Have you ever seen those movies where the character says he's dead or should be but isn't and the rest of the film is how the hell he got there? Well, you can classify me as such… or not. It's been several years since I got put in this astral state, best I can call it, and I still don't know if I'm dead or still lying down in a hospital bed.
But considering that if I am alive, there have been no adults for a good while there go no docs, my life support probably lost power and that food tube would need changing for a good while now, so most likely, I am dead and I am wondering around New Zeeland for some odd ball reason, maybe to see this new world.
I'm getting ahead of myself. My name is Jake Lanstrom, and I have been invisible to the Mallrats and the other tribes ever since before they were even form.
It all began when the virus was still unknown and first released. I wasn't patient zero over all, but I was one of the first Americans to get sick from it. The thing is, not only did nobody know at the time what it was, but I didn't continue getting sick passed passing out into my 20th birthday cake. I showed no instant aging, no fever, I was just unconscious.
How do I know? Because the minute I did a header into that blue frosting in my backyard, I saw myself face down in cake with my friends and family panicking. When the virus was then announced, every body tried to see every specialist known to man. From the most expensive doctors in New York to those that practice herbal medicine, but nothing would help. It wasn't until I got a blood test, which I watched from my (What I now call) astral form. Let me tell you something, if you ever get the chance to have this out of body experience, never ever watch yourself get a blood test. Seeing that needle going in my arm almost made me faint a second time.
During this whole mess, I found out I could go through walls and floors if I'm on the second on up and if I wanted to. But I couldn't get through to anybody; I couldn't even do that freaky "Poltergeist" thing with the TV. The best I could do was, whenever I wanted to, get solid enough to lean against the wall.
Anyway, while all this was going on, I was thinking that months ago, I was your average auburn haired 20 year old male who had nothing unusual about him from his normal looking green eyes right down to the balls of his feet. However, shortly after I saw myself getting hauled to a specialist in Hawaii, I then, at least what I can describe best as, jumped to New Zeeland.
Now, I've never been to New Zeeland, so naturally, I freaked out a bit. But what really freaked me out is that some months had passed when I jumped and I was watching a young woman who was named Trudy saying that she didn't want to leave her family, who were infected with the virus. After they argued why they had to be apart, there was another jump, but to what seemed like an unknown length of time, and she was with another person, a young man that Trudy called Bray. I wanted to study more what went on and how much time passed, but then I was jumped to an unknown city where it was nothing more than a ghost town with kids. Shortly after seeing this, I then had a flash in my mind that there was no cure for the virus and that all the known adults are dead. My fate, after seeing the vision, however is unknown. I did some math and I figured that I'm now 22, so I should be dead. I then see these other kids, Amber and her friend, a bunch of children hanging around a woman with a bob hair cut, who I would learn later was named Saline, a young man with no heart and who can't read named Lex and his tribe, a boy riding on a police car named Zoot, his bride Ebony, and two warring tribes named Locos, which Zoot ran, and the Demon Dogs. However, out of the two of them, this new world feared the Locos.
After those in the city encountered each other, they ran into the local mall and that's where everything changed even more. After a series of miss understandings, along with the Mall's occupant Jack, when Bray and Trudy joined up with them, they became a tribe known as The Mallrats. And for the next 5 years, I would watch them loose members, gain members, become all powerful and nearly come to an end on more than one occasion.
However, several weeks after the formation of the Mallrats, and the birth of Trudy's baby, I would discover something else. Trudy and Zoot had a child together and when Zoot held her in his arms, he started rethinking his path… until Lex showed up demanding a fight and pushing him off the ledge of the second floor. The fall killed him, but it was after that for me that got the most interesting… because I saw him too taking astral form. Not as Zoot, but dressed as if he were going to school. I wouldn't understand this significance of this until Bray confessed that he and Zoot were related, for this was the last attire he wore as Martin… and he wore on the day Zoot was born.
"Am… am I….?" He asked me sounding unsure of his fate. Not that I blamed him. It's been a couple of years since I went astral and I'm still not sure.
"Yes, you are." I said in a tone that wasn't exactly happy or angry with him. I didn't like Zoot, but when I saw him hold that child I saw something that Lex was blind to: Humanity.
