Hybrid Earth: Volume 1

Issue 3: Victor Daniels - Before

"How much for the TV?" Victor asked.

He was bored out of his mind. Had been all day. That's why he decided to head out and check some local shops to see if there was anything worth getting.

At least it's better than nothing, he remembered telling himself. Now, as he stood in a stupid department store, he realized that was debatable.

Man, I need a hobby, he told himself. He'd already tried photography, painting, walking, drawing, Japanese floral arranging (don't laugh), going back to school, and even writing. No luck with anything.

He hated all of it.

Ever since his divorce, he'd been left with a lot more free time than he knew what to do with. Which was funny because that was one of the things he would always get mad at his wife about. She was always making him do things. They were stupid little things that he rarely wanted to do but he did it for her. On several occasions, however, he would tell her that all he wanted to do was relax. He worked his ass off for eight to ten hours a day. When he came home, the last thing he wanted to do was go out.

Now, irony has reared its ugly little head around because the last thing he wanted to do was sit in his lousy apartment by himself and veggie out to his measly 32" inch flat screen.

"Ah yes. That's a great one. 4K ultra Smart TV. It's one of our most popular models," a salesman responded.

I bet it is, Victor thought to himself. And I bet you say that to all the fellas.

"How much?" Victor repeated.

"$3,495 but...," the man shot him a conspiratorial smile. "You get this baby today and I'll knock 10% off the price. You're not gonna get a better deal than that."

Victor sighed.

Maybe staying home would've been better.

"Sorry but that is outside my price range, buddy," Victor replied.

The salesman seemed to visibly deflate. His face changed from overly cheery to instantly annoyed in the span of five seconds. The change was so fast it was like magic. The personality shift was just as quick. To Victor, it felt like he was now talking to a totally different person.

"If you need any help with anything else, just let me know," the salesman told him, not even bothering to hide his icy, annoyed tone. Then he walked off.

Victor just looked at the TV some more, pondering. Pondering his life. His purpose. The universe and why it hated him so much.

That's when the screaming broke out.

He turned and looked out the store's front windows. People were running all over the place and the world out there took on a decidedly greenish cast. It looked sickly almost.

Someone ran past him and he stopped them. It was a woman.

"What's happening?" he asked her.

"I don't know but it looks like the world's comin' to an end," the woman shot back.

The next five or ten minutes was just complete and utter chaos. The greenish cast to the outside world was starting to seep inside the store too. He wondered how that could be possible but one look at the ceiling gave him the answer. There was a cloud of bright green that looked to be chewing completely through the building. It ate away beams, dry wall, light fixtures, and pretty much anything else like a child chomping their way through a pile of candy.

Victor looked around and realized that he was alone in the store.

He turned to look at the 4K ultra Smart TV that cost more than a month's paycheck.

He glanced around one last time to make sure the store was empty and found that it still was. He turned back to the TVs, found the one he was looking for, grabbed it, and then hurriedly rushed out the back with it, trying like hell to beat the green cloud above him to the back door. He didn't know what the green stuff was, but he was pretty sure it wasn't good.

He was right.

Just as he got outside, the green cloud settled around him.

It ate through the cardboard and Styrofoam housing his "steal" and he almost dropped it. Luckily (or unluckily depending on how you look at things), he managed to grab the TV in his flailing hands right before it would've hit the ground and been worthless. The cloud of green suddenly swirled around him and the TV. Electricity popped and crackled. Then there was a decidedly uncomfortable sensation. It was like a deep coldness was seeping into him. He tried to drop the TV so he could run faster but although he released his hold on it, it didn't drop to the ground like he expected. Instead, it warped and flowed and humped over him and his flesh. His body suddenly compressed and squeezed. Then the human and the TV flowed into each other, merging and forming something new. Something strange and different.

Victor woke up that morning as a normal human being. Now, he was anything but.

As he glanced down at himself, he realized he was a cross between a man and a TV. It was ludicrous to even think like that, but here he was, his main body clearly that of the TV with his somewhat human arms and legs jutting off it.

He screamed loudly.

The screen changed and flickered between images. Each one was a scene from either a movie or TV show of a person screaming. The images cycled rapidly and about a dozen different movie/TV screams flashed before his "face" came back.

His screams were echoed by thousands of others.