by Edward Grey
“Take me out.” The doll said.
“It’s not safe for you.”
“Please.”
“Okay.” Tommy sighed, and then took the doll out.
As he held the toy, he began to feel a warm sensation course through his veins. It seemed to derive from the doll, because his hand felt warmest of all.
When the heat became too hot to hold, Tommy dropped the doll. Suddenly, the surrounding zombies began to burst into flames. Hundreds of them began to burn where they stood with no apparent cause.
After the zombies ran around, helplessly cooking, they began to fall to the ground in scores. Moments later, every zombie was dead.
“What the hell was that?” Tommy said picking up the doll.
The doll replied, “I should tell you that I am an extremely powerful being. In fact, I am capable of so much more, but this body has its limitations. You may put me away now. I need to rest.”
Tommy handed the doll to Robot, and then they exhaustively walked to the entrance. Near the door, there was a call button. He took a deep breath, and pushed it.
7
“What is it?” A man said through the speaker box.
“We are looking for help.” Tommy replied.
“So? Do we look like the helping kind?”
“You just helped us live.”
“No, we didn’t. We kept them from breeching the walls.”
“Please let us in?”
“Why should I?”
“I need to find my way home.”
“What’s your name, boy?” The man said with an inquisitive tone.
“Tommy.”
After a short moment of silence, the large glass doors opened inwards. They stepped through the threshold, and once they were clear of the doors, they automatically closed and locked.
There was a long corridor ahead of them. The walls, ceiling and tiled flooring was white, almost clinical as if they were treading the halls of a hospital. At least the place felt clean, because he still had a nagging feeling that they were going to be attacked.
As they came to a three-way split, a man walked out from a door in the hallway to the left. He was old, maybe even old enough to be Tommy’s father. He was dressed as if he’d just stepped out of the seventies. His thick furrowed brow indicated that he was definitely the cantankerous man that answered through the callbox outside.
“Reno.” He said, holding out his hand.
“Nice to meet you.” Tommy said, and then shook his hand. “This is Kitty, Robot, and this is the doll.”
“Please to me you sir!” The doll said.
Though neither the sight of Kitty nor Robot startled him, the man appeared to be taken aback by her speech. He took a small step forward and peered into the unmoving face as it spoke to him.
“How is that possible?”
I shrugged, “No idea.”
“I do not mean any disrespect, sir. However, if I was to explain it to you, then you would surely not understand the complicated nature of my existence. Therefore I will only tell you that I am a being as you and all these people around us. Though, I am neither at the same time.”
The man indeed did not take offence to it; however, Tommy could tell that Reno was baffled by the doll’s response. The man seemed to want to ask another question, but the answer it already gave was concise and probably enough to quell his desire.
Tommy said, “Anyway, we came looking for help. We heard we could find answers in this place.”
“Okay, perhaps Dr. Zombie might be able to do something for you.” He said.
Now it was Tommy’s turn to be confused. Thus far, people had weird names for everything from the race that Kitty had originated from to the monsters outside, and didn’t even know the name of the city anymore. Now, he was surprised that someone other than him had said the word zombie instead of Chetula. Perhaps he would find the answers here after all.
“This way.” The man said, and then proceeded to walk through the door from which he came.
The door led into a small antechamber that led them into another hallway. As they followed the man, Tommy said, “Why do they call him Dr. Zombie.”
“That’s just what he named himself. I don’t even know what it means.”
Tommy was happy that someone else knew about zombies. It gave him hope that perhaps this Dr. Zombie was from his world, or at least a similar one. If that was the case, then he might know a way back. However, he also knew that if Dr. Zombie had known a way back, he probably would have gone already.
When they reached the end of the hallway, Reno opened the door, and through it was an expansive room. The ceiling seemed to extend for two floors, and the area was occupied by several different types of scientific machinery.
The man led them through the maze of equipment and finally to another antechamber. He placed his hand upon a scanner, and after verification, a green light lit and the wall on the left slid open.
This new room was empty, or so it seemed at first. The floor was made from black granite and the walls appeared to be covered in black marble. As they drew nearer to the middle of the room, they stopped suddenly, nearly running into a large glass panel.
As Tommy wondered what the glass was for, the image of a zombie appeared on it, but there seemed to be something different about him. He looked sick, sure, but he also looked more human that the others he’d seen thus far. He was old and wearing a white lab coat, black jeans, and a pair of nice black boots.
“Dr. Zombie?” Tommy asked.
“That’s me.” His voice appeared to be afflicted as well, but it sounded dual toned, for there was a human element to it that was not at all monster. “What can I do for you?”
“I don’t know if you can do anything, but I’m hoping you can help me find my way home.”
“Is that so?”
Kitty added, “I need courage. I’m sick of being such a baby all the time. Maybe you have some sort of pill that will give it to me? You are a doctor right?”
