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."
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 16
th
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 ancient 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 in
to
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."
The Athenian gave the new comer his standard greeting. "Greetings
,
fair lady. I am Prometheus. What is your name and from where do you hail?"
The women with shoulder length dark hair replied, "My name is Monica and I hail from Leadville
,
not too far from here. I," she hesitated for a moment as she glanced at the
Rocky Mountains
to the west, "worked at the Board of Trade Saloon. My friends called me the Midnight Belle or Midnight for short."
Nemi stepped into the light and asked, "What made you want to join us?"
"I feel the gift given to me which I am to pass along is too important. Given the current plague cast upon the humans, they will need all the help they can muster. I also would like to leave this life of a dead soul as quickly as possible."
"What gift do you offer?"
"I have the ability to see sickness and disease in people."
Prometheus welcomed Midnight to the clan and turned to the soul from ancient
Rome
. "My friend, I wish-"
An undead soldier r
unning
into the village and yell
ing
, “Humans,” interrupted him!
Prometheus turned to his old friend. "You said the descendants have not led an attack on you, out here in this village."
Titus reached out and grabbed a sword from a passing soldier who handed out weapons to the zombies. "For the many years
,
we have lived in this location. No soldier has come within our view until this moment. Perhaps your visit is what drew them to us." He glanced at his friend with a bit of anger.
A grenade landed on the ground and bounced along the dirt near the large fire. The explosion sent flames and cinders in all directions. The walking dead nearest the blast had their arms and legs blown off
,
but they continued their fight with their remaining body parts. As Titus leaned forward
,
ready to charge the invaders
,
he said, "We have spent years preparing for this day. Our descendants are in for a surprise. Within our ranks, we have many former generals, who fought in ancient battles. It has become obvious our descendants did not spend their years practicing the ways of the sword. As we do not fall so quickly to their bullets, we hold the advantage in what they think of as primitive warfare."
Prometheus saw a massive wave of undead appear from the darkness beyond the firelight. They quickly engaged the front lines of the human soldiers who fought with shotguns and swords. It took only seconds
in the battle
for the entire village to be consumed. Humans swarmed around individual zombies, while multiple undead
pounced
on the living. Hod ran through the chaos with a large rock
,
bashing the heads of soldiers. Immense
amounts
of vaporized and splattered blood filled the air
,
creating a red mist
,
which stuck to the skin of the combatants. The Athenian saw a soldier lunge at him with a sword. He made no motion to get out of the way or defend himself. He no longer cared if he left this world or remained
,
because he had already died twice. As the bloody blade thrust within inches of his midsection, another sword came down and stopped the attack. Prometheus turned and saw Titus enter into a battle with the human. The two combatants fought until they disappeared into the darkness beyond the ring of light.
Remaining next to what was left of the large fire in the center of the village, the Greek man watched the combat until the remaining living wounded soldiers stumbled away and vanished in
to
the darkness outside the village. Many of the
dwellings
had caught on
fire,
and
they were
flickering
light,
which showed the carnage left from the fight. Both undead and humans lay
motionless
on the ground, almost carpeting the dirt between the burning huts.
Prometheus saw the upper half of Titus crawl into the light. He ran over and knelt down to next his friend. "Brother, it should have been me in this situation. You sacrificed yourself to save me from a life I no longer own."
Cut in half from just below his chest with his organs trailing through the dirt, Titus rolled onto his back and stared at his friend. "My brother, do not grieve for me
,
for I will either leave this demon world
,
or I may return in a new body. Even though
,
I would miss you again, I hope to never return." He closed his eyes as the remains of his body went limp.
Hod walked
over, grabbed Prometheus by the arm,
and tried to pull him up. Nemi stood behind him and said, "My good friend, we must leave this place now. Our new sister, Midnight, has informed me this village is superstitious as
to
the will of the gods. As we are the newcomers who arrived shortly before the battle, they may blame us for this attack if we stay. Our best option is to return to our village quickly."