It wasn’t until I splashed through the watery doorway into Merlin’s abode that I came to my damn senses...
I had been placed under a magickal compulsion called a Charm by Zulu that pretty much prevented me from overtly resisting any suggestion he made to me. Damn, but that man is powerful. I should have known not to trust a fucking politician, but really, I had no chance.
As mentioned in the last couple of posts, I was pretty much out it after I tried to take a stupid shortcut in the conflict with the splinter of Ma Grendel’s spirit that had stuck around for the ride. So I really didn’t have a chance to resist any Charm that Zulu wanted to implant in me, but boy did it chap my ass when I splashed through to the other side.
I was all wet in more than just the literal sense.
It all became crystal clear as soon as I landed on the floor of the cavern, catching my balance on one knee and two hands again. His words had all seemed so reasonable at the time, but then again, the Charm wouldn’t have worked if he hadn’t used his words as skillfully as he did his magick!
Once I stopped my momemtum and realized that I just walked through a portal into an unknown location at the request of some asshole I’d only met once before and didn’t even half trust to begin with, I was more than a little pissed.
I got up quickly and looked back at the way I had come in. It was a shimmering, sheer wall that reflected the dim light in the cavern that I now found myself in rather well. I tried to put hand back through the ‘mirror’ the same way I had come in, and found it stopped by the solid, wet rock behind the cascading water. The portal had closed.
A few salty cuss words later, I tried to calm myself down and remember what it was that I felt as I had passed through the mirrors before, hoping that perhaps I could use the same method myself to get back to where I belonged.
Nothing. Shit.
But by focussing on the magick I had felt while travelling, I felt the now tattered bindings of the Charm that Zulu (or whoever the Hell he was) had used to keep me calm and to do his bidding. A flash of anger though, and those last tendrils of his influence were burned away.
“You bastard, you better hope I’m in a good mood the next time we meet!” I shouted at the gurgling wall before stepping back and surveying the rest of the place.
I found myself standing in a rather impressive cavern that reminded me more than a little of some of the more spectacular caverns in Mammoth Caves, in Kentucky. Dozens of sparkling stalactites hung from the roof of the cave while the floor was a veritable maze of smaller chambers created by tall stalacmites that stood in various patterns. The sounds of dripping and flowing water were abundant, from the drip drop of waterdrops falling from individual stalactites to the gurgling flow of sheets of water covering more than one wall. At my feet, at the base of the wall through which I had entered was a small pool of crystal clear water. A small outlet brook left that pool, flowing downhill along the base of the wall and disappearing through a small crevasse not ten feet away from where I stood.
From where I stood, I could see that the cavern was easily a hundred feet wide, another 50-60’ deep and at least 50’ high in the center of the room.
Cursing again, I began to make my way around some of the stalacmites to see about finding this ‘Merlin’, if he even existed.
The light that was in the cave seemed to be coming from somewhere on the far wall, so I started that way first.
After a few moments of picking my way around while trying not to damage any of the formations (don’t ask me why, it just seemed i should be careful), I came to the light source, it was a single glowing orb of light. I had seen Ravyn create similar orbs out of elemental fire while we were underground in New York, but this was more like an orb of pure light. It hung in the air near that far wall without any visible supports and without flickering or moving, about 9’ up. It looked to be about a foot in diameter.
Just below the orb, I could see that there was another water smooth surface that resembled the way I had entered this place. Hoping against hope, I reached out this ‘mirror’ but was again met with solid rock.
Looking around in the more illuminated part of the cavern, I noticed that there weren’t any exits from this place, except for the various small crevasses where the pools of water drained.
I was trapped.
I was alone.
I was pissed!
Fucking politician!
Dumb assed zombie.
Sigh...
Monday, September 26, 2005
Sunday, September 25, 2005
Zombie 2.0--Revelations...Part 3
I fell for what seemed to be several minutes, but was probably only a few moments. The foot I led with was the first thing to touch ground, but I still stumbled and came to a rest on one knee, I had to catch my balance by throwing both hands out to stop my forward momentum.
Once I was sure that I was on stable ground, I quickly looked up and around to try and catch my bearings...I found that I was in a mist shrouded hallway that was lined with mirrors of nearly every shape and size imaginable. I saw my own confused, and pretty damn scary face looking back at me from literally hundreds of reflective mirrors. Just as I started to process that info, Zulu stepped into the hall from the mirror immediately behind me, so his reflections joined mine.
“Holy shit, what is this place?”
He grinned at me and offered a hand to help me. I took it and stood up. His grip was surprisingly strong, but not in any unnatural way like Drake’s, more like the firm grip of a former athlete. I couldn’t help but think of how this guy must have had it all as a youngster...good looks, strong body, I knew he came from Old Money if the news was to be believed, and he had charisma oozing from his pours, and too top it all off, he was clearly a powerful Caster. Some guys get all the luck.
“I don’t know the true name of this place, but I call it the Hall of Mirrors.”
“Wow, that’s...uh...imaginative.”
“Yes, well, I don’t spend that much time here, I don’t travel by this method very often. As with anything magickal, there are perils to relying on it very often. I guess the best way to describe this place is that it is another dimension, a dimension that is accessible through mirrors both ways. I use it as a shortcut when I must, but I must admit, I find it disconcerting.”
“Why not use another method to travel then?”
“My talents just happen to lie in accessing this place more easily than some others. But it has its uses, even if I do have to look at my own reflection much more than I ever care to.”
“Come on, you’re telling me this? I’m a damn walking corpse! If anyone should be afraid to see themselves in a mirror, it’s me!”
“I can’t argue with you on that front Rusty, but this place has a way of pinpointing and hilighting each and every flaw one has. In any event, we must not tarry here, let me slip past you here and I’ll lead you to where we need to go.”
With that, he slid past me. Remembering his previous instructions, I put a hand on his shoulder as he began slowly walking forward.
This place was extremely disorienting, quite similar to many of the funhouse Halls of Mirror rides I had been in at various carnivals and amusement parks during my youth. It was exceptionally hard to tell where the path went, since the mirrors cast so many reflections. Even Zulu had to go slowly, reaching out a hand to feel his way through the maze.
After we had been moving for a while, Zulu stopped at an intersection, apparently trying to puzzle out which to go. While he was busy mumbling to himself, I took a chance to look at my own reflection more carefully in the mirror to my right.
