Norman plopped himself back on the couch after changing out of those uncomfortable clothes and back into his regular attire of a loose shirt and baggy shorts. Once positioned comfortably, he ran his hands tiredly through his hair and sighed. His life was quickly spiraling out of control all because of his own idiocy. Brought about by the fact that he couldn`t say no to Charise.

　　He knew Charise was trouble. But it was always meant as a bit of fun. Stuff like sneaking into places they shouldn`t be and other such things. Nothing like this. He never expected Charise to use him like this and just toss him aside. Norman hadn`t felt this level of betrayal since his parents up and left. He couldn`t remember the exact words of the note they left behind. Only that it was a poor excuse for their actions. What kind of selfish, self-centered assholes could do that to their kid? Well fuck them, and fuck Charise!

　　Charise knew he couldn`t say no to her and used that to take advantage of him for her own personal gain. She didn`t even show a shred of remorse for her actions. Sure, what Norman did was dumb, he could admit that. But there was dumb and then there was deliberately cruel. And Norman would never be deliberately cruel to someone.

　　Norman yelled in frustration, he needed to get his emotions under control. There were the two bags he swiped from Charise but one was earmarked for Toby. The other he might have to sell for some quick cash. That left only one option. With a groan, he sat up and began the arduous and disgusting process of pulling apart the leftover roaches lying around in the ashtrays on the table.

　　Just staying busy helped a little bit with his mood but it wasn`t enough to occupy his mind for long. Eventually, he cobbled together enough dregs from the leftovers to roll a single joint.

　　"It`ll have to do," he lamented as he lit the end and took a long pull.

　　He immediately coughed as the bitter smoke entered his lungs. After the coughing fit ended, he rubbed his sore chest. While the stuff he was smoking was leftover dregs, he quickly felt the narcotic effects kick in and his mind start to relax.

　　Norman laid back and let his mind drift to happier times. He didn`t know how long he had been sitting there when Toby plopped down next to him. Norman hadn`t even heard the man come in. Had he really spaced out that much?

　　Toby looked at him. "You ok, man? You look stressed."

　　"Got into a fight with Charise. I think it`s finally over between us."

　　Toby winced, "Shit, that`s rough. Sorry to hear about that. Oh, hey, I got some news that might cheer you up." Toby plucked the mostly finished joint from Norman`s hand and gave it a tentative puff before making a face and handing it back. "You remember Kevin?"

　　"Kevin?"

　　"Yeah, that weird Jedi wannabe kid."

　　"Um& is that the one that got dragged off by a rycor during the first month?" Norman vaguely recalled a guy that liked star wars disappearing after an attack.

　　"No, that was Gavin. Kevin is the guy obsessed with the mind trick stuff."

　　"Oh right," Norman chuckled, which caused him to start coughing. He groaned and rubbed his chest again. "That was the guy that got his face slapped when he tried to use his powers on that woman so she would sleep with him right?"

　　"Yup, that`s the one. A real winner, right? Well, get this, he actually managed it."

　　"No shit, really? That`s kind of fucked up though. So what, he`s got himself a harem now?" Norman couldn`t quite picture the pimply-faced boy with a harem of women, it was just so offputting. Not the harem part, but the way he wanted to go about it.

　　"Well, that seemed to be his goal, but he fucked up. Go figure. Turns out his first conquest was the daughter of someone important, someone with actual power in Redstone Springs. When they found out what happened to their precious daughter, they stormed his place and made sure he wouldn`t be harming anyone ever again."

　　Norman once entertained the idea of having a harem of loyal protectors and maids, as many men have done at some point in their lives. However, he knew it was nothing more than a fanciful notion and not something he would ever seriously consider. He knew the types of harems popularized in anime didn`t exist. At least not without some form of coercion, either mental or physical. For Norman, the thought of enslaving someone against their will was abhorrent, right up there with rape and murder. If you had to force someone to do something against their will, you were a sad sad person.

　　"Sounds like he got what he deserved then. Play with fire, get burned," Norman replied.

　　The world was not a kind place for the weak even before the apocalypse. If you had the power, you made the rules. It didn`t matter what form that power came in either.

