The Waking Boy

CHAPTER 1

I wake in a strange bed surrounded by white blinding light. The dull hum of fluorescent light starts to calm my nerves until I realize a horrifying truth. I have no idea where I am or how I got here. The only object in the room besides this bed is a long-standing vertical mirror. I stare into it hoping to center my reality but instead the feeling of dread begins to crawl under my skin. A click sound draws my attention to a small speaker embedded in the ceiling and a man speaks.

“Wonderful day to you Timothy, did you sleep well?” He says.

“Yea I guess, how do you know my name?” I ask bleakly. Is Timothy my name? Why can’t I remember my own name!? I scream in my mind, but I can’t let the stranger know I’m on edge.

“Silly boy how can you forget your own father? The accident must have done more damage than I thought. Tell me son, can you remember the beach house at least?” My father asks. I close my eyes and pray to the darkness for my memory to come back. I don’t want to forget my life! Please just remember something! A beach house, wait its coming back! The cool water washing over my feet and the sun slowly setting out on the horizon. The breeze feels so good on my warm skin. I must have got sunburned playing out here all day for it feel so refreshing.

“Timothy come on in baby!” A woman yells and when I turn around to see who it is tears begin streaming down my face. Wait, who is this? “Mom!” I yell excitedly. and run to her arms. Her warm embrace melts away all the stress, anxiety and fear that has been haunting me like a demon on my shoulder.

“My baby boy why are you crying?” She whispers as she kisses my forehead. The love emanating from her heals my soul. It always did, I never once doubted how much she cares for me. Especially since dad… Wait am I dreaming? All the sudden I am inside eating with mom standing in the kitchen staring out the window.

“I feel weird mom.” I say.

“What do you mean baby?” She asks.

“I can’t remember dads face, even his voice seems off.” I reply.

“Hmm, well we haven’t seen him in a while. He’s been hard at work at his lab in the city and you know when he gets obsessed about a problem he won’t come home until he solves it.” She says as if this is par the course for me, not remembering my own father. She walks out to the porch and motions for me to follow. We sit on the rocking chairs watching the sunset and I notice she looks sad. The kind of sadness that hides behind the surface, the one that is wrapped tightly around your heart and is always there. It never fades, something is wrong, but what is streaking across the sky?

“Look at the shooting star mom! Make a wish!” I scream hoping to cheer her up but when I look at her face it is twisted into sheer terror.

“Get inside now!” She screams as the shooting star reaches the horizon and a flash of brilliant light illuminates our everything. I’m blind but I feel mom grab my hand and we are moving now. Feet slamming the ground as she leads me down the beach. We finally stop and I rub my eyes hoping to regain my vision and slowly the blurred reality starts to come into focus. Off on the horizon where the sun used to be stands a dark cloud reaching towards the heavens in the shape of a mushroom. The ground begins to quake, and mom picks me up in her arms and again we are running. The cloud is mesmerizing, the dark black smoke is intertwined with white light. I can’t stop staring but suddenly we fall. Mom has lost her balance and we are tumbling. I hit my head hard on the ground, but I roll down into a hole. The darkness swallows me as there is some sort of bunker. My back slams into the stone stairs as I fall to the bottom. My vision clears as I look up the stairs to see mom closing two large metal doors. I reach for her, she has to get in here with me! If she stays out there the bomb will kill her! I scream with all of my might, but it is drowned out by the end of all life explosion outside.

“Mom!” The rageful yell escapes my lips and I am back inside the room again.

“Take a breath son, you are safe.” Father says.

“Where is she!?” I scream. Full of hate, fear and rage.

“Not here right now.” He replies coldly.

“Tell me where she is!” I scream full of desperation.

“You know where she is.” He replies.

Tears again fill my eyes as the unraveling of my heart begins unabated.

“Why did I live and she didn’t!? She could have made it inside if I just ran with her. Instead of watching the bomb like an idiot.” I sob and the tears are flowing like a waterfall.

