Cosmic Undead: Contenders

A great day to make a new friend...

“So Jeremy, what did you say you prepare for lunch?”, she asked, immediately she stepped out of her room, almost startling Jeremy.

“Spaghetti!”, he replied, sharply, almost screaming. “Spaghetti and meatballs”

Mia stopped walking and looked at him for a few seconds. “Are you okay?”

“Okay? Sure. Why won’t I be okay?”

“You don’t look okay. You look like you just broke something in the kitchen”, she replied and headed towards the kitchen. “You sure you didn’t break something in the kitchen?”

“Kitchen? f**k! I have to confirm that”, he muttered and rushed to the kitchen before her.

“What’s up with you? Did you do something again?”

“Me? No”, he replied, stretching the words as they came out. She walked into the kitchen and saw him by the pot. “I want to be the one to serve you”

She smiled, sheepishly, and walked up to him. “Thank you. It smells nice”

Greg and Becca moved back from the two of them, with their plates in hand, slowly walking out of the kitchen.

“Yes. I made this and I definitely did not order it with an invisible credit card”

Greg stopped and glared at him. “What are you doing?”, Becca asked.

“Me? What is he doing?”, Greg replied. “He’s taking credit for my work”

“Let’s get out of here”

***★***

The man at the gambling house had described the bus station, with details on how to get there. There was no way he could be sure the description was true but he needed to get to Ghostville, as soon as possible.

The whole place was noisy. He turned round, looking for where to buy a ticket. His eyes fell on a television on the wall, out in the open. The volume was either too low or the noise around there had choked it. Whatever the news was about, it had to deal with the ‘animal attack’.

“Hey, mate. What’s up?”, a man called, from behind him, also staring at the Television. “I bet this city’s never heard of such attack”

“Hey”, Baron greeted. “I’m a stranger here”

“I almost guessed. Those cuts we’re not inflicted by an animal”, the man said.

“Did you see the face? The attack was so brutal. Nothing else could have done so much harm”

“Nothing that you know of, you mean”

“How can you be so sure of that?”, Baron asked, feeling uncomfortable. He had a very short time to get to his daughter. He couldn’t afford getting his plans foiled, when he’s not even halfway yet.

The man stepped closer, making him a lot more nervous. “What if I told you I know what did that?”, he muttered, silently. “Or WHO did it?”

Baron stared blankly at the stranger. “Then I’ll tell you to go to the police, if you were so sure”, Baron replied, confidently. “I think I have to use the bathroom”

The man stared at him, smiling like he had something on Baron. Baron walked away but stopped, after a few steps, and turned. “Where’s the bathroom?”

“Just go around. You’ll see the door”, the man replied. “It’s a big room and there are two bathrooms for males”

“Thank you”, Baron said and walked to the bathroom. There were four bathrooms; two for males and two for females. He walked to the closest male bathroom and knocked. “Anybody in?”

There was no response. He pulled the door open and walked in. His heart seemed to have sped up. There was no way the man could have seen him that night…. Maybe he did. He turned the tap and washed his face with water, glaring into the room. He admired the reflection of his face. Every part of him was exactly the way it looked, two years ago, before his first end. His perfectly trimmed and shaped beards had remained the same. He raised his fingers and stared at it for a second. His claws were one of the few things that had changed… and the fangs. He never had that. He was slowly becoming a monster and he knew that… or he was already a monster and the tracks he left could only be compared with that of a wild beast… The reason he had accepted Hermen’s offer to return was not to escape the torments of hell. It was to get a chance to win back his daughter’s heart. He was running out of time, already. He looked up, as if he were expecting a clock on the walls. He pushed the door open and rushed out. The strange man was standing right behind the door.

“What do you want?”, Baron asked. “I got to go”

The man placed his hand on Baron’s chest. “Hold on, mate. I didn’t tell you all that just so you may go”

“What do you want? I need to get on the next bus”

“The clock’s ticking. My time is short”, the man said and flexed his fingers. His nails stretched out , sharp-edged like claws. He swung his arm at Baron. Baron dodged the attack, by bending his head. The man raised his knee and hit it against Baron’s head. Baron staggered back, stunned. “You’re strong but.. one of us is desperate”

The man rushed at him again. He caught the arm and threw a punch at his face. The man swung the second arm but Baron caught it again and butted the man’s head. He lifted the man off the ground and slammed him against the wall, holding him up. His eyes fell on the tattoo on the man’s arm. It had the same pattern as the tattoo on his arm. He never drew a tattoo when he was alive so the man probably got it from the same source. He pulled the man down, slowly. “We are the same. From the same hell cage”, Baron muttered in his ear. “I could use you to get another twenty four hours now but it’s not going to work. You know why? Because we are the same. You want to beat the ticking clock, find a real living person”

The door opened and a man walked in. “Sorry. Is there a problem?”, the man asked, staring and holding the door open, as if planning to run back out.

