Moving beyond the Comfort Zone
I never thought I'd be writing a zombie story. Really, never. But doing it was so much fun! Thanks @snook, for an awesome invitation to try out something new. The cool drawing of the high heels and the zombie head made me want to join the fun.
Want to join too? Check out @snook's ZombieWritingContest.
Zombies and horror will probably not make it to my favourite writing genres. But I do feel this exercise has already added some diversity to my writing. And that, in itself, is worth a lot!
The illustration is a little sketch I made to go with the story. Hope you have fun reading it!
The Lady in Latex
Part 1: The Lady's Temple
Everyone told her she was crazy, going down into the crater dressed as she was. In her latex dress, lipstick red. And the high heels matching in colour. But she had been there before. Literally – Veronica had made her way down the wall of the crater so many times, she was aware of its every nook and cranny. The lightweight harness, giving her support as she lowered herself down bit by bit, fit like a second skin. Of course, on the earlier occasions, she hadn’t been wearing this Lara Croft style outfit underneath. The climbing gear pulled her dress up in a way that would have made her feel very uncomfortable, if anyone had been watching from below. But there hadn’t been anyone else down the crater for years.
As she continued her way down, her hands followed the lines of the jagged limestone wall. Little tufts of moss grew from the cracks, and she noticed, as so many times before, that the lower she got the more the vegetation thinned out. It was this thinning and, deeper down, the change of vegetation, reported by earlier victims, that had been the main clue on which she had built her hypothesis. The hypothesis that the reason people died after coming down here, was due to a specific gas erupting from the depths of the crater. It was the figurative reason for why she had been here before. Because back then, when she came down here to prove her first hypothesis correct, people had warned her, just like they had done now. Had told her she was crazy, just like they did today.
It had taken Veronica a long time to build immunity. Once her research had made her certain about the elements in the gas that damaged and fried peoples’ brains within hours of coming back up from the crater, she started working on a gas chamber where she could allow her system to get used to the poison, little by little. It was not without risk, she had realised that. Any gas that has the power to kill people in a few hours’ time, would definitely damage her in one way or the other, even if she started with the lowest doses. But she’d given up so much for this research project already. She had moved away from friends and family, to live in this remote place. She had lost her closest friend and lover, who could not handle the long distance relationship at all. Giving up a little of her health didn’t seem like such a big deal to her. And working on her own immunity would provide her with such a wonderful reason to gloat: she’d prove to her colleagues that her hypothesis was correct. By going down the crater, and by being the only one in known history to come back up and live.
Once she had visited the bottom of the crater, Veronica never revealed the full secret of her immunity to the world, like she had been planning to. Because when she was down there, she saw things that she wasn’t prepared to share with anyone else. The alien forms of vegetation had been only the beginning. She came across tiny rodents, with ears in extra places. She spotted birds who had vampire like teeth protruding from the sides of their beaks. There was an insect which looked like a crossing between a mosquito and a leech, that had scared her enough to make her wear three layers of repellent on every trip down. But above all, it had been the multitude of corridors, hidden in the limestone walls of the crater, that had made her realise she was on the verge of discovering something huge. A discovery she wanted to be on her name, and her name only.
Veronica visited those corridors again and again. She would go down into the crater, take her water bottle and flashlight, and wander through the endless tunnels for hours. There was something about them that made her feel like she was meant to be there. And there were many signs of life. Like drawings on the walls. Not the kind you’d expect from a primitive civilisation. But pictures that looked to her, to put it in one word, modern. They depicted cities with bridges and skyscrapers, there were airplanes and helicopters in the sky. There were even scenes of living rooms, with sofa’s with families on them, watching tv, eating what looked like pizza. And she was quite sure, and her extensive notes and descriptions backed her up on this, that there were new drawings added between her visits.
So she found clear signs of a civilization, of a community, living in these corridors and natural halls. But she never actually came across any of them, the inhabitants of this underground complex – not a living soul. Which drove her crazy. Which pushed her forward. Which made her explore the dark, stale and musty world again and again, moving ever deeper into its caves. Until one day she came across a place, a hall in the depths, that was just out of this world. Not exactly because of how weird it was. But because it was both so familiar, and so out of place, that Veronica didn’t know what to make of it.
