by Zach Sweets
"Holy shit, I didn't know. I don't like what's happening to me." I was about to cry and the glow started again. I immediately thought of making love to Rex and the glow faded.
"Looks like your negative emotions trigger the light explosions." He said it matter-of-factly.
"Yeah, tell me something I don't know," I snarled. Shit, the light was back. I calmed myself and thought of something positive before it got carried away.
I walked out of the room and started to explore the place we were staying in. It was a nice size, comfortable for two people. I hoped it was safe, because I needed to sleep. My head was pounding like a jackhammer.
"Rex, I'm going to bed. It has been a crazy day."
Rex didn't say a word, but he nodded.
I heard the static from his radio. I wished Carl would somehow say something because I hated seeing him sad. I listened to it until I fell asleep.
Eleven
June 9
Battle
For several days I focused on the weird power I had inside me. I discovered that my eyesight was greatly improved. My chubby belly was a thing of the past, replaced by a full muscle package on my chest and stomach and the muscles in my arms and legs had gotten bigger.
I tested my physical abilities. Rex couldn't beat me in any fight during our training. He was getting frustrated since he couldn't win. Not even once.
One day, I suggested he get on the dirty motorcycle we found in the barn, and I ran to see how fast I could go. Sure enough, I ran almost thirty miles per hour. I could lift the bike too, with Rex on it. I could pretty much lift anything, no matter how heavy. We kept looking for bigger and bigger things to try. There was also an abandoned truck in a barn and I was able to pull it out, even with the emergency brake on. The more I tried my abilities, the more scared I got. I wasn't normal anymore.
Every single day, I thought I'd turn into a zombie. I checked my pulse often, always relieved to find my heart was still beating. I had nightmares almost every time I closed my eyes. The nightmares were always the same, turning into a zombie and then killing and eating Rex.
As I sat, lost in my thoughts, Rex called for me. "Yeah?" I walked over to him to see what was up.
Rex pointed. "Look down the road over there. I can't see that far but something is there."
I looked where Rex was pointing. Since my vision had been enhanced by the rain, I was able to make out of thousands of zombies. They were flailing and snapping their teeth. I couldn't believe my own eyes, since I hadn't seen that many zombies since the day my Thomas turned. I looked at Rex and I could tell he was scared. If he saw what I had seen, he would freak out. I took a deep breath and tried to remain calm, even though I felt like I was going to jump out of my skin.
"Zombie," I said, trying to keep the tremor out of my voice. "A whole lot of them."
"Just how many are there?" Rex's voice cracked as his nerves came through.
I looked at him, hoping the eye contact would help center him. "Thousands."
His color drained, and he started trembling. "Oh shit," he said as he started to pace.
"Look, we don't have much time. We can freak out later, but for now, we need to come up with some kind of plan." I turned my attention back to the zombies and realized they were far enough away for us to be able to escape before they got to where we were. "Let's get back inside and try to get everything we need. We have time to escape." Rex and I rushed back into the house, trying to gather everything. Just as we were about ready to leave, I froze. I felt something odd inside me and I couldn't figure out what was it.
Rex became worried, trying to get my attention and snap me back into reality. I heard him but I couldn't respond. I tried to close my eyes, but they refused.
Rex walked in front of me. He stared right at me. "Can you move your eyes?"
I tried and was relieved to find that even though I couldn't blink, I could still do that much.
"Move your eyes up and down for yes. Right and left for no," Rex said, then asked, "You can't move and it's the power that's doing this to you?"
I looked up and down.
"Okay, try to communicate with your power somehow. I don't know how but concentrate, maybe it'll help. I'll get the rest of the stuff together and put it all in the truck and let you focus." He left.
I couldn't close my eyes, but I could concentrate. As I focused, the glow got brighter. It worked. I felt my body rise off the floor, steadily ascending until my head touched the ceiling. As my head brushed the drywall, the glow expanded, bursting a hole right through the roof of the house, and I continued to rise.
