by Rockow, B.
Jones struggled with his hunger for human flesh. Being locked up alone with Wimpy was gruelling. He constantly had to resist the urge to tear into his fellow soldier’s flesh. The struggle was tiring. It exasperated the throbbing pain inside his skull. In his more lucid moments, Jones would remember why he was going to China. The pain of being apart from Emma Jo and his son to be was excruciating when it surfaced.
The two soldiers didn’t talk much on the way to China. There wasn’t much left to say. The feeling that the whole course of human civilization was turning started to sink in for Wimpy. He felt like he was in a weird sci-fi novel. He got a kick out of that. It reminded him of Roddy and the books that he wanted to write. Far out stories of soldiers battling impossible enemies on distant planets. Except this time, the fight had come right to earth.
After what seemed like an eternity of traveling by sea, the two soldiers got word that they would dock in Shanghai within a few hours. Their spirits immediately perked up. One of the shipmates brought a bottle of cheap vodka down for them to share. The soldiers and the shipmate passed the bottle around until its last drop was emptied.
Once the ship docked, Jones felt a tingle run up his spine, as if somebody he knew was returning home from a far away journey. He stood up, drunk from the vodka, and waited. Within a few moments, the doors of the tiny room flung open.
Jones stared into the eyes of a zombie. Four more giants stood in the hall.
Wimpy tried to resist, but the zombies overpowered him.
The soldiers had stepped into a great trap, and from their vantage point, there was little they could do to escape.
In a strange way, Jones felt that he was in the right hands. He felt close to his captors, as if they were going to bring him to his destination.
The soldiers were separated into two different military vehicles.
The black trucks sped away into the lights of the neon city. One going north, and the other south.
Chapter Fifteen
Forgotten Dreams
“Put the women in the cell,” Gorud said. He was an Orobu scientist and was facilitating this experiment. He directed the four guards that stood in front of Savannah’s cell on a rotating schedule.
Another couple zombies had just kidnapped a prostitute from the streets of Detroit. The woman was scared to death, but she didn’t have the strength to fight back against the giants. “This is a test run. We have to see how the inmate reacts.”
Savannah was being held in an abandoned insane asylum in rural Michigan. Ever since her capture in Kansas, she had been held here in secret. Not a single human soul knew of her whereabouts.
The Orobu were using Savannah as a test subject for a newly improved version of the weaponized M-Worm. The Orobu paid good money, two billion dollars, to a rogue pharmaceutical company out of China to extract the worm from the Orobu zombies and test it on chimpanzees.
The tests had been administered in recent days. The results were promising. Within an hour of administering the worm to the chimps, mayhem ensued. The infected primates slowly devolved into cannibals. Throughout the transformation the chimps retained their cognitive faculties. They were able to solve the same puzzles that they were before the introduction of the contagion. The worm temporarily increased their strength and agility as well. This boost in physical prowess greatly diminished once the infected chimps satisfied their cannibalistic urges. However, once hunger struck again, the chimps went bezerk and regained the boost in physical power.
Savannah had been exposed to an aerosol of the worm not more than an hour before the other captive arrived. Gorud wasn’t aware that a normal Orobu worm had also wiggled its way into her nasal cavity back in Kansas. How that missing piece of information would impact the experiment was yet to be seen.
The Orobu guards threw the bound and gagged prostitute into the cell. “Do what you wish,” the guard said to Savannah. “Free her if you want.” The guard tossed a pocket knife into the cell.
Savannah scurried for the knife. She felt pity for the new prisoner and wanted to help her. She quickly cut the ropes that were tied tightly around the woman’s, freeing her from the terror of her capture.
“My God,” Savannah gasped. “I’m so, so sorry.”
The prostitute was a black girl who couldn’t have been older than twenty years old. She wore a short neon green skirt and a white tube top. Gold chains, bracelets, and rings adorned her body. She was petite with large breasts. She eyed Savannah with distrust. “Get off me bitch,” she said. “Don’t fucking touch me.”
