Chapter 33 — Part 3

  Isaac felt the big “O” of his gun’s mouth against his temple. This was it. Would he follow through on his promise to commit suicide in the event of a zombie apocalypse? Or would he pussy out? If the universe were ever to give him a sign, then it couldn’t be any clearer. He couldn’t ignore it in good faith.

  “Drop it!” Mr. Lennox commanded.

  Isaac looked up at the producer but didn’t obey.

  “Jesus, Isaac. Put the gun down. You’re acting foolish. You think they just grow lizard-human hybrids on trees? You’re not as common and everyday as that, Isaac. You’re not the cure for cancer. Have some sense. Look at yourself. So, I got a little rough? Big deal. Grow up.”

  “...” Isaac would do himself to spite this guy now. Fuck him. Mr. Lennox just gave Isaac the perfect permission structure to kill himself. Instead of a coward’s exit, Isaac’s suicide was now a noble self-sacrifice – one less human-lizard hybrid to endanger the world. In terms of global impact, Isaac felt confident in saying that one of him was worth at least 50 nukes. People would cheer his name in the name of peace. In twenty years, he’d be the answer to a question on a social studies exam.

  The sounds of battle faded away. Every crack of gunfire and each note from Tupac drowned out by the blood pumping in Isaac’s ears. All he could hear was bah-bump, bah-bump, bah-bump-bump-bump, bah-bump. The sound echoed around Isaac’s brain until it triggered a memory. He was reminded of when the fake Super Jesus beatboxed to the rhythm of Isaac’s heartbeat to inspire him, to let Isaac know he was a good dude and his life was worth living.

  Isaac gritted his teeth.

  The fake Super Jesus was right.

  The Isaac who promised to kill himself in the event of a zombie apocalypse was different than the one who held the gun now. That Isaac was weak. This Isaac sometimes turned into a lizard and had thermal vision. This Isaac was friends with Tupac. This Isaac could write a screenplay.

  Isaac tried to train the gun on Mr. Lennox, but the old man stomped Isaac’s hand before he could draw a bead on his target. His fingers snapped, and the weapon squirted away harmlessly.

  Isaac screamed out in pain but had the strength of mind to reach blindly for another lifeline. When his hand brushed one, he yanked it.

  Mr. Lennox cursed. By happy accident, Isaac had grabbed the desk phone’s landline and pulled it from the wall, breaking its connection and abruptly ending Mr. Lennox’s call with the broadcast room before he could issue his directive to cut Tupac from the live stream.

  As a reward for his courage, Isaac received another swift kick to the ass. “You are persistent!” Mr. Lennox observed. But whatever the first round of blows broke in Isaac, the second repaired, knocking him back into realignment by the power of an equal and opposite reaction.

  Isaac got to his feet. Then, while Mr. Lennox fumbled to plug the telephone line back into the wall, Isaac attacked him from behind, leaping onto the man as if he were receiving a piggyback ride. Isaac refused to let go no matter how hard Mr. Lennox shook him. Isaac fell again when Mr. Lennox banged his attacker against the wall to release his hold. “C’mon. I know you can do better than that,” Mr. Lennox taunted him with a smile. “Show me! Whip it out!”

  Now, this was a reference Isaac understood. Mr. Lennox wanted to see Isaac transform, so Isaac closed his eyes and tried to envision changing into a lizard, remembering how he looked and how it felt to have all that power. But when he opened his eyes, Isaac wasn’t seeing the world through the prism of thermal imaging. He was still human.

  Then, Isaac remembered Tupac’s advice for how Zee activated her power. He had to get hungry, so Isaac did his best to imagine all the mouth-watering food he could. A juicy steak, a smothered chile verde burrito, and a plate of Jon and Vinny’s spicy fusilli, but none of that worked, even though he felt his mouth water and his stomach gurgle with anticipation. Clearly, he was hungry enough!

  Isaac didn’t understand what he was doing wrong. But what else did Tupac say? He said that Zee had always been hungry for his dick, so maybe the hunger was metaphorical. That must be it! When Isaac transformed in the tunnels, he was hungry to stay alive, and when he transformed at the Twin Towers, he was hungry to stay in control of himself rather than sublimate himself into Seth’s subconscious. But when Isaac tried to channel his hunger to survive his fight against Mr. Lennox, he came up empty again.

  Isaac thought of his best friend, Tupac, and the people he was singing to in the audience. Isaac thought of Margot, who remained passed out on the ground, and how she needed his help. That was the chicken soup that would satiate Isaac’s soul. Isaac was hungry. He was hungry to protect his friends and his fellow humans. He was hungry to save them from the life he had lived, force-fed content in service to the lizards.

  That’s when Isaac felt a rush of energy course through his system. His veins popped. He felt the teeth in his mouth lengthen and sharpen. The red/blue veil of thermal vision fell over his eyes. In an instant, the transformation happened. Isaac flexed his lizard muscles to test their power. They felt good.

  “Excellent!” Mr. Lennox said, savoring the word.

