The Three Deaths Chapter 6
"Okay, why don't we have great trains like this in America? Grant could easily make it happen in a second." Valentina asks Zina. Zina could tell she was serious about this but knew she couldn't give her a satisfactory answer.
"I guess the great USA isn't his top priority right now. He's dealing with the Kramaka Federation right now," Zina says, smiling at Valentina. She hoped this would be good enough for her, but she knew it wouldn't.
"Yeah, I guess you're right. Once Grant's conquered the universe, he'll probably get on it," Valentina says to Zina, deluding herself into believing it.
"He's more than halfway there," Zina says, trying to brighten up her mood and give her hope, however false it might be.
"True," Valentina replies, a forced smile on her face.
"I'm gonna take a nap; we've got a few hours until we get there. Plus, you've got the window seat. Enjoy it." Zina tells Val. She just wanted to put a stop to this conversation; she knew how much Val loved trains and didn't want to see her sad.
"Okay. Thanks for letting me have the window seat." Val smiles genuinely at Zina.
"No problem. Enjoy the view," Zina says as she settles down for a quick nap.
Zina lays her head back and closes her eyes. Within a few minutes, she succumbs to her weariness and is lulled to sleep by the gentle rumble of the locomotive.
6 YEARS EARLIER...
"So, this isn't Earth?" Zina asks the man claiming to be her father.
"Nope; it is my research station. We're on a planet called Destro-7. We're about halfway across the galaxy from Earth." He tells the young woman sitting on a stool in front of him. He looks at her expression as she ponders the situation she is in. As she comes to terms with where she is, he takes the time to quickly examine her.
Zina stares down at her hands and notices they have become much paler than they were before.
"I can't believe it worked! I got isekai-ed!" She says in shock and amazement. She didn't believe it would actually work. She had held out hope, but she knew it was misguided. She came to terms with the thought that it might not work, but she was also willing to accept her death because she felt she had nothing else to live for. Now, believing she had actually been isekai-ed, she suddenly found a new lease on life and was excited to see what the new chapter of her life would bring. Poor girl, she was in for a rude awakening and an even bigger shock.
"I mean, kind of. You weren't teleported here like in anime. I mean, we did use a summoning spell to get you here. Okay, you know what? Yeah sure. You got isekai-ed. Let's leave it at that." He tells the overjoyed girl. He wasn't ready to burst her bubble just yet; he would let her enjoy this moment for a while longer before he told her the truth. Her life was truly over, at least the life she knew before. Her undead life was just beginning, though.
"I can't believe you're my dad. The Great Grant Shipman," Zina says. Her belief that she was isekai-ed had given her rose-colored glasses, and everything seemed like a dream to her.
"Aww, thanks. I try to do my best," Grant replies, her excitement forcing a smile onto his face.
"Don't give him too much praise. That stuff is like a drug to him; it goes straight to his head." Zina is surprised by a voice coming from behind her. She turns to see who this mysterious person is.
Zina sees an extremely tall, blue-haired woman with greenish skin walking up behind her. She's wearing a black body suit with what looks like knives all over it. Zina can count eight blades; she wonders how many more are hidden on her.
"Ah, come on. Let her give me a little praise, Dear." Grant turns his attention to the stranger. Zina is perplexed at their interaction; she starts to wonder if she's related to her.
"Dear? Is she my stepmom?" Zina asks Grant.
The tall woman looks down at her with a big, wry smile and lets out a small laugh. Zina could feel a shiver run up her spine. For some reason she sensed that this woman was extremely dangerous; as if the knives weren't a dead giveaway.
"Not for lack of trying, sweetie. No woman has ever been able to tie down Grant. I'm Queen Cobo, by the way, but you can just call me Cobo." She bends down and puts her hand out to shake Zina's, flashing a smile at her. Zina couldn't tell if her smile was genuine but was too terrified to deny her this pleasantry.