Once I was in the air where I could see everything around me, I felt my power become stronger, and I could control it. Holy fuck, I was flying, and I was able to move. I tried to think of anything that'd take me back to the ground.
I descended and landed smoothly on my feet. The zombies were much closer now and I was tired of running for my life. It was time to stop and face them. The only one I thought I had to worry about was the enormous one, the one that had paralyzed me.
"Did you just fly?" Rex's mouth was hanging wide open as he approached me from the house.
It was awesome to fly, but it wasn't the time to talk. "Rex, go and find a place to hide. I'm going to find a way to kill the zombie in charge, the king, or whatever you want to call that huge fucker."
"No, I'm staying here and fighting at your side."
"Just go, please."
"But…what if you don't survive? I can't lose you. Not this time." His voice became scratchy like he was about to cry.
My eyes suddenly shone a bright purple color on his body. I tried to control my emotion but couldn't. No way I'd hurt him with my crazy uncontrollable power, not while hordes of zombies were heading for us.
"I don't want to lose you either, Rex. I have the powers and you don't. I have a better chance at surviving. Tell you what, go to the barn and get the rest of the guns and ammo. Shoot every dead-walker you can until you run out, then leave in the truck, please."
Rex's eyes watered then he nodded. It was the only way to convince him to go. To have him shooting at them would be a great help; he was a great shot. I had little confidence that I'd be able to protect myself against thousands of the zombies and go for the king zombie at the same time.
"Go! Before it's too late." I pushed Rex to get him going so he'd be ready when the zombies got there. We had to be prepared.
Rex ran to the barn where the guns were. I took a deep breath and closed my eyes, concentrating on what I was going to do. Not having had any military experience, or anything like that was freaking me out. The zombie king roared several times and that startled me.
When I opened my eyes, purple light shone wherever I looked. All of a sudden, I could see everything crystal-clear. Each dead-walker snarled and drooled slimy purple-black goo and their eyes glowed red.
They didn't scare me anymore. No matter how loud they growled. No matter how often the king roared. None of this shit frightened me. I'd run far too much but not this time.
"You're going to fucking die!" I mentally shouted at the king. Somehow, he must have heard me and he actually stared directly to me. "I ain't scared of you." I no longer lived in fear.
I dropped to my knees, fingers digging deep in the earth, feet shoved into the ground, and I mentally pushed a curtain of dirt up in the air. While it hung there creating a barrier, I picked up big handfuls of sand and threw them toward the zombies. The blue glow surrounded the sand and carried it inside a tunnel of light, splashing the dead-walkers, and the grains exploded against their heads in a burst of blue sparks.
The sound of gunshots blasted past my ears, and more zombies fell to the ground. Rex was in the truck, driving and shouting as he shot at their heads.
I ran toward them. My whole body glimmered blue, and the king glowed orange. Unlike the average zombie, who looked weak and starving, the king looked well-built and was taller than the rest of them.
A rumbling started insi
de my throat as I screamed and ran toward the king. My purple nimbus seemed to act as a shield, and I liked the idea of my light being my protector. The zombies splattered like flies on a windshield as I ran through them.
I crashed into the king, our auras clashing in a flash of blue and orange, sending a blast into the ground that somehow beheaded every dead-walker there. Frightened for Rex's safety, I immediately looked back to check on him since he had been behind me blasting at the zombies. The truck was flipped over and I had no clue if he was okay. The more emotional I got, the brighter the glow became.
Tears poured from my eyes, but I had to beat the king or I'd fought back for nothing. I snarled, "Now it's just you and me, you bastard!"
The zombie king roared again. An orange beam, hot and sharp as a laser, speared out from his eyes. It burned my skin before my own protection shield was back up.
I tripped the king's legs and his body caused a minor earthquake when it hit the ground in a surge of orange light. It blasted me into the air, and I landed at least twenty feet away.
"Jake!" I ran back to where the truck was and saw Rex screaming for me. To my relief, he was okay. It was short-lived, because he didn't run to me. Instead, he ran for the king, screaming, "Die, you asshole!"
