ACADEMY OF THE UNDEAD; BOOK TWO Stand Together ... Or Fall Together

The Resurrection; Part Two

Devil and Chester joined Stanley in the sunroom, and Stanley asked quietly, “Is she awake?”

“Yes.”

“Is she okay?”

Many things troubled Devil, although he knew that he had to present some kind of assurance to the man who had paid him a million dollars, so he said casually, “Yes, I’m reasonably pleased with her, so for the next week, the basement will be her new home. Chester, organise our people to install the equipment.”

Chester engaged her cell phone, and said, “Okay, we’re moving forward, so bring the equipment down to the basement.”

“The basement is her new home; what are you saying?” Stanley asked.

“Good sir, this is the next stage of the exercise, and it involves your wife being taken through what I like to refer as an obedience course.”

“Which involves what?”

“We will come to that matter in the very near future.”

Soon men began walking in, carrying covered objects. The first sixteen men carried four slim, covered objects in, the objects so large that four men were needed for each object. Because of the size and the slimness of the objects, Stanley assumed it was drywall, timber panelling or glass. All objects were carefully carried down to the basement. The men walked out of the house and returned moments later carrying tool bags, lengths of cabling and electrical wire. Four of the men hurried up the stairs to the first floor, while the rest headed for the basement.

“What’s going on?” Stanley asked.

“Good sir, all will be revealed in the fullness of time, but please, find a way to entertain yourself for the next few hours while my people set things up.”

Stanley retired upstairs to his bedroom, unsure what to do with himself, because too many things were running through his mind.

Three and a half hours later, Chester appeared at his bedroom door and said, “Follow me.”

Stanley followed her down the stairs to the basement, and when they had reached the second last step, Chester put her arm out to stop him.

“Our people have almost finished setting up your basement for the next stage.”

“What is the next stage?”

“You will find out in the very near future.”

From his position on the second last step of the stairs, Stanley looked straight ahead at the collection of workers, and he watched the construction with interest; lots of electrical connections being installed in the basement, all of them skirting around the glass contraption that had been set up by the east wall. Four glass panels were fixed together, the panels sitting on a porcelain base, and they were big glass panels, each one ten feet high and six feet wide. At the base on the left-hand side of the front-facing glass panel, there was a giant, black-handled lever, the lever coming up to waist height. It seemed like a basic and uncomplicated lever, where you could pull it towards you to complete one action, and then push it back to complete the reverse action. Affixed to the east wall was a small blue box that was centred above the glass panel at the back, and interestingly, the top of the front and side glass panels were all curved inwards. He was even more interested when a man came in with a large fire hose. The man climbed a ladder and fed the hose into the glass structure, and he cried out, “Ready!” The hose spluttered to life, and the glass structure began filling with water.

When the water level reached two feet from the top, the man recovered the hose and walked away.

Stanley stared at it, the structure now looking like a giant, square fish tank. Curiously, he thought about Devil’s seemingly innocent phrase; obedience course. He couldn’t see the correlation between the phrase and the giant water container, then again …

He looked at the blue box, then he looked at the lever, then a disturbing image came to him as he focussed on the curved tops of the front and side panels. He could imagine someone being in the water-filled structure, and he thought that if someone was in it, they would try and get out. The tops of the front and side panels curved inwards and connected to the body of the panel, and effectively, they looked like large transparent rolls, the circumference of the rolls being at least a foot. If someone tried to reach up and grip the top of the panels, they would find their grip challenged by the design of the panels, and they would slip back down.

Stanley assumed that the men wouldn’t have erected this structure unless it had a purpose, and unfortunately, the purpose seemed obvious; Put someone in, and they can’t get out …

Becoming more uncomfortable by the second, Stanley asked nervously, “Is, is my wife down here?”

“Yes.” Chester replied.

“Can I see her?”

“No.”

“Why not?”

Chester grabbed his right arm and then led him back up the stairs. “Let’s go and see the Boss.”

They sat in the study on the first floor, and Stanley thought he heard men gradually filing out of the house.

“Good sir, as a successful businessman, I’m assuming that if you set yourself a task, you would have the patience, the persistence and the determination to achieve that task; would that be a reasonable assumption?”

Still rattled by the flurry of activity, still curious about everything, Stanley replied, “I can be very single-minded, and if I have a task or a goal that I need to achieve, my single-mindedness normally drives me through.”

“Very good, because you will need to call on that single-mindedness to achieve this very important task.”

Nervous and unsettled, Stanley asked hesitantly, “What is the task?”

“I believe your wife has a clear and vacant mind at present, so it is time to start filtering in important lessons that will stay with her forever.”

“Such as?”

“She needs to learn who will help her when she is in trouble.”

Stanley tensed as he thought about the giant water container, the blue box, the lever, the curved tops … although he snapped to attention when Devil spoke.