"Nice to meet you," Zina says as she hesitantly shakes Cobo's hand.
"Sir, you might want to look at this," A small, ginger tomboy with short hair tells Grant. Zina notices she's wearing a lab coat and holding a tablet. She had been tinkering with some machines in the back of the room; Zina hadn't really noticed her presence before.
Grant stands up from his stool and walks over to her, "What's up, Charlie 1,111?"
Charlie 1,111 hands Grant the tablet. He looks at it with a smile that seems not only to get bigger by the second, but Zina notices that it is also eerily creepy.
"Is this 100%?" Grant asks Charlie 1,111.
"It is," she responds.
"Very interesting," Grants says, turning to face Zina as he says this.
Zina feels very uncomfortable as he stares at her. She's starting to wonder if she was actually isekai-ed or if something more sinister was happening here. She quickly glances around the sterile white room and realizes how very much like a mad scientist's lab it looks.
"You're up, dear," Grant says to Cobo.
"Cool," Cobo says, smiling at Grant. She then turns to face Zina. Zina notices her smile get bigger as she stares at her, and she can't help but feel the same eerily creepiness she felt from Grant.
The next thing Zina sees is a quick blur, and then Cobo is standing in front of her, licking a blade she didn't have in her hands less than a second ago.
"Wow. I guess the pain receptors are as dead as the test subject. It is healing quicker than I thought it would." Grant says, staring at Zina's left side.
Zina is curious as to what Grant is talking about but is too hesitant to look. She knows it cannot be anything good; she realizes this isn't what she thought it was initially. She gathers her resolve and finally looks to her left, and what she sees suddenly turns her face paler than humanly possible. She sees that half her arm has been completely ripped off, and only a tiny sliver of flesh is left hanging on to what used to be her arm.
"AHHHH!" Zina screams, looking at what used to be her arm. The shock is too much for her to handle, and she quickly passes out.
A FEW MONTHS LATER...
"I wish more people were like you," the tall, beautiful Chinese woman in the black nanosuit says to Zina. As they walk down the corridor, Zina turns to respond to her.
"Right back at you, Bao." Zina isn't genuine about her response but is too afraid of Bao to say otherwise. She gives Bao her biggest, fakest smile to try and make it seem genuine.
"Even I got to admit that you do come in handy," said the mixed-raced Middle-Eastern girl, religiously staring at her phone. Zina looked to her left to try and see if Aisha was being sarcastic, but her eyes were glued to her phone, and it was impossible to read her facial expressions from this angle.
"Thank you, Aisha. I'm doing my best." Zina responds to the oblivious social media addict. She couldn't tell if she was being sarcastic or not, but Zina also knew that Bao wouldn't be of any help in deciphering her tone of voice.
"No problem, go heal up," Aisha tells her as they approach the cafeteria. "We're gonna go take a shower." Bao and Zina head towards the showers, leaving Zina to her snacks.
"Okay. See ya," Zina says to them as she walks into the cafeteria alone.
The cafeteria is like one you'd find in any underfunded American public high school. A bunch of folding tables littered all around a large room. The only difference here is that all the teenagers looked exactly the same. Petite, ginger tomboys with short hair EVERYWHERE! It was straight out of an episode of the Twilight Zone.
In the past couple of weeks, Zina had learned the horrific truth about the "Charlies." Also known as the "Charlie Clone Drones" by Grant. Cute, adorable, and innocent-looking, but at any second and without warning, they could swarm you and rip you to shreds. It sent a shiver down her spine thinking about it. Zina had learned the truth about her "reincarnation" and her undead status, but even she knew that her healing powers would be no match for the literal army of Charlies that Grant employed. Her only relief is that they treated her really well, though. Zina believed that they saw her as a sort of big sister to them.
"You're thinking about it again, aren't you?" A familiar voice from behind snapped her out of her delusions.
"You're so good at sneaking up on people, aren't you, Val?" Zina says, turning around to see her only friend, Valentina, behind her with her hands on her hips.