Baron unheld the man and stepped back. “There is absolutely no problem. You can use the bathroom”, Baron replied and walked out of the bathroom, immediately.

“Aargh!!”, a loud scream tore through his eardrums, while he was only a few steps away from the bathroom door. Anyone could have heard it. He knew what had happened. He turned and looked at the door. He wasn’t meant to care. Everyone has a story and he was about to focus on his.

“Officer… I need to buy a ticket to Ghostville”

***★***

“This is a bad idea, guys”, Jeremy said, standing in front of the door. “You guys are influencing me, badly”

“Last time I checked, this was your idea”, Lisa replied. “And it’s a pretty great one”

“Or you could just take my advice”, Prof Adkins said, casually. “Fix the TV the way you do it”

“And I told you I’ve never fixed such”, Jeremy replied.

“The same way you pull swords out of the air, dummy. It’s basically reality manipulation”

“Sorry but I’m not good at that reality manipulation stuff. I just create the illusion of holding it and I pull it into reality”

“You’re just too nervous to do it”, Prof Adkins replied. “Get out of here and let’s get this over with”

“Ok”, Jeremy exhaled and pushed the door open. “Becca and Greg haven’t said anything since forever. I hope they’re not making out in my head”

“Shut up and walk”, Becca ordered.

This was the first time they were stepping out in daytime, since they got back from Somnolence. The first time they walked out, it was already late. Now it felt like everyone had their eyes on him, Jeremy was conscious of every step he took. He flipped the hood over and covered his face. “This isn’t the hood you wore the other night, is it?”, Big Momma asked

“Why does that matter?”

“Because these people are probably expecting the Undead to come back and do some other heroic s**t so they’ll be looking out for any hint”

“Ok. Whatever”, Jeremy said. “It’s a different color. Even if it were the same, there are probably a thousand similar pieces in that store. Not enough reason to assume”

The hood didn’t seem to be covering his face well enough so whoever was approaching him from the front might be able to get a clear view of his face. He lowered his head, keeping his face down, as he walked on. A man bumped into him, almost immediately. “Hey, raise your head and watch out”, the man said.

“Sorry about that”, he apologized, without looking up, and kept walking.

“I was expecting a better response from you. Now you seem like a loser”, Greg said.

“What kind of response is better than sorry?”

“A response in which you tell him to look up. If he had his eyes on the road, he wouldn’t have bumped into us”, Greg said.

“You sound so passionate about it, even though you can’t even feel it”, Jeremy replied. “That’s totally weird. Makes me think Becca has done something wrong”

“No, i***t. We’re in this together… literally”, Greg said. “And stop mentioning Becca in this kinds of situation. She’ll bite your head off”

“The advice will be considered”, he replied, as he walked across the street. He quickened his pace, as a big truck approached. A young boy, on the other side, stared at him with a cone of ice cream in his hand, as he approached.

He was going to offer an handshake to the little boy when the truck took a sharp turning, heading towards the little boy. Jeremy, impulsively, jumped at the boy, carrying him in his arms and falling on his back. The truck had almost crashed into a building, when it turned back into the road. Jeremy breathed heavily. The truck had been so close to the boy. A woman walked up to him and grabbed the boy.

“Oh my God! Thank you very much”, she said, as she lifted her son off the ground. “I’m so grateful”

“Nice work, fam!”, a man also greeted Jeremy, from behind.

Jeremy just smiled back. “It’s nothing. We should watch the backs of one another”, he said, nervously.

“Dumb response”, Greg said, in his head

“That was one hell of a flip. You should teach me, someday”, the man replied.

Jeremy laughed and nodded. His smile slowly faded, as he realized his hood had flipped back and everyone could see his face, already. Another man walked up to him. “Thank you very much, man. Thank God you were there”, the man greeted him and held out his hand. “Daniel Creeks”

Jeremy shook his hand. “Jeremy Pence”, he replied, impulsively, smiling back.

“Nice to meet you, Jeremy. I’ll never forget this”

“You shouldn’t”, Jeremy said. “It’ll help you appreciate the great kid you got”

“That’s right”, the man nodded. “I could use a few friends like you”

“Friendship’s not for sale”, Jeremy replied. “It starts from somewhere. We can kick off from here”

“It’s the little boy’s birthday. Now that I think about it, I can’t imagine how bad I’d feel if the worst happened”

“I guess it’s a great day to make a new friend”, Jeremy said and leaned closer to the boy. “Happy birthday-“

“Billy. His name is Billy”, the man said and held out his phone to Jeremy. “You want to give me your number. I’ll phone you later in the day”

“I’ll be glad to give it out”, he collected the phone and dialed his number. “That’s it”

“Thank you, Jeremy. I’ll keep in touch”, Daniel said and walked away with his wife, who carried the little boy in her arms.