“Soon, our people will place her in the water container in your basement, and irrespective of whether your wife in her former life was an Olympic-level swimmer or a splasher in the shallows, before too long, she will begin to sink, and even though she is merely a mindless creature at this point in time, she will still try to survive. All creatures have survival instincts, and in desperation, they will do whatever it takes to survive, and your wife will be no different. She will however, find herself in a situation where her survival instincts are muted, because her survival depends not on her own actions, but on the actions of others.”

Stanley hung his head.

“Good sir, you are the one who will help her survive, and she will see that. As her lungs scream for air and she faces her extinction, she will see you through the glass, and as she tries to hold on to the extinguishing air in her lungs, she will most likely frantically wave at you, desperately hoping that you will help her, and you will. And good sir, she will remember.”

Stanley rubbed his chin, and even though he had been involved in many dastardly acts, he felt as morally corrupt as he had ever felt. Sighing, he asked quietly, “So I knowingly let her believe that she’s drowning, and then I save her?”

“Yes, that is the general idea.”

“God,” he huffed, “It’s barbaric!”

“It contains a certain level of barbarity, although it brings us towards our goal. With each near-death experience, and with each rescue, see will understand that you are the person rescuing her.”

“With each near-death experience?” he asked in amazement, “You mean I have to do it more than once?”

“Yes, you do.” Devil replied, “On the hour, every hour.”

“You must be kidding!” he snorted.

“Think of the big picture Mister.” Chester advised.

“God,” he huffed again as he lowered his gaze, “How many times do I have to do it, I mean how many hours?”

Silence.

As there was no immediate response to his question, Stanley looked up meekly.

After attracting his gaze, Devil said calmly, “The exercise isn’t dealing with hours, it is dealing with days.”

“Days?” Stanley asked hesitantly.

“Days.” Devil nodded, “Days, seven of them.”

Stanley shook his head in disbelief as he cried out, “Seven days? I have to almost drown my wife for seven days?”

“Yes,” Devil nodded again and said, “Every day, on the hour.”

“No, this is not going to happen!” he yelled.

“Big picture chum, think of the big picture.” Chester stated.

“Ohhh yeah, the big picture!” he snorted as he threw his arms in the air. “Pretend to drown my wife, I mean the woman that I loved so much that I was prepared to bring her back from the dead? No way, this is not going to happen!”

“Calm down Mister.” Chester advised.

“Ohhh sure, calm down!” he yelled at her. “Do you people understand that I was obsessed with her, I mean I lived for her!”

“Yes, we do understand,” Devil said calmly, “And you will have her back if you do as we ask.”

“Sure, but what you’re asking me to do is inhumane, I mean it’s completely outside the realm of human decency!”

“You may be right,” Chester began, “But with what your wife did to her victims, where does that sit in your realm of human decency?”

Surly, Stanley muttered, “My wife was not totally responsible for what she ended up doing, I mean she was psychologically damaged at a very young age.”

“Whatever man,” Chester replied, and she waited until Stanley looked at her, then she said, “Let ye who is without sin, cast the first stone.”

“Two things good sir, the first is the positive.” Devil began, “If you guide her through the obedience period, you will have a pliable and amenable being at your disposal, and you can make her anything that you wish her to be.”

Without looking at him, Stanley asked, “Second thing?”

“If she fails to make it through the obedience period, then she becomes mine.”

“What?”

“I resurrected her, so I have a responsibility to my own people to ensure that she isn’t possessed by a malevolent spirit.”

“What are you saying?”

“My people, as do I, fear demonic spirits, and we detest the demonic beings that they become, so if your wife, this mindless creature that she is at the moment, does not pass the obedience period, I will have no choice other than to kill her.”

“Big picture chum.” Chester advised.

Devil saw the man’s shoulders slump, and he knew that the man was weighing up his options, so he said firmly, “Good sir, she passes the obedience period or else she becomes mine; do you understand?”

“No, I don’t understand.” Stanley replied. “I’m supposed to drown her every hour for seven days, so I don’t understand what you’re saying.”

“It has happened in the past that people have been so affected by the procedure, that they take matters into their own hands.” Chester advised.

Stanley shook his head and mumbled, “I still don’t understand what you’re saying.”

“People of weak character and conviction became so distraught by the procedure, that they intervened and pulled the resurrected being out of the water.” Devil replied.

“And what happened then?” Stanley asked sullenly.

“As the Boss said, the resurrected being then became his property.” Chester answered.

Devil asked again, “She passes the obedience period or else she becomes mine; do you understand?”

Stanley remained silent.

“Good sir, answer my question, and just remember that I have people on the premises who will kill your wife at my command; do you understand what will happen to your wife should she fail to complete the obedience period?”

Stanley nodded glumly, although Chester jumped in, “Answer verbally.”

