by Ian Woodhead
There was something else that he’d just noticed too. On the far stone, behind the huge hulking metal contraption, Stephen saw a tiny crack of light illuminating a patch of floor behind the machine. Curious, Stephen walked towards it, seeing that the closer he got, the more detail emerged. It wasn’t stone after all. The light was coming from a painted-over window. He stopped directly in front of it and ran the tip of his finger across the paint, stopping when his finger covered over the light. He scraped off a few more flecks of black paint, smiling as the blazing sunlight streamed through the now clean glass.
He wasn’t back home, that was for sure. It shouldn’t be daylight for at least another few hours. Stephen bent down and gazed through the glass. He saw fields and trees and in the distance, a collection of old-fashioned cottages.
“Fuck, this is so beautiful.”
“Looks can be deceiving, Stephen.”
Yelping, he spun around and caught sight of a vague human shape sitting on a metal platform that ran along the room, connecting the machines.
“Don’t be too alarmed. I mean you no harm.”
Stephen squinted and forced his eyes to the floor when a powerful flashlight beam was shone at his face.
“Sorry, just making sure that I had the right Stephen.” The man placed the flashlight in his lap. “I’m glad you’re still alive and that the others didn’t catch you. That would have been …” he paused. “It would have been most unfortunate.”
“Who are you?”
The man chuckled to himself. “That’s a very good question. Let’s be honest here, I think you’ve had enough information tonight to last you a lifetime.” He stood up and started to climb down the ladders bolted to the machine. He jump off the last couple of rungs and walked over to the man.
“You’re Joseph!” said Stephen.
The man smiled. “Well, I’m one of them. Welcome to my world, by the way.” He thrust his hand into Stephen’s and enthusiastically shook it. “Well, not that it is our world anymore. Your world kind of owns us now, I suppose. The official designation for this place is now Food World. We supply all your city’s meals.”
Stephen looked at the vast machine behind him. “I suppose that’s what these machines are used for?”
Joseph nodded. “Yes, they’re processers.”
“What do you process?”
“Our dead.”
Chapter Thirteen
His wife’s eyes grew larger and larger until they melted together to form one gelatinous ball the size of Tony’s fist. He shook away the surreal image, ordering his tremulous thoughts to stay on track and commit to piecing his body back together. Did his arm belong behind him? Why did he only possess two hands? His mind refused point-blank to help him, its nebulous thoughts only focused on the underwater noises traveling through his segmented body.
Ellen must have decided that he no longer wanted to play as he now watched her roll towards a large hole. The underwater sounds now had two beats. Tony wasn’t interested in the random announcements from his traitorous mind, he just wanted to see if his wife would actually fall into that hole. He wasn’t even sure that the vast ball of flesh was the woman he’d married all those years ago, considering that every part of her flesh had clumped together now.
Her marble-shaped body disappeared from sight, and seconds later, horrified screaming filled his ears. Too late for him to realize that she’d rolled into a zombie pit.
The sound of shrieks continued even though his perception began to alter, to take on the guise of reality. Tony fell a million miles from one inch above the ground to find his feet beneath his legs. His mind was no longer a separate entity, yet the screaming continued. He slammed his hands against his ear, silently thankful that his ears were back where they belonged. He turned around to see his two companions, both convulsing in the wet mud, their dirt-covered mouths both opening and shutting like starving fish. Their voices cut out and they stiffened like boards before sighing.
So, they’d made it. Both his new colleagues turned to the side and threw up. Tony chuckled to himself, remembering his first time travelling the tablet express. Parts of their bodies and minds were probably still catching up. When they were whole, both of them would no doubt have a few choice words to say about this method of traveling. Most of them would not be too pleasant.
Wherever they had landed, it seemed peaceful enough, which meant that at least they had time to recover. He sat up and placed his hands on the ground behind him while taking a closer look at their new environment. The first things he noticed were the dilapidated hulks of several cars a few feet away. Behind them were the remains of a row of tall stone buildings, their black windows revealing nothing of what lay inside them. Tony shivered. He couldn’t help it. Wherever they had landed, this was not a good place to stay for too long. No living human had been here for a long time. As for dead humans? Who knew.
Did this place even have walking dead people? That blind optimism popped like a blood-filled balloon as soon as the all too familiar smell of bad meat drifted past his nose. Could they be back home? Tony studied the buildings around him. He didn’t recognize any of them, but then again, the capital wasn’t the only city in his world. “Oh fuck,” he uttered, when his thoughts turned towards home. His stomach folded in two and a small panic bubble expanded at the back of his mind.
What if this was another citystate? One of the many abandoned and left to the dead, ones truly dead and the ones still moving, Just great, he had traveled from one world to another and back again, only to find himself in one of the more dangerous places on the planet. Lady Fate certainly had a dark sense of humor; either that or the bitch enjoyed shitting on his head from a great height.