　　Norman avoided the serious criminal elements for this very reason. He didn`t want to end up under someone`s control. Thankfully, Toby had steered him away from making some really bad life choices. It didn`t mean Norman was squeaky clean, but he never stole from anyone that couldn`t afford it and never any item that couldn`t be easily replaced. Other than the brain and a few other small items from work, Norman had pretty much stopped stealing from around town since the apocalypse. People had it rough enough without him taking stuff from them.

　　Toby clapped Norman on the shoulder, startling him. "I got that thing you asked me for." Toby kicked a beat-up blue cooler that he happened to be sitting on, "you got my payment?"

　　When had Toby moved from the couch? Norman realized he was so caught up in his thoughts, he hadn`t noticed. He glanced at the remains of the joint in his hand and decided he had probably had enough if he was this gone.

　　"Yeah, help me up will ya?" Norman extended his hand and Toby helped pull him off the couch.

　　Norman went to retrieve the bag to pay Toby from his hiding spot. When he returned, he tossed it to Toby who easily caught it.

　　"You sure you wanna keep going down this road? If you succeed and people find out, you are probably going to end up like Kevin."If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it`s taken without the author`s consent. Report it.

　　"How could you say that?" Norman was a bit hurt by his friend`s words. "Kevin was a perverted asshat that fucked with other people`s lives. I don`t see how we are at all similar. Besides, it`s not like I`m raising the dead." Not yet anyway.

　　Toby raised his hands in submission. "I`m just telling you how others will see it. Besides, it`ll help keep Anna safe"

　　"Huh? What`s Anna got to do with this?"

　　Toby rolled his eyes. "Gee, could it be the fact that she has a huge crush on you? People are going to eventually notice and try to take advantage of her to get to you. If you would just stop leading her on, I think it would be for the best."

　　Norman was shocked. "What? I have never led her on."

　　"Well, you certainly haven`t put your foot down either. Look, man, I don`t want to get into an argument over this. I`m just trying to protect my sister. She isn`t exactly the most stable of people if you haven`t noticed. You only see the sweet and nice side of her and not her darker side."

　　Norman was feeling very uncomfortable about this conversation. "Can we talk about something else?"

　　Toby rapped his hands on the cooler and stood up. "I said my piece, think on it. If you need anything else, let me know. Oh, by the way, what are you gonna do with the bodies anyway? Undead vermin don`t seem very useful."

　　"If I had that much power you would know. No, I wanted to test out a spell that might allow me to peer into the memories of the dead." The words slipped out of Norman`s mouth before his foggy brain realized he was doing it. Norman decided it was fine if Toby knew, the man was his best friend after all.

　　"As fascinating as that sounds, I gotta run. I got a courier mission outta town so I won`t be around for a few days. I`ll try to tell Anna to stay out of your hair, but you know how well she listens."

　　***

　　Norman forgot most of the conversation he had with Toby after he sobered up. He did remember the cooler full of corpses though.

　　Norman dragged the heavy cooler to the garage. He could hear the clink of ice and slosh of water from inside it as it banged down the back steps. He would have to thank Toby for putting the bodies on ice. Not that having corpses floating in ice-cold water was good for them but it was better than them baking inside a hot cooler.

　　The cooler banged down onto the garage floor as Norman let go of the handle. Before he started experimenting again, he wanted to be as prepared as possible for any issues that might arise. Norman didn`t want a repeat of last time.

　　He set a bunch of cushions and pillows around the work area in case he passed out again. He also dug around the back of the garage and found an old grilling apron with the words Kiss the Cook` across the front in faded letters.

　　In a box of old painting supplies, he found a dust mask. He slapped the mask into place, stuck his oversized mirrored shades over his eyes, then pulled on the thick dishwashing gloves he had taken from the kitchen.

　　"Alright, let`s get this show on the road!" he clapped.

　　It turned out his preparations were a bit over the top. With the thick gloves, he had no fine control or ability to carve the sigils that he needed to carve in the body. He tossed the first failed test into the backyard and threw the gloves into a dark corner of the garage. Norman even removed his shades as they made it hard to see in the low light of the garage.

　　After he was done shedding the extra protection, he set a giant rat on top of the bench. A rivulet of water pooled from under the creature and made its way to the edge of the bench where it started dripping onto the floor. Norman ignored this distraction as he scraped away the belly fur with his pocket knife.

