Two more living dead approached the meeting. The man wearing a flannel hooded shirt and hardhat pointed to the zombie next to him. "Captain, we have a new arrival who may have valuable information for you."
A dead soul with short red hair and a golf shirt stepped up to the table. Prometheus said to the man, "Greetings, brother, what is your name and from where do you hail?"
The newcomer scanned the room with the empty bookshelves and said, "Tewy, people call me Tewy. Last night, I tried to get back to my house on the south side of town, when I started coughing up blood. I guess the Omega virus hit me fast."
Prometheus replied, "Welcome, brother Tewy."
Bartholomew asked, "What news do you have?"
Tewy stepped up to the table and glanced at the large map. "After Princess Rachel filled me in on our mission here, I came up with an idea of how we might be able to pass our cures and enhancements to those still living."
"Please, brother, tell us more." Prometheus said, as he welcomed the man to the group.
Tewy studied the area of the map on the north side of the downtown area. "The livings still think they can cure us. There's a scientist who is working on this remedy and his laboratory is right here," he tapped his finger on the map, "on the edge of our village. I think his name is Dr. Cronsworth. I read an article about him a month ago."
Bartholomew asked, "How can this man help us if he be trying to stop us with his studies and apothecary ways?"
"He has been studying the re-ans who have been captured. I saw pictures of them in the magazine article. Of all the people there, he should be in the best position to understand that we have cures for all our, I mean their afflictions. His lab is contracted to the CDC and he has the ability to see that our DNA has unusual characteristics."
"We not be able to speak to the descendants." The pirate turned back to the map with an analytical stare. "How we be getting this man to know we be having da cures he be seeking?"
"We break into his lab and leave DNA samples from anyone with blue or green eyes. He surely will show interest in what we leave behind and he might discover what it is we hold for them. He's a scientist. He'll surely think it unusual that, we risk the dangers for traveling outside of the quarantined zone, just to leave DNA samples."
Bartholomew stared at the area of the map where the scientist had his lab. "Dar be few soldiers on this side of our village. Perhaps, due to our fighting in da south." He glanced up at Nemi the Egyptian in a motorcycle rider's body. "How many, we be having with da green and blue eyes?"
Nemi replied, "No soul has yet to attain blue eyes. Prometheus and two of our other brothers have green."
"Where are these other two brothers? Bring them to me. We must be sending dem on this next venture."
"We will not be able to send them on this quest. Days ago, they left us, so they could join the Clan Titus. Their vision was not the same as ours."
The pirate captain turned to the Athenian. "You may only be a swab in me crew, but you’ll have to travel with us to this apothecary named Cronsworth. We will give him samples of your stings of life."
Princess Rachel entered the room with a woman dressed as a diner waitress. "Captain, we have a new arrival, who you may already know."
Bartholomew turned his attention to the woman in the short green dress with a white apron and collar. A small trickle of dried blood ran down from her left ear, indicating the previous owner may have died from the Omega virus. The waitress with the shoulder length brown hair said to him, "Even in the afterlife, ye still be a yellow bellied scurvy dog. I guess I still get me chance to run you through with me blade." She slapped her hip reaching for her weapon, which did not exist and glanced down at her side. "If I had a sword."
"Naw, it can't be." The pirate captain stepped away from the table, toward the woman, with his mouth agape." Gentlemen, here stands before ye a rare breed of sailor." He stopped in front of her with a smile on his face. "This be da lady pirate, Patricia Quinlan, and I use da term lady, quite loosely." He noticed the top few buttons of her dress undone, revealing her cleavage. "In all our disputes and clashing of metal, I never took in da sight of your curvaceous body. De current day style of clothes be more revealing as to your womanly attributes. If I had known, I would not have been so quick with me sword."
The lady pirate gave a quick scan of her dress and said, "This be not the body me wore in our days at sea. If my bosom had been so full, I would have only used it to distract your treacherous eye to gain advantage with me blade. Besides, rumor passed through the ports your… sword… was always rather quick."