“The answer is simple, you were meant for something greater son. Now I must know what happens next.” He asks. Why doesn’t he hug me? What is wrong with me!? Why is he hiding behind a speaker? Maybe if I remember everything, he will come see me. Focus, just remember. Closing my eyes again and now I am climbing up the stairs. There was a glowing countdown in the bunker and the doors were locked shut. It’s been weeks down here but at least there was food and water. There were detailed instructions on how much to eat and drink and just following them have allowed me to survive. Did mom or dad make this? I never knew this was here on our property. I reach the two big blast doors and summoning all my remaining strength I manage to push the doors open to find a wrecked world waiting for me. Gone is our beach bungalow and even the ocean water has receded farther out. I hike towards the road and all the shops and buildings are completely destroyed. Cars on the street look like they caught fire and when looking inside I can see the incinerated bodies of the owners.

There is broken glass littering the ground and with each crackling step reality begins to set in. What do I do? Is dad alive? Could he still be at work? I know how to get there because of the map inside the bunker but what if he’s dead? Heading west I make my way deeper into the city. It feels weird to see these burned shadows cast onto the ground. How many people’s lives ended in a moment of burning destruction? Is there really no one left alive around here? I walk for what feels like days when the sun begins its slow crawl to the horizon. Fear begins to read its ugly head again but I force it down. Dry swallowing as if there is some physical way to stop being scared but suddenly a crunching noise comes from the alley ahead of me. Curiosity overtakes the logical mind of survival but what if there is someone who can help me? Who says they are a good person though? You can never get too far from survival, and I reach down to grab a shard of glass. Wearing gloves was a great idea as I smirk.

“Hello? Is anyone there?” I ask. The crunching noise stops suddenly and deafening silence follows. I squint my eyes to focus into the dark alley and two glowing orbs begin to form. What is that? Must be some trick of the setting sun or something. The orbs blink a few times then two more appear next to it. Eyes! That’s what they are, but why are they glowing? The primal fear of prey stepping into a predator’s lair begins to overtake me. A large paw steps out of the darkness and finally I can see what lies beyond the shadowed alley. An animal that once could have been a dog appears. Its flesh is rotting away as its teeth are plunged into a severed human hand that lays in its massive jaws. Every fiber of my body and mind screams to run and without hesitation I take off running. If I don’t escape now those teeth will be ripping my flesh too! The beast dog charges from the darkness snarling and growling followed by two more. A pack of these monsters now chase me. I run as hard and fast as I can. I was always the quickest in my group of friends but this time I am accessing unforeseen speed as pure adrenaline rushes through my body. Fueled by absolute terror and survival, I grip my makeshift knife made of glass in case I need to stab my pursuers. I already envision the ideal place to plunge my blade, right into its eye socket.

The dog nips at my back but my jacket is mere inches from its bites. I charge towards a destroyed car and at the last moment turn on my heel to run left. The dog leaps towards me and smashes not the car and yelps. A smile creeps onto my face at my amazing feat of luck and precision. My confidence is shattered as the other two dogs are still in hot pursuit and one of them leaps onto my back and sends me tumbling. The dog snaps and bites at my face and I take the glass and follow the plan. Plunging it into the eyeball and a dark black liquid that spews from the wound. The attack hasn’t saved me though as the dog is even angrier than before and just as its teeth close in on my throat a loud boom fills all our ears. The head explodes in brain matter and bits of skin as the other dog realizes that he’s next and darts off. Their alpha is still picking itself up from the car when its legs are blown off by the next shot.

“Hey kid get over here!” A man yells from behind me. I struggle to stand and see a pickup truck with a man in the back waving me on. An otherworldly howl starts to form from the city and I run towards the truck knowing even more of those monsters will be here soon. I climb into the bed and breathe a sigh of relief. My body hurts as the adrenaline flooding my system starts to dissipate.

“We gotta get the fuck out of here before the lungers come. Names Keith kid, what’s yours?” He says. Before I can answer the driver cries out.

“Keith can we go or what? Can you do introductions after we get the fuck out of here!?” He yells. Keith starts laughing and bangs his hand on the roof as the driver speeds away.

“He’s Gary, we’re brothers. Where’s your parents?” He says. I sit up and outstretch my hand to greet him. He smiles and shakes my hand.

“Tim is my name and my mother died to the bomb. Dad works in the city off the corner of Pacific Heights in the Titan Industries building.” I reply.

“That’s way too far in the hot zone, lungers are everywhere in there!” Gary says.

“What are they?” I ask.

