Chapter 14 – Jeremy
What Ryan just did was incredible. I’ve never seen someone take out that many zombies before. However, there were still stragglers out there, and we had to get moving. I told Zach and Wilson to place their bodies out the windows with some guns, so they could take out any potential threats. The way the RV was sounding, it was on it’s last legs. I got in the driver’s seat and started to drive. After a few miles, the RV started to shake violently, and remembering that Weir was performing surgery, I stopped. “Zach, Wilson, any threats?” I called to my comrades. They responded with a “No” in unison. I started to get out of the driver’s seat, when I heard
“HALEY NOOOOOO!” It was Ryan who had screamed. I sprinted back through the living quarters and into the master bedroom. Weir was backed against a wall with Haley pushing against him. Ryan was keeping her from biting or scratching Weir, as she was trying to do. It wasn’t until I saw her face that I had realized that she had turned. So many emotions started racing through me all at the same time. Then, all of a sudden, Haley lunged at me. Because of his misposition, Ryan lost his grip on her and she flew toward me. However, her body went limp when it collided into me. For a second I was afraid, band it wasn’t until Haley started snoring in my arms that I calmed down. I looked up and saw the sphere inside the tweezers that Weir was holding, along with the black gunk that now seemed to retreat inside the sphere. The sphere now seemed to have sprouted legs and arms, and it flailed them wildly. As Weir applied more pressure to the tweezers with his fingers, I saw fountains of blue and black liquid. Begin to spew out of the orb. It may have just been my imagination, but I could swear I heard a microscopic scream as well. Finally, Weir squished it, and it was out of our hair, hopefully for good. I then realized that Haley was still in my arms, knocked out. I looked around her head to the back of her neck and saw that there was a huge hole where the sphere used to be and it was bleeding heavily. There was already blood starting to cover the back of her shirt.
“I need paper towels or toilet paper, or tissues! Anything but quick!” I yelled. Everyone rushed off in different directions to find the materials I asked for. I clamped my hand over the bleeding hole, in a desperate attempt to stop the bleeding. In no time at all, the blood started oozing through my fingers. By the time one of the others got back with paper towels, I was worried it was already too late. In a few moment’s time I had at least seven layers of paper towels, six layers of toilet paper, and eight layers of tissues on the back of Haley’s neck. I hoped and prayed that the bleeding would stop, I wished with all of my being that it would stop. I couldn’t lose Haley, and I knew Ryan couldn’t either. I could see Haley’s face turn pale, but then I remembered something. Ryan and Haley knew everything about each other, every single detail. There was a chance that Ryan knew Haley’s blood type.
“Ryan!” I yelled, not meaning to. “Do you know what Haley’s blood type is?” He pondered for a second, and then responded,
“Yeah, she donated blood a few years ago, It’s AB Negative.” AB Negative was the rarest blood type in the world, only 0.7% of people in the world had it, and that was before the outbreak. I asked everybody in the room if they had it, hoping they would. No one did. There was one more option, however. I yelled for Wilson to grab my wallet out of my pocket, and he did so. I remembered that I gave blood a few years back as well and they gave me a little card with my blood type, I never memorized it though. I asked Wilson to tell me my blood type, and sure enough it was AB Negative.
