It's been hours since this sadistic woman started to shock me with a cattle prod. She hasn't asked me a single question, I guess she wouldn't ask a Zee anything, would she, but that didn't stop her from talking though.

"Yes, I've seen Zee's copulating, and it's disturbing" she prods me, and the pain is almost unbearable.

"You see Mr Zee; I can call you that can't I, good. You see, the Zee's, all of them, you included, aren't actually dead, never have been. You didn't die and then somehow rise to become a walking corpse. No, you are as alive as I am; you are just infected with the Zee virus that is all" Prod, Aargh!

"The movies have got a lot to answer for, haven't they" Prod! Aargh!

I almost didn't feel that last jolt; I was already in shock with her last statement "I'm not dead? I'm not dead!" But neither am I in control of my body, I'm still a passenger, a prisoner in my own body. Prod, Aargh!

"You see, it's only a disease, an infection. It corrupts the part of the brain that houses your fundamental self, your personality, you! And then that part of your brain physical dies away, giving you no chance to survive or recover. Once you are a Zee, you are only a Zee, nothing more, except for you?" She prods again, Aargh!

"That is all except for three special Zee's. Two they had in the city compound, a young girl, who, once confronted with her Zee self, shut down, a kind of mental suicide. And an old man, who unfortunately failed to survive the process of contact, Bam! His heart gave out. And now there is you, aren't we the lucky ones" Prod, Aargh!

"You see Mr Zee, over the last 8 months we noticed that a very small percentage of the showed, unusual behavior. Zee's simply don't think, don't plan, they react. But a few in every thousand seemed to show these tendencies. After careful study we realized that there was nothing to it but wishful thinking, but it led to the discovery of the young girl, found in city central hospital, alone after it had fallen. She had been left alone in a coma for days after the nurses had fled, before she was attacked. Originally she had suffered a heavy fall, injuring her head, and get this! She suffered, due to the accident, with Locked in syndrome. Sound familiar Mr Rabid!" She said, and then gave me a sustained Prod, Aaaaarggh!

My eyes roll in my skull. I'm now in shock in more ways than one; I'm alive, not dead! I'm being tortured by some woman! And now I find that she actually knows who I am, how? I think about my situation and I can't see how it's going to get any better. I'm alive, yeah! But I'm more than likely about to be tortured to death. Prod, Aargh!

"So Mr Rabid, I wonder, are you in there somewhere. Did you survive the infection, hmm! Well, are you?" Prod, Aargh!

"Are you, ARE YOU!" she screamed, Prod, Prod, Prod, Aaarrgghhh!! "ANSWER ME!" Prod, Prod, Aargh!

"ARE YOU IN THERE, GREG?" Prod, Aaarrgghh!! Over and over she scream's her single question followed by the excruciating sting of the Prod, Aaarrgghh!

"AAARRRGGHHH!!! STOP, STOP IT YOU BITCH!!" I screamed out-loud.

Rachel lowered the cattle prod, exhausted, and turning to one of the viewing windows, she smiles.

"Ah, so you are in there! Well done Gregory, well done. Welcome back" she said soothingly. After all she had just put me through, her caring voice sounded creepy "How do you feel"

My head feels as though it was about to explode, my eyes are raw "Feel, I feel like I've been tortured, electrocuted, how do you think I feel. I'm just one big ache. What the hell is happening"?

With a sigh of relief she looked down at me and smiled "Once we understood that, Locked in syndrome facilitated people's ability to survive the viruses initial attack, we began to search as many hospital databases as we could, looking for more cases of that condition, and we found you, only you"

As she reeled off the story of my find and capture, she paced up and down beside my table. I shook my feet and hands against the restraints.

"I'm sorry Gregory, but you will remain strapped down, you are still a Zee you know. Where was I, ah yes! We found you abandoned, still in your bed, the hospital was overrun with Zee's, and we had to come up with a plan to get you out of there fast. Unfortunately, as we were searching for a stretcher to carry you out, you were attacked. We contacted base, and were instructed to bring you back even if infected" She stopped pacing and stood at my feet, then continued.

"We had no way of transporting you once you had become one of them, so we had to improvise. We set you up for a chase using our underground pathways through the sewer. I waited for you to exit your room and then I ran, just fast enough for you to keep up. If any other Zee's came close, I had marksmen take them out, and like a good boy you followed and eventually we captured you in one of our regular traps. And here you are!" She gasped as if she had just completed the run again.

I'm bewildered by her story. So she is Miss Athletic, ah! "So why the torture, why electrocute me. You seemed to be enjoying it!" I accused her.

"I enjoyed a little of it, but you are, were a Zee at that moment. Like most people around here, I've lost loved ones to this scourge, and like most people, I hate the Zee's with all my heart, so please forgive me. Gregory, don't kid yourself, you are still a Zee, just a Zee with an alternate self. He's now the dominant personality in that body, not you" she said as she patted my leg.

"As for the electrocution, like the darkness, electroshock also sends Zee's into a dormant state. We experimented and found that with enough electroshock we could tease out that Locked in person. Unfortunately the girl at central hospital just mentally imploded, and the old man keeled over, dead. You are our first success Gregory, but you are not cured, in an hour or two your Zee will surface, you will be a Zee again" Rachel said gravely.

"Rabid" I said.

Rachel gave a look of confusion "Pardon"

"I named my Zee self, Rabid, I'm Greg and he's Rabid"

"Oh!" Is all she exclaims?

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