The Mulligan Planet 2
by
Zachariah Dracoulis
Certainly there is no hunting like the hunting of man and those who have hunted armed men long enough and liked it, never really care for anything else thereafter.
— Ernest Hemingway—
Something New
Nothing felt real. Months of searching and I’d finally found my team. It was meant to be a happy moment.
“I said get on the damn ground!”
The blood on my face didn’t make me feel an unbearable hunger. It didn’t even register as sustenance. Instead it acted as a red fuel for my anger as I had my face pushed onto the warm tar and had my backpack pulled off and tossed aside.
I kept my eyes locked on Steve’s face as S’ men handcuffed us. All that was left of the man that had done so much for us was an unseeing, unsettling, one-eyed gaze. That, and his seemingly ever increasing pool of blood that had soaked into his thick woollen jumper and was slowly creeping its way toward me.
I couldn’t let the others down like Steve. I’d eliminated three ideas by the time he’d gone through his healing ‘twitch’ and was working on another.
Then he blinked.
His eyes weren’t vacant anymore.
He was back. Except he wasn’t. There was something different. Was it the way that he blinked each eye slightly out of sync? Was it the way that his mouth began snapping open and shut?
Or was it that he didn’t seem to resemble a human returning to life, but more an angry Cerberus being awoken by meddlesome pre-teens?
Honestly it could’ve been a combination of all of those things that led to my realisation that it wasn’t Steven any more.
Before I could say so much as ‘fuckledoodleloo’ Steven was up and tearing apart the screaming bandits and I saw our chance. I looked between the truck and the burning hole in the ship and made my decision.
“Mark! Har! Under the truck!” I shouted almost silently under the gun-fire, scattered screams and snarls and yet, by some miracle, they heard me.
I belly crawled my way under the truck with the others close behind me before hiding to the best of my ability behind one of the large tires.
My white shirt and jeans were covered in dirt, blood and water, but my brown leather jacket was relatively unscathed, a hollow victory while my friend systematically butchered the bandits just outside of my view.
I looked over to Mark who had followed my example of hiding behind a tire while Harry chose to roll to the other side of the truck and sit out of view. They were both drenched and shaking, Marcus kept his eyes locked shut while Harry looked to the sky and mumbled something.
It felt like I was stuck watching my friends slowly break for hours before the last of the blood choked screams stopped.
I peered around my rubber cover and saw the figure that used to be Steven sniffing the air while frequent twitches accompanied violent chomps. I really didn’t want to end up as the next thing on the menu. It seemed like it would be the absolute worst thing to happen.
Then, “John!?” was called out from deep inside the destroyed alien vessel by Kate’s voice.
‘No!’
I silently, and naively, hoped that at some point in the zombification process they lost the ability to hear.
I was wrong. So wrong.
Without a second of hesitation the creature that was once Steven sprinted into the ship. Unlike him, however, I wasn’t being pushed on by an insatiable hunger and my decisions had more thought.
I’m giving myself too much credit.
The second ‘Zom-eve’…
Stev-bie?
St-om-en?
I don’t know, I’ll stick with Steven.
The second Steven had started his sprint I’d already pulled apart the handcuff’s chain and was helping the others do the same. The wafting scent of freshly spent rounds and blood spurred my adrenaline and anger in further distorting my fractured reality.
Without saying a word Harry and Mark found their weapons while I debated on just using my pistols but eventually decided that automatic weapons would probably be best. I found the one that was least covered in blood, scooped it up and prepared to run in after our friend.
“What are you doing?” Marcus said while grabbing at me from behind.
It took me a second to process what he had said, not due to a misunderstanding, but to the fact that it seemed obvious to me what had to be done. “What do you think? Kate’s in there!”
Marcus nodded, “I know, and likely the others as well.”
“Exactly! So we’ve got to get in there!”
“No John, it’s just another reason we shouldn’t go in there. They’ve got three highly trained vampires. We’ve got one, a scientist, and a civie. I don’t think that we’re equipped to handle a… whatever Steven is now.”
Harry continued to scan the area around us, “Aside from the civie thing I agree with Mark. We can’t just go charging in there, he’ll rip us apart in seconds.”
“So, what? We’re meant to just leave them in there?” My impatience was turning into anger.
Harry bent down and grabbed my backpack, “No, heading back out there would be suicide without the truck. I just think we should be smart about this, if the sound of the cuffs clinking away doesn’t get his attention you charging in blind sure as Hell will.”
I caught the backpack as it was thrown at me and put it on. He was right, I knew that, but it didn’t make it any easier. “Fine, what do you suggest?”
“We go in there, but we do it smart, quiet. Look for a trail and follow it.” He stuffed a few more clips and other bits and pieces into the duffel and swung it over his shoulder.
