08-24-2015, 10:12 PM
The temple started to come down around me and all I could think was that I needed to get the hell out of here. If not for the danger of a stone smashing my head open like an over-ripe melon, then to spare my… well, friends might not be quite the right word… allies? To spare my allies my hunger. Hell, there they were, both too focused on the other to even acknowledge the zombie in their midst. It would have been easy to have made them into my next meal. The feel their muscles tear between my teeth and to hear their bones crack in my hands.
The scary thing is… It didn’t even seem like all that awful a thing to do, anymore. I mean, I’d long ago gotten used to having no control over my actions. I guess I’d been disassociating what my body did from my true self. Back then, it had been easy to say that it wasn’t my fault. That Dracula was making me kill all those people. But, since being freed of his control, I’ve started to suspect that maybe it was Dracula who allowed me to keep my sanity and humanity. Sure, he turned me into a monster, but HE was controlling my actions and in essence, he protected me from the horrors of what I was capable of.
But now… I had barely been able to get myself under control back there. I had almost EATEN the closest things I had to friends in years. And there was no Dracula to blame anymore. It was all me. The truth of the situation struck my soul like a bullet to the heart. They had nearly died because I couldn’t control myself. Because I was a monster. That was the reality of my existence now. That no longer was I a beast leashed to the will of another. Now I was something far worse: a feral animal fueled by gluttony and rage.
I shambled through the corridors and tunnels of the temple, my only guide a slow brightening of the area as I moved along. Somewhere along the way, either that guy or just running had managed to free me of my porcupine-esque arsenal of weaponry, so running was a bit easier without all that extra weight dragging me down. Part of me hoped I was going the wrong way, that I would stumble into a trap and end it all. But a larger part of me wanted to continue on. I guess you could say I was just a fool, following a dim glimmer of hope that Omni would be able to restore me. Still, I was starting to wonder if I’d ever reach him, and even if I did… would I even have enough of myself left to WANT to be human again?
Needless to say, I was in a bit of a funk when I finally staggered out into the openness and light of the outdoors. Blackened and dead leaves crunched under foot as my body took a moment to realize it was no longer in danger and slowly came to an awkward halt. Jeez… I kinda wish I had just stayed in the temple. I guess someone COULD call this a forest, but they’d hafta be some kind of sadist… The trees had bark as black as the night, matching the darkness of their few, scattered leaves. Their branches twisted in unnatural way, splitting at the ends like the claws of some creature out of a nightmare. Even the wind sounded dark and sinister. The whole place looked like something straight out of the Moors, and if I’m being honest here… I got a little homesick. Sure, I was around back in the Moors glory days, when it was full of light and hope. But I could barely remember what that was like anymore. For me, this twisted glade brought back more memories of home than the green glen we had fled when entering the temple.
Like a drunk, I turned back to the temple and gazed upon it with dead eyes. They were still in there. Blondie… that Guy… even the skeletal robot. I wondered if they’d be able to make it out. I wondered if they were ok. I wondered if maybe it would be better for them NOT to come out here. After all, nothing in there was trying to eat them. I shook my head, and turned from the ruins behind me. No. They’d get out. They were tough. Survivors. And I needed to be long gone before they did. I… I’m not sure if I’d be able to hold myself back again. It was tough enough the last time. The next time I might not be able to turn off my zombie instincts in time.
One step after the other, toes dragging in the dead brush, leaves, and twigs underfoot, I left the temple behind me and wandered off into the wilderness. It was kinda strange but I didn’t really hear any of the sounds you’d expect in a forest. Perhaps that temple really did drop me off in the Moors again; a suspicion strengthened by what I soon came across. It was a pack of guys like me: Dead-eyed, shambling, moaning, decaying zombies. And, as I soaked in the scene, it looked like ‘pack’ might have been a biiiiiiit of an understatement. Hell, there might have been as many zombies HERE as I’d ever seen in the Moors.
A normal guy’d probably be pissing his pants right now, but… well, like I said. They were like me. They didn’t even register that I had walked up on them. Yup. Brain-dead zombies. Even after bumping into a few on my way down to the group, they didn’t so much as pause their endless moaning to give me a second-look. You know… maybe I didn’t come across these guys by chance. I wanted a chance to be normal again. And maybe this was as close to normal as I’d ever get, a normal zombie hanging out with other normal zombies and doing normal zombie things. Maybe I should just give up on being a human and join these guys. Didn’t seem to be much around to hurt. Might even be peaceful.
