Mist enveloped Tommy's brain and he felt sluggish and heavy. Opening leadened eyes he knew where he was: his father's underground lab. He also discovered he was hooked to some kind of machine. Watery fluorescent light aided the dispelling of some of the fog clinging to his consciousness. Woozily the boy yanked tubes out of his arms and sat upright, thankful he hadn't been restrained. What in the blazes had Otis done to him? "Mom?," he called out, casting his gaze about the sterile room. It resembled many a doctor's office he'd seen, but for the water dripping sounds and the occasional blood stain. Please let my mother be alive, he said to himself. He large young body nearly toppled over as his feet hit the tile. Jeez, he felt like he was in the seventh dimension, his very perception seemed ahead of him. Rubbing his head he called for his mom again and got no answer.
Voices came from down the hall, he was sure but they seemed to be inside his head as well. It was rather disorienting and left him with vertigo.
"Frankly Otis I can't believe she's still alive. She is cute though. Look at those arms."
"Mother Firefly said the exact same thing," he giggled. "She was so right about her."
"You really love her, don't you?"
"Aw, bite me. Reach me those calipers, will you?"
"Otis, you gonna let me go when we're done?" Silence. "Dammit, you whiteass piece of shit. RJ will kill you."
"Maybe I fancy some dark meat," he mused.
"Maybe I'll bite yer dick off. That is, if you still have one."
"Oh I'm all man down there, baby." The voices strangely enough didn't get louder the closer Tommy came. He pushed the door open to find his mother laying on a slab, Rita and Otis bent attentively over her.
"What are you doing?," the teen demanded.
Otis seemed happy to see his son. "She'll be comin around directly." Tommy asked if he helped her and if she was going to be ok. "She's dying, Tommy."
"What? NO!," he exclaimed.
Stacy mumbled and opened her eyes, slowly focusing on Otis's face close to her own. Breathing was a trial, her whole body unable to obey her. She was truly scared now, fearing dying in this underground torture chamber. The wraith smoothed her hair back from her forehead in a familiar gesture, saying softly, "Don't be afraid, princess. There's another way."
"What way?," mother and son spoke in unison.
"I can save you, but you'll be changed physically. You don't have to die, you shouldn't have to die. You're truly my complement. But you will remain with me."
Stacy shook her head at first, tears streaming from her eyes. "I don't wanna be some dead flesh, walking around mindlessly," she coughed.
"You won't be. Yer not dead yet, mama. How do you think I've survived my ordeals?," he pointed to the now-sutured gash she'd dealt him earlier that day.
"Mom," said Tommy, taking her hand. "Don't leave me."
"Tommy, you can't stay here, it's not safe anymore. The cops will be looking for us," she rasped. "You must go, and know that I love you. Where's Jim?," she asked Otis.
"That broken-down old vet? RJ finished him off, though he'll make a good specimen. You in love with him?"
"Piss on you," croaked Stacy. "Tommy will need someone to look out for him in our stead."
"You're mine," Otis whispered to her, breath hot on her cheek. Even now she found him sexually overpowering. "But I can do what you ask."
"That bad, huh?," Spaulding scratched his chin. "Figured the shit would hit the fan one day."
Baby sighed. "An' poor Travis ain't in no shape to travel, but I don't see any way around it."
"Yep, the place'll be crawlin with bacon soon enough," said the old clown. "I can help you with Travis till he's better, but we'll have to split up."
Mama had never been out in the world without the support of her family. How would she take care of herself and her children? What would become of them? If they were caught it would be so much worse, but still. "Somebody better go see if RJ and Otis have killed each other and everyone else," she pointed out. Of course, that somebody meant good old Spaulding. However casual she sounded that was something else the shrewd blonde was worried over.
"Go down into that dank, godforsaken hole with Otis's toys? Why shore, I'd love to!," Spaulding said sarcastically. "Only for th' memory of bouncin you on my knee when you were little," he snatched up the firearms on the kitchen table between them and took a deep breath. "We ain't got much time. If I'm not back in an hour you'll have to leave on yer own." He headed for the door when a strawberry-haired figure darted after him, clutching RJ's Chinese rifle.
"Lily, come back here!," ordered her mother.
"I can do it, Mama. I can help," the girl tossed over her shoulder. Frustrated, Mama went to check on Travis, who was still in pain but resting. Then she went to pack some things and ready her truck.
"Well come on then, busybody," Spaulding told Lily as they neared the shed entrance.
