TO CUT A TURNING TAIL

25) ZENITH

 In seconds, Zenith enters a different realm. His stupor, unconscious self lying rigid on the treadmill. But to Zenith, he finds himself in a different place, all he sees is bright colored lights flashing all around him. Flashing as if it's a tunnel moving at the speed double of a leopard's and because of this, the colorful walls appear to be flashing. The only difference between them and Jon's Orient is that the light bars are much like flashing lights. Aimlessly running around this place, Zenith finally stops in panic, a decorum sets around him. A still place as it looks, dried out though. Debris of grand buildings and houses cover the landscape, the place looks devastated in the lousy daylight. It's hot though, the sun seems to be showcasing its mystical wrath.

There is a guy crying in front of him, a girl lies dead in his arms. Spills of blood which start from her mouth have spoiled her dark grey sweatshirt. Zenith cautiously walks to him; the guy is wearing an orange mask with tons of holes on it. The guy's eyes widen and from under the mask, he asks, "how are you still surviving?". Zenith turns to him, he is tense and unaccommodated to his surrounding, he walks to the guy and crouches down. The guy starts panicking. However, they never really get the time to engage, Zenith's eyes turn somber and his face is covered under a strong cloud of suspense and gloominess. From the mask holes, he can see blood spilling out of the guy's mouth. He has never seen anyone die like that. The man falls to the ground, the thud is real and the ground concrete. Zenith himself is sweated, maybe he will suffer a heat stroke soon enough as well. But the heat is not helping him melt down, he is stating in that crouching position with the same expression. Stoic as he was, the sweat is shredding tears out of his skin and he knows it's time to run away from the drastic weather. He looks around and sees broken houses, but he doesn't want to observe any of it, so he starts running away from this gloomy place. Running in panic, the lights shining and the scenario around him is back to that of the flashing lights

His head is spinning, the sweat has covered his eyes, he comes to a halt with frustration. It wasn't even a second that he started running that the sweaty eyes disrupted and ovened body of his had both barged in, making him come to a halt. Now that he is stationed, the flashing lights disappear yet again. In front of him is something like he has never witnessed; the death of two souls. How could he handle the pressure? He isn't well acquainted with the concept of death though he accepts it with open arms, but for now. The former gruesome view looks bizarre, it's mental images making Zenith paranoid.

On coming back to his senses, Zenith sees the massive view in front of him. In front of him is a desert, though ironically you can no longer consider this habitat a deserted land, the heat is severe but still a match for what Zenith previously experienced. There is a crowd of animals covering the entire land in front of him. All lying on the ground together as if gathered by someone. Standing on the biggest cliff at a somewhat distance from the dunes bordering the sanded land is a guy in a suit. Grim as the clouded weather looks, it is surely not the reason of this guy's sobbing. He is constantly moving his fingers in hopes of a miracle but nothing happens. Another scenario Zenith can't bear, he just cannot. He just cannot.... So, he starts running again, but the tear felt man in the suit notices the flashing lights caused by his disappearance. Zenith himself can realise he had been noticed, but without giving a care, he continues moving forward.

"And then came what should have not come, rather than walking to the future to see who that daughter is going to be, or to see the past 500 years back, Zenith saw something that molded his future."

Cook on the other side is hallucinating, she can see vague glimpses of what all Zenith is experiencing but she cannot tell what is happening. She is moving a pen in the air as if she is an orchestra conductor. Whilst Zenith experienced two traumatized men, Cook had been busy in such a way: she sees Zenith getting all dizzy and losing his grip. She tussles Zenith and then tries to drag his body out of the shoes. After succeeding in doing so, she waits there for a minute and then pulls the kid back up and places his feet over the shoes. Suddenly, he starts running again. But then stops again, his body starts shaking, his eyes gone numb and white like a ghost's. Cook rattles him and attempts to get him out of the shoes before running to retrieve a crowbar she had with her in the cave. She uses it to beat the snot out of the treadmill and insert a couple wooden sticks into the space left by splitting the display board in two. She picks up a small duster off the ground and places it on the jogging belt. The electric sparks eventually stop. Then she pulls out a small vacuum cleaner and begins sucking up the debris on her behalf. By that point, she has done something with Zenith's shoes, while Zenith remains as still as a statue on the belt. Ultimately, latent as he seems, Zenith plummets to the ground.