It was a temple, of a sort. Or maybe a cinema. There were mouldy posters on the walls, all of them showing movie classics. But very specifically movie classics with women wearing latex in the lead. She recognised Trinity, from the Matrix. Lara Croft was in a few of them. In the middle of the hall were chairs, red velvety ones, with arm rests and cup holders and all. They showed no signs of rot, or other damage. Knowing the dampness of these underground caverns, Veronica realised that the only way these chairs could be in such a pristine condition, was if they were being taken really well care of. Either that, or they had been placed here only recently. But the chairs and the posters were not what blew her mind most. It was the object the chairs were facing.
Towards the back of the cavern, where the ceiling was highest, and on top of a huge, flat rock, stood a life size figure. Of a woman. In a lipstick red latex dress and matching high heels, and a boomerang on her back.
That day, when Veronica first came across the Lady in Latex, she had looked at it for hours. She had looked at it from one of the cinema chairs, and then from another, and then from another again. She had walked around it, had watched it from the back, observed any and all details. All she figured out was that this item was probably once a decorative element in a video store. And that its excellent condition – no dust, no mould, no rot – could only be explained by careful, daily maintenance. She stayed for hours that day, hoping to witness whatever it was that happened in that holy place. This shrine, so obviously loved and taken care of – she was now desperate to know who it belonged to. She waited, and waited. Till she feared for the battery life of her flashlight, and got back to the crater wall just as it died out. Meaning she had to make her way up in the dark of the night, only her sense of touch and her excellent memory of the details of the wall, to find her way.
After her visit to the temple, Veronica didn’t go down into the crater for some time. She was discouraged. Her hopes on finding life down below had soared when she came across the cinema shrine. And she had felt she had done everything, solved all the clues. She had found out about the gas. She had trained immunity. She had travelled into the depths and explored every part of the corridors and had found the religious heart of a civilisation. But still, whoever was living in these tunnels had not yet come out to meet her.
But then, she had an idea. A crazy one, but still. She would go down into the crater again, she would revisit the cinema temple. And this time, she would go dressed like the Lady in Latex.
Veronica reached the bottom of the crater. She unhooked the harness and climbing equipment, and pulled down her dress. All she had with her was her backpack with some water, food, her flashlight with an extra set of batteries, and a sleeping bag. And, to finish off the outfit, a boomerang on her back.
Taking the shortest route to the temple, she got there in only about two hours. She sat down in one of the velvety chairs – they were as clean as they were the last time she saw them. And then she stretched her legs and made herself comfortable. This time she’d wait.
Hours passed. Once in a while, Veronica would get up and walk around a little. To check the corridors leading to the temple for signs of life. To listen for noises. The corridors were silent, but it was a silence she had come to appreciate over time. She knew that outside night had settled in by now. She settled back into one of the cinema chairs and took a few bites of the dinner she had brought along with her, but wasn’t as hungry as she expected. To save battery, she turned her flashlight off. Then, before she knew it, sleep came over her. Her eyes closed, her head tilted sideways, and because of her upright position, she snored.
Part 2: The Boomerang
Veronica woke up with a jolt, her eyes flung open. Something had touched her, or someone. An icy cold touch, sending shivers up her spine. She grabbed for her flashlight and turned it on.
All around her, circling the cinema chairs, were people. People whose bright blue eyes reflected the light from her torch. With blue hair, matching their eyes. Extremely thin, just skin and bone. She stared at them, and they stared at her. Nobody moved, for now. But Veronica could feel her chest heaving. Raspy, panicky breaths. She felt like she got absolutely no air. Or maybe she felt like she got air, but the air didn’t contain any oxygen. What was happening to her? Were the poisonous gases finally taking their toll? She had no time to be confused. Something was really wrong, and she was fighting for her life.
One of the Blue Eyes stepped closer to her. The features, though hardly more than the outlines of a skull, seemed to be female. Veronica put her hands to her throat, as if clawing at her own neck would help her find her breath.