RJ cooled his heels in one of the storage rooms, surrounded by Otis's helpful servants. They watched him quietly and with purpose, intelligent yet under the albino's sway. He was completely creeped out at the moment, and there was little he was afraid of. His crotch was raw and sore. He missed Rita and a stiff drink. Speaking of which, he figured he'd rummage around the stacks of boxes and see what turns up. The guards didn't move to stop him, simply keeping the exit blocked.
Ten minutes later he was swigging who-knew-how-old Jagermeister and swearing to administer the beating of Otis's life to him.
"I had planned on lettin Travis play with him when he was feelin better," admitted the ghostlike Otis, pulling aside a curtain to reveal the still form of Jim, his ragged face peaceful. "He wasn't quite dead. Heh." Picking up a syrienge he inserted the needle into Jim's arm with practiced precision while Tommy observed him with interest. Stacy was beginning her transformation as well, being overseen by Rita. As father and son's attention seemed focused on Jim, Rita saw her chance and began edging her way toward the door.
His back still to her, Otis spoke "Get yer shit back over here, prissyboots."
"You cocksuckin cracker! I'm worried about RJ."
"You worry about yourself."
"Dad, stop it," Tommy cut in, causing Otis to smile his toothy grin appreciatively at him. "Hey, you haven't shown me how you control your specimens." Unthinking, he told him there was a generator deeper in the tunnels which powered the batteries in their heads. Tommy was his mother's son, after all.
Jim opened his eyes after spending uncountable time floating in nothingness and took a couple of deep breaths. It was like the vision he'd had before, of dying, falling into the abyss and coming back attended by a strong young man with pale hair. His throat was raw and painful but he strangely felt...good. "Steady there, Romeo--you've been snatched from the jaws of death," he intoned like a southern preacher. The scruffy man sat up and looked around in bewilderment. His new charge regarded him with Stacy's warm golden eyes. "You watch over my boy," said Otis, now serious. "Or I'll kill you."
"I'd give my life for him," Jim shot back. "Just as I did for his mother."
You weren't truly dead, ya twit, Otis thought, wiping his hands. But I'll slit yer belly and feed you your guts if anything happens to my son.
"I speak the truth, ghostman," countered Jim, his gaze unblinking. Otis wondered what it was about the shit in the chemicals that caused the altered perception. Running feet could be heard from up the passage, heralding the arrival of Captain Spaulding and Lily.
"Glad we found ya," Spaulding declared. "Baby called me. We gotta go, right now so c'mon."
Otis's face held a blank expression for a few moments. "Go? Go where?"
"Bob heard on his scanner that the cops are conductin a big search of the whole area, so we gotta get outta here."
The slender man shook his head incredulously. "It's still daytime--and besides, I ain't finished here, an' if I was I ain't got anywhere to go to." Snorting, Spaulding asked where RJ was. "Stayin outta trouble," he laughed, gesturing in the direction he was being kept. "Go on, if ye wanna. I ain't afraid; my secrets can guard themselves."
Lily stepped forward, grabbing Otis in a squeezing hug, adoration and sadness in her big green eyes. He was reminded of her mother, playmate and companion and steadfast rock. "You're a dumb motherfucker," sighed Spaulding. "We gots to get our asses movin." He noticed Stacy's inert body and her new shiny metal leg and shook his head. Otis whipped out a partial robotic arm and hand intended for his long-lost love and snickered as he waved it at them. Jim jumped down off the table, surprised at the absence of pain in his thigh.
Tommy ran to his father, feeling lean strong arms that had murdered and maimed countless people around his shoulders. Otis whispered that he loved him in the boy's ear along with encouraging words meant only for a son. The teen then bent and kissed his mother's forehead, regretting she wasn't finished and awake yet. Shortly a line of them exited the room and threaded its way down the tunnel hand-in-hand: first Spaulding then Lily, Rita, then Tommy followed by Jim. Deeper they went, the air growing more stale and heartbeats loud in their chests. They came upon a doorway blanketed with moving shadows--it seemed some of the Helpful Ones were guarding something. "Hey!," slurred RJ.
"RJ!," Rita cried joyfully, dashing to the entrance only to be accosted by the ten or so mutants. RJ hollered her name in relief, stumbling forward to be blocked by the guards.
"We have to turn off the generator to kill the zombies and distract these guys," Tommy urged them. "It's a little past this chamber." Spaulding groaned, eager to be gone.
There came the dreaded noise--police sirens. Travis was safely tucked away in one of the house's many secret passages as Mama peeked out an upstairs window. Two cars, three cops. More will be here though. Automatic handguns in her belt she slipped downstairs to TCB--take care o' bidness. One officer came up to the front door, the other two coming around back to check things out. "I have no time for this," she grumbled, heading toward the back door. One cop was laying dead before the others even registered what had happened. The downed one's partner took aim at Baby but fast as ever she ducked under the window she'd shot out of. The door was kicked in as the enraged officer burst inside.