The face staring back at me seemed more like some Halloween mask meant to scare small children than that of my own face. Even from behind the dark sunglasses, I could catch the glimmer of red that were my eyes. The play of the flickering shadows created by my own glowing eye sockets only served to further define my face as the gruesome mask of a dead killer. But the barest hint of something else caught my eye...there were other images in the mirror behind my ugly mug.
I stared hard at it before the ghostly image of a room beyond the mirror crystallized. It was a bedroom of some sort. I could see two shadowy forms groping and clasping at each other on a large canopy-covered bed. They were making love, I think.
“Whoah, I can see stuff through this mirror here!”
Zulu took a moment from trying to decipher which way to go and responded, “Yes, each and every mirror in this place corresponds to a mirror elsewhere. If you look hard enough, you will be able to see something of the place where the mirror exists elsewhere in many of them.”
“You mean this mirror here is actually in someone’s bedroom?”
He glanced at the mirror I was looking at, “Yes, it appears to be so. This is precisely the reason I don’t keep mirrors in my own bedroom. It also the reason most Casters don’t keep mirrors around, especially in rooms they wish to keep private.”
“Shit, no wonder. I’ll never look at a mirror in quite the same way again.”
“Indeed. Before I learned to use my Talents, I often felt at unease around mirrors and more than once felt as if I was being watched. As I later learned, it was entirely possbile that I was being watched. Oh yes, we need to go this way.”
I looked away from the couple as he started to move forward again and concentrated on not looking past my own reflection in any of the other mirrors.
We travelled in silence for what seemed like an hour. We had made dozens of turns and even gone up one flight of stairs and down two more before we arrived in front of the strangest mirror we come across yet. Instead of being made of metal or glass, it was a shimmering, flat, rock wall that...gurgled. As we got closer, I saw that the reason the wall shimmered was a thin sheen of water that was flowing across its face. The water had no visible source at the top of the wall, and disappeared beneath the floor without pooling up in any way. Our reflections were still there, but they were constantly shifting in small, almost imperceptible ways.
“What’s this?” I asked my guide.
He turnedas he answered. “This, my friend, is our destination.”
“It’s different than the others. It looks like a cave wall of some sort.”
“Very good observation. It is indeed different. This is the only mirror I know of that was created specifically by the owner to be a portal to this place. He created it for me when he showed me how to utilize this Talent.”
“So who is this teacher of yours?”
“He has been known by many names over the years. You will probably know him as Merlin.”
“Merlin?!? As in Merlin of the King Arthur and the Knights of the fucking Round Table Merlin?”
He sighed. “Yes, he is that Merlin. However, as he told me hundreds of times throughout our time together, those stories have changed significantly over time, and many authors have used their own imaginations to embellish the tales a bit. He is both more normal and even more remarkbale than those tales imply.”
“Damn, this shit just keeps getting weirder and weirder. OK, why not meet Merlin too?”
“Very well. Just like the time we came here, you’ll need to step through this mirror in order to come to the other side. This time, however, I cannot come with you. I will activate the portal, you will have to move through on your own.”
“Why aren’t you coming too?”
“There are other matters that I must attend to at the moment, very urgent matters that I have ingnored in order to get you here, but which I can no longer delay.”
“Great, so does this Merlin even know I am coming?”
“He is expecting you, yes.”
Once I was sure that I was on stable ground, I quickly looked up and around to try and catch my bearings...I found that I was in a mist shrouded hallway that was lined with mirrors of nearly every shape and size imaginable. I saw my own confused, and pretty damn scary face looking back at me from literally hundreds of reflective mirrors. Just as I started to process that info, Zulu stepped into the hall from the mirror immediately behind me, so his reflections joined mine.
“Holy shit, what is this place?”
He grinned at me and offered a hand to help me. I took it and stood up. His grip was surprisingly strong, but not in any unnatural way like Drake’s, more like the firm grip of a former athlete. I couldn’t help but think of how this guy must have had it all as a youngster...good looks, strong body, I knew he came from Old Money if the news was to be believed, and he had charisma oozing from his pours, and too top it all off, he was clearly a powerful Caster. Some guys get all the luck.
“I don’t know the true name of this place, but I call it the Hall of Mirrors.”
“Wow, that’s...uh...imaginative.”
“Yes, well, I don’t spend that much time here, I don’t travel by this method very often. As with anything magickal, there are perils to relying on it very often. I guess the best way to describe this place is that it is another dimension, a dimension that is accessible through mirrors both ways. I use it as a shortcut when I must, but I must admit, I find it disconcerting.”
“Why not use another method to travel then?”
“My talents just happen to lie in accessing this place more easily than some others. But it has its uses, even if I do have to look at my own reflection much more than I ever care to.”
“Come on, you’re telling me this? I’m a damn walking corpse! If anyone should be afraid to see themselves in a mirror, it’s me!”
“I can’t argue with you on that front Rusty, but this place has a way of pinpointing and hilighting each and every flaw one has. In any event, we must not tarry here, let me slip past you here and I’ll lead you to where we need to go.”
With that, he slid past me. Remembering his previous instructions, I put a hand on his shoulder as he began slowly walking forward.
This place was extremely disorienting, quite similar to many of the funhouse Halls of Mirror rides I had been in at various carnivals and amusement parks during my youth. It was exceptionally hard to tell where the path went, since the mirrors cast so many reflections. Even Zulu had to go slowly, reaching out a hand to feel his way through the maze.
After we had been moving for a while, Zulu stopped at an intersection, apparently trying to puzzle out which to go. While he was busy mumbling to himself, I took a chance to look at my own reflection more carefully in the mirror to my right.
The face staring back at me seemed more like some Halloween mask meant to scare small children than that of my own face. Even from behind the dark sunglasses, I could catch the glimmer of red that were my eyes. The play of the flickering shadows created by my own glowing eye sockets only served to further define my face as the gruesome mask of a dead killer. But the barest hint of something else caught my eye...there were other images in the mirror behind my ugly mug.
I stared hard at it before the ghostly image of a room beyond the mirror crystallized. It was a bedroom of some sort. I could see two shadowy forms groping and clasping at each other on a large canopy-covered bed. They were making love, I think.
“Whoah, I can see stuff through this mirror here!”
