A faceless man looms out of the darkness. He moves with a fluid grace that Harm finds hard to watch. Without a glance Harm's way the man walks away down a street that Harm has not noticed before. As Harm looks around he sees others like the man. A fearsome loneliness wells up within him and he cries out to those around him but none of them react. Harm stands amidst the throng and is unheard, unseen, unknown.

"Why won't any of you speak?" he shouts but they continue on their way as if he did not exist at all. The weight of their disregard drags him down and he collapses, great chains at his wrists, drowning in a sea of anonymity.

"Oh," he says looking around with new eyes, "a nightmare." he shakes his head with disgust and stands. With out a thought he shrugs off the chains that bind him, "I must have been really tired not to see it sooner."

Around him the nightmare continues but he is above it now. In the dream he closes his eyes "Three. Two. One. Wake." he says quietly to himself.

Harm opened his eyes and glanced at the alarm clock that sat next to his bed. He let out a huff of irritation that he had been forced out of sleep by a nightmare. He should have just changed it to something more palatable. Less chance of a repeat that way. Rolling to his back he took a few deep breaths examining the nightmare while it was still fresh in his mind. "Anything special about this one?" he mumbled sleepily to himself, scanning the dream over once again. It was the same as every other time he'd had that nightmare. The details were different but the essence was the same.

He was all alone.

The thought brought back a twinge of the nightmare panic he had felt. "Sweet Peppers." he groaned softly and reached over to turn on his bed lamp. Quietly he sat up in bed and pulled out his dream journal. On the inside of the front cover he added a tally mark to the "Faceless People" column and then turned to the bookmarked page halfway through the leather bound volume. Drawing the pen from its place in the journal's spine he began to scratch out the details.

04/01/2001 02:56

Had one of the lonely dreams again. Seems a little worse than normal. Ate tomato product for dinner. Also broccoli. Fabricate...

He scratched out 'fabricate' until it was completely obscured.

Check other instances to see if eating broccoli may be causative or at least connected.

His mind was beginning to wander as sleep tried to reclaim him and the details of the dream started slipping away.

Chains. Loneliness. Faceless people. The color yellow.

"The color yellow?" he repeated, surprised by his own observation. "I'll have to remember to keep an eye out for that." A yawn escaped his lips and he closed the journal and stowed it back in his nightstand. Turning off the light, he curled back up under the covers. "At least there weren't any shadow assassin's in this one," he murmured, closed his eyes and was once again asleep.

Harm and his girl friend Alice, are standing naked at the edge of a cliff. Behind them Teslaville sits, pristine and welcoming. Before them is a vast and untamed wilderness. It is pleasantly warm though paradoxically they can see their breath, Alice's long blond hair whips gently in an unfelt breeze. Joining hands they step off the cliff and fly off together into the clouds.

Standing outside himself Harm observed the other Harm Dong while also being the other Harm Dong. It was a strange sensation which he had long ago grown accustomed to. This was his favorite dream. All he had to do was sit back and not change anything. The inconsistencies with reality occasionally bothered him, Teslaville wasn't in the mountains,the wilderness was a bit too New England for Southern California, and obviously people couldn't fly. Still, Harm had learned that if he changed anything about the dream then the whole thing ended up different and the last thing Harm wanted was to change the ending.

Circling one another like songbirds in spring Harm and Alice wind their way higher and higher until they pass into a particularly soft, warm, wet cloud and there-in proceed to...

The clock positioned two feet from his ear made the distinctive mechanical click which warned of the oncoming cacophony. The one down side of lucid dreaming was that he developed a tendency to sleep through his alarm, if the dream was good. After being late to breakfast one too many times, his father had built an Alarm Clock to wake the dead. Sure enough, Harm hadn't been late since.

Starting at the warning click, he scrabbled for the clock and managed to find the off button before his ante-meridian tormentor could fully rouse itself. The sun shone through the half open drapes and spilled across the various baseball trophies creating a dazzling kaleidoscope of pain. With a groan he pulled the curtains closed to darken his room. The lack of light lessened the throbbing in his skull but it did not stop. "Stupid headaches," he groaned as he pulled on his clothes for school. With shuffling steps he made his way into the bathroom. "Maybe I should see Doctor Willis," he thought as he pressed thumbs into his temples to relieve some of the pressure.

"Harm?" his mother called up the stairs, "Up and at' em sweetie. Breakfast is almost ready!"

"Be down in a second, mom," he called back wincing at his own voice. Desperate, Harm began pawing through the cabinet looking for some of the headache pills his dad had made. They didn't do anything for body aches or really anything except headaches but for their intended purpose they were aces! At last finding the brown glass bottle with the large blue pills, Harm tossed one into his mouth and forced himself to chew slowly, ignoring the bitter taste. As he chewed, he made an intense study of the faucet of the bathroom sink. Focusing on something else usually helped.

"Are you having one of your headaches again, sweetie?" his mother called from closer to him.

"Yeah," he responded still chewing the tablet. "It's already going away though," by the time he swallowed the last of the pill, his headache was gone and he felt human once more. Looking up from the sink he saw his mother stop just inside the door.

"Are you sure you're alright?" she asked pressing her pale wrist to his forehead. "You don't feel hot."

"I'm fine mom." Harm smiled, a bit embarrassed by his mother's concern. "It's just a headache and now it's gone."

"If you're sure," she agreed, but the way she pursed her lips and worried her hands made it clear she was unconvinced. "Perhaps we should just see Dr. Willis to be sure?" absently she replaced a blond lock which had fallen out of place. "You seem to be getting them an awful lot of late."

Harm smiled and shrugged, "They've been kinda bad this week but I bet they stop in a couple days just like dad said."

"Your father's genius only goes so far Harm," Harm watched his mother's nostrils flare just slightly as she sniffed at the air and her eyes widened in panic. "The bacon!" she yelped and then took off at a speed that always impressed the young baseball player. The fact that she did so in heels while taking the stairs two at a time was just frightening.

"Too bad the guys on my team don't show that much hustle," Harm mused as he made his way to the ground floor with a great deal less hurry. Reaching the kitchen Harm smelled the distinct odor of bacon which had been slightly over cooked. "Is it OK?" he asked as he sat down at the table.

Elisabeth stared at the frying pan with a look of deep concern, "Do these look burned or just over done to you?" she held out the pan for Harm to inspect.

"Are they for me or dad?" he asked with a smirk.

"These were for your father," she cocked her hips and placed one arm akimbo whilst the other held the cast iron skillet. An eyebrow arched his direction, she waited for the punchline.

"They look just fine then," Harm grinned toothily.

"Well so much for this batch," she turned smartly on her heel toward the garbage can with nose in the air.

"Mom. Wait!" Harm hopped up and stopped his mother before she could pitch the Bacon. "I don't mind it a little extra done. He can have mine. I'll take this."

Elisabeth shook her head, "You don't have to do that sweetie."

"I know, but I really don't mind."

"Alright," she smiled and ruffled his short dark hair a bit.

"Ma!" Harm protested without any real anger, "Knock it off!"

They walked back over to the table and Harm began dishing himself breakfast. Eggs, waffles, bacon and juice were all swiftly consumed. Between bites Harm managed to ask, "So where is dad?"

"Out in the lab," his mother replied from the stove where she was frying more meat, "he had a brilliant idea for something last night so lord only knows when he'll actually sleep again," Harm nodded and grabbed another piece of toast. Thinking about it for a moment he took a slice of eggs from the casarole and made a sandwich. Elisabeth glanced at her son with a smirk, "Hungry this morning?"

Harm chewed until he could swallow, "Yeah. I didn't notice it when I had the headache but I'm famished!"

"You must be hitting your growth spurt."

"Whatever it is, I'm starved."

"Just leave enough for your father," she said lightly, deftly flipping the sizzling pork without a look.

"What about you?" Harm asked quizzically.

"I can make do with whatever is left. When you're done could you take this out to your father?" she indicated the tray she was holding. Harm nodded as he finished his juice. "Thank you sweetheart," she chimed, kissing him on the top of his head as she sat the tray down next to him.

At last the hole in Harm's gut was full and he let out a burp in appreciation, "Excuse me!" he said quickly. His mother just shook her head. "I'll just run this out to dad then I have to get to school," she nodded vacantly from where she was cleaning up the mess of breakfast. "Mom. Eat something before it all gets cold."

"But the mess," she looked stricken at the idea of leaving the job unfinished.

"Will be there when you finish eating. In spite of what dad seems to think; hot food tastes good. I promise."

"Thank you Harm," she smiled as she sat down at the table and picked a little of this and that for her breakfast.

Whistling atonally Harm grabbed the tray and headed out to the backyard, catching the screen door with his toe before it could bang. The Dong house was average enough for Teslaville. The siding was a light green color with white trim. A short picket fence ran down the side walk in front of the property and a clothes line ran between the house and the lab.

The lab was really the only feature of the Dong property which set it apart from the rest of the town. It was two stories tall and made of pre-stressed concrete slabs no less than ten feet thick. The walls formed an inverted trapezoid and were supported by massive triangular supports. Vents were set into the roof to help direct any explosions which happened within up and away from anything important. Radio antenna's and lightning rods densely populated the remaining space. In the end it resembled a bunker more than anything else. Harm had heard of people having bomb shelters but he doubted any of them would have held a candle to his dad's lab.

Harm angled across the back yard down the cobble stone pathway he had helped his dad put in. His dad, Ducky to most everyone save Harm, had tried building a robot to do all the heavy lifting first but like most of his father's creations it proved far more adept at destruction than construction. Harm still missed the big oak tree it had killed. Entering the twenty foot cube of a corridor which was the entryway to the lab, Harm walked slowly to make sure the sensors could get a good reading before he crossed into the red zone at the far end. Once he was on the steel grating he picked up his pace. The machine gun turrets hadn't spun up so everything was fine. "Now I just have to pry the door open with one hand," he thought as he appraised the inset steel pressure door. Upon reaching the door he found it unbolted so entry was made the easier.

Stepping inside Harm called out, "Dad! You in here? Mom made you breakfast!" silence was the only response except for the intermittent flashes of an arc welder. With a huff of mild frustration Harm began winding his way through the labyrinthine floor as the tray of food rapidly cooled. "You left the door unlatched again," he shouted, not really expecting a response. When he rounded the bend which should have led him to the work area his father was using, he found his way blocked by a short, dome topped, cylindrical robot on small rubber tank treads. A three inch cannon protruded from it's chest and it looked capable of significant adjustment regarding angle of fire. Behind the lifeless drone the flicker and sounds of his father working were evident. "Dad!" he yelled as loud as he could manage but was unsurprised when his father remained oblivious. With a sigh, Harm slowly began navigating his way around to the other side where the way was unobstructed.

Finally reaching his father, he was also able to get a better look at the back of the robot where a large hopper had been attached. Setting the food down next to a small collection of similar, half-eaten plates, Harm, pulled on a pair of goggles and then picked up a hammer. Standing back a bit from his dad Harm banged the hammer on the bench where his father was working. Instantly Ducky's head popped up and the welder swung wide as he looked for the source of the vibration. "Why is it..." his father questioned aloud, "Ah, the mask!" he realized and flipped up the blinder. "Holocaust!" he smiled widely seeing his son, "What are you doing here? Have you seen my new automaton? I made it to help you at the baseball practices." he rattled off with out a pause.

"Uh. Thanks dad," Harm smiled, suppressing the memory of the last time his dad had made a robot to help with practice. Poor Timothy. Poor, poor Timothy. "Mom, said you've been up all night so I brought you something to eat."

