27
And they unleashed it. Russ could feel it. Everyone in that church building was a goddamn guinea pig, even himself. But that wasn’t going to work on him, nossir. They were going to have to do something a lot better than that. He hoped that the others in the basement would be fine, but there was a tingling at the back of his head that knew disaster was about to happen. If what the aliens were trying to do worked, everyone in that church was going to die tonight.
Russ closed his eyes and focused his attention on the spacecraft. It was the same damn alien that had run away from them in the street, and he could feel his fear now. It was unsure of him, unsure of whether starting the experiment was a good idea with him around. Russ could read all of its feelings, and most of them were wrapped with uncertainty.
Get away from here, you piece of shit. You know you can’t handle me. I’m not going to let you kill us.
I don’t need to kill you. Your friends will be killing each other very soon.
Why all this? Why the zombies and everything if this is all you had to do?
We want to find out if we can coerce humans into killing each other. It worked earlier on what you call Washington with the soldiers. We want to know if it will work now.
I can stop you.
You so sure about that?
You’re afraid of me. I can feel it.
You’re crazy.
Am I? Then why is your little green arm shivering, and why did you run from me like a big pussy?
There was no answer to him. Russ could sense his small victory, and now he had to do something else. Something that would send the alien packing. Send an image to its head that would scare it back to wherever it came from.
So he focused.
But he found himself in the golden gym of Brownsville High School once more. He wasn’t alone. There was a single spot light shining down on Jessica Welch in her red dress. She was beautiful, better than beautiful. But not real.
Not real and never will be. Nice try you son of a bitch.
But he couldn’t change it. Russ tried to change it back to his room at home, somewhere where he felt comfortable, but this dream in front of him wouldn’t die. Jessica was walking toward him with a happy smile on her face. He didn’t want to see her. He didn’t want to see anyone. Something bad was about to happen. She was going to pull out Lisa’s head, dripping with blood.
“Not real you fucker!” Russ shouted. His voice echoed around the gym. It was completely dark except for the spotlight on Jessica.
“What’s wrong, Russ?” She hugged him and then gave an additional kiss on the cheek.
Russ took a step back, feeling dazed. Then the lights went on, all at once. There was a disk jockey up front and people he recognized, including his own father, were standing around, gazing at the couple. For some reason there was a big banner with CONGRATULATIONS written on it in big red letters. Then next to it was a heart with Russ & Jess inside of it.
“This isn’t real,” Russ stuttered.
“What are you talking about?” she whispered. “You’re going to embarrass me.”
He was confused until he looked down at Jessica’s hand and saw a diamond ring on her finger. It wasn’t real. None of it could have been real. Had he gone fucking nuts, or was this alien still in his mind?
“Kiss me, hubby,” Jessica leaned into him and kissed him deeply. It didn’t feel as normal as it should have, and that was because it wasn’t Lisa.
The crowd cheered around them. He saw Jessica’s family among them. The Donahues were there too, so was Evan Brown. Reverend Willis was standing behind them.
“This isn’t real, Jessica. We aren’t really married, are we?”
“What are you talking about silly?” She looked into his panicked eyes. “What’s wrong with you?”
“This isn’t real.”
“Just dance with me.”
When the music started Russ’s beating heart slowed to a dull turtles pace, but his body was still quivering. He closed his eyes and tried to change it again, but couldn’t.
They bumped into the Donahues and stopped dancing for a brief moment.
“You know, kid. Back when we were in that church, I thought we were screwed. I’m glad you got us out of there. Life has been great since,” Alan said. It sounded rehearsed.
“I love you Russ,” Jennifer reached out and hugged him.
Jessica smiled. “God, you’re making me jealous.”
“Something wrong, hon? You’re quivering.”
Russ took a step back from everyone and sucked in a deep breath of air. This couldn’t be real. This couldn’t be fucking real! Where was Lisa? He couldn’t directly ask the question, but maybe he could find something out.
“Do you guys remember Lisa?”
Everyone exchanged awkward glances and Jessica pulled him aside. “It’s not every woman’s dream to have her husband’s ex brought up at her wedding reception.”
That was it. Now he was going to lose it. The line between dream and reality had blurred to the point that he might be living inside of a dream. He couldn’t tell the difference anymore.
“I’m sorry,” he whimpered. “I don’t know what’s happening.” Russ dropped to his knees and was trying not to cry. “I was fighting the alien and I came here.”
“Russ, stop it! You’re embarrassing me!”
“What the hell is going on?”
“You married me! Don’t you remember that?”
Russ looked blankly into her eyes and couldn’t answer her. He didn’t remember anything. The last thing he could remember was the damn flying sphere floating over the church parking lot.
“Oh my fucking God, Russ,” she sighed. “Let’s get out of here.”
She grabbed his arm and led him like an angry mother pulling her child to a table in the back of the gym.
“Seriously, Jessica,” Russ panted. “I don’t know what’s going on. I was in Willis’s office, getting fucked with by the alien, and I suddenly found myself in the middle of the gym floor with you.”
