The Saga Of Tom Stinson (Book 1): Summer School Zombocalypse (18 page)

Winston ducked down and ran to the passageway as streaks of light zipped past his head. “We’ve got company,” he hissed.

“
OMG! There so many of them!” Anidea chirped.

Lizardmen appeared from hatches in the ground across the valley, from around large rocks and peered over balcony railings that blended into the flora higher up on the canyon wall.

At the base of the stairs that led up to the balcony, a lizardman at the head of the group stood out. He wore ornate robes of red and purple. He pointed at Tom. His voice echoed, “What are these abominations. Capture them.”

“
They speak English. They’re speaking Englishfaaagw!!” Anidea hiss click clicked.

“
Your speakingazzas za lizardfish. ASsxWhat are you trying to xsaySAezsdesa,” Winssston blizorgorfed.

“
Andzedae! Raz hisss tic.”

The lizardmen charged forward carrying nets. From the balconies, canisters spewing orange gas landed around them. The gas made them choke and feel dizzy. They turned to flee and staggered through the orange cloud to the passageway.

The capsule was the only place they knew where to go. Winston raised his gun to fire as Tom, Anidea and Emmett moved past him. His vision clouded by the gas, he fired blindly. Shrill screams cried out and that gave him courage. “If you want a fight, then come and get it!”

From above, a glowing net whipped down on top of him and pinned him to the ground. He tried to fire his gun, but the more he strained the heavier the net grew.

Through the orange cloud a figure appeared. A scaly foot pushed his arm into the dirt and crushing pain stabbed across his forearm. The gun was pulled from his hand. In the distance Anidea cried to be let go.

Emmett made it as far as the passageway before his legs were pulled out from underneath him. His chin hit the ground, sharp pain ran across his face and the taste of salty copper filled his mouth. He could feel his teeth cut through his lip. He tried to scramble away but he could not get free of the bonds on his legs before he was pushed back to the ground. His arms were pulled behind him and bound. Tom jumped into the pod and pulled the door lever to close the hatch. Lizard hands wrapped around the edge of the hatch door and a rock was jammed in, preventing it from closing. A face appeared in the gap of the door. The lizardman held one of the canisters. It smiled at him, twisted the top of the canister and tossed it into the escape pod. The door closed. His last thought before he blacked out was,
how did he know it smiled?

Tom woke, he was bound to a table like the boy on the spaceship. A piece of apparatus was attached to his chest, beeping and buzzing and blinking. He struggled, pain shooting through his body. At his side a voice said, “Don’t move, it will only make things worse.”

“
Let me go,” Tom said.

The lizardman snipped scissors in front of his face. “An interesting display of emotion. How curious. Do you fear me?”

“
When I get free, I’m going to kill you!”

“
Be silent, abomination. I am here to examine you. Not to learn if you are capable of emotion. Where did your species come from? Answer me!”

Tom shook his head.

The lizardman stuck a long needle into Tom’s nose. It crunched as it pierced the back of his nasal cavity. His body went rigid, blood ran down the back of his throat and he spat it at the lizardman as hard as he could manage.

“
I see you know how we feed our young, learn to aim better,” the lizardman wiped his face. “You couldn’t have originated here. You’re too primitive to survive our climate. What happened to the ship that the pod came from?

Tom spat again, hissing with rage.

“
How did you get on the pod?” The lizardman licked the spit from his arm, then twisted a needle into Tom’s arm and attached a tube to it. He patted Tom’s arm and watched blood flow into a beaker.

“
We saw the face from the escape pod,” Tom said. “It wasn’t a lizard face. You’re not from here either.”

Clamps pinched Tom’s ears. “The more you talk, the more it proves you are not one of us. I understand you, but your words make no sense. A mutation perhaps.”

“
You only have one ship then. Is that all your species could build? Maybe we destroyed it.”

“
Your insolence will only get you into more trouble.”

“
That’s a big word for a lizard brain. How could I get into any more trouble when you’re the one that’s about to be cut open.”

The lizardman pried back the scales on Tom’s forehead with a tiny hook and knife. “This third eye of yours, very curious. However, your friend’s is more developed than yours, were you born on the ship?”

“
Bite yourself and die, scaleface!”

“
I suspect your are a product of radiation, a mere mutation.”

“
You really have no idea, do you?”

With a sharp tug the lizardman pulled the apparatus from Tom’s chest and a spurt of blood followed after it. He held it up as if reading something. “I didn’t think this possible. You were one of the food creatures, our medical robots must have changed you. Interesting. Our healing microbes are still active in you. Soon you will be just like us. It’s an experiment I would never have been allowed to attempt.”