“Weir, get me the syringe out of your medical bag.” I called. He obeyed and returned just as the blood coming out of Haley’s neck reached the last layer of tissue. I then promptly stuck the needle in my vein and begun the transfer. There was already a tube in Haley’s wrist from Weir’s attempted makeshift surgery, so I put the tube in there. After about 15 minutes, the blood stopped flowing from her neck, but I knew I had a lot of ground to make up. I kept transferring my blood to her for the next half-hour. At that point, I could barely see anything. Everything was a blur and I couldn’t see colors. “Ryaaaaan” I began to slur “Isss Huurrrrleyyy Shhhtiiiilllll Paaayyyyllle?” I could barely make out his words, but I could understand that she wasn’t and she was regaining color, as he did so I could also make out that he was pulling the needle out of both of our arms. He then bandaged me up and laid me down on the bed. I began to fade, I didn’t know if I was dying, or simply going to sleep at that point. As my eyes closed, I envisioned a bright and colorful field. I could now feel myself standing on the grass. The sky was a brilliant blue and the grass was as green as I’ve ever seen. The trees that were atop the horizon were magnificent against the backdrop of the blue sky. I began to walk forward, the crisp, cool blades of grass rubbing against my feet. The air felt so full, as if there wasn’t anything in it but oxygen, and the temperature was perfect. I looked into the sky, and thought I saw a few glares, as if it were made of glass. I proceeded forward through the trees on the horizon. I kept walking and eventually found the end of the forest. As I emerged from the trees, I saw a huge city. It looked bigger than New York City, and more breathtaking than the northern lights. It looked as if it were made of neon and diamonds. I walked toward the city and ran into some cute, friendly woodland creatures. This felt so different than the life I had been living for the past 3 ½ months. I squatted down and patted the little creatures on the head. The bunnies, the squirrels, the chipmunks, all of them just sat there, smiling and chirping all the while. I stood back up and continued onward toward the city. It looked so beautiful and vibrant, more so than any city I have ever seen. I continued onward into the city, and the streets seemed as if they were something from a video game. The cars zoomed by on what looked like zip lines. There were not stop lights, stop signs, medians, or any street sign whatsoever, but the cars still seemed to flow flawlessly. It seemed as if they were being controlled by a pre-programmed AI. I continued walking next to the road on the sidewalk until I got to City Hall. I entered into the beautiful lobby, it was unlike any room I had ever seen before. The lobby was made out of what seemed like pure gold, and the windows were a magnificent tint of blue. I walked through the museum sized room and spoke to the information woman at the front desk.
“Excuse me, what exactly is this place?” I asked. Her face appeared to shine even brighter than ever as she began to speak.
“This place is named Civitatem Magnificentia. The City of Magnificence!” As she said it, the walls seemed to emit a sound of glass being shattered, but into a billion tiny pieces so it sounds magnificent, along with the sound of wind chimes being blown in a gentle wind. This place truly was a city of magnificence, it was so full of beauty and wonder that I wanted to learn more, but where were my friends? I had to find them; I had to show them this magnificent place. “You are not going to find your friends Jeremy. They are gone, far away from here. You don’t need them, and they don’t need you.” The woman at the desk spoke ominously, as if reading my very thoughts.
“I want to find my friends, where are they?” I asked, demandingly. She took a deep sigh and waved her hand in the air. A small portal opened in her palm.
“In order to stop you from returning to your friends, I must show you what will happen, if you make that decision.” She retorted. She threw the portal from her palm onto my chest. At that very moment, everything started to flash. I could feel all of my insides being turned inside out, not in a painful way, but in a freaky way. I could feel my flesh, bone, and muscle bend to the mercy of the portal. A few moments later, as my entire being fell into the portal, I felt as if I were flying without wings. I felt as if my mind were allowing me to soar through the air and let the wind blow all through my body. I felt transparent, as well as solid. I saw that I was in some sort of tunnel, but the walls of the tunnel were flying past me, and they were all colored in a way that seemed sort of like something y
ou would see in a collidascope. I felt as if I were on some sort of bad acid trip, until I saw a huge, blinding light. Within seconds, it had swallowed me. A few seconds passed before the light started to dim. As the light dimmed, I could make out a black and red sky, dead plants and animals, and grey grass. The light had completely dimmed as I was making out the scene, it was as if I had entered hell. It looked like the entire world had been killed, as if there were no hope for humanity. I looked to my right onto a deserted road, where I saw a few zombies roaming. That was the cause, zombies had ruled the world. I couldn’t believe my eyes, i was stunned, I didn’t want to believe it. I started to walk around, hearing the crunch of dead grass beneath my feet. I walked over to the zombies, but they didn’t pay any mind to me. I reached out to touch one of them, but just before my hand made contact, the zombie turned toward me. The shock and fear that I had felt just a few moments before had magnified at least 5 times when the saw the face of the zombie. The zombie was the face of my sister, Haley Taylor. Behind her, were three more zombies that were starting to turn. I saw the faces of Weir, Zach, and Ashley. I was frozen in fear and shock, sadness and sorrow. I could not believe what I was seeing, would this really happen if I returned to my friends? Would the very world as we know it cease to exist? Would I make some terrible mistake that would destroy everything? In the middle of my thinking, I started falling backward, it felt as if I were stumbling, but I was completely still. Before I knew it, I was in another portal, my body being flung around like a rag doll, yet I felt no pain. The portal spit me out with a thud on my back. I watched the portal disappear, and a beautiful blue sky replace it. I stood up, and I saw that I was standing on cool, moist, green grass. I looked around and saw a small town in the distance. I started walking toward it, and as I did so I felt a cool breeze flow through my hair. I felt as if the woman at the desk were playing with me, putting me inside of a hell-hole, and now she put me in this peaceful paradise. I made my way toward the small town and noticed a sign that read ‘House Springs: Population 500’. I couldn’t believe it, House Springs was my hometown, but it looked nothing like the town that I used to know. I walked around and saw the house I lived in as a kid and entered using the hidden key that only I knew about. I stepped in, and I recognized the inside, but only just. The walls were painted orange instead of grey, the floor was wood instead of carpet, and there were electronic gizmos all over the place.
