Calling on your inner writer/creator! Also, trigger warning: Zombie story and all that that entails.
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This is the second branch from the main story of "AFTER THE FLESH - PITH," (orange sky, yellow sun), which not only starts the story, but explains why I am writing these.
The first branch was "AFTER THE FLESH - LIMBS - T&A," (purple sky, orange sun).
My goal is to occasionally introduce and follow characters that appear in parts of the main story line, to expand the universe and give new dilemmas to make decisions on. I'm even open to other folks who may want to take some characters and expand on them in universe. DM me if you would like to.
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In this particular installment, it starts where the main story starts. You may even come to recognize some of the characters I have introduced here as folks from SG. I promise it is just for play and as an expression of love to want to include them within my story (like a certain Austrian Security Guard in a hot air balloon), and nothing more.
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I really hope people enjoy this, because it does take me a bit of time and energy to craft these. Let's start... again, again.
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After the Flesh - Limbs - Predator Prey - 001
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It all started when your younger brother called you, late one evening. You stared at the phone, surprised to see his phone number on the call display, after nearly 3 years of no-contact. You remember thinking irritably, “What does the Roid-Head want now?” You held the cellphone for a moment longer, considering sending it to voicemail, but curiosity got the better of you and you answered. “Hello Brian.”
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There was a long pause and you considered hanging up. Then you heard Brian’s voice, sounding emotionally loaded and restrained. “Hey Harry. I, uh…” His voice trailed off. You sat there waiting for your little brother to say whatever he was going to say. He was a slow train, but he always got to the station.
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Finally, “Harry… uh… Eve is dead.”
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It took a moment for the news to settle in. Your heart began to race, and you were dumbfounded. Before you could ask any of the myriad of questions that were starting to percolate in your head, Brian continued, “She died this evening. It was… bad. She was in a lot of pain and died alone. Roger found her.”
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Brian’s voice broke at that point, and he started to sob. After a few moments of that, he apparently couldn’t handle it and he hung up. You sat in silence, feeling your emotions threaten to overwhelm you, but you quickly decided to wake up your son, James, and tell him that his favourite aunt, your sister, just died. Because you knew, even then, that this was going to be the hardest thing you ever experienced, and you needed to handle James before you couldn’t.
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Now you are walking up the hill towards the funeral, with James’ left hand held firmly in your right hand. Your son’s face is lit with excitement, and you are trying to keep him under control. You really didn’t want to bring him to this funeral, but he insisted and created… problems... until you agreed to let him come. His morbid fascination with death is disturbing, to say the least.
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You’ve known for a long time that something was different about James, even before the telltale signs started to appear. The bed wetting, the lighting fires, the… dead animals in the yard that stopped only a year ago. The way he studies people. Now, he is far too calm and calculating for his age, and he is far too excited for a funeral. You made him promise to stay quiet until the funeral was over, on the condition that you’d answer everything he wanted to know on the drive home. He agreed and you know he’ll honour his promise. He always does.
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Brian is walking stoically beside James. His muscular frame is tense, his head freshly shaved. His sunglasses haven’t left his face for hours. Even the death of your sister couldn’t override his constant vanity, and he tries to act like he is calm and collected. But you know Brian well. You can see the twitching vein on his temple, see his fists wanting to clench, see him grinding his teeth. Brian is on something and is itching for violence. The scariest part is that James can see it too and is completely unperturbed by it. Unafraid.
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You crest the hill to see the set up for the service you helped arrange for your sister. Father Steed is standing by the casket and people are finding their seats. You can see Roger greeting people and looking worn out. The three of you make your way to him and wait until you can get the chance to shake his hand and hug and cry together. After you break away, Brian grabs Roger in a big embrace and says loudly “She was lucky to have you, bro!” Then Brian turns away and goes to sit in a chair reserved for family members.
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Roger bends a little and hugs James. James stands perfectly still and mechanically says “I’m sorry for your loss.” Roger pulls back and stares down at James’ face, and sternly corrects, “It’s your loss, too, James.”
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You can see James’ face react briefly before he covers it up. It wasn’t remorse or loss that you saw, it was anger. “Anger that he didn’t act human enough?” you wonder. Just as quickly as he reacts, he smoothly replies, “You’re right, Uncle Roger. It is our loss. I am just very sad.” Roger nods in acknowledgement and turns to greet your cousin Trevor and his pretty girlfriend, whom you have never met before.
