For A Few Corpses More - Pt. 10

               “What the flying-titty-fuck was that!”

               Griffin’s exclamation was really a question that he would never have the answer to. Everyone else asked the same question with their eyes as the body of the former camp member slid down the sheet metal wall with a very unkind thump against the ground. His skull had broken into three separate pieces and blood had pushed the rest of his loose teeth and cartilage.

               “Well, let’s go.” Dine looked at Pierce and Bronson. When his gaze reached Nyx though, Griffin had pulled the shotgun up to her face.

               “Move,” Griffin said loudly, “and your bitch will be missing a face.”

               There was a stand-off. Bronson had the machinegun in hand now, but he’d need his pistol to get the shot off in time. It sat in Griffin’s belt, taunting him. Dine and Pierce both raised their guns at him, Dine was still shaking.

               “I can do it,” Dine whispered. “I have a shot.”

               “He can’t take us all out,” Pierce added.

               Bronson stepped in front of them, sure that they wouldn’t be able to take out Griff without getting Nyx hurt in the process.

               “Let her go Griff.”

               “Sure, Bronson,” he sneered. “I’ll do that, right after you three go feed yourselves to Samantha over there. She looks like she’s about done chewing on George anyhow.” Nyx struggled against him as he spoke.

               Dine pushed in the small button on the weapon he was holding. A red dot appeared on Griffin’s forehead. He glanced quickly at the guard Pierce had laid out who was still unconscious on the ground next to him.

               “You really think I’m letting you out of here alive if you harm her?” Dine meant what he said, not as much as a concern for Nyx as there was a personal nature to this now.

               Griffin had taken a step back, a tight hold still around Nyx’ neck, his fist clenched around her left wrist. He knew Dine was right, but he smiled, not wanting to show it. If his gun went off at all he’d wind up with a three bullet minimum, in his head. There was an idea of the satisfaction of watching the blast from the ten gage peel her young pretty face off.

               A knock broke the tension, then a banging. That was followed by several voices calling out to Griff and the others, asking if they were alright. They were heard over the noises of smacking and chewing, the occasional grunt from the feasting predator that Griff had once shared a bed with.

               “We heard gunfire!”

               “You alright man, it’s Paul, open up!”

               Griffin glanced back at the chained fence down the path. This was going to be hard to explain. He didn’t see Bronson outstretch his arm, moving his men back. His finger tightened on the trigger as he heard the noises coming at him.

               Sam was lunging at them, or maybe just Griffin. He had to protect himself though. Griffin’s face tightened as he brought the shotgun up to Samantha’s dead face, the force of the gun finishing what her first death had already started. Her head snapped back, popping off the neck and hanging on by threads aa it beat against her back.

               Nyx’ hand was already wrapped around the handle of Bronson’s .45. It had been securely resting in Griffin’s belt. She had been eyeing it eagerly since this had started. She didn’t take the chance, there was no time wasted removing it from his belt. A loud boom broke the air as the six-shooter erupted its payload into Griffin’s thigh. Nyx was hoping for a more painful angle but this wasn’t a time to complain. Griff cried out in paid with a series of unflattering words.

               “Move out of the way!”

               Dine had ordered Nyx to move so he could take the shot. That was when the gate busted open though. Nyx had trouble hearing Dine’s order, two very loud guns had just fired way too close to her ears. She’d be lucky if she didn’t get tinnitus after all of this. People were running to them now. Nyx stumbled to her partner, to safety.

               Dine was determined, still aiming. He was ready to take his shot now that she was clear. He was biting his lip so hard that he could taste blood. It may have been his own but to him, it tasted like Griffin’s.

               “No time, Captain,” Bronson yelled. His hand slapping Dine’s shoulder then motioning, getting his attention to the fifteen or so people running towards him.

               “HELP,” Griffin yelled. “They’ve killed George and Sam!”

               Pierce was already jumping over the fence. He paused and offered a hand to Nyx, pulling her up and over. Bronson took one last look at Griffin and his rifle, still slung over the shoulder of the madman who was now grinning.

               “Get them! Get them for what they did!”

               Bronson turned and jumped for the top of the fence. He planted a boot firmly on the side and pushed himself over, falling to the ground on the other side and rolling slightly back up into a kneeled position. The drop down was a bit further, the way the quarry was carved out. Dine reluctantly didn’t take his shot. He slung the strap of his weapon around his neck and ran at the sheet metal covered wall. His jump over was with ease and looked more sheer strength than parkour. He kicked up dust as his boots skidding to a more stable landing.

               “Captain,” Pierce said already ten feet in front of him. “I’d suggest a tactical retreat into the woods.”

               There was no argument.

               They ran for some time, wanting to make sure they were safe. Pierce was the first to stop. He slumped up against a tree. He was breathing heavily, as were the others. Dine was still sweating. He looked flush. Even though his hands had stopped shaking his right eye was twitching noticeably. Nyx stopped. She arched her back, feeling a sharp pain in it. She looked herself over to make sure she hadn’t been shot. There was the pleasure in realizing that she hadn’t and that she could hear again. A bird off in the distance played the sweetest song she had heard in a long time, letting her know nothing was permanently damaged. Bronson coughed as he came to a stop, chest heaving to catch up to him.

               “Here,” Nyx said as she handed the long barreled revolver back to Bronson, handle first. “I got this for you.”

               “Thanks.” He took the gun and looked it over, “too bad you couldn’t grab the rifle with it.”

               “Oh yeah,” she said sarcastically. “Let me just run back and get that for you.”

               Dine coughed hard. Nyx was pretty sure if she could have seen the palm of his glove there would have been small bits of blood across it. He reached up with his other hand to offer her back her weapon. She took it.

               “Thanks,” her voice shook. She was still trying to breath, still dealing mentally with how close she just came to dying, or who knows what would have happened to her had they not escaped. Her wrists still hurt from where Griffin had grabbed her so hard, she was pretty sure it would bruise in the next day or so.

               Pierce reached over after he had ample time to rest. He leaned the captain’s machinegun against the tree that Dine had slid down and leaned against. Dine didn’t respond, he just stared forward and was trying not to cough and shake. Pierce looked to Bronson who had his sub-machinegun.

               Bronson pulled the strap from around his neck and held it out with his left hand for Pierce.

               “Guess I owe you this.”

               Pierce reached for the gun and Bronson’s right hand came up quick and connected with a fist right into his left cheek. Pierce fell back against the tree but his body had barely touched down before Bronson grabbed him again. He let the sub-machinegun fall to the dried leaves and his hands were around Pierce’s neck.

               “You,” he was angry. “You fell asleep on your watch and all of that shit,” he had to stop himself from yelling, it was a bad idea. “That was all because of you.”

               “Let go of me,” Pierce’s words were muffled by Bronson’s squeezing, fingers digging red spots into the skin. Pierce brought his knee up into Bronson’s side. The soldier just took it. He let Pierce go, staring at him.

               “Strike three.” Bronson turned but he kept Pierce in his peripheral vision. “As far as I’m concerned, you just became expendable.” That man was going to get one of them killed. He was angry and had almost made a mistake. This wasn’t the time to lose it. He was glad Nyx was there, standing in front of him. She helped to keep things in perspective. She stepped closer and whispered.