"Up all night?" he fished a pocket watch out of his lab coat. "It can't have been more than..." he checked the watch and briefly considered it's meaning, "Up all night it is then." he smiled taking off the welding mask and running a gloved hand through his black hair. Ducky Dong was a significant contrast to Harm's mother. Where she was tall, blond and classically beautiful; he was six inches shorter than his wife, thin and had not received the best combination of features from his Vietnamese ancestry. In that regard Harm had been lucky, the only odd thing about his appearance were his blue eyes and those were new. Fortunately everyone seemed to think they were cool so, again, no problems. "Excellent!" Ducky said rubbing his hands together after removing the heavy gloves. He quickly walked to the tray and began stacking the now chill food into small piles. That done he scooped a single pile onto the large spoon provided and chewed with a blissful look on his face. "Perfect!"

Harm smiled at his father's eccentricities. "Need anything else dad?"

"Well now that you mention it..." Ducky said turning toward his workbench.

Before he could finish the thought Harm jumped in, "'Cause I'd be happy to help but I need to get to school."

Ducky retrieved his watch, "Ah. It is that time. Yes. Off with you. You can help me after school."

"OK. See you then," Harm waved as he started back out of the lab. When he looked back he saw his father scoop up another pile of food and then head back to work. Harm considered telling him to finish the food but knew it was already too late. The muse had him.

Strolling back to the house with a tray full of dishes Harm took a moment to breath in the fresh southern California air and feel the morning sun beat down pleasantly. Returning to his whistling Harm ambled his way to the back door with a smile on his face. It was a good day. Inside he heard his mother talking. For a moment he thought she might be on the phone but then he heard Alice's voice and a good morning got even better. Walking into the Kitchen he was greeted by the lovely sight of Alice Powers chatting with his mother. As he entered Alice turned her head causing her long red locks to shift and fall, framing her face with fire. Seeing Harm a smile split her face, "Hi, Harm," she said warmly. "Your mom and I were just talking about you!"

"Heh," Harm coughed as his ears began to burn a little late, "What about?"

Alice's grin turned mischievous and her brilliant green eyes danced, "Oh, nothing. Your mom got out the photo album..."

Harm's stomach dropped and he sat the tray down a little harder than he intended, "Not... not the pink one?" He tried to keep the panic from his voice but was a complete failure.

"You mean THIS one!" Alice laughed as she pulled the offending photo album from her lap.

"Urk!" Harm gagged.

"Oh, come one Harm," she giggled opening the book, "You look so cute in your little dresses!"

"Give me that!" Harm lunged for the book. Alice didn't resist, instead just smiling all the wider. "They aren't dresses," Harm said defensively, clutching the album to his chest. "They are traditional baby clothes."

"But they were pink!" Alice laughed.

"Not all of them!" Harm protested just as the lights flickered.

His mother stood up and checked the Broadcast Electricity Receivers but found they were working correctly. "Probably just your father again," she muttered as she returned to where Harm was pointing at various pictures.

"See! Blue. Green. Yellow. Lot's of colors!"

Alice wiped a tear from her eye and stood up to give Harm a hug, "It's OK Harm," she chuckled a bit more, "I was just teasing. You were an adorable little girl."

"Sweet Peppers," Harm sighed in frustration as Alice laughed herself silly. "You know we're going to be late, right?"

Though in the midst of a paroxysm, Alice immediately sobered and stood. "We should probably get going then," she said very seriously.

"Yeah," Harm grabbed his back pack and the two of them headed for the front door, "see you after school mom."

"See you then sweetie. I love you."

Harm blushed. "Yeah. Yeah. Same here." he said with a flush. Alice giggled and elbowed him lightly in the ribs.

After negotiating the front gate Alice and Harm began the walk to school. For a moment both were caught up by how perfect the day was. Eventually Alice turned to look at him with out breaking stride, "You know I was just teasing you about the pictures, right?"

"Yeah. Yeah," Harm grumbled.

"Oh. Didums hurt your feelings?" she mewled. "Would a kiss make it better?"

"Yeah!" Harm said a little too enthusiastically.

Alice and Harm embraced loosely and Alice leaned in to press Harm on the lips. As their lips touched a snap of electricity passed between them, "Ouch!" Alice said recoiling from him.

"Are you OK?" Harm asked.

"Yes. I just caught a little shock," she rubbed her top lip lightly. "It's not puffy or red is it?"

"No more so than usual," Harm said with a smirk, earning himself a slap to the shoulder. "Sorry, dad was welding in the lab. I must have picked up a charge."

"I guess we'll just have to try again," Alice leaned back toward him with a smile on her lips.

Just as they were about to touch a voice shouted, "Right!" Alice's eyes went round and suddenly Harm felt himself twisted off his feet, a moment later a girl wearing torn jeans, a black t-shirt, and a bright red bandanna tying back her hair caromed past at breakneck speed. "Sorry!" she yelled but most of it was lost to the wind. As Alice and Harm watched, Angie Alaniz kicked up onto the Forester's concrete wall, rolled along the top for ten feet and then arced off the vaguely ramp-like protrusion which concealed the mailbox. Grasping at the board with one hand "the Psychochik" laughed like a lunatic as she gracefully cleared the neighboring hedge.

"That girl is insane!" Alice blurted as she watched her friend shoot back out onto the sidewalk in front of them and grind to a halt.

"Sweet peppers," he nodded and then began to laugh, "She wants the nickname to stick I guess," Not wanting to be late, Harm pulled Alice lightly to get her walking.

Kicking the back of the board Angie grabbed it with both hands and held it above her head, cackling like a mad woman. Her reverie over, she shouted, "You guys saw! Bwahahaha! I, at last, have witnesses to the depths of my psychosis!"

"That's not a good thing Angie!" Alice countered. She had to admit it was pretty impressive though.

"Not to you, perhaps, but to the Psychochik the madness is life!"

Harm laughed, "Come on Psychochik. We're all going to be late."

Angie shrugged and hopped back on her board. Rolling slightly in front of Alice and Harm, while blithely looking backwards at them, she grinned at the way they had surreptitiously entwined their little fingers. "So," her smile made her brown eyes dance, "Are you giving out kisses to everyone today?"

"Me or Harm?" Alice asked with a cocked eyebrow.

"You. Harm. Either. Both?" she said with a hopeful inflection.

"Ew!" Alice said sticking out her tongue, "You are so weird Angie!"

"True," Angie said wistfully and then shifted her weight causing her to decelerate such that her arms ended up wrapped about Harm's neck. "Well the girlfriend is out, so I guess it's just you and me Hol-o-caust. Be gentle!" she swooned in his arms while still keeping her feet on the board.

"Urk!" Harm grunted, Angie was always a lot heavier than he expected, "Knock it off Angie!"

With a laugh she righted herself and pushed off his chest to get rolling. "No love for the Psychochik?" she pouted and then smiled. "Oh Kay! See you both at prison!" With two hard kicks she shot out into the street and caught the back bumper of a car rolling almost silently by.

"What is wrong with that girl?" Alice asked as she watched Angie slingshot past one car to another moving more quickly.

"She's insane. Remember?" Harm laughed. "Let's go. We're going to be late."

Reluctantly Alice began walking more swiftly, "That was a heck of a jump she did."

"Crazy," was all Harm had to say.

The hallways of Teslaville High School were the usual madness one might expect. Winding their way through them Alice and Harm just tried to ignore the petty cruelties around them. To their right another couple were holding hands and talking quietly to each other as they leaned near a window. To their left Henry Dirkov was shaking down a smaller boy for his lunch money. "Dangit Henry!" Harm cursed under his breath and took a step toward them.

Before he could get any further, Alice pulled him back next to her, "Let it go Harm. He's a Junior. He's huge. And we're late as it is," distracted by the squishing sensation of Alice's beast against his arm Harm continued walking. A clatter and shrieks of horror rose from behind them. Harm tossed a look over his shoulder and saw that Dirkov was systematically shoving the smaller boy into his locker. Harm looked at Alice, imploring her to let him do something. After a moment she released his arm, "Fine. Catch up with me after next..."

"Let him go Dirkov," William Hastings threatened as he pressed his way through the throng.

"Or what, Willy?" Dirkov turned and straightened. At his full height he fairly towered over the football player.

"Just let him go Henry," William sighed. "We all know how this goes down if you don't."

As if on cue first bell rang and the hallway began to clear, "You're lucky, Hastings!" Dirkov postured.

"Whatever you have to tell your self, Dirkov," William replied and Henry slouched away.

Harm tossed a quick salute toward William as he helped the other boy back out of the locker. William nodded in acknowledgment and then both he and the boy took off for class. "We're going to be late!" Alice hissed and they both hurried off as fast as they felt they could get away with.

After that the day was like any other, though the occasional brownouts did spark a lecture in History about the contributions of Nikola Tesla.

"And what would you say is Mr. Tesla's most enduring creation?" Asked Mr. Ford as the lights flickered once more.

"The Death Ray?" Walter Adams suggested from the third row.

Harm shook his head in amusement; someone always picked the Death Ray.

"I asked for his most enduring invention Mr. Adams. Not his most amusing. Mr. Dong. Most enduring invention."

"Alternating Current Electricity," Harm replied with confidence.

"Very good Mr. Dong." he scanned the room for his next victim settling on a girl in the front row, "Miss Grey. What extension of Teslian theory allows..."

Camille interrupted, "Tesla Broadcast Electricity and the Tesla Broadcast Energy Towers, more commonly called T-BET's by the populace at large are the single technological breakthrough which allows life in Teslaville to exist as it does. Where other cities still rely on fossil fuels to propel their vehicles and heat their homes, Teslaville is 100% electric. This means less pollution, superior power distribution efficiency, and less over all impact on the environment. All these things make the Tesla Broadcast Energy Tower's intrinsic to our superior way of life."

"Thank you Camille," Mr. Ford said with jut a hint of annoyance, "For reciting the text almost verbatim.

Another boy raised his hand, "But what is causing the brownout's?"

Before Mr. Ford could respond Camille jumped in once more, "Most likely it is a result of atmospheric conditions or solar activity."

"Thank you again Camille," his tone was more annoyed than before, "And what could we do to help prevent this effect?"

"Talk to Harm's dad about changing the broadcasting frequency from a single frequency to a frequency array?"

Mr. Ford pushed her, "If it was so simple why would Dr. Dong have not built the towers that way in the first place?"

Camille was stumped, "He didn't think of it?"

Reluctantly Harm raised his hand and waited till called on, "When my dad was setting up the Teslaville power relay he had a very specific amount of electricity to work with. By using a single frequency he was able to maximize the efficiency of the energy transfer and minimize costs for building the receivers. Now that it is established the city council has been reluctant to overhaul a functional system for the rare days like today. You have to keep in mind that if you change how the towers broadcast then you have to change how everything else receives. Every car, lamp, stove, clock and toy which runs on electricity would have to be modified. It's a really big thing." Apparently some of the stuff his dad had talked about had sunk in after all.

Camile twisted in her seat to look at Harm, ignoring Mr. Ford entirely, "Why couldn't you leave the current frequency alone and just add the additional frequencies in a non-interfering range? That way you could hook new things into the new system and just retrofit things as needed. For that matter if you just refitted the cars and buildings..."

"We've gotten way off topic. Camille. Harm. Thank you for the interesting discussion but why don't you save it for science or debate? We're almost out of time," The bell rang, "You can pick up your assignments on the way out. See you all tomorrow."