“Lady of Latex”, the blue eyed girl said in a thin and eerie voice, “we are honoured by your visit. Our prophecies project that you will be the one to liberate us. But before you save us, let me help you.”
The girl is right next to Veronica now. With her hands, she takes hold of Veronica’s hands. Her grip is strong as steel. Veronica’s strength is fading, as her oxygen levels are running dangerously low. But even if she had been reeled up and ready to fight, there would have been no way she could have resisted that grip. The girl takes both her wrists in her left hand, and holds them down with ease. Then, with her right hand, she grabs Veronica’s throat and squeezes, till Veronica feels her lights going out.
As she feels herself drifting away, she still picks up the voice of the blue eyed girl. It’s almost as if that voice assists her, moves her along.
“Everyone eventually succumbs to the poison of this place. Most die a natural death. But there was One, the First Who Mutated: Gulliver. He received a special gift. Anyone he killed, transitioned. They would never breathe again, they would never eat or sleep. But their bodies would continue, and so would their souls. And any life they took, before the poison had its way, was added to their numbers. Over the years, many visitors came to these caves, and the community multiplied.
“This went on for many years. And in their own way, the Blue Eyes were content with their lives. Then, on one magical night, we heard a massive rumbling, a thunder in the sky unlike anything we ever heard before. We ran out, and above us at the edge of the crater, we saw people. As far away as they were, and as tiny as they looked to us, we could hear their voices on the wind. “Let’s just dump it here,” one of them called. “No one will notice. Take it to the garbage site, and it’ll cost us bucks.”
“Very soon after that, items came tumbling down the crater walls. Some of them were destroyed by the impact of collision. Others survived. Among them were these chairs, which you are now sitting in. There were tubes, with posters in them. But the most precious of all was the Lady in Latex, who wasn’t damaged at all by her fall. She survived without a single scratch, and became a symbol.
“The lady and her boomerang showed us that power can be resisted. That we have a right to speak up for ourselves. Till now, it has been the One, the First Who Mutated, Gulliver, who made all decisions for us. He has governed us with an iron rule. Not one of us was ever allowed to leave this crater. He forced us to live in these dark corridors and halls, forbade us to connect with the outside world. We obeyed his every command, after all, he had given us another life. But the Lady of Latex awoke in us a desire for a different kind of rule. She symbolised a power stronger than that of oppression. We took her here, and served her every day, waiting for her to come.”
Part 3: Gulliver
Veronica opened her eyes. She looked around her, and blinked. The Blue Eyes were surrounding her like before. She was still sitting in one of the velvety red cinema chairs. But there was no time for her to consider how she was feeling. The blue eyed girl, the one who had helped her transition, grabbed her by the arm and pulled her up and whispered in her ear.
“The First who Mutated, Gulliver, is on his way. He always knows when we give birth to a new member, he feels it in his bones. Till today, he laughed at our shrine, telling us we were fools. But now he will have to realise that the time of his rule is over.”
Veronica felt like she was reeling on her feet. Dizzy, disoriented. She felt out of breath, she still felt suffocated, but at the same time it didn’t seem to hinder her at all. Then the girl gave her a spin, pointed at the corridor leading to the temple and said, “There he is.”
A Blue Eye stepped into the temple area. His stiff blue hair stood upright on his skull. He looked around him for a second. His eyes travelled from one Blue Eye to the other. And then he caught sight of Veronica, standing between the cinema chairs. He slowly narrowed his eyes, the blue light in them intensified till it felt as if his gaze was scorching her. Then Gulliver let out a roar that shook the walls of the cave, and even the posters on it. Slowly, at first, he started moving in Veronica’s direction. Picking up speed with every step, till he came charging.
He ran with his head angled forward. The Blue Eyes still surrounding Veronica scattered away. Which horrified her, because it made her realise they wouldn’t lift a finger to help. They were counting on her to save them.
Gulliver was covering the distance between them with extraordinary speed. His physical abilities seemed out of this world. And then Veronica realised they probably were. Not only his, but also the girl’s. She remembered the grip of steel with which the girl held her hands down, had squeezed her throat. If the two of them had extraordinary powers, then she herself must have them too. After all, she was one of them now.
