by Rockow, B.
Except that Jones lusted for human flesh.
His greatest nightmare arrived. He had become one of them. He was a prisoner in his own skin. His gut betrayed his heart; his mind was nothing but a slave to this new appetite.
Once Jones was brought to this dank hole, he smelled humans. It was a familiar smell. One that he had almost forgotten. One that he had fantasized about for the last few weeks, as the worms colonized his mind and body, sending him into fits of unfulfilled cannibalistic rage. All he wanted was a chance to taste a single morsel of morsel flesh.
Jones couldn’t take it much longer. Eventually he shredded his own muscle just to get a taste. But his own meat was unsatisfactory. It tasted like copper pennies. Nothing about it could quiet his new hunger.
The Orobu guards tossed Jones into the small cell and slid its iron door shut.
“There’s a human near,” Jones said. He was sweating. The anticipation was overwhelming. “Will I get a taste?”
The guards just laughed. “Of course,” they said. “Why would we deprive you? We know your hunger well. You will soon be fed.”
Jones took their words as solace. He leaned against a corner of the cell and slid down to the concrete floor. He smiled like an idiot. He imagined biting into a fresh, living thigh. Would he prefer the thigh of a woman or a man?
The woman would have more fat; and the man more muscle. Who would taste better?
He compared the virtues of various cuts of beef. He remembered Vanessa buying him a Kobe ribeye. It was marvelous. The meat was incredibly tender and juicy with its marbled fats.
Jones fantasized about feasting on the perfect human. They would be well fed, in shape, and toned. They would have a balanced ratio of fat to muscle. Somebody in their youth, their prime. He imagined that a beautiful woman with these qualities would make for an exquisite experience.
Jones salivated all over his chest. The saliva dripped down his bare stomach and coated the thin elastic waistband of his prison pants. His stomach roared with hunger. The smell of the human came closer. It was the smell of a woman.
“You’re bringing her to me,” Jones said. “Aren’t you?”
The Orobu guards didn’t respond.
Jones stood up and kicked the wall. He needed human meat in his mouth. The wait became infuriating. His saliva dripped onto the concrete floor. He paced the cell back and forth, muttering to himself. His brain was at war with his gut. He was a fiend right now. Nothing more. But his brain told him that he had to resist the urge to cannibalize another human being.
His jugular bulged. Jones clawed at his face. He looked down at his hands just to remind himself that he was human. That it was wrong to lust for human flesh. But just as he was able to subdue his cannibalistic passions, his gut got the best of him.
Jones collapsed onto the ground and writhed around in pain. His stomach cramped with hunger. It had to be fed. Something inside his gut needed to feed on human sinew, muscle, flesh, bone, brains, it didn’t matter. It was the worms. The worms needed human meat.
The scent of the human was getting closer. Jones smelled a second human. His sense of smell was incredibly precise. He picked up the scent of a child. A small girl.
Then it became clear. The scents were familiar. Jones thought back over the last month and everything he had been through, everything he had done to get to this point. He did it all just so that he could find Vanessa and Emma Jo.
And here they were. Jones had fallen into a great trap. There was nothing he could do to escape. Vanessa and Emma Jo were being escorted to his cell. He would have to wage a literal war within himself to resist the urge of eating them.
They continued to get closer. Jones ran as hard as he could and slammed his body against the iron door. It wasn’t going anywhere. He frantically ran into every wall. He punched the concrete with knotted fists, trying to find a loose brick, a trap door, anything that he could use to escape.
Closer, closer, closer they came. Jones punched himself in the face. He could knock himself out, he thought. That would buy him some time. That would buy his family time.
He punched himself again, harder this time. Right in the temple. Again, on the top of his skull. It wasn’t working.
Jones positioned himself at the edge of the cell’s wall. He lowered his head and rushed as hard as he could into the opposite wall. The top of his skull smashed against the concrete. He was dazed, but still standing. He repeated the battering again.
Finally, Jones was light’s out.
The scent of human flesh was out, too. For now.
