*** Author’s Note: I didn’t think it would take this long to get this far. ***

*** Rebirth ***

I woke up and I couldn’t breathe. I was covered in some kind of thick, sticky muck. I reached up and cleared the muck off of my mouth with my hand. I opened my mouth to breathe.

I got a taste of the crud and almost threw up.

I sat up.

Oh god. Ewwwww. I was encased in inches of slimy gel-like crud. I retched, but nothing came up.

I swallowed some of it.

I retched and retched and retched.

Without thinking, I reached out with my new telekinesis and flipped the ventilation fans to full. I heard them start spooling up to full speed.

I got to my feet and from memory headed to the shower. I stumbled over stuff in the floor. I stopped a couple of times to retch. I reached in and fumbled around until I got the water going. Thankfully, the hot water came quickly from the solar water heater for the Restoration Shop. It was originally meant just for the bunker, but the shop got used everyday, the bunker didn’t.

The water felt like a blessing from heaven. I could feel the paste like crud coming off of me. I started pulling my clothes off and piling them in the corner, even my shoes and socks. I stood under the water and used my telekinetic hand to wipe the crud off.

I didn’t want to touch it. Eww. Eww. Ick! Eww. This wasn’t like oil from an engine or lube from an axle. It was slimier and smellier than anything I’d ever been around before and I almost drowned in it!

I rinsed my mouth out time after time after time. Finally, the taste was gone, but not the memory of it. Oh, no. Definite nightmare material. It felt like I was buried in it.

I ran my hands through my hair. But there wasn’t any hair. All I felt was smooth scalp. That’s when I finally opened my eyes.

I was thin. I looked at my arms, and down my body. My fingers were long and slender instead of thick and blocky. It was so different. It felt so wonderful. The great weight gone.

I was thin. I was slim. I didn’t feel pounds of blubber shift as I turned in a pirouette on one foot under the spray.

“I AM THIN!”

It felt so good I began to tear up. Wait!

Wait just a second!

I looked back down my body. No boy bits. No hair. Not on my arms or legs. Nothing between my legs but a slit.

“I’m a girl.”

I stepped out of the shower, got a couple of towels and dried off. Then I went to the mirror to see what the latest result of my personal genetic lottery had brought.

I’m shorter. Everything seemed just a little out of place from where I remembered it. Higher from the floor. I had longer legs than before, but overall I’m shorter. Let’s see… I’m still tall for a girl, and not that much shorter than I used to be. Maybe six feet still. My brain told me 5’10”. My skin was blotchy, darker in some areas than others.

My chest is flat, but I can feel some soreness around my nipples, which were dark as well.

“Oh my god… I’m a girl.” I started dancing. A bald, flat-chested girl. But…Girl!!!

A starving girl. Girl!

So I went over and got some soup. Girl! Got it in an oversized mug and popped it into the microwave. Girl!

I slurped tomato soup from my mug. Girl!

A naked, not-so-starving girl. Girl! I mowed my way through another can of tomato soup. Then two cans of spaghetti and meatballs. And lastly one more can of mini ravioli. I drank a cold bottle of water from the fridge.

I went back to the shower and used my telekinesis to move all the smellies into a trash bag I got from the supplies. I got some soap and got clean. The shower felt sooooo good. I got out and got dry.

I was a lot closer to Pap’s size than my old one. I went through the stored clothes Pap had for us and grabbed a pair of socks and a set of his Marine Corps sweats. They were too big , but soft and warm.

Ooooh. Fleece is so comfy! This was like all new. I knew what fleece felt like, but I didn’t remember it being this soft.

A tidal wave of tired hit me right then. I looked over to the bunk where I’d… I’d been in. For a moment I was back in that moment. Not being able to breathe, or move. Head filled with noise, lights, and pressure. Feeling it all slipping away.

Thud.

The fall snapped me out of the moment. The comforter, and the bedding… I put it in the shower for now. Yay for telekinesis! ‘Cause ICK!

I climbed up into the bunk farthest from the ICK one. I was asleep in moments.

***

The stone corridor was low. I kept wanting to duck as I walked towards the light. I ran my hand along the stone as I walked. It was cool and smooth. A breeze coming down the corridor caused the flames on my torch to flutter. All I could hear was the crackle and pop from the torch. I made the turn into where the light was coming from. The torches’ light reflected from the golden doors filled the room. Here, unlike in the corridor, the walls were covered in hieroglyphics. The doors inscribed with them in full color. There was a naked bird-headed man standing before the door. Not a hawk head. A small bird head with a long curved beak. A whisper in the back of my mind said ibis. Well built, but that didn’t excite me. Looks like I still like girls? Or, I’m not that into bird headed boys..

I walked up the steps to where the god(?) stood. Hey. He looks like a god. The bird eyes stared at me.

“You seek entrance to the Hall.”

There was no voice, it was in my head. Telepathy.

“Um… What is the hall?”

The bird head did that bird-like twitch and kept staring at me.

“Come again when you know.”

