Kill Zombies (Leopard King Saga)

by T. A. Uner

  The last Raptor, seeing the demise of its compatriots made a precipitous retreat and bounded away like a frightened jackrabbit.

  The girl looked at Reptilius and Sawtooth through desolate eyes. “What are you doing here?” Reptilius asked. Sawtooth grunted, adding his say to the discussion.

  The girl wiped tears from her face and did not answer.

  “I asked you a question.”

  “I don’t know what to say,” she mumbled.

  Reptilius holstered his ballista. “You could say thank you.”

  She nodded. Reptilius approached her and noticed that her hair was tied in braids. Her

  small button nose sniffed the air and did not agree with the scent of the swamp. “Where am I?” she asked.

  “You’re in a swamp.”

  “No, I mean what is this place?”

  “Southeastern States of America; you’re in Florida.”

  She looked at him as if he had spoken to her in another language. “That doesn’t make sense.”

  “Now it’s my turn to ask questions…who are you?”

  “Giselle,” she replied before seeing Sawtooth rise from the water. His two ridged eyes studying her for clues. “What the hell is that?”

  “His name is Sawtooth.” Reptilius took another step toward Giselle. She shrank against the tree, grasping its bark like a squirrel.

  “What were those creatures? They looked like…like dinosaurs.”

  “You mean to tell me you’ve never seen one before?”

  She shook her head. “Only in books and movies.”

  Reptilius had heard of television. But that term had not been used in over a century. Was she from the past? Or another reality? He wouldn’t be surprised if she was. Giselle still looked shaken. He did not relate easily to children. Perhaps a part of him was still a child. His wife thought so. “How the hell do you expect to become a dad when you can’t even clean up after yourself?” His ex-wife would always say.

  “I need to know where you’re from?”

  “You’re not going to hurt me?”

  “No,” he said. “Neither will Sawtooth. But I’m running out of time.”

  “I’m from San Francisco.”

  “And you’ve never seen a dinosaur?”

  “Nope, but I already told you that.”

  “What year are you from?”

  She looked at him as if he had lost his mind. “It’s September, 1995. Why? What year is this?”

  “November 14th, 2146.”

  Giselle’s eyes widened then she pressed her fingers against her temple and fainted.

  While she slept she pictured herself in her living room, watching television after coming home from school. Another one of those melodramatic soap operas to pass the time before homework. Her mother worked as a real estate agent and was never home; her father an airline pilot for one of the major carriers was also away, leaving her alone most of the time.

  The monotony of being an only child had worn thin, and Giselle Mills had experimented with the usual things sixteen year-old girls would mess around with. Smoking weed, dropping acid and buying cigarettes with a fake I.D.

  She rarely got into trouble, except on occasion she’d get caught smoking in the girls’ bathroom. Her mother had been furious, but understanding. After all, what teen didn’t break a rule or two. It was almost a requirement that came with adolescence.

  But the turning point in her life had come three days after her seventeenth birthday. It was a Friday night and she and her friends were headed for a party. That was when a drunk driver named Herbert Myers changed her life forever.

  She awoke to the smell of dry leaves and gasoline. A strange combination to say the least. When she lifted her head off the pillow she almost fainted again. Looking up from the floor was the alligator she had seen earlier in the swamp. Its beady black eyes reminded her of olives you’d find in a Greek salad. Her mother used to make those for her, at least when she was at home and not at work selling luxury homes to rich pukes.

  “Go away,” she told Sawtooth. “I hate alligators.”

  “Sawtooth’s a crocodile.”

  The strange man in the green costume appeared in the doorway of her room. He carried a plastic water bottle in one hand a tray in the other. “I figured you’d be hungry.” He handed her the tray and the food looked like fried rice mixed with diced eggs and vegetables. She wasn’t big on Asian food, but devoured it greedily before finishing the water.

  Her host simply stared at her. She could not see his face; he was wearing a black ski-mask. “Why do you wear that,” she asked. He touched his concealed face.

  “Long story.”

  She nodded. “So now that I’m fed care to tell me the truth?”

  “I don’t understand.”

  “Back in the swamp you said it was the year 2146.”

  “Ohh, that…no Giselle, I wasn’t lying. You’ve come over one hundred and fifty years into the future and it may not even be the future from your reality.”

  She leaned back in her bed and felt like fainting again. “How…how is that possible? I remember clearly now. I was home, doing my laundry after school, and the next thing I know I’m in that nasty-ass swamp surrounded by those overgrown lizard things. This is a dream right? You’re not really here, neither is that croc. I’m probably on some bad acid trip.”

  “No. I can assure you this is no dream. But to answer your question I know what brought you here.”

  She couldn’t believe that this conversation was even happening, and she really did not care to continue it. “Just take me home mister. I promise I won’t press any charges, I swear.”

  “You were brought here by someone called a timekeeper,” he said, ignoring her request. “You see there are these things called Death Walkers, and they’re being sent to various points in time across countless different realities.”