When Vanessa and Emma Jo finally arrived to his cell, Jones was out cold. This wasn’t what the guards expected to find. The Orobu guards were ordered to bring the mother and daughter back to the central room of the underground palace. Radoula and Boul wanted to see them. The guards escorted Vanessa and Emma Jo back through the labyrinthine tunnels. Two other guards carried Jones with them.
Emma Jo beamed with joy when she saw her papa. She was confused about his condition, however. “Why’s papa sleeping?” she asked her mother. “He should be so happy to see us.”
Vanessa was on the brink of tears. She thought back to the betrayal she had set upon her husband, the father of her children. She was ready to give birth to Junior. The Orobu were waiting patiently for that, too. They had plans for Junior. But Vanessa vowed to do everything she could to protect her child. Now with Jones here, he would do anything it took to do the same.
Vanessa regretted her mistake with the jogger, a decision made solely to satisfy her lust. She tried rationalizing the decision, but it was all bullshit. She loved Jones. It was heartbreaking to see her husband, the strongest man she had ever known, in such a condition. But she had to console her child. She turned to Emma Jo and smiled, struggling to hold back the tears. “Daddy must be tired,” she said. “Do you remember how long it took to come to China?”
Emma Jo nodded. “A very long time, mommy.”
“That’s right, Emma Jo,” Vanessa said. “Daddy must be very tired from that long trip. He tried so hard to find us, and he needs his sleep.”
“No more talk,” one of the Orobu said.
Vanessa turned to Emma Jo and blew her daughter a kiss.
Emma Jo snagged it out of the air, and placed it on her cheek.
They finally got to the inner sanctuary of the underground palace. The Orobu guards opened the ornate metal doors and brought the family inside. They laid Jones on the ground before Radoula and Boul. Vanessa and Emma Jo were chained to a far wall.
Vanessa knew better than to resist. Her night in captivity, Vanessa tried to fight back against her captors. It was a huge mistake. The Orobu guards didn’t think twice about brutally assaulting her. The Orobu weren’t attracted to humans generally, but as punishment the guards took painful liberties with Vanessa’s body. It took about ten days for her wounds to heal enough so that she could walk properly.
The most gut wrenching thing about the attack for Vanessa was that Emma Jo had to witness the whole thing. The only thing Vanessa told her daughter about the assault was that “mommy will be okay, mommy will always be okay.”
Now that Jones was with them again, Vanessa knew to play cool. If anybody would be able to fight back and win, it was her husband. The strongest man she knew.
“Your husband is a great warrior,” Boul said to Vanessa. “It is an honor to finally be able to meet him.”
Vanessa cast a steely gaze at the male twin. “He is a great warrior.”
Radoula stood up from her throne. “He’s ours now, you know. His body has been infected with the worm. There’s not much he can do now.”
Vanessa collapsed in shock. The chains that bound her to the wall kept her from hitting the cold marble floor. She realized that her husband was no more.
“You and your daughter are the only two humans left in this palace,” Boul said. “When your husband wakes up, he’ll have to make a choice.”
Emma Jo looked at her mother and started to c
ry. She wanted to run over to her mother and wrap her arms around her and give her the biggest hug she could. “I love you, mommy,” Emma Jo said through her tears. She was trying to stay strong. She knew she had to. Both her parents were crushed.
Vanessa looked up at Emma Jo. “I love you too, baby girl.” She felt her son kicking in her belly. It felt like she could have the boy now. Vanessa wanted to give birth right then and there. At least if Junior was born, she could sacrifice herself and allow both her children to live on.
“I’ve admired your tenacity,” Radoula said. “It makes sense that you and Jones found each other. Great souls attract. It’s the way of things.”
Vanessa looked at the zombie with contempt. “Don’t let me die while I have this baby in my womb.”
Boul laughed. “It’s not our place to choose which one of you will be eaten,” he said. “Jones very well may go after Emma Jo.”
The little girl’s eyes welled with tears. “Is that true, mommy? Does daddy want to eat us?”
