text: [Themes: modern, female protagonist, serious, science fiction]
  
  That last statement doesn't sound right to you...
  
  "Wait a minute Helen. I thought you said yesterday that Veronica and Brandon ran to you and stayed with the kids when you parted company with them."
  
  Helen pauses for a moment.
  
  "Uh yeah, I did. Yes! I meant I left the kids alone, but just as I was leaving, it was fortunate that Veronica and Brandon showed up at that time so they weren't completely alone."
  
  Bobby's grandmother claimed you were slow on the uptake and maybe in dreamland you are, but you know damn well when someone is obviously lying to you.
  
  "That didn't happen Helen." You say.
  "Wha...yes it did!" Helen exclaims.
  "Okay then..." you say and sit down to take off your heels.
  "What are you doing?"
  "I'm taking off these fucking heels because I don't feel like nearly breaking my neck when we go ask Veronica and Brandon to confirm your story."
  "Um, I don't think that will be necessary. In fact, I think Bobby will be fine. Probably just wedding jitters. Apologies for bothering you and glad to see that the dress fits you." Helen says and starts backing towards the door.
  "You know now that I'm thinking about it, it seems pretty strange that Bobby would be crying and praying in front of Diana who I presume is sitting in a dungeon cage right now."
  "She was unconscious?" Helen says as if saying it in the tone of a question is going to cause it to be more believable.
  "Unconscious or not, I doubt Bobby would show any sort of weakness around Diana now. In fact I'm starting to doubt a lot of things..."
  
  At this point Helen's eyes widen in fear and she turns to run for the door. Just as she gets to the handle, you manage to bean her in the head with one of the heels. It's just enough to stop her from getting away before you rush over and grab her by the hair and throw her to the floor.
  
  "Out with it bitch." You say and lock the door.
  
  When she doesn't answer right away, you raise your hand and Helen starts to cry before you've even done anything. She cowers by curling up and putting her hands and arms in front of her completely submissively.
  
  "Please! Mercy! It wasn't my idea! It was all Diana! You just don't know what it's like having such a bullying older sister who dominates virtually every aspect of your life!"
  "Save the pity party speech about being a victim of sibling abuse. Heard it before and I already lived something similar so it doesn't impress me. Besides, I'm not buying this babe in the woods routine anymore Helen. At best you're lying to cover up the fact that Diana AND yourself were planning on killing me all along yesterday and you just covered your own ass when it looked like things weren't going to work out. At worst, this entire thing was your idea and Diana was just your dumb ass pawn. Either way, I'm not enthused and it doesn't change the fact that YOU were trying to kill me...were you going to make another attempt today? Huh? Is that why you came up here? Maybe push me down the stairs or something? Claim it was an accident? ANSWER ME AND DON'T FUCKING LIE!"
  "Okay! Okay! I'll tell you everything! Just please try to understand it wasn't personal! I actually like you!"
  "Not personal?! You like me? So I guess your plan to kill me was just your way of showing affection?"
  "No (sob) I did it because I just love (sob) Bobby so much! I always have and I stood on the sidelines too long. (sob) I was just so desperate..."
  
  You just shake your head and sigh at this point. Helen sits up from the floor and scoots back to prop herself up against your bed coughing, sniffling, and trying to regain her composure. You stand nearby ready to jump on her if she tries anything, but for now you allow this moment for her to "explain" as it were.
  
  "If there had been some way to remove you Suzy without killing you I would have done it. You have to believe me I really would have. I even thought about approaching you in a plan to kill Diana instead."
  "Yeah and then you would've probably killed me afterwards to make it look like Diana and I killed each other."
  "No! I was going to...well I was going to try to seduce you."
  "Excuse me?" you say completely surprised by that part of the explanation.
  "Well I wasn't sure, but I just sort of got a feeling from you that you might be a bit... flexible on your orientation." Helen says.
  "Wha... (sputter) What the hell would give you that impression?" you exclaim.
  "I dunno...sometimes I thought your eyes were wandering all over my body a little more than average whenever we spoke, plus you were so nice to me and you just sort of give off a lesbian vibe at times. I probably would've been too shy to go through with it anyway so it obviously wouldn't have worked."
  "You're damn right that wouldn't have worked! And what was your plan after that if your main goal was Bobby? Were you going to seduce me and while you were fucking me from behind with a big strap on you were going to plunge a knife in my back?" you ask Helen.
  "No, I told you, if I didn't have to kill you, I wouldn't have. I would have just suggested that we both marry Bobby. It's not common, but our religion does allow for multiple wives. I think... I think I could have shared him with you."
  
  "...I...I can't believe how fucked up this situation even is..." you say sitting down on a nearby chair. Meanwhile Helen continues her tale of woe.
  
  "But I approached Diana because she was my sister and I knew her better. She was predictable. After I saw you beat her and after Bobby laid down the law to her about how it was over, she was a broken woman. Seriously, I'd never seen her confidence so shaken. After being on the receiving end of her abuse for so long, it was an opportunity I couldn't pass up. So I convinced her of the plan...actually took me longer than I thought it would. I thought she'd be hungry for revenge, but no. I had to reignite that fire, but I knew she'd agree in the end."
  "So she WAS trying to kill me too." You say.
  "Oh yes. That was the plan as far as she knew. She'd kill you, but then I'd kill her and make up an excuse that I tried to save you or something similar. Of course when you stayed with Bobby during that whole time we were dealing with Aaron, I knew it wasn't going to work which then resulted in an argument between me and Diana since she was now back to bullying mode. I knocked her out and I nearly killed her then, but I thought suggesting that she be your sacrifice on your wedding day would be fitting. When I found out Aaron had killed all the other prisoners...well that worked out even better since you suggested it."
  "But you still wanted to kill me."
  "Yes...after the chaos of yesterday and after I saw how you stuck by Bobby. I knew you really did love Bobby as much as Diana did...maybe even as much as me. So I temporary rethought my actions. I thought maybe I could live with Bobby being with someone like you. I mean you were nice to me at least. And I knew at least Bobby would be happy with you. When I woke up this morning though, I realized I just couldn't let you have him without at least making one last ditch effort...and so here we are."
  