　　It was easier to carve into the skin if the fur was removed first. Norman wasn`t squeamish about blood or body parts, it was the smell that got to him. He would have to figure out how to get over that issue at a later time though. Perhaps if he focused on creating skeletons instead of zombies that could ease him into acclimating to the smell of rot.

　　He completed the circular design and paused. He wasn`t sure what to do next, it wasn`t like there was a step-by-step instruction book on this. Logically he needed to activate the runes somehow.

　　"Here goes nothing." Norman took a tiny dusting of the blue powder and sprinkled it over the design.

　　The dust glowed with an inner light as it fell onto the corpse. Norman waited for something to happen. And waited.

　　"Hmm, maybe I need to maintain contact for it to work."

　　Norman reached for the dead rat`s head and his fingernail brushed against the creature`s rotten eyeball, puncturing it. The sensation of dripping eyeball fluid was unsettling. But that sensation lasted for only a moment before Norman`s vision was washed away.

　　***

　　Norman`s heart was racing as he tried to escape his pursuers. He could hear the giant`s footsteps and their mocking chitters as they chased after him. Norman dodged as a rock larger than his head slammed against the ground next to him.

　　He darted around the next corner and skidded to a stop, looking around in a panic. It was a dead end. He ran towards the corner of the wall and tried to climb but something hard slammed into his back.

　　He squeaked in pain and fell off the wall, his back legs motionless as his front legs twitched frantically to try and right himself, but it was too late. The giants had come, three of the giant kin had surrounded him and were poking at him with a stick. They seemed to grow bored with their torment before walking away and leaving him to die.

　　***

　　Norman sucked in a deep breath as his mind returned to his body. This was followed by a wave of nausea and the phantom pain of having his spine crushed by a rock as three teenagers sated their sick curiosity by tormenting a helpless rat.

　　Needing to sit down, Norman grabbed one of the old lawn chairs and set it out. He collapsed into the chair, it creaked ominously under him as he fought to get his racing heart under control.

　　The spell had worked& sorta. It should be a time to celebrate but instead, Norman was left reeling.

　　The spell certainly wasn`t what he had expected. It wasn`t simply a spell to read minds but to experience the last remnant of a creature`s life. He wasn`t so sure that was a good thing though. The feeling of having his spine broken was not something he wanted to relive.

　　After his heart rate returned to normal, Norman got back off the chair. He couldn`t let this experience set him back. With a steadying breath, Norman reached into the cooler and pulled out the next test subject.

　　Despite the pain, Norman realized he had to keep pushing forward if he wanted to progress in his field of magic. He needed to prove to himself and others that he could succeed. The next rodent looked like a gopher or groundhog. Norman inspected the body, but couldn`t tell how it had died.

　　Drumming his fingers on the counter, Norman decided to try simplifying the process. He put a light dusting of powder on both of his thumbnails and tried to poke them into the eyeballs of the rodent.

　　He found this to be a lot more difficult than it should be based on his first success. After thinking for a bit, he used his knife to sharpen the nails on his index finger into a point to better help penetrate the tissue. He wanted to use his thumbs but the nails just weren`t long enough.

　　With a deep breath, he held the animal`s skull between his hands and shoved the sharpened nails into the eyes. The reaction was immediate as the garage disappeared and Norman found himself in the body of the animal.

　　There was no pain this time around, which turned out to be a good thing. Norman found himself squeaking indignantly as he was shaken violently about by something. He tried to bite back but whatever had him, had him by the back of the neck and he couldn`t turn to get his mouth into a position to retaliate.

　　Norman spotted the furiously wagging tail of a yellow dog as its head shook him about. The shaking was so violent that he flew free from the dog`s mouth. By that point, the damage was done though. While Norman didn`t feel the pain, he had heard the tiny bones breaking inside his body.

　　Still, Norman tried to scurry away, only for the dog to bark and run after him again. Norman could hear someone yelling for the dog to stop but that didn`t seem to help. Eventually, his body went limp and the dog seemed to lose interest as it dropped him just as its owner came to collect it.

　　Norman felt the human pick him up and toss him over a fence and into the woods where he eventually died from the wounds inflicted in the brutal attack.