Chapter 4
Demetrius walked alongside three other cars. Only one of them was an armored car, so Marcus guessed that there was trouble. When they last parted ways, there were three armored cars and twice as many people. The vehicle in the rear was a large flatbed truck filled with boxes. The boxes were held on by hastily welded copper pipes that acted as guardrails. The vehicle between them was a shuttle bus filed with passengers. All of them turned to look at Marcus, but none of them looked happy. They all reminded Marcus of the men he saw coming home from the first few weeks of the war. They all had the thousand-yard-stare. It was as if they all saw combat war at its worst. Marcus looked around, but something was missing. Marcus searched frantically for Liz, but she was nowhere to be seen.
Dem seemed to know what he was looking for and bent down, revealing a ginger haired girl of short stature sitting between his shoulders. She looked a bit nervous, but when Marcus spoke her restlessness seemed to melt away. He said, “Hm, you seem a bit shorter than I remember.”
“Oh shut up, Marcus.”
Dem stood back up and said, “Nice necklace. It’s a little too militaristic for me, but it looks great on you.”
“Thank you. I figured you could always use some extra guns.”
“I always accept presents. But before that, tell me; what happened since we last saw each other.”
“Well, when I reached Boston, the medication I took started to wear off and I totaled the car.”
“But Dad told me that I would get the car in his will,” Liz yelled. Marcus responded, “Now you either get a totaled car with an orange paint job or a healthy dragon with chrome plating. Anyway, I got out of the car and dropped Paladin on the road, as it was too heavy for me. As I walked through the streets, the undead blocked off some paths and made others. There were hundreds of thousands of them all wanting a piece of me, but none of them budged. I found my Titanstone-”
“No. Really? I never would have guessed,” Dem interrupted.
“It was in the chapel, but when I moved to get it, another behemoth came after me. It swallowed me whole, and then it exploded. After I got out-”
“Wait wait wait. What the hell did I just hear? It ate you and then it exploded? I never thought I’d meet a badass butterfly.”
“I guess that’s one way to put it. I learned how to live in my new body quickly and burned the rest of the army to hell. I rested for the rest of the day.”
“Then he met us,” shouted Stephan.
“Met? I do recall that I saved your sorry hides thirty seconds before you were zombie food. I don’t think most people would call that a meeting. So I picked up these children and flew off to find you. The rest of the journey was fairly inconsequential. Enough about our trip; what happened to you?”
“As soon as we parted, our little group was ambushed by a bunch of the people who lost it when the undead incursion started. They took Liz and firebombed one of the armored cars. After I got some of the people out of the cars I followed them, killed them, and saved the damsel in distress. When we got back, we traveled again, but ran into another group that was heading north as well. We grouped up, but I had another little outburst. I guess I took out one of the armored cars, but then it just stopped, as if a switch was flicked in my head,”
“What time was it?”
“About noon. Why do you ask?”
“I killed the behemoth at about noon yesterday. Maybe it was some kind of smart zombie.”
“Please don’t remind me about them. We lost a good amount of people to those things. They ambushed us just a few hours ago. They took out an RV stocked with food and a gasoline truck. Seven men and ten thousand gallons of fuel; gone in five seconds. Have you had any issues with the smart ones?”
“Yup, they ambushed us at the exact right times so I couldn’t do anything without killing anyone. The only reason these three are still alive is because I can use a flame.”
“These three what? I don’t see anything.”
“The three boys I mentioned earlier? You still pay little to no attention to our conversations as usual, don’t you?”
Marcus bowed down so Dem could look at his back, but he said, “There’s no one on your back, Marcus.” Marcus looked around and saw them conversing with the rest of the caravan. Each of them had an M-16 slung across their backs. He pointed them out and Dem said, “They look a little young to carry weapons like that. Can we trust them?”
“As long as they don’t shoot themselves, I think we’re fine.”
“I wonder what could cause the undead to evolve so quickly.”
“It’s obviously one of the many things we overlooked. Our subjects never lasted more than a few hours, and these things have been alive for days. I wonder what will happen if they live for a year.”
As they talked, Liz shimmied down Dem’s thirty foot tall leg and Marcus set down his tail so she could climb to his back. As she walked over the large scale plates on his back, Marcus asked Dem, “You seem to have changed since we last met. What is different now than before?”
“Well, you’re taller than me and you practically glow with authority when you used to be just human. Now I have to look up when I talk to you.”
The boys approached them and Marcus let his head fall forward so they could take the weapons he had placed around his neck. Seven of the men from the caravan came forward and helped them carry the heavy objects to the vehicles. They were hesitant to approach a creature so massive, but they eventually built up the courage when one of the boys called them names of cowardice.