“Hello sir, I am going to have to ask, how in the blazes did you get into my home?” a man to my right said in a very polite tone. I turned and saw a man who looked almost Identical to me.
“I used the key.” He looked rather amused.
“Impossible! Only I know where the key is hidden.” He said, mixing amusement with politeness in his voice.
“Look, my name is Jeremy Bene, and this is……….” The man interrupted me and said
“What? But I’m Jeremy Bene! How can this be?” I was completely confused, this man looked a lot older than I was, probably about 25 years older, but he still had a lot of facial features that I had. If this guy was truly Jeremy Bene…….then that meant………
“What year is this?” I asked him.
“Well silly, it is the year 2037 of course!” 2037? But the outbreak happened in 2013, how did this happen?
“Do you remember anything about a zombie outbreak?” I asked him. His face turned into a sly smile.
“Yes of course! January 2013 if memory serves, that was the home to the greatest achievement in my life. Come, sit, I’ll make us some tea.” He swiftly went into the kitchen and started the tea. I sat down on the couch, from the feel of it; it was leather, but the most comfy leather sofa I have ever sat on. I pondered on what Jeremy had said ‘It was the home to the greatest achievement of my life.’ What did he mean? As he was making the tea, he started singing, which was really odd, because I don’t sing. Soon enough, he returned with the tea and we started drinking.
“After Morgan ran off, the world seemed to end because of what he did. Everything was falling apart. But the crystals held magical abilities. Abilities that were transferred to me. I used the Earth Technique to level the quaking ground, the Water Technique to extinguish the fires, the Air Technique to stabilize the unstable waters, and the Fire Technique to heat the cooling air. I was the master of all four of the elements. The crystals gave me unspeakable power. As I held the four elements stable, the crystals gave me a new ability. The Soul Technique. I unleashed my new ability upon the world, and at that point everything seemed right.” He spoke. I had absolutely no idea what in the bloody blue hell he was talking about. “Oh wait; you are from a different time aren’t you? Is that how everything is working here? If you are truly Jeremy Bene, then you must be here from another time, from a different world. Here in this time period, we have mastered the theory of the 5D universe. For every dimension, there is another dimension existing, but in the same timeline and in a different point in time. Of course! Why didn’t I think of this before? You must be dreaming you are here! We have discovered that dreams cross the boundaries of the 5D universe; they cross into the fifth dimension and stray through time. In turn, your dreams are actually reality in another dimension. I am actually you from the year 2037, Jeremy.” I was stunned. Was this really how dreams worked? The only thing I could say was
“So I’m gonna live through the outbreak? I’m gonna rebuild the world?” The other Jeremy shook his head.
“It’s not that simple. It’s a possibility, yes. However, just because I exist in this timeline, doesn’t mean you are going to exist at this point in yours. This is the same timeline, the world will change at the same rate, and the life on earth will grow at the same rate. However, the people’s choices are their own. Every time someone makes a decision, another dimension is created to branch off from where that other dimension left off, but it would stray down the path of the other decision. For example, if I were to decide whether to keep sitting here on this couch or stand up, there would be two dimensions created. Since I haven’t stood up yet, there has been a dimension created that has me standing, but giving you this same speech in the same situation. Do you understand?” I nodded, I knew about the multi-universe theory, which had similar aspects to what he…..i mean I….. Was saying. “I have told you too much, you must return to your own time before you do some serious damage.” He scolded me.
