The soldier clamped his cold dry hand around Wendy's wrist and brought her arm up to his mouth. Still crying, she pounded his chest and shoulder with her free arm. Unaffected, the dead man with the green eyes
,
opened his mouth revealing the decayed, blood stained, blackened teeth and bit into her forearm. He didn't take a mouthful of
flesh.
He
only punctured her skin and
then he
released her.
Wendy looked at her bleeding arm and the round bite mark. "No. I don't want to become one of them." The zombies released Daniel and he wrapped his arms around his wife. She continued through the tears, "Don't let me become a re-an. If I start to turn, decapitate me, or burn my body, do something. Promise me
,
I won't become one of them."
He held her tight as tears streamed down his cheeks. "You're not going to become one of them. You're not going to die from this. It's nothing but a scratch. We can take care of this. I've seen much worse."
They both slid their backs down the wall of the building onto the cold concrete. Wendy sat in front of her husband wrapped inside his arms. The zombies slowly turned and staggered away
,
as if their mission was simply to recruit a new member. They disappeared in
to
the dark shadows surrounding the building.
Wendy squeezed her hand over her wound and said through the tears. "I was barely holding onto life before this. With my immune system fried from the chemo, I know this is going to hit me fast." She gazed up at the sky. "Cremate my body. I don't want those birds eating me. Spread my ashes on a warm beach somewhere. When all of this is over, you can come visit me. You'll finally get to relax and read a book without me constantly pestering you to get in the water with me."
Daniel replied, "I have the initial batch of the antivirus in my lab. It's
sitting
in the vials ready to go. I'll give you the first dose. We have some volunteers
coming
in next
week
for the primary round of
testing,
but you can be the first. I know it will work."
His wife didn't say anything.
"Who knows, this anti-virus might even attack your cancer. In a few
weeks,
this re-an
uprising
will be
over.
You’ll
be strong and we can go to that warm place together. You can pester me all you want about going in the water."
She still said nothing. He noticed his wife had stopped crying. "Wendy, did you hear me. I'll get the military to take us back to my lab and you can have the antivirus. We can do it tonight. All I have to do is find the closest unit."
His wife's body went limp in his arms. He jostled her and said, "Wendy."
Loosening his grip, her body slumped over onto the ground. While crying, Daniel
lay
down next to her and placed his arm over her body. "Don't worry, when the sun rises, we'll wake up and go to my lab. You'll see
;
it will all be okay."
Daniel cried next to his dead wife through the cold night. As the first glimmer of sunlight appeared on the horizon, he felt Wendy's arm nudge. He sat up and placed his hands on her shoulder and hip. Her hand slowly closed and opened again. "That's it
,
Wendy. I knew you would pull through. I'll find some soldiers who can take us to my lab. By this afternoon, we'll be sitting in the dining room, drinking wine."
She bent her legs and moved her head as her bones cracked from stiffness. Daniel let go of her and stood up. Ravens moved closer
,
almost as if they tried to surround him. He lunged toward them to scare the birds away. "Get away from her! She's not dead."
He reached down and grabbed her hand to help her stand up. "That's it
,
sweetie, you can do it. You're doing great."
With an emotionless white face, Wendy slowly and awkwardly stood. Daniel smiled and said, "I'm so glad you made it through the night. Everything is going to be just
fine,
you'll see. I'll get you to my lab and we'll-"
His wife moaned and grabbed his shoulder. Confused he asked, "What are you doing?"
She tried to pull him
closer,
trying to bite him. Daniel pushed her away and backpedaled. He watched her stagger toward him with her hand outstretched
,
while groaning and hissing at him. The bite wound on her arm had turned purple and black. Her skin sagged on her bones. Daniel said, "I'm sorry, I can't kill you. Please forgive me." He turned and ran away.
* * *
Prometheus, along with Greg, Patricia, Princess Rachel and Midnight wandered across the
abandoned
remains of a high school campus on their way back to the library in downtown
Denver
. A large flock of ravens bounced along the ground behind them
,
as hundreds more blanketed the open ground around the building. The moon provided just enough light for them to make their way through the night. Midnight asked, "How hard is it to find these supplies in the abandoned areas of the city? What kind of items are we looking for?"
