As I've promised you guys, I've been thinking about how I wanted to rework my story and redo The 8th Day and reboot it. After quite a bit of internal contemplation, I've decided that I don't want to simply redo the same story with nothing more than a simple point of view change -- I want to redo the concept completely and start over from scratch and try and get it right the second time around. Keeping the same characters, repeating the same events, following the exact same plot line -- I feel like this would end up leading me to the exact same problems that I'd ran into the first time around. The only change is we'd get to those same problems simply by reading them in different/multiple perspectives...

So, instead of doing a reboot of The 8th Day by simply going from 1st person to 3rd person, I've decided to set a different transmission in my car and shift gears completely. Instead of redoing the previous story once again, I've decided to go with something a little different, which should (hopefully) work better in the long run...

The 8th Day Rebooted is going to be an upcoming story which I'm going to be calling "Game On" instead. And for those of you who might be interested in the Reboot/Revision of my take on a modern day apocalypse, here's the first few chapters as a sneak peak to whit your interest.

Chapter 0: UGT Countdown?

“Come on class, everyone settle down please. The bell’s already rang.”

Once again, it was the same hectic scene as usual for a Monday morning in Mrs. Patterson’s homeroom class. The bell had rung, students had ignored it – too bust gossiping and talking about all the things they’d did over the weekend – and all the poor teach could do was sigh and repeat what she felt was becoming an endless mantra for her.

“Come on class, everyone settle down please. The bell’s already rang,” she repeated once again, once again to no avail. “Jason. Jason. Jaaaaasoooon…” Repeated calling of student’s names was simply ignored, as her petite voice simply wouldn’t carry over the overall din the students were making. Taking a deep breath, Mrs. Patterson finally picked up one of the text books sitting on her desk, before standing up and walking over a nearby desk. BAM!! With all her might she slammed down the book onto the top of the desk.

“HOLY SHIT!!” Startled, Jason tried to jump back from the suddenly unexpected loud noise right on top of him, but he was tangled with his feet around the legs of his desk and flipped over backwards scattering his papers, pens, and notebooks all around. KA-CLANG!! The sound of the desk hitting the floor echoed throughout the classroom and silence suddenly descended over everyone.

“Jason, sweetie, are you here today,” Mrs. Patterson asked all innocently.

“Umm… I think so,” Jason replied, as he slowly eased up and looked around at everyone who was still staring in his direction.

“And are you alive, dear?” Mrs. Patterson asked, sounding completely serious and not cracking a smile at all – not even when the first light snickers started to whisper around the room.

“I’m fine. I’m fine.” Brushing himself off, Jason slowly uprighted his desk and sat back down in it, blushing slightly at being the center of everyone’s attention.

“Well that’s good,” Mrs. Patterson told him, lightly ruffling her hands through his hair, before pushing her glasses back up on her nose fully. “When you get a chance, be a dear and pick up my book and put it back on my desk, won’t you?”

“Sure. Sure. Whatever.” Sighing, Jason bent back down and started to pick up the textbook and all his scattered supplies.

“Sue, you here?” Smiling slightly, Mrs. Patterson went back to calling attendance for the rest of her class.

******************************

“Okay all, now that we’ve got that out the way,” Mrs. Patterson told her class after finishing attendance, “I have an important announcement for all of you. Several of you might remember Matthew Barnett from class last year, and how he had a few troubles and was pulled from school – he’s going to be coming back and attending classes with all of us once again…”

“Aww… man! Does he have to? He’d damn crazy!” One of the students in the back of the class called out, interrupting, while several others began to mutter and complain quietly amongst themselves.

“Yes,” Mrs. Patterson sighed deeply to herself and then held up a hand to try and quiet everyone once again. “Yes,” she repeated, “the young gentleman is going to be attending classes again with everyone once again. His doctors have assured the school that his previous issues were all due to a hormonal imbalance and that now that he’s on the proper medication there shouldn’t be any more problems.”

“He thought he was talking to God. Or for God. Or something like that,” Jason muttered, causing several people around him to snicker loudly.

“That was all because of his medical issues,” Mrs. Patterson tried to explain patiently. “You can’t blame someone for being sick, and all of you should be thankful for your own good health and good fortunes!” Stomping her foot slightly, she was starting to turn slightly red with frustration. “Any of you can get sick, injured, or hurt at any time – remember getting your leg dislocated during that football game last season Jason, and feeling completely worthless? You weren’t, and Matthew isn’t either. He was simply sick before, and he’s not now.

“Understand?” Glaring back and forth at each of her students in turn, Mrs. Patterson held each of their gazes to make certain they saw how serious she was being. Once the classroom had settled back down, she finally nodded to herself and pushed her glasses back up fully onto her nose.