“I would love to, but I can’t. There was some weird lady in my dream; she was a secretary or something. She blasted me with some sort of portal and took me to two different dimensions I guess, one where the zombies one and here.” I responded. Jeremy thought about this for a second.
“This might hurt for a second, but it will wake you up.” He warned. I had no idea what he had in mind, but all that mattered was that I could get back to my own time. Before I could react, he decked me in the face, and everything went white. My body felt weightless, I felt as if nothing were interacting with me at all. My body started to turn as if I were laying down, and eventually I could feel something solid holding me up. I opened my eyes and saw the roof of the RV. I appeared to be laying in the master bed. I still felt like crap, but at least now I was awake and aware. I started to sit up, but I then noticed two bodies on either side of me. To my left there was Haley, apparently sleeping. I held my breath for a second and turned her onto her side. The hole was bandaged up and there was no blood on the bandage. As well, I could hear her snoring. She was alive! The happiness I felt at that moment was unparalleled by any other moment in my life. I slowly exhaled into a sigh of relief and turned to my other side. It was Ashley, who was laying there sleeping. For a second, I thought she was victimized as Haley was, but at that moment, she stirred awake. Her beautiful blue eyes looked up at me in disbelief. After she got over the initial shock of seeing me, she shot up with a squeal and wrapped her arms around my neck.
“Oh my
god Jeremy your awake!” she yelled. She pulled away so that she could see my face again, but her arms were still wrapped around my neck tightly. She then gave me the biggest, most passionate kiss I had ever gotten, and that I probably will ever get. It felt as if an eternity had passed before it was over, and I was completely fine with that. She finally pulled away and I saw that she was crying. I wiped away her tears and put my hand on her cheek. I couldn’t stop smiling and neither could she. I then realized that we were not alone. Weir, Wilson, Zach, and Ryan were standing in the doorway.
“Hey guys, what’d I miss?” I asked. They were all smiling at me. “How’s Haley?” I then asked. Ryan’s smile then faded.
“It was one hell of a close call bud, but thanks to you, she made it. Weir did some calculations and if you had waited just a little while longer to transfer your blood, she would’ve lost too much and we would’ve lost her.” Ryan explained. Ryan then walked over to me and wrapped me in a hug. “Thanks for saving her Jeremy, you have no idea what that means to me.” He whispered in my ear.
“You guys would do the same for me, don’t worry about it.” I whispered back. “Weir deserves some credit too Ryan.” I continued.
“Oh yeah bro, I didn’t forget about him, I told him I owed him about a million favors already while you were out!” He responded. We all chuckled a bit, and it was well deserved. We were all under a lot of stress as of late, so it was kind of a weight-lifter to laugh a bit.
“So how long was I out? My body feels stiff as a board.” I moaned, trying to stretch out my limbs. There was a long silence after my question, and I knew I wouldn’t like the answer.
“Jeremy………..bro you’ve been out for about a week.” Wilson finally spoke up. A week? It couldn’t have been that long. I sprang out of the bed, but when I did so my legs gave out. AS I fell to the ground, I could hear almost every bone in my body crack. It felt good, to let all of that tension out of my body, but it also felt excruciating. Wilson and Ryan helped me back up to my feet and told me to take it easy.
“How the hell was I out for a whole week?” I finally asked in disbelief.
“I did the math when you passed out, you were supposed to wake up 2 days ago, but I guess you had lost more blood than I had guessed. At any rate, you had us going for a second, we checked on you like every hour or so to make sure you were still alive. You and Haley lost so much blood, a lot of us thought neither of you were going to make it, as much as I hate to say it.” Weir further explained. In all honesty, when I was transferring the blood, I didn’t care what happened to myself. I only wanted to save my sister. “I also analyzed the dead flesh of that sphere.” Weir continued. “It’s obviously a parasite, but I couldn’t relate it to any other known parasite on the planet, not even in the slightest. My best guess is that it is a type of mind-control device. That would explain Haley’s peculiar behavior in the city.” I contemplated this for a few moments. It seemed highly probably, but how was it made? Was it like the sprouter, where it had gotten mutated by the virus? Then, I dawned on something. The parasite presumably came from the sprouter, which was indirectly linked to Richard Morgan.
