Undead Genesis: Zombie (6 page)

The boy stayed along the walls where he knew
he could not be reached. He approached the far side of the hut
where he knew the head was and slowly extended the impaled spider
towards the audibly snapping jaws.

Suddenly the stick leapt out of his hands.
The boy stared into the darkness wondering what had happened. He
bent down feeling around the dirt floor, but the stick was not to
be found. He crawled around the outer wall in a panic feeling
everywhere but unable to locate the missing spider. The clacking of
snapping teeth echoed in the small space.

After a few minutes it was obvious the
monster had not taken the spider. There was no calming effect from
the drug. It roared in frustration, working itself into a frenzy,
as Marik crawled around it. The boy’s distress increased with each
passing moment.

It was then that a bright light appeared in
the doorway of the hut. Marik stared blindly at the flame of a
torch, then shielded his eyes from the painful glow.

A familiar voice cried out, “What is
happening here?”

The boy lay stunned momentarily, cowering on
the ground from the fear he had been experiencing mixed with the
embarrassment of being caught. He peaked through his hands and was
horrified at the monster secured to the ground in front of him.

Its body was desiccated with open sores
slowly leaking a mixture of blood and frothy white pus. Each joint
and muscle clearly showed under a paper thin layer of skin, and
though the muscle was sinewy, it appeared to have superhuman
strength as the monster strained against the stretched
bindings.

The eyes were sunken into deep black pits and
the ear closest to him hung askew from a copious white piece of
cartilage. The hair which had been thickly curled and black, had
fallen out in splotches and was gray where it still limply
remained.

Most disturbing, the passage of dozens of
large larvae under pale gray skin made the entire body appear to
bubble. Red lines of crusty dead skin oozed blood and crisscrossed
the body where the larvae had already been.

With eyes now adjusted to the light he saw
the stick lying halfway across the monster’s neck with the spider
bearing end just out of Marik’s reach. He was able to easily
retrieve it in the light. Feeling back in command of the situation,
his determination returned.

It seemed at the same moment he gathered the
stick, the man at the door reacted to the horrifying scene and
dropped the burning torch. He then ran away yelling through the
middle of the camp.

Marik knew he did not have much time.

~ Chapter
XVI ~

With the image of the monster still burned in
the back of his eyes and the dim light of the torch lying on the
ground coming through the door, he quickly turned the stick around.
With a firm grip this time he maneuvered the spider towards the
jaws and was able to hold on when he felt the tug. The teeth
clamped down hard on the spider, and then shattered the stick as
well. He heard snapping from either the wood or the spider’s legs
as the jaws worked.

Within a minute the beast began to calm down.
Marik grabbed the long pole used to control it and slipped one loop
around the neck of the quickly calming creature. He carefully
started cutting the bindings holding it down with the shaman’s
metal knife he had borrowed. By the time he was done removing the
bindings, the Jombi was staring up at him with dull eyes. Looping
the other end of the long pole around his own wrist, he compelled
the desiccated figure to stand up. It struggled to stand, but
shortly came unsteadily upright.

From a safe distance, Marik forced the
creature out the door from behind. Outside, dawn had started to
shed its pale light and he found he could see a short distance
ahead. He led the disturbing creature out of the camp.

Behind him shouts of alarm could be heard
from the distant huts. Marik could not tell what was happening. Had
they found the shaman and tried to wake him? If so, they may
already be looking for him. He needed to hurry.

Just before reaching the stream the creature
stumbled over a protruding root and splashed headfirst into the
water. Unnoticed by the boy in the early light and confused panic,
two larvae fell from the body into the mud and quickly crawled
under nearby rocks.

Using the long pole, Marik quickly coerced it
back into a standing position and headed down the stream away from
camp as quickly as he could force the sedated creature to move. The
two trudged through the stream for many hours heading generally in
the direction of the battleground where Marik’s father had been
killed.

Learning to track was a skill all boys were
educated in. Marik was particularly good at it, and he knew how to
keep from leaving any sign for others to follow. He turned into a
smaller stream feeding into the one they were walking, and followed
it for a while before forcing the creature up a rocky bank to
shore.

Here the forest canopy was thick and light
filtered in only sporadically. The foliage on the ground however
was sparse and the two were able to increase their pace. After
hours of anxiety Marik was finally convinced he had gotten away and
slowed their hurried pace.

He estimated they were still a day or two
away from the battlefield at their current pace. Many weeks ago the
warriors had run half the day to reach their camp before the
battle, and today the two unlikely travelers were forced to travel
at a brisk walk by the awkward stride of the creature.

Just before crossing over a slow running
creek, he secured the monster to a sturdy limb and walked to the
water. Now that he was again calm, Marik realized he had forgotten
to bring anything to eat or drink in his haste, but as he stooped
down to scoop up a handful of water he knew this was not going to
be an issue for him. He could easily live off the land around
him.

Without leaving sight of his prisoner, Marik
scouted around and his sharp eyes found some small berries he knew
to be delicious. He was able to eat a small meal before returning
to his task.

It was only when he was approaching the
creature to resume their journey that he realized he had made a
much bigger mistake than forgetting to bring his own meal. The
monster’s eyes were no longer quite as dull. His stance was no
longer quite as submissive.

And Marik did not have the green bottle.

~ Chapter
XVII ~

The boy was unsure what to do. The creature
staring back at him did not attempt to attack him, but something
had changed. There was a spark of life in it that had not been
there before. Maybe it was simply that the eyes now followed him
where before they stared blankly into oblivion.

He walked over and secured the long pole
again to his own wrist. On the other end the creature turned,
swiveling its own neck in the loop, to watch him.