  “I don’t know what you mean.” She tried getting out of bed but her head was spinning and the man pushed her back into bed. “I can understand your frustration. Honestly, I was taken aback by all this as well. But now I’m starting to realize that my reality is the focal point where the main incursion is supposed to occur, and somehow you were sent here to help me.”

  Her head started throbbing again. “I still don’t get it, what the hell are you trying to say, mister.”

  He brought her another water and some relaxers for her headache. Then he told her a little about his time. He told her that the United States she knew of no longer existed, at least not in his reality. He told her about Death Walkers and nuclear war. Global environmental disasters that had decimated some of Earth’s major land masses. And then he told her about Tom Digby and his story about the Vampire conspiracy and how he had been entrusted with stopping it. When he was done with his story she sat there staring at him like he was delusional. But she had come to the conclusion that he was not off his rocker and that there was truth to his words.

  “I can believe everything you’ve told me about the environmental and social problems. There’s really not much to be surprised about, these things were news in 1995 too. But, Vampires… C’mon mister, you think I’m some dumb-ass kid that doesn’t know when she’s being taken for a ride?”

  “It’s true. I found it hard to believe at first.”

  “How do I know you’re not lying?”

  “You’ll just have to trust me,” Reptilius said. She had a feeling this man, who wore a black ski mask and lived in a swamp with a nasty looking crocodile did not like kids. But what could she do? She would have to believe him, or risk spending the rest of her life in this shithole. It wasn’t like she was dying to get home, her parents were never around and most of her friends were drug addicts or emo misfits who liked to cut their wrists. This guy would fit in well in 1995, she thought. All except for the crocodile.

  “I still haven’t figured out how you fit into the big picture. Tom said that I’d be getting help of some sort. Your appearance must have something to do with it.”
<
br />   Yeah you need help alright. And a new wardrobe. “I can’t imagine I can be any use to you, I’m barely any use to anyone, let alone myself.” That’s not true, after I went through the “transference” process, things really got fucked up. But he doesn’t have to know about it. It would only complicate matters.

  She got out of bed and looked out the window. How could anyone live in such a place. The sunlight was spotty, barely filtering through the trees, which looked like anorexic varicose Veins. “Not much to do here is there?” she asked.

  “I like it. It’s not for most people, but it beats living in the city or the suburbs. Air pollution and overcrowding has made life difficult in the real world. When the polar ice caps started melting some of the coastlines flooded. Leaving less land for people to inhabit. The people’s faith in the government waned which led to a major revolution.”

  “A civil war?”

  Reptilius nodded. “The United States in this reality splintered into four quadrants: Northeast, Southeast, Midwest, and West. The federal government that you’re familiar with no longer exists.”

  This was not surprising to her. The government was always subject to criticism.

  “Limited nuclear war, oil wars, and plagues took their toll. Then there were the Death Walker, or ‘Zombie’ assaults. My world has had its apocalypse.”

  She opened the window and looked outside again. The air did not look or smell that polluted to her. Maybe it hadn’t yet had the opportunity to spread to the swamplands. “And Dinosaurs still exist in this world? Where I come from they’ve been extinct for hundreds of millions of years. Some sort of giant asteroid wiped them out.” Giselle never liked school but she was interested in science, sort-of. And she found the discovery channel interesting. The fact that large reptilians once roamed the earth had interested her since she was a kid. But she never figured she’d come face-to-face with them.

  Reptilius nodded. “The mass extinction never happened here. They managed to survive, some became extinct, but it wasn’t because of any asteroid. It was humanity who contributed to their demise. Dinosaur meat was once a much sought-after delicacy. Especially T-Rex. Hell I’ve even seen a few before they were wiped out. But now only Raptors exist, and that’s in isolated parts of the world. They’re mostly gone though.”

  “Seems like you’ve had your shares of global incidents.”

  The crocodile lumbered out of the room. Giselle was happy to see it go. She was still spooked by the memory of the three Raptors that had almost torn her to shreds. “Still, I can’t stay here. I have to get home.”

  “I don’t think that’s possible, at least not until we figure out what to do with you.” He pulled out a small object that looked like a quarter. Its surface was black and it had a sheen to it. “This thing is what alerted me of your presence.”

  “What is it?”

  Reptilius handed it to her. “Some sort of beacon. It started flashing right before your arrival and sent a signal that implanted information into my memory. That’s how I knew where to find you.”

  “I need some air.” She left Reptilius’ dwelling and the swamp’s humidity brushed against her face. It wasn’t long before beads of sweat formed on her forehead. She thought about her parents. Would they be worried about me? Now that she was gone from her reality, would they be searching for her?

  She looked behind her to see the strange man watching her. He stood silently in the Corridor following her movements. Strange skulls of various animals hung from the walls of the hallway. Some looked like alligator skeletons, while others resembled creatures she had never seen before. She buried her face in her hands and started sobbing. She never thought she’d feel this way. After the car accident that changed her life she had prayed for death. Maybe her wish had been granted and this was the afterlife. But now that her world was gone, she wished she could go back. Perhaps make things right with her parents.