Prometheus turned to the new arrival and interjected, "Your skills may be of better use to the clan, if the two of you join together, and you both forget the feud you had in your prior life. Remember, we are all one family now."
Bartholomew answered, "The Greek man be correct. We all be sailing the same ship." He stepped back to the map table and said to Patricia, "I be giving ye command of a new crew. Even as ye be me enemy on the seas, I be recognizing your skills as a ship's captain. We be taking our soldiers to the apothecary, while ye cover our stern out here on the street." He pointed to a section on the map. "If the descendants attack, ye best be using the gray skins as da first line of defense. They will bring disorder to the ranks of the livings and allow your modern body soldiers to move in on da flanks."
The lady pirate asked, "Do we have cannons and flintlocks?"
The Captain smiled and said, "Oh, wait til ye see what kind of madness the descendants have fer weapons this day. You'll be proud."
Prometheus asked, "My good sister, Patricia, what did the gods give to you to pass on to the living?"
She shrugged her shoulders. "A remedy for something called the Omega virus."
* * *
An explosion in the middle of the street tore apart several of the decayed zombies and scattered the flock of ravens gathered on the streetlights. As the smoke cleared, another wave of gray skins staggered into the front lines of the military spread across the street and sidewalks. They surrounded the human military that fought back, swinging baseball bats and the butts of the weapons at the heads of the grays. At close range, some of the living fired shotguns and blew the heads of the dead off their bodies. Several of the militia charged past the line of decayed undead, but were met by Captain Bartholomew and his more able body soldiers.
The pirate drew his sword in one hand, and a dagger in the other, as he fought through the crowd like he had boarded an enemy ship. Prometheus stood towards the back of the zombies, watching the Captain take pleasure in the fight, as if it reminded him of his days of storming merchant vessels at sea. One of the human soldiers raised his bat to swing at Bartholomew's head, but he was quick with the sword to man's midsection. Decayed zombies immediately swarmed on the man biting and tearing away his body. As another human soldier leveled his shotgun a foot from the Captain's head, but before he could pull the trigger, Patricia's sword slashed down and cut off the man's hand. The weapon fired as it hit the ground with the hand still holding the gun. The lady pirate quickly turned and fended off a living, armed with a baseball bat, dueling with him as if in a sword battle. Hod, the caveman, jumped from the top of a car onto a soldier and hit him with a handmade stone axe.
Several smoke canisters flew threw the air and bounced on the asphalt, creating a white cloud, which added to the chaos. Dark silhouettes inside the smoke, revealed humans who were being pounced upon by large groups of the living dead, as they bit into the flesh of their victims, tearing off skin and muscle with their teeth. The pirate Captain called out, "Form a circle!"
The undead formed an arc around the front door of the lab, allowing Prometheus to take a group of soldiers into the building. Several living dead picked up a gray skin and used him as a battering ram to smash through the glass door at the entrance. Shredded from the glass shards, they tossed the gray aside.
Inside the dark hallway, Greg led the way with his samurai sword drawn and ready for battl
e. He no longer wore his suit jacket, and he had cut off the sleeves of his white dress shirt. At the end of the passageway, he slammed his shoulder into a door and burst into the lab. A human man and woman next to a table, hurriedly buttoned their shirts as they stepped backward to the opposite end of the room. As they bumped against the wall, they held each other in their arms, with expressions of panic across their faces, while the room filled with undead who began to smash equipment. Greg stomped over to the two living and held the blade of his sword against their throats. The humans called out in the strange language, but it was easy to understand they begged for mercy.
"Wait!" Prometheus called out. "One of them might be the apothecary we need. It is best if we leave them unharmed. After all, they do not appear to be a threat."
Greg pulled his sword back from their necks, but he remained in front of them, making it clear that he did not want them to move. The man and woman spoke quietly to each other as they stared at Greg.
Prometheus turned to Tewy and asked, "What do we do now?"
