The Sunshine Dame of Doom (13 page)

“So, I guess it’s back to
multiple signs walled city
.”

“We got no choice. In the meantime, we got a new mate in our bunch. Let’s try to get to know her.”

Two guards took Mate Clarkson to the shower room and threw him on the hard floor. One of them grabbed him and pushed him against a short wall between showers.

“I bet you like this, huh fun boy?” He said leaning on Clark’s bent body from behind, his hands strongly compressing the young man’s face against cold tiles. “Are we having fun yet, party boy?”

He then threw Clark on the floor again and kicked him right in the stomach. “What about some foreplay, what do you say?” And he kicked him once more, this time on the face. “You people make me sick!”

“Easy there, Drake!” Another guard said with a smirk. “You don’t even know if he’s a tutti-frutti.”

“He looks like a tutti-frutti to me! He got a knitting scissor on him. You like to knit, boy? Anyway, even if he’s not a fag, I guess mommy’s boy here needs to man up a little. And I got just the thing!”

And Mate was hit by a powerful jet of water, after they stripped him of all his clothes.

“Hey, he got those spots all over his body!” One guard observed.

“Too bad they don’t come out with water!”

“Well, we can always try!”

And they kept on whipping Clark’s body with the jet of water. He screamed in despair. They finally closed the spigot and took him out of the shower booth. Then, they spanked him for awhile.

“Toughening up already, huh?” Drake said.

Even from his station, Pedro could hear the unmistakable click sound of the heavy door being unlocked from the outside. As the sector was ample and awfully silent most of the time, each and every little noise in there resounded through the walls like a thunder.

“This is it!” Hector said to Vince.

“Just say the word, bro.”

“Hey, don’t do anything stupid!” Raul warned them. “It’s all our asses in a sling.”

While the two brothers got ready to make their move, Marcellus shook his head negatively on his chair.

The door was opened, but before Hector and Vince could jump whoever was coming, they saw the punished figure of Mate Clarkson getting tossed inside. Two men with machine guns entered the room.

“Hey, look what they did to this guy!” Vince said in horror. “This is a not a way to treat a human being!”

“Damn right it’s not!” Hector replied grinding teeth.

He advanced to one of the guards with furious anger. The man pointed the machine gun at his chest.

“Don’t do it, man!” Pedro begged.

Hector stopped but didn’t take his flaming eyes off the armed man.”

“Back off, coon boy!” The guard said.

“Care to call me that without the piece?” Hector defied him.

“Easy there, monkey! Or you’ll know how a Swiss cheese feels like.”

“What about just the two of us, man to man?”

“Come back to the jungle where you belong.”

He slowly walked backwards, still pointing the weapon at Hector. The other man aimed his machine gun to the general direction of everybody else in the sector. They left the room and locked the door.

“Racist chicken!” Hector grunted.

“This man needs help.” Vince screamed holding Clark in his arms. “They beat him up real bad.”

“Sure.” His brother said.

They carried the young tennis player to a chair.

“You can imagine how disappointed I was when you just turned your back on us the first time you reached our gates.” Shane said.

“Where’s the guy who was with me?” Lily asked in a demanding tone. Her wrists and ankles were chained to the wall behind her. There was also a metal strap around her neck, bolted to the wall.

“This is irrelevant now. But I assure you his permanence among the living also depends on how much you cooperate.”

“If you wanted us here, why didn’t you just ask? You didn’t have to torture that poor woman!”

“Oh, it was necessary to prove a point.”

“Yes, that you are a big son of a bitch!”

Shane frowned at Lily. She was surely not used to any other approach other than flatters, adulation and worshipping.

“I should expect this kind of language from you.”

“Now that you got me, you can undo whatever you did to that woman.” Lily said.

“I’m afraid this is no longer possible.”

“Who are you anyway?”

“Shane is my name, very nice to make your acquaintance. And don’t bother telling me your name. Obviously, I already know who you are.”

“I wouldn’t anyway. We’re not friends, stupid.”

Shane got serious again.