Savannah recoiled into a corner. Her delicate hands shook. The pocket knife seemed like it was going to drop from her grip. “I just want to help,” Savannah said. She thought her appearance caused the girl’s reaction. Savannah knew that she had a sickly look to her since being held captive in the cell, with no access to sunlight or healthy food. Her skin had reddened since the aerosol was administered. She could feel splotches of red heat and sweat break out in swaths across her body. Savannah didn’t want to intimidate this woman. “I’m going to put the knife down. Right here in front of me. There’s nothing to fear.”
The girl didn’t trust anybody with a knife. If a knife was around, it better have been in her hands. She waited until Savannah gently placed the knife on the cold concrete floor before saying another word. “I don’t care who you are or why we’re here,” she said. “But there’s a couple things you’re gonna have to understand about me. I don’t trust no bitch.”
Savannah felt that the power of the Lord could bring the woman into friendship. “I was the wife of a church leader,” she said. “I have found that during tough times in life, it is best to pray. The voice of God tells me that you know this to be true. Join me in prayer.” Savannah extended a her hand in friendship. “It will help us in this trying time.”
The girl rolled her eyes. “Tough times?” she said sarcastically. “Your ass hasn’t seen tough times. I can bet on that.”
Savannah’s eyes welled with tears. She remembered the day that her first precious child, a daughter, emerged from her womb stillborn. She remembered the day that she was told her brother, Chuck “Big Boy” Williams, had been killed while on a mission in Afghanistan. Savannah crumbled to the cold concrete floor as she remembered watching her husband struggle for honor and life beneath the Kansas sun. Her heart broke just thinking about where those giant freaks had taken her beloved son.
“I have seen hard times,” Savannah said. Her voice was shaking. She struggled to keep back the tears. “I sure have, just as you have. Let us join in fellowship. Let us calm our spirits by the hand of the Lord.”
The girl’s look hardened. She stared skeptically into Savannah’s eyes. The prostitute took slow, steady steps towards her. She kept her gaze straight on to Savannah, but glanced down quickly to see exactly where the knife was positioned on the ground. She got close enough to lock hands with Savannah. And just as the two seemed to join in congregation, she shoved Savannah against the wall.
Savannah gasped as the wind was knocked out of her. The back of her head hit the wall hard. She saw stars. In a blur she watched the girl pick up the knife. Before Savannah could react, the girl had her in a chokehold, with the knife dangerously close to her jugular.
“Now what?” the girl said defiantly. “Now what is your God gonna do? Jesus ain’t gonna do shit up in this cell.”
Savannah struggled to breathe. The prostitute tightened her grip around Savannah’s neck. “Don’t do this,” Savannah choked out. “Don’t… do… this.”
The girl wasn’t going to let go. She wanted Savannah dead.
Suddenly, Savannah experienced a surge of supernatural strength. She felt her arms and legs bulge. Her heart thumped against her ribcage. Her skin tightened, and as she was being choked she looked down and watched as her flesh turned bright red. Savannah believer her sudden strength was an answer to the prayers she was silently delivering to her God.
In one fell swoop Savannah reached around and grab
bed the prostitute by the head and flung her onto the ground. The knife went flying and landed at the other end of the cell. Savannah pounced on the girl and pinned her to the concrete floor. “God has spoken,” Savannah said. Her breath was deep and erratic. Her skin pulsed. Her heart beat hard and quick, as if she had just completed a triathlon. “His judgement is clear. Now stay down. Do not lay your hands upon me again, for I am a child of the Lord, and I am sanctified in his word!”
The girl struggled to breathe. Savannah leaned into the prostitute’s face. She gritted her teeth and spit straight into the girl’s eyes. “I’ll let you go under one condition,” Savannah said. “Behave yourself. You are nothing but a sinner in my eyes. And if you sin against me, if you betray my trust, then you betray the trust of the Lord Jesus Christ himself. Do you understand?”
The girl could hardly nod her head in assent. Savannah had one hand square on the prostitute’s throat, and the other on her left elbow. Savannah’s knees took care of her right arm and lower body.
