Chapter 10: What’s this life for?

Things change. Thats the way it is.” -Tupoc Shakur

What’s this life for? 

Duncan was at the trainyard in Artherman where he was looking around still. It was basically the same as when they first saw it after he came back from a zombie... It's the second time he came back here and found DNA samples from Sal's dad. With the DNA tests and a positive id, he was able to access a database but there wasn't much in them. Just some old footage of debates and ad campaigns explaining how evil Sal's dad was...  

He apparently caused the plague... “He worshipped one single God and refused to bow before any others, so the plague spread.” the newspaper read. 

“I remember him being on TV and he was sensible. He opposed the Golden Calf Guild and drug manufacturers. They were always telling us how to feel, I guess I just learned to block it out, I really don't remember any of it other than my initial impression.” 

Duncan scratched his chin and dazed off, relying on his equipment to monitor his surroundings. 

Id appeared in front of Duncan seconds before every alarm blared. Long enough for Id to say “Hey, Duncan. How are you?” 

Duncan almost jumped out of his suit.  

Sal, Paul, Blase and Cin came around the corner in time to see Duncan look like he's having a heart attack then attempt to compose himself.   

“Hi, Id!” Duncan yelled.  

“What are you up to Duncan?” 

“Trying to not have a heart attack right now.” 

“It's been so long since I ran that slow, sorry. It felt weird having so much time to think, I must have forgot.” 

Duncan heard Sal gasping for air then he appeared in front of him with Paul. He jumped again but he was on his guard from Id’s scare.  

Sal attempted to speak but all Duncan heard was, “Too far... Run... Never... Gahh.” Then rest of the group appeared. 

Duncan began his debriefing immediately. Not waiting for Sal to compose himself. Sal appreciated not having to do or say anything while he had his post run out of breath panic attack. 

“I’ve been studying you, Sal. Your family was surrounded with by conspiracies and subterfuge. I remember your dad, Sal.” 

Duncan turned and looked at Sal then continued. 

“He was in the news almost every day near then end. The Calf's Guilds stocks were constantly being hurt by Jimmy saying that the end was near. All outlets were saying he was in a crazy sect of religion that blew up idols. They started making them bigger and bigger and their stocks went through the roof ironically.” 

“My dad made the cure though?” 

“He handed out antidotes to anyone who would take them. He sent trains everywhere, then disappeared. Every single new station reported that the ‘Antidotes’ were the cause.” 

“Thats imposable! He didn't talk about his work, but I knew him. We never saw anything bad on TV about him either.” 

“The cure doesn't show anything to lead me to believe he was a bad man... The cure... I can't crack it! This New God particle is driving me insane! I just want to, measure it or understand it in some way...” Duncan trailed off. 

“It nothing new...” Sal retorted.  

“I will invent all the equipment and figure it out!” 

“I don't think it works like that.” Duncan ignored him again. 

“It's as if its living and moved away from me every time I try to look at it. It's so close but I just cannot find it. I can't see it. Peter couldn't see it. He’s back at the lab looking into priests and blessings. I didnt think anything of it but he seems to have become obsessed with his theories. A priest blessing it is preposterous, there must be an explanation.”  

Sal zoned out and started thinking about his dad talking to Dr. Jenkins about how they’d be rich, and the cure was blessed by priests. Was my dad using priests to make money? “Maybe that's why we went to church so much when I was a kid...” 

A mélange of malaise washed over him. “Dad, what did you do...” 

Paul snapped him out of his thoughts. “We cannot do this without a fight. We need weapons and armor. Obviously try not to kill anyone. They are weaker so we shouldn't have to fight but something tells me were going to need to... We will go get swords from the Chink.” 

Sal almost laughed and said, “the what?” 

“The Chink. Where else do you get metal work done?”  

“Blacksmith.” Cin interjected. 

“Ooohh.” Sal said. 

Everyone looked at each other and shrugged then went on their way. 

The place was north for a few hundred miles away from Jetsen's land of horrors.  

The sound of a hammer hitting steel on an anvil rang in the air as they approached the shop. The smith had his back to them; his arms were huge. It was as if his entire body was a single rippling muscle. He spoke without turning. “Welcome to my shop. What can I do for you?” 

“Swords and armor.”  

“And a rifle.” Blase interjected. 

“I'll be right there.” He slid the solid steel carriage axel into the coals and used it to Stire them then rested the end of it on a table six foot away.  

Sal felt the heat flare up from the doorway. The smith turned and shook Paul's hand, but Sal couldn't believe his eyes.  

“Your Asian!”  

Sal covered his mouth not intending to say it out loud. 

“Yup.” He chuckled. 

“Thats racist. How did this ever become a thing?” 

“Whenever a newly awoken person comes in here, they say the same exact thing.” 

He chuckled. “My great, great, great grandpa was a comedian famous for saying the words ‘Sometimes I do.” 

“The sound an anvil makes is chink, so he named this shop ‘Chinks’ and he thought it was funky because were Asian. It was a weird time to be alive, I guess. I don't understand the big deal or why it's funny but all y'all think it is for some reason. I do get a kick out of watching people react to it I suppose.” 

“Why don't you say blacksmith anymore though?” 

“Our slogan since the beginning was ‘If you got a tink in your armor a Chink’ll fix it.” 

“All right enough of this, let's get on with it.” Sal said unable to process things because he hated racism, but people here just ignore what others think. Racism is dead now. no one cares about opinions, only what is productive to staying alive. They don't even say anything about me being white or a man. No one has a preferred gender, and everyone is still happy. “I never liked all that junk anyway Sal thought to himself. He stayed quiet deep in thought.  

Paul ordered what they would need.  

Chink measured everyone and picked out light armor made of metal and padded for sneaking to muffle any clanking or scraping. Patches of leather lined the seams, and it was light as a feather.  

Id took daggers and a steel bow; Paul took a one-handed sword and a shield; Blase took a long rifle and a short sword. 

 Cin Didn't get any armor but got a steel bow and short sword the same as Blase of course except he had the laser gun that Duncan made for him.  

Duncan didn't want to use primitive weapon's; he was equipped with a few laser weapons and a laser sword he recently invented just for this quest. 

Sal didn't want to use a weapon, so Paul picked a large sword for him. 

“You'll need it. This sword suits you.” Paul smiled. 

It was hard to carry at first but felt good to have extra weight on his muscles. He held it out at arm's length and turned it from side to side. Each fiber felt energized as his muscles flexed. He holstered it on his back and smiled.  

He felt good. He didn't like weapons, but it made him smile because he felt like a real DND character. His arms felt good when he flexed, the leather and steel hugged his arms. Every direction he twisted and turned felt more stabilized and faster. The seams of the suit rolled and pivoted with the flexing of their muscles.  

Chink gave them a crash course in learning how to use them. “The legs and arms fed off the wearer's strength and can amplify leg and arm movement by 40 percent. Just move like you normally would.” 

 Sal, Id and Duncan practiced some team moves and Paul, Blase and Cin practiced together too. The suits were completely mechanical. it moved intuitively as if it was a part of their body. They all applied a paralyzing coating on the blades and arrows when they were all confident then Paul gave chink the Gold and other metal coins as well as some bars of Smelted metals. 

Before the left he said “wait, I am neutral. No one messes with me, and I sell weapons and armor. You might see some of my work used against you. I apologize and give you this warning.  

“Thank you, Chink Yugur.” 

“Good luck” 

They all waved and went on their way.  

The run back felt so much easier to Sal. He ran full speed and jumped and sailed through the air and landed in a tall pine tree then fell and hit the ground hard. The suit absorbed a lot of the shock, but the fall still knocked the breath out of him. He wheezed “I'm ok.” 

Id laughed at him and yelled, “Cool!” then jumped straight up into the air and went twice as high as Sal. Id kicked his legs and waved his arms trying to fly like a bird and slammed into the ground too. “Gahhh.” he wheezed with the air knocked out of him then waved to Sal tried to reply but only ehhhhuuuhhh,” came out. 

“Have you tried landing on your feet? Cin asked hoping to be helpful.  

Sal gave a thumbs up and started walking. 

Id did recon while everyone caught up to him. The town didn't sleep; people were everywhere. Some people were in cages and other dirt covered peoples in chains; human bones were strewn around in some areas. Groups of people disfigure their bodies for their cults. Each cult has a way to tell each other who they belonged to. They had horrible gladiator rings where rival gangs could kill each other, and practice moves on slaves.  

Id wanted to free them, but they had to wait for a little longer.  

Sal and Duncan finally made it, and Id gave them the run down and they waited for Sal to decide how they should go about everything.  

“Let's all get to the mind control facility and release all the zombies like Rick outlined and break all the chemicals and machines they have. Then Id, you will break the slaves free and hopefully make a path for them to flee then we get out before were seen.” 

They made their way through the city at breakneck speeds flying over rooftops. People herd them land and push off the tiles on the roof, but nothing was there when they turned to look.  

They passed thousands of cages around the city. So many people... I was a hellish land scape of wailing. The caged people were sun scorched even the darker skinned people were burnt the white ones were peeling and the layers hardened and stuck out all over ther bodies, none of them had the strength to speak, only cry. 

The mind control facility had a huge symbol on the face of the building, and it was ten stories tall and was longer than a mile and half as wide. They couldn't stop anywhere so they kept moving until Id found a spot and pointed Sal to go to. “It's unguarded for a few moments.” 

“Thank you, Id. We can use a window, find a way in that's free of people.” 

Id disappeared and came back to direct them.  

“Hows your radar look Duncan?” 

“I can get us through easily.”  

The black screen filled in as they made their way through the building. Duncan followed the corridors to a giant room. They had to hide above the ceiling tiles a few times to avoid doctors and security and finally made it into the largest room that was as long as the building and held a gargantuan zombie. Computers were hooked to massive fat humans who were stuck in the digital world wires protruded and all were all attached to the massive zombie.  

All of them had disfigured bodies, there were so many different cult members all hooked to the computers feeding into its brain. It's like their collective hate was being pumped into the zombie. 

“Ok we split up and cure the zombies and take out anyone who sees you. We meet at the roof in five minutes. I got the big guy.” 

“Got it.” They replied. 

Id ran fast and freed as many as he could using all his antidotes then found Duncan fighting so they cleared out all of them quickly, but thousands of men rushed the halls. “I'll make a path get to the roof!” Id yelled, then ran through the hall ripping men and women into pieces, Duncan ran behind through the wave of blood and guts. “Ahhh gross! Ahh noo! This is going to haunt my dreams. Ahhh.” Id yelled the whole time. 

They made it to the meeting spot and Sal wasn't there and they waited for over a minute. “I'm going to go look. Wait here for me Duncan.” Then he disappeared.  

Id searched the building but this time he didn't blow through the middle of people, he ran on the ceiling and walls, but Sal wasn't anywhere. Id ran over motion sensors and nets flew out everywhere, but he was too fast until he was hit from the side by a fast zombie and skidded through people and a net finally caught him. He struggled and broke free, but the men hit him with more nets until he was tangled in ropes and unable to shake them off. The men laughed and snarled and walked towards him, but Duncan broke through the roof killing a few guys. He grabbed Id and flew back upwards through the hole he made. Fire broke out from his burners on his suit.  

Duncan flew through the sky; the enemy took pot shots at them as they made their way out of the city.  “No! We have to find Sal! We can't leave him!”  

“We can't fight them all on our own.” 

“We have to!” 

Id wiggled free from Duncan and fell.  

Ids after image appeared everywhere, slave cages flew open. None of them moved a muscle. “Run! Please run away!” Id cried at them, but they were so starved and defeated, they couldn't stand up much less get away. 

Id ran until he felt weak. He couldn't find Sal and none of the slaves were able to move Duncan had a few slaves and made I'd leave. “All we can do is save the ones that we can. We have to leave.” 

Id rolled his shoulders forward and put his hands over his face in defeat. “Ok.” He whispered. 

Duncan flew away with Id once again, but this time with three slaves they were able to carry. The flew lower because of the extra weight so the bullets coming up from the ground were coming closer, but they evaded all the shots. As they left the city boundaries tears filled Id’s eyes.  

“Sal... and I didn't even get to use my daggers or arrows...”  

The other boys. 

Paul, Blase and Cin reached the Chemical factory. It was Northeast of where their friends went. It was a small town, but the factory was huge. A three-story warehouse with ten trucks that have giant tankers parked at the docks where they get filled up by tubes coming out from midway in the building. 

People in chains move the tube into place and others pull levers to start filing the truck and stop it when its full. A line of hundreds of slaves moved carts by hand in and out of the factory. Only a handful of guards are in place supervising, so it was easy to get in. Paul moved silently, Blase and Cin moved as Paul did following his every step.  

They looked like black, white and brown ants moving in lines and the supervising men beat them at random, not to enforce behaviors but they would find a weak person and hit them. Some of them fell so they would see who could stand back up, if they didn't stand up anymore the slave was executed on the spot. It took all of Paul's discipline to not help... If they were caught the whole mission would fail and so many more good people would die. 

Paul and Blase had to look forward and keep moving. They instructed Cin to do the same and keep moving. Paul wished he could be a robot and not feel. He felt if a black mold spung up in his chest to eat his heart and destroy it forever. Like his mind was warping beyond repair for having allowed that person to die and not even moving a muscle to help him. 

Blase touched his shoulder and brought him back to reality.  

“we're here.” 

Paul shook out of his trance then pointed to a door. 

“We go in through there. Cin Use arrows or throw something to bust the purple chemical vats. We will signal when the tankers are opened. We have to do this simultaneously. Then to the front of the warehouse there are larger tanks with green liquids, we hit those on our way out.” 

“Can do partner, but what about the slaves, those chemicals might kill someone.” Cin replied. 

“Thats right... Hmmm.” 

Ill go and warn them,” Blase said quickly. 

“Good, ok. Then run forward ahead of us and warn the other slaves. We will act if there's any trouble or if you signal.” 

Blase disappeared then reappeared in front of slaves who saw him coming.  

“We are going to break the tanks, get out of here. Get everyone out!”  

His eyes were glazed over but Blase saw the recognition in his face. The slave turned and whispered to the closest one near him until all of them heard and started to leave as a group. The task masters started to hit some of them, but the salves grabbed them and threw them into a vat of the purple liquid and their bodies dissolved instantly. The rest of the guards started to shoot at the slaves but were over run in a matter of moments. 

Sirens blared after the sounds of gun shots.  Slaves broke their chains with their bare hands and ran to the front of the building creating a distraction.  

Cin shot and arrow and it did nothing, so he used a Lazer weapon Duncan made but nothing still happened to the glass. Paul pointed at the metal lab desks, so they jumped down and each started to throw them. The glass started to crack after one throw, then another and nothing.  

“The design of the glass gives it strength. If we hit it in a singular pinpoint location it should break.” Cin stated. 

Paul found a gun and shot the glass, and it broke. The contents exploded out, smoke rose up. Everything the purple liquid touched started to Warp and melted down. The walls holding the other tanks started to melt. The liquid spilled onto the other tanks in the room but didn't melt but the walls smoked then the tanks fell. The portion behind the wall was significantly larger than what they thought. The roof started collapsing right after they left. 

The front of the warehouse was chaos. The slaves forced all the task masters into a corner and were pouring out of the building where gunshots rang out from everywhere, especially right outside the building. 

There were thousands of caged animals in the front area of the building. Before Paul could say anything, Cin took his hot at the massive tank of green liquid. Paul ran after the bullet, but it was faster than him. Green liquid washed over the remaining slaves and task masters and animals. Paul flew through the air from chasing the bullet and smashed into the far wall, barely redirecting his momentum and escaping the fluid. 

It didn't do anything to the humans, but the animals convulsed and crashed into the walls of their cages and roared. The animal gages seemed to melt away, the animals bent the steel like it was a paper box. They foamed at the mouth and attacked anyone or anything that moved. The animals fought each other and rolled and smashed through humans as if they were ground beef wearing clothing. 

Blase was outside shooting at the bad people from a roof. The shots sounded like they were a single shot, but twenty men fell, then he reloaded, and twenty more would fall. Paul and Cin jumped and flew through the air and landed on the roof Blase was on. 

“You and Cin go to the front and I'll watch the rear.”  

“There is a tank left, partner,”  Cin said. 

Blase aimed his rifle and blew a hole in it, then disappeared with Cin. 

The portcullis was down, Cin ran as fast as he could and hit it, but it wouldn't budge. He hit it again, then gave up and tried lifting it, but nothing happened. Slaves rallied around him and lifted the heavy metal gate with him, so everyone started pouring out from under it. Paul took out more guards who were killing and injuring the fleeing people, then ran to the gate, Slid under, then grabbed the metal gate from the outside with the help of the men they set free and held it for Cin and Paul.  

The slaves were so much stronger than the bad guys, they were even stronger than the team was. They saved 80 men and women; they ran at top speed back to Phoenix Ash, and the slaves had to slow down just so their heroes could lead them.  

Id caught up to their other party and told them what had happened and begged them to go help look for Sal, but everyone voted against him, so they all headed home to regroup. Id’s sad innocent eyes pierced His soul. He didn't say anything because he didn't know what to say, he just walked beside him quietly, and it seemed to make Id feel better. 

“Sal, where are you. I hope you're ok.” 

The sun lit a small portion of the sky into a pink hue, the deep dark blues and white clouds mixed in the most perfect way. The sun peaked over the clouds and Paul stared into the horizon and said. “This is the most perfect sunrise I've ever seen in my life. I heard tomorrow's is going to be even more spectacular.” 

They looked at each other, and Id smiled.  

Sal has a problem 

Sal looked up and saw his mobile and his crib, his mom’s face, he remembered feeling sad for no reason and asking God, “Why me. Why did I have to be born? Why now, what is this life for?” Maybe that last thing was from an old band my dad liked. 

Jeton's face appeared over his crib and said, “Your dad was evil. So many people died because of him. He kidnapped a poor priest and forced him to curse water so he could sell the only cure.” 

“No, he didn't,” Sal's baby voice said in a shriek, then he started crying. 

He’s a bad, bad dude.” 

Sal lifted himself up and fell back, then almost got discouraged, but he refused to cry. He stood again but Jetson’s face and body towered above him, and he ran and got taller and taller, but a cubical appeared around him and he was trapped again.”  

Jetson was the same size as he was now, but he condescendingly drank his cup of coffee and said, “If you could get that through your head, that'd be great.” then his face radiated red light and said, “Your dad tried to kill my father and steal his company, you don't remember anything do you?” 

“Corn pop was a bad dude and you're a bad dude, Sal!” 

“You're bad.” He mustered to say. 

“I'm your boss, you can't talk to me like that!” He started to grow horns and laugh louder, and it echoed through his mind. 

“It.... It’s you...”  

“Who Sal!! Say it!” The figure was fully formed now with giant horns and sharp pointy teeth, its hands wrapped around Sal's Throat. 

“I don’t know!!!” Sal shouted at the top of his lungs and faded into darkness again. 

A vision of Dr. Jenkins flashed through Sal's mind. 

“We have to kill him now, right now! We're all going to hang if the plague spreads and it leads back to us! How did it get out! It was gain-of-function research... It was sealed in the lab!” 

Jetson’s voice was there, but all Sal saw was the demonic thing that had been choking him, and its mouth moved. 

“It all has to end; the whole planet needs to be reset...” 

“Your mad! I will fix this. Now go play your little MMO video game.” 

“No father... you must be reset. You will be reborn, perfect and horrible like our souls.” 

The old scientist was thrown in a chamber, and gas came from the ceiling. His looks of worry instantly went away, and his face drooped, and his eyes went blank. 

It hit a panel on the wall, and a computer popped out and he targeted all transportation systems so no one could escape their locations. A monitor on the wall showed a train exploding just outside a station. It skidded to a stop and looked like a massive, coiled serpent. 

“Hahahaha!! The figure laughed while looking at its father.  

“I'm going to sleep for a hundred years until the earth is destroyed then me and my army will take over the planet! I hope it'll still have chicken!” 

Then housands of men rolled into cryo chambers, and the demonic figure lay down in its pod, and all the lids closed in unison. 

“Leroy?” He asked, but it was too late. The lid was shut.

 
Sal was all alone. Blackness filled his vision. So deep and dark he almost faded into it, almost gave into the void, and it went on forever. Anxiety riddled his body with tremors, but he relaxed; something inside his body knew to relax and let go. A blinding light pierced the veil of his heart, and he woke up.  

Someone was shouting, “It's me, Sal, don't hurt anyone anymore. Please, Sal, I love you. We just want our Sal back.” 

He recognized the voice,  

“Id, is that you?” 

"Mom?” She didn't reply; she held my head and rocked back and forth, crying because she didn't know what was wrong with me.  

“It's ok, mommy, I love you forever, I'll be ok, I promise.” 

Chapter 9-War: What’s it good for?

Story by Richard Allen

“The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the spirit is life and peace.” Romans 8;6   

Everything was changed in their mountain home. Even during the Cannable Crusades, they didn't have this much defense in place. All the tunnels are fitted with blades and controlled by people on watch. If any unwanted people come through, they would get chopped up and stabbed. It looked almost like a giant worm's mouth filled with teeth, but the teeth kept going on as far as the tunnels ran. The usual smiles on people's faces were looks of concern and discomfort at knowing they were in a conflict. Jenna made eye contact, and a warmth came back to some of the people's faces, and smiles came back for a few moments.  

Paul was leading and looked straight ahead, focused on the journey. He held Jake’s hand. Jake was strong and fast, but Paul kept him from moving with an iron grip even though Jake tried to go in every direction and wanted to touch everything that he saw, which were blades and rock walls, but Jake was locked in place by his dad, no matter how much he tried to go his own way. The tunnels looked so different that Paul could barely recognize the patterns on the walls to even tell how close they were to the center, so it felt as if the tunnels went forever until they ended abruptly. The guards acknowledged Paul with a nod, but Paul didn't look to the right or the left but nodded back to them. 

Most of the vendors were still in place, but no one filled the street. Only a handful of people at a time to keep it clear, but most people were at stations to keep watch or just at home. They didn't have to be told or make laws, but everyone just knew the proper way to act. Even the new people recently woken up knew to get their necessities and not linger, almost as if by instinct. The citizens learned to imitate their leaders as individuals, so they didn't even need words... even the kids with petty quarrels worked together. Dudley and the girl who bullied him stood watch at the Capitol Building. The looked at one another, and Dudley opened the doors and smiled at Paul and Jenna; Karren waved them through.  

Rick talked with council members who were debating and writing things down with pencil and paper, but they all stopped talking and looked over in unison. Paul waved. Rick acknowledged him, then looked to Jenna, and then down at Jake, and Rick’s eyes grew big. 

“Look how much you've grown.” Rick smiled  

Paul looked down at Jake, he remembered he had a son, and his smile grew from ear to ear. “Just knowing you exist makes my heart full.” Paul thought to himself. 

Rick picked up Jake, then said  

“It's been a long time since we got to smile around here. Jake smacked him on the forehead loudly. Rick’s face rippled a little from the hit, and it startled Jake, but Rick scrunched up his face, making his small facial features look even smaller. They both laughed, then Rick looked at Paul and Jenna. 

“We’ve gotten word of the attack on Union soil. The first attack here came at the same time as the one in the Union, about a month from this day. The enemy sent his forces to fight our army and sneak in behind us, so I destroyed them completely and utterly.” 

Rick paused only for a moment, but everyone knew it weighed on his heart. 

Rick continued. “Thank the lord we were able to stop them from taking Phoenix Ash and killing any more good people. Now, because of these attacks, the president ordered all borders to be closed.” 

“What about the nomadic people?” Jenna couldn't help but interrupt. 

Rick looked at her and said, “They were notified and are taking refuge at the closest place to their native land. Both Beaners and Crackers brought their harvests and stores of grains and many types of Fabaceae.”  

“The president cannot solve all our problems, so we are instructed to follow our paths and to communicate immediately. The hunter and trapper clans are all back working for the people.”  

“Where is Id?” Paul asked. 

Rick made a face at the mention of his name and the laughed.  

“He is helping a great deal. He is the man responsible for gathering up all the Beaners and Crackers and ensuring they were safe. He complained a great deal about the Crackers because they won't eat beans as you will hear him talk about relentlessly, but he will be back with us here as soon as he can.” 

“That’s good to hear.” 

“Jenna, please give us your account of what happened,” Rick asked with a concerned under score in his voice. 
While she was speaking, Rick pulled Paul aside and asked him,  

“You did not fight?” 

“Uhhh, No, I stayed with Jen and the baby.” 

“Huh, ok. Why didn't you just take them out?”  

“I was trying to keep my family from danger.” 

“How's that working out, Paul?” 

He wasn't the man he used to be, before he died and became a zombie. “I used to be a man.” He thought to himself. 