Harm meandered toward his locker to drop things off before lunch. As he arranged things for easy access afterward, he felt a girl's breasts suddenly press up against him from behind, "Too short to be Alice," he thought "Knock it off Ang...oh. Hi Camille," he said as he turned to face her. "Need something?" Harm found himself staring at the small girl's chest. With the way she dressed it was impossible to tell by looking but the bumps he had felt were surprisingly large.

"Sorry." she mumbled, "I got pushed into you," she lifted her books to cover her chest. "I still think that you could at least make it so the the vital city infrastructure would be less likely to go down by instituting my plan."

"Like a dog with a bone," Harm thought. Aloud he said, "Probably so. Do you have written propose..."

Camille's hand snapped out from where she held her books holding a red folder marked 'Multi-spectrum Energy Transfer'. "I hope it not too long. I double spaced it and left really wide margins for taking notes. If your dad takes notes. Does your dad take notes?" Harm nodded. Nerd lust for his father. So weird. "I think it's a good plan and I hope to work with him on enacting it. Oh. Would you give this to your father," she smiled weakly.

"Sure, Camille. No problem. How about we get to lunch?"

"Lunch? Uh. Sure," she stammered.

"You, Alice, Angie and I can all eat together."

"I usually eat with Jackson," she said quietly.

"So he can eat with us too. No problem."

Camille smiled and this time it managed to fully bloom, "OK. I'll just drop this stuff off and I'll see you there!" Harm watched as the girl practically skipped away down the hall.

Harm laughed quietly to himself as he began the long walk to lunch. His headache was starting to come back but he knew he had a few more hours before it would really get bad. "Maybe I should see the doctor," he mumbled and with a deep breath began to queue. Over the next five minutes Harm's companions trickled into the line. Shouts of 'no cutting' were voiced and ignored. Soon everyone except Alice was at the table trying to decide what kind of meat had been stuffed into the ravioli.

Jackson Case sniffed at the split pasta which hung limply on his fork, "I've never had raccoon. For some reason I imagine this is what it might smell like," he grimaced and shoved it into his mouth. Without waiting to swallow he continued his critique, "Greasy," He chewed a little more. "Yet flavorless," He swallowed and his eyes lit up, "Oh! It's a subtle meal. All after taste," he stuck out his tongue as he reached for his milk.

"Jackson!" Camille said through gritted teeth.

"Sorry, Cammy," he said somewhat abashed. Looking around he saw that he had somehow become the center of attention. "So... you guys know what you're doing over summer break?"

"My family is visiting my uncle in Los Angeles," Angie said as she carefully scraped the red sauce from one of her ravioli.

"That sounds so... uh... normal," Camille commented.

"Oh yes," the crazed glint returned to her eyes, "Plus he lives only five miles from the Los Angeles river. Last time I was there, I hit a dead body with my board!" Looks of horror passed among those assembled. "Don't worry!" She smiled toothily, "All the gunk came off! Juanita was just fine!"

"And that's it for my meal," Jackson said pushing his plate away, "Thanks Angie."

"De nada," she grinned and then skewered his remaining ravioli and ate them all.

"Careful now Porkochik!" a voice dripping with scorn drifted from behind them, "You wouldn't want to end up shaped like your big sister, or mother, or father. Come to think of it, is anyone in your family not shaped like a greasy Mexican sausage?"

"Oh jeeze!" groaned Jackson. "The itchbay is on the owlpray!"

Harm glanced up to where Wendi Hoover stood sneering at Angie's back. Wendi was in Angie's sisters class and there had been bad blood for years. Wendi was tall, blond and built the way you would expect of a cheerleader who was pretty sure that meant she was in charge of the universe. When he looked at Angie, he saw fire blazing behind her eyes. "Angie?" Harm said with a worried tone, "Don't do anything you may regret."

A smile that foretold the doom of all spread across the Psychochik's lips. Holding up a hand to assure everyone things were going to be ok, she stood up and then spun on Wendi with a vacuous smile on her face. "Wendi!" she squealed. Harm could actually hear the little heart used to dot the 'i'. "I've missed you so much!" she bounced over and glomped onto Wendi like glue. After a moment her hands began roving across Wendi's back even as she rubbed her face against the taller girl's breasts.

"Ack! Get off me you homo!" Wendi gagged as she tried unsuccessfully to extract herself from Angie's iron grasp.

"Why do you deny our love!" Angie cried with tears in her eyes, "Does this mean you no longer wish to have our baby!"

"Yes!" Wendi blurted, "Wait. No! That never happened!" in a panic she cast her eyes about the room looking for help. Fortunately for her it was then that her boyfriend William entered the room. "Will! Help! She's crazy!" In spite of her protests her nipples had become visibly aroused.

Harm watched in mute fascination along with the rest of the cafeteria. "That's pretty hot," Jackson commented. Harm just nodded vacantly. He was pretty sure he shouldn't be enjoying this as much as he was.

Moments later William pulled Angie off of his girlfriend by the simple expedient of lifting her by the shoulders. When he sat her down she spun on him and then locked her arms around his waist, "Will! How are you!"

Will shook his head in wonder, "Just fine Angie. What were you doing to Wendi?"

"Reminding her what good friends we are?"

"Wendi was being a bitch," Camille interjected out of nowhere. Harm and Jackson stared at her as if she was speaking in tongues.

Patting Angie on the head in attempt to free himself William turned to Wendi and asked, "What did you do?"

"Me?! This crazy lesbian spic jumps me in front of the whole school and it's MY fault somehow! Ahhhh! This is just so..." in a huff she stormed out of the cafeteria.

"Wendi, wait," William said as he tried to follow but found his movement impeded by Angie's body lock. "Uh, Angie? Could you let me go?"

Angie was oblivious to his request, caught up as she was rubbing her face against his chest, "You are very firm." she mewled happily.

"Harm?" William implored, close to panic.

"Wendi was insulting her family. Camille is right. She was being a Queen Bee."

William nodded, "I kinda figured but I still need to go after her. Can you give me a hand?" he nodded down at the girl as she performed one half of a slow dance.

"Hey. Psychochik. Wendi left her tray. If you want, you can have it."

"Sweet!" Angie said releasing William without another thought and grabbing the tray. "Hey! Gum! And it's already soft!"

William hurried off after Wendi, while Angie busied herself with the new tray of food. "Sitting with you guys is a whole new experience Harm," Jackson said with a grin.

"Yeah. Things would have been even stranger if Alice was here."

"And speak of the devil," Jackson quipped and nodded toward the door. "Whoa."

Turning in his seat Harm was disturbed to see his normally vivacious girlfriend looking wan. Immediately Harm moved to her side, "You Ok Alice?"

"Yeah, I just don't feel very good. I may have a virus so don't get too close," she smiled weakly.

Harm reached out and hugged her, "There isn't anything you could give me that I would..."

"No touching!" shouted Mr. Edison from his perch.

Harm looked at him in disbelief, "Where the heck was he when Angie was groping Wendi?"

"Molesting Wendi! Thank you very much," Angie added from her seat.

Camille rolled her eyes, and let out a huff of irritation, "He was gawking like the rest of you."

Angie grinned, "Thank you! I'll be here all week!" she blew a bubble till it popped.

"It's ok Harm," she coughed into her hand, "I'm not really supposed to be in here but I wanted you to know I was going home early."

Harm was worried, Alice hated missing school, "You must feel pretty bad," She nodded. "Alright. When I get done with school I'll come over and help you feel better."

"That's sweet Harm. I doubt my mom will let you in but I appreciate the thought," she stroked his face and Harm felt a tingle of electricity run though his body. Alice was so awesome!

"I'll see you after school," he said in an assuring tone, "Do you want me to walk you back to the office?"

"Yeah, but we shouldn't. They think I'm just getting my things so I can wait for my mom in the Nurse's station."

"Are you sure? You really don't look good."

"Just what I want to hear from my boyfriend," she joked but the coughing fit which followed killed most of the humor. "I should go," she looked at him hopefully, "I'll see you later then?"

"Absolutely," Harm said with finality, "Even if I have to stand outside your window and throw rocks."

"Careful Mr. Pitcher, my dad won't like it if you break my window again," As Harm looked into her sweet face there was a dullness to her eyes he had never seen before. His stomach flipped with worry.

"I'll be careful," he said quietly and took her hand. A moment passed between them and then Alice began to slowly make her way out of the lunchroom. Fighting the urge to go after her Harm sat back down at the table.

"You aren't going with her?" Camille asked; she looked worried as well.

"She said I shouldn't," Harm replied still watching her almost stagger out of the room. With preternatural speed Harm managed to block a kick headed straight for his ribs. "Angie! What the heck are you doing?"

"Whoa," Angie boggled, "That was awesome. How did you block that?" Harm shrugged. "Oh, yeah. You used to get in all those weird fights, didn't you?"

"Why were you trying to kick me in the first place?"

"I think it was a subtle hint to go and help Alice regardless of what she says," Jackson said dryly.

"Oh. Yeah," Harm stood up and took a step from the table and then turned back to Jackson, "Thanks. Oh, and nowhere," Jackson squinted at him with a confused expression. "Summer Break. My family always stays in Teslaville."

"Will you just go already? We need to talk about you behind your back and you are making it very difficult!" Angie said hotly. Harm wasn't sure if she was kidding or not but he wasted no more time going after Alice.

This was turning out to be a less good day than he had hoped.

When William caught up to Wendi she was sorting through her locker looking for something. "What do YOU want?" she said coldly.

"Give me a break Wendi. You ride the Alanis' every chance you get and unlike Maria, Angie rides back. Can't you just let it go?"

"If this is you trying to make up for acting like a jerk in there you are doing a terrible job."

Will rolled his eyes and stepped closer to her, "I'm sorry I presumed you were at fault. Angie rubbing on you like that was totally out of line," Wendi got a far away look in her eyes and a flush of red colored her cheeks. "You Ok Wend..." was all he managed before she nearly knocked him to the floor with a kiss. The assault on his lips was relentless. When he finally managed to catch a breath, he gasped "What has gotten into you!"

In response Wendi began stroking the bulge in his pants and then led him off to somewhere more private.

Harm waved goodbye to Alice as her mother drove her home, "I hope she's OK," he fretted and then took off for his next class. He'd have a tardy but he was glad he had stayed with Alice anyway.

The day wore on as usual, though it seemed much longer as he worried about Alice. In spite of his distracted state Harm couldn't help but notice other students looking ill. Coughing became more and more common place and it began to look like there might be an epidemic spreading through the school. With the exception of his headache Harm felt fine. Thank god for small favors.

As Harm threaded his way toward his second to last class of the day he found himself flanked by Camille and Angie. "You feeling ok?" Camille asked.

"Yeah. Why?" he asked warily.

"I've been looking into the spread of this disease."

"OK."

"And near as I can tell Alice is probably patient zero."

Harm shook his head in disbelief, "What are you basing this on?"

"Classes she attended early in the day have the largest number of people complaining of symptoms and it seems to just be following her around," Camille said blithely. Harm stared at her, this wasn't the kind of information she could just compile by herself. "I snuck into the nurses office and checked her charts. Alice was first then about an hour later others started trickling in."

Harm nodded and felt even more ill, "Why are you here Angie?"

"I have been asking myself that all day," she huffed and then thought for a moment, "Because I can't find Wendi?"

"What?" Harm and Camille chorused.

"I can't torment her if she isn't here. Duh."

"Oh. OK," Harm acknowledged.