The storehouse of pain and wrath that Savannah had been through were bursting through. Her brain throbbed as memories of the events of the past few days scrambled through her mind. Every cell in her body was infused with a strange, intoxicating power. She could feel herself rising above the hurt and anger, as those emotions were being channeled into this incredible power that coursed through her flesh and bones.
The girl’s eyes begged for release.
“Obey my commands,” Savannah said. “And you will not be hurt again.”
Savannah let the prostitute go and the two women quickly found themselves on opposite ends of the cell. Savannah stood confident as a queen. The prostitute was shaking, scared to death of the fury that was just unleashed upon her.
“Now tell me your name,” Savannah said. “We will get to know each other now.”
The girl’s face contorted in sadness. She felt ashamed of herself for the first time since she could remember. If the power of God really was alive in this, then it was time to come clean and wash her own soul as well. “They call me Anastasia,” she said. “But my real name is Jessie Lee.”
“Where are you from Jessie?”
“Grew up in Columbus, Ohio. My mom worked for the city. My father was in prison since the day I was born.”
Savannah wanted to know more, but the conversation had become a game to her. She felt like a predator teasing its prey. Savannah took a couple steps forward. “Tell me how you ended up as a jezebel,” she said. “What brought you into Satan’s fold?”
Jessie’s body slunk to the ground. She felt helpless, and relieved. Finally somebody was willing to listen. “When I was fifteen I had a boyfriend,” she said. “They called him Smokey. I’d do anything for him. He was a lot older than me. Almost thirty years old. But he took good care of me. Bought me nice things. Showed me off to his friends. Made me feel real good.”
Savannah took a few steps closer. The Orobu guard had been monitoring the situation very closely. He contacted his supervisors to let them know that it looked like the worm had kicked in and was doing its thing. Savannah stopped in the middle of the room. She sat down so she could be on the same level as Jessie. “What did your boyfriend do to you, my dear.”
Jessie stared down at the ground as she spoke. Her words came out mumbled and soft. “He started sharing me with his friends. He called it a privilege. At first I didn’t like it, but these were all people I knew. I got used to it. It didn’t take long before I was doing favors for people I had never met before. That’s when it started to get bad between me and Smokey.”
“You became a whore,” Savannah said. She spoke with equal parts condemnation and excitement. Savannah had never conversed with a real prostitute on this level before. Something about it enticed her. She still felt the power of the Lord coursing through her. Sweat beaded all along her brow ridge and up and down the flesh of her spine. Savannah felt incredibly famished, and suddenly Jessie looked delectable. “Lay your sins before me, child. Become free in the eyes of the Lord.”
Jessie looked up at Savannah. The prostitute was starting to trust this woman. She seemed genuine. Very few people Jessie came across were ever this interested in her well being. “I’ve done bad things,” she said. “I mean really bad things. The sex is one thing. I’ve done nasty sex. But that’s nothing. I killed a john once. I slashed his throat and took his wallet.” Jessie threw her head back in shame. “I didn’t have to do that. My pimp told me to do it. I could’ve said no, ran away, done something different.”
Savannah felt like this was the perfect opportunity to get close to the girl. She stood up and walked over to the prostitute. Savannah sat next to Jessie and held the girl’s head in her bosom. She stroked the girl’s hair to calm her. “It’s okay, my dear,” she said. “It’ll be alright, child. You’re in the hands of the Lord now. You are going to be free.”
Presently, Savannah tightened her grip on Jessie’s body. The girl felt comfortable up until this point, but was now trying to get free from Savannah’s grip.
“Alright, I’m done,” Jessie said.
Savannah let go of the girl. She looked Jessie straight in the eyes. “But we were just getting started.”
Savannah leaped towards Jessie. The two struggled for a moment, but it became very clear who was going to come out ahead in the altercation. Savannah’s body was raging with the supernatural energy that she had attributed to her God. But even though she was under what she thought was divine inspiration, there was a devilish desire that had swelled deep inside her.
It wasn’t long before Jessie’s body faltered. She had become exhausted in the struggle against Savannah. Her limbs were limp. The will to fight was there, but it couldn’t be properly executed through her tired physical frame.
