Hungry Series_Book 1_Hungry_Origins of Red

by L. H. Tide

  Finally, after a few more bumps on the road, they both fell in the dust, engulfed in the brown cloud. Pressing a button which closed the central locking with a reassuring click, Elmer then laughed, as he watched in the left mirror the grimacing creatures roll away and disappear out of his view.

  A roar startled him and he saw another living dead's ugly face through the right window, and, his eyes wide with fear, he saw the door's handle move.

  But it remained closed. He sighed.

  The handle was violently shaken, making him shiver while the thing outside growled, clearly frustrated. Luckily for him it was well closed and locked, making the zombie’s effort to open it useless.

  A loud hitting sound frightened him, coming from the windshield, through which he could only see a dark green maelstrom, and that's when he realized that he was hitting the low branches of a tree.

  He saw its huge trunk kind of leap toward him and steered to the left, narrowly avoiding it.

  A deafening metallic sound startled him and he saw on the right where it had come from. The zombie had smashed into the trunk and disappeared behind him, while the rough wooden mass was noisily scraping the side of the truck.

  Its right side emitted a plaintive metallic noise even worse than before, while the bald man tried to regain control of it.

  At last his view was no longer obstructed by the branches and he yelled, "Noooo!" when he saw that he was arriving at top speed in front of one of the cyclopean walls of the Community.

  He crushed the brake but had the odd feeling that it would not be sufficient.

  He had the surprise of seeing zombies flying everywhere around him!

  He then understood immediately that because of the hard braking, they couldn't hold anymore to the truck and were swept along. Like a flock of birds, they were thrown in the air and flew in front of him toward the wall. They hit it violently and were literally disintegrated into dust from the collision.

  The shock when the front of the truck hit the wall was also terrible and he was violently thrown against the windshield. His head approached the glassy surface and bumped into it, but it was more a pressure than a collision. An intense pain surged in his shoulder and over his abdominal area when the safety belt stopped his movement, saving him from having his skull crushed against the window.

  The belt threw him briskly back toward the driver's seat, the back of his neck knocking into his seat's head restraint and making him emit a cry of pain.

  The front of the truck crushed against the thick concrete wall and its windshield was smashed into smithereens, forcing Elmer to close his eyes and protect his face with his arms crossed in front of it.

  Brutally shaken as the vehicle became completely immobile, Elmer Hoffnung saw the world become completely dark and lost consciousness.

  ***

  Paradise

  The lack of a sense of what is really happening can be a very dangerous thing, especially when you try to flee a nightmarish world of zombies...

  He felt dizzy, perceiving light through his closed eyelids.

  Opening his eyes, he was blinded by a bright light and quickly shut them.

  Many seconds passed by, and then, again, he opened, just slightly, his eyes. He saw that he was illuminated by giant spotlights positioned on high towers. High above him, the towers were distributed all along the protective wall.

  He smelled a powerful smell of gas. His throat irritated, he coughed, wincing. He suddenly realized that he was in an unusual position, and understood that the truck was leaning to the side.

  Turning around he had a shock: he also realized that the safety belt of his seat restrained him, preventing his fall on the right door, a few meters below. Looking at his left, he saw that the bag had flown through the windshield, and was now immobile against the wall. His head spinning, he thought that the bag pressed against the wall was an odd sight, as if it was an ugly, black wart.

  He then looked at the dashboard, which had been ruined by the collision. It was a mess of broken plastic, glass, electronic circuits now apparent, and of electric cables hanging everywhere.

  A little blue flash attracted his eye, but disappeared as suddenly as it had arrived. He looked more closely, but nothing appeared. Then he saw it again: an electric spark in the middle of one of the bunch of cables...

  In his educated mind, the recall of the well-known effects of the combination of oil plus electric spark was suddenly stressful for Elmer. And he decided that he had to quit the truck... and quick!