Veronica took a deep breath. Not that she needed any air, but just to centre herself. The boomerang. Maybe she could use it. She plucked it from the top of her backpack.
Veronica looked down at the item in her hand. She never used anything like it before. She silently hoped that her extraordinary powers would include some download of how to throw this thing. She looked up at the One, running towards her. With all her power and all her best intentions, she threw the weapon in his direction. It flew hard. It flew far. And yes, in his direction. But it missed.
Behind her, little oohs and aahs rose up from the Blue Eyes, who were watching the scene intently. It made Veronica feel like she was in an action movie. If her audience would have been munching on some popcorn while watching her fight for her life, it would have really made the scene complete. Except, they would never be munching on anything. And neither would she. She was dead now, or undead, or whatever this state of being was called. Anger washed over Veronica. At these stupid Blue Eyes, with their stupid shrine. With their dumbass Lady of Latex, and the ridiculous idea that she would come down and stand up against the One. The One, really? Had one of those suckers seen the Matrix before coming down the crater and getting turned? Why was this whole world one mocking cinema joke? And what had she been thinking, joining in on it, the way she had done. Coming down here in her red rubber dress. Her high heels, for heaven’s sake.
Gulliver was still charging at her, getting dangerously close. The thought of giving up crossed her mind. Why would she even bother? She had already died once, by suffocation, one of the worst ways to go. How bad could a second death be? And what would she be fighting for, exactly? For an eternity of life in these dark halls? For a better way of ruling the Blue Eyes?
On the other hand, if she killed the One, the Blue Eyes would worship her as a god. They were practically doing that already. And they would do whatever she told them. She’d have to make it look like a democracy of course. They had to buy her act that hers was a power, stronger than the power of oppression, or whatever the girl had been talking of. And what did she have to lose? Life, or death, was dealing her this card. She might as well take it.
The One was coming at her, full speed, head first. In one smooth motion, Veronica bended over and pulled off one of her slip-on shoes. She swung her arm back up again, just as Gulliver came within her arm’s reach. With a sucking noise, the heel entered his head, straight through the eyeball. The power of her blow, which was, as she suspected, far more intense than it would have ever been in her earlier life, flung him back. With a thud, the One landed on the floor of the cave, about five meters away from Veronica.
The Blue Eyes were keeping their distance, waiting to see how things would go from here. Veronica walked up to the body of the One. He was lying motionless on his back, but his one good eye was still blinking. She held her other heel in her hand, ready to finish the job.
Part 4: Peace
Gulliver watched Veronica as she approached. “Come here,” he told her, “I need to explain.”
Veronica hated following orders. But his “I need to explain” made her go up to him anyway. She bent over Gulliver in such a way that she could pick up his weakened voice, without bringing herself in danger.
“Do you realise,” the One began, his voice slow and tired, “that I ruled them the way I did, to prevent further harm? Not to protect them so much, the Blue Eyes, but to protect the living?”
Gulliver was quiet for a bit. He watched her from his one eye, as if to see how his words were affecting her. Her red shoe blocked half of his face, which made him look funny. But he continued, in a very serious tone.
“Many, many years back, I came down here by myself. I saw the animals, and their mutations, but I stayed. I spent a night in these dark halls, and somehow the gasses didn’t kill, but changed me. After waking up, I noticed I no longer needed food and water. I could inhale, the mechanics of my body still allowed me to, but I didn’t breathe. I could run without getting tired. I could lift and throw things like never before. My reflection showed me my eyes were now blue. I had turned into a different species, a superior being.
“But it wasn’t long before I grew bored. The rhythm was gone from my life. Before, I’d go to sleep and wake up, to start a new day. I would eat and feel refreshed. But all that was over. Everything became meaningless. And most of all, I missed company.