Zulu took a moment from trying to decipher which way to go and responded, “Yes, each and every mirror in this place corresponds to a mirror elsewhere. If you look hard enough, you will be able to see something of the place where the mirror exists elsewhere in many of them.”
“You mean this mirror here is actually in someone’s bedroom?”
He glanced at the mirror I was looking at, “Yes, it appears to be so. This is precisely the reason I don’t keep mirrors in my own bedroom. It also the reason most Casters don’t keep mirrors around, especially in rooms they wish to keep private.”
“Shit, no wonder. I’ll never look at a mirror in quite the same way again.”
“Indeed. Before I learned to use my Talents, I often felt at unease around mirrors and more than once felt as if I was being watched. As I later learned, it was entirely possbile that I was being watched. Oh yes, we need to go this way.”
I looked away from the couple as he started to move forward again and concentrated on not looking past my own reflection in any of the other mirrors.
We travelled in silence for what seemed like an hour. We had made dozens of turns and even gone up one flight of stairs and down two more before we arrived in front of the strangest mirror we come across yet. Instead of being made of metal or glass, it was a shimmering, flat, rock wall that...gurgled. As we got closer, I saw that the reason the wall shimmered was a thin sheen of water that was flowing across its face. The water had no visible source at the top of the wall, and disappeared beneath the floor without pooling up in any way. Our reflections were still there, but they were constantly shifting in small, almost imperceptible ways.
“What’s this?” I asked my guide.
He turnedas he answered. “This, my friend, is our destination.”
“It’s different than the others. It looks like a cave wall of some sort.”
“Very good observation. It is indeed different. This is the only mirror I know of that was created specifically by the owner to be a portal to this place. He created it for me when he showed me how to utilize this Talent.”
“So who is this teacher of yours?”
“He has been known by many names over the years. You will probably know him as Merlin.”
“Merlin?!? As in Merlin of the King Arthur and the Knights of the fucking Round Table Merlin?”
He sighed. “Yes, he is that Merlin. However, as he told me hundreds of times throughout our time together, those stories have changed significantly over time, and many authors have used their own imaginations to embellish the tales a bit. He is both more normal and even more remarkbale than those tales imply.”
“Damn, this shit just keeps getting weirder and weirder. OK, why not meet Merlin too?”
“Very well. Just like the time we came here, you’ll need to step through this mirror in order to come to the other side. This time, however, I cannot come with you. I will activate the portal, you will have to move through on your own.”
“Why aren’t you coming too?”
“There are other matters that I must attend to at the moment, very urgent matters that I have ingnored in order to get you here, but which I can no longer delay.”
“Great, so does this Merlin even know I am coming?”
“He is expecting you, yes.”
Monday, September 19, 2005
Zombie 2.0--Revelations...Part 2
I looked up at this man called Zulu and asked the only question I could come up with, “So now what?”
He grunted, “Good question. I want you to take a few more moments to collect yourself, and to get dressed. I think it is time to take you to see someone.”
“Who is that?”
“One of my instructors.”
“Are we going to drive this thing?” I seemed to remember that I was in a rather large, rather deluxe RV at that moment.
“No, I’m afraid that won’t be possible for quite some time. Matter of fact, while you are getting dressed, I think I will call SAIC Murphy and let him know that he can have this thing towed off the premises and we can let the poor owner of the camp ground get back to his business, if you haven’t already ruined his reputation anyway.”
“What do you mean? Why can’t this thing be driven?”
“While you and that thing you had inside you were battling, you pretty much destroyed the electrical system on this vehicle, and just about all of the electronic circuitry within a a half mile radius.”
“What?!?”
“Seriously, your struggle was so powerful, you fried the circuits in every cell phone, computer, television and vehicle within a half mile radius. I’m afraid that the FBI is going to have a rather large, unplanned expense in their budget this year as they compensate the victims of your little battle with your own personal demons.”
“Holy shit.”
“Yes. Luckily, the camp was relatively empty and fairly well spread out, or the damages would have been worse.” He reached into his breast pocket of his suit coat and pulled out a cell phone, he began to punch some buttons to make a call as he turned away from me.
“Hey, I thought you said I burned those things all out?”
He turned to smile at me before putting the phone to his ear, he smirked as he replied. “Shielding son, shielding.” There was a voice on the other side and his voice changed it’s pitch as he took on a decidedly more commanding tone. “Yes, SAIC Murphy? This is (Zulu). It is now safe to bring in the tow vehicle. The danger is over. No, you don’t need to bring any transport for me, I’ve got it covered, thanks. No, no need to worry about Agent Bones. He’s fine. Yes, I’ll be taking him with me. We’ll be gone before your folks get here, thanks anyway. Very well then.”
I was mostly dressed by now. In doing so though, I noticed that my skin no longer maintained the illusion of being alive. Instead of a healthy pale pink, it was now closer to lead grey. Luckily though, there were no darting little worms or black masses moving about inside me anymore.
My eyes though were what caught my attention when I took the moment to actually look at my face. I was used to my eyes resembling the small lenses of camera than actual eyeballs. Now though, the lenses had been burned out and my eyes had a red glare in the mirror that took me aback. My eyesockets were empty except for reddish-orange globes of energy!
“Son of a bitch!” I gasped out loud.
By then, Zulu was off the phone with Murphy, and was looking at my face from behind me, through the reflection in the mirror. “Ah yes, so you have noticed the changes. I told you, that you had burned out all of the electronics around, perhaps I should have warned you though.”
“I thought I was freak before! How am I ever going to be able to go out in public now? I’ll be branded a freak and a monster!”
“Well, I do believe that you will be spending less time with ‘normal’ folks now, yes, but trust me, there are some skills you will have to acquire, but you will be able to mingle when you need to. So are you ready for a journey?”
I pulled on my dark leather jacket, grabbed my shades, and pulled on the harness that carried the sheathed blades that housed the spirits of Diego and Herlinda. I looked at the image in the mirror one more time, definitely Terminator Chic.
Zulu came up right behind me. He was taller, so he could see over my shoulder. “I would not want to meet you in a dark alley, that’s for sure.”
I turned to face him, arms crossed over my chest. “OK Boss, where do we go now?”
“Turn back around. You’ll be looking at our doorway.”
I turned back to the mirror, and looked back over my shoulder, “Huh?”