Jenna told them all accounts of what happened;she recorded in her memory every person she interviewed. She had the best memory, extensively more detailed than the gatherers could give.  The scientists working for Jeson, who is making mind-controlled zombies, his cannibal army, the people who were taught that bad was good. Everything the president told her for strengthen the immediate communities and not just rely on the Union.  

She was almost done speaking when Id appeared beside her. 

The word “Battle” came before they recognized he was there. 

“We went to the beach after all interviews were... uhhh ahhhh,” Jenna yelled, then held her hand over her racing heart. 

“Ah, sorry, Jen. Id said then kept talking. 

“Hope City, I heard Jetson talking about attacking in three days.” 

Jenna gasped. 

“We must head there immediately. You can make it to the city; help defend and keep their attention then we will have a group of soldiers to attack from the side.” 

“Yes,” They all agreed. 

Paul muttered, “I can do it.” 

“Hmmmm, Wait. I have another plan.” Rick said then scratched his chin. 

“Paul will go and attack head-on.”  

“Are you sure, Rick? The first plan we all talked about seems so much better.” Sal said. 

“What...?” Jenna said with wide eyes. 

“I am guided by the spirit; I can guide you to the tools and weapons you will need. Come with me if you want to live.” 

Sal laughed, and everyone looked at him blankly. 

“Come with me if you want to live,” Sal repeated in his best Arnold voice, then laughed, but no one else did.  

“Oh right, I'm super old, sorry.” No one paid attention. 

“It is God who will give us what we need. What can you give me that equals that, Rick?” Said Paul. 

Rick smiled. “That’s exactly why I'm sending you.”  

Paul said his goodbyes and kissed Jake and Jenna, then headed to the stables to get a horse. Sal, Id, Jenna, and Rick walked with him. 

“We prepared you a thirty-horsepower horse.” Said the stable master. 

“Thirty-horsepower.” Laughed Sal. 

Everyone looked at him like he was crazy again, so Sal backed up behind Jenna and Rick. 

The stable master smiled because he had to explain it a lot more lately. 

“Yes, over the years, all things have become faster and stronger after zombies came; everything has adapted to the new king of the world, but the king quickly lost his grip... Zombies even adapted to animals; they imitate escalating this battle of adaptation, but life is winning. Each generation of man has conquered the unnatural zombie and the natural world even before a cure was found.” 

They all looked at him blankly. 

“Sorry, I'm feeling a little spacey right now. To summarize, this horse is equal to one of the horses from the time you lived, Sal.” 

“That makes sense.” Sal Said. 

And Paul was out of sight before Sal finished his sentence.  

Id ran beside Paul's horse, and they caught up a little, and they told each other about things that had happened to them until Id finally asked.  

“Do you need any herbs or caffeine?”  

“No thanks, Id. I don't smoke anymore.” 

“Not those herbs, I mean anything to help you sleep better or for extra energy.” 

“Caffeine makes it hard for me to sleep, too.” 

“Herbs can help with that, and that other herb should too.”  

“No, I'm going to go all natural and herb, herb makes my mind race, and I don't sleep well. It's my specific type of person, I guess.” 

“Ohh, ok.” Id smiled. 

“Go with God, my friend, I love you.” 

“Love you too, Id.” 

Paul, the loneliness hit him like a ton of bricks the millisecond after Id left. He was riding to Hope all alone. The warmth in his heart radiated as soon as he decided to be more optimistic. He felt the horse under him moving effortlessly, each muscle stretched and pulled the exact way it was designed to move... so effortlessly.  The sky parted and a ray of evening sunshine lit his path; he didn't look right or left, only at the sunlit path before him. 

A voice exploded out of nowhere. 

“We were getting hungry,” and ten men appeared in front of Paul. 

The horse stopped on a dime, and then a band of one hundred roving scouts surrounded him. 

“What's your name?” A sly and nasty-sounding voice asked.  

“I like to know what to call my food.” 

“I'm just a man, fighting for someone.” 

The voice cackled a nasty laugh. 

“The names Nunya... Nunya Business.” Paul said in a gruff voice. 

The first ten attacked in unison. Paul dodged six punches and broke two arms, but four men hit his horse square in the middle of its chest, and he bucked Paul into the air and hit the ground kicking and smashing a man's face into pudding... but three men still clung to him. In an explosive gallop forward, the enemy flew behind a hill where Paul couldn't see. 

Paul wanted to look for his steed, but he still stood before a hundred men who wanted him dead.  

“I wonder if these guys want me dead.” He whispered to himself.  

“Let's kill this guy!” The crowd yelled. 

“Well then, yippy Coyote, my friend.” Paul smiled with confidence. 

Many of the cannibals in the crowd asked, “What?” 

“It's from an old, old movie.”  

“I don't get it... None of us gets it.” 

“Let's get ‘em!” yelled the one hundred enemies. 

Paul killed a few of them, but was struck repeatedly. He landed in a tree as he flew and slammed into a tree. He felt the blood flowing out of his nose and eyebrow. He was mobbed, but he killed a few more, but was struck repeatedly again. His fighting spirit slowly came back to him. He killed ten men, then another twenty without being hit a single time.  Then signaled for them to attack with a gesture that said, “Come at me, bro.” 

The remaining nine hundred men yelled and charged. 

Paul killed the rest before the end of the hour. He was bleeding from all over his face and one knife wound, but smiling. His horse whinnied and stomped, looking at his friend from the hill, and watched him kill the last guy.  

Paul whistled, and his steed trotted up, throwing its head up and down. When he came up, he put his nose under Paul's hand, so he rubbed his nose and muzzle and inspected him for a moment. Its legs were covered in blood,d and its chest plate was dented, but it was in good health. Paul said,  

“Good horse.” Then mounted again and went on his way. 

He came to Hope City when it became fully dark; the once shining mesa was pitch black. No light could be seen. While he was thinking he heard scouts pacing him from a short distance to his right and left. They let out a bird call, and he knew they were Hope scouts. No one said a word until they were inside the city.  

Judy was in her battle suit. Only her mouth was visible. He knew it was her because she had her old judge's robes that she was famous for. 

“Id told us that you are alone and going to help us.” 

“Yes, ma’am.” 

“Thank you for helping us,” Judy said  

“I'm going to get you patched up. The fight can come at any moment.” 

At that moment, the fight began.  

Two zombies over 300 feet tall peered their heads above the flat mesa top.  

Paul jumped at the closest zombie. Its huge head was larger than a building. It lost its grip a little and threw its head back, exposing its neck, so he slashed with his spear. The massive zombie flew to the ground, hitting so hard it made a small crater around him. Blood gushed from a slice in the zombie's neck, but it stood back up and snarled. Paul waited for it to make a move, it lifted its arms into the air and disappeared into the night’s sky, and its head wobbled back, unable to keep its head upright from the cut tendons. Paul slashed again. Its head fell all the way backwards and hung from the remaining connecting tissue, then it fell. A dust cloud rose up after it hit the ground, then its body fell on top of it, smashing its own head.  

The second zombie swung and destroyed an entire group of buildings. 

Judge Judy was on its shoulder, she hit with her hammer, breaking bone and tendon, then was launched from the zombie’s spasmic reaction to her hit.  

Blood gushed from Paul's body from his earlier fight. Moving so quickly reopened his wounds that had started to heal. The rush of the fight reminded him of why he loved Jenna so much. She fought with all her heart. He remembered their first kiss, their first argument. The hundreds of times they almost died together and the one time he did... but he was back now, back to the man he used to be, but energized and renewed with love for his wife and kids.  
Something from deep within him growled. His eyes started to glow green, then flash green and turn emerald green. 

He smiled, then caught mid-air as Judy flew off the zombie's shoulder and threw her back at the zombie. She swung her hammer and made a hole in its head, then Paul followed up with a slash, cutting the zombie’s face down the middle and positioning himself to slash its throat.  

Judy yelled, “No!... Just knock him out. We can save him. We can at least save the zombies; they don't know what they're doing. Or at least we must know for sure before passing a sentence of death.”  

Paul stopped his final blow to the throat and jumped to grab Judy again and threw her to the zombies' nerve on the back of its neck and she knocked it out with a final blow that shook the entire mountain. It fell and hit the ground, shaking the mountain once more. 

Judy was flying still, so Paul jumped out after her and threw her back to the mesa top, and he landed on the ground and ran at the Legion of soldiers  

They abandoned their siege works and ran for their lives. All the soldiers ran, and Hopes’ scouts and fighting men chased them and killed them as they fled, until the forest edge where the trees began. 

Paul fell to his knees and felt his body. The great pain throbbing through his body got stronger but it felt so good to him. A reminder of who he was and is, life is pain, and he was still alive. He smiled at the thought of life's struggles. 

“Let's go.” Echoed inside his brain.  

He stood and went to pursue the enemy, but a scout came back and told him the enemy was almost gone and convinced him to go get healed, so they went to the healers of Hope town, and he lay on the hospital bed and he smelled band aids and alcohol. He fell asleep watching them work, the cold towels and stitches faded into numbness and darkness, and he slept deeper than he had slept in months. 
The day’s sun crept through the clouds and beamed into Paul's eyes, and he woke. He stood up, and the nurse tried to make him lie back down, but he stood, and Judy was there dressed as a Judge, but her robes were clean and new. Her smile was accentuated because it was her only visible facial feature. 

“Welcome back,” Judy said. 

“Good morning, your honor.” 

“You were still asleep?” She laughed. “Good job. We beat them this time, but we had the high ground.” 

“We have Tony,” Paul said and smiled. 

“Tony died in the battle.” Judy frowned. 

“Noo. No. They killed Tony?” Paul said sadly. 

“Yes, they killed Tony,” Judy replied sadly. “But we still have the high ground. 

“They have an army and hulking monsters.” 

“But still, we have the high ground,” Judy said.

“We do have a good position. But Tony is dead, they killed Tony.” Paul nodded in agreement with Judy and just sat with the feeling of loss in silence for a moment. 

“Can you stay and help prepare for the next battle?” Judy eventually said softly. 

Paul thought deeply and then said. “Yes.” 

After three days of working the field and setting up ballistas all around the mesa’s cliffs, he headed back home, where Id intercepted him, and he was with two other men who happened to be white. 

Id appeared close to Paul, and the two other men took a long time to catch up. One ran up and gasped for air. 

“I hate Crackers.” Said Id. 

“I am deeply offended... We are people too!” The Cracker said. 

“Oh, no, I meant eating crackers. Like the food. Not you, I like you, but I don't like the food you eat, although you guys are super slow.” 

“You dang Beaners. Always looking down on us Crackers.” Said the other cracker finally catching up. 

“I don't look down on you at all. I respect Crackers because you plant seeds and grow your own food and collect it from the wild like we do.” 

“Oh, well... I'm sorry.” 

Id threw up a peace sign and smiled.  

“You guys should try some beans, and I'll try some crackers.”  

“No, we can't. It's against our code, but you can eat whatever you want; we don't hold food against you.” 

From that day on, Beaners and Crackers understood each other way more than they ever had, and the trio all got along way better from then on. Paul just sat and listened and finally said,  

“What's going on, Id?” 

“Nothing bad, we are just training, but there is word about the cure and Sal's past back at Phoenix. We will catch back up with you when we’re on the way back.” 

“OK.’ Replied Paul. 

“we’re gonna have to beat our time to catch back up to Paul, so we’re gonna go faster today. Let’s gooo!” Id smiled. Finally gonna go faster, these guys are sooo slow.... Id thought to himself, then disappeared.  

The crackers groaned, then disappeared in a flash. 

Paul made his way back to Phoenix. 

The purple mountains of Phoenix appeared in the distance. Happy to be so close to hope Paul started running. Id jogged beside him and smiled.  

“We ran five hundred miles, then five hundred more and we still caught back up.”  

“I was walking. Paul laughed. 

“It's just awesome, these Crackers are so fast. They kept up. I think we really aren't so different than my tribe. They dedicate themselves and improve exactly as we do. I'm not talking trash, I promise.” 

“Ahh, but I think you were.” Smiled Paul. Then he ran ahead of Id. 

They raced to Phoenix. The crackers outran them both, but Paul ran faster than he had ever run before. His lungs were on fire, then it just felt right, and he ran faster, then even faster. Id did cartwheels because he had never seen Paul so energized. He felt that Paul's spirit had changed. 

Paul looked at him like he understood what Id was thinking, then put his arms back while he ran, and his speed increased. They made it to the mountain. Id let him win, and Paul knew it, but he was still in high spirits. He felt the life coming back to his core... to his bones. 

Back at the Capitol 

The whole party was called when Paul was spotted by the scouts, and they were all at the Capitol now. 

“We have news about the cure,” Rick said. 

Paul kissed his wife first, then said, “What is the news?” 

“Peter and Rickey found traces of a molecule in the shell of the pill. Such a small amount it was almost imperceptible, and something else called Iversonmeckatain. The first thing they called the God particle and the Iversonmectain was just what it was coated with.” Said Rick. 

Jenna smiled and said, “It was holy water purified by a priest.” 

“Which the scientists have believed...” Rick paused to look at their faces.  

“Was supposedly taken by force from holy men by Sal's father.”  

Sal looked at the ground and frowned. 

“All of the news articles found on Sal's father were very, very bad.” Rick continued. 

“It doesn't make sense. We went to church every Sunday and Wednesday night. My dad lost sleep every week because we attended church. It doesn't make sense.” Sal protested. 

Rick nodded in agreement. “Good could have been called evil at that time, so this is all alleged.” 

“They said it was my father's fault the world ended. Alleged nothing. He was a good man.” 

“Nevertheless, we have a lead. It turns out Iversonmectain is the cheapest thing to make from common ingredients. Dr. Omura and Dr. Campbell are making it quickly and easily. We just need our priests who are true to help. They have recreated the cure, but not all the priests can do it. Only the true-hearted ones.” 

“We will find out more,” Sal said resolutely. 

“Jetsons men aren't strong, but they use these zombies they mind control to make up for it,” Sal said. 

“Yes.” Rick replied. 

“It's like the priest thing.” Id interjected. “They can't grow because they don't know God. They destroy themselves. We know God and don't always do good, but we try...” 

“That is why God’s word is so powerful,” Rick said and smiled. “Just hearing the words draws you in, and you work and continually strive to do better. This is why you must read the words every day so you can have all the strength you will ever need.” 

Id smiled, then read a quarter of the bible, then started daydreaming, so he stopped because he knew he couldn't pay attention at the moment, so he would read another one when his mind was clearer. Everyone was still looking at him as if he was going to continue taking, but Id stayed silent and let Rick talk. 

“Jetsen is hitting everyone even harder since we found these things out. We might be spread thin, but we all must fight. We can do it if we have God on our side.” 

 “My concern is not whether God is on my side; my greatest concern is to be on God’s side, for God is always right.” Paul quoted the ancient proverb by Abraham Lincoln. 

Rick let out a belly laugh, and they grasped hands as if they were going to arm wrestle midair. The contrast of the black the and white of their hands accentuated their brotherly gesture.

“It's time we strike first,” Rick said. “We have a plan to stop the production of the chemicals and their mind control facilities. I need two groups. Paul, Blase, and Cin. You have the chemical factory.” 

Blase and Cin waved from the back of the room, remaining silent; they both tipped their hats.. 

“Sal, you're heading up the charge against the mind control facilities. Id and Duncan will go with you.” 

“I don't think I'm the best one for the job. I'm not really a leader type.” Sal protested.  

Rick looked Sal in the eye. “It is your turn to lead. If you don't learn, you will die.” 

“Ok, I'll try.” 

“The Id no try, just do.” Id tried to make a joke, but it went over everyone's heads. 

“Where is Duncan and when do we leave?” Sal asked nervously. 

“You leave right now; Duncan will be in Autherman. He will be there an hour before you get there so make haste.” 

Paul asked for the horse he rode before. The others received their own thirty-horsepower horses, and they rode swiftly to Aurtherman. Paul looked back and smiled at his wife and baby until they were out of sight. 

                                                 The End of Chapter 9 

Into death they rode, or was it life? Or a morphing of the soul for the better, perhaps... Maybe even for the worse. Maybe someone will get PTSD.

They lived because it was all they could do and waited to see what the next chapter of their lives would bring. Their spirits were high and strengthened by their love for all that is good. They looked ahead.    

Chapter 8- Summer of a beach

“We are more often frightened than hurt; And we suffer more in imagination than in reality.” -Seneca

Jetsen's men carried heavy body bags through the shadows, stopping at every corner of the main union city, avoiding all night patrols with the advanced intel they received from their spies undercover in the union government. Nearly getting caught by a drunk stumbling home who burst into song as one of the infiltrators stumbled and fell, dropping his end of the body bag, which was weighed down by a massive corpse. They signaled to each other and laughed at the idea of the innocent lives lost because this drunk could have ended their campaign of terror. The drunk started yelling about his brother, Herold, and prostitutes, then sang “Everybody knows your name!” with a hiccup and a stumble, and he was off and out of sight.

The got to their destination by the lab and dropped the two bodies on the ground and whispered to each other, “This one's huge, hopefully he's programmed right. I know the big guys are more unpredictable with mind control programming and especially the sedation.”

The leader whispered back, “Do your job, get in and get out.”

He prepped the syringe and looked at the other man with a syringe, and they plunged the needles into the corpses in unison, then ran for their lives without regard for being caught. The corpses exploded to life then began rampaging and throwing horses and buggies, and breaking everything close to them in a mad, blind rage. They ate people whole and smashed the entire building in a single punch.

After minutes, the massive corpses grew triple their size, their eyes white and red, rolled back so their decayed pupils finally saw, they turned to the lab and blew a hole into the front of the hyper reinforced government building.

The city's first responders finally arrived and called in to bring heavy guns and to disregard collateral damage, the two demon zombies caused more destruction within minutes then they could have ever imagined was possible.

“The lab is gone! Drop send the bomb!”

HQ replied “Negative, draw them out, use the magma heat rounds, confirm when target is in the open.”

Twenty soldiers and three robots switched to their magma rounds and unloaded on the building, the bots used their heat tracking systems to direct the soldiers aim.

The volley of bullets hit their target through the smoke and the steel and concrete melting everything in its path. The Steel beams caught on fire and melted, collapsing the building on the targets. Smoke and rock flew up; the soldiers held their positions and waited.

The president was only a few blocks away and saw the building collapse as he was being briefed.

“Sir, it appears as if the laboratory was the target, the rampage was at random then focused to the building.”

The president replied quickly, “If the lab is the target, then we know there after our friends and do not want us to research a cure.”

“Sir, I need to get you to safety.”

“No,” Replied the president. “If they're not safe, no one is safe, they are the priority, we will retrieve them, and they will be as safe as I am. If I go we will have an election before my four years is up.”

“Sir, that is not advisable. we need you.”

“I won't repeat myself,” The president replied.

“The hotel is halfway between the monsters and us, Sir.” His lead security said then realized the president was already running and his security detail started after him in a v shape with the president at the head.

HQ rang over their coms, “Call out when confirmed down.”

The soldiers watched the dust settle and the rubble shift and smolder. A slab of the rooftop lifted and flew killing five men and a robot and the first zombie stood, filled with holes but intact.

“Target not down!” The soldier yelled over the com. “Target is not down.”

The other lumbering zombie stood with his arm missing and half crushed but still limping around, falling onto soldiers crushing them after trying to pick them up with its good arm. Fire exploded with each incendiary magma round that hit, but the targets kept going as if nothing was happening.

“Drop the bomb now” The lead soldier yelled.

Coms screeched and the voice said, “Fall back a safe distance, dropping the block radius.”

“Fall back! Fall back. Block radius.” He yelled to whoever of his men were still alive.

The bomber opened its doors and a flash then the explosive was off.

Duncan flew out at maximum speed that his Exo-suit could go without regard for his own life. The men the zombie fell on were still close. One was crushed and unresponsive and the other legs were crushed, bones stuck out, he shouted in pain, but he tried to crawl and grab his friend to pull him to safety, but his body could barely move itself.

Duncan flew in as the bomb was at about the height of a roof, he grabbed the two men without stopping his forward motion, the explosion threw them, and they flew down the open street between the building. Both men flew into pieces with the impact onto the ground and arm and leg flew this way and that way. Duncan skidded to a stop against an electrical pole. He watched their body's come apart and he wrenched but didn't throw up, he was more determined to stop the threat.

Duncan confirmed the men were dead then tried to use his boost, but it was broken during the crash. Alarms blared when he tried to use the function. Sal ran fast with his strange new abilities after taking the antidote for the third time. He wasn't as fast as when he was a zombie, but he made it to Duncan and checked on his friend.

“Help them, I'm fine, go!”

Sal met up with the squad leader of the first responders and asked what to do to help.

“One is confirmed down; the bigger one is fully intact but dazed and more enraged.”

“What do we do? HQ!”

“The president has Peter, Paul and Jenna and they're in a bunker. It appears the zombies next target is the president's bunker. Civilians are evacuated but do not let the zombie get closer. Bravo and Delta squads are set to flank with explosives and more incendiary rounds.”

Squad leader pointed and told Sal, “Get any survivors out.”

Sal found some robots and a single man who was scorched, Duncan grabbed the bots, and they retreated a little way.

Delta and Bravo squad hit the zombie with so many bullets; the skin started to fall off, but it didn't go down. The squads concentrated fire to the legs and eventually cut one off, and it fell and impelled its head on a broken off power pole. They secured the zombie's moving body to the ground with chain's until it stopped twitching. Everyone in the capitol was up and helping through the night, the cleanup crews and citizens and president were all working side by side to help.

Some of the old-world people who were cured found statues from their time and brought them out and the president saw and yelled at them. “No! Get those out of here now!”

“We are sorry, please do not kill us!” They pleaded because the president was so angry, he looked as if he would strangle them himself.

The president composed himself and said “put those in a sack right now. Put them away and hand them over to me. Since the fall of our society, statues and figures from your time are punishable by banishment. I can lose my job as president for this even being here. I should have taken better care at pointing out the rules.”

The old-world people collected what little statues they took from their homes or found on their journey and handed them over, the president made a spot where the bomb destroyed the street and made a fire with chemical's that burned hot enough to melt metal then threw all of the idols into the melting pool of asphalt.

Then he addressed the people again. “In our past, we didn't have borders or boundaries, and we were all susceptible to whatever whims of the people... With in these borders and boundaries, we worship God and there is only one God.”

Duncan didn't understand and asked, “If I can ask you a question, I do not meat to push back, I comply to all of your rules and regulations.”

“Yes, Go ahead Duncan, thank you.”

“Those are only metal and wood and shaped by men, why would that matter? I do not believe in a God or gods.” Duncan said.

“You can believe what you want my friend,” Replied the president, “But it's the reason the old world failed... Graven images and peoples and technology... Our historians compiled their knowledge and found that the worship of gods changed the face of government. Government serves only one God here. For now, and forever. Not humans, not things... we protect the peoples for their future and the future of our children.”

“I can see how that would work,” Replied Duncan. “Things did get muddled up in my time. Most people relied on technology to the point where people couldn't even remember basic phone numbers without our communication devices.”

The president shook his head in agreement then said, “Thank you for your question. Does anyone else have anything else to ask or to add?”

No one raised their voices or hands. “The first crew get some rest, second crew finish up here, we called in for help from other quadrants. Thank you all so much for your help, hard work and dedication.” With those last words the president took Sal and Duncan to meet up with Peter.

Jenna and Paul and their baby Jake stayed behind and helped clean up and Jenna used first aid on as many injured as much as she could. They stayed far away from the fight and were evacuated with the citizens to protect their baby.

The president took his little group to the closest place he could which was a presidential suit of a restaurant where he conducted his meetings sometimes and they ate and went over what to do next.

“Jetsen is most likely responsible for this...” The president said exasperated from the night's events.

“Yes, we encountered one such zombie on the way here, as we informed you on our arrival... We cured him and he said Jetsen's name just before he died.” Replied Peter.

The president nodded in agreement then said, “He has an army triple our size if our scouting reports are correct. It is filled with all the people we fought so hard against, and cannables and every type of no-good persons who want un-requited and absolute power over others. Jetsen promises much to them...”

Sal spoke up and said. “All the more reason to get this antidote out.”

“All the efforts of Paul and Duncan are blown to bits. We must hurry and rebuild the equipment before it's too late. We have to figure this out before they strike again.” Said the president.

Duncan spoke up. “I can have the equipment rebuilt within a few days. We have the knowledge since we built it once a few months ago when we first arrived.”

“OK, said the president, “We will get to it fast.”

They all ate and smiled when they looked into each other's faces and forgot for a moment and frowned to themselves when they remembered. They became full and sleepy and ready to nap for an hour or so then get back to work...

