Chapter 30
Liz looked over to Marcus, but the only advice he gave her was, “I’m not your guardian anymore. Do as you wish.”
She turned to Mish, who Marcus had just finished cooking off. Mish said, “This is why I hate men. Fine, hide in my coat and we’ll go shopping. If the building is still standing, that is.”
“But I don’t have any money,” Liz said jokingly, “And besides, when’s my new suit supposed to be finished?”
She leapt into Mish’s fur, where she disappeared from view as a lump in her otherwise perfect white coat. Marcus said to the group, “Mish and Liz, go south and look for any more undead. Isaac and Dem do the same for the north. Dragoon-”
“Fuck you, your not my boss,” Dragoon ever so poetically stated. He then turned around and headed for the east, exactly where Marcus planned on asking him to go. Marcus said to Karen, “Take the skies to the northern half of the city. If any undead appear, you know what to do.”
“Hide under a rock and silently whimper in the fetal position? Marcus, I’ve been hunting undead from the start of the battle to the end; I can take care of myself.”
She took flight for the north. Marcus was happy to see everyone in a relatively good mood. While their actions seemed more like anger than anything else to the untrained eye, Marcus knew by memory that this was how friends treated each other at the lab.
Now that he was alone and clear-headed, Marcus took his time examining is environment. To him, it looked as if most of the smaller undead were killed by the larger undead stepping on them. There were a hundred million tiny splat marks layered over each other; they painted the road a rainbow of colors. There were ten hills around him- remnants of the battle. The largest of these piles was seven hundred feet tall, where Marcus took his main fight. The other largest one was just down the street, where he held off the army on his own. There were eight others of varying sizes spread around a one mile area, but every one of them was visible over the tops of the buildings.
Marcus took flight and headed to the south, where he would make a wide arc across the city and end where his fight began. If there was a single undead thing left alive that posed a significant threat, Marcus wanted to deal with it. He made his round trip in two hours. When he landed at the bridge, Isaac and Dem were standing at the edge. They were looking into the filthy, murky waters constantly repeating to one another, “I’m not going in, you go in.”
Marcus said, “Either go in or don’t. Next one to order the other into the water goes in head first.”
At this point in time, they started to accept Marcus’s role as a leader; he was the biggest and probably the wisest, with the exception of Bronx, one of the missing titanicus. Dragoon was the next to arrive, followed by Karen. An hour of small talk later, Mish and Liz were still nowhere to be seen. Dragoon said, “They’re women; if we go now, they’ll be angry at us for leaving them behind. If we try to speed them up, they’ll call us controlling.”
Karen said, “Where did they go?”
“Some large cloths store to the south, Mish wants to make Liz look pretty.”
Karen looked to Marcus, who simply nodded.
She took flight, and Marcus said, “That’s one small step for man…”
Dem replied, “One giant leap for-”
Dragoon interrupted, “How can you be a man when you have no manhood?”
Isaac laughed, Marcus smiled, and Dem stood motionless. Marcus and Isaac went silent as Dem walked over to Dragoon; Dem had had enough punishment. Dragoon simply said, “Oh, now you want to prove it? This is the problem with pussies; they think they can do-”
Dem leapt into the air and pinned Dragoon to the ground. Dragoon shifted his bodyweight to throw Dem off. The pair wrestled for another hour before Marcus had to break it up. It was clear to him and Isaac that neither side could outmaneuver the other and neither side was willing to admit it. Isaac pinned Dragoon to the ground and Marcus pinned Dem. Much shouting followed, and Marcus said, “Dragoon, your going to the island first. You are going to the north side of Treasure Island and you will stay there until I say otherwise. Dem and Isaac, I’ll be coming back for you.”
Marcus hated being the parent, but he broke up fights in the lab before – along with cat fights – and this time was no different to him; it seemed that he was the only one who ever changed.
As usual, Dragoon said, “You think you can boss me around? Ha! My wife is the only one who can do that. I don’t care how big you are; I’ll take you down either way.”
That was the final straw. Marcus lurched forward and pinned Dragoon to the ground like a cat playing with a half dead mouse. Marcus said, “Unless you have a death wish, I would suggest you keep quiet and keep still.”
Dragoon understood his message. He kept still as Marcus picked him up with his teeth and carried him to the far north of the base. Dragoon curled into a ball when they arrived and did not say anything afterward. To Dem, Marcus said, “You will stay on Yerba Buena for the rest of the night. Understood?”
Dem sighed before saying, “Yes sir.”
“And stop calling me that.”