“That’s our exit from this place. Now, I should warn you, most people who travel this way for the first time experience a feeling a of profound electrical shock, but I have only spoken with living people about it, so I don’t know how it will affect you. I just wanted to warn you so that you can brace yourself. Try not to lash out at me as we cross the threshold.”
“You’re serious? We’re gonna walk through this mirror?”
“Absolutely.”
“Is this something I will be able to learn to do?”
“That, I cannot say. Not very many have the talent to travel in this fashion. More likely, you will have other routes available to you.”
“OK, I’ve been through some strange shit the last couple of years, so I guess this isn’t any different than any other whacked thing I’ve done lately. Tell me what I have to do.”
“Very well. I will grab your shoulder and hold it firmly as we transition through the mirror. Like I said, you may experience an electrical shock and feel a little resistance. When I tell you to, you need to step right into the mirror like it was a doorway. Whatever you do, don’t stop in the middle. Once you start forward, keep going until you find yourself into a fun house like hall of mirrors. I will keep a hold of you until I also pass through. Once we are on the other side, I will move to the front, you will need to grab hold of my jacket and hold on, it can get very confusing on the other side.”
He grabbed my shoulder firmly with a strong hand. I could see his reassuring smile in the mirror in front of me. I braced myself as he seemed to grow calm and distant. I felt a small charge of unmistakable power flow from his hand to my body. I could feel him begin to push. Looking forward, the mirror began to cloud over, not quite like it does in a shower, but more like being taken over by roiling clouds, as if looking out of a window instead of a mirror.
“Now. We must cross. Don’t step too fast, but don’t stop either, no matter how strange it feels.”
With that admonition, I took an extraneous breath (of course, for me they are all extraneous) and stepped towards the mirror with one booted foot, half expecting to crack the thing when I kicked. But the jolt of a solid didn’t come as my foot, and then my leg, and then the rest of me plunged into the roiling white clouds that the mirror was showing. Zulu came with me as we seemed to fall for what seemed an eternity.....
(To be continued)
He grunted, “Good question. I want you to take a few more moments to collect yourself, and to get dressed. I think it is time to take you to see someone.”
“Who is that?”
“One of my instructors.”
“Are we going to drive this thing?” I seemed to remember that I was in a rather large, rather deluxe RV at that moment.
“No, I’m afraid that won’t be possible for quite some time. Matter of fact, while you are getting dressed, I think I will call SAIC Murphy and let him know that he can have this thing towed off the premises and we can let the poor owner of the camp ground get back to his business, if you haven’t already ruined his reputation anyway.”
“What do you mean? Why can’t this thing be driven?”
“While you and that thing you had inside you were battling, you pretty much destroyed the electrical system on this vehicle, and just about all of the electronic circuitry within a a half mile radius.”
“What?!?”
“Seriously, your struggle was so powerful, you fried the circuits in every cell phone, computer, television and vehicle within a half mile radius. I’m afraid that the FBI is going to have a rather large, unplanned expense in their budget this year as they compensate the victims of your little battle with your own personal demons.”
“Holy shit.”
“Yes. Luckily, the camp was relatively empty and fairly well spread out, or the damages would have been worse.” He reached into his breast pocket of his suit coat and pulled out a cell phone, he began to punch some buttons to make a call as he turned away from me.
“Hey, I thought you said I burned those things all out?”
He turned to smile at me before putting the phone to his ear, he smirked as he replied. “Shielding son, shielding.” There was a voice on the other side and his voice changed it’s pitch as he took on a decidedly more commanding tone. “Yes, SAIC Murphy? This is (Zulu). It is now safe to bring in the tow vehicle. The danger is over. No, you don’t need to bring any transport for me, I’ve got it covered, thanks. No, no need to worry about Agent Bones. He’s fine. Yes, I’ll be taking him with me. We’ll be gone before your folks get here, thanks anyway. Very well then.”
I was mostly dressed by now. In doing so though, I noticed that my skin no longer maintained the illusion of being alive. Instead of a healthy pale pink, it was now closer to lead grey. Luckily though, there were no darting little worms or black masses moving about inside me anymore.
My eyes though were what caught my attention when I took the moment to actually look at my face. I was used to my eyes resembling the small lenses of camera than actual eyeballs. Now though, the lenses had been burned out and my eyes had a red glare in the mirror that took me aback. My eyesockets were empty except for reddish-orange globes of energy!
“Son of a bitch!” I gasped out loud.
By then, Zulu was off the phone with Murphy, and was looking at my face from behind me, through the reflection in the mirror. “Ah yes, so you have noticed the changes. I told you, that you had burned out all of the electronics around, perhaps I should have warned you though.”
“I thought I was freak before! How am I ever going to be able to go out in public now? I’ll be branded a freak and a monster!”
“Well, I do believe that you will be spending less time with ‘normal’ folks now, yes, but trust me, there are some skills you will have to acquire, but you will be able to mingle when you need to. So are you ready for a journey?”
I pulled on my dark leather jacket, grabbed my shades, and pulled on the harness that carried the sheathed blades that housed the spirits of Diego and Herlinda. I looked at the image in the mirror one more time, definitely Terminator Chic.
Zulu came up right behind me. He was taller, so he could see over my shoulder. “I would not want to meet you in a dark alley, that’s for sure.”
I turned to face him, arms crossed over my chest. “OK Boss, where do we go now?”
“Turn back around. You’ll be looking at our doorway.”
I turned back to the mirror, and looked back over my shoulder, “Huh?”
“That’s our exit from this place. Now, I should warn you, most people who travel this way for the first time experience a feeling a of profound electrical shock, but I have only spoken with living people about it, so I don’t know how it will affect you. I just wanted to warn you so that you can brace yourself. Try not to lash out at me as we cross the threshold.”
“You’re serious? We’re gonna walk through this mirror?”
“Absolutely.”
“Is this something I will be able to learn to do?”
“That, I cannot say. Not very many have the talent to travel in this fashion. More likely, you will have other routes available to you.”
“OK, I’ve been through some strange shit the last couple of years, so I guess this isn’t any different than any other whacked thing I’ve done lately. Tell me what I have to do.”
“Very well. I will grab your shoulder and hold it firmly as we transition through the mirror. Like I said, you may experience an electrical shock and feel a little resistance. When I tell you to, you need to step right into the mirror like it was a doorway. Whatever you do, don’t stop in the middle. Once you start forward, keep going until you find yourself into a fun house like hall of mirrors. I will keep a hold of you until I also pass through. Once we are on the other side, I will move to the front, you will need to grab hold of my jacket and hold on, it can get very confusing on the other side.”