Duncan ejected from his suit and crawled up to the president and shoot his hand, man to man and they all said their goodbyes then left.

Within the next few weeks everything went back to normal for the most part. The hole where the building was is filled in, but everyone went back to their daily lives. The equipment was finished. Jenna heard that there was a beach within the union boundaries, and it was sunny season, and she wanted to get out of the city for a little, so her family decided to head to the beach. Duncan didn't like the sun and Paul said he had too much work to do but Sal agreed to go with them.

The beach stretched forever in two directions; the ocean went on for infinity in front of Sal. He could have fallen to his knees just thinking about how big the ocean really was. He started to tremble, but Jenna called out and said she needed help, Paul was helping her set up a couple of umbrellas and Jenna sat out some towels, but Jake ran towards the water faster than his parents could run, so Sal ran after him and grabbed him just before he could jump in the water. He giggled and laughed, unaware of any possible dangers or zombies that could be under the water.

Sal swung him around and said, “Hey, stay on the beach, you crazy munchkin.”

Jake's high-pitched laughter filled the air.

Jake was running everywhere since he learned to walk. As soon as his feet touch the ground, he's off. Paul has caught him too many times to count before he's ran into the street without a care in the world.

They all came together and made sandcastles. Paul and Jenna helps Jake make his first one, but Sal made tons of them quickly then bragged about setting a Guiness Book of World Records for building sandcastles.

Paul challenged Sal to a competition and lost because Sal has a weird half zombie power now, and Paul made sure to say it over and over and they all laughed.

Sal explored the beach and watched the waves crash against the rocky part of the shoreline. The waves crashed and sprayed a mist of salt water that shot into the air and covered him with each ebb and flow of the waves. Jakes high pitched scream rang out behind him, and he turned to see Jake flying up into the air and come back down,his dad caught him, then threw him right back up again.

Sal walked around for a while and thought about his family and his ex-wife and kids and missed them more than anything in the world. He started to get sad but sat at the ocean and started to sing silly songs. Paul and Jake came up and laughed at his songs.

Paul left Jake with Sal so he could get some alone time with Jenna. They laid beside each other on their beach towel and looked into each other's eyes and talked about how sweet the breeze was and how perfect the sun felt on their skin. Paul whispered “I wish this moment would never end. When every day isn't set in stone, each kiss and every glance is so precious.” As the sun was starting to set, and he kissed her again like it was their first.

Back to work

The lab was set up in a makeshift building deeper into the union and each county was on high alert, so security was tighter than ever. Terrorist groups were found thanks because someone took note of how they used hand signals. They used signals that Jetsen's side used, and they didn't realize the unions were different, so they were watched closely, and their attack was foiled before it began. So, the lab was saved again.

Peter called everyone to the lab after a few days when they returned from the beach and looked puzzled and speechless. “I don't know,”” said Peter in a daze.

“What? What's the matter.” Asked Sal.

“Nothing's the matter, it just doesn't make sense... I...” Peter trailed off still looking at the same reports.

Duncan cut in and said. “The reports show the antidote is just salt water.”

“It doesn't make sense.” Peter said again. “It's just plain salt and water. There must be something deeper.”

“We’ve tested it on zombies with salt and water of our own, but it didn't work.” Said Peter “It just doesn't make sense.”

Duncan nodded and said. “The antidote you found worked differently on the minds of zombies depending on their mental states. Sal and I have a ‘child mind’ so in our zombie state we were able to counter being a zombie in a special way, but Sal was even different then I was.”

“What about the casing of the antidote? And I've got a child mind?” Asked Sal

“It's just a normal pill... oh and Childlike tendencies,” said Peter, snapping out of his haze. “The mental tendencies for how a person acts and reacts to life events plays out how they react as a zombie. We are trying to determine the cure Duncan not the psychological aspect of humans and zombies.”

Duncan and Peter argued as if they've had the same one for a long time.

Paul spoke up. “It seems Jetsen is very interested in that subject...”

Peter and Duncan both looked at each other, concerned and nodded.

“Perhaps we can find out what exactly Jetsen is up to... but we haven't even figured out the cure yet... We will deal with it as it comes... I will keep working on this antidote.” said Peter.

“Jetsen is using some kind of mind control that taps into the zombie mind, I'll research the psychological side and see what I can find.” Said Duncan.

Then they got back to work and forgot about Jenna, Paul and Sal.

“Let's bet back to Phoenix ash and talk to Rick...” Suggested Jenna and Paul agreed.

The president gave them a nice going away ceremony and gave them all the supplies they needed and more. All the survivors of the incident were there and wanted to look into their eyes and thank them and make sure our party knew how much they were appreciated. Orange people under sunshades, Red, yellow, black and white people lined the streets the whole way to the border of the union.

The got close to Phoenix Ash and were ambushed by men with weapons. Paul called them by name, and they relaxed.

“Sorry friends, Jetsen has been raiding travelers. Killing and kidnapping and taking everything, they can at random. It is unsafe here. Let's move.” The leader said.

The closer to their town they got they saw small battlefields with bodies strewn about. Some of them burnt and bare bones were exposed.

“Is the city ok.” Paul asked.

“Yes, but we are on high alert. This battle happened a month ago. Rick was forced to cut down hundreds, we were surrounded on multiple fronts, but Rick saved the city. Id ran him fast enough to make it to everywhere he needed, it was amazing and gruesome.” Replied the man guiding them.

“And what of Hope city?” Paul said.

He replied “Hope is safe. They are high enough. They just changed their protocol to a defensive one.”

They all were silent.

Sal didn't know how to handle the idea of looking into someone's face who wanted to kill him. He didn't want to hurt anyone. He couldn't imagine wanting to end someone's life... It's self-defense but the idea made him anxious but each time he fought, he felt focused and ready... He decided to leave the thought and handle whatever happens as it came. “No need to worry when there's no need to worry.” His dad would always say.

I’ll try my hardest to keep everyone alive if I can. Sal thought to himself and thought about how Rick must feel. He was surrounded on multiple battle fronts and had to make the call to save the town... If only there was another way... Without fighting or killing. Why can't people just be content and just live their own lives and leave others alone? Why can't we all just get along?

Chapter 7- The Sun will come out

“Think of all the beauty still left around you and be happy.” ― Anne Frank

Paul and Jenna recovered completely and the whole little town was in recovery. Jenna told Paul about the zombie named Sal who saved her and kept her and his son safe and about how Jenna hit on Sal, but he was a zombie, and she felt creepy for it. Paul hated Sal; his jealousy overcame him. He had to work for years to get Jenna even to like him. He didn't have super strength or a magical stupid cure... He saved me and Jenna and kept Jake safe... I am thankful, he sighed outwardly as he was thinking to himself. Jenna squeezed his shoulders. Paul got quiet after she told him about the incident where she wanted Sal.

“It was only a brief moment.” She said trying to make him feel better, but he made a face and turned from her even more.

A knock on the door came and Jenna said, “come in.”

Akari's voice gently said, “We will be discussing the party that will return to Hope city and what we must do. Please come out when you're ready so we can sort things out.”

“We will be out right away master.” Paul quickly said then stood and walked out.

Jenna knew he would come around; Paul was kind and sweet, she trusted he would work through it his own way. She stood and walked out, and everyone was sitting in the living area, and some new faces were standing by master Akari.

Mandy ran and hugged Paul and Jenna and spoke. “I knew people would come back to life! Just like the book Rick loves said!”

Rick heard her and said, “It is like that, but the book means it in a different way, i think. It says God will raise up all the dead, this is only the ones that were still zombies. We will have to wait longer for that day sweet little one.”

She smiled even bigger, and a tear was in her eye, “I can't wait for that day!”

Rick chuckled and smiled and looked around at all the people and his friends and said, “Me too little one.”

Paul's bad mood lightened, Jenna held his hand, and they smiled at each other.

Akari spoke up. “Now friends we are at a crossroads. We will have some wait behind for Roma and Merik to return and find the people further out who are paralyzed and waiting for the antidote, some will journey back to Hope and get their child,” He stopped and smiled at Paul who he knew was anxious to see Jake. “And some need to head to Phoenix Ash to get a party together and meet with the president of the Union and inform them of Jetsen's new toys and how bold they are becoming now.”

Akari continued, “I will be going with Jenna, Paul and Sal with the people from this town, those who wish to stay at Hope will stay and those who wish to continue to Phoenix will continue with me.

Rick spoke up next, “Id you will help them with finding the people that still need to be helped and wait for Roma and Merik please, they will need your help to find then bring back the rest of our new friends. If you see Jensen or any of his men do not engage and keep the people away from him. They and decide for themselves but we will be the ones to bring them up to speed. Jensen will just kill them if they disagree with him.”

“Yes, Sir.” Id replied.

Rick looked at Blase and CIN and said, “Can you two help out here too?”

“Yes, Sir 'Ree. Said CIN

Blase tipped his hat in agreement.

Rick looked at Akari then all his friends and the new ones and said, “everyone knows what to do, God willing we carry out our tasks, take care my friends.”

Everyone left and it was just Blase, CIN and Id left alone.

“Alright Id,” said Blase “Let's find these old boys and get em home quick.”

Id was excited to find the zombie who rode the car frame. “YA!” Id yelled in excitement.

They made it to the old bank building and found the big zombie Id fought with Akari.

“Holy cow!” Exclaimed Blase. “Would you look at the size of this guy? Was this really a human?”

CIN chimed in, “The Sand Lions morph into animal forms, it would seem that these guys can gain in size and morph from their original shapes.”

Blase said, “I know I'm just surprised, is all. I was bein rhetorical.”

“Oh, right partner, haha” said CIN

Blase chuckled at the robot and said “Please dig em out and carry em. We're not gonna be able to handle more than this guy for now, especially if he gets violent when he wakes up.”

They couldn't get him in the house or around through the big RV gates, so they put him in a patch of grass and Id threw one of the antidotes into the zombie's mouth. Nothing happened for hours. Id suggested to use two, but Blase said no. Just wait longer.”

Blase got tired and said, “I’m gonna go lay down we should get some rest Id. Keep watch CIN.”

“Can  do,” Replied CIN

Id shook his head, “I'm gonna wait a while longer, I have to talk to him when he wakes up.”

More hours passed by, and Id fell asleep. Cin kept watch and just talked to the zombie until the sun began to rise and hit the zombies face and he started to move.

“UH OH” Said CIN and Id woke up just as IN sounded an alarm to wake up Blase.

Id walked up and said “Hello Mr. Zombie.”

The zombie grunted and pushed himself upright, unable to walk because of his legs.

The zombie grunted and looked around and then looked at Id again, so Id repeated “Hello.” and smiled.

The zombie blinked and tried to form a smile and said “hello” back but just stayed in place and grunted as it was breathing.

Blase ran out of the house and saw the zombie and stopped and watched as he turned and looked at him and said “Hello” and rocked from side to side happily.

Id motioned for Blase to come over and said, “Can we give him another antidote now?”

“Maybe a might bit more will do em some good.” said Blase.

CIN chimed in and said “He has shrank 15% over the past 3 hours. We should wait longer and see what happens.”

“Ok buddy, we can wait and see.” replied Blase.

Id spoke to the zombie again, “What is your name?”

He grunted happily and said “Duncan” then made more happy grunting noises. “what is your name”

They made small talk for a while and Duncan shrank and shrank. When he was small enough CIN carried him into the back yard under some shade. Duncans legs started to straighten out and his back straightened, and his form started to heal. Duncan was talking more and more clearly and said, “Oh no!”

“What happened to my body!”

Id replied, “You're being cured!”

“I do not want this; I want my old body.” And he despaired and was sad.

“I don't know how to stop it,” said Id “What do we do CIN?”

“I don't know.” Replied CIN.

Duncan started crying and his back bent and his legs went back to their old shape. He propped himself up and continued to cry but Id yelled “Look!” and Duncan realized he was back to his self again.

Id said “This is the real you? I love it, you're wonderful!”

CIN didn't really understand but he did know that he loved fitting in, and Duncan defiantly fit in with them.

Duncan looked up at the group and said i need some wheels, can you guys help me find parts? I can build anything; I'm an engineer and scientist. I can make anything you can think of.” He smiled big.

CIN said “I can help ya out with anything you need. I have scanned blueprints and schematics from ruins all over this area, I can help make tools and anything.”

Over the next few days, they found and helped six people and gathered parts and pieces to make tools to build circuit boards and shape small metal pieces and scavenged chips from computers and built a suit for Duncan. He was so excited when it was finished, he flailed his arms around, scrambling to get into the Exo-suit. when he was harnessed in he began jumping around for joy.

“I'm still me and I can walk!” He shouted for joy.

“You’d still be you whether you were healed or if you have a suit.” said Sal smiling because his new friend was so joyful.

“I know but I like me, and I used my gifts to help make this happen. Not that I'm ungrateful for this wonderful cure that took away the zombie virus but i just feel more at home with exactly what I was born with.” He replied in a single breath because he was so happy he strained to finish his sentence.

Duncan jogged in place and flapped his arms around in a half twirling motion and smiling ear to ear.

All the people who were cured watched silently and didn't know what to think of the world or if this is what all humanity was like now...

The brothers came back and greeted the new people first and introduced themselves and Peter the scientist. Duncan ran up to meet the new friends, Sal and Id came up after smiling because their new friend had this limitless joy even when they first met him, he was so enthusiastic despite his physical limitations, and he worked so hard to improve things not only for himself but for everyone and his friends.

The brothers greeted his and all the new faces and introduced Peter the scientist and explained they had to find a machine to analyze the antidote. The only one that was known is in Jetsen's land and it was basically suicide mission and the brothers loved a challenge.

“We must head to Phoenix as soon as possible and talk with Rick and make sure before spending any lives. There might be other options, and it is better that we are all alive.” Said Roma

Duncan cut in, “I might be able to fabricate one as well, I would just need the schematics and a good scientist or two to test it and make sure It is working accurately”

“You see,” said Merik. “New pathways are opening all the time!”

Everyone was very hopeful, and they all encouraged each other on the way to hope city and Duncan was wondering about what happened after the world ended.

“What happened after the world ended?” Duncan asked.

Roma explained it to him. “It was chaos in the beginning, but survivors were able to hide, and people started to learn how to live with the zombies. Society formed into small groups then towns and we now have two cities. After fifty years, some were divided racially to try to revive the “pure blood,” of each country but that didn't matter to anyone, we all banded together and survived and were able to save the languages and practices of most people's heritage from the 3 continents. Hundreds of different races and cultures survived even after a few hundred years but we are only starting to come back. There were bands of cannibals everywhere and zombies and the zombies even started to change to their environments and get faster and stronger, so did the animals so humanity has been on the bring dozens of times. Now we might have hope of recovering so much more knowledge with the help of people like you”

“I like the way the world turned out,” Duncan said. “Er wait no... that's not what i mean... It's tragic and bad that so many people died, and I wish the world didn't end but everyone here seems to say exactly what they mean. All of you don't just say yes to everything and there are real world consequences.”

Blase smiled and knew exactly what Duncan meant. “I read a lot of books and had CIN read me many books and explain to me the significance of works from your time and I got the impression everyone were pushovers.” said Blase

“Exactly!” Duncan said.

Duncan was wide eyed and asked a hundred questions about history until Roma got tired of it and told him to ask Merik who answered questions until he got tired of talking and had him talk to CIN until they made it to Hope City.

Judy greeted them at the entrance of the town again and made all the new guests welcome with the others that chose to stay that Rick led.

“Who all will be staying here? raise your hand.” Judy asked All of the new people besides Duncan decided to stay because they felt safe so high up.

“Ok, I will give you a tour and a rundown of how we handle things in my town.”

She led a tour down deep into the center of the mesa they lived atop. The jail was carved into stone and dirt. There were tons of cells, but most were empty except a decently large group of violent offenders, thief's and rapists but no child molesters because the inmates always killed them.

“Ok, here we are.” Said Judy. We have judges who see cases and deliberate on crimes and hand out punishments. If you break the law, you will end up here with these men. You are free to practice any religion you want or do whatever your heart's desire, but you will not break the simple rules of liberty by intruding on another person's. Ok?”

All the new people understood and agreed. Most people were scared straight by the encounter with Mr. Johnson one of the inmates.

Roma and the group were done so they left and made it to Phoenix Ash with their new friend Duncan and met up with Rick and everyone.

“I see you all made it safe, and Id didn't drive anyone crazy. Rick laughed.

“I saved everyone on accident actually.” Said Id. I'll probably elaborate at another time but it's true.”

“It figures but I'm glad your safe.” Said Rick.

“You're a new face.” Rick said then shook hands with a man in a robot suit.

“Im Duncan Russell, Its nice to meet ya!”

Peter saw Duncan and was eustatic. Woah! I can't believe you're here!”

Duncan was confused so he said “Hey, you.” Then thought better of pretending like they used to in the old world and said. “Where do you know me from?” so he could figure out who this guy is.

“Oh, I've read about your innovation and genius.” Peter said. “With your help we could build a device to analyze the antidote. Then we wouldn't have to go on a suicide mission for sure!”

Duncan started talking but Merik and Roma groaned in unison. “We haven't had a challenge in so long.”

Peter said “Uhhh” unsure what to say.

Rick spoke up. “Good if we can save people and not engage with Jetsen the better. That will be for the Union to take care of and figure out. So we will go to the union and speak with the president.”

“The orange guy?” Id asked.

“He is not orange he just uses tanning lotion that protects from the sun because he's out in the fields with his people so often.” Said Rick.

“Why doesn't he use black lotion then he’d look like you Rick. Said Id.

Peter spoke up and said, “It doesn't work like that. The skin creates Melanin and protects people like Rick. The president is white due to being underground for so long, so his type doesn't have the same properties.”

“So, Rick is better than white people and even brownish people like me and Sal?” Asked Id

“No no, no. No one is better... Just suited for different things. For instance, you and Sal and Rick can survive just a tiny bit easier in sunny places but in caves it would be just slightly harder because you'd must go out and get sun. And the president and people like me would have to be careful in the sun because it can burn us badly. It's just slightly different ways to live and adapt to climates you see.”

“That makes a lot of sense.” Id replied. “The lotion is like white people medicine.”

“Uhh, yup exactly.” Laughed Peter.

Petter realized Duncan was wearing the Exo-suit and asked. “Did you build that? Thats amazing!” So, Peter and Duncan talked to themselves for a long time while everyone else talked.

Rick took control of the conversation and said, Me Master Akari and will have to remain here, you youngsters are going to have to lead. I must serve the people here. It's your time to shine. You will be our envoys to the union now, if there are any ways we can serve you just let it be known and whatever you need will be given.”

Paul or Jenna couldn't think of anything.

Peter and Duncan stopped talking about nerd stuff for long enough to say they couldn't think of anything yet but that they will make a list if they need anything.

Sal was listening to Duncan and peter talk to see if his electrician skills could be used but they were both so smart he didn't want to say anything yet. He was stuck in his head, so he didn't hear Rick.

Roma, Merik, Blase, CIN and Id declined to go to the union because they had their own things and some of them didn't want to talk to politicians or big groups of people, so they offered to help when they all got back from the union.

Duncan and Peter had list of parts or materials to make parts and machines to craft what they needed to analyze chemicals by the end of their conversation and an exact number of supplies for their journey with a little extra for some wiggle room just in case.

Paul and Jenna had all they needed, and Sal relied on the others because he really had no idea what to bring or do or think yet.

He wished he was like Duncan who seemed to be back at home in this world. He just wanted to know his place and have some kind of grip on his reality, but he just didn't have his own place to start on yet. Some baseline to stand on at least...

So, he kept quiet and trudged on through.

Rick spoke up and brought Sal out of his head.

“The union is to the north here and Jetsen is down here on the sand.” He pointed on the map. “You will be safe from him, but we will post guards and watch them closely. Id, I need you, Roma and Merik, to post guard, since you are staying and if you are available for service.

“I am here to serve.” They all said in their own ways.

“Move out at your leisure.” Then Rick went back to sorting paperwork and filing stacks of papers on his desk.

Paul got the groups attention and told them to meet over at Brock Kellers to get more weapons and stock up, so they all met there.

Mr. Keller was working on a weapon in his workshop when Paul walked through the curtain, Keller heard him come in and knew it was Paul without looking and spoke. “Hello Paul.” In his raspy voice.

“Hello, Brock. We are in need...” Paul started to talk but Keller interrupted.

“This beauty right here is just for you.  You can tag a zombie, or any enemy and this gun will home in on them without even aiming. I have a paralyze particle grenade and paralyses thrower gun. Fresh off the crafting table.”

“Whoa, this would have come in handy earlier this year.” Paul laughed.

“It comes with these neural muscle release pills just in case of an ally getting hit.”

“Thank you, Brock!” Paul said then met with his party.

Paul handed the thrower gun to Jenna because he trusted her judgment more and the tracker gun and kept the tracker gun and grenade.

“We shouldn't need any of this but its good just in case. Said Paul.

Duncan interjected, “we have a secret weapon and that’s me.” He flexed in the exo-suit.

“Yes, but no killing.” Jenna wagged a finger at him and smiled.

Duncan agreed. “I want to bring back everyone, of course I won’t kill. He laughed.

Paul, Jenna, Sal, Peter and Duncan all set out for the Union all the way to the north.

After a few days of walking, Duncan carried Peter because he wasn’t used to moving so much. The party kept moving until they were stopped by a giant zombie.

It just stood silently until they got closer. He watched as the party got closer until they finally saw it and stopped.

Paul hit it with the tracking rounds and each bullet hit its mark and should have taken him down but he still stood. That’s when the panic set in. Paul said run Jen and the strange zombie was already on the. Duncans instruments tracked it but he was still caught off guard. Paul and Jenna went flying with the Shockwave but Sal took the brunt of the damage and flew into a tree that caught him. Peter ran as soon as he realized what was going on and hid so Duncan could have room to maneuver.

Duncan grabbed the zombie and threw him but he immediately got back up and hit Duncan’s suit throwing him far.

Sal stood up , unsure why he wasn’t dead. He looked at his hands and they still looked human and ok. The last time he turned into a zombie he remembered with vivid detail now after he was hit and he felt the same as he did back then but his skin didn’t change colors.

Sal was on the zombie almost instantly, just in time to save Peter. Sal hit the zombie so had he flew through a tree and it fell with a huge crack and bang. They were back close range and exchanged blows. Their faces began to crack and bruise. Sal’s bruises turned green and slowly went back to his normal skin color. They fought for fourty minutes and the strange zombie started to slow from the paralysis projectiles. The party stayed far away but noticed the zombie was getting sluggish so they came up with a plan.

They yelled it out to Sal but the zombie understood them and tried to throw a large Boulder at them because Sal kept some distance for the party. Sal hit the zombie before he could throw the Boulder but it fell on Sal’s arm pinning him for a moment. The zombie got closer to the party but Sal was able to stop him just in time. He threw the zombie on its back and held him down. Paul gave Duncan the grenade and said throw it down his throat so he did it with perfect aim and the grenade went off blowing a hole through its stomach. Sal got out of the way just in time.

Even with the grenade the zombie still wasn’t down completely. It still crawled for the party.

Sal ran to his friends and said, “Give me an antidote! Quick.”

Sal gave it to the zombie and it turned Into a human and shrank back to normal size but the hole in its stomach didn’t get fixed. The man was dying. He coughed and said “Jetsen, experimenting…” then fainted.

They didn’t know what to do. They expected the antidote to fix him because Jenna said Sal was torn up but he was healed.

Peter said “maybe the antidote didn’t heal your wounds.. you must have regenerated your body before you accidentally took it…”

Paul said, “he’s going to dye now, what do we do?”

Sal took the dying man’s arm and bit him. He turned back into a zombie and started moving. Jenna already had her poisoned knife out so she hit the zombie with it and it stopped moving.

“interesting,” Peter said. It seems as if the antidote can heal but not if the wound is too big. Further, more It will take away any ailments like the poison tipped knifes we use. And Sal has been a zombie multiple times and now is reacting differently to the zombie virus, I must study this antidote at a molecular level.”

They all looked at Sal with wide eyes. Jenna quickly asked, “How are you feeling? Are you ok?”

“Yes,” he said in his normal voice.

“How many antidotes do we have?” asked Paul.

“We have about 50 here so there’s plenty. Here Sal.”

“Should I just stay this way just incase? I am so strong this way!”

“No,” they all agreed.

She handed him one and he ate it and felt normal again.

“Its still a long journey, let’s camp after we get a few miles from this place.” Said Paul.

Paul instructed everyone to be totally blacked out, no lights, no fire no noise. They slept in the trees and took shifts listening just incase. He was afraid after the zombie mentioned Jetsens name.

Sure enough, more zombies were in their area so they waited and moved as quietly as they could but Duncan wasn’t very subtle in his exo-suit. Every crunch of sticks and leaves made Paul’s neck hurt, the muscles tightened with every step until he got a headache.