"What's going to happen to them?" Martin asked without a second thought. This came as a surprise to me. I thought the newly dead would ask what would happen to them, but here is a man who nearly brought this new world to its knees, and he's worried about his family while they in turn look on his corps.
"I'm not sure." I honestly said. "But it looks like I'm their guardian or something. I'm sure they'll turn out fine."
"I hope both of them knew how I felt about our daughter…" Zo--, no, Martin, said as he looked at them wondering what the future would hold.
"Somehow…" I said before the words even formed in my head. "…I think they know." Just then, a flash of a white light from above us appeared. I turned to the former madman and replied after that: "Somehow, I think they do too."
"Mom? Dad?" Martin said just before he ascended. I take a look around and see that the Mallrats are planning a funeral for him out of respect of the man he used to be… and the man who is currently seeing his parents again.
As my unknown odyssey continues, I see various changes with the Mallrats and the world around me, namely a new tribe known as The Chosen, who worship Zoot as if he were God himself. And I thought Televangelists were bad. At first, seeing some of the dead between now and then descending or ascending was the greatest shock of my life… but not until the day that Trudy crossed over and became Supreme Mother. That day, her daughter cried louder than I ever heard. Trying her best to comfort her, nothing worked until I saw somebody from above…
"Martin? Wha…?"
"Shhhhhhhhh…" he said not talking to me, but his daughter. "It will be ok little one." He stroked her head and developing hair the same way a loving father would comforting his child. He took one look around and at Trudy and had a huge amount of guilt. "This is all my fault… my legacy has caused you and your mother so much pain… and her to loose her way."
"Does Heaven know you're down here?"
"I wasn't aloud to leave the gates, but I didn't care." Martin said without turning his back to me, but keeping his eye on his daughter and her mom. "My daughter and Trudy needed me."
"So you don't care that…?"
"I know she was with me just to get to my brother… but this is all my fault and I don't care about all of that. Right now, my daughter's happiness and Trudy's well being are what I'm here for." Sure enough, I saw them calm down and Brady actually giggling. "That's my girl." He then turns to Trudy and was still smiling. "I'm aware that you're not of your own mind, that some how the chosen brainwashed you, which is why I'm not mad. However, once this is all over, I am confident that you out of the two of us will be the best parent that our daughter can ask for." Then, for the first time since she joined, I saw the purist smile across Trudy's face.
"I think she knows man." I reply with a smile. Just then, a white light came over head like the first time I saw this happen, and for the first time, I saw Martin's family and they had a smile as big as Trudy's.
"What?" Martin said with the same shock and awe I had. "But… I violated the rules!"
"I think disrupting the natural order of things so your family can be protected with a blessing or two is the same as self sacrifice. A one way ticket up."
"Blessing?" Martin said. I then point to Trudy and Brady and showed them with the biggest smiles on their face.
"Or at the very least its equivalent." I said, but by the time I looked at him again, he was already back up there, and the Supreme Mother and her child had the same smiles I saw before they joined The Chosen.
Events after that went on for me as normal… well, as normal as some guy stuck in an astral form watching a tribe of kids living in a mall for the last 3 years can get. Everybody thought Amber at one point was lost to us, but I knew better because I didn't see her ascend. When they found her, she was with a tribe called The Ecos, and they helped the Mallrats stop The Chosen and all was well… for awhile anyway. At first, I thought the main trouble was from Ebony or the Guardian, or even the election of Tribal leader, but boy was I wrong.
Shortly after all the drama, the misery didn't end as a group known as the Technos literally flew by. Some how smart enough to repair the airplanes, and, as we found out later, able to restore power, they arrived and took over the city like there was no tomorrow. However, out of all of them, something told me to keep an eye on the ones named Jay, Mega, Ram, Siva, and Java.
