by A. Giacomi
I peek inside to find the driver dead, his throat ripped out, yet his eyes remained on the road. Had we done this? It was so quick, I hadn’t known us to be quite this powerful. I jump inside the truck and have a look around. There are more bodies, but none of them was Dr. August. I begin to scream his name. A puddle to my right begins to move and a hand jutted out. I take the hand and pull Dr. August out of the slush pile of human remains. He is bloodsoaked, but still alive.
“Neat trick you learned there, Dr. August. Hide inside the dead guys huh?” I can’t help but smirk.
Although he seemed a bit green, Dr. August winked. “I saw it in a movie once, figured I had nothing to lose.”
I try to clean up Dr. August as best I can while we return to meet up with Agent Williams who is still standing in the middle of the road simply stunned. He really hadn’t thought this all through had he? He was simply a power hungry idiot in a suit. Part of me wanted to feel bad for him, but then I remembered all the shit he’s pulled and I went right back to wanting him dead.
I look to Dr. August, “So what the hell was that exactly?”
He shrugs, “Exactly? I don’t know…When I came here with Vincent many years ago, we both agreed there was a presence. I suppose that was the presence and it’s been awakened and clearly gained much power. The answers we seek are inside the tombs. Hierakonpolis contains some of the oldest known tomb paintings. There is this legend about The Dark King, we wanted to find out more about him through the designs in the cave, but we never found more than a few animal paintings. We need to get to Hierakonpolis and find the answers before that awful presence returns. He could be a guardian, or The Dark King himself. Just a theory, but all I have are theories these days. These used to be just stories, now they’re living breathing nightmares.”
Dr. August begins to have a panic attack, I try to get him to relax and breathe slowly. He sits down for a few minutes to collect himself while I chat with Agent Williams.
“So what’s the plan, smart guy?” I say with a smirk.
“I wish I had an answer for you, Eve. Look, I’m sorry for all this…this was supposed to be simple. Drag a body home, dissect it, learn more about it, cure the Azrael Virus and clean up my mess. Just ask Dr. August. That’s what I’m trying to do.”
Somehow I believed him. “Okay fine, so let’s get moving then.”
I empty out the first truck the best I can so we don’t have to smell rotting bodies on the rest of the drive. We are so close to the tombs, another half hour should do it. I decide to drive and request Dr. August sit at my side. He looks about a decade older, he was most likely thinking of Vincent, this place brought back a lot of awful memories for Dr. August. Memories he could never remove.
When we reach the old dig site, I feel a shiver run up my arm. The same arm that had been bitten here in Hierakonpolis. I roll up my sleeve to find the rotten arm looking much worse and grotesque. Dr. August gasps at the sight of it.
“Don’t worry, Doc,” I assure him. “I’m fine, it doesn’t hurt, but it looks pretty bad doesn’t it?”
He hugs me tightly to him and sobs into my hair.
“That bad huh?” I chuckle.
He releases me and wipes his tears. “Eve, I am so sorry. You have very little time left I’m afraid. We must make these moments count if I am to cure you.” With that, he begins to march toward the tombs. I pull a flashlight out of my bag and walk after him.
Agent Williams soon catches up to me and asks “How long do you have exactly?” He holds back his grief with a cough, but it was clear that my inevitable expiration upset him.
“Maybe a few months according to Dr. August’s research, but I’m trying not to think of it, thanks. Let’s just get moving.”
Agent Williams pulls out his own flashlight and doesn’t attempt another word.
As we begin our descent into the tombs I sense a growing danger, I’m sure we all feel it since we remain silent and focused. Dr. August searches the walls for drawings or any clues with a shaky flashlight, something felt very wrong about being here. The one thing I did not expect was to hear voices. Something was beckoning to me, clearly, it was only speaking to me since Agent Williams and Dr. August seem to ignore it entirely.
The voice in my head grows louder and louder until I can’t take it anymore. I drop my flashlight a press my palms to my temples. Dr. August is swiftly by my side. “Eve? What is it?”
“There’s something in my head, it says to go this way.” I point toward a solid wall, it confused me too, but this is what the voice had indicated.
Agent Williams inspects the wall with his flashlight. There are no markings, just a smooth stone wall. He presses his hand against it and to my astonishment the wall cracks. Agent Williams pulls his hand back and readies his fist. He plunges his fist through the wall, creating a giant hole that appears to lead into another room.
I pull away more of the rock so that we can enter the hidden room. There is an odd glow to the room and it reeks of sulfur. I shine my flashlight around the room to find each wall full of drawings.
“This has got to be it!” cries Dr. August. He couldn’t contain his joy, this has been his life’s work, even if it has brought him much trouble over the years, the thrill of discovery still plagues him.
We decide to examine a wall each since the drawings were large and endless. If any of us spotted something referring to a red stone, the undead, or The Dark King, we were to notify each other immediately.
My flashlight finds a few hawk drawings as I scan the top of the wall. These drawings were nothing out of the ordinary for Hierakonpolis, since the city was known for its worship and idolatry of the bird. As my flashlight aims lower, the birds seem to be dying one by one and falling from the sky. Then from the bird’s corpses, a dark figure arises holding a red stone.