He grabbed my shoulder firmly with a strong hand. I could see his reassuring smile in the mirror in front of me. I braced myself as he seemed to grow calm and distant. I felt a small charge of unmistakable power flow from his hand to my body. I could feel him begin to push. Looking forward, the mirror began to cloud over, not quite like it does in a shower, but more like being taken over by roiling clouds, as if looking out of a window instead of a mirror.
“Now. We must cross. Don’t step too fast, but don’t stop either, no matter how strange it feels.”
With that admonition, I took an extraneous breath (of course, for me they are all extraneous) and stepped towards the mirror with one booted foot, half expecting to crack the thing when I kicked. But the jolt of a solid didn’t come as my foot, and then my leg, and then the rest of me plunged into the roiling white clouds that the mirror was showing. Zulu came with me as we seemed to fall for what seemed an eternity.....
(To be continued)
Wednesday, September 14, 2005
Zombie 2.0--Revelations...Part 1
An undetermined (at first anyway) time later, I came back to consciousness. I found that I was laying on my back, staring up at the ceiling in the same room where I had previously been standing, looking at my body in the mirror.
My thoughts were at first a jumbled mass of random words in dozens of different languages. Even worse, random images flooded my memories, but none lasted so long as to provide any kind of context. Looking back at those first few moments now, I know that I was trying to sift through and sort out my own human memories from the fractured, frenetic half-memories of a creature that had existed for centuries, if not milennia.
As things began to sort themselves out in my extremely cluttered and confused mind, I was able to think in English again, and finally began to formulate some semi-coherent thoughts.
“Who am I?”
That was my very first coherent thought. I didn’t however, realized that I had voiced that question out loud until I heard a chuckle and the answer to that question voiced by a male voice I didn’t immediately recognize. The voice came from a tall figure leaning up against the far corner of the room I was lying in.
“You are Special Agent Rusty Bones of the FBI.”
“Funny, I couldn’t recall my own name. Very well, who are you then?” I was so dazed from what had just happened that I wasn’t cognizant enough to actually be surprised. Curiosity was about all i could muster at the moment. I didn’t even lift my head to get a better look at the figure.
“I am a benefactor fo yours, you have met me before and will remember me as Zulu.”
“That’s a strange name for someone as pasty white as you. Why would I know you as Zulu?”
“Because that is what I have asked you to call me. You will likely remember my actual name soon enough, but Zulu is the code name I have chosen to be called by and to be referred to as in your various writings, most especially in your blog.”
I was trying to fathom what language the word ‘blog’ came from and what association I had with any such thing when he continued.
“The most important question you should be asking of yourself, and perhaps of me as well, is ‘What happened?’”
“OK, I’ll bite. What happened?” I was starting to regain the ability to move my limbs, so I figured it was a good time to prop myself up on my elbows and look at this mysterious, immaculately dressed white man called Zulu.
He smiled, a very charming and disarming smile if I have ever seen one, before he answered. “That, my friend, is a very good question. I have pieced together bits of puzzle from various sources, including from your associates who helped you to defeat the monsters below New York City and from your notes here in this vehicle. I have also gathered additional information from listening to your cries and ravings as you lay there unconscious.
“I must say that it is still quite confusing however. From all that I have gathered, it appears that you were infected by some sort of disease or some strange remnant of the creature you had slain under the ruins of 9/11. It appears that your struggle with whatever it was has been won for the moment.”
“How long have you been here?”
“I have been here for parts of the last three days.”
“Three days! Is that how long I have been down?”
“Oh, I believe you have been in this state for a couple of days before I came. I was not made aware of your situation until three days ago, but I came as soon as I did become aware that you were in danger.”
I sat up fully now. I pulled my reluctant legs into a cross legged sitting position and looked at my hands. They felt all numb and tingly. A sensation that I could not recall having for a very long time. “How did you learn that I was in trouble?”
He stood up from leaning against the corner and came a little closer. “The Bureau heard about it first when the reports of the unearthly screaming coming from this vehicle were reported by other patrons here at this park. When the park looked up your registration to the vehicle, they found that the Bureau owned the plate and contacted them. When SAIC Murphy came out to investigate, he apparetnly didn’t have the stomach to break into your vehicle and see what was happening, not that I blame him all that much. He ordered the park to be evacuated and secured the perimeter. He then contacted me through an intermediary and asked me to look into the matter.”
“I don’t remember screaming or causing any kind of commotion!”
“Ah, but you did sir. Your thrashings and your tortured screams and incoherent rantings easily outperformed any Hollywood production of an exorcism that I have seen anyway. I am quite glad to be taking these things out of my ears just now.” He reached up and pulled a set of cotton balls from his ears. “Yes. Much better.”
Things were coming back to me as we were talking. I was having flashbacks of being in front of the mirror and holding something dark and...wriggly?
(To be continued)
My thoughts were at first a jumbled mass of random words in dozens of different languages. Even worse, random images flooded my memories, but none lasted so long as to provide any kind of context. Looking back at those first few moments now, I know that I was trying to sift through and sort out my own human memories from the fractured, frenetic half-memories of a creature that had existed for centuries, if not milennia.
As things began to sort themselves out in my extremely cluttered and confused mind, I was able to think in English again, and finally began to formulate some semi-coherent thoughts.
“Who am I?”
That was my very first coherent thought. I didn’t however, realized that I had voiced that question out loud until I heard a chuckle and the answer to that question voiced by a male voice I didn’t immediately recognize. The voice came from a tall figure leaning up against the far corner of the room I was lying in.
“You are Special Agent Rusty Bones of the FBI.”
“Funny, I couldn’t recall my own name. Very well, who are you then?” I was so dazed from what had just happened that I wasn’t cognizant enough to actually be surprised. Curiosity was about all i could muster at the moment. I didn’t even lift my head to get a better look at the figure.
“I am a benefactor fo yours, you have met me before and will remember me as Zulu.”
“That’s a strange name for someone as pasty white as you. Why would I know you as Zulu?”
“Because that is what I have asked you to call me. You will likely remember my actual name soon enough, but Zulu is the code name I have chosen to be called by and to be referred to as in your various writings, most especially in your blog.”