"What can I say? I'm good at it," Valentina says to her, smiling.
"I don't know why Grant keeps you locked up here in this facility all day. All he has you doing is working on spreadsheets. You'd be awesome out in the field." Zina says to her. They've had this conversation many times already. At this point, it was a form of greeting for them.
"I've been told that using me in war would give Grant an unfair advantage against his enemies, and it wouldn't be entertaining to him anymore," Val says, somewhat begrudgingly. Zina knew that her friend would love nothing more than to be out on the field with her working, but she also knew that was never going to happen anytime soon.
Zina sees the forced smile on Val's face and can tell that she's been thinking about this a lot.
"Whatever, let's drop it for now. I need some sweets. I've got at least fifty bullet holes in my body," Zina tells Val.
"I count four bullet holes in your head," Val says, sticking her finger into one of the holes in Zina's head. Zina doesn't even feel it, so she does nothing to swat away Val's hand.
"I've got to say, Clarice is a pretty good shot," Zina tells Val as they direct themselves toward the food.
"She's the best in the universe," Val replies.
"HOW'S THE HEAD, SUCKER!?" a woman yells across the cafeteria at them.
Zina and Val turn their attention towards her and notice a mixed Korean girl walking towards them and pointing at them.
"HAHAHAH!" The woman laughs voraciously.
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"Hey, Claire," Zina says, rolling her eyes. She doesn't have time for this; she just wants to get some sugar into her body.
"Hey! You know I'm not Claire, I'm Clarice. I don't want any connection to that redneck from Mississippi I'm cloned from." She says bitterly. Zina loves needling her like this; it really fires her up.
Clarice and the Charlie Clone Drones are modified clones of a somewhat distant relative of Grant, who lives in Mississippi. Apparently, the first 100% successful human clone ever created came from a relative of Grant's named Charlie Stryker. She was the human on which the drones are based on.
The first of these clones turned out surprisingly well and apparently is still alive today, living in Southwest Florida with the geneticist who created her. Zina tries to remember her name. Was it Eve? She'd have to ask Abere; she knows the whole story.
IN THE PRESENT...
Zina feels someone tugging at her arm. She opens her eyes and sees Val.
"We're almost there," Val tells the sleepy zombie.
"How much longer?" Zina asks as she rubs the sleep from her eyes, and the memories of her dreams fade away with it.
"The attendant says about five minutes," Val responds.
A little while later, their taxi pulls up to the small resort hotel. The two girls get out of the taxi. They walk up the stairs to the lobby and into the resort. Once inside, they noticed the hotel appeared to be empty; the only sign of life were the few workers they found milling about.
"I'm surprised we were able to get a room," Val says sarcastically.
"Well, I'm sure Grant overheard us somehow and pulled some strings. You know how adept at spying on people smartphones are. Scratch that, you know Grant." Zina tells her sarcastic friend. Zina is not surprised at all that Grant would reserve the entire resort just for them. He lives for any chance to flex his power and money.
Zina's phone buzzes. She pulls it out and looks at it. She can't help but crack a wry smile at the text she just received.
"YOU KNOW ME SO WELL, SWEETIE. -DADDY," the text reads. Zina rolls her eyes and puts her phone back in her pocket. It seems that Grant does not know the concept of privacy.
"Do I want to know?" Val asks quizzically.
"Let's just say I told you so," Zina says, smiling.
"Okay," Val replies.
After checking in at the front desk, they head to their room to unpack and unwind. It's a decently sized room with one bed. There's a giant crystal chandelier hanging above.
"Do you wanna share the bed?" Zina asks Val, fully aware of her answer.
"When do we not?" Val fires back.
"True. Wait? Are we a gay couple?" Zina asks, shocked at her discovery.
"I don't know what the hell we are," Val responds, shrugging. "I think we're more bi than anything. I mean, you do masturbate to Luffy." Val tells Zina as she sets about unpacking her stuff.