When all of the men were on the correct side of the bridge, Marcus went looking for the women, who were in what his lesser self called hell; the cloths store.
She turned to Mish, who Marcus had just finished cooking off. Mish said, “This is why I hate men. Fine, hide in my coat and we’ll go shopping. If the building is still standing, that is.”
“But I don’t have any money,” Liz said jokingly, “And besides, when’s my new suit supposed to be finished?”
She leapt into Mish’s fur, where she disappeared from view as a lump in her otherwise perfect white coat. Marcus said to the group, “Mish and Liz, go south and look for any more undead. Isaac and Dem do the same for the north. Dragoon-”
“Fuck you, your not my boss,” Dragoon ever so poetically stated. He then turned around and headed for the east, exactly where Marcus planned on asking him to go. Marcus said to Karen, “Take the skies to the northern half of the city. If any undead appear, you know what to do.”
“Hide under a rock and silently whimper in the fetal position? Marcus, I’ve been hunting undead from the start of the battle to the end; I can take care of myself.”
She took flight for the north. Marcus was happy to see everyone in a relatively good mood. While their actions seemed more like anger than anything else to the untrained eye, Marcus knew by memory that this was how friends treated each other at the lab.
Now that he was alone and clear-headed, Marcus took his time examining is environment. To him, it looked as if most of the smaller undead were killed by the larger undead stepping on them. There were a hundred million tiny splat marks layered over each other; they painted the road a rainbow of colors. There were ten hills around him- remnants of the battle. The largest of these piles was seven hundred feet tall, where Marcus took his main fight. The other largest one was just down the street, where he held off the army on his own. There were eight others of varying sizes spread around a one mile area, but every one of them was visible over the tops of the buildings.
Marcus took flight and headed to the south, where he would make a wide arc across the city and end where his fight began. If there was a single undead thing left alive that posed a significant threat, Marcus wanted to deal with it. He made his round trip in two hours. When he landed at the bridge, Isaac and Dem were standing at the edge. They were looking into the filthy, murky waters constantly repeating to one another, “I’m not going in, you go in.”
Marcus said, “Either go in or don’t. Next one to order the other into the water goes in head first.”
At this point in time, they started to accept Marcus’s role as a leader; he was the biggest and probably the wisest, with the exception of Bronx, one of the missing titanicus. Dragoon was the next to arrive, followed by Karen. An hour of small talk later, Mish and Liz were still nowhere to be seen. Dragoon said, “They’re women; if we go now, they’ll be angry at us for leaving them behind. If we try to speed them up, they’ll call us controlling.”
Karen said, “Where did they go?”
“Some large cloths store to the south, Mish wants to make Liz look pretty.”
Karen looked to Marcus, who simply nodded.
She took flight, and Marcus said, “That’s one small step for man…”
Dem replied, “One giant leap for-”
Dragoon interrupted, “How can you be a man when you have no manhood?”
Isaac laughed, Marcus smiled, and Dem stood motionless. Marcus and Isaac went silent as Dem walked over to Dragoon; Dem had had enough punishment. Dragoon simply said, “Oh, now you want to prove it? This is the problem with pussies; they think they can do-”
Dem leapt into the air and pinned Dragoon to the ground. Dragoon shifted his bodyweight to throw Dem off. The pair wrestled for another hour before Marcus had to break it up. It was clear to him and Isaac that neither side could outmaneuver the other and neither side was willing to admit it. Isaac pinned Dragoon to the ground and Marcus pinned Dem. Much shouting followed, and Marcus said, “Dragoon, your going to the island first. You are going to the north side of Treasure Island and you will stay there until I say otherwise. Dem and Isaac, I’ll be coming back for you.”
Marcus hated being the parent, but he broke up fights in the lab before – along with cat fights – and this time was no different to him; it seemed that he was the only one who ever changed.
As usual, Dragoon said, “You think you can boss me around? Ha! My wife is the only one who can do that. I don’t care how big you are; I’ll take you down either way.”
That was the final straw. Marcus lurched forward and pinned Dragoon to the ground like a cat playing with a half dead mouse. Marcus said, “Unless you have a death wish, I would suggest you keep quiet and keep still.”
Dragoon understood his message. He kept still as Marcus picked him up with his teeth and carried him to the far north of the base. Dragoon curled into a ball when they arrived and did not say anything afterward. To Dem, Marcus said, “You will stay on Yerba Buena for the rest of the night. Understood?”
Dem sighed before saying, “Yes sir.”
“And stop calling me that.”
When all of the men were on the correct side of the bridge, Marcus went looking for the women, who were in what his lesser self called hell; the cloths store.