“Why I got this feeling I heard that before?” Lily said.
“Well, I’m sure it’s the first time you hear that from a zombie.”
“And what are you going to do, Zomboy?” Lily asked. “Are we prisoners here?”
“Not at all, you can leave anytime you want. But now that you’re here, may I interest you in a grand tour?”
“Well, we’re not doing anything important right now.” Lily replied.
The circle of zombies dispersed, opening room for the visitors to walk among them. They looked like a fine bunch.
“Aren’t you going to introduce us to your crew?” Lily requested.
“Oh, I will.” Zomboy assured her. “Everybody here is looking forward to it. But first, let me get you acquainted with the place. You have to understand that all this time living in a cave made some folks here a bit shy.”
Mate and Lily followed Zomboy around.
“How come you get light in here?” Mate asked.
“Bacterial activity, bioluminescence I believe it’s called.” Zomboy answered. “A few fireflies here and there also help giving theses walls the aspect of a sky full of stars.”
“It’s charming.” Mate said.
“That’s the idea, my good man.” Zomboy replied.
“I noticed you didn’t bother asking my name.” Mate spoke to Zomboy.
“Believe me, old chap. It wasn’t an oversight on my part, Mister Clarkson. You had quite a forehand I might add.”
Mate and Lily looked at each other.
“Call me Mate.” He said.
“Or call him Clark.” Lily stepped in.
“Zomboy, at your services.”
They walked down an avenue with houses on both sides. They were small, but surely well maintained. Unlike the constructions on the surface, habitations in there did not look alike. Some of them have gardens decorated with gorgeous flowers.
“That reminds me of my old neighborhood.” Clark said. “If my family survived the plague, they should still be living in it.”
“Many of us share this feeling.” Zomboy spoke. “We have to live in here, then why not making things a little more homelike?”
“Who built those houses?” Lily asked.
“Let’s say everybody helped.” Zomboy replied. “Once they were finished, proprietors modified them according to their particular ideas of what a home should be.”
“And they have good taste.” Mate commented.
“How many of you are there?” Lily queried.
“About a hundred” Zomboy replied.
“How long have you been living…” Lily choked on her words. “How long have you been here?”
“It’s perfectly all right.” Zomboy understood the girl’s discomfort. “It would sound really strange if you had asked how long we’ve been dying in here. This is a concept that only applies to the living. Anyway, you don’t bother counting time where you’re dead. I don’t know how long it’s been, but you can see by our degree of liquescence, we’ve been here for quite a while.”
“And you never go to the surface.” Mate divagated.
“That’s correct. We do exist without sunrise and sunset,” Zomboy responded “but we do our best to enjoy our many nights.”
“I don’t see fences around the houses.” Mate observed.
“There’s no point in trespassing and stealing.” Zomboy said. “Residents just keep their doors close because even the dead need their privacy.”
“You said before the ones you bit turned regular living dead.” Lily recalled. “I wonder what you guys eat in here, despite you’re dead.”
Zomboy lowered his head for a moment.
“I’ll get to that.” He said.
They reached the end of the avenue and continued down a pathway. There were long cracks on the walls on both sides, which extended as far as the eye could see. Conveyor belts ran along such cracks, transporting a wide variety of vegetables.
“You have a fruit juice factory or something like this?” Lily asked.
“Something like this” Zomboy answered. “Those vegetables are indeed processed in order to become juice and other related stuff. I’ll tell you all about it later.”
“You’re saving a lot for later.” Mate spoke impatiently.”
“We have time.” Zomboy said. “You are young and we are dead.”
“It’s warm in here.” Lily noticed. “How you do that?”
“Sunlight gets in here due to the clever architecture of this cavern.” Zomboy answered. “I don’t understand quite well myself, but I know the heat is still kept inside during cold nights.”
“This whole place looks like one of those Inca things I read about once.” Mate said.
“Or Zincas, as we like to call ourselves sometimes” Zomboy replied.
“Yes, this is a time to make a lot of puns with the word zombie.” Lily whispered.
They reached a larger area. There was an improvised sports court in the middle of it, with handmade soccer goals, basketball hoop and all correspondent lines painted on the floor.
“Nice.” Lily commented.
“It’s a beauty, huh?” Zomboy said. “As staying in shape is no longer a concern, we decided that practicing sports would be way more fun than having a gym.”
“I’m starting to like this place.” Mate spoke. “Only the tennis net is missing.”
“We’re planning to make one in the future.” Zomboy said. “A net can also be used for fishing and volleyball. The problem is not building the courts, but getting the balls.”
“I can arrange the tennis balls and racquets.” Clark offered. “Lily here can contribute with the hockey stick.”
“I don’t suppose those things were here when you first came.” Lily interrupted their conversation.
“No, those are our little contributions.” The cadaver replied. “When we first came to these caves, only the overall infrastructure was ready for immediate use.”
“Who made the infrastructure?” Lily asked.
“Nature did most of the job,” Zomboy replied “but a good deal of this place was perfected by the people that threw you here.”
