Zombie Wars #9
North
Many things had happened since The Others had come.
Their bodies had changed. The tissues in their skulls had been in a state of semi constant flux. They could walk upright, and talk with men. The fur had become thin and now it felt good to wear clothes like the former masters. The shapes and lines that made the language of men on paper now came together and said something. The bitches gave birth every nine weeks. They had a natural proclivity for tools and computers and in the space of a year, had become mechanical geniuses. Their minds absorbed knowledge with the same sort of zeal as the old ones among them that still lived and looked like regular dogs had once chased frisbees. Each new litter was a closer cross breeding of man and dog.
And they knew why.
There was something about The Others meat. It tasted sweet and when they chewed it it caused rapid changes in their minds and bodies that they recognized. They hunted the zombies as food exclusively, and they were getting harder to find and catch. Most of the zombies had fled the cities and were moving together in small packs West. When one was caught it was divided up equally. The youngest of the pack were made sure to get a share, but the best was saved for special dogs. The ones that showed the best grasp of technology or healing.
They got to eat the brains.
Tonight they had one, and it was dragged in chains from the holding cell into a large room. The highest ranking members of the pack lined the walls and watched as it was tied to a table, arms outstretched to the four corners. It had the shape of a man, but the skin was the color of snot and traced with blue/red veins. It was hairless and the mouth opened in a silent scream and it trailed a vile looking green frothy spittle from its teeth and nose.
Earlier, The Others fought and resisted feverishly and most of the time they would have had to smash its skull with a hammer in the hallway before they brought it into the chamber for feeding. But now the ones they caught just lay limply in their chains, head loose on it's neck and the eyes scanning slowly around the room.
The Dogs tied him to the table. A clamp snapped round its jaws and chin and the head was immobilized. A small saw was used and the top of its living skull was sawed open. The brains were scooped out and diced. A litter of new borns were brought forward and they were given small bits. Almost instantly they began to groan and contort as the changes to the bodies began. If you were standing there, looking over the dogs shoulders you would have heard the puppies skulls creak as their brains grew measurably by the minute.
The captured Fawelri died without glory or awareness, its already half dead eyes simply loosing their glassiness.
Then the other adult dogs of the Higher Pack surrounded the table and began to feed.
West...
Meanwhile, high in a balloon...
Ehecatl would not shut up. Either the mushrooms were wearing off or my legs were getting cramped after twelve hours in this balloon that was now obviously losing air and sinking.
" Since the wind blows in all directions, I was associated with all the Cardinal directions. My temple was built as a cylinder in order to reduce the air resistance, and was sometimes portrayed with two protruding masks through which the wind blew. As the fourth sun was destroyed in the Aztec creation myth (due to the gods not being satisfied with the men they had created) the gods gathered in Teotihuacan. There Nanahuatzin and Tecciztecatl jumped into a sacrificial fire and became the sun and the moon, pity, they were good friends of mine. They remained immobile until I blew hard on them. At first only the sun moved, but once the sun started moving the moon moved also... "
I looked over at him, or it. He wasn't a solid figure, like the squirrel, more like an animated graffiti tagged onto the interior compartment of my balloon. He had not stopped talking for ten hours. I didn't know if you could kill a God, but I was seriously considering trying.
" Look, " I said, " will you shut the fuck up, you are driving me batshit. "
He stopped alright. After a minute I began to feel bad. Like I had hurt his feelings. For a moment I contemplated my situation: here I was, having floated for miles and miles, inside a balloon I made guided by a talking squirrel. I had not eaten much besides the mushrooms in four days, and although I expected to build up a tolerance I was talking to some ancient god like he was really there with me.
" Okay. I am crazy and you are not real. "
The wind spiked and buffeted the compartment around. I felt weightless for a second as the balloon hit a down draft and free fell before settling again on a breeze.
" Don't start that shit again ese. " He said.
" Look, " I said, " two years ago I was a privateer broadcaster documenting the Chinese invasion over the internet. Now I live like a scavenger and have actually killed people. Nine of them! I'm cracking up, losing my marbles, one can short of a six pack...
" You are not real!, " I screamed.
" Okay, " he said. " Whatever homes. Just remember this; we want you to kill The Preacher.
" Nagaicho, The Creator has chosen you. And he has sent you his Dog. "
I didn't have time to answer, the wind was slammed out of me as the balloon crashed through trees and onto the ground. I was knocked out.
* * *
South...
