This usually worked with the younger crowd. A little theatrics to get them running and then the chase was on. Sometimes they spread and hid in different spots, sometimes they all ran together, other times they ran a bit, then tried to come back and touch his head. Miles pretty much knew all the tricks.

"OOooOOoohh! I'm a zombii-UURGH! PThh- sputhth! bluhgh! Bleargh!..."

Except that one.

Penelope played dirty and smart as well. While he was busy spitting dirt and leaves off his mouth, the girls vanished into the bushes and the night. There were lights illuminating the yard, but so many bushes provided plenty of places for shadows and cover. By the time the young mutant finished spitting and raised his eyes, the girls were gone.

"NNNgghhh...uuuurrghhh...." he uttered as he shambled forward with arms stretched but keeping a good eye to his left and right. He also tried to keep his ears open, specifically for giggles, but he saw and heard nothing.

Well... time for cheating.

He gave a mental command and both of his dogs perked their ears and raised their heads. They were outside as well, but kept their distance from the trio, so they wouldn't scare any of the girls. Both dogs started to sniff the air and the information they got went straight to Miles' brain, which he used to have a general idea of where they were hiding. He couldn't find the specific spot without having the dogs track a scent, but he felt a faint smell of people to his left. Then again, he didn't know what either of the girls smelled like and he could very well be smelling his own scent and not know it.

The boy turned left, fake limping and noisily dragging a foot, 'uurghing' and 'nnghing' as he went, but then he'd keep quiet all of a sudden, move quickly behind the bushes on the tip of his toes to throw them off, and then resume his 'nnghing' and 'braaainzing' someplace else.

He had just pulled this trick a third time when the light from one of the lamps reflected on a bit of reddish color behind a bush. Was that part of Victoria's dress or maybe some old autumn leaves? They were probably together, so he approached the bush quiet as a mouse and very un-zombie like, his open hands raised at chin level and ready to catch his first victim (or maybe both of them), then quickly swerved behind the bush, resuming his limping and shambling at the last second and stretching his arms with clawed hands.

"NNNGGUUUUHHH! BRAAAAIIINNNZZZ!"

>> “I’m glad you know a place. I’m still learning my way around here.”

Penelope grinned. She liked knowing things about the school and the only reason she did was because she always busied herself with exploration. The young girl always liked to think of herself as being on an adventure. When she was, the entire world was her new continent to explore and she would not rest until her deep curiosity was satisfied. It was because of this that she managed to get a good layout of the mansion’s lawn.

That would be their best chance of escaping the dreaded zombie.

So, with Victoria in hand, Penelope ran as fast as her little legs could carry her. Victoria proved to be pretty speedy too since the girl managed to keep up. Before long, Penelope had left the sputtering, choking Zombie behind and pulled Victoria behind a series of bushes just high enough to hide them. She grinned, breathing heavily and loving every minute of it.

“There, I think we lost him,” she beamed at the red-eyed girl with a smile. She sincerely loved to make new friends. “It’s nice to meet you! Hehehe. If we survive, we should be best friends! Are you a mutant too? Do you have powers? Did you come here by yourself? I’m sorry, am I asking too many questions? Is that weird?”

Ever the chatterbox, Penelope beamed as she spoke to the young blonde, really hoping that she wouldn’t scare off a potential new friend. Of course, talking to much was easy enough to lead her to miss keeping track of where the zombie had gotten off to. They should formulate a plan…

Penelope was pretty fast for her size, but Victoria was able to keep up. Longer legs and all. She was pulled behind some bushes as they made an effort to hide from the Miles zombie. Penelope looked like she was having fun as she smiled, and Victoria smiled back for she too was enjoying the game.

“It’s nice to meet you too!” A flurry of questions flew at the red eyed girl. They were innocent questions, but the way Penelope said them made them cute. “Yes, I’m a mutant and I have abilities, but I have a big drawback as well. I did come here alone not too long ago.”

Victoria wanted to ask questions back, but the Miles zombie surprised her when he stepped around the bush and groaned for their brains. There wasn’t time to think so reflexes kicked in. Lunging forward at miles the blonde placed both her hands on his chest and shoved him backwards away from Penelope and herself.

Not looking to see how far Miles had been pushed Victoria grabbed the smaller girl’s hand and pulled her away. “Where should we go now?