They crept along the shadows, didn’t use fire or lights even though it was so dark they couldn’t see their hands infant of their faces and the temperature dropped fifteen degrees lower than the lows in their desert. Their nerves were as raw as their skin was unaccustomed to the weather, Jenna hated the cold, Paul held her as much as he could and embraced her in the trees when they slept to give her his warmth. No one truly slept for the entirely of their journey.

“We’ve been through worse" Jenna often said. They had been through far worse but going through it again kind of feels worse in the moment. They just held each other when they could and got through it. Duncan and Peter had a harder time so they tried to focuse on helping them adjust but Duncan found a way to safely vent heat from his suit on his friends so they took care of each other.

Small towns started to appear but they avoided human contact for fear of their pursuers. Paul disappeared for a few hours and came back after telling local authorities about what happened and what they carried so people stayed out of their way and they passed through the rural areas quickly and even were brought food by some fearless neighbors. That night they were finally full for the first time in months.

Sal emotions and temper fluctuated like the heat of the day and cold nights, he had to tap deep down into his heart of hearts to survive, he wished he had stayed a zombie so he didn’t have to feel. When he was happy he had to remember it will be bad and when it was bad he remembered he would be happy again so he pushed the good feelings away and the bad feelings, grasping at some kind of middle ground and always drowning in it despite his efforts but the hard part was almost over. All of his expenses taught it it was never over but if he could find some kind of release, he took it. That’s why he had to give up alcohol because he used to fall into it too fully it made it harder to remember what normal felt like and he abused alcohol so he had to willfully end the addicting like he was having to currently end his pain or it would overtake him.

The north star and big dipper lined up to be around six o-clock when the sun came up over the horizon and black splotches of armored men and women moved and walked for them headed by a man and a small contingent.

As they got closer the saw an orange man followed by a mélange of colors. Orange, red, yellow black and white. Duncan saw it and fell to his knees, he had never saw anything so beautiful or terrifying in his life.

Chapter 6- Peter Peter pumpkin eater

“To stand up straight with your shoulders back is to accept the terrible responsibility of life” -Dr Jordan B. Peterson.

Rick walked through the battlefield of his nightmare in the old-world town and saw the broken child outside one of the homes as he does each night that he re-lived this day since its happening, and he bore it all alone, or so he felt... He prayed to his God, the God that his fathers loved and followed with unceasing devotion. "God take this pain from me if it be your will." Then he looked over to the terrible place where his feet always carried him.

The child still alive somehow cried, with his arms and legs torn off and guts hanging out, the cannibals did God knows what and left him to suffer until they were done with the rest of the family that they chased into this little town. Rick quickly ended the child's suffering. He recited the bible word for word, but at this point in his past he was reciting Mathew 5;21-22 "You have heard that it was said to those of old, 'You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.' But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever says, 'you fool!' Will be liable to the hell fire.

His heart and mind trained to be driven by the power of the words. He did not hate; he simply strived to purify his own heart and mind and moved forward with the passage of time and did his job. If he stopped for a second, he didn't know if he would be stuck forever in an endless loop of hate rather than a simple dream of his past, so he moved on as he always did not give into his hate.

Only two men and a woman cannable were inside the house, halfway done eating the mothers left leg tearing at the raw meat and bone like wild animals while the mother screamed and repeatedly assed out then came back to consciousness when they used drugs to wake her, the father with his eyes cut out and eaten was forced to listen and waited for his own death. Hearing something they all stood and started to turn towards the door.

Rick spoke and the enemies looked at each other and watched their friends body parts come lose. The last thing they thought was, "What?" As they looked to each other and saw each other's arms and legs hit the ground in unison.

The dream began to waver, and Rick gave thanks.

Ricks eyes slowly open and he sat up and smiled at Akari who gave a slight bow and eyes that understood. He sang the words “Such a heavy burden we share, we share. Together together our family.” as he brewed coffee on the heat stone stove.

Rick stretched and listened and smiled then asked. “Where did you get this coffee?”

“From the bean nomads; They keep and sell all manner of bean. it is strongly brewed my friend.” Replied Akari handing Rick a teacup filled with the brew.

The cup was tiny in Ricks hand, and he drank it in a single shot without letting it cool then waited on the others to wake up before he would ask for more.

Akari took Ricks cup and refilled it, knowing Rick wouldn't ask until everyone had their fill.

Sal stumbled out and came to the kitchen and Akari handed him a cup.

Sal said, “Thanks dad” and sat at the table and took a sip then looked up to see Akari gently smiling at him.

“I have been dad, yes.” He laughed.

Sal smiled groggily.

Roma and Merik gave the signal before re-entering the house. The sound of the door woke everyone, and the smell of coffee drew them into the living area. They always were up before everyone and asleep after everyone

They had Rabbit meat for breakfast and eggs from vicious wild chickens. They were small and had short arms covered in feathers and a scaly hard beak filled with razor sharp teeth so gathering wild eggs was dangerous unless you knew what you were doing, and you are fast or strong and insane.

Id found the suitcase and came down the stairs with it. “I found this cool case! Can I have it, Sal?” He asked with bated breath.

Sal finally waking up with the caffeine in his system and looked at the case and at Id.

“Uuuuhh, sure. It's yours.” Knowing how happy it would make him.

“Thank you! Id said in bliss.

He ran up back up the stairs to organize his pack and new carrying case.

Dumping the contents into a large pouch very carefully, he immediately lost his concentration and missed the pouch, hundreds the little clear spheres but he caught them all before any hit the ground, so he counted it as a win.

“I like that game.” He chuckled.

Lifting the pouch to his eye level he felt the weight and wiped his mouth and concentrated on the stand where the case laid and the new home for the cases contents. Using all his concentration he sat the pouch down as if it would lose a trap with a single false move, then he cheered! “I did it!” Looking at the bags where Jenna and Paul lay which made him sad. He frowned and slowly walked down the stairs to organize his herbs and medicines near his friends, not wanting to be alone at this moment but inside he wanted to run as if a giant boulder chased him away.

Akari cleared a spot on the floor in front of the couches, so Id had room to spread out his pouches.

Everyone was up and awake talking around the kitchen table looking at a hand drawn map of the area. Sal was tasked with writing in the places he's been so they could search those areas first, but he used symbols and drawings instead of words, so everyone was confused.

“What is the meaning of this one here?” Rick pointed to the train yard.

The symbol looked like a steering wheel.

“It is transport.” Sal said confused.

Rick rubbed his chin. “And what of this one,” pointing to the hardware store.

“That is a hammer.”

“Hmmm.” Rick said.

Sal saw their confusion. “How about I just write it instead.”

Akari cut in and spoke. “Both is good my friend, use both.”

Roma, Meric, CIN Blase and Mandy often explored the ancient surrounding ruins. Their eyes were wide, and they listened intently.

Mandy spoke up in her sweet little voice. “There is a symbol on doors, it is a circle shape and a expands in a triangular shape and has two legs at the bottom. It looks like a poorly drawn human.”

“Thats the girls bathroom. Thats where you would go.”

“It is for little people to bathe?” Mandy said confused.

“It's to use the bathroom you know, when you gotta go.”

They all looked at him blankly, so he gave up on answering then said, “I'm getting a bit overwhelmed with the questions right now. Maybe we can go over this kinda stuff later.”

They all agreed.

Sal moved onto the next thing he could think of and wrote in distances to all the locations so Master Akari assigned groups and duties.

“Blase and CIN, you take all the odd number houses and Rick and Mandy please take the even number houses on this block.

“Can do partner.” Replied Blase.

Rick replied, “yes sir.”

“Roma, Merik, go far to these outlying spots south of here.”

Id cuts in and says, “But Master I can get there faster.”

Akari puts his hand on his shoulder and says, “My friend We take the far area to the north. They will do a more thorough search in the south, plus I want you near me in case I need someone fast.”

“Sal, and Id, you are with me. We head for the train yard.”

Sal said, “I woke up here at home I don't know if it would be all the way out here.”

Akari replied. “If there is a cure, we do not know how long it takes to have effect or if sleep active it or nay number of things. We must be very thorough either way.”

“Yes master.” He replied formally not wanting to use the wrong title or words.

Akari replied “You can call me Akari if you like, that is a traditional title and one my friends have adopted because of my great age and mastery of wood working.”

“Yes master.” Sal started to say then said, “Ok.” with a smile.

“Blase said that's a new word.” and laughed at its funny sound.

CIN explained, “It means ok.”

They all went their own ways.

Rick and Mandy made their wat through the homes. He felt uneasy with the zombies walking around in their suits but didn't want to act without their group's approval. The code abides. Mandy found many pieces of clothing and jewelry and she drew the clothes as quickly as she could so she could catalogue and recreate the ancient fashion and put her own flair on it.

She drew the last piece from this house and put the outfit back where she found it and laid the jewelry back where she found it so when all the people came back, they could find the things they loved right where they left it. Rick talked of people coming back to life so she was determined not to take anything that didn't belong to her. A squeak escaped her mouth because she was so happy she might see her family again.

Rick walked in the room. “Are you done with all your searching?”

“Yes, and I got all my drawings done too.” She said radiating happiness.

The air was cool in the refurbished house Sal fixed up. Mandy looked back where she put the shiny jewelry and thought of Sal, “He fixed all of this up by himself? This whole block and parts of the town is so big. He is so little compared to all this.”

Rick looked at her and gave a little smile then turned and spoke. “We have a lot more to do, lets finish our big task and make it little.”

“Yay!” She was delighted with his phrasing.

They made their way to the next house but Mandy stopped and looked uneasy so Rick felt the air and ground with all his abilities to perceive and felt the hum. He ordered Mandy to get behind him, the hum grew louder and louder until it was a roar.

The large moving metal box could be seen coming down the road with ten more behind it. Rick had seen these before in intel reports from Jet city. Their King Jetsen was obsessed with ancient tech and was attempting to bring these rolling fortresses back.

Taking Mandy by the hand they waited.

“Jetsen.” Rick said to Mandy.

“We can't let them kill our zombies,” Mandy realized what they might be doing.

“Do not worry little lady, I'll make sure they know we claim this town.”

The lead car pulled up at an angle and the ten behind him parked in formation.

Jetsen was sitting in the front seat and jumped out.

“Rick.” He said with a sadistic smile. “You still playing around with the kids, why don't you join the real men and save this world.”

Rick kept his face neutral and replied. “Saving it or helping you to destroy then recreate it in your image?”

Jetsen chuckled and said “Same old Rick.” Then laughed manically.

Rick spoke “This town is in the neutral zone and i am going to protect it.” stating it as plainly as he could.

Jetsen laughed even harder at that.

We will eliminate every last zombie we come across and at that his men began making noise and hooting and yelling. The zombies in this neighborhood were all used to the noise now and they did not react at all.

Seeing no zombies at the moment Jetsen frowned and said, “We will find them all and kill them all and you sissies won't be able to stop us.”

“I will stop you when I am forced.”

Jetsen was mad at Ricks calm demeanor. He would not react to any of the taunts so he said hit it Roy and their fortresses began to roll. Jetsen stood on the roof and yelled “Slice” sending shockwaves at the speed of sound towards Mandy.

Rick said “Barrio” neutralizing the attack. Then looked at the read fortress and hummed deep in a bass tone and the vehicle fell apart at the seams. All the bolts were cut, the men crawled out and ran and got into the rear fortress and it drove away quickly.

Mandy stood up and almost started crying. “I'm sorry Rick, I'm sorry I couldn't do anything.”

Rick looked at her in the eyes and said, “Do not apologize little one, do not let him get in our heads or they win the good book speaks of massive ships being steered by small rudders.”

The mobile fortresses head west and Roma and Merik watch them from far off so they come and see who and what was going on.

“It's Jetsen, yuck.” Merik said.

They both walked out in the open and the cadre of metal monsters stopped.

“Jetsen what are you doing?” Said Roma first.

“Roma, Merik how do you do?” Jetsen flashed a smile.

“We are doing patrols now that we have our fleet, if you want to join a force that is going to win and take over as the one and only government. No one or thing can stand to this detachment. Only a hundredth of our full strength. Imagine what we could do together!”

Roma shook his head. “We are for law and order not forging the world in your image, Jetsen.”

“Pity, well I think you'll change your mind. I'll be seeing you all around.” Jetsen laughed maniacally and they disappeared into the distance.

The brothers spit on the ground then went on their way searching.

The train yard was huge and clean. Akari stopped their group at the chopped-up train parts.

“Did you do this son?” Akari asked.

“I don't think so but I don't remember anything but waking up at home.”

“Let us search here for a moment.” Akari suggested.

They all moved each piece together and found nothing. They searched each cart and each train engine top to bottom. There was nothing in the warehouses or the stores. They ever searched the rotting apartments that didn't get fixed up yet.

They stopped for tea and saw the sun slumping downward in the sky so Sal, Id and Akari headed home to regroup with their friends.

It almost sounded like polyurethane rolling on concrete and it started lightly then roared. The three stopped and looked around and they saw a massive zombie with a large head and on a massive vehicle frame like a skateboard. The roar of engines behind it and gun fire.  Bullets hit the zombie but had no effect, two fortresses were in pursuit.

They flanked the zombie, and it hit the vehicle's but didn't even dent the metal. He grabbed a man out of it and ate him. Then pushed it into a building so it was stuck. The men ran but most of them were eaten. The zombie saw Sal and Akari and rolled towards the group as fast as he could. The secondary vehicle took the opportunity and ran away picking up their survivors before leaving the unlucky group of strangers.

Id was able to get a bunch of hits in with his daggers coated with their toxin, but the zombie was too massive, and it had no effect. Akari used darts and ran to move to higher ground pulling Sal with him. Sal panicked and didn't know wat to think of the massive zombie, he didn't know what was happening.

The zombie swiped and hit Sal scratching him with his massive hands with black zombie blood covering half of Sal's body and throwing him through a wall of a bank. Ids hand barely missed Sal sending Id into despair. Tears welled up.

“I wasn’t fast enough.” Ids entire body shook, and he collapsed mid run and rolled and crashed into a wall. He stood quickly and started running putting it out of his mind as Rick taught him or he could make a mistake and die “We will deal with it when were safe...” Ricks words and deep voice entered his head.

“No!” Akari yelled.

Getting his wits back he jumped into the air and ran up the side of the building throwing darts and back flipping off the wall making it onto the zombies disfigured back hitting him with his Cain sword then jumped off his shorter arms with Id and running to the top of the building to watch and wait.

Id and Akari watched the zombie on his skateboard scratching at the base of the building in a rage building more and more. Not slowing down at all.

“Poor Sal.” Id said. Sadness welled up inside of him. “Why Sal, he should have run. Why didn't he move faster.”

“He isn't used to our world, he didn't know.” said Akari.

“A roar came from the bank building where Sal crashed into. Sal crashed through the wall and let out a loud roar again. His eyes glowing red. Sal waved to his friends with a louder growl.

Sal ran and a cone of mist formed around his body as he exceeded the speed of sound, and he slapped the frame throwing it through the bank and destroying the bottom half of the building his friends were standing on and it tipped over and fell. Akari and Id jumped and flew and landed on the roof of another building.

The zombie said “Nooo! My skateboard!”

Sal growled “Sorry”

The zombie replied “why?” Then the zombie ran at his enemy and Sal grabbed his arms and held him down.

Akari's jaw was on the floor, and he came back to his senses then told Sal to run and very carefully fill your case with Death Nettle. We must put them in a coma and soon before they hurt themselves or anyone else!

“Did they talk!” Yelled Id.

“Go quickly! Yes, they talked but go.”

Sal looked down at the massive zombie and growled, “Friends.”

“Friends.” Said the zombie, then Sal let him go.

The zombie pointed to himself and said “Retard, who are you.”

Sal growled, “Sal.”

The zombie started laughing when a sack of herbs flew into his mouth, and he fell asleep.

Id flew in to hit Sal, but he grabbed Ids arms and growled “Hello, Id.”

Ids struggled to get away, but his eyes got big when Sal used his name.

Sal thought back to Jenna and how she left him and ran away with Jake. His eyes went normal, and he attempted a smile and started talking again with a guttural voice that growled out from deep inside of him.

“Our friend is tired I think.” He chuckled as he let Id down then he Said “Hello Akari.” Who had been standing behind him the whole time.

Akari waited to see what Sal would do and how he would act because Jenna only knew him as a zombie.

“Please move our friend so no one else finds him.”

“OK.” Sal said.

He moved him inside the crumbling building and piles up debris to hide the entrance.

Sal kept stopping and inspecting every little thing he found interesting, so Akari and Id move on ahead, the sun fell, and it was getting cold and very dark. Everyone was back and waiting for them. Roma stood watching and waiting and greeted the pair and immediately asked where Sal was and explained the situation and heard what had happened with Jetsen and his goons and how they were trying to recruit people. Roma and Merik went to follow Sal from a distance and see how he was acting just to be safe and to hunt and scout for Jetsen or his right-hand man Roy.

The brothers caught a few large Rabbits and a chicken then some eggs right after then they watched Sal for two hours then finally approached.

Sal waved to them and growled “Hello friends.”

They both laughed and greeted him then walked him home.

Sal went straight to his room and saw the body bags on his bed and went straight to the guest room and mimicked sleeping like he did when he's a zombie.

Everyone was awake and Sal came out to see them and smiled and planned on going to the train yard to finish where he left off but then his friends all wanted to ask him questions.

Sal saw his suitcase and growled “My case.” and smiled at Id.

Id asked, “Do you want it back? You said i could have it.”

Sal said, “It was my treasure, but you can have it.”

Id opened the case and showed Sal all the neat things he found and stored. Sal asked, “Where are my shinnies?”

Id took Sal to the pouch where he placed all the little orbs into and Akari saw it and knew it was ancient medicine.

He said, “I think our search is over friends.”

Sal smiled big and said “Friends.” He did something good, and his friends were so happy, his mouth couldn't help but to move into a smile and Sal didn't even have to try.

They tried out the medicine and gave it to Jenna first. She woke up and yawned and stretched and came alive and asked for some coffee.

Then she saw Sal her zombie friend and remembered everything and said “Sal!”

He smiled again and said “Jenna, Friend. I missed you”

“I have so many questions.” Her face was almost white after hearing Sal speak in a guttural growl.

“Where is my husband!” She immediately asked when she remembered.

Akari's hand gently pushed her shoulder down and he told her to lay still and recover. Id tried to hand her a cup of coffee but didnt notice Akari took it and sat it on the bed side stand because he just wanted to see if she was alive again.

They gave Paul the antidote and watched as his skin tuned flesh colored again and he began to breath. Jenna watched and cried as he started to move and make noise, then speak.

Paul kept mumbling about his family and saying, “Keep them safe. Please. Keep them safe.”

Jenna put her hand over her mouth and couldn't stop crying. Paul held her in his daze and wouldn't let her go. They all left the room and gave them time to recover together. Every single eye teared up. They all stayed quiet and pondered what this meant for them and their friends and loved ones. Id spoke a mile a minute and talked of all his friends he wanted to see again and everyone's loved ones that he knew of.

Akari asked Meric and Roma to travel to Casa Grande and tell the scientists there about the cure and have them analyzed it to see if they can find out what it was made of and to see the orphans and give them hope about the cure they found. They had the only scientist who defected from Jensen.

Akari sat with Id on the couch and listened to him talk and then they went to all the people of the neighborhood and gave his great great great great great greatgreat great grandparents.

“All these people are going to have so many questions.” Akari laughed.

Id thought it was funny too and gave out a big laugh.

Their minds swam in air and they weren't sure if they were going to die or if they were so happy, it felt like they couldn't breathe but each breath tasted like candy. Their hearts sang.

Roma and Merik made it to Casa Grande after a month's ride. They were greeted by a blind man standing guard at the gates with six guards who watched him. They would switch out every four hours and say their guard's creed every time they relieved a guard from duty.

The blind man would repeat the words every time, but he would stay until the guards made him rest or if his wife hobbled out on her prosthetic leg and made him come in and eat.

“Her children were older now and helped with the orphans, but she would say, “Spend time with all our children,” You must rest too. Because he would only sleep when he couldn't stay awake anymore.

“Yes, my love,” he would say and come in and rest.

Merik greeted the blind man after his wife told him to go in and rest, his wife saw them and was overjoyed and gave them places to sleep and learned of their mission and the cure.

“It has been many generations, and it will be more, rest first and eat, we will fix our world one step at a time.”

“Yes ma’am” Roma and Merik said.

They slept deeply for the first time in moths but were woken up by a scientist who couldn't wait after hearing about the cure.

The brothers showed him the antidotes they had.

“My name is Peter, I have seen these before at Jetsen's, but they destroyed them all. They did not want them to get out, how did you get these?”

“We found them on a zombie who knew our friend.” Said Roma.

“A zombie!?”

The brothers laughed in unison, “Yes.”

“Never mind, I do not have the equipment here, we must go, now.”

“Go where?”

Peter looked at them and frowned and gulped.

Roma and Merik looked at each other and knew where they had to go to get the equipment and smiled at each other.

“Jensen won't even know we were there.”

“We will probably die.”

The brothers laughed out loud and smiled.

Chapter 5- Look, Jen. Look, look. See Dick.

“If you think all the time, all you have to think about are thoughts. Therefore, you are living in your thoughts rather than reality.” -Alan Watts

Rick was walking through the tunnels on a daily walk accompanied by Jenna until they left, when a woman’s screams rang out through the tunnels very close by.

He shouted, “What is going on here?” Then, seeing the penetration,

“Stop!” Rick yelled.

The man saw it was Rick and tried to run, turning his back, not even seeing halfway to their location

Meekly drawing a spear from a rack on the wall.

Not wanting to lose the spear totally through the rock wall, he tossed it as lightly as he could and speared the man through the lower back. The spear flew past Jenna hitting the criminal in the back sinking a foot into the rock, the paralyzing poison made his body numb so he couldn't feel a thing in his lower body. He hung off the shaft of the spear, hugging the cold hard wall as his only relief.

Without looking at the woman, Rick removed his shirt and pants and gave it to the victim. Stepping forward a few paces as Jenna helped her. Putting her out of his periphery, so she could dress in peace.

Ricks face stayed stoic and calm, his muscles moved as one, flexing in a wave starting at his neck and shoulders rolling down his back. Giving a gentile and understanding expression, never looking away from his prey. Rick waited then asked her what had happened, just to be thorough. “I went alone through the tunnel…” She said stopping, unable to breath. She buried her face in her hands choking and crying. Making sure he Confirmed what he already believed to be true, and it was witnessed by multiple sources.

The man writhed for what seemed like forever but only a minute passed before understanding came to him. As he realized what was happening to him, he screamed.

Rick knew it was time to guide the man through his punishment at his scream.

Speaking boldly as a judge, he said. “You have been caught in the act…  By your actions and her statement and witness..., I hereby judge you condemned. What say you?”

Only screams, gasps and whimpers escaped the man’s mouth.

“What is your name, son?” Rick asked gently.

The man didn’t stop screaming or crying long enough to defend himself. Rick waited a while then pulled the spear out while holding him by the back of his shirt. Spinning him to make eye contact, he lifted the criminal with one arm and placed his shirt onto a hook, he hung safely, like a picture frame on the wall.

Patching the hole in the criminal's abdomen, using the knowledge of the ancients and special herbs to keep the man alive.

The man kept crying the whole time, knowing his punishment… now pleading “No. Noo. Please Rick!”

“It is too late friend. It is not my hand that caused this, our citizens all know the rules, and I’ve seen your face many times. You know better and it is my responsibility to protect all peoples.”

“I won’t do it again. I can’t... you can't!  Me! Rick! Rick!” He blathered.

Inserting a knife in the back of his neck with precision severing just enough of his spine.

The criminals face went blank, and His cheeks drooped excessively down unable to support the weight of skin, his eyes still open, still aware, still whimpering. The tears poured out in streams.

The woman hanging next to him poured tear. “Meet your roommate, a woman who murdered her husband so she could be with another man. Such a perfect pair for education.”

Rick called for a woman who ran up after hearing all the noise and started helping the victim with Jenna.

“Bring my book so I can record these events for the counsel to review and have all witness testimony recorded, also please send for medical to insert a feeding tube and IV, our friend here is going to have a long life. Have Jessie call the town for a meeting.”

Letting their crews finish cleaning up they continued their walk. Ricks brow wrinkled and moved as if he would speak but he remained silent going through a flashback.

“It was one thing to hold it together when I put those memories behind me.“ it was quiet as he was deep in thought, then he said “Your heart will forever bleed, my dear, like mine. We weren’t made for these brutal times that is why we are so Sorley needed. May the blood of Jesus cover us and the bleeding of our hearts remind us that this world is not our home.”