"That is true. Wait? How do you know about that?!" Zina was visibly flustered.
"Uhh. I can't tell you. Grant will get pissed if I tell you." Val responds, smirking.
"WHAT?!" Zina yells, dropping her luggage on the floor.
"Does this have to do with the phones?" Zina asks, ready to smash her phone across the wall.
"Ummm," Val says, looking at the floor. She can't bring herself to make eye contact with Zina, not out of shame, but scared she would burst out laughing if she did.
Zina's phone buzzes once again. She pulls it out and looks at it angrily. On the screen is a meme of the fat Italian guy from that one mob show with his thumbs in the air and the words, "Don't worry about it!"
"Uggghhh. I'm surrounded by perverts!" Zina says, plopping down on the couch in the corner of the room. Her anger and her exhaustion are finally getting the better of her.
"This coming from the girl with the Pikachu vibrating egg? You know, walls are thin, and it's hard to miss your moaning and the electric drone of "PIKA! PIKA!" sometimes." Val says, unable to contain her laughter any longer.
"I didn't hear you complaining when it got you off!" Zina retorts, angrily.
"I will give you that," Val responds, stifling her giggles.
"Just know, if I find a guy I like... Umm, I mean, I guess we can share?" Zina says, looking up at her, her anger dying down a bit.
"Sharing is caring. That's what that stupid purple dinosaur taught us," Val says, continuing to unpack her stuff.
"Come on. Let's get to the spring," Zina says. She has no energy to worry about unpacking her stuff right now; she just wants to relax.
"Cool," Val says as she throws the rest of her stuff onto the bed. She'll sort it out later.
They head out of their room and direct themselves towards the hot springs. They find the entrance and notice it's your typical Japanese onsen aesthetic. A giant red curtain covers the entrance with a huge sign on top of it that says "Women" to ensure no pervy males try to sneak a peak. They walk in and find a nice, cool room with a wall of cubbies and baskets adorning each wall. They quickly strip off their clothes and place them into adjacent basks, grabbing their towels and heading outside to the hot spring. They followed typical Japanese traditions and take a quick shower before stepping into the hot springs. Zina dips her toe tenderly into the spring to test the temperature of the water. Feeling the heat of the springs seeping into her feet, she climbs into the spring to warm up the rest of her body.
Val is a little slower in finishing her shower but soon joins her companion in the springs. Before getting in herself, she looks down and sees Zina lying back and relaxing.
"How's the temperature?" Val asks her.
"It's perfect. Get in." Zina opens her eyes and looks up at her naked friend. Her towel is barely big enough to cover her modest body but small enough so that Zina can still make out her curves and catch a glimpse of her beautiful assets.
Val gets in slowly and lets out a relaxing sigh.
"Okay, this is nice," Val says, laying her head back on the edge of the springs.
"It's so quiet up here in the mountains, isn't it, Val?" Zina closes her eyes again as she makes conversation with Val.
"It definitely is," Val replies, settling down into relaxation.
Just as the two girls reach the zenith of their rest and relaxation, a commotion inside quickly snaps them back to reality.
"CALM DOWN, BAO! SHE DIDN'T MEAN IT!" A familiar voice roars from inside the main building.
"You never can get away from those two for that, long can you?" Val says, smiling at Zina. I guess a few seconds of peace is all they can really afford in the lives they lead.
"I think my record is like four days. I guess the new shortest record is four seconds now," Zina says with a small guffaw.
A few minutes later, Bao and Aisha walk out to the springs wrapped in towels. Zina knows the hot springs won't be that effective in relieving her stress with those two around.
"You scared the shit out of her, Bao," Aisha says, looking up at Bao. Zina isn't sure if they're aware that they're disturbing their peace or if they even care.
"She mistook me for a supermodel. It was insulting," Bao says, emotionless as usual.
