In all directions there was nothing but desolation. The last bits of light were not giving way to much detail. A weathered two lane road ran through the middle of the desert. An unmaintained wire and post fence bracketed the road. Some old farmer may have ran cattle in the area long ago. The road seemed to lead nowhere in either direction. An ominous mountain range that could only be distinguished by its shadows was the only landmark on the horizon. The road did not lead to or away from the mountains.
The only evidence of civilization other that the road was an abandoned rv on the backside of a hill and the fence. There were posts near it but the fence that had blocked it in had long been cut away. Its windows were shattered and the tires flat. It was hard to tell if the roof was in tact or not. Even if there was an intention of moving it that would take more work than it was worth. It looked as though this was the only attraction in the area. There wasn’t a part of the rv that wasn’t covered in graffiti. Although the rv was a contrast on the landscape its ruin only added to the feeling of desolation felt by the overall landscape.
Faced with the ever increasing darkness she only had one option, seek refuge in the rv. It was in the opposite direction of where the car that dropped her off spead too. She wasn’t sure if that was a good or a bad thing. A town may be in that direction the truck went. Heading that way may lead to safety or again to her captures. Would they return and check the rv? That fear did not however outweigh the fear of the unknown. As uninvinting as the rv seemed she had already started walking towards it. She wouldn’t sleep but at least she’d have some sort of cover.
While digging through a box in the attic he found it. The book almost seemed to call to him. He even forgot what he had been looking for. Holding the book in his hands all he wanted was to read it. The desire was insatiable. The book had to be thousands of years old. The cover was in some ancient and dead language. Still knowing he wouldn’t understand the contents he could curb the desire to read it.
Joey tucked the book under his belt line and climbed back down out of the attic. He was leaving, he had to get somewhere private immediately. The book had even cause hi. To forget where he was. When he reached the bottom of the stairs he was surprised to find he was in his neighbors house. He looked around but couldn’t focus on anything but the door. He walked towards it and the Old Tom called out to him, “Did you find it?”
Joey turned to the living room that shared the entry way and the landing for the stairs. The house was as ancient as Tom. Maroon shag carpet cradled a floral set of couches and chairs against wood paneled walls. Tom sat in one of those floral chairs off in the corner near the window that looked out on the neighborhood. The book began to burn against his stomach as he turned his attention from the door. He spit out the first thing he thought to say, “No sorry Tom, I’ll have to come look another time. Just realized that I need to get home.”
Joey turned before he could see the smile creep across Tom’s face. The reality was Joey had no reason to be there. Something had called him there, he complied without question. When he got there Tom had asked him to fetch something from the attic for him. Tom was a cranky old hermit that most people steered away from. He had been alone for over a decade, no one was sure if his wife had passed or left him but no one was brave enough to ask. Those that had been in the neighborhood long enough lamented the current state of Tom’s home. It had once been a bright spot in thier neighborhood but now it looked to be condemned. A few of those the lamented the state of the home even recalled a time when Old Tom was a friendly and good neighbor.
As Joey walked out the door to his home Tom breathed out a deep sigh and under his breath said, “Good riddance and good luck Joe.” Joe wasn’t really every bodies favorite neighbor either. He kept to himself to the degree that it was offensive to others. He rarely left his home kitty corner to Tom’s. It to was in rough shape. Many neighbors would say it’s hard to take care of a home when you never leave it. He rushed passed the overgrown grass, up the paint shipped steps and through the splintering door. He threw it closed behind himself and pulled the book from his belt line. He rested against a near by wall and slid down it staring at the book the whole time.
Time became relative. He wasn’t sure if he started at the cover for 30 minutes or 3 hours but it had been a long time. Finally he opened to a random page mid-book. To his surprise he could read every word of it. What he read frightened him but excitement that seems to accompany the book bayed him on. It was either a journal or auto biography of sorts of some powerful and malignant man. The first line he read rang in his head over and over again. “I have become a God. You say your God gives life and now I take it. I am the God of death, fear me.”
Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein had been before her time. She could dream it but no one at that time could create it. But now in 2023 an ambitious but reckless young doctor was going to make it happen.
At a young’s age he had received the nickname Frankenstein. This loved the nickname and even more he couldn’t get enough of that original story. He could practically recite Mary Shelley’s book by the time he was In high school. Once in high school he decided he’d become a Doctor. His obsession with this character would fuel his research. Before anyone else could he would make this story a reality.
