[ WP ] It 's the zombie apocalypse , but the virus is n't spread through Bites , Blood , or Scratches .

I strive to survive, but they lumber after me, each one a ghost of the life I would rather forget. I run because shooting them only attracts more, and bullets have stopped being effective. A bullet to the head used to do the trick than it was two or four but now it is not worth it. I always thought the dystopian nightmare would be nuclear, but it is these things. People call them zombies, but I know what they really are. They are machines hiding in bodies that used to be human. Now, they are controlled by other nanomachines striving for perfect unity. Yet, that's not the worst of it. 
 
 I am tired, and I am losing the battle. I am haunted. Specific zombies chase me. My daughter chases me as does my wife and the two kids I killed first. They chase me because I can not defeat them anymore. How many more nights until my doom? I do n't know, so I keep running. Until one day, I can run more. I run into a wall. It's not a wall though. It's a mirror image of me with my red hair and scraggly beard and missing teeth. I do n't look much different from them upon reflection. Passersby would probably put a couple of rounds in my head just to be sure, but I have n't encountered any of them for some time. 
 
 With nowhere left to go, I bang against the mirror waiting for the inevitable. It seems futile, perfectly and maliciously futile. I rest my head against the mirror and find myself falling. I fall into the mirror and onto a cement floor. I lie there for a few seconds as footsteps descend upon me. My wife and daughter have come to finish the job, I think, but there are too many of them. It ca n't just be them. 
 
 `` Juice him. Make sure he feels alive.'' 
 
 Tasers remind me just how alive I am and how much physical pain can still hurt. I pass out after vomiting precious calories. I wake up in a bed, a real bed. A bright light turns on and I move my hand to cover my face. I sit up and look around the room at the mirror, the door, and the food by my bed. I eat greedily until there is nothing left and look to the mirror. 
 
 `` Who are you?'' 
 
 `` We are those who seek to restore order to the world. How are you not infected? How long have you been out there?'' 
 
 `` I keep running. I've been running for a few months I guess. The machines use intimacy to infect...'' 
 
 `` You're smarter than we thought, but your time out there has been warped. It's been six years Raphael. Six years of running from the collective. You're the last one, you know. Did you know? The last human resisting what you infection. We call it perfection.'' 
 
 Raphael is a name that sounds familiar to me. Everyone called me Rafe, but it's not a name I go by anymore. 
 
 `` Why did you juice me? Why not kill me?'' 
 
 `` We wondering how healthy you were. How much you had left. Quite a lot. Impressive, truly.'' 
 
 My wife and daughter appear in the mirror. There are beautiful. Both with brown eyes and mocha skin. I walk up to the mirror and touch it. They place their hands against me. 
 
 `` What do you want?'' 
 
 `` Simply perfection.'' 
 
 `` To join you.'' 
 
 `` All you have to do is give in willingly, and you can be reunited with your family and humanity.'' 
 
 `` What will you do with us?'' I ask. 
 
 `` Make you what you were meant to become... lonely no more. Join the collective, stop the pain, stop the loneliness. Stop fighting, Rafe.'' 
 
 The last three words come from the two women I love, yet their names are an enigma to me. The mirror becomes fluid, and my hands touch theirs. I remember their names, and I feel their warmth against me. I give in. The machines engulf me, and I join the zombie collective. Never will I be alone again because I am one. I am perfect. 
 
 *** 
 
 If you enjoyed this, I've also written a Batman story set in the near future. Here is part 1: 
 
 [ Alienated, a Batman/Superman story ] ( https: //www.reddit.com/r/nickkuvaas/comments/4phzj3/batman_superman_and_the_aliens_part_i_the_superman/ )