"I'm not understanding your logic, as usual, Bao," Aisha tells her as they get closer to Val and Zina. Ever the spoiled princess, she can't seem to understand anyone's point of view but her own.
"People in the entertainment industry are Commies," Bao tells her.
"Okay, now I get it. She had it coming then." Aisha says, looking at Zina with a goofy, confused look on her face. She knows she might not agree with Bao's line of thinking, but there was no way in hell she would ever tell her that.
"Hey, girls," Aisha says as they climb into the spring with them.
"What was that all about?" Zina asks Aisha.
"Well, you know Bao's stance on any kind of Socialists and her not understanding social situations or niceties, right?" Aisha asks Zina.
"Say no more. I understand completely." Zina says, slumping down further until her head is just treading water.
"The bitch thought I was a supermodel," Bao says to Zina. Zina could tell she was angry, but her usual morose tone held no hint of anger; it was no wonder she was constantly misunderstood.
"Okay, Bao, asking if someone is a supermodel is a way of telling someone they are beautiful," Aisha says to her, hoping it will help calm her down.
"Ahh, so it's a compliment by sarcastically saying the opposite? Now I want to kill her even more," Bao says. Zina turns to look at her and can see the bloodlust in her eyes rising.
"Bao, she was saying you are very pretty. That's all you need to know. She was not insulting you in any way." Zina hoped this would be enough to end the misunderstanding and allow her to get some peace and quiet.
"Hmm. I will take your word on it, dear sister. I will not gut her then," Bao states.
"Good to hear," Zina lets the situation be.
"Anyways, what are you two doing here?" Zina asks the interloping girls.
"Oh, Dad told us what you two were doing, and I was like, that sounds awesome, so we decided to come too," Aisha tells Zina. Zina can't be angry at her for injecting themselves into her mini-holiday. Aisha has always been the spoiled one of the trio, and whatever she wanted, she usually got.
"Also, Dad said there are some old friends of mine back from my CCP days that he's given me permission to play with," Bao says with a big smile on her face. Bao rarely showed any signs of emotion, and it was always in reference to her love of killing. At first, Zina would be terrified stiff when she saw her smiling; now, it was just a normal thing to her.
"Well, you do enjoy your hunting trips," Zina tells Bao, smirking.
"A little too much for my taste," Aisha says, splashing around in the water like a little girl. "Just remember to get all the blood off before showing yourself in public. Dad doesn't want another Portland incident again."
"Those Antifa fucks got what they deserved," Bao says stoically.
"I'm not denying that. Just remember to clean off after, that's all." Aisha quips.
"I hear The Blood Monster of Portland has become an urban legend now," Zina says, noting that Val has been unusually quiet the whole time.
"Thank God it isn't considered a fact. The cover-up took a lot out of Dad." Aisha tells Zina. Zina is well aware that Aisha is the closest one to Grant. He constantly says that he loves them all equally, but it's obvious that she is a clear favorite by a long shot.
"Anyway, we shouldn't stay in this spring too long. If you do, it can do irreparable damage to a normal person like you, Aisha. I'm not sure what the effects are on someone with alien muscle implants like Bao, though." Zina tells Aisha. She knows Aisha worries a lot about her looks; the pains of being a social media celebrity, Zina thought.
"Okay," Aisha responds dejectedly.
A little while later, the four of them get out of the springs and head back to their rooms after exchanging quick goodbyes.
"So, did it help you relax, Zina? Do you feel any different?" Val finally says something.
"I used to go to onsens all the time when I was still alive. They always felt good and helped me relax. Fucking nothing this time, though. I guess it's because I'm not technically alive. It also didn't help that Bao and Aisha barged in on the middle of it." Zina tells Val. "What about you?" She turns to stare at her companion.
"Well, I do feel somewhat relaxed. I guess it's because I'm only half dead. Pro of being a hybrid, I guess?" Val tells Zina.