“
The more reason that you should fear us.”

“
I hardly think so. Your existence is strictly limited.”

The lizardman disappeared from sight, but Tom could hear him. “We have a very interesting situation with one of those creatures down here. Yes, I did say creatures. They are not our species, they are something completely new. They all possess the eye; one is more developed than the others. I recommend that you come see for yourself.” There was a long pause. “I’m certain, absolutely.”

The lizardman reappeared and Tom stayed silent as he watched it work. He knew what they were going to do. They were readying to weave a knife around his scales, cut him open, pull his cavity apart, look into him, and examine him piece by piece, just like a frog in science class. He screamed.

Anidea woke. “Tom?”

“
Quiet!” A lizardman stood over her. “Your friend is quite resilient.”

“
Where are we?”

The familiar sound of lizard technology beeped and buzzed around them with tubes full of liquid flowing from beaker to tube to beaker. Newer looking equipment that made a pinging sound swayed back and forth in a cradle. “I think you know the answer to that.”

“
Where are you, Tom? I can’t see you,” Anidea called.

“
Right behind you, strapped to a table.”

“
I said silence!” the lizardman hissed.

“
Where’s Emmett and Winston? Can you see them?”

“
I can’t move,” Anidea said.

Tom struggled to get free.

Several lizardmen entered the room. One was pushing a cart that held instruments neatly arranged on it. Knives, needle saws, and sharp looking twisty things that he had no name for.

“
What are those,” Anidea said.

“
Fresh tools to help me figure you out.”

“
Where are my friends.”

“
Over there. They are lucky the healing microbes are working at all on your physiology. I find it hard to imagine any creature could survive my investigation.”

The lizardman picked up a knife and ran it across a sharpening stone. He stepped out of sight. “It’s time to figure out if you are different from the others.”

“
Astounding,” another voice said.

“
See the transformation is near completion with this one.” The one who held the knife said to the other.

“
Leave Emmett alone,” Tom yelled.

“
Now we can find out how this happened,” the other said.

The other lizardman’s face appeared in Tom’s view. “So very curious to me. Just how did you come to be?”

To Tom he looked like the lizardman who was the leader when they were captured.

“
Tom!” Anidea called out. “They’re doing something. He has a big needle and a knife!”

The lizardman looked up and left Tom’s view. “It’s amazing how they learned our language so well,” he said excitedly. “Do you think she’ll scream like the other one?”

“
Please don’t. Mr. Nice Lizardman,” Anidea pleaded.

The lizardman pried up a scale with the knife and stuck the needle into Anidea’s chest. She whinnied in pain. Her blood squirted out into a beaker, and the lizardman held it up to the light.

“
It has amazing color. So red. So succulent looking. I must see that,” the leader said.

The scientist lizardman graciously handed over the beaker to the leader. “I can easily extract more if you need it sir.”

The leader swished the blood around and watched it run down the side of the glass. He stuck his finger into the blood and tasted it. “Interesting,” he said, “a one-eyed cat. I wonder if they taste good. This should prove to be quite fascinating. Let me know if they are compatible. Give me the results as soon as you have them.”

The leader left the room, and Tom watched the scientists at work. One sounded like he was humming.

“
If you can understand us, let us go,” Tom said.

The lizardman looked down on him. He held serrated shears and took hold of Tom’s arm before cutting a large piece of his triceps off. The last thing Tom remembered was the lizardman saying, “I classify you as an abomination only to be studied. Be quiet.”

Tom came to on a bed of gritty sand. Anidea and Winston lay next to him. His arm, he remembered the pain. His hand shot up, and he felt his triceps. It was there, smooth and scaly. It had been cut off, so how did it grow back?

Anidea sat up holding her chest. “Where are we now?”

“
This looks like the prison cell on the ship,” Tom inspected the room. “Winston’s still out. Did you see what happened to Emmett?”

“
When we ran,” Anidea said, “I was captured before I even got to the tunnel. I think Emmett made it in. Do you think he escaped?”

“
Don’t you remember?” Tom replied. “They experimented on us.”

Winston sat up and screamed. “No! His arms and legs flailed and he pushed himself into the corner of the room. Cranial horns protruded from the back and sides of his head and his scales were bright and shiny.

“
Winston. You’re with us. It’s okay,” Tom crawled across the floor to him, “Where did they take you?”

He shook his head, his horns scraped across the wall. Wincing, he raised his hand and felt the back of his head. “No it’s not,” he said. “They are going to eat us in some kind of ceremony.”

“
What?” Anidea asked.