"Plus I want to motorboat her boobs!" her crazy grin returned, "Have you guys touched them? They're awesome!" Camille and Harm exchanged a look and agreed silently to just let it go. When he looked back toward Angie she had moved to a window and was staring at the sky along with half the student body. "What in the world? Guys! Check this out!"

"That isn't possible," Camille said, shielding her eyes. There shouldn't be a total solar eclipse here for years," Yet as they watched the sun gave way to the moon and an eerie twilight fell over Teslaville. There was something unsettling about the eclipse. Everyone stood waiting for it to pass but after almost two minutes the diamond ring still had not appeared. "This can't be happening," She glared at Angie, "Did you spike my drink with something?"

"Shut up a second," Angie said seriously, "What is that sound?"

It was at that moment that the school's lights failed. After thirty seconds it became clear the backups were not functioning either. Harm's stomach felt tingly. His headache was suddenly gone and he was left feeling inexplicably aroused. "I think we should get out of the hallway," Harm said firmly. "This whole thing is getting a little too weird," It was then that the screaming began.

Down the corridor toward the office streamed a panicked herd of teenagers. For a moment Harm considered trying to stop them but the fear on their faces told of that plans inevitable failure. Instead he pushed Angie and Camille into a nook formed by lockers and then protected them with his own body. Soon the wave had passed and only the slower students trickled by, though their fear was no less obvious. Realizing he needed more information Harm stepped out with the intent of stopping one of the stragglers and questioning them. Before he could do so the answer to his question presented itself.

Shambling down the hall at a disturbingly random velocity was one of the students. His skin was badly burned and Harm immediately recognized them as electrical in origin. With as bad as the burns looked he should have been dead or at least unconscious. He certainly shouldn't have been shooting electricity from his eyes and hands. That wasn't normal! The utter ridiculousness of the situation left him stunned, watching as the tendrils of electricity crept closer. A stray bolt caught a girl who had fallen behind the pack in the leg. As soon she she went down the electro-thing leapt upon her supine form. The girl screamed as electricity began flowing in and out of her leaving angry burns in their wake. As she screamed the creature bent near her face and a flow of electricity fed from her into him. Her body convulsed as the torrent of electricity increased and then she became completely still.

Watching the girl die in front of him seemed utterly unreal. He turned to where he had left Angie and Camille but found them gone. Was this a dream? That seemed more plausible than it actually happening. Turning away from the carnage Harm closed his eyes and willed the monster away. When he opened them Angie was charging at him with a fire extinguisher clutched in both hands, screaming like a banshee.

In the blink of an eye Angie tore past him, forcing him to wheel in place to avoid her. Without hesitation she ran right up to the electrified student and cracked him in the head with the Class C extinguisher, knocking him away from the girl. She let out a yelp as a current ran through the extinguisher but she managed to hold on.

From behind him he heard Camille yelling, "What are you doing? Don't hit him with it! Spray! Spray!" the edge of panic running through her voice was unmistakable and at last that shook Harm loose of his daze.

"Angie! Pass and clear!" he shouted and with characteristic alacrity she tossed him the extinguisher and then took off at a dead run the opposite direction making it to a corner before Harm had prepped the canister. As soon as she was away, Harm began hosing down the creature with non-conductive foam. Lightning and sparks fired from anywhere not covered but with an efficiency learned in his father's lab Harm quickly coated the student and watched as he slowed and eventually went still beneath it. "How did you know?" he said turning to Camille who had moved next to him.

"It was the only thing I could think of," she said vacantly, "Are they dead?" she swallowed hard trying not to throw up.

"I think so," Harm said gravely, "We should get Angie and try to find out what happened."

"Yeah. OK," she replied still staring at the bodies, "I wonder who he was, Oh god Jackson!"

Harm rested a hand on her shoulder and was momentarily struck by how pretty her eyes were when not concealed behind glasses, "It wasn't Jackson, Camille."

"I know!" she said near tears, "but I don't know where he is! We have to find him!"

Harm nodded and looked around, a light flicked past the corner Angie had taken, "An arc welder?" he mumbled and Camille followed his eye.

As recognition dawned for both of them Angie came running around the corner and slid on the tile into the far wall, hard. Scrambling to her feet she began to scream incoherently, without further pause she charged down the hall toward them with no signs of slowing.

The look of blind terror in Angie's eyes was all it took to get the other two motivated. "Angie! How many!" Harm huffed while trying to help Camille keep up. "If we can get enough extinguishers..."

"No!" was all Angie could gasp through her tears.

"We really shouldn't have done that," Will said seriously but his grin betrayed him. "It was awesome though."

"Yeah,it was great," Wendi said distractedly, "Why is it so dark in here?"

"The lights are off?"

Wendi rolled her eyes, "I know THAT, but they leave the top window shades open unless it needs to be dark in the auditorium for some reason," She stood up and looked over the top of the orchestra pit where they had secreted themselves. "And those lights should be on," she pointed toward the doors.

Will laughed, "How do you know so much about this place?"

"Uh. I've spent quite a bit of time in here," she said evasively and then fumbled around in her pile of things on the floor for her watch. "I didn't hear the bell for next class and what is that smell?"

Will finally regained his ability to focus and joined her at the edge of the pit. "Wendi, get your things on. That smells like an electrical fire," as quick as they were able they threw on the rest of their clothes and made their way to a side door to the auditorium. Will felt the door to make sure it wasn't hot and then pushed the heavy steel door open for his girlfriend. Without further ado Wendi rushed out into the hall and was immediately slammed into by something moving very quickly.

Images stabbed at Angie's mind and robbed her of control. It made her want to scream. The fact that she had screamed her throat raw didn't seem to register.

When she had gone around the corner she had found the hallway toward the offices deserted. Certain Harm could handle a single crazed monster, she move blithely toward the office. As she neared it, the smell of o-zone intensified. Looking in the wire reinforced window she had seen bodies littering the floor and more creatures like the one see had just hit.

Unlike the faceless boy these she recognized. Mr.Edison, Principal Farnsworth, Nurse Curry were all shambling about within and as they moved the bodies of the students and faculty who had fallen around them would shake and convulse. Then she saw one of the dead begin to rise and arcs of electricity began to chase about it. As she watched, those that had fallen all began to clamor to their feet, the electricity baked their flesh and the smell of burned meat turned her stomach.

She wasn't sure when she had started crying but the moment she screamed she knew. As one, ten sets of eyes burning with an intense blue light turned on her and began moving her way. The teacher's faces haunted her but the students faces were blank to her memory and all the more horrifying for it. Angie had always considered herself to be above worrying about a little thing like dying. If you live in fear of death then you never really live, had long been her philosophy. This was something different. The idea of becoming one of these things scared her so deeply that her legs were running before her mind registered it.

When she slid into the wall and saw Harm and Camille still alive, the faintest hope began to grow. If they could just get away. More running. Yes. That was the thing to do. With the singular goal of getting away from what she had seen Angie barreled down the hall next to the auditorium. Something rushed out into her path. There was no time to stop. No time to even slow down. They had her. Why did it have to end like this?

Harm paused to let Camille catch up with him. A moment later she reached him clutching at the stitch in her side. "We need to keep moving," he said quietly and without anger.

"Can't run anymore," she gasped. "Leave me. I'll find Jackson. Myself."

"We stick together. I would never have thought of that fire extinguisher thing. We need you."

"but..." He didn't let her finish.

"No. We will try and find Jackson but in all likelihood he got caught up in the panic and is long gone. We'll walk. Let's go. We cant let Angie get too far ahead," Gritting her teeth Camille began walking at the swift pace set by Harm. "Right now we just need to get out of here but we have to get Angie first. What the heck scared her like that?"

When they turned the last corner they had seen Angie take they were met with a curious sight; Angie was clutching desperately to Wendi and shaking violently with fear. Meanwhile Wendi was carefully wrapping bandages made of Will's t-shirt around the burns on Angie's hands. "Harm!" Will called from where he was keeping watch. Harm felt a wave of relief seeing someone else. "What the heck is going on?", more quietly he added, "Is Angie on drugs or something? Her hands..."

"What happened to her?" Wendi said with heat that was familiar though the cause was most curious. "How did her hands get burned like this?"

"The school is being overrun by electro-zombies," Camille said without thinking, and then considered her statement, "I've only seen the one but Angie must have seen more. The one we fought did that to her hands," Harm nodded confirmation.

"Electro-zombies?" Will said in shock. "Whatever. The burns are pretty bad. We should take her to the nurse."

Angie began thrashing about trying to get away. Wendi held her tight and whispered soothing lies into her ear. When Angie stopped trying to flee Wendi looked at Will and then at Harm, the fear, concern and compassion in her eyes at that moment seemed so out of character. "Shop," Harm said almost to himself.

"What?" Will asked.

"We need to get to the shop. They have first aid kits and fire extinguishers and other stuff for us to use to defend ourselves. We stock up. Get Angie bandaged as best we can and then head for my house."

"Why your house?" Wendi said in a tone more like what he would expect.

"Because my dad's lab is basically a fortress and it's loaded down with weapons. Even the stuff that isn't weapons tend to act like weapons," he nodded his head as certainty of his plan began to cement, "Plus he works with electricity all the time. If he's there he WILL be able to help us."

"What about Jackson?" Camille whimpered.

Harm turned and took her by both shoulders, "We don't know where he is. We cant just wander around randomly looking or him. We'll keep an eye out for him or anyone else that isn't a ... uh... electro-zombie but we have to get going. Now."

As stealthily as they were able the five of them quickly wound their way down the hall. Thankfully the shop proper proved deserted. "What now?" Will asked trying to keep the fear from his voice. All eyes turned to Harm.

Pressing the bridge of his nose with his thumb and forefinger to ward off a new headache he tried to get down to business. "Will. We need anything we can easily carry to fight these things, if we have to. Take Camille with you. She seems to have a better idea how these thing may work than the rest of us," with a little coaxing Will managed to get Camille focused on helping them survive rather than her best friend. "Wendi. See if you can find the first aid kit and tend to Angie's hands."

For a moment the look of queen cheerleader returned and it seemed as if she would object, when her eyes drifted to Angie however the resistance faded, "Ok. What are you going to do?"

Harm looked at the door, "We're going to need more fire extinguishers," They shared a nod and both got to work.

Ten minutes later the situation seemed less dire. Angie had partially recovered her wits and her hands had been treated with burn cream and wrapped in gauze. She would still burst into tears at seemingly random moments but she was no longer a wild animal. Camille and Will managed to find some wrenches and wrap them in electrical tape. Will had even cobbled together a makeshift spear. "Where's Harm?" William asked in hushed tones. Angie shuddered in the grip of crying fit, clutching to Wendi like a frightened child. Surprisingly Wendi didn't seem to mind. "Things are still quiet and we have our stuff."

Wendi absently stroked the smaller girl's hair, "He went off to find more fire extinguishers."

"What! Why did you let him do that!" Will responded hotly. "Now we have no way of knowing... When did he leave?"

"Maybe two minutes after you disappeared into the shop," Angie clutched at her more tightly, "It's OK. We're going to all be OK," she cooed.

Camille seemed to reach a decision and spoke up, "If he's been gone that long then we have to presume the EZ's got him."

"EZ's?" Wendi asked distractedly.

"Electro-zombies. EZ's. It was Will's idea."

"Whatever," Wendi said dismissively, this was all just a huge distraction from the plan, "We can't leave without Harm."

Will stepped in, "Yes we can and we're going to. I know where Harm lives. We head there and with a little luck he'll make it. We can't wait."