Excelling in college he was able to convince his teachers and peers to call him Dr. Frank. He did so well that he received funding for a research program that involved reviving limbs and organs that had failed or been severed. This was where his obsessive personality really started to show through. He spent more time in the lab then he did outside of it. While his peers worried for him, his investors encouraged him onward. He was making real discoveries in the field.
He shared his end goal with no one, worried that one of his peers might try to steal his fame. Having graduated from college and moved to to research full time he was beginning to feel close. He successfully reanimated a rat one night and knew it was now or never.
It took a painstakingly long week to gather up the bodies he needed to make it happen. He was able to reanimate a man, not for long but he did accomplish something no one else had ever done. He tried another time with very similar results. Finally with one more tweak he made it happen.
It was a cold rainy night when it happened. He had to conduct his experiments in the middle of the night to maintain his privacy. He shocked the man to life. He wasn’t sure what he was expecting but when the man regained consciousness he immediately spoke. The man grabbed Dr. Franks shoulder and said,“How long have I been asleep? It must be close to a thousand years.”
Tanner opened his eyes couldn’t make out much. It was dark, his eyes needed time to adjust. Out of instinct he reached up to rub his eyes but his hands didn’t raise higher than his shoulders. They were stopped abruptly by hard metal around each wrist. Out of fear he stood but his wrist pulled him down this time. He was trapped. He sat back down and tried to get a better picture of his situation. Not only were his hand chained but his feet too. He was sitting on cold hard concrete. His eyes could now make out the steel bars in front of him. He was in a jail cell but how had he ended up there?
He tried to remember what had happened before he woke up there but he was drawing blanks. Or more accurately he couldn’t believe what he could remember. It had been a normal day. So how could he go from normal day to day life to a jail cell? That was a serious amount of grey area. He called out for help and only heard his cry echo back at him.
He slept for who knows how long but he had a very odd dream. In the dream he had a party for his 21st birthday. All his friends and family were there. It seemed less like a birthday party and more like a sending off party. Everybody was telling him good luck and that the next 2 years would fly by. Next 2 years of what though? He couldn’t make it that far in the dream because of the pain in his shoulder. He was beginning to realize he was going to need to get use to sleeping uncomfotably.
He spent days, maybe weeks chained up. Waking to nothing, thinking of nothing, surprisingly eating nothing, never needing anything. He only slept and dreamt.
One day he woke and it all came back to him. His 21st birthday hadn’t been just any normal day, he had been collected that morning. They took him to a facility where he would spend the next 2 years being taught by an AI in a virtual reality. The government had mandated that everyone go through this facility at 21. They were trying to correct the collective morality of the nation. His birthday/ sending off party had taken place one day before he turned 21. This had become tradition for everyone to have this party the day before they turned 21.
Maybe he hadn’t been moral or his morals just weren’t matching up with the governments. Guess it was time to start learning from this AI. He began to think that maybe his morality wasn’t in question at all, maybe this was all about building upon your baseline morality. At that moment the chains disappeared and the cell door swung open.
He’d taken to the sea 2 years ago after trying to make it on land hadn’t worked. Those that survived had become ruthless. When you imagine an apocalypse you don’t think about the ocean and apparently when an apocalypse happens nobody thinks of the ocean as a refuge. Others barriers had become his haven. While he was able to escape the cruelty of those that had survived he ran right into loneliness.
It seemed that he had to choose between cruelty and loneliness there was no in between. He had spent months without seeing any remnants of civilization. However any time he saw a boat adrift or a once populated island he felt equal parts fear and excitement. Afraid he might come across a malicious individual and excited he might stop being lonely. He was starting to feel that he preferred to see someone, anyone rather than no one at all.
Those thoughts would bring back memories though. Dark memories of what he had done to survive, what he had seen others do to survive. There was a reason he had run, a reason he had shut out those memories. He didn’t want to see anyone. He didn’t want to be lonely. He was starting wonder if he wanted to live at all.
So many of those that survived had taken their lives. At first he was hopeful that those that survived would make something of this new world but he had quickly realized they wouldn’t. Along with that realization came the thought that he would inevitably opt out of this new world. For some reason he held onto hope, even now he was still hopeful while he considered taking his life. He knew he would let really do it.
