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. 

Full Frontal Fantasy-: BIG COMIC WEEK- Stephen Wilds

Me doing a comic book guest blog: Full Frontal Fantasy-: BIG COMIC WEEK- Stephen Wilds

For A Few Corpses More - Pt. 7

               Leaves fell in broad strokes and branches struck Bronson as he pushed through the trees in a full run. Hands by his side as he ran, his knife and pistol were already drawn, his mind playing out the different scenario of what could have happened. Nyx was behind him, following close. Her words in the conversation they had just had were replaying in his mind, perhaps she had been right. It looked like leaving those Dine and Pierce alone had been a horrible idea. One of them was most likely dead, the other standing over their body waiting to dispatch of he and Nyx, or fled into the woods.

               It was to his surprise as he broke through the tree line, back near the gravel road with the building in sight and pistol drawn and readied, that he saw Dine standing at the ready and Pierce almost cowering behind him with the handle of his automatic clenched tightly. Bronson lowered the gun away from them as he saw his suspicions were wrong. He had let Nyx’ comments cause him to second guess himself. Captain Dine’s eyes were not on Pierce at all but one of the doorways to the large building they had not yet entered.

               Dine glanced over his shoulder at the returning patrollers.

               “Pierce went in there to get firewood,” Pistol still pointed at the doorway, “said he saw ghouls.”

               “It was dark,” Jonah Pierce said from behind his human shield, “But I know what I saw. I saw it’s eyes; damn soulless eyes!”  

               Nyx shook her head and knew what her partner’s response would be. She unsheathed her machete as he put his pistol away.

               “If it’s walkers you let me handle it.” Bronson spoke as he moved past them, towards the building with his knife readied, “quietly and without wasting ammo if we can help it.” He had to remind himself they were technically amateurs here. From one of the many small pockets on his pants he produced a small LED flashlight and held it in his free hand with the bulb out, wrists locked in a cross pattern with the knife blade sticking out.

               His back pressed to the wall. Nyx got into position across from him, ready to follow him if she needed to. The metal of her blade rested with a cool touch against her arm. From the corner of her eye she realized that Dine was an unmoving wall, just in case the enemy got past both of them and Pierce was still behind the captain with his pistol automatic raised.

               The sun was so low now that when Bronson went into the doorway of the old structure she had to squint to make out his outline. He hadn’t turned the light on yet, if it was a nest of them that would just paint a larger target and do more harm than good. Moments passed that were silent and everyone was still and almost breathless as they waited for the bloodlust of combat, adrenaline beginning to pump inside them. Nyx couldn’t see Bronson at all anymore and that worried her. Instinctively, her training took over and she began to move towards the doorway about to enter when she saw a bright blue light finally come on. She froze.

               The light snapped back off with a click. She moved away from the door, hearing him come closer.

               “Pierce,” Bronson called out, still enveloped in shadow.

               Pierce stepped out from behind Dine with a grunt that almost sounded like a question. His curiosity was soon sated as an object flew from the darkened doorway that Bronson was stepping out of and hit Jonah square in the chest. Pierce flailed with his free arm, struggling to catch it until he got a second glance and saw what it was. A severed human head with rotting flesh and glossed over eyes fell to the ground and made a thump against the browning grass.

               The other three looked down at it, the first really good look anyone had gotten of whoever this used to be. It was a ghoul from what they could tell, at least for a short time. There was a large gaping hole at the top of the skull though that looked like it went pretty deep if not all the way through. The cut at the base of the neck was far from clean and there were cuts that looked like they could have been from machetes or smaller knives.

               “There were three of these on pikes back there in the back of that building, just the heads.” Bronson motioned as he spoke, “looked like some kind of work bench had been set up also but nothing there anymore.”

               Pierce let out a sigh of relief before realizing the truth of what was inside the abandoned building made him look even worse.

               “Are you sure you didn’t see anything else in there?” He questioned Bronson, trying to rebuild his base for his actions. “I know I saw something move in there.”

               Bronson shook his head. “I searched the whole bottom floor and most of the walls have been removed, so I’m not sure where anything could have been hiding. The top floor doesn’t look too structurally sound with the metal catwalks so warped and rusted but I looked around up there as much as I could. I think the heads were what you saw.”