Tewy scanned the room until he saw a shelf with supplies. He yelled out to the other zombies, "Stop smashing stuff. We need this guy to be able to do his work." He grabbed an empty Petri dish and held it up in the light. "This looks clean. We just need to get some of your DNA inside it."
"How do I do that?"
Tewy set the dish on the table and grabbed a scalpel. "Give me your hand." He took the Athenian's hand and cut across his palm, but very little fluid flowed out. As a few drops of thick dark brown blood dripped into the dish, he commented, "I guess blood samples from the dead might not be the best." He gazed at Prometheus' mouth and said, "Spit. Try spitting into the dish. Your saliva should work better, than your dried up blood."
The dead Greek man leaned over and spit into the dish mixing his saliva with the drops of blood. Tewy placed the lid on the dish, grabbed a black marker and wrote across the top, "Zombie DNA – It has the cure." He placed it on a shelf in the cooler, as a loud explosion from the street rocked the room. Greg called out, "It is time for us to leave."
* * *
Dr. Daniel Cronsworth ran his fingers through Dr. Tower’s hair, as she stood with her back against the wall in the lab. He reached over and turned up the volume on the stereo, filling the room with music. While she unbuttoned his shirt, Lisa asked, "Why did you turn the music up?"
As he unbuttoned her shirt, he answered, "In case any lab assistants are in the next room, I don't want them to hear what we are about to do."
"And what are we about to do?"
Daniel finished the last button, pulled off her shirt and threw it over his shoulder. "We are about to be naughty scientists."
She pulled his shirt off and tossed it across the room. "Is that your hypothesis or your conclusion, Dr. Naughty?"
He leaned in to kiss her and felt a slight tremor in the floor. "Wow, you're actually making my knees shake."
She turned her head and placed her hand in the center of his chest, stopping his forward movement. "No. I felt that too." Lisa moved him back a foot and turned the radio down. With the room void of music, they heard the muffled sounds of a battle taking place on the street outside the lab.
Daniel turned toward the street-side of the room and said, "That can't be a re-an conflict. We're too far into the green zone. They never venture this far out of the quarantined zone. It must be the military conducting drills or something."
Another explosion from the street shook the room and caused the glass vials to shake and rattle. Dr. Towers stepped away from the wall. With a confused expression on her face, she turned back to her colleague and said, "It sounds like they are in front of the lab. Why would they conduct drills here?"
The sound of shattered glass from the entrance way reverberated down the hall outside the lab. Daniel blurted out, "They're inside the building."
The two scientists scrambled across the room to find their clothes. As they hurriedly put them back on, a black re-an wielding a Samurai sword burst through the door and charged them. Daniel and Lisa backed across the room, until they bumped against the wall, still trying to button up their shirts. The re-an with the sword moved within inches of the humans and placed his blade against their throats. The skin on his face, appeared dry and leathery with rotted patches, revealing his gray teeth inside his mouth. The sleeves of his blood-soaked dress shirt had been torn off, exposing the muscle and bones of his arms.
Dr. Cronsworth yelled, "Please, let her go. I'm the one who started this project. She was ordered to join the study. I'm the one you want, take me!"
Lisa responded, "I volunteered for this assignment. I'm just as much committed to this project as you."
"This is not a time to debate semantics. I'm trying to get them to spare your life."
"They don't understand language. How can we reason with them?"
The re-an, holding the sword, pulled the blade back and relaxed his stance, but he remained in front of them. He watched as one of the undead cut the palm of another and let the aged blood drip into a Petri dish. Lisa whispered to him, "This has to be some kind of ritual. Why else would they be doing this?"
Daniel answered, "If this is a ritual, it would indicate more than just a pack mentality. This would show they have developed an entire social structure, which would require complex communication and three dimensional thought."
He watched the re-an scribble on the top of the Petri dish and place it in the cooler. "I'm guessing, he has placed that there as a warning to us. This must be their way of claiming or marking their territory."