He had been entertaining these thoughts while the sun set. Dangling his feet over the edge of the boat, the railing keeping him from slumping into the water rushing past. He looked up at the horizon and saw another boat tracking his direction.
“Read this.”
“Babe are you ok?”
“Just read this, please.”
After his insistence she read the the short story but was puzzled by it. She read it again. This was his story but he had revised it? But at the same time parts didn’t feel like him and she knew his writing well.
Not being able to contain his frustration any longer and registering his wife’s confusion he started to cry. He paced away from her to hid it, showing emotion was difficult for him. He had worked so hard at being a writer and just as he felt success someone was stealing that accomplishment from him. With his back turned to her he offered the reality she seemed to be avoiding, “it’s not me, but it is my story.”
She hugged him from behind before he could even finish the statement. She had followed him as he had turned his back to her. He hadn’t been able to hid his emotion after all. It was a tight hug. Not the romantic type hug from behind but an all encompassing hug, one that didn’t care for the direction but the intention. She was heartbroken for him and wanted to embrace him without delaying it or letting go. He no longer held back the tears. Nor did she, he felt his shirt become damp against her face. They eventually turned to face each other but kept the embrace.
After they had both sat with the heartbreak of the theft for long enough they began to sort it out. It had been his dream but their endeavor, he didn’t for a second think he could have done it without her. Overcoming this new obstacle would be no different than the last five years had been. They would figure this out together. After that embrace he was certain they would overcome their work being plagairized.
The 2 couples were hiking back to thier cars at dusk. They had started this hike knowing they’d be cutting it close on daylight. Nor were they far from the car when they saw the flashing lights at the top of the hill. It looked as though someone was flashing a light at them to provide direction back. There had been a few hikers that were concerned about their timing in the trail. The 2 couples just assumed the hikers out of concern had waited to make sure they could find their way. They flashed a light back at them and the flashing lights on the horizon stopped.
When the couples reached the top of the hill and their car they found that their right rear tire had been slashed. Only one of the four tires had been slashed. The boys considered that a sign that they weren’t in danger. The person that slashed their tire was just trying to send a message not strand them. The boy had worked together at a tire shop in high school so they made quick work of putting the spare on. With the spare on the started the slow journey back to their hotel. That message whatever it was had just ruined the couples weekend get away.
As they drove back to the hotel they had plenty of time to reflect on their interaction with the hikers at the start of the trail. They definitely didn’t feel that interaction warranted the “lesson”.
Upon having pulled up to the trail Taylor, one of the two boys, felt they drove in a little fast but not so fast to upset anyone, he had been driving. It just showed what a hurry they were in to get the hike done. Getting out of the car the couples quickly set about gearing up while two of the hikers had attempted conversation with them. It looked like they were drinking so the couples gave short answers but weren’t rude. The hikers had expressed some concern about the timing of the hike but Taylor having done the hike assured them they would be fine. The hikers even joked with the couples as they set off, “If you see two old hags on your way down tell em’ we left em’!” The boys laughed the girls scowled. Still nothing to warrant the slashed tire. When they passed the “old hags” one slipped and the boys helped her up makings sure she was ok. That was probably reason enough to not have their tire slashed. They couldn’t make sense of it. Seemed just like a senseless crime.
Taylors grandpa was actually from the area they were staying in and his parents had a ranch just a half hour away. His parents as it happened were there that weekend, so the next morning they set out to his parents ranch It was better for them to leave the car there with the flat tire then to limp it all the way home. His parents would give them all a ride home. As Taylor relayed the story to his parents his dad offered a reason for the slash. They had driven his wife’s Subaru and could have taken them as out of towners. The locals were feeling inundated by out of towners moving in, and some weren’t as friendly as others. Thier Subaru and thier desire to get to hiking could have been associated with a competing lifestyle. The locals didn’t realize they had slashed one of their owns tires.
They joked on the way home about getting a magnetic “Trump 2024” sticker for thier “liberal” car when they visited the area.
3 cowboys sat around a campfire under the stars. They were all anxiously involved the conversation, it was clear they weren’t just shooting the shit. The biggest cowboy held his hands up and the other 2 stopped talking, “Alright boys the plan is clear, we could beat this horse to death all night. Let’s get some sleep before this job tomorrow.”