Both girls were there, as predicted. This would be like shooting fish in a barrel, as expected. They'd be starting a new game soon, as anticipated. The one thing they did not do was shriek, since they seemed to be distracted. Oh, and also...

Victoria pushed him.

"Braaaiiiinnnnzzzzwhoo-OOOOFF!!"

Miles felt his shoes leave the ground and for a few seconds there was nothing but air between his soles and the grass. He then felt the prickle of leaves and tiny branches, scraping all over his head, then his shoulders, then his arms and finally his legs as his body smashed through a tall hedge bush. If real life were a cartoon, the hole would have a nicely shaped 'Miles' silhouette, but in reality, it only had a loosely roundish shape of broken branches with a couple of feet dangling and wiggling helplessly, as the boy landed on the other side with the back of his shoulders and head and never finished falling. He was stuck. Legs on the hole of the hedge, butt in the air, head and shoulders in the ground, arms flailing helplessly as his face had a very distinct 'What the hell just happened!?' expression.

Victoria had pushed him... but she was just a child! A frail child who couldn't even take a ray of sunshine!

Maybe he had tripped along the way. A loss of balance, plus Victoria's push, plus... a tiny earthquake only he felt could have easily pushed him through a hedge bush. Whatever caused it, the boy struggled to get his legs out, which he only accomplished by pulling as hard as he could and managing to do a comical pirouette while rolling on the ground.

He got up, shook the leaves, ants, sap, dirt, branches and more leaves from his body, looked around to see if the girls were anywhere near and failed to see them. He was actually giving out a cautious look now.

Oh well, the show must go on...

Stretching his arm, he limped (for real) and shambled looking for the girls as he made his voice heard.

"Braaaiiinnzzz..."

"BRAAAIIINNNZZZ!!..."

"BRAAAAIIIINNNNZZZZ!!!!!..."

That should keep them the hell away from him!

>> “It’s nice to meet you too! I’m a mutant and I have abilities, but I have a big drawback as well. I did come here alone not too long ago.”

Penelope was excited! She was making a new friend and Victoria seemed like an absolutely cool girl. Not only was she interesting, and with an awesome accent, but the girl didn’t seem to mind Penelope’s pushy questions at all. Which was good because even though Penelope knew just how curious she could be, it was not always the best for making new friends. Other girls tended to get turned off by her bombardments and the relationships were short lived. But Victoria seemed more than eager. It made Penelope happy.

“That’s so cool,” Penelope said excitedly. “I love your dres—EEP!”

She barely had enough time to lift her gaze when she spotted Miles creeping from around the corner of the bushes and lumber towards them. Just how had he been able to find them so quickly? Maybe he really was one of the terrifying undead. They always seemed to be able to find their victims, no matter how well they attempted to hide themselves.

>> "Braaaiiiinnnnzzzzwhoo-OOOOFF!!"

Thinking that they were done for, Penelope attempted to cover her gaze to keep from being eaten. But instead of feeling hands on her head, she felt someone take her hand. Opening her eyes, she spotted Victoria, smiling and ready to continue the run.

She attempted to peek around to see where Miles had gone but saw nothing but trembling bushes around them. Huh…that was strange.

>> “Where should we go now?

Penelope was shaken back to reality and held onto Victoria’s hand as they continued their run. They needed a plan so that they could touch Miles head but there was no way that they were going to be able to do that out there. There was no place for them to get the height advantage to take him by surprise. Even in Victoria was taller than him, her dress would surely give her away. No. They needed some place where there were more hiding places than out here.

She blinked and then grinned as she pulled Victoria by her hand and back towards the mansion.

“Come on!” She said with grin. “There are plenty of places to hide inside the mansion. Then we can get the drop on him!”

Initially taking the lead to get herself and Penelope away from zombie Miles Victoria just wanted to get them out of the area. She didn’t know what happened to Miles after she pushed him. Although, there was an odd sound of rapidly exhaled air and then the snapping sound of twigs. Still, on she ran with her new friend.

Running in the night Penelope quickly came up with a plan for them. “You’re right! There’s lots more places to hide in the mansion. We’ll win for sure!” She giggled as they ran inside and searched for a place to hide so they could ambush the boy. “Oh, and thank you for the compliment Penelope.” She smiled big at the younger girl and gave her hand a friendly squeeze.