               “I’ll keep an eye on the fuck-up. You need to take a look at Dine. I told you something was wrong with him.”

               Dine was slowly searching the multitude of pockets on his BDU’s. His lip was quivering now and his eyes were blood shot. There was something wrong with him.

               “Captain,” Bronson addressed him before crouching down in front of him. “Want to tell us what that was all about back there, what happened to you.”

               Dine’s hand reached into the right side pants pocket on his cargo pants. He pulled out a metal case that was shaped like an octagon. Nyx realized it was what she had seen him holding yesterday at the camp. It was sectioned off and he popped open one of the compartments. A bright green and a dark purple pill fell out into the palm of his hand. His hand began to shake again and his fingers closed around the pills slowly bringing them up to his mouth.

               Bronson gave some serious thought right then to stopping him. He didn’t know what that would do though and they needed Dine to get through this, to finish their mission. He watched Dine’s throat move, swallowing the pills. He decided to ask again.

               “Captain…”

               Dine swallowed hard again like he wanted to make sure the pills couldn’t come back up. His shaking slowed followed by a series of deep breaths.

               “Feel better,” Bronson asked him.

               Dine nodded. After his answer he looked through his pack, finding that he still had a good bit of warm water left in the military issue canteen. He drank thirstily, his body needing the water.

               “Good, now do you want to tell me how you were able to punch through that guy’s skull so easily?”

               “It’s classified.”

               Bronson and Nyx exchanged a glance at his answer.

               “You’re going to pull that bullshit military card on me right now? Do you think that means shit down here?” Bronson shook his head and stood. “Right now it looks like you might be a hazard to the mission, an unknown variable that could pose a serious problem.”

               “That’s incorrect.”

               “Really, how do we know you aren’t just going to keel over from a heart attack or become useless to us during a combat situation because you can’t find your happy pills?”

               There wasn’t an answer at first.

               “Fine,” Dine said rubbing his eyes. They looked less red now. “I’m a part of a first wave of experiments on soldiers, chemically induced performance enhancers that generate an almost unstoppable asset on the field. The pills stabilize the effects.”

               “And they sent you on what could possibly be the most important mission in the past twenty years like this?”

               “General De Soto knows how good I am.” He took one last sip of water. “He knew I’d get the job done. I just have to be careful, the chemical and pills can screw with your emotional state, make you angry or jumpy.”

               “And what a great start we’re off to,” Pierce muttered from his position over by his tree, still sulking from the hit he received earlier.

               Dine almost jumped up at him but Bronson placed a hand on his shoulder.

               “You need to keep all of this in check. You could get yourself or one of us hurt and we can’t let that happen until we do what we came down here for.”

               Bronson looked over to Pierce. “As for you, do you need another reminder that you’re the main reason for that?”

               Pierce didn’t say anything. He just stared at them and held his weapon that he had retrieved from the leaves close to him. Bronson stood and looked at the three people in front of him and then the forest around him. It was time to get back on track.

               “Dine, let’s check the map and see how far off course we are.”

               Dine nodded and uncovered the computer on his forearm. Springing back to life the green lines of the map began to use the satellite uplink to sketch out the land around them. It zoomed out to a much larger map with a pulsing white dot showing their destination.

               “We aren’t that far off course it’s just that we lost over a half a days worth of travel, we’re behind schedule.”

               Bronson nodded. “So we hoof it, less stops.”

               Dine shook his head. “No, no we need to get back on schedule. If there is even the slightest chance that any of the other colonies or groups down here got wind of our arrival they might start looking into it. Neo Tokyo and Valhalla keep tabs on everything and everyone. We need to find a way to catch up.”

               “Let me guess,” Bronson sighed. “You’re thinking about that SUV we saw back there with Griffin and the twenty-something odd other people who are near-maniacal cannibals because of all the dead flesh they eat.”

               “Yeah, I wasn’t going to put it quite that way but yeah.”

               Dine stood and took another look at the map.

               “There are some back roads that we could use if they aren’t blocked. We could beat our scheduled time depending on the gas situation.”

               “I don’t know,” Bronson said. Shaking his head, he leaned his back on an old bent tree. “It’s dangerous. We know they have guns and even if we have enough bullets to take them out not all of them deserve that.”

               “That may be something you have to swallow soldier,” Dine reminded him.

               “I’m not going back there.”

               The three turned and looked at Pierce’s proclamation. Dine was fast. He darted at Pierce with his hand outstretched, grabbing for his collar.

               “You’ll do what I say or I’m going to put a bullet in your head myself.”

               “Temper, captain.”

               Jonah Pierce wasn’t a man of much pride, but his fist was clenched, balled up and ready to punch Dine. Bronson’s warning calmed the situation.

               “Mind if I chime in here,” Nyx asked. “This may be easier than you think?” Reaching into her pocket she produced Griffin’s key ring with the three metal pieces hanging off of it. “I grabbed him when he was using me as a human shield.”

               “Clever,” Dine said.

               “Resourceful,” Bronson threw his two cents in before taking the keys and examining them. “The way that camp is set up a good enough distraction could be all we need to let someone sneak in. You’d just have to move that table and open the back gates. They wouldn’t know what had happened until they heard you speeding off.”

               “And you’re sure it wouldn’t be safer to just go in and hold them up with the guns?”

               “Dine, they’d fight back. You know that. It would be a blood bath.”

               Dine nodded. Nyx gave Bronson a nod as well to show that she agreed with him.

               “I’d like to see us do this as bloodless as possible too,” Nyx said. “They have women and at least one child there. They may be, what did you call them, Zhegans? They’re still just people trying to survive.”

               “Yeah, Zhegans,” Bronson said checking his pistol after it had been in Griffin’s care. “I had heard of them but never ran into a group that large. They’re people who didn’t want to kill the few remaining animals but realized they couldn’t grow everything they need in this harsh environment. So they looked at their other option for food, dead meat. It was still possible to cook, edible, and there was a lot of it. They believe since it was already dead they aren’t harming anything.”

               “Except for us,” Nyx reminded.

               “It’s exposure to the meat, it does something to their brains, makes them more aggressive.”

               “It’s disgusting,” Dine said.

               “May I remind you Captain, killer or not Griffin did have a point,” Bronson said looking down the sights to check them. “Not everyone had the opportunity to make it up to space. I know we tried, but even the military doesn’t want to admit they got scared and stopped coming back for people.”

               Dine shook his head.

               “I’m not trying to start a debate with you Sergeant,” reminding Bronson of his own former military rank. “You can see it in their eyes though, something is wrong with them.”

               “Then we play it smart. If you’re convinced this is the only way to finish our mission then we should make a plan.” Bronson paused as he holstered his .45, “and I want my rifle back.”

               Nyx shook her head. “I’m shocked you haven’t named it yet.”

               “How do you know I haven’t?”

               Bronson walked over to Pierce who was close to sulking in his silence over by the old tall Cedar tree. He paused and they stared at each other for a moment.

               “Are you with us or should we just pick you up on the way back? This is going to require some coordination and cooperation. So can we count on you or not?”

               Bronson knew this was a mistake even before Pierce hesitated to answer, but they did need him and there was always room on the chessboard for pawns.

               “No, I mean, no you don’t have to leave me.” Pierce frowned. “I can be fucking useful, just tell me what you want me to do here okay?”

