by G Sasaki
“I just…” She took a breath and forced out the rest. “I want you to know that I’m sorry. I haven’t been a good sister. I haven’t been there for you. At all. You mean the world to me, J. I just hope you know that.” Nicole sniffled and blinked her moistened eyes.
Jeremy’s hand sailed over the rail of his bed and rested in front of her. His fingers floated, waiting for her take hold. “There isn’t any sister I’d rather have.”
Nicole placed her hand in Jeremy’s and he gently squeezed. He said, “Just because I haven’t seen you doesn’t mean you haven’t been a part of my life. If I wasn’t stuck here, I’d be out there with you.”
“Well… the first thing you should know is when you visit a new place, you need to appreciate where you are. Respect the culture; respect the people…” Knowing she hadn’t been a moral example with her treasure hunting, she continued anyway, “Take what you must but leave it undisturbed. Some of these objects hold sacred importance for people. But the most important thing is you need to be brave.”
Jeremy’s eyes jumped wide. Nicole wasn’t sure what he knew about her job. There were some elements he probably romanticized more than others. Based on how excited he looked, the idea of raw danger seemed to be wanted he wanted to hear about. So Nicole continued down that path. “In the face of danger, you have to rise with courage and face what’s in your way. Sometimes, you’ll feel scared. That’s normal. But the braver you are, the better off you’ll be. Because if you believe in yourself, you can do the impossible.” Nicole flashed a grin at Jeremy. “You’re braver than you know.”
He asked, “Can you tell me stories about your adventures?”
Nicole began. She went on to tell him about the places she’d seen and the people she’d met. To Jeremy’s delight, they would chat for hours, until finally, his body rebelled, and he fell asleep to the sound of her voice.
As Jeremy slept, a slight smirk rested on his face. Nicole stood over his bed, leaned over, and planted a soft kiss on his cheek. She whispered, “I’ll see you again, J.”
Nicole picked up her backpack and quietly left the room. As she walked into the bustling hall, she stopped a passing nurse. “Excuse me.”
“Yes?”
“I was visiting my brother. But I think I need to see a doctor myself.”
The nurse replied, “Alright, I can direct you where to go. What’s the problem?”
Nicole looked at her black fingernails and sighed. “It’s a little hard to explain.”
44
Two weeks ago: that night
Ignoring the cries of pain from other rooms, Nicole sat upright in her bed and scribbled away in her brown leather journal. The dim fluorescent lights radiated dully above, battling the darkness from outside her window. Another day had passed. Through this time, boredom had become her biggest enemy. But what could she do? She couldn’t just leave. Not like this anyway. With each hour that passed, hope dwindled away. Now, it was late, well past 3 o’clock at night. But she couldn’t sleep. She rarely did.
The door to her left squeaked open. Her doctor, a young hotshot named Rick, stepped into the room. He wore a white lab coat and big, odd looking glasses. “How are you doing, Nicole?”
Uninterested, she kept her face in the journal. Her raspy voice said, “You’re here awfully late. Any good news?”
“Not yet.” Rick replied. “Back to writing in that journal, huh?”
“Yeah.”
“If you told us more about what happened, we could help you better. Why don’t you let us read what you wrote?”
“I told you. You can’t read it.” Nicole lowered the journal and revealed the details of her face to Rick. The stunning woman she used to be was gone and replaced by a furry creature. Her ears pointed upwards, her nose was gone, and on her back, thin appendages formed the frame of wings she would develop. Nicole looked nothing like a person anymore; she was well along the process of transforming into a Ropen.
Nicole had hoped there was something the doctors could do to help. They’d performed countless tests but of course everyone had been left perplexed with no answers in sight. Deep down, Nicole feared there was nothing anyone could do. She said, “Unfortunately, there’s only one way to save me. And I’m not ready for that.”
Rick folded his arms and rolled his eyes. “When will you be ready?”
“When hope is gone.”