“Why can’t we just cut the limbs off?”

“It is code.” He stated matter-of-factly as a commander. As her former commander.

“You speak true.”

They waited until the town was settled in for the.

Sals predicament

“Mamma!? Mommy!!” Sal screamed and cried, but there was no answer. He lay in utter nothingness, and he was being pulled down. His back was against something cold and pokey, there was nowhere for his form to go… but he was pulled down and down he continued to scream.

“Daddy, help me! Please.”

His eyes opened, the pain in his body shot through him. All of his limbs weighted more than planets. His left arm had a scar around it, his stomach growled like a lion backed into a corner. Tears streamed down Sal's face. He thought he was dying. It felt like there was a hole in him. “Aaaahhh.” He screamed then his stomach roared once more.

Finally able to just roll over, falling off the refurbished mattress and hitting the ground with a thud. His guts… they hurt so badly. Reaching down he felt his stomach and cried out. “Aaaahhh.” And it responded with a roar again.

Feeling the skin around his abs and back to make sure it was still there, the pain was unbearable. Feeling the wall with his palm he pushed himself up to sit on the ground, then he stood and propped himself against the wall.  Unable to tell if the wall was unstable or if it was him. He made his way, slumped and slid down the wall as gently as possible falling on his back, he slid down the stairs. Crawling into the kitchen unable to find any reserves of strength anymore… found pieces of a sandwich that was tossed onto the floor. It was moldy and dried. The meat curled up and turned black and the lettuce was so dried it flaked.

Sal ate the sandwich only using his mouth unable to move his limbs. Choking on the air-dried crusty bread, he lost consciousness.

Waking up to a spasm and puking sounds, he gargled and tried to spit, but he was drowning!

Turning over he coughed and hacked and coughed, throwing up only bile and black stuff until he could only dry heave. When he stopped throwing up, he shouted, “Hello?” Then dry heaved for a while longer.

Resting for a while and finally able to speak, he cleared his throat and started softly “Mom? Dad? I must have been on a real bender. Jesus Christ save me.”

He stood shakily and opened the refrigerator and found some homemade peanut butter. Stirring the oil and peanut back together with his finger Sal ate a few dips worth of butter. Barely able to keep it down he secured the lid back onto the Atlas Mason jar.

A framed on the wall and said:

“I am someone special.

I can do so many things well.

I am good at making mistakes.

I am good at respecting others.

I forgive myself for hurting me most.

I can learn to love again.”

-PM

“Did she redecorate over night?”

He spoke.

I came home for the celebration and saw the house yesterday. Am I on drugs..?

“Hello!” He said much louder now.

“Dad…?”

“Mr. Jenkins? Aby one else there? Leroy old pal? What did you put in that chicken…?”

Hmmm

He yelled “Hey faggot” calling his little brother. Now that they were grown it was a joke to them and a way to say I love you. He chuckled again recalling telling Lathe he was adopted from planet doodoo as children. Lathe would get so mad.

Stumbling out of the living room he looked the window, and the neighborhood looked great… completely different. Just like his house…

“I am going crazy… I knew it. I freaking knew it!”

Walking to the study he heard men's voices.

“The cure for immortality…” His dad said standing shoulder to shoulder with Robert Jenkins.

Leroy looked me in the eye and asked. “Are you ok dude. Here eat some chicken.” Then the room spun and fell.

The ceiling looked great. It was spotless, like it was painted by his grandfather, the most prominent home painter in the world.

“Woah… was I standing up before?”

“Aaaahhrge” he said standing again. It was night time now.

“I need a doctor…” looking for the car keys everywhere but to no avail.

“Probably shouldn’t walk to the hospital if I’m losing time like this.

The lion in his stomach gargled and said “Borborygmus.” He spelled it out phonetically.

“bor-buh-rig-mis.” His lips carefully moved to each sound.

“I’m crazy.” He said again.

Eating a finger scoop again as he walked up the stairs, groaning to himself because he was so sore.  “Sleepy time she comes.” Quoting his favorite comedian while falling face first into the pokey mattress, He fell through the map. Falling asleep instantly, dreams of food came, and of his family and friends.

Jolting awake to his stomach hurting worse and worse. This time if felt like something inside of him was trying to get out. Jumping out of bed he tore off his pants and underwear. Panic shot over him. His morning wood caught on his underwear causing him to poo a little.

“Noooo!”

“Aaaahhh! Nooo you said you were my friend!” He shouted at his erection jumping onto the toilet just in time to not paint it brown as they say.

“Best part of waking up is crapping your whole butt.” He said mocking the narrator.

“Oh God I am crazy.”

“All right get yourself together. This family does not crack, besides that one family member…” He tilted his head sideways.

“Meh.” he said dismissing the through.

“Alright I'm getting myself together. Let’s see where we stand. No one in the whole house… only weirdos in bulky suits and helmets walking around outside.” Unable to grasp his world from where he stood, he sensed it was time for an adventure, he walked out of his door and looked around.

“These junk piles… I think I’ve seen them in my dreams. They're supposed to be statues, but they're abstract almost.” Spinning to see all of them.

He got dizzy, he ate more peanut butter. Bigger scoops at a time now. He felt so much better after moving around, never able to sit still. Sent to the principal's office so many times because of this attention problem.

“Mom took me off those ADHD meds because she said they made me a zombie.” He said talking to no one and anyone who might be able to hear. I was so spastic and out of control it made her want to pull her hair out, but she couldn’t bare seeing me dead to the world like that, so she let me be a kid.”

“The city looked normal, but everyone was dressed in weird suits... I can't get over how dedicated they are.” He said mulling over his situation once more.

Not wanting to have to deal with people he avoided the weird guys like the plague. Spending all day searching Sal gave up and went home and slept better than he ever remembered sleeping. The dreams didn’t come that night, he woke up refreshed and full of cheer.

The next few nights we’re worse. His muscles pulled on him from within. He couldn’t get comfortable. Un -able to sleep, Sal did crunches, sit-ups and push-ups until he fell asleep on the hard ground. He had a deep dream; He ate veggies, and the broccoli hugged him and jumped in his mouth, the tomato's sang church songs. The steak and potatoes patted each other on the back and jumped in his mouth and they dissolved and hugged every muscle fiber of his body and danced and flexed their food muscles.

When he woke up, he wrote his dream in his journal and realized it was a dream he saw in that old cartoon Veggie tales.

The next few weeks he explored further and further. He was so strong now… he could lift two 80-pound bags of hardened cement   He would sweat and grunt, but he could lift it and carry it home! He was so proud of all his progress.

Sal found out about the weirdos walking around in the suits. They were his neighbors pretending to be zombies and they were extremely dedicated... Chong Belushi was still wearing his Comic-Con Samurai suit, but a device was built onto the armor that trapped his arms, and a helmet was strapped to him. This guy was the only one that was different, so he imagined why, maybe they were doing a live play, and he didn't get the memo... They were all well-crafted.

Making his way to the train station Sal saw the pile of chopped up carts but the rail yard looked pretty clean, just a pile of pieces of trains all shredded up into chunks. A man trapped in a suit, much like his neighbors this guy would growl and walk at you and not say a word.

His neighbors would gang up on him and try to dog pile him, so he took this opportunity to check this guy out and at least try to talk.

“Are you hungry?” He waited and slowly walked away as the man continuously walked towards Sal. “I can make some food, and we can talk about what every play you guys are doing.”

He waited for a long time then gave up then got on the train sitting in the station and make himself comfortable in the kitchen.

“Well, the stoves here are totally tabular.” Using the coolest slang he could think of.

He carefully described how trains work and the Eletric motors they use. Halfway through describing the various connectors he realized he was all alone still. “I’m talking to myself… Heard that was a sign of going crazy... Naaa, I’m just bored.”

“Shabadaba duuune a doobie do do ya.” He scatted while relieving his bowels in the train cart bathroom.

The Embroidered towel said Summer and so did the toilet and even toilet paper. The fancy pants company that owned the world basically. Everything was happy and sunny, or it was advertised that way. This beautiful hand towel definitely spoke to that little detail. Un-paralleled craftsmanship. His only complaint about the world he lived in was that “we celebrated bad choices and ignored the consequences cutting off our own pathway to redemption almost.” He said it out loud trying to analyze what thoughts he was trying to process but he didn't like it so he thought of as many famous quotes on the subject as he could. He mulled over these thoughts for a long time then realized he was still sitting on the toilet.

Grabbing the towel to dry his hand reveling graffiti etched into the beautiful wall. It simply said “Penis Man.” He was a weird philosopher who gained recognition for his tagging art. The police caught him, and he went to jail then turned his life around and became a Sage to the under privileged people of the world. Now kids paint his symbol in solidarity. He was a childish adult and was able to grow up even though he was older. He’s not even the real Penis Man, but he still went to jail, and he still turned his life around even though he really wasn't the guy. “It happens he would say.”

A loud snap of his fingers. “That picture on the wall was one of his most famous sayings.”

Sal remembered the rest of the saying:

“You make the world go.

The individual.

You are loved.

The child in you can rest.

Our potential is infinite.

Love is time.

Do not waste it.”

Before that he only ever made perverse jokes and cussed like a sailor.

There was a noise and Sal looked to see a lady and a group of dudes and an old man standing outside the train but before we get to that... lets catch up with the heroes on their journey from Phoenix Ash. They have a crazy trip.

Jenna and friends leave Phoenix Ash

The sun was high in the desert. The rippling dunes looked as if they turned to mist; the dry air felt good under the shade of her large, brimmed hat. Armed to the teeth with zombie stopping weaponry. They all wore electric field generators that effected the defect in the blood of zombies only somehow. The science was lost but the results remained the same.  Non-lethal always. It is their oldest code and understood by all without word in their tribe.

They only had to use a hand full of humpers and found a total of five zombie lions as they're called. They made it to the Rim.

The desert still in the full heat and ancient crystallized and fossilized trees appeared then the trees started becoming live trees as they got further out of the desert.

It was as if there was a magic line where the sand ended and the darker dirt began, a figure stood on the line, watching with his hands in the air to show he was a friend. If he didn't want to talk all he had to do was hold out his middle finger.

They approached and no finger was displayed, just ten fingers to the sky straight up in the air until they got close enough to see each other.

“Hi, ya!” The stranger yelled.

The party came closer. “Iddy!” The Dwarf woman shouted.

“Mandy!” He replied.

Greeting each other quickly, informing their new friend what their quest while they walked and talked. He listened and stayed quiet because it was sad news. He had to process it slowly and not speak. It was a new skill he was trying to master.

Hearing his name was weird. “Iddy… Id,” he repeated. “Yup it’s weird.” He received that name in the war because he was so fast it was hard to identify him.

“I’ve recently discovered another Albert Frankenstein book on psychology.”

“That’s it? That all you've been doing is reading books in all the years?” Jenna chuckled.

“Well just living in between and finding cool stuff as you know… After reading so much you’d think I would be better with people.” He smiled big and awkwardly with his missing teeth.

“Oh, I Made up a story about a strange woman with a leather pack on her back. I was curious beyond imagining and had to meet her and here she is with her cargo and it's a baby! I know what you and Paul were up too.” He said like he was still 10 years old.

“Always a child.” She laughed.

Jenna always enjoyed his company. He was goofy and always quiet around most people, he listened and had funny stories on special occasion.

“Cin and blase were behind tracking down some food. They will be back in a few hours, hopefully sooner!” Mandy said.

“Mandy where we headed madame.” Id asked with a bow.

“To perform the ritual and render Paul neutral.” She said sadly.

“Ah, man. He went down first. Well crap. I’m sorry Jen.”

“Those are the rules.” Said Jen.

“Them’s the rules.” They all repeated.

“We head for Arthurman. We will stop at Hope to talk to Judy.” Rick said.

“Ahh not Judgmental Judy...” Id groaned.

Rick looked at Id like he did something wrong so Id quickly said, no disrespect our friend Paul but Judy is SOOO mean” He quickly added.

All the years of being a Judge made her unimpressed and quick to anger at stupidity and Id had an air head.

“At least she’s a mayor now, maybe she won’t bite my head off anymore.”

They all trudged on and visited with each other until they found a place to take a break and eat some hardtack and whatever food they had. The breeze was cool in the autumn and the evergreens became thicker and thicker. A tree grew through a car and it was suspended forty foot in the air. Almost as one with the tree, the metal didn't corrode so it was still recognizable to people who knew what cars were.

“Hey Idy.” Mandy said standing beside him.

He jumped into the air halfway up a tree and disappeared in its needly pine.

“I'm sorry Idddy! Where did you go!”

“I wasn't afraid, I was just gathering pine needles for some tea... ya that's it for some tea.”

Mandy fell to the ground laughing, holding her tiny stomach. Squeaks came out from her little voice box, Id’s favorite sound in the world was hearing her laugh.

She grabbed a tea pot and set it on the fire with water from the stream close by.

“Judy isn’t so bad, Idy.”

“Is that why you scared me half to death? I knew you two were in league with her.” He joked then chuckled.

“The wall is much worse than Judy’s way.”

He grimaced at the mention of the wall. “I dont want to talk about the wall.”

“Ok, im sorry Iddy.”

He started to fidget and become increasingly restless exponentially. She noticed and hugged him quickly. He calmed down as if he took a pill that cured him instantly. She leaned against his arm.

“I figure each place needs their own rules for their own reasons. I cant judge him but I just don't like people suffering. I can't stand it.” Id said.

“Judy really isn’t so bad.”

Id squeezed her shoulder and repeated what Mandy said. “Judy isn’t so bod” Then he smiled.

They drank their Pine needle and herbal mix. Id trailed off thinking about his parents who taught him to gather the herbs. Mandy seeing him looking into his cup asked, “What herbs are these... besides the pine.” She smiled.

He began wondering if she could read his mind. He stared silently at her until she said. “I can't read your mind.”

And he stared at her blankly in a small panick. So, she repeated. “What herbs are in the tea?”

“Oh ya.” He said.

“Its not my star tea mix.”

“Star tea?”

“Ya the tea I drink and stare at the stars. Sometimes I pretend I can run in all that space as fast as I can. Thees a planet with a big ring around it that I saw in a book. I could run around that track and to different planets and have all sorts of adventures through space.”

“I do not want any of that tea.” She laughed.

“It's a good medicine but a lot of people don't like it. I would not recommend it if you have bad reaction. Just like any other herbs or medicine.”

“Yup, not for me!”

“Good more for me!” He laughed.

“This tea that were drinking is my old family blend but... It's a family secret SOOO...  I'll tell you what's in it. Its dried Mommy Root leaves for the vitamins, elder berries, Bull thistle and a little Chamomile.”

He quickly added, “Don't try to pick these without me though. Chamomile and other plants can be mistaken for poisonous ones. OK?” Not wanting to get anyone hurt with his advice on picking wild herbs.

“Okie.” She smiled.

Master Akari seeing the tea walked over to join them bringing wood for the fire. Id poured him some tea while the Akari placed several branches on the fire then grabbing his tea.

Sipping the tea, he smiled at Id with and gave a small bow.

“This wood is Pine and cedar, the perfect smoke for a fire to pair with this tea.” The master woodworker knew everything about trees and wood. He smelled the wood, smelled his tea and lifted it and gave thanks then began singing an old Japanese song and they all enjoyed their break, then they were on their way again.

The trees thinned out and the great plains opened. On the top of a Mesa sat the town of Hope. They were greeted hours after stepping onto the open land, scouts could see them immediately with their ancient binoculars. The scout in front of them now had golden binoculars. So well-made they were at least 240 years old, its side was engraved with the word. “Summer.”

The guards greeted with a Cardinal song far off and the group called back with the Sparrows song singing to each other a few times. When they finally met, they greeted the guards and walked with their escorts into the city. They took a rope and rock elevator and saw the massive gates. Two unhewn boulders and a ramp led up onto the mesa.

The ground was dug down into the ground. The buildings looked small and squat, but they went under the dirt, keeping the homes insulated as well as hidden.

Mayor Judy and a cadre of guards were behind her and all the towns' people came to greet their friends.

The mayor looked them over with an unmoving impartial face and did not see Paul. She looked each of the group in the eyes, stopping at Rick who gazed back, Judy and almost made a face.

“Rick.” She spoke

“Judy.” He said back.

“I will entertain you in the living room, follow.”

A “Coooo.” sound came from Jennas pack.

Doing a double take Judys eyes opened wide and her mouth was agape Staring at Jenna who opened her pack and removed the almost one year old child.

Holding her arms out childlike and demanding the mayor waited for Jenna to hand her the child, and they continued on.” She poked at the small humans bulging stomach and Jake giggled.

“Oh, a beanery!” Id yelled as they passed a restaurant. “I thought Judy hated beaners.”

Coming up to the building caddy corner to the town hall they went down the stairs and entered into the building. The skylight illuminated the room and was opened currently, the fire pit in the middle ventilated through the skylight and a wind turbine pulled the smoke through giving maximum ventilation.

Blase and CIN leaned against a wall.

Id was in a corner hiding but not as worried because Judy carried a baby. “Women can eat you alive if they're holding a baby.”

Blase heard Id and asked, “What the heck is going on in your head kid?”

Roma and Merik laughed.

Master Akari reclined by Judy with Jenna and Rick and sipped tea and listened quietly.

“Where is Paul located.” she asked plainly.

“Arthurman.” Rick replied.

Pausing to study Ricks eyes for a moment then she spoke.

“That is a week's ride from here. You will stay the night; The news of Jake is the best thing I've heard in a long long time. In the morning, I will provide you with horses and anything you need to for the ritual for my son. Thank you for coming here first.”

“Wasn't he adopted.” Id chimed. His mind and mouth working together without him paying attention.

Judy made a “stop talking or ill bite your head off,” face. Id realized what he had done and disappeared behind furniture.

Roma and Merik laughed out loud, then stopped as soon she looked at them both.

Smiling at Jenna and Jake she continued. “Now, I want to ask if Jake can stay with me just until the ritual is done.”

“Of course. We will return the horses and come get Jake from his grandma.”

Judys eyes watered as she stared into the eyes of the future of her small family barely making it by.

“Hope” said Judy.

The feast was ready, and they all went to eat. Id sat across from Judy because it was the last seat available, and she saved it just for him. The room was filled with friends and a group of nomads.

“Are those beaners?” Id asked.

Judy looked at him wryly.

Johnny looked back at the mention of his tribe and waved to Id and smiled.

“Did you forget about the magic bean incident already?”

“I'm a victim, I didn't know how they worked. I was hungry, I just wanted some beans...”

“The entire field was taken over by vines and there were trillions of beans to clean up and yes, it's still attracting beaners from all around.”

“I love beaners, they just travel around and plant bean seeds everywhere and they feed people. I've found their wild beans planted far and wide. I respect nomads, It's a noble cause.”

“Ya but they fart a lot.” said Judy.

Id didn't expect to hear the word fart to ever come from her mouth, He rolled on the laughing.

Rick sat with Roma and Merik and friends from town.

Roma and Merik were opposed to Judys light touch methods of governing... Ricks methods were much better in their opinion. They wanted to have capital punishment, but they agreed to not kill because of Ricks harsh and immediate punishment style.

They were discussing her politics, but Rick stayed quiet and listened hoping Judy wouldn’t hear but she did and spoke. “You're living in the war, Rick. The law is there to help guide and correct behavior that is counterproductive for our cultures. They can be rehabilitated or forfeit their freedoms but in jail or in a service capacity.”

Rick replied “I hear you. Please let us talk of future plans, not past actions. You know the code.”

“Rock…” She said then stopped. She held Jake and talked to him instead. “We will teach Men and Woman to take care of each other one day.”

“We caught him in the act of rape, and he was seen by Jenna and also witnessed by the people who helped.”

“Yes.” Chimed in Roma and Merik. “The code is specific.”

“The war is over...” Judy started to say then paused.

“You should run things the way you see fit. Thank you for listening to my rant, my friend.”

“Thank you, Judy, for telling me what you feel. Your advice and words are always cherished.”

“Look how ambassadorial we are now.” Judy said with a smile.

Rick stood and raised his glass. “For now, we are safe and in reembrace of a brother, son and friend. We can debate any time, I too would rather enjoy each other's company. A toast to Paul. We are all here for a short time. May we appreciate each other while we still live.”

“Cheers!”

They all raised their glasses and moved onto things that made them smile and moved into the tougher realities of the void left after Paul was gone. For Jenna, Jake, Judy... All of his family and friends left behind to make their way back out of the apocalypse... His absence was felt, remembered and celebrated. The air was filled with the smell of food and Cinnamin and cake.

The mice in the beanfield sang thanks to Id for their abundance of food and that fateful planting of a single magic bean.

Id slept like a baby on a wool mattress and lulled to sleep by mead. He whispered about mice when Meric poked him awake.

“Time to go.”

“I'm up, I'm up.” His head hurt, so he quickly put together some herbs for tea to fix it.

Before they knew it, they were at the stables and setting the horses up. Id was always bored when they saddled up. Ever since the war they didn't trust him to saddle a horse because he never paid attention, and he always ran anyways. After losing a few carriages.

He fidgeted with everything and caught the attention of Judy.

Judy wanting to put him to work to burn off his energy said. “Can we get a digger here?”

Id smiled and quickly thrust his finger in the air and yelled. “Did you just say niii..”

Judy cut him off luckily for us.

Judy replied. "No, I need a hole in the ground. Can you dig a hole?”

“But I thought you said...”

“Digger I said digger...” She cut him off again. “That other word is a nonsense word... Stop talking id! and dig! Please!"

“but I read that word in a Mark Twain book though. It exists still.”

“Yes Id. People in the past used it to hurt other people and it's lost its power to hurt anyone anymore. We do not forget its meaning, but we do not say it because it's not useful other than to remember the evils of the past which is very important but thank you, Id, please go and work.”

“I'll dig this hole even if I have to die trying.” He said with a completely serious face and a roman salute. He dug a hole super deep and stopped to enjoy it for a moment then heard Judy yell “please remembered...” she was still talking to him he jumped out of the hole and said, “Sorry.” Hoping Judy wouldn't be mad.

“Wait till I'm finished...”

“Yes ma'am.” he replied.

“That is ok, put the dirt back in this hole in the ground and dig a new one over there and make it a wider area and shallower. No deeper than your hip. Then move to a different area until the whole field is tilled.”

And remember. “Slow is fast and fast is slow. Take your time and do it right the first time. A magical kind of thing happens when you do it right the first time.”

“But it's just a field.”

“Do you like beans? This is a bean secret.”

Yes ma’am.” He said politely. Absolutely giddy that she finally liked him, He didn't know how or why she seemed more like a friend, but he was going to get to the bottom of it, so he vowed to do as many chores as it took to learn this secret.

“I'll own all the beans in the world once I learn this secret and I'll give beans to everyone for free! I will be the uber beaner of legend!” He thought in him mind as it ran wild with ideas and dreams.

Dust billowed into the air as he sunk deeper into thought until he realized he was doing it again. He came back to Judy slowly with his head down and cried, “I'll never be the uber beaner.”

“Uber beaner? What the heck are you talking about!” She yelled. Then stopped and said “You will never be the uber beaner unless you follow my instructions, ok. Say ok back.”

“OK”

“Watch what you are doing carefully, especially when you get excited. Do you do the meditations you learned?”

“Every night Your Honermayor.” Blending the words together into one word.

She sighed. “Master Akari, can you help me please.”

“What is your nightly routine Id.” Akari spoke gently.

“I'm supposed to just feel the ground and the air and think about how they're not mine to keep.”

“Grounding yes. Now dig into the ground, go and dig literal holes in the ground for a while.”

“Yes sir!”

Id flew into action and tilled the field carefully.

Master Akari spoke to the group. “He was a baby in the war. He still thinks as a baby, but he will learn. He has so much potential.”

Rick chimed in. “He’s in his thirties...”

Id was done digging and said “Life begins at forty by Walter B. Pitkin. What are we talkin about? I just heard thirties.” He laughed.

They all slapped their foreheads in unison and Rick whispered the word “faggot.”

Id lifted his shoulders and paused. Rick always said that when Id got annoying, so he slowed himself down more finally getting it.

“You're not kid Id anymore. You get no lessons from me.” Rick stated matter of factly.

Id thought to himself “I did learn something from you Rick.” he chuckled out loud.

Rick thinking he was mocking him shook his head and stated. “This is your journey to make find it whatever way you want. It makes no difference to me.”

Id took his statement to mean he was on the right track not understanding the dynamics of the conversation. “Remember slow is fast and fast is slow. There is hope for you yet.” Judy said holding Jake, but he was already gone. Judy sighed. “He’ll have to learn it himself wont he.” She said in baby talk to Jake.