               Pierce looked as if he were trying to think of something else to bring up. Dine stepped up and pushed the head over with his boot to get a better look at the cuts on the base of the neck.

               “So someone killed a couple of walkers and put their heads up on spikes, did God knows what with the bodies,” Dine looked up at Bronson, “for what, display?”

               “Not much of a display. Just the part they didn’t want I guess.”

               “Any ideas? If not, speculate.”

               Bronson paused for a moment and looked around them, knowing there were probably more answers out there. Nyx was curious too, she knew Bron had encountered a lot but he wasn’t sure of the answer this time and she could tell.

               “No.”

               Dine nodded and followed Bronson’s gaze, looking around the tree line.

               “Are we good here for tonight?”

               “We should be. We’ll rotate a watch, keep the fire low and we’ll know if anything comes up at us early enough that it won’t give them any sort of advantage.”

               “Agreed,” Dine pulled his pack from his shoulder and began unpacking the essential supplies he had on him, neither of which was a sleeping bag. He did however have the materials to make a fire, water, and three emergency ration packs. “I’ll take the first watch, Pierce the second, Nyx then you.” He gave out the orders as he looked at the lack of firewood Pierce had failed to get. He hid his annoyance behind a forced smile and stood. “Let’s get camp made with what we’ve got and not waste anymore time, alright?”

               Bronson went with Pierce this time to gather the firewood and finish having a look around. Nyx volunteered to finish searching the two buildings and set a sleeping area and place for the fire between the two buildings. Dine had said he was going to go check the map and plan their path for tomorrow, he had walked off glancing at the three-dimensional projection. Nyx was moving some of the straw and rocks around to make sure the fire would be easy to start when the other two came back. She noticed Dine seemed to be doing something off in the distance. She wasn’t sure if he knew that she could see him from there but she moved a bit closer. The captain had removed a metal object, circular it looked like. He took something out of it and put it up to his mouth.

               Squinting, she was about to move closer when she heard Pierce and Bronson coming back up through the clearing without speaking to each other. Nyx quickly turned away. Dine would turn any moment now for sure. She looked at the two approaching men and the sticks they carried; surprised if they had exchanged any words the whole time they had been out. They began the fire wordlessly as well until Dine came back up to the rest of the group.

               “Let’s eat up and get some sleep.”

               An hour later Dine was sitting with his back against the wall of the smaller structure, his head leaning back with his eyes barely closed, looking as if he were resting more than trying to sleep. His hands were in his lap holding onto the handle of the platinum plated colt .45 with the safety off and the barrel pointing down at the ground, but it was there if he needed it. The weapon held sixteen bullets total. That was sixteen chances, he reminded himself.

               There were no sleeping bags or tents. They were at the bottom of the ocean somewhere with the equipment pod that had sunk. Bronson was okay with that. He lay next to the dying fire on his back with his arms crisscrossed behind his head. The small bits of water still resting on the hairs of his goatee glistened in the dim light of the fire beside him as he gazed up to the sky. The view from Elysium City was amazing, but something about being down on Earth and looking up at the stars caught his attention more, it was the perspective.

               It was almost silent at the camp other than the crackling of the fire and the occasional howl from a distant animal in the woods. Bronson liked it that way so that even though it wasn’t his turn to watch he liked being able to listen and stay somewhat alert. His mind was wandering though, thinking about tomorrow and how they would soon need to find more water than what they had in their packs and in another day their rations would be gone. He hadn’t been this far up North in almost twenty years. That was just another complication stacked on for them. The heads left behind were still nagging at him as well and he wasn’t sure why. Sleep was coming though and he needed to allow it, the next few days were going to be hard.

               Pierce had already fallen fast asleep, using his pack as a pillow and curling up with his legs under him. He had stayed quiet while they were setting up the area to rest for the night, little to say and not wanting to give anyone an open opportunity to bring up his mistakes. He almost messed up when they were eating the emergency rations. They tasted horrible, worse than the food on Elysium City if you could believe that. Pierce didn’t enjoy his meal or the company at this point. He wanted to forget about the day and had tried to go to sleep early.