Nicole focused her attention back to the journal and continued to slide her pen across the page. She preferred not to speak. It hurt when she did, and ever-so-slowly, it became restricting. If this pace kept up, she wouldn’t be able to talk at all. During her time in the hospital, the only thing she worried about was finishing what she needed to write. Luckily, she had practically finished and was just going back to annotate parts here and there. If anything happened to her, the twisted knowledge of how to reverse this problem would live on in the journal.
Over the past two weeks, with each passing day, the changes happened slightly. She would wake up with patches of fur one day and a slightly altered facial feature the next. Although her appearance looked nothing like what it used to, Nicole hardly noticed the changes as they happened. It was like getting a haircut and not noticing the pace at which your hair grew every day. Regardless, Nicole arrived here, without her beauty, looking horrid.
Out of the corner of her eye, Nicole saw two more men enter the room next to Rick. Two police officers. They wore their uniform and guns hanged from their holsters. When they looked at Nicole, their faces twisted in surprise.
The scowls plastered on their faces… and their presence alone… told her something was off. She calmly asked, “What are you doing, Rick?”
“You’ve left me no choice.”
“You’re having me arrested?”
“No. We’re going to take the journal. Don’t fight this. You’ve messed with my mind long enough.”
Nicole froze. You’ve messed with my mind long enough? What did that mean? Chills shivered down her spine. Could something be wrong with Rick? She asked, “What did you just say?”
Rick snarled and threw back his head. “Shut up and give me the journal!” Rick didn’t just display anger, an odd menace bursted around him. His eyebrows contorted and a glow of insanity glistened in his eye. She recognized the look on Rick’s face. She had seen it before when Courtney went berserk in Endless Life. Tolrik’s description of the Ropen transformation reverberated in her head, First, he loses control of his mind. Delusions overtake him, his darkest fears become reality.
The officers stepped forward, with their hands rested on their guns, and approached her bed. Nicole glanced at their fingernails: black. So this was it. Just as Tolrik told her, It will happen swiftly, in an instant… Even through her changing appearance, Nicole hoped what happened at Endless Life was a false memory; a delusion. Now it was clear. The whole world was going to change. And it was apparently starting tonight. The officers towered over her bed. Robotically, one of them said, “Get out of the bed ma’am.”
“Alright.” Nicole spread the frame of her wings and climbed out of the sheets, visibly surprising the officers with her furry nude body. As she stood on the bed, the officers’ faces rested even with her knees. She looked down at them and said, “You’ve never seen a naked woman before?”
One of the officers snarled. “Not one covered in fur.”
Nicole hopped off the bed and landed between the two officers. The cool tile of the floor felt refreshing against the furry bottom of her feet. With the journal gripped in her hand, she said, “Can I ask you a question? Why do you think your fingernails are black? Have you caught something?”
One responded with a deep voice. “My fingernails are fine.”
“Of course they are.” In a flash, Nicole stretched her newly massive leg muscles and sprinted at Rick, who blocked the open door. She moved so fast, he hardly had time to react. Nicole screamed at him. If he didn’t move, she would plow right through him. By instinct alone, Rick darted to the side, a
llowing Nicole to dash out of the room.
She slammed the door behind her and emerged into a main hallway. Nicole ran down the hall and the sound of distant screaming filled her ears. Several yards ahead, a puddle of dark blood stretched out on the floor. As she ran closer, it became clear where it came from: a man lay face down with a pair of scissors dug into the back of his skull. A teenage girl stepped over him and flashed a sharp pair of scissors at Nicole. A creepy, stretched smile rested on the girl’s face and she proudly held the scissors like a trophy. Without warning, the girl hurled them at her. Nicole kept an eye on them as they twirled through the air, like they moved in slow motion. She effortlessly turned her body sideways and avoided them. Unfortunately, the sharp point tore into the eyeball of a woman behind her and landed deep in her eye socket. Almost silently, the woman collapsed and fell onto her back. When Nicole’s furiously moving legs brought her to the scissor-thrower, she gripped the girl by the neck and lifted her up. It barely took any effort at all. Wow, Nicole thought, I’m really strong. With the girl’s insane wide-eyes staring into hers, Nicole threw her hand forward and slammed her into the floor. The girl’s back rippled the tile and her body stilled.