Sure enough, those natural instincts were right. I've seen all 4 go through various personal events from Jay dealing with his brother to the two sisters under Ram's servitude before everything came to a head and they tricked Ram into thinking he escaped into Paradise, a fitting end to the creator of one of the most addictive thing I have ever seen. However, I don't blame paradise users for the addiction simply because it's an escape from the world around them. However, I also think that it works some synapses in the brain that compels the users to play. Anyway, and I always get a laugh thinking about it because the guy freaks out if somebody sneezes, they tricked him into thinking he went to Paradise and tossed him in a junker wheelchair and put him in a trash heap! I couldn't think of anything better for the ass. I even got the pleasure of seeing him freak out at being in the junker.
At first, I thought that with Ram gone and Mega taking over the Technos, things would get better… until I saw him talk with the prisoner Java and found out that this was all a plan for power. I would've found out sooner, but I can't see everything and the visions I sometimes have don't show me everything ether. Then I saw him enjoy himself as he marked Tai San deleted. Ebony was starting to see Zoot again and that was apart of their insane plan, including having the three sisters united. It was all to scare the city and make it his prison.
At the same time of all of this, Ram's loyalists kidnapped Saline, something that Mae, a woman that joined the Mallrats sometime before the chaos with The Chosen, used to her advantage to get near Eco member Pride, somebody they both were fighting over and she tired to convince them to kill her, only to have them kill him instead. He tells Mae to tell Sal that he loves her, but she doesn't. I severely dislike this woman. Her schemes then catch up to her when Mega ropes her into being a spy, or the truth about what happened between the two Technos, her, and Pride will come out. I can't help but smile thinking that her schemes finally caught up to her. Eventually, she gets kicked out of the city by the very person she was spying for.
While all this was going on, Ram was rescued by a man named Slade and was taken to a town called Liberty, a place that I wasn't aware existed… and the same can be said with most of the city judging by the reaction of Jack, Lex, and a ditz name Geil. At first I didn't think much of it, even when Ram and Lex caught up again… but the once Ebony, who snapped out of the Zoot loving that was courtesy of Mega and Java; Siva, who was not in on it, but would've been killed by Siva if she said anything; and even Jay, who used to be with Ebony sometime after the Technos invaded, showed up, I really started to wonder this town's purpose. Then my conformations of something bigger were conformed when Java showed up. What is Liberty exactly? Does it have to do with me spending the last several years of my life being in astral form?
While I was asking these questions, Java challenged Ebony to a showdown and said some bullshit that she wasn't the bad guy. Funny… even when she was driven insane by you, I recall the worst Ebony did to Siva was get frustrated and mad at her not believing, not about to electrocute her. As soon as shots are fired, I don't even think and jump in front of Ebony, but the laser goes right through me… and hits Siva who took the shot. Ebony then out of anger fires and kills Java. And what happened next is something I would never forget.
The minute the laser hit Java, I saw her ghost, what I call those that are dead but haven't been to the afterlife yet for lack of a better term, I saw her look on and the expression on her face said she was more shocked that her sister was willing to take a bullet than the fact that she killed her. Then we were more shocked that Ebony reassured her sister that Java is fine, despite other wise, and that she was actually being nice. Shortly after that, Siva died and she was actually smiling when she saw Java and me.
"Looks like our time's up Javi." Siva said in a sweet voice that showed no malice. Java however looked like she didn't want to hear it.
"But… but… it can't be! She's the one who's supposed to die!" Java said angry as she ran to the crying Ebony who is still holding her dead sister. "You left us to die! You're the reason we became Ram's harem! What makes you so special?!" I honestly think she would've yelled some more, regardless that nobody heard her, if it weren't for the fact that a white light had shined above us and we saw two people making a personal trip. I only see that happen if somebody was ether still deeply affected by the virus, or the person that passed on was such a good soul, they got a personal escort.
"Mom! Dad!" Java and Siva said as their parents came to escort Siva's ascension.
"Oh my… I… I missed you so much!" The youngest sister said as she hugged the family she desperately wanted to see. I smiled until I saw Java and she looked angry that their parents wouldn't even acknowledge her. She tried to run up and hug them, but then they started ascending.
"What the hell is…?" She said, and then I turned to her and looked ready to kill.
"Funny you should say that." I said to her in a very angry tone just as several demonic hands came out from under her and grabbed her to pull her down, and I know where. I have seen it several times since whenever somebody that has done nothing but selfish, dark, and even evil actions.
