"Echoes of Survival: A Tale of Transformation and Loss"
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The fluorescent lights hummed with an omnipresent buzz as young Ben and his mother, Emma, sifted through the aisles, grabbing what was left of the dwindling supplies. The year was 2020, and the world had fallen into chaos with a deadly zombie pandemic. Seven-year-old Ben wore a red hoodie with cartoon dinosaurs, blue jeans, and scuffed-up sneakers. His messy brown hair stuck out in all directions, having inherited his mom's stubborn curls.
Emma, a 33-year-old woman standing at 5'6" and weighing around 160 pounds, with soft brown waves cascading down to her shoulders and rich hazel eyes, fumbled nervously with the shopping cart. Her birthday, October 5, 1987, passed by almost unnoticed in the whirlwind of the apocalypse. She was practical, wearing sturdy boots and simple jeans, her shoe size an unremarkable 8.
"They're running out of supplies fast, Ben," she muttered, adjusting her white scarf against the autumn chill that had managed to seep even into the grocery store. As they grabbed cans of beans and bottled water, a sudden noise echoed through the aisles. The unmistakable groans and shuffles of zombies started to infiltrate the store.
"Mom, they're here!" Ben's voice trembled. Emma’s heart raced, and she grabbed Ben's hand.
"Run, Ben! Stick close to me!" she urged.
They sprinted down the aisles, swerving the cart around obstacles. As they neared the exit, suddenly, a woman appeared. She was petite, probably around 5’3” and weighing roughly 110 pounds, with jet black hair styled into a sleek bob that framed her almond-shaped eyes. Her name was Mi Jin, and she had recently turned 42, having been born on March 15, 1978. Mi Jin hailed from Busan, South Korea but had settled in Los Angeles ten years ago. Mi Jin wore a crisp, white blouse with ruffles cascading down the front and a knee-length skirt that swayed slightly as she moved. Her platform sandals gave her an additional three inches in height, and they were mahogany brown with intricate straps looping around her small feet, shoe size 5. Her nails were elegantly painted in pastel blue, and she wore six pieces of delicate jewelry: a jade bracelet, silver hoop earrings, an intricately carved hairpin, a chain necklace with a small pendant, a gold ring on her right forefinger, and a set of traditional Korean bangle bangles.
"Ah, jinsang-i," Mi Jin murmured to herself, noticing Ben in distress. She bent down, speaking softly in Korean and reaching out to grab him. Ben wriggled, trying to evade her grip, but the world spun, and everything went black.
When Ben opened his eyes, he felt different. Taller. His clothes felt strange, rubbing against his skin in unfamiliar ways. The red hoodie and jeans were gone, replaced by the white blouse and knee-length skirt. His sneakers had transformed into platform sandals. His nails were pastel blue, and his hands were more delicate than he remembered. Confusion gave way to panic as he looked around, not seeing his mother anywhere.
"Mommy!" he cried, yet it came out in a broken, unfamiliar accent. "Mommy! W-wh-where y-you?"
He tried to run, but the platform sandals made it nearly impossible. He stumbled over and over, tripping on the unfamiliar footwear. Each step was laborious and awkward, but he finally put some distance between himself and the zombies. Finding a reflective store window, he stared at the new face gaping back at him. His small hands traced his now almond-shaped eyes, trying to open them wider, but they would not change. The eyes belonged to this new visage and looked nothing like his mother's.
"I—I want go home. I want mommy," he pleaded, tears filling his eyes as the alien voice echoed back at him. He missed the familiar weight of his own hair and found himself playing absent-mindedly with the short strands now adorning his head.
Ben tugged at the blouse, pulling it over his head, but it wouldn't come off. He tried unbuttoning it, even tore at the fabric, but to no avail. The same fate awaited him with the skirt, no matter how he tried to pull it down or slip it off. The platform sandals proved equally stubborn; he yanked at the straps, tried to wiggle his feet free, even smashed his new heels against the ground, hoping to break them.