“Best we can tell they are some sort of under creature. Lungers are the human equivalent of those dogs. That bomb wasn’t just a nuke it released a chemical that transformed them into flesh eating monsters.” Keith says.

“Thank you for saving me but you guys can let me out here. I gotta find my dad, I know he’s waiting for me.” I reply.

“No way kid, I can’t let you go there alone. You’ll never make it!” Keith says. Gary slams the brakes and skids to a stop.

“We aren’t going to get killed looking for a dude who’s already dead!” Gary screams.

“Shut the fuck up, the kid’s right here. If he says his dad is alive then I believe him. Can you really live with yourself dropping him off on the side of the road and leaving? What would mom say?” Keith says. The truck starts moving again and as I look out at the surroundings a thought begins to whisper in the back of my head. Dad is dead isn’t he? How could he survive this?

CHAPTER 2

They pull into a gas station and the brothers descend from the truck. The suns is almost gone now and night is quickly approaching. Like any animal out at night there is a big risk and if possible being inside a locked building provides at least some kind of protection. Keith tells me the lunger’s are out in force at night. Apparently, they are a nocturnal predator.

“Stay here Tim, let us check this place out. If you don’t mind, could you refuel the truck?” Keith asks. I nod in agreement and start handling my given task. Pouring all my attention into this to distract my brain from the fact there are literal monsters out in the world now. Not only that but they eat human flesh like in the movies. The brothers ready their weapons, take position and enter the convenience store. My curiosity begins to overtake my logical brain and I foolishly sneak towards the entrance. I must know what is happening inside! I peek through the glass doors to see Gary rummaging through the candy isle.

“Fucking kid is gonna get us killed, looking for his dead dad.” He says to himself loud enough for me to hear it.

“Check the back office and stop stuffing your face.” Keith commands as he begins packing water into his knapsack. Am I really that dumb? Is Dad gone like everyone else? These guys don’t know he works for the largest military contractor in the country and his office has armed security. I remember the one time I went to visit his lab it was deep underground. I’m sure he survived the blast! I watch as Gary approaches the back office, and he has abandoned readying his rifle to munch on a chocolate bar. As he reaches the door it is suddenly flung open and two glowing eyes begin to shimmer. My hair stands on end as Gary fumbles taking aim as the lunger charges forward. Four arms flails from its back as the mutated mess sprints towards Gary. Its jaw unhinges and hangs as low as his collar bone as the monsters extra two hands grab Gary by his head and hold him in place. It bites down into Gary’s shoulder and he manages to plant the barrel of his gun on its chest. Three bangs ring and it falls backwards. Gary stumbles and falls into the nearby aisle.

“No!” Keith screams out as he runs over to his brother. Gary starts to convulse and shake as he bites off his own tongue. The original lunger stands back up and as Keith takes aim it ducks behind the aisle. “Get back to the truck now and start it!” Keith yells at me. Eyes wide with fear I turn around and run as hard as I can back towards the truck. Two more booms from Keith’s rifle and when I reach the truck, I look back to see Gary sprinting towards me. His face is twisted with rage and hate. His half-bitten tongue hangs from a thread as the black blood flies from his mouth and stains his shirt. His eyes are glowing a bright yellow and I know that if he reaches me I will be torn apart. Frantically I pull at the door handle and with a click it opens. I climb inside and slam the door just as Gary reaches the truck. He slams into the closed door and tries to bite the glass. He rears his head back and slams it into the glass and it starts to crack. One more and its over, Ill be killed. Just as he tips his head back another boom fills my ears. He falls backwards as the bullet has severed his spine. Keith approaches the truck and aims down at his brother. I focus on his eyes and I can see tears beginning to swell.

“You stupid bastard. You let your guard down for a piece of fucking chocolate! Are you kidding me?” He squeezes the trigger and ends his life. Keith opens the door and turns the key.

“Let’s get going before more come, the noise will attract them.” He says coldly and drives off. I don’t mean to, but I fall asleep and dream of the mushroom cloud. Of my mother evaporating in white light and a nudge from Keith brings me back to the real world.

“Are we there?” I ask.

“Yea, which building was it?” He replies. I point at the large skyscraper that goes past the clouds and he parks the truck.

“I haven’t seen any since we left, weird considering they should be all over this area. What floor is your dad on?” He says as we make out way across the street and approach the front door.

