“Head is back, I see. Forgive me, I had to see it for myself. The 2012 prophecy lives in you. You are the Anomaly, the Abomination.”
I don’t know why, but we let him stay.
“No more of that shit, Legoni, or we will tear you apart.” I say.
“If only.” Legoni answers in a very strange way.
Milling about, Class Cs and below. There are buildings they use as shelter. I still haven’t figured out the food situation so I ask Michael.
“The small towns around here still have people and we hunt a few times a week. They are trapped here and can’t leave so that is good for us. We keep some in the buildings over there at the edge of the tarmac. They live on fish, we live on them.” Michael explains. “We don’t need to eat a whole lot. Probably due to the cold. Like I said, I can eat cod, but the rest need the living flesh, as you know.”
I ask, “Any problem with Frenzy up here. You know, the sudden community urge to kill all around you? Michael looked at me perplexed.
“Why would we just want to kill each other?” I explain Frenzy and he assures me that doesn’t happen here.
Chris and I each have a needle and we mingle through the masses giving vaccines. We only need to dip the needle in vaccine and prick each of them. It doesn’t take much with an injection when the subject is alive. We have Michael and Bob help. After a few hours we are confident we got most everyone. It shouldn’t be long now, maybe by morning, we start seeing some Class B soldiers waking up.
I have to ask Chris “Where did you get this Gerasene Legoni guy?”
She says “I don’t know, Het, and neither does Bob. We talked about it. He was just on the plane. That’s all we remember. He was on the plane. I must have forgot. Memory goes sometimes and you know Bob.”
Yeah I guess. Gerasene Legoni... The name sounds familiar. But I have forgotten a lot, too. I will look into it and watch him. Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer. Deads just don’t appear, we all have a story. We all have a reason. With that we decide to get some rest. It’s cold, so we all lie in a group to stay warm.
Except Legoni.
He sits awake by the fire. Staring into it like he’s thinking about something. Or someone...
19
The Devil You Know
And he asked him, "What is thy name?”
And he answered, saying, "My name is Legion:
for we are many.”
-Gospel of Mark, 5:9
I wake up to the sounds of Legoni examining the nearly completely healed wound on Michael’s neck. I put Legoni in a choke hold while Michael wakes up.
“I was only looking at the healing!” Legoni screams. “Release me!” I let him go. “I am coming with you on the mission to the Alliance.” He says. “I know them and I loathe them. And I can take you to their front door.”
“Absolutely not, you crazy son of a bitch. I want you no where near this mission. You nearly cut off my son’s head to watch it grow back. To Hell with you!” I say as I let him go.
“Not going back there, Hetfield, not again...” Legoni mumbles.
Another strange thing to say.
I walk over to Maslow and ask “Dimitri who is this fuck anyway?”
He turns toward me and says “He could be a Northern Alliance spy, he could just be crazy, or he could be the Devil himself. I myself am leaning toward the latter in the form of the Gerasene Demon.”
“The what?” I say.
“The Gerasene Demon.” He says.
“In the New Testament of the Bible, a man possessed by numerous demons encounters Jesus Christ and calls himself Legion. Legoni, I mean Legion, obviously afraid of Christ, begs to be spared from being sent back to Hell. Jesus casts the demons out of the man, granting their request, and allows them to dwell in a herd of pigs. The pigs then drown themselves in the Sea, and I feel, return to Hell anyway. Perhaps God did turn his back on earth, leaving us all to rot, here. A virus to blame. Even God has to operate within the physical laws of this world. Remember the flood? With God gone, Heaven and Hell went with him, and so did any divine order. Angels and Demons would have been left without a heaven or Hell, without this divine order. Would war erupt resulting in the death of demons and angels alike? Would they come back, lost perhaps? Their souls entering available dead humans about to reanimate. They are forced to share the bodies, and personalities, with the former owner. The realization of this would be slow in the mind of an infected soul. Maybe they walk the earth in the form of crazy evil co-pilots and long lost sons? All we need to have happen to confirm your wildest dreams is for Michael to throw Legoni to pigs. But, alas, there aren’t any in Newfoundland. So sorry Mr. Madden...”
With that he turns away and ignores me.
Demons? Well the dead are walking, wasn’t it only a matter of time until the Devil showed up? I think Legoni may think he is the Devil, or demons, or a demon, but I doubt it. No one else heard Maslow ranting, and I prefer to keep that story to myself.
Save for one part.
I see Legoni sitting under a tree. I walk to him and say “Are there any pigs in Newfoundland?” He looks at me. I walk away. Then he growls. “I am not one to toy with, Mr. Madden.” He says. I just keep walking.
Bob and Chris are loading up a small plane with Michael. “Michael,” I say. “Chris and I will do this run without Bob or Maslow. Bob, stay here and keep that nut job Legoni away from my son.”
“I agree.” Bob groans.
“Who will fly the plane?” asks Chris.