Robot said, “I wish to have information downloaded into my mind.”
The doll finished, “I would most certainly be obliged if you had a safe, biological vessel that I may transfer into.”
“Well, seems like you guys have a lot going on here.” He rubbed his chin as if deep in thought, and soon he motioned to kitty and said, “What is your name?”
“Kitty, sir.”
“Let me ask you, how is it that you made it all the way here?”
“I walked, sir.”
“Right, but even though there were zombies all over the place and surely other dangerous encounters, how is it that you made it here without courage?”
Kitty thought about it for a moment and finally said, “I don’t know.”
“Well, it seems to me that you have plenty of courage.”
Reno added, “Plus, I saw you take out plenty of those nasty bastards in the parking lot.”
“He’s right.” Tommy said, “I guess maybe it only comes down to having more faith in yourself. Plus, being courageous only gets you so far, and cowardice often keeps you alive afterwards.”
Kitty brooded once more, and then smiled. “You’re right. I hadn’t thought about that. Thank you for your kind words, sir. There’s one more thing, I need to find my family.”
“We will help you locate them in any way possible. We have some technology that still works, so perhaps they can contact some of the nearby colonies to see if they made it there safely.”
“Thanks again, Mr. Zombie.”
“You’re welcome.” He said, and then motioned at Robot. “As for you, I don’t have any knowledge banks. However, I have a proposal for both you and that intelligent doll there. I can download it into you, and that would also give her the body that she desires.”
“To have a second person in there, would that not complicate things?” Robot asked.
“No. From what I can tell, she is a sentient being, held at bay by the cotton body with which it possesses. If I were to down
load it into your body, it would act as your subconscious and she would never be alone. Just as humans have inner thoughts, you shall too.”
“I would like that.” The doll agreed.
“Very well, Doctor.” Robot said.
Dr. Zombie pointed at his assistant and said, “Follow him, he will take you to the chamber where he will begin the process.”
Finally, Dr. Zombie turned to Tommy, “Where is it you said you were from?”
“I didn’t, but I’m from Irvine.”
For a moment, he mumbled to himself. “I knew there was something different about you.”
“How do you mean?”
“Well, I am from a time where those shoes were the hip thing. I remember them well.”
“Are you also from my world?”
Dr. Zombie shook his head. “No son. This is your world.”
“What?”
“Yep, we are roughly thirty years into the future.”
“So you are saying that Zombies will rule the world one day?”
“That’s correct. The only reason no one these days know them as zombies is because they were named after the man who became the first creature.”
“That explains the weird name, but that doesn’t explain Kitty or Robot.”
“Well, Robot was engineered during the outbreak as a deterrent, a false human that could not be turned or killed by the Zombies. It was a way to fight them.”
“So there is more of his kind?”
“Many more. However, most are no longer operational. When the first wave was sent to battle the zombies, they fought well, but their power sources failed quickly. Soon, they became nothing more than very large paperweights.”
“Will Robot be okay?”
“He’ll be fine. My assistant will fit him with an updated power supply.”
At first Tommy was incredibly skeptical that a man could offer so much help to them, but he answered everything with such confidence and certainty that it was hard not to believe in him.
Tommy said, “What about Kitty?”
“During the first phase of the pandemic, our wonderful government decided they were going to release a virus based on feline DNA that was supposed to kill only those changing into zombies.”
“I’m guessing it didn’t?”
“No, in fact it didn’t even harm them. Instead, it either did nothing or affected humans in two ways. The first way they simply died. And the second—”
“They mutated?”
“Precisely!” He said, “They all got sick, and slowly mutated. This mutation came with a new gene that when they reproduced, they bore children with the same qualities as cats.”
“I’m second generation.” Kitty added.
“Second? How old are you?” Tommy asked.
“I was born seven years ago, but I grow much faster.”
Dr. Zombie continued, “They age like cats. Aside from the typical things that you see, whiskers, hair, and paws, they also obtained invisible genes such as heightened senses and aging.”
Tommy was saddened that this would happen to the world, his world. He didn’t want to stick around in this place, but he also didn’t want to go back and watch everything fall apart. Still, he missed his family and friends, and that was more than enough of a reason to return.
Dr. Zombie said, “I know how you can get back.”
“If you know, why are you still here?”
“As you can see, I carry the virus. If I were to go back, not only would I start the pandemic early, but I would rewrite everything that happens beyond that point.”
“Why aren’t you like the others?”
“I don’t know for certain, but something in my body allows only part of the disease to affect me. I have all the same symptoms, except I look half like them, and I can think for myself. I do have the hunger though, which is why I’m not there in the room with you.”
“I’m sorry.”
“I’m not.” He said, “At one time, there was nothing more important than finding my way home, but then I got sick and knew I was doomed. I could never go back no matter how much I missed everyone and the life I lived. Therefore, I became determined to find a cure.”