  He brought her a towel to wipe her face. He did not strike her as the compassionate type. But the black ski mask he wore concealed his facial expressions. Maybe she had been wrong about him?

  “I wish there was a way I could piece this whole puzzle together. Time is not in our favor. If I don’t figure out how I am supposed to stop this Zombie invasion there may not be a

  world for you to return to.”

  She dried her tears and sighed. “I think there is something you should know about me, Mister Reptilius.” She did not want to tell him. About what had happened to her that night when her life changed for the worse, but if there was any chance she could help him accomplish his goal, and perhaps return her to her time, then, maybe she should be honest with him.

  “I’m listening,” he said. The crocodile had returned. Its black eyes opened and looked at her, in a way, it too wanted to hear what she had to say.

  “Well. It goes like this: I’m not who you think I am…I’m—”

  —Dead. After the first responders had arrived at the scene of the accident they had tried to revive her. But to no avail. Upon arrival to the hospital, she was pronounced brain dead. Her parents had been notified but were not there when she was wheeled into ICU at Saint Francis Memorial hospital. It wasn’t until after she had been clinically dead that her mother arrived to identify her remains. Not that much remained of her. Her brain had quit, leaving her body in a vegetative state. She never even got the chance, from her standpoint, to experience death on her terms.

  Death. For Giselle Mills it had spelled finality. There was no heaven to speak of. No Pearly Gates or Saint Peter waiting to welcome her to her final resting place. Just sudden impact, the sensation of being torn apart, and pain. Then silence. Darkness. Death.

  There was also no hell. No devil, no Lucifer, no Beelzebub. Just. Nothingness. When her family finally had gathered to decide her fate, her doctor a man of high science had informed them of a new, experimental medical technique called “Transference.” It involved the process of transferring human consciousness by stimulating the brain, then transferring its consciousness into a cloned human body.

  In Giselle’s reality human cloning had not been shunned, unlike Croctus Reptilius’. Hell, in Reptilius’ reality, humans were occupied with the global dinosaur menace to even attempt developing cloning technology. Every resource had been allocated to exterminating the giant menaces.

  But in Giselle Mill’s reality it had been approved by the United States and other industrialized nations of the world. Human clones replaced humans in the workplace. Filling minimum wage jobs and other undesirable employment often neglected by humans. It also didn’t help that the influx of immigrants from Central & South America had never occurred in her reality, leaving many jobs lacking the proper workforce necessary to keep the global economy rolling. Thus the unethical stance on human cloning was never endorsed.

  Cloning was also the new way to cheat death. Of course not everyone had the financial means necessary to afford it—only the wealthy. Giselle’s parents were desperate to have their only daughter back. At whatever cost. If Giselle had been alive she would’ve wondered why. It’s not as if they actually gave a damn about her when she was alive.

  With the liability paperwork signed and the down payment settled, Giselle Mills’ brain activity was “reactivated” and, in layman’s terms, she was “brought back from the dead.” After the transference process was complete it would be weeks before the results of the procedure would be deemed a success. After all not every patient who underwent transference found themselves with a second chance at life. The technology was still experimental, and sometimes complications had caused some patients to never awaken.

  But Giselle had been one of the fortunate ones. On a Monday afternoon, at 4:06 PM, Pacific Standard Time she had taken her first breath in her new cloned body. The relief that their daughter had been one of the lucky ones immediately brought the Mills’ closer. But it was agreed, that for the time being at least, Giselle would not be informed of the procedure. Her doctor did not want to risk any complications
during her recovery period. So, Giselle Mills awoke thinking she had come out of a coma.

  The first two weeks after the transference had been performed Giselle had been kept in the hospital. The doctors had performed various tests on her to make sure her brain activity was within normal parameters. She also underwent extensive physical therapy to invigorate her body and build muscle. When her doctors were finally satisfied that she was ready to be released into her parents’ custody Giselle found herself with a second chance at life.

  She immediately became a national celebrity. Appearing on all major networks. ABC, NBC, CBS & CNN had all done news documentaries on her. She also had a book deal in the works, along with a television movie. It seemed that nothing could go wrong.

  But that was where her good fortune ended. Less than six months after her recovery Giselle started getting strange urges. At first she thought it was the result of all the excitement that had surrounded her. Little did she know that in her reality, the Vampire Sects had been preparing to take over her world.

  The first time she realized that something was wrong was when she had bitten off the head of a rabbit in her backyard. She had drank the creature’s blood and reveled in the taste. That night she started having nightmares. It was as if she had inhabited someone else’s body that was making demands of her. The next day she had noticed her face had grown pale; her eyes filled with black blood veins that made her look like some freak of nature.

  When she went to her parents to explain her dilemma, they had told her that the doctors had expected a relapse and that they were to return her to the hospital to restart her therapeutic treatments, in order to ease her symptoms.

  She ran away the next day. Much to her credit she was able to avoid being caught. The fact that she could live off the land by sucking blood from animals allowed her to elude capture. Then, one day, as if by chance, she had met a man named Archie Good who had told her he belonged to an underground movement that was determined to rid Earth of its Vampire problem.