"Transcendence Among Shadows: A Zombie Apocalypse Tale"
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In the year 2020, the world as we knew it had turned into a living nightmare. The global pandemic that had everyone hiding behind masks had given way to something far more sinister: a zombie apocalypse. It was a grim day filled with overcast skies, casting eerie shadows over the desolate streets. Today, seven-year-old Ben and his mother were navigating this treacherous new world.
Ben, a wide-eyed child with a mop of curly blonde hair and freckles dotting his cheeks, wore a bright red hoodie that was just a tad too big for him, letting the sleeves flop over his hands. He had on his favorite blue jeans, slightly worn out from various adventures, and his trusty pair of light-up sneakers that flashed green with every step. His innocent eyes peered from under his hoodie, untainted by the darkness of the world around him.
Beside him was his mother, Emma, a brave and resilient woman of 32 years. Emma stood at a height of 5'7", with an athletic build accentuated by her years of running and yoga. Today, she wore a practical ensemble: cargo pants with multiple pockets stuffed with essential supplies and a sturdy, dark green jacket zipped up against the chill. Her chestnut-brown hair, which she usually wore in a ponytail, was messily tucked under a baseball cap, wisps escaping around her ears. Her bright blue eyes constantly scanned their surroundings for any signs of danger, reflecting both her resolute determination and the perpetual anxiety she had to conceal for Ben's sake. Emma had a size 7 in shoes, with her birthday falling on April 3, 1988.
As they maneuvered through the aisles of the eerily empty grocery store, a cart rattled ahead of them, filled with canned goods, water bottles, and other sparse items. Emma was stuffing more supplies into it when Ben, ever curious, looked down at her feet.
"Mommy, why yer feets so small fer a growwn up?" Ben asked in his innocent, slightly misarticulated voice. "Will my feets be that tiny when I grow up?"
Emma couldn’t help but laugh softly at his question, a rare moment of lightness amidst the gloom. “No, sweetie. Since you’re a boy and not a girl, your feet should grow very big. I bet you’ll wear a size 11 someday!”
Before Ben could ponder more on this future prospect, a feeling of dread washed over Emma. Zombies started pouring into the store, their guttural growls sending shivers down her spine. "Run, Ben! Follow me!" she shouted, grasping his hand and pulling him through the aisles.
As they ran, five Korean women appeared from around a corner, each more distinct than the last. They all wore blouses in pastel colors, soft against the harsh lights—one in lilac, another in mint, a third in peach, a fourth in sky blue, and the last in a delicate buttercup yellow. Their skirts, knee-length and matching the tone of their blouses, swayed as they moved. Each woman wore platform sandals or shoes, all distinct in color and design. One wore white platform sandals with floral patterns, another had black strappy platforms, the third adorned with silver glitter, the fourth with bold red ankle-strap platforms, and the last had baby blue sandals with intricate designs. Their toenails were painted in vibrant hues: crimson, lavender, emerald, cobalt, and fuchsia.
Among the women, there was Hye-Jin, 55 years old, much older than the rest. Then there were So-Young, Ji-Yeon, Mi-Cha, and Eun-Ji, all in their late 40s. Originating from South Korea, they had built a life in various parts of the U.S., working as salon stylists. While Hye-Jin was a Texas resident, the others hailed from California, New York, and Illinois. Collectively, their hair varied in short, stylish Korean cuts—fluffy pixie cuts, bobs, and lobs, all perfectly framing their delicate features. Their shoe sizes ranged from 5 to 6.5, significantly smaller than Emma's.
As Ben and Emma stumbled past, Mi-Cha, the woman with the silver glitter platforms, noticed Ben. She muttered something in Korean, reaching out to him. Despite his best effort to dodge her, Mi-Cha's grip was firm. Ben felt a dizzying sensation overwhelming him, his vision tunneling into darkness.
When consciousness returned, Ben felt different—taller, strangely encumbered. He looked down to find his red hoodie and jeans replaced by a buttercup yellow blouse and knee-length skirt. His skin was a different tone, and on his feet, he wore the baby blue sandals Mi-Cha had been wearing earlier. His nails were polished a shocking fuchsia.
Ben’s eyes widened in horror as he grasped what had happened. He was in Mi-Cha’s body! “Mommy? Mommy? Where awr yoo?” he yelled, his voice unwillingly breaking into broken English. "Mommy? Mommy? Where are you?"
The new platform sandals tripped him up as he tried to run, causing him to stumble and fall, his new female voice prominent in his cries. His reflection in the store's shiny surface revealed an unfamiliar face with almond-shaped eyes. He traced them with his new, polished nails, trying to change them back to his wide, innocent ones. "I want to go home. I want Mommy," Ben cried, again it came out distorted. "I wunt too go hom. I wunt Mommy."
