Tomorrow’s Dream
“Fucking zombies.” I grumble the words to myself for maybe the hundredth time today.
All the media, all the warnings, you’d think we could have handled ourselves better. Seems people will always manage to fall apart in a crisis, and the bigger the group, the worse they are. Lucky I live in a small town, the name doesn’t matter anymore, most of the population are housed in rural areas surrounding the main cluster of businesses and actual paved roads.
I scan the room and glance over the faces of my ‘lucky’ compatriots;
Eddy, the mechanic was in the middle of rebuilding an engine or something. Still wearing his coveralls soaked in oil, a large wrench sits at his feet in a small pool of blood. Obviously an improvised weapon and the reason he’s still here.
Tara was babysitting, she’s in really bad shape since the dead busted in and got the kid she was watching. Through tears and choking on her own breath she told us how she just ran and ran. We try to explain there was no helping the child, but I can’t imagine what she’s feeling now.
Sidhar was a student, just walking home from classes when he heard screams from down the street. He seems like a good guy because apparently he tried to fight off a couple of them and save some guy who got bitten. As you can imagine that didn’t turn out well, still not sure how he got away though.
Lilly the kid, that was a little joke I made when we met, tried to cheer her up. I don’t think she actually knows who Billy the kid was though, still she smiled shyly. I don’t know much about kids, but I assume she’s about nine or ten? Definitely at that ‘defiant’ and ‘tough’ age though, maybe it’s because of the situation or maybe she’s just like that.
And me, Jakob. I’m just an office worker, data entry, coffee making and bad jokes are my specialty. I wasn’t at work though, I was actually on a date, first one in…a while. We were dining al fresco, I’m not sure I could have gotten away otherwise. For the curious yes, I mean just I.
So maybe you’re wondering what I’m doing writing this during a zombie siege? Well, so are the others. For one, it helps me manage my anxiety to write things down, or type as the case may be. I also have to believe that even though it looks bad, there is still a future for us and this planet. If not, I guess it won’t matter either way. But if you’re reading this, then there must really be a future, and you should know what’s happening here.
The zombies are a lot like the movies would tell us, they have no fear, feel no pain, and absolutely can not be reasoned with. No shred of humanity survives whatever happened to them. They are as slow as you would expect, or hope, as well. The five of us had to run past a large group to get to the safe-house we are now in. As long as you keep alert, outmaneuvering them isn’t too difficult, but is made much easier if you can create a distraction. The transmission of this disease also follow the familiar rules: if you’re bitten, you are dead.
There are a couple differences you should remember though.
First, destroying the brain is a fallacy. This does not seem to stop the animated body either. If decapitated, the body somehow still takes information from it’s severed head and both parts keep ‘living’. If you destroy the head, or eyes, or remove it and simply take it away; the body will act instinctively, swinging wildly and staggering around in every direction. The only way we’ve found to actually stop one is to entirely destroy the body, or at least enough as to make it immobile. For all intents and purposes, the saying of “You can’t kill something that’s already dead.” applies totally.
Second, and make sure you understand this one, they do NOT look like zombies! No rotting flesh look that has become so familiar, or even the slightly gaunt face with dead eyes. They act and appear as a normal human pretending to be a zombie, with the sole exception of any injuries they took from the one who infected them. This might have been one of the turning points, if they looked like zombies, at least people might have been scared enough to run when they appeared. But they don’t raise their arms, they don’t moan “Braaaains!”, and they don’t seem to be a living corpse.
The change is a little different too. One guy I traveled with for a week or so, went to bed in good humor. That night I awoke to the sound of metallic items banging across the floor. Simon was his name, he had stumbled into a table on his way to tear into my sleeping form. Another lucky break, funny how I never seemed to have any during my normal life. I’ve seen one guy get bitten and turn even before the ghoul was finished gnawing on his arm. Another one had come down with a strange fever and fought it for days until he finally converted in front of our eyes mid-sentence.
That brings me to the final difference, the ‘Y’ chromosome. Yes, for whatever reason this seems to be intrinsic to the effects of this virus. Which means that every single zombie out there is male, women seem to be entirely immune. The effect of this is predictable, female-only communities have risen up in various areas around the country, probably all over the world. They reject any men, or in some cases violently attack them upon approach. I guess you can’t blame them, considering the conditions.
So maybe I’m speaking to a new world which has never seen a man aside from the walking dead. Maybe there is no world left and only the slowly degrading HDD on this laptop has heard my words. I can only hope there is a world more like the one we had before. It’s only been two months since the outbreak started, yet they have been longer than the last ten years of my life. This is not a world for the living.
If you know a world where this evil is not present. If you live with humans who have compassion, who know good and not only evil, among healthy men and women, count your blessings. Understand the happy, peaceful world you live in has not always been, and may not always be. I can only hope that world may yet exist somewhere and sometime, tomorrow holds all our dreams. I just hope it’s your reality.
The Tale of Noran
"We heard the breaking of branches, and the underbrush first. It must have been a right calamity to get our attention though. Suddenly an ocean of chaos became still as the night. Well that only lasted a moment, then the largest trees split themselves, and the smaller ones launched right out of their beds. One of them smashed right into the man beside me and despite wearing full plate armor, he was on the ground."
I took a moment, picturing the scene to myself, "It must have been quite a shock", were the most coherent words I could muster.
