Zach II

The afterlife isn't to Zach's taste, he has a knack for avoiding it.

Let me tell you this, try not to die on an amusement world.

When I came to I thought nothing had happened to me, nothing had changed, I was still there among the rollycoasters. But when I started looking around more I realized things had changed, none of my platoon was there and none of the enemy either. Something else was missing, sounds. I could hear the coasters roarin but that was it, no yellin and screamin, no laughin and talkin, nothin, and everyone just sat on those rides like they was takin a bus trip to the glue factory.

It looked like something really bad had happened so I went looking for signs of my platoon. Everywhere I went it was the same, miserable people riding rides. I couldn't understand why they stayed on the rides if they wasn't havin a good time. Not everybody was ridin the rides, though, a bunch of people were wanderin aimlessly around. They weren't doing anything, nobody was playin the games or buyin souvenirs or food. All the shops were there, there were a bunch of bored-looking people running them, but that was it. I was just startin to get creeped out by the whole thing when I figgered it out, I was dead. I looked at the miserable people again and it all came clear, they had died here, too and the thought of being stuck in an amusement park forever was making me miserable, too.

Somewhere someone had to be runnin the show so I went lookin for them. I started by askin a few of the people around me if they knew who was in charge, most of them ignored me, the couple that did answer didn't know nothin and didn't seem to care. Then I asked some of the people in the booths but they were like the rest, didn't know, didn't care or didn't respond.

Then I found me an information booth. When I asked the lady there she kinda let out a little scream, "Oh my! Are you talking to me?" I looked around, I was the only one at the booth and she was the only one in it, "Yep. Who's in charge here?" Now she looked a bit flustered, "I'm so sorry, you're the first person looking for information since I've worked here. It's been twelve years." I looked her over, she seemed a bit more animated than the others, "You ain't dead?" She kinda giggled, "Oh my, no. I put in my eight hours and I go home." Well when I heard that I got an idea, "Where's home, darlin?" and I gave her my best smile. She flushed a little, "Ix An." "Ix An? Can't say I've ever been there and I been around. You like Ix An?" I kinda crooned. Now she looked a little mopey, "It's ok..." then she brightened a bit and got this eager look in her eye, "Where've you been?" It was time to try my luck, "Darlin, it would take a mess of time to tell you all the places I been and things I done. I'd love to tell you over dinner and..." now I gave her my best look. Her eyes started getting dreamy then I saw the question arise, "How could I do that? You're dead." I tipped my hat a bit and scratched my head as if I hadn't already thought about that. Then I looked eager, "You know... seems like in this world you and I are the same." I reached out and lightly caressed her cheek, "I can feel you and you can feel me. What's to say that, at the end of your shift, when you leave I just might not be able to go with you?" I could see she was still a bit lost in what I done to her cheek and imaginin things so she sounded a bit far away when she said, "My shift's over in half an hour..."

I done right by her, her name was Melene, I told her so many stories that she quit that job and we went travelin for a couple years. Finally she got that settlin down look to her and I bowed out gracefully. To this day I wonder what happened to my old body that died on Mad Martin's.

Excerpt from The Godz of Earth by S.E.Estes