The Dreks of Forever (sci-fi by David Charles Kramer aka DJ Buddy Holly)
The Dreks of Forever (sci-fi by David Charles Kramer aka DJ Buddy Holly)
Daniel Cross had a rule.
If something sounded impossible… it was worth chasing.
That’s how he got the group together.
Not friends—exactly. More like orbiting minds pulled in by the same gravity: curiosity.
They sat in a dim bar just off the highway—Placerville side, where the conversations got strange after 10 p.m.
Daniel leaned forward, eyes lit.
“People aren’t dying,” he said.
Troy laughed immediately. “Yeah? What is this, a Marvel phase we missed?”
“I’m serious,” Daniel snapped. “Military reports. Missing persons. Bodies not accounted for. Something’s happening.”
Marcus, arms crossed, studied him. “Or something’s being covered up. That doesn’t mean immortality.”
“It might,” Lila said softly.
Everyone turned.
She wasn’t smiling. She meant it.
Daniel pointed at her. “Thank you. Someone gets it.”
Elena didn’t look up from her tablet. “There are patterns,” she said. “Clusters of ‘deceased’ individuals tied to experimental recovery programs.”
Marcus sighed. “Recovery, not resurrection.”
Daniel shook his head. “You’re all thinking too small.”
From the end of the table, Dr. Miriam Kline finally spoke.
“You don’t understand what you’re asking about.”
That got Daniel’s attention.
He leaned in.
“Then help me understand.”
She hesitated.
That was the moment they should’ve stopped.
They didn’t.
The Search
It took weeks.
Documents that didn’t quite exist.
Names that disappeared mid-record.
Facilities that weren’t on maps—but somehow always there.
Elena tracked everything.
Marcus drove.
Troy joked—less and less each day.
Lila prayed before they entered every new place.
Dr. Kline grew quieter.
Daniel only got louder.
“You feel it, right?” he kept saying. “We’re close.”
The Facility
It wasn’t what they expected.
No glowing lights. No futuristic skyline.
Just a low concrete structure tucked behind fencing and silence.
Too quiet.
Marcus muttered, “I don’t like this.”
Daniel smiled.
“That’s how you know it’s real.”
Inside, the air felt… heavy.
Like sound didn’t travel right.
They walked down a corridor that seemed longer than it should be.
Then they saw them.
The Dreks
Seven figures stood in a wide chamber.
Broad shoulders.
Thick necks.
And that unmistakable shape—
The upper back, rounded. Reinforced. Almost… burdened.
They didn’t move.
Didn’t breathe the way normal people did.
Didn’t react.
Troy whispered, “What the hell are those things?”
No one answered.
Daniel stepped forward.
Of course he did.
First Contact
His voice was steady. Almost hopeful.
“You’re the ones, right?”
One of the figures moved.
Slow.
Controlled.
A woman.
Or something that used to be one.
Her head tilted slightly.
Daniel smiled, like a kid meeting a legend.
“You don’t die.”
It wasn’t a question.
It was belief.
She answered.
Flat. Simple.
“I croaked.”
The word hung in the air.
Daniel blinked.
“…What?”
No one moved.
She took a step closer.
Heavy. Grounded.
“Heart stopped. Brain went dark.”
“They brought me here.”
Daniel’s smile didn’t disappear.
Not yet.
“So… you came back.”
A pause.
Then:
“No.”
The Truth
Dr. Kline finally spoke.
“They didn’t come back,” she said quietly. “They were… transferred.”
Marcus turned sharply. “Transferred where?”
Elena whispered it before anyone else could.
“Into those bodies.”
The Dreks stood motionless.
Waiting.
Existing.
Daniel shook his head.
“No, no, no… that’s not what this is.”
The Drek woman looked at him.
“You were searching.”
It wasn’t a question.
Lila stepped forward, voice trembling.
“This… this is eternal life?”
The woman answered her.
“This is continuation.”
Troy stopped smiling.
Marcus clenched his jaw.
Elena didn’t speak at all.
Daniel laughed.
Once.
Short.
Wrong.
“Okay… okay, I see what this is. It’s like phase one, right? Like—temporary housing or something?”
No one responded.
Dr. Kline whispered:
“They don’t leave.”
Daniel turned slowly.
“What?”
“They don’t die again,” she said. “They don’t retire. They don’t go home.”
Her voice cracked.
“They’re assigned.”
Silence.
The Break
Daniel’s breathing changed.
Shallow.
Fast.
“No… no, that’s not—this isn’t—”
He looked back at the Dreks.
Really looked.
The posture.
The stillness.
The absence.
“You’re telling me…” he said, voice shaking, “…this is it?”
No answer.
He laughed again.
Louder this time.
“THIS is what I chased?”
Marcus stepped toward him. “Hey—”
Daniel shoved him back.
“No. No, don’t—don’t touch me.”
His eyes were wide now.
Wild.
“I thought—” he started, then stopped.
His voice broke.
“I thought this was… freedom.”
The Drek woman tilted her head.
“You are free. Until you aren’t.”
Something snapped.
“FREAKS!”
The word exploded out of him.
Everyone froze.
“YOU’RE FREAKS!” he shouted again.
Pointing.
Shaking.
“This isn’t life! This is—this is wrong! This is sick!”
He started pacing, tearing at his hair.
“I searched for this? I believed in this?!”
His voice cracked into something raw.
“FREAKS!
FREAKS!
FREAKS!”
Lila started crying.
Troy said nothing.
Marcus tried again, softer this time. “Daniel—”
“NO!” Daniel screamed. “Don’t you see it?! They’re not alive!”
He pointed again.
“They’re trapped!”
The Dreks didn’t react.
Not anger.
Not shame.
Nothing.
The End
Security came fast.
Then medical.
Too fast.
Like they’d been waiting.
Daniel fought them.
Still shouting.
Still breaking.
“Freaks—freaks—freaks—!”
His voice echoed down the corridor as they dragged him away.
The room fell silent.
Marcus looked at the Drek woman.
“…Does it get easier?”
She paused.
Then said:
“You stop asking.”
Lila whispered, “Is this what happens to everyone?”
The woman looked at her.
Not unkind.
Not kind either.
“Only the ones who go looking.”
Elena finally spoke.
Quiet.
Cold.
“…We should never have come here.”
The Drek woman didn’t respond.
She just stood there.
Still.
Carrying something no one else could see.
And somewhere down the hall—
Daniel was still screaming.
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