(The Silhouette of Rita on the right corner of the panel head turned to the gossiping Stage hands as she over hears the conversation.)
Stage Hand One: You’ve heard the rumor right? That orange one, Eleanor, right? She died during that stage accident six months back. The company that made her made a copy of her as to keep the death a secret. (Lifting stage equipment)
Stage Hand Two: You might be onto something, I mean, this one looks nothing like her, especially with that mask on. (has the side of their face on their hand as they ponder)
Rita: (Rita sighs as she shakes her head) (thought bubble) Well she did die, but she wasn’t replaced. Its a lot more complicated then that...
(The scene transitions to the previous six months as Rita, Honey pie, Maxwell, and Eleanor before her death are there doing a practice rehearsal. The revenue is empty and the group is alone on this as they practice a new song, a song ironically about a zombie.)
Rita: (Narration Text) You know, back then, if I had known, that song would have been a warning. Things were going well, the music sounded great, I looked great, things were going well until.
Honey Pie: (Stops playing the sound mix as they look up) Guys...did you hear that?
Maxwell: (Stops playing and tilts his head side to side in confusion much like how a dog would do when trying to hear something) Hear what?
Rita: (Disgruntled and annoyed as she puts microphone down as she looks at Honey Pie from where she’s at) Its probably just the theater settling, its old and shit so of course its going to make noise. (She picks up the microphone in a huff and clearly flustered from the disruption of the practice) Come on, lets pick it back up.
Eleanor: (Has her head turned upward, looking for the cause of the sound in the background as Rita is speaking.) Rita I don’t think this is...
(The creaking and craning sound from above is getting louder and audible as something breaks loose, falling down as dictated by Gravity. Right towards where Rita is standing)
Eleanor: (Jumping in the way, pushing Eleanor out of the way, and looking upward as the over head light that broke loose falls right on her)
Rita: (Looking on in horror as the realization hits her as Honey Pie and Maxwell runs over to the accident) El....ELLIE!?
Rita: (Narration Text) Honey Pie took her pulse and stuff, they said there was nothing. (Image of Honey Pie trying to find a pulse before shaking their head.) That night, we had to take Eleanor home with us as it would have stirred too much commotion with the media and we wanted time to grieve alone with her. (Maxwell picking up Eleanor as the group in mourning heads back) We had agreed on calling in the lab the next morning about what happened and figure out a funeral arrangement. No I didn’t care if this was potentially illegal. (Eleanor in a bathtub full of ice) In the morning, just as we were about to take care of the arrangements, there was Eleanor, eating breakfast and watching cartoons on the television. ( panels of the band get up and ready to arrange things as they head to the living room as there on the couch is Eleanor, alive and well eating fruity pebbles.)
Eleanor: (Looking up to her stunned batch siblings) Morning guys! Nice prank there with the ice, still surprised I managed to sleep through that one.
Honey Pie: (Still in a state of shock) But..I took your pulse..there was no pulse!
Rita: (Ignoring the fact that her batch sibling has pretty much came back from the grave) ELLLLIE!!! Don’t you ever fucking scare us like that again! (She hugs Eleanor tightly much to the very much confused Eleanor’s surprise)
Eleanor: (Still really confused) Um..okay whatever you say there Rita...Guys help me out here..
Maxwell: (Without saying a word just goes to pick up and hug both Eleanor and Rita, thumping his tail during it)
Rita: (Narration Box) We had assumed originally that Ellie was just knocked unconscious and Honey Pie simply made a mistake. Things were normal at first (The first box has Eleanor as her original self enjoying a show on the TV) But as time went on (Eleanor starts to look odd with somewhat longer hair on her antenna and dimming eyes as she lurches on the couch) We knew something was terribly wrong (Unruly hairy antenna, black eyes, uneven hair as Eleanor walks in a weird fashion, making weird ‘bek’ sounds much to the fright of the rest of the batch.)
Rita: (Has her hands on Eleanor’s shoulders) Ellie, we love you and stuff, but, you gotta go see a doctor at the lab. You’re scaring Maxwell over there (Points to Maxwell hiding under the table) and frankly you’re scaring the shit out of me.
Eleanor: (Looks horrible as the corner of her mouth is drooping) Nothing..*bek*...is wrong...I am fine...*bek*...(her head goes land on Rita’s Shoulder)
Rita: (Gets angry/concerned) No you are not! For fucksake Ellie, please go to the Lab! Your mouth is dropping!
Eleanor: (in Denial) No I’m not...*bek* (Goes to scuffle walk back to her room and somehow manages to close the door)
(Rita just facepalms at this as Honey Pie enters the Room after doing the grocery run.)