He jerked his head away from his groaning companions, staring intently at one of the vehicles. He shifted his eyes from the wheels buried in the vegetation, pushing up through the crumbling asphalt, hoping that the movement he’d caught from the corner of his eye was nothing more than a patch of weeds brushing against the fender, or even better, a product of his hyper imagination.
Tony scrambled over to the others, breathing a sigh of relief at the sight of the man beginning to show signs that he was coming out of the queasiness. He obviously had a more robust constitution than Tony did.
He gently placed one of his hands across the woman’s open mouth, effectively muffling her loud moaning. He felt her soft skin under the palm of his hand and thought of his wife, immediately feeling guilty, wondering if the bizarre hallucination that he’d experienced while traveling here was just his mind reminding him that he had other responsibilities. Tony hadn’t given hardly any thought about Ellen since the incident with Joseph. The poor woman must be out of her head with worry. He stopped and re-examined his thought process. Ellen had her meetings to go to today. Even with half the capital in flames, she wouldn’t have noticed. The woman would be in her element, doing what she enjoyed, partying with the elite and cozying up with any founders that might be close by. The chances were that she probably hadn’t even noticed he was missing.
“I’m so sorry,” he whispered, leaning closer to her. “As you and your friend saved my life, it’s only right that I try save yours in return. It would be a very good idea not to make any noise. I think that we’ve landed in another citystate. I hate to think how many shambling dead could be close by.”
The picture of his wife’s eyes, growing larger every second, thrust to the front of his mind as he reluctantly moved his hand away. The girl must be conscious enough to realize the ramifications of his statement. He slowly removed his hand, then helped her to sit up. She muttered a quiet thanks before crawling over to the other man. Tony wondered if they were husband and wife.
He tucked himself behind the remains of a tumble-down wall, avoiding the sharp stones, and peered over the top, looking back at that car. It must have been his imagination; there was nothing moving over there. He kept watch, just in case. None of them were in any fit state to start battling dead people, all desperate
to sink their teeth into their sweet flesh.
Why couldn’t he have landed back where he’d left from or, even better, in his own apartment instead of here, wherever ‘here’ was. He studied the surroundings one more time, just in case anything around him did look familiar. He sighed, irritated with himself for even allowing such a ridiculous thought to enter his stressed mind. The very few cities that he had visited before the whole world turned to utter shit wouldn’t have remained in the same pristine state, not after all these years.
Even so, it would have helped to have known how far they were from the capital. The relative distance between this city and their home could mean the difference to whether they lived or ended up as zombie fodder.
The forgotten cities closest to the capital had been largely depopulated. The dead things had migrated across the empty land, making their way to the capital’s fortified walls. In the beginning, the border guard had almost been overrun by the countless masses of corpses on more than one occasion.
The corpses had slowed down to a trickle once the authorities had detonated the nukes over the few selected cities. His wife had regaled him with quite a few horror stories from her team, of sightings of strange mutated nightmares inhabiting the lands surrounding these radioactive melted areas of twisted slag. Perhaps he should be thankful that they hadn’t appeared in one of those places.
He decided to be optimistic for a change. He hadn’t seen any walking corpses so far, and they have been here for a few minutes now. They must be close to home. If that was the case then there couldn’t be more than a few hundred zombies in this city. If they were quiet and careful, they might be able to make it out of here without getting eaten.
Kenny tilted his head back and yawned before looking directly at the woman. “How do you feel?” he whispered.
“I feel like I’ve just fallen down a flight of steps.”
The man turned to look at Tony. “Thank you,” he said, coughing. “It looks like you’ve saved our lives.” He blinked. “I’m not sure how you did that but thank you anyway. I don’t think those other people were going to treat us too courteously.”
Tony shrugged. “You’re right there. My other self had already explained to me in graphic detail where we would end up.” He shook his head, surprised at how easily he was able to believe all this nonsense of there being more than one world. “I just said ‘my other self’ like it was a perfectly normal thing to say.”
“Do you know where we are?
He gazed at the other man. “I would like to say that it doesn’t matter as long as we’re not in danger.” He paused. “Thing is, I’m not sure we really are out of danger, just yet. Not if this is one of the forgotten cities.” Tony slowly got to his feet, looking around them for anything that would serve as weapons. He wasn’t all that surprised to find it was a futile gesture. Even if there was anything lying on the ground, the weeds and wild grass would have covered it up.
“I know exactly where we are,” muttered the girl. She got to her feet and walked up to Tony. “I have good news and bad news.” She bent down, picked up a rock, and dropped it into the palm of his hand. “We are not in one of the forgotten cities. That much is obvious.”
He looked at the rock. The weight was all wrong; no rock should be this light. He looked at her grim smirk. He extended his finger and pressed the tip against the rock, watching his finger push all the way through.
“We’re in one of the city’s game zones,” she said. “By the looks of it, this is Celebrity Slaughter.”
The other man chuckled. “I don’t believe this,” he muttered, “we’ve just walked through parallel worlds, only to end up in the next fucking studio? Somebody up there really does like to play games.”
