It was in the gloaming before daybreak on that historic morning that Tinky-Winky walked curiously away from the Tubbytronic Superdome toward the day that was soon to break over the horizon. Dew still fresh on the grass, Tinky-Winky studiously observed a butterfly as it sat upon a small blooming yellow flower. He reached down, and in a quiet, innocent giggle allowed the butterfly to crawl upon his hand. "Yaaaa!" he proclaimed with glee, excited that the beautiful monarch had approved of his compassionate gesture of friendship.
Slowly he stood, being rather careful so as not to disrupt the grace of the incredible butterfly. Lifting his hand to the sky like a guiding wind, the butterfly flew away. "Bye bye!" Tinky proclaimed with great happiness, "bye bye!" he repeated once again. It was turning out to be a rather marvelous morning. Resting his hands upon his hips and looking toward the horizon, he let out a great sigh of peace and relief at the wonder of the world around him.
Suddenly, the sun quickly peaked its head above the horizon, rising with great speed. Tinky-Winky was grateful to have been witnessing the event, something he rarely did due to his knack for exploiting the night for sleep as much as possible. As he looked toward the baby-faced sun, it gleamed back, giggling and laughing wildly down toward the world it lit.
The friendly and calming voice of a man began to slice through the cool, humid air. "Teletubbies, time to wake!" he proclaimed calmly and with enthusiasm. Tubbies began popping from the hole in the Superdome to its top, cheerful and now wide awake, guided by the voice of a young girl that rang from the hills.
"One!" she shouted.
"One!" Dipsy cried with glee as she landed on the dome.
"Two!" the girl stated louder.
"Two!" Poe snapped back cheerfully, feet falling to rest upon the grassy mountain of a house.
"Three!" the girl cried, even louder than before.
"Three!" Laa-Laa peeped, drifting gracefully down upon their home.
"Four!" the girl said, possibly the loudest and most enthusiastic proclamation of that morning.
"Four!" Tinky Winky shouted, as he made a massive leap over thirty feet into the air, landing amongst his friends.
Standing together, the Teletubbies danced and clapped, spouting cries of happiness and joy. "TELLY-TUBBIES!" the girl shouted above them, announcing their existence to the wonderful world in which they inhabited.
They ran down the dome and up an adjacent hill through a patch of flowers, mumbling and dancing in pure happiness. The voice trumpets raised from the hill, as a woman cried out from them, "TIME FOR TELETUBBIES! TIME FOR TELETUBBIES! TIME FOR TELETUBBIES! TIME FOR TELETUBBIES!" They danced and played over the hills for a matter of minutes, before coming to rest together in front of the Tubbytronic Superdome.
"Big hug!" they all yelled out in unison, coming together in a loving embrace. They rested for a moment with sighs and innocent giggles, trying to decide what they would make of the day ahead of them. Tinky-Winky, glancing around in great contemplation, looked at the horizon to notice what appeared as if it were a big black orb rising toward the sun. He quickly realized that it was the moon, and and began pointing at it, anxiously yelling back at the other Tubbies.
"Uh oh!" he shouted out, "uh oh!" as he continued to point. The other Tubbies looked up at it, shrieking in an excited anxiety. They knew what they had to do. It was going to be an exciting day!
II.
Tinky Winky was sweating profusely as he pulled another sunflower from the ground. There was no time to waste, it had become obvious that they needed to collect enough sunflowers to reflect the sun and send the dark and scary moon far far away. "Yaaa!" he proclaimed exited, at the success of another uprooted flower. He quickly ran over to the pile they had created, softly laying the newly picked flower atop.
For a moment he stopped, "phew!" he exclaimed as he wiped his brow. As the sun giggled down in the excitement of the activities that day, he could hear Laa-Laa cheerily giggle back toward it from a distance. His heart began to melt. There has not been a love recorded that could compare to that of Tinky-Winky towards Laa-Laa. To his misfortune, he was too afraid of rejection, too afraid of the scorching pain that would result if Laa-Laa "just wanted to be friends." So, his love had remained a forbidden one, stirring within his heart. But he had decided only days before, that this would be the day. Where he had to risk it, so their love may be complete. It would be at dusk, he decided, that he would take that risk, because he could no longer live in the sheltered pain of worrying.
And then, his daydreams were cut short when the innocent giggles of the sun turned to a shrieking cry of fear. The moon was ascending quickly, and time was running short. If they didn't collect enough sunflowers, the moon would block the sun, leaving the Teletubbies in a world of darkness. "Uh oh!" they all cried out innocently, looking up at the sun.
