Episode 5-George's Awakening (3)

<The Mall Scenario>

George Machen's Perspective:

Sergeant Major Nakamura just gave George a set of orders, and then ran. George couldn't see through his goggles too well, but he saw Ethan running from him, while screaming at the top of their lungs. All of the flare-zombies began running towards Ethan, while using their flames to boost their own speed. Some even ran past George.

(What the hell? A diversion tactic?)

George began to run. He did it without thinking, but he was running. Words and thoughts began flickering through his mind.

(The blackest scorch marks. The Bulbs of Flare and Disease. Unstable. Attack- I have faith - Sergeant Major - Private Machen - Ethan Nakamura...)

George didn't know Ethan well. They were just a boy who acted like a grown man. They were promoted by the Constellations of the past, such as Ulysses S. Grant. George didn't even know that Nakamura was Ethan's last name. George's life was a complete daze, but it seems that Ethan was real.

Ethan taught George how to find food, and how to fight against the crazier Wanderers. Ethan used his own money to buy George Machen new clothes, which resembled his old uniform. Ethan Nakamura gave him goggles, and Elain Forest Liquid. These two items allowed George to see again.

(How did a kid even survive? Who is he?)

These were the thoughts that flashed through George Machen's mind as they ran. His rifle slapped against his back, while his holstered gun jostled against his side. He gripped something tightly, but it wasn't his weapons. It was the Specter Stones that Sergeant Major Nakamura gave him. The ones that could make someone go insane, and turn into a ghost.

George gripped these stones so hard, they sliced his hand, and drew blood. His very blood drenched the note he was given, the very note that carried his orders. In the end, George only had Ethan's words, which felt more distant as he ran.

(Follow the blackest scorch marks. That's where the virus originates. It infects humans, recharges them, and sends them out until it dies. You have to be the one to kill it, Private Machen. I'm your Sergeant Major Nakamura, so you have to follow my orders. I trust you.)

(Ethan Nakamura...)

(I trust you....)

With this resolute thought, George shoved a single stone into his mouth. It began to evaporate instantly. He did it in the nick of time. He was almost grabbed, and infected by the Flare-zombies.

Unfortunately, his scorch trial was morphing into a mental one. The Illusionary Prison was being constructed. A horrible feeling began to well up within George's mind, and it felt as if a heavy weight was placed onto his chest. His deepest traumas were rising up from the depths... and they were trying to swallow him whole.

"GWWWWWAHHH!!!JAAAEEEEEELLLLLL!!!!"

George Machen was now an intangible, phantasmal ghost species, but it came with a price.

***

George was falling. His entire world was falling, and he felt so cold. He saw a burning man that was stabbing and thrusting, while fighting against all odds. George also saw a giant eye staring down at him, which was surrounded by burning flames. George tried to reach out to the man, but the scenes fell away from him, and scattered into white and red particles.

He fell, until he felt a hard impact. Instead of dying though, he woke up.

"Wah is this?"

He woke up in his backyard, in his 13 year-old body.

***

Young George rose from where he lay. He began looking around. He touched his head, to see if he had a concussion, but he didn't feel any bumps. He just felt his blonde hair, and the black-rimmed glasses that he owned. They weren't goggles. They were glasses.

He began to look around. He was in a spacious backyard, which was enclosed by tall, wooden fences. George craned his neck upwards, but he didn't see the ashy, grey-black sheets that covered the heavens. He saw clear blue skies, with wispy white clouds. Instead of channel messages barraging him, Sol's rays were bouncing towards the Earth. The burning eye he saw was also gone. There was the sun instead. George tried to look at it, but he was quickly blinded by it, so he casted his eyes to his surroundings.

He saw the backyard he landed in. It was his backyard, the one that he spent his childhood in. He would play in this backyard with his little sister. The tall fences he saw as well.... George remembered that his father built these fences, to protect George and his little sister from the outside world.

(Where is she in the first place...)

(First.... wait. First? What does that mean...? WAIT.... NO!)

Panic coursed through George's small body.

(The FIRST SCENARIO!!!)

(JESSICA!! Where is she!!?!)

"JESS!? Where are you!?!"

George began whipping his head back and forth. He saw the little playground they had, and the garden his mother and father made together. He saw the steps that would lead to the raised landing, which led into their house. He saw the sliding doors and the kitchen that held all the food that his family had. He would eat in that kitchen, with his family. He would eat breakfast with them in morning, then take the bus to school. He would eat dinner with them in the evening, when he came back from school.

(Maybe... Maybe I shouldn't have gone to school...)

If George could trade all that he learned and possessed to spend more time with his family, he would do it in a heartbeat. He cautiously approached the steps, and began to walk up. He did it, but stopped because he smelled-

"Smoke..."

His right hand reached his leg and tried to grab his LeMat pistol, but it wasn't there. He only had empty pockets.

"Where are my guns...?"

He looked at his waistline. He didn't see his belt, his pistol, or the grenade that he was given. His pants were khaki, and not the military pattern that he was accustomed to see. He also felt... shorter. The ground was too close to his eyes, and he didn't feel Earth's gravity tug on him as much. It was as if he was shorter, as if he weighed less.

"How old am I...?"

He was wearing a flannel jacket with khaki pants, which caused his body temperature to rise.

(Did I return... home? To the past? That...)

