Goddamn Electric Nights (3 page)

 
 
          
I
take her down to the lower level. The smell of rotting human flesh hangs in the
air. It doesn’t bother me so much anymore - I believe I’ve grown accustomed to
it. Diana, on the other hand, begins to gag.
 
          
“Here,
take this…” I dig out a red handkerchief from my back pocket and hand it to
her. “Put it over
yer
nose and
yer
mouth.”
 
          
I
look around down each end of the hallway, making sure no one is
watchin
’. I pull out my ring of keys and unlock a door that
leads to another hallway. This hallway is dark. The only light comes from a
window down toward the opposite end. The window looks into a room where the two
zombies are kept.
 
          
Voices
echo down through the hall. Diana is scared shitless – her grip on my forearm
tightens.
 
          
“Here,
gimme
that there
vidya
camera” I say. She digs it out of her purse and hands it over. I turn the power
on and pop off the lens cap. “You
ain’t
never seen any shit like this ‘fore!”
 
          
A
little red light flashes in the corner of the video screen” (LOW BATTERY).
 
          
“
Goddamnit
, Diana! The
batt’ry
is
dead!”
 
          
She
ain’t
listenin
’. She’s too
busy trying to sneak a peek at the zombies on the other side of the glass. I
tap her on the shoulder.
 
          
“Hey,
you didn’t charge the damn thing? Do you know how much you just cost me?!”
 
          
She
glances back and shrugs her shoulders as if to say
‘what’s the big deal’.
 
          
“Do
you know what they’re
doin
’ in there, Diana?” She
shakes her head. “They’re about
t’deliver
the first
ever zombie baby! I was
gonna
sell this here tape to
CNN. Make millions! But now, that’s all shot to hell!”
 
          
She
dismisses my complaints and goes back to
starin
’. A
baby’s wail echoes down through the hall. And then an idea starts
vibratin
’ in my skull. My eyes widen.
I’m
a’gonna
steal this baby!
 
          
I
burst into the room. A couple of white coats start
hollerin
’,
sayin
’ I’m
tresspassin
’. I
grab the baby from the doctor who is
suctionin
’ him
out and run like hell for the door!
 
          
The
white coats
come
a’followin
’.
 
          
I
burst through the door. Diana slams herself against the wall to avoid being
trampled by the hurdling stampede
blazin
’ in her
direction. The baby is
screamin
’, terrified by its
first visions of life. I try to bounce him in my arms, you know,
t’try
an’ soothe him, as I dash up the staircase and down
through the halls,
makin
’ my way to the outside world.
All I need is to get him outside and I’ll
be famous! Rich!
 
          
I
glance behind me. Only two of the white coats are in good enough shape to keep
up with my pace. The double doors that lead to the outside world are in my
sight. I run faster!
Harder!
 
          
I
stiff-arm the doors, they fly open wide and suddenly I stumble over the
concrete stairs that lead down to town square. The baby goes
a’flyin
’ through the air. The white coats stop and put
their hands over their mouths in horror. A couple
sittin
’
on a park bench see the baby and scream with fright.
 
          
Everyone outside freezes.
And even though it all seems to be
happenin
’ in slow motion, it’s quite apparent he
can’t be saved.
 
          
The
baby hits the pavement with a sickening smack. Immediately, its body explodes.
A giant cloud of yellow smoke fills the air instantly,
coverin
’
the entire town.

 
           
PART FOUR

 
          
BOXING HONEYVILLE

 
 
          
I
remember the fool who stole the infected child very well. His name was Stanley
Cramm
. He worked in our building for something like two years
prior to the incident. He was never too bright of a lad. I even felt somewhat
sorry for him at times. He came from a poor family who all seemed to be
good-hearted people. We all used to attend the same church.
 
          
Everyone
in town was instantly infected by the disease – everyone except for a handful
of doctors and scientists, such as
myself
. While we
were delivering the child, we all took the proper precautions in protecting our
bodies. None of us were really sure exactly what we’d be dealing with that day,
so all of us were wearing gas masks and protective clothing at the time of the
explosion.
 
          
Since
the day of the incident, a strange series of events has occurred.
 
          
Within
hours,
Honeyville
was completely surrounded by
government vehicles – large black vans, to be precise. The backs of these
vehicles opened, unmanned, and hoards of humanoid robots climbed out onto the
pavement.
 
          
I
made my way over to the vehicles, but was quickly approached by one of the
androids.
 
          
“Stand
back!” it commanded. I stopped in my tracks.
 
          
“Please,
I am not one of the infected!”
 
          
But
it did not listen to my plea - instead it shot a
taser
out from its fingertips. Its claws sunk deep into my chest and I was quickly
floored by the sudden surge of electricity racing throughout my body.
 