Marcus could feel Liz walk down the length of his snakelike neck and sit upon his head with her legs hanging above one of his spiked nostrils. She jumped down and helped Steven carry a large box of ammunition. His face turned red, but he seemed to act more vigorous in his task of moving the equipment. When all of the supplies were moved, Liz walked over to Marcus. He pressed his lower jaw against the ground so he was eye-level with her. She climbed up his cheek spikes and he lifted his head, causing her to slide down his neck and land back between his shoulders.
When the task was complete, Marcus asked Dem, “So, we’re back together again. Now what?”
Dem seemed to know what he was looking for and bent down, revealing a ginger haired girl of short stature sitting between his shoulders. She looked a bit nervous, but when Marcus spoke her restlessness seemed to melt away. He said, “Hm, you seem a bit shorter than I remember.”
“Oh shut up, Marcus.”
Dem stood back up and said, “Nice necklace. It’s a little too militaristic for me, but it looks great on you.”
“Thank you. I figured you could always use some extra guns.”
“I always accept presents. But before that, tell me; what happened since we last saw each other.”
“Well, when I reached Boston, the medication I took started to wear off and I totaled the car.”
“But Dad told me that I would get the car in his will,” Liz yelled. Marcus responded, “Now you either get a totaled car with an orange paint job or a healthy dragon with chrome plating. Anyway, I got out of the car and dropped Paladin on the road, as it was too heavy for me. As I walked through the streets, the undead blocked off some paths and made others. There were hundreds of thousands of them all wanting a piece of me, but none of them budged. I found my Titanstone-”
“No. Really? I never would have guessed,” Dem interrupted.
“It was in the chapel, but when I moved to get it, another behemoth came after me. It swallowed me whole, and then it exploded. After I got out-”
“Wait wait wait. What the hell did I just hear? It ate you and then it exploded? I never thought I’d meet a badass butterfly.”
“I guess that’s one way to put it. I learned how to live in my new body quickly and burned the rest of the army to hell. I rested for the rest of the day.”
“Then he met us,” shouted Stephan.
“Met? I do recall that I saved your sorry hides thirty seconds before you were zombie food. I don’t think most people would call that a meeting. So I picked up these children and flew off to find you. The rest of the journey was fairly inconsequential. Enough about our trip; what happened to you?”
“As soon as we parted, our little group was ambushed by a bunch of the people who lost it when the undead incursion started. They took Liz and firebombed one of the armored cars. After I got some of the people out of the cars I followed them, killed them, and saved the damsel in distress. When we got back, we traveled again, but ran into another group that was heading north as well. We grouped up, but I had another little outburst. I guess I took out one of the armored cars, but then it just stopped, as if a switch was flicked in my head,”
“What time was it?”
“About noon. Why do you ask?”
“I killed the behemoth at about noon yesterday. Maybe it was some kind of smart zombie.”
“Please don’t remind me about them. We lost a good amount of people to those things. They ambushed us just a few hours ago. They took out an RV stocked with food and a gasoline truck. Seven men and ten thousand gallons of fuel; gone in five seconds. Have you had any issues with the smart ones?”
“Yup, they ambushed us at the exact right times so I couldn’t do anything without killing anyone. The only reason these three are still alive is because I can use a flame.”
“These three what? I don’t see anything.”
“The three boys I mentioned earlier? You still pay little to no attention to our conversations as usual, don’t you?”
Marcus bowed down so Dem could look at his back, but he said, “There’s no one on your back, Marcus.” Marcus looked around and saw them conversing with the rest of the caravan. Each of them had an M-16 slung across their backs. He pointed them out and Dem said, “They look a little young to carry weapons like that. Can we trust them?”
“As long as they don’t shoot themselves, I think we’re fine.”
“I wonder what could cause the undead to evolve so quickly.”
“It’s obviously one of the many things we overlooked. Our subjects never lasted more than a few hours, and these things have been alive for days. I wonder what will happen if they live for a year.”
As they talked, Liz shimmied down Dem’s thirty foot tall leg and Marcus set down his tail so she could climb to his back. As she walked over the large scale plates on his back, Marcus asked Dem, “You seem to have changed since we last met. What is different now than before?”
“Well, you’re taller than me and you practically glow with authority when you used to be just human. Now I have to look up when I talk to you.”
The boys approached them and Marcus let his head fall forward so they could take the weapons he had placed around his neck. Seven of the men from the caravan came forward and helped them carry the heavy objects to the vehicles. They were hesitant to approach a creature so massive, but they eventually built up the courage when one of the boys called them names of cowardice.
Marcus could feel Liz walk down the length of his snakelike neck and sit upon his head with her legs hanging above one of his spiked nostrils. She jumped down and helped Steven carry a large box of ammunition. His face turned red, but he seemed to act more vigorous in his task of moving the equipment. When all of the supplies were moved, Liz walked over to Marcus. He pressed his lower jaw against the ground so he was eye-level with her. She climbed up his cheek spikes and he lifted his head, causing her to slide down his neck and land back between his shoulders.
When the task was complete, Marcus asked Dem, “So, we’re back together again. Now what?”