Desperate, he turned to the jewelry. The jade bracelet clung to his wrist, unyielding to his fingernail's prying. The hairpin that he tried to dislodge didn't budge, as if it were fused to his skull. The delicate chain necklace seemed welded around his neck, and no matter how he clawed at the gold ring or the silver hoop earrings, they refused to come off. Even the bangle bracelets jingled mockingly, sticking fast to his new wrists.
"I'm scured!" he cried out, squeezing his eyes shut, trembling with fear.
Moments later, Mi Jin's four friends, Jin Ae, Kyung Mi, Soo Min, and Hae Won, found him. Jin Ae, a 36-year-old woman standing at 5'4" and weighing 120 pounds, wore a chic green blouse paired with a high-waisted black skirt and elegant black heels with a little gold buckle, in size 6. Kyung Mi, aged 38, was a bit taller at 5'6" and approximately 130 pounds, donning a floral dress with wedge sandals, her nails painted in a coral hue, size 7. Soo Min, the youngest at 35, stood at 5'3" and weighing around 115 pounds, looking vibrant in a polka-dot blouse and navy pencil skirt, with platform heels similar to Mi Jin’s but in black, size 5. Hae Won was the eldest at 58, a slight 5'2" woman weighing roughly 100 pounds, her grey-streaked hair in a stylish bob, dressed in traditional hanbok-inspired attire with flats, size 4.
They noticed Ben as Mi Jin and pulled him along, commenting as they went.
"Why you wander off, Mi Jin! So dangerous!" Jin Ae scolded, her accent thick.
"Ah Mi Jin, you know better at your age," Hae Won added, shaking her head. "Jeongmal, kids these days."
Ben, confused and unable to understand, was led out into the parking lot with the women. His heart sank as he saw it swarming with zombies, an overwhelming sense of terror gripping his very core.
Locked in this strange, delicate body, surrounded by strangers, and amidst a merciless apocalypse, Ben’s heart cried out silently for his mother, the life he knew now feeling like a fleeting, distant memory.
This story was generated by user manemansteve with assistance by one of OpenAI’s large-scale language-generation model; prompts used to help generate the story are shown below.
Images were generated with OpenAI's AI system, DALL·E 2, or uploaded by the user.
AI Prompts
Prompt: A long and thorough and detailed story taking place in the year 2020 starring 7 year old Ben with a description of what he's wearing and his race being white and have him be shopping with his mom in the middle of a zombie pandemic. Include his mom's name, age, height, weight, birthday, birth year, hair color and style and eye color, and her shoe size mentioned. Have them be wearily grabbing food and supplies putting it in the cart when zombies started pouring in to the grocery store. Have his mom start running with him following close behind. Have a woman appear wearing a blouse and a knee length skirt with a description of the blouse and knee length skirt and a pair of platform sandals with a description of the platform sandals with her nails painted but not red and include what color they are and a total of 6 pieces of feminine jewelry she was wearing with some of them being Korean in culture. Include the woman's name, age, height, weight, birthday, birth year being 15-20 years before his mom, being Korean and from what part of the US or being from South Korea, hair color and style being a short Korean woman style and eye color and her shoe size mentioned being much smaller than his moms and include a reason for why she was at the store and where she came from and why. Have her be with 4 other Korean women and include their names, ages, heights, weights, birthdays, birth years all being included in the story, being Korean and from what parts of the US or being from South Korea, hair colors and styles being short Korean woman styles, and eye colors and have one of the 5 women be much older than the other 4 and include a description of what the other Korean women are wearing outfits, accessories and shoes included all being heels or platforms of some kind with detailed descriptions and their shoe sizes included and have them all have their nails painted. Have her notice the boy saying something to him in Korean and reaching out to grab him and have him try to avoid her still being grabbed by the woman getting dizzy and have his vision go black. Have him open his eyes realizing he's taller and feels different with his the blouse and knee length skirt he was now wearing and his different skin tone and the platform sandals and his polished nails and have him look for his mommy worriedly realizing she's now gone. Have him yell for mommy and have it be in quoted text unwillingly in broken English spelling words wrong and show the quote the way he wanted to say it versus how