Fuun Smithson

My name is Fuun Smithson. My parents named me Fuun because they were told it meant “lucky” in Japanese. We later found out it does not. The events described in this story might as well have happened because of my name. I don’t want to know. I just want it to end.

It happened on 17.7.2020. Or, as I like to imagine, during the night before.

I was dreaming. Normal people dream of rainbows or unicorns and say it was a good dream. My dream had rainbows and unicorns as well. Except I was a necromancer, a lich, and the unicorns were trying to kill me. I dreamt of a great war that was going on for eternity, somewhere in the universe.

All of our forces had been destroyed by the rainbows when I felt new strength in my body. I lifted my arms in the air and said,

“Rise!”

Then I woke up. Apparently, my dreams didn’t end with my sleep.

The time was 12.32. As per usual, I slept in and woke up just in time for lunch. I expected my family to be shouting my name, making me join them for the meal. But the house was quiet. Too quiet.

Still half asleep, I went to the bathroom to take a leak. Only when the last drops fell into the toilet did I notice the silence. I stepped into the hallway to listen. Not even the birds were chirping outside.

“Oh, my god.”

There! The first sound I heard! It came from the living room.

I rushed to see what was happening, only to find my whole family watching the TV intently. Weird, why did I not hear it before?

“Good morning, what…” I spoke but was interrupted by a wave of hushing sounds. They didn’t even look at me. I walked up to see what was playing on the TV that was of such importance.

“…have taken the city of Singapore. We recommend staying indoors and shutting the rest of the world out. The important thing is not to panic…”

It was the news. Behind the reporter was a screen showing images of what seemed like… zombies. I remembered my dreams. Those were zombies all right, I controlled them for what seemed like years in my dream.

I opened my mouth to once again ask what was happening when the news was interrupted by a video depicting the USA flag. After a second, the president was shown.

“Good morning America. I have urgent news. All over the world, there were sightings of zombies. All of our dead have risen from their graves and whoever they kill turns into a zombie as well. The first to rise did so at around 12.30…”

What. That was just before I woke up and entire cities already fell!? Wait! Was this related to my dreams!? I turned my attention to the screen again.

“While it’s an unimaginable situation, I firmly believe our great country will prevail. However. Everyone must stay inside until our military gains control of the situation. If anyone is caught outside, their safety is not only not guaranteed, but our soldiers might mistake you for the enemy and shoot.”

No. This was wrong. I could feel it was. If they were like the zombies from my dream, the military will be helpless. In Earth’s stories, zombies were killed by destroying the brain. Not in my dreams though. You only killed them with magic. They were magical creatures after all.

But that wasn’t even the biggest problem. Nobody is to go outside. That meant…

I was supposed to go get my braces removed tomorrow! No! This couldn’t have been happening! I grabbed my hair and pulled. A soundless scream left my mouth.

After so long! I would have gotten rid of it!

Not only that, but I was supposed to go to the orthodontist last month, but couldn’t, so the meeting was postponed till tomorrow! A voice brought me back from my silent wailing.

“What are we to do Martha?” my dad asked my mom.

“What the president told us to do. We’ll wait for the military to take care of it,” she replied.

No. No, that won’t work. Even the unicorns and those almighty rainbows had been battling for eternity. If that happens, the orthodontist will never work again!

Days flew by. I was right. The military had been helpless in their battles with the zombies. It seemed nothing could kill them. Luckily, my mother was somewhat important, and our family was moved to a “safe” location, where the zombies couldn’t easily reach. While living in these “safe” zones was quite normal, there was no orthodontist. Meaning they sucked.

Countless people have already died, meaning there were millions if not billions of zombies out there. The future looked bleak. Until people with special powers started popping up around the world. They could kill the zombies.

They all spoke of a dream in which they were told to defeat the evil and find the one who brought the catastrophe upon the world. Only then, would the zombies disappear forever.

Finally, humanity had hope and I couldn’t be happier. Every day, I prayed to the heroes, hoping for them to end it all soon. I wanted my braces off.

Weeks flew by. While the zombies have been slowed down, they didn’t seem to stop. To make matters worse, if a hero was killed by the zombies, he became an elite zombie. Not the stupid, slow-moving pile of flesh, but rather a zombie with all of the abilities of its previous self.

That made heroes reluctant to be offensive. Not only could they die, but if they did, the human race would get another, stronger, enemy.

Then one day, the Saint appeared. And with him, a new wave of heroes. Among them, was I. I remember the dream as clearly as the one before the Rise, as they called it. The one where I was a necromancer.

In this dream, however, I was a healer. I could heal even the worst injuries, even the loss of a limb. The first thing I did after waking up was to cut my finger. The cut healed very quickly. Then my mom cut herself, but no touch of mine healed her. We figured it out later. My blood healed.

