Culture Shock (© Tony Sandy)
Page 2 Now, like a prisoner of war, I searched for a weak point
- the spot where the searchlights or cameras missed and I dug. I had known I was starting to revert when the Parkinson's
like symptoms started to reappear and I found it hard to kick start my body
into normal, human motion. I hid the shuffling gait as best as I could, the
creeping catatonia but I knew the condition was returning and that there was no
point fighting it. I saw my people wandering in large, distant herds. I
heard the sound of gunfire and explosions as the humans culled them. I longed
to join them. I wanted to forget the normality I'd been a part of in the past
and rejoined here: The bright light effect of coming out of a cinema into
daylight, the noise, the smells, the sensitivity of touch and above all
'taste.' I wanted to forget all of these plus the memories of what I'd done to
others, who trusted me to be at least 'human.' The wounds of these half remembered
crimes against what I was, was just too much to bear. I wanted to slip back
into the opulent dark of unknowing. To be without that sharpness of conscience
and consciousness, was all I longed for. I wanted to forget, big time and
tonight my opportunity came. I scrambled under the wire and got away, joining
my brothers and sisters of the flesh. At first they sniffed me, like some new
animal but then realised I was still the same underneath. Soon the zombie army
marched on, with me in its midst. Sorry professor but I must remain true to my
calling as you do yours. You didn't sin against what you were but for me there
is no going back and no desire to. Even now the language centre is going and
with it my mind. "Ugh, snarl, grunt."
- THE END - Other contributions by this author:- 1. Romero's Children (28-Apr-2013)
| This story is narrated by the survivor of an ancient race, who in turn helps the survivors of the human race when Earth is over run by zombies. | 2. Almost Human (28-Apr-2013)
| This story is about integration and the lengths some 'aliens' will go to, to fit into their new host planet. | 3. The Man Who Wanted To Die But Couldn't (7-Jun-2013)
| Sometimes it doesn't matter how much you despair at life because we can't all die as and when we would like to. | 4. Butchers (7-Jun-2013)
| Are the hunger for something real to eat, when you've been on artificial rations for years. | 5. Zombie Diaries (7-Sep-2013)
| The boredom of day to day existence as a zombie, when you've been used to something better in life. | 6. A Glitch in the Matrix (27-Dec-2013)
| You have an ideal life, then minor, niggling things happen which you ignore until they get more than a little out of hand... |
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