“I will.” I say. “I can’t fly cargo jets, but I did get a license to fly a Cessna like this. Used to fly advertisements up and down the beach when I was in college. I have hundreds of hours, just never pursued it much after school.” I explained.
It is time to leave. We get in the plane. I start the engine and have no trouble remembering how to fly. I was kind of worried that the memories wouldn’t come.
Chris looks at me. “I knew you would remember. Now let’s go take a look at our competition.”
The plane is a single engine top wing with skis under the wheels. Empty mailbags are in the back of the plane so I know what the plane was used for. I am relieved knowing the plane was maintained for mail delivery and not for flying to the mainland once a year. We take off and the hum of the engine is again relaxing, and the view of the ice and snow below is quite spectacular.
“Chris, If I said I thought Legoni may be the Devil, or a Demon, what would you think?”
She answers “Het, with all the shit we’ve been through, demons in our midst are not beyond the boundaries of my belief system anymore. Not much is. Did Maslow put this idea in your head?”
“Yeah.” I say. “Legoni anagrams to Legion, the demons in the bible that Jesus cast out.”
“So say he is a demon, Het.” She says. “Then what? What does he want? Or maybe he is an angel. I have read the Old Testament and angels are tough, and even murderers in some Jewish text. They also bring news of bad things to come. I wouldn’t worry about it. Bob admires Michael and will not let anything happen to him at the hands of Legoni, demon or not.”
As the sky darkens up we can see land. We are very low to avoid radar, and we can see the lights of Nuuk. We turn sharply East and look for a place on the ice to land far enough away to avoid being identified, and close enough to trek there.
It will be below 0 degrees Celsius, freezing. We are well dressed, layered several times over, and we heavily oiled our skin before leaving Newfoundland to seal in warmth. We have radios and pistols we got from Michael. We should be fine.
I look over at Chris and she is reading the map. “Het, we should be coming up on a perfect spot to set her down. Then we’ll have about a 5 mile walk to Nuuk. We can land the plane, get some rest, and wake up fresh. It would be nice to move at night, but the day may bring above freezing temperature this time of year. And that will make it possible to walk. Healthies moved up here to be freed from Deads by the cold. But they didn’t count on us!”
We both laugh.
I come up on the landing area just as Chris said and I set the plane down. We get in the back seat and settle in for the night. We rest in each other’s arms.
Morning comes with a polar bear sniffing at our plane. Before I can say anything, Chris puts a bullet in its head.
“Those things are killers. We don’t need the attention it will draw to us. Plus we can cut it up and use the fur to keep warm tonight on the outskirts of Nuuk.” She says.
We get out of the plane and slice the fur off the bear and each take half. The bloody fur feels warm around me.
She points and says “Nuuk is that way, looks like we’re walking.” But before we can head towards the city, I look in the plane window and in the front seat... It’s Legoni. I look at Chris but she already sees. He gets out.
“Good morning lovely and brisk, isn’t it? Shall we walk to Nuuk?”
I ask “How did you get here, what did you...”
“I got on the plane with you both in Newfoundland. Didn’t say much. And here we are. Please, follow me...”
Chris and I look at each other and decide to follow. He continues to talk.
“Mr. Madden, while we walk I have some knowledge that may be of interest to you. Your son Michael was taken from you by Maslow and your employer, GenCap. It seems your devotion to him interfered with your work. They paid your wife off, and threatened the life of Michael, so she left you and took your son. Of course, you were depressed for a bit, but that ended, and GenCap has a way of getting you to throw yourself into your work. Especially a man who’s weakness is green and made of paper. Money, Mr. Madden, made you do what they told you to do. Nice cars, vacations, ladies, or should I say women. You were well paid and well laid, Mr. Madden... and in regards to your son you thought “That bitch can have him, he loved her more anyway.”
He was right about it all. I don’t know how he knows, but he does. He knows more than I cared to remember.
He continued. “And you Ms. Wells. The things you did to get through medical school were creative and carnal. You slept with every professor, attending physician, and even a few of your friends fathers, and mothers, for grades, money, and drugs. You were a whore, Christine, nothing else describes it. A dirty little whore who wanted nothing more than to succeed and stay high. Your first meth lab was in your apartment in college. Your last was on Manhattan. You even slept your way to your position in the CDC.”
“You are lying, you son of a bitch. Het that is not true!” Chris shouts.
“I know, he is trying to get in our heads. Don’t let him.” I say.
I can tell he was spot on about Chris, but don’t care. Was I really that different? And who is this... man? I now want to follow him more than ever, and Chris isn’t stopping either.
“Who are you, Legoni?” I ask, wanting to hear it from him.
“Let’s just say, I no longer dwell with pigs.”
Chris looks at me. We know who he is. I think Maslow was right. I think the figure I am following to Nuuk, Greenland, with the woman I love is the Devil himself. The Apocalyptic turn my life has taken is at the same time shocking, yet not unexpected. God left, but Satan didn’t. Why would he? This is what he has been waiting for. A world where heaven is gone, and Hell is on earth.