The boy sat on a bench, shaking one of his shoes in his hand and removing tiny branches that snuck inside while he was stuck in the hedge. He had screamed "BRAAAIINNNZZZ!!" a couple of times to make the girls think he was still looking for them, but once an older kid popped his head out of a window and screamed back "Dude! You really need one of those!", he decided to shut up and keep on playing in a more quiet fashion.

All right, he needed a little assistance again. Using the same trick with his dogs from last time, he noticed the girls' scent was quite faint in the yard and pretty much... everywhere. It's like they weren't outside anymore.

Miles pushed the door into the mansion slowly and peeked his head in.

"Brainz?"

During his extensive explanation of the rules, he never mentioned if the house was off limits or not and after being pushed like a ragdoll into a bush, he couldn't help but notice that bushes have soft leaves and are planted in soft ground, while the inside of the mansion had hardwood floors, pointy edges on the furniture, glass tables, wooden chairs, gypsum walls and many, MANY other things that were not soft at all.

"Nnngh?" he said as he now looked cautiously one way and the other, stepping inside the walls of the house.

He walked past the lobby and into the living room, looking behind furniture and not making a peep, but every time he took a step, the dirt from his shoes made an easily noticeable scratching sound on the floor. If they were attentive, they'd know exactly where he was treading.

>> “You’re right! There’s lots more places to hide in the mansion. We’ll win for sure!”

Penelope smirked. She liked her idea! Maybe she was actually getting smarter! She wouldn’t be surprised since she absolutely loved to play these types of games. She always did what she could to win because she was just that competitive. But, it was even better when she had a new friend nearby to help to cheer her on. Victoria was turning into an absolute pleasure and, though Penelope wasn’t sure what she could do, she had a feeling that the two of them could indeed be the best of friends.

The pair dashed into the mansion and immediately she tried to figure out where they could go from here. They needed to touch Miles head and Victoria did seem like the tallest and one that was far easier to get to Miles. Penelope herself could be a distraction.

>> “Oh, and thank you for the compliment Penelope.”

Penelope grinned.

“Of course!” She paused for a second in thought as a plan began to shape up. Miles would have to come in through the same doors that they did. Maybe they could sneak up on him! “Victoria!” she said excitedly as she turned to her. “Hide somewhere in here, okay? I’ll grab his attention and when he comes for me, you sneak out and touch his head! It’s simple!”

Dashing off to the side and not paying attention to where/if Victoria hid anywhere, Penelope crouched herself down behind a door. All she would have to do is bide her time until the Miles/Zombie decided to meander his way back into the mansi--

>> "Brainz?"

She froze up, smirking to herself, as she attempted to pull the door she was hiding behind closer to her. As she did so, she inadvertently knocked something off the door that landed on her head. She jumped but instantly relaxed when she saw it was nothing more than a hat that had fallen off of the hook. Quietly he attempted to stand and put it back on when she got an idea.

"Nnngh?"

She waited with bated breath before finally popping out behind a door…wearing a baseball cap that seemed far too large for her own head. Of course it was probably for one of the bigger, older staff members or students, but they wouldn’t mind if she borrowed it to fend off a killer zombie, right? Besides, there was nothing in the rules about NOT wearing protective headgear.

“Hey! Hey!!” she shouted and waved her arms, trying to get him to follow her. “Umm..ugh…YOUR MOMMA WAS IS A SPARKLY VAMPIRE!!” The worst of insults. That should get his attention…

Penelope’s plan sounded like a great one! They would win for sure. With Miles going after Penelope he wouldn’t know to look behind him. This was going to be good.

Quickly looking around the immediate area Victoria spotted a good hiding place, but first she took off her shoes and placed them by the door. Running off down the hall a little ways she hid around the corner that led down one of the many hallways in the mansion. She was now relying on Penelope’s distraction to work.

Then came the Miles zombie. He didn’t sound as threatening as before though. Could zombies ask for brains? The girl didn’t think that was right, but dismissed it. She didn’t want to be distracted or their plan might not work.

Victoria had to cover her mouth to keep from laughing as her partner yelled out the best insult to a zombie ever. Waiting for just a moment the blonde slowly peeked around the corner. Good! He’s going for it!