Tears streamed down his cheeks as he played with his short hair, noticing the fuchsia nails catching the light. He attempted to remove the blouse and skirt but to no avail. Every method he tried—pulling, tugging, unbuttoning—failed. The outfit seemed determined to stay on his slender frame.
The platform sandals were no more cooperative. Ben tried five different ways—yanking, unbuckling, twisting his ankles out, pulling at the straps, and even trying to slip his feet out. But each attempt was futile.
With dread, Ben noticed his feet, now smaller than his mom's. “I’m gonna have girl feet and talk like da funny lady fuhr rest of life!” He wanted to say, "I'm going to have girl feet and talk like the funny lady for the rest of my life," but it sounded laughably broken as it left his lips.
Ben’s frustration grew as he tried in vain to remove the woman’s jewelry. Each piece—the necklace, bracelet, earrings, ring, anklet, and hairpin—seemed almost enchanted, refusing to budge regardless of how hard he tried.
“I’m scared,” he finally whispered through tears, his voice weak and broken. “I’m scawred!”
Suddenly, Hye-Jin and the other women found him, leading him by the hands. One scolded him in broken English, “Mi-Cha, why you run off? Stay close!” The platform sandals and parts of the outfit were adjusted tightly, making everything even more uncomfortable.
Eun-Ji added in broken English, “Mi-Cha, you not young! Stop act like baby. Aigoo.” To Ben, it was indecipherable and terrifying.
As the women dragged him to the parking lot, a wave of terror washed over him again seeing it teeming with zombies. He braced himself for a future full of fear and uncertainty in this new, and horrifying world.
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 Ben make a comment about his mom's feet being small for a grown up and have it be in quoted text asking if his feet were gonna be that tiny when he grew up in an innocent voice and spell words wrong showing what he wanted to say versus what he said in his little kid voice. Have his mom laugh and say no and have it be in quoted text saying since he's a boy and not a girl his feet should grow very big and have her guess what size his feet will be when he's older. 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 5 Korean women appear wearing blouses and skirts with detailed descriptions of the blouses and skirts and have all be wearing platform sandals and platform shoes with detailed descriptions of the platform sandals and platform shoes and have all of them have painted nails and include the colors. Include all 5 Korean women's names, ages all being older than his mom, heights all being shorter than his mom, weights, birthdays, birth years all being older than his mom with one of the 5 women being much older than the other 4 women, hair colors and styles all being short Korean styles and where they were from in the US or if they were from South Korea and their shoe sizes. Have one of the women 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. Reveal which woman grabbed him and include her information a second time including her name, age, birthday, birth year, height, weight, hair color and style and eye color and where she was from and her shoe size being much smaller than his moms. Have all of the women be salon stylists and include more information about them and why they were at the store. 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 notice his female feet actually look smaller than his mom's feet and have him say something and have it be in quoted text in very broken English about how he's gonna have girl feet and talk like the funny lady he now is for the rest of his life and show the quote he wanted to say versus how he said it in very broken English. 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 calling the boy by their friend's name who had grabbed him earlier and who he was in the body of and spell the words wrong in the quoted text and have them tighten parts of her outfit and platform sandals. Have another one of the other women criticize her reminding her her age and have it be in quoted text in broken English calling the boy by their friend's name who had grabbed him earlier and who he was in the body of 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 woman speaking to him thinking he's her friend unable to understand it at all. Have him struggle to run out in the platform sandals as the women drag him and have him make it out to the parking lot and have the parking lot be empty but full of zombies. Have him be terrified.