          
The
robots continued to pile out of the vans, some of them were dragging large
burlap sacks behind them. I would later find out that these sacks were filled
with building materials, for they were planning to build a wall around the
city.
 
          
Over
the next few weeks, I had noticed that not only were the
GovBots
(
what the androids prefer to be called
)
here in
Honeyville
to erect a wall to cage the city,
but they were also here to
harvest
.

 
          
Harvest
what?
I was not sure. But over time, I found ways to get them to talk. It
turns out that
GovBots
are quite fond of table salt –
they cannot taste it, but they sure enjoy the gritty crunch it provides as they
chew it in their large metal mouths.
 
          
For
12 packets of table salt and a 2lb bag of rock salt, I was able to get the
following information regarding the tree crops:

 
          
A
– They were not harvesting any tree crops. Instead, they were growing giant
blood-sucking spiders.

 
          
B
– These spiders were to be used to such the venom from the infected via the
host’s skull.

 
          
C
– Until 100%
recovery
,
Honeyville
would be quarantined from the rest of the world.

 
          
I reiterated this news to my
colleagues back at the lab. We were concerned mainly with the capabilities of
these spiders. We had a gut-feeling that these spiders were more of a
government experiment rather than a full-proof healing plan. Why else would
they build a wall around the city unless if there was some chance of error?

 
          
We quickly went to work.
 
          
In
the next few weeks, we were able to invent a device that plugs directly into
the brain of the spider’s host. It allows the host to suck the life-force from
its parasite. So, in this case, once the spider attaches itself to the
infected, the host would now be able to suck the energy from the spider and use
it to operate his or her own body, rendering the spiders body nearly completely
useless.
 
          
We’ve
spent the last few days implanting the devices into the skulls of the ‘living
corpses’ that were lying about the town.
 
          
Now
we must wait for the eggs to hatch.

 
           
PART FIVE

 
          
BOGGS’ LOG

 
 
          
Thursday – December 7
^th

 
          
The
egg sacks are noticeably larger.
Darker grey.
They
hang from the trees like the scrotum of God. It isn’t very cold outside.
Global warming?
Nah, probably just the great wall – it keeps
most of the winds away these days. The wall is almost finished now. It could be
beautiful if only our artists were able to perform, to bleed their love and
their hate over this god-forsaken wall. But they are gone. They are all gone. I
should have been an artist. I always wanted to be, but I was never any good at
it. Science, though… I was always good at science. But, I never should have
taken this job. Dr. Potts says that it is up to us to ensure the resurrection
of
Honeyville
. All this jazz is really making my skin
crawl. I mean, I’m not even technically a doctor, yet, just an intern. That’s
why they have me out here taking notes while they are all inside creating.
Notes… oh, right. One of God’s testes is twitching.

 
 
          
Friday – December 8
^th

 
          
No
change. However, I’ve noticed several
GovBots
injecting a bright blue serum into the heart of the sacks. Hopefully it is to
quicken the hatching process. It is starting to get a little cold now. I wish I
had a warmer coat.

 
          
(NOTE: IT WAS LATER DISCOVERED THAT
THE BLUE SERUM WAS NOT INJECTED TO SPEED UP THE HATCHING PROCESS, BUT INSTEAD
WAS A CHEMICAL USED TO GROW THE SPIDERS TO THEIR ABNORMALLY LARGE SIZE –
SIGNED, DR. WILLIAM CORNELIUS POTTS)

 
 
          
Sunday – December 10
^th

 
          
Unusual
pale yellow ‘vines’ have sprouted out from the egg sacks, some as long as 20
feet! This is highly unusual, as these sprouts were not visible from my post
last night. I suspect that the spiders will be hatching soon. I’m so hungry.
Staring at these hairy egg sacks for the last few days, I wonder how that is
even possible.

 
 
          
Monday – December 11
^th

 
          
Early
this morning ten of the egg sacks hatched – each sack containing at least seven
arachnids a piece. There are still about ninety more sacks that are in my field
of sight that have yet to hatch. The spiders are huge! Their bodies are easily
the size of a human head! The spiders all seem to be brooding up in the
treetops… well, for now at least.

 
 
          
Tuesday – December 12
^th

 
          
Hundreds
of helicopters are now hovering above
Honeyville
.
They are hauling a large cement vault top – the final piece of our tomb. More
spiders have hatched. It seems that the
GovBots
have
completed construction on the great wall. There’s a group of them gathering at
the top of the western wall. They are all holding large metal rods with a rope
loop tied at the ends. They are lassoing the trees and shaking them vigorously.
The spiders begin to drop. It’s getting darker – the top to the vault has
nearly been put into place! Minutes later, our city, our coffin, is finally
sealed.
Buried alive.
I must return to the lab.