“Are you part of all this bullshit, Tony?” she asked. “If that really is your real name.” She pressed her hands against her stomach. “God, that hurt. Look, I’m thankful for you getting us out of there, really I am, but you have to admit your sudden appearance complete with a few magic pills that conveniently brought us back into the game is a bit too much to believe.”
Would this orange-scented girl be satisfied with the simple response of providence? Judging from her pout, Tony guessed not. “I don’t have any answers for you, lady,” he replied. “Only that I am not part of any bullshit. I’m in as much danger as the pair of you.”
“Come on, Diane,” chuckled the other man. “What happened to your unshakable beliefs? It doesn’t seem that long ago when you were accusing me of not believing what my eyes showed me.”
The woman’s features rippled through a medley of conflicting emotions until her face settled on what looked to Tony like defeat.
“So, we’re all in this together,” Diane stared at Tony. “And if you’re really telling the truth, I guess that means you’re not really a streetscreen addict?” She looked him up and down. “No, of course you’re not. Those clothes are expensive. Don’t you watch any of the shows at home?”
He shook his head. “No, I can’t stand them.”
“Great,” she muttered. “Well, if we don’t get our wits back, these games will soon make us all the very dead.” She walked into the middle of the overgrown road and turned to face the pair of them. “Right now, I think we’re safe. I don’t think anyone has noticed us, even the show monitors won’t be aware that they have extra guests on the show.”
“How do you know that?”
Diane smiled at Tony. “Can you hear any alarm bells? We must have ended up in one of the few areas in the zone that’s blind to the cameras. Not too sure how we’re going to get out of here though. As soon as we start to move, they’ll see us.” She walked back and extended her hand. “I’m Diane, by the way, and this is my brother, Kenny.”
Kenny nodded to him and grinned.
“I’ve already told you my name and I’ve figured out your names already. Still, it is nice to be formally introduced.” Tony turned to Kenny. “We have to get you two back into the city. There’s a man who’ll be very interested in you, Kenny. I believe that you could be the answer to all of our prayers.”
Did he really just say those words? Tony turned away from them and looked over at one of the buildings. They must think he had lost his mind. To Tony’s ears, he had just sounded like one of those Jesus freaks that used to knock on their door every Sunday morning back when he was a kid.
“I’ve already figured that out,” replied Kenny, his voice was barely audible. “I mean, we now know that these pills and tablets, as well as the injections, all come from the same source.”
Tony looked back at Kenny. “Enlighten me.”
Kenny’s sister sighed quietly. “Three brothers were discovered who were immune to the plague. They used their blood to create an antidote, a vaccine. Only it didn’t work out the way they hoped. It didn’t destroy the virus, it only took it back to an embryonic stage. Stop taking and we all know what happens.”
“Then let’s get out of here,” said Tony. He hurried over the road, trying to see a way out. “How do we escape?”
Diane pulled him back. “Not like that, you’ll only end up getting us all killed.” She pointed over to a street corner. “We need to go that way. Just not yet. Listen.”
He heard approaching footsteps, Tony ducked behind the car, watching a man and a woman skid around the corner. The woman stumbled and would have fallen if it hadn’t been for the timely intervention of the thickly muscled man who grabbed her. Tony felt Diane’s hand grab the back of his shirt.
“Stay down,” she hissed. “I know her.” Diane looked back at her brother who looked more scared than she did. “Look at his clothes.”
Kenny nodded. “Oh God, I see it,” he whispered. “I think we just escaped from all of his pals.”
Tony watched them slow down, both of them continuously looking behind them. He knew what the others meant. That man looked just like those bastards who had thrown him in that room. Thing is, how the hell did he get here?
“Believe or not, that’s
my boss,” whispered Diane. She looked at the pair of them. “She is one of the city’s major players. Hell, the nasty bitch probably owns half of the city.”
“And yet here she is, running for her life,” murmured Tony. He knew real fear when he saw it. That woman was absolutely terrified. As for the man, well, from what he’d seen on that other world, they probably did this kind of thing every day. The pair of them ducked into an open doorway, and seconds later the darkness swallowed them. Tony still couldn’t move.
“Wait a minute,” Diane whispered, “I can hear more voices.” She pulled him further to the ground. “Oh fuck, look at them!”
Tony peered around the side of the car and saw another eight people race around the corner, each one dressed in identical, light blue jumpsuits. It then occurred to him that the others were wearing jumpsuits as well, only the dirt and mud covered up most of the yellow. Tony looked at Diane, hoping that she could supply a decent explanation. The woman shrugged.
“I don’t have a clue what’s going on,” she answered. “Nothing makes much sense anymore.” She moved closer to him. “Those idiots are definitely hunting those two though. That much I do know.”
He half-recognized two of the women lagging behind the three men; all of them were armed with high velocity pistols. They would come in very handy. “What do you want to do?”
Kenny pointed over to the corner. “I think we should follow their route backwards, it’s bound to go back to their dressing room or something.”