“OK, thank you Judy! Bye bye. Then he was gone. enna whispered, “Goodbye my love. You exist and that is enough to fill the void of distance.” The way Paul used to say it to her when they would part. Then she kissed him on the head and handed him over.

“Wait,” Akari called. “One last joint then its finished.”

Id was back, seeing the wood and Master Akari, he was gone again. “This seat will help so you do not have to run the whole time.”

“Thank you master but it feels good to stretch my joints” Cin said in his southern accent.

Id was back, then disappeared again.

Akari’s wrinkled brow lifted, and his mouth formed a smile. My joints arent what they used to be

Id appeared again, Akari slipped something into his pocket so slyly, Id didn't even notice.

They all started on their way to the end of their quest.

Id found something in his pocket and darted off.

The air smelled aromatic and was cool and quiet. “What do you want from the liquor store!” Rick sang soulfully as they passed the liquor store on the way through Arthurman.  “Somethin sour...” He sang the whole song then said “That song is ancient from the greatest man to ever sing, Ted Hawkins”

Mandy clapped her little hands as fast as they could move which was really fast and made sparks but luckily nothing caught on fire.

“A liquor store is a bad thing, but he sang it as if it was just a part of daily life. It is a reason I will not be content living against my best interests. The tales handed down from old are meant to learn from.”

He looked at Roma and Meric and they began to discussed philosophy. Blase chimed in a time or two.

“Pain is necessary to learn. Mistakes define a man by how he acts and reacts.” They all agreed and nodded.

Anyways back to the story.

Sal looked out the window and saw a woman standing with four guys and a robot and the weird guy in the suit stood in front of them and charged.

The big guys grabbed him and were holding him as Sal stepped out of the train.

Jenna looked and yelled, “Dick!?”

“No, I think you've got the wrong guy.”

“Who is this guy.” In a Russian accent being thrown off by this stranger.

“Thats Dick.” Jenna said.

“Uuuh, I'm Sal.”

They both spoke at the same time.

“How did you?... You were a Zombie?”  Jenna said confused.

“A what?  Said Sal.

Paul slipped away, in tenths of a second. Her equipment fell to the ground, Jenna jerked around just in time to grab him by the front of the helmet, it all happened and was timed so perfectly that her finger bent and twisted into Paul's mouth, and he bit down.

“Watch out!” Yelled Sal.

Mandy shrieked causing a vortex of air to shoot out and throw Paul onto the ground, but it was too late...

Jenna gritted her teeth and screamed but was ok with it. She sat on the ground unaware for second, then was paralyzed by the edge of a toxin coated dagger and Ricks gentle hands laying her down on the ground softly.

Roma and Merik had Paul in seconds and drove a dagger into his abdomen rendering him paralyzed. His arms limp but his eyes ripped into their souls, following their every movement like a wild animals' eyes.

Rick finished wrapping Jenna up in a makeshift secondary body bag since the first was meant for Paul. “What did she mean you WERE a zombie?” He spoke in his deep voice that got deeper on the word “were.”

The whole party was in disbelief and looking at Sal like it was his fault

“What is happening?!” Asked Sal

” Zombie! You were a zombie!”

“Can you save them?”

“NO. I don't know what's going on. What is even a zombie?”

“What!”

“Where can we go!”

“Where do you live, sail?”

“Sal.”

“Where can we go.” Asked Akari gently touching Sal's shoulder.

“My house is not too far... but.”

“You were a zombie?!” Someone yelled again.

Through the flurry of questions and shouting, Sal couldn't tell who was talking. He was overwhelmed and felt numb, but he kept answering questions and helped as much as he could until they were ready to make their way to Sal's place. He had to buckle down and feel awkward.

Cin stood back and waited for someone to specifically ask for help. His programing was designed to give him a simulation of a dopamine rush, but he knew his code because he was self-aware and was over the whole dopamine rush thing. He stayed even and ready because he loved being helpful.

“Please carry Jenna, Cin.”

“Yes Sir 'Ree can do.” He said with a simulated smile.

“Hello CIN unit,” Sal said. “How much time has passed?”

“Two hundred and thirty-eight point eighty-six years. Would you like to know the weather or traffic conditions, Sir.”

“No thank you.”

Cin didn't know what to think. He didn't remember being able to do that, but he accessed the programing deep inside his core and he remembered parts of himself. For instance, he could run diagnostics tests on himself to format memory and repair damaged strings of data. He ran a test, he saw the text in his awareness, and it said last format was on star date six nine six nine six nine zero two. He ran the program, when it finished it said last formatted on star date six nine six nine nine three zero. Nothing else was different or new. He picked Jenna up.

Roma said, “New discoveries each moment, very curious.”

“Yes.” said Merik.

The whole party was quiet during the ride to Sal's. Pure exhaustion poured from their pores and slightly relieved their weary minds as they bobbed up and down in their saddles all ablaze with a quit rush of questions and probing minds trying to grasp and come to terms with what just happened and how it might all fit together.

They got to Sal's place and entered the home.

“How did you become back to human.” Merik asked.

“I kind of just woke up feeling like crap and everything was different... I'm not sure.”

Rick and Master Akari came through last and closed the door and they nodded in agreement. “No one knows anything or what's going on then.” Rick said.

Master Akari spoke now. “We will assign rooms for the night and set up then there is a family meeting in the living room to put all of our heads together. Rick will lead the meeting.”

They all turned to look at Sal, so he looked at them all then started speaking. “Uuuh, oh right. Right this way I'll show you to your rooms.”

They settled in and decided who would bunk with who. Placing Paul in Jenna in the master bedroom upstairs, laying the bodies beside each together in their individual body bags.

Rick, Roma and Merik stayed in the living room to watch guard as the code abides.

Mandy got her own room and Akari got his own room. Blase and Cin Guarded the back door by sleeping Infront of the door so it would hit him if anyone opened it.

Sal took the guest room, and they all met up after settling in.

Rick and Akari stood, and the rest reclined on the couch and chairs.

Master Akari spoke first. “Now, our new friend Sal. Tell us about yourself, please.”

“Well, I'm an electrician, and my dad was a scientist. Just a small-town shut-in church boy. I can't remember what happened. I don't really remember who I was beyond that; I remember my dad and things he would say but its fragmented.”

“If only you humans could run a defragment program, perhaps your bible holds the key?” Said Cin hoping to be helpful.

“I recognize symbols and writing but my memories are all blurry.”

Sal told them about how he woke up so weak he could barely move, the sandwich... how it made him sick and how he walked around clueless until he saw them.

They didn't learn too much but they were all on the same page now. Unsure how to proceed they decided to rest for the night.

Just before Sal laid down to sleep, he finds a note in his pocket. The paper had a print on the edge that read. E and H. The handwriting said;

“To my babies, if I do not make it. I want you to know my love for you is so encompassing and great, I cannot love you more that I always have... Ever since I knew you were coming to this world... Since the moment I saw your faces, I fell in love. Even with our vast knowledge and machines we could never ever measure my love for you. Only God is capable of such measurements. The earth might be passing, no one might ever read this note, but I pray, and I love you. Please live on. Please keep going. Please keep fighting. You can do it. I believe in you. -Love, Dad.”

Sal cried and drifted into sleep with a smile.

Sal's nightmares

He wakes up and drinks a cup of coffee and says I love you to his wife and kisses her. Her lips don't make contact but, in his hurry, he didn't think anything of it. It was the gesture of love that counted but he didn't pay attention to this everyday thing that he always had so he didn't have to give it much thought. His heart was in the right place, he thought to himself.

Runing out the door in his uniform to fix a Grav rail unit in the city. The whole rail was temporarily diverted until he fixed this portion. Jumping into his car he waded through the intense traffic. Why couldn't they have had Jerry do it! This isn't protocol he shouted at the people who couldn't hear him in their own cars who were yelling back at him in their seals little universes that could only wait and hurry and yell and honk... Some middle fingers popped out of windows. But he looked and the people weren't yelling or honking, he relaxed and rubbed his eyes then looked up again and he was finished with the Grav rail and traffic started to flow and ease once more.

“Time for a bite to eat!” He said glossing over the time jump he just experienced.

He stood at the edge of Towers Gate and Studio Street and looked around, unfamiliar with the area so he asked a couple standing on the street corner for a good restaurant close by. They looked straight ahead as if he didn't exist. Walking in front of them he repeated his words, they didn't even know he existed. He waved his hands and jumped up and down and nothing. Sal moved on to a person walking by and nothing. He stood in front of them, and they slammed into him both falling and hitting the ground.

The woman rolled and hit a man's leg, and he dipped backwards and then looked around as if the woman was invisible too. Sal walked at the woman to help her up. She stood by herself and said, “stupid clumsy... ahh.” then started to hobble off. He touched her shoulder and his hand fell through.

“Hello?”

“Can't you see me? Can you hear me?”

“I'm sorry I was trying to help...” He said at the woman, but she couldn't hear him.

“Help her?” He thought... I can barely help myself... How could I ever help anyone else... I'm the son of a mad scientist as the press calls him...”

“The Antidote to a virus that doesn't exist sounds pretty mad.” the man on the news said just then and he realized he was back in his living room watching TV.

His dad walked into the room. He thought about the lady on the street corner and realized he was dreaming. “This is a dream” he said, and his dad said, “of course it is a dream, real life is distinct and fact, dreams can be controlled and shifted.”

“Tell me what to do. What's going on? I need you dad.”

“Dad?” He asked after there was silence.

No answer. He was back on the street corner and unable to talk to anyone.

He moped around trying to talk to people to get an understanding of what was happening, but no answer ever can back. The void ate his words, and he despaired. Tossing and turning in his bed his blankets tightly swaddled him He said “ahh.” and hit the ground with a thud.

Chapter 4- Getting Rick Rolled

“Loss is nothing but change and change is nature’s delight” -Marcus Aurelius 

Jenna Found a cave mid-way up a small mountain in an old hiking trail, finally able to rest after hiking for days on end and unable to feed Jake as often. Her chest was on fire and Jake did not like being in the pack. I had been months of walking. The cave was wide and shallow with a nook burrowed into the wall, perfect to sleep in because it was fully hidden stuffed with straw and high up. Settled in and split a grain bar in half looking at both halves and saving the larger one for later. Picking up each crumble, some fell onto Jake's head as he ate his dinner too. 

Feeling his baby hair, so soft, fine, and new. New beginnings... Feeling the weight of everything that happened. Examining over and over the past six months. Remembering each thing that happened, measuring its full burden on her psychology. Everything changed so fast... This wasn't the first time she had to start over from scratch and it won't be the last. She smiled and frowned at the same time, then chuckled. 

“Ending does not mean bad; beginning does not mean good. They just happen. We make them good or bad.” Thinking the words on the fly and whispered to Jake as he wiggled around and kicked his chubby legs in her arms. Rubbing his head she hummed an old hymn. 

Her eyes misted up as she inspected her baby, and a smile formed thinking of Paul talking about teaching his boy. She was good but he was much better for the job... The father-son connection is such a magnificent and masterfully crafted wonder of the universe. “I'll do my best my loves, may God light our path.” With a kiss on Jake's head, she continued humming and then set up for sleep. 

A man with a long black beard and hair stood in a tree as his beard moved in the breeze, His shadowy face was motionless, he peeked out of the brush across from his little hidden place, and then in an instant, he was at the peak of a hill close by. 

It smelled like a woman and a baby. His eye fixed on the little hovel where the intruders were. Imagining who it might be, he smiled imagining what they were like. Watching them to see who they were and imagining what they thought about and wanted from life. Wanting to break all the rules and just say hi… But... Always watch first. The code abides. 

A lifetime of hunting made it easy to hide, mastering the plants of all the surrounding areas he could mask his scent from zombies and pick pocket them even. Doing speed exorcises with his tribe everyday since he could walk... 

Taught from seven generations of hunters and trappers made him lightning fast, silent and deadly. Faster than any animal, even the fastest animals adapted to run faster from the zombies. The dead on the other hand were sometimes endowed with tremendous strength and speed... They are a different story... Remembering the Cannable crusades and he shuddered, lighting his pipe, he took a draw and tasted the Tobacco and special sage blend then disappeared. Sliding into his tree-top house made from a slab of wood and cloth and waterproof fabric, tasting the smoke before it could reach his lungs he exhaled. 

sage weed was amazing for its masking properties and its other effects were nice too, beginning his nightly ritual, he picked up the other pouch of herb and partook and felt himself slow way down and relax to process his thoughts, the only thing that he knew that moved faster than him. 

Starting his meditation. He felt the floor on his back, thinking it is not my back, it is not my floor, this tree did not grow for me, but i am able to use it as home for tonight, thank you. 

Focusing on his extremities he thought, my hands and feet, my arms brush the cool air of the night. It is not my feet, hands arms, or cool air to keep, thank you. 

Feeling his thoughts begin to push back against his concentration, he thought, this head, brain and body full of organs and food and ideas from the day are not mine, thank you. 

Thank you for this shelter. 

Slowing down enough his brain finally shut down for the night. As soon as his eyes fell shut, he dreamed. 

A Stagg snuck behind him while he was hunting and he sank into the mud trapped as the massive Stagg sniffed him, tilted its head and looked him in the eye until his heart began to beat faster than a man’s heart should, until he thought he was dying then blackness. 

His eyes opened, his body calm, he sat up and began his morning routine and watched the woman climb down with a pack on her back. His curiosity peaked, in that moment he vowed to make up a story about the woman and the secret she guarded within her pack, where’s the baby? Hmm baby pouch? He had to gather more information. 

“People! 

People watchin! 

They don't know I'm watchin 

I wonder if that's weird" Mimicking guitar sounds. 

Catching a glimpse of her face, he gasped. She disappeared over the dunes where the desert started to blossom. The green faded into browns, yellows, and reds. 

### 

Small barrel cacti, paddle cacti, and Joshua trees spotted the landscape, mountains winked in and out of existence on the horizon as the day heated up. 

Jenna trekked across the rocky terrain with ease. The sand turned into rocky hills then desert as far as the eye could see. She kept to the rocky terrain she could see. Zombies buried under the sand will pull people down, her people learned that lesson the hard way. Being the earliest nomads to occupy mountain terrain they thrived and traveled outward to build new homes and start villages. She felt guilty thinking about Paul’s stubbornness and why they left Phoenix in the first place. Spotting a marker for Phoenix Village she smiled. 

The path shifted deeper into the desert but stayed rocky until sand covered the path. The winds push the sand back and forth eternally. “Full of zombie landmines. Yay!” She said sarcastically as she poked the sand and smacked the ground to make noise with her walking stick. The zombies could hear any vibration on the ground and will move or groan. When in doubt she would deploy a Humper. An old-world style windup toy, its arms flopped and it would race across the sand. “Evolved” sand lion zombies would pull people down to their doom, they always go after the toy and reveal their hidden places. You can see them throwing sand out of their pits when they have fully changed and they reproduce. 

The path was clear and easy but ended at a mountain and forked north and south. Words were etched into a boulder protruding out of the mountain directly ahead. “Noon," along with symbols and rudimentary drawings painted with mineral dyes. 

She turned north and started walking. Having traveled the path many times, she knew the desert's secrets. The sand made her comfortable and the dry cool air hugged her skin comfortably. She was home. The sun high in the sky now made the mirages dance along the edges of a series of mountains. Walking through a giant crashing ocean wave she walked inside and blurred away disappearing into the mountain. 

Unseen guards above used a bird call and she replied with a sparrow's song then a ladder was lowered. She climbed it to the top. 

The ladder led to a pathway inaccessible by any other route because all other ways were littered with traps for zombies and hostile humans, markings could be seen in the daylight where all the explosives were. The thin path was high and traced the spine of an ancient atomically flash fossilized dune pushed into the side of a high mountain. Time wore all the rest of the glass and dunes away. The curve of the dune matched the mountain's shape, looking out of place but it was the perfect bridge. Wrapping around the ledge to a hole in the cliffside. The entrance to the city of Phoenix Ash. 

Carved deep into the upper sides of a chain of mountains. It was a huge subterranean structure with tunnels burrowed running North south, east, and west all led to homes and various chambers for commerce, it was huge, the center being the largest chamber. Each tunnel was guarded, collapsible, and filled with guns upon guns and battle stations in homes. I was told that there was a gun under every flake of rock. 

A group of children shot past her in the tunnel, two lagged. A shorter chubby babyfaced black kid and a tall thin gangly white Irish boy, the chubby one was crying. She watched them until they disappeared into the anti-chamber, not even noticing her. “He's all grown up." she chuckled. "I wonder if he even remembers me. 

They were both yelling at each other about a girl being mean. 

“Don't threaten to kill people Dud” The skinny one yelled. 

“Don't call me Dud!!” 

“Dudley, Come on you know me, I wouldn't call you that how they mean it, I wasn't even thinking when I said it.” 

“I know, I'm sorry.” Dudley cried even harder as they jogged to the capitol, trying to beat the other kids there before they could tell on him. 

The round center of the cave was big, about three stories tall at its peak and huge in diameter. The cave was filled with food vendors, gun tables, armor, and anything you could need. 

The capitol building itself was etched into solid stone on the northeast wall. Waiting for a cart to pass she looked around and didn't recognize anyone, then cut across to the middle where the escape hatch into the upper mountains is. It took up a lot of the center where a mini maze of cages led to the hatch so any zombies could be funneled and taken care of with minimal loss of life in case of emergency evacuation. It was clunky and looked gaudy clean of rust or debris. Vender stands took up the empty spaces around its parameter according to code, keeping evacuation routes clear. 

The capitol building reached the Height of the cave wall and offices were carved all throughout, engineered by the finest old-world masters who survived and passed on their building techniques. Filled with farm animals and hydroponics and everything they need to survive every single person could sustain themselves in case of the complete collapse of tunnels or the entirety of the city is overtaken. It is the trade capital of the world after all. 

Most of the old knowledge faded but thanks to books, the memories never faded away. The memories waxed and waned, then blossomed and changed but never left the builders and artisans, even after the few hundred years After Zombie, so they had to have backup plans with backup plans. 

Blase leaned against the wall, standing exactly where she knew he would be, next to CIN who saw him as she saw them with his AI robo vision. 

“well sheee’oot look what the cat drug in.” Pointing at her approaching with his metal finger. Blase looked up from his bored stupor and saw a blurry figure, a woman, 

she started to climb the small set of steps. Leaving his mouth open in disbelief then flashing his wry smile and back to his resting unimpressed face. 

“What the heck are you doin?” He stated plainly. 

She opened her mouth to reply but he continued without waiting, “Where is Paul?” 

She didn't say anything. 

Blase unsurprised by anything anymore, frowned for a second in recognition, then said “What brings ya out this way, how can we help? 

CIN looked down at the dirt building up on his foot joints, unsure how to process his sadness or if it was even sadness he felt or his self-programming logic quantum processor chipsets. Remaining quiet afraid to say something wrong stayed quiet. 

Jenna gave a smile and said, “I need my family.” 

“You are home now; Rick is inside let's all talk and catch up.” Placing his hand gently on the back of her shoulder then they walked through the wicket Gate into the main building. Inside, was deceptively smaller than the outside. A tall thin black man rubbed the back of his neck, his large bald head stuck out on his thin frame. 

“We will go talk to her together, there is no problem in the world that cannot be fixed with words. Rick said Smiling gently. Dudley’s eyes watered, “She’s so mean.” He pouted. 

“If she is in the wrong, we will find out. If you react like that, then you’ll get in trouble too. If you mind your manners you’ll always come out on top.” 

“Such a cheese ball, Jenna said then snickered. Rick knowing it was her voice smiled and locked eyes with her. “Jenna, My dear, how may I serve you.” 

His sweet voice almost made her cry impulsively, catching herself she smile. “I’m going to be staying for a while, I need a place to sleep and some work maybe.” Her voice cracked and she barely caught it. “Aaaahhh, I see my love, come this way.” Walking over to a shelf he picked a smallish red book and opened it, searching its pages. By her demeanor, he knew what had happened and why she was alone. His eyes screamed I'm so sorry with a gentile smile that said everything's ok. 

Tears welled up in her eyes. Wanting to break down she let some of her pain show, this time in front of someone, a human being to share the burden of reality with.  “Without saying a word Rick comforts me, he doesn’t even actually know why I'm so hurt but he understands.. He is such a dad.” She thought.  

“Your heart is so beautiful that you can still feel your pain and express it. We’re a dying breed, Jen.” Smiling the biggest smile he could muster. 

“When you make it through this pain and loss, you will be the most powerful person on this planet.” She remained silent as he led her to her quarters. 

“Is he.. Still walking?” Rick asked. 

“Yes.” She replied.  

“We will go and bless him. All of us together.” He said grabbing her hand gently as they walked silently to her door. “Get comfortable, both of you clean, rest, and relax. I will assign you a short-term job to earn your keep Mis and Little Man.”  At those words, he turned and walked away briskly. 

Jenna woke early the next morning; Jake lay away staring at her with his big eyes. Not moving much, just observing intently. She lay there for half an hour, not wanting the moment to ever end. If they could just live in this bubble forever. 

She put the pot of coffee on the Firestone, an old-world device that looked like a stone with three concentric circles on it. A portable camp stove. The smell of fresh coffee filled the whole of the living quarters from all the many coffee pots. The smell of sage weed from the patrons of the smokables shop wafted in at the wee hours of the morning too. 

Sipping her dark roasted brew she pondered her day. 

She finished getting Jake ready and was reaching for the door when she heard a knock. Opening it, she saw Rick's face. “Good morning. Ready for your tour? “He said while grabbing Jake's little foot. 

“We are,” she said with a smile. 

“Follow.” He said politely. 

Turning he headed South towards the center of town. 

“I’ve seen the town before Rick, what are we doing?” 

“You knew this place, Mrs. Jenna, but it is not the same place it was 2 years ago.” 

“ohh, mysterious.” She chuckled. 

They walked through the Bazaar and weaved in and out of people and stands and merchandise. Rick picked up two apples and paid in the town's currency. Coins crafted from various metals assigned specific amounts, tossing a copper coin and a steel ten-ounce coin in the collection box they continued on their way. 

The shopkeeper mumbled something about haggling as they walked away. 

Coming to the herbal stand he purchased two bundles of Mommy root, a plant that had all the vitamins for a nursing mother and her child, various wild mushrooms packed with vitamins, red grapes for hydration, and lastly a pouch of pipe tobacco for himself. 

Crossing the street into a shop, the sign read, Brock Keller’s. She ran into the shop as quickly as she could rushing past Rick and squeezing her half-sized best friend. She yelled “Mandy!!” at the top of her lugs and hugged her friend. She heard an echo of her scream as if she was hugging her friend before the sound could reach their ears. 

Roma and Marik were there too. 

“Brothers! How have you been? Where's old man Brock isn't dead yet is he?” She said gruffly. 

Brock shouted with his raspy voice from the back. “Aint dead yet Mrs. ha-ha.” 

“where's Paul? He ain't dead yet is he?” Roma stated gruffly. 

“He got Twenty-six'd” She replied resolutely. 

“He was a great man I'm sorry” Her old friends all began speaking at the same time then silence.” 

Mandy began again... “The group is back and plus one!” They visited with each other for a while until Brock came out of the back room. 

“Armed with the finest non-deadly Zombie stopping and restraining weapons ever to be seen.” Brock croaked. 

“Holding a net gun lined with a topical toxin that causes Zombies to go limp for a few hours. Darts, Heck even bullets laced with the toxin will do the trick. Maybe another 80 more years but we will find a way to help them.” 

“We can only hope.” Jen smiled bigger than she had in a long long time. It almost made her eyes feel sunken in and lethargic thinking about how long she's been alone and sad for. Even after Sal. 

The door to the shop creaked open and in walked Master Akari. 

“Hello, Mrs. Jenna. I heard you were back in town.” The master woodworker said. “Has it already been two years?” 

Jenna began replying but Rick began to speak interrupting on accident. “I called this meeting so we could all be on the same page.” 

Realizing he interrupted he guided Master Akari over to her while he continued to speak. 

“As we all know, there was a great loss to our community. We will journey to Paul and perform the rituals as soon as we can. He must be marked as one of our own before other groups find him and murder him. 

Jenna, it is up to you when we leave. You know exactly how far and where to go, and you must be ready mentally and physically, my dear. Are you prepared to leave now or will you need more time?” 

“I will need a week to meditate and get my bearings, then I will be ready, wholeheartedly.” 

Akari's wise old eyes looked deep into hers as if he was reading her soul, and knew her inner thoughts. He smiled, held her hand, and nodded his head. 

”go-shūshō-sama desu.” He said with a slight bow. 