“Well, I’m glad we’ve got that out of the way,” she muttered moodily to herself. “Someone go over and open the door and let the young gentleman know that he’s welcome to join us. I want all of you on your best behavior, and to make him feel welcome.

“Or else,” she warned, tapping the tips of her fingers across her desk a few times for emphasis. Silence was her only answer from her students, as the girl closest to the door slowly stood up, opened it, and peeked outside, before asking, “Matthew? Mrs. P says you can come in with us now.”

“Thanks for nothing.” A tall lanky young man pushed past the girl at the door and slowly strode into the room. Long black hair stuck haphazardly in all directions across his head, making it appear that he hadn’t brushed it at all this morning since waking up – or maybe not even for several days now. “I’m Matthew,” he said, pulling his hands out of the front pockets of his pants and slowly holding them out, palms-up, in front of him. “They say I used to be bat-shit crazy, but I’m not anymore. I’ll try not to rape, murder, and pillage too many of you this year, so try not to worry ‘bout it. ‘Kay?”

Half chuckling, a crooked smile twitched up at the corners of his mouth as the stared eerily at the rest of the class. “No need to tell me your names. We won’t be friends. We won’t get to know each other. There’s nothing I can do for you, and nothing you can do for me.” Staring forward, Matthew’s eyes seemed to be focused on some strange point off to his left, looking at something that no one else could see.

“There’s twenty-seven minutes, thirteen seconds left before it’s midnight in UGT and then it’s Game On,” he muttered cryptically, while never blinking as his eyes stared off into space.

“UGT?” The girl standing at the door asked, as she nervously rubbed the wrinkled down and out of her dress, before sitting back down in her seat.

“Universal God Time,” Matthew answered, sounding oddly serious.

“Universal God Time?” Jason chuckled, and then drew back his hand and tossed the eraser off his desk up at the front of the room. “This freaks just as bat shit crazy as he ever was! We don’t want him in here!” A low murmur of whispering agreement slowly echoed from around the room.

“Now, now, everyone!” Half shouting to get their attention once more, Mrs. Patterson slowly walked across the room to cover the distance to where Matthew was standing. Gently, she held the back of her hand up to his head, to check his temperature. “Matthew, did you take your medication properly this morning?”, she asked gently.

“I… I don’t know.” Frowning, Matthew slowly shook his head from side to side, as if to clear it. “It was a busy morning. I may have forgot to.”

“Well that’s okay, sweetie.” Laughing lightly, Mrs. Patterson slowly pushed the glasses back up on her nose, and then lightly ruffled his hair. Turning to the girl sitting near the door, she asked, “Rebecca, would you mind escorting Matthew down to the nurse’s office? I’m certain he’ll get to feeling more like himself, once he’s had his medicine this morning.”

“Umm..” Glancing back and forth, Rebecca looked like she wanted to anywhere but where she currently was. After an awkward moment of hesitation, she finally stood up and nodded slightly. “Sure Mrs. P. If you think it’ll be fine, I’ll do that.”

“I’m certain you’ll be fine,” Mrs. Patterson said, smiling lightly. “Matthew’s never hurt anyone. You don’t have to worry about him. Just keep him from wandering off and getting lost. He hasn’t been here in school for a while, and he might not remember where the nurse’s office is.”

“Hell, I’m not even certain I know where the nurse’s office is,” Jason muttered moodily. “Do we even have one?”

“Yeah,” Matthew muttered, “it’s the door down on the first floor, between the restrooms and the detention rooms.” Turning, he slowly started to walk on out of the room. “I know the way. I don’t need an escort.” Half sulking, he slammed the door as he left.

“He might not need an escort,” Mrs. Patterson chuckled lightly, “but he’s going to need a hall pass. Rebecca, grab the one at the blackboard and hurry up and catch up with him before he gets in trouble.”

“Yes Ma’am!” Hurrying to the blackboard, Rebecca grabbed the small rectangular wooden block that hung there on a string. Reading simply “314”, and having a single key on it which could open the restroom doors on this hall, it was what was used by students as the normal hall pass. Hurrying, she rushed over and out the door, calling out “Wait! Hold up a moment, I’m coming.”, before shutting the door and rushing down the hall.

Almost the second the door shut again, the room broke out in talking, questions and disarray once more. Sighing deeply, Mrs. Patterson pushed her glassed back up on her nose once again and then walked over to sit at her desk and sip on her coffee. She couldn’t help but think that she really didn’t get paid enough to deal with all this.

Chapter 1: Finding An Apprentice

“Nice tits.”

