The undead; the topic is bone chilling; the word alone makes me cringe. When I hear the word I immediately think of Vampires and Zombies.
The state of the undead is unknown. There have been numerous studies regarding death, and the passing to the other side. Sometime when people die, their souls are stuck in limbo between this life and the afterlife.
When I was in med school, we had a professor who delved in this stuff. Dr. Thaed was a bio professor and has eight initials after his name. He was kind of a creepy guy; he was a large man, over six feet tall, he walked sort of hunched over. He was balding, and wore thick glasses that were too big for his face. Whenever you were close to him, the hair on the back of your neck stood up.
Lynn Segway wanders with the undead.
I had him in consecutive semesters as did 3 other classmates of mine, Jimmy, Shawn, and Lynn. I did not know any of them prior to University, but we all connected. Jackie was a rebel type; she was into the Goth scene and was a pretty dark individual. Shawn was a brain; in his second year he found a flaw in a well know medical treatment for cancer. He was recognized and awarded greatly for it. Jimmy was a paramedic that quit the bus to enroll in medical school. He had this odd way about him, but he was truly a hero. He had 27 saves to his name.
Dr. Thaed had us in theory class late one Friday afternoon when the discussion came about the undead. Where did we go when we passed on? I being the religious type felt that we went to heaven or hell. Shawn didn’t believe in any of that he was more the scientific sort and felt that we just turned to dust. Jimmy and Lynn however were positive that we came back, that we could wander the earth as a separate entity. Ghosts, or angels, or even ghouls so to speak.
This peaked Thaed’s interest as he too felt there was something more. He proposed a scientific test that he had been working on. He would push the body to the brink of death, in fact into death so that there was no pulse, breathing or brain activity. Clinical death; however he needed a test subject. He had been utilizing mice but there was no way to determine what was being seen or felt. Lynn jumped at the chance and volunteered. Thaed’s plan was to put Lynn into a state that she was clinically dead. He would need the assistance of Shawn to do this, and also Jimmy to bring her back. I was to be a look-out, and vehemently denied all involvement. They all were angry with me, but I insisted I was not being part of the plan.
Long story short, the group had three successful attempts, Lynn reached the point of death and delved into the world of the undead. The scientific notes were eerie; she wrote about ghastly ghouls and zombies that wandered aimlessly around a grey black environment, constant screeching and painful cries filled the air. The group was elated, they were ecstatic. On the fourth try, Jimmy couldn’t get Lynn back; she died on the desk of Dr. Thaed on the fourth attempt. Shawn new something bad was going to happen as they had left her for over 10 minutes.
After the investigation was completed, Jimmy and Shawn went to prison. Dr. Thaed fled and was never seen again. I wake daily in the South Bronx mental institution, haunted by the ghost of Lynn Segway, who wanders daily with the undead.