Greg

"Ahhhh!!!!, Ruuun, Kill It!!!". If you repeat this over a billion times, then you will know what it is like to be me. Who am I? I am glad you asked. Not many people do…all I hear is either "Ahhh!, Ruun!", or "kill it". Sometimes separately but most of the time it is all three at once…..Sigh, oh yes, me.. My name is Greg, but the funny thing is nobody takes the time to get to know me at all. Ever since "The event" happened. One day I am at home, I just got back from going to a midnight release of my all time favourite game. I have my food ready…healthy snack of the everyday gamer. Pizza pockets and Cola….I swear, one day doctors will finally admit that the combination of the two are what will cure cancer. In the meantime, I guess I will have to deal with people telling me "Eat healthier. Why aren't you going out for a walk?

Well the joke is on them, because now that is essentially the only thing I do now. Walk….I swear, if I weren't one of "Them" then I would have been exhausted, neigh, dead, from all the exercise I have gotten. All you need is Bed, Bathroom, Kitchen, Repeat. Ahhhh, I did it again, I trailed off. I tend to do that , especially lately becau…..

Whew, that was close. I was almost spotted. I learned just to not draw attention to myself. The second you do that..KABLOOEY! There goes your everything….. OK, let's do this again. Actually, let me get to the point. Again, my name is Greg, at least that's what it used to be called. Now it's "Undead, Infected, Zombie…that one I am trying to boycott. It makes me sound so barbaric. So what if I can't talk and all I do is make monosyllabic sounds. Don't we all do that when we are first born. You don't see people screaming Ahhh!! when there is a baby in the room…unless it is an undead baby….those things are just creepy, and coming from me, that is saying something. Maybe if people just give us the time to develop words again….just maybe we could all live in harmony . That's what I would hope would happen one day.

Oh yes, the event. One day , or night technically, I was on my way home and all of a sudden I felt this warm breath near me. almost right on my neck. Then I get bit….are you kidding me?!?!? Who in their right mind bites someone. I pushed the person away and check to see if I was bleeding. Strangely no blood feeling, but I was starting to feel a little nauseous and light headed. Last time I experienced that feeling was when I pulled an all nighter playing online games. I know I should be getting sleep over gaming, but it's not my fault that my friends live in different parts of the world and that my night is their day.

Then as it was an instant, I go from feeling like I was on the worst amusement park ride to feeling like something worse was happening. The only thing going through my head was complete and utter fear. I didn't want to die. There was so much I wanted to do. I wanted to have a relationship, I wanted to do things outside and explore.. I didn't want what I just built my life to end. It's funny that these are the things that come to your mind when you are feeling at your worst. Does anyone actually take the time to appreciate what they have, while not going through a traumatic event?

Everything goes to black…..and then it didn't. I guess I must have just fainted. Not that I have ever experienced that before. It honestly felt like I was really tired and the forced nap that I just took really helped me out. Things were a little blurry at first. I mean I did just wake up you know. As things came to focus though, things seemed a little off. Where was the game store that I was literally just at. It was this abandoned building now. It wasn't just the videogame store either. It was everywhere. What was once a shopping plaza in 2021, was now a desolate wasteland of buildings that once were, in the year…who knows.

I had to figure out what was happening. So I walked back to the place that I knew oh so well….my apartment. Things were going so smoothly until I saw one of "Them"

At first, I thought it was a dream, or a re-enactment of some kind. The only place I have ever seen a zom..sorry, person who was infected; was in the games that I played, or during one of my all night horror movie marathons. Right here, in front of me was an honest to god, living dead person. My first instinct was to run…..Then I remembered, if you run. You draw attention to yourself. So I walked. Not only did I walk, I decided to do the thing that I said that if there was ever an outbreak, I would try instantly. Try and mimic them. This way I would be able to get by them without trouble….and wouldn't you know….IT WORKED!!! Not only was I able to get by him, but he did not even pay attention to me once…GO GREG!!!