               “Why did De Soto send you, and don’t tell me because they are short handed.”

               “Well that is true,” he assured Bronson, “but he also knows I’m loyal. You pay me well, I’ll do well by you.”

               It was Bronson’s turn to frown. He didn’t have anything else to say to him. He simply waved his hand, motioning for him to follow.

               “Alright, let’s go then. I think I have a plan.” 

[Comic Review] - Marville

               Former Vice President Bill Jemas released a seven issue mini-series in 2002 called Marville, one of the three entries for the U-Decide contest along with Peter David and Ron Zimmerman. The idea was that the three new series would be voted on by fans to see which one continued on as a regular title. Needless to say, Marville did not win that contest. Even though the book touts Peter David’s loss, he was the actual winner. Jemas’ creation is not a traditional comic, but otherwise a satirical bashing of the things that were wrong at that time with the comic book industry.

               Readers may be curious about the plot of Marville, but there really isn’t one. A base framework is set up around the main character of Kal-AOL, the sun of Ted Turner from the year 5002, his name and origin a play off of DC Comics Superman character and a company that Turner owned in the past.  With the planet facing destruction Turner sends his eighteen year old son back in time through a time machine made from parts of old video game systems. Kal-AOL meets Mickey, and Lucy, representations of different view points for the main character as he struggles to find himself and make his father proud in the past.

               The narrative begins by having him deal with the differences of the past. Believing he has powers, Kal-AOL attempts to fight crime only to be unsatisfied with the conclusions. Jemas uses his main character to make several political statements about the differences in upper and middle class finances and has him run into predominant figures like Spike Lee and Rush Limbaugh as well as a menagerie of comic book characters from both major companies, though the DC characters are changed slightly to avoid copyright issues.

               The story at this point takes a drastic turn when the trio decides to take the time machine back to the beginning of time to make sense of the world. There, the characters meet an individual that they believe to be God in the form of a black man in a business suit who only refers to himself as Jack. The Jack character shows them ‘miracles’ in the form of how life on Earth began down to the microscopic level while they all go skinny dipping. Using the time machine the characters watch the world progress up to the first humans, where Wolverine is the representation of the first man. In addition Mickey takes up the cause of science, Lucy argues for God, and Kal-AOL is in the middle while they all look to Jack for answers. The book gives the audience a science lesson and two different views of how the theories behind evolution.

               There are still plenty of jokes and comic references beyond the second issue but the overall tone of the book changes. The third issue in particular transitions to a different—more art focused—style in a nod to more independent comics and DC’s Vertigo. The rest of the issues contain a textbook like quality mixed with Jemas’ own editorial views about science, evolution, religion, and politics that all wrap around to still be about the two major companies that control the comic industry.

               The end finds Kal-AOL trying to pitch his life story and experiences to a comic book editor for publication. The conversation in these panels discuss the different reasons why Kal’s story wouldn’t sell and is finally a look at what is wrong with the readers, everything they’ve come to expect from comics and how many are unwilling to change.

               In the back of the last issue is a letter from Bill Jemas about why he wrote Marville. It’s intriguing to read the VP of one of the big two discuss how hard it is to get a comic published without going through Marvel or DC, especially if your book doesn’t cater to what is currently popular with the readers. Jemas goes on to discuss how much he wanted to write Marville, even knowing that it wouldn’t sell well on the market, admitting that if he wasn’t Marvel’s VP it most likely would have never seen the light of day. Jemas used Marville issue seven to discuss submission guidelines for Marvel’s Epic Comics, the company’s project green light-style section that had seen life off-and-on since 1982.

               Marville is far from a typical comic with an equal purpose to educate and show as well as entertain. Those with an interest in the series should understand the purpose lies in what in the author’s message regarding comics at the time and not about the story of the comic itself. A great deal of the content discussed in the series remains relevant in the industry today. Many readers have most likely not read anything like Marville and I would highly recommend it because there is a strong chance that you will not see anything else like it from the big two for quite some time. 

For A Few Corpses More - Pt. 9

              Nyx came and sat back next to Bronson after helping Alex find a place to sit in the oddly shaped circle. Pierce and Dine were sitting next to each other a few people away. They were comfortable enough being in eye contact of each other. Pierce had actually been discussing with Max about dealing with the rise in harmful UV rays and whether or not they had suffered any losses from it. Max and a few of the others were darker skinned from long exposure but he had explained how they had been doing most of their work during the night hours and staying indoors at pique harmful times ever since they had figured out what was going on. It was casual felt relaxing.

Nyx and Pierce had settled in, they were more comfortable around these people now. Dine and Bronson however were counting the minutes until the end of the meal and they could get back on their way.

               The food was being passed around. There weren’t plates as much as pieces of metal from an old chair, tine from a roof, or wood from a broken bench that had been washed down. These objects were handed out as the tables and then pieces of thin cloth or stitched together leaves on some, others were bare. There was no silverware or napkins. Peas first then the other vegetables were passed around and finally the cooked meat. There wasn’t much of the meat, just enough for each of the almost over thirty people to have about four or five bites worth. The members of the camp looked at it hungrily as it was passed along, some of them looked as if they hadn’t eaten for some time by their facial expressions but no one there was too skinny or looked underfed.

               The meat was passed around. When it reached Bronson he seemed to eye it for a moment before looking up and seeing most of the others dig into it with their fingers, meat first was the choice for all of them. The sounds of teeth ripping into the meat and grinding, the smacking of full mouths across from them, it brought everything together for Bronson. Nyx reached down and picked up the small bit of meat between her thumb and first finger, mouth open ready to taste real meat for the first time in a very long while. Bronson’s hand reached out and covered hers though.

               She looked at him questioningly. Her mouth opened to ask why he had done that but the look on his face was serious.

               “Don’t,” he whispered. “Don’t eat it…”

               Bronson left Nyx’ gaze with that confused look on her face and looked to Dine and Pierce. Pierce’s mouth was already full meat, a bulge in his cheek as he wiped his lips off on his forearm. Dine was less ravenous and just now bringing it up to his lips. Bronson was about to say something when he saw Griffin looking at him. He didn’t speak. Captain Dine took a bite from the meat and was chewing it slowly, he seemed to like it.

               “Hey Bronson,” Griffin yelled from across the circle. “You don’t like my food?” He laughed. “They got better shit down there in Nevada, coyote maybe?”

               Bronson forced a smile that didn’t work. “We’re vegetarians, Nyx and I.”

               Several of the people stopped eating and looked at them. Griffin paused in the conversation to take a bite out of his own chunk of meat in front of him. “That so,” he asked chewing.

               “Yeah, it’s easy when meat’s so scarce.”

               Several of the people around him laughed. Bronson wasn’t thrilled that he realized what was so funny. He picked up some of the peas and shoved them into his mouth. The man sitting next to him reached over in an attempt to take the meat from Bronson’s plate.

               “Hey, what gives? You aren’t going to eat it.”

               “Brian,” Griffin called out. “Don’t be stingy, split it with a couple of the others.”

               Brian took the meat from Bronson’s plate. He was practically licking his lips now. He split it with two other men near him as others looked on enviously. Nyx stood and offered hers to the four women to share. Alex, Laura, the young one who she thought was named Cindy and the older lady looked very appreciative and divided it up quickly.