Honey Pie: (They look up at Rita) So, how’d it go with Eleanor?
Rita: (Looking tired and annoyed) Not so good, she’s locked herself in. I’m going to call the lab tomorrow and arrange an appointment. (She goes to help Honey Pie with the Groceries) Like we can’t trim the fur off, it like stays for like thirty minutes before it all grows back.
Honey Pie: (Nods as they get out the steaks for Maxwell) Well now, we’ll have to tell Ellie something then to get her out.
Rita: (Rolls her eyes at this) No duh sherlock.
(The scene changes to later that night at home when most are still asleep as sounds of crunching and munching fills the apartment. This clearly disrupts the sleep of Rita as she gets out of bed to investigate ala morning zombie)
Rita: (Walking along the darkened, half asleep) Maxwell...is that you making that noise...go back to bed already you’re waking the entire apartment..(She reaches for the light switch and lights up the kitchen)
(There is a moment of silence as the scene is brought to light. Before Rita is what looks to be like Eleanor. Eleanor’s face is now a skull like base as her head open to reveal sharp, drooling teeth as she shreds into the raw steaks in the fridge.)
Rita: (Understandingly looks horrified and fully awake as she screams) JESUS FUCKING CHRIST!
Eleanor: (Head splits open to let out a banshee shriek right back)
(The commotion wakes up the rest of the batch as Honey Pie and Maxwell enter the scene, Maxwell armed with a mop as Honey Pie is in a state of stunned shock. Eleanor screeches as she climbs up the fridge and onto the ceiling of the kitchen much like a spider would, her head turning right behind her.)
Rita: (Slowly turns to her to face her siblings) ......The lab is out of the question.
Honey Pie: (Looking disgusted) She NEEDS To see a Doctor Rita! Look at her! She’s on the ceiling eating raw meat!
Maxwell: (Silently goes into the kitchen and gently pokes Eleanor with the mop end of the broom to get her down. Eleanor responds by eating the mop with a hiss)
Rita: (Freaked out) Honey! The Lab might put her in formaldehyde and studied or worse put down! Oh god what if they put us all down!
Honey Pie: (Gesturing) ARE YOU KIDDING ME!? Look at her Rita, LOOK AT HER! SHE IS PULLING A LINDA BLAIR IN THE KITCHEN! MAXWELL LET THE BROOM GO NOW!
Maxwell: (Quietly lets go of the broom as Eleanor goes to shredding it)
Rita: (Covers her face with her hands) Look, we can’t, what if they put her down..its my fault she’s like this now...can we like find a back alley doctor instead? Maybe that’ll work.
Honey Pie: (Looking at the scene going on in the background as they sigh) Fine, you win..but if she eats a person then we are taking her to the lab.
Rita: (Narration Box) We managed to find a doctor to look in at Eleanor, but..I think he’s as baffled as we are. (Image of Eleanor chewing on the medical set with the doctor hiding in the corner) She Eventually got better...I think (Eleanor is back to doing music as a horrible zombie GELF at the apartment) We even managed to find Ellie a good mask to put on to hide her face with too, Ellie seems to like it. (A final image of the current Eleanor as she is today) I want to say we have her under control, but..she likes to ‘escape’ from time to time (Flash forward to today as they freak out over the missing Eleanor as Rita sends Maxwell out to find her with some raw meats at hand)
Rita: (Back to the present as she puts her headphones down as the two substitute musicians arrive to fill in for tonight’s show) Oh thank god you two showed up! I’m really glad that you two can fill in on such short noticed.
Substitute One: (Grins in a cheesy fashion) Hey its no problem at all dude! I’m really stoked to be playing along side you guys, I’m a fan of horror themed music.
Substitute Two: (Looks around a bit as they look over to Rita) So, what happened to the other two?
Rita: (Smiles in the last frame as the next panel shows Maxwell roaming the streets looking for Eleanor) (Narration Box) Oh, Maxwell is taking care of our band mate, Eleanor, she needed some Medicine. (Next panel shows Eleanor, hands and masked face pressed up against the glass.) Eleanor, just wasn’t feeling like herself today.
Eleanor: (Is looking inside of the Florist show as Lucy and McKenzie are working on a floral display for an upcoming wedding, the scene focuses more towards McKenzie as Eleanor just stares blankly) Bek....bek....bek...bek...
Substitute One: (As a chibi face on the Narration Box) I’m sorry to hear that, I hope Eleanor feels better soon. (End scene)