Nyx had also passed out, the day had been exhausting and she wasn’t about to look like she couldn’t keep up. She had fought too hard to prove these things to Bronson, and now that the group had grown to four she felt as if she had more to prove. She was shivering now though, the warmth of the flames fading. Her hand shook as it gripped her wrap. Her lip quivered. Bronson took the cloth he wore over his gear that he was using as a blanket and laid it across her. Dine, the only one awake to see this rare soft approach the hunter gave to his partner. Soon afterwards Bronson embraced sleep, knowing they wouldn’t be on great speaking terms over the next few days.

               Minutes passed, two people slept uneasily and Pierce was snoring. The hour was passing the agreed upon time to switch out the guard. Dine wanted to let Pierce sleep a little longer though. He felt protective over them, watching them sleep. The sound of metal tightening against the leather as he slid it into the holster was a pause between the crickets. Captain Dine listened to the dull near-lifeless sounds of the woods around him before finally nudging Pierce with his boot.

               “Wake up, your shift starts.”

               Pierce made an odd noise that could have been words if his lips weren’t pushed up against the folds of his pack.

               “You’re up for two hours,” Dine instructed, “then you wake up Nyx for her shift.”

               There was another noise and Pierce slowly stood before rubbing his eyes. Moving in an almost drunk motion he nearly tripped over his own pack. Reaching down, his hand fumbled in the pack for the now half empty bottle of water and he took half of what was left.

               “You good,” Dine asked.

               “Yeah, yeah just should have offered to go first.”

               Dine nodded and gave him one last look before moving off back to the side of the building where he was. He resumed his seated position, leaning his head back against the wall. There was a moment that he tried to shut off his mind and fall asleep but something didn’t let him. He reached down and removed the .45 from the holster and pressed the barrel back to the ground, hands wrapped tightly around the grip again. Now he could sleep.

               Nys was having trouble sleeping. It was cold. She had awoken for a moment, long enough to realize that someone had put something over her, Bronson. It was uncommon enough that when he did show some kind of hint of caring or sympathy she found it surprising. She had fallen back asleep not long after that though. Now there was something nagging at her, that feeling that she had something to do and knew that she’d need to be soon. These kinds of thoughts pushed sleep further away, causing her to toss and turn, fidgeting. In her fragile state between sleep and consciousness she realized that it would be any moment now, Pierce would come and wake her for her shift.

               It was cold, but now there was something colder pressing against her cheek. Nyx’ eyes fluttered open. Even in the darkness of the dead fire she could make out the piece of metal that was pressed against her cheek as a warning not to move. Her eyes followed it up the thick wooden shaft that it was attached to. The individual holding the spear to her face was large with long nappy hair. She couldn’t make out his face. She looked down to the MP5 and her pistol that lay beside where she was sleeping. Nyx considered going for it, but she knew the chance was too good that he had already seen it also, knew what she was thinking.

               This was an awkward moment. She wasn’t really sure what to say, a witty bit of sarcasm had come to mind but there was just enough fear that she had decided against it. She sat up slightly but stopped when she felt the metal, rough and crude, pierce her cheek just slightly. She could now see that her suspicion was right. Dine and Bronson were both already on their knees with their hands being tied behind them. Another man with an old rusted shotgun stood over Pierce, who was still fast asleep against the tree he had set against. The taller man with the shotgun crouched down in front of Pierce with a devilish grin stretching across his face amidst the graying beard.

               “Wakey-up now friend” the man said with a soft voice that didn’t match his exterior, “high time for introductions.”

               Pierce woke up at the words, his hand reached for the rifle at the end of the strap around his shoulder but there was already a shotgun being buried in his crotch. The bearded smiling man shook his head slightly to let Pierce know that it wasn’t going to happen.

               “Oh fuck me,” Jonah Pierce had dropped the ball again.

               “Is that your name or a request?”

               The other men laughed at their leaders joke. This finally gave Nyx the opportunity to sit up, but do little else without feeling the sharp embrace of the spear again.