Welp… I guess I spoke too soon. No sooner had I resigned myself to being a zombie, than a near unanimous moaning issued forth from the host, its volume far louder than the sporadic sounds they had made before. A gunshot rang out in what passed for a forest here. And then I remembered. SHIT! I forgot about those guys I came with. I suppose I mighta gotten a little carried away with my melancholy mood and shit… Well fuck me sideways… What am I gonna do now? I should probably warn those guys about the MASSIVE army of undead heading their way, but hell. I ain’t really no faster than they are. By the time I reach the others, and they figure out what I’m trying to say (IF they figure it out), it’ll be too late. And besides… I’m a zombie… maybe I should just resign myself to my fate and eat the poor bastards.
While I was busy trying to decide what I should do, my body went ahead with the peer pressure and followed along towards the food. It’d be easier if I was as brain-dead as those other zombies. Having a conscious sucks… Soon enough, I started to spot folks dashing through the trees, and the entire mob I was a part of broke into a staggering run. Branches slapped against our bare skin and faces, but we didn’t give a fuck. All we cared about were those juicy, tender, delicious creatures running before us. It was obvious they were exhausted, their bodies smelt of sweat; an aroma that sent the undead behind them into an even more ferocious feeding frenzy. It was a mostly human group, though there WAS this weird looking dog thing that I remembered seeing back at the start of all this. The safari guy was there too, and the grizzled older guy. The other two didn’t really stand out too well in my memory, but when one of them began to fall behind the others, my attention immediately turned to him.
Unfortunately for the mulleted guy, a vindictive root suddenly snagged his foot and sent him sprawling. Before he could arise again, we were upon him. Not all of us, of course. Most continued to chase after the other prey when it became obvious that there wouldn’t be enough left of this guy to feed them. Just a handful of us fell upon him. He fought back valiantly, I gotta give it to him. But in the face of the five of us, there was little he could do. I bit into his shoulder, eliciting a scream of pain and rage from the guy. A fist swung and knocked me off of him, though I took a bit of his flesh with me. A bit dazed, it took a moment for me to regain even MY relatively poor senses. And when I did, the horror of what was happening struck me.
I was EATING someone. Not an enemy… but someone who should have been able to trust me. And I hadn’t even TRIED to stop myself. So, this was it… I had succumbed and there was nothing left of the human I once was. A part of my shattered at this realization, and my body began to make its way back to the feast. Suddenly, a voice broke me from my trance and my eyes searched the woods for the source.
It was her. Not the Ghost Girl… not even Blondie. My wife… Samarintha. The woman I had left behind when I joined the fight against Diablo’s forces. And the woman I had killed on my return as a pawn of Dracula. Clots of blood clung to her blond hair, and her greens eyes were dark and dead. Yet her words… they yet remained full of that life I so remembered from the days before I was this beast. Time froze as she spoke to me, the color draining for the world and seeming to infuse itself into her.
“Mark. This isn’t who you are. You have to fight… not just against yourself. But for these people. They need you.”
Fight? She didn’t know what she was asking of me. She had always been the stronger of us. Had she not been with child when the war broke out, she likely would have fought alongside me. She moved closer to me, passing through the still frame around us as though it were mere mist. A hand found its way to my cheek and at first I flinched away from the touch. But slowly, my heart calmed and I lay my head against her palm.
“I’m sorry,” I said, eyes wet with tears I could not shed. I didn’t say what for, and I didn’t need to. She knew. Her eyes, still as dim as before, showed compassion as they held my own. They dug deep past my decayed flesh and implored me to do what I knew to be right. I couldn’t speak again… all I could do was nod. And then, as suddenly as the world froze, it lurched into motion again. And I leapt into action.
That man was still being swarmed by the other zombies, and I could see he wouldn’t last long without help. And while I still didn’t know if I could be strong enough… I knew I had to try. For her. A zombie leaned in towards Mullet, its jaws snapping as they moved ever closer to his neck. I reached over its head, my desiccated fingers easily puncturing its optic orbs and with a show of strength I threw it aside. The wet crack of a skull splintering open confirmed its death, but the others were still upon the man. One by one, I relieved him of his burden, shattering necks with my bare hands, bashing their heads open against whatever surface I could find, and tearing their bodies to shreds with my teeth. After all… who better to kill a zombie than another zombie? I knew their weaknesses like the back of my decayed hand.
Soon enough, the guy was freed, but it seemed that I took a bit too long to act. Though he was still alive, and conscious, the effort of having fought off five undead at once seemed to have drained the poor guy. I held out my hand, and he understandably recoiled from it. My attempt at a smile might have been closer to a sadistic grimace and only seemed to make the guy more put off. I struggled with myself, forcing my jaw to work, lungs to push air, and mind to form the words I needed. In the end, it was both more than I expected and less than I hoped for.