Response: In the year 2020, the world as we knew it had turned into a living nightmare. The global pandemic that had everyone hiding behind masks had given way to something far more sinister: a zombie apocalypse. It was a grim day filled with overcast skies, casting eerie shadows over the desolate streets. Today, seven-year-old Ben and his mother were navigating this treacherous new world. Ben, a wide-eyed child with a mop of curly blonde hair and freckles dotting his cheeks, wore a bright red hoodie that was just a tad too big for him, letting the sleeves flop over his hands. He had on his favorite blue jeans, slightly worn out from various adventures, and his trusty pair of light-up sneakers that flashed green with every step. His innocent eyes peered from under his hoodie, untainted by the darkness of the world around him. Beside him was his mother, Emma, a brave and resilient woman of 32 years. Emma stood at a height of 5'7", with an athletic build accentuated by her years of running and yoga. Today, she wore a practical ensemble: cargo pants with multiple pockets stuffed with essential supplies and a sturdy, dark green jacket zipped up against the chill. Her chestnut-brown hair, which she usually wore in a ponytail, was messily tucked under a baseball cap, wisps escaping around her ears. Her bright blue eyes constantly scanned their surroundings for any signs of danger, reflecting both her resolute determination and the perpetual anxiety she had to conceal for Ben's sake. Emma had a size 7 in shoes, with her birthday falling on April 3, 1988. As they maneuvered through the aisles of the eerily empty grocery store, a cart rattled ahead of them, filled with canned goods, water bottles, and other sparse items. Emma was stuffing more supplies into it when Ben, ever curious, looked down at her feet. "Mommy, why yer feets so small fer a growwn up?" Ben asked in his innocent, slightly misarticulated voice. "Will my feets be that tiny when I grow up?" Emma couldn’t help but laugh softly at his question, a rare moment of lightness amidst the gloom. “No, sweetie. Since you’re a boy and not a girl, your feet should grow very big. I bet you’ll wear a size 11 someday!” Before Ben could ponder more on this future prospect, a feeling of dread washed over Emma. Zombies started pouring into the store, their guttural growls sending shivers down her spine. "Run, Ben! Follow me!" she shouted, grasping his hand and pulling him through the aisles. As they ran, five Korean women appeared from around a corner, each more distinct than the last. They all wore blouses in pastel colors, soft against the harsh lights—one in lilac, another in mint, a third in peach, a fourth in sky blue, and the last in a delicate buttercup yellow. Their skirts, knee-length and matching the tone of their blouses, swayed as they moved. Each woman wore platform sandals or shoes, all distinct in color and design. One wore white platform sandals with floral patterns, another had black strappy platforms, the third adorned with silver glitter, the fourth with bold red ankle-strap platforms, and the last had baby blue sandals with intricate designs. Their toenails were painted in vibrant hues: crimson, lavender, emerald, cobalt, and fuchsia. Among the women, there was Hye-Jin, 55 years old, much older than the rest. Then there were So-Young, Ji-Yeon, Mi-Cha, and Eun-Ji, all in their late 40s. Originating from South Korea, they had built a life in various parts of the U.S., working as salon stylists. While Hye-Jin was a Texas resident, the others hailed from California, New York, and Illinois. Collectively, their hair varied in short, stylish Korean cuts—fluffy pixie cuts, bobs, and lobs, all perfectly framing their delicate features. Their shoe sizes ranged from 5 to 6.5, significantly smaller than Emma's. As Ben and Emma stumbled past, Mi-Cha, the woman with the silver glitter platforms, noticed Ben. She muttered something in Korean, reaching out to him. Despite his best effort to dodge her, Mi-Cha's grip was firm. Ben felt a dizzying sensation overwhelming him, his vision tunneling into darkness. When consciousness returned, Ben felt different—taller, strangely encumbered. He looked down to find his red hoodie and jeans replaced by a buttercup yellow blouse and knee-length skirt. His skin was a different tone, and on his feet, he wore the baby blue sandals Mi-Cha had been wearing earlier. His nails were polished a shocking fuchsia. Ben’s eyes widened in horror as he grasped what had happened. He was in Mi-Cha’s body! “Mommy? Mommy? Where awr yoo?” he yelled, his voice unwillingly breaking into broken English. "Mommy? Mommy? Where are you?" The new platform sandals tripped him up as he tried to run, causing him to stumble and fall, his new female voice prominent in his cries. His reflection in the store's shiny surface revealed an unfamiliar face with almond-shaped eyes. He traced them with his new, polished nails, trying to change them back to his wide, innocent ones. "I want to go home. I want Mommy," Ben cried, again it came out distorted. "I wunt too go hom. I wunt Mommy." Tears streamed down his cheeks as he played with his short hair, noticing the fuchsia nails catching the light. He attempted to remove the blouse and skirt but to no avail. Every method he tried—pulling, tugging, unbuttoning—failed. The outfit seemed determined to stay on his slender frame. The platform sandals were no more cooperative. Ben tried five different ways—yanking, unbuckling, twisting his ankles out, pulling at the straps, and even trying to slip his feet out. But each attempt was futile. With dread, Ben noticed his feet, now smaller than his mom's. “I’m gonna have girl feet and talk like da funny lady fuhr rest of life!” He wanted to say, "I'm going to have girl feet and talk like the funny lady for the rest of my life," but it sounded laughably broken as it left his lips. Ben’s frustration grew as he tried in vain to remove the woman’s jewelry. Each piece—the necklace, bracelet, earrings, ring, anklet, and hairpin—seemed almost enchanted, refusing to budge regardless of how hard he tried. “I’m scared,” he finally whispered through tears, his voice weak and broken. “I’m scawred!” Suddenly, Hye-Jin and the other women found him, leading him by the hands. One scolded him in broken English, “Mi-Cha, why you run off? Stay close!” The platform sandals and parts of the outfit were adjusted tightly, making everything even more uncomfortable. Eun-Ji added in broken English, “Mi-Cha, you not young! Stop act like baby. Aigoo.” To Ben, it was indecipherable and terrifying. As the women dragged him to the parking lot, a wave of terror washed over him again seeing it teeming with zombies. He braced himself for a future full of fear and uncertainty in this new, and horrifying world.
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