“Would you permit an old man to accompany you? My family lived in a house in the neighborhood You were in. Word has gotten around town that you came from the northeast and you mentioned the name of a train station near my grandfather who was twintysixed at the beginning, all those years ago. I must make my last pilgrimage and I want to say goodbye to my old friend, Paul.” His wrinkled aged brow rose and moved up and down as he spoke. 

“It would be our honor, master. We will depart in a weeks time.” Jen replied respectfully. 

“Arigato, Thank you all, I will find my way to you at that time.” With that, he left just as slowly as he came. 

The brothers talking amongst themselves finally spoke up. "It's ironic that we and Paul agreed that it was better to kill the zombies and he couldn't stand being told he was wrong so he left and it ultimately got him bitten. Now he will be saved by the people he ran from."  

Marik interjected, "Life comes full circle." They both nodded in agreement. 

Jen and her friends talked and visited for hours, re-visiting war stories from their teenage years At the end of the cannibal wars. All the friends and family past and present, dead, alive, and undead. Jenna’s heart soared and melted both at the same time seeing her old friends with her boy and his quiet observing eyes and his cute innocent smile. Uncovered by the world gone and come again, unaware of the life he has to lead. The struggles he will endure. Her friends' smiles and the nostalgia emanating from the conversations made her at peace with it all. 

Chapter 3- I love you Jennay

Written by Richard Allen

[“Until you make unconscious conscious, it will direct your life, and you will call it fate.” -Carl Jung]

Jenna noticed the plane engine hanging over the house and attempted to ask Sal to take it down. “Dangerous.” Pointing at it then said. “Down” pointing at the ground then back to the engine, and back at the ground. Sal watched her attentively, patiently waiting for her to finish. Without moving a muscle, he flew into the air smashing into the engine, hugging it and falling to the ground in the side yard, barley missing the house. He sat up smiling as the engine rolled and gently touching the block fence. His face radiated pure innocent joy, it burned her eyes, the sadness morphed into dead unfeeling loneness. It came and went in waves and this day it became overwhelming and she cried again even though it had been months... Dick always stood there and watched her waiting in his own little world making subtle motions with his upper body or a twinge of a smile here or there. She straightened herself up, once he saw she wasn't crying anymore he walked over to the engine and put it on the back of an old rusty car in the front yard as a statue to improve his collection.

She took a liking to Dick very quickly. He was helpful, punctual when he made a promise but he would leave for months at a time and come back as if it had only been moments, picking up on a project right where he left off. Genuinely caring for everyone and everything.

His garden made more than enough food so they never had to scavenge. His strange passion for whatever he did was so attractive. Dick hand crafted matching mother and baby armor to protect them from bites and she had the idea to put it on all the zombies. She did not believe in killing, even if their enemies were already dead, Paul was like minded...

Dick didn't seem to understand what dead was, he was very childlike.

She envied his ability to never change expression yet he expressed himself still... somehow, but most of all he was always happy. Sal slowly wrangled all the zombies roaming around the neighborhood for a few months and armored em up... to keep them from biting and ironically from being bitten too... she mused. That's the best part of armor... "duh" she said to herself. Mr. Johnson was the first neighbor to be fitted with the utility armor because he was the closest zombie being, then Sal focused on the four remaining neighbors, he easily picked them out. Jim the retired cobbler was in good condition besides the golf club embedded in his side. Sal had to do some work removing it but he got it out without breaking anymore bones. Mr. Johnson was plump so it took more time to find or craft all the materials. Mr. Peterson who was a professor of geology. His Tweed jacket was caught between a rock and a massive boulder. Without a single scratch on him. Sal always wanted to ask him what kind of rock he was looking at and what made the other one a boulder and not a rock as well.... so many curiosities in this hard place of a world. finally, Chong Bilushi a 5'8" chubby Japanese man who looked to be in his mid 30's and dressed as a Samurai. His mother who stood 4'3" had long silky black hair filled with spiders and ironically loved to crawl around all creepy even though her legs worked just fine... She would creepily crawl out of an old stone fire pit. Imagining Ms. Himari with armor on flopping on the ground like a fish made Sal laugh but felt bad.

Jenna watched Sal work, days going by in a flash. He's cute in a weird way... those green undead facial features were thin and chiseled. She couldn't fit one hand around his bicep and his forearms were wide and densely muscular, like a gorilla. Her cheeks flushed red and goose bumps tingled from her extremities and reached for her core. Heat flushed outward from deep within.

She spoke out loud. "Do you have a girlfriend?" As she chuckled and stuck out her Toung and winked teasingly. He looked at her eyes for half a second then went back to work cutting leather.

She thought of Paul and put her face in her hands... Loneliness crept over her as it always did when she thought of him, which was all the time.... Especially when being rejected by a zombie...

She trembled and felt so bad for even feeling those ways... About someone else... she prepped herself for that eventuality of dating, if there are any men left on the planet. Her husband was dead. Sal is dead.... Jesus.... help me.

This was so impossible. All of it. She felt so trapped and began breathing shallowly and panicking. She was able to get ahold of herself quickly. She put her hand over her heart and felt it beating fast, as if it would never stop. Focusing on Sal cutting the leather he had cured helped. Her heart began to slow after a few minutes. She tried to clear her mind. Wanting to bear the weight of her reality, to sort herself so it wasn't a distraction in the future. So, she felt it all, all over again and again. The full weight of the emotion. Paul was bitten because she was slow... Tired and without food or water for days.... "Mistakes are always forgivable, if one has the courage to admit them." Her father would quote the ancient master Bruce Lee when she would make mistakes as a child. She thought about her urges and controlled them with practiced focuse then chuckled and slapped her face gently, saying "get a hold of yourself Jen..."

then paused to admire her own work on the walls. Beside the door a scrap metal enforced window held a big flower cut from the siding of an old broken washing machine, thin steel and tire scraps were cut to make the center. The tread facing up giving it an interesting texture from a distance. With red and green and brown earthy paint made from ground minerals and clay then mixed with tree sap.

The other three walls held paintings she created. Painstakingly crafting the tools from scratch and re-purposing trashed materials as canvas and building frames and everything. She was obsessed with all old-world art; her favorite artist was a humble man named Ethan Allen who drew for fun. She traded her weeks' worth of salt and some metal scraps for a book on his works. She tried to get Dick into art. He drew surprisingly well for a zombie, painting and elephant with a square body and a normal head. She framed his painting and hung it in the living room.

Jake cooed and she giggled rocking her baby gently. He was getting so heavy and chubby. Thinking deeply, she thought about time. "Six months.... six whole months.... Where does the time go Paul?" She whispered to all of creation, imagining all the answers that were possible. "I'll just wait and see." Smiling at her baby. "Your future will be better." She kissed Jakes forehead and felt so hopeful. Truly hopeful. Sal finished the last armor set so he walked out the door with everything fit it on Ms. Himari. She dropped to the ground and flopped like a fish for a while then gave up and walked normal, occasionally trying to walk with her hands and feet but gave up because she didn't have the range of motion.

Jenna belted out a laugh at the sight and had to stop laughing because she peed a little. These poor people, she fell to the ground holding her stomach because she was laughing so hard. Dick looked directly at her and gave a full-on smile. It was jarring, then she belted out laughing even harder.

Sal left for the trainyard the next day, walking at his unnatural pace... for a zombie. Stopping to observe things that moved to understand them. Watching a bee, butterfly or dragonfly he wanted to talk to them so badly... Unable to figure out how to communicate, so he would try the next one that caught his eye. The patterns on the insects would turn into things from his visions. One was a tree trunk that appeared from between two black dots on the back of an orange butterfly with a fuzzy head that kind of looked like the leaves of a tree. The tiny mane blew in the wind as it flew and Sal wondered if that's where trees come from. "That doesn't make any sense." Sal thought and kept walking. Over time he learned it's faster to carry bigger parts of the train. Starting with pieces of axels, then half the axel, then the full thing. He could nearly carry a full train so he trained with more trains, bench pressing a caboose more times than he could pay attention to count, never tiring. Always maintaining the pace he sets.

His cells regenerating as they're breaking down. Changing at a molecular level without needing to be replenished. Unknown to anyone... at the time. When Sal broke the antidote, his body changed. He was a step above being mostly dead.

His arms got big and bulky but his non- stop working out thinned him down. His forearms and biceps more perfectly proportioned and toned because he lifted such heavy weight for hours, sometimes days at a time. Sal's triceps cut and distinct popped out as he now carried a full train. "This is so much easier!" He thought. "Now the train can come back. This metal snake wasn't what it seemed... how could I have ever thought this was a snake, even if it looked different on its side." He gently set the train on the track. Forgetting the stories he makes up in his head.

The siding was dented and it had a bent axel so he laid it on its side and bent it back, just perfect. Smiling with joy when he sat it on the track and attached it to the other carts. A pile of chopped up carts lay on a plot of empty land near the station. Luckily it was only 10 carts before he stopped chopping them up. Throwing each piece a half mile away from the yard. His legs were powerful now from squatting and walking with all the weight. He could jump even higher now. His ability to focus was improving also. He began to become more aware of time, thinking of Jenna. "She packs so much into her day. The house has furniture exactly like my visions. He saw it more clearly... but still so fuzzy. The sofa was a deep brown color.... now with stitching patchwork. Jenna sewed a cover for it that had the same flowers all over it. The carpet was destroyed so I took it out and Jenna picked tile and I put it in. I loved that rug but Jenna said it was dead and broken. I didn't mind, rash is trash, fix the bad and make the good. His heart smiled.

Sal felt something deep inside his mind move and saw the boy again. He wore a Mighty Mighty Bosstones T-shirt. His face was Hawk like and defined, He almost looked James Dean. The boy had to be 13 years old.

He points at the train cart with the man in a suit underneath. Sal lifted the cart by the roof and ripped a chunk off.

woops. He thought

Walking around to the back of the train and grabing it by the axels, planted his feet to bear the full weight and twisted the train up right.

Keeping the front end in his hands, he pushed it up and up until he was mid-way of the train and let it fall, catching it by a steel reinforced Chassie, he walked it over to the trains and coupling it to the rest.

So many trains they were going for miles now. Another ten miles of carts left to go. Miles of Un-oiled carts screeched then groaned to a halt as he staged the track for another cart. Sal walked back to the boy; he was still pointing at the skeleton in the suit. There was a smaller skeleton he wrapped his arms around, smashed into the chest and fused together almost. Sal noticed a slip of paper in the suit pocket of the small one and took it. The words looked like jibber jabber to him. So, he put it in one of his many pockets and started to leave, looking back at the boy as he disappeared.

As Sal saw the vision disappear, he stopped thinking of him as a vision... but something that was inside his head and connected to his heart. It was like a sad feeling that he felt happy about now...

" that doesn't make sense." he thought as he walked home.

Exiting the trainyards old brick archway he paused. Deep in the distance a thunder rolled. Sal wouldn't have noticed deep down... But the thunder from down over there got louder and louder, his deep down began screaming at him.

The sound amplified tenfold. Sal stopped and imagine a heard of a thousand cattle running for their lives and Sal stood at the center of the way out.

It was as if there weren't buildings in the way... moving right then changing directions and blowing through a neighborhood then mowed through construction equipment. Tactors and Semi’s flew like hot wheels.

Sal stared into the wall of a building across the street from him seeing the monster as if there were nothing in the way.

The wall exploded; the rubble hit him in the cheek.

"That was close" He thought as he bent over to catch the rock that bounced off of his cheek.

Not understanding the danger, he watched his new friend. The gargantuan zombie snarled and gnashed as it crashed, the monsters long hardened nails flailed and swiped, just the tip was in range. Sal moved only as far as he had to. "Be like water" Sal thought.

The monster's claws ripped through the blacktop and curb like butter. Pushing off a sturdy brick house it flew back at Sal through a veil of dust. Catching the monsters by the wrists all of its mass crashed to a halt. Its head smashed into Sal's face; unfazed Sal watched the monster's eyes roll into the back of its head then rattle back to consciousness.

Its claws dangling behind Sal began to mince him to shreds. Sal squeezed and the monsters' hands and they flew off. In tenths of a second Sal's left side was tattered. His left arm dangled at his side and fell off. Half of his guts were missing. What was left of his intestines and organs flopped around. Falling to the ground in front of the screaming monster that showered black and red blood everywhere.

Began wondering what Jenna was up to again, he lifted his head to watch...

The monster's powerful legs launched it towards Sal, inches away, a cone of mist formed and exploded blowing out any remaining glass from windows. Its maw was at Sal's face. Time stopped for Sal. He stared into eternity, blacker than a bottomless pit. Red appeared in the center then exploded into red and black and green. Sal's right punch hit faster than the monster could comprehend its face was gone.

Jenna, he thought as he picked up his left arm and began heading home for a night's rest. His guts leaving a trail of red and green, his vision blurred and his consciousness faded.

Opening his eyes he realized he was in his neighborhood and Jenna was in front of him with her hand over her mouth, looking green. He thought she looked green like his skin. His head bobbed; his body unable to support his head well.

Mr. Jonson snuck up behind Jenna knocking her over.

She screamed and wrestled herself away. Sal tried to help but fell down on top of her. She screamed so fiercely blood flew from her throat....

"Jenna, its ok...." he thought as darkness took him.

### Sal stood and dusted himself off. "Jenna?" he said. "Who's Jenna?" Replied Jimmy. "I don't know I just felt like shouting it out of nowhere." "Sal's gone crazy!" Yelled Lethe and chanted "Crazy crazy crazy." "Shut up!" yelled Sal Gaining his awareness Sal still standing and growling.

"I sound like my friends." He though.

looking down into a corner he saw Jenna crying holding her baby. "Jenna! he thought and walked towards her with his arm out. She cried harder, coughing from her torn throat, she began to whisper a prayer like his other friend from the road who screamed and stopped moving. He listened to her pray for hours, waiting for her to finish whispering.

Falling asleep for half a second then she jerked back awake, jostling jake who began making sad sleepy noises. Sal began growling again.

He thought "Where is that coming from" Stepping backwards, realizing it was him again, he walked out of the house. Unsure if he liked feeling like this... "feeling" he thought.

This was so different than hot or cold. shame or pride... "Hunger." growled out of the deep part of his being. "Yes. That's exactly right.” Answering his deep self.

The rumble feeling came to him Grrrrrrrrreeeeeeeerrr. The sound came to his mind as he slumped into a mini coma.

Unable to live or die. Suspended in limbo, his mind drifted.

He saw tables and chairs and people and feasts of food. Fresh bread and every type of meat and fruit, his hunger pulled him to the table, but when he got there the food turned into his house exactly as it was before.

Broken and failing, he smiled and happily began to rebuild and improve on his technique.

After some time, he realized he was fixing his neighbor's house and his improvements worked amazingly. He was very proud of his work but felt bad for not asking permission so he kept his work to the original look until he got full permission.

###

Jenna's view She looked out the upstairs window and saw her zombie friend, Dick coming home finally after two months. Her baby now eleven months old, squeaked and spoke gibberish sitting in her arms. She smiled and looked at Jakes beautiful green eyes, shook her and said "Who's the cutest baby in the world! You are!" mwah mwah muah kissing his chubby cheeks she walked down stairs to greet her best friend. "It's my only friend." She spoke.

He approached the house, noticing his arm first, she ran to hide her baby in the panic room, then ran back to the door and opened it to see Dick's condition... His arm was missing and there was a hole in him and guts hung there bouncing as he limped. she stared in horror His eyes glowed red and pierced her soul. Seeing the eyes only as he came closer, she screamed. Felling someone behind her kick her foot, realized Mr. Jonson was there, she fell. He straddled her in his armor and pushed, poked and scratched her with bulky suit. She was nearly out when Dick stumbled and fell directly on top of her. Attempting to catch him with the only free hand she had, her grip slipped, leaving her shoulder deep inside Sal’s guts, squirming around trying to get up. Her throat was on fire from screaming. The entire neighborhood came. She nearly escaped and was dogpiled by zombies who just stood back up to trip her over and over again. After hours of struggling, she couldn't move. Fatigue and her will to live faded, then nothing but blackness. She gained consciousness and felt arms under her and a bounce and a dragging sound.

Opening her eyes only slightly she saw his face and couldn't even muster a mental scream anymore. Accepting her fate she gave into her aching muscles and body and lost consciousness. Waking up in her room in her soft bed she tried to turn onto her side and felt her sore body all at once, she cried out and moaned and sat up and turned to put her feet on the floor, groaned and slowly stood.

Panick flashed as she remembered what had happened and scrambled for her baby, falling to the ground immediately. "No!" she exclaimed. Crawling into the hallway on her hands and knees using the door to stand and leaned on for a moment. Her heart raced and she fell into despair and thought of the worst possibilities. She cried and thought about how quickly things went so wrong. Tears stung her eyes as she made her way for the Panick room, heart pounding faster, attempting to compose herself.

"My baby... where is Dick, oh my God. Please no..."  She couldn't see through the tears so she stopped and grounded herself again

. Opening the Panick room, she couldn't breathe. "Jake!" she eked out.

"Jake!!" She screamed, Ignoring every rule in the book.

A loud bang from the second story, she booked it for the stairs. Making it halfway up before seeing Dick walked into the hallway from the baby room. She froze.

Jake started crying and her heart felt relief and a new panic set over her as she stared at Dick watching him stand up after falling through the door shattering it, his deep red eyes bore into her soul again as that night replayed in her head... It felt like an eternity then she heard her baby crying again, she took a step and Sal didn't move so she took another step, then another until she was face to face. An unawareness, was about his face, and he barely noticed her. Still gazing down the stairs in unintelligible way. She grabbed Jake, held him and whimpered. Deciding on a plan of action. Stepping out of the room with jake, strapped to her back. Sliding past Dick and walked down backwards, his guts started to turn black and brown and were drying out and smelled horrid.

She had to force herself not to gag moving past him. Seeing Dick not move an inch, she turned and started walking down the stairs faster, making Jake cry. Dicks head turned and his weight shifted, shaking his head his eyes start glowing bright red again. Letting out a low growl... then a thunderous roar. She attempted to run but made it three steps before Dick was ahead of her. Pulling jake out of his strap to hold him before they die.

"Leave us alone Dick... What happened? Why... why now..." Flashing a smile quickly tears fell down her face, she kissed her baby and tied him into his pack.

Whimpering imagining who he would have been...

Dick stared and stood silently. His eyes dimmed and turned back to their original color. She cried, the suspense was killing her a little at a time.

"Do it!" She yelled.

"Do it!! Get it over with! End it!!" Her gasps turning into whimpers. Exhausted beyond all belief she couldn't take it... She waited for death but it never came.

Falling asleep praying, she jerked awake.

###

Sal knowing he wasn't wanted and extremely confused thought; “Guess I'll go work on something.” Making his way out of the door and down the street to the hardware store. Still limping from his first ever boss fight. His guts broke off and began growing stringy sections, forming in the edges of his missing abdomen.

The first friend encountered on this quest was a beetle crossing the road who disappeared under a car. Lifting a car with the arm that was torn off, the muscle fibers stretched tight under the weight, the three fibers that grew back in the hole held tight, he watched the mandibles and thick black antenna move as it made its way. Escorting his friend through the ruined road until he disappeared in the brush on the otherside.

His thoughts finally back to the quest, heart bursting with hope and happiness.

“So differently than how I was feeling. I don't like having this hole in me... maybe I was scared about almost being halved so it made me angry?... He thought. “That doesn't make any sense...”

Recalling Jenna explaining it to him several times. “You zombies are just sick.” She said with a sad smile. “You are a zombie. That means you died a long time ago and you're still walking around. You don't ever have to be afraid or sad, you just do zombie stuff. I wish I could have that... like you Dick... Just for a moment...” Then her eyes watered while she whispered Paul like she always did.

Sal found the perfect thirty by eighty-inch door to replace the upstairs door that was broken.

The door was installed so he was working on the trim, pushing the finishing nails in with his pointer finger. He had to stop using the hammer because the walls were getting blown away and Jenna threatened to leave if he ever picked up a hammer again.

“Jenna.” He thought about his friend and he smiled for a moment and his face snapped back to the indifference look, after months of training he was able to hold a smile for longer each time but it was so much more difficult right now.

Flashes of visions came to him of that night as he trudged.

Her face, the fear pouring out of her, the smell made him recall throwing up, it felt so wrong but if he gave into it he knew he would like it.

But he would have eaten Jenna. The hunger. The pain. The want... it made him sad the feelings came and went after meditating for a while.

“I don't want to feel those ways ever again.” He thought as he decided who he wanted to be, the burning the highs and icy lows into his memory. He will help this friends that God gave him...

He looked everywhere for her but she was gone for today. It had only been 60 or so suns... She couldn't have gone far.

Sal turned on the radio and put the volume to max and and plopped down accidentally kicking the display that he lovingly built, the briefcase wobbled then fell to the floor with a thud. The case stayed shut but Sal's saw a special glow emanating... from his deep part, it wasn't even the briefcase at all... the edges glowed so shiny, he couldn't hold it in, his body vibrated shaking the entire second story.

He felt the house move and realized it was him. Opening the clasps the lid thudded open, recalling taking medicine when he was a kid, up a single little sphere and help it in front of his eyes that glowed green almost matching his skin. Imagining a little man with a flashlight inside his eyes jumping around for joy.

His right cheek raised in a grin. Laying down he put the clear little sphere into his mouth and swallowed.

Chapter 2- How to Serve Baby

Written by Richard Allen

Sal stared at the briefcase and the clean spot. He opened his mouth and spoke. “Aaaahhh… arrgarrrr.” He was trying to get used to his own voice. His sudden outbursts of noise made him feel wrong in some deep-down way, so he methodically practiced talking to himself every day. His head tilted right and the reconnecting fibers snapped tight and he repeated. “Aaaahhh… arrrgarrrr.”

The hip-hop song on the radio roared to a stop. Defining silence filled the entirety of the space and seeped into every crevice. Then, a beautiful gentile guitar sound emanated from the indestructible speaker 5000. The lettering was clear and distinguishable. Guaranteed 300-year battery life.

He had visions of a young adult male getting the speaker as a present from the man and woman from the train station but they wore matching pajamas with reindeer and some trees embroidered onto them. A high-pitched scream erupts. The young man was jumping up and down and laughing. The sweet raspy voice continued to sing, “Silver twine... valentine... crows... shiny things….”

Wait came to Sal’s mind… so he stopped.

Who is Tom and why does he wait? The raspy voice continued to sing “Shiny things” and Sal smiled. His neck wound festered a little but began to get that green look and stopped decaying at the rate of normal human flesh. He started cleaning again and fell deep into thought.

A big building with giant walls and thick glass walls and everything was shiny and cold. Almost able to feel a shiver in his mind when he thought about cold this time but the feeling quickly melted away.

“That could drastically stop the aging process by thousands of years!”  the man in the suit said. “Robert Jenkins! You are getting a Nobel prize!”

“I know!’ Exclaimed Robert. “We both are going to get the recognition we deserve!” The boy was sitting on a chair and looked up because the men were getting so excited they were yelling.

“Wait. What time is it? Oh no, please excuse me. I have to run and pick up little Leroy. I’ll see you at the lab tomorrow bright and early. Get some rest, Jimmy, we’re going to be busy men!”“Drive safe Robert!” Jimmy replied and began working with endless vigor.Sal watched the vision as he cleared other parts of the house.

The piles of junk and rust shifted from one side of the house to the other back and forth as he sifted the good shiny things from the trash. A large gun with fifty Cal. Rusted but still visible… and the word Egal. He threw it in the front yard in the pile to build one of his statues. “Only shiny things for me.” He chanted in his mind… After four hundred and twenty suns flew by, he stopped, his lifeless greenish yellow eyes sparkled as if a black dot winking in the middle of a black hole…

The house was done!

Sal decorated his house in a simple and elegant style. The pile of radiators was reduced to three on the inside. He hung them on the tattered living room wall by the couch that was re-upholstered and re-stuffed with cushions he found on the train. The rest of the radiators were neatly stacked in the backyard.

One day he realized the metal pile was as high as his roof so he climbed it and began fixing his roof. Thinking to himself. “I got to protect all my shiny things. No one else will…” he used cardboard and metal signs and broken door fragments but they didn’t stop the rain and they blew away… The cardboard broke and the door fragments were impossible. This took him the longest to figure out and he loved this new game. The word “Tetris” came into his mind. He was forced to use the metal signs that overlapped everything so the water would slide down more easily. “Be like water…” he thought again. So, he understood how water would love to slide down if the bottom panel was underneath the top one. “The easiest path.” He thought. “That’s so simple, life is so simple and shiny.”

He used nails and a hammer to secure everything down.

Stuffing the mattress with foam and a sheet of foam over the top and sewed cloth scraps together to keep it all in place. The sewing cabinet was stocked full but before long the spindles of thread were reduced by twenty-five percent.