  Wasting no time, Isaac charged Mr. Lennox and hit him with as much force as possible. This time, Isaac left a mark. Mr. Lennox wheeled back after losing his balance. But now it was his turn to be hungry.

  Smiling, Mr. Lennox tasted some of the blue blood running from a cut on his cheek while he transitioned into his lizard form. "I see why Dr. Rousseau gambled on you, Isaac! He was right to call you a specimen. You have spirit! But wait until you see me.”

  When Mr. Lennox finished changing into Xzaylax-Delta, he was monstrous, bigger than any lizardman Isaac had encountered before, and more regal, too. Unlike the others, Xzaylax-Delta had blood-colored horned points above his eyes and a ridge of spikes to match that ran from the crown of his head to the tip of his tail, which thrashed about the room aimlessly. His tail was the size of a python and had just as much menace. The finishing touch on Xzaylax-Delta was a ribbed frill around his neck that reminded Isaac of old European royal fashion.

  “Fuck me,” Isaac whimpered. This wasn’t good. Isaac wasn’t sure if he was becoming attuned to the force or not, but he felt a powerful psychic pressure emanating from Xzaylax-Delta. It shook Isaac’s knees.

  Isaac's only chance to survive — to win — was if all that extra bulk weighed Xzaylax-Delta down, so instead of attacking him head-on, Isaac would go for the desk phone that rested equidistant between the two of them. Isaac didn't have to beat Xzaylax-Delta. He just had to keep Tupac’s show going.

  Isaac dove for the phone, and his aim was true. He grabbed the receiver before Xzaylax-Delta could intercept him, but Xzaylax-Delta didn’t give up. He grabbed the phone’s cord, making the wire taught between them. Quickly, things devolved into an old-fashioned tug-o-war between the two lizardmen, with the future of humanity on the line. Back and forth. Heave and ho! But it wasn’t long before the humble cord snapped in half with one final tug from Xzaylax-Delta, who didn’t know his own strength.

  This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

  Xzaylax-Delta roared in frustration. He grabbed Isaac and pushed him back until Isaac slammed against the penthouse’s panoramic window. Suddenly, Isaac had a great view of Century Park again. To his relief, down below, Tupac had dispatched Super Jesus. Manny Ortega’s mixed martial arts skills must have been a bit of a mixed bag because his broken body lay at Tupac’s feet. The other development Isaac missed was that Tupac had received reinforcements.

  An entire company of cats had entered the fray. There were some mountain lions Isaac didn't recognize and some domestic-sized cats he did, remembering them from Anne’s office. Those cats and the remaining Birmans battled furiously, with teeth, claws, and laser beams they shot out of their eyes. It was working. The cats and Tupac were winning, beating the Century Park Plaza security teams, a squad of newly arrived monkeys, and a host of lizardmen back toward the buildings and away from the stage.

  Explosions and gunfire continued to rock the park, sending shockwaves all the way up to the top of the Fox Plaza building. The building waved back and forth in the chaos, putting its earthquake rollers to the test. Yet, despite the frenzy and destruction, the stage’s speakers remained functional as Tupac provided the soundtrack to the battle. Hit ‘Em Up rang out from sea to shining sea.

  “First off, fuck your bitch, and the clique you claim

  Westside, when we ride, come equipped with game!”

  Inspired by their effort, Isaac thrust his legs against the window to drive Xzaylax-Delta backward and free himself. Unfortunately, it was Isaac who misjudged his strength this time. The window’s glass shattered under his feet, and his momentum pulled him forward until he was on the precipice of falling out of the building.

  Isaac tried to catch his balance but lost it again when Xzaylax-Delta's tail whipped him, launching Isaac into the night. Isaac’s stomach dropped when he felt nothing but gravity under him. He threw his hands up and scrambled to catch hold of Xzaylax-Delta’s tail before it could retreat inside the building.

  “Argh!” Xzaylax-Delta grunted when Isaac grabbed him. Isaac’s nails, now talons, dug in and drew blue blood. Isaac started to climb up Xzaylax-Delta’s tail to get back inside, but he wasn’t making any headway because Isaac’s weight started to pull Xzaylax-Delta out of the building with him, leaving Xzaylax-Delta no choice but to drag Isaac up and into the penthouse suite.

  Once Isaac could feel the floor, Xzaylax-Delta was on top of him before he could react. It was over. Isaac was pinned. There was nothing he could do to gain the upper hand unless he had some latent power like acid breath that he could discover.

  "Don't even think about using your acid breath," Xzaylax-Delta hissed. "My scales won't even lose their luster. You're done, Isaac. Do you understand? For you and your people, it’s over, and you're going to help me. Maybe not in this lifetime but in your next." Xzaylax-Delta lined up a talon to the center of Isaac's forehead, directly over where his pineal gland hid. "It's time to hit your factory reset button. You won't fail me again because I will see to it that I condition you myself. So say goodbye to Seth. Say goodbye to Isaac. Any preference on what your next name should be? Because I’m open to suggestions. ‘Dirk Diggler’ could be fun. You’ll see. This will be the beginning of a beautiful friendship."