Cross Plains, Texas October 25, 2012
" I am the gawd damned president of The United States may she rest in everlasting peace , and I want that sum bitch shot. "
The issue was a farmer near Plano that was caught hording crop food and diesel. Jed Halbaster, former all pro wrestler, aka White Fury, aka Potus was flanked by two men with M249 Squad Automatic Weapons. President Jed, former Secretary of Veterans Affairs , number 17 in the order of succession, had never been in on the international corporations plot to create a one world government. Like most Americans, he had lived in hiding since the Chinese/Walmart coalition had invaded. Nobody knew how the zombie thing started, but they knew it started in California and spread like a case of jock itch in a high school gym class throughout the world. The last seven hundred Marines were going house to house in a radius now extending eight hundred miles, kicking in doors and decapitating any Fawleri they found. The Zombies had all been moving West in groups of five and twenty. Texas was clear.
" But Sir, " his assistant said. " He was married to your second cousin on your mothers side. "
The president lit a cigar and wiped the sweat from his jowls with a stained handkerchief.
" Son, I am the pee oh tee ewe ess. I cannot show favors. But okay, just bust his teeth in. Get er done, now! "
" Sir, yes sir! "
The two soldiers ran out of the room.
He turned to his assistant, a pimply faced skinny teenager with a metal clipboard; " Bring me another whore and get me a pigeon to send a message to General Bush in Florida. "
Such was the remains of the united States government.
* * *
East...
Mount Fire Missile Base, Colorado. October 25, 2012 Outside the wire, 1.7 miles
The balloon sat down and dragged through the brush for a quarter mile before coming to a stop. Just as it did, a creature approached on all fours and helped me out. I was sort of immune to animals talking, so I took it as no big deal that there was a dog with a knapsack full of C4 explosives waiting to greet me. He didn't have a snout, more of a nose. Wire rimmed john Lennon glasses framed kind brown eyes. He wore bandoleers with ammunition and carried a sawed off shotgun. But still, he was obviously mostly dog.
The mushrooms were completely worn off now and I was sober. I had been instructed by the talkative Indian god in the balloon and I knew that farther on through the brush, where the lights were, there was a fence, and somehow we were going to get inside it. Once inside I had a job to do, and so did my new companion.
" Hello, " he said.
" My name is Wolf. " He gestured towards the lights. " Let's go. "
Code:
The Four Winds
Many things had happened since The Others had come.
Their bodies had changed. The tissues in their skulls had been in a state of semi constant flux. They could walk upright, and talk with men. The fur had become thin and now it felt good to wear clothes like the former masters. The shapes and lines that made the language of men on paper now came together and said something. The bitches gave birth every nine weeks. They had a natural proclivity for tools and computers and in the space of a year, had become mechanical geniuses. Their minds absorbed knowledge with the same sort of zeal as the old ones among them that still lived and looked like regular dogs had once chased frisbees. Each new litter was a closer cross breeding of man and dog.
And they knew why.
There was something about The Others meat. It tasted sweet and when they chewed it it caused rapid changes in their minds and bodies that they recognized. They hunted the zombies as food exclusively, and they were getting harder to find and catch. Most of the zombies had fled the cities and were moving together in small packs West. When one was caught it was divided up equally. The youngest of the pack were made sure to get a share, but the best was saved for special dogs. The ones that showed the best grasp of technology or healing.
They got to eat the brains.
Tonight they had one, and it was dragged in chains from the holding cell into a large room. The highest ranking members of the pack lined the walls and watched as it was tied to a table, arms outstretched to the four corners. It had the shape of a man, but the skin was the color of snot and traced with blue/red veins. It was hairless and the mouth opened in a silent scream and it trailed a vile looking green frothy spittle from its teeth and nose.
Earlier, The Others fought and resisted feverishly and most of the time they would have had to smash its skull with a hammer in the hallway before they brought it into the chamber for feeding. But now the ones they caught just lay limply in their chains, head loose on it's neck and the eyes scanning slowly around the room.
The Dogs tied him to the table. A clamp snapped round its jaws and chin and the head was immobilized. A small saw was used and the top of its living skull was sawed open. The brains were scooped out and diced. A litter of new borns were brought forward and they were given small bits. Almost instantly they began to groan and contort as the changes to the bodies began. If you were standing there, looking over the dogs shoulders you would have heard the puppies skulls creak as their brains grew measurably by the minute.
The captured Fawelri died without glory or awareness, its already half dead eyes simply loosing their glassiness.
Then the other adult dogs of the Higher Pack surrounded the table and began to feed.
West...
Meanwhile, high in a balloon...