  He tried to release his seat-belt, but it remained blocked. It seemed to have been damaged because of the strike. Elmer swore, but then restrained himself immediately. After all, the seat-belt had done its job – saving his head and so his life – but it had been pushed beyond its limits…

  He saw and heard a big spark now, his head snapping in the direction of the bunch of cables, his heart pounding hard in his chest. And he felt really bad, felt pain in his whole body, a thing which wasn't astonishing, after what he had been through. Doubt began to pervade his mind. Did the belt actually save me? Perhaps I'm not so OK… Am I hemorrhaging internally?

  A new electric burst which illuminated with a flashing blue light what remained of the driving position put him under real stress.

  He fought again with the belt buckle to free himself out of the driver's seat, making a huge physical effort.

  Nothing happened.

  The belt remained blocked, and he had to stop, panting. All of a sudden, he wasn't proud about his obesity, and his lack of fitness. But he was as he was, having always preferred to eat a chocolate bar, instead of working hard to have beautiful abdominals.

  He heard new electric shocks and saw a series of more impressive sparks among the cables. Finally, what he was worried about happened, and he saw a little fire beginning to consume the cables.

  Consumed by fear, he fought once more, his short, fat fingers fiddling with the buckle again. He was sweating and moaning under the effort, his bald head and his fleshy cheeks turning red in the process.

  The buckle opened at last without any warning and he fell heavily on the right door, his right shoulder and temple hitting it, making a huge thump which resonated in the cabin of the truck.

  Exhausted by the effort and half unconscious, his eyelids heavy, he sensed that he was going to fall asleep. The sound of sparks continued, and now he felt more than he saw the heat of the fire, which began to race inside. No... no, I'm going to burn so near my destination…

  But he couldn't move anymore. I'm dead...

  Suddenly the door opened and he fell outside on the dirty ground. He then heard an emergency alarm, obviously broadcast through loudspeakers above him. A deafening sound which rang in his head, for many seconds... and then it stopped, replaced by a hard, male voice:

  "Alert, alert, there was a collision against the northern part of the wall. Send guards and an emergency team for assistance in the zone."

  Silence came back, and then Hoffnung relaxed and smiled. They're coming... thank you, my God...

  Fatigue got the upper hand, making him feel as if he had the burden of the world laid upon him.

  He then immediately fell asleep.

  He slowly regained consciousness, his eyes remaining closed... He felt that he was manipulated by careful hands, which moved him cautiously.

  At last, help is present. Comforted, he smiled, no longer feeling any pain. Apparently, what he had lived through seemed to have brought him to a kind of catharsis... he felt light, as if on a cloud...

  And he smelled something, now... a scent... a peculiar scent, something undefinable... A woman's fragrance, probably... yes, one like only a gorgeous woman could use... He finally opened his eyes, timidly at first, and was actually delighted by what he saw...

  A beautiful blonde woman, who reminded him of Marilyn Monroe... She was a nurse wearing working clothes, with a recognizable red cross in front of her white cap. She was kneeling on the ground, near him, as he lay on his back in the
dirt. He saw other adorable faces around them, many beautiful women, Caucasians, Africans, Asians, and they were all smiling at him. He grinned from ear to ear, frothing at his mouth and beard. A wonderful female, part of the rescue team, who has come just for me!

  The smile which put him the most into a trance was the one on the face of Marilyn, on his right side. She came nearer to him and, extending her right arm, touched his groin area, arousing him sexually.

  He saw that she had felt it through his trousers, because she chuckled, her smile becoming even wider.

  "Hello beauty, what's your name?" asked Elmer, answering with the smile of a simpleton. She didn't answer, looking at him with the most wonderful blue eyes he had ever seen. He was surprised when she pressed her right hand harder on his crotch, and also pressed with her left hand on his chest. Her face neared his, watching him lovingly.

  This made him even more excited, and he guffawed, before saying, "You're so mischievous!"

  He slipped his hands under her skirt and all of a sudden, his smile became wider. He raised her skirt and, without any more hesitation, he took her at the level of her pelvis with his fat hands, lifting her over him.