“So, when you find the cure, you’ll go back in time to prevent this from happening?”
“I can’t say for sure, young man. I can tell you though, that you have several years ahead of you before Alan Chetula escapes from the government and infects the rest of us.”
If he spoke the truth, then Tommy had plenty of time to prepare for the worst. To add to that, he had years to spend time with those that he cared about, and to top it off, he could forget his band and go to medical school like his parents wanted. Then, he could study human biology and hopefully aid in future endeavors to fix this outbreak before it destroys the world.
“Okay.” Tommy relented. “Send me back. How do I go?”
“Just remove the shoes from your feet, and you’ll instantly be transported back to the exact time and date that you disappeared.”
“That’s all?”
“Indeed.”
“Okay…” Tommy kneeled and started to take off his right shoe. The world around him began to dim and blur, and soon blue light began to swell from within the shoe. Kitty stepped back, surely afraid that he might be swept back to another time.
Heavy winds began to blow, and several flashes of light brightened the darkening room. When he pulled the last shoe off, he felt like he was pulled through a vortex, a black hole in the universe. He was pulled, pushed, stretched, twisted, but he kept his eyes closed because he didn’t want to see what was truly happening around him. Actually, he did, but he felt he was better off not knowing.
A moment later, he hit a hard surface. He felt warm, and could smell the rubber soles of the shoe aisle he was walking through only hours ago. He opened his eyes, and was in fact back at home.
He put his old shoes back on and left the store. On the way to his apartment, he decided to sell all his gear and anything else he didn’t need. Medical school was going to be expensive and after everything he had seen, he was likely to be busier than ever with his newfound path in life. [Back to Contents]
A Man Apart
The canyons, mountains, and hills of Southern California were cold during the late summer nights. Negating that, however, was a beautiful view of the city lights.
Out there, in that wilderness of quiet, was a calm that allowed people to think and consider things in their life. Grant was one such man who spent clear skied evenings like this wondering where his life will go next, and would jump at the opportunity for a new adventure.
As he watched the stars twinkle and the moon give off a sheen that was nothing short of spectacular, he heard a loud noise in the distance.
The parking area for the hike was too far for it to be a car. Besides, it sounded more like a vacuum crossed with the compressed air release of a shaken soda bottle.
When he looked around, there wasn't much to see. The area was vacant of light and the dried foliage at this time of year made the trees and bushes thin.
Eventually, his eyes returned to the sky and he began to wonder about his life. He had recently and successfully completed a stint at a nearby shelter where he spent three months volunteering to help the homeless. During which he decided to relocate to a different city and find something else to do.
He didn't really want to move because he liked living there, but during one of his shifts there, a man entered the shelter and attempted to blow it to pieces. Grant had thwarted the man's plans by selflessly acting when it could have gotten him killed. In all, he saved over three-hundred people's lives.
As a result of his natural care of human life, people wanted to give him gifts, money, work, and whatever else they could. Even people who weren't affected by the actions of the dangerous man were idolizing him as a saint.
Moving meant that he could get away from the hassle of rising to a status that he didn't care about. He liked to stay under the radar, an
d most certainly didn't care that John Doe could make him a millionaire just because everyone thought he was a savior.
As he sat there contemplating his next journey, he heard a rustle in the brush behind him. Generally, he wouldn't be so jumpy, but just three weeks prior to visiting the lookout, he'd read about a man who was murdered for his watch and wallet. Even though it is hailed as the safest city and though the paper said they were shocked it happened, he knew there were people out there so evil that their location didn't make a difference.
He turned towards the path and saw someone walking his direction. The man didn't seem threatening. Even though he had hard eyes that must have seen some darker times, they were also soft and calming.
When the man drew closer, he didn't say anything. Instead, he pulled something small and black from his pocket. Grant instantly froze, wondering if it was a weapon.
The man pointed the small object at him and a light burst from the end of it. "Grant Freeman?"
He sighed with relief and said, "How do you know my name?"
"I'm Travis Warner with the FBI." The man said, and then trained the light onto a wallet with his official ID.
"FBI? What's the matter?"
"I need you to come with me. It's a private matter."
"Did I do something wrong?"
"Please, I need you to follow me."
"Do I have a choice?"
"Not really, no."
Travis held his hand out and gestured for Grant to lead the way. Though he was wary of going with the man, the last thing he wanted to do was anger an agent of the government. He wasn't a conspiracy theorist by any means, but he didn't want to find out what they might do to him for disobeying.
"Just passed that tree ahead, step left off the path and head into the desert."
"The desert?" We're not going to the parking lot?"
"No."
Now it was getting weird. He didn't know how agents operated, but he was sure they didn't ask people to walk into the middle of the desert. This was starting to feel more and more like a trap, a dangerous ruse by a dangerous man.