He fired at the king until the gun was empty, but the hail of bullets barely caused any damage. When Rex got close to the king, the zombie backhanded him hard against in the chest and Rex flew at least forty feet back through the air. He didn't move after he hit the ground.
"Rex," I wailed. As I was sobbing, my eyes started to hurt badly. A powerful purple laser shot out, and I stared right at the zombie king. The king's orange laser collided with my purple, but my pain was far stronger. It was enough to force him backwards through the air until his back hit a tree. The trunk shattered.
The purple laser destroyed the king's eyes. The light boomed against the ground and propelled me upwards and I flew with my fists held out in front of me, heading for the king. It felt like I was going at least a hundred miles per hour.
Shit. The king stood and picked up the tree he'd crashed into and he swung right before my fists were about to slam into him. The tree splintered into pieces, and I fell to the ground. I saw the metaphorical stars around my head. Strangely, it didn't hurt much, but it took me a moment to recover.
I shook it off and ducked just before the king slapped my head. Somehow, he looked taller and I couldn't reach his face with my fists. It was as if he had grown another foot or two. I just wanted him to die. Rex was stuck inside my head. Not knowing if he was okay or hurt.
I had to figure a way to beat the damn king. He was too strong and huge. As I moved around him as quietly as possible, I determined he couldn't actually see me at all after I blinded him with my laser. He relied on his ears to find me. I picked up a small rock and threw it a few feet away from the king. He shot at it with an orange laser from his finger.
Okay, he can't see but he hears well. As quietly as I could, I picked up several pebbles from right by the tree trunk and threw them high up in the air. When the rocks hit the ground, it startled the king, and he started to blast the orange laser at every sound. As soon as he turned his back to me, I used the trunk to give me a strong boost and flew right into the back of his head.
The blue aura surrounded my fists, shining so bright it hurt my eyes. One touch was enough to make his head explode. He was a goner. The king's whole body exploded in a shower of orange sparkling stars and the force sent me flying back until I slammed against the overturned truck.
The whole world went black.
I woke up to wet splashes on my face. It was raining, but this time it was a really wet splashing rain with no colors. As I looked around, sweet water dripping from my nose, I had no clue how long I had been out. The zombies were gone and there was a body not far from me. In my dazed state, it took me a while to realize that it was Rex. I jumped up and ran toward the hunched form. He wasn't breathing, and his skin had taken on a sickly pallor.
"Rex, wake up please." I struggled not to cry. "Please, don't you dare to die," I hit his chest, slapped his face, and did absolutely everything I could think of to wake him up.
After what seemed like an eternity, Rex gasped, tried to breathe in, and heaved a hard cough. His skin went from pale to his normal tan.
I held him, chanting breathe in and out over and over. "That's it, breathe, babe."
Eventually, his breathing settled to something like normal. "What happened?"
"It's over. I beat the king. The explosion nearly killed me but I survived and I'm so glad you did too." I kissed him, a long and hard kiss. I couldn't bear the thought of losing him ever again. We were panting as I told Rex that we needed to go and find a place to stay. It was getting late and the rain had stopped.
I helped Rex up and he hissed loudly. I realized he'd hurt his leg. "Here, put your arm around me." I looked across the way. "We need to go back to the house. The explosion didn't damage it."
Rex grunted with pain and limped all the way there. For some reason, I felt weaker. It was as if I'd lost the power I'd had. At last, we made it inside and I put him on the bed, grabbing pillows to put under his leg.
Rex winced in silence but glared at me, then asked, "You lost your power?"
"I think so. I feel weak. I'm not sure if the powers gone or I'm just severely exhausted from all of the crazy adrenaline rushes." I didn't even want to think about it. All I cared about was that Rex was alive and the zombies were gone. At least, I thought they were gone.
Rex observed me closely. "Well, your eyes aren't purple anymore. I think you're back to your regular self." He smiled slightly.
"That's good to know. Now I can express my emotions any way I want." I laughed. "How are you feeling, though?"