“I’ll be expecting the call”, Jeremy said and turned around. He flipped the hood over and covered his head, even though it didn’t seem necessary anymore.

“What’s the use of the hood now?”, Patmos asked.

“Yea, and you gave your name to that guy”, Big Momma added. “Which dumb person does that?”

“Whatever! It doesn’t seem like he’s ever heard the name so we’re safe anyway”, Jeremy replied. “Also, I’m not wont to getting scolded by a couple”

“And where’s the couple?”, Big Momma asked in a daring voice.

“What’s up with the tone? I meant a couple of ghosts”

They got to the store and walked in. The whole place was lively again and a solemn song was playing, in a moderate volume. It was like the robbery never happened. They were supposed to look around for what they had come for but Jeremy walked towards the cashier.

“Where are you going?”, Tupac asked, as if suspecting an impending stupid action.

“Where does it look like I’m going?”

“It looks like you are going to ask that guy if the thieves returned after you took care of them, last night”

Jeremy chuckled. “What if I do?”

“You are not taking us with you. That would be the dumbest s**t you ever did in your entire life”

“What are you going to do about it? Jump out of me?”, he said, as he got to the cashier’s desk.

“Wait!”, the cashier got up, suddenly, as if he had seen something shocking.

“f**k! I think he recognizes me”, Jeremy muttered, silently. He needed to get the suspicion thrown out before the cashier saw another proof. Jeremy acted casual and pulled down his hood. “Wait, what?”

“Wait! Were you just talking to yourself?”, the cashier asked.

“Talking to myself. Why would I be talking to myself?”

“Your mouth moved about a thousand times when you walked in… and you did that silent laugh thing”, the cashier said. “My uncle’s a psychologist. He helps with this kind of issues”

“I wasn’t talking to myself. I was talking to someone… through my airpod”, Jeremy lied. “It’s an invisible airpod so you can’t see it”

“Ooh kayy”, the cashier said, slowly, looking confused.

“Okay, Greg. I’ll catch up with you later”, Jeremy said, pretending to be on a call, hearing through his ‘invisible airpod’. “Yes, I know you’re some real piece of s**t. Can you end the call from there?”

“I don’t believe this s**t but I’ll let it go”

“What can I say? Rich people so have to prove themselves”

“Rich people don’t leave their homes, just to come and chat with a cashier, so why don’t you tell me how mush you came to spend on us here?”

Jeremy smiled. “I need a television”

“There’s a section for electronics. I don’t need to walk you there, do I?”

“What if I want you to?”

“You’ll be wasting your time. It’s not going to happen”, the cashier sat down on his chair.

A woman walked to the counter and dropped her cart. The cashier stood up and attended to her.

“Okay. Let me just go straight to the point-“

“Shut up. You’re distracting”, the cashier cut in, as he typed into his computer. The woman handed her ATM card to him. He processed the payment and returned the card to her. “Have a great day, ma’am”

“Thank you”, she replied, as the cashier packaged her purchases and handed it to her.

“I want a television. It has to be Hisense U8G”, Jeremy said. “The thing is I’m trying to replace one and it has to be the same type”

“Sorry but we don’t have Hisense products”, the cashier replied. “Not even the Hisense toothbrush”

“I’m not joking. This is serious. I need to get one before night falls”

“I’m not joking, either. You want me to lead you to the toothbrush section?”, the cashier teased further. “If you find an Hisense brand, I’ll sell it to you with a zero percent discount”

Jeremy turned immediately, and headed out of the store. He was obviously wasting his time. “f**k!”, he punched the air. “We’re doomed”

“f**k! You’re doomed”, Billy corrected.

“We are together. Whatever happens to me happens to you too”

“No. We could simply walk out of your body and she won’t even see us”

“You’re joking, right? I can make you visible to anyone, like I did at the store, yesterday”

**★**

“So what am I supposed to do now?”, Jeremy said, staring nervously at the Television on the table and the broken glasses carefully laid beside it.

“Start manipulating reality, son”, Prof Adkins said.

“Why have you become so carefree about everything, lately?”

Prof Adkins laughed. “What? Am I supposed to be serious now? That sounds like you want me to jump out of you, smack you in the face and walk back in”, Prof Adkins said. “Mia won’t be back in a few hours so you don’t need to pee in your pants. Just calm down and do it”

“Well, I don’t know how to fit this tiny pieces into the holes. Is the Sceptre supposed to help me do that?”