My excitement faded when I found out that it wasn't because of my stealth, but something else. I discovered this when I tried to get help….I saw another person, who was freaking out, a child out of all things… and really don't blame them. If I weren't able to use my skills, then I would have been a goner as well. I tried calming them down. by telling them my secret, but all I got were screams and tears. I couldn't understand why. I know I am socially awkward and all, but that just hurt my feelings. I finally figured out why they were screaming for their life. I happened to run, or what I thought was run, by a mirror and looked into it. I was no longer Greg….actually I was still Greg, now I was undead Greg…I was unGreged….oh come on, it was a little funny.

Here I am now, I was dead and now I am not……in fact I AM IMORTAL!!!!!! Unless I get shot, stabbed, disemboweled, decapitated, burned to a crisp, or squished. Minor details though. As long as I avoid all that. I AM IMORTAL!

What does the undead do on a daily basis you ask…walk, stumble, bump into other undead folk. I swear, someone needs to give us access to those speak and spell things that we had as children. I am able to think and process things. Sure I forget a lot, or I am not as quick to figure things out, but with one of those. I bet I can communicate with the others. This way people won't have to be freaked out as much. This has become my goal. To find a speak and spell. If I am able to think like I did before getting attacked and the world, or at least where I am, became a desolate wasteland of rubble, debris and symbols of the past. I have travelled from my apartment to what I believe is the next town over. I guess we are a slow moving bunch…all I want is that speak and spell... I thought that if I went to the nearest toy store, they would have it. Which brings me to now

It took a while, and people dodging……funny enough, that hasn't changed about me since I died. I always did everything to avoid people. Now though, I have a reason. People are quick to kill one other to survive. I thought that when there was a catastrophe, that people would band together to help each other out. I guess it only goes so far. I just want to be able to talk to another person, If I can do that, then I would be able to break the communication barrier.

I make it into the Toy store and there are so many cool things that I just want to check out. Vintage toys are coming back. I used to play with a lot of the things that they are now rereleasing for a higher price. I was just about to, when all of a sudden…I found one….A SPEAK AND SPELL!!! It took me so long to find, but there it was on the shelf. Begging for me to use it and become the very first human to zombie ambassador. People would finally take notice of who I was . I would finally be able to make a difference into the world . I see my target and I go for it . I get there and pick it up and now finally have my tool to make the world a better place in my hands . I pull out the plastic tab to activate it and then start pushing a button.

"A,B,C" it starts to say……..I did it. I was using it. I remember that in order to get the letters to make their sounds, you change the settings. So I did. "Ahh, Buh, Cah" I tested it out some more ""Yeee Eeee Ssss" I can't believe it. I made it say "YES" I was soo excited that I barely noticed the little girl who was close by, in the shadows. She wasn't an infected, but she was a girl, no more than the age of six. She had tears rolling down her cheeks. She must have been terrified of what was happening. Wouldn't you be? I guess she went to her happy place. I know if mine was still around. That's where I would be. I start to push buttons. "H I" the machine says. She looks up in disbelief. A monster being able to talk back. She stares blankly at me. That's when I noticed why she was crying in fear. Under my foot was a chained locket. Not just any chained locket, but a heart shaped one. It was opened and there was a picture of this little girl and an older woman. I assumed it was her mother. She must have dropped it and now here I am blocking her. I do the only thing I can think of to make her feel better. First I pick it up and make sure not to break it in any way. I slowly start to walk close to her but then stop because I remember that I am a thing of her nightmares. So, I begin to push the buttons again "H E R E" the machine says. I hold out the locket and put it in front of her. I back up to give her some space. I notice that she goes to get it. My first task as an ambassador is complete. I turn around to be stopped by this person just staring at me. It was a man. He must have watched the whole thing happen and realized that I am not a threat…..that was until he quickly pointed a gun against my head. I knew just what to do. If I could communicate with that girl. I could do it again. I start pushing the buttons "P..L…E…A…..BANG!!!!!! that's when I heard it. It was a loud noise that stopped quickly. If this were before the "event" then I would probably be screaming in pain…but not now. All I could think was "Why?" I just wanted to help. That is when things got blurry again and things started to go black. Something was telling me that I was not going to wake up from that nap. I just hope that there are others that will do what I did. Eventually we will all be able to get along….