“Joshua and his bunch?” Mate asked.
“Their people were already living in these parts thousands of years before we came.” Zomboy responded.
“So, they’re for real, not just folks in costumes with spears, trying to scare away tourists.” Mate said.
“They are Amerindians of some sort, yes.” Zomboy answered “The very first inhabitants of the continent. They resisted to time, floods, earthquakes, greed of man, and more recently a zombie apocalypse.”
“No, they didn’t.” Clark said. “Otherwise, you wouldn’t be here.”
“We made a deal.” Zomboy spoke.
“You’re going to have to explain that.” Lily said.
“Why spoiling the mood?” Zomboy responded. “We’re having such a quality time.”
They got into a corridor that ended in a hole shaped like an arch, with no door. Beyond it, a vast field extended in all directions, with several living dead working the land and growing all sorts of vegetables.
“That’s our farm.” Zomboy informed. “When harvest time comes, the food is reaped and placed on those conveyor belts you saw.”
“I’ve meaning to ask you,” Mate said “are you turning veggies now?”
“Oh, despite we walk and talk, this is a zombie paradigm that is not to be broken any time soon.” Zomboy replied. “We need human flesh to live. We need it badly. We tried animals, but it’s just not the same. However, you shall not worry. We worked a little arrangement with Joshua up there.”
“An arrangement…?” Clark murmured.
“He is supplied with seeds and us with food.” Zomboy said. “Believe me, nobody will miss the ones we eat. Sorry, there are certain things we still cannot change. So, we developed a taste for scumbags. And they taste like failure.”
“Well, this is very hard to swallow.” Lily spoke.
&
nbsp; “You’re telling me.” Zomboy replied.
“Why you bother growing vegetables anyway?” Lily queried.
“Those are for you.” Zomboy responded.
“I don’t understand.” Lily complained. “It seems the more you try to elucidate things, the more questions you raise.”
“You’re privileged people.” Zomboy answered with a smile. “You’re the first of many I intend to bring here in time.”
“To be eaten by you?” Mate asked.
“No.” Zomboy replied “To live a happy, full life until it’s possible to fix all the mess those Undertakers are making up there.”
“I don’t see anybody.” Ike said, peeking outside the door. “I guess the coast is clear.”
He, Ivy and Jill carefully left the construction.
“I still think we should have stayed inside.” Ivy pointed out.
“For how long?” Ike questioned. “We can’t live on ruffles and power bars for the rest of our days.”
“You’re right.” Ivy admitted.
Ike took a deep breath, trying to encourage his spirit through his lungs. They walked around to get acquainted with their new surroundings, possibly new home. Jill ran to a fountain nearby. It was still a portentous construction, although completely depleted of water.
Ivy tried to catch up with the girl, while Ike just calmly walked. They reached the small rounded pond, which only contained loose rocks and moss. In the center, three statues of dolphins stood. Water was supposed to come out of their mouths, but the fountain was dry, so much that Jill could run in it. She pulled the sleeves of her two new best friends. After all, life can be a lot more fun when you have playmates.
Ike and Ivy played with little Jill without a care in the world. They took turns lifting the girl as high as their arms could reach, then putting her back to the ground and running after Jill, pretending they were chasing her. After weeks of fear and insecurity, Jill could finally laugh and laugh like there was no tomorrow, as should all children her age.
After a while, the trio got tired and sat down on the short walls delimiting the pond, which invariably doubled as benches.
“This is not so bad.” Ivy said. “I hope I don’t regret saying this, as it happened last time.”
“We should try to find a place to stay.” Ike suggested. “If that Benson guy could make it in here, perhaps we…”
Ike suddenly silenced. An arrow flew through the air and pierced his shoulder. Jill screamed. He looked at the weapon crossing his body. It did not seem real. But the horrible pain told a different story.
“What… What…?” Ivy mumbled stunned.
Amidst perplexity and fear, she could not decide how to help her boyfriend. Should she try to take the damn arrow out of his shoulder? But could she stop him from bleeding to death?
Ike lied down in the pond, with Ivy and Jill kneeling down by him, both scared and confused.
“You have made a terrible mistake.” said a man who loomed in the near distance, carrying a bow. “You cost the lives of our brothers and sisters. Now you’ll suffer. The Boss was a very good friend of mine. You didn’t really think you were going to get away with this.”
“Your friend tried to feed us to zombies!” Ivy shouted in despair.
“That was your destiny and what you deserved.” The man replied. “You’ll wish you had been devoured by them.”
Another mob of men and women in rags surrounded Ivy, Jill and bleeding Ike.
“It’s good to know you also dislike those jerks.” Lily commented.
“I like them.” Zomboy revealed. “In a way, they made all this possible.”
“I can see that.” Lily said.
Suddenly, an alarm similar to a door bell rang. It went off only once but it was enough to cause a big scurry. Lots of walking corpses ran to a particular direction at the same time.
“What’s going on?” Mate asked.
“One of the many unique events we have around here!” Zomboy answered full of enthusiasm. “You got to see this. Come on!”