“The Sceptre is supposed to tell you what to do”, Prof Adkins replied. “You seem to be letting your fears hold it back… and the idea of fitting the tiny pieces is too bad an idea to come from a human’s brain”

“Okay”, Jeremy said and sighed. He remained for a second and closed his eyes. He pulled a basket out of thin air and poured the broken glasses into it. Then he created a hole in the ground and dropped the basket in.

“How did you do that?”, Prof Adkins asked.

“I created an illusion and made it real… and I can only do it with things I can touch, feel and control”

“You can touch that television. Now, do the same thing”

Jeremy held the TV and closed his eyes. He imagined the glass regrowing and covering up the hole. He grabbed the TV, a little tighter, and lifted it. The Television was fixed. “Whoa! It worked”, he said, loudly.

“Good. We can rest now”, Lisa said. “We walked to the store and broke Mia’s rule for nothing”

“Relax. We earned a new friend. He’ll call me soon”, Jeremy replied.

“I’ll relax… but you shouldn’t ‘cause you just broke Mia’s trust”, Lisa said. “Imagine how she’s going to feel when she learns of this”

Jeremy’s smile faded. “Are you trying to get in my head or something?”

“I am in your head already… but, think whatever you want, she’s going to be so mad at you”, Lisa said. “And your new friend is never going to call you”

“Lisa, are you mad at me?”, Jeremy asked. His phone beeped in his pocket. He pulled it out, quickly, and a name was displayed on the screen. He was having a call. “Oh my God! Someone is calling me. Guys, someone is calling my number!”

“Is it the guy?”, Tupac asked.

“I don’t know but it’s a strange number.”

…….

The door opened and Mia walked in, quickly, as if angry about something. “What’s up? Welcome, Amy”, Jeremy greeted.

She took her seat. “Did you cook dinner, today?”, she asked in a kind of mean voice.

“Um, yea. Is there a problem?”

“Yes. There is a big problem with you but I’d rather eat, first”, Mia said and walked into the kitchen to serve herself.

“She’s mad at you, Jeremy”, Lisa said. “Just imagine if she gets to know you went out. Then she’ll be madder at you”

“Can someone tell me why my conscience is sounding so much like Lisa?”

“It’s Lisa, you i***t!”

“Don’t worry. She won’t be saying s**t again”, Billy said. “I’ll be busy kissing her”

“That’s the only thing that’ll save you”, Lisa added. “But I’ll be-“

She stopped, abruptly. “Hmm”, Jeremy said. “I’m guessing the kiss has started”

Mia stormed back out of the kitchen with a plate of food. “Wow! You’re really good at cooking”, she said. “But I’m still very mad at you. Did you leave the house after I told you not to?”

“Uhn? How… I did n-“

“Damn it, Jeremy. I’m trying to protect you here”, she said, less as loud as expected. “A lady walked up to me to thank you for the boy you saved on the street”

“What? They know me, already?”

“No, they didn’t… not till you walked out and showed yourself to them”, Mia replied. “Apparently, they saw you walk into my apartment and, now, they know where you live. You are probably still safe, as long as they don’t know your story or your name”

“Sure. Thank you for not sending me out”

Mia laughed. “Why would I do that? I’ll never do that”, she said. “And maybe I’m taking it easy on you ‘cause I was coming with a good news”

“Apart from the nice dinner, I guess you got an income raise at work”

“Yea… now that you said it, the fun is ruined”

***★***

The man nodded at his wife and walked to the bathroom. He could see through a transparent glass on the door, before he even got there. He remained behind the door, staring in at the unusual red stains on one of the doors in there. The stain didn’t only look unordinary, but it was clearly new and dropping. After a few seconds of hesitation, he slowly pushed the door open. He peeped into the room and saw a man, sitting on another man. He didn’t need to know what was happening there but there was blood all around. He glared at the scene for some seconds, breathing heavily. “Oh my God”, he muttered, silently. The smell of blood was so strong that he felt nauseated. He staggered back, unintentionally slamming the door close, and fell on his back, just a few steps away from the door. A man opened the door and their eyes met. He had fangs, with blood over his mouth, and bright eyes. He snarled and jumped.

“Hey! Watch out”, a stranger said, after almost colliding with the man-beast. He pulled out his phone, quickly, and moved back, looking terrified.

The man-beast saw the phone. He knew what was about to happen. He left the man he held and ran after the stranger. The man got up, quickly, and ran to the toy shop.

“What’s it? Why are you running?”, his wife asked.

“There’s something in the bathroom”, he said, as he pulled out his phone. “Let’s get out of here”

“You didn’t even get to use the bathroom?”

“There is blood all over the bathroom!”, he said, bluntly. “If you don’t want my blood to add to the design, let’s get out of here, this second”

“Ok”, she carried her daughter and they rushed into the bus. “Are you calling the cops?”

“Sure. Whatever that thing is, I saw it going after someone”