"My leg's killing me. I think there's some aspirin or something in the bathroom. Can you get it?" Rex squeezed his eyes shut, trying to breathe carefully. The bathroom did have painkillers and I brought the bottle to Rex with a glass of water to go with the pills.
As soon as he took the pain killer, he fell sound asleep. I lay next to him, watching him sleep. He snored a little, which was cute. I fell asleep with my arm on his stomach.
Twelve
June 24
It Was Over
Fifteen days had passed since I killed the king. The powers I had were really gone, and while I felt weird without them I was grateful to see them go. With my emotions being a roller coaster, not having to worry about blowing the place up when I got upset was probably a good thing.
We tried to remember how the battle ended, and wondered if it really was over. We defeated the only king zombie we saw, but were there more out there? Was there another in the next town, or next state? We had no idea how many there were. Did we finish them all off? Or was this just the beginning? We just didn't have any answers to this unsolved mystery. The real question was: why me? Why was I the one that earned a good power, while everyone else turned into zombies? Fuck. I probably would never know the answers.
When I saw that he hanged on to his radio, I kept hoping Rex would hear from Carl.
We eventually went back to the house in town. The broken door still hung from one hinge, and it fell as we walked in. Most of our stuff was still there. We spent two more nights there, trying to get our energy back before we packed everything to head off on the road again.
After all the chaos, our motorcycles were still at the first place we stayed. Thomas' bag was still there and I treasured it more than anything. It was the only thing I still had that belonged to Thomas. Thankfully, we managed to find more gas in the small town and we filled the bikes up.
I had suggested to Rex that I wanted to stop in Arizona since it was where I grew up and he agreed. It would be a long trip, and we figured that we could make it another three-hundred to three-hundred and fifty miles before we needed more gas. Fortunately, we were always able to get fuel from abandoned automobiles when we needed it to keep the bikes filled up.
&nbs
p; The road was oddly quiet with no survivors to be seen. Lots of flipped over cars, old fire spots, dry bloodstains on the ground. It was more spooky than what we'd seen when we drove from my home to Missouri. Not even a sound. No birds, even. It became way too strange after a while.
We got to Arizona safely.
All of the houses were beautiful. I spotted a perfect cozy looking house for us to stay in temporarily, thinking it would be best if we hid for a while, to observe what was going on out there. Rex wanted to listen to his radio to see if there were any survivors there.
The house was light tan with dark brown trim around the windows, doors, and garage. The backyard was secured with a brick fence and an iron and wood gate.
We parked the motorcycles in the driveway and walked to the door. I opened the storm door and took the doorknob in my hand, praying so hard it was unlocked. It was. Inside the house was much more breathtaking than it was from the outside. It opened into the living room and everything looked clean. It was a nice place, lots of space, comfy looking furniture and even shiny new appliances.
"I wonder what kind of life they had before the zombies ruined everything." I thought out loud. Rex shrugged and looked amazed at what the inside looked like.
"Something isn't right," Rex quivered.
"Yeah, it's way too clean. No damage anywhere." I walked into the hallway, checking the next three rooms. Each room looked comfortable and not even one item was damaged.
"Fuck, the whole thing is telling me that nothing ever happened in this town," I mumbled as Rex startled me when he placed his hand on my back.
"Yeah, tell you what, I'll go to other houses on this street to see if it's the same. Just keep your eyes out the windows. If I wave like an idiot, that means run as far as you can, I'll be right behind you." It seemed like Rex had recovered his courage.
"'Kay." I leaned forward, kissed him on the lips, and breathed softly. "Please be careful."
"I will." Rex left the house to do some exploring, while I decided to check out the backyard.
A bright blue swimming pool was in the back and it was clean. Was the colored rain all a dream? The water was still blue and looked safe enough to swim in. I immediately went back inside and checked the electricity to find that it worked fine. What the hell? How was that possible? I switched on the TV, but was disappointed when it was all static. I flipped through the channels and they were all the same.