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When last we spent time with our protagonist, they had everything in hand to put the zombie back into the its coffin, except they forgot to remove the old lid and are now at great pains deal with this not-so-small oversight. You can catch up with Part XXIV here. Once again, we ask, and we wonder, will the protagonist finally seal the resident into its former place of rest? Or will the zombie finally make the Groundskeeper its next meal? Let’s find out.

I don't know how many trips its taken me, how many times I've had to hop out, lead the zombie away, sprint back, hop in, and do it all over again, but I'm drenched in sweat and covered in dirt by the time I manage to crack open the coffin and pry the old lid off. I tried to get some leverage from the hole in the middle get the lid to just pop up and off, but that's next to useless. I ended up having to dig out a good-sized space so I bring the hammer down hard enough for it to catch. I'm not athletic by any means, and I've never been good with tools, so getting the claws to finally catch made me really excited. Once I got the edge up a little bit on one side, I was then able to use the hole in the middle to nudge the whole thing off. And of course, while I'm doing this, I'm also playing Track and Field to keep the zombie from falling on top of me.

Once the lid is off, I toss it out of the grave and climb back out. Again. The zombie is still a ways off from my recent run, but that's okay. All that needs doing is for the zombie to drop into the grave, lay down, and I can set the replacement lid over it and secure it. Seems like this should go fairly smoothly, except I cannot for the life of me think of how I'm going to get the zombie to lay down. If I'm fast enough, maybe I can push it in, and it'll fall into the coffin laying down already. But that's hopeful.

Whatever. Hope's been the only thing I've been running on all night and it's got me this far. Might as well see how much farther it'll take me.

I stand on the opposite side of the grave as the zombie approaches. I think about how once it gets close enough, I'll run around the edge and whack it with the shovel to knock it into the grave. But as I'm getting ready to do that, I find there's no need: the zombie just walks right into it. This thing has stepped over roots and stones and curbs to get at me, so I just assumed it would notice the gaping hole and stop, or shamble around the edge. I was so wrong, but in the best way. At least now it's in the coffin and scrabbling at the dirt on the side to get to me. Damn it. Of course it wouldn't be this easy.

I walk over to the tombstone and grab the replacement lid. I move to the other end of the grave, watching as the zombie follows me. It walks to the end of the coffin and as it starts to lean into the dirt to try to climb up, I press one end of the lid into its collar bone and push. It's enough throw the zombie backward into the coffin.

Wasting no time, I throw the replacement lid on top and run around to grab the nails from the tombstone. The zombie is scrambling to get back up. Without a moment to lose, I throw myself down on top of the lid, which slams shut against the coffin, sealing in the zombie. I hear a loud snap as I land. I quickly check the lid for any breakage, but find that its holding together. Well, if it wasn't the lid, then it might have been the zombie and I don't want to imagine what that might entail. I sweep up the hammer that I'd left in the dirt just off to the side, and with the zombie bumping against the lid on the other side, I begin driving in the nails around the edges.

Once finished, I climb out of the grave to admire my work. The lid is crooked, but it's close enough. There's a sliver of a gap down toward the feet, but I doubt the zombie will escape by the use of its big toe. I hear scratching noises coming from the lid, but considering I've returned the resident to its place of rest, my work here is just about done. I grab the shovel, replace the earth, and do my best to pat it all down. With the exception of grass to cover it all up, it almost looks as if nothing ever happened here. That is, if you squint your eyes, tilt your head, and look away.

I return the shovel to where I found it next to the freshly dug graves, gather the hammer and nails, and make my way back to the employee hall. I still have one thing left to do and not a whole lot of time to figure out how to do it: time to deal with the dust in the mausoleum.

Back to the mausoleum?! But wait, did our protagonist not run recklessly away from the mausoleum after having acquired the coffin lid and requisite tools? Was our protagonist not spooked upon exiting the elevator? And now they’re planning to return to the mausoleum? On purpose?! Will they survive what the mausoleum has in store for them? Or will they be overwhelmed, and thus join the residents in the cemetery? Only one way to find out! Read Part XXVI here!

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