“Leeeetsssssss...” I said, taking a deep breath before continuing, “Goooooooo…”
A wave of confusion passed over the guy’s features, and once again I couldn’t really blame him. Up until now, I’d been little more than an animal. A weapon as likely to turn on them as to help them take down a threat. My words showed that, perhaps, I could be a bit more than that. And that maybe, one day, I could be human again. That glimmer of hope in my heart shone a bit brighter, and this time, my smile seemed less menacing.
The scary thing is… It didn’t even seem like all that awful a thing to do, anymore. I mean, I’d long ago gotten used to having no control over my actions. I guess I’d been disassociating what my body did from my true self. Back then, it had been easy to say that it wasn’t my fault. That Dracula was making me kill all those people. But, since being freed of his control, I’ve started to suspect that maybe it was Dracula who allowed me to keep my sanity and humanity. Sure, he turned me into a monster, but HE was controlling my actions and in essence, he protected me from the horrors of what I was capable of.
But now… I had barely been able to get myself under control back there. I had almost EATEN the closest things I had to friends in years. And there was no Dracula to blame anymore. It was all me. The truth of the situation struck my soul like a bullet to the heart. They had nearly died because I couldn’t control myself. Because I was a monster. That was the reality of my existence now. That no longer was I a beast leashed to the will of another. Now I was something far worse: a feral animal fueled by gluttony and rage.
I shambled through the corridors and tunnels of the temple, my only guide a slow brightening of the area as I moved along. Somewhere along the way, either that guy or just running had managed to free me of my porcupine-esque arsenal of weaponry, so running was a bit easier without all that extra weight dragging me down. Part of me hoped I was going the wrong way, that I would stumble into a trap and end it all. But a larger part of me wanted to continue on. I guess you could say I was just a fool, following a dim glimmer of hope that Omni would be able to restore me. Still, I was starting to wonder if I’d ever reach him, and even if I did… would I even have enough of myself left to WANT to be human again?
Needless to say, I was in a bit of a funk when I finally staggered out into the openness and light of the outdoors. Blackened and dead leaves crunched under foot as my body took a moment to realize it was no longer in danger and slowly came to an awkward halt. Jeez… I kinda wish I had just stayed in the temple. I guess someone COULD call this a forest, but they’d hafta be some kind of sadist… The trees had bark as black as the night, matching the darkness of their few, scattered leaves. Their branches twisted in unnatural way, splitting at the ends like the claws of some creature out of a nightmare. Even the wind sounded dark and sinister. The whole place looked like something straight out of the Moors, and if I’m being honest here… I got a little homesick. Sure, I was around back in the Moors glory days, when it was full of light and hope. But I could barely remember what that was like anymore. For me, this twisted glade brought back more memories of home than the green glen we had fled when entering the temple.
Like a drunk, I turned back to the temple and gazed upon it with dead eyes. They were still in there. Blondie… that Guy… even the skeletal robot. I wondered if they’d be able to make it out. I wondered if they were ok. I wondered if maybe it would be better for them NOT to come out here. After all, nothing in there was trying to eat them. I shook my head, and turned from the ruins behind me. No. They’d get out. They were tough. Survivors. And I needed to be long gone before they did. I… I’m not sure if I’d be able to hold myself back again. It was tough enough the last time. The next time I might not be able to turn off my zombie instincts in time.
One step after the other, toes dragging in the dead brush, leaves, and twigs underfoot, I left the temple behind me and wandered off into the wilderness. It was kinda strange but I didn’t really hear any of the sounds you’d expect in a forest. Perhaps that temple really did drop me off in the Moors again; a suspicion strengthened by what I soon came across. It was a pack of guys like me: Dead-eyed, shambling, moaning, decaying zombies. And, as I soaked in the scene, it looked like ‘pack’ might have been a biiiiiiit of an understatement. Hell, there might have been as many zombies HERE as I’d ever seen in the Moors.
A normal guy’d probably be pissing his pants right now, but… well, like I said. They were like me. They didn’t even register that I had walked up on them. Yup. Brain-dead zombies. Even after bumping into a few on my way down to the group, they didn’t so much as pause their endless moaning to give me a second-look. You know… maybe I didn’t come across these guys by chance. I wanted a chance to be normal again. And maybe this was as close to normal as I’d ever get, a normal zombie hanging out with other normal zombies and doing normal zombie things. Maybe I should just give up on being a human and join these guys. Didn’t seem to be much around to hurt. Might even be peaceful.
Welp… I guess I spoke too soon. No sooner had I resigned myself to being a zombie, than a near unanimous moaning issued forth from the host, its volume far louder than the sporadic sounds they had made before. A gunshot rang out in what passed for a forest here. And then I remembered. SHIT! I forgot about those guys I came with. I suppose I mighta gotten a little carried away with my melancholy mood and shit… Well fuck me sideways… What am I gonna do now? I should probably warn those guys about the MASSIVE army of undead heading their way, but hell. I ain’t really no faster than they are. By the time I reach the others, and they figure out what I’m trying to say (IF they figure it out), it’ll be too late. And besides… I’m a zombie… maybe I should just resign myself to my fate and eat the poor bastards.