he said it. Have him try to run stumbling over the platform sandals he was now wearing and have the woman's outfit be very uncomfortable and have him trip over something hearing his female voice and have him gag at how girly it all was and have him squeeze his eyes shut. Have him do everything to pace himself trying to run away from the zombies and and have the platform sandals be hard to run in and have him consistently trip over the platform sandals eventually getting far enough away from the zombies. Have him innocently study his new reflection tracing his almond shaped eyes with his new hands and have him try to change his eyes back to the normal wide eyes noticing they look nothing like his mother's but give up on trying being specific as to what he did. Have him say i want to go home i want mommy and have it be in quoted text unwillingly speaking in broken English and saying some words wrong and show the quoted text the way he said versus how he wanted to say it. Have him start crying at the sound of his voice. Have him play with his short female hair and what he did with it noticing his polished nails on his female hands as he played with it but being unable to change it back to his boyish hair. Have him try to remove the blouse and skirt in different ways being unsuccessful and including each of the ways in the story with a detailed description. Have him try to remove the platform sandals being unable to trying in 5 different ways and including each of the 5 ways in the story but the platform sandals aren't glued to her feet they just won't come off. Have him try to remove the first piece of the woman's jewelry being detailed and specific but being unable to remove it and why. Have him try to remove the second piece of the woman's jewelry being detailed and specific but being unable to remove it and why. Have him try to remove the third piece of the woman's jewelry being detailed and specific but being unable to remove it and why. Have him try to remove the fourth piece of the woman's jewelry being detailed and specific but being unable to remove it and why. Have him try to remove the fifth piece of the woman's jewelry being detailed and specific but being unable to remove it and why. Have him try to remove the sixth piece of the woman's jewelry being detailed and specific but being unable to remove it and why. Have him try to say I'm scared and have it be in quoted text unwillingly speaking in broken English spelling words wrong and show the quote the way he said versus how he wanted to say it and have him squeeze his eyes shut in fear. Have the woman's 4 other friends find her and grab her by the hands guiding her somewhere. Have one of the other woman criticize her for wandering off and have it be in quoted text in broken English and spell the words wrong in the quoted text. Have one of the other friends criticize her reminding her her age and have it be in quoted text in broken English spelling certain words wrong and have her end her quote with a Korean saying. Have the boy in the woman's body hear the Korean saying unable to understand it at all. Have him struggle to run out in the platform sandals as the women and him made it out to the parking lot and have the parking lot be empty but full of zombies. Have him be terrified.
Response: The fluorescent lights hummed with an omnipresent buzz as young Ben and his mother, Emma, sifted through the aisles, grabbing what was left of the dwindling supplies. The year was 2020, and the world had fallen into chaos with a deadly zombie pandemic. Seven-year-old Ben wore a red hoodie with cartoon dinosaurs, blue jeans, and scuffed-up sneakers. His messy brown hair stuck out in all directions, having inherited his mom's stubborn curls. Emma, a 33-year-old woman standing at 5'6" and weighing around 160 pounds, with soft brown waves cascading down to her shoulders and rich hazel eyes, fumbled nervously with the shopping cart. Her birthday, October 5, 1987, passed by almost unnoticed in the whirlwind of the apocalypse. She was practical, wearing sturdy boots and simple jeans, her shoe size an unremarkable 8. "They're running out of supplies fast, Ben," she muttered, adjusting her white scarf against the autumn chill that had managed to seep even into the grocery store. As they grabbed cans of beans and bottled water, a sudden noise echoed through the aisles. The unmistakable groans and shuffles of zombies started to infiltrate the store. "Mom, they're here!" Ben's voice trembled. Emma’s heart raced, and she grabbed Ben's hand. "Run, Ben! Stick close to me!" she urged. They sprinted down the aisles, swerving the cart around obstacles. As they neared the exit, suddenly, a woman appeared. She was petite, probably around 5’3” and weighing roughly 110 