               Dine had caught on to what Bronson had done.

               “Not going to finish that,” Pierce asked him.

               “Knock yourself out.” Dine handed Pierce the last bit of food on his plate and watched him wolf it down, shaking his head. Dine munched on the celery, eyeing Bronson. The look they shared confirmed that it was time to leave. Nyx and Bronson munched on their oats and apple slices for a few minutes after that. Bronson placed his plate down and excused himself walking by Griffin.

               “Gonna use your latrine.”

               Griffin nodded to him and kept eating. He was watching Nyx who had walked over and joined her remaining two comrades. She bent down and took a knee just behind them, when she got close to Dine’s ear she voiced her concern.

               “Are we going to be able to walk out of here without any trouble?”

               He looked down at her question, “not sure.” He stood and brushed off his pants. “Thanks for your hospitality,” he said to Griffin as he approached the man who was still finishing his meal. “We’re really grateful, but we should be going soon.”

               “Not going to give your food time to digest? Rest a while, might not find a place as inviting and friendly as this on the rest of your journey.”

               Griffin smiled at his points. Dine wasn’t sure what to say, he was used to being direct and to the point.

               “If we did that everywhere we might never make it back.” Bronson’s words broke the brief silence as he came back from around the corner, adjusting his sleeves.

               Griff sighed, “I can take a hint.” He stood. “Everyone say goodbye to Bronson and his friends. They’ve got a long trip ahead of them and want to get going.”

               Griffin rounded up his three pals from this morning. They were his hunting party. While many of the members of the camp that came up to say goodbye to them Griffin and his group went retrieved their weapons from earlier. Dine and Pierce spoke to Max and his friends, they shared a brief farewell and smile. Nyx spoke to the other women.

               “Take care of that baby, Alex.”

               “I will,” she said. “Laura will be here and so will the others.”

               Alex winced slightly. Nyx frowned and Laura was ushering her to sit down. The young girl, Cindy, stepped up.

               “You’re very pretty,” she said to Nyx, who smiled in return.

               “Thank you.”

               “I’m sorry you have to go.”

               “Me too,” Nyx said sincerely, “maybe we’ll come back.”

               “Okay,” Cindy said with a smile. “Bring me something.”

               Nyx laughed, “alright then.”

               Bronson had said his goodbyes to the few people that had approached him. He placed a hand on Nyx’ shoulder to let her know it was time to go. The two went to join Griffin’s group. Pierce and Dine followed close behind them. The four gathered and Nyx gave one last wave goodbye.

               With Griffin and his men in the lead the group did not head out the same way they had come in. They scaled the ramps back up to the outer ring and across the top towards the locked chain-link fence. Bronson hated when he was right.

               “Take you guys out through this way, it’ll be closer.” Griff said with that million dollar bearded smile. He pulled the small key ring from his pocket once again, the smaller key this time helping to remove the padlock on the chained fence. The two walls of metal were unlocked and moved to let the group in and then closed back behind them. The two groups walked with Bronson and Dine in the lead, Griffin’s men coming in behind them.

               Bronson wasn’t surprised when Griffin’s men spread out around them. The gated in path soon expanded into a large circular area. To the right of them set a black SUV with faded paint and a random white panel from another car on the back driver’s side door. The windshield had a small crack in the top right but other than that the vehicle looked to be in the best shape anyone had seen for a long while. There were two containers of gas sitting next to the back left wheel. This confirmed Bronson’s suspicion that it ran, and the third key Griffin had would start it.

               To the left of them were something box-shaped covered in tarps. To the front was another exit from the quarry, a gate that was blocked by several large old crates off gathered supplies and tables that were covered in blood, a butcher’s cleaver sticking up out of the table next to a severed head of a ghoul. By the tables were three large wooden pikes sticking out of the ground, like the ones they had found back in the building where they camped for the night. Either way, this was obviously not the way out. Even Pierce was up to speed on who was holding all of the weapons.

               “What’s going on here, Griff?”

               Bronson went to answer Dine’s question but a muffled groan broke the air. The group looked to see that the pained sound came from underneath the tarps.

               “They’re Zhegans.”

               Griffin laughed, “Well since we’re playing show and tell, you fucks aren’t from Nevada. Your guns are too polished and new and little missy doesn’t have a speck of dirt under her nails or matted in her hair.”

               “Zhegans,” Nyx and Dine asked the question in unison. Not seeming surprised that their ruse had failed.

               “Yeah, they don’t believe in eating animals or anything that was alive or some shit, but Zombies, they were dead before hand, so they don’t count. I’m guessing that’s what you served us down there. That’s where the head Pierce came from, another place where they were hacking up the bodies and using the pikes to drain the blood, leaving the head on one to maybe ward off others or something.”

               “You want a cookie,” Griffin smiled and feigned a slow clap against his shotgun. “We were living pretty high on the hog here, just us, a fortifiable camp and a good stock of walkers to farm and turn into dinner. Little odd at first, it’s not like cannibalism. It’s just like eating a cow.”

               “It’s affecting your people,” Bronson warned. “You’re probably too gone yourself to see how ravenous you’re becoming.”

               “I don’t think so,” He raised the shotgun up to his shoulder and pointed it at Bronson. “It’s kept my family alive down here, no one has had to go hungry or kill one of their loved ones for their supplies or to eat them like those cannibals over there on the East coast.” He took a step forward, his free hand adjusting the strap of Bronson’s rifle that was hanging off of his right shoulder. “I’d appreciate it if you didn’t try to lay your judgment down on my family and friends, since I’m guessing you came from the colonies.”

               Dine’s expression became harder and stern.

               “My name is Captain Price Dine of the Elysium City military. We haven’t done anything to you and would appreciate being allowed to carry on our way.”

               “You entitled space fucks,” Griffin spat. “You really piss me off. First you run off and abandon the planet, leave people down here because you’re on a schedule, and then you want to come back?” His expression did look genuinely shocked and appalled. “You still siphon materials from the Earth and suck at her tit like an ungrateful child, fine. But you come back?”

               The two groups stood in a moment of silence, facing off. Griffin’s face was a bit red now, he was really angry.             

               “No sir. That just pisses me off. I don’t know if you’re scouts, or what your doing here, I don’t care.”

               “As I said,” Dine countered, “we’ll be on our way if you’ll let us. There doesn’t have to be any trouble.”

               Griffin laughed and his three cronies followed in suit. Griffin had the shotgun pointed at them and the other three had the guns they had taken off of the group.

               Bronson shook his head.

               “Why all of this then? If you knew we were lying why didn’t you just kill us back where you found us asleep?”

               “I had to be sure, just in case. I won’t feel bad about killing some colony rats though.” He spat on the ground. “And in all fairness, I’m not going to kill you.”

Griffin reached over and pulled the tarp from off of two cages, each with an individual crouched on all fours inside, ghouls. The ravenous undead were now bucking and clawing at the openings of their cages now that they could see and better smell the people in front of them. The two corpses were both female, one middle-aged and suffering from a rotting face and an older woman with salt and pepper color hair whose left eye was hanging out slightly and a right arm that looked mangled and gnawed on.

