YouTube Goes Zombie

Chapter 4

Zack's POV

My head hurts. I open my eyes, but it's too dark to see anything. Are my eyes actually open? I can't tell. I think I can hear slow breaths beside me. London? I try to move legs, I don't think I can. Maybe I am still sleeping. Sleeping, but my head aches. What happened before I fell asleep? I think... oh. The memory floods back into my mind, filling up the darkness before me. I'm on my hands and knees, my gun is out to the side. The memory shakes violently, and I hear a horrid scream. There's no way that was me. I thought the doctors... they said it was gone. They said that I was fine now. That I didn't have to worry about avoiding anything related to killing. That I didn't have to release all my pent up emotions anymore. When I had that killing spree, could it have reactivated my disorder? Possibly. Not that the doctors could predict anything about a new mental disability. I watch the memory, unable to control anything about it. The scream is cut off by a hand clamped over my mouth. London looks me straight in the eye. Her blond hair is pulled back in a ponytail, and her dark blue eyes are intimidating. She seems to be reaching out to grab something, but I'm unfocused and still shaking. I relive through the pain of something hitting my head. Hard. Cold. Metal. Another hit, and my vision goes black.

Again I'm in the empty space of unconsciousness. But there's something different. Something pulsing, I can feel it. Maybe my heartbeat? Will it lead me back to my senses? Will I awaken? I can stand, but I feel as though I am floating effortlessly. I move towards the pulse. A blue light flashing on what seems to be a wall wherever I am. I think I'm in my mind. I push against the wall. It doesn't budge. Maybe I'm dying? I punch the wall repeatedly, watching cracks form. My fury takes over and I slam my fists into the wall over and over. There's no pain.

Finally I get through, into a place full of light. I raise an arm to cover my eyes, shocked at what my arm is. No skin, no bones, no blood that I can see. Just a shadow. I look down at myself. I am darkness. I'm somewhere I've never been. It feels new. Exciting. My eyes (if they even are eyes) adjust to the light. Lots of doors down a long, long hallway. At the end I can see a screen, like the one that showed my memory. From here it looks five inches in diameter. I walk up to the first door. There's a label next to it reading 'birth'. I make a sour face and walk to the next door. 'Age 1'. Sounds a little boring. I go to the next, 'Age 2'. My feet pound the floor of wherever I am as I run to the end of the hall and watch the giant screen. The screen shows... is that me? My body lies on the floor of a bathroom, eyes closed. The screen moves to the door, the back to me. Suddenly it shows a dog, the husky, Yukon. I'm not looking through the eyes of my own body, is this London? I look back at the closest door. Curiousity takes control as I walk up to it. She never told me her real name, her age, where she was from, or anything about her. 'Age 21', a year younger than me. There's no way I can resist this. Time to find out a little past about her. I open the door and step in.

There's light and color everywhere. I'm filled with a warm sensation as I look around at the memories. The first one, closest to me, her carrying me towards Walmart. That must be where we are. I walk past all the zombie ones, they don't matter. She was in school when the zombies attacked. Back a little further. Her friend calling her Ashley, so that's her name. Even farther back. She's sitting on her bed in an oversized sweatshirt and sweatpants. A bowl of ice cream is in her hands and she's in front of the computer, watching YouTube videos. I watch as tears fall down her face. The screen moves so I can see she's watching an Indian woman who looks like someone pretty awesome. I've never got to watch a lot of YouTube, but I'm pretty sure this is... Superwoman? I think so. Superwoman isn't sad, what's with the tears? Maybe she just broke up, it's said that girls eat ice cream in sweatpants when they get their hearts broken. This really isn't any of my business, but it feels important for me to go a little farther. I see her talking to a boy. He's my complete opposite, with light blond hair and dark brown eyes. Must be her former boyfriend. I watch her talk to this guy, entranced by whatever she sees in him. He seems to be eyeing some other person with puppy dog eyes. Either he's her boyfriend and wants to cheat on her, or he's not and he's not interested. It's her business, and I go back to the door. Not without passing a memory that I can feel radiate more importance than any other. A few seconds of a scene, her looking at her phone with a bunch of notifications. They're all YouTube videos labeled something like 'Toronto Library YouTube Meeting'. She has to be headed there, it makes sense, if all of this is real. I walk back out of the door and shut it behind me, glancing at the screen. London, or Ashley, is bending over my body, trying to shake me awake. I better get back to my own mind before London notices the shadow working his way through her memories. This is personal stuff, if it's real, and I shouldn't be messing with it. I leave, and go back through the hole in my mind that's turned into a doorway. My real, physical eyes start to open as my soul merges with my body.

"Oh my fucking god!" London jumps backwards as I gasp for air.

"Wa-water." I choke out, my throat dry.

"Okay, I got it." She runs over to her backpack and pulls out a water bottle. I take it from her and chug it down. After a couple deep breaths I feel ready to talk.

"Your real name..." I start.

"Is absolutely none of your business, and don't bother trying to guess it. Now about your exorcism..." I let out a little laugh at her words.

"It's Ashley, right? Or was that just a dream?" I ask when I settle down.

"Was what a dream?" She's stiff, giving me a suspicious look.

"When I was unconscious, I was in this dark room. Suddenly in front of me the memory of what happened before was projected onto the blackness. After I watched it I broke through the walls of my mind and entered yours. I saw what you saw, and I'll be honest, I looked through a couple of memories. Nothing serious though, just one guy who you cried over, your friend calling your name, and you looking at all the YouTube videos posted about Toronto." I feel a little too honest, like I should've kept that crying over a boy bit to myself.

"Never, ever enter my mind again." She glares daggers at me.

"But I have to ask, was that boy your boyfriend?" I ask.

"He was gay." She looks down, a little ashamed.

"Get over it, a lot of gay guys are hit on by girls." I snap, a little annoyed at how embarrassed she was.

I wasn't gay myself, but I had plenty of friends who were and they were all around amazing people. Girls liked them, but they stuck to who they were and I loved that. Yet I don't know why I shot at London like that, I'm not normally that rude. I was the quiet nice kid who didn't lie.

"I'm not ashamed, shut your fucking mouth country boy." She lashes back.
I'm not a big fan of swearing, it never felt right to me. Whenever I told someone that they called me a goody two shoes. Not that I was so offended at that.

"Says the city girl with a huge ego." Being mean isn't my thing, but I can do it.

"Oh yeah because that is sooooo offensive. Just stay away from my mind, alright? Why did I have to pair up with the deranged person." She mutters to herself.
"I'm not deranged, I just have mental instability." I send her a glare, it's not the first time I've been called deranged or retarded.