“Guys! I think I have something,” I call out into the dark room.
“Me too!” cries Dr. August. He appears with a dusty canvas bag and opens it to find a stack of old letters or documents.
“Let’s have a look at your wall first, Eve, then we can have a look through these papers.”
I nod and show them the hawks and their descent. When we reach the dark figure I notice that he is handing the stone to someone.
Dr. August gasps, “The Dark King! The stone was given to him by this figure.” Dr. August taps the wall where the dark figure is depicted.
“Yes, but who is that, Dr. August?” I ask.
“I’m not sure, Eve, let’s continue looking at the drawings for any indications.”
As I shine the light over the next figure, I can see the stone casting a shadow over the land and the people are bowing down to this King. The stone made them obedient. The next picture is a little more disturbing, the dark figure returns and cuts out the heart of the The Dark King and holds it out victoriously.
“What the heck does that mean?” I say out loud smacking my forehead. “Not very helpful is it? I mean what are we supposed to do? Find a heart to appease the gods or something?”
Dr. August thinks for a moment before replying, “I don’t think this was a sacrifice. I think this was an offer of eternal life, I think and now I can’t be sure…but the king might have made a very bad deal indeed. He may have sold his soul to the fallen angel, the author of sin, the…devil.” He trembles at that last word and glances around nervously as if merely saying it could summon him.
“No fucking way!” Agent Williams blurts out. “Are you telling me that Satan himself is responsible for this shit?”
“No, I’m not saying that at all actually. It’s clear to me that very stupid human beings are responsible for this shit.” He glares at Agent Williams, clearly holding him partially responsible in all this. “Think about it, Agent Williams, who has dominion over death? If anyone could raise the dead it would be him. I’ve heard stories from Egypt about the Pharaohs selling thei
r souls to pay for their cities, but it was always said mockingly. Perhaps for the first time ever, there is some proof it.”
As Agent Williams and Dr. August go back and forth arguing the theory, my skin begins to itch again. When I look up again, the dark figure stands before me, without a face, or solid body. “Um, guys? We have a visitor,” I say while trying to compose myself.
We all hold very still. I can feel breath on my cheek and it reeks of that same sulfur smell. Then the dark figure raises his hand and places it on my head. It forces my eyes shut, and everything goes quiet for a moment.
***
When I open my eyes I am outside. An ancient city battles before me. I was amidst a war. I duck when a rock goes flying toward me, but I soon realize that this is a vision, no one can see me or touch me. I am merely a spectator here.
As ancient Egyptian warriors battle one another, I notice an exchange happening atop one of the cities walls. It’s The Dark King and that dark figure, just like in the tombs painting. The King is pleading, begging for something. He hands the red rock to the dark figure and the figure slaps it out of his hand, crushing it to a million pieces. Clearly, this was not the payment he was looking for. The warriors scatter toward the red stones and take them, running in different directions frantically. I think I finally understood, it was greed that caused the Azrael Virus to spread, and those thieves were the carriers of this ancient illness. It might have started with one man, but humanity was the true carrier of this evil.
When the battle had become quiet, and it was clear he was losing, The Dark King begs for something, his life, his people’s safety? I wasn’t sure. What I was sure of was how this would end, the dark figure places his hand over the King’s heart. The heart is swiftly removed and the King crumples lifelessly to the ground. The figure begins to feast on the heart and then disappears in the wind.
I make my way over to the King to get a closer look. He stares at the sky with a gaping hole in his chest. It looked as if his heart had simply tried to escape. As I look into the hole, I realize that it has begun to seal. In many ways, this was my ancestor. He was healing rapidly now, and his eyelids begin to flutter. When he rises there is a look of disbelief in his eyes, he believed that he had died, but somehow he had returned. A woman cries out from behind me and begins running toward the man, calling to him, sobbing, reaching for him. Her tear streaked cheeks revealed her love for this man. She runs into his arms and embraces him, a smile reaching ear to ear, but it would be short-lived. I try to call out to her, I beg her to run, but I am invisible to them. The Dark King smells her flesh and tears into it eagerly, soaking her body in warm red liquid. Her screams fill my head until I find that it is me who is screaming and it is me who is being feasted upon.
***
I wake to find myself still screaming, but halt when I realize that Dr. August is there and not some monster chewing me to bits.
“Eve, what happened? It looked as though you fainted,” Dr. August said in a worried tone.
“No, I think I was given a glimpse into the past. It looks as though the stone had been given to The Dark King, but it brought about a war. When the King tried to return it, the devil was offended and broke the stone. He took his heart and ate it. Then the King became…like me...hungry.”
The story left them both at a loss for words, so I decide to continue, silence had always left me feeling uncomfortable.
“If you ask me, this dark figure either wants the stone returned, or he’s looking for a new heart to eat. A fresh human one, so Agent Williams and I are not exactly what will appease the gods right now. We are just fatalities of an ancient curse that someone decided to dig up. Hate to point fingers here, but looks like you and Vincent found something alright.” I point a finger at Dr. August mockingly.
He ponders this for a second and then begins to yell, “Ancient evil take my heart. If it will appease you, you may have it!”