“Go ahead, either of you, ask me anything. We have a good walk ahead.” Legoni says invitingly.
Instead I tell Chris what I think.
“Chris, the man we follow today is exactly who you think. He is the Devil himself.”
Legoni shakes his head.
“He appears where he wants, he knows thinks about us no one could, and is probably going to kill us.” I say calmly.
“Mr. Madden,” Legoni begins. “You watched too many movies in your previous life. I am a former AIA agent who still has network access to Northern Alliance files.”
He holds up a Blackberry.
“I simply entered your names. Nuuk has an operational grid. And if I wanted you dead you would be dead already. I am taking you to Nuuk to show you the condition of the Mighty Alliance, or should I say Paper Tiger. Weapons are quite useless without fuel and ammunition, and the Alliance has little of both. They do things sparingly and limit attacks to offensive posturing and defensive hiding.” He whips the dogs pulling our sled and they speed up. I look at Chris and she looks back. When did we get on this sled?
“We all got on the sled by the plane.” Legoni adds. “The cold does strange things to the mind of the Dead. Short Term Memory Loss is the biggest problem; as you are experiencing.”
We race on through the desolate Greenland landscape.
“There in the distance, Nuuk and the Northern Alliance.” Legoni proudly announces.
We approach Nuuk a few miles away but in an instant, we are off the sled and walking the street. It is quiet at first but soon a wild throng of Alliance citizens rush out to greet Legoni and the way they stare at Chris and me can only be described as ravenous.
“Mr. Legoni, you have brought the infidels you prophesized?” A large woman asks. “The leader of the thinking dead that threatens our existence. You brought him to slaughter, to burn?”
“No!” Legoni shouts. “Everyone be calm!”
My God they are his people, and there are hundreds including soldiers.
“This is the Father of the demon Michael that would eat your children as soon as speak their names! We can use this man, and his whore, to barter for what we want. I implore you not to harm our leverage to bring down the residents of Deadland, to defeat them, and to live lives with no fear.” He finishes, looks at us, and says “Trust me, I will keep you alive. Follow me to my home.”
Armed guards come and escort us to a house built into a hill. The crowd dissipates and there is not a sound. We enter the home and are invited to sit down. Legoni closes the door.
“Het, Chris, if I were Satan would I only lead this small area of the earth? You once believed I didn’t exist, so you must still believe I don’t. Just think of me as an agent for the Allied Intelligence Agency. Forgive me, I am remiss in my manners, welcome to my home...”
20
Sheol Alone
When a madman speaks, it is usually a good idea to listen. This is something I have learned over the years, and I have found it to be true more often than not. You see, most of the people I meet are mad, or soon getting there. Ego is an amazing thing. The more you listen, the more he wants to talk. This can not only buy you some time, but also create opportunity. And opportunity can save your life.
“Het, Chris... I hope the informality is acceptable. When I am in my home I like to be casual.” Legoni begins.
He is standing in front of us; we are sitting on a sofa.
“The Northern Alliance and the people we protect are smaller in numbers than you may think. In fact we have about 500 civilians and 200 troops here in Greenland, and about 5000 scattered through out Canada, Alaska, and Northern Europe. However, we are not the only humans left. Hawaii is a large base of operations for the Pacific Rim Alliance. Australia is largely free of Deads as well. Hawaii was easy to fortify and control, except for Oahu, it is dead. Australia is a mystery. The infection never really took a strong hold there. When they heard about it--and some say they were told in advance, they stopped all incoming flights. If you wanted to leave, you were welcome to go, but you couldn’t come back. This worked well for rationing supplies as a lot of folks there didn’t trust their leaders and wanted out. The Government there quickly went almost Fascist, Marshall law, no trials, women and children as property, and interestingly enough--a lot of American and British Government Officials made their way there from here in the North once they found the “coast was clear”. Anyway, civilization for this Northern Alliance is practically third world. We have food and water, there are always fish to catch and snow to melt. However, the population here is heavily into the 2012 prophecies that focus on the end of the world, or if you believe the way I do, a spiritual enlightening. The day came and went and now
we find ourselves past the end of the world--and it is not truly gone. On one hand the world survives, laughing in the face of those who thought it would end. But on the other, it did end. Not in fire, or even in ice. But in the grandest of biblical proportions. The dead walk. You both walk among the living. This blasphemy can only mean that God himself has left us, forever. At the end of 2012 He left, took heaven with him. And as I am sure Mr. Maslow told you, that meant Hell went with it. That is where he is wrong. Hell didn’t go very far at all, it just came here. Most of mankind worries their whole life that they may end up in Hell if they weren’t good enough in life. Well guess what, Hell came to them.”
“So are you saying this is the rapture spoken of in the Christian Bible?” Chris asks.
Het Madden, A Zombie Perspective: Book One: WRATH 2012 (Volume 1) Page 18