I was trying to fathom what language the word ‘blog’ came from and what association I had with any such thing when he continued.
“The most important question you should be asking of yourself, and perhaps of me as well, is ‘What happened?’”
“OK, I’ll bite. What happened?” I was starting to regain the ability to move my limbs, so I figured it was a good time to prop myself up on my elbows and look at this mysterious, immaculately dressed white man called Zulu.
He smiled, a very charming and disarming smile if I have ever seen one, before he answered. “That, my friend, is a very good question. I have pieced together bits of puzzle from various sources, including from your associates who helped you to defeat the monsters below New York City and from your notes here in this vehicle. I have also gathered additional information from listening to your cries and ravings as you lay there unconscious.
“I must say that it is still quite confusing however. From all that I have gathered, it appears that you were infected by some sort of disease or some strange remnant of the creature you had slain under the ruins of 9/11. It appears that your struggle with whatever it was has been won for the moment.”
“How long have you been here?”
“I have been here for parts of the last three days.”
“Three days! Is that how long I have been down?”
“Oh, I believe you have been in this state for a couple of days before I came. I was not made aware of your situation until three days ago, but I came as soon as I did become aware that you were in danger.”
I sat up fully now. I pulled my reluctant legs into a cross legged sitting position and looked at my hands. They felt all numb and tingly. A sensation that I could not recall having for a very long time. “How did you learn that I was in trouble?”
He stood up from leaning against the corner and came a little closer. “The Bureau heard about it first when the reports of the unearthly screaming coming from this vehicle were reported by other patrons here at this park. When the park looked up your registration to the vehicle, they found that the Bureau owned the plate and contacted them. When SAIC Murphy came out to investigate, he apparetnly didn’t have the stomach to break into your vehicle and see what was happening, not that I blame him all that much. He ordered the park to be evacuated and secured the perimeter. He then contacted me through an intermediary and asked me to look into the matter.”
“I don’t remember screaming or causing any kind of commotion!”
“Ah, but you did sir. Your thrashings and your tortured screams and incoherent rantings easily outperformed any Hollywood production of an exorcism that I have seen anyway. I am quite glad to be taking these things out of my ears just now.” He reached up and pulled a set of cotton balls from his ears. “Yes. Much better.”
Things were coming back to me as we were talking. I was having flashbacks of being in front of the mirror and holding something dark and...wriggly?
(To be continued)
Tuesday, September 13, 2005
Death...and Rebirth
I stood there for a bit contemplating my current predicament before commenting again. “I need to find a way to co-opt this thing, to integrate it into myself, stop the outright fighting with it.”
“Wisdom sprouts forth from the barren soil at long last.”
I shook my head, looking up at the Tree, “You can’t even compliment me without a snipe, can you?”
I was greeted by silence, well actually by the random swaying and sighing of the leaves, with no discernible words coming forth to answer my last query. But I did sense a deep rumbling chuckle that came from deep inside the trunk.
I closed my eyes and took the quick route back to my body.
I opened my eyes to see myself standing in front of that mirror. I was naked, of course, and my skin still shone with beads of sweat. The black worm-like things continued to crawl along visibly within my skin. I had to resist the urge to scratch, since I knew it was solely in my head.
Instead, I spread my feet just slightly wider apart and bent at the knees just a little. I dropped my arms loosely to my side and drew a deep breath (again more for psychological reasons than any need to actually breathe) and rolled my shoulders. I was determined to ground and center and focus.
Whatever the thing inside me was, however, was having none of this attempt to calm my senses and center. I continued to feel flashes of pain and pleasure as well as flashes of burning heat in some spots and cold spots in others. I even felt the raising of imaginary hairs on the back of my neck.
But I continued to bring myself into focus, ignoring all of those wonderful feelings that had been lost to me for so long. I knew they were just an attempt by this thing to lure me into a false dependence on it. Instead, I focused on just one of the hundreds of little black threads burrowing through my skin trying to build a false web of neurons.
It took longer than I would have liked, but I finally grabbed one of those little buggers with my Will and forced it up into the palm of my left hand. It squirmed uncontrollably, but finally emerged through the skin and rolled into a little ball just like all those little pill bugs I had tortured in my (often) misguided youth.
As I focused on this single little speck, I could feel the hundreds of others literally explode into activity, trying every trick in their vast arsenal to distract me.
But I was having none of it. I remained focused on the tiny little critter in the palm of my hand. I could feel its desperation, its fear as it sensed its weakness.
Keeping enough attention on that one worm to keep it in place, I reached out with a smaller, but still considerable part of my Will and located another desperate worm, forced it up into my other palm, where it had a similar reaction once it emerged from my skin, rolling into a little ball.
Feeling my oats now, I reached deep down inside it myself with a sweeping sense of power, gathering up hundreds of the little buggers in a wave of euphoria, forcing the critters up from legs and down from my scalp and into my arms, until my palms became a seething mass of roiled, squirming worms that quickly began coalescing into larger and large worms by the sheer force of my Will.
Soon the two squirming masses of inky blackness that were my upturned palms were brought together to form one giant mass of darkness. I stared into the roiling dark ball of energy and could just make out images forming, including the face of that bitch, Ma Grendel, stare back at me briefly before disappearing again inside the mass.
Calmly, using every ounce of Will I had left, I sucked the entire ball of dark energy back inside myself and openned my entire Being to it, absorbing the mass of dark, chaotic energy like a thristy man drinking down a glass of cold water.
At that moment...
We both died again.
During that moment...
We were both reborn, not separately, but together.
In that moment...
Two became One.
“Wisdom sprouts forth from the barren soil at long last.”
I shook my head, looking up at the Tree, “You can’t even compliment me without a snipe, can you?”
I was greeted by silence, well actually by the random swaying and sighing of the leaves, with no discernible words coming forth to answer my last query. But I did sense a deep rumbling chuckle that came from deep inside the trunk.
I closed my eyes and took the quick route back to my body.
I opened my eyes to see myself standing in front of that mirror. I was naked, of course, and my skin still shone with beads of sweat. The black worm-like things continued to crawl along visibly within my skin. I had to resist the urge to scratch, since I knew it was solely in my head.
Instead, I spread my feet just slightly wider apart and bent at the knees just a little. I dropped my arms loosely to my side and drew a deep breath (again more for psychological reasons than any need to actually breathe) and rolled my shoulders. I was determined to ground and center and focus.
