WILL NIXIE BECOME A ZONBI?

Aug 25th 2011, 9:33 by E O Hatterpol | 1228 AU FROM SUN

HEARTBREAK'S bullwhip ripped into Nixie's bloody back, snatching away another strip of flesh.  Another piece of my heart went with it.


"Don't do this, Heartbreak!  Use me instead - I'll be your zonbi!" I pleaded, struggling against the supercharged female zonbi gymnasts holding onto my arms and legs.


I was going to lose Nixie, so it was now or never: dislocate my shoulder, grab the beer bottle opener on my pink utility belt, use it to rip off one of the gymnasts' noses, then break free from there and start busting ish up. 


I pulled as hard as I could against one of the girls, wrenching and tearing and yanking and tugging, but she held me tight.  My shoulder socket did, too.  To be honest, I had never dislocated my shoulder before and didn't know how to do it now.  


Heartbreak must have caught on to my plan, because he laughed a nasty, mocking laugh, like the kind you might hear when the aristocrat pities the labourer.


"Nice try, E O, but I've got you tight, and you'd have to be much more desperate to push yourself to the point of dislocating your own arm anyways.  I don't want you to be my zonbi, anyhow - can't you see I've got a theme going here?  I need strong women if I'm to capture Starbase Octopus and turn all those aboard into my zonbis.  You're just a scronny beanpole with weak powers that aren't anywhere near mine."


He was right; he had torn me up in his Ragga Dancehall with just a fraction of his strength, although I had been able to surprise his guts with my beerspin attack.  He'd be ready for that now, though, so there was nothing I could do.


"Take a look at her calves," Heartbreak said, eyeing her like an object.  "The dimples in her lower back, the firm but not too muscular arms.  She's not as good as my female gymnasts, but she'll do."


"Besides," he continued, "this little girl just had to go and tattle-tale on me to the Help and Welcome Department.  I had no choice but to speed up my plans, but I don't see why they won't work just fine anyways.  Especially with Nixie on my side."


He lashed her, and bit at her with his whip, and stung her over and over again until she had all but passed out from the pain.  He gave her one last crushing blow and wrenched his bullwhip back.


And to my surprise, and astonishment, and terror, a glowing light like a miniature star sat on the end of its tip.  Was it the same power inside me I tapped into when I summoned that blue energy?


Heartbreak pulled a small mechanical bug out of his pocket - how he managed that with his gigantic boxing glove hands, I'll never know - and touched it to the aura at the end of his whip.


Suddenly, the mechanical bug chattered alive, vibrating with Nixie's life force, spinning its wheeled head, clackering about nervously in Heartbreak's palm.


"NOOOOOOOOOOO!" I screamed, heartbroken.  "You killed her!  You killed Nixie!  I'll kill you!  I'll hang you by your own guts!"


And then something even worse happened: Heartbreak untied Nixie and, blood running down her back, wrists red from struggling against her bonds, she stood up, and put herself right next to Heartbreak as if he owned her, an unseeing, impassive, zonbi look on her face.

---

WHAT should I do next, Flybrarians? 

A: Yell at Nixie, try to shout at her all the wonderful things we've done together; maybe if I flood her with enough memories, I can appeal to the part of her brain that's still her, that doesn't yet belong to Heartbreak. 

B: Think! Think! There's got to be something I've read or seen or heard in the past that can get me out of this situation.  What did Nixie and I read in that one book on zonbis and bokors we found on the Starship Flybrary?

Choose Our Own Adventure with either (A) or (B) in the comments section below, on Twitter, Google+, Facebook or EOHatterpol[at]gmail[dot]com.  Your thoughts, comments, opinions, encouragement and criticism are also very welcome.