Vanessa gritted her teeth. She wanted nothing else than to kill the two giants that stood before her. Eradicate them from existence. Vanessa softened her look and voice. “No, sweetie,” she said to Emma Jo. “We will be just fine. Daddy won’t hurt us. He’d never hurt us.”
Boul stood up and motioned to the guards. “Take them away,” he said. “Throw all three of them back into the dungeon.”
The Orobu guards unshackled Vanessa and Emma Jo, and carried the family back to the dungeon. They unceremoniously tossed the family back into the cell. Vanessa huddled with Emma Jo in the far corner of the cell. Jones laid on the opposite end. He was still out cold.
Vanessa watched her husband’s body for hours, waiting for the slightest indication of life. Emma Jo fell asleep in her mother’s arms, as Vanessa quietly hummed her daughter’s favorite lullaby. Once Emma Jo was asleep, Vanessa kept her eyes wide open, and her hands ready to defend her and her daughter from the cannibalistic urge of her husband.
Several more hours passed. Vanessa struggled to keep vigilant, as her own eyes tired from strain and fatigue.
But then it happened. Jones let out a low groan. He moved his arms and legs, and lifted himself up from the cold concrete. His eyes were barely open, and it took a few minutes for him to recognize where he was, and who was in the cell with him.
Once Jones realized what was up, he shouted as loud as he could. The hunger pangs assaulted his stomach, but he was determined not to cannibalize his family.
The echoes of his shouts stirred Emma Jo from her slumber. The child’s first instinct was to run to her papa, but Vanessa put a quick stop to that.
“Daddy!” Emma Jo exclaimed. Her eyes lit up, even though her father looked beat up and scary. His skin was splotched, and his eyes were beady and sunken in.
“I can’t hug you,” Jones said to his daughter. “Even though I want to, Emma Jo. Daddy has to stay away.” Jones struggled against the desire that was surging throughout his entire body to attack the little girl and gobble up the meat that hung from her bones.
“Stay here,” Vanessa said. She strengthened her grip on Emma Jo. “You’ll hug your daddy soon, but not now.”
Emma Jo started to sob. She couldn’t understand what was going on. Vanessa stroked her daughter’s hair in an attempt to console her.
“I can’t believe you made it this far,” Vanessa said to Jones. “I have no idea how you found us.”
“I’m a grunt,” Jones said with a wry smile. “Born and bred, through and through. No mission is too difficult, no sacrifice too great. Duty first, my love.”
Vanessa teared up. She couldn’t stand to be so close to Jones, yet have to stay so far away. “I love you,” she said with a choked up voice. “I can’t tell you how much I love you.”
Jones just let the words flow through him like wind through trees. He was disturbed by Vanessa right now. He loved her, too. But his love was duty. It always had been. Jones remained a loyal husband and father since day one. Vanessa broke their oath.
And she looked absolutely delicious. He wanted to dig right in.
The only thing that stopped him was what was inside her womb.
“How many more days?” Jones said, pointing at the belly.
“Not long,” Vanessa said. “I’ll go into labor any day now.”
“You have to live until then,” Jones said. He struggled with his hunger. He clenched his fists and gritted his teeth. “But I can’t guarantee that you will. They’re gonna keep us in this cell until I can’t stand it any longer.”
Vanessa slouched to the ground. Emma Jo sucked her thumb, and silently listened as her parents went back and forth. “It’s either me or Emma Jo,” Vanessa said. “You’re not getting our daughter. You know that.”
Jones squinted. He looked down at his precious Emma Jo. She was so beautiful, so innocent, so delectable. Jones shook his head, ridding his mind of thoughts about cannibalizing his own daughter.
“I’m carrying Junior,” Vanessa said. “I know that you want me to carry him to term. But can you wait that long?”
“You know that’s what will have to happen,” Jones said. “But I can’t promise anything. I don’t know how much longer I can hold out. This hunger, it is real, Vanessa. It’s consuming me. These worms, they’re vile, alien, not of this world. I’m telling you, Vanessa. I’m not the same man that you loved. I am something new now. I am becoming one of them. I can feel it. They’ve just about conquered me.”