Whatever the thing inside me was, however, was having none of this attempt to calm my senses and center. I continued to feel flashes of pain and pleasure as well as flashes of burning heat in some spots and cold spots in others. I even felt the raising of imaginary hairs on the back of my neck.
But I continued to bring myself into focus, ignoring all of those wonderful feelings that had been lost to me for so long. I knew they were just an attempt by this thing to lure me into a false dependence on it. Instead, I focused on just one of the hundreds of little black threads burrowing through my skin trying to build a false web of neurons.
It took longer than I would have liked, but I finally grabbed one of those little buggers with my Will and forced it up into the palm of my left hand. It squirmed uncontrollably, but finally emerged through the skin and rolled into a little ball just like all those little pill bugs I had tortured in my (often) misguided youth.
As I focused on this single little speck, I could feel the hundreds of others literally explode into activity, trying every trick in their vast arsenal to distract me.
But I was having none of it. I remained focused on the tiny little critter in the palm of my hand. I could feel its desperation, its fear as it sensed its weakness.
Keeping enough attention on that one worm to keep it in place, I reached out with a smaller, but still considerable part of my Will and located another desperate worm, forced it up into my other palm, where it had a similar reaction once it emerged from my skin, rolling into a little ball.
Feeling my oats now, I reached deep down inside it myself with a sweeping sense of power, gathering up hundreds of the little buggers in a wave of euphoria, forcing the critters up from legs and down from my scalp and into my arms, until my palms became a seething mass of roiled, squirming worms that quickly began coalescing into larger and large worms by the sheer force of my Will.
Soon the two squirming masses of inky blackness that were my upturned palms were brought together to form one giant mass of darkness. I stared into the roiling dark ball of energy and could just make out images forming, including the face of that bitch, Ma Grendel, stare back at me briefly before disappearing again inside the mass.
Calmly, using every ounce of Will I had left, I sucked the entire ball of dark energy back inside myself and openned my entire Being to it, absorbing the mass of dark, chaotic energy like a thristy man drinking down a glass of cold water.
At that moment...
We both died again.
During that moment...
We were both reborn, not separately, but together.
In that moment...
Two became One.
Thursday, September 08, 2005
Chasing Shadows
This has been a difficult time to be away from the blog. Since my last official post, a terrible storm has wrought untold damage on the lives of countless Americans on the Gulf Coast, and an iconic city has been drowned. The misery faced by the innumerable survivors of that tragedy dwarfs by comparison any other natural disaster experienced directly by this country in centuries.
I will continue with my meager narrative shortly, since I also realize how important it is to have pleasant distractions at times like these, but I do want to remark, briefly, on the city of New Orleans and its brave but distraught people.
New Orleans will rise again (although still not likely to be above sea level) as it is one of those kinds of places that no force of man or Nature can ever truly destroy. It is a city so full of life (and (un)dead) that it will not be kept down for long. It may take months to pump the city dry, and still more months to demolish the old, destroyed buildings, but new ones will rise as surely as the vampires arise after sunset.
Even as I write this entry now, I am doing so from deep within the devastation zone on yet another mission for the Bureau, but this story will be told soon enough, first I must conclude the story you have been following.
OK...so now back to our narrative....
I emerged from the cavern beneath the Tree expecting to find Diego and Herlinda waiting for me, only to be greeted by the near silence of leaves swaying in the breeze. No laughter, no crying, no clambering about in the branches to be heard at all.
I stood still for a moment, trying to figure out what was causing me to feel so ill at ease. Suddenly, it felt slightly colder, the sky seemed a little darker than I ever remembered it being here.
Out of the corner of my left eye, I thought I saw something dark and furtive move. I spun around to the left thinking perhaps Diego was playing a game of hide and seek with me, but saw nothing but a large clump of roots where whatever had moved had ducked behind.
I started moving towards where I had seen the movement go to, but something inside told me to approach the large gnarly knob of roots with caution. Almost unconsciously, I flicked my wrist, expecting my baton to fall into place. It was jarring when nothing happened. I felt naked, suddenly defenseless against an unknown danger.
I slowed as I approached my destination, fighting against a growing sense of unease.
I came around the right side of the obstacle barehanded, but ready for a fight, and came face to face with Drake.
Talk about stunned, I backed up a quick step and assumed a fighting stance, half expecting him to leap out and start a brawl. I did manage to stammer out a few words, “D-d-drake, what the Hell? I thought you couldn’t come here!”
The bastard’s face broke out into that damnable grin I had seen so many times before, “And just why would you think that, my boy?” He stood up from behind his hiding spot. He seemed just a bit shorter than I recalled...and something about him just didn’t sit right. It was almost like he wasn’t as...substantial as he should be.
“Well, I was under the impression you didn’t have enough of a damn soul left to actually walk the Spirit World, for one thing.”
He looked almost hurt at those words, but shook it off quickly, “Oh really, so you think so little of me that I would be incapable of following you to your little safe haven, do you? I am disappointed in you Rusty.”
Now that the shock had worn off though, I started seeing more and more discrepancies between my recollection of Drake and this...image...of him. I began to grow suspicious of this thing, whatever it was. I was growing convinced it wasn’t actually who it was trying to portray at the moment. “Well, since you are here now, perhaps you can deliver your fourth message to me in person, instead of on that device you left me.”
Now it was the one who was taken aback for the briefest of moments, like it was trying to sift through incomplete memories. “Why yes, I think I can do that for you. What is it you would like to know?”
That did it, I knew this wasn’t Drake, but someone or something trying to impersonate his ass. Let me tell you, one Drake is more than enough. I pretended to be thinking of a question to ask as I shifted my weight forward ever so slightly, then as I was about to speak, I leapt forward with both hands extended, going for the bastards throat.
I landed on him/it in a tangle of grasping hands and half thrown punches. We fell into a heap at the base of the knot of roots. I managed to get my hands around the throat of the creature just as Drake’s face melted away to reveal a slightly feminine version of Grendel’s face, and then about a dozen more images in quick succession.
It fought back against me as well, but its blows seemed almost soft, like it was formed not of skin and bone, but of something far softer and much more malleable. I kept pressing my hands together, tyring to choke the life out of it, but the substance just flowed slowly at first, but then much faster, through my fingers.