“Yes, I understand.”

“Let us move forward,” Devil began as he handed a wrist-watch to Stanley. “You will wear this watch for the next seven days, because it will tell you when your wife needs your assistance. When we place your wife in the water, the rope from the blue box will be extended, and I anticipate that your wife will grab hold of the rope, and with her arms fully extended, it will keep her head above the water line.”

“What if she doesn’t grab the rope, we just let her drown?”

“When the rope is extended, a hum emanates from the blue box, and even though your wife will be frantic, she will be drawn to the sound, and she will grab the rope and thereby pull her head above the water level.”

“Okay, but what if she doesn’t?”

“Everybody does,” Chester stated, “And if she doesn’t, well she’s a stupid fucker.”

“When this watch buzzes, that indicates that the rope is just about to reeled back into the blue box, and your wife will again be dropped into the water. Also, when the watch buzzes, at the same time the blue box will issue a clanging sound. At all times during the next seven days, you will be in this room on the first floor, because we have timed that the walk from the top of these stairs and down to the basement, is just over two minutes. When your watch buzzes, you will walk down the stairs from this room, walk down the hallway, continue on down and go into the basement. By this time, our subject will be panicking, and she will see you enter the room, and no doubt she will try and attract your attention. You will pull the black handled lever towards you, and the rope will be released from the blue box, and of course, the hum from the blue box will begin, and our subject will be drawn to it. You do not stay in the basement, you will walk out immediately after the subject has pulled herself above the water line. If you do not walk out immediately, you will endanger the survival of your wife. If you linger or tarry, a motion sensor will detect your presence, and a warning buzzer will ring out. That buzzer indicates that you have thirty seconds to get out of the room or else your wife will be dropped into the water for the final, and fatal time.”

“Pull the lever and go chum.” Chester advised, then she gazed ar Devil and said, “You didn’t tell him about the door.”

“Ohhh yes,“ Devil nodded. “When the watch buzzes, you will walk down to the basement, do not run. As I said, the walk from this room to the basement will be achieved in just over two minutes, however, if you ignore my instruction and run to the basement door, you will find that the door is locked, because we have installed a time-delay lock on the door. The lock releases two minutes and eleven seconds after the watch buzzes, and it is only after the lock has been released that you can open the door. If you run to the basement and try to force the door open, you could damage our equipment, and then, well, you’ll need to bury your wife again, for the final time.”

“Walk Bro, don’t run, and do not, and I repeat, do not force the door.” Chester advised. “If you get there early, wait until you hear the click, and obviously the click means that the lock has been disengaged.”

“After continuous repetitions of this exercise, our subject will begin to understand the sounds, and she will become aware of the actions that the different sounds promote. Importantly, she will understand that whenever she is in distress, you are the one who suddenly appears, and subsequently saves her. Our subject will begin to fear the clang, and every subsequent time that she sees you, her excitement, and appreciation will grow. In her empty mind, seeing your image means that she will be safe. After a few days, she will understand the correlation between you and the lever. Now, quite simply put, we do not do this to torture the creature, we do it for two reasons, the first is that we need the resurrected being to be pyshcologically cleansed, and the second is to make them understand who their master and saviour is.”

Stanley glanced sullenly at Chester as he asked, “Did they do this to you?”

“Yes, I mean you never forget something like this.”

Devil faced him and said, “Just about everybody I have resurrected has been through the same program. It has changed and been refined over the decades, although I believe that in its current form, it is very effective.”

Stanley glanced at Chester again and muttered, “Well you obviously survived.”

“Glad you noticed.”

“Chester was like most subjects, empty and barren when I resurrected her, and as a new entity, she had no memories of her former life, but after she came through the obedience period, her mind began exploring this new world she was in, and as she engaged in new experiences, the new experiences then become her new and most easily recalled memories.”

“So Iveta will remember nothing of her former life?”

“Hmmm,” Devil pondered, then he said, “The human brain is a magical and mysterious thing. With most resurrected beings, they wake up vacant, and the new experiences they have will be their only memories in their adjustement period, although some memories of their former life will drift back in slowly.”

“What are you saying, they remember some things, but not everything?”

“You have to understand my friend, that each person is an individual, and each individual has a brain that will react differently to this new life. After ten years of being one of the Resurrected, Chester remembers very little of her former life, although we have Resurrected beings at our homestead who after a few years remember large tracts of their former life. Essentially, everybody is different and some will remember very little, some may remember significant events or people, while others will be able to remember or recall everything about their former life, although as I said, a Resurrected being is a vacant being, and if memories do filter back in, they tend to drift in slowly.”

“By slowly, what are you saying, weeks, months, years?”

“Again, everybody is different, and all I can tell you is that with my flock, that is, people who live with us; memories begin trickling in after a year, two years, maybe longer.”