They began pacing at an inhuman rate, in a synchronized panic, searching for the nearest sunflower, not even allowing themselves enough time to catch their breath. Tinky-Winky dove toward the hill of sunflowers, throwing all that he held with all his might toward it. Falling to the ground, he sat up in pain. He had slightly scraped his knee. "UH-OH!" he shouted out in pain, crying.
Laa-Laa looked back to him, her heart sinking in a mortified fear for the purple, lovable Tubby. She ran over to him, "Uh-oh!" she shouted with compassion, "Uh-oh!" she said once again.
As Tinky-Winky reeled in pain, he looked up. The baby-sun began crying louder and louder, its shrieks agonizing to the ears. "UH-OH!" he cried out, pointing toward it. He couldn't let Laa-Laa sacrifice Teletubby Land for him. "UH-OH!" he shouted again as he continued to point, clearly indicating that she needed to leave him in his pain, to sacrifice him for the greater good of the land. But it was too late. The Teletubbies had failed.
Laa-Laa crouched behind Tinky-Winky in fear as the world faded into a horrid darkness. The sun's cries became muffled by the moon, resigning the world to silence. The voice trumpets appeared from the Earth once again, exclaiming calmly, "TIME FOR TUBBY BYE-BYE! TIME FOR TUBBY BYE-BYE!" As the world became encompassed in greater darkness, her soothing and maternal voice descended into a guttural and demonic chant. "TIME FOR TUBBY BYE-BYE!" it shouted with mischief and hate, "TIME FOR TUBBY BYE-BYE!"
They all began to shake in terror as the chant continued, not knowing what to expect. The air felt static and unmoving, like the eerie and unwelcome calm before a disastrous storm. They all remained still, fearing that any sudden movement could result in their demise. And a sudden hum began to sound itself out from distant hills.
Dipsy and Po ran over to Tinky-Winky and Laa-Laa, now all huddled together in immense panic. T hey shook wildly, fearing for their lives, as Po nervously repeated over and over "Uh oh... uh oh... uh oh..." as she rocked back and forth. They could have made a break for it, for their dome, but they were too afraid to move. Too terrified of the evil that permeated through the humid and cooling air.
As they huddled, seconds seemed to pass as hours, time felt as if it had almost stopped, their terror a bastard which kept those moments locked into a seeming eternity. And then they began to realize that the hum wasn't a hum at all. As it became more clear, the sounds of grunts and moans and deep throated and violent howling came to their ears. Looking all around them, they could see shadowy figures making their way over the hills.
Tinky-Winky was terrified. But he could never let his gorgeous, incredible Laa-Laa get hurt. He was entirely prepared to sacrifice himself in courage to save the one he loved. He grabbed Laa-Laa's hand, and looking back at the group, pointed toward the Tubbytronic Superdome. "Uh oh!" he said, explaining his plan to make a break for it. "Uh oh!" he repeated again. For a moment they froze, waiting for the signal. "Run away! Run away!" he shouted quickly, and they bolted.
Tinky-Winky had never felt so focused, and so courageous. Adrenaline pumped through his veins as he ran faster than what seemed physically possible, pulling Laa-Laa along with him, bringing his love to safety. He peered back, expecting Po and Dipsy to be close behind. But what he saw mortified him to the deepest depths of his soul.
Po was on the ground, swarmed by the living dead. They bit at her from every direction, tearing the flesh from her body, as blood streamed relentlessly in morbid shades of red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet. She shrieked in agony, blood pouring from her mouth, nostrils, and eye sockets, suffering a pain that can not be described. And then, almost as if it were at the drop of a hat, the zombies stopped.
Dipsy, who had reluctantly been slyly moving backward toward the dome, ran over to Po in fear that she would not make it. Her lower half had been completely mauled and destroyed, leaving only a tattered upper half, covered in rainbow blood and chunks of internal organs. "Uh oh?" Dipsy asked her in great fear, trying to establish her condition. He knew she wouldn't make it. "Uh oh." he said, doing the best he could to calm her nerves. "Uh oh." he said again, offering his goodbye, a passionate farewell explaining all the feelings of friendship and tubberly love that he held for his dear friend.