Before long my hands met in the middle and the form completely dissolved into a puddle of shadow that formed at my feet. I tried stamping on it as I got up, but to no avail. Wherever I stomped, the dark gooey form just flowed around my foot and slipped away. Soon the puddle slid far enough away from me to actually stand back up, this time in a smaller, less substantial form reminiscent of Grendel before it loped away from the Tree and into the dark woods beyond.
I stood there for a moment trying to collect my thoughts again. So this was my new foe.
“Tree, how can this thing even come here? I didn’t invite it here?”
The swaying leaves formed words again, “You and it are two parts of one whole. Where One can go, Both can go.”
“You mean that thing can come here just as easily as I can?”
“Yes.”
I will continue with my meager narrative shortly, since I also realize how important it is to have pleasant distractions at times like these, but I do want to remark, briefly, on the city of New Orleans and its brave but distraught people.
New Orleans will rise again (although still not likely to be above sea level) as it is one of those kinds of places that no force of man or Nature can ever truly destroy. It is a city so full of life (and (un)dead) that it will not be kept down for long. It may take months to pump the city dry, and still more months to demolish the old, destroyed buildings, but new ones will rise as surely as the vampires arise after sunset.
Even as I write this entry now, I am doing so from deep within the devastation zone on yet another mission for the Bureau, but this story will be told soon enough, first I must conclude the story you have been following.
OK...so now back to our narrative....
I emerged from the cavern beneath the Tree expecting to find Diego and Herlinda waiting for me, only to be greeted by the near silence of leaves swaying in the breeze. No laughter, no crying, no clambering about in the branches to be heard at all.
I stood still for a moment, trying to figure out what was causing me to feel so ill at ease. Suddenly, it felt slightly colder, the sky seemed a little darker than I ever remembered it being here.
Out of the corner of my left eye, I thought I saw something dark and furtive move. I spun around to the left thinking perhaps Diego was playing a game of hide and seek with me, but saw nothing but a large clump of roots where whatever had moved had ducked behind.
I started moving towards where I had seen the movement go to, but something inside told me to approach the large gnarly knob of roots with caution. Almost unconsciously, I flicked my wrist, expecting my baton to fall into place. It was jarring when nothing happened. I felt naked, suddenly defenseless against an unknown danger.
I slowed as I approached my destination, fighting against a growing sense of unease.
I came around the right side of the obstacle barehanded, but ready for a fight, and came face to face with Drake.
Talk about stunned, I backed up a quick step and assumed a fighting stance, half expecting him to leap out and start a brawl. I did manage to stammer out a few words, “D-d-drake, what the Hell? I thought you couldn’t come here!”
The bastard’s face broke out into that damnable grin I had seen so many times before, “And just why would you think that, my boy?” He stood up from behind his hiding spot. He seemed just a bit shorter than I recalled...and something about him just didn’t sit right. It was almost like he wasn’t as...substantial as he should be.
“Well, I was under the impression you didn’t have enough of a damn soul left to actually walk the Spirit World, for one thing.”
He looked almost hurt at those words, but shook it off quickly, “Oh really, so you think so little of me that I would be incapable of following you to your little safe haven, do you? I am disappointed in you Rusty.”
Now that the shock had worn off though, I started seeing more and more discrepancies between my recollection of Drake and this...image...of him. I began to grow suspicious of this thing, whatever it was. I was growing convinced it wasn’t actually who it was trying to portray at the moment. “Well, since you are here now, perhaps you can deliver your fourth message to me in person, instead of on that device you left me.”
Now it was the one who was taken aback for the briefest of moments, like it was trying to sift through incomplete memories. “Why yes, I think I can do that for you. What is it you would like to know?”
That did it, I knew this wasn’t Drake, but someone or something trying to impersonate his ass. Let me tell you, one Drake is more than enough. I pretended to be thinking of a question to ask as I shifted my weight forward ever so slightly, then as I was about to speak, I leapt forward with both hands extended, going for the bastards throat.
I landed on him/it in a tangle of grasping hands and half thrown punches. We fell into a heap at the base of the knot of roots. I managed to get my hands around the throat of the creature just as Drake’s face melted away to reveal a slightly feminine version of Grendel’s face, and then about a dozen more images in quick succession.
It fought back against me as well, but its blows seemed almost soft, like it was formed not of skin and bone, but of something far softer and much more malleable. I kept pressing my hands together, tyring to choke the life out of it, but the substance just flowed slowly at first, but then much faster, through my fingers.
Before long my hands met in the middle and the form completely dissolved into a puddle of shadow that formed at my feet. I tried stamping on it as I got up, but to no avail. Wherever I stomped, the dark gooey form just flowed around my foot and slipped away. Soon the puddle slid far enough away from me to actually stand back up, this time in a smaller, less substantial form reminiscent of Grendel before it loped away from the Tree and into the dark woods beyond.
I stood there for a moment trying to collect my thoughts again. So this was my new foe.
“Tree, how can this thing even come here? I didn’t invite it here?”
The swaying leaves formed words again, “You and it are two parts of one whole. Where One can go, Both can go.”
“You mean that thing can come here just as easily as I can?”
“Yes.”
Tuesday, September 06, 2005
Rusty's Return (and other author notes)
The migration is nearly complete...so Rusty is scheduled to return to his regular posting schedule of 3-4 posts per week (and more when possible) starting tomorrow, September 7, 2005.
Because of a recent spate of spam commenters, I have turned on a feature that requires the commenter to verify a word inside of a box, that should shut out the spam comments since they are done by programs as opposed to people. So, please feel free to comment again, just be aware that there is a teeny, tiny extra step required now to verify that you are a real person and not a machine posting spam.
For any readers who would like to comment on the reader poll, I am reactivating that post for comments now that the verification process is turned on.
Thanks for your patience. I can't wait to see what Rusty has been up to in my absence.
Doug
Because of a recent spate of spam commenters, I have turned on a feature that requires the commenter to verify a word inside of a box, that should shut out the spam comments since they are done by programs as opposed to people. So, please feel free to comment again, just be aware that there is a teeny, tiny extra step required now to verify that you are a real person and not a machine posting spam.
For any readers who would like to comment on the reader poll, I am reactivating that post for comments now that the verification process is turned on.
Thanks for your patience. I can't wait to see what Rusty has been up to in my absence.
Doug
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