I didn’t notice it then, but something about spending time with S’ men had changed him. He wasn’t slouching comfortably anymore, his back was straight and his heels were pressed together. It was as if he’d done some sort of service time. That’s probably why I dismissed it, the idea that my flappy hipster had done anything more than killed a spider before was inconceivable.
Marcus shrugged and grew back his weak smile, “I’d rather die saving my friends than running.”
“Alright then. It was your idea Har, what trail are we following?”
“Well, you managed to track those guys from the camp using blood. Do you think you could sniff out the explosive residue on them?”
I don’t know why but the first thing to jump to my mind when he said that was ‘racist’. “I’m a vampire Har, not a German Sheppard.” I said, trying to block as much of my disdain as possible.
“Where are you John!” My own personal Siren’s song called again, triggering the involuntary reaction of turning my good ear to the call and listening for a point of origin.
“Cool!”
“Shut up for a second…” It took me a moment but then I heard it, she must have been running toward us because the sound of heavy boots thumping on metal was only getting louder. “I can hear them! Come on!”
I turned to face Harry who was stuffing a large black device into the duffel, a smirk painted clearly across his face.
“What...” then the cause of the smirk occurred to me, “I am not a dog!”
Harry laughed, “Sure sure.”
Before I could respond with some witty remark or another Marcus jabbed me in the side, “Can we hurry this the fuck up please? I don’t want my friends getting eaten.”
It was weird hearing Mark swear, like a grandmother… or an eggplant.
I decided against talking anymore and ran straight into the ship, my gun raised high regardless of years of training telling me not to. T
he idea that Steve could literally be anywhere in the unknown ship made things like that seem unimportant.
The ship was awe-inspiring to say the least. Even destroyed beyond believable repair it remained a technological goldmine.
I was surprised that Mark wasn’t stopping every five seconds.
Even I felt the slight urge to stop and investigate the flickering lights that didn’t appear to be attached to anything or the upward sliding doors that sparked and occasionally jolted as we dashed past.
Blue handprints and splatter marks decorated the walls, initially I figured it was like the ancient artworks scattered around the globe then noticed some of the splatters were dripping.
I stopped seeing them as finger paintings and saw them as a different form of art, something I’d seen and even contributed to dozens of times in my past profession.
‘So this is what you guys bleed.’
The ship stopped being a maze for finding a loved one and became yet another canvas for my dark artwork.
I shook my mind free of the imagery of dying crew members and focussed on the walls behind my macabre piece.
The walls that we silently stomped through seemed to be made of metal, but the cracks suggested something more akin to fibre-glass.
“Steven? Is that you Steve!?” A joyful male voice rang out from the corner hall just ahead of us.
I had to make a choice, call out and give away my position or go in tactically and smart, ensuring the safety of everyone involved.
“That’s not Steve! Get away from him!”
Don’t you judge me.
The first thing I saw when I ran around the corner was Kate. For a moment nothing else existed or mattered. She was there. Safe. Alive.
“John?” The deep Russian accent buried its charming German echo.
“Get over here now!”
My old team immediately ran over to us, unblocking the view of Steven at the other side of the hall through my iron-sight.
Something about the way he watched us was different from the other zeds.
He didn’t seem to be blinded by hunger or anger. He wasn’t charging after us with his mouth snapping.
Instead he just stood there, twitching every few seconds. I’d seen it a few times in the past, he wasn’t waiting for an opportunity or confused about the situation. He was sizing us up, deciding whether or not he could take us all on.
“For God’s sake John, take the damn shot!” Apparently Marcus wasn’t analysing the situation as well as me.
As I said, I’d seen the behaviour before, and I’d also seen over eager people take a shot and trigger a less than appealing result from the target.
If I missed and he still had his vampiric speed he’d be on us in a second. That and the drooling, twitching and blood covered-ness of Steven was really quite… creepy.
“Harry, Marcus, I would like you to get the others out of here, I’ll be right behind you.”
“But-“
“Not now Har. Just do as I say and get out of here. I’ll meet you at the truck.”
I couldn’t take my eyes off of Steven, but I could hear the footsteps leaving through the way we came.
It was just Steven and I, and he knew it. Something akin to a smile briefly flashed across his face.
Then he roared.
It sounded like nothing I’d heard before. It was both deep and high pitched, like two voices were coming through the same blood choked throat, one screaming in unbearable pain while the other bellowed.
He sprinted toward me at incredible speed then stopped halfway. I don’t why but I just couldn’t pull the trigger, not that it mattered, he was clearly much more interested in something else.
He stood in place again, less than ten feet from his prey, tilted his head, squinted and waited.
My heart felt like it was going to thump out of my chest. I silently hoped that he’d just attack me so it could all be over.
But he didn’t.
Instead his eyes shot wide open, he straightened his head, with one final twitch, barked at me, turned around and then disappeared into the ship.
After the initial shock wore off I stopped scanning the hallway and dropped onto my arse, letting the gun drop beside me.