“This here is Sam and Gracie, couple of old friends-“

“That you just couldn’t bear to make dinner,” Dine interrupted.

Griffin snorted. “Guess you’re right smartass, thanks for volunteering to go first.” He nodded to one of his men who to proceed.

The obedient soldier steadied his old tattered baseball cap and rolled up his sleeves. He picked up an old dog catchers hook, a long pole with an adjustable collar strap at the end.

“So wait,” Nyx interrupted. “They bite us, we die and become like them, and then you can use us as a food source?”

“Look at the little lady catch up,” Griff snickered.

“That’s some real screwed up logic you’ve got there, just in case you were wondering.”

“Yeah,” Pierce chimed in. “You sure we can’t work something out? There are four of us, you can’t need that much food, and Bronson and I are corpse hunters, we can-“

“Shut up Pierce,” Dine ordered with a sharp tone.

The leather strap was lowered into the cage by Griff’s henchman and was strapped around Sam’s neck. Griffin liked to feed them in rotation to keep it fair, even if they were dead. Once the strap was in place through the slit in the cage the man worked the bar through so he could open the door without having to ever let go of the pole.

“So, you probably aren’t going to tell the others that dinner for the next few weeks will be their former guests?” Bronson inquired. “I’m guessing not, since you made such an elaborate show to get us out here and to look like a good host.”

“It’s my job to protect them,” Griff answered.

“Yeah, and that means lying to them. I get that part.” Bronson folded his hands in front of him. “What about someone like Alex though, what’s eating all of this infected flesh doing to her unborn child? Or did you even stop to think about that, Griffin?”

Nyx almost visibly winced as that thought crashed into her. She felt bad for Alex. There was a part of her truly hated Griffin now. Griffin, whose face was growing furious, didn’t respond to Bronson’s comment. Instead, the butt of the shotgun that Griff had been holding came towards the bridge of Bronson’s nose. Had he not moved with the hit his nose would have broke.

               Bronson fell to one knee.

               “Get up,” Griffin ordered. “I’ve changed my mind, you can go first; and since you’re so worried about the people I’m protecting, die knowing you’re feeding them.”

No one saw what he had slipped from his sleeve. The item he had retrieved from one of the shredded metal walls surrounding the quarry was easy enough to remove, the trick was sharpening quietly.

               Griff grabbed Nyx’ arm and pulled her back away from the others.

               “Don’t you worry, everyone really liked you, asked if we could keep you around.”

               Nyx came across Griff’s face with her free elbow but the shot didn’t allow her to get free as she thought it would. She struggled for a moment before she found the barrel of Griffin’s shotgun shoved firmly up against her stomach, the threat of a long painful death.

               The other two men pulled Dine and Pierce back away from Bronson with the man holding the walker at the end of the pole bringing her closer.

               “Feeding time Sam,” the man said as he positioned himself behind her and pushed the once-beautiful snarling female towards Bronson. Sam’s jaw was stretched open and the skin at the corners of her mouth was tearing. Her eyes were glossed over and white with brown and green spots growing around them. Sam’s clawed the air with her yellow-brown fingers when she got closer to Bronson; hungry for his flesh.

               Pierce’s eyes were darting around, looking for a form of escape. He wasn’t sure if he could make it over the fence before he got shot. He knew he had to get out of there though. Looking over at Dine, Pierce noticed the captain was sweating profusely. Even for the heat that day, he thought it was odd. Dine’s fists were shaking and his shoulder rolled to test the henchman’s grip on him. His breathing was becoming faster. Pierce wondered if he was about to have a heart attack.

               Looking up from his kneeled position, Bronson took time to aim, knowing that he would need to be precise. He was focusing on Sam’s neck, knowing it’d be hard to behead her with what he had stolen. The next swipe of her hand came close to his long hair.

               “He’s not even moving,” one of Griffin’s men hollered.

               Bronson did move. When he did, it was quick and a single fluid motion. The upward strike from his kneeling position brought the sharpened piece of metal in a fierce arch that cut up across the undead Samantha’s neck. A slender stream of ripped skin and dried blood shot into the air like a dying rainbow.

               Griffin laughed and tightened his grip his arm had around Nyx’ neck now. His hand still held her wrist, ready to twist and snap it if she moved too much. The barrel of the shotgun came from her stomach and pointed at Bronson’s leg, they could remove the slug from his knee when they cut the meat.

               It wasn’t until that moment though that everyone there other than Bronson realized what had just happened. Sam knew. A hand instinctively grabbed at the wound on her neck which caused the leather strap there that had held her in place to fall fully, leaving a very concerned henchman holding a pole with a surprised look. He fumbled, trying to reach the weapon that had previously belonged to Pierce, he was too slow though.

               Bronson’s boot rose and struck Sam’s chest with authority. She spun and the fumbling henchman saw a blur of her ripped purple blouse and cut neck as she fell into him, both falling to the dirt.

               Griffin was pulling the trigger, ready to take Bronson’s legs out from under him. He would have done it too had the back of Nyx’ head not cracked into his mouth, pushing out one of his front teeth. Had he not been such a tall man she could have connected with his nose like she wanted. She tried to grab the shotgun but the butt of it found her stomach.

               Pierce didn’t need to be told twice. His foot came up behind him between the legs of the man that had been holding him in place. There was a shrill wince from behind him. Jonah grabbed the gun from the henchman and shoved it into the gut of the already hunched over man. Now, all Pierce had to do was find a way out, to save himself.

               Sam, the corpse on top of the man who had been holding her with the pole, had reassessed her position. Her rotting teeth dug into the neck of the man who had tried to feed her Bronson. A scream came from underneath the ghoul, soon muffled by the gurgling blood. Bronson came around, half using the two bodies as cover for Griffin and half trying to get the gun from the soon to be walker’s shoulder.

               Dine had been sweating, his eyes were bloodshot and his fists were trembling. When Bronson made his move the only thing he could think was, “finally”. He felt the metal of the gun barrel press hard against the back of his head.

               “Don’t move,” his captor shouted, looking over Dine’s shoulder trying to understand what had just happened and what he needed to do.

               Dine’s hands moved quickly. The hired hand had gotten too close and it was easy enough to sidestep and push his barrel out of the way. The captain’s hands were shaking with aggression, sweat poured and his heart was pumping in double-time. Dine’s fist flew and connected with the man’s face, pushing it back against the metal wall with an extreme amount of force. There was a crack of bone. The thudding sound against the metal was followed up by a squishy retort as Dine’s fist broke through the man’s face and caved it in against his skull. Blood escaped in a series of splashes from whatever exits it could find. The red liquid covered Dine’s arm now as the new nearly-beheaded corpse fell to the ground. He held onto Nyx’ MP5 that the man had taken and turned to the others.

               There was a moment of pause, except for Sam’s dinner. Pierce had been getting ready to try and jump the wall but there he stood watching the aftermath of Dine’s rage. Bronson backed off with Pierce’s freed weapon in his hand, an expression of surprise across his face. Even Griffin, who was still holding on to Nyx, took pause. They all looked at Dine’s handy work. He turned, shaking the bits of blood and bone from his fist, stretching the fingers out, satisfied. He couldn’t help but notice they were all staring at him uncomfortably.

               “What?” 