The deputy around front was trying to find his way in to help his comrades when he heard another exchange of fire. Cursing he sprinted to the back door and was confronted with two dead cops amid crimson splatters. One's throat was torn out and the other had a bullet in his heart. Childish giggling echoed through the house. His eyes darted around the room and found nothing. He was shaking but proceeded to follow the laughter, pistol at the ready.
"Hehehehe," came the demonic giggling. In the empty house where two of his companions lay slain it was completely unnerving. Carefully he moved in the direction the sound came from, lips moving in silent prayer. Cold metal pressed into his temple; he swallowed and raised his hands. "Well hey there big boy," came a high-pitched voice while he was relieved of his weapon. Slowly he turned to face his adversary: an ordinary-looking, if pretty, fortysomething blonde in t-shirt and tight jeans eyeing him as a viper does a mouse. "Open wide," she breathed, putting the gun barrel in the man's mouth and pulling the trigger.
BLAM
Her hand and arm was suddenly warm and sticky. Satisfying chunks of brain matter, skull and blood painted the wall's peeling wallpaper. The officer's body took a second or two to fall flat on the floor. Baby inhaled the scent of gunpowder and burning flesh for a moment before turning on her heel to finish preparing for departure. She called for Tiny to fetch Travis to the truck. Please hurry, Spaulding. Bring the rest o' my family back. Glancing outside she saw moving, shambling shapes and did a double take.
There were dead people walking about, dozens of them. What the blazes was this?
Otis put the transciever back in his pocket with a contented grin. The entrances had been opened and his creations released to the aboveground. Let whomever try to come and get him. Let them come; he was safe. He and his wife were safe.
"Blast em!," Tommy encouraged Spaulding. "They won't let us by and we have to go down that way."
Shrugging, the old man took one's head nearly off. Lily followed suit, finding that hitting their heads was the only way to stop the dead ones or the live ones. The group darted through an opening and sprinted, clutching one another in terror and excitement. Lights were few and far between, and if one stumbled they all nearly fell.
"There it is!," pointed out Rita. "The generator!" In a cold damp chamber sat a monster of steel and cables.
Problem was, no one knew what to do when they reached it. Switches, buttons and grids greeted them, and Tommy was afraid of adversely affecting his mother as she was remade. Rita told him she'd seen diagrams once, made by Otis, but she had no idea what they were for--but it seemed she recognized the machinery. She threw some switches and tore wires out of boxes. Tommy hoped she was right.
"I feel alot better, Mama," Travis declared when Baby came to the secret room to check on him. "Whatever Otis gave me worked good." He shifted where he lay.
The woman checked his bandages, grumbling. "There are creatures outside."
"Creatures?," the boy's blue eyes were wide.
"Dead things," Mama answered. Travis stared at her in disbelief. Gunshots rang out from some distance away, the blonde dashing out of the room to peer out a window. "It's them!," she cried.
Minutes earlier, reanimated corpses lay where they had dropped when Rita cut the power. RJ came staggering out of the room he was being held in, quite pickled but unhurt. The live guards clutched their heads and appeared confused, some walking into walls. Tommy darted forward and punched the big man right in the jaw. He shook his head and looked at the boy with reddened eyes in surprise. "That was for my mom," Tommy stated. Then he pushed RJ forward where he was recieved by Rita with many kisses.
"Move yer asses!," goaded Spaulding, hauling his bulk with surprising speed. Eventually the group came to an exit and burst into bright sunlight, blinking like owls. Thank God, they were all thinking. Machinery and gears grinding echoed from the opening and they all looked at one another in trepidation.
Deep underground a wraith's hand threw a little-used switch--the back-up generator. Did they think he'd send his minions out without a plan B? He laughed, causing a coughing fit. Damn, he'd weakened his bad lung. Otis bent to kiss the full lips of the woman on the slab before him. Stacy stirred and opened her eyes, feeling a bit groggy. She rubbed her head and discovered a bionic arm that responded like her own flesh. A white-skinned hand touched it lovingly and she raised her gaze to behold Otis standing over her. "Welcome home," he told her. She smiled.
"Shit, they're getting up again," swore Jim as he was nearly grabbed by a particularly spry corpse. The party ran toward the house and met Baby rushing down the porch steps, guns strapped all over her body. Tiny was behind her hunched over and carrying Travis.
Then when it seemed things couldn't get any stranger, it did.