               “My names’ Dwight Griffin, you can call me Griff.” He smiled and his free hand that wasn’t holding the shotgun reached for the strap on Pierce’s shoulder. There was no struggle, Pierce released the handle and now Griff had a shotgun and a high powered rifle. “I don’t like to stand on ceremony or anything but I don’t want to be just referring to you as ‘those trespassers’ all day either, so how about some names and a good old fashioned explanation as to why you folks are on our land.”

               “P-Pierce.”

               “Calm down now son, I don’t think you’ll be losing your balls today.”

               Griffin stood and removed the shotgun from between Pierce’s legs; it was still trained on him though. He looked over to Dine and Bronson who were side-by-side on their knees, bound. He nodded to one of the other blade wielding men and they switched places. Pulling rope from his belt the henchman began picked Pierce up from his seated position and forced him down to his knees. His hands were soon tied behind him as well while Griff looked over the other two men in the group, sizing them up. He pointed to Dine.

               “How about you,” he asked with a tone that didn’t quite relay the severity of the situation. This man seemed to enjoy his work.

               “Dine,” the soldier paused, he had almost followed up his name with his rank and serial number, but that would give too much away at this point.

               “That a first name or a last?”

               “Surname.”

               “I know we caught you people trespassing and what-not but that is no reason not to get to know one another better.”

               “Price.”

               “Ha! They do anything simple where you’re from?” There was a hearty laugh that followed his rhetorical question, the other men joined in.

               Nyx was using the time that the attention wasn’t on her to look at the others. The only one with any real weapons was Griff, the others had each a machete, knife, or spear, but nothing else. They all looked healthy and well fed, which was a bit surprising to her. She was trying to think of a way out, a weakness. It was four on four though and any second now they would have the rest of their weapons.

               Griff pointed with his shotgun towards Bronson.

               “What about you big fella?”

               “Bronson, and I’ll be your friend if you’ll break his jaw for me.” Bronson motioned with a nod of his head to Pierce who for some reason looked a bit shocked at this response. “We didn’t know we were trespassing on your land.”

               Bronson was angry, probably at himself as well as Pierce but Nyx knew that was strike two in Bronson’s book. She didn’t want to see what strike three meant. Whether he knew it or not though Bronson had helped her out. The cloth that he had covered Nyx up with was still over the bottom half of her body and had kept hidden the machete on her belt. If she could get to the right position, she could grab it and lunge at Griffin. His throat would be slit before the others could act and that would put the odds in their favor, except for Dine and Bronson still having their hands tied. She wasn’t worried about Pierce. At this point she figured the best thing he could do was to fall on one of their blades for them, keep a man distracted that way.

               Griff laughed, “I guess you’re right, we don’t advertise like we used to. Still, I need to know why you’re here and what your intentions are.” He pressed the barrel of the shotgun to Bronson’s chest. “And I’d ask you kindly not to lie, we hate liars.”

               Dine was about to speak up but he realized that any lie he would have told had a chance of being seen through. His eyes cut to Bronson.

               “We’re from the Boulder City colony, in Nevada. We’ve been looking for food, supplies, anything really.”

               Griff nodded, thinking about what Bronson had told him. He looked to Dine to test the story.

               “Nevada, that’s a good ways away isn’t it?”

               “Oh yeah,” Dine said, knowing that whatever he answered needed to flow. “We’ve been traveling for months, thinking about not going back.”

               “Why’s that?”

               “Have you ever been to Nevada? It’s shit.”

               Griffin laughed again, that deep laugh that the others joined him with.

               “Well alright!” Griff finally lowered the shotgun, pointing it at the ground for the first time since they had met him. “We can’t really give you anything in the way of supplies, not that anyone would, but we have a camp near here that you’re welcome to come and share a small meal, long as you don’t mind following a few rules.”

               Nyx knew now was her best shot, Griffin was as relaxed and off-guard as he was ever going to be for them. Under the thick cloth she felt the leather handle as she pulled. Her thumb soon ran over the metal of the blade. Her free hand would push the spear up and she’d have one shot at this. One fluid motion was all she needed. Her body shifted slightly as her eyes focused on Griffin’s throat.