Tears streamed down Vanessa’s cheeks. She slammed her fists against the concrete floor. “No!” she shouted. “I won’t let them take you!”
Vanessa sobbed into her palms.
There was nothing Jones could do to console her. Emma Jo hugged her mother and held her tight.
Jones felt his skin heat up. It pulsated and turned a bright shade of red. He could feel little worms squirming in and out of his pores. He could see his skin writhe with the crawlers. “I can’t hold back for much longer,” Jones said. “I’m gonna try to knock myself out again.”
Vanessa couldn’t look up at her husband. She buried her face deeper into her arms, and allowed her sadness to crush her heart.
Jones stood up and lowered his head. He didn’t know how many more times he could knock himself out. He figured that if he didn’t feed the worms, he’d eventually die. But that wasn’t his concern. His top priority was to keep Vanessa alive long enough so that she would give birth to Junior.
Jones rushed ahead and smashed the top of his head against the concrete wall. He stumbled back, dazed and confused. He did it again. And again, until finally he was out cold.
Vanessa eventually sobered. She watched Jones closely until she could confirm that he was out cold. She allowed Emma Jo to approach her father and give him a kiss on the cheek. But that was all. She didn’t want to risk Emma Jo catching that evil worm.
Vanessa knew she didn’t have much time. Jones would be up again within a few hours. She had to give birth to Junior before Jones woke back up. She paced around the cell, breathing heavily, rubbing her belly, pushing as hard as she could. She prayed to anybody, anything, that would listen, that her son Junior would come soon.
Time passed slow, its viscous contours running roughshod around Vanessa’s sanity. The baby had to come, she thought. He had to.
And if he didn’t, she would be forced to sacrifice herself to her husband’s hunger. She wasn’t going to let Emma Jo be eaten.
Vanessa’s efforts to initiate her labor were futile. As she paced back and forth in the cell, she heard a groan come from her husband’s body.
He was waking up again.
This time, there would be no stopping his hunger.
Chapter Eighteen
The Coronation
Secretary of Defense Crumzchek took refuge in a deep underground military base just outside Denver, Colorado. He was organizing a network of sleeper cells throughout the world who had remained under the radar. They were clandestine, and independent of any
rebel movement. He was joined by a motley crew of allies in the intelligence communities throughout the world. There were roughly 4,000 special agents at his command. Another 35,000 international soldiers reported to him.
His plan of attack centered around a peculiar rumor that was spreading like wildfire across the continents. It was said that in the next few days there would be a major celebration in Beijing, which would announce the leaders of the Orobu to the world. If he could get a bomber jet to Beijing, and arm it with a nuke, Secretary Crumzchek felt confident that he could pierce the armor of the Orobu, and turn the tides of this horrible fate.
Secretary Crumzchek keenly observed that the threat to humanity was biological, but also that the shackles that kept humanity inert in the cities and camps were based on information. He knew that the crowning of the emperors of the Orobu would be broadcast on every possible screen in the world. He relished in the prospect of bringing Radoula and Boul down just as they reached the apex of their own destinies.
He tasked his agents to dig up more info on the details of the coronation. Within a few hours he was given the date and time, along with a few details of the event.
“We’ve got three bombers at our disposal,” Crumzchek said to his top advisor. His red face was bloated. He had been drinking like a fish since going underground. “Let’s load them up.”
His top advisor was a silver haired man from the CIA. His contacts in Moscow supplied the details about the coronation in Beijing. “Bombers don’t have a chance,” the advisor said. “They’re not gonna let ‘em get close to the emperors.”
Crumzchek shook his head. He kicked back in his chair and lit a cigar. It was his way of dealing with the stress. “Damnit, Carlton,” Crumzchek said. “We send one bomber in at a time. Kamikaze style. They won’t know what’s hitting them when the bombs drop.”
“Millions of casualties,” Carlton said. He ran both of his hands through his silver hair. “At the very least, millions.”
“That’s if we can get nukes,” Crumzchek said.
“And I don’t see that happening,” Carlton said. “The Orobu have commandeered every known stockpile. The situation doesn’t look good, Crumzchek.”