Rick’s voice echoed through the madness, “Come back, Nicole!”
Nicole peered over her shoulder and saw Rick and the two officers running after her. She had to keep moving. Nicole knew the secret to what was happening but there was no telling how long she would last in this world. She needed to get the journal to someone she could trust. In this building, there was only person that fit that description: Jeremy.
Nicole reached the door to the staircase. With Rick and the officers just steps behind, she knew the chase would continue. She had to lose them somehow. Nonetheless, she flung open the door and entered the dark staircase. She emerged into a silent cave. The only light offered came from a singular bulb above a painted yellow ‘4’ on the wall. “Shit.” Nicole couldn’t remember where Jeremy was. Knowing she had little time, she sprinted down the steps, careful not to miss any and slip. When she reached the ground floor and saw the painted ‘G’, she opened the door and entered the floor. To her horror, as she ran into the circular room, she saw a piano sitting in front of her, just past a tall statue of Jesus. She remembered seeing the man playing the piano while she was standing above. She looked up through the open ceiling and saw the glass rail lined above her. That’s where she needed to be! Not down here!
The door, now a few yards behind her, produced a loud BANG as it slammed open. Nicole turned and faced Rick and the officers who walked through. “Just give up,” Rick’s nasally voice declared. The officers drew their guns and pointed them at her. “We’re not afraid to kill you.”
Nicole stared down the barrels of their guns. Rick was right. At any second, they could kill her and take the journal. The echoing screams from each hall reinforced that. Nicole looked around: no escape. If she ran at them, they would shoot her. If she ran through the halls, they would undoubtedly lead to even more dangers. She again looked up at the clear glass rail. She needed to go up.
The officers took slow steps forward. Nicole took a deep breath. Time to see just how strong she was. Nicole held up her hands and said, “Wait.” The officers complied and froze. She took several wide steps back, until she stood right under the door frame of another hallway. She said, “Just give me a second.” Right as she finished her thought, she sprinted at the huge Jesus statue. When she was inches away from it, she bent both her knees and put all her energy into jumping. Her legs extended and her newfound power sent her soaring into the air. Nicole couldn’t believe how high she ascended. Her legs kicked at the air as she just kept going higher. Becoming a Ropen had given her a limitless amount of strength. Nicole soared above the statue and just as she started to descend, she planted her feet onto the back of Jesus’ head and launched herself. Rick and the officers watched with wide eyes as she floated with ease and cleared the glass rail of the floor above.
Nicole landed on her feet and gazed at Rick below. This maneuver bought her some valuable time. She took off and headed toward Jeremy’s room.
When Nicole kicked open the metallic doors, she couldn’t help but be surprised with what she saw: a sole teenage boy standing in the middle of emptiness. His eyes calmly rested on her and he didn’t seem at all surprised to see her transformation.
Though she didn’t know it yet, this boy’s name was Alex.
Down the hall in front of her lied an endless smattering of doors. Nicole wasn’t entirely sure which one led to Jeremy’s room. She kept running… and Alex didn’t move.
Nicole stopped in front of him and he stared at her, analyzing the details of her animalistic face. Nicole looked into his eager eyes. The look she saw in Rick, in Courtney, in the people running through the halls, was absent in this boy.
Nicole said, “You’re not scared?”
“No,” Alex replied, “I’m not.”
To be sure he was indeed changing, Nicole grabbed his hand and looked at his black fingernails. “It’s happening.” She held up the back of her hand and revealed her own black fingernails. “It’s affecting everyone’s minds first. Making them crazy.” Nicole looked at the doors of the rooms. She would love to find Jeremy, even just to see if he was alright. But she had no time. She glanced at the metal doors behind her, knowing Rick was coming. “They’re going to be here any second. It looks like you’re keeping it together.” She put the journal into Alex’s hand. “I need you to take this. Hide it. Don’t let anyone take it from you. If I don’t make it, it’s our only hope.”
“What? What is it?”
“There’s no time. Do you have a room here?”
“Yes.”