I grab Dr. August’s arm. “What do you think you’re doing? You have not been invited all the way out here to die. Help us come up with another solution. That’s what you were brought here to do! No one else needs to die today.”
He pinches my cheek. “Eve, I have to try, I’m all out of ideas.”
Dr. August closes his eyes and raises his arms as if trying to summon something. I find myself hugging Agent Williams in an attempt to comfort myself. He holds me close to him without question. We wait in agonizing moments of silence, but it soon becomes clear. The presence doesn’t want him.
“Come on, Dr. August. Let’s get out of here,” Agent Williams says with an outstretched hand.
Rather than take his hand, Dr. August clutches the canvas bag he found tightly to his chest and follows us out of the tomb. My curiosity peaks, but now wasn’t the best time to have a look through the bag, and this definitely wasn’t the place. Once we were back at CSIS, I’m sure Dr. August would devour every document in that bag, hopefully, it held something useful.
We decide that it would be best to return home and come up with a new plan of attack. We would need to return to Egypt at some point, but a sacrifice of some sort would be needed. Perhaps the stone would help us track down this heart we needed, that red stone had to be good for something!
When we reach the plane, our pilots greet us. Their eyes glance around us, clearly looking for the others. Agent Williams shakes his head and they understood immediately. We were the only ones going home today.
The pilots retreat back onto the plane and Dr. August follows them. As I begin to board the plane, I realize that Agent Williams is not behind me. I look around and find him in the same place looking a bit winded and stunned. I decide to turn back and check on him. When I reach him, he looks as though someone had slapped him hard across the face.
“What’s wrong now, dumbass?” I say impatiently.
He stares ahead in a confused manner. “I’m not sure.”
“You’re not sure about what exactly?” I retort.
“I just feel, strange…you know what…nevermind…I’m fine, let’s go.”
He shakes his head as if he was trying to convince himself of this.
As I stare into his eyes, I notice something strange indeed. His fiery eyes had been replaced with dark spheres. I grab his arm to halt him before he can walk off.
“Williams, I don’t mean to alarm you in any way, but your eyes, they’ve changed.”
He smirks at my remark. “They’re changing everyday Eve, what’s your point?”
I wasn’t sure what my point was, I just had a feeling that something wasn’t quite right. I had had this feeling since we landed here. Perhaps we were taking back more than a few documents and a theory.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
AGENT WILLIAMS
The mission to Egypt had been somewhat of a success. We had found a solution to the problem; the only issue was how to go about initiating it. It was clear that I had made some rather hefty errors in my ignorance. I had never meant to start a zombie outbreak; I only wanted to create a new super-human. I wanted to live in a world where humans didn’t get sick, or hurt, or die. I thought I was saving the world, I thought perhaps some good could come of it all.
I felt more determined than ever to right my wrongs. Some new energy surged through me. I couldn’t explain it, I just felt different, and definitely hungrier since our travels.
After a rather large meal, two humans in their entirety, I decide to seek out Eve. I needed to talk to her about something rather pressing. I had done a little something I wasn’t exactly proud of, but in the name of scientific evolution, I let that crazy Doctor talk me into it. It was time to come clean. It hadn’t seemed to work anyway. A failed experiment, but if I were to have any sort of future with Eve I needed, to be honest with her. She deserved that.
I head over to her room and knock on the door. There is no answer. I head inside anyway, but there is no Eve to be fo
und.
I begin to wander the facility and get a sickening feeling. Of course, I knew where she would have gone. I begin to sprint toward the special clearance area of the facility. I pray I’m wrong, for her sake. I couldn’t be responsible for my jealousy, it was heavier with the virus in my veins, and it made me insane on whole other level.
I burst open the doors to the restricted area and race down the hallways toward Cameron Jackson’s security cell. Surely Eve wouldn’t be so stupid, she wouldn’t dare interact with Cam against my strict orders, would she?
As I approach the glass I notice that Cam is laying there sleeping, he is alone, and there is no sign of Eve anywhere. I feel guilty for thinking her so sly. She had been exceptionally nice to me lately and I hoped this had meant some reconciliation. Of course part of me worried she was toying with me, but every inch of me wanted to believe she loved me just as much as that sack of shit Cameron. After all, we were the same now; Cam was just a weak human. How could he ever compete with me?
I chuckle at my stupidity as I leave the restricted area. I needed to calm down. Tomorrow I would find Eve and speak to her. Tomorrow we could begin to rebuild what we had. During our time in Egypt she had shown me that there was still some hope left for us. I just needed to be better. Starting tomorrow I would be everything she needed. No more being an asshole.
I fidget with the ring in my pocket nervously as I exit.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CAM
“You can come down now you creepy cool zombie gymnast. It’s all clear!”
I shout at the ceiling of my cell where Eve had cleverly hidden herself. How she managed to climb up there and squeeze into the corner I’ll never know. Perhaps being a zombie also gave you muscles of steel.
She hops down with a rather loud thud.
“You’re absolutely insane to keep coming in here to visit me. You should stay away and you should be very afraid of that guy, agent, zombie, whatever the fuck he is.”