Letting the Miles zombie walk a few feet towards Penelope Victoria sprung into action. She timed it just right so that Miles zombie was passing by one of the couches. This was gonna be a perfect ambush and a win for all mankind. Victoria ran barefoot down the hall then leapt up onto the couch and with arms out stretched and aimed for Miles head she lunged forward causing her hands to make contact with the back of Miles zombie’s head. Unfortunately her momentum carried the rest of her into a collision with Miles.

Miles wasn't trying too hard to find the girls, hoping that they found him instead and did the typical girly thing, which was to screech to eardrum piercing levels and run away giggling from the monster.

Then again... these girls were kind of involved in the game. The moment he saw Penelope pop out with her baseball cap and waving at him, he realized they were resorting to some clever tactics. He quickly switched back into his role, raising his arms, clawing and 'nnnghing' as he shuffled in her direction. When the girl called his mother a sparkly vampire, he stiffled a chuckle, trying not to break character as he riposted:

"Nnnnngghh... She's a zooOOMMMBBbbiieee... Not a vaaaMMMP-UNGHF!"

Victoria's hands pushed hard into the back of his head making him immediately loose his balance, specially since she caught him at mid-shamble. Her body smashed into his back and he could not stop the momentum. His arms and hands were already up and he was unable to lower them down quick enough to stop the incoming corner of a sofa from making impact with his crotch.

The teenager's loud, painful grunt was muffled when his body doubled over the back of the sofa and his face hit the cushions of the seats. That hurt, but deep in the back of his mind, he didn't want either of the girls to feel guilty for his pain, since this had all been his idea. His bad, BAD idea!

"You win" he conceded to the girls with a falsetto tone in his voice, squinting his eyes and gritting his teeth in pain. "I surrender. No more zombies" he added, shaking his head.

Miles scrambled to get into a seated position on the sofa. Not only had he been defeated by a couple of girls in a game of his own making, but they had done it quite handily. Penelope was very smart, Victoria wasn't frail at all and he needed to take a little break while certain parts of his anatomy recuperated.

"How about we bring my dogs into the fun, huh? " he suggested, his voice still a squeak but soon regaining it's normal tone. "Even if they look scary, they're quite obedient. Do you like dogs, Penelope?"

>> "Nnnnngghh... She's a zooOOMMMBBbbiieee... Not a vaaaMMMP-UNGHF!"

Penelope grinned! She got the Zombie!Miles distracted long enough to turn his attention away from where Victoria was hiding. Her plan was going to succeed! She started to back away as Miles nearly broke his character was laughter…but instead she found herself watching with shock and surprise as he nearly broken his body against the sudden, near-pulverizing thanks to Victoria’s flying body.

The young blonde had knocked into Miles hard enough that he was completely knocked off his guard and was sent stumbling forward. Penelope couldn’t bear to watch as Miles hit himself…pretty hard…in a spot that didn’t look at all comfortable, at least the look on Mile’s face brought her to that conclusion.

Before she knew it, Miles was doubled over and talking like a chipmunk, yet trying to pass it off as him being absolutely unharmed.

>> "You win…I surrender. No more zombies"

She grinned. His voice was funny and though she wanted to make sure that he was okay, she was happy with the fact that they managed to defeat the powerful zombie. She moved back around and flopped into a chair that was across from him. Wow…he really did look hurt.

>> "How about we bring my dogs into the fun, huh? Even if they look scary, they're quite obedient. Do you like dogs, Penelope?"

Immediately she perked up. Dogs were even better than playing games!!!

“Yes! I love dogs!!” she grinned wide. “Do you have dogs? What kind of dogs? Big dogs? Little dogs? Do they slobber? What kind of food do you feed them? Victoria, do you like dogs? Do you have dogs?”

The questioning started. It would be hard for her to stop now.

With the successful attack against the Miles zombie and Victoria crashing into his back she didn’t see what happened to Miles. When the boy came to an abrupt halt against the sofa Victoria was sent rolling off his back and landed on the hard floor on her rump. “Oof!”

Getting up and brushing herself off the blonde looked to Miles as he spoke in a strange tone. His voice sounded funny. Was he trying to make Penelope and herself laugh, or was it part of him turning back to a human? She wasn’t sure, but she also wasn’t sure what to say about it so she let it go.

With the confirmation of the victory over the Miles zombie the red eyed girl smiled and looked to Penelope. “We did it! We saved the mansion!”