“Go in it and stay hidden. Keep that journal safe. Quick… Look into my eyes.”
As Alex obliged, Nicole said, “It’s the only way you’ll be able to recognize me again. Now go hide in your room before it’s too late!”
Alex would hide in the wrong room and watch Nicole escape. Unaware of what he held in his hands, he endured an attack by an old man. Alex took refuge on the bed when Hailey called him on the phone, frantic at what was happening. He told her not to come looking for him, to find a safe place to hide. Plagued by a hallucination of Hailey, Alex looked at this fake version of her and said into the phone, “I’m sorry, Hailey. I love you. That will never change. Just remember that I love you.”
At that moment, Fake Hailey slapped the phone out of Alex’s hand. Alex’s eyebrows sprung in surprise. How was she able to do that? The phone crashed to the ground and bounced under the bed.
The old man had stumbled his way to the bed and stood just inches away from them. Fake Hailey declared, “If you mean what you say… if you really love me, you’ll kill him.”
Alex glared at her. She looked so real. Alex looked at the old man. His bald head, his pathetic stature, it was a joke.
“Kill him!”
Alex smirked as the old man’s face rested directly in front of the bed. The old man would try to strike him.
If Alex wanted to, he could easily kill him.
Instead, he braced for impact. Surprisingly, the old man lunged forward and gripped the journal. Alex yelled, “Will you stop it already!?”
The old man managed to pry the journal from his hand and fell backwards into the mess Alex had created. Alex leapt from the bed and towered above him. He sprung his healthy forward and managed to grip the pages. He held tightly and pulled as hard as he could. The old man maintained a grip on the leather cover, resulting in a tug-of-war for a journal neither knew the contents of.
The journal gave out. Alex’s body flung back and catapulted onto the bed. He looked at his hands. The pages from the journal had been ripped clean from the cover and rested there. He rolled them and snugged them into his pocket, confident he obtained what he needed. Alex glanced to his side, expecting to see Fake Hailey with a snide comment.
But she was gone.
The old man snarled and his body je
rked as he threw the leather cover. Missing Alex, the cover flung into a crevice with the TV, high above the wall. Sheltered comfortably, it would stay hidden.
Alex climbed to his feet and stood on the bed. “Stay here, old man. I’m not going to kill you.” With a push and help from the springiness of the mattress, he jumped over the trashed room and opened the door to the hallway. The old man wouldn’t be able to clear the debris field to chase him. As Alex emerged into the hallway, it still sat as an empty sanctuary. His eyes darted left, then right. Where would he go? With the journal pages safely tucked in his pocket, he ran toward the double metal doors.
45
The pale fluorescent light flickered above. Sure, it beat the darkness but it created quite a challenge to read the words that rested on the pages. Alex sat on the floor in the corner, under the only light still struggling to work. Scattered around him in the wide-open space, other ‘survivors’ lingered about. Simply put, these people hadn’t become zombies. About twenty-five in all, most of them were doctors or nurses and many even retained the normal color in their fingernails. During that bloody night three days ago, Alex found sanctuary here, in the cafeteria, where most of the survivors had congregated. He sat away from everyone and carefully analyzed the pages given to him by a mysterious woman.
The cafeteria offered a natural place to hide. Besides the obvious abundance of food, a metal wall slid down over the entrance like a garage, keeping them sealed from danger. Almost a full 36 hours had passed and they could still hear the screams outside.
Alex let the others speculate as to what was happening. In his hands, in these journal pages, lied an answer. Whether it was the truth, he couldn’t know. But it was something.
A shadow crept over the white of the pages and blocked the strobing of the light. Alex looked up, at the woman standing above him, and said, “Hi Laura.”
Laura’s sluggish speed couldn’t be held against her because one of the doctors equipped her with enough painkillers to slow a rhinoceros. Her hair frizzled in every direction and a white shirt wrapped around half her face, angled to keep one eye free. Apparently on that night, a pair of scissors collided with her eye socket. Relaxed and high, Laura smiled at Alex. Her slow, childlike voice asked, “What are you reading?”