"It's OK sweetie," Wendi whispered as she carefully unclasped Angie's hands from about her and stood up, she was glad she was wearing her high wedges, it let her almost look William in the eye, "Harm's father is a genius. If his lab is as impregnable as Harm seems to think, then without him I doubt we can even get inside. Harm will be back. Just give him time," she sat back down and Angie grasped a hold of her again. "If we don't have Harm then we should just stay here."

"At the center of the EZ hoard?" Will said with exasperation, "That's got to be the dumbest..."

"She may be right," Camille said as she surreptitiously peeked out the small window they had covered with a greasy shop towel. "They haven't found us here yet. Once they," she choked and took a moment to collect herself, "Once they consume everything here they would logically move out from this point to find more sustenance. If we wait long enough this place should be clear," Will looked unconvinced. "It's like a fairy ring."

"A what?"

"Those rings of mushrooms you sometimes get in your yard that start small and then spread out in a widening ring," Wendi and Will nodded in understanding, "That happens because they eat everything in one spot and then dump spores and move out. The center is depleted so it doesn't get any new mushrooms. We're at the center of the ring."

"What do we do for food then?" Will asked prudently.

Wendi interjected, "Odds are Mr. Edison has some kind of food stashed in here," at the mention of Mr. Edison Angie began shaking, "Poor baby," Wendi said and held her more tightly, "We have water. If Harm doesn't come back we find what we can to eat in here and then wait as long as we can before heading to the cafeteria or maybe Home Ec for supplies. With luck by that time everything will have resolved itself," Will and Camille gaped at her. "What?"

"It's just that's..." Will trailed off.

"Yeah, it's a good plan," the disbelief in Camille's voice was clear.

"Nice. I may be a bitch but that doesn't mean I'm an idiot," she held Angie a little tighter, "I normally have other things on my mind is all."

"She's right," Harm said as he walked into the shop office looking a bit the worse for wear and bearing two large fire extinguishers.

"How?" asked Will looking at the door they had been watching.

"I circled around and came in the back."

"Oh my god Harm!" Camille rushed over to him and moved his shirt to the side revealing a nasty electrical burn, "We need to take care of this."

"No time," he handed Will one of the extinguishers, " I tried to get a third one and got caught. They zapped me but I used the third extinguisher to stop them. You get this on them they start to get weaker and they seem unwilling to pass through a field of it on the ground either," He sighed. "But they know I'm here so eventually..." he trailed off. "Sorry."

Angie's eyes got even bigger, "Coming?" she whimpered. Wendi held Angie's head and comforted her.

"Yeah. I slowed them down but there are still more getting up. We have to go. Get your stuff."

Exiting through the garage doors they found their path unobstructed and soon made their way into the streets of Teslaville. Once moving again Angie began coming back to herself but her wild eyes and jumpy demeanor contrasted completely with the girl Harm had known most of his life. Camille was only slightly better off and even Will looked near the breaking point after he was forced to hop-scotch through the burned bodies that were just laying in the street, waiting to rise. Wendi, on the other hand, was proving to be a rock. Maybe taking care of Angie was helping her stay grounded. Things were not going at all the way he would have predicted if asked to guess about this a week ago. The way was nearly deserted save the skeletal remains of electric cars littering the streets and the occasional body here or there. Harm wanted to scream but he knew if he lost it the others would never make it out.

"OK," He said aloud to himself, "Once we get off DiVinci Avenue we can take Popeil Lane, check on Alice and then it's just around the block to my house."

"What?" Camille said, stopping abruptly, "We aren't stopping to check on Alice."

"Of course we are. That was the plan," he didn't pause or stop looking for the telltale flashes which proceeded the electro-zomies.

"No," Camille said firmly, "The plan was to get to your dad's lab and figure out how to survive this!"

Harm turned, "Well, we're getting Alice."

"She started this!" Camille shouted. "We are not going to try and rescue Typhoid Mary but leave Jackson just... alone!"

"Shut up!" Harm barked trying to keep his voice down, "We have no idea where he is. We know exactly where she is and it's on the way. We. Are. Checking. On. Alice."

"You bastard! You think that just because you care about someone that makes them more important than someone I care about!" Camille turned and began walking back toward the school.

"Camille!" Will shouted, "Don't do this! We have to stick together."

"Will you all keep it down!" Wendi hissed. Angie was crying again. "Camille! If you want to kill yourself do it in a way that won't let them bring you back! Harm we... are... Oh god!" As one they followed her gaze and saw down a side street the telltale flickering.

"We have to hide!" Harm ordered, "Camille we need you! We'll discuss it after we aren't dead."

Camille looked back toward the school, then at Harm and then at the rapidly intensifying light. Squinting at the still eclipsed sun she nodded and hurried with them to find place to hide.

Running through the streets the full reality of the situation hit home. Though never discussed, they had all expected to find others like them, desperately trying to survive, but the more time that passed the more obvious it became that they were on their own. The zombie's were getting harder and harder to avoid as their numbers swelled. Harm was beginning to question if even his dad could help them. The whole town seemed to have been infected. As they crept past Duryea Bros. Garage and Towing Camille suddenly got excited and called them all back. "In here!" she said not waiting for anyone to object.

"Camille!" Harm hissed but she was already gone. Grumbling under his breath Harm directed the remainder to follow her into the garage.

Though it took longer than Harm would have expected they soon found Camille studying a pegboard covered with keys. "Where is it?" she mumbled, "Where is it?"

"What are you doing Camille?" Will asked. Meanwhile Harm started looking over the shop for equipment to improve their arsenal. Angie and Wendi say down and the blond began checking the younger girls wounds.

"This place does towing," Camille said distractedly.

"So?" Will rejoined.

"So they probably have a guzzler tow truck which won't be tied to the messed up power relay and if we can get our hands on it then we can just drive away without having to worry about the T-BET's range," she looked at him and shrugged, "If nothing else we can get to Harm's place faster."

"Harm," Wendi said quietly as she closed in behind him, "I think Angie is starting to run a fever. We need to get her real help."

Harm turned on her with a look of confusion on his face, "Why do you care so much all of a sudden? You always hated her."

"I did not," she defended. Harm just stared at her. "Fine, I tormented her," she admitted, "But that was... That was before she got hurt. She's so scared, Harm. We have to help her."

"Fine," he didn't have time to help her work through her own motivations. "Check the office. If this place is up to code they'll have a first aid kit and burn trauma kit prominently displayed."

'Really?" Wendi looked genuinely surprised.

"They work with electric cars. You have to be careful." Wendi nodded and turned to make her way back to Angie. Before she made it a step Harm touched her on the arm, drawing her attention back to him. "Any idea what scared her so bad?" Seeing Angie jump at every little things was tearing Harm apart.

Wendi pressed her lips into a tight line. It was obvious that whatever she suspected she did not want to give voice. Harm waited patiently for her to decide if she would share or not. "I think..." Wendi trailed off, dropping her head and trying to suppress a shudder, "When she first ran into me, in the hall, she kept saying hermana over and over," Wendi shifted uncomfortably, "At first I thought she was calling me sister. I mean she was completely out of her mind!" a half-crazed laugh escaped her lips before she could stifle it. She glanced back toward Angie where the younger girl sat in a stupor, glad she did not seem to have noticed her outburst. "Only I don't think that was it. I think she saw something happen to Maria," Wendi turned green, "God. I was so mean to both of them! Why do I have to be like that! I mean Maria and I were friends and now..." tears began to flow.

"Wendi!" Harm snapped grabbing her by the shoulders roughly. "You and I are the only ones keeping it together! Please, don't lose it now. I need you to take care of Angie. I can not do this on my own."

"OK," she nodded as she snuffled back her tears, "I'm going to see what I can do for Angie's hands," Leaving Harm to continue his search, Wendi carefully lead Angie into the office and closed the door quietly behind them.

Fifteen minutes later Harm sat atop a tool chest staring out the window into the street. Angie and Wendi were still in the office and Will and Camille had ventured out into the lot to find the guzzler truck Camille had fixated on. "We would have been at my place by now," he breathed as he watched a handful of zombie's pass by a couple blocks away with their disturbing gait. Looking down Harm realized he had run out of electrical tape again. Opening a new package he started wrapping another of the over sized sockets he had found. Once he finished wrapping it he tossed it in the air a few times to get the balance, "Yeah. I can throw this," he nodded to himself. "Sure do wish I had a bat though."

"...because it just isn't here. That's why. Now keep your voice down!" William said with barely restrained anger.

"It has to be here!" Camille objected, "I found the keys! It's here, we just have to find it."

"We are not going to the outer lot to look for something which probably isn't here anyway," Will countered.

"What's it look like out there?" Harm asked nervously as he put the last of the sockets in the satchel he had scrounged.

"Not good," Will said sourly, "It was getting to point where I was seeing zombie sign every time I looked up. We need to get out of here and to your place."

"It's going to be tricky," Harm said tossing a glance back toward the window, "There are a lot more of them now than there were when you left."

"I noticed. Where are the girls?" Will asked casting an eye about for them. "I should probably make sure Wendi is doing ok."

"Still in the office."

"Still? Doesn't that seem a little long to..."

"Eureka!" Camille cried. Both boys turned and emphatically hushed her. "Sorry," she whispered, "I was so fixated on the guzzler I didn't think to check for a car with batteries," Harm and Will just waited for her to explain. "Think about it! The T-BET's are down or malfunctioning so most cars won't work cause they don't have any power. This," she gestured to the car in front of her, "Uses the T-BET's most of the time but has batteries for when you go outside their range."

Harm smiled as he started to see the plan, "If we can get this going then we should be able to drive and it won't be nearly so loud."

"Yes!" Camille jumped for joy.

"Why is it here though?" Will asked eying the car.

"It's probably just some minor mechanical problem," she opened the door and hopped inside. "I'll check the diagnostic and see what it says."

Harm glanced around and found a pair of insulated gloves, "Hold on Camille. If it's in here then you should wear these."

"Oh come on Harm!" Camille scoffed, "I'm just pushing a button or two."

"Yeah, Harm. Calm down. Just let her work," Will interjected.

"Doesn't seem to be anything wrong according to the diagnostic. Let me see if it starts."

"Hold on!" Harm stepped up to hand her the gloves, placing his hand on the top of the car. "Here. Take these."

Camille rolled her eyes and blithely pushed the button to start the car.

Harm felt more than saw or heard the batteries discharge into her, he was thrown back in a tangle and his right hand was badly burned. "Shit!" William swore and hurried first to check on Camille and then on Harm.

"Harm! Harm!" he shouted, "Are you ok?"

The world seemed muted, Harm's eyes and ears didn't want to work right. He suddenly realized Will had asked him a question and he indicated in the negative. He most definitely not all right. "Camille?" he slurred.

Will shuddered and shook is head, "No she... she 's gone."

"Dangit!" Harm cursed and pulled away from Will jerkily. He felt weird. A tingling sensation tickled at his skin and his mind was going a thousand miles an hour with absolutely no direction. "Ahhhhhhhhhh!" he screamed in frustration.

"Dude!" Will snapped in fear.

Harm realized his error and gestured for Will to check one side while he checked the other. Both hurried to their positions.

Zombie sign was every where. Leaning a hand against the corrugated steel of the garage wall Harm felt the strange tingling intensify. Pulling his hand away he saw several small arcs of electricity pass back and forth. "No!" he whispered. Looking at his palm he saw that the burns were mostly cosmetic. With as much amperage had hit him he probably shouldn't even have been able to use that hand but as feeling came back he found it was just a bit sore. Turning around he found Will waiting with a large insulated wrench at the ready. "What are you doing Will?"