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“That was too easy for James to do,” you think, as you and James make your way to sit next to Brian. Everything becomes hazy as they go through the motions of laying Eve to rest. You just sit there, numb, until suddenly you are snapped out of it when you hear what sounds mostly like Eve’s voices coming from the lowering casket.
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“Roger, please help me,” the voice repeats over and over. You and Brian both stand up quickly in shock. James stays seated, looking fascinated at the casket and at Brian and your face. Father Steed rushes over and angrily flips open the casket lid, fuming at what he probably thinks is a morbid prank. It isn’t. It opens to the upper torso of an Eve… thing, that grins maliciously and breaks Father Steed in half, hauling him into the casket.
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People stand dumbfounded as you all hear Father Steed’s screaming end suddenly, and some people start to react. Brian, uncharacteristically astute, blurts out, “That … thing, is not Eve!” Your previous training in the military kicks in, and you grab James firmly, and push Brain towards a large tombstone for cover. Brian starts to follow, but then shakes off your push, turning back to look at the casket.
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You don’t look and you keep James from looking. Some instinct tells you to keep James from seeing what it looks like for humans to die. You get him behind the tombstone, listening to screaming and panic and the sounds of people dying. Someone shouts “Everyone, RUN!” and all hell breaks loose. You stay behind cover, trying to protect James, trying to block out the noises.
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Then you hear Brian yell “Die, Bitch!” You briefly look over your cover to see Eve biting a chunk out of his arm and then pushing him into a tombstone. You don’t have to keep looking to know that she just killed Brian. The sound his head made was clear enough.
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You continue to stay hidden and keep hearing people yelling and dying. You hear chairs crashing and then you see Trevor’s girlfriend backpedaling, and then falling on her ass just as she gets to the treeline. Cousin Trevor appears, crawling and half-running and slipping on the ground, coming for her. At least, it resembles Cousin Trevor, but all bloody and monstrous. She is kicking at his face, doing her best to survive. You can feel James tense up in excitement as he blurts out “Cool!”
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She turns and sees you looking at her. “Help me!” she screams in terror. In a shameful moment of realization and training, you close your eyes to her and turn your head and James’ head away. She’s about to die and there is nothing you can do, and James should not see it.
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You turn back suddenly at a loud clanging noise, to see another pretty woman beating the hell out of Trevor with a folding chair, allowing Trevor’s girlfriend to pull away. They get clear and stand in defence, with one of them pleading to the other, “Alice, let’s run!”
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“Good idea” you think. “Lead him away from us.” But then Trevor stops, as if listening to a voice in his head. He howls at the sky and runs off down the hill. The two ladies relax, as do you. You take the moment to catch your breath and slow your heart. You look up to the sky to see a Hot Air Balloon floating above. It almost makes you laugh.
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You are about to stand up and get the hell out of there, when you hear a rasping voice say, “Peace of the Lord,” and you see the two ladies stare at something in fear and revulsion. Then they turn without words and start running off down the hill. After a moment, you see the eerie broken body of Father Steed rapidly crawling after them.
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You wait a long, long moment this time, before you cautiously look over the tombstone to see that everyone is gone, except for a dead man near the casket, and Brian’s lifeless body, and an older couple who were hiding, of all places, behind the casket.
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In stunned silence, you tightly grasp James’ arm, and you walk over to Brian, to see your little brother dead. His arm oozing blood and his head partially cracked open. The older couple doesn’t know what to do, so they come to stand beside you in shock. You let go of James’ arm and crouch down, just to check for a pulse on Brian, even though you know you won’t find one.
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You don’t even notice that James has gone over to study the corpse of the other man, laying dead near the casket. Or that he has picked up a shovel. You put your finger to your brother’s neck and find it cold and dead. Without warning, Brian’s arm shoots up and grabs your arm in an iron grip, turning his sunglass clad face towards you, as he shouts “Die, Bitch!”
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What is the next step?
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Thank you to everyone who is involved in this. I hope you continue to enjoy this and look forward to your comments and suggestions. That is what makes this fun for me
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You can find the next part at AFTER THE FLESH - LIMBS - PREDATOR PREY - 002
