ZQ Retold Part 6: New Characters are In This One

Abe slowly lolled his head up to where the voice had come from, pain stabbing through his body. Who he saw was the strangest person he had ever seen.

The woman was probably the tallest person he had ever seen, unless you counted the Goblin giant. And he didn’t.

A long flowing robe covered her body except for her hands. Long brown hair covered her head. At times, the woman would become transparent for a few seconds, only to become more solid shortly after, as if she was debating over whether or not to exist. She looked like the Porta-Potty did when it was teleporting in a British TV show that Abe and his friends liked.

“Who are you?!” Abe shouted. “Did the Goblins send you to finish me off?”

“No. In fact, I have come for the opposite reason”, the woman replied. “I am here to help you. I am Velveterra”, Velveterras voice faded in and out as she did. Abe was reminded of the times his little brother would play with the volume knob on the car stereo.

“Can you stop fading in and out? I’m having a hard time hearing you”, Abe told Velveterra. “I can’t stay any longer. Goodbye, Abraham”

“Wait a minute! How-” Before Abe could finish his sentence, Velveterra was gone.

As the shock of what just happened to him wore off, Abe noticed that the pain was gone. He pulled up his shirt. No wounds. Even stranger, the broken glass and pot shards were gone.

“Abe! You’re okay!”

Abe’s pondering was quickly cut short as Tyler and Caleb ran in.

“We thought you were dead!”, Tyler said to Abe.

“Yeah, I’m alright. What I’m surprised at is that you guys are okay.”

Caleb sat down on a folding chair he had dragged into the garage. “The Goblins were going to kill us, but then they noticed some more Goblins fighting off these soldier guys. I guess they-”

“Wait, soldiers?”, Abe asked, interrupting Caleb.

“Sort of. Not U.S. military”, Caleb responded. “All their stuff was this weird shade of metallic pink. I’ve never seen them before”

“Maybe they’re some special team that the government sent out”

“Maybe. Anyway, I don’t know for sure, but more Goblins seem to be coming onto the island”, said Caleb.

“I wonder why”, Abe murmured.

“Hang on. If more Goblins are coming, I need to go.”, said Tyler, getting up from his chair.

“Why?”, Caleb asked.

“One of my cousins lives around here. She’s only three, so you’ve never seen her. I need to go make sure she’s not dead”

“You can’t go, Tyler!”, said Abe. “You won’t make it 12 feet before the Goblins get you”

“On foot, maybe”, said Tyler, holding up car keys.

“You can’t drive in a video game without running over pedestrians”, Abe told him. “You’ll get yourself killed”

Suddenly, a mail truck swerved into the street and pulled up to the Jones’ house. It had been covered with metal spikes, a few of which sported chunks of Goblin. Out of it jumped a man in a revealing leather costume, brandishing an assault rifle.

“Frank? Is that you?”, Abe asked the mailman in shock.

“YEAH! FRANK MORRISON HERE!!! I’M THE MAILMAN OF THE APOCALYPSE!!!”, Frank shouted.

“Quiet! You’ll attract Goblins!” Caleb hissed.

“DON’T YOU WORRY! IF ANY O’ THOSE DEMONS COMES THEY’LL ANSWER TO FRANK JR HERE!!”, Frank bellowed, brandishing a sawed-off shotgun he had strapped to his back.

“Why are you here?”, asked Tyler.

Frank became very serious and grave. He bent down to Tyler. “Neither snow, nor sleet, nor hail, nor demonic invasion shall keep the courier from his appointed rounds”, Frank told Tyler. A single tear streaked down his cheek as he grimly faced the nighttime sky.

“IN THE MEANTIME, WHO’S ABE ABRAHAM?”

As Abe raised his hand, Frank thrust a letter into him so hard that he knocked Abe over. Abe got to his feet, laughing.

“Say, I’ve been round these parts, and those demon things are everywhere”, Frank told the boys.

“I can see that”, Tyler said, eyeing the Goblin chucks impaled on the spikes bedecking Frank’s mail truck.

“I’ve been thinkin’, if I’m going to deliver mail around, why can’t I deliver people? You’d make it five minutes on the streets if you were lucky, so, you guys want to go somewhere?”

“No thanks. But I do have something you can do”, Tyler told Frank. “I want to see a family member. I need to see if they’re okay”

“Sure can do. What’s the address?”, said Frank.

“274 Borglestein Blvd.”, Tyler replied.

“That’s out by the sewage works. I’ll get you there in no time”

“Thanks! See you guys later!”, Tyler said as Frank led him out to his mail truck.

Caleb and Abe had dug two sleeping bags out of the Jones’ car, and were trying to get to sleep.

“So Abe, who’s the letter from?”, Caleb asked Abe as he picked up the letter from where he had left it on a shelf.

As Abe saw the handwriting on the envelope, his heart sank.

“It’s from my cousin Tony”, Abe said.

“Isn’t he that gangster guy?”, Caleb asked.

“Yeah. He ran a black market out of his house. He generally sends me a letter or two a month. My parents won’t even let me open them. They think he’s trying to get me to join his gang”

“It must be tough, having a gangster for a cousin”, said Caleb.

“It is. I remember back in kindergarten, when the gang war was still going, the kids  at recess would always ask me where my machine gun was”, Abe replied. He opened the letter. A yellowed document fell out. It looked like it had been written with a typewriter.

Hi Abe,

You’ve probably noticed the weird things that have basically taken over the city. I really want to find out if you’re still alive. Originally, I was going to come in person, since I didn’t know that the postman was still delivering. More of the creatures are coming here, and I don’t think you’ll survive on your own. It would be best if you came to my house. It’s on Affadax Avenue. You’ll know which one it is. Come as soon as you can.

-Tony

“Wait a minute. Abe, why didn’t your cousin tell us the address? How will we know where he lives”, asked Caleb, reading the letter.

“I know where he lives. Mom and Dad have been telling me all my life where Tony’s house was, so I knew where to never ever ever ever ever go.”, Abe replied. “We’ll set out first thing in the morning”