“Jesus,” Jessica trembled as she took a deep breath. “Well, do you remember anything in the last year? How we fell in love? How you proposed to me in the middle of the Brownsville, Goddard football game?”
Russ shook his head. “What are you talking about? I was with Lisa. She loved me.”
“Lisa is dead!”
“What?” Russ leaned back in his chair and his heart steadily eased its way down into his stomach like a rock climber going down a steep cliff. At first he had been unsure it was real, and now he was becoming thoroughly convinced. But there was still something missing.
“She died before we left the church! How can you not remember?”
“That’s not possible. I promised we would live. I promised her we would make it out. You’re lying. None of this is real!”
Jessica handed out an embarrassed smile as more people gawked at them. She took Russ by the hand and led him outside to the parking lot.
“Why would we have our after wedding party at a high school, anyway?” Russ asked.
“It’s what you wanted!”
“I’m sorry, I just don’t remember anything. I don’t think any of this is real.”
“We’re leaving! Come on.” She drug him over to the car –Russ’s green Escort. The one Jessica and Rick had broken into sometime before.
She started it up and drove away.
“Where are we going?”
“I’m going to show you what happened, Russ. I don’t know why you’re doing this. It’s scaring me.”
Russ blinked his eyes and looked down at his feet. They were real. He did the same with his legs and arms and concluded the same thing. Then he looked at Jessica. She was real, but there was something different about her. He had fond feelings for her this time. In fact he had never felt more for her, not even in high school when his utter stupidity and desperation zapped her away.
But then he thought of Lisa. Her eyes, her beautiful eyes that he had lo
oked into just before the alien plagued him. Or did the alien plague him? He didn’t know. He didn’t know if any of this crap was real. The possibilities were making him sick.
“Pull over, I’m gonna blow.”
“What?”
“I don’t want puke in my car, pull over!”
She pulled over to the side of the road and Russ stepped out. Down the road he could see the church, with that cross high and mighty above the small town. He took a deep breath of fresh air and was able to hold himself together.
“Where were you taking me?” Russ said.
“The church.”
“What’s there?”
“A memorial for you. I can’t believe you don’t remember this.”
Russ shook his head. That wasn’t going to prove that any of this was real. In fact, he really didn’t care about the memorial. He cared about getting back to where he was. Back to the goddamn alien and back to Lisa. She wasn’t dead. She couldn’t be dead.
“I don’t care about it,” Russ shrugged. “Can you take me to the cemetery?”
“Why?”
“I want to see her grave.”
Jessica swallowed, hard. “Fuck you. I thought you were in love with me.”
Russ stared at the manhole in the middle of the road. There wasn’t anything else to look at. He couldn’t look her in the eye.
“I may have been,” he said. “But at this particular point in time, I don’t know. I feel something for you, yes. But I am still skeptical if any of this is real.”
There was a standing silence between them. Jessica breathed deeply through her nose. Her face slowly turned dark red and her eyes were lightly shaking inside of her sockets. She started the car, put it into reverse, aimed toward Russ, and floored it.
* * * * *
Surely the car wouldn’t jump the curb and get into the barren grass field, which was rumored to be the future site of a monopolizing Wal-Mart. It was only a four cylinder piece of crap. Russ wouldn’t take his chances though, he ran south as fast as he could. The dark field of grass before him was long, but if he could make it back to the school, he’d be safe. But he wasn’t safe. The headlights caught him and were moving up right behind him. There was no way that car could off-road, but somehow it was. Russ jumped out of the way and watched as it turned to face him again.
“Jessica, Jesus Christ! Stop this!” Russ panted. He could feel sweat dripping down his forehead. He wasn’t used to running that fast, especially in dress shoes.
She floored it, and Russ dove out of the way again. He watched as she spun the car around, kicking grass up into the night’s air.
“Jessica, this is crazy!” Russ stood up. Apparently she didn’t think so. The car flew toward him again, and he easily dodged it, although he began to wonder what would happen if he allowed it to hit him. Would he wake up from all of this, or would he end up with several broken bones and a lifetime in the hospital? Was it real?
“Stop this Jessica! I just want to see her grave. I’m still your husband!”
She stepped out of the car and fainted onto the grass.
“Jesus, are you ok?” Russ ran over to her. She wasn’t moving. “Wake up!” He slapped the side of her face.
Why am I trying to help her? She just tried to run my ass down. I should take the car and head off toward the cemetery.
He looked back at the car. The windows were obviously fixed from the break in. Everything about it was normal. He didn’t know if there were new speakers in the back, and for some reason he thought it mattered. If this world was fake, there had to be clues somewhere. This alien couldn’t be that powerful. It had run from him in the middle of Washington like a scared teenager running from Jason Voorhees.
He popped the trunk from the inside and had a look. His old subwoofers were there, as if they had never been stolen. Two ten inch Sony’s, sitting in a nice box, with the exact same amplifier screwed on the back.
Did it mean anything? Jessica could have given them back during the time period he had supposedly forgotten. But would he still be driving that car? He didn’t even know how old he was. He could see Jessica sitting up. Her arms were folded across her chest and she was crying mascara down her face.