"Can't be... I was at the mall in Seattle, running from the... zombies..."

(Wait!! The Flare-zombies!! The BULBS!!)

With renewed panic, George began running up the steps. His steps didn't miss a beat, or trip at all. These were the steps that he walked and ran on for years, since he was a baby. He also began to think of survival plans. He was about to open the sliding door.

(I need to get inside, get a weapon and stock up on supplies!! I need to find Sergeant Major Naka-)

Before he could finish that thought though, he saw someone standing eerily at the door.

"GwwAaaAAahhhh!!!"

He almost fell down the steps, but his instincts kicked in. George turned around, and jumped over the railing of his balcony. He fell to the ground, which was 10 feet below. He didn't sprain his ankles, or break a bone; he tucked and rolled to disperse the kinetic shock.

He was up in an instant, looking for a possible escape route. He was about to jump the fence and run but-

"George? What are you doing?"

The sliding door of his house opened up, and George looked back. It was his mother, with her brown hair, freckled face, and her teardrop-shaped head. She was in the flesh, and her body was perfectly fine. She didn't have any bite marks, or any burns. She walked towards the balcony railing, until she saw George clearly.

"George? Did you just jump off the balcony?"

She began to descend the steps, and walk towards George.

(The prison!! The Illusion!! I'm stuck in the pris-)

"George, are you okay?"

Vivian Machen placed here hands onto George's shoulders, and shook him slightly. In an instant, George Machen felt his heartbeat calm down. It was a certain power that good mothers had; their mere presence could reassure their young children. So, what would happen if they grabbed their children by the shoulder, and pulled them into a hug?

"George, are you okay? It looked like you saw a-"

(Please, mom, don't say the word.)

"-ghost." She finished. "Are you actually alright?"

Her embrace left George, but he saw her face, which was full of concern. Her voice showed concern as well. It was enough to make George burst into tears.

"George! Are you actually alright? It looks as if you're about to-"

"I'm not crying, mom!" George interrupted. "I'm just glad. I-I had a bad dream... that's all."

George said this with a wave of his hand. His body began to shake, but he kept himself under control as much as possible by breathing slowly.

"George, you're shaking! Did something happen? Was it a nightmare?"

Vivian Machen crouched down to meet George in the eye. This was another power that certain mother's had. They could see when their children were lying, or when they were afraid.

"Tell me if something happened. Did someone do something to you? It's okay, George, tell me..."

(I can't... The stones, the zombies... I thought... I thought...)

"I thought I went insane..." George muttered.

"What do you mean by that? George, you're not insane," Mrs. Machen said reassuringly. "George, tell me now. Did someone do something to you?"

George tried to remember if anyone actually did. He tried to look into his past and question the reality of his present. He remembered the mall, his Sergeant Major, his sponsor and the previous scenarios, especially the first and-

(Wait... Do I even remember the other scenarios...?)

The young George Machen tried to remember more, but it only resulted in more anguish. He recalled the training facility he escaped from. He had recollections of going through scenario after scenario. He remembered buying food from an online website, and how it appeared in front of him, as if it came from thin air, as if it was magic.

(That can't be possible... I should've died. How did I buy that food? How did I survive? Maybe... Maybe I am dead. If I am, then this is heaven, and I should be with my family.)

George was looking at the green, grassy ground the entire time as he was being questioned by his mother. He couldn't stare directly in her eyes, which were the same color as his.

(Maybe... this isn't an Illusion.)

He stared at his mother.

"I'm... glad to be back, mom. I... had a really horrible nightmare, so I'm glad I woke up. Also, I'm kinda hungry."

Vivian Machen raised an eyebrow, which showed she was skeptical of her son's response. In the end, though, she relented with her interrogating.

"Alright, but we're not done, mister. We'll go inside and we'll have a snack." She said this as she pinched George's cheek, and ruffled his hair. She seemed surprised that George actually smiled in response. "Hmm, you'd usually duck away and complain that I was "babying" you."

"Well, I'm just happy..."

(Happy for what? To be in the past? Why am I even here in the first place? What do I say?) George contemplated.

George Machen wanted to finish his statement. He wanted to be in the present, and enjoy these moments. This is what he said:

"I'm just happy that I returned."

After he was done saying that, he ran towards the house. He decided his mother's figure just scared him, and that he overreacted. He ran past the burning grill on his balcony porch, which was roasting steak and kababs. That was the source of the smoke. His panic was for nothing. Young George opened the door of his house, and ran past the kitchen. He wasn't hungry at all.

(I just want to see them. Especially Jess.)

He ran through his home's various hallways, until he stood in front of his room. He saw the door, which was slightly open. He heard two voices. One voice belonged to a young girl, while another belonged to an older boy.

"Jael! It's not fair! I wanna win!"

"Nah, you just suck."

"Hmmpff!"

George began to hear faint gunshots from his room, and the click-clacking of controllers. If George was right, then two people should be in his room, playing on his Xbox. If he was right, then he knew what day this was, and he knew who was here, in his house. It was July 4th, which was the 4th day of July, the seventh month of the year. It was a mid-summer month, which would allow children to run free and without worries. Right now, his little five-year-old sister and his best friend should be in his room, playing videogames.

Thirteen-year-old George Machen grabbed the doorknob, and he began to open it. He stepped inside.