[Game Review] – Goldeneye 007 Reloaded

             James Bond is an iconic action character who wears a black tux, carries a silenced pistol, and juggles a woman or martini in his free hand as he saves the world. This hero and symbol of male libido has had numerous books, films, and games over the past several decades. The films may not be the most believable but they make the perfect playground for an exciting video game adaptation.

            The release of the film Goldeneye saw Pierce Brosnan as the infamous MI-6 agent with an updated look and feel to the franchise that delivered a new post Cold War vision of the spy game in film. One of the themes of this film shows how someone in Bond’s position deals with the loss of friends, betrayal, and his relationships with the people he works with. There is also an interesting revision here with Judi Dench as the new M, a female boss for the Cold War relic Bond to take orders from that affects James in a way that he doesn’t care to admit. The visuals, great acting, and fresh take on the franchise make for a memorable Bond film.

            As any avid gamer knows, video game versions of popular movies tend to let down the consumer and generate poor reviews. A chance was taken though on a joint venture with Rare and Nintendo to cash in on the films success on the N64 console. The number of hours spent on this game, even just from this writer, was too many to count. The game was fantastic and aptly blended the movie with plenty of play and activity (ie: people to shoot, maps to explore) to keep me busy. The game has some very memorable level design and an impressive selection of weapons and gadgets for that period of gaming. The multi-player was the cream and cherry on the top though, a four player couch co-op slaughter-fest with multiple character skins and play options to keep things interesting.

            The original Goldeneye game was a huge hit for Nintendo. Since then the company has tried to cash in on that success with numerous duds that either followed or remade the classic endeavor. That’s why when Goldeneye 007 Reloaded was announced I hesitated to pick it up; fearing, in the stereotypical gamer fashion, that nothing could ever compare to the Goldeneye of yore.

            Developed by Eurocom and published by Activision this new Goldeneye boasted an updated retelling of the original adventure with a multiplayer side that would compare to the N64 giant. The trailers looked promising and early reports boasted a new exciting experience in the same feel of the original. Most consumers, like myself were not sold on the new game yet though, feeling the burn from the old remakes. Like many others though I soon found myself looking for something to play with some friends and after reading a number of positive reviews and giving in to the call of nostalgia, I picked up my copy for X-Box 360.

            The character you play is redesigned to look like Daniel Craig, the new James Bond. Disappointingly, the character of Alec Trevelyan doesn’t look like Sean Bean. The plot has been updated to fit present day but still keep the Russian Ultranationalists and Janus group as their key antagonists. Some of the gadgets have been replaced by more modern practical devices and the weapons are updated along with all of the other revisions. The graphics are well done and the lighting effects are very vibrant. The interface isn’t bad, the few glitches actually helped remind me of the old version and how precise you had to be with the controls at times.

            There is no lack of nostalgia here. The level design is just similar enough to get you excited about going through that area. All players of the original Goldeneye game remembers dropping down into the facility bathroom and capping the guy in the stall next to you. There are several lines of dialog from the original game as well as situations that pay a sizable homage to their source material. At the risk of being accused of blasphemy one might venture to say that the ending of this version is better than the N64 version. The soundtrack is a good mixture of remixed techno with the classic 007 theme and original Goldeneye score.

            The controls for the game are stable and the auto-aim feature helps with players who might want a little assistance. The game is not hard at all if you know how to take cover. Your biggest fear is running out of bullets. Running through the game pretty quickly might be seen as a flaw in the game but I found it to have a lot of replay value, pick a stage and cause havoc. Some games have annoying mechanics or cinematic quick time events that people hate replaying but there was not much of that to bog this game down. There is a certain pleasure to learning how to beat a stage perfectly on one of the harder difficulties with only the silenced pistol.

            The multi-player function actually left a little to be desired, which was slightly heartbreaking Players can still get online with strangers or have friends over, if you have that many, for couch co-op. There seems to be a lack of creativity with the new stages though and playing over X-Box live just doesn’t give the same quality experience that couch co-op offered. The modes and options that you’re given are fine but there’s something missing. To me, Goldeneye will always be a couch co-op experience. I enjoyed having a couple of friends over and shooting each other repeatedly with many an insult and gloating remarks exchanged; without these friends though I don’t see myself selecting the multiplayer option very often.

            There are only a few extras to unlock in the game along with some items to look for in the actual game play that seem to be just for achievements. Replaying the levels will probably get tiring after a while but the game has been out for a while now and can be found at a reduced price which makes the purchase well worth it. This game, so far, is the closest any group has come to an actual decent recreation of the original Goldeneye game. Now with the new OO7 Legends game on the rise the franchise is showing that it still has power and James Bond, at least as the games are concerned, won’t be going anywhere. 

For A Few Corpses More - Pt. 8

               Nyx could feel the blade on her thumb, sharp and ready to draw blood. Both of the guns Griff was holding were pointed down at the ground and he was looking at Bronson. The one holding the spear to her cheek was too relaxed, content that she wasn’t going to give them any trouble, his mistake. She had shifted to get her legs underneath her, feet flat, ready to spring up. Her eyes were still focused on the throat right beneath Griffin’s graying beard. It moved as he spoke, an inviting target. Now or never, her brain sent the message to her body to strike.

               Nyx froze when she saw Griffin swing around, shotgun pointed at her. She hesitated, her life in much greater jeopardy now.

               “I’m sorry little lady, how could I forget about you.” He grinned. “My manners have really tanked over the past years, what’s your name?” He eyed her, taking a long look at her until he saw the firearms lying by where she had been sleeping. She knew at that point he realized that her hand was hidden. “Did you search her?”

               The man with the spear was back on guard, punctuated by the piece of metal now being prodded into her back. The henchman ordered her to stand. The machete had fallen back into place, sheathed tightly on her belt to try and hide what her intentions had been. She stood slowly, letting Bronson’s cloth fall off of her. That was when she noticed all of the men were smiling, she wasn’t sure she liked that though. She was pretty well covered but her clothing didn’t really hide her figure.

               Griffin was interested but he had noticed something else as well, the machete. With the side of the barrel on the shotgun he tapped the leather wrapped handle of the weapon. There was a dull clanking sound.

               “This, Miguel, is why you search people.” Miguel went to remove the blade from her belt. “No leave it. You underestimated her because she was a woman, your fault. She could have slit your throat when you weren’t paying attention if she had wanted.”

               Nyx wished he knew how close he was, but that wouldn’t have done any good right then. She just tried to give a sweet smile.

               “I’m Nyx.”

               Griffin nodded, “and it is a –pleasure- to meet you, honey.” He was smiling again, his voice soft towards her. “I don’t think these people are going to give us any trouble,” he said, addressing Miguel, “they didn’t know where they were and probably just want to get through. Least you could do though is let us give you that small meal I mentioned and a more proper place to put down for a while.”

               The two other henchmen untied Bronson and Dine’s hands. They were slow to stand, assessing the situation. Griffin continued on.

               “We’re going to have to hold on to your weapons though, just until you leave. No offense, but you know how it is. In a world where everyone has guns you could turn on us at any time, right? We’ll give them back to you when you’re ready to head out.”

               Pierce was the next one to be stood up and let loose as Miguel gathered up Nyx’ pistol and MP5. The other men took Bronson and Dine’s weapons as well, slinging them over their shoulders and attaching them to their belts or pants.