“What year is it?” Russ placed a hand on her shoulder.
She looked at him, but didn’t answer.
“What year is it? This is important!”
“You honestly don’t know what year it is?” Jessica turned her face to meet his. It reminded Russ of looking into Lisa’s eyes. They were beautiful, but they weren’t quite Lisa’s. He turned away as she spoke. “It’s twenty-fifteen.”
“Jesus,” he muttered. “Two years.”
“From what?”
“From you guys,” Russ stood up. “Ha ha, real funny assholes! You got me! I know this is fake!”
“Russ, stop this! You killed them! They’re gone! Lisa Kelly is dead. You saved the town, and you’re a fucking local hero, and my new husband. Please, let it go. I don’t know what the hell is happening inside of your head. It was like you snapped. You were so happy, and then that crazy look came through your eyes. Just stop!” Jessica was holding her face in her hands by the time she finished talking.
Russ sighed. He felt awful now. Making her cry was worse than being chased by the car. Instead of trying to change the false scene in his head, Russ closed his eyes and tried to remember something.
But there was nothing to remember. There wasn’t even a blank spot in his gray mind. It went right from the room in the church to the gym with Jessica and all the people, who were probably wondering where the hell they were at. He could see Patrick wondering off and looking for them while Willis took Cecilia for a ride in one of the bathrooms.
“Did I ever tell you about what the reverend has been doing?”
“What are you talking about? Are you talking about James Willis?”
“Yeah. Did I tell you about the relation he has with…”
“Who? I don’t remember you saying anything.”
Did it prove anything that she didn’t know? It may have. Russ was disturbed enough by the images he found within in Willis’s head that it would have been nearly impossible for him not to turn it in to Jessica and her father. Willis was an awkward man, and he needed to be put back in his place. A man of God wasn’t supposed to run away with the wives of church members. There had been others too. Whether Cecilia knew that or not, Russ couldn’t be sure, but he knew that there were others.
But what if he hadn’t told them? Russ didn’t think that it was a possibility. He would have happily ratted out the old bat as soon as the whole ordeal with the little green man was done. The aliens should know this though. They should have known all about it. Didn’t they know everything Russ knew?
“I think I would have told you by now,” Russ said. He got up and got into the driver seat of the car. “I’m going to the cemetery. You can come with me if you want. Just don’t pull a stunt like that again.”
Jessica joined him. Her perfume was the same as it always had been, and Russ had a tough time resisting her. She was a beautiful woman, and Russ found himself continuously glancing at her from time to time as he ran over the curb and got back on the road.
“I just don’t understand why you need to see it if you still want to be with me,” Jessica took his hand and held it on her lap.
“I am unsure of everything right now.”
“What?”
“If this is real I would have told you about Mr. Willis a long time before now. I would have been happy to rat the old bastard out. It doesn’t make any sense that you still don’t know. And it still doesn’t make any sense that the alien controlling this doesn’t know, if that’s the case.”
“Ok, hot shot, what did Mr. Willis do?”
“Your mom.”
“What?”
“It happened. I saw it within him when I was at the church that night. I used it against his undead wife. She couldn’t stand seeing it.”
Her grip on h
is hand tightened. “Russ, just stop this! I married you because I love you! You’re going crazy!” Once again the mascara was running down her face. Even some of her lipstick had rubbed off.
Russ’s heart exploded inside of his chest when he heard her cry. He had faced these zombie things, and aliens, and the dreams. Hearing a woman’s cry was worse than seeing the field of dead bodies, it was worse than seeing his parents with circular holes in the center of their foreheads, but it wasn’t worse than seeing Lisa with a knife through her chest. When Russ looked over at Jessica he saw the same girl that was standing behind her, holding the knife in her back. She had been smiling then, and the look on Lisa’s face was the most horrific thing he had experienced out of the whole thing. He never wanted to see someone he had feelings for cry like that.
“I might be crazy,” Russ finally admitted. He pulled the car over. “I feel like I just woke up in another time. I don’t remember anything that happened. I don’t know what’s going on.”
Jessica crawled over onto his lap and stared into his face. Russ saw her eyes, and they were no longer full of young stupidity as they had been when he was first attracted to her. She had changed over the last two years, still assuming this was all real. The superficial crap was all gone. The only thing left in that body was Jessica, and she loved him.
Russ leaned forward and kissed the woman that had just tried to run him over. The thought was crazy to him, but he went with it. There was something else there inside of her. She was a real person, different than she had been before. She was more like Lisa in every way. She was more like Lisa than herself.
But she wasn’t Lisa. There was still something missing from this picture. It had to be reality. None of it could exist. Jessica was just an imitation Lisa. She was beautiful and the perfume had a hook through Russ’s heart. But she still wasn’t Lisa.
And he knew that none of it was real.
28
The hum was still echoing, even in the basement, but it wasn’t quite as strong. The group had moved into the room with the fold out chairs, where they had been sitting when Reverend Willis had exploded on the group in religious fury. No one knew what was happening, or if the young man upstairs was even sane anymore.
Super Zombies from Outer-Space Page 17