“Well, you told me at the hospital all my questions would be answered in due time.” Lily recalled. “And it seems I’m not going anywhere now.” She waved her shackles.

“Why the hell not? I was looking forward to talking to you.”

“Okay, I’m listening.”

“I’m a crucial element in an extremely important project brought about by very special people, a joint venture that involves some countries concerned with the future of the planet.”

“And I can see torturing innocents and putting people in chains are also a key element in this thing.”

“No, those are just accessories for a greater cause.”

“So, basically there’re a bunch of other guys pulling your strings.”

“Au contraire, without me there is no project. I was conceived, built, modeled, perfected to lead, to dominate, to execute, ultimately to make sure everything works as flawlessly and it can possibly be.”   

“I don’t understand. You talk like you’re some kind of robot.”

“Oh no, I’m human indeed, only improved, enhanced by the wonderful domains of science.”

“Are you saying you’re some sort of test tube experiment from a lab or something?”

Shane shook her head but remained firmly composed.

“Such a shallow description for something that’s way beyond anything your small mind could possibly conceive.” The elegant woman retorted.

“That means I’m right. You came from a test tube and a toaster probably, and now everybody has to pay for that.”

Shane came near Lily in a threatening way. She fixed eyes on the Australian girl.

“They selected me right from birth because I presented the highest ESP among the babies. This is
extrasensory perception
.”

“I heard about it. So, they picked you because you were the most lunatic baby they got.”

“In a way, yes. But along the years, they gave me more. My brain wound up becoming a very sophisticated broadcast system.” Shane tapped her head with a forefinger.

“I don’t quite follow.”

“I didn’t expect you would. It suffices to say I’m able to transmit and receive radio waves together with my ESP. Thanks to this, among other amazing things I can also control regular minds as easily as you tie your shoelaces.”

“And that’s what you’re going to do now, control my mind?”

“Oh no, it won’t be necessary in your case, honey. I prepared something very special just for you. They filled up my brain with much more than just domination capabilities.”

“They only forgot to add some common sense to the mix, not to mention intelligence.”

“Joke while you can. Believe me, I do admire your spirit, but it’s worthless.”

“What’s this project, this venture you mentioned all about?”

“I’m very glad you asked. You see, the world was getting too crowded and Mother Nature can only take so much. Unfortunately, not so bright human samples insist on breeding like rabbits and our resources were running scarce.”

“You got me in a loss again.” It was Lily’s turn to frown.

“It’s a Malthusian thing. I trust that even an uneducated person like you knows what I’m referring to, right?”

“Yes.”

“Well, Earth’s population needed to be drastically reduced before the rabbles drank and ate everything we got. And a very exclusive group of people took matters into their hands.”

Lily opened her eyes real wide, pondering about the implications of such words.

“Don’t tell me you and your idiots are responsible for…”

“Oh, the spreading of the virus created by our scientists was very successful indeed!” Shane proudly interrupted her. “The majority of population turned into flesh-eating living dead and they did some cleaning on their own, pretty ingenious huh?”

Lily shook her head as much as she could; however, the metal strap strangled her neck.

“Why?” The Australian woman asked. “What do you gain by destroying the world and its people? Why are you doing this?”

“Ah, the million dollars question! The zombie plague is just the beginning. Now, it’s time to repopulate the planet, but only with those who really count. And the defective ones can work and serve us, as it should have always being, under control and in the quantities predetermined by us. Now, what do you think of the plan?”

“I think you’re nothing more than a psycho byproduct who likes to play God!”

“Just a matter of reference, God can be whoever people want Him to be.”

Lily faced Shane with angry eyes.

“And how do I fit in all this?” The Australian queried.

“I was getting to that. Considering the current situation, people eventually have to come to us for protection. That’s when we make the due selection. Or at least that was the general idea. And we were doing rather well, but something happened, something that turned the tide a little bit.”

“What was that?”

“The elementary school event, the one you’re so actively participated.”

“What’s that got to do with anything?”

“Your little prowess brought new hopes to people, gave them reasons to live. They started to believe life can be more than just plague and suffering. The press worked against us in that one, those fools. They would do anything for a scoop. Now, a great deal of survivors only wants to find you, copy you, be just like you, fending for themselves while helping others, instead of seeking my protection.”