Greg answered, "When the descendants depart a new area
,
they leave behind many items
,
we can use to provide light, use as weapons or clothing. About the time
,
we pick an area clean, they seem to
vacate
another area."
Staggering out of the shadows of the building, they saw another living dead move toward them. As he came into the moonlight, they saw a tall deceased man with a
clean-shaven
head and Van Dyke beard. The new zombie called out, "Can you help me? I do not know where I am or why I am in this body."
Prometheus replied, "You must have recently died and have been brought to this life by the gods."
Walking closer, the dried blood from his mouth and nose became visible. "Is this heaven? I never put much thought into it before
,
but this is…so…not what I expected."
Greg told him, "Far from it
,
my friend. You have been sent to an evil place to perform an important mission."
Prometheus asked, "What is your name, my new friend?"
The man stopped in front of the group. "My name's Jason. I was at the airport helping the Air Force prep the passenger planes for military use. This Airbus suddenly dropped out of the clouds in a nosedive, right on top of our location. We all ran, but I'm guessing I didn't make it far enough away
,
because now I'm in this strange body,
wandering
around the quarantined zone
,
wondering why it doesn't feel so cold."
"Yes
,
brother," the Greek man responded, "we have all been placed in bodies, which do not belong to us."
"But the owner of this body, I don’t understand why he would do this."
Midnight asked, "What are you talking about."
"The metal ring you put through the nose of an angry bull so you can control him. There is one of those rings through his man part."
Greg blurted out, "Itaiyo!" as he cringed and grabbed his groin.
"What did you say?" Midnight asked.
Patricia responded, "I believe he said ouch in his
native tongue
of Japanese."
Prometheus patted the man on the back. "Come with us
,
friend. We will explain this and many other parts of this strange world."
As the group came to the end of the building, two living humans walked around the corner. The man and woman were caught off guard
,
just as much as the undead. They pressed themselves against the red
stonewall
with terror across their faces. Patricia pulled her sword from its sheath and said, "We shall feed on these two and add to our strings of life. I will cut them to pieces so we can eat like civilized demons."
The two livings screamed out in their strange language of moans and hissing. It was clear without any translation
,
they begged for mercy. Before she could cut into the humans, Princess Rachel stopped her. "Wait, this human looks familiar." She turned to the others. "Where have we seen him before?"
"You're right." Greg said as he threw his hand in the air. We have seen this living before. He is the apothecary where they tortured our brother Gunnar. We should avenge the punishment they placed upon him."
Patricia lowered her sword and said, "I give the honor to you and your blade. You had fought next to the Viking."
Midnight stepped foreword, scanned the woman behind the man. "There is something wrong with this woman. I see a disease through her body. It's black and it is eating
her
on the inside. I think she has the cancer." She reached up and pulled the knit hat off
,
revealing the woman's
baldhead
.
Princess Rachel responded, "Brother Prometheus, don't you carry the cure for this plague called cancer?"
"Yes, the strings of life
that
I carry are for this affliction."
"Even though you do not have the blue eyes, perhaps the green eyes can still help her. If this man with her is the apothecary searching for the reason we are walking dead souls, he may understand our purpose for being."
Prometheus examined the woman and reached out with his hand. He gently ran his fingertips across the front of her body trying to figure out how he can help. "How can I give her my strings of life?"
The Princess pointed to the woman's arm. "Perhaps if you bite her
,
but do not eat her flesh. If your saliva touches her blood it will attack her illness."
"I will give it a try."
The Greek man in the soldier's body, held the woman's wrist while she pounded on his chest, with her free arm trying to get him to release his grip. Listening to her screams, he slowly bit into her forearm. The taste of her blood gave him a quick intoxication, which made him want to take large mouthfuls of her flesh. He fought against those urges and released his bite after his teeth had pierced her skin. He savored the fresh blood by licking it off his teeth and from around his lips.
"You have great discipline
,
my friend." Greg told him. "I would have not been able to stop myself from eating her entire arm."
The human man swept his arms around the woman as the two livings slid down the wall and sat on the concrete. Prometheus turned to his friends. "We should leave them be. If our plan works, we should see them again
,
as they will seek us out to find why my bite held the cure for the cancer."