What irony. To heal others, I had to injure myself.

The Saint then declared: “I can sense the Death Master. I will find them and free us of this suffering.”

True to his words, he started assembling an army of heroes, which would strike at the Death Master, who was the supposed culprit for the zombies. With the new heroes, the human vs. zombie war reached a stalemate.

I didn’t care about any of that though. I became a hero. Not only that, it seemed I was invulnerable with my healing powers.

Convincing my parents, I set out of the “safe” location. There might not an orthodontist there, but I was sure as hell to find one somewhere in the world. If he didn’t, he would rip the braces off.

The setting is this: Me travelling the desolate land, from one “safe” location to another. Avoiding zombies and heroes alike, as I didn’t want them to nag me to join their group. If I met anyone, I played dumb and joined them until nightfall. Then I would escape.

I haven’t realised since I was living in some kind of a sanctuary, but the world really had gone to shit. I watched plenty of action and war movies, so I knew what a war-torn landscape looked like. It was the same now. Except, the further I went away from the “safe” locations, the worse the smell got. The smell of death, I called it.

There was a kind of mist hanging in the air. It was the so-called miasma, that the zombies released as they rot. It was poisonous to humans and was the main barrier between different “safe” locations.

I didn’t care though. I tested it and my healing blood protected me from the mist as well. Wrapping a scarf around my head, I headed north, towards another “safe” location, that I knew was there. This one would be the most isolated location so far.

It was supposed to be the biggest settlement in North America as well. Up until now, I didn’t have much luck finding an orthodontist. But hope dies last and I simply knew this location would grant me my wish. Damned braces.

I reached it after two weeks of walking. Curiously, I hadn’t encountered any zombies while going through the mist. There were usually a lot of them in there. Hordes, small groups or even loners, I hadn’t heard of anyone making it across the “mist border” without finding at least one zombie. Maybe I was lucky after all.

Before me stood a white wall. On top were all kinds of weapons to keep the undead hordes away. When I showed the guards my healing abilities, I was naturally let in right away.

They wanted me to go to their hospital and cure people, but I told them no. I would help them if they helped me first.

“Do you have an orthodontist here,” I asked, “otherwise, I’ll leave.”

They had one.

I might have laughed like a maniac, but I don’t know for certain.

I was told where to find my saviour and I set off. Almost hopping, I made my way through the town. It’s been almost a year since the Rise. Almost a year since I was supposed to have gotten rid of the iron in my mouth. Entering the small square in front of the orthodontist's office, I could only think of freedom.

I didn’t see them. Until I got shot in the leg. Then I saw them. I was surrounded. Out of an alley walked a figure clad in white. The Saint.

“Well, well, well. I would have never thought you would walk right to us.”

A beautiful voice. It made me think of watching a summer sunset on top of a mountain, with gentle winds cooling you down. Before the Rise, of course.

“W-What is going on?” I didn’t understand. Why would they shoot me?

“Bah, feigning ignorance. Seeing as you pretend to be human, I imagine you know that I can feel you right? Your evil magic and the connections to the zombies.”

The Saint’s face grimaced in disgust.

“Whatever, you will die here, right now.”

He lifted his hand.

All I could think about was the orthodontist in front of me. I was so close. I wouldn’t let them stop me. My determination apparently woke my other self. I remembered my necromancer dream again, but more fully.

With a swing of my arm, all of the heroes, my opponents, were flung backwards. I was dumbfounded. But before I could do anything else a white flash ended me.

I was so close!

After the white flash, darkness took me. Then a new scene came to life before my eyes. I was back on the battlefield between the undead and the unicorns. I lifted my arms in the air and said,

“Rise!”

But then a shadow appeared in front of me and said, “Win.”

So, it was true. I was responsible for the zombie apocalypse. Then I woke up.

The time was 12.32. As per usual, I slept in and woke up just in time for lunch. I expected my family to be shouting my name, making me join them for the meal. But the house was quiet. Too quiet.

Still half asleep, I went to the bathroom to take a leak. Only when the last drops fell into the toilet did I notice the silence. I stepped into the hallway to listen. Not even the birds were chirping outside.

“Oh, my god.”

It came from the living room.

“Oh my god,” I said as well, “I’m in a fucking time loop!”

I remembered the shadow telling me to win.

So, my mission now changed. Before, it was to get rid of the stupid braces. Now, it was to get rid of the stupid braces AND then kill all of humanity. I was pretty sure the loop would reset if I died.

Determined, I went outside. As long as there was an orthodontist alive, I didn’t care if I killed everyone else. I was never in love with life anyway.