She only grunted, offering no solace to her green friend who still could not comprehend the loss he was facing. And then, she looked up at him. Her eyes... something in those eyes. And he knew... it wasn't Po he was looking at. It was a distant creature. Something worse than a demon. Po had become one of them. One of the undead.
Quickly, she jolted up at him, tearing a chunk of flesh from Dipsy's neck. "UH OH!" he shouted in pain, lost and terrified within himself. The other undead... those responsible for Po's condition... stood beside her, only watching. Allowing their new brethren the joy of it's first kill, in a horrendous and purely evil celebration.
"Run away, run away!" Tinky-Winky shouted to Laa-Laa, forcing her into the dome. She was reluctant, fighting his push. She could not leave him to the vultures of death. Her heart could not bear being anywhere but beside him in those terrible moments. "Boo! Eh oh!" he shouted down to her, doing his best to reassure her that he would soon be in the dome with her, that she would have him to hold in the times of terror. "Eh oh!" he shouted again, telling her that he needed to try to save Dipsy. That they couldn't just leave him for dead. She looked up for a moment, and an infinite bond of trust formed between them. She knew he had to do this. She knew he would fulfill his promise to return.
Sliding the manhole cover over the hole, Tinky-Winky ran down toward Dipsy, as armies of the undead came swarming toward him. Dipsy fumbled and stumbled, losing coherency, becoming delusional from the loss of blood. From the changes that were occuring. "Eh oh, Dipsy!" he yelled to his friend as he approached him. But Dipsy only responded with massive amounts of vomit, spraying chunks of sunshine and unicorns across the torn and tattered Earth. Tinky-Winky grabbed him, trying to aid him toward the dome, toward safety. But then, Dipsy looked up at him.
Those eyes. It was in the eyes. Tinky-Winky knew it was a lost cause, that Dipsy was now one of them. Dipsy began shrieking and groaning with intense audibility, the television on his abdomen shooting images of static that soon began to evolve into a collage of morbid evil, broadcasting images that seemed to fade into eachother... Hitler... genital mutilation... rape... atomic bombs. Tinky-Winky's whole hearted courage, for the first time, turned to weak and helpless terror.
He bolted for the top of the dome, banging on the manhole cover in fear and panic. The horde of zombies approached with increasing speed, leaving Tinky-Winky's time to run short. Finally, Laa-Laa popped it open, allowing Tinky-Winky to drop in. Quickly, he pushed from beneath the manhole cover, dragging it into its place. They were safe... for a time.
III.
Laa-Laa sat against the wall in a distorted fetal position, rocking back and forth, tears streaming down her face. Tinky-Winky laid beside her, holding her in his arms in her terror, as Noo-Noo the vacuum cleaner broke apart the table, chairs, and any other scraps he could find to block the door. "Uh oh, Laa-Laa" Tinky-Winky said solemnly, letting her know that he needed to help Noo-Noo, to keep them protected from the legion of the rotting.
As Tinky Winky ran over, and helped build a pile of scraps and junk against the door, the pile began rocking. It was quickly becoming evident that the door would not last. That soon, their safety would be no more. He turned to Laa-Laa. She could see the fear in his eyes. "Run away, run away!" he shouted, pointing at a ventilation shaft.
Laa-Laa stood and ran over to him. "Eh oh, uh oh, boo, Tinky-Winky!" She couldn't be torn from his side once again.
"UH OH!" he shouted at her, risking hurting her feelings if that resulted in her survival. He violently pointed toward the ventilation shaft over and over. "Eh oh!" he shouted, explaining that he would not be far behind, that he needed to grab something, and needed to help Noo-Noo escape as well. "Eh oh!" he shouted again, explaining that she just needed to move as fast as she could away from there, down the shaft.
Encompassed in fear, she followed his command, ripping the large ventilation shaft from the floor, and entering into it. She crawled with all the energy she could muster, tearing through cobwebs and mold, becoming dirtied and brown. Finally reaching the other side, she exited beside the happiness fountain. Things seemed more quiet and more peaceful there. There was no sign of the horde, visual or auditory.
She waited, as time seemed not to move. Seconds passed. And then minutes. Finally, slightly more than ten minutes after her arrival, she could wait no longer... she felt in the depths of her heart that something had gone horribly wrong. She just knew it. Without haste, she began trying to climb back into the vent, only to find that it was in function. That it was blowing a great deal of air in her direction. And though she struggled, she could not bring herself more than a mere few feet before being shot outward toward the fountain, over and over.