"I saw," he said through clenched teeth "you're infected. Just let me finish you quick before you fully turn."

Harm searched his mind. He didn't feel infected. At least he didn't think he did. "Will. Look at me. I'm fine. I don't know what that was but I'm not infected," Will took a swing which Harm easily ducked. "Will! I'm talking. I'm lucid! I'm not infected!"

"No more stupid chances!" Will shouted as he caught Harm in the mid section on the reverse stroke of a wild swing.

Backing away Harm coughed and gasped for air, "Will! Knock it off man! We don't have time for this. They are on their way! We need to get the girls and run for it while we still can!" as he spoke he slowly fished a socket out of the satchel.

Circling to get a better angle Will switched his weapon from one hand to the other, "That's the plan. You just aren't part of it."

A sudden crack of electricity went off behind William, temporarily blinding Harm. For a moment he figured it was over only the final blow never fell. Instead he heard the sound of a struggle and more yelling. When his vision cleared Harm saw little Camille winning a wrestling match with the football player. Will had managed to get his hands on a fire extinguisher at some point during the struggle but he was unable to use it effectively. Thinking fast Harm grabbed another extinguisher to spray them both. As he did an arc played on he surface of Will's canister for a moment too long and it detonated, knocking Harm backwards and stunning him yet again.

When Harm could once again move he struggled to pull himself to his feet. The room was irregularly covered in a thin white coating of foam. Staggering to where Will and Camille lay he found them still and lifeless. A quick glance around showed the familiar strobe effect playing on the now frosted glass from just outside. Still dazed he stumbled to the office door to get Wendi and Angie. They had to make a run for it right now or it was all over. Deep down he knew it was already too late. "I have to get to Alice," he thought aloud as he opened the door. "I promised!"

Inside he found Angie and Wendi locked together in an intimate embrace. Harm stared slack jaw for a moment trying to decide if he was actually seeing this or if it was the concussion. "Angie?" he said in confusion even as they continued to kiss.

At the sound of his voice Angie broke the kiss and Wendi slumped lifelessly in her arms, "No!" Harm gasped as the previously suppressed electricity arced around her. Spinning, Harm tried to run but instead found himself falling to his knees. For a moment he was unsure why he couldn't move and then the smell of burned flesh and ozone at last reached his brain. He tried to rise but his body refused to obey. The world began going dim and he pitched forward to the floor. "Alice," he breathed out, never to inhale.

~End

Welcome to Teslaville: Out of Harm (2)

Author:

Matt Zenn

Audience Rating:

Mature Subjects (pg15)

Publication:

Serial Chapter

Genre:

Superheroes

Character Age:

Teenage or High School

TG Universes & Series:

Whateley Academy by Maggie Finson, et al

TG Themes:

Identity Crisis

Permission:

Posted by author(s)

A Whateley Academy Fanfiction

Welcome to Teslaville!: Out of Harm

by Matt Zenn

Lights danced before Harm's eyes. Blue, yellow, white they jumped about at random and made him feel sick. He tried to close his eyes as the lights drew closer but realized he had no eyes to close. He wanted to be sick but had no stomach to vomit from. He wanted to scream but had no lips, no lungs, no tongue, no teeth. He was a non-thing and all he could do was watch helplessly as the light grew brighter. He couldn't feel anything but the pain and fear that the light burned into him. He knew without question that it wasn't a dream and as the light finally reached him he saw past the light and fell unfeeling through the dark.

As he fell, a sense of acceleration slammed into his numbness and destroyed all sense of equilibrium. He was spinning out of control through the darkness and there was nothing he could do to stop it. He tried to cry out for his mother but had no more luck than he had screaming. He was alone. Memories of nightmares past assaulted him. People with out faces. Monsters who looked like friends and family but something about them made him want to scream and run away. He willed himself to wake but he could not. As he watched the flesh of his family melted like wax revealing nothing behind the face but a void that he knew in the end would consume him.

The spinning sensation amplified and it was as if he saw all directions at once and everywhere he looked there were people he remembered with twisted faces looming and lifeless. Everyone he had ever known stood on a hoary field, dead and their vacant eyes blamed Harm for it. His vision wheeled and he felt weak and used up. He just wanted to close his eyes and let the nightmares have him. In the distance which at once moved to him he saw Alice floating, a sleeping beauty, at peace. Focusing all the will he had left Harm tried to change nightmare into dream and he cleaved to Alice with all of the nothing he had.

The world stopped spinning. The nightmares slipped away into the darkness. He and Alice were together and he kissed her without lips and begged her to forgive him for not saving her without words. As he held her she too melted away but inside there was light and he clung to it and it to him and it no longer hurt him to see it.

Harm woke slowly and as he did the dream that had felt so much like reality began to fade as most dreams do. His mind was sluggish and he felt a warmth that started in his chest and began moving outward. As it did he realized that other than the warmth he could not feel anything. The world began spinning slowly and a dull panic he could not explain rippled through him. He tried to open his eyes but they were stuck fast. Harm strained to lift a hand but could not feel the limb. Something struck him in the chest and he started but could not run. He did not move. He did not even breath as he waited for whatever had hit him but after an eternity nothing returned. The warmth continued to spread and he realized that his bottom was cold which led to the understanding that he was sitting. Connection to the seat slowed the worlds spin. The farther out the warmth spread the stranger he felt. His chest felt odd and his butt was wrong somehow. His entire body felt strange, unconnected, as if he was sitting just to the left of himself, "It must be the concussion," he tried to say but found his mouth similarly fixed shut. Panic gripped his heart and his lungs started to burn. Something was covering his face! The heat had reached part way down his arms and though he kept bumping into things in the dark he managed to grasp clumsily at the covering, eventually gaining purchase on it. With a tug he pulled at the material which stretched and pulled at his skin. After what seemed an eternity the material finally gave up and ripped away from his face. Gasping for breath he opened his eyes only to realize the room in which he sat was just as dark without the mask. Sitting in the dark he sneezed at the stale air and concentrated on getting his body working again. As he flexed his hands and worked to move his toes, something tickled his nose and he absently tried to brush it away. The slap that hit him was a surprise but at least he had been able to feel it's source. "I have to be careful," he tried to say but the words were jumbled and slurred. "What's happened to me?" he wondered as he tried to remember how to move his mouth and tongue. With painstaking effort Harm forced himself to relearn how to move and finally tried to stand only to discover that the ceiling was unusually short.

"Hello!" he called as loud as he could. It wasn't exactly clear but at least approximated the word he was attempting. His ears seemed as affected as the rest of his body but even though everything still seemed muted and strange there was no way he could mistake the incongruity of his shout. It had not sounded like his voice. It was too high. It had sounded too much like Alice. With growing fear Harm reached up to his throat and his arms brushed roughly against his chest in a way that his mind could not seem to reconcile. His body was not shaped like that, even though the sensations he had been receiving indicated otherwise. Slowly and with great trepidation he lowered his hands to where the foreign sensations had originated. "Oh god no!" he whispered in Alice's voice and this time there could be no mistake. "No. This can't be happening. This is all a nightmare," He clenched his eyes and willed himself to wake up. "Everyone is fine. I'm at home in bed and this is just the worst dream ever," he chanted but the more time that passed the less dream like it felt. As he stood in the dark the full sensation of his body slowly crept into his consciousness.

Breathing harder than was warranted Harm tried his best to suppress the oncoming panic attack. The lucid dreaming techniques his father had taught him always worked. He should have been able to wake at will; yet here he stood trapped in the nightmare darkness and what he increasingly feared was his girlfriends skin. "The darkness is a trap. Find the light and you can wake," he told himself. Feeling ahead of himself in the blackness Harm quickly determined he did not have far to go. Feeling all around he estimated he was in a less than two meter square room. Out in the darkness, beyond where he knew the walls to be he saw something move though he could not see anything. A sense of being stalked pressed against him and wore at his already frayed self-control. For a moment he stood shivering in the darkness as the thing he could not see moved closer and closer. He was trapped and a mindless fear he had never experienced prior bubbled up and overwhelmed his reason.

He had to get out. He had to get out now!

Lashing out at the walls in a fit, the panicked animal part of his mind noticed that the sound from the wall facing the chair was different than the others. Different meant a possibility of change and that propelled him to focus his efforts on that which was different. Had he been in his right mind he might have wondered how it was that his hands did not hurt after repeatedly smashing into steel walls or why he felt that same steel buckle with each blow. Time and again he hammered away at the offending surface and was finally rewarded by a dim light passing through a buckled seam. Gripping the seam with his finger tips he lifted as hard as he could. For long seconds nothing happened. Then, just before he was about to go back to punching, a groan from the wall bolstered his resolve. Putting everything he had left into one massive pull he heard a loud pinging sound from higher up in the wall and the panel shot upward and jammed halfway open. Without a thought to the danger Harm dove through with out even a moment to consider what might be on the other side.

The unknown proved to be foreign but at least there was light. Scrabbling on all fours until he finally found his feet Harm retreated from the dark cell on rubber legs. A pathetically short distance from where he started Harm collapsed and found he once again could not move. His face pressed against the cold steel floor Harm began to cry in frustration and fear. Slowly his body began to come back under his control and his terror began to abate. When he could move his body enough, he pulled his legs to his chest and tried to ignore the squishing sensation it caused. His father's advice to keep his head cycled through his had like a mantra.

For many minutes Harm lay in a ball on the hard steel floor trying to force himself to wake. "Five, four, three, two, one. Wake!" he repeated countless times. Sensations from his childhood nightmares tore at his mind rending old wounds open anew. He was alone. Always alone though he stand in a crowd of thousands. He was the only living thing, just like in the dreams. It had to be a nightmare but every attempt met with failure. No matter how hard he tried he couldn't wake and fear that this impossible thing might actually be happening finally started to set in. "You have to keep it together!" he cried to himself, flinching at the strange and frightening echoes that resulted.

Pushing himself to a sitting position Harm focused his mind on the task at hand. "This is the big game Dong!" he said to himself in imitation of Coach Whitney, "Get it done! You'll have plenty of time for nerves after we win!" Opening his eyes he nodded, "Ok. I can do this."

The sickly yellow green lights in the dank hallway allowed his eyes to see what his hands had already determined. Red hair spilled from the tears in the strange suit where he had torn it loose from his face. He was covered in a shiny black bodysuit which left absolutely no way for him to deny the truth. He was in a girl's body and though he wanted desperately for it not to be, he knew deep down that the body he was wore was his girlfriend's. The same blind panic began to bubble beneath the surface and though it had served him well the last time he feared that if he succumbed again he would never recover.

As he tried to calm himself one of the many strange conversations he'd had with his father came to mind unbidden. "Hand me that spanner." his father had said pointing to one of the many wrenches which littered the workbench. Unsure which he wanted, Harm grabbed one at random and held it out to him. "No. Not that one. The one with the red stripe."

Glancing quickly across the surface it became obvious there was no such spanner present, "Did you put it on the panel above you?" Harm asked with a smirk. Groping around he had found the wrench and then used it to hammer at something inside the automaton he was building. "Need anything else Dad?"

Ducky leaned back and closed the access panel, "You know. There is something." The way he said it made Harm's insides twist uncomfortably.

"Uh. What is it?"

"Nothing bad," his father assured him, "well not exactly bad anyway." he immediately back pedaled. "Harm I know you have been seeing a lot of the Alan Powers' daughter. There are things you need to..."

