"So what exactly is history?"
Jay was standing before a lecture he was giving for one of his nursing classes. This particular class introduced his students to the history of nursing, in and of itself. But, Jay liked to take a walk on the hypothetical side at times, particularly where it pertained to history itself. This particular time Linda, Jay's wife, was watching his lecture from home. She always loved to hear him speak, even if it was about something as boring as history to her. His spin on it was what made it so intriguing.
"Why is it our history is what it is? Have you ever stopped to think about that sometimes? Why did it follow suit the way that we today have it recorded?
"What if something is missing? What if none of it is even true? What if it has been altered? None of us in this room were there to witness it, so we have to take everything that has ever been recorded on faith alone, as proof. But what if it all truly is a myth, a lie concocted for some reason we'll never know or never understand?
For instance, how do we know that the Egyptians didn't have automobiles, planes, or electronic devices of all sorts? Some mysterious hieroglyphs seem to suggest that something unusual existed back then, as you can see in the slides beside me. Scholars would have you believe they were worn away glyphs that implied something else entirely. But, really? I mean, look at that obvious shape of a light bulb. It wore the glyph away that uniformly?
"What if the Romans had nuclear weapons? What if America wasn't the first to have invented the atomic bomb? Immediately following the fall of Rome the Dark Ages ensued. Now, was it just because of revolt and uprising or did a man made disaster occur on the part of the Romans? Maybe they were responsible for the devastating eruption of Krakatoa in 566 A.D, with some sort of nuclear device? Perhaps not, that's probably a stretch, but who knows.
"Or what if, going back to the time of Noah, the world then was exactly like the world we live in today? What if they had skyscrapers, billions of lives, and a massive flood destroyed it all, wiped the slate clean? After thousands of years there would be very little proof of such a thing, depending on when the flood may have occurred. But what if our world today is just a cyclical rebirth of a world long since forgotten? What does that spell for our future, and how will it end?"
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"Hey! HEY!", snipped Rob at Linda, who appeared transfixed in thought. She fell out of her gaze and looked up at the boy who was Rob.
"You better stay focused, lady. There's no time for day dreaming here."
Rob and Linda were hiding near a loading dock at the back of the hospital for the area. Only dumpsters separated them from a bevy of zombies nearby, wandering aimlessly.
"Do they always come in bunches like this?", Linda whispered.
"Sometimes. Sometimes more, a lot more. But the thing is, you could run right out there, right past them, and none of them even look at you. Or, you could attract the whole lot of them. It's just the luck of the draw."
"But, I thought they feed on us? Our flesh? Our brains, I guess? Shouldn't they always come after us?"
"Only in a movie, lady. These things don't act like that. I really can't tell you what they want, I just know when they want something you had better be gone, especially if you're what they are after."
"You mean they....they can think? What kind of zombie is that?"
Rob looked right at Linda, "One that's under someone else's control."
Rob looked back out at the landscape before him. He saw a gap between several of them, one he thought they could slip through quickly to the adjacent building where there would be safety.
"Ok, lady, let's go!"
Rob darted off, even as Linda pleaded for him to wait. Hesitating only for a second, Linda jumped up and followed him along the path.
Just as Rob had predicted, none of the zombies were paying either of them any attention. It was as if both of them were completely invisible and sound proof. Having only see this kind of thing in movies and on television, Linda was gasping as she passed within inches of several near the path they were on, but none lunged for her. Both of them made it across safely to the building where Rob had set up his own camp. It was an old laboratory building that was vacated some time before.
Once inside, Rob bolt the door with his makeshift lock, sealing them inside.
"We're safe in here now", said Rob.
"I can't believe that just happened? I can't believe we just walked right through those things like they weren't even there? This can't be real?", said Linda.
"Well, you'd better get used to it, Linda, because it's very real."
"But why? What's causing this? And you said they are under someone else's control? Who's? Pat's?
The people who sent us here?"
"Pat is just a player, I'm not sure anyone knows who's actually in control of all of this."
"What happened here, Rob? The truth?"
Rob stood there for a few moments, staring at Linda. This was a lot for a young boy to have to answer for. Boys weren't supposed to have to do that. They were supposed to collect baseball cars, play basketball, play video games. Rob was living a nightmare and even he wasn't completely sure of why.
"I don't know the truth. I just know one day the world was a lot like yours over there and then the next it was this, and lots of people were dying."
"Over there? Like Dr. Blake said? An alternate reality?"
"Something like that."
"No it is that, right?"
Rob went on to doing something else, as Linda pursued him.
"Rob, you've been here for a while, right? You have to know more than you're telling me, something? Anything? You can't just wake up in this world and that's just it. What are you not telling me?"
Rob stopped sifting through items, which he appeared to be looking for food, and planted his arms firmly on the table, his back to her. Linda stood there waiting for a response.
Rob turned around to face her, "I don't like to talk about what went on here because everytime I do something bad happens, or I go to sleep and something worse happens over there. It's not worth it. You think you've got it rough today? HA! Look what I've had to put up with lady? You beating on me, people attacking me, all in a body I have no control over how I even got in it or when. I just know that this is it, this is all. So you can shut up and help me find food and drinks, or you can walk back out that door and try to save your own life all by yourself. It's up to you."
Rob immediately turned around and rummaged again. Linda looked over the dimmly lit room. There were all manner of canned goods. It was obvious Rob had loads of food at his disposal, and drinks weren't far behind. It looked a little too well stocked.
"Why did he send you here, Rob?"
Rob stopped again, holding a can in his hands, "Who?"
"Pat? What did you do to deserve coming here, like me?"
Rob turned back around to her, laughing a bit. "What makes you think he sent me here, like you?"
This puzzled Linda.
"I told you, this is my world, this is my home. I've lived here my entire life. My dad, Pat, was here with me too, my whole family and all of my friends. You don't need to be asking why he sent me here. You need to be asking why he came to your world in the first place?"