  At this point Helen starts to lose what little composure she mustered up to tell her side of the story. She starts to break down in tears again and apologizes to you and going on about how much she loves Bobby. It's really pitiful and sad. You can't believe you're almost considering NOT killing her now.
  
  Before you can come to any sort of conclusion, you hear shooting and screaming from outside. Still keeping an eye on Helen, you edge over to the window and take a peek.
  
  You see several figures crawling under the truck blocking the broken front gate or trying to climb the fence. The ones that have gotten in are loping in a wild jerky like motion. They're also screaming, howling and making inhuman sounds. From your vantage point they LOOK human, but they're certainly not acting like it.
  
  A loud banging on the door occurs next and you glare at Helen who doesn't make a sound.
  
  "Hey! Suzy! You in there?! Why's this door locked?" you hear a voice shout. You think its Veronica.
  "Yeah, I'm in here. What's going on? I just heard all the commotion." You answer.
  "We're being attacked by zombies!" Veronica answers.
  
  You and Helen look over at each other briefly.
  
  "Did you say zombies?" you ask.
  "Yeah, I mean...I dunno if they are. Maybe they're just rabid humans or something, but they're gnashing their teeth, moaning and coming at us like something out of a horror movie. We need all the help we can get to repel these things!"
  "Okay, Veronica. I'll be out in a moment!" you yell.
  "Well hurry up...and you haven't seen Helen have you?"
  
  Helen and you look at each other again.
  
  "Yeah, she's in here with me. I was trying on my wedding dress that she brought." You say.
  "If the pair of you don't stop playing dress up, there won't be a damn wedding! Bobby's having a hard enough time trying to keep them from getting close to the house!"
  
  A loud crashing noise followed by gunfire is heard from downstairs.
  
  "Shit! That sounded close! I gotta go!" Veronica shouts and you hear her run off.
  
  Well it looks like Bobby's "pep talk" yesterday lit a fire under his relative's asses to pull their weight around here at least.
  
  "(Sigh) Fucking zombies. Of course this day HAD to get worse..." you say shaking your head.
  "Suzy, we need to go to Bobby, he needs our help."
  "We?" you ask.
  "...I...look...I know what's just occurred between us and you have no reason to trust me, but from what Veronica said, it sound like this is a bad attack and we'll need everyone we can to stop it!"
  
  She might have a point or she might just be stalling for a chance to escape or clobber you in the head. Possibly both.
  
  > take Helen with you
  While you're very tempted to kill her, the immediate threat at hand does present the need for every possible person to help even if that means throwing Helen to the zombies to buy yourself time if you need to.
  
  "Alright, get up Helen, let's go help Bobby." You say offering a hand to help her up.
  
  Helen looks up at you and takes your hand trustingly. When she stands up, she starts to look relieved, then she tenses up again when you go to Bobby's clothing drawer to get the spare gun he mentioned yesterday.
  
  "Relax, this is for the zombies, or whatever those things are." You say.
  "Oh."
  "Yeah, well don't look too relieved Helen. After this is over, me and you are going to settle up." You say.
  "I...understand." Helen says while nodding.
  "Okay then, you first." You say gesturing towards the door.
  "Wait, aren't you going to change?" Helen asks.
  "Huh? Oh. No, it's my fucking wedding day, why shouldn't I wear my dress?"
  "Um, okay then."
  
  Helen cautiously unlocks and opens the door. You both hear the sounds of gunfire and more glass breaking downstairs, this followed by shouting and inhuman growling.
  
  "Suzy, I don't have a weapon." Helen remarks.
  "Well I guess you're just going to have to trust me to protect you, because I'm certainly not giving you one." You say.
  
  Defeated, Helen stops stalling and you both leave and proceed downstairs. (Making sure she's in front of you of course) The growling, shouting and the gunfire get louder. As you head towards the center of the house, Helen freezes up in fear.
  
  "Helen, move your ass! We don't have..." you start to say and then suddenly one of the things bursts through the door in front of you and Helen. Helen screams and practically crumples to the floor in front of you in terror. Unfortunately for you the thing in question lunges over Helen and right at you!
  
  You fall backwards and drop your gun in the process. You manage to keep it from biting your face off by at least pushing your forearms up across its neck. At this close range, it doesn't look rotten, just very dirty looking and crazed. Still, undead or not, you don't want to risk getting bit, let alone killed and eaten.
  
  As you struggle with the creature on the floor, you briefly look desperately over the gun that you dropped and try to reach for it, but it's just out your grasp. The thing nearly bites you again and tightens its grip on your arms in an attempt to immobilize you. Even your knees to its groin don't help.
  
  Then out the corner of your eye you see another hand reach for the gun.
  
  "Shit." You say knowing that this isn't good.
  
  Then a shot is fired into the side of the thing's head and blood splatters on you, the floor and partially on the nearby wall.
  
  You try to pull yourself out from under the corpse, but at this range Helen isn't going to miss even if you could free yourself quickly.
  
  You just give her a glaring look of hatred as she points the gun at you even if she does look like she doesn't want to do it.
  
  "I knew I should've killed your treacherous ass." You say.
  "I'm sorry Suzy, but I just can't trust you, anymore than you can trust me. I wish this could've been different." Helen responds
  
  Before you have any more last words, Helen ends your life with several shots to your head.