His front windows were littered with clear stuff that cut his hand off. Thinking the word “ouch” he expertly stitched the other one back on with surgery-like precision. The woman with the hat showed him in visions. He watched her teach the boy who would point and the young adult boy how to sew.

Jimmy would teach them how to tie knots and fix things… Sal loved fixing things. It made him feel less board.

“OK, I have three things I love as much as shiny things now. Exploring, cleaning, and fixing things like roofs and metal things with parts that move.” Sal thought.

He found a new door at the hardware store, the label read: 9 Clouds Clothing and doors smart glass 36 in. W. x 80 in. Right-hand in swing. When he removed the old door and frame, he realized how fun it was to destroy things too. Seeing the EnviroPlastic wood beams underneath the frame in his mind made him giddy. Remembering the feeling of amazement when the new door was installed and how beautiful it looked… the vision but he could touch it... feel it, and see it.

Like the sign that crumbled… Its job was complete but this door… Its job had just begun. It opened and closed perfectly. The shims are in place and trimmed like a professional.

He removed his makeshift roof and put in 8 x 8 sheets of EnviroPlastic compressed wood and rolled on the vapor barrier then put in metal roofing with a metal crown. He made so many trips to the hardware store thinking about it made him so happy.

“The sun is with me more often now.” Sal wondered why It streaked past like a fly before and now it kept him company more often.

“Maybe the sun likes it when I work too… Maybe that’s how the sun communicates. Its speed depends on if you’re doing what you’re supposed to, then sends warm maybe.”

“Eeehhhh” eked out of his mouth. Which was the word of the day today.

Sal wished he had a friend to talk with and saw the young man crying, he missed his friend. He wanted his fifth passion to be able to love someone else. Anyone at all. Anyone who could talk back and help carry supplies and I look at their eyes and smile and they look at me and smile. “Please God, can I have one friend?” He prayed silently. Attempting a smile, he gave up.

He had a rough day carrying all the gardening soil for the flowers and fixing the roof and building a statue. “The sun was away now come and went 17 times so he was ready to lay down for a night’s rest

###

He woke up unrested for lack of need of rest, and headed out to the hardware store again, his second favorite location… the first being the train station.

The quest today Involved seeing both locations, so it was going to be an exceptionally good day. He was working on chopping the train up into smaller pieces. The visions were his muse in reassembling them but he didn’t have the knowledge or equipment to weld them so he made a pile of train parts.

Sal heard something from behind him and he felt the urge to chase it but it was just an urge. It’s like having an itch and purposely not scratching just to see if you can… but this itch didn’t even register in Sal.

A baby cried. Sal paused and looked. A woman with a large warm garment that was sleek with amazing movement range. Tiny eyes and hands peaked out from the folds. “Gasp!”

A look of complete horror on her face but she didn’t scream but ran away without making a single sound or footstep, closing her baby into his soundproof Satchel and tightening the draw strings as she disappeared into the brush.

Sal paused for a second then went on his way finally reached the train station. He got to work pulling out the Sawzall and inserting the metal cutting blade in the tip, he began slowly cutting through a massive axle. Picking up bigger and bigger chunks each with each train he took apart. Growing stronger. Lifting each part over and over because it made it easier to lift more if he never stopped.

A rustle came from a train cart to his right. Sal didn’t think anything of it and kept working as he thought about who it might be. Maybe an animal friend. He smiled seeing his old dog, Ralf. Looking to see if it was a friend, now hopeful and looked in the direction intently.

A rustle from behind him now so he looked and heard “Hello?” Then a pause “Can you understand me? I need help… I was praying after she left with Jake and praying then I found you...”

Sal saw a shiny rifle barrel and an injured man with deep blue eyes filled with panic and desperation. Sal just stared at him expressionless making gestures with his head as if talking, but nothing came out of his mouth. “Are you human or a zombie? Cause you sure look like a zombie.” The injured man said plainly. “Attack me if you’re going to. I’m done for anyways.”

Sal just stared and bobbed his head slightly and made some unintelligible hand gestures. Paul felt panic, his deadline approached quickly... "This guys a mute... something just feels right coming from him... What other choice do I have."

“I’m coming down. I’ve been bitten so stay back. There’s no other choice anyway… and I need help. Please find my family and make sure they’re safe.” He spoke while sliding down the side of the cart and jumping onto a lower one.

“Please hear me out, I need help from anyone… I’m coming over now. If you kill me, then oh well, I’m dead already so watch out… My name is Paul, what’s your name?”

Sal continued working watched the man and said nothing. Bone was exposed on Paul’s forearm and some fingers. Sal observed. “After we’re done talking, please take my gun and shoot me, Mr... My wife and baby escaped… Please find them… Arrrggg…” Sal stopped and thought “He needs Help?” And listened intently.

“Please quickly, I’m changing,” Paul said frantically throwing his rifle at Sal’s feet keeping his distance. “Take my gun. I don’t want to be a zombie. I can’t let my family find me like that. They can’t see me like that.”

Paul convulsed in transformation, as he fell into nothingness. His sadness stopped, his cares stopped, his body writhed in agony but it was sweet to his mind. Drifting further and further… He felt nothing, only hunger and rage now. Pure rage. A lust for unleashing the full capabilities of his body over clocked past what was possible for living flesh.

Zombie Paul screamed so loud, red blood stained his teeth as his throat tore. Blood splashed onto Sal’s face and the smell of fresh hot nasty morning breath mixed with blood surrounded Sal. “Good thing I don’t remember what smell is.”

The rifle shone In Sal’s eyes. Paul calmed down once there was nothing to kill so he walked away silently and aimlessly.

Sal picked up the rifle. He recognized the feeling of the gun and held the butt of the gun against his shoulder and saw images of deer walking majestically in the forest and a perfect shot to the heart. Sal realized he was aiming at Paul’s head so he held the gun upright and began to follow Paul.

“What were you saying about a wife and kids?” Sal asked mentally. Paul never replied.

“Do you want this gun” He never replied to that either so Sal decided to go home.

It rained the entire walk home. The sky was overcast, the sun never came out. Sal thought about all the grey in the sky. Like dark metal. “So beautiful…” at that thought it began raining even harder till Sal could barely see his torn hand in front of his face.

Coming up to old man Harry’s property Sal remembered there was a neat barn and felt compelled to go there. His body pulled him there before he realized he wanted to go there.

Sal opened the barn door walked inside and shut the door. It was pitch black inside but he could see in the dark. Exploring the barn, he found old meat hooks, animal bones and shiny blades.

In a corner, a woman and a baby cowered. He was right in front of the woman’s face but she didn’t seem to see Sal. “It’s like she’s blind…” Sal thought.

She just held her baby tight and gently held his sound retardant pouch until she fell asleep. Sal found an old horse blanket and put it over her. He smelled them both and felt the baby’s fragile skull in in the pouch. The smell of sweat and tears and anguish and pain lingered over the exhausted pair. She smells like… like mom. The woman’s face formed into a frown as her dreams turned into nightmares. She shivered so Sal put the blanket back over her arm and tucked it in so it wouldn’t fall again. Her expression relaxed as she abandoned reality and fell deep into sleep. The sound from the rain dulled but it still was pouring cats and dogs.

Sal knelt beside her watching her sleep all night, not moving or blinking.   She looked so tired and deep asleep he didn’t want to wake her up so he snuck away before dawn. The sun peaked in from the widow and shone into her eyes walking her up from her rest. Her baby safely snuggled up and warm in his pack. She opened a flap near the babies face and nursed him under the warm wool blanket.

A blanket she thought startled. Wondering where she was and what was going on recalling her flight from the train yard and hiding. It was so dark last night… she was completely turned around and didn’t know east from west.

Footsteps crunched the gravel in the driveway so she quietly laid her baby down and peeked out of the window. Seeing Sal, she covered her mouth and turned to run for her baby… but Crash! She screamed and hit the meat hooks. One pierced her jacket and ripped through with ease missing her skin. She hit the ground hard, knocking the wind out of her… standing as quickly as she could and grabbed her baby and climbed to the loft wheezing still, she kicked down the ladder behind her and found a place to hide “Just till the sick people leave…” she told herself trying to humanize her attackers.

Sal could taste them in the loft. He could smell her fear so he didn’t want to stress her anymore. |He stood motionless as three zombies flew past him at fifty miles per hour or more. Sal watched his clothing flap in the wind from their body mass and speed.

The first one was fastest and almost in range to jump into the loft. Sal’s hand ripped through its head before the rouge zombie knew it. Sal was confused as to why his head blew up. “Good night” he thought.

The last two came in to avenge their friend in unison, hyper enraged with rogue blood lust… tripling their speed.

Lifting his arms straight out to either side, their faces smashed against Sal’s monkey like forearm’s clothes lined them…. Before they could register their plight, they were flying upside-down through the air in a daze. Limping and walking in circles, rattled and confused even for zombies…

Sal found potatoes and carrots and vegetables and threw them up into the loft then lured the zombies out of the barn by pushing them and pulling them by their arms… They grunted with every push and looked at Sal and moved their heads as if they were talking but they never said a thing.  They pushed and tried to resist but failed against Sal’s overwhelming new strength.

Shutting the barn doors behind him, he watched the pair outside and watched lose interest and walk off into the sun.

Sal couldn’t believe he found the woman and baby by accident. The sun was high in the sky now and Sal faced away from the barn watching a herd of deer walk past and spread out to graze.

Sal stayed still so he didn’t scare them away. “They’re so wonderful.” Recalling their anatomy from years of hunting and preparing meat. He marveled at the build of the biggest Buck. The horns were massive, chunks missing from years of fighting, and claw and teeth marks. The buck walked up to Sal and smelled his face, turning his massive head narrowly missing Sal’s head. Whizzing past with calculated speed and precision. His massive eyeball focusing and focuses on different parts of the zombie.

Sal became aware of the woman watching him from the corner of the window but he continued to observe the massive Buck who noticed the woman right after Sal. Making an earth-shattering call, the herd all stopped grazing and looked to their leader who trotted off down the road, moving faster than the woman could even see… she blinked and the whole herd was trotting in one group.

She escaped the barn and hid. Following her strange hero to the main road. Sal never let her fall too far behind slowing to help her journey, little did she know it was a house renovated by a zombie.

She kept to the tree line and moved swiftly, quietly, and patiently watching every move the strange zombie made. Wondering if he slowed his pace for her…

She heard him say “Aaaahhh arrrrrrr” in a strangely caring tone. Every hour without skipping a beat.

Her baby cooed, unable to focus his tiny developing eyes on the woods flittering past… but the occasional bug or butterfly visited him and made him laugh. With each laugh her heart both dropped into the deepest pit of her stomach and soared higher than the heavens.

Her zombie approached a house with a shiny metal roof and statues of metal scraps that resembled knights of old and stacks of radiators arranged like a house of cards… The colors of the setting sun glittered off of the green metal roof as the overlay of pink and red and all shades of black disappeared with the sun. She waited and watched from the top of a tree, tied to the trunk. She crafted a small hammock with a six-point baby harness and her child fed while she spoke softly. “I wonder what his name was… I think I’ll call him… Dick.”

Small snoring and soft cooing permeated the cool silent night’s air as she drifted into a deep sleep.

Sal chased away his neighbors and friends from her location all night, returning them inside their homes, and locking their doors. Some neighbors had to have sleepovers. Sal recalls his work in his mind’s visions.

The sun peaked over the hills at the edges of their world and woke the mother and son. A blanket wrapped around their shoulders and fruit in a sack tied to their tree bed. She ate, tasting the deep red of the strawberry rich, fertilized with the best recycled plant matter. The apples and oranges were exceptional. Her mouth watered uncontrollably thinking about the strawberries. She began to cry thinking of her dead love, lost forever, wanting to share these delicacies with him. His presence was gone. The absence was felt and pressed a black hole into her soul. The baby plugged this void, Jake is him… but momentarily she couldn’t help but feel the loss with the full weight of her being. Tears streamed from her face and her chest heaved. She whispered “I’m so stupid, I’m so stupid. Why couldn’t I have been stronger? I’m so stupid. I can’t live… I can’t do it. Paul… Paul…”

Sal hearing her cries wanted to help but he left her alone till her tears stopped and her face softened, her eyes red and puffy.

They watched each other for a little while. “What are you up to Dick…,” decide to go check and see herself. “He put the food here. He was here while we slept. He could have killed us before… Hold tight my love.”

She began tying her child to the tree where they slept, the baby being tickled pink and laughing loudly. She gave him a pacifier, kissed his forehead then closed the sound proof pack. Cozy like a cute little elf tied to a tree. She smiled.  “While his mom talked to a zombie. This is crazy…” she slapped her face and climbed down.

Sal watched her move gracefully. She walked over and stopped across the street. He patiently watched the woman, as she worked up the courage to say. “My name is Jenna. Jenna Graysen… what’s your name?”

Sal nodded his head in recognition and thought.  “Paul and Jenna sitting in a tree.” She walked halfway across the street and began to give her life story but four roaming zombies heard her, sniffed the air then began sprinting with the speed of cheetahs.

Sal moved with lightning speed and picked up the woman in his arms, all she could see was a blur and they were inside the house.

Coming to the realization her baby was still out there she’s yelled. “Baby! He’s in the tree!” Sal, thinking she called him baby blushed on the inside… He laughed. She wanted her baby so he ran over and retrieved all of their belongings and the child from the tree. He held the baby so gently and stared into its tiny eyes.

“The names Sal! How can I help you baby?” Sal thought at tiny human, inches from his zombie face. Jake’s little blue eyes stared into Sal’s green eyes.

Coming to his front door the baby rested its tiny hand and placed it on Sal’s broken disfigured nose and they both laughed together.

Chapter 1- A New Beginning Again

Intro

"What are those things..." blared a voice on the radio. Blood covered the knob and streaked downward like red icing dripping down a cake gluing the knob at max volume. The years turned the red streaks into dried powder and flakes.

"With big black wings...." the song continued. The alarm chirped powerless against the impenetrable wall of sound coming out of the stereo.

Sal stared at the airplane wing and engine dangling by a thread just above his bed. The wing covered his bedroom like a broken mother goose. He sat up at the edge of the bed, put his feet on the ground, and stood with his arms outstretched in front of him as if they were what guided his path. They led him to the bathroom; he walked in a mindless haze through the portal of a splintered bathroom door.

His pants fell to the floor in front of the toilet, his gangrenous butt hung in the cold air as water dripped onto his cheek, then a curtain of water fell on his head and the whole house began to soak in the virgin rain, falling through cracks and the exposed EnviroPlastic wood beams of his tattered roof.

A single drop fell in front of Sal’s eye, and he saw it stop in midair. The cacophony of rain and relentless static sound hitting the roof and plastic and wood throughout the failing structure thundered, then echoed, then slowly faded.

Unable to get that single drop out of his mind… out of the trillions of drops… that one drop stood out to him for some reason and he hyper-focused on it and fell into himself. He was fully enthralled for a moment A single drop of rain he thought. Over and over and over... he thought one single drop… that one.

3 hours passed. The rain came and went twice. Sal finally pulled up his pants after his unnecessary ceremony was over and then shuffled to the front door of his home.

###

1

Chapter one: A new beginning again

Walking slowly down the street his expression didn’t change, as if he were a Roman statue. No pain, no worry, or sadness on his face. Only pure stoic determination. One track at a time played inside his head. Only one thought drove him… and that was to explore.

“I'm gonna find glass or Shiny rocks and metal pieces.” He thought. “I long for something…” but he couldn't remember. It was just outside his reach. A boy would appear inside his head when he thought like this, and he saw the boy just then as if he was standing in front of Sal’s face... with a thousand-yard stare.

The little boy never said anything, only kept the same relentless expression on his face and pointed. Sal looked where the boy pointed but his finger pointed in the direction Sal was headed. “I know,” Sal thought at the boy “I'm going don't worry.”

As he passed old lady Carlson he paused and thought about helping her up because She was always in the same spot, but she looked to be in a bad mood today... so he trudged on, not wanting to get involved.

Passing the liquor store then the bank, the bar, the police station, and then finally the pawn shop at the edge of town. The sun came and went for the 6th time Sal thought deep within his mind’s edges. Just out of reach of his consciousness but he noted it in the ways he could understand. He wasn’t able to explain even in his internal narration.

“My journey is almost complete! ”He thought. beaming with happiness on the inside and thought about a beautiful tune to whistle, so he imagined whistling. So familiar and comfortable. Like soft warm breasts caressing his face and the feeling of fingernails gently scratching the back of his head.

The train yard was in front of him now! His heart would have skipped a beat. Sal loved the train yard so much. Sal had so much to do there! Sal’s mind raced faster and faster. Images of trains moving so fast down the track began playing in his mind. He was enchanted with visions of crowds with big luggage, and small luggage. Couples hugging and kissing and saying goodbye. Mothers, daughters, brothers and sisters, and fathers. One father wagging their finger at rambunctious children.

A woman in a big white sun hat with the prettiest smile in the world looked down at him. She was so tall, like a giant. The vision made him feel so tiny but he never felt as good as when he saw that woman smile. Her perfect white teeth and lips could kiss all the sadness away and a voice that made angels stop and listen with bated breath.

A man in a business suit holding a briefcase walked up quickly and kissed the woman, then the man picked up Sal and held him in his strong arms, then looked at his pocket watch. Sal felt as if the man could snap him in half if the man simply flexed his arms but the man was so gentle and methodical. Sal hit the man in the face and felt bad. His tiny hand on the man’s nose made the man's face look gargantuan like a face on Mt. Rushmore. The man just laughed and took my hand while looking at me saying something I couldn’t understand but he was smiling big and looking deep into my eyes. “He must love me… like I love shiny metal and rocks.” Sal thought. And he felt so safe in that moment. Safety? He hadn't thought that word in so long. He soaked up the good feelings pouring out from the man’s vision as if funneling tremendous love through time and space. Such power and strength, just from his smile. The edges of Sal’s lips moved upward and he could recognize the feel of his face. He marveled at this curious thing happening to him.

Hundreds of people fluttered past like the ghosts they were. living on in memories at the fringes of consciousness. The man was in in front of him now and Sal was almost as tall as the man again... He saw the world move around him in a flash.

The man's briefcase exploded with light. A dark rain cloud opened up and the sun beamed through the clouds... staring into the sun he finally realized he was on the ground and stood as quickly as he could to chase after the man. He stood up and walked for what seemed like hours chasing the man... Sal looked into the sky and vacantly recognized the light was gone. All he thought about was finding the man with the smile from his visions.

Sal saw the man's coat disappear behind a snake coil of wrecked train carts, so he ran after. The man disappeared into a downed cart into the coil. He searched and searched but the man was gone. He circled back and the realization he was all alone crept over him in the ways he could recognize as a zombie.

So, he did the only other thing he could, he searched for the majestic decaying metal serpent. The pattern where it lay dying, bleeding rust onto the remains of people and things, was evil-looking but there was hope emanating from deep inside. He walked in and saw the boy pointing at bones wearing a suit. Some of the bones were missing. Half of it was lodged under a downed train cart, and the bones had a cool pocket watch just like the man from the vision. Sal asked the bones if they saw the man but they just lay there and didn't say anything. Making sure the bones weren't alive and didn't want their treasure Sal grabbed the pocket watch and explored a little more. He found a train cart full of those suitcases. There was one with flowers all over, a black one, some purple ones. He wanted to take them all but he kept looking for something that popped out. Something shiny maybe… excited and giddy with stoic love. The word Eros flashed in his mind.

"Oh! The briefcase case!" Sal exclaimed silently. On the outside his features looked the same but, on the inside, he danced and sang. If that feeling could be broadcast from his spirit, he felt the whole world would be happy with him. Everyone would want to explore and clean and have shiny things. Like the world would go back to looking like his visions when the train yard wasn't attacked by the metal snake. Happy with his find Sal began to head home for a much-needed night of rest after his long day.

The sun flew around him like it always does. He thought of it like a fly that wouldn't go away but he loved the sun. He would talk to the sun but it never replied. It just stayed looking so beautiful and shiny. The world was so shiny he thought.

Sal couldn't recall how the sun felt... Or the cold snow. He remembered cold and warm but the feelings seemed so distant. He must have outgrown the need to feel those things maybe... "aaaahhhhmmmmmmm..." he said as he continued thinking on the subject.

He saw the pawnshop, then the police station, the bar, the bank, and finally the liquor store.

Hello Ms. Carlson, he thought as he was beside her. In his excitement, Sal waved to her and the briefcase flew and hit her in the face then popped open. Thousands of little balls flew out and covered Ms. Carlson. Sal felt so bad.

He picked up every single tiny vial. He searched through her entrails underneath the pole pinning her down and she screamed and screamed like normal. He hurried as fast as he could nonetheless and cracked one of the little glass balls on accident. Then Ms. Carlson screamed like he’d never heard before and she began praying then stopped moving… but he apologized so many times…. She’s ignoring me now, he thought. “Ms. Carlson? Hello? I'm so sorry.” Sal said. “Please don't be mad. I'll see you tomorrow and see if there’s anything I can do to make it up to you.” Then he made his way home to admire his loot.

Sal navigated through the remains of his front door, just hinges and wood chips now. His room was a labyrinth of clutter of overflowing wealth. “I’m so rich.” Sal smiled. Seeking the perfect spot for his latest treasure, shoving aside radiators and stacks of old metal signs. An old Chevy sign toppled; he righted it, then realized its message was eaten away by rust long ago, a gorgeous blend of orange and deep powdery red covered the surface. He sat it down and it crumbled and broke into pieces. He couldn't help but become captivated by its decayed pieces. It was gone. The sign lived its purpose and now it was finished. Hundreds of years of living and it got to go back home. Sal sat and thought about these ideas more.

He cleaned and prepared a nice spot for the briefcase and wondered if it was even possible to be so clean… “How did the spot look so amazing? I cleaned this spot especially well. It's as nice as the places in my visions.” He made a new hobby at that very moment. Sal vowed to not only explore but to make the places he visits look nice. “Like this spot for my treasure…” he spoke out loud and startled himself. “I will leave places I visit a little cleaner than before I was there.” smiling so big it hurt his face.

Sal down on his mattress, only rusted metal springs were left. He rubbed his face trying to ease the feeling of his smile but his smile just kept on going. He began to have visions of everything being clean in the world. He didn't know how he could do it alone but he wanted the world to be shiny. Maybe if he straightened up the train yard people would see and come there again. “I want the metal signs to say things again. His sign was so beautiful. The beautiful texture. The beautiful rot that he saw now but its shiny beauty was different. He felt the same awe in his soul when he thought those words.

The way time eats and absorbs everything and the never-ending presence time casts on people. Sal remembered time deep inside. He longed to feel time but he just couldn't describe it well.... He couldn't remember How it felt or what it looked like but he knew the feeling. It's like smelling color he thought… eh that doesn't make any sense.

He laid there thinking and his favorite song came on the radio. "I'm going down to the greyhound station..." blasted the voice from the on the radio. Sal loved this song so much. It reminded him of the train station. He lay in place and bobbed his head to the tune of the song for a moment. The song was over and he still bobbed his head to the tune. He sang along, “Start talkin’ again when I know what to say….” He yelled the lyrics at the top of his lungs trying to out scream the radio… even after the song was over.

The lone alarm blared as if to challenge the radio once more, but its sound was a grain of sand to an ocean. Sal sat up and put his feet on the ground.

Fresh rain fell on the home everywhere but his room. Sal imagined taking a deep breath and filled his lungs full breathing out and coughing and spitting up black stuff. He headed for the bathroom pulled down his pants in front of the toilet and stood there. The cold air nipped at his butt, so he pulled up his pants, walked to the door, and smiled. Feeling the sun on his face with vacant recognition of thinking on the subject.

Mr. Johnson stood on his lawn next door. “Good morning” yelled Sal. Mr. Jonson turned his head and smiled with a big red grin or was it a grin? Sal thought. Just as Mr. Johnson began to sprint over to Sal... “Someone got some energy.” Sal said as his neighbor dove through the air catching Sal by the throat with his teeth. Mr. Johnson flew wildly through the air and landed on his head breaking his neck and sheering his head halfway off.

Sal stood and Mr. Johnson stood up. They locked eyes. Mr. Johnson had dangling down at his back he frantically looked for his prey but lost the scent and he stumbled away.

“Have a nice day Mr. Johnson!” Sal thought and halfway waved his hand.

Sal thought about what happened and laughed on the inside. Sal has some kooky neighbors he thought and his inward chuckle turned into determination. Train yard! He thought. “Aaaaarrrrrrrr” slipped out of his mouth.

Another beautiful day. Sal thought as he made his way through his city once more. The dark overcast clouds began releasing the treasures they collected onto the city. As if they were telling Sal “I found these just for you, come find my treasures.”