The scrappiest of the cowboys stood to walk away but hesitated and turned back, “That’s all fine boss but where will we meet after we pull it off?”
The third cowboy finally jumped in, “Boss let’s just meet back here after.”
“No no we’ll meet at the canyon above this one. Can’t meet where we began just in case they get wise to us and track us back here.”
With that there was nothing left to be said and they all retired to themselves for the night. Waking in the morning at the designated time. Riding off to complete their individual tasks at their designated times. Then eventually meeting back at the designated spot. However none of the 3 cowboys met up with one another.
The third cowboy rode to the canyon north of the campsite. The scrappy cowboy rode to the canyon south of the campsite. Thier former boss, the big cowboy, rode off into the horizon with all three shares of the job in his saddle bags. Although they misunderstood where they’d meet after the job, even more so they misunderstood who they had signed up to work for.
All she said when he answered the door was, “please help me.” She then collapsed into his house. He kinda just stood there for a moment in shock, he wasn’t sure but he thought this might be the missing girl from the news. Realizing that her captor might be following her, he quickly drug her inside and slammed the door shut.
Panicked he paced in front of her, he couldn’t figure out what to do next. Was he to take care of her now? Had he become some sort of good samaritan? As long as he was thinking in cliches, would no good deed go unpunished here? He checked her pulse and he thought he felt something, couldn’t be sure he wasn’t a doctor or nurse. He ran to the kitchen and got some water in a cup and splashed her with it. That did nothing. He went back to pacing. Slowly but surely he regained his footing and realized he just needed to call 911.
As soon as he pulled out his phone there was a second knock at the door. This one was calm but firm. No where near as frantic as the first. He wasn’t expecting anyone. He called 911 and slipped the phone in his pocket. If he looked through the glass he’d have to open the door. If he didn’t answer he risked some forcing thier way in. Answering the door was the only way he maintained some control.
When he pull open the door the man was facing away from him. “Can I help you?” He asked trying to sound as firm as possible.
The stranger turned around with a smile on his face, trying to look apologetic, “Hi, I know my sister is in there… She’s off her meds and just acting a little crazy. If you don’t mind I’ll just take her home and get her the rest and meds that she needs.” The stranger took a step forward.
“Dont take another step forward. I do mind you assuming entry into my home and I’m not sure what you’re talking about,” the Samaritan answered.
“Don’t act like she isn’t in there. I’m concerned for my sister please don’t hold her captive.”
“I’m not holding anybody captive. You just be patient and we can sort this out the correct way.”
The Stranger took another step trying to look past the Samaritan. The Samaritan put his hand on the strangers chest and gave a slight push back offering one last warning, “If your stories true then you won’t mind showing some patience while the authorities come. I am sure they are on thier way by now. But don’t you take another step towards me and my home.”
The stranger shook his head, “The police?!That was a mistake…”
The Stranger made a move for something at his belt but the Samaritan was wise to it and drew his defense from his belt first.
The operator had sent for the police before shots were fired.
In a stereotypical manner he looked out his window through a crack in the blinds, one hand on the hip, the other spreading the blinds a part. He called over his shoulder to his wife in the kitchen, “Dave’s at it again!”
Rolling her eyes she marched into the front room chastising him, “Would you just leave him alone, give him the privacy you would want!”
He didn’t even care to look back at her to give his response, “I know he’s up to something…and it can’t be good with how secretive he’s being about it…”
“You can’t be serious, go ahead and waste all the time you want!” she practically screamed at him as she threw her hands up in the air. His obsession was frustrating her more than it should. As she walked away she jabbed once more, “you look ridiculous Jeff, you look like the stereotypical dad right now.”
He didn’t break his stare once, didn’t even know if she was still in the room or not. He just kept watching. Fine if she didn’t care but someone should. It was his responsibility to watch out for the family anyways. You know, make sure they’re safe. Dave could bring all sorts of trouble to the neighborhood if he got involved with the wrong people.
For the past few months Jeff had noticed all sorts of weird things going on. Seemed like there was a different car each day. The people who were driving these cars looked shadier by the day. Dave was throwing a lot if garbage away. Was he dealing drugs? Selling stolen property? Jeff didn’t know but whatever he was doing it didn’t look good. He had brought it up with the HOA but they had said they couldn’t do anything about “speculation”. So he sat there watching waiting for some hard evidence.
