Flashbacks
Zed slowly opened his eyes. But he wasn't in his room anymore. He was back in containment. He heard the screams of pain, he felt the shocks and saw the Z-patrol, who were clearly enjoying the pain.
He felt the cold, metal handcuffs around his wrists. He was surrounded by Z-patrol, one behind him pushing him, and one on either side of him. He hung his head, unable to look anyone in the eye. Other zombies referred to this as 'the walk of shame' when you walked to your holding cell. You had time to reflect on what had happened and what was going to happen. Embarrassment, fear, worry, were all in his head. The walk of shame was menasing. But he knew the worst was yet to come.
He walked past holding cells, knowing what went on inside. He shook with fear, pain for the other zombies, and fear knowing this would soon be him. The officers stopped in front of cell, open the door and pulled Zed in. They cuffs were pulled off his hands forcefully and he was pushed into the 'chair of tourtue' as Eliza called it.
The patrol officeres left and he took a second and looked around. He was strapped to the metal chair. But he knew his wasn't any chair. This was an electric chair. It had the ability to shock him harder than his Z-band. He has in a small dark room, there was a metal door but no windows. There was a small table next to him with the proper supplies to remove his band. Besides that there was nothing.
He was fine for now. He was alone. In containment everyone knows the best time is when your alone. The second Z-patrol walked in you were in for hell. Z-patrol didn't treat zombies like people, or even animals. They would hit them, shock them or sometimes worse. Zed sat there attempting to enjoy his last pain-free moments. It was hard considering he could the electric chair buzzing and other zombies screaming.
Then his doors slammed open and 3 patrol officers came in. Without any thought one of them turned up the shocks. Zed winced in pain. The patrol officers laughed, clearly finding his pain entertainment. Zed wanted to scream at them. But he remembered the last time that happened. The horrible aftermath to standing up to them.
One officer went to work on his band and the others stared at him with matching looks mixed of excitement, disgust, and judgement. He heard them whispering, thanks to his zombie hearing, and fought back tears. He didn't know these people, why did they hate him so much?
The second his band was removed the shocks were turned up. The shocks were sharp blasts of fire and electricity combined. It was like sitting on Lightening with people throwing fire covered rocks at you. He was being shaken and jousted. It felt like your skin was being ripped open by knives. The reason they did this was to drain zombies power and strength. But the shocks were turned up to point were he was useless. He might be full zombie but he felt entirely drained. He couldn't move, all he could do was sit there and scream. It was the worst feeling.
With a lot a strength he lifted his head. The Z-patrol officers laughing and turning up the shocks. Why were they enjoying this? As the shocks increased he felt himself getting weaker and weaker. Finally the pain was too great and everything went black.
Everything was black. His skin was tingling from the shocks and he felt drained. He was sure the next wave of pain was coming soon. He screamed and opened his eyes.
"Zed! What's wrong!"
Zed looked around. The room was still dark but he could see minimal light coming through a window. He wasn't in containment. He was in his bed in his apartment. The voice was Addison's.
"Zed! Answer me!"
He turned around and saw her face. Her eyes full full of concern and face was laced with worry. "Zed...what happened?" He place her hand on his.
Zed looked around making sure he wasn't in containment. He was still shaken up and couldn't speak or move. He made sure the electric chair was gone. They were. He had one question.
"W-W-What happened…" He asked to no one in particular.
"That's what I want to know!"
Then it hit him. He had a flashback.
"I-I-I...had a...flashback.." He said with some thought.
"A flashback? What's that?"
He took a few deep breaths, he wanted to shield Addison from the pain of his past. But he knew he coudln't protect her forever. "It's like I'm back in containment. It's hyper realistic though. You can feel the pain and hear the screams...it's just...awful."
"Zed, I'm so sorry." Addison squeezed his hand. "Can I ask you a few questions?"
Zed sighed. He didn't want to talk about it. But he knew she wanted to know everything about his world. "Sure."
"Does it only happen to you?"
"No. A lot of zombies get flashbacks. Not everyone gets flashbacks, some people have other ways of remembering those times. Like scars from the past."
"What happened besides flashbacks?"
"People who were beaten in the streets get pains from the places they were beat. Others who were in containment for a long period of time have permanent lung or heart damage from the bad conditions. Everyone had a physical or mentaal reminder of what used to happen."
Addison's heart broke. Zombies had gone through so much before the barrier was lifted and all the rules were taken away. It was like no matter how good things got they would never be able to escape from the pain.
"I'm so sorry." She whispered. "Are you alright?"
"I'm fine. Shaken up, but fine."
"How often do they come?"
"They are irregular, they have no pattern. I had to guess I would say when I was younger they were once a week. Since the barrier was lifed they have become bi-monthly."
"Why didn't you tell me?" She asked quietly.
"I didn't you want to know. I don't know...just trying to spare you from the pain I guess. I didn't tell even Zoey about them until she started having her own."
Addison paused for minute. "I'm so sorry."
Zed shook his head "Its not your fault."
"I'm sorry you had to go through that, that any of you had to. I shoudln't have been like that. Ever." She said with tears in her eyes.
He kissed her cheek "Thank you for the concern, but its nothing I can't get thorugh."
She had one last question, but she didn't know if it was ok to ask. She didn't want to hurt him anymore than he already was. But she wanted to know.
"If things were so bad…why didn't you stand up to them...or try to stop them."
He took a deep breath. "We did, once. I will never forget that night. Standing up to the patrol ended was a huge mistake. We ended up in more pain and trobule than before. So we never dared to do it again."
"Thank you for telling me this." She squeezed his hand. "As tragic as all of this sounds, I like learing about your world."
"And I will be happy to keep teaching you." He laced his fingers in her hair and pulled her in close.
"Gar-gargiza." He pulled her in and kissed her gently.
"Gar-gargiza."