For a few moments, Laa-Laa laid beside the vent, weeping horribly. And then the sweeping truth hit her. She needed to go back, by foot. She needed to know Tinky-Winky was okay. She needed to be with him.
She began walking through the mystical forest back toward the Tubbytronic Superdome, crouching and frightened, though still quick in pace. She did not feel that she could ever reach the dome fast enough, each instant a torture in the longing to arrive back home. And as she moved closer, the humming was heard, a humming she realized was anything but a peaceful calm. The demonic "TIME FOR TUBBY BYE-BYE" rung behind it. She was making her way into enemy territory. She was getting closer.
At the time, she thought she was still a reasonable distance from them. But with zombies, one should never assume anything. And thats when a small group, maybe five or six of them seemed to pop out of nowhere. Oddly enough, her fear seemed to wash away, turning into a passionate rage. The fuckers had destroyed her life. She couldn't take anymore.
Looking to the ground, she picked up a log, and began smashing them, left and right, breaking their legs, stabbing them through the heart. But it seemed a fruitless endeavor, as they kept coming at her. And then, she smashed the head of one of the creatures. It stopped. She had discovered their weakness. One after another, she bashed their heads, sending rotting brains spraying across the forest. "UHHHH OHHHH!!!!" she shouted, vulgar and full of hate. She had killed them all. Adrenaline rushed through her. No more time to fuck around. She needed to get home.
She ran, passing a random zombie here and there, making her presence known. Leaving the forest, she kept running, and running, and running. She had no breath to catch, but that didn't stop her, her persistence was far too strong. And there it was, the Tubbytronic Superdome. She raced down the hill toward it, ignoring the zombies that filled the landscape, leaving her fear at the gates. The door entrance appeared busted and broken, but protected. As if the successful entry of the undead was only followed by a successful rebuilding of the protective wall. The manhole cover laid silently atop.
She paced to the top, banging on it, leaving her fate to the gamble that Tinky-Winky was still alive and coherent. She banged over and over, "EH OH, TINKY WINKY?!?!" she shouted with no response, as the creatures crept closer. Finally, it slowly opened, and she jumped in. Noo-Noo laid across the floor in hundreds of pieces, as Tinky Winky stumbled, woozy. He weakly mustered all the strength he could to point to the manhole cover.
"Uh oh..." he whispered with all his breath. She looked up. It was still open.
Laa-Laa rushed upward, standing atop broken remnants of what was once Noo-Noo, dragging the cover shut. The sound of the demonic voice trumpets and overwhelming moaning were hardly muffled by the stainless steel walls of the dome.
Tinky-Winky put his arm around her, as she slowly helped him to sit against the wall. As he sat, she saw the bite marks across his arm. They were mild... but she knew she was already too late. His time was very limited. Though he had warded them off for a time, he was conquered.
She sat beside him covering her face, weeping ferociously. "Eh oh..." he said calmly, poetically expressing his deep love for her. Her eyes swollen and watered, she looked over to him. In his hand, a diamond ring. She looked into his eyes.
"Eh oh..." she said back quietly but with passion. She loved him. She had said yes.
For those few moments left of his life, they laid together in silence, cuddling. Both filled with immense pain of each others loss, all they could bear to do was to soak in each and every last second together. To take advantage of the little time they had left.
Laa-Laa eventually looked up to him, to speak, to express her eternal love. To her horror, his eyes were closed, he had expired. "Tinky Winky.... TINKY WINKY?!?!" she shouted in unbearable pain. She slowly stood, backing away, as incredibly quiet but glowing hisses began to shoot from his throat. It would only be a matter of moments before he changed. With the greatest deal of reluctance one could hold, she stared at him, knowing she had no other options. His head cocked upward, slowly. Those eyes...
Closing her own, she ran over, slamming her foot against his skull, forcing him to fall over. Again and again and again, she stomped on his head, leaving only broken, destroyed remnants of a head, and mounds of glitter.
She crouched down to his dead body, studying it. Her pain was so strong that she could not even bear to exist any longer. Grabbing a scrap of metal, of what was once Noo-Noo, she sat beside his corpse. The external noises had washed away, replaced by only a ringing pain. She put the metal to her throat, and stabbed the jugular, repeatedly, until she had no more energy to do so..
And within moments, she had bled to death. Her body sat beside its lover, resting in perfect eternity, as the only glimpse of passionate love in a world now descended into pure evil.
THE END.