For A Few Corpses More - Pt. 6

                Nyx was wondering why she had let them do this to her. There was some trouble thinking about  it though with the banging and shaking around her head. It sounded like two robots having violent sex, at least to her it did in that moment. Were her hands shaking or was everything moving and she was imagining the extra nervousness? The feeling in her stomach built as she felt the metal pod she had been put in, against her better judgment, reach terminal velocity. Though the shielded window plate on the front of her less-than-desired mode of transportation black had turned into dark blue then lighter shades as she descended at alarming speeds. The pressure was enormous, they hadn’t warned her about that part. When the thrusters sputtered to slow her decent she felt the abrupt pushing in her gut, glad she hadn’t eaten. There was a moment where she wanted to scream. Deciding on a piercing yell instead, her profanity resounded in the small shell.

               Splashdown greeted her with resentment. The small shell did in fact pierce the ocean without breaking apart, it’s passenger beat around by the impact. The black straps cut into her shoulders roughly. Hands flailing, she tried hard to stabilize herself. Through the disorientation she thought that her pod had turned upside down but couldn’t tell as the daylight from the surface faded, the screen to the outside world going dark again. The sinking feeling was palpable. The sound of loud thumps came from all around her as the metal plates shot off the sections of the bottoms. Gel packs leveled the shell back out and gave it a push back up that slowed. There was another series of thumps, one after the other, as the blue-yellow gel packs erupted and popped.

               The color outside was returning to a normal blue as she ascended. There was a sigh of relief that she was enjoying when a red light up above the hatch came on, an obtrusive noise followed it as the door of the pod popped off with a hiss as the four bolts shot out to the sides. Water poured into the pod and struck Nyx’ boots, quickly soaking them. It was cold.

               “Shit,” she cursed, her hands feeling around for the releases of the straps that held her in.

               Water had flooded in up to her shins. The pod would soon sink back to the depths again, hiding the evidence of their arrival. Remembering to grab the MP5 machine gun before she bailed, she slung the strap over her shoulder. There was a small pop as she heard the Mithras make its escape back out of the atmosphere. This was certainly an unconventional way down.

               Hand raised to shield her eyes, she looked around for the others. Seeing the beach to her left she swam. There was a figure making it there ahead of her. Bronson was already climbing on to the beach gear in hand. Over her shoulder in the distance she could see the other pods: Dine’s, Pierce’s, and the one holding the gear. Her arms pushed hard, pulling her towards the shore.

               “You know,” Nyx said as her knees hit the sand and she took several long breaths, giving her body a moment. “That,” she paused again to make sure she would be able to get it all out and wasn’t going to throw up from the salt water she had swallowed. “That was the worst ride ever.”

               Bronson shook his head in reply, as if he hadn’t noticed. He was watching the other pods as Dine and Pierce were trying to swim towards the container that had brought all of the equipment down with them. Nyx stood and brushed herself off, looking to her partner and then back out at the two other men.

               “What’s going on?”

               “My guess,” he said shaking his head, “they’re having problems already.”

               There was a moment of silence as the two watched and the expression on Nyx’ face sank.

               “You really don’t think this,” she waved a hand around them, “all of this is going to end well do you?” She looked up at him, partially wanting a comforting answer.

               “Nope,” Bronson said re-adjusting his hat.

               Captain Dine and Pierce were swimming for the shore now. Bronson had taken a few steps closer to the water, not sure if they were going to make it. Dine had one small case in his hand, one out of the almost twenty in the pod that they had left out in the middle of the ocean. Pierce only had his gun in his hands and Bronson was pretty sure what the yelling he had heard was about now.

               “Mark this as problem number two,” Bronson said in a low tone.

               “Wait,” Nyx looked at him. “What was problem number one?”

               “He’s following behind the Captain as we speak.”

               There was a moment where no one spoke but the wind had picked up. Both men, fresh off of their swim, needed to catch their breath. Dine had thus far shown nothing but a friendly demeanor with a slight tinge of seriousness to it, making sure everyone still knew he was in charge. The Captain Dine that emerged from the water was angry.

               “Dammit,” he said dropping the case he was able to retrieve. “All of our gear went too far off, we lost almost all of it.” Dine turned to Pierce with his finger pointed accusingly.

               “And you didn’t even try to grab any of it.”

               “You’re insane,” Pierce shot back. “Those boxes are heavy, I would have drowned.”

               “You didn’t even try,” Captain Dine yelled.