The zombie in front of them, who had the sword, turned and left with the other living dead. Daniel and Lisa breathed a sigh of relief as they stepped away from the wall. While finishing the last buttons on her shirt, Lisa said, "If they have claimed this lab as their territory, we may need to leave that blood sample there and relocate to another site. The military has offered us a spot in their compound."
Chapter 13
Ravens perched in the trees, lining the road, while two Turkey Vultures silently soared above in the darkening sky. The usual shades of deep blue had transformed to orange and red from the excessive amounts of smoke, which filled the air. Even the clouds had blackness about them, but not from rain. On the edge of the zombie village, led by Titus, Prometheus approached along with Nemi the Egyptian and Hod from the ice age. The scenery gave him a sense of death, no longer full of vibrant colors, all replaced with browns and rusty earth tones. He could not see any visible signs, which gave him this feeling. Demise held a heavy presence hanging in the air. Unlike the days when he lived along the Mediterranean, this experience felt comfortable, as if he belonged in this environment.
The Greek man noticed how the settlement had grown from a small shantytown to a sprawling village, complete with permanent 16th century European style huts made from raw wood and adobe with grass-thatched roofs. He saw a forgery where some of the ancient souls pounded metal into weapons. Two undead, dressed in military uniforms, holding long wooden pikes, approached and stopped the visitors on the edge of the town. Titus stepped forward from between the two guards. He offered a smile, along with a quizzical stare, as he extended his hand. "Greetings, I'm told you are my old friend Prometheus inside a new body. It appears the gods have sent you back to us for a purpose."
"Yes, brother, it is your old friend. I have returned after a long absence from this strange future world of our descendents. It appears the gods do indeed have plans for me. As for what those plans may be, I am still at a loss for ideas."
The two dead men grabbed each other by the forearm, pulled themselves close and hugged in the ancient form of a handshake. Titus said, "It brings me much pleasure to see you again, my old friend."
The ancient Greek man replied, "Gratitude, it is of equal pleasure to see you again. So much has changed. A familiar face is a welcome sight."
The rebel leader smiled and said, "The irony of this afterlife is never ending. You lost your life by the sword of an an
cient soldier and now you return to occupy the body of a modern fighting man." He welcomed the three visitors into his village. Other living dead staggered between the buildings, paying no attention to the new arrivals.
As the men walked toward the open village center, Titus explained, "If you have come to continue our old debate, I am afraid you will be greatly disappointed in my answer. The many years you have been gone has only hardened my stance. The descendant’s behavior only proves my argument true, with their ways of making war on our tribe, and all other tribes in this land. As the numbers in our village have grown, since we last spoke, it proves I am not alone in this belief."
They came to a stop in front of a large fire, while the sky above grew even darker. Small orange glowing embers floated up from the flames and disappeared into the starless sky. Hod closely examined the chiseled stone point at the end of a soldier's pike. He touched it with his fingertips and even attempted to smell it. Prometheus held his hand out to the flames and tried to imagine what is was like, when he could have felt the heat warm his skin. In the ring of light from the fire, he saw many of the undead villagers stagger and pace aimlessly between the dwellings. He replied to his friend, "Brother, even if you do not believe in our cause, you do not object to our mission. You and your people still consider yourselves one of us. It is of no harm to you, if you were to offer assistance to our clan."
"We feel the descendant's destiny is within their own means. Their actions will determine their fate. We will simply watch. If they showed any compassion towards us, our mood may change, but I feel they are as resolute in their stance, as are we. They must have somehow figured out we are of a military mind, because they have yet to lead an attack on us out here beyond the city of their boundaries." A woman, dressed in a dark blue silk nightgown with dried blood around the corner of her mouth and below her nose, walked up to Titus. He placed his hand on the back of her shoulder and said, "You will be pleased to hear we are not all of a like mind in this village. We have a new arrival, who would like to leave us in order to join your ranks."
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