  She laughed, in a wonderful, musical way, and he added, "You're so light, honey, it's really astonishing… and I don't even feel panties, you little bitch!" Looking toward his feet, he had the visual and proud confirmation of his own sexual arousal. And panting like a horny dog, he took a peek to discover in detail the beautiful thighs of the blonde beauty, and, more interesting, her little hairy vulva…

  His stupid smile faded away when he saw two bony legs extending from her pelvis, that he was grabbing with both hands, while continuing to hold her over him. He opened wide surprised eyes when he saw, between his thick hands, the bony, white, cold surface of her pelvis. Frightened, his gaze wandered over the vertebrae extending from it toward the rib cage, saw the ribs protruding out of it, and finally, over everything, the beautiful face of Marilyn, who was watching him in awe.

  Her wonderful blue eyes darkened and putrefied in a second, shriveling to become like dried gapes. What remained of the eyes finally disappeared inside the empty orbits of the zombie. Instead of the beautiful face of the deceased actress, it was a skull which was approaching, opening its jaws, its rotten teeth ready to tear his right jugular into pieces. He lifted higher the skeleton which was still wearing the remnants of a nurse's dress and yelled.

  This made the creature roar, unhappy to be repelled. He tried to throw away the growling creature, but it gripped tightly on his crouch and his torso under his T-shirt, making him cry with pain. The thing didn't have a very firm grip, but despite its light weight, his bad physical condition made its lifting harder every second... He coughed because of its horrible rotten odor, mixed with a strange sugary scent, and heard a liquid noise, near him. Looking around, he finally saw where the source of the odd sound was coming from.

  He observed that many chemical liquids of various colors were slowly seeping drop by drop from the back of the trailer, which had been damaged by the collision. A strange cocktail of odors was coming from the liquids, confirming that this "Beauty" he was fighting with hadn't used a fragrance for a long time...

  He was horrified by the situation, which was illuminated by the huge projectors, up on the walls.

  Frightened, he shouted louder, and the creature roared even more, continuing to maintain its prey as a prisoner. Gowlings came from everywhere, paralyzing Elmer. This sudden immobilization seemed to calm down the creature over him, which remained immobile. He looked in those empty orbits, in that strange darkness… He felt astonished that the thing was watching him without eyeballs. How did those creatures do that? Like living humans who become blind, did these things find new senses to compensate the missing ones?

  He stopped shouting out and remarked that the zombie seemed to become as immobile as a statue, remaining on him. The man looked around, and realized that the spotlights had been switched off, high above him.

  He was alone in the darkness… many sets of red dots were glowing around him. He couldn't see clearly those creatures, to whom those reddish eyes belonged, but he sensed their presence.

  The zombie above him growled, making him quit his thoughts and become tense. It opened its gaping mouth, as his arms were beginning to give away, fear beginning to paralyze him.

  Elmer yelled to give himself strength and threw the creature a few meters away.

  The thing fell in the middle of one of the groups of sets of red dots, which avoided it by scattering everywhere, the bunch emitting animal-like cries, as he almost discerned swift fighting movements in the shadows.

  The scientist tried to stand up, beginning by making a huge effort. But even reaching a sitting position on the ground was out of his scope, his efforts, as he was panting, useless. Not only was it because he was overweight, but he also felt dizzy. He looked again at the multicolored liquids continuing to trickle out, near him, and sniffed. The powerful sugary scent, which was, now, invading his nostrils, made him wince. He made a guess, and thought he could blame the chemical fluids. Only all those liquid medicines and miscellaneous products, which were continuing to flow drop by drop, could explain his strange hallucination.

  A wonderful daydream that he missed, now that he had to confront the terrible, the horrible reality.

  He tried again to stand up and, this time, he made it. Not only was he able to sit up, but he finally stood up.

  His movement provoked rapid movements of the red eyes, in the darkness, and he saw that they were encircling him. They were approaching nearer now, and in the mix of darkness, and the dim headlights of what remained of the truck, he more than guessed what was happening around him. He could now vaguely discern the faces of the zombies around him, confirming their approach. Elmer swallowed hard, breathing with difficulty; he felt his lungs oppressed.