“Well I guess that’s a positive.”

“I assume that you are hoping that your wife doesn’t remember about her unusual hobby?”

“As I explained, her unbringing contributed to the person she became, but yes, if she doesn’t remember that period of her life, I see that as being a bonus.”

“Anyway good sir, the important thing for you to grasp is that you will be solely responsible for whether your wife survives the obedience period.”

Suitably glum, Stanley thought about it, then asked, “Okay, so what about contingencies, what about if I’m asleep when the watch buzzes, or I’m taking a dump or something?”

“Firstly, the watch will buzz twenty-one hours a day, which means that your wife will be dropped into the water twenty-one times a day. The program has been designed to allow you a rest, or sleep period, and the watch will buzz at midnight each night and your wife will be dropped back into the water. After you have rescued her, it will not buzz again until 4am, which gives you a rest period of four hours. Do you understand?”

Stanley thought about it, then asked hesitantly, “Yes, I understand, but what about Iveta, what is she doing during this rest period?”

“The rope is extended for the entire four hours, so she will be holding on to the rope.”

“Hanging on to a rope for four hours?” Stanley asked in amazement, “No, it’s not possible!”

“I repeat, your wife is a different being, she is no longer a human being, she is one of the resurrected.” Devil stated. Aware of the desperate look in Stanley’s eyes, Devil faced Chester and asked, “Chester, if I asked you to hang on to the rope in the water container, how long could you do it for?”

Chester thought about it, then replied, “Maybe two or three.”

Stanley looked at Devil in sheer frustration as he blurted, “Two or three hours, huh? And you want my wife to hang on for four hours every night?”

“I should have said two or three days.” Chester chimed in glibly.

“Good sir, your wife is an empty shell, and she does not have the ability to think logically or rationally, the only instinct she will have is to survive. If you play your role effectively, she will survive.”

“Okay, but you didn’t answer my question,” Stanley said sullenly, “What if the watch doesn’t wake me, or, or if I’m doing something else.”

“The watch vibrates rather vigorously as well as buzzing, and I have never known anyone to sleep through the buzz. On the landing of the stairs outside this room, we have installed a sensor mat, and if your movement hasn’t been detected twenty seconds after the buzz, you will receive an electric shock from the watch, and I can tell you that if you receive the electric shock, you will be more vigilant in future efforts. So organize your life around this room, organize everything around the hourly buzz, and in one weeks time, we shall return.”

“Wait a minute, what about eating or drinking, how do I feed her?”

“You don’t.” Devil replied. “She is newly resurrected, and she will survive the week without food or drink. If all goes according to plan, she will be ravenous in a weeks time, and you will be the one who feeds her, and of course, that will further strengthen the bond between the slave and her master.”

“Shit, I just don’t feel comfortable about any of this.”

“Good sir, look at it this way; I have returned the empty receptacle of your wife to you, and if she survives, you will be able to mould her into the being that you wish her to be. For the next seven days, she is completely dependent on you, twenty-one times a day. If you fail her on any one of those occasions, she will drown, which doesn’t mean that the subject has failed her obedience period, it means that you have failed her, so effectively, it is you who are killing her.”

“Jesus, that’s just too much pressure on me!” Stanley moaned.

“Is it a test for you as well good sir? Yes, it is. Do I resurrect one of the dead and place them in the care of a lazy, incompetent or reckless fool; or do I place them in the care of a person who is strong-willed and resilient, someone who understands his responsibility and will make sacrifices to achieve the end result.”

“So you’re saying that you’ve never resurrected a body for the lazy, incompetent or reckless?”

“Good sir, the lazy, incompetent or reckless can’t afford me.”

“Big picture chum, keep thinking about the big picture.” Chester advised. “She’s a fine-looking gal, and if you do as the Boss tells you, she will become a fine-looking gal who obeys your every command.”

Devil glanced at the watch, then said, “The time is twenty-three past three, which means that in just over half an hour, my people will put your wife in for her first splash around. The watch will buzz at four o’clock, the rope will be reeled in, and then you will be in play. Play your role exactly as I have outlined, and we should see you in a week’s time.”

Stanley nodded glumly.

“Before we leave, I require a few things from you.”

“Like what?”

“If your wife came to this country from Hungary, I presume she has a passport, and I would like to borrow it.”

“Why?”

“I’m interested in your wife’s history and I’d like to know more about her, and I would also like to borrow her Aunties passport.”

“Yes, I have both.”

“Please get them.”

Ten minutes later, Stanley handed the passports over and Devil said, “I shall return them.” With that, Devil and Chester walked down the stairs, and less than a minute later, Stanley heard the front door close. Stanley was rattled by the experience, although he scribbled a few notations on a pad, the important notations.

-Go down when watch buzzes

-Pull the lever and leave once she has gripped rope