               “Understandable I guess,” Bronson said. “Guess we don’t have much of a choice.”

               “Hey,” Griffin commented, “you can leave now with your guns if you want, but you’ll be going back the way you came. I can’t have you wandering around our territory like that with them. I don’t know what you could do.”

               Bronson looked for a moment as if he was considering it, not liking the idea of going with them. Dine shook his head though. They were already going to be behind schedule and having to go around would make that worse.

               “Alright,” Bronson agreed. “No, you’re right. We’ll come with you. Maybe the socialization will help. It’s just been us four for two months now.”

               “Good, it’s settled then.” The big smile returned. “Let’s go.”

               The trip from their temporary camp to wherever their new hosts were taking them wasn’t that long; it was just winding and very confusing as they navigated through woods and back roads. It was a little less surprising to how they had been discovered when they saw how close the compound that these men had come from was to where they had been found. Dine couldn’t help but think that if Pierce hadn’t freaked out over finding that head that they could have done a better perimeter search, not have been surprised like this. He blamed Pierce. The captain was also quite uncomfortable in their current situation, being lead around by men who had their guns. He had confidence that Bronson was already trying to think of a way out, Nyx too probably, but Pierce was quiet as they walked. Probably trying not to fall into a sniveling puddle on the grass; that was what Dine thought. He could tell Bronson wanted to say something. He kept cutting his eyes at the men to see if they were watching him, standing very close to Dine as they moved.

               He was pleased they hadn’t tried to take their packs off of them. Leaving them without weapons was one thing, but without food and water would be another. Their communicators were hidden on their belts to anyone who didn’t know what they were looking at. The small black boxes just looked like patches since the lights were off. The thing he was really careful not to draw attention to was the computer on his forearm. It was hidden by a fold over flap that made it look like it was a part of his sleeve, just a bit bulkier than his other arm. He tried not to subconsciously touch it or look at the device. Since their gear was lost in the ocean, if they lost this computer their mission would be dead in the water.

               Coming from the trees the group found themselves on an old dirt road that had been overrun with weeds and grass. A rusted sign for “Wilson’s Quarry” hung limply from a bent pole on the right side of the road. The dirt path soon turned into gravel, the rocks were uneven. It would have been easy to twist an ankle on this path if someone wasn’t paying attention. Nyx noticed that the closer they go there were more sounds coming from the woods, animal noises. The wildlife did their best to stay away from the ghouls, so they must like it here more. Perhaps the idea of being hunted by humans for food was more appealing than that of being gnawed on by and undead monster. Nyx didn’t think it really mattered to them but that was what was going through her mind.

               They came to a large chain-linked fence with two men standing on the other side of it. Griffin gave a peculiar melody in a whistle to let them know who was coming. The two men began to unchain the fence. One held another home-made spear in his hand and the second who called back to Griff had the handle of a pistol sticking out of his pants. Nyx was pretty sure from what they had seen that this group had five guns at most, they were hard to come by here.

               “We have guests,” Griffin exclaimed with a smile. “They were just trying to get through.”

               “Which one of them screamed so loud,” the gatekeeper asked under his breath as Griffin passed by. The two men at the gate took an extra long gaze at Nyx as she walked through. “Bet it was her,” at least, that’s what Nyx thought she heard the man say. Griffin laughed and whispered something to the man as the other three men lead them on the gravel and dirt path.

               There were tall trees that pointed out in every direction, Western Hemlocks and Cedars. Nyx was taken in by the sheer amount of green around her, so many evergreen trees. When Bronson and her hunt they are usually in Nevada, Arizona, or Southern California, places that are dead and dry. She had seen some spread out before, maybe a row at most, but since landing here she had been enjoying how different and nice it all looked, how alive. This path was the thickest she had seen it though. The trees hid wherever they were going from the roads with their expanding full arms.

               The road was long and had several winding turns through the dense trees before they tapered off and the path expanded into a full clearing. There were hills of rocks and dirt off to the sides up on the top ledge that overlooked the other sections that were carved out of the earth. The almost circular camp looked liked an onion with cascading layers that went down further and further to a center that was a small man-made lake that had two large white pipes pumping water into it. There were several wooden cabins and lean-tos put together as well as stone fire pits and what looked like out-houses. Many of the trees in the immediate area had been cut down to make large walls and slanted poles that were sharpened on one end attached to the walls, a defense system against walkers. They had built a community here, a safe haven in a devastated world. Nyx felt almost proud for them; surviving.

               “Welcome to our humble abode,” Griffin said as he approached back up from behind them. “We’ve tossed around a few names for it over the past couple of years but I don’t think anything has ever stuck, but no matter what you call it, its home.”

               Looking around the group saw people emerging from the different huts and around the upper rings. Some were washing laundry in basins while others looked to be sorting vegetables. Two old men were playing with a deck of cards that looked old and worn. There were probably a few missing from the deck. A young girl who looked she could only be about nine or ten was playing with a doll down by the small manmade lake, brushing its hair. She stared at Nyx before looking at the other new faces. There were about thirty of them total and only about four of them were women, including the young girl. There were two older women that had been sorting the food and a girl that probably wasn’t much older than Nyx exited one of the huts. Her stomach was plump and round under a torn yellow sun dress, she was very pregnant.

               “Alright folks,” Griffin said with that winning bearded smile. “I’m gonna put your weapons here someplace safe. I’m a man of my word though, we’ll give them back to you when you leave. Lunch should be ready in about an hour or so, until then take a load off by the fire. I know it’s a bit chilly, especially compared to where you guys are coming from I’m sure.” He nudged Pierce with an elbow, “am I right?”

               “Yeah,” Pierce said almost under his breath as he looked around with his nose practically upturned.

               Walking down one of the thin metal plates that acted as a ramp in between the different layers of the camp they came up to one of the bigger huts. This one had no windows and a port-a-potty door as its entrance but it was closed up tight with a chain and padlock. Griffin produced the key from his jeans pocket, a chain that also held two other keys that he fumbled through. One of the other men helped him gather up the guns and they put all of the guns alongside what Bronson thought was two other pistols at most on the back wall of the hut. The door was re-chained and the padlock was put back into place. Griffin shoved the small key ring back into his pocket with a smirk.

               Bronson watched as his rifle and .45 joined the other weapons, now locked away. He reminded himself that they were lucky to be alive and chose to see this as an obstacle to be overcome. Griffin had promised to give them back and escort them outside of their territory. It seemed a little too good to be true. They had made a mistake, gotten caught thanks to Pierce. This seemed too easy. Watching Griffin with the keys Bronson realized that they had to go to something important, something worth knowing about. He looked around until he spotted the gate up on the top ring. It looked to be a part of the original quarry design, two fences that were also chained together in the center. He couldn’t see what was past there at this angle but he was willing to bet it was important.

               “Now, let’s introduce you to some of the others.”

               Griffin turned to the others. He looked at who was all present and smiled motioning them forward with his hands. They were scattered across each of the five rings of the camp, all eager to see the strangers.

               “Friends, we have guests. Come and socialize!”