pounds, with jet black hair styled into a sleek bob that framed her almond-shaped eyes. Her name was Mi Jin, and she had recently turned 42, having been born on March 15, 1978. Mi Jin hailed from Busan, South Korea but had settled in Los Angeles ten years ago. Mi Jin wore a crisp, white blouse with ruffles cascading down the front and a knee-length skirt that swayed slightly as she moved. Her platform sandals gave her an additional three inches in height, and they were mahogany brown with intricate straps looping around her small feet, shoe size 5. Her nails were elegantly painted in pastel blue, and she wore six pieces of delicate jewelry: a jade bracelet, silver hoop earrings, an intricately carved hairpin, a chain necklace with a small pendant, a gold ring on her right forefinger, and a set of traditional Korean bangle bangles. "Ah, jinsang-i," Mi Jin murmured to herself, noticing Ben in distress. She bent down, speaking softly in Korean and reaching out to grab him. Ben wriggled, trying to evade her grip, but the world spun, and everything went black. When Ben opened his eyes, he felt different. Taller. His clothes felt strange, rubbing against his skin in unfamiliar ways. The red hoodie and jeans were gone, replaced by the white blouse and knee-length skirt. His sneakers had transformed into platform sandals. His nails were pastel blue, and his hands were more delicate than he remembered. Confusion gave way to panic as he looked around, not seeing his mother anywhere. "Mommy!" he cried, yet it came out in a broken, unfamiliar accent. "Mommy! W-wh-where y-you?" He tried to run, but the platform sandals made it nearly impossible. He stumbled over and over, tripping on the unfamiliar footwear. Each step was laborious and awkward, but he finally put some distance between himself and the zombies. Finding a reflective store window, he stared at the new face gaping back at him. His small hands traced his now almond-shaped eyes, trying to open them wider, but they would not change. The eyes belonged to this new visage and looked nothing like his mother's. "I—I want go home. I want mommy," he pleaded, tears filling his eyes as the alien voice echoed back at him. He missed the familiar weight of his own hair and found himself playing absent-mindedly with the short strands now adorning his head. Ben tugged at the blouse, pulling it over his head, but it wouldn't come off. He tried unbuttoning it, even tore at the fabric, but to no avail. The same fate awaited him with the skirt, no matter how he tried to pull it down or slip it off. The platform sandals proved equally stubborn; he yanked at the straps, tried to wiggle his feet free, even smashed his new heels against the ground, hoping to break them. Desperate, he turned to the jewelry. The jade bracelet clung to his wrist, unyielding to his fingernail's prying. The hairpin that he tried to dislodge didn't budge, as if it were fused to his skull. The delicate chain necklace seemed welded around his neck, and no matter how he clawed at the gold ring or the silver hoop earrings, they refused to come off. Even the bangle bracelets jingled mockingly, sticking fast to his new wrists. "I'm scured!" he cried out, squeezing his eyes shut, trembling with fear. Moments later, Mi Jin's four friends, Jin Ae, Kyung Mi, Soo Min, and Hae Won, found him. Jin Ae, a 36-year-old woman standing at 5'4" and weighing 120 pounds, wore a chic green blouse paired with a high-waisted black skirt and elegant black heels with a little gold buckle, in size 6. Kyung Mi, aged 38, was a bit taller at 5'6" and approximately 130 pounds, donning a floral dress with wedge sandals, her nails painted in a coral hue, size 7. Soo Min, the youngest at 35, stood at 5'3" and weighing around 115 pounds, looking vibrant in a polka-dot blouse and navy pencil skirt, with platform heels similar to Mi Jin’s but in black, size 5. Hae Won was the eldest at 58, a slight 5'2" woman weighing roughly 100 pounds, her grey-streaked hair in a stylish bob, dressed in traditional hanbok-inspired attire with flats, size 4. They noticed Ben as Mi Jin and pulled him along, commenting as they went. "Why you wander off, Mi Jin! So dangerous!" Jin Ae scolded, her accent thick. "Ah Mi Jin, you know better at your age," Hae Won added, shaking her head. "Jeongmal, kids these days." Ben, confused and unable to understand, was led out into the parking lot with the women. His heart sank as he saw it swarming with zombies, an overwhelming sense of terror gripping his very core. Locked in this strange, delicate body, surrounded by strangers, and amidst a merciless apocalypse, Ben’s heart cried out silently for his mother, the life he knew now feeling like a fleeting, distant memory.
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