“Weir, have you checked if the parasite had any man-made genetics?” I asked. Weir thought on this for a second and then shook his head. “Then check it, I have an idea.” I responded. Weir promptly darted out of the room with Wilson and Zach following closely behind.
“So Jeremy” Ryan started “What’s it like being unconscious for a week?” It was an interesting question that I really hadn’t thought about myself.
“It felt as if everything were surreal. My mind could play tricks on itself without even realizing it. Anything could happen, and I had total control, but no control at the same time. I had 3 ‘dreams’ if you would call them, but they felt as if they were real.” I responded. I started to think about the ‘dreams’ I had while I was out, while I was in Civitatem Magnificentia. The utopia, the future, the death. They were three different realities that humanity could find in our timeline. If we weren’t careful, the future could very well depend on us. Just as that thought exited my mind, I thought I heard a small groan. I looked over toward the bed and saw Haley stirring. After a few moments, her eyes opened, and she had her pupils again.
“Uhhhh…….what’s going on?” she asked.
“Haley!” Ryan cried. He ran over to her and wrapped his arms around her chest. “Baby I thought I lost you! I’m so glad your back!” He cried. Haley looked at me, looking confused. I gestured to just hug him back, so she did. After they pulled away, the confused looked returned to Haley’s face.
“So what is the last thing you remember Haley?” I asked. She thought about it for a few moments, then she answered.
"the last thing I remember is sitting down in the driver's seat and turning the key to start the RV." Honestly, it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I was scared that she may have had amnesia or lost her memory beyond the outbreak. "There was a strange voice in my dream though, he kept saying, 'do not let them come here Haley, do not let them come' over and over again." she continued. "I felt like i was in a nightmare, it was so scary." Ryan wrapped her in a hug.
"the important thing is your ok now baby, that's all that matters." Ryan said. I started walking, trying to once again get my legs used to the weight of my body. With every step i took i heard a series of cracks in my knees and thighs. Within a few minutes, my legs started regaining strength, and i could walk more easily. I staggered my way over to the door and looked back to the bed. Ryan and Haley were already immersed in a conversation, and Ashley was already walking toward me. She walked with me out of the bedroom and into the living quarters.
"So what's all happened since we've been out?" I asked. Her face grew a little bit darker as she started to explain the situation.
"We had to reinforce the RV and hold up here. Ryan and Weir determined that the RV wouldn't be able to run anymore, it's been beatun up way too much. It's been like a makeshift fort the past couple days." she explained. It kind of pained me to see the RV dead, after all we had been through. I staggered my way over to the booth and Ashely and i sat down. I looked out the window and saw a much more different scene than when I last saw Colorado. The last time I saw it, it was dark, bleak, and rainy. Now it was quite the contrary, bright and shiny.
"Have there been any more incidents?" I asked. Ashley shook her head and said everything had been fine. Their main concerns right now were the basic essentials; food, warmth, water, etc. We needed to develop a plan to get those essentials, becasue I think I could speak for Haley as well when i said i was starving. After a little while, Wilson and Zach came over to the booth.
"Jeremy you're not gonna believe this!" Zach exclaimed. "Weir not only found man-made genetics, he found a tracking device in that bug. He said he might be able to tap into it's reception frequency." This was great news. If that bug was developed by Richard Morgan, we may have a big lead on him.
"That's great guys, but right now we need to focus our attention on more pressing matters. Ashley tells me we need food, so we need to get it. There's got to be some kind of shop here soemwhere." I responded. Wilson infromed me that he saw a mall formt he top of the RV yesterday, and we ended up setting that as our destination. We would need everyone at one hundred percent for this job, that means me and Haley had some physical therapy to do.
Kinemortophobia (The Fear Of The Undead) Book 1 Page 14