***

I was awake. Wow. I’ve watched way too many history specials on Egypt. I blinked several times, then took a deep breath to yawn.

Ack! Ewww. All I could smell was the muck. ICK! A thick, cloying scent of rot and filth. Shudder. I could almost taste it again.

That's when it finally occurred to me what the muck was.

Me.

Over two-hundred pounds of muck that used to be me.

My whole body shuddered again at the memory of being caked in it.

Looking at my blanketed body, I figured I weighed one-hundred-fifteen, maybe one-hundred-twenty pounds. My brain told me 124 pounds. Almost three-hundred pounds of crud. My brain told me 284 pounds.

That was odd. I was guestimating and then just knew the answer. Weird. And I knew that answer was right.

I sat up and stretched. I pushed my hair out of my eyes. Hair? I pulled some of my hair back in front and looked at the color. Red wine. My hair was the color of red wine.

But first… I took some shower gel and wiped it around my nose to block the stench. And to borrow one of my favorite character’s sayings, let’s be about it.

Between the shower and cleaning supplies I got all the mucky crud out of the bunker. I also got a hell of a workout for my telekinesis. I learned I could control more than one item at a time. By the end I was cleaning five items from great-gran’s bag at a time. It took a couple of hours, or so. My brain told me 2 hours, 4 minutes. Oookay. That’s starting to get spooky.

Okay, I’ve got hair now. And, I’ve got long nails. I set about trimming them. Just because I’m actually a girl now… Girl! I’m not going to give up my love of working with my hands. So I trimmed them close. As I did, I noticed that the skin on my hands and arms was darker than yesterday.

I walked over to the mirror. I had this lovely dark red hair. The color of red wine. The color I’d always wished for. My skin matches the skin tone of the actress Catherine Bell. I’d wished for years that I could look like her. Except for my hair and face, I’ve got her skin tone and figure. Well… I pulled at the collar of the sweatshirt and looked down at my breasts. (Woo-hoo! I’ve got breasts!) They weren’t flat anymore. Not huge, but not flat. Girl!

And I’ve got the face of the girl of my dreams. I look like Dina Meyer’s little sister. Except for the eyes. Hers are a light blue. Mine are like lapis lazuli. Dark rich blue with flecks of gold. Like my great-grandmother’s. They look like I’m wearing colored contacts.

I stared at me in the mirror. I started to cry. My most secret wish, the one that I’d never shared with anyone, came true.

***

I’d been at the computer desk trying to get a connection to the nets for over two hours. Correction, two hours and eleven minutes according to my new mind talent. Having a timer built in is kinda cool. I guess.

I finally cracked the password to the wireless network of the law office across the street. I brought up the news.

Oh god.

“Click here for the latest info: Siege on Washington!” I scanned through the articles quickly. Three days ago, a paramilitary unit called the Americommando executed the largest terrorist strike in history on American soil. It’s isn’t definitely known at this time how, but large scale explosives were detonated near the White House, Capitol Building, Ronald Reagan National Airport, Camp Springs and the Pentagon. The military as well as members of New York’s Gotham Guardians refuse to comment on the rumors of Red Mercury devices being used. In addition, some sources report direct assualts were made on the headquarters of the Aegis Court and the National Archives. As for the Court, none of them have been seen since two days ago when Doctor Zen suddenly appeared the day after the initial attack. There are no definite reports on what happened to the Doctor after his initial encounter with Americommando troops.

Two days ago, Speaker of the House Eureka Niven, while on vacation in home state of California, formally requested aid from the Canadian Government. The CNS Vancouver and her battle group. with the 1^st Canadian Aerial Marines were dispatched within twenty four hours of the request. They met up with the Power Cavalry’s 1^st and 4^th Legions at a staging point just went of Arlington. There was this video of the Vancouver coming down out of the sky to disgorge troops and emergency supplies. At this point, it would appear that Americommando troops have retreated from Washington. Wildfires are still raging through the city as far south as the Washington Navy Yard and as far east as the DC Armory. Firefighters and Rescue Workers from around the country have headed to Washington to help.

In a short press briefing given today, Speaker of the House Niven spoke about how these events, like Pearl Harbor, did nothing more than unite a nation, and that she expects this nation to unite again. Her swearing-in ceremony as President will take place in Sacramento this weekend as announced earlier today.

I sat back and wiped tears from my eyes as I saw the pictures from Washington. Tens of thousands dead in the streets. The fires. The Washington Mall, gone. The Smithsonian, gone. It was so big. It didn’t seem real.

Pap. He helped these fucking scumbags get Beth and the others. Oh my god.

I crawled back up into my bunk, grabbed my pillow and cried.

Pap.

*** Hi. Normally, this would be where I beg and plead for kudos and comments. Instead, I’m putting this story on hiatus for a couple of reasons. First, interest seems to be waning. Second, I’ve got ideas for other stories. I think I went too dark, made things too hard for Archie, and alienated a lot of readers. So I want to thank all of you who stuck it through this far. I can’t explain how much it means to me that you enjoyed my work. ***