"I'm guessing that's it," Zina says under her breath. "You wanna watch some TV?" Zina hoped that it would help her relax a bit more than the hot spring did.
"Is it all in Japanese?" Val asks.
"Well, we're in Japan, so..." Zina says to Val, sarcastically.
"I'm good then. I'm just gonna go to bed." Val says, pointing towards the bed.
"Okay, suit yourself. I'll watch a little and then join you." Zina says to Val, plopping down on the couch.
A few hours later, as Zina is watching some new comedy about a brother and sister idol group, she turns to look at Val. She's floating above the bed. It wasn't anything new for Zina. To her, it just seemed that sometimes gravity forgot that Val existed.
Zina then heard Val saying something over and over in a language that didn't sound familiar. This, on the other hand, was something new.
"What the hell?" Zina asks herself.
"Let's see what Shipman Translate says she's saying," Zina mumbles as she picks up her phone from the stand by the bed and puts it up to Val's mouth. She gets a text as she's about to push the translate button.
The text reads, "DON'T ASK QUESTIONS. JUST GET THE HELL OUT OF THAT ROOM! NOW!" She's perplexed for a moment and doesn't immediately rush out of the room as she was instructed to do.
Zina reads the text again to try and find any meaning in it. The television she had just been watching suddenly implodes and crushes in on itself. Then, the painting on the wall does the same. Zina is shocked out of her confusion. Not wanting to end up like JFK after taking a car ride in the middle of Texas, she heads for the door.
Zina runs out of the room, terrified. Once she gets outside the room, she finds Grant standing in front of her.
"I didn't think it would manifest this quickly," Grant says to Cobo, who is standing next to him, as crashing sounds echo from inside the room, getting louder and louder.
"Well, at least you figured it'd be coming. Most people wouldn't have noticed it," Cobo tells Grant.
"That's why I'm called a genius, dear." Grant responds to Cobo, smiling at her.
Then, without warning, everything went quiet. Grant looks at Cobo cautiously.
"I think he did it," Cobo says to Grant.
"Seriously, guys, this is happening way too much now." A voice says from behind Zina.
She turns around to see her Dad's good friend, Luci, walking out of the room with Val. He's wearing his custom-made black suit. His eyes have a literal fire in them. To Zina and everyone who works for her Dad he's known as Luci, but to the rest of the world, he's known as "Lucifer, the King of Hell."
"Thanks, Luci," Grant tells the demon lord.
"Whatever. You're the boss. Plus, you pay really well," Luci tells Grant.
"Hey, Zina. Long time no see. Your girlfriend should be fine now," Luci tells the perplexed zombie.
"She's not my girlfriend, Luci!" Zina yells at him.
"Sure. Sure. Whatever. I'll see you all later." Luci says as he vanishes into nothing.
"I wish we could duplicate that kind of teleporting," Grants tells Cobo. Zina is getting a bit frustrated at being ignored.
"We've tried. I'll put some people on it if you want me to?" Cobo says to Grant.
"Sir, we've wiped all the memories and implanted new ones into all non-employees of Shipman Enterprises." Reports a buzz-cut woman with green hair walking up in a nanosuit.
"Good job, Grace," Grant tells her.
"Um, Dad. What the hell is going on?" Zina asks her absent father.
"It's about time you told her," Cobo says to Grant.
"Well, fuck. Okay. Sweetie, what I'm about to tell you stays between us... And Cobo... And, uh Grace. No one else can know. You understand?" Grants stares at his undead daughter with fierce conviction in his eyes.
"Luci, too," Grace reminds Grant.
"Oh, yeah. Luci knows as well. No one else can know, though." Grant waits patiently for his daughter to answer.
"Okay," Zina says, a bit scared as to what her father has to say.
"Valentina isn't what she seems," Grant says with a deep sigh.
"What? What do you mean?" Zina asks, confused. Val is a vampire-hybrid; what can be worse than that?
"Let me explain," Grant says.