  Now, he knew that his end was close...

  All of a sudden, he heard a weak, distant rumble. The disgusting faces of dozens of zombies suddenly appeared around him, illuminated by a flickering, orange-yellow light, which came from somewhere. Looking around him, he had the confirmation that he was surrounded by a whole bunch of living dead. Some of them looked strange, with broken, or even sometimes missing, arms or legs. Some of them had cranial fractures on their skulls. He guessed that these were the ones which had been clinging to the truck until the collision, and had been thrown against the wall when he had to break in an emergency. Many of them had been reduced into smithereens or even powder, but others were luckier – if one can say that an undead can be lucky, in a human way…

  They had stood up, despite the violence of their bodies hitting the wall hard. And like all the others, incomplete or not, hard battled or not, they were hungry. They're starving, longing for fresh meat, for my flesh!

  He recognized, in front of the group facing him, 'the' creature. The one that the chemical liquids had made him mistake for Marilyn Monroe. Perhaps it had been a pretty blonde in the past, before the arrival of the plague, but now the zombie was a nightmare for men – and any other human being - to look at. And worse now, it was watching him with avidity, opening a gaping mouth. The creature was clearly ready to charge straight toward him, like all the others. He felt the overwhelming pressure of the gathering, which was tightening its circle around him. Trembling, he realized that he was ringed by all of them. He felt like a lamb surrounding by a starving, slavering wolf pack. Unable to flee, but also to confront the harsh reality, he closed his eyes, awaiting the beginning of the blood bath.

  He was suddenly surprised when he felt a huge surge of heat which made him open his eyes. He then saw the long blonde hair of "Marilyn Monroe" catch fire. The zombie shrieked like a wounded animal when the flames spread and began to devour its face and, quickly, attained what remained of its white nurse’s dress. The other creatures began to spread away from it, clearly frightened by the fire. Some of them wailed until they were licked in turn by the huge flames, beginning to burn
in turn. Dazzled, Elmer was puzzled and his gaze followed up the blazing torch which was frying them.

  Standing, despite being unsteady, beginning to sweat, due to the enormous heat engulfing this scene from Hell, fascinated, he looked around. He saw that the blaze had been ignited by a fiery plume. The plume was coming from behind, on his right, and his eyes watered, in the glare and intensity of the light of the flames. And beyond the barrage of fire, wincing, he spotted a silhouette.

  The intense plume disappeared all of a sudden, without any warning, his eyes no more accustomed to the sudden dark. Dancing sparks, dancing now in his visual field, weren't sufficient to hide a man, who had been behind the blazing flood. He was standing many meters away, carrying a kind of big rifle in his hands. Lowering his gaze, Elmer saw that a small flame continued to burn out of its barrel. The man, a muscular blond, had a black leather jacket, and was wearing strange goggles.

  A half-crushed zombie, which had apparently lost its left limbs in the collision, grabbed the man’s boot with its only remaining left hand, and tried to bite it. Surprised a second and almost losing his balance, he hit the face of the creature hard, throwing it a few paces away.

  He pulled the trigger of the strange rifle, and a deluge of fire engulfed once again the living dead. He saw a bunch of these disappear while roaming about in a maelstrom of flames. Elmer sensed a hand in his back, making him wrench his neck to look back: two other creatures had arrived behind him, stealthily. Surprised, he jumped further, out of their reach, as if he had been struck by lightning.

  He was bewildered to see them suddenly ignited by another man, a colored one using the same equipment. He was joined by two others equipped in the same way.

  The blond man approached Elmer, leaving behind him on the ground the half-burnt zombie, which was now immobile and blackish, one could even describe it as caramelized. The fat man remained paralyzed by fear while watching the man come to him, the barrel of his strange rifle aimed at him. The scientist was literally hypnotized by the small, timid flame, which projected beyond the extremity of the barrel of the strange flame thrower. A flame which could at any moment inflate, becoming so impressive and destructive...