Zomboy also started to run together with the crowd. Lily and Clark had no choice but to follow him.
They all reached yet another arch-shaped hole, the entrance to a very large chamber. The cadavers squeezed themselves by the doorway as best as they could, seeing and listening with lots of anticipation and excitement.
The big room held an apparatus that would be the envy of any TV news set, including cameras, microphones and even an anchor’s desk, all disposed around the circular chamber on one side. On the opposite corner, three living dead dressed like cowboys were sitting by a big desk bearing laptops, control panels and monitors showing graphics with sine curves and spectrum analyzers.
“Make room!” Zomboy ordered the crowd. “Come on, guests are entitled to watch this first row!”
The throng opened way to let Lily, Mate and Zomboy into the chamber.
“Wow!” Lily gasped. “What is this place?”
“You’ll see!” Zomboy replied excited. He turned to one of the cadavers by the desk and said “So, are they up again?”
“Oh yes.” Hank responded, adjusting a frequency controller on his laptop. “Their demagogy doesn’t waste any time. We’ll hear from them again in a few minutes.”
“Hey, give me those phones!” Slim growled at the corpse beside him on the desk. “It’s my turn now!”
“No way!” Dylan retorted. “You spoke last time! Besides, I came up with some pretty good stuff people will love to hear!”
“We can’t decide what to say until we hear what they say!” Slim argued.
“My point exactly!” Dylan insisted. “I’m also very good in improvising! Better than you anyway!”
“Of course you are!” Slim retorted sarcastically.
“Knock it off you two!” Hank intervened. “I’m sorry, Slim, but Dylan is right. You spoke last time. It’s his turn.”
“Come to papa!” Dylan said and put on the headsets.
A sine curve on the monitor right in front of Hank rose to a higher peak.
“They’re speaking.” He informed.
“Let’s hear it.” Zomboy said.
Hank turned up the volume of an old portable radio somehow adapted to connect to more sophisticated equipment.
Man on the radio:
“We have a very important message for the community. Recently, our official broadcast channel has been invaded by rogue scoundrels and scumbags!”
The transmission could be heard outside the chamber by means of two loudspeakers attached to the wall above the arched doorway, on both sides.
The horde of cadavers cheered, whistled and applauded what they had just heard.
“We did it!” A corpse screamed. “They’re talking about us!”
“Oh yes, rogue scoundrels to the rescue!” People in the mob commented.
“According to them, we are scumbags! And we also eat scumbags!”
“That makes us cannibals!”
A roar of laughter and woohoos followed.
“Quiet you!” Hank demanded. “Let’s hear it. This is getting interesting.”
Man continued on the radio:
“But you have nothing to fear, respectable members of society. We are putting our best efforts to track the invaders down and bring them to justice. They will pay for this hideous crime and face the consequences of their repulsive actions!”
“It sounds like a threat!” Slim said opening a warm, twisted smile.
“Yes, I’m so very scared!” Dylan responded sardonically.
Man continued on the radio:
“Those people are nothing more than renegades and terrorists trying to mislead you and ultimately cause you harm. They are thieves who want to steal from you the salvation we offer, not to mention all your possessions, everything you hold dear.”
“This is pure gold.” Slim said. “It’s amazing how much material they provide us with, all at once.”
“That’s the advantages of being a bother.” Dylan s
poke.
Man continued on the radio:
“Don’t let yourselves be fooled by the criminals. Please ignore all transmissions that superimpose over ours. There’s only one official channel. We are very close to find the perpetrators of these noxious intrusions, but any help is greatly appreciated. Any information leading to the arrest of this gang will be duly rewarded…”
“I’ve had enough of this crap.” Dylan decided. “When do I get in?”
“Give me a sec…” Hank said and turned to his laptop. “Signal and voice scramblers are up and running, tapping on their frequency now…”
In the monitor, a sine curve slowly decreased until completely disappearing, while another one increased in intensity, with an alternate spectrum.
“Alright, Dylan” Hank said. “You’re on in three, two, one…” And he pointed a forefinger at his partner.
“Howdy friends” Dylan spoke and his voice also echoed on the radio and loudspeakers. “I totally endorse and even reinforce each and every word my dear predecessor was yapping. This is indeed a very important message! A bunch of no-goods invaded our hypocrite broadcast channel.”
A lot of people in the crowd had to bring hands to mouths in an attempt to hold back laughter.
Dylan continued on the radio:
“Those rowdy handsome devils do nothing but complain of the horrible conditions we left for them in this new shitty world we made. All they do is nag, nag, and nag about being chased by the flesh-eating monsters we created with our virus. We give them a unique opportunity to practice some outdoor exercises and this is how they thank us! Crying babies, that’s what they are! Such lowlifes definitely don’t deserve to be in our marvelous sanctuaries, with tubes stuck up their asses and needles piercing their whole bodies. Those are privileges reserved only for you, glorious members of high society.”
Apocalily Series (Book 2): The Almighty Lady of Tomorrow Page 14