Harm cut him off as quickly as he could, "If this is about," he made a unpleasant face, "sex then you don't have to worry. Mom told me all about it. I couldn't look Alice or any of the girls I know in the eye for a week!"

"Wha? Oh! No. No I'm sure your mother did a fine job with that," Ducky laughed, "This is far more important than that. You are old enough to be a man now. You have to be ready to take responsibility when something unspeakably horrible happens."

Harm was confused, "Horrible how?"

"Impossible to say, but Alien invasion, Ninjas, Demon worshiping cultists, Paramilitary Assault on the city or maybe just a Zombie plague all come to mind." Harm gaped in disbelief. "I'm serious! This world is far stranger than little Teslaville might lead you to believe. You need to start cultivating your sense of wariness." He nodded sagely, "That's how you keep yourself and those you care about alive."

It had been so random and seemed so unlikely Harm had mentally filed it away with all the other onions of wisdom his father had dropped from time to time. "Did he know this was going to happen?" Harm huffed into the barren twilight. He hadn't been wary enough before. It was time that changed. "First figure out where you are," he mumbled trying to ignore his own voice, "Then find a way out of here and back to Teslaville," Flashes of the zombies marauding through his home town intermingled with memories of his friends dying and the likelihood that his parent were dead as well. Stumbling at the onslaught Harm caught himself against the wall. "Find your way out now!" he chided himself, "Panic later."

His mind tenuously focused on the task at hand, he began to finally take stock of his surroundings. A dimly lit corridor of stainless steel ran off in both directions at a slight curve. Along the walls were more doors like the one he had just exited. The hall was taller than the room had been but still forced him to duck when he stood. Standing in a crouch only amplified the strangeness of the body and forced him to look at it more than he would have liked. "Just keep it together and everything will be fine," he said firmly and for once found hearing Alice's voice was a comfort. It was almost like she was there telling him it was going to be ok. Like he wasn't completely alone.

An inset track ran along the center with sidings leading to each of the rooms. Fighting off a pang of claustrophobia Harm took the opportunity to examine the room he had just exited. Sure enough the track continued on the inside of the room and his best guess was that the chair could move along that track if properly motivated. How exactly one might do that however was beyond Harm's ken. Moving on, Harm examined the lights and found they were chemical in nature. "Emergency lights," he mused, "Kind of like what dad always uses," Looking around he had to admit the place had the feel of something his dad might build. "What in the heck is going on?" he breathed and then started off down the hall to his right.

The corridor proved surprisingly maddening, the arc prevented any idea of how far it traveled and every door save the one he had ruined was identical. Time became difficult to gauge and it felt as if he had been walking forever without making any progress. Finally off in the distance he saw a form sitting in the middle of the corridor which at least indicated he was getting somewhere. Breaking into a run without thinking Harm covered the distance in moments and was disappointed to find it was only a small and inert automaton locked into the rail. Undiscouraged Harm checked over the machine hoping to ascertain it's purpose. After a few minutes of this he gave up. It's arms terminated in small probes of some kind but without power determining their purpose was beyond him. Standing up Harm cracked his head on the ceiling once again. Sitting down against the wall he rubbed the point of impact and stared back the way he had come. "I should have been counting doors." he mused aloud, "At least then I'd have some idea how far I've come. Congratulations," he patted the automaton on the top it's dome, "I now dub you Milestone one. Hmmm..." he reached down and examined the probe once more. With a little bit of effort he pulled the probe down to the floor and scraped it. Sure enough the probe was capable of lightly scoring the stainless steel. With a small pang of guilt Harm tore loose the arm. "Sorry Milestone, I'll try and get this back to you if I can," It was time to start doing this scientifically, he knew his feet were roughly twenty-two centimeters long. Carefully he began stepping off the distance between the right side of one door and the right side of the next.

"A little over fifteen paces. That's around three point three meters," He grinned at his ingenuity, "so all I Have to do is count the doors as I pass them and when I get to the end I can figure out how far to this point give or take." for a moment he waited to make sure he wasn't missing anything. Again a lock of red hair fell into his eyes and he brushed it away. All at once his crest fell, "Dang it, these aren't my feet," he let out a heavy sigh, "I thought it looked a little short for three point three meters." For a moment Harm considered what part of Alice he might use as a frame of reference for determining the distance but in the end the only thing he knew for certain was that her breasts seemed much larger from this angle. Tossing up his hands he laughed, "It doesn't matter as long as they stay the same. Once you get to the end you can find something to measure with and then just multiply. Now quit wasting time and get moving. Yes, ma'am," he responded to himself without thinking.

Counting the doors proved frightfully dull. The only consolation was that at least he was not hungry or thirsty or sleepy or tired from all the walking. At all. Quickly Harm scratched CCXXIX into the last door counted and then began an overdue accounting of himself. He was definitely in Alice's body, he chose not to look any further at that for the moment. He had overpowered a hydrolic lift mechanism on the door and dented steel plating with his bare hands. Looking at the dainty, tapered fingers he felt a wave of grief begin to rise but he managed to break it before it could drown him. He didn't know when last he had eaten but he knew he had been before...

Images of Angie shooting him in the back flooded his mind almost as if he had watched it as an observer. "Just find a way out," he said aloud and nodded in agreement. "You've been conserving energy but you don't seem to be running low. Maybe a run would speed things up? Yeah, and that will also tell me what it takes to wind me. Exactly," he responded.

At first he attempted to jog but found the bouncing distracting and painful when he banged his head on the ceiling, "Why does it hurt to hit my head but not to punch things?" he grumbled but soon found that if he ran full out his problems were alleviated. Sprinting down the corridor he continued counting the doors as they flew by. Three-hundred. Four-hundred. Five-hundred. The doors whizzed by and Harm soon realize he was traveling much faster than he should have been. As he cruised past door five-hundred twelve his mind was so absorbed counting the doors and trying to figure out how he was running so quickly that he nearly missed a change in the monotony. At door five-twenty he fully realized that one of the doors was open and attempted to stop.

The Rubber coating on the bottom of his feet caught solidly against the steel and then ripped away violently causing him to lose control in spectacular form.

When he finally stopped rolling and bouncing off of walls from his wipeout he climbed to his feet with only his suit the worse for wear. Hustling back to the open door he looked inside to find another small automaton, identical to Milestone One. Seated rigidly in the chair was a body swaddled in black just as he had been. For a moment he feared it would also prove to be Alice Powers but the figure was all wrong. Alice was much prettier. "Oh god. I'm much prettier!" He realized. Stepping inside he carefully grabbed at the material covering the woman's face and pulled it away with a disturbing sucking sound.

It took him a moment but he recognized her as one of the women from his block. "You're friends with Mrs. Powers aren't you?" he mumbled as he searched for any signs of life. Her skin wasn't burned so it stood to reason she had not been infected with the electro-zombie contagion. Slowly he reached out and touched fingers to her throat, checking for a pulse. A tiny spark jumped between them and the body convulsed violently. Harm took a step back. "Mrs. Reynolds?" He said nervously. "Are you ok?" In response arcs of electricity began running over her skin.

At the first sign of electricity Harm clamped his hands around the door and tried to pull it shut. Predictably all he managed was a pull up. If he could trap it inside he could get away, but without leverage... Without further consideration Harm once again pulled himself up by the door but then braced against the ceiling. The ceiling panel deformed slightly under the pressure but after a moment he heard the glorious sound of metal failing and the door dropped suddenly.

Laying in a heap on the floor Harm began to laugh. He had done it. He had stopped at least one of them.

Then the door came loose entirely and fell on top of him. "Sweet Peppers! Come ON!" he shrieked in frustration, pushing aside the heavy metal door with ease. The former Mrs. Reynolds had found her feet in the mean time and was shuffling the short distance between them. Looking at her Harm could almost feel a build up of energy centered in her hands. Before she could fry him with a torrent of electricity Harm grabbed the door and held it as a shield. The lightning crashed into the metal he held and a current passed through the ruined suit at his hands and feet.

It felt good.

Really good.

Like the kind of good you don't like to talk to your parents about because it's way too embarrassing, good.

He wanted more but the thought of his mother and father doused that fire almost before it could start. Harm turned to run but in one of the characteristic if irregular bursts of speed Mrs. Reynolds covered the ground in a blink and dragged Harm to the ground. Regardless how strong Harm thought he was the zombie proved stronger, pinning him to the floor with ease.

"No!" he screamed as he struggled to free himself from the monsters steely grasp. With agonizing slowness his former neighbor leaned down. If not for the lightning flowing from her eyes it might almost have seemed like she intended kissing him. The image of the matronly Mrs. Reynolds trying to kiss him did not in any way alleviate his panic. When she was two inches from his trembling, screaming lips Harm felt a tugging which he could not explain. A trickle of energy began to flow from him into the zombie. It was the longest second of Harm's young life and as it passed he felt the pull getting stronger. As the pull increased Harm felt it tugging at his very essence. In another moment he would tear loose from Alice's body and he feared that would be the end of him. The pull hit again and again and finally Harm did the only thing he could think of.

He pulled back.

The torrent reversed and increased to a furious pace. He absorbed the electricity like a sponge and it felt good. A warm sensation built deep inside his abdomen. Just as Mrs. Reynolds stopped moving the sensation peaked and then released in an orgasmic burst of electricity and pleasure. Panting beneath the once again immobile woman Harm was only vaguely aware of the doors which began opening and closing at random up and down the hall from his position. "That was...uhhhhhh!." he shuddered trying not to smile, he genuinely felt bad for what had happened to her, but the wonderful tingling sensation running through his body made it impossibly difficult. Rolling her carefully to the side he closed her eyes and then hopped to his feet still feeling the aftershocks of the release.

Everywhere he looked he saw the beginnings of Zombie sign. For one agonizing moment Harm considered letting them all just fill him up till he erupted over and over again. Instead he picked up the discarded door and heaved it ahead of him as he took off at a sprint. While the door did little to the zombies it slowed those nearest to him down just long enough to get up to speed. Winding his way through the monsters Harm tried to ignore the faces he saw. Eventually he actually became glad when the burns rendered them anonymous.

After what he guessed was roughly one-hundred meters he had left the zombies behind him. There had been fewer than he had expected but he knew they were after him now and he had no time to waste. Chancing a look over his shoulder Harm smiled that only a faint flickering light could be seen behind him. He knew now that he could outpace them and that bolstered his spirits just in time for him to smash straight through an inconveniently placed wall.

For a moment Harm just lay in a heap on the floor of a large room. His butt stuck up in the air, wedged as he was upside down against a wall. He hurt all over but after a quick inspection found only a few scratches to show for it. Rolling to his feet Harm realized that the black suit he was wearing would not survive much longer. In a flash reasoning returned, "The electro-zombies!" he gasped and then rushed to the hole he had made to check their progress.

Far down the hall he saw zombie sign but it was still a long way off. Quickly looking over the hole he had created Harm realized that it had once been a door and he had managed to knock it completely out of it's frame. Hunting around he found the door bent in half and lodged in a wall near where he had rolled to a stop. "This is reinforced half inch steel." Harm boggled. "I should have crushed myself like a grape against this!" Harm looked down at Alice's body with confusion, "Were you always this strong? This tough?" he mumbled as the curious feats of strength Alice had occasionally demonstrated ran through his head. "Was it just you?" Suddenly remembering his mission, Harm wrenched the panel loose and tried to straiten it back out. The attempt was less than stellar but it was at least mostly rectangular again.