               There was a flash of anger, pure uncontrolled anger that actually caused Nyx to pause. She knew he was about to hit Pierce if he said anything else. He deserved it, he was smarmy and out for himself, but she knew it didn’t help anything.

               “It’s done,” Bronson broke in and walked over to the metal box Dine had rescued.

               Dine sneered, one last glare at Pierce before turning away to cool off. There was a very real anger that stained the lines of his face. His boots left prints in the soft sand of the beach as he stepped away to hide his quick transformation back into the cool and calm Captain. Nyx couldn’t help but wonder why he had lost his cool so easily as she watched his shadow against the bright sun.

               Bronson had begun looking through the metal crate that Dine had managed to bring ashore. There were a bunch of digital pads and surveillance equipment. Useful things like binoculars, night scopes, and long range listening devices. Probably most important were the small black boxes they would use as communicators, but there were no weapons, no rations, nothing to help make this job any easier. Most likely they wouldn’t have taken everything from the crates with them, but this felt like almost nothing. He understood why Dine was pissed, or at least why he would be, but it wasn’t his fault really. Bronson thought for a first run the pods actually worked pretty well.

               He took the small black boxes in hand and checked them to make sure they still worked. Multiple blue lights and the small green one that was the most important one showed him they were. He tossed one to Nyx and paused before doing the same with Pierce who had been silent since his scolding. Placing the third on his belt, he left the last one for Dine. At least if they got split up they’d be able to find each other. The weapons they had on them would have to do. They would need to find food and water before too long though.

               Looking around at the beach and the overgrown grass around the old buildings in the distance Bronson took it all in. A few more generations and you would hardly be able to tell anything about the civilization that used to run this place.

               Rustling was faint in the distance. Shielding his eyes and looking further out to the trees he considered their tactical standing. There usually weren’t many corpses near the large bodies of water like this but their splashdown had probably made some noise and then there was Dine’s screaming to consider.

               “We should go,” he said to the group as he picked up his gear. “We’ve made a lot of noise even if we don’t count the yelling. Walkers don’t usually congregate near the water but they’ll come.”

               Dine nodded as he turned back to them. “Agreed,” he bit his lower lip. “A rough start, but we’ll make it work.”

               The rest gathered their gear quietly. Dine referenced the data pad on his arm and he pointed down the short.

               “We’ve got forty miles to go before nightfall then we need to make camp.”

               Bronson and Nyx exchanged a look as they began to walk side-by-side.

               “Now that we’re here, where exactly is this thing being kept?” Bronson asked as Dine lead the way towards the tree line and Pierce pulled up the rear, which Bronson didn’t like. “And what does it look like, or what kind of data storage device is it on?”

               “You let me worry about that,” Dine said stopping and tapping two buttons on his wrist. The small touchpad computer lit up and a hologram of a terrain map shot up in green and blue lines. “We’re headed to Fairchild Air Force Base. It’s about ten miles South West of Spokane Washington, a place we need to be at in forty-eight hours to stay on schedule.” The hologram generated a dot to show where they were on the map and then drew a line towards just outside of Spokane.

               “If they were so worried about our time they should have dropped us closer.”

               Pierce instantly regretted his sarcastic complaint. He had taken a step to make sure that Bronson was in between he and Captain Dine as the military officer stared him down.

               “I’ll spell it out. No one can know we are here or what we’re after.” Dine pointed a finger at Pierce. “This is too important and there is a long list of people who would slit a lot of throats to have this kind of power over everyone else.” His voice was rose again. “Think of the possibilities or a cure, of ridding the world of the dead once and for all. History will be re-shaped once we accomplish our mission, for the better.”

               Pierce choked on the silence.

               “Are we clear now as to the importance of this and why your opinions aren’t needed?”

               He nodded to answer Dine and continued to walk. Nyx realized that this was about to be a very long two days.

              

               Forty miles is a long way to walk no matter how many breaks you take. The sun doesn’t help. Ever since the world began to end the weather conditions had become much worse, but the heat was an aggressive killer these days. It was hot, all of the trees looked the same, and everyone was being quiet just to be safe. Bronson and Nyx were used to not talking to each other much when they were on planet. The noise could attract walkers and even a small distraction could be risking your life. Dine wasn’t saying much either other than the occasional mumble to himself as he checked his map. It was Pierce that seemed to be the most bothered by the hours of silence and constant walking.

