence. Grimtsar thrived on cruelty, his eyes burning with a wicked gleam as he manipulated Grimfro to fulfill his dark desires.
On the final night the rest of his family was alive, his unturned parents and younger sister knelt before his brother on what used to be the front yard of their suburban house.
The street, the entire yard and the roof of their house was covered with a legion of zompyres who had pledged themselves to his brother’s knot. Somehow, a kid who used to be terrified of talking in front of the class had, through a combination of fate, circumstance and a lust for power and attention, had found himself leading an army of destruction.
“This is your last chance,” Grimtsar exclaimed to his family from the center of the rooftop, a collection of his most trusted agents close to him. “You must choose to turn and pledge your devotion to me, or else suffer the consequences.”
“Calvin, my son,” their father replied desperately from the ground. “We’re your family. Please take me if you want, but please don’t hurt your mother or sister.”
“You are nothing to me,” Grimtsar proclaimed, having long ago lost any love and empathy he may have had. “This is my family,” he said, motioning to those around him.
“These murderers aren’t your family,” their father replied. “They’re a bunch of lawless zompyre delinquents who are too stupid and weak to resist your little bad boy’s club. They—”
Grimtsar pulled a silencer from his holster, aimed down toward the ground and shot their father in the head before he could finish.
Their mother and sister, now covered in blood, screamed and cradled their father’s dead body.
“Calvin,” Grimfro said, stepping across the roof to his side, tears in his eyes. “Why did you have to do that? Look what you’ve done.”
“Don’t you ever call me by that name, or you’ll end up just like him,” Grimtsar replied. “He did it to himself. I told him to pledge allegiance, and instead he disrespected me. He got what he deserved.”
“He taught you to skate at the rink,” Grimfro replied, sobbing. “He taught you how to drive. He was our father. He loved you.” And then he added, “I love you.”
Grimtsar locked his gaze on Grimfro and uttered the only thing his hollow soul could manage.
“Good for you,” Grimtsar replied and pointed down toward the ground. “Now, get them to pledge their devotion to me, and turn them, or they’ll end up like him.”
Grimfro had flown down to the ground, hugged both his mother and sister, and quietly convinced them to do what his brother had asked.
“I'm sorry,” he had said to both his mother and sister as his brother’s will consumed his mind and propelled him to actions that were against his own desires.
His mother and sister had been at the periphery of his brother’s knot for a few weeks when one day they were just gone.
They had been shells of their former selves since they had turned. Grimfro tried for a couple weeks to find out what happened to them, where they might have gone. When his search and inquiries turned up empty, he then tried to forget what had happened, and remember his times with them in the previous—their hugs, their laughter and their love.
One stormy night, Grimfro was gliding over the city, trying to escape the relentless mind control of his brother. The rain fell in sheets, washing away the grime from his thin body, but not the sorrow etched into his soul.
Far below, he spotted a small, trembling figure huddled under a broken street lamp at one side of the DuSable bridge. It was a young girl a few years younger than himself. Her eyes were wide with fear, clutching a ragged and dirty doll as if it were a shield against the encroaching darkness.
Grimfro descended slowly, his heart breaking as he recognized the child from his past life, before he was turned.
Sarah had lived in the downtown highrise his family had lived in before their dad had gotten a new job and they had moved out to the suburbs. She had always been fascinated with his hair, and he was one of the only people he would let touch it.
“Poofy,” she would say as he would lean over, and “Poofy,” he would reply as she pushed her small palm against his afro, looking up at him, eyes wide and beaming.
But Sarah wasn’t smiling now. As Grimfro reached the ground, Sarah stood before him clutching her doll, a beacon of innocence in a world gone horribly wrong.
“Don’t be scared, Sarah,” Grimfro said, knowing that his dark and tattered appearance was likely frightening to her. “Do you remember me? I’m Colin. We used to live in the same building.”
Sarah looked at him with a confused and terrified look.
“Remember? Poofy?” he said, pointing at his hair and giving her a smile.
With a mix of terror and a fleeting recognition, Sarah ran to him and threw her arms around him.
But then what happened is what always happened. Grimtsar’s voice echoed in his mind, urging him to embrace his monster within.
“I’ll turn her,” Grimfro said into the air, in response to the voice. “She doesn’t need to…go.”
“She could be useful,” Grimtsar’s voice filled his head with a momentary false hope. “But I sense you have a connection with her that I don’t like. You will kill her.”
“Grimtsar, my leader,” he replied, hoping his respectful words would make his brother change his mind. “Please, just this once, show her mercy. I beg you, my brother.”
“If you don’t do it, I will,” Grimtsar hissed, his voice a malevolent whisper that wrapped around Grimfro's thoughts like a vise. “I will strip her bare, tie her up and make it slow and painful.”
Grimfro's hand trembled as he touched Sarah's cheek, her skin warm and soft, a stark contrast to his cold, decaying flesh. He knew that if he didn’t end her life, Grimtsar would take pleasure in prolonging her suffering, ensuring her final moments were filled with agony.
With a heavy heart, Grimfro leaned down and whispered his last word to Sarah.
“Poofy,” he said.
“Poofy,” she replied, a glimmer of a smile crossing her face as she looked up at him.
His hand moved swiftly, a merciful end that spared her the horrors Grimtsar would inflict.
As Sarah’s life slipped away, a tear fell from Grimfro’s eye, mingling with the rain. He held her gently, wishing he could trade places, longing for a release from his cursed existence.
Grimtsar's hideous laughter filled his head, but Grimfro no longer cared. He had saved Sarah from a fate far worse, and in that small act of mercy, found a glimmer of the humanity he thought lost forever.
Grimfro took to the skies once more, carrying the memory of Sarah with him, a beacon of light in his perpetual night.
He would continue to fly, to search for his mother and sister. To search for redemption. To fight against the constant darkness that threatened to consume his soul.
And to find a way to silence Grimtsar forever, realizing finally that the being who was once his brother had died long ago.