  No, Isaac thought. He couldn’t lose his identity. Not now. Not after everything he had gone through. Isaac was proud of the half-person/half-lizardman he had become since the day he dreamt those script pages. He wasn’t going to start over again. “You can kill me, Mr. Lennox. But leave me my name!” Isaac screamed.

  Bang! Xzaylax-Delta reeled back. Isaac looked up. There was now a hole where Xzaylax-Delta's left eye once was. Bang! Now, the right eye was gone, too. Streaks of blue blood snaked their way down Xzaylax-Delta’s face like tears as the beast toppled off of Isaac, dead.

  Wobbly, Margot Robbie stood behind Xzaylax-Delta’s desk. She held the same gun that took Dr. Rousseau’s life. She ran over to Isaac and threw her arms around him. “Are you okay?”

  “I’m fine,” Isaac said without meaning it. “Quick! We’ve got to get down there to help Tupac!” Isaac didn’t know how long he’d have until he turned back into a normal human.

  “It’s okay, relax,” Margot urged him. “I called in back up,” she said, pointing down to Century Park, where the cats were now on mop-up duty. The fighting was over, and the situation was now under control. Although a small percentage of the audience members remained frozen, the bodies of the Century Plaza security team littered the park.

  “That was you?” Isaac asked with wonder.

  Margot nodded with a sly smile.

  “Good going.” Isaac was impressed with her skills, but the more he thought about it, the more it made sense. Of course, Margot was involved. She was no ordinary movie star. Isaac should have known since her mind never melted throughout this whole adventure. She didn’t have a baby brain. After all, she was Anne’s client, leaving Isaac to wonder about how many other humans knew about the world as it was.

  “Liz!” Isaac screamed, remembering the other outstanding member of this party. He looked to where he last saw her, but she was gone.

  "She made a run for it,” Margot said with disgust. “Abandoned her fellow species and then abandoned her master. She’s neither lizard nor human. She’s a cockroach."

  Isaac nodded in agreement. Of course, Liz had slunk away – a coward. The consummate industry insider, Liz had executed a perfect “Hollywood no” by exiting stage left from this whole ordeal without saying a word. She didn’t make EP this time, but she’d live to fight another day and contend against this slush pile called life.

  After a moment, Isaac asked Margot, “So, do cats really shoot lasers out of their eyes? Or was I hallucinating?”

  “Some do,” Margot said.

  “...”

  “...”

  “Sometimes I think I’m dreaming,” Isaac admitted, surveying his surroundings again, noticing that the loss rune was now completely dead as if it was never there.

  “There’s only one way to be sure you’re not dreaming,” Margot said. “Have you pinched anyone?”

  “You mean, have I pinched myself?”

  “No, that’s an old wives tale. It’s impossible to pinch yourself in a dream. So you must pinch someone else to see if they wake up – Ow!” Margot exclaimed, laughing after Isaac pinched her.

  “Well, you’re still here,” Isaac observed. “Then this is reality, right?”

  “Let’s take it from the top to be sure.” Margot smiled. “Hi. My name is Margot Robbie. Nice to meet you. Today is the first day of summer.”

  “I’m Isaac Abrahamson.”

  “Hello, Isaac Abrahamson. Good job today.”

  “You met me at a very strange time in my life,” Isaac confessed, still in his lizard form.

  “I understand,” Margot assured him.

  Together, they sat at the broken window, overlooking the city they saved. It was a comfortable silence until a thunderous rumbling burst their bubble.

  In unison, the Twin Towers of Century City crumbled to the ground, too weak from collateral damage to stand for a moment longer. The two buildings slid and fell in perfect synchronization. From Isaac’s safe vantage point, the sight was satisfying and looked almost peaceful.

  When the dust settled, Isaac saw emergency vehicles and their lights scramble across the city in every direction, not knowing where to begin, at Century Park or any other location where the rune had traced. Isaac and Margot watched the activity for a long, long time until Isaac reverted to his human form, and Tupac found them to take part in their reverie. They sat together, shrouded in the world’s most comfortable silence, their bellies warm with a job well done.

  Isaac felt at ease. Finally, this was the end of his story. He was thankful for this moment to rest and reflect on what had happened to him on his hero’s journey. He imagined he should probably seek a therapist to help process everything, but that was a problem for tomorrow. Today, he was alive.

  Eventually, the darkness of night ebbed away, and Isaac could see the first rays of dawn reach out and paint the eastern skies above the Hollywood Hills. Thick streaks of red, purple, and orange oozed and smeared themselves across the sky to create a rainbow of color that reminded Isaac of freshly milked unicorn jizz. The good kind, too. Unpasteurized. Organic. Active cultures. The kind of unicorn cum they sell at farmers’ markets. It was beautiful.

  “Dios Mio…” everyone whispered together.

  Isaac didn’t have to be an astrologist to know that this particular rising sun heralded good tidings. It was obvious. Already, its warmth singed the outer edges of the June Gloom, forcing it to retreat. It wouldn’t be long now before it would be gone for good.