Savannah flipped Jessie onto her belly. She pulled the girl’s hands behind her back and dug her knee into her wrists. Savannah bent down and sniffed Jessie’s neck. It smelled delicious. Savannah’s mouth salivated. She sunk her teeth into Jessie and ripped out a chunk of her flesh.
Jessie screamed bloody murder.
But her screams went unanswered.
The Orobu guard pulled out a video recorder to document the scene. “It is August 15th, 8:18PM, one hour and thirty five minutes after we administered the worm to the test subject. Savannah has turned cannibal.”
The feeding frenzy continued inside the cell. Savannah was flailing her hands in and out of Jessie’s body. With each strike another hunk of flesh was tore from her bones. Savannah stuffed the human meat between her teeth. She hardly chewed the flesh before sending it straight down her throat.
Jessie’s screams came to an end as the blood from the attack coated over half the cell’s concrete floor. Savannah wasn’t done yet. There was one particular delicacy remaining. The brains. Savannah palmed the back of Jessie’s head and smashed it on the concrete over and over again until it cracked. She flipped the prostitute’s inert body over and pulled the forehead apart from the middle with her hands.
The brain sat there as a delectable morsel, gray and spongy. Savannah sunk her face right into the skull’s opening and didn’t pull back until the entire organ was consumed.
The supervisor of the experiment, a Orobu giant by the name of Gorud, observed Savannah as she feasted. “This is an entirely new potential that we’ve discovered,” he told the guard. “The Orobu leadership will be pleased with the results.”
Gorud unlocked the cell’s steel door and stepped inside. Savannah didn’t notice the entrance of the giant. She was busy lapping up the last morsels of flesh and blood in the skull of the prostitute. “Good evening,” Gorud said. He was very mild mannered and intelligent looking for being a Orobu. “I have a few questions that I’d like to ask of you.”
Savannah stopped, lifted her head, and turned to face Gorud. What she had done hit her right there and then. And it hit her hard. The power and the fury that had just possessed her had now left her body. She looked back down at Jessie. “What have I
done? God forgive me, I am forsaken.”
Gorud stood cautiously at a distance from Savannah. The studies conducted on chimps were fairly conclusive that the symptoms of the worm were cyclical and not constant. There was a cool down period, as it were, between episodes of cannibalism. The guard behind him recorded the whole interaction, yet was ready to step in if needed.
“You have expressed a cannibalistic urge,” Gorud said. “It is uncommon in your species.”
Savannah’s mind raced to find answers. What demon had possessed her? She looked Gorud up and down. He looked very clinical, like he belonged in a laboratory. “Am I some kind of guinea pig?”
Gorud nodded. “You are a test subject,” he said. “We have isolated an enzyme that my race produces in our bodies during the digestive cycle. The enzyme actually works through the bodies of worms. Since we feed primarily on human flesh, the digestive tract cells that manufacture this enzyme evolved to seek out, for lack of a better word, human flesh, so that the worms can be nourished. We produced a culture of these worms in a lab and sequenced them so they reproduced on a microscopic level. You have been infected.”
Savannah reeled. The violence she had just unleashed upon Jessie was foreign and unwanted. It had nothing to do with God. Of course it didn’t. Savannah chastised herself for even thinking that she had experienced divine inspiration.
Gorud stepped back and mumbled to the guard. “We will be keeping you in this cell indefinitely,” he said. “You will be fed decent meals, human meat of course, and you will be provided the distractions of your choice.” Gorud looked down on the inmate with pity. He was accustomed to these sorts of experiments, but something about Savannah caught his sympathy. “Please know that your brother was a fine man, a fine soldier. Have solace that he reached your heaven.”
Savannah’s body seized up. Her mind started racing. A feverish spell was cast throughout her skin and bones. She was starting to feel inspired again. Not out of the love and devotion to her God, but rather out of wrath. She missed Big Boy so bad. Also, her belly throbbed with a horrible cramp. It must have been the human meat.