Marik nudged it ahead and the monster
stumbled a few steps in the right direction before stopping again.
Another harder nudge resulted in the creature falling to its knees,
but not obeying. Marik tried another solution. He moved around the
creature and started to pull it towards him in the direction he
wanted to go. Though this was slower since Marik was forced to walk
backwards, it worked better as the creature willingly followed
him.

The boy’s mind raced. A few minutes ago his
biggest concern was being discovered by his tribe who was surely
looking for him by now. Being caught by them would have resulted in
a lecture, a beating and a few bruises. Now a new threat would soon
be after him, but the punishment would be an agonizing death if he
was caught.

At some point the Jombi had gone from being
pulled along to following him willingly. Occasionally a limp arm
would straighten towards him and the hand would grasp the air in
his direction. After another few minutes Marik found he had to
hurry a little faster to stay ahead of the creature attempting to
get to him.

Marik knew he soon would no longer be able to
lead the monster. It would become more insistent until it was
uncontrollable with the simple pole. The pole may keep it at a safe
distance for a time, but the creature would stop at nothing to get
to him. He was going to have to come up with another solution.

Low growls were starting to emanate from it.
After another few minutes, both arms were raised towards him. The
creature slowly increased its speed. The deadly jaws seemed to
reach and the neck pushed forward. Deep ragged gasps continuously
dragged in great gulps of air as if the creature was consuming the
scent of fear coming from the boy.

Over the next hour things continued to
unravel and Marik had to make a decision. Should he continue on his
quest to avenge his father, or attempt to get away now before
things truly got out of control?

He knew the creature would relentlessly
follow him and, though he had never actually tested the theory,
Marik suspected he was faster than the shambling monster. He
decided to go on, knowing he would regret it for the rest of his
life if he gave up now. There was still hope for revenge if it
continued to follow him. He just hoped he was able to stay ahead of
it.

Marik held on to the safety pole as long as
he was able, but he let go to devote his efforts to staying out of
reach. Without the pole forcing him to walk backwards, Marik was
able to greatly increase his speed. The rope on the other end of
the pole remained securely looped around the monster’s neck and the
long bamboo pole dragged the ground behind it. The creature was
able to walk quickly, but often stumbled and fell as it single
mindedly pursued its prey, ignorant of anything else in its way.
Marik had no problem staying ahead of it as the day wore on.

As night approached a new problem loomed. The
boy’s first thought was to climb a tree to get out of reach until
morning, but as he contemplated the many difficulties involved,
another opportunity presented itself.

Marik made a long jump across a slow running
stream. When the creature attempted to cross after him, it became
hopelessly bogged down in the muddy bottom. Its legs were buried
almost up to the knees. As hard as it struggled to reach Marik,
there was no way to remove itself from the muck. Marik jumped back
across the water and secured the bamboo pole to a thick cotton tree
root sticking out from the stream’s bank.

Looking high up at the towering branches of
the tree he laughed in wonder. He had unintentionally arrived at
the same cotton tree where he found the larvae.

“This is where it all started,” he said to
himself while running his hands over the gashes in the trunk he had
made only weeks before.

He moved away from the creature upstream to
get a drink. He realized as he moved away the monster calmed down
considerably. Once he was beyond a certain point the creature
seemed to be unable to perceive him as a target. At this point, it
just stood there serenely staring into the woods. It did not even
seem interested in escaping the muddy trap.

Marik scouted around finding fruits and
berries to eat. As night fell he contemplated sleeping on the
relatively comfortable ground, but instead located a large tree
with wide branches and was able to climb into the lowest limbs. He
spent a restless night worried about falling out of the tree and
wondering if the creature could climb.

In the morning Marik was exhausted. He headed
back to the stranded creature gathering breakfast as he walked with
senses tuned to the slightest sound. Back in the stream nothing had
changed. As he silently approached from behind, the creature
somehow sensed him and turned its head around. Immediately it
resumed the ultra-aggressive behavior Marik had seen the day
before.

When the boy got close he noticed a handful
of white larvae crawling away from the creature. Looking closer, he
noticed some larvae had already made it over the muddy ground to
the shore and were crawling towards the giant cotton tree on the
bank. Others lay unmoving in the mud as if dead or already
pupated.

Unconcerned, Marik untied the bamboo pole and
pulled towards the far side of the stream as the monster struggled
to reach him. Its neck was extended with chin up as Marik gave it
the extra pull it needed. First one leg, then the other came free,
and slowly the creature worked its way towards him.

As he turned around to start the day’s
journey, the boy came down awkwardly on an egg-shaped stone and his
ankle twisted savagely. He heard a slight pop, but found he was
still able to run with only a little discomfort.

Determined, he limped onward with the pursuit
close behind.

~
Chapter XVIII ~

Hours ago they had reached the battlefield.
Marik found he was able to track the other tribe easily from their
side of the field. They had many men and had made no attempt to
hide their route.

It was late in the day and Marik struggled to
stay on his feet ahead of the creature. All day the relentless
pursuit continued without any opportunity to rest and his ankle was
a ball of flame. Looking down he could see it had swollen to twice
its normal size. He was unable to move without a limp and leaned
heavily on a thick stick he had picked up on the way.

He had no idea how much further the tribe’s
camp was, but he did know he had passed his physical limit and was
now moving on adrenalin and desperation alone. Once he had stumbled
and the seemingly inexhaustible creature behind him managed to
scratch his arm and roared in triumph before the frightened boy
quickly moved out of reach.

He continued to run. The scratch burned.

He needed a drink badly, but they had not
crossed any streams in hours. Even if he had been able to summon a
burst of speed to pull away, he did not know where to find water in
this unfamiliar part of the forest.