While I was busy trying to decide what I should do, my body went ahead with the peer pressure and followed along towards the food. It’d be easier if I was as brain-dead as those other zombies. Having a conscious sucks… Soon enough, I started to spot folks dashing through the trees, and the entire mob I was a part of broke into a staggering run. Branches slapped against our bare skin and faces, but we didn’t give a fuck. All we cared about were those juicy, tender, delicious creatures running before us. It was obvious they were exhausted, their bodies smelt of sweat; an aroma that sent the undead behind them into an even more ferocious feeding frenzy. It was a mostly human group, though there WAS this weird looking dog thing that I remembered seeing back at the start of all this. The safari guy was there too, and the grizzled older guy. The other two didn’t really stand out too well in my memory, but when one of them began to fall behind the others, my attention immediately turned to him.
Unfortunately for the mulleted guy, a vindictive root suddenly snagged his foot and sent him sprawling. Before he could arise again, we were upon him. Not all of us, of course. Most continued to chase after the other prey when it became obvious that there wouldn’t be enough left of this guy to feed them. Just a handful of us fell upon him. He fought back valiantly, I gotta give it to him. But in the face of the five of us, there was little he could do. I bit into his shoulder, eliciting a scream of pain and rage from the guy. A fist swung and knocked me off of him, though I took a bit of his flesh with me. A bit dazed, it took a moment for me to regain even MY relatively poor senses. And when I did, the horror of what was happening struck me.
I was EATING someone. Not an enemy… but someone who should have been able to trust me. And I hadn’t even TRIED to stop myself. So, this was it… I had succumbed and there was nothing left of the human I once was. A part of my shattered at this realization, and my body began to make its way back to the feast. Suddenly, a voice broke me from my trance and my eyes searched the woods for the source.
It was her. Not the Ghost Girl… not even Blondie. My wife… Samarintha. The woman I had left behind when I joined the fight against Diablo’s forces. And the woman I had killed on my return as a pawn of Dracula. Clots of blood clung to her blond hair, and her greens eyes were dark and dead. Yet her words… they yet remained full of that life I so remembered from the days before I was this beast. Time froze as she spoke to me, the color draining for the world and seeming to infuse itself into her.
“Mark. This isn’t who you are. You have to fight… not just against yourself. But for these people. They need you.”
Fight? She didn’t know what she was asking of me. She had always been the stronger of us. Had she not been with child when the war broke out, she likely would have fought alongside me. She moved closer to me, passing through the still frame around us as though it were mere mist. A hand found its way to my cheek and at first I flinched away from the touch. But slowly, my heart calmed and I lay my head against her palm.
“I’m sorry,” I said, eyes wet with tears I could not shed. I didn’t say what for, and I didn’t need to. She knew. Her eyes, still as dim as before, showed compassion as they held my own. They dug deep past my decayed flesh and implored me to do what I knew to be right. I couldn’t speak again… all I could do was nod. And then, as suddenly as the world froze, it lurched into motion again. And I leapt into action.
That man was still being swarmed by the other zombies, and I could see he wouldn’t last long without help. And while I still didn’t know if I could be strong enough… I knew I had to try. For her. A zombie leaned in towards Mullet, its jaws snapping as they moved ever closer to his neck. I reached over its head, my desiccated fingers easily puncturing its optic orbs and with a show of strength I threw it aside. The wet crack of a skull splintering open confirmed its death, but the others were still upon the man. One by one, I relieved him of his burden, shattering necks with my bare hands, bashing their heads open against whatever surface I could find, and tearing their bodies to shreds with my teeth. After all… who better to kill a zombie than another zombie? I knew their weaknesses like the back of my decayed hand.
Soon enough, the guy was freed, but it seemed that I took a bit too long to act. Though he was still alive, and conscious, the effort of having fought off five undead at once seemed to have drained the poor guy. I held out my hand, and he understandably recoiled from it. My attempt at a smile might have been closer to a sadistic grimace and only seemed to make the guy more put off. I struggled with myself, forcing my jaw to work, lungs to push air, and mind to form the words I needed. In the end, it was both more than I expected and less than I hoped for.
“Leeeetsssssss...” I said, taking a deep breath before continuing, “Goooooooo…”
A wave of confusion passed over the guy’s features, and once again I couldn’t really blame him. Up until now, I’d been little more than an animal. A weapon as likely to turn on them as to help them take down a threat. My words showed that, perhaps, I could be a bit more than that. And that maybe, one day, I could be human again. That glimmer of hope in my heart shone a bit brighter, and this time, my smile seemed less menacing.