Dust kicking up heralded a good dozen police cars speeding toward the Firefly house. "Great googly moogly," squealed Mama, bundling her son into her pickup. They were surrounded by zombies and cops. She turned to RJ and Rita and told them they all must separate or they were all fucked. She embraced the black woman with real warmth and kissed her huge brother's cheek. Then she put the keys to Stacy's Blazer in Tommy's hand after giving him a handgun.
The son of Otis faced Lily, grasped her shoulders. "Come with us," he urged.
She shook her head in regret. "I can't." Jim's heart went out to Tommy; he could see there a bond between the teens already as strong as the one between Otis and Baby.
Tommy exhaled, frustrated. "Please come with me. How can you live like that?"
Her forehead wrinkled in consternation. "Live like what? I can't leave Mama and Travis, an' anyways I don't know how to live any other way. I'm sorry. I'll miss you, Tommy." They hugged fiercely, almost certain they'd not see each other again. He breathed in the soft scent of her reddish-blonde hair and could feel the beat of her young heart, strong and free. When they parted he turned from Lily quickly before he broke down.
Tommy said goodbye to the rest of them then braced himself to fight through countless zombies to the vehicle. Rotted flesh and putrifying moving bodies crowded them, the corpses grabbing at them hungrily. RJ and Rita made their way to RJ's tow truck just as the myriad cop cars pulled up, sheriff's voice on a bullhorn ordering everyone to freeze, which is what exactly didn't happen. Zombies closed in on the bewildered officers and Tommy winced as he heard some scream as they were literally ripped apart. Suddenly he was confronted with a nude young woman reaching for him and gibbering--it was Carla and she meant to tear into him. Swallowing he slowly raised the gun, aimed for her head and fired. Blood sprayed out the back of her head and she dropped, finally at peace. "I'm sorry, Carla," he whispered to her. Digging down deep he used the angst and rage inside him to his advantage this time. The voice inside his head he blamed on Otis had been his own mind's voice, after all.
Jim had snatched a rifle from Mama's truck and utilizing it for maximum effect, taking his new role as Tommy's protector very seriously. They finally made it to the Blazer and scrambled inside, Jim appropriating the keys and starting the engine up. "No," gasped Tommy as he saw Tiny go down under a spray of the cops' bullets. Baby's face screwed up into a mask of pain, she grasped her deformed brother's hand and kissed it, then started her truck and peeled out, her children at least secure. Spaulding was in the truckbed laying facedown and praying for it all to be over.
"Go go GO!," screeched Rita, out of her mind with panic. Bullets whizzed by and the Helpful Ones were trying to impede their progress. RJ mentioned they should take the little-used route 16. "We have to get my daddy! RJ we can't leave him!" Grumbling he acceded, whipping the tow truck about.
The vehicle plowed several reanimated bodies under, splattering blood and fluids all over the hood and windshield. Rita loaded her pistol and fired, adding to the racket of RJ driving and shooting a sawed-off at the same time. He swerved to avoid hitting a bank when two zombies nearly climbed into the cab with them. The male one sank his teeth into RJ's beefy arm. He jerked his limb towards himself, the zombie taking a chunk out of him. "Fuckballs," he hissed, barely keeping control of the tow truck. Rita gasped when she glanced over and saw his arm.
The last cop was taken down as he attempted to radio for more help, an arm still holding the radio reciever passed along to a dead young woman who gnawed it with gusto. The Helpful Ones busied themselves herding the dead ones and sealing and hiding the entrances to the tunnels.
The tow truck came to a stop in front of an old one-storey house, the dark-skinned woman running down the path to the front door. "Daddy!," she hollered. Ray appeared in the doorway scratching his chin as Rita hurriedly relayed what had happened. "And RJ is hurt but we have ta get outta here!"
"I oughta kick his damn ass for gettin you mixed up in this mess," the old man grumbled. "Damned Fireflys." Nevertheless he quickly packed a few things and headed to the tow truck with his daughter.
"Wake up, Tommy," spoke a deep, masculine voice. The boy sat up in the truck seat, rubbing his eyes and saw Jim chewing thoughtfully on a hot dog. He had been plagued with dreams of carnage and dead bodies and was relieved to find the canny soldier with him.
"Where we going?," Tommy wondered. Jim replied that they were heading west to lose themselves. The teen burst into tears, God he was a murderer of a long line of murderers. He carried that seed of evil inside him. Did he deserve a second chance, a new life?
"Your mother gave up a lot to ensure a decent life for you," Jim reminded him. There's that telepathy again, Tommy thought. Jim snorted as he started up the Blazer and they continued on their way.