“Wha… what?” Rebecca blinked a few times, uncertain about – and perhaps not wanting to believe – what she’d just heard as soon as she caught up to Matthew.

“Nice tits,” he repeated, as he stopped walking to turn and stare directly at her chest. “They’re nice and round. Bounce nicely when you run. Seem to fill that shirt of yours up nicely. Will you show them to me?”

Blushing, Rebecca slowly crossed her arms in front of her chest. “I don’t think so,” she answered, in a coldly shocked way.

“Even if I were to save your life?” Matthew pressed. “Would you show them to me then?”

“I… I don’t know. I doubt it.” Glancing nervously up and down the hall, Rebecca had to assure herself that she was safe. Mrs. Patterson wouldn’t have asked her to escort him if he was really dangerous – she wasn’t that type of teacher. All that talk about murder, rape, and death was just talk. Right?

Shrugging, Matthew started back down the hall to the steps leading downstairs. Hesitantly, Rebecca glanced back and forth down the hallway once again, before she finally followed after, keeping several steps between both of them.

At the small landing halfway down the steps, Matthew suddenly stopped and turned to face her again. Reaching out a hand, he gently took hold of hers and tugged Rebecca out to the center of the landing. “Stay still for a moment,” he ordered.

“Wha… what?” Trying to swallow down the lump that was forming in the back of her throat, Rebecca felt her lips going dry as Matthew slowly made a circle around her and looked her up and down.

“Nice curve to your ass. It seems cushiony enough,” Matthew muttered to himself. “Not too much fat on your bones. Do you play sports,” he asked suddenly.

“No.. not really.” Never in all her life had Rebecca felt so objectified. It was almost as if she was nothing more than a piece of meat sitting in a butcher’s shop, waiting inspection. Part of her felt like beating Matthew half to death with the hall pass; part of her felt like screaming and running for the police.

“Is your hair naturally blond,” Matthew asked, as he reached out a hand to tug one of the long stands up to feel. Jerking back, Rebecca smacked his arm away. “It’s real, jackass! Just what’s your problem, anyway?”

“Time. Time is the problem,” Matthew answered slowly, as he eased back and sat down at the bottom of the steps going back up from the landing to the third floor. “There’s only twenty-two minutes and six seconds now before Game On,” he muttered, sounding disappointed. “I was hoping to have more time so I could find her first, but I didn’t see her this morning. I don’t know where she’s at.”

“She? She who?” Rebecca asked, sounding confused, while happy for the distance back between them once again. Looking down at herself, she tried to imagine what Matthew might have saw while staring at her like he had been. Young, at only sixteen, Rebecca was already a fully grown woman. She was one of the first in her class to have her period, and one of the first to have her breasts grow out. Several of the other girls laughed and joked about how large her chest had grown – her bra was a D-cup now – but it was one of those areas she was always self-conscious about. Her hips seemed a little too round, too flabby for her liking, and in her mind she was at least ten pounds too fat.

Shaking her head slowly, Rebecca slowly chewed on the bottom of her lip as she tried to access herself. There wasn’t anything special about the clothes she’d worn today to catch his attention – her top was a simple blue button up shirt and he skirt was colored in a rainbow swirl pattern, and hung loosely almost down to her ankles. Her shoes were a plain pair of white tennis shoes, and her hung was pulled back into a simple ponytail, and its golden strands hung loosely halfway down her back. She really couldn’t see any reason why Matthew might have taken such an interest in her so quickly.

“So do you? Dammit! Do you!” Matthew suddenly raising his voice several levels suddenly made her ficus her attention back to him. “Do… Do I what?” Rebecca stammered, and blushed slightly at how much she’d distracted herself. She’d never been in any situation similar to what she was in now before, and her mind was having trouble staying focused and knowing what to deal with first.

“Do you know where she’s at?” Matthew asked again, sounding exasperated.

“Who?”, Rebecca asked quietly, feeling once again like a mouse again caught under the unwavering glare of a hungry hawk.

“Kristy,” Matthew repeated slowly. “Kristy Turman. She’s a year behind us in school, I think. Do you know her? Long, black hair. Nice perky tits. She’s a cheerleader,” Matthew explained.

“I know her,” Rebecca reassured him, frowning slightly. “Well, I know of her. She’s the junior class president.”

“That’s her,” Matthew nodded. “Do you know which class she’s in this morning? We only have a little over nineteen minutes now.”

“I’m… I’m not sure,” Rebecca answered, getting a little unnerved by the intense gaze Matthew had focused on her once again. “I think I’ve seen her down around the gym early in the morning. She might have P.E. for her first class of the day.”

