THE ZOMBIE PLAYGROUND

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

“Are Paul and Ash playing nice back there?” Anaya said, after chipping onto the seventh hole green from the bunker. She landed her ball ten feet from the pin.

“I hope so,” Brin said, trying to find her proper stance against the hill that led up to the green. She grabbed her sand wedge and took a few practice swings.

“Are you gonna hit sometime today?”

“I’m working on it.”

Brin had hit her drive over the intimidating lake but came up short of the green. Hole seven at Macabre was a short par three, but she was going to have to struggle with a tough up and down to walk away with a par.

She jumped up one more time to see the pin placement and then focused on her shot. Brin prayed for the best, then chipped away. She immediately ran up the hill and watched with relief as her Titleist 3 rolled halfway across the green, stopping a few yards away from the pin.

“Nice job,” Anaya said, “but my shot was better.”

“Shut up. We’re still tied.”

“Not if I make this putt!”

Colin had hit three shots in the water and ultimately decided to sit out the hole. He stood on the cart path, frustrated, his eyes glued to a game on his cell phone, like he had already acquiesced to defeat. Tristan was the last to chip onto the green, and his ball unfortunately kept rolling thirty feet past the hole. 

“OK, Mr. Tristan,” Anaya said. “You’re out.”

“I know.”

“You want the pin in? Or—”

“No. Keep it in.” He glanced wearily at Brin. She quickly recognized the fear on his face.

“What is it, Tristan?”

“Uhh… this is… this is it…”

“This is what?”

“This is the hole… the green… where it happened.”

Anaya took a step forward and crossed her arms in confusion. “Where what happened?” She turned to Brin. “What’s he talking about?”

Brin stared at Tristan, then locked eyes with Anaya. “Tristan claims he saw some kind of creature pull a friend of his down into the ground, right here, on this very putting green.”

Anaya didn’t seem phased by the supernatural suggestion. She looked at Tristan. “When?”

“Two weeks ago,” he said. “I’m not crazy, I saw it.”

“We’re not saying you’re crazy,” Brin said. “We’ve seen some crazy things lately, too.” She lost herself in her own head for a moment, then turned to face Tristan. “Wait, did you say two weeks ago?”

“Yeah.”

She turned to Anaya. “That’s the same time we were in Bodie.”

“So?”

“I don’t know.” Brin kneeled down and ran her fingers along the ground.

“What the hell are you doing?” Anaya said.

“I’m checking.” Then Brin leaned her left ear against the green. She pressed her hand against her right ear and tried to listen for anything unusual.

“This is ridiculous,” Anaya said. “There’s nothing down there. We’re on a golf course! What evil creatures would live underneath a boring ass golf course?”