Ehecatl would not shut up. Either the mushrooms were wearing off or my legs were getting cramped after twelve hours in this balloon that was now obviously losing air and sinking.
" Since the wind blows in all directions, I was associated with all the Cardinal directions. My temple was built as a cylinder in order to reduce the air resistance, and was sometimes portrayed with two protruding masks through which the wind blew. As the fourth sun was destroyed in the Aztec creation myth (due to the gods not being satisfied with the men they had created) the gods gathered in Teotihuacan. There Nanahuatzin and Tecciztecatl jumped into a sacrificial fire and became the sun and the moon, pity, they were good friends of mine. They remained immobile until I blew hard on them. At first only the sun moved, but once the sun started moving the moon moved also... "
I looked over at him, or it. He wasn't a solid figure, like the squirrel, more like an animated graffiti tagged onto the interior compartment of my balloon. He had not stopped talking for ten hours. I didn't know if you could kill a God, but I was seriously considering trying.
" Look, " I said, " will you shut the fuck up, you are driving me batshit. "
He stopped alright. After a minute I began to feel bad. Like I had hurt his feelings. For a moment I contemplated my situation: here I was, having floated for miles and miles, inside a balloon I made guided by a talking squirrel. I had not eaten much besides the mushrooms in four days, and although I expected to build up a tolerance I was talking to some ancient god like he was really there with me.
" Okay. I am crazy and you are not real. "
The wind spiked and buffeted the compartment around. I felt weightless for a second as the balloon hit a down draft and free fell before settling again on a breeze.
" Don't start that shit again ese. " He said.
" Look, " I said, " two years ago I was a privateer broadcaster documenting the Chinese invasion over the internet. Now I live like a scavenger and have actually killed people. Nine of them! I'm cracking up, losing my marbles, one can short of a six pack...
" You are not real!, " I screamed.
" Okay, " he said. " Whatever homes. Just remember this; we want you to kill The Preacher.
" Nagaicho, The Creator has chosen you. And he has sent you his Dog. "
I didn't have time to answer, the wind was slammed out of me as the balloon crashed through trees and onto the ground. I was knocked out.
* * *
South...
Cross Plains, Texas October 25, 2012
" I am the gawd damned president of The United States may she rest in everlasting peace , and I want that sum bitch shot. "
The issue was a farmer near Plano that was caught hording crop food and diesel. Jed Halbaster, former all pro wrestler, aka White Fury, aka Potus was flanked by two men with M249 Squad Automatic Weapons. President Jed, former Secretary of Veterans Affairs , number 17 in the order of succession, had never been in on the international corporations plot to create a one world government. Like most Americans, he had lived in hiding since the Chinese/Walmart coalition had invaded. Nobody knew how the zombie thing started, but they knew it started in California and spread like a case of jock itch in a high school gym class throughout the world. The last seven hundred Marines were going house to house in a radius now extending eight hundred miles, kicking in doors and decapitating any Fawleri they found. The Zombies had all been moving West in groups of five and twenty. Texas was clear.
" But Sir, " his assistant said. " He was married to your second cousin on your mothers side. "
The president lit a cigar and wiped the sweat from his jowls with a stained handkerchief.
" Son, I am the pee oh tee ewe ess. I cannot show favors. But okay, just bust his teeth in. Get er done, now! "
" Sir, yes sir! "
The two soldiers ran out of the room.
He turned to his assistant, a pimply faced skinny teenager with a metal clipboard; " Bring me another whore and get me a pigeon to send a message to General Bush in Florida. "
Such was the remains of the united States government.
* * *
East...
Mount Fire Missile Base, Colorado. October 25, 2012 Outside the wire, 1.7 miles
The balloon sat down and dragged through the brush for a quarter mile before coming to a stop. Just as it did, a creature approached on all fours and helped me out. I was sort of immune to animals talking, so I took it as no big deal that there was a dog with a knapsack full of C4 explosives waiting to greet me. He didn't have a snout, more of a nose. Wire rimmed john Lennon glasses framed kind brown eyes. He wore bandoleers with ammunition and carried a sawed off shotgun. But still, he was obviously mostly dog.
The mushrooms were completely worn off now and I was sober. I had been instructed by the talkative Indian god in the balloon and I knew that farther on through the brush, where the lights were, there was a fence, and somehow we were going to get inside it. Once inside I had a job to do, and so did my new companion.
" Hello, " he said.
" My name is Wolf. " He gestured towards the lights. " Let's go. "
Last edited by ATG (2009-12-12 01:46:55)