“Dammit!” Slamming his fist into the wall beside him, Matthew paced back and forth a few times and then grabbed Rebecca by the shoulders. “Solo play sucks,” he told her, staring intently into her eyes, “and if she’s in gym, she could be anywhere by now – on the field, out at the tennis courts, in the gym.” Shaking his head from side to side, Matthew looked almost as if he had tears in the corner of his eyes. “I’ve always liked her. I wanted to save her, but there’s just not enough time now. We need to get somewhere where we can be safe for a while. It’s going to be hell in another seventeen minutes!”

Stomping over in front of her, Matthew put a hand on either side of Rebecca’s face and stared directly into her eyes. “Tell me now,” he demanded, “if I save you, will be become my mentee?”

Rebecca asked, “Mentee?”, completely confused. “What’s a mentee?”

“Dammit!” Stomping back over, Matthew slammed his fist back against the wall once again. “There’s no time to explain. We have fifteen minutes to get somewhere to ride out the wave and this isn’t the spot for that.” Taking a deep breath, he slowly ran his hand through his hair. “Let’s keep it as simple as possible for now,” he said, slowly. “If there was a zombie virus, like we see all the time on TV now, and someone could save you and teach you how to survive, would you follow them?”

“Well… Yeah, someone would have to be a fool not to,” Rebecca answered, while staring at Matthew and slightly chewing on her bottom lip.

“Would you listen to them and do what they said,” Matthew asked once again, staring directly into her eyes.

“I… I guess.” Blinking a few times, Rebecca tried to keep her voice steady and her nerves under control. She didn’t like the intensity that Matthew was glaring at her with, but at the same time she didn’t want to be ‘that idiot girl who cried wolf when the idiot boy forgot to take his medicine’. “If there was a zombie virus, and someone could save me and teach me how to live through it, I’d listen to that person and do what they wanted. I don’t want to end up dead, eaten, or turned into a zombie, any more than anyone else would, I don’t think. If someone could keep me alive and safe, I’d definitely listen to them and do what I needed to, to live.”

“Fine then.” Shoving his hand deep into his jacket pocket, Matthew suddenly pulled out half a pair of scissors. Moving forward with a dash, he grabbed Rebecca by the arm and then stabbed the blade towards her face to stop inches from her eye. “I’m going to save you,” he assured her menacingly, “whether you want me to or not. There’s simply no more time left.

“If you scream,” Matthew assured her, “I’ll gouge out your eyes, leave you blind on the floor, and let you suffer whatever damnation will come your way in the next few minutes. Do you understand?”

“I… I understand…” Rebecca couldn’t quit staring at the scissor blade hovering inches in front of her face. Mrs. P was wrong! Matthew was completely off his rocker and was bat-shit crazy. If she wasn’t careful and lucky, Rebecca just knew she was going to end up blinded or maimed for life. “I.. I won’t scream,” she assured him, as she tried to tell herself that it wouldn’t be but a few more minutes before Mrs. P realized she was taking longer than expected and then send someone to come check on the two of them. Rebecca assured herself that she just had to endure for a few minutes more and try and not get herself hurt, and then someone would find her and save her.

“Good,” Matthew muttered, as he tugged her forward and started back up the stairs. “Walk calmly and slowly down the hallway and unlock the bathroom. It’s not my first choice on where I want to be when the wave hits, but it’ll have to do. At least we can lock that door behind us, and that’s got to be worth something. If you try to run, scream, or do anything funny, I’ll gut you like a fish,” he assured her.

“I’m not going to run, scream, or do anything funny,” Rebecca assured him, swallowing down the dry lump that was forming in the back of her throat as she allowed herself to slowly be led back up and stairs and down the hall past her classroom.

“Ten minutes left,” Matthew muttered softly to himself. “Only ten damn minutes left. Why the hell wouldn’t anyone have believed me?”

Too scared to answer, Rebecca simply focused on placing one foot in front of another as she continued to head down and hall and to the bathrooms.

And our story will continue from here, though I'll probably end up submitting it as its own work so that it can truly be a fresh start and a break from some of the expressive stupidity and negativity which seemed to weigh so heavily over The 8th Day sometimes. Writing for 'Game On' is now underway when I find the free time and motivation (I'm simply enjoying the warm summer days too much to sit at home and write like I was before), and I'll post a link up to the new story page once I get it all set up and going like I want.

There's no release schedule for this, for now, as I'm mainly just writing as the rains and bad days come and enjoying my time out in the sun and nature otherwise, but once Autumn gets here and the temperatures begin to cool and the days get gloomier once again, 'Game On' will be entering into my regular release rotation with my other works. :)