and then it started to change. Muted green bulbs appeared on the walls, then red ones, then white.
White light. From electricity. Something we hadn’t seen for months (I guess I figured Lab Coat’s different remotes were operated by batteries). We both blinked,shocked by the glow of the bulbs as the lift came to a stop inside a protected steel cage. Through the metal grating I saw something that nearly stopped my heart. Something that made me shake as I backed up against David’s chest and felt my knees give out just a little.
We were in a lab. A real fucking lab with glass rooms and pristine white halls and
lights
, so many lights!
Lab Coat Guy gave us a brief smile before he released a latch at the cage door and swung it open to allow us all entry into a sterile hallway.
Dave and I stood on the lift, just staring for a long moment before Lab Coat Guy said, “Well? Are you coming or are you just going to stand there staring?”
With a shake of his head like he was waking from a dream, Dave grasped my hand and we stepped into the hallway together to follow Lab Coat Guy down the hallway toward an uncertain future.
“There’s only one explanation for this,” I whispered as we turned at a T-intersection in the hallway and our new “friend” slid a card through a key lock. At the end of the passage, a white door opened silently. “We’ve been attacked and
this
is how zombies see the world.”
Dave looked down at me with a shiver at the possibility that what I said might actually be true.
“Right now we’re probably eating a Girl Scout troop,” I finished with a nervous grimace.
“Don’t be silly,” Lab Coat Guy said as he looked over his shoulder at us. “There haven’t been any Girl Scouts for months. And you aren’t zombies. This is entirely real, I assure you. And now”—he slowly lowered his gun at his side—“let me introduce myself. My name is Kevin Barnes.
Dr.
Kevin Barnes. And this is my lab.”
We both stared, shocked into silence (rare for us, I assure you). Finally it was Dave who looked down at me, his face pale and his eyes wide.
“I-I guess I was wrong,” he stammered. “It turns out there
are
mad scientists after all.”
Don’t fear change. Just fear everything and everyone else.
D r. Barnes chuckled as he gave Dave a look that was normally reserved for silly children.
“Oh no, David. Not a mad scientist, I’m merely a scientist.”
“I’m sure that’s just what Dr. Frankenstein said right before he made a zombie of his own,” I whispered.
I was sort of shocked I could find enough of my voice for that. I was still half-convinced this was all a fucked-up dream brought on by too many beans and Pop-Tarts. Was this what scurvy did to a person? I’d have to look it up in one of our medical books as soon as I woke up from this whacked-out dream.
“Please, come in,” Dr. Barnes insisted as he passed through the door his key card had unlocked. “I’ll try to explain everything to you.”
We followed him. I guess we were too numb and curious to do anything else. Inside we found a tidy office, sort of like what you used to find at a clinic before you wentinto an exam room. There was a big desk near the back wall with a computer on it. A computer that was on and working! Instantly all my little geek-centricities kicked in and I longed to check e-mail and see what was up with I Can Has Cheezburger.
Of course, those things didn’t exist anymore, computer or not.
In the back of the room and along the left wall were banks of windows, but built-in blinds were lowered between the panes of glass to keep us from seeing what was on the other side.
The room was cool, probably half from being underground and half from the air conditioning pumping through vents hidden somewhere in the room. Air conditioning! We hadn’t felt that in months (again, old vans have their advantages and disadvantages).
Soft light glowed from a desk lamp beside the desk and some kind of
White light. From electricity. Something we hadn’t seen for months (I guess I figured Lab Coat’s different remotes were operated by batteries). We both blinked,shocked by the glow of the bulbs as the lift came to a stop inside a protected steel cage. Through the metal grating I saw something that nearly stopped my heart. Something that made me shake as I backed up against David’s chest and felt my knees give out just a little.
We were in a lab. A real fucking lab with glass rooms and pristine white halls and
lights
, so many lights!
Lab Coat Guy gave us a brief smile before he released a latch at the cage door and swung it open to allow us all entry into a sterile hallway.
Dave and I stood on the lift, just staring for a long moment before Lab Coat Guy said, “Well? Are you coming or are you just going to stand there staring?”
With a shake of his head like he was waking from a dream, Dave grasped my hand and we stepped into the hallway together to follow Lab Coat Guy down the hallway toward an uncertain future.
“There’s only one explanation for this,” I whispered as we turned at a T-intersection in the hallway and our new “friend” slid a card through a key lock. At the end of the passage, a white door opened silently. “We’ve been attacked and
this
is how zombies see the world.”
Dave looked down at me with a shiver at the possibility that what I said might actually be true.
“Right now we’re probably eating a Girl Scout troop,” I finished with a nervous grimace.
“Don’t be silly,” Lab Coat Guy said as he looked over his shoulder at us. “There haven’t been any Girl Scouts for months. And you aren’t zombies. This is entirely real, I assure you. And now”—he slowly lowered his gun at his side—“let me introduce myself. My name is Kevin Barnes.
Dr.
Kevin Barnes. And this is my lab.”
We both stared, shocked into silence (rare for us, I assure you). Finally it was Dave who looked down at me, his face pale and his eyes wide.
“I-I guess I was wrong,” he stammered. “It turns out there
are
mad scientists after all.”
Don’t fear change. Just fear everything and everyone else.
D r. Barnes chuckled as he gave Dave a look that was normally reserved for silly children.
“Oh no, David. Not a mad scientist, I’m merely a scientist.”
“I’m sure that’s just what Dr. Frankenstein said right before he made a zombie of his own,” I whispered.
I was sort of shocked I could find enough of my voice for that. I was still half-convinced this was all a fucked-up dream brought on by too many beans and Pop-Tarts. Was this what scurvy did to a person? I’d have to look it up in one of our medical books as soon as I woke up from this whacked-out dream.
“Please, come in,” Dr. Barnes insisted as he passed through the door his key card had unlocked. “I’ll try to explain everything to you.”
We followed him. I guess we were too numb and curious to do anything else. Inside we found a tidy office, sort of like what you used to find at a clinic before you wentinto an exam room. There was a big desk near the back wall with a computer on it. A computer that was on and working! Instantly all my little geek-centricities kicked in and I longed to check e-mail and see what was up with I Can Has Cheezburger.
Of course, those things didn’t exist anymore, computer or not.
In the back of the room and along the left wall were banks of windows, but built-in blinds were lowered between the panes of glass to keep us from seeing what was on the other side.
The room was cool, probably half from being underground and half from the air conditioning pumping through vents hidden somewhere in the room. Air conditioning! We hadn’t felt that in months (again, old vans have their advantages and disadvantages).
Soft light glowed from a desk lamp beside the desk and some kind of
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