“He is in the basement, level D.” I reply. Keith motions to me to stay and heads inside with his rifle drawn. I focus all my attention on hearing anything approaching us but hear nothing. After a few minutes he comes back out with a worried look plastered n this face.

“Hey, come here. I’m going to carry you through the lobby. Keep your eyes closed and don’t look okay?” He asks. I nod in agreement as he picks me up in his arms. I feel the vibration of his steps and I peek to see dozens of dismembered bodies littering the floor. The smell crawls into my nostrils and wraps around my brain. I can’t help but envision the way these people died. Were they killed from lungers or even those dogs? What if it was something entirely worse? Is there something more horrifying than rotted flesh zombies with multiple limbs eating people? We finally reach the stairs and he puts me back down but before we forge downward he places a handgun in my hand.

“I normally wouldn’t let a child use a gun but this is god damned nightmare. Its ready to fire just aim and squeeze the trigger. If I end up getting bit please shoot me in the head okay?” Keith asks.

“Don’t worry, violent shooters were my favorite type of game to play.” I retort with a smile. Keith bursts into quiet laughter as he struggles to muffle the sound.

“Kid you are too much, I wish my son…Come on, let’s find your dad. Stick to my right and we watch each other’s backs.” He says with confidence as we descend own the darkened stairwell. One step at a time as we take our time and look for any enemies. Carefully stepping into an unknown future. We pass Level A, B and C without incident. This is going too smoothly, is dad going to be alive? Please God don’t be one of these deformed multiple arm monsters. We approach a large metal door with a keypad and Keith tries to open it to no avail.

“Any chance you know the password?” He asks. I think for a moment, and nothing comes to mind. “What’s your birthday?” He asks.

“10-16-2010” I reply. He punches it in, and a green light is rewarded to us. The door slides open, and Keith flashes a smile.

“Every dad uses his kid’s birthday for something. Its one of the most important day of our lives.” He says as he walks into the room. I rush in hoping to see my dad but all I find is a destroyed office. A computer off and papers all over the desk. I begin to tear up as I gaze at the frame our family picture used to be in.

“It’s gone, did he take it and run?” I ask as tears start to fall. I want to look tough in front of Keith but I can’t help it. This world is too scary without mom, he has to be here! Keith places his hand on my shoulder to comfort me.

“I’ll go look around for clues. You take a rest on the couch. I’m sure he’s alive kid, I don’t see any blood.” Keith says as he leaves the room. I take a moment to gather myself and begin looking through his desk drawers. Each one is empty save for one with a coffee mug which reads world’s smartest dad. I chuckle and play with the mouse. Clicking it gives me a modicum of comfort and the screen springs to life to my surprise. A video that is paused appears with the camera pointing downward. I can’t see his face but dad is sitting at this very desk with his mug and ugly blue tie I bought him for father’s day.

“Keith! I think I found something, come here!” I cry out.

CHAPTER 3

Keith appears in the doorway and I press play. Anxiety and fear begin to build in my stomach.

“I am recording this to let whoever finds this know the truth of what happened here. The bomb that went off wasn't just a nuclear bomb, it was a new bomb named a Bio-Nuke. After the destruction from the explosion occurs it releases a Bio Agent into the atmosphere of the blast radius. This Bio Agent is what is turning all the animals and people that come in contact with it into flesh-eating monsters. I was the one who discovered the side effects of this compound and once I realized what it was capable of I backed out of the project. I tried to scuttle the research but they stopped me. My research was sent to another lab and I was going to be fired from the company. They threatened to ruin not only my reputation if I spoke about this but also promised to take me to court and bankrupt my family. I didn’t care and planned on giving it all to a whistleblower. Some people seem to have Natural Immunity to this Agent and will not turn into the creatures. Please if you hear this find my wife and son, they are at our beach house. I pray they made it to my bunker under the house. There is a USB flash drive with my research and all the work I have done on curing the bio agent under my coffee mug. Please do the right thing since I couldn’t. I love you Tim and Marie.” Pounding noises followed by a roar is heard on the video as he places the mug into the bottom of the drawer. Keith grabs the mug and pulls off the USB drive taped there.

“Tim I am so sorry but we gotta go now. Whatever was hitting on the door is likely still around.