"Oh surely, but it weren't the beasts we were afraid of you see? It's well known now about General Noran's reputation, but only the men who served with him could ever tell you the truth. He may have been a ruthless bastard, but he only demanded one thing from us; Courage and strength. Ok, two things I suppose, but they go hand-in-hand. And anyway, my dear mother told me no good ever came from speaking ill of the dead."
The gruff old campaign-man drooped his head, his eyes fixed on the empty mug below. Something like a sorrowful expression filled them. I raised my hand to signal the waitress who brought over another round.
"Is he really dead though?", I prodded.
As a fresh mug slid in front of him, he looked up, gave a slight smile and nod, then continued.
"You ever fight sonny?", was the question as the mug found his lips.
"I…well, no not really. I was drafted and trained of course, but we never saw battle." It always feels a little embarrassing to admit this, especially to a man who spent his career in the military.
He gave a little chuckle, "No, I thought not. I've wondered a lot how my life would have been without all the fighting, you know?"
I nodded and took a sip of my own beer, of course I did not know, but felt it was simpler to agree and move on.
"Well after that day, I didn't have to wonder again. My courage left me, and I wanted to run. Most of us did, between the enemies, the rhinos, and our own general, I had never been in a more dangerous battle. It was all a blur, the silence was broken and all became madness again. That man who fell next to me? Well, later we found out the tree hadn't killed him, he was trampled to death afterword. What a way to go, huh? I mean being impaled, or even tortured only goes so far. This guy couldn't stand on his own due to the armor, so had to lay there conscious of his end while his body was crushed." A shaky hand raised the glass again to his lips, and I followed suit as if to drink to the memory of this fallen soldier.
"But you want to hear about Noran, well I'll tell you what happened, by God I'll never stop seeing it. Like I said, most of the soldiers ran when the stampede started, nearly all of the Alterian knights. There were hardly any left to fight, and most of them on horseback, still Noran would not have his men turn tail. He shouted across the battlefield, 'Your enemies lie before you! Turn your back and it shall be I!'. It was no idle threat of course, he killed two men with one swipe of his great sword, one of them almost cut in half. Plenty of us were killed by the rhinos, those injured by actual battle wounds were the luckiest."
He looked down again at his empty mug and shook his head when I attempted to order another. I believe he was remembering someone close, or perhaps his own injury which removed him from service, but I chose not to press it and waited until he was ready to continue.
A deep sigh preceded the next portion of his tale. "I feel almost guilty for surviving, it wasn't my courage or strength, if I could have run and lived I would have. I was too afraid to run, but too afraid to fight either. I simply kept close to the general, if anyone would survive this he would. The stampede seemed to last hours, but finally it started to die down a bit. Out of nowhere some alpha rhino burst from behind us and impaled General Noran right through the chest! He was lifted off the ground, pouring crimson life, shouting obscenities at a stupid beast that could never understand. The remaining Alterian forces fled at that point, while any man with a bow attempted to take down the beast. After an arrow hit him in the knee, Noran protested at our "help", yes he was still alive somehow."
I hadn't written a word for some time and the old man smiled and chuckled again. "Maybe you need another drink?" he mocked. I shook out of my daze and scribbled to catch up to the story, then found myself childishly asking, "What happened then?".
"Well not much, the thing ran around trying to dislodge our general from it's horn. When he wouldn't come loose it tried smashing him against rocks or trees, while we stood helpless. Eventually he managed to twist himself enough to grab a short sword from his belt, stabbing the beast repeatedly through the eye until it fell. I can't imagine the pain one would have to endure, impaled that way, then turning your body on the wound to reach behind. This was not quick, I'd say he ran with more vigor for an hour at least, each stab that connected making him angrier. Ha ha, but old Noran had invented anger, you see? And he was determined to leave this world on his own terms."
"Nothing much to tell after that, with the animal down we all followed Noran's instructions to cut the horn away from its face. The best healers all agreed that removing it was not an option since a hole that size would mean instant death. None of them could agree on how he was even still alive, but the thought was that over time the injury would still kill him. In the meantime he had special armor and weapons crafted from the beasts hide and what parts of the horn could be cut off. Years later during the Vacant Throne campaign, we again came to battle with Alteria. Some of those officers must have been present at the rhino battle because half the company retreated! HA HA HA!"
"It wasn't long after that he got the ruthless reputation and rumors about him being impossible to kill started to float around. This was true enough before, but the imposing presence, his reputation, and now this story came together to make him something like a living legend. That's all it took, people soon started whispering about Noran: the Invincible Tower and he found that no man would stand against him. Usually legends like these produce a bunch of imposters, in Noran's case they were all too afraid of him finding out. He lived for battle you know, once there were none to challenge him he sort of faded away. There are still rumors of course, the memory of a man like that doesn't die easy. I suppose that's why you're here, hmm? Hope to find him yourself I suspect."
"No, that's not it", I responded, just a little insulted. "I understand that all legends started out as a real occurrence, as real people. I plan to document the truth and show that rumors only serve to shadow that which is already a great story."
He shrugged, obviously unimpressed then shook my hand before excusing himself. I don't know if Noran is alive or hiding out somewhere, by this time he would easily be in his late seventies and I can't imagine the wound has treated him well all this time. But I have what I came for, the names of legend were actual soldiers in the longest campaign of violence our world ever saw. I've made it my mission to discover the truth behind their lives.
Next, I will travel north through the volcanic homes of Mediev, and begin my inquiries on Tempest: the Standing Flame.