Miles brought up playing with his dogs. At first Victoria hesitated as she remembered the black animals with glowing eyes, but then she recalled Miles making them dance. A soft giggle escaped her throat, but with Penelope’s burst of questions the giggle rose in volume. “Yes, I like dogs but I never had one of my own.” “What are we going to play with your dogs Miles?”

The girls were happy for their victory and Penelope was quick to drill him with questions regarding his dogs. Miles had recovered his voice, noticed Victoria seemed unhurt from falling flat on her butt and in fact was quite gleeful from saving the mansion from the terrible zombie threat, so he addressed Penelope's questions.

"Yes, I do, and they're..." he started, hesitating and deciding the 'what kind of dogs?' question did not need 'undead dogs' for an answer. "...Mutant dogs" he said, since the word was so broad, it could pretty much mean anything, except normal, mundane dogs.

"I've got a big dog and a not-so-big dog. They're black and they're... remember Rudolph, that special reindeer Santa Claus has with a red nose? Well, my dogs are special dogs and they have red eyes" he explained, trying to make their appearance a little less scary with the childish comparison. He also avoided the slobber and food question this way, since Astor no longer slobbered much and they no longer ate. "In fact, we could play that with them" Miles added, now talking to Victoria. "Would you girls like to ride your very own special indoors christmas sled?"

Miles may not be an expert at handling kids, but he still knew a trick or two. Getting the girls to play around with his dogs would give his crotch a little more resting time while the dogs did the heavy running around with the girls behind them.

"Victoria, go get a bed sheet or a blanket from your room while I show Penelope my dogs" he said, as he mentally commanded his pets to get inside. He had left the door from the lobby open behind him, so the animals had no trouble poking their heads in, their glowing eyes far more visible during the night. The boy waved them to come closer and they did.

"This is Astor and this is Tinaker" he said, patting each on the head, inviting Penelope to do the same. "They look mean, but they're actually quite tame and obedient."

>> "Yes, I do, and they're...Mutant dogs"

The young girl was wide-eyed! Mutant dogs! Penelope loved mutants of ALL kinds! She loved dogs of ALL kinds! Put the two together and the girl felt like she was celebrating Christmas, her birthday, ice-cream-dinner-Sundays, all at once! She would have fainted it were not for the fact that she was leaning back against the sofa.

One breath…

Two breath…

…okay she was calm now.

>> "I've got a big dog and a not-so-big dog. They're black and they're... remember Rudolph, that special reindeer Santa Claus has with a red nose? Well, my dogs are special dogs and they have red eyes…fact, we could play that with them"

Penelope squealed happily! They sounded fantastic! Not only were they mutant dogs but they looked different too? That was so completely awesome that she was having a hard time contain her excitement! And not only that, but she was going to be able to get to play with them!

>> "Would you girls like to ride your very own special indoors christmas sled?"

Though Miles was not facing her when he asked, Penelope still beamed wide, her mouth gasping a little in surprise and yet unable to form words. It took a minute but eventually she did managed to squeak out a— “YEAH!”

>> "Victoria, go get a bed sheet or a blanket from your room while I show Penelope my dogs…This is Astor and this is Tinaker…They look mean, but they're actually quite tame and obedient."

After her new bestest friend in the friend in the whole wide world would leave, Penelope was surprised when the dogs suddenly appeared. They, for lack of a better word, were completely awesome! Wide eyed she watched them stand near their master, hulking ebony beasts with glaring red eyes. She could see why he warned her, said that they were just a tad bit scary. But Penelope was not scared, not in the least. She could only grin at the beasts as they stood at the ready.

“Awww, they don’t look mean at all!” she smiled happily as she reached over and began to pet one of them on the top of his head like Miles showed her. Her petting morphed into strokes, and finally she was up close and scratching the midnight beast behind both of his ears at the same time with her two hands. “You’re just sweet as apple pie, aren’t ya?” she laughed while scratching the dog, little noticing that it made no reaction to her praise.

Miles’ suggestion of playing with his dogs now sounded better than accidentally hurting the boy again. Victoria ran off to her room and grabbed a light blanket. Tucking it under her little arm she ran back to where she had left Miles and Penelope. The mutant dogs had joined them already.

Handing the blanket to Miles Victoria lowered her head a little. “Umm…Miles? I’m really sorry for hurting you. I didn’t mean it. I’m very sorry.”