“No! Dad, he can’t be. He has to be alive!” I scream and cry with everything I have. The tears are flowing heavy now and my face starts to flush with anger. Keith bends down and hugs me tightly.

“Listen Tim, we are going to leave this city and give show this USB to the world. If this company or the government was behind this attack it goes against every law in the book. Let’s do what your father intended and hell maybe someone can cure this. He said it was close to done.” Keith says with conviction. I nod in agreement, and we walk out the door to leave. I take one last look back at my father’s office and on the floor under one of his papers I notice a picture of me and mom is peeking out. I reach down and grab it but as place my hand on it a roar startles both of us. We run out of the office and towards the stairs as a lunger comes running down the stairs towards it. This one has six arms and three legs, it looks like a demon from hell. It roars again and I notice it’s teeth are sharp like a shark. Keith hands me the USB drive and takes aim.

“When I say so run towards the stairs and don’t stop until you reach the lobby. Get out to the truck and wait for me.” He says calmly then runs towards the beast and turns down a nearby hall. “Now!” He says as the monster follows him. I sprint past them as Keith fires two rounds. One hits the beast in its knee shattering it. The next lands squarely into its head. I begin climbing the stairs as I see Keith stop following behind me as a cacophony of roars fill my ears.

“Go! There are more coming! I’ll hold them off!” He screams as he tosses me the car keys. I catch them miraculously and continue upwards as he fires into the oncoming horde. Shots continue to fire in three round intervals until I cannot hear them anymore. I reach the lobby knowing he isn’t coming after me and as I burst out onto the street I freeze in my tracks. A lunger wearing a blue tie stands before me and the truck. I freeze as the truth stares right back at me and dives towards me. Rotting flesh and all my own father will be my death. His four hands grab my body and his mouth opens wider than possible and I scream “Dad!”

Tears stream down my face and I am back in the white padded room on the cold hard bed. “I died!” I scream with all the fury I can muster.

“Yes you did, and now we finally know what happened inside the quarantine zone. It took a special ops team of four brave soldiers to retrieve your body for this experiment. Only one made it back to the RZ.” The man says through the speaker.

“You used me! You put me through it all over again. How am I even here!? Who the fuck are you!?” I scream as I charge the two-way mirror. Slamming my fist into the hardened glass over and over again. “Tell me who you are! Why did you do this!? Why!? You aren’t my dad! You’re a god damned liar!” I scream into the abyss of hatred that is consuming me. The glass starts to crack under my strength.

“That’s quite enough Timothy thirty-seven. Time for night.” The man exclaims and suddenly my arms stop working and fall to my sides. My legs won’t move either. What is happening to me? I stare at myself in the mirror as my blue eyes begin to flicker red. I press my face against the glass and can see through the mirror to the man on the other side. I can barely hear him talking.

“Well, was it a success?” A man asks.

“Brian, absolutely it was! That machine in there actually thought it was human. When it remembered Timothy dying it was so confused. Not only did we finally discover what happened in the quarantine zone that led up to retrieving the boy's remains and the flash drive but we now have the access code to his research. Downloading Timothy’s memories before his brain died and implanting them into a cyborg was a one in a hundred chance of working but we did it.” The imposter replies.

“We really lucked out, didn’t we? Memory mining technology and a bioweapons test in one go. Brian says with a smirk.

“Hell yea we did. The passcode for the door was the same to unlock the flash drive. We can safely retrieve the rest of the research data and discover the cure now.” He replies.

“What about the survivors? What do we do with them?” Brian asks.

“Fuck them all, tell the military the only way to stop the virus is to firebomb the entire area. We don’t want them to realize our company was behind the Bio Nuke. The imposter says.

“Did he actually figure out a way to cure it?” Brian asks.

“He was one step away from it. Won’t take our researchers long to figure it out now. With it we can market the weapon to one side and the cure to the other. Our profits are going to soar after this. Especially that we have real world data now to back up our claims.” The imposter says. My hearing begins to fade as does my vision. This fake life needs to end, I can’t take it anymore. I let the darkness take me to a place of nothingness. No more fear, hatred, or human emotions to weigh me down. I pray justice comes to this world of monsters and men. Someone please stop them. There’s just too much death and destruction for mere profit.