This is the direct sequel and conclusion of part one of this story, which was based on a plot developed by my eight-year-old grandson.

Chapter 4: Glowing Red Eyes

Little Dan was having a hard time sleeping. Every little noise woke him up and reminded him of the horrible things that had happened and the evil toy giraffe.

Then, at the foot of his bed, he heard a familiar voice.

“You didn’t think you could get away from me that easily, did you Dan?

Dan looked and saw the stuffed giraffe Baby with the terrible glowing red eyes.

He jumped out of bed like a shot and started running for the bedroom door. “Mom! Mom! Baby’s back!”

Dan got into the hallway but was confused because he wasn’t used to being at his Aunt’s house in the dark. The inside of the spare bedroom he was using was glowing red as his Mom and Aunt ran down the hall toward him.

Mom bent over her little boy. “I’m sure it was just a nightmare, honey.”

“Don’t be too sure, Linda.” Aunt Jamie pointed into the spare room which was still glowing red. Baby was right at the doorway.

“Run, Dan! Run!” Mom shoved the child down the hallway toward the living room while she tackled the toy. “Help me, Jamie. This thing is stronger than it looks.”

Dan didn’t stop running at the living room, but seeing his Mom’s cell phone on an end table, he quickly grabbed it before running outside. From the front lawn, Dan could hear horrible screaming coming from inside the house. Part of him wanted to go back inside to help Mom and his Aunt, but he was too terrified.

Then he remembered to call 911.

“Help! Help!. Something’s killing my Mom and my Aunt.” He gave his Aunt’s address and the dispatcher said police were on their way.

Suddenly, something grabbed Dan from behind making him scream and drop the phone.

“Now son, why would you want to call the police?”

Dan looked up and it was his Dad. His Dad was alive, but his eyes were glowing red just like Baby’s.

Chapter 5: Dan’s Escape

Suddenly, three police cars roared up in front of the house, lights flashing and sirens blaring. Dan’s Dad was startled for a moment, letting the boy get free. Dan ran to the police.

“Get on the other side of the cars, kid,” One of the officers commanded him. Dan ran around to keep the cars between him and his zombie Dad. It was only then that he saw the other police officers who had been at his house were with Dad, and all their eyes were glowing red.

As the newly arrived cops drew their guns, the zombie people leapt at them. No one got off a shot, but the screaming was terrible. Dan started running down the street hoping to disappear in the darkness.

Chapter 6: The Wizard’s Lair

Dan ran and ran until he got too tired. He was in his pajamas and he didn’t have shoes on, so his feet hurt. He saw a house on the corner and felt drawn to it.

He got to the front door and rang and rang the doorbell. Then someone opened the door, a man answered. “What’s wrong little boy? How come you’re out so late.”

“Help me, Mister! My Dad’s a zombie, I think my Mom and Aunt are dead, and zombie police attacked the real police.”

The man opened the screen door and Dan ran inside.

“It’s okay, It’s okay. I’ll keep you safe.”

Dan stood in the middle of the living room in the darkness. The man hadn’t turned on any lights, which seemed strange, but Dan was too scared to know what to do about it.

“Mister, we’ve got to call more police. What if they’ve all turned into zombies?

The man was putting on some sort of robe in the dark and then a hat.

“I don’t think we need any more police right now, Dan. Don’t you think we have enough?”

The man pointed outside. Out the front window, Dan saw a lot of glowing red eyes. Dad, Mom, Aunt Jamie, all of the police, even the ones who went to his Aunt’s house, they all had glowing eyes.

Then the man flipped on a light. Dan turned to look at him. He was dressed in a wizard’s robe and witch’s hat. The giraffe Baby was on the brim of the wizard’s hat chuckling. The wizard was holding a wand with a tip that glowed red.

“Don’t you like my creation, Dan? I put an ancient, evil soul into it. I’m ancient and evil, too. I was asleep for a long time but now that I’m awake, I need slaves. You’ve been a lot of trouble, Dan. Time to make you my slave, too.”

The giraffe hopped to the floor. “I’ll do the honors.”

Dan looked out front. The zombies were almost here. He couldn’t escape that way. He turned back to the giraffe and the wizard behind him. “Just look into my eyes, Dan,” the giraffe said menacingly. “I’ll do the rest.”

In a panic, Dan grabbed the giraffe and turned him around to face the wizard. “Look into his eyes!”

Baby, taken by surprise, couldn’t stop himself in time and fired twin beams of scarlet into the eyes of the magician.

“Noooooooooooooo!” The wizard was screaming.

A great flash of crimson appeared, encompassing the wizard, the wand, and the giraffe. Then there was an explosion. Dan was thrown backward and blacked out.

Chapter 7: Recovery

When Dan woke up, the first thing he saw was Mom and Dad bent over him. Their eyes were normal.

“My poor baby boy.” Mom ran her fingers through his hair.

“Where am I, Mom?”

“The hospital. The doctors say you’ll be okay, but we just wanted to make sure that man didn’t hurt you.”

“The wizard!” Dan tried to sit up but his Dad patted him on the shoulder and helped him lie back down.

“It’s okay, son. The doctors say that man is in a coma. He’ll be taken to another city where he can be treated and studied to figure out who and what he is.”

“Excuse me, Mr. Ramsey.”

Dan looked at the doorway of his hospital room. It was Detective Phillips, the cop who had been at his house when he thought Dad was killed. The police officer who had been turned into a zombie. His eyes were normal too.

“I’ll be right back, kiddo.” Dad winked at Dan and then went to talk to Detective Phillips.

Dan closed his eyes pretending to rest, but he was really concentrating so he could hear what his Dad and the Detective were saying.

“Did you find out what all that blood was supposed to be, since none of us were ever injured?”

“We think so, sir. It’s not human or animal blood, so maybe it’s not blood at all. Don’t spread this around, but we’ve called in some experts on the occult to see if they can make any sense of it. That man in a coma is actually completely brain dead, so it’s like…well, his spirit or whatever, isn’t there anymore.”

“You know how fantastic this all sounds, Detective.”

“That I do, Mr. Ramsey. We’ve released a phony story to the press just to keep people calm. I suggest you and your family keep all this to yourself for the time being.”

“You can count on that, Detective. Thanks.”

As the Detective left, Aunt Jamie came into the room. “Hi, Dan. How do you feel?” She seemed completely back to normal.

“Better, I think.”

Dan’s doctor came into the room. “I just finished looking over your son’s test results and I’m confident he’ll be able to go home in the morning.”

That was great news to Dan, but he thought he’d be having bad nightmares for a long time after this.

Epilogue:

Somewhere outside of town is a hidden cave. It’s deserted now. No prisoners in its cages, no wizards lurking about. Nothing but silence and dust drifting on air currents. Nothing that is, except a single pair of glowing red eyes.

My grandson said he wants to create an entire series of these stories called “The Way of the Spirit Side.” For this story, I did the actual writing, while he roughed out the plot for me. We collaborated on the storyline.

My grandson keeps asking about comments and “likes” to part one of this tale. I think he wants people to like it.