"What… what's happening?!" Java said, sounding as scared as she was when Ebony locked her in a lion's cage.
"Isn't it obvious? You tried to drive one sister nuts, had no qualms killing the other, you turned on your lover, even though you still loved him, all just for what? Revenge and power? What did you think was going to happen?!" She then gets a look as if she realized something.
"It doesn't matter. I'll eventually see my dear sister Ebony there and I have my revenge the--."
"Guess again lady!" I shout as I pointed to the ascending forms of Siva and her parents and all three of them are smiling at Ebony. Java then had a look of shock on her face. "Exactly! It doesn't matter what she does now short of going back to her old ways! Her family gets that she feels remorseful for her past actions and is no longer the bride of Zoot! You on the other hand didn't give a damn of anybody but you! Hell, during this whole mess that you and Mega made, Ebony didn't even attempt to kill Siva, just got angry with her! You on the other hand were ready to fry her without a single thought!"
"But… but…"
"But nothing! You're going to where you deserved simply because you've tried to get to the top without caring about anybody but yourself, and damn everybody else, even your sisters and lover! So now you're guaran-damned-teed never to see your family or sisters again! And I can't think of anything more fitting." I finish with an angry smile on my face. "Good bye Java. Hope it's hot enough for ya." Just as soon as she's under the ground, I sigh that it's all over but then I was shocked as to what happened next.
"WAIT!" I then look up and see Siva coming down to Earth and her parents with an astonished look on their faces. "I forgive you my sister! I FORGIVE YOU!" She said with tears and love in her eyes. And I just stood there amazed. I mean… after all Java has done to her and Ebony… the hell she put them through… this mess with Zoot's legacy… she forgave her? It was enough for her sister to be pushed out of hell… except she didn't look the same as she went down. In fact, figuratively speaking, she aged 10 years. Siva then hugs her but notices me.
"What happened to…?"
"A few minutes in Hell might as well be a few years I guess." I reply as both sisters ascend, while Java was still shaking, probably will for awhile. Unfortunately, even with Java gone, this wasn't the last time Zoot's legacy would haunt us… including the Technos.
More time passes… And I'm a witness to a rebellion that reaches both the City and Liberty, Amber and Jay finally embracing each other, only to have Trudy confused and hurt and nearly cost the Mallrats their friends. Thankfully, with Ram's help, Amber was saved but Jay was still mind wiped. That didn't stop the rebellion and the over throw of Mega, who turns out to be Slade's brother and were lost to each other due to a miss understanding. But what happened after words…
"ZOOT?! YOU MADE YOUR AI AFTER ZOOT?!" I shout knowing that nobody would hear me. Ram thought it'd be a good joke to create and AI based on the best of both his and Zoot's personality and the end result is the world is coming to an end again as he's cutting off the water, electricity, and proceeding with a version of the virus that Mega will make that'll make the last one look like the flu. Damn it! Martin's been dead for 4 years now, why won't his legacy die?! Why does it keep haunting everybody?! What is the point of it still being here and on the monitors in front of me?! "WHY WON'T YOU DIE?!"
Suddenly, I find myself in what looks like a world of darkness, and right in front of me is the AI, in all its nightmarish Zoot glory. I am NOT happy and if I could, I would strangle him by those goggles wrapped around his hat.
"Who are-are you?" It said with an emotionless voice and look to match. Judging by that little glitch in its question, it can't multi-task very well. "You are he-he-here, but yet nobody can see-see you?"
"I've been wondering that myself." I say, trying to hide my curiosity as to how he knows me. "Just what exactly are you?"
"Zo-Zoot."
"How the hell can you be Zoot? Martin's dead!"
"Yes. But I am Zoot."
"You can't be Zoot, for Martin died and Martin was Zoot." I said getting angry. This should have ended with both him and The Chosen, so why is Zoot still here and one kid dead?
"But I never was Martin; however I was made as Zoot there for I am Zoot." The AI argued, while sounding as cold as its logic. "You think-think of me as ev-ev-evil-il-il?"
"Why shouldn't I?! Zoot was a madman that nearly brought this city to its knees and if given time, the world!"
"But the world has benefited from such mad-madmen." This knock off was getting on my nerves.