“
One of the scientists that experimented on me said that they can gain our knowledge by eating us. That’s why they didn’t kill us. She said that I reminded her of her son, the way my scales sparkled in the light. She felt sorry for me. That’s why she told me.”

“
Did you see Emmett where you were?” Tom asked.

“
I did, but they took him somewhere. They talked about him a lot. Something about his eye.”

Anidea moved to Winston and held him in her arms.

Tom studied the room for a way out. There was no more than a sink with the black liquid pouring into a basin from a small hole in the wall and the sand covered floor. The door was solid, had no inside handle and there was only a small oval slat in the center.

Tom sifted his hands through the sand on the floor, feeling in it for anything he could use. “Nothing,” he threw sand at the wall, “You would think that someone before us would have hidden a spoon or knife or left some markings on the wall.”

Winston and Anidea watched him. The door opened and Emmett was tossed into the cell. He landed and balled up into a fetal position. They moved to him.

“
Is he hurt?” Tom asked.

“
I can’t tell. What I’m supposed to look for? Do scales bruise?” Anidea replied. “He’s not bleeding, and there are no missing scales. I guess he’s alright.”

“
Smooth as a baby’s bottom,” Winston said, as he rubbed his brothers arm.

Emmett giggled. “Stop, you’re tickling me.”

“
Are you hurt?” Anidea said.

They moved back from him. Tom crossed his arms. “He’s alright.”

“
What happened to you?” Winston asked.

Emmett pointed to the center of his forehead. “They think I’m special because of my eye. They said I can see in ways they can’t.”

“
What’s that supposed to mean?” Anidea asked.

“
They think because of the medical robots, the way they regenerated us, that somehow I was rebuilt in a way that their scientists have only theorized could be done. They said I’m smarter.”

“
Okay then, fancy pants, tell us how we are going to escape,” Anidea said.

“
When are they going to eat us?” Winston asked. “Do you know how long we have before they are planning their ceremony?”

“
I don’t know about any ceremony,” Emmett said.

The oval plate in the door opened, and a tray with the fruits was pushed in. A voice from outside commanded them to take it and eat.

Emmett took the tray from the slot and put it down in the middle of the room. He picked up a piece of fruit. “I’m hungry. I feel like we haven’t eaten in forever.”

His eyes brightened, juices ran down his chin and chest. He took several quick bites more and grunted in enjoyment. He offered it to Anidea. “Tastes like lizard.”

Winston and Tom joined him.

Anidea rushed to the door. “They left the slat open. What do they think we are, stupid?”

“
What if lizardmen are obedient and don’t challenge authority when they commit a crime?” Emmett said, “What if they wouldn’t ever dare to escape as they fear breaking the social taboos of their society more than being punished?”

Anidea threw sand at him. “What are you talking about, Emmett? Don’t be stupid. No one in their right mind would worry about breaking the rules if they don’t fit the situation. Like me when I go shopping. Mix it, don’t match it; solids, patterns, designs. I dress how I want.”

Emmett threw sand back at her. “Not like that.”

Tom jumped up and fished his arm through the hole. “He’s saying that escape should be easy. If there’s a handle or a knob, I’ll get the door open.”

“
Hurry, get it open before they come back,” Anidea said.

“
That’s what I’m trying,” Tom grunted and strained and pushed his shoulder as far into the slot as he could. “I think I felt something, but it’s hard to get a hold. Winston, give me your shoe. I’ll swing it using the laces and catch the door release.”

“
My shoes are gone and so are my clothes. Yours are too.”

“
What?” Tom exclaimed and looked down, “So that’s what lizard parts look like.”

Anidea cried. “I’m so embarrassed. My clothes!”

“
We have no time for feelings,” Tom said. “We need to act fast.”

“
Go faster, Tom.”

“
Hold on Anidea, we’re going shopping.” Winston shook his tail at her.

Seeing Winston, Emmett said to Tom, “Use your tail.”

Tom looked behind him. “Well I’ll be a son of a lizard, “he said, and swished his tail back and forth.

He backed up to the door and put his tail through.” This may take a moment,” he excused himself, “I’m going to have to learn how to operate this thing.”

A few grunts and a groan later, the door clicked open.

“
Lucky lizards don’t sweat,” Anidea said, “from the sounds that you made we’d be drenched. You found your calling, lizard boy! Lock pick.”

Tom hung his tail over his shoulder. “Talk to me when your tail comes in. We’ll have a party.”

They peered down the hallway from the door. “Why don’t they have guards?” Anidea asked.

“
I explained that to you already,” Emmett said.

“
Which way?” Winston asked.

“
Just run,” Tom said.