               Over the next hour the four soldiers from Elysium couldn’t find a moment to themselves. Everyone wanted to meet them, talk to them, but mostly ask about where they were from and what they had seen. Bronson had the most experience of what was there in Nevada and so he did most of the talking. It was odd watching him try to appear sociable when meeting him for five minutes you could tell he wasn’t. He wanted to help keep the ruse up though. Nyx only knew what he had told her, she chimed in though off and on to keep the conversation flowing, things looking natural. Dine had only read about these areas through reports, vague ones. He wasn’t comfortable saying much and even told one man that he wasn’t feeling well, that they hadn’t eaten in a while. Pierce’s planet side experience was mostly with killing ghouls and scavenging for money. It worked to his favor that people seemed to want to talk to him the least.

               The people in the camp seemed friendly. As they fawned over them several of the men lead them down to the bottom circle near the lake where a large stone circle had been made for a fire to cook and warm everyone. Several of the older men had sat with the four travelers by the fire as the women brought food over and prepared it for the meal.

               “How many people are down there where you are from?”

               “Not enough,” Bronson answered the old man. “The undead there are vicious. We were stupid and tried to go into the cities early on.” 

               “You’ve got a lot of walkers there?”

               “They aren’t as bad up here, don’t like the cold from what we can tell,” another of the men chimed in. “They’re worse in the summer though.”

               “Not a big problem for you guys,” Dine asked.

               Griffin laughed. “Nah, we could use a few more.” He smiled and then tacked on, “for target practice, you know.”

               “Doesn’t that waste bullets,” Dine said raising an eyebrow.

               Griffin laughed. “James,” he called out and a young boy no older than twenty stepped out and pulled one of four knives off his belt. His wrist flicked out like a snake and the knife was firmly planted blade first into one of the wooden planks on a near-by lean-to. “We save bullets for other people with guns.”

               Bronson looked over at the boy who had thrown the knife. His eyes said it clearly, he was a killer.

               “You run into a lot of other people out here?”

               “Did in the beginning,” Griff said as he picked up a yellow apple when one of the old women weren’t looking. “Most of them moved on though, wanted to look for something better, and probably found something worse.” He bit a huge chunk from the apple and smiled as he chewed.

               “Some of them though, I’m guessing didn’t want to find their own thing,” Bronson suggested. “They wanted what you had?”

               Griffin’s smile didn’t fade much, but it had a bit as he finished chewing up the chunk of fruit still in his mouth.

               “World’s changed. We do what we have to, you probably know that better than anyone else here.”

               “What makes you say that, Griffin?”

               “Cause,” Griffin said with a laugh as he stood, taking another bite of apple. “You were the only one who didn’t look scared when you woke up with a spear in your face and thought you were about to die.”

               Griffin tossed the rest of the apple off to the side near a small wooden structure that a set of black paws was sticking out of. The animal inside sniffed the air and moved out, investigating the offering. His snout touched it, as black as the rest of his skin. The chocolate lab didn’t seem too thrilled with what he had been given but perhaps it was better than nothing. He picked it up with a snap of his jaws but looked at the Bronson and company. There was a hunger in the animal’s eyes.

               Dine and Pierce had begun a conversation with two of the older men, discussing their journey and the area. Dine was asking which directions were safe and trying to feel out their path to Spokane without tipping his hand too much. He was doing fine and for once Pierce made a good distraction by bringing up nonsensical little bits here and there to keep everything light hearted.

               “That’s why I don’t fuck with snakes anymore,” Pierce said throwing his hands up suggestively for the purpose of his story. “Even if you knock their teeth out the risk to your prick isn’t worth it.”

               The old man, whose name they had found out was Max, was cracking up and holding his side as he laughed. “That’s crazy. I don’t think anyone here is quite that desperate yet; emphasis on yet.”

               Dine forced a smile to appear to enjoy the conversation as he looked around the camp and Nyx and Bronson, not wanting to separate too much, just in case. He thought he had gotten as much as he could about the surrounding areas out of Max and his friend without setting off any red flags, distracted in strategy he almost missed Pierce’ comment.

               “How is the snatch situation around here actually?”

               Max and the other older man paused at his question and both men turned and looked back at Nyx as she sat by the fire with Bronson.

               “I think you’ve cornered the market around here.” Max grinned.

               As that conversation was going on the meat was being brought out of one of the huts. Several mats with cut up apple, celery, oats and shelled peas had been laid out. The two older women were putting the mean on long sticks to go over the fire. Nyx wasn’t sure if it was pork or deer, it looked like deer meat she thought, or maybe even steak. The cut was hard to see but she thought they could have had or found a cow possibly. A good meal indeed for people they were ready to impale not that many hours ago.

               Nyx heard a noise off to the side as someone else exited the hut with pieces of meat wrapped in cloth. The pregnant girl had winced in pain and almost dropped what she was carrying. Nyx jumped up and walked over to her.

               “Here, let me get that for you.”

               The girl opened her mouth to protest but another pain hit and she simply nodded, handing the meat to her.

               “Are you alright? Do you need anything,” Nyx asked her. The odor of the meat she held now more pronounced, she hoped the fire was getting all of the bacteria out of this stuff.

               “I’m fine,” the woman assured her. “I’m sorry, I’ve just been having pains lately.”

               Nyx nodded. “How close are you?”

               “I’m not sure, soon though, I know that.”

               “I’m Nyx, what’s your name?”

               “Alex.”

               “It’s a pleasure to meet you Alex. Where does this need to go?”

               Alex pointed over to the two older women and Nyx gave it to them. She saw a small row of cups in the line of them that were being assembled for the meal. She picked it up and went past the fire down to the small lake. The water was pretty clear. She dipped the cup in to retrieve some of the water and then hurried back up to Alex.

               “Here you go.”

               Alex took it with a soft smile. She drank some of the water, slowly, and looked off to the distance as she seemed contemplative.

               “Alex,” She asked to get the woman’s attention. “Is there someone here that will be able to help you with your delivery?”

               Alex nodded. She motioned to the older woman shelling peas with salt and pepper hair.

               “Laura, she used to be an LPN or something she said; said everything would come back to her when the time came.”

               Nyx nodded.

               “Are you excited?”

               “Yes,” Alex smiled. “I can’t wait to see him, or her. I think it’ll be a boy though.”

               Nyx smiled at her. She felt a pang in her gut that she knew she’d never fulfill, but seeing this here and now brought it to the forefront like a tidal wave. She dared not say it to Alex but she couldn’t imagine trying to raise a child down here, in this world on the planet’s surface. Was there any hope? The danger could come from all sides and the child’s protection would be her responsibility. Even back on Elysium City there would be so many risks, such a poor world to try to bring a child up in. Down here though there were no doctors, there were ghouls, and the idea of the struggle. Even up in Elysium City though Nyx wasn’t sure she’d do it. She had told herself she wouldn’t for years. Her mother hadn’t had a choice, but she did.

               “Who’s the father?”

               Nyx’ question had obviously caught Alex off guard. Her eyes were scanning the men on the different shelves of the onion-like camp. There were a group of three men discussing shifts for guarding the gate and she flung her arm up, pointing to one or perhaps the other one, Nyx wasn’t sure.

               “He is, Nathan, he’s the father.”

               Nyx bit her lip. There was an awkward moment of silence before Griffin’s bellowing voice broke it up.

               “Chow time; let’s all get together over here!”

               Everyone gathered.