"How?!"
"If there were no Fascists running Italy, Nazi's ruling Germany, or the urge to conquer from Japan, there would be no World War II, thus the great depression would have gone on. If North Korea didn't attack the South, then there would be no true piece for that country."
"But if they didn't attack the first time…"
"I looked up the re-re-records. The odds say that they would have fought eventually if not then."
"History and the world need madmen like you as much as I need a hole in my head! What the hell are you doing to improve the world by your logic?!"
"Ending it." It just simply stated.
"Ending it?!"
"You humans generate too-too-too much chaos, and not enough power."
"But power corrupts us! So does chaos!"
"But in equal doses, it can be good-good for this world. There for, with out the humans, the balance shall be restored."
"Why you…"
"And who-who-who are you to stop me?" I then reflected on what he said and he was right, I couldn't stop him right now, and I sooooooooo wanted to.
"You maybe right, but there's others like me, like the Mallrats, who will stop you. And if ever given the chance, I'll join them and personally make sure your legacy ends." Just then, I'm back in the real world, watching the AI on the screen with a smug expression, but I return just in time to see Jay, Ram, Amber, Jack, and Mega formulate a plan, only to be zapped back into the VR world, only this time nobody sees me.
"What are you up to?" I said aloud just to check to see if anybody can hear me. Judging by the fact nobody even turns, it's a no. After fighting with Ram, he's ejected from the world, but Mega wants to stay and then the AI plays its trump card, and threatens Slade. However, Mega is one step ahead and just asks the most basic of questions.
"What is order? What is chaos?"
Shortly after this, it overloaded on the various dictionary entries, but he managed to get one shot in before he crashed. I get out to the real world, only to see Mega about to die and he realizes that Slade didn't leave him, but he ran that day the head hunters showed up. The trauma must have mixed everything up in his head. Shortly after I see him ask for forgiveness, and Slade accepted, I see Mega right beside me. He turns around, surprised that I'm there but he's even more surprised to see his body and the Mallrats running to try to help with the evacuation.
"So…" He finally utters after a couple of minutes. "What happens now?"
"The World? I don't know." I reply calmly. "That virus still has a chance of getting out." I sounded a little angry at that one, and rightfully so due to remembering what happened the last time the virus was loose. "You on the other hand…" Just then, the white light showed up and I saw him looking up. To this day, I only figure that the reason Siva's parents showed up personally is because she needed something sane to see on her way up. With everybody else, they saw them waiting up there and this was no exception. "…I think got a 'Pass go' card."
"Mom?" Mega… no, Josh said as he ascended.
Right after that, I'm on a roof top seeing everybody running like crazy and most of them are getting out of there and…
"UGH!"
What the hell?! I just saw something… the virus; it only reaches to the end of the city! It goes no where near Liberty! How?! That's impossi--I can't finish my thought because I'm now on a ship where most of the Mallrats are… Except for Amber, Jay, and Lottie! Where are… THERE! CRAP! Not enough time!
"C'MON!" I hear from everybody. "HURRY!"
"MOVE! MOVE! GO!" I shout. They don't hear me, but after seeing the Mallrats for 5 years of my life, I've grown attached to them and I'll be damned if I don't do anything to see this through! YES! They made it! They made… My God… the City…
"That was our home."
"Not anymore." I don't even look, but I can tell that's Trudy and Lex. I take one good look in and I'm wondering what's going to…
HACK COUGH COUGH
I quickly pull out the feeding tube and gasp for air for the first time in five years. I pinch myself to make sure and I see that I am now solid. I'm real… I'M REAL! HAHAHAHA! This is great! And that was all just a… And after looking up, I see that it wasn't a dream. And the only thing preventing me from screaming no is the anger I have for whenever I see that damn giant T.
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A conspiracy of evil…
My God… This is how they get the NPC's for Paradise?!
A chosen warrior of the light…
"Wait… you mean to tell me that I'm the guy you want to weld this… Boomerang Blade?"
An enduring legacy of darkness…
"POWER AND CHAOS!"
The Tribe: Legacy…
"WHY WON'T YOU DIE?!"
To Be Continued…