               There were many times where he would make a noise as if he were about to say something or ask a question, he rarely got past that point. When he did say something it was always a question that he knew the answer to or could have figured out on his own, like he just wanted to hear a response. Pierce was not out of shape as much as he was just lazy and uncomfortable. He didn’t have to say much share his unsatisfied disposition with the others though.

               The sun was no longer beating down over them though and it would soon be time to camp. The group had walked more than Dine had asked them to. They were all pleasantly surprised at the lack of attention they had brought upon themselves, no humans or ghouls to speak of yet. So far so good, hunger and exhaustion were well set in though.

               “Good place to break for the night,” Bronson said pointing to a building up ahead though a clearing in the trees.

               Dine squinted, realizing they were closer to the roads than he realized. “We should try to make it a few more miles, there is still some daylight.”

               “Dine,” Bronson said glancing over his shoulder at Nyx who was sitting on a large rock, lips wrapped around the plastic bottle in her hand. Pierce was leaning up against a tree trying to catch his breath, drenched in sweat. “If you want to do the same tomorrow, I suggest we break.”

               “Okay, fine.” Dine checked his map one last time before motioning with two fingers for the group to approach the site in formation.

               There was an old one story building that looked like it had seen pretty bad days before the world ended. The roof was cracked and broken across the first half and several plants and weeds had grown up around the entryways. They moved behind it, away from what looked like the main part of some old lumber facility. Two smaller storage building with old tin roofs would make part of their cover; help obfuscate the fire for the night.

               Bronson looked to Nyx. “Let’s make a perimeter. The laser fences were in one of the crates that got left in the water, so we’ll need to take shifts on guard.”

               Captain Dine nodded, the smile was back and he wasn’t cursing under his breath about the missing equipment like Nyx thought he would be.

               “Right, Pierce while they’re doing that you go look for some wood that isn’t damp so we can make a small fire, and some extra drinking water if there is any near-by.”

               “Um,” Jonah Pierce looked up from his position he had already taken up on the ground to rest some more. “Right,” he said pushing himself up with a groan.

               Bronson motioned with his hand the directions the two would travel. They were moving together but several yards apart so that they could keep each other in eye sight. Getting further away they began to circle to the left at Bronson’s signal, the buildings would need to be checked also but the first order was to make sure there were no hostiles in the immediate area. This was common practice for them, even though Bronson wasn’t a fan of closed in spaces like buildings, even if they were large. He was always thinking tactically and encouraging Nyx to do the same thing. She had benefited greatly from his training and precise instruction. He was quick to point out her mistakes and she was a fast learner. This also gave them a moment to speak alone, which Nyx had wanted.

               “Bron,” She said moving closer, breaking their normal pattern. “I think Dine is a bit crazy.”

               “Why,” he whispered back, not looking at her.

               “Dude, he almost went nuts on Pierce. I know he’s a dick but it wasn’t his fault the tech boys didn’t do their calculations right.” She shook her head. “His outburst, then the mumbling in the woods.”

               “He is under a lot of stress,” Bronson was being sincere. “If he fails this he isn’t just losing a mission or disappointing the General, and he’s young.”

               “I don’t know Bron, come on. Something doesn’t feel right.”

               “It hasn’t since the start,” he said, “but I don’t think you have anything to worry about from Dine at the moment.”

               Nyx shook her head. The hand holding the MP5 let it rest at her side as she walked, thinking it all over and continuing the conversation.

               “Are you sure you just aren’t too focused on Pierce, I mean I know-“

               Bronson cut her off by placing a hand on her weapon and bringing it back up, barrel at the poper level, a reminder of being ready.

               “Right, you don’t let yourself get distracted,” she said almost annoyed with him. “Sorry I brought it up.”

               “No,” he corrected her. “I’m glad you’re staying alert and observing,” he paused as if he was looking for the words, about to say something else when he heard a yell.

               “No! Oh, fuck!”

               A male voice called out back from where they had left Dine and Pierce alone.