With a grunt of effort Harm jammed the ruined door back in place. It seemed solid but he knew it would not stop the zombies for long. "There has to be something else I can do." First he grabbed the jam and attempted to crimp it to further block the way but was unsatisfied with the result. Flexing his new hands he felt like they should be strong enough to do the job but it couldn't seem to get everything they were capable of out of them. "Focus," he told himself as he tried one more time to seal the door. Grasping the steel tightly Harm twisted so hard that he actually unbalanced himself. Reaching over with his left hand to steady himself he felt a discharge of electricity arc just as he came in contact and then a lesser current run in through his right where it gripped the metal.

Seeing the flash caused Harm to recoil, fearing the zombies had arrived but when no further sparks appeared he began considering the situation anew. "Either I'm infected but it doesn't work right on me or I'm immune do to some kind of electrical abilities of my own. That's ridiculous. Maybe so but it's the best explanation I have. Fine so what do we do with it?" Harm twisted his lips into the same look of concentration Alice had often sported. "Hold on. It's only useful if it's replicable. True. Ok. Let's see if we can do it on purpose," Once again Harm grabbed the metal and focused. Feeling a strange tingle run through his limbs Harm reached out and almost touched the wall. An electrical arc formed and a plan started to come together.

Dropping to the floor, Harm checked to see where the zombies had gotten. "Sweet Peppers!" he breathed still trying not to draw attention. The zombies were close and there were a lot of them. Flashes of his previous encounters with them attempted to delay him but Harm fought his way through. "Get out. Find out where you are. Get back to Teslaville. Save the day," he chanted as he began tossing the room for something he could use. "Flux. Flux. Flux." he mumbled absently. "Oh come on! Who doesn't have any Flux in a place like..." he eye settled on a lab coat hanging in a partially destroyed wardrobe. "Hanger!" he shouted and rushed to grab the coat. Keenly aware of how exposed his body had become he tugged on the coat even as he untwisted the wire. "Hope this works," he breathed as he grasped hold of the jam once more. Running a quarter-inch of the wire past his hand Harm tried to focus on creating the arc.

THOUM!

The doors shifted as the first of the zombies arrived with a crash.

THOUM!

The pounding continued and panic began to grow in his chest.

"Do it!" he shouted at himself. He resolve steeled, Harm stepped up and forced the power down the wire. With a practiced hand he welded the door to the frame. As he worked, electricity began spilling through the metal. He could feel them out there. All working in serial to melt their way though. The power they wielded should have slagged the door in seconds but everything they put out he took into himself. The glorious tingling sensation was building once more. It was so hard to concentrate. He finished the weld and then just let go and took all the power he could.

Gates he had never known existed were blown open inside his mind. He collapsed to the ground shrieking in pleasure so intense it hurt. It was too much. The flow would not stop and in waves he felt himself die over and over again. The pressure built one final time and with a titanic release the world went dark.

"Oh my poor sweet baby," a gentle and familiar voice cooed as a hand stroked his face. "Were you having a nightmare?"

"Mommy?" Harm asked, opening bleary eyes to the wonderful sight of his mother. "I was so scared you were dead," everything felt right with the world. A quick glance confirmed his body was his own. It really had been a dream, he began to cry. It had been so real.

"Shhh. Shhh. It's alright my little one. Mommy's here. Mommy will always be here," Harm grasped her about the midsection to pull himself closer still uncertain she would not simply vanish into the ether. "It's alright Harm," she lifted his head from her lap so as to look him in the eyes. "We can just stay here. Together. Forever."

Harm screamed as the electricity poured out of his mother's eyes and with inhuman strength she forced her lips to his. Thrashing against the obscene kiss Harm was helpless as he felt his mother slowly suck him dry.

Amidst the pain, confusion and terror came epiphany.

"No," he said calmly, easily breaking her grasp. "This is a nightmare. You are not my mother. My mother would never hurt me. Begone figment," the image of his bedroom and mother faded into smoke. With purpose he closed his eyes and said firmly, "Awake!" and when he opened them he was laying on the floor with his breasts creating a most peculiar and uncomfortable sensation.

With a calmer mind Harm listened carefully for any sound but all he could hear was the sound of his own breathing. The door was dented but it had held. Looking out through the small gap at the bottom he saw bodies collapsed to the floor. Some had been torn apart, some had burned to death and a few looked as if they had simply laid down for a nap.

Harm felt sick. He wanted to vomit but as much as he dry heaved nothing would happen. Regretting his decision to look, he stood up to examine the room he had so desperately claimed.

The room was large, if not for the arcane equipment littering it he might have been able to play a game of baseball with-in its boundaries, and of the same basic design as the halls and rooms he had already seen. Tables and benches were covered with half finished projects and tools. In almost every way it reminded him of his father's lab, except the creations here seemed to lack the innocence of his father's work. The automaton's he found seemed intended with the sole purpose of doing harm. Even the spider like device he eventually decided was medical equipment seemed angry.

At the right center of the room a throne like steel chair sat facing a curved wall covered in regularly sized rectangles of black glass. Harm wasn't clear why it had been designed in this fashion but it was obviously a control center of some kind. Threading his way through the aisles Harm looked for any sign of where he was. The room was lit with larger versions of the chemical lights in the hallways. "This place is dead," he said aloud and started at the sound of his own voice. For once the shock had less to do with it being Alice's voice and more with the sudden invasion of sound into so heavy a silence. Looking at one of the benches Harm burst out laughing, "Flux!" a spool of welding wire sat less than five feet from where he had grabbed the coat hanger to serve in its place. "Of course," he rolled his eyes and stuck the heavy spool of wire in one of his coat's pockets. Swinging around he walked past the black glass wall and in the eerie green yellow light finally saw himself. "Oh god," he said reaching out to touch the glass, "Alice. How did this happen?"

As his fingers brushed the panel he felt a strange connection and then the panel lit up showing static. Harm recoiled and when he did the light faded with a ripple of activity through the monitors surrounding it. "What was that?", he breathed. When nothing else happened he ventured to try it again and a similar effect resulted. With a bit of effort he discovered he could light the screens at will. "So cool," he grinned as he caused the monitors to dance up and down the wall. "Must be an entertainment device of some kind." he scanned over the wall critically, "I don't get it."

Turning from the wall he noticed the tracks which he had followed through the halls wove erratically through the room as well. Following the tracks he twisted back through the room and finally discovered another door identical to the one he had entered though on the opposite side. "It's a ring." he theorized. "I'll bet I would have ended up here regardless the way I picked in the beginning." pulling out the probe he scratched 'Rome' into the door and then returned to his investigation.

Hours passed and he still had no idea how to get out of the facility. "Surely you don't exit through one of the unmarked doors in the hallway?" a sinking feeling hit his stomach at the thought of prying open all the doors he had passed in the vain hope that one would lead outside. After another hour he was resigned to doing just that, "I'm going to need better light," he mused and began searching though the rooms contents for something to serve.

"Hold on," he said looking at one of the unlit directional light fixtures which depended from the ceiling. "Hold on just one second," reaching out he carefully touched the fixture and it sprang to life. A grin almost as bright as the bulb spread across his face. "Now we have something," Wasting no more time Harm pulled down one of the lights and carried it to one of the work benches. Nearly oblivious to his own actions Harm began to solder and rewire the light to make it more portable. "Huh," he grunted as he fabricated a rudimentary handle for it. For all the years he had helped his father in the lab he had never really understood why Ducky had been so obsessed with it. Now he knew. It was strangely euphoric to create something with your own hands and then watch it do what you intended. It was just...fun.

Shining the self powered light about the room Harm was very pleased. By moderating the amount of energy he discharged into it he could vary the intensity. As the light passed over a dark corner he was struck by the fact that the beam had not illuminated it as it had the rest of the room. He was certain he had looked in that corner and found nothing. Shining the light back on the corner he confirmed what he had thought. The corner was unnaturally dark and the light had no effect. His curiosity piqued Harm made his way to the corner and with hand outstretched pushed his way into the darkness.

Passing though the initial wall of shadow Harm realized the area had been designed to conceal this passageway from easy detection. The walls were matte black but more than that the light did not seem to reflect at all off the surface. "Curiouser and curiouser," he said without consideration of the body he now wore. After what he estimated to be around 100 meters Harm's bumped the end of his flashlight into a wall smashing the bulbs. "Stupid black walls," he grumbled tossing the lamp to the side. "Oh well. It's not like it was doing me much good in here anyway."

Feeling his way forward, Harm found the section of wall here was different from what he had seen previously. The wall felt convex and had been riveted together. A thick piece of raised metal sat in the center of the wall forming an oval. Inset into the oval was more metal crossed regularly with more raised sections and rivets. At the center he found a wheel he quickly recognized as the latch for a pressure door. "Forward," he breathed and began spinning the stiff mechanism till it set home. Taking a deep breath Harm opened the door only to find yet more darkness. "This is ludicrous!" he said as he fumbled his way through the hatch. "At least it wasn't filled with water or something."

Tracing his hands about the circular room he soon came upon a ladder of steel rungs leading up into the unknown. For just a moment he considered returning to the lab to make a new light but his instinct told him it was unlikely to make a difference. That decided he began his long ascent into the dark.

As he passed the seven-hundredth rung, for the first time since the incident Harm started to feel tired. He felt hungry and sleepy but he forced his way onward. At two-thousand rungs he had to stop. He was weak and shaky. His hands would barely grip the cold metal. "Just a little nap," he gasped as his eyes nodded shut of their own accord. His entire body began going limp and he started to fall.

Panic snapped him awake and Harm lashed out a hand into the darkness for purchase. Grasping desperately to one of the rungs Harm hugged the steel like a loved one. His mind wild with fear he tried to come up with a solution. "I can't go back down. I can't keep going up without a break. I can't sleep here without falling to my death," he rested his head against a rung. "What am I going to..." reaching into a pocket in his coat Harm pulled out the spool of flux. "Yeah. That should work."

Carefully Harm let out a long length of wire and looped it loosely beneath his arms and though the ladder. After repeating this several times he folded up the coat to form a pad and leaned into the sling he had created. Once sure it would hold he locked his knees and closed his eyes.

How much time passed Harm did not know but when he came to he felt refreshed. Taking the time to rewind the spool he donned his coat once more and resumed the climb. "The end is probably ten meters above me." he tried to chuckle but found his face once again fixed in place by a membrane. He had become so used to the dark nothing had seemed amiss. Again Harm tore away the material from his face and hair. "Where is this stuff coming from?" he gasped taking huge lungs full of increasingly stale air. "Figure it out later," he chastised himself, "Just worry about getting to the top for now."

Somewhere over a thousand rungs later Harm was beginning to weaken once more. "It can't be much farther," he tried to assure himself without much luck. "Just a little..." his hand bumped into a surface different from what he expected and he heart soared. Feeling around at the top of the shaft he soon found the wheel for another hatch. Cranking it with frantic speed he felt the seal break and was assaulted hot dry air and light.

Happy to finally be out of the dark Harm scrambled outside and breathed in the air. Squinting against the light out of instinct more than need Harm stood in the unusually hot sun and basked in the heat. He hadn't really noticed how chill it had been below but now the warmth felt glorious. His reverie over Harm looked all about himself trying to get his bearings.

He stood atop a large metal box which had conduits running in from every side. The conduits ran to smaller nodes which ran to large black domes baking in the sun. Turning this way and that he saw the pattern repeated but not a living thing in sight. "Hello?" he called tentatively, "Is there anyone out there?"

~To be continued