Lily’s eyes changed from angry to incredulous.

“You didn’t know that, did you?” Shane realized. “A myth was created and this is bad for business. And now, the myth shall die.”

Shane pulled a lever on the wall. The chains holding Lily’s wrists went up, forcing her to raise arms above her head.

“So that’s it?” The Australian girl asked. “Are you going to kill me?”

“That would only make a martyr out of you.”

“Then what? You’ve already tied me up dungeon style, very unoriginal by the way. What’s next, some kind of torture, perhaps electricity through my body, a hot wire to my head, you telling me how your day was?”

“I got a better idea.”

Shane walked away and disappeared from view. Suddenly, a semi-putrefied, horridly deformed dead man ran straight to Lily. Instinctively, she held her body against the wall behind her, also turning her head to the left.

The zombie stopped only inches from Lily’s right ear, his protruding exposed jawbone trying to bite her. The creature was detained by a long chain tying his skull to the opposite wall.

Lily panted heavily, the terrible dead breath of the gnarling beast all over her nostrils. One single move and the creature’s twisted teeth would reach some part of her body. He seemed to have a preference for her face. His dreadful mouth jiggled up and down.

Shane came back into the room and stood beside the zombie.

“I believe that you, of all people, should know what this is, right?” She asked, drumming fingers on the monster’s skull.

“Looks like your clone.” Lily still managed to say.

“Very funny, darling. You must have noticed, of course, he’s not coming after me.”

“Can’t blame the lad, you’re distasteful even to him.”

Shane smiled “I can control him as well. But now I’m leaving his guts dictate his actions. You can actually see them.” She laughed. “Sooner or later you’ll have to twitch and that’ll be enough for him to bite you.”

“Only bite me, not killing me?”

“That’s right.”

“Why?”

“I want you to turn into a zombie. Then, I’ll arrange for a little accident to happen. You’ll eat and dilacerate three children to pieces, with lots of cameras filming and reporters taking pictures. And the press will have yet another field day, the great Apocalily biting children to death as a zombie! That’s a way to kill a myth.”

“You’re going to have children killed just to foul my image?”

“That’s the idea.”

“You don’t have to do that. I do anything you want. Just put me on the air, I pledge allegiance to you. You don’t have to kill anybody!”

“Very noble, but I’m afraid that won’t be enough. You have to fall into disgrace before the judgmental eyes of public opinion. People will again need a shoulder to cry on and I’ll be more than happy to offer them mine. This world doesn’t need any more heroes, left alone a daddy’s little girl from overseas who thinks she’s Captain America.”

Lily didn’t answer.

Shane came closer to her “What, no snap come back to this one?”

She took two steps back.

“Well, I leave you too lovers alone.” The blonde woman concluded “Time for the general public to return to old habits, by which I mean living pointless lives, so they have to live the life of celebrities to make up for empty existences. The difference is there’ll be only one celebrity to worship, and that’ll be me!”

Shane winked at Lily and turned around, leaving the Australian woman with the zombie trying to eat her.

“Too bad those scientists of yours never gave you a soul.” Lily still said. “They only had an endless supply of ego and they used it all on you!”                      

“A necessary evil” Shane decided to answer that. “People give too much credit to appearances, they always did. Now if you excuse me, I have other pressing matters to attend to. When I come back, you’d better be snarling. Bye!”

And she left.

The zombie’s head was dangerously close to Lily’s ear. His growls were almost deafening her.

“Man, I’m in a pickle here!” Lily mentally assessed her overall situation. “Think, girl, think! What daddy would do? What daddy would do? Help me, daddy!”

From that new angle, she could see all her gear sitting on a corner, but far out of reach.

Then she remembered “Oh my God, Clark! The lad might be in trouble, I need to do something!”

However, muscle fatigue was settling fast and painful cramps seized her limbs. Lily was about to be betrayed by her own biology. Some part of her body could move involuntarily at any second, making her reachable to the zombie’s teeth.