Not only had I just lost a friend, I’d found my team, had my friend turn into a super zombie and then ordered everyone that was close to me away.
I needed a minute to say the least.
But I wasn’t going to get it.
I was alone with my thoughts for less than a minute before a familiar voice ripped through the ship.
“Shenim! Hierjas ol jifan!”
I’d only heard it once before when he’d ordered his troops to shoot us. His face when he’d seen me was like he knew me, and not just knew me, but hated me as well.
But how could he know me? I’d only seen him once before and he was shooting at me, not the other way around.
Maybe it was just a general hate for all humans.
“I will find you John Prince!”
Then again, maybe not.
Hide and Seek
I buried my dread and scooped up my gun and looked down the hall for the source of the truly blood-curdling bellow that continued to call out for me.
It was definitely a male voice. Human?... not so much. Occasionally he’d drift back into what I’d assumed was his native language but mostly he stuck to English.
The voice moved through the ship and was almost impossible to pin-point. Was it just an echo that bounced around from the corner or was I about to be ripped to pieces by an extra-terrestrial?
“You will pay for your crimes!” The voice called from further away than last time and I moved.
At first I kept to a quiet but slow pace, my weapon moving in time with my eyes as I took ‘Nutbush’ steps.
You know what I mean? That one when you twist right before you jump.
Doesn’t matter.
Within a few seconds I’d given up on stealth and was quickly getting myself desperately lost in the gargantuan ship, turning tail every so often when an echo got a bit uncomfortably close.
Sweat started to bead on my forehead as the feeling of being a child bereft of a mother in the anxiety pits known as a ‘grocery store’ reached peak levels.
Dark halls, arcs of blue light and broken doors were starting to become an annoyance with their repetitive nature. Everything seemed familiar yet not at the same time.
It was maddening.
And then, finally, I was somewhere unfamiliar, a railed metal-meshed walkway. Towards the end it had a step that led to what appeared to be a multi-levelled command centre.
From what I could see I was alone, and so I gave up on pretending I wasn’t interested in the scenery and looked around the cracked glass dome that I’d found myself in.
I let my gun hang by my side and gazed in wonderment at everything, spinning around and around in attempt to take it all in.
It was-
“Amazing, isn’t it?”
I spun to face the command centre and caught my alien pursuer in my sights as he walked calmly toward me with his arms crossed behind his back. “You mustn’t have seen anything like it, not in this age at least, John Prince.” His voice, though deep and commanding, held none of the anger it had had before.
It only unsettled me more.
He was still wearing his military robes and I decided it was as good a time as any to truly analyse it. Other than the black stiff collar it was long and white with what looked like metal plates of red which behaved like leather, bending and shifting as he moved. These patches of red sat on either side of his broad chest, shoulders and elbows as well as the two stripes of it that ran from his breast-pockets down to the base of the uniform which hid his feet.
Various decorations were pinned to his chest to match the rank marks that sat on his shoulders. A silky looking red sash was wrapped around his mid-section and, shockingly, not a single weapon was in view.
That didn’t stop me from kee
ping my gun on him though.
“Yes, quite amazing, as is your… ensemble. Very elegant.” He stopped a few feet from me and I got a sense of just how big he was, at least seven and a half foot tall and athletically built.
He ignored the gun that I had aimed right at his head, and smiled, “Thank you, you wouldn’t believe what it takes to get it on in the morning.”
I stood in silence, not out of some sense of impertinence or anything, I just didn’t know what to say while he looked around the broken remains of his ship.
“I’m guessing you’re wondering who I am then?”
Again, words escaped me.
“My name is Neysor. I’m a commander, scientist and a hero of my species, the Gralari. Now how do I know who you are? Well that’s very simple John, I’m your progenitor.”
I had a bit of a stupid moment and I couldn’t stop myself from saying “You’re God?”
Neysor turned and looked at me, his mouth opening and closing a few times before he gave me a look of agreeance as if to say ‘eh, good enough’.
I decided to try and save face and straightened myself up, “Why’d you do all this? Why poison the people you created?”
He smiled falsely and perked up, “Oh, yeah, you’ll like this, great story. You see we made a bit of a mistake there, and we accept that, but we were so close to actually fixing it. I was announcing it to my crew when… hmm… something happened,” He smashed the gun out of my hand and sent it tumbling into the darkness below, “That’s right! You decided to fly a plane into my ship!”
“Wha-” He pushed me backward, clearly the angry version of him was back.
“I’m not done! Let’s see, what else… oh yes. You killed thousands of my crew, destroyed every byte of data that could’ve saved your pitiful civilization and, worst of all, you brought me down to your level!”
He took advantage of my moment of self-actualization and lifted me up by my shirt, “Look down there and tell me what you see!”
I peered over into the darkness, “Noth-” Then a flash of light illuminated dozens of broken bodies and pools of blue blood.
The Mulligan Planet 2 (The Mulligan Planet Trilogy) Page 1
