“Well, that’s interesting.” I said, scratching my head. On your knees! I screamed in my thoughts, convinced I was going to give myself an aneurysm. Re-Pete dropped to his knees like a choir boy promised a new bike. (You can go anywhere you want with that, I’m not getting any more descriptive.) His knees slammed hard into the pavement. I heard what sounded like his patella on his left leg cracking in two. Normally, I’d cringe, but the sense of power welling up in me was invigorating and I was thrilled I had hindered him in some way.
Was the next thing I wanted to try possible? DIE! I shouted over and over. I was concentrating so hard, my body began to sway back and forth. Sweat was cascading down my forehead. Re-Pete was looking at me like I had lost my mind.
“Talbot?”
My thoughts were snapped; how did Re-Pete know my name? I bent lower to look into its eyes.
“Mike!” An alarmed voice came from behind me. “What are you doing?” I heard heavy footfalls coming up fast. I was physically moved from my spot like a child might move his GI Joe, quickly and without regard for personal comfort.
“You alright, man?” BT asked me as he kept running. We were a good thirty yards away from the fence before he finally put me down. “Are you bit or scratched?” BT asked, trying his best to look me over.
I peered around him at Re-Pete who had gotten back up on his feet. “Well, he didn’t die?”
“What?” BT asked in alarm. “Who didn’t die?”
“Re-Pete,” I told him like he should know exactly what I was talking about.
“Mike, what’s going on? Is Eliza here? Is she in your head? Are you bit?” He kept rapidly firing questions at me.
I was still suffering from mild after-effects from the disconnection with Re-Pete. I guess that’s what you could call it. Wonderful! I wonder if they have any medications for postpartum depression resulting from the lost contact between man and zombie. It could open up a whole new market for the pharmaceutical companies.
“Mike! I’m about to slap the shit out of you, if you don’t start talking to me!” BT roared in my face.
I wasn’t quite ready to come back to this semblance of reality, but when BT says he’s going to slap the shit out of you, you tend to listen. “Don’t you dare!” I said, finally taking my eyes from Re-Pete. “I’m fine,” I was able to grunt out.
“I don’t know if it’s the moonlight or what, but you don’t look fine.”
I waved dismissively at his words. “Follow me,” I told him as I walked past him and back to an eager looking Re-Pete who now only had eyes for the bigger, beefier BT. “I knew you’d leave me at the first opportunity,” I told Re-Pete as I approached.
“Huh?” BT asked. “I’m right here, man. Are you sure you’re alright?”
“I was talking to Re-Pete,” I told BT.
“That’s hilarious,” BT said without a hint of humor.
“I’m serious, first he wanted to eat me and now he’d rather eat you, but to be fair, I’m sure once he was done with you, he’d want to eat me again. He’s non-discriminatory that way.”
“I knew it had to happen sooner or later,” BT stated flatly. “I mean it really was just a matter of time. The problem now is how do I tell Tracy?”
“What are you talking about?” I asked him.
“You going crazy, that’s what I’m talking about. I mean everyone knew you were already precariously perched on the ledge even before the zombies came. That you held out this long has amazed most of us.”
“You do know I’m standing right here, right?”
“Sure physically you are, but mentally you’re gone, man,” BT said. “I’ll miss you. I count you among one of my best friends.”
“BT, I’m not insane,” I said. He merely tapped the top of my head like I was six years old and I had said something cute.
“Come here, BT,” I told him, approaching closer to Re-Pete.
“Don’t you get too close to him. There are some medications that you can take that, aside from some excessive drooling, will almost make you normal. There’s no cure for zombie. Tracy will skin me alive if I bring back an insane zombie.”
“All this time, I thought zombies were already insane.”
“Come on, Mike, let’s get the rest and we’ll just head back to Maine. Maybe there’s still a part of you that can be salvaged. A small part, sure, but some is better than none.”
“BT, shut up and watch.”
I said aloud, “On your knees,” at the same time as I thought it. Pretty talented right?!
Re-Pete didn’t disappoint. He instantly once again fell to his knees. This time his already cracked patella completely shattered with a loud snapping noise.
BT had finally shut up and was looking back and forth from me to Re-Pete. “That’s not some sort of trick is it?”
“Yeah, I was using finger snacks as a training aid,” I said sarcastically.
“Coincidence then?” he asked, still not quite believing what he was witnessing.
“Get up,” I told and thought. Re-Pete stood with some difficulty and was favoring his left leg, but stood he did. “Turn around.” Re-Pete did; he was now facing away from us.
BT’s nose was almost pressed up against the fence. “You know, this is fucking amazing,” BT said, not turning back towards me. Now he turned. “How many do you think you could do this to?”
“No clue, I didn’t know I could do this until a few minutes ago.”
“Is it hard?”
“I have to concentrate but it’s no more difficult than listening to you talk.”
“Funny,” BT said turning back to Re-Pete. “Can you make him hurt himself?”
“I don’t think directly. I tried to make Re-Pete kill himself.”
“Repeat?”
“Re-Pete, P…E…T…E.” I said spelling the name. BT was looking at me funny. “He was following me around, I thought the name seemed fitting.”
BT looked at me like he wasn’t completely convinced I hadn’t stepped over the edge. “Then what about indirectly?”
“Well, I think he shattered his knee the way he’s been dropping to them, but I don’t know if he’s incapacitated.”
“Is there a certain distance you have to be from them?”
I shrugged, I had no clue. “He stopped listening to me when you pulled me away, but I don’t really know from what point he stopped or if it was because I lost concentration while you were jiggling me around like Jell-o.”
“Well, walk away; let’s see what happens.”
“I’d rather just put a bullet in its head; he’s really starting to reek.”
“We’ll get to that, but we have got to test the limitation of this. We might never get another opportunity like this.
“Yeah, that’d be a shame,” I told him, turning to walk away.
“You’re still concentrating, right?” BT asked to my retreating back.
“Yes I’m still concentrating, Mrs. Weinstedder.”
“What?”
“Nothing, just my old algebra teacher.”
“So somehow this whole scene reminded you of an old math teacher? Who did the wiring in your head? Because you should get your deposit back.”
“BT what…”
“Stop!” he yelled. “Re-Pete here looks like he’s about to break free.”
I turned to watch. Re-Pete was slightly swaying from side to side. I took one step backwards, the swaying increased.
“Go one more,” BT said, swinging his visage back to Re-Pete.
I did and Ree turned around to face us. I won’t say he had a look of confusion on his face, wondering what had happened, first because the light wasn’t good enough to see that minute of a facial detail from this distance; and secondly, I don’t think zombies have any facial expression beyond perpetual snarl.