“Then a first adventurist made it down into the cave. He was having his lunch, when I sneaked up behind him, tied his hands and feet with rope, and carried him into the caves. I hoped that the gasses would turn him, like they had done to me. But it didn’t happen. While I was watching him, the man died in his sleep. This happened again and again, the gasses suffocated everyone I took into the tunnels. The need for company was driving me crazy.
“With the fifth visitor, I saw the colour being drained from her cheeks, as her life was ending. And I couldn’t handle it any more. I grabbed her by the neck, and choked her myself. When I was sure she was dead, I lifted her body with my one arm, and threw her away, convinced I would be spending eternity alone. There was an aching in my bones, which I blamed on my feeling of despair. But the aching became strong, stronger than anything I had felt in years, till it lifted with a pop. In that same moment the corpse in front of me opened her eyes. Blue eyes, just like mine.”
Gulliver paused. His face looked pained, as if the memories hurt him. “I thought things would get better from there. I thought the company would soothe me. But as it turns out, this kind of life comes with an emptiness, that cannot be filled. The need to have people around me, people like me, became stronger. And it was fuelled by the other Blue Eyes, who longed after company, just like me. Before we knew it, our group was growing larger and larger. Every person who came down into the crater, was assembled into our lifestyle.”
Veronica stared at the zombie at her feet, the shoe poking out of his eye. She couldn’t believe it. Minutes ago, he was just another madman, charging at her, coming for her life. Acting out the scenes from a classic bad action movie – zombie attacking the lady in red. And now she realised that so much had happened, before she herself came around.
“After some time, too much time of course, I realised I needed to take charge.” Gulliver continued his tale, and Veronica listened. “I was the one who started it all, so I was also the one who had the clearest picture of what was really going on. The need for company was nothing more than our need to procreate. And as long as I kept telling myself we were now a superior race, I could live with our acts of turning live human beings into the undead. But I grew tired of lying. Our lives were not superior. They were hollow. We were not a race, we were a virus. I was that virus, and the best thing I could do was to keep it from spreading.
“From the day I realised this, I forbade the Blue Eyes to turn anyone else. I made them live in the corridors, deep down in the crater’s walls, and never allowed them to go out. Any plans to group together, to climb up and mingle with the living, I snuffed in the bud. I explained them why, at first. But the hunger for company, the need to multiply was too strong. The Blue Eyes couldn’t be reasoned with. They only understood violence, so I ruled over them with an iron fist. I ended the ones who resisted.”
The light in Gulliver’s one blue eye was now slowly fading, and his face turned soft. “I am sorry that this happened to you,” he told her. “That you got wound up in this nightmare. But listen to me. There is only one way forward from here.” His voice was now urgent and sincere. “End me now, with one powerful blow. Never show them any sign of weakness. Rule them with an iron fist, wipe out any rebellion. Keep the Blue Eyes hidden in these caves, never let them go out. The eternal life you are facing will be hell, but at least it will be a hell you have kept from spreading.”
The One closed his eye. A smile ran over his lips. “Do it now, and send me on my way to peace.”
Veronica stood over him, the red shoe in her hand, shaking. This was much worse than she had signed up for. That guy was right – all of this sounded like a terrible nightmare. Now that he had stopped talking, she looked up. And saw that the Blue Eyes, who had been waiting far behind and out of danger, had been creeping up closer now that Gulliver seemed to be done with. They were still too far away to hear what he had been saying. But close enough to see the peaceful smile on his face, and it made them look at Veronica questioningly.
She clenched the shoe in her hand. What had she gotten herself into? How did things get so crazy so fast? And then, before giving herself another moment to consider, she swung the second heel down in his face. Pierced his second eye, just like the first. His head now had two red shoes poking out of it. And he lay absolutely still.
The Blue Eyes around her started to cheer. Quietly, at first, but then louder and louder. They started chanting for their Lady, picked her up and took her on their shoulders. The mood shifted completely. Their subdued faces turned wild and violent. Along with the chanting, they shouted and screamed. “The Oppression has ended! We are free! Free to go out, free to climb up. A new life waits for us!”
The Blue Eyes were charging now, just like Gulliver had been doing. It didn’t even take them one hour to make it to the wall of the cliff and find Veronica’s climbing gear.